anthony blinken, it makes a surprise trip to the west bank to meet with the president of the palestinian authority. we are live with the latest from the secretary's continuing push for humanitarian pause. meanwhile, the war between israel and hamas has triggered a spike in antisemitism and islamophobia at home. jonathan greenblatt, director of the anti-defamation league has here in studio to talk about how we can stand up to hate. supreme showdown and justices are under scrutiny for receiving lavish gifts. senator sheldon whitehouse of the senate judiciary committee joins me live to discuss plans to subpoena some of the billionaires at the center of the controversy. daddy daughter week. donald trump is set to take the stand tomorrow in a civil fraud trial just days before his daughter, a blanca, is put on the hot seat. but their testimony could mean for the family business, and for the twice impeached, four times indicted of 91 counts, former president. i'm jonathan capehart. this is an extended edition of the sunday show. we begin this hour with american diplomacy in the middle east. this morning, secretary of state, anthony blinken, beta surprise visit to the occupied west bank. in a meeting with palestinian authority president, mahmoud abbas, blinken reaffirmed the united states commitment to delivering lifesaving humanitarian assistance, and restoring essential services in gaza. over the past few days, the secretary of state has met with leaders of several arab nations as the global call for a cease-fire grows louder. the biden administration is pushing for a humanitarian pause in the war to allow ward aid into israel. benjamin netanyahu has rejected that proposal, until all hostages taken by hamas are released. in the meantime, israel continues to bombard the gaza strip overnight. and israeli airstrike hit a refugee camp, killing at least 40 people. that's according to hamas health officials. nbc news could not independently verify the number of deaths, and has reached out to the idf for comment. joining me now, nbc news correspondent, josh lederman, from israel. josh, what more do we need to know about secretary blinken's visit to the occupied west bank? >> well, it was a surprise visit for security reasons, not announced in advance. in fact, not announced until blinken was on his way out. while the secretary did not speak publicly while he was in the occupied west bank, we did hear both from the spokesperson for hamas talking about what the message they delivered to the secretary, which is at the palestinian authority blames israel entirely for the violence at the scene now. we also heard from the state department saying that blinken, once again, affirmed u.s. support for the palestinian state hug, and the two state solution. it's part of an argument the u.s. has been making that struck some folks in this region as a little bit far upfield from the conversation that's really taking place in the region right now, that two state solution seems far and away, more than it has been quite some time. we know blinken use this visit to bring up u.s. concerns about extremist violence by jewish settlers and the west bank against palestinian civilians who are living that. that is something that the palestinian authority has raised concerns about as well. a message they were going to be glad to hear from secretary blinken. >> josh, what's the latest on additional humanitarian assistance getting into gaza? >> ha we haven't heard any confirmed reports of additional aid getting in today. jonathan, through that rafah border crossing. it appears that there might have been a kind of breakdown in what had been a functioning system for the past week or so, where aid was getting in. not as much as people want, but some trucks were getting and. injured palestinians were getting out, along with those foreign nationals. now we're hearing from border authorities in the gaza strip, that no more foreign nationals will be allowed out through the rafah border crossing -- [inaudible] we know the u.s. says that's [inaudible] so that may be why we see less activity, including humanitarian aid flowing through that border and 24 hours ago. >> one more question for you, has there been any update on the hostages inside of gaza? >> certainly no update in terms of a deal to get them out, jonathan. in fact the only real update we've heard is that the health ministry and hamas authorities in the gaza strip are now say that they believe that 60 of the hostages have already been killed in israeli airstrikes. there are dozens more who, they claim that nbc news can independently confirmed, the military has not commented on that as well, that is the latest that we are hearing inside gaza on the status of those hostages. >> josh lederman, coming to us live from israel. thank you very much for that report. as the battle rages on in the middle east, here at home, erhas been a noticeable rise in antisemitism. a hearing on capitol hill last week, fbi director, christopher, i told lawmakers, quote, the jewish community is targeted by extremist across the spectrum. adding, this is a threat that is reaching, in some ways, sort of historic levels. that rise has been seen across the country, including on college campuses were on tuesday, a student at cornell university was charged with posting threats to kill or injure jewish students. there's also been a spike in islamophobia, with the council on islamic relations saying it has received 774 reports of bias incidents and calls for help from muslims across the u.s. since the israel-hamas war began. joining me now, jonathan greenblatt, ceo and national director of the anti-defamation league. jonathan, thank you very much for being here live on set for this sunday show. according to organizations latest report, there has been a stunning 388% rise in antisemitic cases since the october 7th attack in israel. how do you account for such an increase? >> first of, all i would just say, i mean, this is an incredibly difficult time. i really appreciate josh's reporting on the front end. i have family in israel right now who are telling us overnight about the rockets and missiles coming from gaza, that the iron dome is taking out. every israeli right now is under a kind of mortal threat. i don't think we often see this in israel. they literally saw explosions overnight in their backyard. with respect to the antisemitism here, jonathan, all forms of hate or problem, and i can't speak to the data, the report complaints, but we verify everything that we report, and we've seen a 388% increase in a three-week period after the mass attack on october the 7th versus last year. this is accept harassment, vandalism, violence. you've mentioned a situation at court now. the student who was threatened to slit the throats up jewish men. rape jewish women. shoot up the cultural hall at cornell. we've seen situations where our students dorm room was set on fire at a university in philadelphia. we've had physical altercations against jewish students at harvard university. we've seen this all over the country. >> john at, then you have ben, on our air, msnbc's air, seemingly endlessly. for more than a year. talking about the rise of antisemitic hate. after october 7th -- >> it exploded. >> right. things have exploded. it's gone beyond, part in this, run-of-the-mill antisemitism, to what we are talking about with the student at cornell. does this speak to a rod within our society? >> jonathan, so glad you asked this question. >> you have covered this so well over the last few years, actually. specifically, are, right antisemitism is intensifying, increasing. we've seen this normalized from the far-right, and from the hard left. so when something like this happens in the middle east, and there is an explosion here. yeah, there is a kind of moral rot at universities. presidents and leaders didn't step in early on, so anti israel students felt like it was fair game to targets and victimized jews. and the public spaces as well, we have seen vandalism and attacks on what they're calling zionist businesses, jonathan. so i'm not talking about, you know, stores producing idf t-shirts. i'm talking about coffee shops in an ice cream parlor in the bay area. a restaurant in chicago. now they're been vandalized with free palestine. things like that. it is not okay. under any circumstances, to harass people because of their ethnicity or faith. it is disgusting and repulsive to target jewish businesses because you don't like what's happening in the middle east. i say this as the ancestor of a holocaust survivor whose barbershop was vandalized and destroyed by the not season germany. i can't even believe this is happening in our country today. >> you mention the phrase free palestine. there is a huge, there have been huge demonstrations around the country. huge demonstration here in washington. what do you say to people who have enormous empathy for you, for israelis, and for the families of the victims of the terrorist attack. also, they went to the demonstration yesterday, marching for free palestine. is it possible to have, i'm struggling to find the words. >> that's a super fair questions. i know we are going. look, we should mourn the lives of all the innocent who are killed. the israelis that are butchered mutilated, and the palestinian children who are dying now. that is a tragedy. we need to have the moral clarity to recognize that. at the same time, the moral clarity to say why are we in the situation? we should free palestine from hamas. this thing could end tomorrow if they would return the hostages, and they would simply say they would negotiate a peace deal with israel. put down their arms. literally we call for a cease-fire, we should just call for a surrender and return at the hostages. this would end like that. but, the moss brook people have said that they want to repeat october the 7th again and again. so free palestine, yes. free from hamas. make them willing to live alongside a jewish state. jonathan, wouldn't have this issue at all. i think too many don't realize what is the root cause of this. the root cause is an islamic, radical terror organization that does not believe jews have the right to live that. when you say free palestine for the river to the sea, i believe in a two state solution. that phrase is in annihilation's phrase that says, no jews. that is not okay in any circumstances. whether it's a palestinian thing, or is really saying it, again, these people they don't want to state solution, jonathan. we've been a one state. they want to one state solution. they're calling for a final solution. that is not okay. >> in a final solution has pretty horrific historic -- i agree with you that you cannot be a believer in a two state solution if the mantra from the river to the sea is coming out of your mouth. jonathan greenblatt, i appreciate you coming, as always, to the show. you made a specific effort to be here, onset with. me i really appreciate that. thank you. up next, it's on the sunday show, we'll go inside senate democrats plans to subpoena influence of conservatives connected to the lavish, undisclosed gifts given to the supreme court justices. senate judiciary committee member, senator whitehouse. he joins me next on how they're following the money. g the money. ♪ ♪ ♪ we're building a better postal service. for more on-time deliveries. and easier, affordable ways to ship. so you can deliver even more holiday joy. the united states postal service. delivering for america. 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[ting] ♪♪ live in the moment. ask your doctor about otezla. of yourself. because you are the ones who always professed how you are defending our democracy. you're the ones undermining our democracy. >> the highest courts in the land cannot have the lowest standard of ethics in the country. >> this is what you want, you're going to get it. >> democrats are looking to hold the highest court in the land responsible for its actions. this week, the senate judiciary committee is expected to vote to subpoena republican megadonor's such as harlan crow and judicial activist leonard leo, who have long advocated for and successfully helped install conservative justices on the supreme court. the subpoenas follow a string of a bombshell reports from propublica on justice clarence thomas, and justice samuel alito and their acceptance of lavish gifts and trips from billionaire republican donors. joining me now, rhode island senator sheldon whitehouse. he is chair of the senate budget committee, and a member of the senate judiciary committee. senator whitehouse, thank you for coming to the sunday show. both leonard leo and harlan crow have already come out with statements denouncing the possibility of the committee issuing them subpoenas. how will you go about enforcing those subpoenas, once they're issued? >> well, we're moving forward with the investigation one step at a time. the first step next thursday is to vote for the subpoenas. once the subpoenas are in place, they are a legal command to these individuals, to come forward and provide the documents and answer the questions that we have asked for. if they refuse, we have a number of options and we will be making a decision as a committee about which options we should pursue. but, i would note that the argument that they have made, which is that it is unconstitutional of us to ask these questions, is a ridiculous argument by any measure. this is a question of disclosure by justices of gifts, which must be done under a law that congress passed. and if the gifts are big enough, recusal by justice is under a law that congress passed, and the judicial conference which implements the disclosure and the recusal law, is a body that congress has created. so going forward with defensible notions that congress can't inquiry into how a body that it created is implementing laws that it passed. it makes no sense. >> senator, you just mentioned a moments ago that there are a number of options available to the committee if harlan crow and leonard do not comply with the subpoena. could you emirate one or three of them? >> well, one is to go directly to the floor and seek a decision from the floor, ordering enforcement. if we do that, it likely runs into the 60 vote closure problem. and the republicans have not surprising ali rallied among the big republican donor billionaires, who are behind the gift scheme and so much else. that's a hard way to go. but it's worth having to fight, and it's worth exposing their arguments to the light of day. there are other ways that include the prospect of, for instance, the department of justice moving to enforce the skin on its own. >> chief justice john roberts couldn't act a code of conduct today. three justices, kagan, capital, and coney barrett have publicly stated that the court should adopt a code of ethics. so, what's justice roberts waiting for? >> i really don't know. i suspect that he's hoping that he can generate unanimity among his fellow justices, on a method for enforcing the code of ethics. and i doubt he's going to get that, because frankly, justices alito and thomas are going to be a continuing problem because their hands are so, so deeply in the cookie jar. it's hard for them to face any kind of scrutiny. and that means he'd have to find a way to hold a vote. the way they do in other cases. they took away women's rights to bodily autonomy, by less than complete votes. so why not just have a proper vote? i suspect it would be 7 to 2. but he could do that. the other way he could do it is he's the chair of the judicial conference. and the judicial conference has the ability to set rules. indeed, it has been the oversight body on the disclosure issues when harlan crow first gave free jet travel to justice thomas a decade ago. that went through that procedure. so he has two ways to go, and i think he's planning to move. i don't think they can take the pressure any longer. the other judges are furious, because they know perfectly well that what the justices are saying makes no sense. >> is there any thought of subpoenaing ginni thomas, the wife of supreme court justice clarence thomas? >> i think, because i said, we're taking this investigation one step at a time. the first step is to find out what is going on. there clearly was an unexplained payment directed to mrs. thomas by leonard, through one of his front groups of $25,000. it is not clear that any services were ever rendered for that $25, 000, but from the context, it looks like it wasn't the only time. so clearly there are questions to answer there. there are also questions about why he didn't recuse from the january 6th case. his spokespeople have said it's because he didn't know anything, but that's a fact question that deserves to be examined. and nobody has examined or even asked the thomas is that fact question. >> i'm going to try to squeeze in two more questions. one, about the 14 billion dollar israel aid package that just passed the house. which we know would largely to find the irs, no ukraine aid. it's dead on arrival in the senate. the president is going to veto it. >> they won't call it, up and the president said he'd veto. it >> right. so can house republicans and senate democrat's reach a deal on aid for israel and ukraine, in a manner that would also keep the government open? >> i think so. we're working very hard to do that. i think that the program would be aid to ukraine, aid to israel, something to help support taiwan, and investments in border security. that's the shape of the package that would succeed, and it would draw i believe significant bipartisan support and sent a very strong often back to the speaker to take up and pass and avoid shutdown. >> okay. have you put back on your judiciary committee hot for one moment? earlier in the show, we were talking about the lawsuits in colorado and minnesota. trying to basically get -- remove donald trump from the ballot in 2024, in those states. what do you think the possibility -- what do you think of those lawsuits? do you support them, and do you think that if they go to the supreme court, the supreme court will side with the voters in colorado and minnesota? >> i am are they getting it's a very real option. -- some of the judges are hearing them and taking them seriously. there are very thoughtful legal scholars who have thought very clearly about how and why a 14th amendment option is appropriate to use in this circumstance. and i think you end up on the fact question of was donald trump's conduct enough to make him an insurrectionist with regard to developing a section of the 14th amendment? a good sturdy and factual inquiry into that. >> senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island, thank you very much for coming to the sunday show. coming up next, the fight is on in florida, as candidates gather ahead of wednesday's third republican presidential debate in miami. plus, the new nbc news poll giving some insight into what voters and a key state or thinking about the 2024 election. happening exactly one year fr