as the nation hurdles towards yet another government shutdown. i want to know if new republican house speaker, mike johnson and his lack of experience have what it takes to get a deal done. we are live on capitol hill where today we could learn part of the plan to keep the government open. overnight, strikes israel -- war on hamas intensifies after another wave of bombings. benjamin netanyahu makes a trip to the gaza border. live in israel with the latest on the 35-day war and the humanitarian crisis growing worse by the minute. later, trump tower of lies. the former first family taking turns testifying in a civil fraud suit. how ivanka trump's repeated claims of, i don't recall, could come back to bite the most indicted one term ex president in u.s. history. all of that and more is coming up. good saturday morning to you all. i'm katie phang. we start today with another case of déjà vu on catol hill. this time next week, the government could be shut down. with only six days left avert a catastrophic shutdown, most lawmakers have left town for the weekend with no resolution insight. newly minted republican house speaker, mike, johnson is struggling to unite his conference on a path forward after canceling votes this week on to part funding bills. one congressman called out his federal -- fellow gop colleagues saying, quote, we are ungovernable. later today, johnson is expected to release a new plan to keep the lights on beyond that november 17th deadline. according to a senior gop aide. that puts the house on track for a vote as early as tuesday. johnson is reportedly considering a two-step ladder continuing resolution which would extend funding to some government agencies to win -- one day and another federal department another day. hakeem jeffries has already thrown cold water on that multi-step approach saying a clean stopgap bill at eight agreed to budget level is, quote, the only way forward. joining me now is nbc news capitol hill correspondent, julie tsirkin. julie, good morning. thank you for being here. house republicans are expected to hold a conference call today at the 3:00. do we have any details about the pending call? and the plan that speaker johnson has set to release today? >> my conversations with various republican members who are anxiously bracing for this call -- this is really going to be the first opportunity to hear from speaker johnson on which plan he chose to fund the government to extend the government passed next friday's deadline. on the short term basis, there are a lot of things populating here. one of those is the ladder, staggered cpr. this is something democrats are rolling their eyes on because it would let be logistically complicated. the current thinking is that some agencies would be funded until january, others until february. there is also an idea of a clean cr. that is what you referenced jeffries say there, it's something he wants to see happen. i'm told the senate already began work on processing that. they will take votes of next week as they wait on the house to figure out what they are doing. >> julie, how is the senate reacting to what is going on in the house? >> the senate is currently bracing for having a vote on a clean cr. i'm told the clean crt plan could go to mid january. target date is january 19th. that has not been finally it it -- finalized. speaker johnson himself actually said that was his opening offer when he met with senate republicans late earlier in the speakership about two weeks ago, when he got the gavel. he told him he was eyeing a date past christmas. that is because he does not want the senate to, quote unquote, jam house republicans on top of the christmas deadline with a full year spending plan. it is very clear because of those two bills that you mentioned that speaker johnson had to pull off the floor, they're not going to get anywhere close to funding the government for all 12 months which is why a short-term bill is so much considered. it's important to remember there really is no appetite for a shutdown, both democrats and republicans say that would be a nonstarter, especially with the two wars raging overseas. >> julie, we've been here before. november 17th, right around the corner. thank you for getting us started. nbc capitol hill correspondent, julie tsirkin, it's always good to see you. this week, with yet another republican presidential primary debate in the books, the republican national committee already has its sights setn the next debate stage. the rnc announcing the fourth debate will be held in tuscaloosa, alabama, on december 6th. republican front runner, donald trump, will continue to be a no-show as he openly declares his intent to weaponize the justice department against his political enemies. >> they've done indictments in order to win an election. they call it weaponization. the people are not going to stand for it. but yeah, they have done something that allows the next party -- i mean, if i happen to be president and i see somebody who is doing well and beating me very badly i say, we go down and indict them. you, know they would be out of business mostly. they would be out of the election. ss mostly. joining me now, alencia johnson, political strategist and senior adviser for binder for president 2020. the chief impact officer for 10:23 west broad. and cofounder of the lincoln project and the offer of running against the devil, a plot to save america from trump and democrats from themselves. powerful political panel. rick, i would like to start with you. we've had three of the so-called debates, i put that in quotes because there's a lot of mudslinging. none featuring the front runner, donald trump. we know he will not attend the fourth debate. he will probably hold a rally. what is the point of the debates we accept for getting more reasons not to like vivek ramaswamy? >> vivek spiked the heat meter in america all the way up. he has zero redeeming personal qualities. i will say this, katie, it is a kabuki dance. it is symbolic only. all these people on the stage are hoping that donald trump chokes on a big mac or hit by a meteor, eaten by a shark. there is no path for any of them. they are spritzing back and forth inside this when band. at the very, peak heating 13%. every single possible mathematical calculus right now, once you get past the first three states, donald trump is going to roll up places where he is right now ahead by 40, 50, even 60 points on super tuesday. by the time we get to march 12th in florida, where ron desantis is in a distant second place, donald trump will have one california and texas. and then he will win florida and that is the ball game. it is over. this is all symbolic, it is all sort of the horse race industrial complex trying to make something out of this that just does not exist. these are people who have no real cuts, courage or motivation to actually go out and critique donald trump. chris christie is the exception but he is currently at 1%. >> i'm envisioning, ricky, big mac wielding shark riding a meteor. based upon what we told me. alicia, after the success on ab rights this week, democrats now say of course there is added urgency for efforts to get abortion rights initiatives on 2024 ballots in battleground states. is abortion still going to be the winning issue going into 2024? >> listen, i'm going to say absolutely. i spent six years working at planned parenthood before roe was overturned. it is something that we knew it would galvanize voters, especially as threats continued. when roe was overturned, i, mean there was poll after poll midterms saying it wasn't a deciding issue, it was the economy. news flash, abortion is an economic issue for people, particularly women and young people. the reality is, after our gains on this past tuesday in 2023, and after the games that we've seen where abortions were taken directly to the voters, even in deeply red states, and one. a portion is the absolute issue for democrats to run on so that voters have something to vote for as well as the issue to contrast against republicans, which as we saw in virginia, they try to possession themselves as a matter -- moderate -- talking about a 15-week ban. majority of americans don't even want a 15-week ban. it's going to be an issue for the republican party. we saw some of that play out at the debate this week as well. democrats are going to be very smart, they need to run on the issue as candidates but also ballot initiatives. >> you, know rick, going into this panel with you i played that portion of the interview that donald trump had with -- this past. week trump said the quiet part out loud, admitting, again, he would have no problem using the federal government, weaponizing it to go after his political opponents and enemies. it's not at all shocking or new for trump to declare. why are there not more alarm bells going off rake? i know some of you that are always ringing these alarm bells. but i, mean are we just so numb to it? are we normalizing that type of conduct or that type of behavior? >> i will tell you, katie, as someone who, after the january 6th hearings, released a bunch of documents and discovered that the white house had gone to bill barr and asked him to investigate me and my colleagues. i get that sense of the danger, the personal nature of it escapes many americans. but this is a guy who -- remember, just as the republicans told you for 50 years they were going to reveal -- repeal roe v. wade. donald trump is now telling you he is going to use the power of government to punish his political enemies, he is going to use the power of the state. all my libertarian friends should be paying attention to. the power of the state to achieve his personal, political vengeance on people who he believes have wrong time. this is not america, to quote david bowie. this is something much darker and much different and much more dangerous. we have to pay attention to, it we have to listen to it. the problem we are having right now, as a, country i think there are way too many people who still think oh, well, trump can't win. trump will be in jail, trump will die. none of those things you can count on to protect you because he has the look of the devil. if he's, back he's going to cause enormous damage in this country to individuals, groups, political opponents and every level and every scale. the people around him this time will not be restrained by grown-ups or adults or establishment washington types. it will all be the crazies. they are going to go absolutely wild with this guy. and he's going to let them do it. >> alencia, take a listen to hillary clinton this week saying this about donald trump. >> trump is telling us what he intends to do. take him at his word. the man means to throw people in jail who disagree with him. shut down legitimate press outlets. do what he can to bitterly undermine the rule of law in our country's values. >> i mean, mind blown that we put rick wilson and hillary clinton together to say the same dam thing. but they. our alencia, these are hallmarks of a dictatorship. there is this normalization of statements like those made by donald trump and behavior like donald trump's. what needs to be done to emphasize how abjectly horrific things would be with the donald trump presidency again? >> i will be honest, katie, it is disheartening to see that voters are okay with that. donald trump still has a significant base of people to, let's be very honest, we know none of them are actually really benefiting from donald trump's policies, but he has this cult like following that, regardless of the things he has done, regardless of hillary clinton once again being right that he is going to do what he says he's going to do, although we spent a lot of time focusing on her emails, this meant literally upended our entire democracy. there is a cult following of him. he is able to get away with how he talks, he sounds like a fighter for the little guy when with the reality his he protects himself. we have to do a lot of work, those of us who care about democracy, to educate people on the existential crisis that it is that is donald trump. at the same time, voters are saying they want something to vote for and not just with defend. i don't know -- we have to do a better job of educating people on what this ex central crisis will look like. that is exactly what it is. i am really scared about the dark days that we are not only already in in america, but barreling towards if he gets reelected again. we know that -- with these third-party candidates trying to get in, that is closer to reality, sadly. >> and those honest conversations or what we are having here with people like you, alencia johnson and rick wilson. thank you for getting the show started this morning, i appreciate it. and, the mayor of new york city, eric adams, says he is cooperating with a 40s as they investigate whether a foreign government funneled money into his 2021 campaign. earlier this, week a lawyer for adams says the fbi seized cell phones and an ipad from the mayor, the attorney says adams is not accused of any wrongdoing. in a statement released on friday, out and said quote, i have nothing to hide. still to come on the katie phang show, trump's hail mary inside the trump legal team's push to end a.g. civil fraud case against him immediately. why the judge has not ruled that out. first, we get a live report from israel on the latest in the war. new overnight reports of air strikes moving debris to gaza city. packed show for you this morning. keep it right here on msnbc. ght here on msnbc. 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>> and i know disaster, katie. there is no other way to put. it's the largest hospital you, said the site of -- completely out of service, and that as many as 80 modest pileup outside the, hospital they were able to find some way to bury on-site, because there's no way for them to bring them anywhere else. the hospitals that are remaining open, the icus, a risk of losing all electricity, but they are still -- at a crucial hospital, messy medical staff working on patients under torchlight, because there is simply no power left. the israeli government, they say they are not targeting hospitals, mud and that if hamas is in hospital shooting, israel they will do what they have to do, namely shoot back. they're also urging those hospitals to be evacuated with health officials saying, you can't simply evacuate hospitals that are filled with people who are frankly on life support and badly injured. we heard from palestinian hospital officials today urging the international community to act now saying it is the final call for help before the health system there completely collapses. katie? >> josh, the united states announcing that israel has advised it has agreed to these for humanity terry positives you have any insight into how these pauses will take place? have they even started all? and how are they going to help citizens in gaza to either evacuate, escape, or try to get out? >> they have started. they have evolved from what was essentially for our windows israel was offering early in the week for people to evacuate from the north to south, to slightly larger positives in israeli strikes in parts of gaza to get people out through two different rounds that have been open, now as well as to get aid in. so far, we know well over 130,000 gazans according to israel's government have used those windows to get into southern gaza, which israel says is a safer place for them to be. this is falling far short -- of the multi day pause in fighting the united states government says it wants to see from israel. >> and we see news foreign correspondent josh lederman, as, always grateful to see, you and please stay safe, thank you for being here. >> and still to come, on the katie phang show, the show must go on. touch alien cannon is keeping trump's classified documents trial on schedule in may 2024 for now. plus, new science from special counsel jack smith on just how close that he plans to tied donald trump to the january 6th and through action. keep it right here. you are watching msnbc. 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