headquarters in new york city. just when you thought it couldn't get any uglier, republican infighting on capitol hill turns physical. one member alleging the former speaker kevin mccarthy, quote, elbowed him in the kidneys earlier today. tim burchett then blasting mccarthy as, quote, just a bully with $17 million and a security detail. a senator stands up to fight a teamsters boss during a hearing. all of it coming with a key vote to avert a government shutdown just a few hours away. so, what now? plus, fulton county d.a. fani willis makes a stunning allegation, telling the court interviews with some of her key witnesses were intentionally leaked by the defense. the goal, she says, intimidation, harassment and threats. now she's calling on judge scott mcafee to step in. we have been watching the overwhelming show of support for israel on the national mall in washington, one speaker telling the crowd that the purpose is to show the world that jewish people, quote, have the right to live. it is a very busy day. but we begin on capitol hill, where tensions within the republican party intensified and are now boiling over with just three days and ten hours left to avert a government shutdown. republican tim burchett, who voted to remove kevin mccarthy as speaker, is accusing mccarthy of giving him a deliberate push while he was giving an interview. >> kevin mccarthy elbowed me in the kidneys as he walked by and it kind of caught me off guard. >> you felt it was on purpose and not an accident? >> absolutely on purpose, ma'am. 435 members of congress, eight of us voted against him, i'm the one who gets it, he publicly called me out. >> now, burchett is also among the dug in conservatives opposing a bill to keep the government from shutting down with about three hours until the house votes, speaker mike johnson is pushing hard anyway, arguing to his cs that this will allow them to get what they want eventually. just not now. because the proposal is not a permanent fix, the plan would extend funding for half of the government until january 19th. the other half through february 2nd. so, now, like kevin mccarthy before him, johnson will need democrats' supports to get this continuing resolution done. and the intense level of frustration being seen in the senate as well. check out this nasty exchange, involving oklahoma republican markwayne mullin, shawn o'brien and then bernie sanders trying to play peacemaker. >> this is a time this is a place, you want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults, we can finish it here. >> that's fine. perfect. >> want to do it now? >> i would love to do it now. >> stand your butt up then. >> you stand your butt up. >> hold on. >> sit down. sit down. you're a united states senator. sit down. >> act like it. >> joining us now is nbc's ali vitali, reporting from capitol hill, and ryan nobles reporting for us on the hill as well and former republican congressman carlos curbelo of florida and msnbc political analyst. carlos, i'll start with you. you spend a lot of time in the hallways. have you ever seen anything like what we're seeing today? one accusation he elbowed me, the other one standing up in the middle of a hearing? what's going on? >> yeah, i mean, congress is really a mirror of the country. as we have seen more and more violence in the country, we see it represented on capitol hill. it is a shame. i will say when it comes to kevin mccarthy, i kind of have my doubts that mccarthy was purposefully trying to hurt congressman burchett. kevin mccarthy does joke around a lot. maybe it was a joke that burchett did not appreciate, but that's just not in his nature. but zooming out, there is a lot of tension in the house republican conference, a lot of resentment given everything that has happened during this last year. and, of course, you know, that incident in the senate with senator markwayne mullin, that's just not what anyone wants to see. >> so, what can you tell us what are you hearing about this exchange between burchett and mccarthy? >> reporter: it is the wild west over here. we joke about that. those of us who spend time covering the house, but the tension that has been simmering among republicans over the course of the last two months is really the underpinning to what you're seeing now. i think what congressman curbelo says is right. all of us who walk the halls know it is narrow hallways, people who stop to do interviews as congressman burchett did are sometimes in the way of those who are trying to walk by. the fact that mccarthy has a security detail, of course, makes it a bulkier way of passing by someone. i could very much see a world in which an accidental elbow was thrown as people were trying to move through the hallways, i could also see a world in which what congressman burchett says is true, where speaker mccarthy did this on purpose. he says he didn't. i'm sure we'll hear more about this. when you think about the way mccarthy is looking at this current moment, there are so many parallels to what speaker johnson is doing now in trying to pass a clean continuing resolution. only difference is the fact he's trying do it with two end dates on the back end as opposed to one that mccarthy did. when mccarthy did this with democrat support, he got ousted over it. now, johnson is being given the benefit of the doubt, even by people who say they're not going to vote for the continuing resolution. there is no conversation about a motion to vacate and the emotional reaction to that is still very deep for someone who really worked to be speaker for the length of his time in congress. got there, and then was ousted in less than a year, now watching the guy who comes after him get way more leeway and benefit of the doubt to do the job. all of this is emotional. we all can talk about politics like it is some sterile thing that breaks down on paper, but it is not. especially in the halls of congress this is very emotional, very tactile place. nevertheless, this is pretty bonkers behavior to see from your lawmakers. >> yeah. and let me go back to the cr. all of this is against that backdrop, like, very serious stuff. but, ryan, over to you, what more can you tell us about what we just watched in that senate hearing? i mean, we have seen some nasty exchanges before, but for somebody to stand up, for there to be a threat of an altercation, that's something different. >> reporter: yeah, congress -- senator mullin, at one point, started to take his wed ring off to show you how serious this got to the level of physical confrontation. this wasn't an isolated incident, chris. these two men, senator mullin and shawn o'brien of the teamsters had been bickering on social media for several months. it goes back to a prior contentious hearing between the two of them and shawn o'brien accused him of being a bully and saying he would meet him anytime and anyplace and this was markwayne mullin in a very public setting attempting to make good on that threat. now, as we saw in the video, senator bernie sanders, the chair of this committee, quickly put an end to it, so it did not kind of spiral out of control. but one thing markwayne mullin suggested is the two of them meet in a cage match and mma style cage match to benefit a charity and markwayne mullin has a history as an mma fighter, a high school and college wrestler. this is how he solves problems. it is not the way you would expect members of congress, particularly members of the united states senate to solve problems. but it is indicative of just how much tension there is here on capitol hill that you get to the point in what is normally an invested senate hearing where you see two men really talking about taking it outside and trying to solve their problems that way, chris. >> a lot of the tension obviously coming, ali, because of what is going to happen in a few hours. this major vote to keep essentially the govnment running. this is an attempt by speaker johnson that a lot of the members of the conrvative freedom ccu say we aren't going there. where does this stand? >> reporter: it is a really serious moment of trying to keep the government open, of geopolitical tension overseas and yet i sit here finding myself what is it the obsession with men and cage matches? that's probably another segment, but it is the reality here on capitol hill where you see people threatening to come to blows over policy or political disagreements. in terms of the way we're going to see this continuing resolution strategy play out, just in the next two or three hours, maybe around 4:00, we'll start seeing lawmakers go to the house floor, around 4:20, 4:30, they'll start voting on the continuing resolution and they're doing it through a procedural slight of hand because of the realities within the house republican conference. they knew they had dozens of republican lawmakers willing to vote no on what the speaker has proposed. instead, what we watched them do is do this by suspension, which means that they need two-thirds majority within the chamber to pass this continuing resolution in the way that it is lined out on the side of your screen. we expect that they're going to get there, especially because in our conversations with democrats they don't see anything in this that is poisonous enough to make them be responsible for shutting down the government or potentially bearing some of the blame. it is because you see, though there is no aid to israel in there, that's what democrats and some foreign policy experts would have preferred. at the same time, there is no cuts in this, just a continuation of 2023 funding, up until january, and they'll live to have this fight another day after the holidays. >> we did hear from the speaker earlier today, acknowledging sort of the fix that they're in. i want to play a little bit of what he had to say. >> this will allow everybody to go home for a couple of days for thanksgiving, everybody cool off. members have been here for -- as leader scalise said, for ten weeks. this place is a pressure cooker. we're taking this into the new year, to finish the process and get back to the original way this is supposed to work. by the way, the house republican conference is committed to never being in this situation again. i'm done with short-term crs. >> there are a lot of people including many of the voters who are done with crs, who want the people there on capitol hill with our good friends to frankly do their jobs. now what they're hearing is, exactly, right, to the point that ali was making, there is a motion there, this is a pressure cooker, he acknowledges it is a pressure cooker, says, well, maybe we need to let people go home for thanksgiving, cool down a little bit, let cooler heads prevail, is that how this works? >> well, chris, this is just punting away, this is just kicking the can down the road at the end of the day. speaker johnson is going to have to convince house republicans that either they have to be willing to compromise with a democratic senate and the president in the white house, or they are going to have to pass bills with democratic support. you cannot have things, you know, your way or the highway, when you only control one chamber of congress and the other party controls both the white house and the senate. it just doesn't work. so, speaker johnson is going to let people go home for the holidays. but i predict that early next year he's going to be in the same predicament with a block of house republicans saying no negotiations, no way, we're only going to do things our way, and he's going to have to go to democrats and figure something out. what happens to him after that? nobody knows. there is a theory out there what happened to mccarthy was purely personal. maybe that's the case. maybe johnson gets a pass. but the dynamics in the house republican conference are not going to change from here until february of next year. >> carlos curbelo, ali vitali, ryan nobles, on a wild day on capitol hill, thank you, all. up next, the explosive taped revelations from former trump officials in the fulton county case. one lawyer says the testimony is beyond devastating for the defense. we'll ask him to explain in 60 seconds. m to explain in 60 seconds. ♪ shelves. shelves smart enough to see, sense, react, restock. so caramel swirl is always there for the taking. there has been an extraordinary development in georgia, where we just learned the fulton county d.a. filed an emergency motion for a protective order in donald trump's election interference case. she says videos of interviews with some former trump co-defendants were intentionally leaked to the media. in the filing, fani willis claims the leaks were, quote, clearly intended to intimidate witnesses in this case, subjecting them to harassment and threats prior to trial. the videos, which were obtained by abc news and "the washington post," but not nbc news, includes stunning new revelations about donald trump's alleged plot to hang on to power. the witnesses, jenna ellis, sidney powell, kenneth chesebro and scott hall, people once among trump's strongest supporters, but now talking to fulton county prosecutors as part of their plea deals. garrett haake with more details. >> reporter: this morning, new revelations in the 2020 election interference case. >> his instinct was to get one. >> pardon my french, but -- >> reporter: through a series of taped interviews between prosecutors and defendants who accepted plea deals, first reported by abc news and published by "the washington post." >> he said to me and in a kind of excited tone, well, dwoent we don't care and we're not going to leave. >> reporter: jenna ellis who pleaded guilty last month detailing to prosecutors an alleged conversation with dan scavino at a white house christmas party. >> he said, the boss is not going to leave under any circumstances. we are just going to stay in power. and i said to him, well, it doesn't quite work that way, you realize. and he said, we are don't care. >> reporter: in an interview that lasted nearly three hours, ex-trump lawyer sidney powell positioning herself to prosecutors as one who frequently communicated with the former president. >> the 18th, the only real justification he's giving you to why he's not bowing out is that his instincts tell him he won? >> that and the evidence that i showed him. >> reporter: powell testifying trump had been repeatedly told he had lost the election. but relied on his instincts and allegedly leaned on her for advice according to powell, though she acknowledged she never practiced election law. >> he never told you this is crazy, stop giving me this information? >> no. >> reporter: in a statement, trump's lead georgia attorney slamming any purported private conversation as meaningless, writing -- >> i want to bring in nbc's vaughn hillyard following the former president's trials and harry litman, constitutional law professor at ucla. welcome to both of you. i want to start with the new development from the d.a. fani willis talking about in this emergency petition they're trying to intimidate our witnesses. >> right. that's exactly what she says. she says, quote, this is an effort to protect witnesses and to safeguard sensitive and confidential information. this motion from the district attorney comes after the release of these videotapes. to give you an idea, talking about a lot of defendants here involved. in these proffer videos we watched, came from those individuals who have entered plea agreements. the statements that were made in those videos to fulton county prosecutors had to be truthful and accurate statements. what happened was the state was obligated to turn over those videos to the other defense attorneys. those other defendants who have not entered plea agreements yet. so that they understand the full scope of the evidence presented in front of the trial, that they're going to have to defend their clients on. what clearly happened was that a defendant or their attorney at some point passed along these videos and they are now publicly disseminated and it frustrated fani willis and the district attorney's office, this protective order would quash the ability of any of these defendants or their attorneys to disseminate any of the discovery evidence presented to them and in the instances of these proffer videos specifically, they would not get any future copies, they would have to go into the d.a.'s office and watch them and only be allowed to take notes. >> what is the likelihood that would happen and in 2023, do we look at things differently than we did ten years ago, 15 years ago, when we're talking about things like harassment and intimidation? >> i think november 14th, 2023, we do, chris, because trump is operative across a series of platforms. look at what he's just said about jack smith whom he savaged as well as his wife. so he's really pushing it on many different levels. i think judges who get these requests for gag orders really take seriously the prospect of some danger. he basically called for a citizen's arrest, for example, of letitia james. that's not this case, but nevertheless. i don't think there is any remedy for what has happened, by the way. they won't be able to find out and it is not clear that it was improper. but for her to get this motion i think is a real possibility that will fly and it happened sometimes with sensitive material, got to go to the prosecutor's office to review it. i think there is a real shot there, just generally, everyone is very nervous about trump's many, many intemperate statements. >> let's talk about the videos themselves. you posted on social media devastating is an understatement. you just heard the statement from trump's lawyer. this is a nonsense line of inquiry. tell us why you said what you did. >> that's pretty rich. private conversations are not actually at all useful. on the contrary, you can't get better than hearing. now we can set aside for the moment a possible miss ability issue. but having dan scavino say trump is not leaving under any circumstances, what is that? it is a constitutional hijacking. it is not about oh, he believes he won, he really wants to test it in the courts, this is december 19th, he's already decided he's going to essentially ignore the dictates of the law and constitution. that really is very damning evidence. i want to point out, these videos, we're not going to see them as testimony unless the witnesses sort of depart from what they said. but it is a real indication of what the d.a. wanted to know, and in permitting them to plead and what we're going to see at trial. we're looking at jenna ellis now, she has a cooperation agreement and she seemed very forth coming to me. it is not just the exact words in the -- including this really killer sentence in the videos, but what they auger about what we're going to hear at trial. >> yeah. i think that and maybe even it is just -- we think we heard everything, right? when you hear them from those folks who we see in a different light as being trump supporters, right, it does have a visceral impact, but tell us how it fits into the overall case here? >> right. these are folks that were at the forefront of perpetuating the stolen election conspiracies that millions of americans still believe and if you just take into account, we're learning information, us, you, me, the american public are still learning information that led to january 6th, kenneth chesebro testifying that he, personally, briefed then president trump about the fake slate of electors. we now know that because of kenneth chesebro and because of this investigation in fulton county. just take a look, i think it was an interesting note, jena ellis tweeted this morning, among her own video going out into the public, she quoted scripture, john chapter 8:32, then you will know the truth and the truth will set