funds on personal items like sephora cosmetics, trips to atlantic city, and even only fans. turns out, they don't sell fans at all. the name of the site is very misleading. >> republican congressman george santos providing an awful lot of material for the late night shows. we'll go through a very damning ethics report. that was the tip of the iceberg there from jimmy kimmel, and show you the response from the new york lawmaker who says he's sticking around. we'll see if he can. talk about that in a minute. also ahead, we'll have the latest from the middle east. israel says it has more evidence hamas is operating out of a hospital in gaza. it comes as the idf recovered the body of a hostage near that facility. and we will recap another diplomatic day on the west coast for president biden, where he met with the leaders of south korea and japan. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is friday, november 17th. with us this morning, we have the host of "way too early," white house bureau chief at politico, "jonathan lemire. bbc news' katty kay. former chairman of the national republican committee, michael steele. assistant managing editor and washington bureau chief for "the new york times," elisabeth bumiller. let's dive right in this morning. israel troops continue to search gaza's main hospital for more evidence hamas is operating out of the building. yesterday, israeli defense forces released this video of what they say is an operational tunnel shaft. they also say they have found hamas weapons there. nbc news cannot independently verify those claims, but we have been able to verify the location shown in the video is just outside of the hospital building. israel says there have been no casualties since its raid began on wednesday. the hospital had to shut down over the weekend due to a lack of fuel and supplies. still, hundreds of patients are inside and need medical care. the fuel shortage also has caused internet and phone services to collapse across the gaza strip. the breakdown of communications network, crucial for coordinating and deliveries, will keep the united nations from getting aid into that territory today. joe, the idf says, the israel government now, evidence that hamas was working out of that hospital. obviously, it'd be great if hamas would use some of its fuel, it has big reserves of it, to keep that hospital running. >> no doubt about it. front page of "the new york times" talking about israel coming through the gaza hospital for evidence of hamas using that hospital. what did "the times" find? >> our international editor and our jerusalem bureau chief went on a tour of the hospital with idf forces, with them the whole time. they said they saw a shaft, a dark shaft that seemed to be leading underground, but you couldn't -- the israeli forces didn't want to go into it for fear of the booby traps. phil and patrick reported that you couldn't -- it seemed to go underground, but they couldn't go into it. they couldn't completely, you know, verify the claims that these are tunnels. we also know from our sources, from the administration officials, from intelligence gathering, that they say, yes, there are tunnels underneath that hospital. the administration says these are our own intelligence sources, not is israelis'. >> katty, this is where the battle goes now. you'll have israeli troops eventually having to lower themselves into shafts, trying to figure out how to work through the tunnel networks. not only to seek out hamas but, obviously, to look for the hostages. >> yeah. i mean, there are people in this world whose sad job it is to study warfare in tunnels specifically. there are academics who study this. i've spoken to a couple of them, but it is incredibly difficult, what the israelis are thinking of doing. partly because of what elizabeth said, these are booby trapped. some of the hostages may be in there, as well, so there is a risk to hostages potentially. this is not an easy feat. i think we've had the perception the israeli military and the israeli intelligence services were almost invincible the last few years. they had this reputation for being so powerful and so all-knowing. the events of october the 7th revealed, certainly, the intelligence was not invincible, and now the israeli military is going to be tested in a way that is very difficult for any military. this puts person against person. israeli military forces have not been training very extensively over the last few years in urban combat. they haven't been doing simulations of tunnel raids in big numbers for a long time. it's very difficult. this is not easy. >> isn't it extraordinary? this is, i mean, this is what the united states learned how to do over 20 years leading up to mosul. >> mm-hmm. >> we had to guide warfare, you know, street by street, building by building, room by room. it is extremely difficult. as katty said, here, you have the israelis who used to know how to do this. let's just say it, netanyahu was so busy taking the fight to the supreme court and the rule of law that they stopped focusing on their main enemy. they stopped focusing in every way. they stopped focusing on the enemy in gaza and, instead, was obsessing over allowing extremists to settle in the west bank. in every single way, they have left the israeli people vulnerable. it's not like we started hearing this on october 8th. i started hearing from people in israel throughout the year, that the secular israelis who had been the backbone of defending the nation were being pushed out. it was religious extremists who didn't give a damn about things like the military or, you know, mosul. >> i think, joe, the points that both you and katty raise speak to the idea that you have a situation where the politics overwhelms the process and the information. that becomes the way in which things are dictated and outcomes are determined. so you lose sight of the mission because you're concerned about the politics. you just referenced, you know, what netanyahu is going through domestically. meanwhile, you have a policy in which he does not want to engage on the two-state solution. he takes that off the table. so there is no intelligence gathering with respect to, okay, so what happens? what's going to happen? when you take that off the table and you have this concentration of -- >> with all due respect, i mean, let's just say it, that's not his to take off the table. israel is there because of us. >> it's not -- >> he's the one who put israel in this place. >> i'm just saying. >> we're the ones that are going to keep israel fighting, going to continue to support them. we have every right to tell netanyahu and anybody else, that if you want our support, if you want our continued support, you're going to take care of the west bank. >> but -- >> biden -- >> we didn't. >> biden has started to say, he's told them to protect palestinians on the west bank. >> that's now, joe. i'm talking about before now. before we got to october 7th. >> oh, of course not. >> the israeli policy was not to engage on the two state. >> i know. i'm agreeing with you. i'm talking about now. >> but now, i don't know how much the israelis and netanyahu are actually listening to the biden administration. >> right. >> i mean, the administration was pushing very hard to delay the invasion, and they delayed somewhat, but the israelis are not taking all the advice the u.s. is giving, at all. now, the u.s. is stuck with what we're seeing as pulling back and saying, well, they have the right to defend themselves. they have a moral obligation to defend themselves, but they have got to watch out for civilian casualties. now, we have 11,000 palestinians dead in gaza, if we believe the health ministry. >> what's the -- whose numbers are that? >> those are the health ministry numbers that we don't know for sure. >> hamas numbers. >> yeah. >> even last night, bibi netanyahu on american television was pressed on whether he would still support a two-state solution, given everything that's happened. >> right. >> given what is going on right now in gaza. he would not. >> he wouldn't. >> just look at it. >> he's standing in the way of the only thing that could lead to some sort of silver lining out of this horror that's happening in gaza. >> can you imagine a worse face for israel right now than bibi netanyahu's? everybody that sees him on the screen, except those working in his cabinet, understand, willie, that every step he takes is a move to preserve himself politically. everyone knows he's the guy that let israel down. he's the guy that allowed october 7th to happen. he's the guy that, for years, was so focused on undermining the rule of law in israel that he actually compromised the forces there. who says that? who says that? not some guy in washington, d.c. that's what the israelis say. if the israelis say it, imagine how horrible it is across the rest of the world. the question is, at what point does he leave and allow israel to have a new start so everything they do is not looked at through a lens of suspicion. >> polling supports what you just said, which is that israelis are united, without question, because they came under attack on october 7th, but they're not united around bibi netanyahu. they're united around their nation. jonathan lemire, to the question of the president and what he can do here, he does have some levers to pull. he does have some weight to throw around here because of the united states support of israel. what is your sense right now of the balancing act he's been pulling for more than a month now, which is unequivocal public support and private pressure on prime minister netanyahu, on the way he's prosecuting the war and on the way he is behaving in the west bank? >> that was the white house plan from the beginning. president biden would hug netanyahu close, right at the start of this on his trip to israel, but also to create that space for him to chide and push, if needed. those pushes have picked up in pace. >> doesn't look like he is enjoying that hug. >> no, you can see his facial expression. >> he's like, seriously? do i have to do this? my god, okay. >> it is always carefully said that these two men have known each other for a long time. it's never been added that they've liked each other a long time. president biden hasn't been a fan of prime minister netanyahu for quite some decades. >> that was not -- that was not the hug, like, when -- if we can go back to that picture, that was neither the hug at the end of "when harry met sally" or "you've got mail." that ain't tom hanks and meg ryan. >> the best. >> "casa blanca" and "when hrry met sally." >> that ain't this. >> polarizing movie choice here. >> it is. >> as we go to the christmas season and we're talking about middle east peace, next, we're going to tackle the second most controversial question of our time, and that is whether "love actually" is the greatest movie ever or just pure, unadulterated sap. i'm a huge "love actually" fan, but -- >> i'll take the other side. >> of course you will. >> later. . let's get back to -- >> there might be no later for you, jonathan lemire. >> prime minister bouncing down the stairway. >> hold on. >> go ahead. >> okay. >> it's friday. >> thank god. let's get back to what's happening there in the middle east. yes, we have heard the administration still unequivocally, publicly saying israel has the right to defend itself, but the worries behind the scenes have really grown. the frustration with netanyahu has grown. we've been reporting for weeks now, the white house is already planning or plotting for, considering a post bibi israel. they see the poll numbers. they see how unpopular he is. the opposition leader has come out this week calling for netanyahu to step aside. there's no expectation that's going to happen immediately. there's a sense he will be allowed to steer this first phase of the war. but as the civilian casualties mount, and you're right, we can't take hamas' numbers precisely right, but there is a sense from neutral observers, as well, the numbers are high. they understand this is a difficult situation for the u.s., you know, to keep fully backing israel in every phase of the war. they're hoping they'll slow down. they're hoping this will remain a targeted search, but there's some frustration there, the temporary pause deal to let the hostages out, which was seemingly close a few days ago, now, joe, seems further apart. >> right. there's some independent numbers that are close, i think, to the numbers that, elizabeth, you were talking about. the united nations has taken a guess at it. the united states government has taken a guess at it. they're saying it's in the thousands. we don't know exactly. >> they're bad, very, very disturbing. >> yeah, very bad. very disturbing. michael, just getting back to the two-state solution, you know, there was this belief during the abraham accords. i thought it was cynical at the time. that israel could make peace with the uae. israel could make peace with the saudis. >> absolutely. >> israel could make peace with bahrain. >> sure. >> israel could make peace with everybody and just pretend the palestinians weren't there. we said it at the time. >> right. >> like, you think you can work around -- i said this to people in the trump administration -- you think you can work around the palestinians? they're not going anywhere. it underlined two things. one, that the israelis were cynical and were doing everything they could to ignore the palestinians' plight. the second thing is, it's not really reported as much, just how much the palestinians' neighbors just detest them, have no use for them, haven't had any use for them for a very long time, don't want them in their country, and are willing to actually team up, the sunni arab nations, team up with israel. >> right. >> and at the expense of the palestinia palestinians. now, it's blown up for the entire region. now, they're paying in jordan. they're paying in egypt. they're paying in saudi arabia. again, for not tackling this issue head on. all i'm saying is, when we get through this first phase, however long that next month or so, and netanyahu moves aside, the united states has to say, "yes, we support your right to defend yourself, to destroy hamas, but we also are going to demand the other end of that. it's not going to be easy to do now, but at some point, you've got to move to a two-state solution and take care of the chaos that's going on in the west bank." >> i think you're right about that. in the end, we're talking in a post netanyahu israel, you're going to have emerge, presumably, as was reported, you know, the opposition is already beginning to position. the israeli people want that change. you're going to have a momentum or an energy behind that, so the work and the lift by the u.s. won't be necessarily as difficult as it otherwise would be. >> right. >> which is a good thing for u.s. policy. but more to the point of what you're making, the powers in the region will have a greater incentive on the heels of all of this now to get behind that two-state solution in a way that, before october 7th, they were disinclined to do for their own particular reasons. >> that is the one thing that's going to come out of this, people hope. basically, this is the only viable solution out of this mess, is a two-state solution. you know, this has been discussed for the past month, that this is the one thing that will come out of this disaster, is that this is the only way forward. increasingly, people will see that in the middle east. interestingly, "the times" had a really interesting interview with hamas leaders a week or so ago. they basically were feeling so isolated in the region that they launched this attack as kind of a last resort because they felt completely abandoned by everybody else and realized this was the last thing they could do. >> american politics is moving this way, too. it is interesting that, even before the october the 7th attack, gallup poll for the first time earlier this year, that amongst democrats, there was more sympathy for palestinians than there was for israel. since the attack, 60% of people under 30 in this country say that america shouldn't be arming israel in the way that it is at the moment. that's a shift taking place in american politics that i think if you had a two-state solution that was actually viable with a leader in israel that actually seemed to be doing something for palestinians, not just constantly against them, that could help american politics. could help the white house, too, as there is pressure building. >> like osama bin laden when the towers fell, hamas has been victims of catastrophic success, as the saying goes. they left israel, its allies, even the arab nations with no alternative to move away from them and move toward a future solution. that means for sunni arab nations, they can no longer cynically ignore the palestinians' plight. they're going to have to work together in the region, along with israel, the united states, and everybody else, to move toward a two-state solution. it might be helpful if israel stops the illegal settlements. because every illegal settlement set up at this point makes the entire process that much uglier down the road. they've been doing that for years now. when we come back, a follow-up on yesterday's conversation about how, i don't know why, but my old party just loves to hate the united states of america. you know, used to be we'd raise flags, sing "we're proud to be americans." we'd go, "america is the greatest country in the world hell yeah." now, donald trump is constantly trashing the united states of america, constantly trashing the military, constantly trashing our law enforcement officers in the intel community, and we've got a speaker that says the united states is depraved. a sodom and gomorrah, and that jesus is coming for us. how do you rule a country that you think so little of? we'll talk about that when we return on this happy, happy friday. medicare and medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that you'll definitely want to hear. depending on the plans available in your area, you may be eligible to get extra benefits with a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. all of these plans include a healthy options allowance, a monthly allowance to help pay for eligible groceries, utilities, rent, and over-the-counter items. the healthy options allowance is loaded onto a prepaid card each month. and whatever you don't spend, carries over from each month. other benefits on these plans include free rides to and from your medical appointments. and our large networks of doctors, hospitals and pharmacies. so, call the number on your screen now and ask about a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. humana. a more human way to healthcare. beautiful picture of the united states capitol. 6:21 in the morning. the sun thinking about coming up on a friday morning. a new report by "rolling stone" looks into house speaker johnson's views on american culture, which he calls, quote, dark and depraved. in an october prayer call last month with the world prayer network, weeks before he became speaker of the house, johnson talked about an america facing a civilizational moment. >> the only question is, is god going to allow our nation to enter a time of judgment for our collective sins, which his mercy and grace have held back for some time, or is he going to give us one more chance to restore the foundations and return to him? we won't be able to do it without the lord's help because the flesh and the mistrust and the sin and everything is so great here that this is going to have to bring people to their knees. i believe god is about to do something. >> do you have time to answer the question or say anything more about the issue of, thi