u.n. thomas pickering on whether there is a potential endgame for israel in all of this. also ahead, a vote could come as early as this week on the next step in the house gop impeachment even as his son hunter turned the table on the committee leader demanding that he testify. it comes as court declared insurrectionist donald trump has a new sales pitch. he's a candidate who will protect democracy. all of that plus the santos saga ends in congress. >> so i am no longer congressman santos. i'm just regular old professor major general reverend astronaut santos. protector of the realm, princess of genova. >> coming up, i'm going to talk to a screenwriter who saw his fictional story about a conman in congress come to life over the past year. stay tuned for that conversation. you don't want to miss it. we'll begin this hour with the breaking story out of the middle east. the pentagon confirmed the uss carney shot down two drones after multiple commercial vessels were attacked in the red sea, all unfolding over the last few hours. joining me now is nbc news correspondent david noriega on the ground in tel aviv for us. david, if you will, talk to us about what happened in the red seat. what do we know this hour? >> yasmin, hi. we are still getting information. the story is developing. what we know is that specifically ommercial vessels came under attack by what are believed to have been houthi drones and missiles. as you know, the houthis have taken over much of northern they've been in control there for some me. in recent weeks, they have been launching attacks against commercial vessels in the red sea. some of the prior attacks were against vessels that were linked to israel in some way. it's not clear that that is what happened. we know that a u.s. naval destroyer shot down to drones. there was a missile launched. the pentagon is saying there is no damage to any american vessels or american personnel or anything like that. this is important because people have been paying attention to potential flare-ups to this conflict in other parts of the region. the clearest places to look for that are the northern border with lebanon. this is an important region to pay attention to as well. the houthis in the scenario are kind of a wildcard in terms of how far they are willing to go to try to escalate things. it's not clear based on this infamous didn't as of now that this does not constitute or will lead to an explanation. yes? when >> you have a whole lot happening on the ground in gaza, specifically in the south, israel launching attacks in the south. what are we hearing from residents there? >> right, the expectation is that the military operations currently happening in the south are laying the groundwork for a ground invasion. as far as we know, that has not started yet, but people are kind of expecting it to happen sometime relatively soon. as far as what residents are saying, there are widespread reports of high numbers of civilian casualties. residents say this is happening all over a catastrophic humanitarian situation where people, many of whom were already displaced from the north into the south, are being made to move again in situations where they are living in overcrowded shelters with no access to clean water or food. winter is coming. it's getting colder. there is no access to shelter equipment. you know, on top of that, severely overtaxed, effectively nonfunctional medical facilities. the director of the world health organization made a statement today saying that some of his personnel visited a hospital in the south where they saw more than 1000 patients being treated, which is three times the capacity of the hospital. some of them were treated on the floor, some people bleeding out because they could not receive medical treatment. israeli authorities say they don't target civilians. they blame civilian casualties on hamas. yasmin? >> david noriega, thank you, we appreciate it. i want to bring an ambassador thomas pickering who served as a diplomat under seven presidents of both parties. ambassador pickering, it's great to talk to you. thank you so much for joining us on this. you and i spoke a little bit earlier on this weekend, i moderated a conversation with you about the war of russia on ukraine along with what is happening between israel and hamas. i thought it was best we have that conversation publicly. i am thankful for that. i want you to pick up on a little bit of what i talked about with david just now. that's what's happening in the resea, firing on these drone attacks from the houthis on the uss carney. what is your worry about this, the possibility of an expansion of this war, even if it is accidentally? >> i think, yasmin, you are entirely right. this is something of a danger which may well exnd in the region and beyond. we have seen firing by houthi from yemen over the last several weeks. apparently, they are seeking to get all the way to israel to reinforce what hamas has been doing and what hamas did on october 7th. who these are significantly backed by iran from all of the information that we have. it is difficult to foresee that the attacks taking place there are done without the knowledge of iran. it's very hard to know whether they or stimulated endorsed, reinforced by iran. that remains one of those questions that we look to further information to try to answer. >> that's interesting. i want to talk about what is happening on the ground as well, ambassador. essentially, what is happening in gaza is you have the palestinians to flee into the south as been told by the israelis to do so. now, in the south, they are being bombed and bombarded. david mentioned that this could be the beginnings of a ground invasion, although we don't necessarily know if that is the case. palestinians are telling us that they feel as if they have nowhere to go. we know the landscape of gaza. they are right. they don't have anywhere to go. how confident are you that israel is taking account for civilian casualties and trying to minimize the? >> it is difficult to what the israelis have been saying to reach that conclusion. the israelis have pointed out an area in gaza that apparently is open space where they have suggested that the gaza refugees from the north and perhaps now from the south set up tent villages to shelter in. no one that i have heard believes that is an adequate answer to the question of the high rate of civilian casualties and deep concern on their part that the israeli bombardments are pretty much going ahead wherever the israelis believe they have some justification to hit the. this, of course, does not in any way at all reconfirmed to the international community through the press or otherwise that there is information that leads on to believe that these are the kinds of targets that ought to be under these circumstances in the 15,000 casualties that have already been reported to have resulted from the bombardment are a clear indication that, obviously, whatever the care is being taken, it is having a significant impact on the civilian population, even if one does attempt to discount some of the figures as being reported by hamas dominated elements in the gaza government. >> john kirby, the biden administration, the president, the vice president -- at this point, they are all asking, pleading with the idf, the prime minister bibi netanyahu to practice restraint. the question is, are they doing that? if not, in your estimation, what more needs to be done at this point to make sure they do? >> yasmin, that's a very good question. what we can see is that, over the last three weeks with the kinds of pictures that you are showing now, the utter desolation of the damage that has been caused in gaza both in north and south gaza, it is difficult to calculate how and in what way steps have been taken to spare a high rate of civilian casualties. as a result, we are in a situation where we have to depend upon what we see more than what other people tell us they have done as to what is going on. this leaves, i think, the international community certainly pretty much in the situation of saying there do seem to still be higher rates of civil casualties in the region despite the explanations which have been offered. that is reinforced by the fact that president biden, john kirby, and others have been engaged in a reported effort with the israelis to seek to find all possible ways to reduce civilian casualties. we are looking right now at pictures of people being put in an ambulance which would seem in one way or another to indicate that those casualties are hamas fighters or civilians. i don't find it easy to tell. >> i want to ask you about russia while i have you, amba. the washington post wrote a fantastic piece about the positioning, the stance of vl putin indicated by the release of russian hostages ier on this week, saying this -- special treatment for t adopted russians is a new maniion of the growing alignment between the kremlin and hamas. president putin seeks to present himself and the lationship as a leader and champion of new multi polar world order and the palestinian militia tint group gets a veneer of legitimacy at a time when manycountries have branded it as a terrorist organization. what do you make of this analysis? >> i think that the analysis is something of a stretch right now. it is quite clear that two or three things have happened. the war in the middle east is obscured reporting on the ukraine russia war. secondly, president putin has been for years and engaging in trying to increase russia's influence in the middle east, beginning with a major effort several years ago in syria which we have all followed very, very closely. it's not a new manifestation of a new russian policy, it's a continuation of one that they had pursued for a long time. going back in history, i can remember back in 1973 and 1974 around the time of the yom kippur war there was clearly a great deal of russian interest in having a general middle east peace conference in geneva. one was later held. it was very short. doctor kissinger who we have been following very carefully in recent days in terms of his obituary, he made it very clear to those of us who were working with him at the time that a short position for russia in the middle east peace process could be helpful as long as it did not allow them to become a serious spoiler of the efforts to try to bring about that settlement. that was part of his strategy. i think it was a wise strategy at the time. at the current time, i think the u.s. has an important influence to play in the middle east just as it does in ukraine. this is perhaps because of decline in u.s. influence or at least the acceptance of reports of that. we could do with a few more friends and some backup and support moving forward in that direction. hopefully, that will be something the president will want to consider carefully. >> ambassador thomas pickering, sir, thank you, appreciate it. coming up, everybody, and just 60 seconds, the george santos saga and congress is not quite over. he's vowing revenge. i'm going to speak to a screenwriter who watched as his fictional movie about a con man running for congress came to life. >> okay, so, i lied. i told a couple little fibs like where i went to high school and college in all of my jobs and how i am something called zhu-ish -- >> what does that mean? >> it means muslim. it seems to me that i live my life like an evil forrest gump. i'm the guy who lied even too -- even to -- -- oh, genius! for more breakthroughs like that- i need a breakthrough card. like ours! with 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more. plus unlimited 2% cash back on all other purchases. and with greater spending potential, sam can keep making smart ideas- a brilliant reality! the ink business premier card from chase for business. make more of what's yours. sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep... ...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand. and wakes up feeling like himself. get the rest to be your best with non-habit forming zzzquil. ♪ ♪ congress stuff is tough. the toughest job i ever had, and i was a nerve surgeon at nyu. plus i have the job of dad. >> i'm sorry, did you just pull a fake baby out of a piano? >> magic. okay, so i lied. so i told a couple little fibs like where i went to high school and college and all my jobs, and how i'm something called jewish. >> what does that mean? >> it means muslim. and it seems to me -- >> that was snl bidding farewell to george santos this week. it was just the latest act in a tumultuous year for the house. one hollywood movie from the early 1990s predict this santos drama early -- decades earlier. >> thomas jefferson johnson is no ordinary con man. >> take the money, take the watch, please. >> you know this goes against my -- >> this only one place for people like him. >> i wouldn't tell you about a town -- >> the streets are paved with goal. >> vegas? >> not las vegas? >> he's talking that washington, d.c.. >> i am running for congress. >> and now, thomas johnson con man is thomas johnson congressman. >> read my lips. >> joining me now, screenwriter of that film and distinguish gentleman marty kaplan. i need to rewatch, it i'm going to re-watch that film tonight and remember we're watching -- that makes me want to rewatch it having seen what is happening over the last week or year, really, with that. you wrote a really interesting ecfor politico magazine. i want to read a quote from it for folks. when i wrote the screenplay, i never imagined anyone could actually pull off a scam like that. but 30 years, almost of the day, after the movie opened, i saw the headline of a bombshell story in the new york times, who is rep elect george santos? his resume was largely a fiction. it was a -- the distinguished gentleman may not have been arts, but life was all in on imitating it. what do you make of these parallels between the film you wrote and what is happening now in congress? >> well, you knew what i'm working on now, if you know what's going to happen in 30 years, clearly. >> and what is, it tell us. >> we will bet money on it. >> i am astonished, delighted, appalled, all the things that any snl viewer might be by what's going on. i was furious that campaign expenditures and campaign money and the loopholes. this was in the late 80s and early 90s. the fact that they were all legal is what got me that you could go to congress and do everything that a small time, to get con man was doing. but in washington post, all that money was legal. there was a book at that point called legal graft, which kind of gives the idea. and if george santos had had eddie murphy showing him the ropes, you might well still be in office. >> it's interesting you say. that i want to read another portion of this piece in which you mention essentially santos could've pulled this off. had eddie murphy to show him the ropes, as you just said. george santos's grift could've been perfectly legal. instead of using the campaign debit part -- car to pay for, botox onlyfans, and -- d have whitewashed his expenditures by bending but not breaking the rules instead of charging his campaign for getaways to heroin caesars, atlantic city. santos could've cultivated a circle of billionaires who enjoyed his company, flew him to grant locales, and kept their largest on the down low. he didn't have the knowledge or wherewithal to pull off a scam i like this. >> he should've had a really expensive campaign finance lawyer on his staff. because all he needed was some guidance and things like dark money and super pacs and leadership packs and skate packs. people forget that state's also have packs. all that stuff is legal. and george santos might not even have been caught had he not had the disease of wanting to be famous. >> your movie ended a little bit differently than how santos's career has ended as a number of congress, in that eddie murphy essentially develops a conscience when he is confronted by constituent who has cancer, and he admits to his wrongdoing and his charlatan ways. you wrote in this piece, before, by the way, the expulsion vote, that you are hopeful that santos would do the same. he did not. surprise, surprise. and you think any lessons have been learned here? >> well, and the fact that he developed a conscience provoked for him, his golf, and a public interest lawyers said, don't tell me you are developing a conscience? he said, in no, it would be a nuisance in congress. when santos was expelled, members of congress delighted in exposing his background as a fraudster, which is exactly what happened in the climactic scene in the distinguished gentleman. the distinguished gentleman. he is revealed to be a crook. what i was hoping he would do is say, yeah, that is true. but here, everything that i would've been caught for at home is legit. and that is the piece that didn't happen. i don't think we've learned any lessons about campaign finance reform. we've probably learned that there are colorful people, not all of whom are former presidents. >> real quick, what are you working on now? >> i'm doing a piece about an anchor at a cable network who wins the lottery. >> really? [laughter] >> if you believe me, i have a george santos i would like to sell you. >> marty kaplan, bank, you appreciate it. we will be looking out. still ahead, everybody, congressman and oversight committee member raja krishnamoorthi joins me to talk about an impeachment vote on president biden that could come as early as this week, and about the drama and his committee after hunter biden turned the tables on the gop. plus, rather santas bash's former -- after the two may dueling campaign appearances in iowa. first, though, an inside look at concerning you reporting on the number of air traffic controllers coming to work under the influence of drugs and alcohol,. as shortages push them to the brink. we will be right back. >> there is not enough staffing. our controllers are tired, it's exhausting. it's a human element that they are not quickly enough fixing. whenever you're hungry, there's a deal on the subway app. buy one footlong, get one 50% off in the subway app today. now that's a deal worth celebrating. man, what are you doing?! get it before it's gone on the subway app. ♪♪ woman: who's that, who is that? cole: this is my puppy! woman: cancer. it's different in a child. because your child is still growing. charlie: i had 14 rounds of chemo. there's thousands and thousands of kids all over the world who need help. girl: it is my first time having cancer. and it's the very worst. spokesman: saint jude children's research hospital works day after day to find cures and save the lives of children with cancer and other life threatening diseases. woman: it's scary to watch your kid battle and fight for their lives. spokesman: 1 in 5 children diagnosed with cancer in the us will not survive. woman: childhood cancer is hard. it's a long road. you just have to give. you have to give someone that hope. and especially with them being so young. spokesman: please, call, go on line, or scan the qr code for only $19 a month. families never receive a bill from saint jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food, so they can focus on helping their child live. man: she grew up in this. so when we go to st. jude, she's happy, because that's her home. every time i take her to the doctor, she's excited because she gets to play. and that's all because of saint jude. spokesman: when you call or go online with your credit or debit card right now, we'll send you this saint jude t-shirt you can wear to show your support to help saint jude save the lives of these children. woman: [non-english speech] spokesman: let's cure childhood cancer together. in order for small businesses to thrive, they need to be smart, efficient, savvy. making the most of every opportun