sustained attack on shipping vessels by iran-backed houthi rebels in yemen. more worrisome right now is whether the u.s. destroyer itself was a target. the defense department says it does not believe so, but it is not ruling it out. former cia director john brennan is here to walk us through what the u.s. can do and what iran is trying to do. the region could be just a few missteps away from a catastrophe. since october 7th, the u.s. has brought down missiles and drones believed to be headed toward israel and american troops have been seriously injured in syria and iraq from repeated rocket and drone attacks. 76 attacks on american forces and installations in just seven weeks. a major uptick in hostilities. and now that the cease fire has ended and the idf moves into southern gaza, the question is do those provocations get even worse? here's courtney kube with the reporting from the pentagon. >> reporter: houthi rebels made good on their threat to attack commercial ships launching attacks against at least three ships in the red sea over the weekend. now, in each case, they launched anti-ship ballistic missiles striking the ships but not causing any damage or leading to any injuries among the crew. now, the uss carney a u.s. military warship was in the region at the time, and it responded to each of the three ships' distress calls, and in each case, katy, as the carney moved in, the houthi rebels fired off one-way attack drones in the direction of the carney. it's important to point out defense official says they have no indication or evidence that those drones were directly targeting the carney. but because of the way they were moving in, the speed, the trajectory, as a matter of self-defense, the ship shot down each of those three drones. now, this is another step in the case of the houthi rebels being with this increasingly aggressive behavior that frankly has really stepped up since october 7th. we've seen houthis launch off a number of attack drones, fire ballistic missiles towards southern israel, and then of course they have now had several cases where they've gone after commercial ships in the red sea. now, the question here that we have been asking officials here at the pentagon is will the u.s. military respond. is there anything the u.s. military can do to try to deter these sorts of attacks continuing? defense officials here say they are not ruling anything out, but they won't talk about any potential plans that they would have to respond. >> joining us now is former cia director and nbc news senior national security and intelligence analyst, john brennan, as promised. good to have you. let me ask about these provocations. more than 70 in just the past seven weeks. we're seeing a number of drones. how worrisome is it to see this sort of action in that region right now? >> well, katy, it is very worrisome, particularly as you point out, there's a cadence of the attacks over the past seven weeks, and the houthis have a fair amount of capability in terms of using it against maritime shipping in the red sea. the houthis control basically all of northern yemen and there's a coastline, about 1,300 rrow straits that all trafficthe has to go through in the base of the red sea is about 18 mile wide. the houthis have capabilities, as far as lethal drones, anti-ship missiles,hey ve remotely piloted patrol craft that they can fill with osiv devices and so i think what the united states is going to do is look at how they can augment u.s. naval capabilities in the area, given that the transiting of the area is so important to international shipping and to u.s. vessels as well. >> the shipping portion of it, and the economics of it, i'm going to leave that aside for the moment. i want to ask you about iran. what is iran trying to do? the houthi rebels are backed bring iran. >> they're part of the axis of resistance. they're being provided different types of capabilities in terms of capabilities to use against aircraft, to use against shipping. the iranians have supported them with different types of munitions over the years. they give them money and finances, and so the houthis, as well as hezbollah are proxies of iran, and iran can turn up the heat on the u.s., using these groups, and therefore with these continues cure ration of the situation in gaza, i can see them utilizing the houthis as a way to put additional pressure on not just israel but israel's national supporters. >> does iran want to draw the united states into the confrontation, into what's going on in israel? does it want to draw the united states into a confrontation with itself? >> i think this point over the last seven weeks, i ran has been cautious not to lead the conflict into an spiral. they can use these groups to continue to show support for hamas and to try to get to have the united states pay a price for its continues support for israel, so this is something that i think iran is going to continue to calibrate in the coming days and week if there's going to be one of these houthi strikes that does find its mark and leads to fatalities, that can lead to this escalation that i think a lot of people in the region are concerned about. >> the capability of the houthi rebels, it's increased over the years. what's your united nationsing of -- understanding? they're controlling them to a degree now. are they going to remain within iran's control? >> i think a lot of these groups have their own mindset as well in terms of what they do. i think iran has a lot of influence with the houthis and can, in fact, tell the houthis to step up attacks or scale them back. again, iran sees that these groups or proxies allow iran to demonstrate capabilities in the region without getting directly involved and so that's why they have been able to provide a lot of support to the houthis, as well as hezbollah and hamas over the years. they have the capabilities because of iranian support over the course of decades, which is what has happened in the region. >> is there an opening to look at the iranian nuclear deal again? is that a way? i mean, is this all having to do with iran feeling choked out because of what happened with the $17 billion that was unfrozen? i mean, is there a way for the u.s. and iran to come to a detente in this arena? >> unfortunately with the tensions very high in the region, i think it's very unlikely there's going to be meaningful progress to a detente with the united states and iran over these matters. iran continues to look at the situation in gaza as being an opportunity for it to be able to support the various groups that it has aligned itself with over the years. so i do not think at this point, and particularly with the u.s. presidential election coming up next year, it's unlikely that it's going to be any progress towards trying to improve relations between the united states and iran. the best we can hope for is there not to be an escalation in the tensions that could lead to greater conflict in the region. i want to ask you about what you're seeing in the southern portion of gaza. the idf has stepped up its operations down there. the north of gaza is almost entirely demolished. what are you looking at? what are you thinking about as the idf moves south? is it a good idea a bad idea, where's your head? >> i think israel has an impossible dilemma, keeping the civilian casualties to a minimum. at least from the footage in the reporting that's coming out, the restart of this offensive, i think, is leading many to believe that israel is not upholding its obligations under international law, specifically the international laws of war to ensure there's going to be proportionality and distinction in carrying out these types of military strikes. but the displacement of basically 90% of the palestinian population in gaza, and the continued destruction of gaza, infrastructure, hospitals, other things, and the mounting toll of casualties, i think is going to lead to increased criticism, including from inside the united states, that israel is going overboard as far as the punishment that it is exacting on gaza in recent days. >> john brennan, thank you for joining us as always. we appreciate your insight and expertise. >> thanks, katy. he is not going quietly, what ousted republican congressman george santos is threatening to do as pay back to his former colleagues. first, though, a high profile bankruptcy, billions of dollars, and civil immunity for one of america's richest families. what the supreme court signalled today about approving an opioid epidemic settlement deal for the maker of oxycontin. i'll talk to the first national reporter to investigate the drug when we are back in 60 seconds. s still fresh. ♪♪ get 6x longer-lasting freshness, plus odor protection. try for under $5! what was it like before viasat satellite internet? 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(we did it) start today at godaddy.com people think that there's a misconception that the people who are victims of the sacklers support what the bankruptcy court through a shopped for judge in white plains, new york, judge strain, what they got out of that bankruptcy, and in the meantime, the sacklers have hidden millions of dollars. they are criminals. they were on the board, the family is responsible criminally, you know, they need to pay for what they did. >> purdue pharma's bankruptcy settlement is now in front of the supreme court as the justices weigh whether to throw it out. the company first filed for bankruptcy in 2018, after states, local governments, native american tribes and individual victims filed lawsuits against the company seeking damages over its manufacturing and distribution of oxycontin. at the same time, the sackler family negotiated a settlement that would shield them from personal civil liability. it's that separate agreement at the center of the case before the supreme court. the justice department asked the supreme court to intervene after an appeals court upheld the settlement. the government argues this deal violates federal law by issuing legal immunity for the sacklers themselves even though the family did not file for bankruptcy. joining us now is barry meyer, the author of "painkiller, an empire of deceit and the origins of america's opioid epidemic." barry, it's good to have you. so purdue pharma is one thing. they filed for bankruptcy after all of these lawsuits. it's a multibillion dollar settlement. the family behind purdue pharma, the sacklers, why would they be roped into this? why would they not have immunity from liability? >> well, they're not being roped into it. this is a mechanism of the sackler family's construction. they decided that the best way to deal with their potential liability was essentially to coat tale on to the bankruptcy proceeding involving purdue pharma, the manager of oxycontin, and that's what makes this so controversial. you have this family who didn't declare bankruptcy use the bankruptcy process to get the same type of liability shield that one would if you went through bankruptcy. >> remind us why victims, local governments, the doj would want the sackler family held for the deaths, the lives ruined. >> there's a lot of people who want to see justice here. they want to know what did the sacklers know. when this drug was being illegally promoted by purdue farm pharma, to what degree were the sacklers aware of this. what they have done for the past 20 years, since i have been covering the story, they have evaded answering that question. they have never had their day in court. they have argued that we never did anything wrong, but the fact of the matter is that there's never been an adjudication of what they knew and when they knew it. >> in your reporting of the sackler family, what did they know, what did they do regarding oxycontin? >> it's not so much my reporting, it's the investigation that the justice department did that was suppressed for a decade when the justice department settled this case in 2007, and when some of their evidence came to light a decade later, it showed that at least in the view of the prosecutors in this case, that the top executives of purdue pharma and perhaps the sacklers themselves knew that this drug was being abused from the minute it hit the market. >> why would those family members of the victims call the sacklers criminals? >> in their mind, they believe they're responsible, that they knew. that's their opinion. that hasn't been determined by a court. you talk to the sacklers, they said we never did anything wrong. we're innocent. you've destroyed our names, our reputation. our names are being ripped down from museums. but there's one easy way for the sacklers to prove their innocence, should they choose to do, so and that's to have their day in court. >> does it look like that might happen from the arguments? >> i doubt it. >> barry meyer, thank you very much for joining us, author of "painkiller, an empire of deceit and the origin of america's opioid epidemic,". >> let's bring in barbara mcquade about the arguments we're hearing. when you listen to the supreme court, what's your sense of where the justices are going to fall? >> you know, it's not really clear. i think that they expressed conflicting concerns here. on the one hand, it's not really the court's job to decide whether this is or isn't a good deal for the parties involved. it's whether they violated the bankruptcy laws. it's the biden administration challenging the settlement on the theory that we just heard that the sackler family has constructed an out for themselves, and there are other people who are involved here, who are very happy to take the $6 billion that purdue pharma is putting up that's going to go to cities, municipalities, and other victims. we saw some judges arguing in favor, like justice kavanaugh thought this was similar to other bankruptcy cases, and neil gorsuch thought this would violate due process for future victims. >> what's the next move? >> we're back to square one. the case could go to bankruptcy trial. if that were the case, all of the other issues are still fair game. if somebody wanted to sue the individual sackler members individually, they could do that. it seems to me in these kind of massive tort type of cases, there usually is a resolution. if this were thrown out, we would start over from the drawing board. there's people that want to see that happen. they want their eye for an eye from the sackler families. others say $6 billion is a lot of money, and we can do a lot of good with that in terms of providing treatment for people already addicted to painkillers, and prevention in the future. so not a clear answer here as to what's in the best interest of justice. >> do you have a sense of how the sackler family itself, they claim they're innocent and shouldn't be roped into this, tied into this, how they might argue in their defense if they were forced to? >> yes, i think what they would argue is lack of knowledge and intent. and so, you know, in these kinds of cases, you would have to show that they knew that the drug had an addictive property and they continued to sell it anyway, and they essentially were defrauding the public by saying that it was not an addictive drug. early studies of oxycontin said that it was not addictive. but the studies were based on very small set of people who were in the hospital after having medical procedures. not the public at large. and so at some point, the public became acutely aware of how dangerous oxycontin was and its addictive properties. whether that can be attributed directly to the sackler family and at what point would be the issue that would be a question at trial. >> barbara mcquade, thank you, and up next, a u.s. senior military official tells nbc news he's taken aback by the ferocity of israel's renewed military offensive. i'll take to an idf spokesperson about their push into gaza and the humanitarian corridor they say constitutes a battlefield. t. he hits his mark —center stage—and is crushed by a baby grand piano. you're replacing me? 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