Applause today, and why he may get a different reception this weekend. And body shaming, iq insults, lots of people shouting, were not talking about high school. How a hearing on capitol hill turned into complete chaos. Our nbc News Reporters are following the very latest developments for us, and were going to begin with that new lifeline for gaza, desperately needed aid has started flowing in thanks to a temporary pier built by the u. S. Nbcs Josh Lederman is joining us with the latest on that. Give me a sense of how important the pier is to the overall effort of getting humanitarian aid into gaza. Well, it is so critical, alex, especially after aid stopped flowing into gaza on land via The Rafah Crossing after israel took over the gazan side of the crossing with egypt earlier this month. The pentagon hopes to bring 90 trucks of aid in a day through the new sea route, and ultimately, potentially, increase that to about 150. Really, that is just a drop in the bucket when you think about the fact that before this war started, there were more than 500 trucks going into gaza every single day. And now with the entire gaza strip on the verge of famine, according to u. N. Officials. Now, aid groups have said consistently that driving trucks in by land is way more effective than anything that can be done using this new floating pier system. And its not frankly without danger for the u. S. The Biden Administration has been very clear there will not be any u. S. Boots on the ground inside gaza. They will remain on that floating pier a few miles off the coast and on these smaller vessels bringing that aid, the final stretch to the gaza shore. Defense secretary austin has acknowledged they could be within firing range and essentially be in harms way. We are seeing theres not any area of gaza that is safe at this point. You know, we have talked a lot about the fighting in and near rafah in the south. There has been renewed violence in the north as well, in jabalya, north of gaza city, where israeli tanks have been moved this this week, as part of a renewed Ground Offensive there. Alex, we have grim news today on the hostages. Israels military says it has recovered the bodies of three dead israeli hostages from gaza. All were in their 20s, all captured fleeing the nova music festivals. Their families preparing to bury them in israel. With the Hostage Release and cease fire talks essentially at a standstill at this moment, this is further dampening hopes that any more of those hostages, still believed to be around 100 may ever come back to israel alive, alex. The key thing you said, still believed to be around 100. Proof of life is hard to access. Josh lederman, thank you so much. Lets go to the deadly storms in houston that at one point left more than a Million People without power. You can see the evidence right there. Its thanks to Lightning Strikes like the ones you have seen there. Lets go to nbcs kathy park live in houston. What are you seeing there in the after math today, kathy . Reporter so, alex, the damage is widespread. It stretches from Downtown Houston all the way here into the suburbs behind me. This is a snapshot of what we are seeing specifically in this Community Block after block, these large, mature trees, that have toppled on to homes and even cars and you can probably hear the sound track that were hearing across houston, as well as the saws, the chain saws, people are cleaning up. And this is likely what well be seeing and hearing over the next couple of days. Fortunately, in this neighborhood, where were standing, there are no fatalities or injuries, we know across the greater houston area. Fatalities linked to the storm. Alex, we should point out, the wind gusts were so extreme, anywhere between 70 and 100 Miles Per Hour wind gusts. One resident says she was riding out the storm. Take a listen. It sounds like a Freight Train is just going over, you know, the roof. This is awful. Its so devastating. Its just really sad. The nice thing is, you know, were very close with our neighbors. We have each other. Reporter and, alex, houstonians are in recovery mode right now, and the biggest headline in addition to all the debris that people have to pick up over the next couple of days, the power outage. Right now, its 700,000 customers without power and a lot of Traffic Lights. We have been driving around houston, a lot of those Traffic Lights are down. The mayor is encouraging people to stay home today, especially if youre a nonessential worker. Adding insult to injury, the temperature is expected to climb over the next couple of days. Theyre hoping to restore power quickly. The mayor says it could take 24 to 48 hours. Thats an unpleasant forecast for sure, and terrible things they have had to go through in the last 24 hours. Kathy park, thank you so much from houston. President biden is holding backtoback events speaking directly to black voters who could be critical to his reelection. Brown versus board of education, and the big commencement at the hbcu morehouse college. What can you tell us . The president playing off the crowd in this speech earlier today. He also used it to talk about the work he says hes done for Black Americans since taking office. He talked about his efforts to cancel student debt relief, how historic the diversity has been within his administration, as well as the historic investments the white house has made into historically black colleges and universities. Listen to his comments on that. I got more morehouse men in my administration than morehouse, regardless of loyalties, its clear, hbcus are vital to our nations progress. 80 of all black judges, by the way, i put more on the bench than anybody has. And 100 of black president s. Alex, as you heard the president , weaving in a mention of the Commencement Speech hes set to deliver at morehouse college. And of course that has been the subject of a lot of controversy as these Campus Protests continue nationwide and protests to the president s handling of the israelhamas war, and the white house has been aware of that. They have been trying to settle the tensions at that college before the president visits there. The president earlier this week, sending steve benjamin, the leader of the White House Office of Public Engagement to talk with students and faculty. We do still expect the Campus Protests to be prevalent this weekend. The white house when asked says the president respects the rght to free speech and would consider the event to a success as long as the protests do not turn out to be disruptful. There will be a lot of security, and im sure morehouse will as well. Lets go now to a hearing on capitol hill that was derailed for nearly an hour by nasty personal insults. Ali vitali is at the capitol with the displeasure of having to cover this story. It was really something. This all started as a hearing about Holding Attorney general Merrick Garland in contempt. And then things just went down fast, what happened. Reporter actually the correct professional term, i was going to say bonkers. This Congress Tops itself when you look at the antics we have seen in some of these more political hearings. This was one of them. We watched the Judiciary Committee earlier in the afternoon be able to pass these articles of contempt basically with just political posturing. Instead last night, the hearing quickly started to sound like this. Watch. Point of order. You the one talking about i think your fake eyelashes are messing up hold on, hold on. Order. I do have a point of order, and i would move to take down ms. Greenes words. That is absolutely unacceptable, how dare you attack the physical appearance of another person. Are your feelings hurt . Move her words down. Baby girl. Dont even play. Baby girl, i dont think so. Were going to move and were going to take your words down. I second that motion. Reporter yikes, i think maybe another professional term when you listen to that. The speaker was asked about the decorum we saw in the hearing and he said that both Leadership Teams need to take a look at their members and remind them that there is decorum thats supposed to be enforced here. There are words against this. When you heard strike from the record, thats one way to do it. And listen to the congressman in conversations about her fake eyelashes, something she said in response to get the chairman james comer to enforce some semblance of the rules, listen. Im just curious, just to better understand your ruling if someone on this committee starts talking about somebodys bleach blond bad built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct . A what now . And again, there was congresswoman crockett, trying to in her own way, insulting the congresswoman who had insulted here, trying to get some rules being enforced that the ways lawmakers are supposed to be able to talk to each other in these kinds of hearings. It was a mess, ultimately, alex, they did the thing they went there to do, they voted the Contempt Resolution out of this body and theres on open question about whether or not it will go to the full house floor. The headline wasnt about Attorney General garland, instead, it was about the way the lawmakers were talking to each other. I mean its just ridiculous. I want to record that sound and make it my ring tone. Ill talk to you after the show. Anything for you my friend. We have this Breaking News on a serious note, the man accused in a frightening Hammer Attack on paul pelosi was just sentenced to 30 years in prison. Nbcs Steve Patterson is reporting on this for us. Steve, how does this sentence compare with what the prosecutors had hoped to get and then what happens next. Reporter its a compromise between what the sentencing guidelines were as set by the probation department, detailed by the guidelines of the trial, 25 years. Prosecutors were trying to put a Terrorism Enhancement on tom of that which would have made it 40 years. Now were in the 30year range. Were hearing from prosecutors who say the sentence reflects David Depapes lack of remorse and contrition for violently assaulting mr. Pelosi. This was meant to show a show of force. You cant assault a public official and get away with it and not face the consequences, that is what prosecutors wanted to do. We know this is sort of a middle ground between what was recommended and what actually happened. Prosecutors were essentially adding a Terrorism Enhancement only top of this, not only did david depape knowingly assault paul pelosi in trying to kidnap nancy pelosi, that was done in interference with a public official conducting duties. Not only that, but because he did that and did serious things in materials, he was targeting the leader of the pack, so to speak, and he was also interfering with the inner workings of the federal government, essentially attacking democracy itself. So again, we have this compromise here. This runs concurrent. You have to remember this, with State Charges as well. Hes facing five, which would be life in prison. Hell do time served. Those charges will run concurrently with the 30year sentence. Hes going to go to jail away for a long time. And in fact, potentially for the rest of his life. Thank you so much, Steve Patterson for the latest on the Breaking News. In 90 seconds, the man coming forward claiming Michael Cohen is lying about the payment, could he testify for the defense at Donald Trumps trial . Stify for the defense at Donald Trumps trial . But with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. For one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. One pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. New projects means new project managers. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. When you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. Visit indeed. Com hire and get started today. You know whats brilliant . Boring. Think about it. Boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. What straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space . Boring does. 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Judge merchan delayed his decision, Drawing Criticism from the former president before then granting the request. In the meantime, it is still unclear, who if anyone trumps defense team might call to the stand, once Michael Cohens crossexamination wraps up. One person who says hes more than willing to testify is robert costello, cohens former Legal Adviser whose name came up no less than 40 times during his testimony this week. Lets bring in two people who attended trumps trial this week. Tim obrien, Senior Executive editor of bloomberg opinion, and msnbc legal correspondent, lisa rubin, whos here with me in the studio. Welcome to you both. So lets start with robert costello, lisa, who is he . What is his role in this story . What has the jury learned about him so far . Robert costello is a deputy chief of the Federal District of new york. He is known for representing Rudy Giuliani and for representing steve bannon. Both of whom owe him a bunch of money. In fact, in Rudy Giulianis bankruptcy papers, one of his largest creditors, aside from ruby freeman and shaye moss is Robert Costellos law firm. In the context of this case. Robert costello was introduced to Michael Cohen by a mutual friend and law partner, jeff si tron, and he wanted to represent Michael Cohen when it became clear Michael Cohen was in criminal jeopardy. Bob costello says and told a House Committee yesterday that Michael Cohen repeatedly denied that he had anything on donald trump, and that he has manufactured this story. Thats not the way i understand it based on the documents that weve seen and we can get into why. Robert costello ultimately wasnt seen as a credible witness by the grand jury, by the manhattan d. A. s office, and why ultimately, i dont think the defense will call him here. We did get a sense of what he could potentially say, and to your point, basically dismantling everything the prosecution has tried to put forth in this case. Lets take a listen to what he said. This is a version of things starting with the moment cohen learned about the Stormy Daniels allegation. Lets play that and see what he said. Michael cohen said i didnt believe the allegation, but i knew that such an allegation would be terribly embarrassing. He said, it would be embarrassing. He focused on melania trump. He said, i didnt want to embarrass melania trump. He said, thats why i decided to take care of this on my own. I went back to that several times. You did this on your own. On my own. Did donald trump have anything to do with it . No. Did you get the money from donald trump . No. From any of his organizations . No. From anybody connected to donald trump . No. Does that sound credible . Is he credible . No. Michael cohen knew from the outset that he was advertising himself to Michael Cohen as Rudy Giulianis best friend, and Michael Cohen had reason to be suspicious. From the first time he met bob costello, he thought the guy was off. Michael cohen hadnt decided to cooperate yet. He was several months away from that decision. So it doesnt surprise me that in their initial meetings in particular that Michael Cohen told bob costello a version of events thats not consistent with that which he ultimately pled to and that which he has testified to in this case. The other thing i want to point out to you and our viewers. I re