his enemy is apathy. he needs to get people to get out and vote. >> great to have the opportunity to speak with you. thank you for your time. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can reach me on social media and watch clips from the show on youtube. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," former president trump lashing out again at the judge overseeing his new york hush money trial, as stormy daniels will be on the stand for more cross-examination tomorrow. the federal judge in charge of the trump classified documents case in florida, who critics say has been foot dragging for months, postpones that trial indefinitely. new strikes in rafah. the white house delays shipping massive bombs to israel as the cia director meets today with

prime minister netanyahu, trying to close a hostage deal. while the trump trial dominates the headlines, president biden is campaigning in wisconsin today. jen psaki joins me with her inside look. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. president biden is set to speak later this hour in the critical state of wisconsin after his major speech tuesday condemning the rise of anti-semitism across the nation. former president trump is at mar-a-lago today while his hush money trial is in a one-da break. on tuesday, the judge denying a request for a mistrial. this is the kind of testimony that makes it impossible to come

back from said the defense. the judge said some the details were bet he left unsaid but denying the mistrial request and pinning part of the responsibility on trump's defense team, saying that he was surprised that his lawyers did not object more during the testimony. at one point even the judge stepped in when the defense failed to do so. judge merchan calling a sidebar calling trump's behavior contemptuous. could the cursing of donald trump during daniels' testimony be seen as a violation of the gag order? >> it's not the issue of the gag order. it's an issue in the courtroom of maintaining courtroom

decorum. you can't be acting like that as a criminal defendant in the middle of the trial. it's intimidating to the jury. it can be intimidating to the witness. the judge would have real grounds to hold him in context if he continued to act like this in the middle of the trial while the jury is present. >> at one point judge merchan interjected when the defense failed to object. could that be part of the defense strategy, hoping for a mistrial or opening a door to reversal on appeal? the harvey weinstein reversal comes to mind. it was the supreme court in new york with that same lower court being reversed. >> certainly, a mistrial is a victory for trump and for his legal team. it's an embarrassment to any lawyer when a judge makes an objection for you. the judge is making a record by telling trump's defense team,

you are not objecting often enough. by putting on the record his objection, he is proving to any future appellate court, i had to step in, the defense attorneys could have stepped in. for the prosecution, this was a witness that had its own inherent risks. the prosecution to push as far as they did here means the prosecution was balancing the benefit that they hope to receive from some of these details and balancing the risk that, in fact, they might raise the ire of the judge. you don't want the judge unhappy with you or with your case. >> the defense had daniels admit, she hates trump. what are you watching for in the cross-examination tomorrow? it was rough yesterday afternoon. was that admission problematic for the prosecution? >> i think the prosecution is putting daniels on the stand for

a very limited point, which is to corroborate the encounter actually happened, something which trump has consistently denied. the defense has to, to cross-examine her, find 18 holes to poke in this story, which there's nothing they can refute, so they need to cross-examine around it, to find 18 other places where they can highlight inconsistent past statements, problems in her story over time, where they can undercut her as a witness and come back later in closing and say, she's a liar. they can come back later in closing, this is their goal, and say, she's making up stories. that's an important point not only for her but for every witness, that they need to poke holes in their stories. >> thanks so much. paul, stay with us, in florida john cannon suspending the classified documents trial indefinitely. that delay, a major win for donald trump, likely pushing the trial past the election or even

beyond. joining us now is ken dilanian. ken, the trial was supposed to begin two weeks from now. not only did she move the date, she postponed it indefinitely. she's been, as i said, accused of foot dragging. now many critics, including a lot of our lawyer contributors, are saying that this is just really -- andrew weissmann saying this is terrible judicial action on all of the pre-trial actions. a fairly simple case, keeping classified documents, denying it to the fbi. there's a search. hiding things during a search. witnesses to the hiding the alleged obstruction, all of this about pre-trial motions being so complicated, is unnecessary

delay. >> that's a rationale. we can't have a trial. not only did she suspend the trial date, she set five separate hearings on these various motions, some of which many legal experts say, you don't need to have a hearing on that. you will burn a day of court time? that's exactly what's happening. the issue is, for those who say, this shows she's unfair, can't they get her to be recused? what she's saying is i need more time to hear the evidence. that's a plausible explanation but legal experts say it doesn't hold water. >> in fact, paul, let's talk about the fact that some of the motions have to do with jury instruction, before she's even convened a jury. that's what pushes it over the edge. i was watching some of your

colleagues saying it's hard to go with a mandamus appeal to the 11th circuit. the justice department doesn't like to do that because it could poison the well for future prosecutions. jack smith doesn't have an option of getting another judge assigned. >> all of the missteps that judge cannon has made, for all of the continual delays, for all of the gifts she's giving the trump team because delay is a victory, those really aren't sufficient pieces of evidence or information that the prosecution would need in a federal case to remove a judge. you need to show something closer to actual bias. here that is yet to be shown. there's a great deal of justified reason for frustration on the jack smith team and on the government team, but not yet the kind of information they need to remove judge cannon from this case. because of judge cannon's continual refusal to set a date

and a time that will make this trial or cause this trial to take place soon, it seems almost inevitable that this case isn't going to take place until after november elections. >> paul, this is a case that most people felt was the most open and shut case and perhaps one of the most important for a candidate who could be the next president. i want to ask you about a delay in another trump case, the georgia court of appeals agreed to hear mr. trump's appeal on a lower court decision not to disqualify d.a. willis. if it takes weeks to decide this, it would further delay the start of the georgia case. >> this decision to accept this appeal falls into the no surprises category. the trial court judge knew it would come. he also said, i'm going to keep control of this trial.

i'm going to keep control of the motions. these issues are going to continue to be decided by me. we will continue to move forward. what this does show though is that all that happened with willis and her associate, the other prosecutor on the case, has caused a distraction and has given fodder to the trump team to cause distractions and to take away from the momentum that this prosecution had so very early on and so well deserved early on. i think this trial will continue to move forward, but it's an unfortunate piece of information for the trial team and for the prosecutors. >> ken dilanian and paul charlton, all things legal and intelligence related. the critical moment. cease-fire and hostage talks inching forward. could the deal be threatened by israel's operations in rafah? we will be right back.

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officials are frustrated with the biden administration's decision to withhold ammunition. william burns is in israel consulting netanyahu on cease-fire talks underway in cairo. u.s. officials say they are narrowing differences. joining me, raf sanchez. i understand you have seen more than i in the days after october 7. what did you see today? are the survivors there hoping those negotiations continue? a deal could bring home more hostages. >> reporter: absolutely, andrea. as you know, a mile from the gaza border, it was home to 400

people. around one in four of them were either murdered or kidnapped on october 7th. there are still 36 hostages from there who are being held inside of gaza right now. perhaps more than any other community, it's a lace that's absolutely praying for a breakthrough. we spoke earlier to a woman who say nurse. she was kidnapped on october 7th from her home. she spent 55 days in captivity. she was released in the first cease-fire deal. one of the points she made was that not a single israeli bullet was fired on october 7th. the army did not show up during the hamas attack. she feels strongly that the government now has an obligation to bring those people home. take a listen. >> the army never came here. people were left here for hours

until late in the afternoon until the army came. by the time that the army came, there was no one here. no terrorist. they all left. they did whatever they want. we were abandoned by our own government. that government has the obligation to our citizens. >> reporter: her father was killed on october 7th. his body is still in gaza. it's one of the bargaining ch s hamas is using. the cia director updating the israeli government about the negotiations. publically, israel is playing down any tension with the u.s. over these 2,000-pound bombs being withheld. privately, an israeli official tells me there's deep frustration with the decision. >> thank you so much. for more on this, former

israeli ambassador to the united states, michael orin and ben rhodes, former national security advisor to president obama. let me drill down on that, the frustration israel is feeling, according to all of my reporting and raf's as well about the withholding of the weapons right now, because of concern about the impact in rafah and the possibility of civilian deaths there, dissatisfaction by the u.s. with the plan for sheltering all of those people before operations started. >> good to be with you. there's frustration. it's not without precedent. president obama withheld certain forms of ammunition during the two team battles with hamas. under the claim there were too many civilians being killed. this is a wider, much more all encompassing delay in the shipment of essential munitions. the frustration stems for the

return of the obama precedent on a grander scale and the message it sends about america's willingness, ability to stand with israel against those enemies. it's a message throughout the world. the president has made it clear that while it does oppose a wholesale incursion into rafah, it would not necessarily oppose surgical strikes. the israeli maneuvers in rafah are more closely resembling a surgical strike than an all-out incursion. it's just around the border areas of the border between egypt and gaza and along the coastal area with an attempt to move civilians away from the combat zones. moreover, you mentioned this

crossing, that israel reopened the crossing at the request of president biden. that was a very tough decision. we had four soldiers killed earlier this week by hamas shelling. the shells were fired from within rafah. that was reminiscent of october, the horrors of october 7th and israelis killed within israel by hamas artillery. to reopen it was not easy. the fact that aid has not gone through that crossing so far is probably due to the fact that drivers won't drive through it because the area is under hamas shelling. it was at late as yesterday evening. i'm not sure i would drive a truck through that crossing as well. tremendous disappointment and i guess head scratching. how does the biden administration expect israel to regain, to release the hostages, those who are alive, without maintaining significant military pressure on hamas? clearly, hamas has rejected the

very generous offer as described by secretary of state blinken that israel made for hostage release. a very generous and controversial offer within israel. barring any hamas willingness to negotiate, a serious effort, israel has no choice but to maintain military pressure on hamas. hopefully, it will release hostages as it did twice in november. >> let me follow up and then bring in ben rhodes. hostage families -- i have been talking to them. i was there last week when they were talking to secretary blinken outside the hotel. they want the hostages to be the top priority, not getting the last battalions in rafah. you have the cia director in israel today talking to the prime minister. we are told that these talks are very close. what's emerged in the last couple of days is a narrowing of differences. is there a point of view of put the hostages first, agree to it, then worry about going back into

rafah or whatever else has to be renegotiated, ironed out after those people are alive and home? >> i'm not a spokesman for the government. i'm speaking as a citizen. my position reflects those of a majority of israelis. we are putting the hostages first at this stage. israel is willing to go the extra ten miles to get those hostages back. israel agreed to in return for the release of 33 hostages, going from 40 because we understood there were no 40 hostages that were alive, that met the criteria of being aged or infirm or women, there weren't that many that were left alive in hamas captivity, going down to 33, willing to agree to a 40-day cease-fire with the possibility of renewing that cease-fire should further hostages be released. also, releasing from our prisons a great number of palestinian -- convicted palestinian terror i haves, many with blood on their

hands which is traumatic for the israeli families, the victims of the terrorists, to explain why their loved ones aren't going home, but these terrorists will go home to a here rose's welcome is not easy. hamas comes back with an agreement that says, israel has to say it lost the war, withdraw entirely from gaza and in which case all the soldiers have given their lives, thousands wounded have done in vain. you get a handful of terrorists and hamas can emerge -- a handful of hostages, excuse me, hamas can reclaim over gaza, rearm, regroup and mount the next assault, which hamas leaders say quite openly, 10,000 times until israel is destroyed. the final cherry on the top, we are talking about nearly 1,000 very dangerous criminals released from israeli jails. leaders released to the west bank. you could at that point kiss the palestinian authority good-bye.

i can't see where these two positions are getting closer. i hope you are right. i don't see it. >> there's a lot to unpack there. ben rhodes, jump in here. your reaction to the u.s. halting the shipment of the weapons, including 2,000-pound bunker buster bombs. >> i don't think it should come as a surprise. i think for the last several months, president biden and the biden administration have made clear their concerns and if not outright opposition to a large-scale israeli military operation in rafah. given the fact that you have well over a million palestinians there, many of whom are civilians. yes, there's some hamas, but an enormous amount, over 600,000 children, given the near famine-like conditions that are prevailing and the reality that if you have a significant military operation that includes narrow bombardment, ground incursions, that you would have an enormous loss of civilian life.

this has been building for some time, because i think what the administration has been looking for is a different plan. they sent different officials to israel to consult about what are the precautions taken? aid get in. i'm not privy to the conversations like the ambassador. it's pretty clear that those consultations have not satisfied the concerns of the administration. this is not coming out of nowhere at all. i think we have all known that the potential for rafah military operations was the potential breaking point in terms of military assistance. the administration has been transparent about that. i think this is them sending a message that if rafah goes forward in the way that it has been briefed to american officials, that the biden administration is not comfortable providing the weapons, particularly 2,000-pound bombs which are by definition indiscriminate, they are not comfortable going

forward with those deliveries. everybody's preferred option is for there to be some kind of deal around a hostage release and a cease-fire for 40 days and see if you can build upon that for additional releases and diplomacy. there's a race against the clock here. can that deal get done? does the rafah operation move forward in a way that would foreclose that from happen sng does hamas pull out of the talks? they are a part of this as well. i think where i agree is that it does feel -- we can hope for that and it's possible. i think it's going to be difficult to get that done. >> we will leave it there because we will hear shortly from a prominent american hostage family about their son. let me leave it there. the two of you have set up the debate we are hearing and i'm sure is happening within two governments right now.

thanks to both of you. the race for the white house. jen psaki is here to discuss the campaign and her experiences in her new book out this week. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. tchia mitchell reports" on msnbc (psst! psst!) ahhh! with flonase, allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily gives you long lasting non-drowsy relief. flonase all good. also, try our allergy headache and nighttime pills. (vo) if you have graves' disease... flonase all good. ...gritty eyes could be more than a rough patch.

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president biden is in wisconsin this hour. his fourth visit this year to a state he barely won in 2020 as

the biden campaign is trying to draw sharp contrasts with the president campaigning while donald trump, six months ahead of the election, is sitting in a courtroom. condemning the surge of anti-semitism on capitol hill after weeks of campus protests and criticism from democrats over his support for israel. donald trump was in court, as i say. joining us now is jen psaki. former press secretary to president biden. jen's new book "say more, lessons from work, the white house, the world and more" is out now. i want to talk to you about your book. i want to start off with the campaign. milwaukee is the republican national convention. both campaigns needing it. the president trying to show the

benefits of infrastructure -- excuse me, yeah, the infrastructure, inflation reduction act. how does this -- it's so close, this campaign. what benefit does the president have when all the newscasts are just filled with stormy daniels and what's happening to donald trump? >> what the president can do is show up in communities like wisconsin. as you said, the margin of victory was less than 1%, not just in 2020 but also in 2016. it's always going to be a key state. it's always for now at least that president biden is going to campaign in. i expect when he is not in the courtroom, former president president will also go there because it's key for the november election. >> let's jump into the campaign experiences that you recount in your terrific new book. you worked for obama, joe biden, john kerry at the state department.

give me some examples of the big di differences in briefing those political figures and how it affected you as a young woman learning your way through a male-dominated industry. >> no question. what i learned over the course of time -- this book is about lessons and things i wish i would have known when i was in my 20s. it's for my daughter, my mom, for a lot of people in my life. what i talk about is the difference between providing feedback to difference types of bosses. i use examples from my own experience, as you mentioned. with barack obama, he is a larger than life figure. it took me some time, years to figure out how to feel confident enough to provide him direct feedback. he is not a person who loves being prepped. you have to come with your elevator pitch. with john kerry, the man has a purple heart, he fought in the vietnam war, he can take tough feedback. you need to give him tough feedback.

i did that. we traveled around the world together, you and i. i did that when i was working for him. i tell a story about the iran nuclear deal and before a press conference. with joe biden, what i learned is that he likes to stay connected with people out there in the country, what they are saying, what they are hearing. really bringing him information and being direct with him, too, about what he is saying and when things are not what he intended. i tell a tough story around the drawdown in afghanistan and a tough story that really was personal for him and how i provided feedback in that case as well. >> when you talk about providing feedback, what's remarkable about you and so singular is here you were a young woman with very different principals in the oval office or on the road with john kerry, and you were willing to give feedback and tell things that they might not want to hear. you figured out how to do it,

which is a critical part of your book. you are a woman, a mom. you had the experience of the white house chief of staff changing a diaper when you had a busy day at the white house. tell us about that. >> that speaks to -- thank you, dennis mcdonough who changed my daughter's diaper. i talk about this in the book. sometimes women, whether you are a mom or not a mom, can limit themselves as they are growing up and moving up in their career. i thought that when i told dennis, when he called me to ask if i wanted to be the white house communications director, i told him i was pregnant, he would say, good luck. he didn't. he said, we will figure it out. i'm fortunate. what i learned is that we can't limit ourselves. we have to ask the world what we need and see if they will meet it. >> jen psaki, no one has done it better. >> thank you. >> in various departments. your reputation for honesty and

truth telling, especially when you came into the white house after the previous administration, you just started off on the right foot. >> thank you. >> the book, it's all in here. it's fascinating. especially for women in this profession and my profession, it's a great book. >> thank you so much. >> make sure to catch jen sundays at noon, mondays at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. get the book. it's fabulous. staying a step ahead. a top foreign policy expert on america's new cold war with china and another great new book. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. introducing, ned's plaque psoriasis. ned, ned, who are you wearing? he thinks his flaky red patches are all people see. otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. ned? otezla can help you get clearer skin,

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her uncle's unhappy. ask your doctor about hormone—free veozah... i'm sensing an underlying issue. it's t-mobile. it started when we tried to get him under a new plan. but they they unexpectedly unraveled their “price lock” guarantee. which has made him, a bit... unruly. you called yourself the “un-carrier”. you sing about “price lock” on those commercials. “the price lock, the price lock...” so, if you could change the price, change the name! it's not a lock, i know a lock. so how can we undo the damage? we could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. their connection is unreal. and we could all un-experience this whole session. okay, that's uncalled for. tiktok is suing the u.s. government to block a potential ban if the chinese-owned social media giant does not sell off its ownership.

experts say that tiktok poses a grave risk to national security, possibly given china a platform to interfere in this fall's presidential election. tensions between the two nations continue to grow. here with me to discuss all of had is our two experts. first, dmitry palparovic. he is the co-author of "world on the brink, how america can beat china in the race for the 21st century." a terrific read. also with us, former nato supreme allied commander, admiral james stavridis. you say china is likely to invade. the cia has been saying within the next five years. what can be done to stop that? are we doing the right things with the administration trying to bring together allies in a

new and creative way in the south pacific? >> the danger zone was 2028 through 2032. xi will be 79. may not win the re-election. he wants to accomplish this on his watch. we have to do everything to deter this conflict. a war with china would be disastrous. we have to use military measures and economic measures to extract as much leverage as possible to deter them from going after taiwan. >> the administration tried to re-establish relations after the blowup over the balloon, no pun intended. how do you see this going? secretary blinken was in china the week before last. didn't get a lot of pick up on his complaints that without china and with korea, helping russia in ukraine, not crossing

a red american line by delivering weapons, but money, all kinds of components, without china, russia would not be pushing back as effectively as it is against ukraine because ukraine not having months and months of u.s. weaponry. >> we have so many problems. support for russia but fentanyl, also overcapacity that the u.s. government is complaining about, dumping chinese products. they are not playing ball on any front. he got frosty reception in beijing. i think this is coming to an end. china realizes foreign direct investment is not coming back. u.s. companies are pulling out. it's down 20% year over year. they are asking, what's in it for us. >> admiral, at the same time, president xi is on his first visit in five years to europe.

looking to europe, a huge market for china. macron and the leaders there, the eu leaders, want the chinese commerce. at the same time, they have a war in europe. they see also china's support for vladimir putin as being a game changer. right? >> indeed. in the course of this visit, xi is very strategically going after france, which occasionally has tendencies to stand a bit aside or a bit outside of the alliance. president macron several years ago famously said, nato is brain dead. that was before the invasion of ukraine. xi will go and see macron. then he will go to someone outside the alliance, serbia. they are closely aligned with russia. he will go to budapest, the nato

member closest to russia. how is china playing this? they are trying to draw closer and closer to russia. they don't want to trigger sanctions. that's why they are providing dual-use components. i don't think that's fooling many people. it's a real increasing state of tension between the u.s. and china going forward, especially in this election year. >> finally, admiral, rafah, you have talked -- we have talked many times about the urban warfare and how complicated it is. even if it's not a major invasion, as israel is pulling back and trying to give to american pressure, but there's not an effective plan, according to the u.s., for protecting civilians there. what are the risks in rafah for all of us? >> quite clearly, 1.2, maybe 1.5

civilians, half of them children, are in rafah. israel has a moral and military requirement to avoid civilian casualties, even as they go after hamas, which is still buried in the tunnels. they should do two things. move as many of those people as possible to other parts of gaza. maybe back to the north where this american pier will provide significant assistance. number two, the israelis have to go after that tunnel complex. that is the military center of gravity. once those tunnels are collapsed, destroyed, engineering can do it, special forces can do it, then hamas is toothless. that's what you will see the israelis do. >> the question is, what will happen to the hostages that are still alive? some we are told are in the tunnels. could a deal be accepted by

israel and then go back into rafah after you save the surviving hostages? to be continued. this is great. we have a lot to talk about. ukraine as well. to be continued. thanks very much. the book is "the world on the brink, how america can beat china in the race for the 21st century." it's out this week. on the best seller list already. coming up, never give up. the parents of an american hostage being held in gaza for the past seven months. so close to a cease-fire deal. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. would come and go, i figured it wasn't a big deal. then i saw my doctor and found out i have afib, and that means there's about a 5 times greater risk of stroke. symptoms like irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain,

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taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. ♪ jardiance is really swell ♪ ♪ the little pill ♪ ♪ with a big story to tell! ♪ dozens of families of hostages held many gaza are pushing israel to strike a deal with are a haas after the militant group's proposal hostage deal was rejected by the military offensive in rafah could hinder cease fire negotiations and jeopardize the lives of the hostages and rafah operations are now underway and have been for several days. joining us from jerusalem, rachel goldberg poe polan. their son hirsh was taken hostage on october 7th. welcome, you've been such

passionate advocates, and, you know, so heroic. i want to talk to you about this imminent hostage deal which the cia director is in tel aviv right now talking to prime minister netanyahu or in jerusalem, he's in israel. and i'm told by u.s. officials it's close, but israel has still not accepted the counteroffer from hamas. what is your message to the israeli government right now? >> look, we don't know -- we don't know what the details are of the deal that is supposedly on the table at the moment, so we can't speak with authority or wisdom to what's being -- what's being negotiated, but we have extreme confidence in cia director bill burns. we're eternally and always

grateful when he's involved, and so we are remaining optimistic and hopeful and as everyone in the region who is so desperate for an end to the suffering, not just for the 132 hostages and by extension their families, but the hundreds of thousands of innocent gazans who are also suffering so we are waiting. it's a waiting game. >> as a father, as hirsh's father, what do you think of the rafah operations right now? because israel is not going in with a full-scale invasion, but they are going in a lot harder than the u.s. wanted because the u.s. has been arguing this could jeopardize the surviving hostages. >> yeah, i'll admit that i worry. this could go in multiple directions. i was hoping we could avoid

this, but it's also day 215, and i will say while i've got confidence still in cia director burns and many of the other negotiators, i also am feeling a little bit disgruntled by diplomacy. it's enough. we need to results. we need to have our hostages home. i hope we can be contained and get a deal today and call everything off. the defense minister in israel said yesterday that the rafah operation will continue until hamas is diminished or until the first hostage gets released. so the ball is in the courts of parties who can say let's wind this down, and there's a really clear way to do it, and i'm hoping for that result. >> two weeks ago hamas released the first video of your son since he had been kidnapped and injured during the october 7th attack. it was not dated, clearly visible, though was your son's

left forearm, which had been amputated just below the elbow. national security adviser jake sullivan told us recently the tape was being analyzed by the fbi. have you learned anything from them or from your own -- your own observations about how hirsh is doing? >> well, both the fbi and israeli intelligence have been in touch with us as soon as they knew about the video being imminently released and they both have medical teams that analyze video to understand someone's health status, and we have been told that he is in a fragile and compromised medical situation. clearly, you know, his amputated arm, which we've been told will require at least one, perhaps two more surgeries in order to get it to a point where it would

be appropriate for a prosthetic to be able to take, but that also requires a lot of therapy and nerve stimulation, which is supposed to happen two to three weeks after an amputation. we're talking about something that happened seven months ago, but in addition to that, we were told, as you could see, he's very pale from having been in a tunnel for six months or seven months, and has some bruising on his forehead, which they said could be indicative of malnutrition. so as a mother, as a father, that's difficult to see and on the other hand, we are so grateful to have the proof of life and when you're starving as we've been starving for anything to, you know, have a stale crumb is a treat, and so to see him moving, to hear his voice was --

was really indescribable for us. >> we can only imagine. given all that you've gone through and what he's gone through, what are your concerns, rachel, that he is underground in rafah? >> i mean, all of these hostages have been in an active war zone for the last 200 plus days, and the anxiety and fear and misery that we hostage families have been feeling has never diminished for a moment from when october 7th happened. i'm incredibly concerned, and as i said before, i mean, you know, there are so many people in harm's way, and we are desperate, desperate to have the suffering end. we are desperate to have our only son home. >> andrea, i'd like to add that

we caught the end of your conversation just before we came on, and the gentleman that you were speaking to was talking about the necessary israeli military strategy, and you correctly asked him, well, what about the hostages that we believe are in the tunnels, and we didn't get the answer, but it's indicative of how the hostages seem to have fallen off of the radar from this situation, and in particular, there are 132 hostages still being held, but in particular what is surprising to us is that the eight remaining americans are barely discussed and that americans may not be aware that there are eight united states citizens being held hostage. october 7th was an attack on israel, but it was also, as president biden said, an attack on america. 45 americans were killed on october 7th. 12 were taken hostage. eight remain in captivity, and

i'm not aware if that is in the daily conversation in the united states right now. >> we often hear about, you know, evan gershkovich. brittney griner was a household name in our house, we were following her story when she was unjustly being held as evan is still being unjustly held, but we don't hear -- those are names that we heard and hear all the time. i don't know that americans hear about keith and hersh, and omar, and edan, sagi, utai, judy and, and i think that's doing an injustice to them and erase them from this horrific story that is part of u.s. history now. >> rachel and john, we are committed to keeping those names front and center. thank you, thank you for being with us today. >> let's hear some good news soon.

>> indeed. and that does it for us on "andrea mitchell reports." "chris jansing reports" starts after a short break. "chris jansing reports" starts after a short break. ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. only purple's gel flex grid passes the raw egg test. no other mattress cradles your body and simultaneously supports your spine. so, here's to now. memory foam doesn't come close. get your best sleep guaranteed. save up to $800 during our memorial day sale. visit purple.com or a store near you

good day, i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. fani willis is not out of the woods. a state appeals court has agreed to look at whether the d.a. in charge of trump's criminal case in georgia should be