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visit finishyourdiploma.org to find free and supportive adult education centers near you. happening now, thousands are gathered on the national mall supporting israel and demanding the release of the hostages that hamas is holding. plus, the health care system in gaza collapsing. the u.n. warns only one hospital in northern gaza remains operational. but israel insists hamas is using civilian infrastructure to hold weapons and hostages. and the house set to vote this afternoon on speaker mike johnson's plan to fund the government with just three days left before a potential

shutdown. the far right house freedom caucus already came out against the plan. we are following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to cnn news central. ♪ ♪ today, tens of thousands of people are marching here in the nation's capital, showing solidarity with israel and demanding the release of hostages that hamas is holding right now. the rally is coming as joe biden says a deal to free the hostages is "going to happen." and the israeli prime minister says israel's ground advance in gaza is ramping up pressure to hamas to negotiate. that offensive, though, is also unleashing a humanitarian crisis. it is growing worse by the day. the only operating hospital in gaza has three surgeons for 500 patients and the last working flour mill is almost out of fuel as many face food insecurity.

let's go now to the region. our reporter is in jerusalem. tell us a little what is going on. it sounds like the health care system we're talking about, manual types of medicine, there's so little that can be done for people in dire need of real health care. >> reporter: absolutely. the situation is really deteriorating by the hour, as you mentioned, there was only one hospital in northern gaza left operational. we heard, in fact, from the last hour from a british palestinian doctor who was speaking describing the situation at the hospital, the only hospital now receiving new patients. but he said they are -- they're having to prioritize surgeries. they are carrying out daily surgeries without anesthetic. as we know, the situation in the hospitals, including gaza's largest hospital, is catastrophic. that's how it's being described

by medical teams on the ground. they have run out of electricity and fuel to power the hospital. they are running out of medicine and food and safe water for patients. of course, as we know, there are hundreds of patients and medical staff at the hospital, as well as thousands of palestinian civilians who have flocked to the complex insearch of sanctuary. there has been huge concern around the situation for the neonatal unit at the hospital. today, we have seen new video being broad cast by al jazeera showing doctors at the hospital transferring premature newborn babies into another part of the hospital. oxygen supply is cut off in the neonatal unit, and they're having to place babies all together in one empty operating room to keep them warm, wrapping them with foil and blankets. this is distressing video of course. this is the reality that many

hospitals are facing. the bombardment continues across northern gaza. the idf is targeting hamas and claims there are hamas command and control centers beneath the hospital, these are claims echoed by u.s. officials with knowledge of intelligence, but these are claims cnn cannot verify and claims denied by hamas and doctors at the hospital in gaza. the israeli military is still calling on civilians to evacuate southwards. they are calling on patients at these hospitals to eny doctors impossible for their patients to leave, for their medical staff to leave unless a safe, guaranteed medical evacuation route is established. that is not the case at the home. as we have seen, hundreds of people now trying to make that difficult journey on foot. again, distressing video. i have to warn the viewers, we have seen some describing the situation as hugely fragile.

one man seen in the video holding his baby, a toddler, who died enroute as they were attempting to evacuate from northern gaza to southern gaza. as we know, the air strikes are still continuing in southern gaza. the u.n.'s own humanitarian chief warning there is nowhere safe for civilians inside gaza to turn. >> thank you so much for that report, live from jerusalem. let's go to cnn's ed lavandera who is in tel aviv. the idf push into gaza still ongoing. where do things stand with that ground advance? >> reporter: all the indications we have right now is that the israeli defense forces continue to believe that the maximum amount of military pressure on hamas will create the conditions that they hope will release the hostages. whether or not that comes to fruition, we do not know yet at this point. but israeli military officials saying that they have now taken

control of a refugee camp about three miles from the center of gaza city. so indications that the israeli military continues to make a deeper and deeper push inside of gaza and take control of areas. if you have been watching the reporter of nick robertson who was inside gaza with israeli military teams yesterday, you could see the level and the extent to which the israela military has taken hold of many of the streets and neighborhoods that he was able to pass through there. israeli military officials say since the beginning of this ground offensive, they have spotted and located about 160 entrances to tunnels throughout the zgaza region that they have entered and have been able to strike nearly 3,000 as what they call is terrorist infrastructure inside of gaza, as well. >> ed, thank you. i want to go to the white house now, where we have cnn's m.j. lee. we were hearing earlier from

someone very involved in former hostage negotiations for israel. this isn't done until it's done, and he thinking right now, and you hear a lot about hostage negotiations, it can just be noise, but when you listen to what we are hearing from joe biden, it sounds hopeful. so where do things stand? >> reporter: yeah, before joe biden left washington to head here to san francisco, what we heard him say about the hostage negotiations was, i believe it's going to happen. now, he has sounded optimistic in the past. but one of the reasons this seemed noteworthy today was because a senior u.s. official familiar with the ongoing talks had told cnn that israel and hamas were moving closer to a deal. now, they did caution that it's closer but it's not done, essentially saying closer does not mean close. there are many, many details that still have to be worked out. this is what we do know about the ongoing parameters being

discussed. we know that there would be an exchange of a large number of hostages for a number of palestinian prisoners that israel is holding, and that all of this would take place when there have a sustained pause in fighting, up to about five days is what we were told. and that the priority would be given to particularly vulnerable populations like women and children. but there are so many sticking points. these talks have been so complicated, and parties that are involved in these talks have said before, look, we have gotten close, but we haven't had a deal yet. just one illustration of that is that we were told that the israelis had initially asked for 100 hostages to be released, but if you listen to what hamas is saying, they are discussing 70 hostages being released. as one israeli official said, hamas is trying to release as few hostages as possible in exchange for the longest cease-fire possible. so at least from the u.s.'

perspective, yes, we are seeing some hints of optimism creeping into these conversations, and they are going to be very relieved when the hostages get out. but until they are actually out, and physically out of gaza, there's not going to be a real sense of relief. >> let us hope some comes soon. m.j. lee live in san francisco. thank you for the report. pam? a moment of unity right now in washington, where thousands are gaerti gathering on the nat mall. it's also drawing heightened security. homeland security gave the gatherring itsble security designation as the u.s. has seen an unprecedented surge in anti-semitic incidents. i'm joined by my next guest. i hope you can hear me. i know how loud it is there. tell us what is the significance of today's demonstration?

>> 35 years ago, on freedom sunday in 1987, my fathder and many other speakers got on a stage here and protested on behalf of soviet jewervy. i leave that played a role in the ultimate collapse of the iron curtain, strengthening president reagan's knowledge of the moral high ground the united states had in the cold war. so these rallies can make a profound difference. today, my highest hope is that the hostages know that we are here together, speaking for them and that israel will come to rescue them with the support of jews all around the world. >> and that is a big focus of

today's rally, bringing those hostages held in gaza home. joe biden said this morning he believes a deal for their freedom will get done. do you share his optimism? >> i share the optimism that ultimately israel is going to win this war. that hamas will be defeated, and the reason that i have that optimism is that the jewish word is complete ly target and we hae incredible allies like joe biden and the united states and congress that are standing behind israel's right to exist with peace and security, that know what it means to battle an isis or al qaeda, who desires the destruction of democracy, the destruction of human life that we value so dearly. so i know that we have what is needed to fight this battle all the way through and rescue the hostages and seek peace in the middle east. >> the rally that you are at right now, we see behind you,

it's drawing several high profile speakers including members of democratic leadership. there has been some division with democrats on the israel-hamas war. how are members of the jewish community like yourself reading this division? >> look, there are always going to be haters in any crowd. they might be democrats or republicans. it's always possible to find some extreme fringe that don't align with basic values of human decency that understand that israel is a bastion of democracy in a very tough neighborhood, and that we stand for the same principles that the united states does over there. so my reaction is, haters are going to hate. i feel overwhelming gratitude to the majority of congress, to this administration, and to all of our allies who are standing with us. we are far more to be grateful for with regards to the united

states hand we do to point fingers at. >> i'm going to talk about this op-ed published today in "the hill" where you write, neither israel or gazan civilians can afford this to be anything other than the last battle. this war can only end with the complete destruction or surrender of hamas. do you really believe this will be "the last battle?" >> i don't see how israel can tolerate hamas existing after what they have did. they raped, they desecrated, they baked babies in ovens. we have not seen evil this extreme since the nazis. there is no way that on the outskirts of berlin we would have stopped before that final step to go in and wipe out the nazi leadership. this is it. hamas' time is up, and the whole world knows it. >> thank you for coming on.

i appreciate it, especially considering how hard it must be to hear us. thank you. the government shutdown clock is ticking always speaker mike johnson's plan face ascii vote this afternoon. congressman ken buck joins us. and later, how china is using the world's largest online disinformation operation to hamas americans critical of beijing.

any moment, house speaker mike johnson will face his first major test on the house floor as he pushs his funding bill to keep the federal government running past friday. but without republican support, he's moved to lean on democrats to get a bill passed. you might recall that same move cost kevin mccarthy his speaker's gavel. johnson has to get a 2/3 majority vote for passage.

>> when you have a three-vote majority, as we do right now, we don't have the votes to advance that right now. so what we need to do is avoid the government shutdown, because that was unduly harm the american people. troops wouldn't get paid. we know all the effects of that. so we have a responsibility to do it. >> here with us now, republican congressman ken buck of colorado. he's also a member of the house freedom caucus, which came out against johnson's funding plan today. thank you for being with us. first off, are you on board with this? >> i am going to make a decision, sort of a gametime decision for me. i have not decided to support this orb not. this isn't mike's fault that he is working to maintain spending levels that republicans didn't vote for a year ago. and the reason is, the appropriations bills were not brought to the floor in may and june and july in a way that we would be? a position to pass them by

september 30th. so i don't blame mike, but i'm reluctant to support a spending level that i did not support last year. >> even though you said, latter? >> i do like the latter approach. it's important that we make sure we have a group of spending bills to pass and send to the senate in conference and start the muscle memory of passing appropriations bills and doing the right thing on spending. i like the latter approach. i don't like the fact that we don't have border requirements in here. i don't like the fact that we don't have other spending cuts in this appropriations -- or in the cr. >> so this issue of getting democratic support and bypassing some republicans is what some freedom caucus members ousted kevin mccarthy for. not all of them. to be clear, you had broader reasons. but they rebelled when mccarthy relead on democrats for support

in keeping the government running. are they going to try to oust johnson for it? >> no, i don't believe anybody is interested in vacating the chair again in getting rid of mike johnson. i think that mike has inherited a mess, and he's doing his best to work through that mess, and that mess right now needs to receive a bipartisan solution. i understand all that. mike is really doing his best to make sure that we do passion appropriations bills with the senate -- >> can i stop you for a second? i want to understand this. if mike johnson is doing his best and it is the same what kevin mccarthy did, is that not kevin mccarthy's best? if freedom caucus members don't oust johnson for relying on democrats instead of keeping republicans together, are they irrelevant? he's speaker, mike johnson, because of them, and he's bypassing them on his first major maneuver as speaker. >> yeah, but he's not. understand, mike johnson and kevin mccarthy are in a much

different position. kevin started the speaker in early january. the appropriations bills weren't brought to the floor until late july. we took an august recess. we got back in september and passed a few, and the cr came about because kevin mccarthy wanted an omnibus bill. he delayed the rope appropriati process to have an omnibus bill. mike has inherited this mess and doing his best to get appropriations bills past and working with democrats to keep the floor open. completely different story. >> separately but sort of together, this kidney punch that congressman burchett says he received from kevin mccarthy earlier today, burchett one of the eight in the gop who ousted mccarthy. mccarthy is denying his claim. who do you believe here? >> well, i believe the reporter who was present when tim was

pushed or struck by kevin mccarthy. it wasn't just tim's view of what happened. it wasn't just a crowded situation where kevin was pushed into tim. so i think the reporter made the eyewitness account, and i believe that kevin, you know, while he was guarded by four police officers, went and, you know, did what he did, i guess. >> so you think he's lying to be clear? >> kevin mccarthy and lying are like peanut butter and jelly. >> why do you think he's lying? why do you think in this case, and look, i'll grant you this, because the npr reporter there says he walks by, and i've been in that hallway, you're right, it is not that narrow that you couldn't avoid a fellow congressman. she said she saw burchett lunge

forward, and clearly he was shocked by what happened. why do you think kevin mccarthy would do that and then insist, even in the face of having a reporter having been there and describing what happened, that he's insisting it didn't? >> yeah. i don't know what goes through the mind of kevin mccarthy. i know he doesn't want to take responsibility for the financial mess we're in right now or take responsibility for pushing a congressman who voted against him in the motion to vacate. i think that kevin mccarthy is obviously very upset still that he's not speaker. and he is -- he doesn't hold any leadership position now. he is a rank and file congressman like me, and it's got to be upsetting to him. so he took it out, and the way he took it out, and now he denies it. i don't know how to explain that. >> congressman matt gaetz is taking this to ethics. do you think that's right?

>> you know, i think this is a family issue that we have a conference at some point we talk about and move on. i don't think we need to publicize this anymore than it's been publicized. >> it sounds like you're see thing from the outside and maybe what you're saying, it's so dra maddic. this drama. why are so many of your fellow republicans having a hard time quitting this drama? >> i don't know the answer to that question. every night i go home and sing "kumbaya." i don't know why people aren't getting along. it's up ssetting that we have member on member pushing. there was an incident in the senate also today. we have been here a long time, a number of weeks in a row. a lot of us haven't been home to see our families. i think that wears on people. that's not an excuse for pushing another member.

>> what was the senate incident? >> oh, mark wayne mullen evidently stood up in a committee meeting and challenged somebody in a way that just isn't appropriate in the senate or the house. >> the decor um you're saying i not normal? >> it's not normal. there's a lot of folks on both sides of the capitol that are really -- the stress is wearing on them, and i think we need to move on, pass appropriations bills, do our job, and make sure we keep things in perspective. >> congressman ken buck, thank you for taking the time with us today. we appreciate it. >> thank you. and with joe biden set to meet president xi of china, cnn uncovers a huge campaign by the chinese government to intimidate americans. we have the details.

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soon, the president will land in san francisco setting the stage for this meeting of the wosrld's top two superpower. president biden meeting president xi jinping, and expected to discuss the wars in ukraine and also this war between israel and hamas. >> high-stakes meeting. there as the u.s. seeks china's cooperation, beijing has been on

a campaign of intimidation against u.s. citizens. a cnn review found not only is china's government attacking americans online, but doing it while they are in the u.s. our reporter has the details on the world's largest known online disinformation operation. >> reporter: well, just as joe biden is due to meet president xi, a cnn investigation takes a look at how a chinese disinformation propaganda and hamasment campaign is targeting american citizens on u.s. soil. >> i feel really, really afraid. >> they use hateful words. >> they will make life very uncomfortable for those that speak bad of china. >> reporter: they are being hounded and harassed by the chinese government. >> i was flooded with messages, asking me to kill myself.

>> reporter: she is a writer for "the new yorker," and she's been targeted with a wave of online ha harassment. more than 12,000 tweets calling her a trader. >> i was so caught off guard. >> reporter: it is a coordinated effort. dependi ing maesher it, it's the biggest disinformation campaign in the world, tied to the chinese government. >> thousands and thousands of messages repeated over and over again. >> reporter: a cnn review of koush court documentis reveals massiv intimidation by the chinese government, targeting people on u.s. soil.

>> they will kill me if i don't delete my youtube. >> reporter: he posts pro democracy youtube videos criticizing the chinese government from this church in virginia. to hit back, thousands of messages were posted attacking him. >> they cover people's eyes, so the chinese people cannot see the reality. >> reporter: a vast campaign of intimidation that even urges to create illustrations to mock and harass victims. this is not just some guy in his basement? >> no. it's clearly a sophisticated ef effort. i'm staggered at the number of plat forms where we come across their efrts. >> reporter: the doj charged 34 chinese police officers for using social media accounts to

intimidate specific victims in the united states. the indictment is full of pictures taken inside the special trolling unit, showing laptops, phones and other equipment used as part of the operation. a spokesperson for the chinese embassy in washington, d.c. said the doj's allegations are politically motivated and have no factual evidence or legal basis. >> yeah, they tried to shut me up and silence me, to minimize my voice. >> reporter: chen spent nearly five years in a chinese prison for his work. now, he's an american citizen and campaigns from here. at the height of covid in 2021, he organized a zoom meeting for pro-chinese democracy activists in the u.s. but chinese police officers broke into the zoom and shut it down. >> that time, i was myself in shock. i said, what?

they don't even allow us to have an overseas meeting. >> reporter: the u.s. state department warned that the chinese government is spending billions on foreign information manipulation efforts. and if it goes unchekd, it will reshape the global landscape. >> the communist party's blood stream is propaganda, repeating it over and over again, and reject alternatives. that's in the dna of communist parties. >> reporter: the social media platforms that have taken down accounts that are part of this operation point out that the accounts rarely are basically never go viral. it's not as if these accounts are being seen by tens of millions of people every day. however, as you can see there, if you are the target or a victim of this campaign, it is very intense. you are being intimidated. you are dealing with a deluge of

harassment regularly. >> excellent report. thank you. coming up, the man accused of attacking nancy pelosi's husband, paul, taking the stand in his own defense. why he planned to target other note an figures, includingng congressmaman adam schififf and m hahanks, next.t.

today, the man accused of brutally attacking nancy pelosi's husband, paul, took the stand in his federal trial.

he testified that he was surprised and confused when he found out nancy pelosi wasn't home at the time that he broke into the couple's home and he thought paul pelosi was dead after attacking him with a hammer. our reporter is outside the courthouse. really interesting other things he said. at one point he said he thought he had a good rapport with paul pelosi, but did david depap appear remorse al at all for the attack? >> reporter: that was one of the most striking parts of his testimony that he showed a lot of remorse for attacking paul pelosi, even saying that he did not intend to hurt him, but that he reacted because his plan was ruined. i recalled hitting him once, he said. the medical report appears that he was hit more. my i felt bad for him because we had a good rapport and things

were going good until the last second. moments after the attack, the suspect said he found bad for pelosi while he was on the ground and feared for his life. he said he didn't know that he was still alive until he was charged with attempted murder. he said that paul pelosi was never his target and never intended to hurt him. it was interesting throughout the testimony to hear his thought process and his motivations. he is deeply motivated by and entangled in conspiracy theorying. he would get emotional at times and start sobbing. he broke down at one point while talking about former president donald trump and had to stop and collect himself and start again before he could answer more questions. aside from nancy pelosi, depap said he planned to -- he had planned other targets, including representative adam schiff, actor tom hanks, former u.s. attorney general bill barr,

governor gavin newsom, and a university of michigan professor who is being referred to as target one to protect her identity. he said all his outside work, when he wasn'tworking as a contractor, he would wake up in the morning until he went to sleep, play video games and listen to political podcasts and videos. he said he is motivated by and committed to the truth, and he said that when he went to nancy pelosi's house, his intention was to give her the opportunity to tell the truth about russia gate and other things that he says she lies about. otherwise, he would have broken her kneecaps. the case has rested for both siding, and the jury has the case. we expect that this federal trial will conclude this week, and then the state trial begins. he faces decades in prison for all of the charging that he is facing, if convicted. pamela? >> veronica, thank you.

just ahead, l.a. traffic was bad before this. now a busy stretch of i-10 in los angeles is out of service after a massive fire. up nexext, what auauthorities s doining about itit.

commuters in southern california, are bracing for another month of traffic headaches as they wait for a critical section of i-10 in the heart of los angeles to reopen. investigators now believe that arson is to blame for this weekend blaze that heavily damaged what is known as the santa monica freeway.

more than 300,000 vehicles travel this corridor every day and now they're scrambling around this closed stretch of road. stephanie elum is joining us now. what do they know so far about what they think is arson and also tell us about the reopening as it is expected of this stretch of the highway? >> reporter: yeah, for as far as in los angeles is concerned, what they thought was a bad situation is the best possible outcome of a bad situation. the demolition will not be necessary after they did some core samples and show they could be repaired. in fact, take a listen to what governor gavin newsom said this morning about it. >> we will continue the kind of repairs you're seeing being done behind me. and continue a shoring plan to shore up this site. again, 100 columns have been damaged. nine or ten severely. but that shoring work will continue 24/7 and it will allow

us to reopen for traffic the i-10 in a matter of weeks. the estimate currently is three to five weeks. >> reporter: now, when you look at this, and you look at how expansive this is, this part of the freeway is five lanes on the east side an the westbound side. so this is a massive bridge that they're talking about. the work here is going to go on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. we're having a big storm coming into california later this week. and they're saying that is not going to stop them at all. this 450 foot section shut down for right now. it is absolutely bizarre, brianna, to see the freeway as empty as it is. driving here, it is just a weird thing in california to see an empty freeway so they're asking people to telecommute and not come in and they want you to use public transportation but what else we heard from officials today was that they do believe that this was arizona on and that they do have some leads but

they're asking for public to give any more information that they can because they do believe this was intentionally set and obviously it is a big impact to this area, brianna. >> look, as a southern californian, i could attest, these are our arteries, more so than any other city. that is a huge deal. thank you for that report. pamela. now to other headlines this hour. for the first time, we're seeing photos of a cocaine that was found over the summer in the white house. the photos show a small bag of cocaine in a locker near the west executive entrance. a secret service investigation was unable to identify a suspect. also, after more than a century of waiting, justice for members of an all black military regiment known as the buffalo soldiers, the u.s. army has set aside the convictions of 110 black soldiers charged after the world war i era houston riots.

they determined the soldiers were wrongly treated because of their race and not begin fair trials. and finally the city of st. paul, minnesota, has made history. voters there have elected an all female city council. up next, patrick mahomes confirms a rumor about his game day superstition. we'll be back. we'll have the dirt, next.

all right, super bowl champion and kansas city chiefs quarterback patrick mahomes, he has a dirty little secret that

pam is lucky enough to tell you about. >> he con firfirmed the rumor t he's worn the same pair of red undies every day until the team loses and then he washes them and we just did a check for this year and the longest winning streak was six weeks. so that means six weeks wearing them and not washing them. >> gross. >> cnn sports anchor coy wire is here with all of the dirt. so is this kind of like nfl ritual? do other players do this or is this mahomes' superstitious play. >> you had me cracking up. dirty little secret. i love it. more nfl players are superstition than not. even if it is vowing to not be superstitious like tom brady, that is a mode of operation and a mental tactic. here is mahomes giving more detail about his red underwear

that he may or may not wash. >> i wash them every once in a while, at least. >> is it a thong or a g string. >> if we're on a hot streak, i can't wash them. i have to keep it rolling. so, you know, as long as i'm winning football games, i'll keep the superstition going. >> he has played in 103 games and won 82 of them. i was there on the field when the confetti came down on those underoos and i'm had a lot of teammates with wild superstitions. marshawn lynch, would do a shot of hennessey before every game and he's talked about this publicly so i'm not airing his dirty laundry, if you will. but yes, superstitions are real. >> wow, but under pants going unwashed. condition a line be drawn somewhere. >> yeah. my skin is kind of crawling just thinking about that one. but patrick mahomes, it is