nightmare. accurate. thanks, chris. >> last summer, a tick-tock account posted this video that had an explosive claim. the video claimed that the daughter of a former ukrainian defense minister had purchased this luxury villa in spain. which the video claimed was worth ,7 million. the implication was that the money that the u.s. and foreign governments were sending to ukraine for weapons was actually just being embezzled by ukrainian leaders to buy luxury homes abroad. but the whole thing was made up. a joint investigation by the bbc in the atlantic councils digital forensic research lab found that this video was part of a massive russian influence campaign. one that used social media to push the very specific lie that ukrainian officials were taking foreign cash and buying homes abroad. abroad.

debunked, and yet here was that very specific piece of russian disinformation coming out of the mouth of a sitting u.s. senator >> we're thinking about giving ukraine more money to waste it. these people can't buy anymore houses than what they bought. they got beach houses all over the world. let's start thinking about our country. >> that was u.s. senator and member of the u.s. armed services committee tommy tuberville parroting this. d.c. weekly pushed the, again, explosive but entirely false claimex that ukrainian presiden volodymyr zelenskyy had bought two luxury yachts. totally false, incredibly specific, and again thurely debunked. but that did not stop the

republicans. >> there were people who would cut social security, throw our grandparents into poverty, why? so that one of zelenskyy's ministers can buy a bigger yacht. kiss my -- that's not happening. >> that was jd vance of ohio parroting russian disinformation. margery taylor greene pushing this specific lie on twitter. it feels like republicans have started taking russian disinformation and propaganda and just going with it. but don't just take that from me. here was the republican chair of the house intelligence committee, mike turner, this sunday. >>is it is absolutely true. we see directly coming from russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-ukraine and pro-russia messages some of which we even hear being uttered on the house floor. >> if that's not enough for you

how about this from the republican leader oft the hous foreign affairs committee, michael mccaul. i think russian propaganda has made its way into the united states, unfortunately. and it's affected a good chunk of my party's base. republicans used to be the hawks in congress. republicans used to be reliably anti-russian votes in congress, but now they're pushing a very specific, very pro-russia version of american isolationism. the russia-ukraine issue has quite literallyss become a litm test to see if you're maga enough to make it into today's republican party. >> he'll spare no tax dollars to secure the border in ukraine. bost handed out $40 million in tax credits to ukraine instead of funding trump's border wall. >> ukraine treats america like their atm. their man in alabama, chuck

goodrich will put america first. >> those were ads for republican primary races. those weren't even ads for the general election. those were ads where republicans were trying to outflank each other, trying to show how much more conservative they were than their opponents by proudly declaring how willing they are to stop funding ukraine and to let russia win. what happened here? how did the republican party do a 180 on russia? well, like pretty much everything else in the republican party right now, the answer is trump. donald trump has not been shy about how he feels about the war in ukraine. in the first days of the war he called what putin was doing in ukraine genius and savvy. he has since claimed if he were in charge he would end the war in one day by telling ukraine they have to make a deal with russia. for whatever reason, and there

are plenty of reasons one could speculate about, trump's thinking appears very in line with that of russian president vladimir putin.si and at this point most of the republican party has now fallen in line behind trump. we're seeing all of this on display in a most spectacular fashion in the house of representatives. the body of o the u.s. governme with the power of the purse. the body of the u.s. government that is the most vital in terms of sending military aid to ukraine. with a majority so thin he could only afford to lose one republican vote, republican speaker of the house mike johnson is very much in the hot seat here. and far-right republican margery taylor greene is donald trump's foot soldier, trying to use that razor thin majority the threat that speaker johnson can be ousted from his position by a motion to vacate at literally any time to push johnson into not sending anymore money to ukraine. today speaker johnson and

margery taylor greene met behind closed doors for more than an hour to discuss congresswoman green's threat. in the middle of this power struggle sources leaked to the press speaker johnson, well, traveled to mar-a-lago this friday to hold a press conference with donald trump and presumably kiss his metaphorical ring. johnson and trump will be addressingtr trump's other favorite conspiracy theory, the idea that u.s. elections are rigged. what comes of out of the this meeting is anyone's guess. on the one hand johnson has the fight to save ukraine and on the other hand he has trump and putin. a very stark choice in front of him. pass a f ukraine aid bill or remain speaker. >> how he handles funding ukraine is going to tell our entire conference how to handle a motion to vacate. >> joining me now is julia

yaffe. julia, it's great to see you. i'm so eager to hear your assessment of how and why this is happening. iy mean the russian propaganda piece of it, which is so blasant and so obvious, is it all just a desire to curry favor with trump, or do you think the roots of it extend deeper than that? >> well, there's a couple things here. you mentioned all the examples of republicans parroting russian propaganda points. documents show how it pushes exactly the kind of messages you show in those primary ads about

how it's either the border or ukraine, about how ukraine is corrupt and we shouldn't spend anymore money on ukraine or that it's either money for ukraine or money for roads in your district. which, of course, let's be honest republicans are not going to vote for all the things you want in your district because they don't think the government should be providing them. the one thingth democrats and republicans can usually agree on is defense spending, that is the job of the government. but one of the people that the kremlin spin doctors singled out in these documents is representative matt gaetz, that he's an excellent messenger for them. it was an extraordinary report. but i think this goes back -- i mean how long do we have? first of all, the american conservative evangelical movement, especially the world congress of families has been working for a long time with right-wing nationalists, anti-feminists in russia to do things like infringe on gay

rights, to limit abortion access, which has been legal in russia more or less for 100 years now, over 100 years. and0 trump was told he was briefed on the eve of his inauguration that putin tried to help him win the election. zelenskyy, aid to ukraine became the stuff of first impeachment against trump. there are all kinds of reasons he doesnd not like ukraine and likes russia. the other piece is the pure ideological affinity. the american right wing looks at russia, looks at vladimir putin, and they see a white christian nationalist who is banning gay people and the gay people in russia, who is curbing women's access to abortion, who is pursuing an expansionests,

imperialist. it's what tucker carlson said on the eve of the invasion in 2022 he said why are we fighting russia, we should be allies with russia. they believe the sames things that we do. and some of it is just as simple as that. >> yeah, i understand the ideological affinity, and certainly tucker carlson has been very articulate on that, for lack of a better term. but the sort of general principle of supporting democracy around the world, you know, the hawkish position that's dominated much of the last 50 years of republican foreign policy has been thrown out. and in its place you have republicans effectively acting asan useful idiots on the subje of ukraine. what surprises me to some degree, julia, is there's not enough self-respect apparently among some of these republicans to understand they're being used as tools of a propaganda

machine. i understand separate from ukraine there's legitimate affinity as you say on what putinle is doing and what they' doing in the u.s. >> i wonder if they don't care. it's just another wedge issue, and if it's just another way to deny president biden a win, a policy win, then great. they're using russian propaganda, too. russian propaganda is also discrediting their message. it's a two-way street. they're allies in this. so i don't know they care very much. as for the hawkish, you know, spreading of democracy, fighting for democracy, i asked chairman mccaul about this because he said i'm a reagan republican, i try to tell people in my district don't you believe in freedom, don't you believe in democracy. and i said does that resonate with people in your district, and he said i don't really know. so i think what we've also seen

is part of that ideological affinity is just an affinity for authoritarianism. and in the parts of the country where the republican party dominates, you know, there has historically been affinity for authoritarianism. in the 19th century and 1930s, you know, the america first movement in part didn't want to get involved in a world war in europe because it was bloody and expensive, but also they didn't really see a problem with fascism. >> well -- >> so i think they don't love democracy as much as you would like them to. >> yes, and i think the figure head at the top of their party is no big fan of democracy either, trump. julia ioffe, my friend, thank you so much for your time and expertise onfo this. really appreciate it. so with his job under threat republican speaker mike johnson willak travel to mar-a-lago on friday to meet with donald trump as we just discussed. there they will discuss the subject ofed election integrity.

asked by nbc to describe what that term meant to him, speaker johnson replied free and fair elections. remember that in 2020 johnson was one of the key architects in the house trying to overturn biden's victory. he spearheaded a legal effort by more than 100 house republicans to support a texas lawsuit before the supreme court that would challenge the results in four key swing states, none of which is the state of texas. this right-wing obsession with imagined election fraud has takenle a very real toll on actl american elections. nbc's reports election worker turnover has reached historic highs ahead of the 2024 election with many citing threats and increased scrutiny as their reason. i feel it's essential as we talk about misinformation, disinformation, the real world effects of it, the narrative of election fraud and thehe narrate elections need to have more

integrity which m is what speak johnson and donald trump will be meetingl about on friday, can u tell me what's happening to american election workers in the wake of all this? >> i mean we're seeing huge turnover in these jobs. new data from the bipartisan policy center that shows t us 2020 absolutely escalated a long-standing trend of election workers leaving their jobs and also changed it. we've been talking about what election denialism might do for years for good reason. these people are getting death threats, in some extreme circumstances we're seeing people driven from their homes because of election conspiracy theories. what we now know in large jurisdictions where 80% of american voters lived, jurisdictions with more than 100,000 voting age residents, turnover isge growing very quicy after 2020. in 2018 and 2022, 46% of large jurisdictions have new election officials at thes top.

and thesefi jobs are hard. a they are institutional knowledge-based. and having people that know how to do these very difficult and complex jobs, let's remind ourselves are constantly changing as we keep rewriting our election laws. it's tough, it makes it hard. and i ask people what it's like to do these jobs, and they say things like drinking from a fire hose, baptism by fire. these are incredibly difficult job and they're not that well paid either. >> people are doing it because it sounds like in many ways they want to be part of the democratic process, and here we are effectively driving them from thesefe jobs by making the more onerous, dangerous, and otherwise complex. it's also worth noting it's not just they have to withstand the existing narratives and increased scrutiny, they're changing the way elections are run. in a lot of states particularly republican states election fraud has proven s to the have the

deepest hold. in north carolina for the first time ever voters are going to need to show i.d., plus the signature of a notary or two witnesses, andot also in north carolina mail ballots have to be received by-election day, not three days after. i mean when you're talking about the men and women who have the job of running these elections, it would seem like you have to beke not only willing to put up with, you know, the change in rulesth and excess of scrutiny t potentially a lot more litigation and a practical battle over whether or not people can vote. you have to be prepared for the long haul it would seem to run an election in america. >> absolutely. and many of these republican controlled legislators have added penalties for election workers who make mistakes, for judges for election judges who make mistakes. it makes it more and more criminalization happening in our election process so that people are afraid to do the wrong

thing. and makes it harder to do these already hard jobs. and an election working will tell you it's hard to run a perfect election, but that's what we demand of them. mistakes are even worse. and i see first-hand what happensfi when you have big turnover. i watched this county in virginia last year where election denialism had driven everyone to quit to the point theyit couldn't even register voters for a couple of weeks. and in 2022 they had a brand new staff and struggled to get their election results out. they didn't report their results. they'rert the only county in virginia that couldn't tell you who won the elections in that county. for these people these are hard jobs and it's getting harder. >> this is what happens when you push a narrative so deleterious. thanks for your reporting and thanks for being here tonight. >> thank you. we have a lot more ahead including maga world's new plan to elevate rfk jr.'s candidacy

in order to defeat joe biden. we're going to discuss that with someone who knows all about election day spoilers coming up. but first trump's ex-finance chief was sent to jail today again. we're going to get into the message that sends to other potential witnesses in his upcoming criminal trial. that is next. his upcoming criminal trial. that is next

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in precisely five days the first criminal trial of a former american president is set to begin in new york city. and soon after that a parade of witnesses is expected to take the stand. according to abc news several members of trump's inner circle are expected to testify at his upcoming criminal trial. that list includes rhona graff, trump's executive assistant, madeleine, and hope hicks, trump's former white house

senior advisor who was once considered one of his closest confidants. it is an open question whether or not they'll give up the goods on their former boss, but today manhattan attorney alvin bragg sent a potential message to those who may or may not be lying on the witness stand. allen weisselberg was sentenced to five months in jail after bragg's office prosecuted him for lying during trump's recent civil fraud case. weisselberg is 76 years old, and this is his second stint at rikers island jail. he served three months behind bars just last year for tax fraud. joining me now is jeremy, the former assistant district attorney in the manhattan d.a.'s trial division and also a new york criminal defense attorney. great to see you. it sure seems like a message to throw allen weisselberg enjail again at 76. it was already seen as kind of, you know, a tough move to throw

him in jail the first time, a second bid right before the criminal trial. >> i see it not as a chilling effect that's going to adversely impact these witnesses to say we shouldn't testify, but it's going to be more in terms of a reality check if you make believe or tell a story isn't true, you could find yourself there, too. >> and it would suggest come clean or else, right? >> or stay home. >> or don't come at all. i mean when we talk about some of the witnesses that i just listed off, i mean what is your expectation about how forthcoming they will be? some of these folks have already testified in separate cases or separate law enforcement bodies or grand juries. i mean how much of a lift do you think is it going to be to get them to speak the whole truth about what trump did? >> i think certainly they're going to see the writing on the wall they have to be consistent if they testified before in any capacity because that inconsistency, again, could

raise the same issue that weisselberg ended up having to deal with. so i would expect they're going to be put on the stand and cross examined. they're going to be relatively forthright, relatively being the keyword here. are they not going to recall certain things, sway a little bit, that certainly could happen, but if there's a testimony and history they're going to stay with that, otherwise that exposure could beuge. and they don't want to become the story line. this is donald trump's story line not theirs. and this is also michael cohen's story line, too. >> very true. >> one of the carve outs for the current rikers island sentence is that prosecutors agreed they would not call weisselberg as -- to the witness stand during the upcoming criminal trial. that is interesting to me because the only person who can really directly refute michael cohen's testimony in some of the most kind of high stakes fraudulent -- allegedly fraudulent dealings here is allen weisselberg. right, if michael cohen -- if

there's a defense witness that could undermine michael cohen's testimony, it's probably allen weisselberg, isn't it? >> it is. but i think michael cohen undermines michael cohen because he's rich with all sorts of material you can challenge him with, the things he says, his the intent, his motive, his change of story, his own convictions. if you recall at one point trump said you shouldn't be able to testify michael cohen because of your history and what you've found to misrepresent. that's not how the law works. you can cross examine him but can't preclude him. also the prosecution is not putting it solely on michael cohen's shoulders. it's not the michael cohen opportunity. it's beyond and more. >> you can see already from the list of witnesses this is not going to be just michael cohen although he'll certainly figure largely in it. it does seem just reading the tea leaves, donald trump does not want this trial to start, right?

i think every single day this week and it's only wednesday, he has filed a request to stay the trial for some different reason each day, and he's been summarily rejected each and every time. how unusual is that? >> to have an article 78 this way is unusual. >> it's basically a -- >> challenging the judge's decision saying it's improper, i'm going to go to a higher court. the appellate court give it to a judge and say it's nautica prec s, based on the law, it's a mistake. and that's what he's going to say. and he's going to fail and in fact he has failed. at some point he has to move forward and the judge is going to say this has to go forward. not to belittle or normalize the former president despite his facade and boisterous behavior, he's really terrified about what could potentially happen to him. any felony not happening in washington, d.c. or florida but it's a felony and real and sees weisselberg. this is sort of a day of reckoning he's trying to avoid.

>> if you're donald trump and saying allen weisselberg go back to jail, a bid at rikers at the age of 76 that has to send a shiver down donald trump's spine. watch your clock. if it ends in a day, jeremy, thanks for your time tonight. great to see you. still ahead tonight, watch out joe biden, there is a new liberal in town. he's an anti-vaxxer, against gun control and promoted a national abortion ban. wait a second, trump world conservatives want to convince liberals in swing states robert f. kennedy jr. is their left within champion, but will it work? that is next. champion, but wilt work that is next

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if you are unfamiliar, fox host john hannity devotes a significant portion of his show each night to attacking president biden. but recently another candidate has captured his attention, robert f. kennedy jr. >> if you are a left wing voter, kennedy, frankly, gives you all the nutty biden, bernie sanders, green new deal climate alarmist religious cult policies maybe without the corruption and sleaze and the chaos, and he definitely knows what day of the week it is. >> if you're a left winger,

you'll love rfk jr., according to sean hannity. today we learned that particular argument may be part of a broader trump world strategy to elevate rfk jr. among liberal voters by raising his profile on the issues they care about the most. according to "the new york times" allies of donald j. trump plan to promote robert f. kennedy jr. as a voter for choice, to give voters who abortion is a top issue and don't like mr. biden. trump allies want to amplify the progressive records of mr. kennedy. for the record rfk jr. has done nothing to suggest he'll be an ideal candidate for people concerned about climate change and abortion. in fact, rfk jr. is so far the only candidate in this race who's openly endorsed a national abortion ban. here's what he told my colleague ali vitali on that subject late last year.

>> i made a decision where a child should be -- during the first three months of life. >> so three months. you would sign a fal cap on that? >> yes, i would. >> rfk jr.'s campaign later tried to walk those comments back claiming he misinterpreted the question. but the video speaks for itself. after he chose a running mate whose official abortion position is a word salad more than it is a coherent statement. here it is. there are a number of extenuating circumstances that would lead me to considering terminating a pregnancy. this is tweet from nicole shanahan. those include my health, the health of the baby, and considerations whf uthappens to the baby if that baby is being born into a situation that cannot sustain a good and healthy life. in the consideration of economic i support bringing babies into the world through community

support of both mother and baby. huh? rfk jr. isn't exactly the leading candidate either. one of the nonprofits he used to work for used to work for joe biden. over the course of this campaign kennedy has really aligned himself with the right. >> i'm not going to take people's guns away. anybody who tells you that they're going to be able to reduce gun violence through gun control at this point, i don't think is being realistic. you talk about solutions and then people -- the palestinian people are arguably the most pampered people by international organizations. dr. fauci, he destroyed our schools, our churches, our businesses, and our economy.

>> that is the platform that rfk jr. is running on. but the facts may be beside the point here. trump's allies are doing whatever they must, and they are doing it in the open. this week rfk's field director was caught on camera saying this. >> the kennedy voter and the trump voter, the enemy -- our mutual enemy is biden. whether you support bobby or trump, we all oppose biden. 270 wins the election. if you don't get to 270 -- if nobody gets to 270, then congress picks the president, right? right now we have a majority of republicans in congress, so who are they going to pick? who are they going to pick if it's a republican congress, they'll pick trump. >> the kennedy campaign has tried to distance itself from those comments, but that doesn't mean the alliance between kennedy and trump world is weakening. as "the new york times" notes the trump view is back, the more

candidates in the race the better it is for mr. trump. the question is now how do democrats deal with this? i'm going to ask the only person in modern history who has ever had the distinction of both running the democratic national committee and appearing on a democratic presidential ticket next. d appearing on a democratic presidential ticket next

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today 208 days before election day, a left wing candidate for president announced his running mate. >> one of the great freedom fighters of a generation, she's

a doctor, she's a professor, most importantly she's a lover of the people. her name is malina abdula. >> activist and independent presidential candidate cornell west appeared on a popular black radio talk show to introduce his running mate, malina abdula, a and he has focused on drawing a contrast between his campaign and president biden's in an effort to appeal to black and muslim american voters who may be dissatisfied with the biden administration. and that makes him exactly the kind of third party candidate donald trump's allies plan to amplify. according to "the new york times" trump allies and super pacs plan to elevate outsider candidates like robert f. kennedy jr., cornell west, and

jill stein by positioning them to biden's left even if that's not exactly true. joining me now is tim kaine, hillary clinton's running mate in 2016 and also if he needed anything else on his résumé the author of a new book out this week called "walk, life, paddle, the life outside." what is the outside? you know what an election with spoilers is like. 2016 saw gary johnson and jill stein in the race. some people think they took away from hillary clinton and her very well-documented margin of victory in the popular vote but not in the electoral college. what lessons did you learn from that and should democrats take away from that as far as third party spoilers? >> i'm glad you asked me that. i've always called myself an electoral college dropout since

2016, winning the popular vote big, winning the virginia vote i've always won but still falling short. and that just means that in 2024 we democrats have to be focused on not just winning but winning big, and i think we will we will, but we've got to deal with these spoilers who are really donald trump bootlickers. they are in this race especially rfk to help donald trump win. and we have to make that plain to american voters so they don't get bamboozled. >> if you look at the polling in a five-way race, trump beats biden, rfk gets 13% of the vote. in a head to head matchup biden beats trump. if you're believing these polls again early and they're national polls, rfk jr. plays a real role in maybe handing this race to trump. what exactly should democrats do? is it talking to rfk's record or exposing allegiance the kennedy campaign apparently has to the

trump campaign? >> yeah, no, i think you need to expose that rfk is a bootlicker for donald trump not just because his campaign people wants trump to win and biden to lose, but look at rfk's positions. i mean good god he's been sympathetic to the january 6th rioters who tried to overturn a peaceful election and disrupt american democracy. he is anti-science. he's for a national abortion ban. he's picked a running mate who is just cruelly against the 12 million people on the planet who have grown their families by invitro fertilization. this guy is a donald trump bootlicker, and he's going to do everything he can to push it to donald trump. and i think when people really figure out the stakes, they will realize that what a desperation signal it is for donald trump to

say, wow, i don't think i can win votes myself, so can i prop up these putemp kn puppets and try to get people to vote for them? i think virginia voters i'm on the ballot in 24 and i'm worried about vurnl. but i think virginia voters and american voters will figure that out. >> part of this is also biden addressing where he may be most vulnerable, where voters will be most likely to want a third party candidate. i know you've been really vocal on the subject of gaza. there is some reporting that trump allies are discussing running ads in dearborn, michigan, and other parts of the state with large muslim populations thanking biden for standing with israel. so the sort of plan there or the goal there would be to diminish muslim american turnout for biden. how vulnerable do you think the president is on gaza and what is happening there in his position, and how much of that is an issue that can be tackled directly by

biden? >> gaza is heart breaking. i mean the hamas attack on israel was despicable and unforgivable. not only the hamas effort to go after civilians and take hostages but also they timed the attack to disrupt a discussion between the u.s., israel, and saudi arabia that included a future for palestine that had been kind of under the radar and not discussed for years. so, you know, hamas attack was despicable, but the aftermath has also been heart breaking with gazan civilian deaths in significant numbers and insufficient humanitarian aid to gaza. but everyone knows trump would be worse. if you're not happy with what's going on in gaza, donald trump

would be infinitely worse than joe biden. and take donald trump in his rhetoric and record back in the united states. donald trump's first action as president was a muslim ban. so anybody who thinks that donald trump is going to be better overseas, get over it. and anybody who thinks donald trump will be like okay here at home, his first action as president was a muslim ban, and that's what it's going to be with trump. people he doesn't like whether it's muslim, lgbtq, people who want reproductive freedom, he's going to go after them with a vengeance. folks better wake up on what's happening thousands of miles away, they should think about what's going to happen right here at home if joe biden is president or donald trump is president. >> real talk from senator tim kaine, the democrat from virginia and author of the new

book "walk, life paddle, the life outside." filled with i know pearls of wisdom. thank you, sir, so much for your time tonight. >> great to be with you. thanks. coming up the growing humanitarian crisis in gaza. why israel's claim that more aid is entering the strip is now very much under dispute. that is next. p is now very much under dispute. that is next

last week president biden issued an ultimatum to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu demanding that israel dramatically increase the amount of humanitarian aid flowing into the gaza strip. biden is clear that if israel did not act upon this there would be consequences including the conditioning of u.s. aid to israel. shortly after israel announced it would open two new aid crossings and expand assistance overall, but today, a week later, there are few signs that those promises have been kept. according to "the new york times," there has been no apparent work done yet on increasing aid to gaza by those two reported border crossings. israeli officials have said the amount of aid trucks have spiked

over the past three days to over 400 trucks per day. the u.n., however, disputes that, arguing there's been no increase in the daily average of trucks going into gaza. the discrepancy here lies in how the trucks are counted. a u.n. official tells "the times" that aid trucks carrying food and other supplies often enter gaza half full after israeli inspectors prohibit some of the contents. by the time that aid is unloaded and redistributed, the tally of full trucks is much lower. this is all happening as man made famine looms. palestinians there now make up 80% of all people on planet earth currently facing famine or severe hunger. the aid group says people in northern gaza were surviving on an average of 245 calories a day, which is less than a can of beans. joining me now is david milleban, president and ceo of the international rescue committee, one of the major

humanitarian groups facilitating aid in gaza right now. such a pleasure to have you. what's your assessment about the aid increase? >> there's so much about this conflict that is complicated, the cease-fire negotiations, the hostages, who's going to provide security in gaza in the future. something as simple as a trickle of ailed, and it needs to be a deluge of aid. whether it's 400 trucks half full or 200 truck fully full, that is not enough, and that's how you end up in a situation where 1 million people are at catastrophic levels of hunger and another million people are at crisis or emergency levels of hunger. this is man made catastrophe as you've described it, and it's one at least in this aspect that has a very clear set of solutions. >> are the israeli inspections of the trucks going in particularly onerous? i mean is it unusual a truck would be losing half of its contents -- >> well, it's a half full truck that then get doubled up. there are special bureaucratic measures that are undoubtedly

getting in the way of a truck going in. if a truck is found to have something allege today be dual use, a pair of scissors, for example, could be used in a surgery or other means, the whole truck gets turned around. also crossing promised to be opened on friday hasn't been opened. when the president of the united states puts his foot down, people notice. and now the words he's promised have to be turned into action at ten times the level you've seen so far. >> do you get a sense the white house is incensed by this? >> yes. there's no question they need to see change. we've been warning for a long time about the public health emergency brewing, never mind the loss of 33,000 lives, never mind the 200 aid workers who have been killed there as well. we suffered ourselves, my own organization suffered an israeli missile strike on our guesthouse in the middle of january. we warned then that the so-called deconfliction system

was not working, and the people have paid for the failure to heed that warning with their lives. >> i think immediately of the world central kitchen workers who were targeted and killed. has that changed the way you distribute aid? has that changed your opraegdss on the ground at all? >> we've sustained an emergency medical team. we've sustained partners across the gaza strip, but our security measures and safety measures have to be at the highest order. we obviously are very, very careful about having anyone move, we always keep the authorities informed when there are movements. all this points to a simple truth, as somewhere densely populated and desperate needs to protect live, never mind to deliver aid, that cease-fire the president says he's going for is needed. that's a humanitarian call essential in hours and days. for every hour that the war goes on, the desperate need to at least fulfill the aid requirements rises. >> can we talk about that need because we say the word famine

and it's uttered frequently and invoked frequently, but what does that practically mean for a population? >> it means you're going to starve. and people die from lack of food or so vulnerable to illness they die. the group that assesses famine is one of the most small seed technical routes. it's people on the ground assessing the situation. and when they say 25 children have died of starvation, that's a very unusual thing to say. those of us in the aid community who don't use the word famine, it's very restricting and unusual to do declare that. it's called level 5. that's what we describe level 5 of food insecurity wheres, which is diplomatic way of putting it. level 4 is the emergency, level 3 is crisis. crisis means you don't know where your next meal is coming from. and frankrily, if only every

gazan had the beans you're referring to but many of them don't. >> 245 calories. >> it's the density and the speed of the descent into absolute hell. there are people in syria, refugees and elsewhere who desperately need our attention as well. in terms of density of population, speed of descent, this is in a league of its own. >> they do truly essential and lifesaving heroic work. thank you so much for your time and all that you do on behalf of the global population. that is our show for this evening. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is coming up next. allowing ovote. there's overwhelming support for ukraine among the majority of democrats and republicans. there should be a vote now. >> that was president joe biden yesterday calling on house speaker mike johnson to bring a