"meet the press." . remember, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." remember, if it's sunday, it's "meet the press. israeli air strikes flatten three apartment buildings in gaza city. there are rescue crews to speak of in gaza, so when the poorly-equipped teams arrive, they had to dig for survivors, however they could. they pulled dozens out, still alive, trapped in the rubble for hours. but they found more than 40 dead including health officials say two dozen women and children. >> if hamas thought that they could just fire their rockets and then sit back and enjoy immunity, that's false. we are targeting a terrorist organization that is targeting our civilians and hiding behind their civilians.

>> breaking news overnight. israel launches another barrage of air strikes on the gaza strip. it comes on the heels of the deadliest day of the recent conflict so far. the question is will world leaders be able to negotiate a cease-fire. remarks from liz cheney after she was ousted from republican leadership for speaking out against donald trump. the question is what does cheney think about the lawmaker who replaced her as conference chair. and pushback against the cdc guidance relaxing the mask mandate for those vaccinated. the question is did health officials move too fast? it's "way too early" for this. blache blac he . good morning, i'm kasie hunt on this monday, may 17th, welcome to "way too early" a show starting with breaking news, israel says it destroyed nine miles of militant tunnels

and the homes of hamas commander, and gaza residents are awakened as what is described as the heaviest attacks since fighting broke out a week ago. rockets reigned down on the southern cities. these latest attacks come after the deadliest day of violence yesterday. rescue crews were combing through rubble last night looking for survivors over the area where three buildings were hit in the course of five minutes. israel's emergency system recorded two direct hits including one to a synagogue. hamas has fired more than 2,900 missiles in their direct since last monday. in a televised address yesterday, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu insisted the attacks would continue at quote full force. the gaza health ministry says at least 197 people have been killed since the violence began, including 58 children. israel has reported ten deaths. two of them children.

joining us now from beirut, lebanon, nbc news foreign correspondent raf sanchez. what can you tell us about what is going on in the region? >> israel is carrying out massive strikes overnight with dozens of aircraft targeting hamas's underground tunnel network according to the israeli military. as you said one of the strikes yesterday went horfully wrong killing thousands of civilians in gaza city. 16 women and ten children among the dead. that death toll was rising all day yesterday as rescue crews pulled more and more bodies out of the rubble. i asked the israeli military what was the target here, what were you going after? they said they were targeting an underground hamas military infrastructure. and that when that facility collapsed, civilian homes above it collapsed also. now, we have not independently verified those claims of an

underground space, but the question under international law, is even if this was a legitimate military target, does its military significance outweigh that massive loss of life? as you said, prime minister benjamin netanyahu of israel indicating right now he is not looking for a cease-fire. he wants more time on the battle field to degraze hamas's military capabilities and at least for now, he is not under much public pressure from the biden administration to move towards a cease-fire. now, hamas, other militant groups have fired around 3,000 rockets towards israel in the last week. many of those intercepted by israel's state of the art iron dome missile defense system. that rocket fire was continuing overnight, but at a less intense rate than what we've seen previously. hamas possibly either running

out of ammunition, or israel's air campaign succeeding. >> all right, nbc's raf sanchez, we will talk later in the show to one of our white house correspondents about how the biden administration is applying pressure here. thank you. stay safe, my friend. let's turn now to capitol hill, following her ouster from republican leadership, congresswoman liz cheney voiced her concern over the weekend about the future of the gop. watch. >> former president trump continues to be a real danger. what he's doing and what he's saying, his claims, his refusal to accept decisions by the courts, his claims continued as recently as yesterday, that somehow this election was stolen. you know, what he's doing is he's causing people to believe that they can't count on our electoral process to actually convey the will of the people. you know, we have to be a nation of laws. if you continue to reject, if you reject the rulings of the courts, if you work against the rules of our courts, then you

really are, the constitution, he is a continuing danger to our system. >> when you talk about him being dangerous, and the way he's leading the party, and i ask this about both mccarthy and elise stefanik, are they being complicit n-n-what you consider the trump lies. >> they are? >> and i'm not willing to do that. i think there are some things that have to be bigger than party, that have to be bigger than partisanship, our oath to the constitution is one of those. what is happening right now with donald trump and his continued attacks on the constitution and the rule of law is dangerous. and we all have an obligation to stand up against that. >> not backing down or shying away. in the u.s. poll, 80% of republicans who heard about liz cheney's removal from republican leadership agree with that decision. when asked why, nearly seven in

ten towed the party line she was off message and 57% said she had to go because she was wrong about the 2020 election. 52% because she didn't support donald trump. and 34% said disloyalty needs to be punished. the poll also shows the vast majority of republicans want the party to be made in trump's image on everything from immigration to his approach to the media. 66% of republicans said it's important for republicans to be loyal to trump. when asked if joe biden is the legitimate winner, the last presidential election, only 33% of republicans said yes, and 67% said he is not. joining us now, part of the "washington post" newsletter "power up," and the percentage of republicans, according to the recent poll, who don't believe this election was legitimate. and also the significant segment that actually does believe that it is legitimate, because i think that this is what liz cheney is looking at and

thinking about, that 33% of republicans in her party, that have real questions about the fact that the party is continuing to tie itself to donald trump. because the reality, is while it may be hard to win a republican party with those kinds of numbers it is hard to see how to win a general election with 67% of republicans or maybe a little bit more depending on how many people are willing to hold these two ideas in their heads at the same time. what do you think this says about how the republican party is going to go forward? because to me, it signals a real division among their voters. >> yes, i think what you point out is really important sub-text to liz cheney's argument that we've seen unfold in the past two weeks, that she talks a lot about the constitution and the truth, but again, the sub text here being that if republicans continue to propagate these lies, and focus on messaging around election fraud that

doesn't exist, they're going to continue to lose support, and lose general elections. liz cheney told me on friday when i caught her in the hallway that she reminded me that president trump, under president trump, republicans lost the house, the senate, and then the white house. that his messaging on election integrity, election integrity as republicans refer to it as, is a losing message, and it's not going to, it's not an inclusive one. it doesn't expand the party in any way, and republicans are going to continue to hemorrhage voters. so that is going to continue to see, people like her and adam kinzinger go after those 33% and maybe more, those more moderate suburban women who the president also lost the support of during the 2020 election, and try to support candidates who fit into that mold, through these efforts, and these super pacs that they're forming.

>> so we'll look at this conversation, we got news late last week about a bipartisan 9/11 style commission to investigate the insurrection. this is something that liz cheney has been calling for and there are reports that kevin mccarthy might be a little bit nervous about that. cheney suggested he could be subpoenaed. what sur sense of how dangerous this potentially is for him? >> that's still unclear at the moment. but i think what lawmakers are nervous about is anything that might suggest that they were encouraging rioters and republican supporters of president trump to go along with a lot of the rhetoric that we've seen from the republican party. and any direct connections or communications, between some of those insurrectionists and lawmaker, we've already seen sort of murmurs about, and echoes of that, in several of the trials that arian going outside of congress and these

investigations that are, these investigations taking place, by the d.o.j., and in court, and i think that people like kevin mccarthy are concerned that some lawmakers like marjorie taylor greene and others, people in the conference who he does not have as close of a handle on have potentially been in communications with these people as well. and potentially contributed to the fomenting of the insurrection that we saw on january 6th. >> well, it sounds like we may actually be on track to find out. "washington post" jacqueline, thank you, as always, for getting up early with us. we really appreciate it. still ahead here, we're going to take a look at some of the pushback following the cdc guidelines with mask wearing for fully vaccinated americans. and we will have jane harman joining us with the escalating violence in the middle east. those stories when we come back. . those stories when we come back.

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21 seconds left. clock down to 5. fires over the middle. and caught. touchdown. the win with 16 seconds left. >> college football highlights in may. welcome back. that's the end of the longest and most unusual college football season on record. sam houston state wrap us up the delayed 2020 national title on a go ahead score with 10 seconds to blay against south dakota state. it capped a 6 a-yard final drive that included a pair of fourth down conversions to answer the 14 straight points scored by south dakota state in the fourth quarter but sam houston wins it. congratulations. it took to the final day of the nba regular season but we finally have a clearer picture of the playoff landscape.

it starts tomorrow with the opening games of the league's new play-in tournament in the eastern conference. the boston celtics host the wizards following walk's comeback against the hornet. and charlotte 10th place, to a single elimination game against the indiana pacers. out west, the portland trailblazers secure number six spot with a win over the denver nuggets and zoomed the lakers to a play-in tournament, hosting the golden state warriors on wednesday night. that will follow the win or go home matchup in memphis between the spurs and the grizzlies. our third score in the morning, turn now to major league baseball and another coronavirus infection inside the yankees clubhouse. the ninth positive case in the last week, may support a fifth among support staff, in addition to three coaches and the shortstop. all of them having been fully vaccinated. the latest staff member tested positive is quarantined in baltimore where the yankees fell to the orioles yesterday, 10-6. let's go now to boston.

we will pick it up in the top of the ninth inning with the red sox looking to wran up a one-run win hosting the angels. l.a. mike trout keeping the aloes alive with a bloop single hit to right field. next up for the angels, star otani. >> high fly ball to the corner it goes. deep right field. whoa my. he did it. >> amazing. he had the 12th homerun of the season, sending a first pitch fastball out into the right field seats with the angels on top, and l.a. beats boston 6-5. man, he is good. time for the weather. let's go to meteorologist bill karins for a check on the forecast. bill, happy monday. >> hope you had a great weekend, it is a beautiful thing to see

with baseball. not if you're a red sox fan of course. let's get into this. last week we talked about beautiful weather across much of the country. really quiet. this week, it is the opposite. we're going to have a lot of problems in the middle of the country, we will have issues with flooding, severe weather, hailstorms, tornadoes, you name, it we don't have anything horrible right now, we have a lot of rain that we're dealing with, areas of missouri and illinois, and through western kansas, and a little bit already in the texas areas, dallas, and this is at the sign of things to come. due like to see a big red bull's eye on any map and a moderate risk of severe storms, west texas from lubbock to abilene, to the highest risk area, and also our friends from amarillo to wichita falls and then late tonight, toward the dallas/ft. worth area, and we're talking large hail, we may get some baseball to softball sized hail out of some of these thunderstorms later today. and if that wasn't bad enough, we will see about three or four rounds of storms over the next couple of day, and 11 million people under a flash flood watch including oklahoma city and dallas and dallas/ft. worth and waco, and areas just to the

north and east of san antonio, and austin. now, how much rain are we talking over the next couple of days? this is just through wednesday. it may rain in some cases through friday and saturday, but anywhere from about one to five inches of rain, and this area has had a lot of rain, especially louisiana and east texas, so we are thinking that we could have some significant flooding issues, especially wednesday, maybe even thursday, too. in this area of east texas. that is one of the stories to watch. and for today's forecast, we still do have some great weather out there. it was a fantastic weekend on the eastern seaboard, that continues today, and the temperatures are starting to warm up a little bit. nution and cool. especially at night. we'll see summer returning, as we go throughout this week. so watch out monday today, in the middle of the country, and then awful nasty stuff stays there and you will notice, would he have almost nearly 90 degrees by the end of this week, for certain spots on the eastern seaboard, so i hope you're ready for summer, definitely time to get out the shorts and t-shirts and the fun beach stuff. it's time.

>> pro tip. and i have been so enjoying our nice cool spring. thank you very much, bill karins. we will see you tomorrow. still ahead, what dr. anthony fauci is saying about the cdc guidance for lifting masks for fully vaccinated americans. lifting masks for fully vaccinated americans. with 20 grams of protn for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. (burke) switch to farmers and you could save an average of four hundred and sixty-seven dollars on your auto insurance. boost® high protein also has key nutrients just by phoning it in to farmers. (neighbor) just by phoning it in? (burke) just phone it in. (homeowner) yeah, you just phone it in! it's great! (friend 1) i'm phoning it in and saved four hundred and forty-four dollars for switching my homeowners insurance, too! (friend 2) i don't know what you're waiting for. phone it in already! (burke) switch and save just by calling farmers today. go ahead, phone it in. (grandpa) phone it in, why don't ya?! ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

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although uncommon, up to 1 in 5 survivors of meningitis will have long term consequences. now as you're thinking about all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. the cdc did this and took this action based on the data. what they'll do now, and i know we've discussed that with the cdc director, what they'll be doing now is coming out very quickly with individual types of guidances, so people will say, what about the workplace, what about this, what about that, and i think that's going to be clarified, john, pretty quickly. i would imagine within a period of just a couple of weeks you're going to start to see significant clarification of some of the actually understandable and reasonable questions that people are asking. >> welcome back. that was dr. anthony fauci weighing in on the cdc's new

mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated americans. meanwhile, several health experts are questioning whether federal officials are moving too fast by loosening mask recommendations. according to the "washington post," more than a dozen physicians interviewed friday by the paper called the decision premature. raising concerns over the risk for people who have not yet been vaccinated which includes millions of adolescents and children. the rollback of the guidance comes just days after regulators cleared the vaccine for 12 to 15-year-old, and while so many are still unprotected. the nation's largest union of registered nurses is also criticizing the cdc, calling for the agency to reverse the guidance. according to the "new york times," the director of the union says the move would jeopardize the health of front line workers and the general public as well as disproportionately harm people of color. and while dr. fauci seemed to acknowledge some confusion around these new cdc mask guidelines, he also expressed some hope that they'll encourage more people to get vaccinated.

>> when you get vaccinated, you not only protect your own health, that of the family, but also you contribute to the community health, by preventing the spread of the virus throughout the community. in other words, you become a dead end to the virus and when there are a lot of dead ends around, the virus is not going to go anywhere but if in fact this serves as an incentive for people to get vaccinated, all the better. i hope it does, actually. >> get those vaccine, folks. president biden is facing a major foreign policy test early in his administration. renewed violence between israeli and the palestinians. we will have more on that. before we go to break, we want to know, as always, why you are awake. email us your reasons for being awake "way too early" and we'll read. so favorite answers coming up in the show. so favorite answers con the show tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? what if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks?

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welcome back to "way too early," 5:30 here on the east coast, 2:30 out west, i'm kasie hunt. the associated press top editor is calling for an independence investigation into israeli air strikes that flattened a building home to several media companies. the saturday air strike destroyed a 12-story high rise that housed the a. p. and al jazeera offices in the gaza strip. the a. p. says the building was hit about an hour after israel's military ordered people to evacuate the tower. no one was injured by that

strike. the a. p.'s president released a statement reading in part, quote, this is an incredibly disturbing development. we narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. the world will know less about what is hasn'ting in gaza because of what happened today. the white house also condemned the attack calling the safety and security of journalists a quote paramount responsibility. prime minister benjamin netanyahu repeated israel's claim yesterday that the building housed an intelligence office for hamas. nbc news has not confirmed that allegation. meanwhile, president biden spoke to both israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and palestinian president mahmoud abbas over the weekend. the white house says biden reaffirmed his support for israel's quote right to defend itself in the phone call with in essence. and in the conversation with abbas, the two reportedly shared the joint interest in making the region a quote place of peaceful co-existence for people of all faiths and backgrounds. the white house says a u.s. diplomat overseas last week, to discuss peace talks with both sides. joining us now is nbc news white

house correspondent, mike, good morning, this is quite a challenge for the biden administration, what are they thinking about how they are going to put pressure on israel, or not, to try and find terms for a cease-fire here, and what questions do they have about the state of play in israel that could affect our decision making? >> yeah, there is no more difficult challenge for any u.s. president than mid east peace, right? and this is a president with decades of foreign policy experience who might come to that challenge, that much more prepared to try and find a way forward. but in talking with the white house officials, there's an additional complication to this very difficult tight rope that the president has to walk, and what is the fact that there really is domestic politics at play in israel, in a way that makes any move by this president that much more fraught. if you read tom freedman today,

you will get an additional sense that there is a concern in weighing in such a way that might preserve prime minister netanyahu's position here. obviously, it was just a couple of weeks ago it looked like he was, there was finally a resolution in the long gridlock there in israeli politics that would lead to a new government forming, and so that's what i think is weighing on this white house, and in addition to the domestic politics back here, you have that much more concern with the new letter from democratic senators led by jon ossoff about the human rights toll taking place in gaza. what the white house is doing so far, obviously you mentioned some of the calls from the president over the weekend, we have a deputy assistant secretary of state who's in the region at the moment, keep an eye though on the secretary of state tony blinken. he is in europe for meetings throughout the week, and i think there is a very real expectation that while the white house has been hoping not to escalate this, hoping that both parties pit the pressure on other regional allies, might come to a

cease-fire on their own, that ultimately blinken might have to come in personally here as biden's proxy to try to bring both sides, to get to a cease-fire. >> very interesting. mike, you briefly mentioned domestic u.s. politics and how that plays into this and i want to touch on that quickly because we saw a lot of backlash to alexandra owe casio cortez's tweet over the weekend, and the majority leader has not signed on to, and he has been a staunch supporter of israel throughout his career and this is a divide in the party and this is an incredibly emotional issue, and how do you think he's going to navigate this? >> well, keep in mind that president biden, for throughout his public service career, has cast himself as a very loyal

friend of israel as well. i was with then vice president biden in 2013 when he traveled to israel, with a private dinner with netanyahu that went so late we thought we were going to be stuck in israel, the airport was closing another night, and he brings to this, his own experiences, as well. and his own position is really now one that is increasingly harder to reconcile within the party. being a staunch defender of israel, he made it clearly he thinks they have a right to defend themselves but there are real concerns about israeli misconduct here especially the aggressive actions they're taking in the face of calls for much more caution in the region. and i think that's, you know, this is a president who for most of his term, it has been a domestic policy presidency, and the fact that this is now weighing on him in a way that he was hoping to turn u.s. foreign policy focus elsewhere, especially to the asia-pacific region, i think it is a reminder of how the presidency is all

about what you can't plan for as much as what you try to plan for. >> it sure is. all right, mike, thank you very much for being up with us this morning. we appreciate your reporting. and still ahead here, the best moments from the latest episode of "saturday night live," including the cast and the confusion surrounding the cdc's new mask guidelines. and what could mark the start of a totally different career for actor matthew mcconaughey. don't go anywhere. "way too early" back in just a moment. just a moment

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experience amazing, at your lexus dealer. i found a few doctors at the cdc who minored in theater, and happening to re-enact certain behaviors on correct mask behavior. >> welcome. do i still have to wear a mask indoors. >> you actually do not. >> great.

>> well as long as you're vaccinated. >> no, i'm not. >> oh, then that's bad. >> well, i'm entering a bar at 11:00 a.m., did you really think i was vaxed because that's on you. >> you're right. i deserve covid. >> i'm concerned. this is a pretty large gathering. should we be wearing masks? >> we don't have to because we're outside. the capitol building. now, come on. let's get them. >> right behind ya. >> d ya >> >> time now for something totally different. kate mckinnen reprised her role as dr. anthony fauci on "saturday night live" over the weekend poking fun at the confusion over new mask regulations. the penultimate show was hosted by musical guest rodrigo and it will air this saturday, with the host. amid the pandemic, across the country, relaxing certain rules to help businesses.

and one of the new rules might be here to stay. the california state assembly is considering the bill that would allow restaurants and other establishments to permanently allow takeout cocktails and alcoholic beverages. if passed, california would join 11 other states including texas to legalize to go drinks. the senator bill dodd introduced the legislation and said in a statement, quote, if allowing restaurants to have carryout cocktails allows people to keep their jobs, it should be allowed to do it. matthew mcconaughey has toyed with the idea of entering politics but may be taking things more seriously than previously thought. the actor and texas native is looking at a run for office and according to reports, he has been making calls to influential people in texas political circles. multiple people close to the star reportedly say he is

seriously considering throwing his hat in the ring against republican governor greg abbott in 2022. what is unclear is the party that mcconaughey would run under. he has called himself a centrist in the past. and actress scarlet johannson was honored with an award at the mtv awards, and his "snl" star husband had a surprise for her. watch. >> this is my great pleasure to share with you a sneak peek from a film that is the culmination of ten years of work, and one of the greatest achievements -- >> what the [ bleep ]. >> you got slimed. >> that's nickelodeon. >> i'm very, very sorry. >> get a towel. >> i'll get a towel. >> i love it.

all right, still ahead here, the calls from congress to de-escalate the ongoing violence in the middle east. don't go anywhere. "way too early," coming right back. right back who trust in our performance and comfortable long-lasting protection. because your strength is supported by ours. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? what if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks? now they can! downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh way longer than detergent alone. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load and enjoy fresher smelling laundry. with 6 times the freshness ingredients, downy unstopables gives you more of what you love.

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welcome back. lawmakers on capitol hill are calling for a cease-fire in the middle east. senator jon ossoff of georgia is leading a group of senators for de-escalating violence, to prevent any further loss of civilian life and to prevent further escalation of conflict in israel and the palestinian territories we urge an immediate cease-fire. the note does not include senate majority leader chuck schumer. house democrats issued a similar joint statement that says, long issues demand attention but a cease-fire comes first. former democratic congressman jay harman of california, a distinguished fellow and president america at the wilson center and the author of the book "the insanity defense," why

our failure to confront hard national security problems makes us less safe. congresswoman, thanks as always for being up with us early. we appreciate you being here. i want to talk about how we got here and what the biden administration is going to do next, we heard from mike a little bit about some of the challenges that are facing them, and the trump administration is really embracing netanyahu in a way that we hadn't in the past, and how does that set the stage for what's going on here and add to the challenges that the biden administration is facing? >> well, this is another hard problem, as you know, i believe, good morning to you, i think it makes biden's job harder, trump did embrace the prime minister in a way that was enormously focused and he also cut off aid to the palestinianian, and that created a lot more anxiety in that community, and finally things blew up but there are some interesting things that i don't think have been discussed yet.

one is that netanyahu has two agendas. one is surviving political office and he is doing that extremely well. he's basically blown up the effort to put together a coalition to succeed him. and he will stay in power probably now until his fifth election. make that five elections in israel. but the second is, and this one i'm more sympathetic to, to degrade and destroy the tunnel infrastructure under gaza, which has been the way that missiles and other materials attack israel have been smuggled in and to do that, he's done a lot by air but flattening civilian buildings which is horrifying. i don't know what he's going to do on the ground. he's withheld his troops so far. but i think that's the other agenda that many people are synthetic to. a couple other points. -- synthetic to. couple other points. hez bo la is on the northern border with israel and rockets aimed from iran.

and is it because iran is still trying to negotiate with us? is that because they want this hamas agenda to succeed? so i just say that there's a lot of stuff that's still not totally understood and it makes it very hard for the biden administration to thread the needle. >> that's a great point. congresswoman, we put up this tweet a little earlier from ocasio-cortez and talked about the state, apartheid and you've been around a long time and you have seen how many democrats have been friends of israel for a very long time, and i mean this is a remarkable statement. what's your take on what she had to say, and how the biden administration handles the politics here at home? >> well, that's an explosive word. jimmy carter, former president jimmy carter wrote a book with that in the title, about israel, and it created an absolutely

huge backlash and i think he never backed off, but a lot of us were upset about the term. the democratic party is split. this is not new news. this has been going on for a while. the bbs movement, which was, or maybe it still is, through the left is, a way to try to get israel to withdraw some of the settlements and to move more toward a two-state solution. the sad thing, is even though many of us want a two-state solution, we can't want it more than the parties on the grown. and the last thing i didn't say before, i think mahmoud abbas, too. hamas is not part of his government, not his government, but part of his leadership coalition. and i think he won't mind having hamas be less of a factor. so this entire thing sadly is punishing civilians on ground, most of them palestinians, because israel has the iron dome system to protect itself, but israeli civilians, it's a lose-lose, and certainly in

terms of people, and human right, and in that sense, i'm note totally sympathetic to these letters that are being sent. >> we saw also of course the israelis flatten the a. p. building in especially to me as a former employee of that news organization. briefly, congresswoman, i did want to touch on -- to bring us back in time a little bit to see how we got here. there was reporting over the weekend in "the new york times" about israeli actions at the al aqsa mass in jerusalem, which is a holy site for judaism, but one of the most holy sites for muslims. muslims felt very, frankly, they felt that the actions that israelis took there were completely unacceptable and it's part of what escalated this conflict. what -- do you think that israel was out of line in how they have been dealing with and these police raids on the al aqsa mass? >> well, i think we need to know

more. but to do this with robert bullet seems to me to be very surprising. and they'll say elsewhere. just one thing on the ap building, kasie. they claim that there was a communications headquarters for hamas underneath the news organizations and maybe some form of a satellite tower on top. so i can't say that's true. but they are seriously trying to degrade and take out the infrastructure of hamas. >> all right. former congressman jane harman, thank you very much for being up early to help us understand all of this. we really appreciate it. and earlier on in the show, we asked all of you, why are you awake? we got this note from crystal, i'm up because i'm 8 months pregnant and sleep is no longer my friend. i remember that well. good luck. and susan tweeted, my 10-year-old cat reminds me it's time to watch way too early when he gets up on the cornice and cries for me to get him down.

jim says, i'm actually at my building's gym maskless for the first time in a year. glorious. and this reminder from kate, who says today is tax day. saying, i'm up way too early because i have to do my taxes. thank you for that psa. we have to take a look at the axios one big thing. and senator chris murphy says there is republican support when it comes to gun reform. he'll join the conversation. plus, continued coverage of the ongoing violence in the middle east. we'll hear to a senior adviser to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. don't go anywhere. "morning joe" just moments away. . "morning joe" just moments away. oh, i had never seen a picture of her until i got on ancestry. it was like touching the past. my great aunt signed up to serve in the union army as a field nurse. my great grandmother started a legacy of education in my family. didn't know she ran for state office. ended up opening her own restaurant in san francisco. paralee wharton elder, lupe gonzalez, mary sawyers, margaret ross. there's a lot of life that she lived.

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9 elements - more than a clean, a cleanse. welcome back. joining us now with a look at axios am, political reporter for axios, hans nichols. what's the axios one big thing you're taking a look at this morning. kasie, good morning. the one big thing we're looking at is president biden's ambition, whether it's too big, too much, and whether he's looking to simply spend too much

in the economy. so far, the white house isn't backing from their plans. they're very clear that they want to inject another $4 trillion. build back better is what they say. they have the american jobs plan, the american jobs plan. but you're hearing to see more, in particular from larry summers out there, basically warning again on inflation. he made that warning back in february. summers is now saying that, look, all the data are pointing to higher inflation, even sooner than i expected. and on top of this, we don't really have a clear sense of how they're going to get to 50 votes. i'm not even talking about the 50 votes, but to 60 votes on an infrastructure plan. there's a lot of conversation on this. we'll obviously get more data. people smarter than me will be debating about unangered and de-angered expectations for inflation and where we are on consumer price index and all of these other metrics. but this is the beginning of a conversation that's going to get pretty heated. and hard to adjudicate, if i'm

honest. kasie? >> yeah, no. and the politics of it are pretty interesting, as well. i think that point you make about not being able to get to 50. if they can't get to 50, they're going to have to really have to, frankly, curtail their ambitions in terms of spending. hans, let's talk about what's been going on overnight in the middle east. the escalation and fighting, additional civilian casualties in gaza. and i know axios has been reporting on how congress is or isn't reacting to this. what are we hearing and what are we not hearing that stands out to you? >> well, we're starting to hear more. i would say over the weekend, the story was maybe a little bit more on how little we were hearing from members of congress. now, we're starting to hear more letters. senator ossoff put something out. and as congresswoman harman is talking about, there's obviously a divide in the democratic party. and the politics are tough,

because they have the movement going on, as well as this instinctual and muscle memory respect and support for israel. and to the extent that that diverges, that's going to be an interesting story, an interesting story to watch. i suspect we're going to see more statements today, like we saw over the last 12 to 24 hours. we're talking about the need on both sides, calling for cease-fires, but again, the politics are tricky on this, as no one other than former president jimmy carter learned, as congresswoman harman was suggesting. >> all right. hans nichols, thanks very much for being up early with us. we really appreciate your time. and to underscore this point, the person to watch this week, as the fighting continues in the middle east, senate majority leader chuck schumer. he's facing political pressure here at home from the left, but he also has been someone who has stood out as a friend to israel for his entire career. and he is in a very difficult position here. i'm looking to see what he has

to say about what's going on as it continues to unfold. thank you all for getting up way too early for us on this monday morning. don't go anywhere. "morning joe" starts right now. great news this week. the cdc announced that fully vaccinated people no longer have to wear masks or socially distance, except if you go to most places. anyway, have fun out there. >> good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is monday, may 17th. with us, we have white house reporter for the associated press, jonathan lemire. washington anchor for bbc world news america, katty kay. and columnist and associate editor for "the washington post," david ignatius. and joe, we've seen this confusion with masks. we went out. we actually went out to a place with people -- >> it doesn't happen much. so we traveled through -- i traveled back yesterday and traveled through airports.

huge, massive, cavernous airports without a lot of people in there. you've got to put your mask on. well, okay. the cdc said -- but okay. >> that's all right. people are being careful. >> and in another state, i went to -- you go into one store. you have to have your mask on. the next store, you don't have top so there needs to be some clarification here. and the only thing i've asked all along, i'm a plain simple country lawyer. i just ask the trump administration to follow the science, i'm asking the biden administration to follow the science. >> well, they are. >> they are. now i'm asking the state governors, follow the science, and also people that run their businesses, follow the sciences. i'm not asking for mosh pits inside of restaurants or retail stores, but if the cdc is saying return to normal and the cdc is saying, if you've been vaccinated, don't wear a mask, you don't have to wear a mask, then that