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the pick of former congressman, matt gaetz, for attorney general now setting up a true test of senate gop loyalty towards president- elect trump. the choice is dividing republicans in congress while democrats are pushing for the release of a house ethics report on the former congressman. plus, paris on alert. police there stepping up security ahead of an international soccer match between france and israel. officials trying to prevent antisemitic violence like what happened on the streets of amsterdam. >> and the truth is out there.

former pentagon officials telling members of congress that we are not alone in the cosmos. why they accuse the government of hiding evidence of alien life forms and ufo s. president- elect donald trump's latest flurry of cabinet choices sending shock waves through washington and beyond. here in the past 24 hours, trump tapped former democratic congresswoman, tulsi gabbard, to be his director of national intelligence and florida republican, matt gaetz, his attorney general. if confirmed by the senate, gaetz would lead the very department that pursued a year's long sex trafficking investigation against him. we're learning the house was set to vote tomorrow on whether to release the findings of a separate ethics probe into the now former congressman. trump's choice of gaetz to lead doj is perhaps his

most controversial yet, but underscores what the incoming president values most as he prepares for his new term, and that is loyalty. let's turn to kristen holmes who's live in west palm beach, florida. trump back at mar-a- lago today after dropping some of these bombshells yesterday. walk us through how he settled on these latest picks. >> reporter: well, some of his team is actually surprised there was more blowback to matt gaetz than tulsi gabbard. they thought there would be more pushback to the gabbard aspect but when it comes to gaetz, donald trump views this as one of the most important positions in his administration. particularly because of what he wants to do to the department of justice. essentially move it under the executive, have complete control over it and gut it from within. one thing you use the term a lot because we hear it from donald trump and his team talking

about the deep state. when he's talking about the deep state, he's almost entirely specifically referring to the department of justice because of what he believes is this bureaucratic system that operates outside of the executive branch, but what i am comes to how he landed on matt gaetz, that he had had a series of interviews. gaetz was never on any short list, but donald trump just wasn't impressed and the short list kept getting longer because they kept bringing in new people to sit down with him. i'm told he didn't really think any of them had what it took to be the presenter, the effective communicator of the message that he wanted out there. a lot of the meetings were form laic. he didn't feel like people could go on tv and defend what they were doing. then on the plane ride to washington, d.c. , this plan was hatched for matt gaetz for attorney general. he had people around him pushing for it. chief of staff, susie wiles, has a relationship with matt gaetz. she's a political operative in

florida. he's a florida politician. she was on the plane yesterday when all of this was coming together. now, they decided that this was the way to go and by the time they were wheels down from that meeting with president biden, he had announced that pick. now, what i'm told about that pick specifically is that they're looking at him, again, as this communicator. as this figure head, person who's going to go out there and effectively message what they're doing at the department of justice and we know he's a bomb thrower. the other thing i was told was to watch out in the next several days for a series of people who are going to be under him. these are likely to be more serious attorneys known for their work in litigation. those deputies to him with the people that are going to be executing the day-to- day work at the department of justice. >> kristen holmes live in west palm beach. thank you. today, top senate democrats are calling on the house ethics committee release their findings on former congressman,

matt gaetz. that report was expected to be released as soon as tomorrow, but after gaetz resigned immediately from the house, it's not clear if it's going to see the light of day. here's dick durbin. >> i want to know what's in this ethics committee report. it's a bipartisan investigation. of some extremely serious charges. that has to be public. let the american people then decide whether he's competent and qualified. the timing of his resignation and flight with president- elect donald trump suggests he believes that this report is not friendly and favorable. >> manu raju is following the latest reaction from capitol hill. what are you hearing from other lawmakers? >> reporter: yeah, this is going to be a complicated confirmation battle for this to be successful for donald trump and for matt gaetz. there are 53 republican senators assuming the pennsylvania senate race goes their way.

it's in a recount right now. if they have 53 votes, that means they can only lose three republicans. in talking to most republican senators over the past day, there are far more than three who have concern. now, does that mean they're all going to vote against gaetz? no, it doesn't. in fact, most of them ultimately would vote for him. but it would only take four senators on the republican side to scuttle this nomination. republicans concerns, too, not just about matt gaetz's role during the trump era as well as him pushing out kevin mccarthy, but this investigation in the house ethics committee. a probe into allegations of sexual misconduct that he's denied. that investigation is now done because gaetz abruptly resigned from the house yesterday. now, they don't have jurisdiction over him at this moment, but the question is will the committee release that

information. here's the other big question. is gaetz does not get the votes in the senate, would donald trump move to install him via recess appointments? bypassing the senate all together. i talk today a number of republicans about this today and some say they would not favor it. >> recess appointed. does that concern you? >> that's a whole other issue. i don't think we should be circumventing the senate's responsibilities. but i think it's premature to be talking about it. >> if someone's rejected. >> that's a totally different issue. i think the supreme court would even step in. >> you wouldn't be in favor. >> the supreme court's spoken as to the time period it would take. >> i believe in recess appointments so i was very clear and you know, i think both john cornyn and john thune

committed recess appointments. >> reporter: in the last comment, rick scott, who ran for senate majority leader, he lost the race to john thune. he had run for senate majority leader as well and aligned himself more with trump in the days running up to the election that happened yesterday. but you heard him saying he believes it should be an advise and consent. into the investigation into matt gaetz including getting that information from the house ethics committee. that's what the democrats are demanding right now. >> manu raju live for us on capitol hill. thank you so much. let's discuss this latest news with cnn's senior political commentator, david axelrod and matt mauers, president of valcor llc. matt, just about a week ago, you and i were discussing potential cabinet picks and you

mentioned that attorney general would be extremely tricky. not only because of donald trump's aspirations for doj and what it means in the federal government, but also because they would immediately become a target, the nominee, from democrats. >> i think we said maybe the best appointment in the administration would be his second choice for attorney general. i think a lot of even republican senators, doesn't mean they won't confirm donald trump's nominee or matt gaetz. i'm skeptical they will, but doesn't mean they won't. they're going to have a lot of tough questions about what are these reforms you want to see at the justice department. i think there's broad consensus that some changes have to be made but for what extent and means are you willing to go and do it. those are types of questions that any nominee for attorney general will have to answer. especially matt gaetz. i think the challenge here lies in the fact that if it were anyone else, even anyone who had more controversy around them, they could still get through

53-seat majority in the senate, but gaetz has personally offended so many members of congress, so many individual senators, that again, all you need to do is lose four of them and it's hard to imagine there won't be four who may feel the need to oppose matt gaetz. >> david, for so many republicans in the senate though, this is going to be more about them and donald trump than it is going to be about them and matt gaetz. what do you expect it comes down to in him getting through? do you expect he does get through? >> i have real doubts about it. i mean, he is so freighted in so many different ways including his own entanglements with law enforcement from the wrong end of it. i think trump has put these republican senators in a really tough position. between their oath to the constitution and him. when

i heard this description of how this nomination came about, it was pretty alarming, but also very revealing. you know, trump was unhappy because he didn't think the people they were talking to were essentially good enough on tv and he approaches all these things like a casting director. loyalty, obviously, very, very important to him. we're talking about an operation, the department of justice, fbi associated with it. these are organizations that are there to keep the american people safe and one of the things donald trump promised when he was running is that he was going to keep people safe. you don't keep people safe by putting someone who's patently incompetent and widely disliked in charge of the whole operation. so i think that these, i think that these republican senators are really placed in a difficult position here and i agree with matt. i think that was very apt to

say better to be his second choice for attorney general. the thing is he's just made it so much harder because the first choice is you know, on the face of it, unconfirmable. >> can i just say on the point david was making about these individual republican senators. the real question will be does john thune eventually put a matt gaetz nomination forward for a vote and a hearing if at the end of the day, not enough senators are even saying they're going to vote for him. he's going to have to have that difficult conversation with president-elect trump and say i don't want you to be embarrassed on the floor of the united states senate or the judiciary committee. do you really want to move forward on this. that's where john thune's going to maybe have to give cover to some of these individual senators who don't want to be put in the position to vote against him. >> does it make a huge difference that it was thune elected opposed to rick scott? >> it shows the senate is immune to some of the outside

political noise. there's a robust effort for lack of better terms, the maga social media sphere. we saw how the senators responded. very insular, insulated from these political pressures and i expect they're going to try to give a long leash to trump. they believe he was elected with a mandate. but at some point, rubber meets the road on some of these nominees and gaetz makes it very challenging for them. >> it's amazing how immune they are from pressure when the ballot is secret. david, i want to ask you about the tulsi gabbard pick for director to have national intelligence. she has said many things that i think there are folks who look at it and they question what she said. whether it's about putin, whether it's bashar al assad being isolationist. being friendly towards these dictators who have done horrible things to their own people. but i also

want to ask you this because you're someone who has seen up close how the responsibility of an office can change a person. and i wonder if you think once she is in that role, she has access to a lot of information that she did not maybe have access to before. she hasn't had in years. if that's something that should change her. what do you think? >> you know, that's a bet i'm not sure that i would want to make. generally, you don't pick people for the office who on the face of it, have glaring, about whom there are glaring concerns and who are inexperienced. she wasn't even on the house intelligence committee when she was in the congress. she has no experience in this realm. you don't want to sort of take a chance that maybe the office will change her. there's a, you know, i'm so struck by the fact that the week before the election, there was a story that surfaced through an

indictment of a plot to assassinate donald trump that was originating in iran. that plot was foiled by the intelligence community and the fbi. this is serious stuff. and the other thing that i worry about is we rely on our partners around the world, our allies, to cooperate with us and share intelligence. if they don't have confidence in the person who is at the top of these 18 intelligence agencies, are they going to feel free to share intelligence with us? all of this goes to our fundamental security and safety and so no, i don't want to bet on whether someone will change if they take this office. i agree with matt. listen, i think as someone who's served a president, i believe the president is deserved a great presumption and

voters are. they elected donald trump. i think in the main deserves the people who he wants to govern, but there are limits to that. that's why there is advice and consent. and i would surely hope that the senate doesn't cede theirs on these types of offices in particular that have life and death implications for americans and the world. >> i wanted to play a little devil's advocate with my question there, but i saw the utmost restraint as you were trying not to roll your eyes at the premise of my question there, david. but i really appreciated your thoughtful answer. david and matt, thank you so much. still to come this hour, trump's pick for secretary of defense has slammed officials who support what he calls woke policies. what his appointment could mean if he's confirmed. and also ahead, president biden will soon land in peru for his last apex summit before trump moves back into the white house. details on that ahead. and later, are we alone

in the universe? more witnesses testifying on capitol hill, claiming unidentified ariel phenomena are real and the government is keeping it secret. we're going to try to unravel those secrets when we come back. stay with us.

right now, president biden is on his way to lima, peru, for this year's apec summit. the same city it was in in 2016. cnn's senior white house correspondent, kayla tausche, joins us from lima. this is president biden's first presidential trip to south america. how does losing the election for democrats change the messaging

there? >> reporter: the president is expected to put forth the same message as the last four years. and that message is that allies are vital to america's security and strength. both at home and around the world, but the unspoken message is that the approach to those alliances is about to be upended when trump takes office in january. senior administration officials acknowledge that while everyone is physically here in south america, all anyone can focus on is what is happening in palm beach, florida, and in washington. also acknowledging a sense of awkwardness as many of these world leaders prepare for a second trump term. there's been some discussion in the white house and among the top national security aides about how to quote unquote trump proof some of these relationships and agreements and aid packs that have been in place for the duration of biden's term. i'm told that's not going to be a focus of this week's summit. both for apec leaders.

so giving them a little bit of distance to craft their own strategy to deal with the trump administration 2.0. for president biden, it will be a swan song of sorts on the world stage. albeit a relatively quiet one. he's going to be meeting with the leaders of the host country. also holding a meeting with the leaders of japan and south korea to reaffirm those alliances and he's going to have a closely watched bilateral meeting with president xi of china to follow on the same meeting they had at the summit one year ago in san francisco to discuss military to military communication and stopping things like fentanyl tracking. there's going to be a relatively light staff footprint here in lima and in rio de janeiro

where the president is going next. as many in the west wing acknowledge this is really wind down time and many are trying to figure out what's next for them. >> kayla tausche live from lima. thank you so much. ridiculous and and f- ing nightmare. those are quotes. some of the reactions from current and former senior military commanders to president- elect trump's defense secretary pick. pete hegseth, the former fox news host and army national guard combat veteran has long voiced his disdain for how the defense department conducts business. he's railed against what he calls the quote, woke critical race theory, dei gender stuff he says has seeped into the military. here's what he's said in recent interviews. >> the dumbest phrase on planet earth in the military is our diversity is our strength. it's one thing to have dei inside your corporation or university. another thing inside the 101st

airborne. if the military goes woke, it's less equipped to fight wars. >> we should not have women in combat roles. hasn't made us more effective. has made fighting more complicated. >> joining us the jennifer barnhill, military spouse and author of the military stories you've been told. jennifer, thanks for being with us. i want to talk to you first about some of this "wall street journal" reporting that was really surprising to a lot of folks that the trump transition team is actually considering an executive order to create a board that would review three and four star military officers and flag them for firing if they're determined to be unfit for leadership. this would basically bypass what's been a pretty strenuous pentagon promotion system. how big of a change would that be? >> let's back up a bit. as a military family

membermember myself, military spouse and writer, i've been observing the narratives that have been swirling around the dod for some time. one is the woke narrative. one of the newest layer of this is what you're mentioning. talking about our department of defense officials as being woke and characterizing them and their actions in a specific light and what this does is this actually capitalizes on america's lack of familiarity with the military. the service member themselves and military family. and it's not surprising. not very many people serve in the military so there is that disconnect. >> when they're saying, jennifer, it's woke, what are they meaning? and is it true? >> so, when this sneaks into the conversation, rather than be about the issues that are designed to support service members and families, that's what these policies are, policies that are there to help a particular segment of the population, they're taking the

conversation away from the things that are needed that our service members need and refocusing the conversation on other agendas. and in fact, in doing so, they push the dod leaders, families, policies, into the political fray. >> so what kind of policies are we talking about? >> so, obviously, there is a history with this narrative and it goes back to 2023. there were holds on appointments. that was something that was really destructive to our community. the narrative started to shift when we were talking about a post roe v. wade environment. so accessing abortion, accessing maternal healthcare. these were all under threats and military families were very concerned. not just female service members. we all move around with our loved ones and we're all subject to the laws in the states where we are, but we don't have the right to vote with our feet and leave, so we look to our

military leaders to support us through policy. that's one example. the narrative started to shift when con ver versation moved away from the policies. safe housing is another. childcare is another. there are so many military policies that our leaders put into place to serve those who serve our country. and so that's just one example. when the narrative shifted away from the policy and moved more towards this idea of wokeness or a liberal or democratic policy. but reality is these policies have always been historically there to serve the people who have elected to serve their country. >> so, one of the things that's getting a lot of attention has been hegseth's remarks about women in combat. and i want to ask you about that. because he's not alone. we've heard a lot of people who have talked about this. he said as recently as last week, they don't belong there, but the fact is,

they're there and have been for some time. i think it's maybe hard to unring the bell on women in combat when they've been there for so long including as fighter pilots in the special operations forces even. they're in the rangers, green barets as well. what is is the message that sends to women who are serving? >> this type of rhetoric is in the new at all. this has been said of our service members of color, our lgbtq service members all painted to be unfit to serve. this is not new to women. obviously, families are unsure of why we're even hearing this again. why is this even a topic of conversation. because of what you just shared. there are data out there that show the success of women in the military. and so to be honest, i'm dumbfounded. i don't know why we're still talking about this.

>> are they bothered by it? are people bothered by it or do they think this is just something that gets talked about and it's not really going to change anything? >> so, what i would say is one of the reasons why we're here today is to talk about this woke idea. part of this reason this is a problematic situation, is because it pulls the military into a political sphere. so you're not likely to hear directly from the military members about things like that because that's the beauty of the military. they are a political. so what i've been hearing is of course, there are concerns, but it's very unlikely we're going to hear a lot publicly from these individuals. for the very reason this is a problem. politicizing the military disrupts our government. it really is, it's not something we should be looking to do. and in fact, it's something we really need to be careful to avoid. >> jennifer barnhill, thank you so much. really appreciate it. looking forward to the book as well. when we come back,

why attorneys for rudy giuliani want to quit his debt enforcement case just days ahead of the deadline for him to turn over his assets to two georgia election workers.

♪ ♪ ♪ something has changed within me ♪ ♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪ ♪ ♪

donald trump's former attorney, rudy giuliani, is facing a major legal setback. his attorneys in the nine figure defamation judgment against him want to quit his case. the lead lawyer filed a motion to leave even though that's week he was still talking about the future of giuliani's appeal. >> people seem to think this is final. rudy giuliani's going to give up everything he owns, but if,

as i believe, we're going to have that verdict reversed, it's all going to come back. as i said to the press in one of my rare comments. stay tuned. >> the update is now that lawyer wants out. giuliani owes two georgia election workers nearly $150 million for defaming them while wrongly claimed the 2020 election was stolen. kaitlyn, giuliani has a big deadline for tomorrow to turn over some of his possessions. why are the two attorneys trying to get out? >> we don't have the details on exactly what happened between them and giuliani, but the big picture is if he doesn't meet this deadline tomorrow set by the court to give over a lot of his valuables. furniture, watches, a car, keys and title to a mercedes- benz in florida. if he doesn't give these things over, him and all the other

people involved could face sanctions. contempt of court. theoretically, that's where people can be locked up if they, if they're not doing what the court says until they're willing to do what the court says. we don't know if it's going to get there with giuliani, but things are going badly for him. these lawyers have been arguing in court. they were just in court with the former mayor in person last week and giuliani is telling them at the who aring to do certain things and caruso started making arguments he had already lost weeks ago in this case and the judge kept saying no, this is ridiculous, farcical. it's not going to happen. so now, these attorneys filed these notices last night with the details about what happened with giuliani redacted. what they have said is that they're following the ethics rules for lawyers that say that they may need to take themselves out of a case, quit, if they have a fundamental disagreement with their client

or their client is uncooperative or they're being asked to contradict the law. so we're going to see what's happening tomorrow,tomorrow, giuliani gets his things to ruby freeman and shaye moss. it is a tense moment for the former mayor of new york. >> yeah. any of those three options as grounds for them to get out of the case portend ominous things. the giuliani hoping trump is going to do something for him? is there anything he can do? >> there doesn't appear to be much donald trump could do. it's a civil case. enforcement action in the court system. there's a federal judge in new york trying to enforce having these things turned over to ruby freeman and shaye moss. there is an appeal that he seems to be pinning his hopes on, but it isn't moving and there's

no relief coming soon. the possibility he could win that appeal is very, very unlikely. he's not really getting a lot of hope here or even much information at this time. >> or much support of his attorneys now want out. thank you so much. after violence against jewish people in amsterdam, france is sending in thousands of police officer to a big soccer game today in paris between france and israel. these are actual live images from paris. you see protesters there gathered in the street. we have details coming your way in just a few minutes.

has the government conducted secret programs, yes or no. >> yes. >> were they designed

to identify and reverse engineer alien craft? >> yes. >> a congressional hearing straight out of a sci- fi movie. four self- described ufo or uap experts testifying to members of the house oversight committee yesterday making shocking claims, including that the u.s. government is covering up evidence of ufos and aliens. >> what the american people need to know is that the u.s. military and intelligence community are sitting on a huge amount of visual and other information. still photos, video photos. >> was anything described that we have possession of bodies? >> yes. >> is it multiple types of creatures or -- >> sir, i couldn't answer that. i can tell you anecdotally thatthat it discussed quite a bit when i was at the pentagon. >> what do you believe uaps could be or are? >> strong evidence that they're non- human higher intelligence. >> wow. let's discuss with adam frank.

thank you for being with us. i feel like we've talked about this sort of thing before and you've expressed skepticism. i wonder what you made of these hearings. >> first of all, i always want to begin, transparency would be great. you know. getting a handle on what the government actually knows and doesn't know about uaps is a good thing, but i'm going to express the exact same skepticism i did last time. you heard one of the speaker, anecdotally. these are always stories about military or intelligence people who have heard from somebody else who's heard from somebody else. i got to tell you, as an astronomer whose job is all about finding life in the universe, it's frustrating. i kind of hope they're true because the most important question for me is is there life in the universe, but

there's never any data. it's been decades we've been hearing these stories and there still is no actual data. show me the spaceship. until then, it's a lot of stories. >> that's really interesting. as reporters, we run into that sometimes. you know, that it may be someone just repeating something they've heard and they sort of believe it to be true. but have you seen it. so when that one guy is talking about life forms, bodies, that's sort of just a game of telephone, of people talking about something that their friend saw and it just gets sort of passed on through a chain of people? is that your expectation? >> i think that's a possibility. i mean, you know, so the first ufo craze happens in 1947. actually, the guy, the military guy who was in charge of, the officer in charge of the first investigation in the early '50s afterwards, after he left the investigation, wrote a book where he claimed there was a special report

that showed these things were interplanetary, because no one was thinking interstellar then. but no one's ever found that report. this goes back decades. for every military and intelligence officer who says there is evidence, the government is holding it, you can find one who says it isn't. for example, sean kirk patrick who stepped down a as the head of the program studying these things, said there's no evidence. he talks about what he calls the circular conversation. that for decades now, you've got people who will claim something is true talking to other people. maybe the next generation, the younger generation, and then they talk to the next generation. so it's this circular conversation among people who believe this. i'm sure they believe it earnestly. but we never get the data. my colleagues and i hope that we'll soon have data where we can make a claim there's alien life. if you make a claim that extraordinary, you need to

have pretty strong evidence because you know, we are, human beings are being easy at fooling themselves. especially about thing they want to be true. so we invented science so we would know what's true. i'm bothered by these incredible claims. i don't want to believe. i want to know. i'm a scientist. >> i think it's clear you and brianna are in on the cover up and i don't appreciate you guys stifling descending voices. we have to leave the conversation. we look forward to having you on. it's not a conversation that's going away anytime soon. thank you so much for joining us. >> no, thank you. stay with cnn news central. we'll be right back. seeking the truth because it is out there.

paris is on high alert ahead of a soccer match between france and israel that will kick off in and an hour. thousands of extra security personnel deployed on the streets and staid up. french authorities taking no chances after amsterdam was rocked after a soccer match last week. israeli fans were attacked in the streets. some beaten by people who chased them down on scooters. melissa bell is near paris where tonight's match will take place. what's the scene like there? >> reporter: let me just show you what things are like. as you said, an hour to kickoff. normally, this would be an area full of fans going in and out of the stadium that can seat 80,000 people. as you can see, apart from policemen and women, there aren't many people here. we don't expect the

turnout to be terribly high, no more than about 15,000. we just watched a handful of israel supporters who have chosen to come out to this match arrive under a really strong police presence brought in by bus, accompanied by special forces. there are helicopters in the sky, drones have been deployed. and the barricades are pretty substantial. there's a very small pro palestinian rally being held a couple of kilometers from here tonight. and really as you say, french authorities are all about preventing the kind of violence we saw last week in amsterdam, yet here in paris, emotions running high. last night, we saw pro palestinian protest, but also jewish groups coming out to protest the policies of the israeli government in gaza at an event held in support of the policy. this is a part of the world

where feelings run extremely high about what's happening in the middle east. they're making sure israeli fans are getting to and from their hotels tonight safely. >> thank you so much. we'll continue to monitor this story. another republican senator speaking out about the nomination of matt gaetz and saying that his record might make it more complicated to confirm him as attorney general. we are live on the hill with the latest.