confirmation complications. republicans divided over president- elect donald trump's pick for attorney general, matt gaetz. making matters tougher, some gop lawmakers are leery of trump using a tactic that would bypass the senate. plus, president trump wants elon musk to cut government down to size, but that's easier said than done. we're going to break down what's on the chopping block and the potential conflict of interest. having someone with billions of dollars of contracts decide what should and should not be paid for. and info wars has a new owner. one that specializes in its ownown form of fake news. we're going to speak to one of those parents as we follow these stories coming in here to cnn news central.

president- elect donald trump is at mar-a- lago today trying to complete his cabinet picks after a string of controversial choices. his pick for attorney general is raising perhaps the most eyebrows. matt gaetz could soon be in charge of the justice department, an agency he's been critical of, as well as the target of. but choosing a cabinet member is one thing. confirmation is another. some of trump's selections could set the stage for confirmation fights even with republicans in control. kristen holmes is live for us in west palm beach, florida. how is trump's team responding to this blow back? not exactly arms wide open from his own party. >> reporter: they've moved on. they have meetings today

going over their picks for a number of like treasury, energy. these are things they're trying expected it. they were not 100% sure everyone was going to come out and support gaetz or gabbard, that instead, they believed that this was donald trump's mandate to deliver on some of the promises he said he was going to deliver on like completely dismantling the department of justice. donald trump thought matt gaetz was the right person to do it. i have spoken to a number of his advisers who say they're clear eyed on the prospect they might not be confirmed. that they're going to do everything they can to get them confirmed, but that they also understand that this process, this is just the beginning of the nomination process. and nobody is kind of in disillusionment that there was going to be some push back or blow back to these particular

candidates. just to give one example, someone told me they were very much waiting for the meltdown and then they saw it in washington unfold. so this idea that donald trump's team wasn't expecting it, they knew exactly what they were doing when they made this decision. the other thing to point out here, there's a lot of speculation as to donald trump going rogue. did he make these decisions outside of his normal transition process. he certainly did in terms of matt gaetz wasn't on a short list. he wasn't part of the parade of lawyers that were brought in to sit for an interview with donald trump, but he was with some of his top advisers on the plane yesterday when this unfolded. that includes his chief of staff, susie wiles. they were in these conversations. they walked through what it would look like, what the reaction would be, then they still decided to announce it as he was landing back in florida. so just something to keep in mind with all the speculation that donald trump wasn't prepared or the team

wasn't aware of how controversial gaetz was. clearly, they were, at this point, aware of it, and have been kind of relishing in it a bit as they watch the coverage unfold. >> no doubt. there's still some holes in the president- elect's lineup. >> reporter: that's right. some of the big ones we're looking for are treasury, education, energy. these are all big jobs. transportation hasn't been done yet. they're having current conversations over. now, i don't have any insight into what that meeting looks like yet. i'm trying to reach people who have been sitting through that meeting, having these conversations. we still don't know how it's going to unfold. donald trump is essentially presented with a cabinet position, a series of people on a short list that then go up on big screens. they have several tv screens where he watches them, sees their bio, how they've talked about him in this past. he sees their old tweets.

they want him to be under no surprises in this situation and they want him to be aware of who these candidates are. i would again, this is with a little hedging, expect we'll hear more announcements as early as tonight. >> thank you. boris? >> if he's confirmed by the would lead the very department that pursued a year's long sex trafficking investigation against him. separately in the house, democrat rs now pushing for the release of an ethics report on the former congressman just as the panel was set to vote this week on whether or not to release it. let's discuss with national political reporter for the bulwark. mark, great to see you. you covered the investigation into matt gaetz and allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use closely. where did those investigations wind up? >> nowhere. as it regards to matt gaetz.

it was copped toward the end because it kept dragging on and on. the department of justice, after two years, decided, okay, we're going to throw in the towel. why? they didn't really have any hard evidence and the evidence they had by way of witness testimony against him came from compromised witnesses. one was former tax collector in central florida, sorry, i set my alarm. who was an old friend of gaetz, had been incarcerated and had been a one-man crime wave and was totally unreliable among the things he went to prison for was falsely smearing a rival as a pedophile and now he's saying gaetz is the pedophile. the other person was the alleged victim who apparently gave contradictory statements to federal investigators as well as in a civil related matter that would unfolded. those two things stacked together led the justice department to say we have no real hard evidence and

the evidence by way of the witnesses isn't credible so they threw in the towel. what was remarkable is that it took two years to do this. >> you're also getting insight into how trump and his team think gaetz might fair during a confirmation process. what are you hearing about that? >> well, they knew as kristen had reported a moment ago. they knew this would be a, kind of a bonfire, and it is. but matt gaetz is among the smarter, the smartest, most eloquent maga spokes people. donald trump really likes him. he likes the way gaetz depends and advances him, not only in television, but in rallies. if you look at him in congressional hearings, he's built a reputation who's become best at questioning witnesses, botching them in and using his time on the stand. now, he's never really been on the other side of this confirmation process, but

he was a debate club champ. he does have a quick acid tongue. whether he makes it through the confirmation process or not, everyone on trump's team believes this is going to make similar television. it might be not safe for work television, but it's going to make for must watch tv. >> you also write that in trump's mind, the attorney general is the most important position. why? >> yeah. think about when trump first took office, he appointed jeff sessions and sessions soon appointed a special counsel because the way in which trump had reacted to the fbi director investigating him over the russia matter. as trump calls it, i'm not calling it this myself, the russia hoax. that triggered a series of problems for trump, which has saddled his administration for two years. and trump fumed that he didn't

have a loyal attorney general and one who didn't have the guts to just say this is nothing, nothing to see here. matt gaetz is that guy. he's not going to be with one who's going to appoint special counsels. he's not going to let these things move forward and like trump, as someone who's been investigated by the justice department, matt gaetz has a bone to pick with them. as one of the sources whom i spoke to who's familiar with the transition process had said, is all these other lawyers apply to be attorney general sort of approach this as a judicial appointment and they have these high minded discussions about the constitution and law and other things. and only gaetz really understood trump and said i'm here to cut heads. donald trump knew that and said deal, you're my guy. >> mark, quickly before we go,

i always joke whenever you come on, fellow florida man. we met when i was working in miami and we sort of enjoy the weird politics of florida. what does it tell you that so many folks in the incoming, yeah, in the incoming trump administration between wiles, rubio, and now gaetz, that so many of them are from the sunshine state? >> florida used to be a swing state and became a red state in part because of success of the republican party of florida here. the consultants, people who understood data, persuasion and turnout. this is where maga was born ahead of time and was ready for the right leader in donald trump. these are people who know how to win elections and you saw in this last election, they showed that in space. as this being trump's newly adopted home, he got to know and sort of went native.

a lot of the republicans here and learned that he not only trusted them and liked them, but thought they were among the most competent. that's why you're seeing rubio, waltz. matt gaetz and a whole host of others. so i'm not sure if there are any more florida men left in the wing, or women, but wouldn't surprise me. >> thanks so much for being with us. >> thanks, appreciate it. >> of course. during his campaign, president- elect donald trump vowed to pardon people facing federal charges for their participation in the january 6 insurrection and now, we're starting to see the real world impact of that promise. a federal judge is delaying the trial of a capitol riot defendant from kansas that was set to start next month, citing the quote, real possibility the incoming president will pardon him. kaitlyn is tracking this story for us. what else did the judge say about this

decision? >> this is just a judge that had a hearing today on one of the hundreds of january 6th riot cases in d.c.'s federal court. it was judge contreras who's very well respected. he said there's a real possibility that donald trump could pardon these rioters and there needs to be a conservation of resources to put off, a valid reason, to not have this trial in december that was set for william pope. now, pope is notable not for what he did on january 6th. he's charged with misdemeanor offenses related to it, but how he asked for this. he doesn't have a lawyer. he was brought into the court on his own, and then the way he articulated his need to push the trial back was he said to the judge essentially there's a mandate for donald trump, he's promising to pardon people like me and i've tried to convince the government to do this. the prosecutors. but they seem foolishly intent on vindictiveness in

this final hour, want to take me to trial. this is a final opportunity to make peace and to take two weeks off in december. that was his pitch to the judge. judge contreras said there is reason to postpone this. the reporter i was working with on this also noticed another judge in d.c. 's federal court postponing another trial, but not everybody that is trying to to move their court proceedings back, waiting to see if they're going to be pardoned, is being successful. there was another judge as well today who just said he wasn't going to delay a sentencing of a rioter that is upcoming before the trump inauguration in january because it's irrelevant to the court's independence and the legal obligations of judges who are seeing these cases through. it's just not something that they need to do as far as sentencings and other proceedings go.

the trials appear to be potentially put on hold. >> thank you so much for the update. let's discuss this now with former trump white house lawyer, jim schulz. i want to get your perspective that the judge is delaying trial for this defendant because of a real possibility of trump pardoning him. >> he said it on the campaign trail that this was something he was going to do. i think there will be a process associated with this. there are a lot of defendants in this case. i think you'll see them start with, start considering the folks who are non- violent offenders. folks that are convicted of trespassing. >> what are your concerns about those ones if they don't treat it by a case by case basis? >> these folks are violent offenders. they were folks who had committed violent crimes against police officers. those people need to be held accountable. should probably stay in jail.

the folks who were non- violent, i think those ones are ones that are going to be right for early on pardons. you know, i think that's likely to happen. >> all right. what was your reaction when you found out that matt gaetz was the pick for ag? >> i was surprised, everybody was surprised, right? shocked, surprised. we've heard a lot of the things. gaetz has had no experience of being even really in a significant way practicing law. he hasn't been a prosecutor. he hasn't been, led a big department. these are all issues like front and center. forgetting about all the other issues. let's put those aside for a second. just those issues alone will cause him some problems an the fact we were this close to seeing the report come out of the ethics committee. he resigns, that goes away presumably. i have a feeling that will leak out into the public. then that will be front and center in in senate confirmation hearing. not even sure

he gets the senate confirmation hearing. >> really. >> there's always a couple that kind of fall off along the way. in every administration. >> but this one means the most maybe to trump considering some of his regrets from the last administration. his ag picks. so do you think this may be one that he's going to really go to bat on? >> he's got other candidates for sure in the till on this one. he feels burned by the justice department from the last time. burned by the intelligence community from the last time. he feels burned by the defense department from the last time around. those are folks that he's picked and he's picked people that are definitely loyal to him. and probably defend him against kind of the bureaucracy that he feels came out in the last time. >> you said let's put that now closed doj investigation, which was into alleged sex misconduct aside. let's bring it back because you said he may not get to

a confirmation hear, but say he does. how does that get aired out in a confirmation hearing? what does that look like? >> he's going to have a really tough time in a confirmation hearing and someone said earlier he's never been on the other side of that. when you're in the barrel, that becomes a different tone from when you're on the other side and you're doing the questioning. he's going to have a lot of things to answer for. i think it's likely this report finds its way into the news media in some way, shape, or form. i doubt they're going to be able to keep that under wraps because remember, you had republicans coming at him on that. not just democrats. so the chances of that making its way out are probably pretty good and that's going to be fodder for questions all way through. remember, he's got to go through interviews with the senators through this process as well that are going to be asking tough questions in those private interviews. then they're going to, the administration's going to get feedback from those senators as to what they think they're

going to do in terms of votes. probably not going to have to votes. >> all right, jim, thank you so much. really interesting stuff. programming note. today on the lead, house minority leader jeffries is joining jake tapper to discuss the democrats' losses in the elections and what he's making so far of president- elect trump's cabinet picks. that's next hour at 4:00 p.m. when we come back, trump's pick for defense secretary has criticized having women this combat. he says they shouldn't be and he's pushed to fire senior officers what are too, what he calls, woke. why his opinions could make for a fiery process if the senate. and elon musk says he thinks he can cut $2 billion in federal spending every year. cnn's new reporting on what that may look like. and info wars sold. once owned by alex jones. it's under new management. next, one of the sandy hook parents jones targeted with lies tells us why he's

helpedhelped that purchase. that's coming up on cnn news central.

sounds like a headline in the onion, but alex jones jones' empire will sn be owned by the onion. in 2022, he was ordered to pay more than a billion dollars to some sandy hook families after he repeatedly and falsely called the 2012 massacre a hoax. >> in a statement, they said quote, it is proud to acquire

info wars and we look forward to restoring the tradition of scaring the sites' users until they fork over their cold, hard cash. joining us now is robby parker. his book, a father's fight, is coming out next week. thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. you were part of that group of families who won is suit against jones and advocated for the bid while you were his largest creditor. talk to us a bit about what this means for you. having the onion buy info wars. >> i mean, it's a huge win, right? i mean, i wasn't aware until recently about the onion being involved in it, but we were willing to take less money to ensure that somebody that was not affiliated with jones was able

to win this auction. and so the fact the onion got it was a big win for us. >> do you know what they plan to do with the site? if not, what do you hope they do? >> i have no idea. i'm a big fan of the onion so i'm just as curious as anybody else. i know they're really smart people and i'm sure they have big plans and i can't wait to see what comes out of it. >> i think one of the things that's been so hard to watch about alex jones is just his persistence when it comes to telling lies. we've seen some of pain he's put families through. do you worry he's going to take that somewhere else? >> of course. he was even live streaming this morning before his site got shutdown that he has another studio set up. so my, i wasn't naive enough to think i could

silence him. the reason i joined the lawsuit was to reclaim emily's memory and take back the things he defiled. and also to make it very, very hard for him to continue to spread his lies. so we were able to accomplish that through the verdict of the trial and we're able to accomplish our goals with the sale of infowars, a business he spent 30 years building no longer belongs to alex jones. >> stepping back, one of the recurring headlines in the onion i think probably carries added significance to you given what you've endured. any time there's a mass shooting in the united states, i think every time at least that i've seen, the onion posts this headline that essentially says we can't do anything else. nothing can be done says only developed nation where this regularly happens. essentially pointing out the fact that the united states is the only developed country in the world where we see these mass shootings over and

over again. sandy hook taking place now nearly a dozen years ago. what message do you hope that the onion pushes forward given now that they've won this platform and have at least some awareness of the audience that infowars has t valted. >> i'm trying to establish a sense of truth. you have the situation where you have jones who's on one side of the truth spectrum. the far right side. so far away from it. and now you have a satirical group on the other side. i'm here in the middle just trying to proclaim what truth is. so, yeah, my daughter was viciously murdered inside of an elementary school and that shouldn't happen and jones uses his rhetoric to create fear in people that people like me were going to use that event to come out and try and take people's guns. and he made me a target and made people hate me. so that is what i've had

to endure and what my family's had to endure for 12 years now. so the fact that we've been able to separate jones from the platforms in which he was using to do that is again, a huge win. and the fact there's going to be somebody else that's going to use that platform now to create a different narrative. they're going to have fun with it. but at the end of the day, we need to get back to what truth is because this pursuit and me writing my book and going through the trial was to heal. it could be funning reading the arguments and you can get angry listening to jones, but those things don't bring a sense of healing. >> it's amazing that you find the strength to tell your story. as you said, you're sort of reclaiming that for emily. i have a first grader and so many people with children, especially, they look at you and they realize that the only difference between sitting where they sit and where you

sit is chance. and i wonder what your message is to them. >> yeah, there's a lot of people that they use something to separate themselves from me because it feels safer, right? it's very uncomfortable as a parent especially to say he's really no different than i am when i send my kid to school. so what i want to do is bridge that gap. we tend to, these very hard, uncomfortable things, we tend to avoid and create this false sense of security and safety. the reason i felt like it was important to share my story was because in order to find that healing and connection for myself and other people was to embrace those uncomfortable places. the more i shared that, the more people also felt like they could share themselves with me. people that i thought i didn't have anything in common with. we were able to bond and bridge these gaps that otherwise we would have thought were separating us.

that brings healing. what healing brings is hope. so a message of hope and healing out of something that i've had to experience from the loss of my daughter and then having to survive alex jones and his followers i think is a powerful message that i want people to understand and embrace. >> we're so grateful to you for sharing your story with us and emily's story as well. thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. appreciate it. stay with cnn. we're back in just a few minutes.

president-elect trump's pick for secretary of defense is likely to ignite a clash

between his administration and current pentagon officials. 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 even called for the chairman of the joint chiefs to be fired for supporting what he calls woke policies. here's some of what he said on 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 to have it inside the 10 1st airborne. if the military goes woke, it's less equipped to fight the wars. >> i'm straight up saying we should not have women this combat roles. hasn't made us more effective. >> joining us now to discuss this, cnn military analyst and retires u.s. army general, james spider marx.

there are former commanders who have described this pick as ridiculous and quote, f- ing nightmare. what do you make of this decision? >> well, by resume, pete hegseth inarguably is not qualified for the position. now, we need to thank him for his service to the nation. he's been in combat a couple of times i think, so good on him for that. but he has been at a tactical level, which is essential. in other words, at the front lines, in direction action, whether it's on his officer record brief or not, but he has been in those positions. when you look at his contributions, he's never led a large organization. he's certainly not been in the d.c. apparatus and certainly the department of defense is a monstrous, huge, bureaucracy that doesn't necessarily embrace those that walk in and take over. there will be resistance and hesitation.

so the key ingredient there is to understand where he can provide the best influential leadership to include dod as doing what needs to be done to meet the president's obligations and the national security counsel's obligations to maintain our security globally. on the surface, you look at that and go i don't know that he's got the skills to do that. but let's assume for a second he's a smart guy. he's enthusiastic. wants to do the right thing, but you have to be a little bit skeptical and dig pretty deep to find those qualifications that will give you confidence that he's going to be the right guy to step up. >> what do you think he would mean for the culture in the military? i'm talking specifically, i don't expect we think he's going to be able to stop women from being in combat. they have been for a long time. a lot of these highly specialized roles, they're up against the guys doing the same test to get in them. the woman thing, what does that do there and then also the

fact that he's pardoned or lobbied for the pardoning of convicted or accused war criminals? what does that do to the culture inside the military? >> well, it fractures it big time. let's go to the second part of your question. when you're trying to pardon those that have been found by their colleagues, other soldiers and service member, to be guilty of a particular crime based on uniform code of military justice, it invalidates that process. that's a significant problem where the military has forever taken care of its own problems and where they cannot, they acknowledge and take those outside. so that is a crushing blow toto in the service that look at that as a method to correct problems. to the first point, my first question would be show me the stats. the data that says women are not conducting themselves appropriately. you don't lower

the standards for a woman to be a ranger. she goes to ranger school, gets the crap beat out of her just like everybody else, she emerges and is a ranger. she has the opportunity like anybody else to meet the standards. so if you want to take the heat and passion out of this, just say, okay, mr. hegseth, please lay out the statistics that back up your position that women should be removed from these various positions. it's just not, we've got them in subs. at surface warfare vehicles. they're running propulsion units on carrier strike groups. they're across the board. at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is readiness. if a unit's not ready, everybody that's paid, every american who's paying for our service should be outraged. if our readiness is at risk. so lay it out. in some cases, we have some readiness challenges. lay those out. address those. but it's all about the

ability to fight tonight. and if we're at risk of fighting tonight, please explain that to us. >> big readiness issue if you turn a lot of women way from the military. thank you so much. >> you bet. >> we'll be right back.

as president-elect trump prepares to take office, he's looking to a man to help him with his ambitious plans. elon musk will co- lead the department of government efficiency along with ramaswamy. trump has suggested $2 trillion in spending could be cut

from the budget. renee, what would this work, how could this work, i should say, and what agencies and programs might be on the chopping block? >> so, i'll start off by saying the full details, scarce at this point, but the two men that president- elect trump has tasked with running it have been vocal about what they would like to see. here's some of what could be on the chopping block to cut some $2 trillion in government spending. department of education. trump and republicans have criticized the agency for as they say, indoctrinating children with left wing propaganda. ramaswamy on the campaign trail when he was a republican presidential candidate said he would get rid of 75% of the federal workforce. there's some 2.3 million federal workers so that would mean about 1.7 million workers slashed. more context for you.

nearly more than half of that are federal workers who work at agencies like the department of defense, department of homeland security, veterans affairs. also on the list, eliminating the fbi and reassigning those agents to other agencies and getting rid of the nuclear regulatory commission and shifting its duties to other departments. again, that's some of what they have publicly said they would like to see. again, their quest is to trim some $2 trillion in government spending but we spoke to a lot of budget experts and said how possible is this and across the spectrum, they said impossible. because when you look at what the federal government mostly spends its money on, one expert said this would require cutting one- third from every program. and when you look at what the federal government spends on, it's mostly spending to americans for programs

like social security, medicare, medicaid. so many of these experts are saying you can't do this without taking away things like healthcare from some americans. >> there's really no way to do this without a lot of hurt. especially from some groups that donald trump really would not want to target, like senior citizens. >> exactly. the numbers as they say, the young kids say, the math is just not mathing. so they are saying that this is you know, impossible to do when you're talking about 2 trillion. it's more like 150 to $200 billion would be more of a realistic number. >> all right, renee marsh, thank you so much. we have some breaking news into cnn. president- elect donald trump has offered robert f. kennedy the role of secretary of health and human services. >> let's go live to kristen holmes who's in west palm beach for us near mar-a-lago. clearly, a controversial set of picks for donald trump in recent days and now, rfk jr.

tapped to be the secretary of health and human services despite his track record of peddling conspiracy theories. >> reporter: that's right. i am told from a source close to the situation that rfk jr. is expected to accept this position as we see this cabinet unfolding. a couple of things to note here about rfk. one is there's been a lot of talk about what he would do in the administration. he had, he indicated he wanted a cabinet position, but we heard the head of the transition essentially down playing the idea that he would be offered anything within the actual administration likely because of the fact that there was a big belief within trump's transition and orbit that he could not actually get confirmed. so talking to these sources, they had speculated he might get more of an oversight role. that is not how this played out. donald trump offering this

very big position at the head of health and human servicesservices rfk jr. rfk jr. is incredibly controversial for a number of things he's said about health. particularly the fact he has questioned vaccines. he's said they lead to autism. something there are no studies that back up, but the other part of this is the fact that he has been really pushing this make america healthy again agenda as part of really what helped donald trump get elected to the white house. i cannot tell you the number of people who like the fact that rfk was involved in the campaign. that they liked the messaging that rfk put out there despite the fact that it is so controversial. and despite the fact there have been so many things he's said about health that are not proven by any studies. the question is going to be whether or not rfk can actually get

confirmed. one of the things to keep in mind, rfk is not a republican. he has been a democrat. an independent. he does not have the same ties to the republican party that someone like even matt gaetz has. so whether or not these controversial opinions, these just down right not accurate opinions that he has when it comes to health, are going to be something that make it through congress. that's going to be a big question here. it is surprising to a number of people, i'm starting to get texts here from individuals who say that they had been speculating, hard rumors that rfk was going to be some sort of health czar, but instead, he's been given a very specific cabinet position that requires him to be confirmed by congress. >> i want to bring in our medical analyst. what do you think of this news, rfk jr. the pick for health and human services secretary. >> it seems to be that he

fits with the pattern we've seen this week, which is the hiring of people that are not just unqualified for a particular cabinet post, but unfit. and as we've already heard in this segment, the -- mr. kennedy has already shown over the last ten years his penchant for not just promoting unproven ideas, but promoting disproven ideas. he has loudly promoted conspiracy theories such as the covid virus being bio engineered. he's promoted the disproven concept that vaccines are connected to autism. he's been a loud, not just skeptic, but denier of the safety and efficacy of all

vaccines. most recently, mrna vaccines which have been shown to probably have prevented one to two million deaths as a consequence of covid in the united states. so basically, we're putting not just a vaccine denier, but a science skeptic in charge of all of the nation's premier health agencies. fda. nih. cms. the agency that runs medicare and medicaid. it's you know, literally putting the fox in the hen house. >> so, dr. rheiner, rfk jr. has put forward this message, this idea that he wants to gear the federal government to combat childhood illnesses. to combat what he calls chronic illnesses. he's attributed some of that to all sorts of vague causes related to food and oils.

i wonder what kind of impact you think having him as the secretary of hhs could have on just every day american life. >> i think that a lot of good can come of somebody promoting a more healthy diet in this country. we've certainly seen an epidemic of obesity. i think that approach is welcome. but his well documented, very loud promotion of theories that cause a great deal of doubt in people's minds about the efficacy of vaccines is incredibly dangerous. if you want to see what happens when you hire a vaccine skeptic post like that, just look at florida. when ron desantis hired dr. joseph ladipo in 2021,

someone associated with a group called america's front line doctors, when they brought him to florida in 2021, the rates of vaccinations for kindergartners plummeted over the last three years. so we see what the impact can be on people who are, maybe they're uneducated. maybe they've read things online that concern them. those kind of doubts are amplified when it comes to someone with such a large soap box and a very famous last name. >> all right. if you could, what are we hearing in our ear? oh. >> let's hold off on that for now. >> i want to bring in jeff zellany to talk about some of the politics of this. another bombshell here. >> it is. and this is going to really

test the is that the once again. we thought the matt gaetz thing would be the most unusual or out of the norm. this is added to the list. when you think of the senate committees that will be faced with the confirmation process here, these are asking some senators really to make a choice here. so, providing they all go through the normal process should this nomination actually happen, it will be a giant test for the new senate republican majority leader, john thune here. but we certainly will be getting reaction from various senators but a lot of his ideas are out of the mainstream. >> to say the least. >> and dangerous, others would say. yes. >> thank you both so much. thank you for joining us this afternoon as we got breaking news that trump has offered rfk jr. a role as the secretary of hhs. we're going to turn it over to the lead with jake tapper which starts after a quick break.

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$3.99 for a jennie-o 14 to 16 lb. turkey. when you spend $35. head to your neighborhood grocery outlet today because this offer is available only while supplies last. welcome to "the lead. " the daily controversial names for donald trump's cabinet. according to two people close to this situation, president- elect trump is on the verge of announcing robert f. kennedy jr. , the vaccine