menendez could face more than a decade in prison after taking cash. a mercedes, gold bars as bribes in exchange for helping three new jersey businessmen and the government of egypt. and newly released footage shows los angeles county sheriff's deputies helping to rescue a 100 year old woman from inside her senior living facility. as the deadly eaton fire wildfire approached in altadena, california. you can see we're going to show you you can see some of the flames that were. well, trust me, flames were exploding outside. and rescuers then went inside to look for anyone who could have been left behind. and then this happened oh, hi. >> okay, perfect. >> is there anyone else with you? >> no. >> i've been trying to. find a way out. >> let's get you out of here. >> let's get. >> you out. >> okay. where do i go? >> don't lose me. >> i promise i won't. >> lose you. >> don't worry. >> don't lose me. and then he

says, let's get you out of here. the woman told deputies that she did not hear them because her hearing aids. her hearing aids were charging at the time. oh my goodness. such a sweet one. new. our cnn new central starts now. we are standing by to see robert kennedy jr. arrive on capitol hill for confirmation hearings. one of president trump's most controversial cabinet picks must convince senators he is qualified to lead the health agency. breaking overnight, the trump administration sends 2 million federal workers an email with an option to resign. how much of an option is it really, though? and is it even legal? then a brutal report card for america's children falling further behind in reading. so what is going so badly wrong? sara is out. i'm john berman with kate bolduan. this is cnn news central.

>> less than an hour. >> now, robert f. kennedy jr. will be sitting before the senate for the first of two confirmation hearings. he is going to make his case to be confirmed as the next secretary of health and human services. he is also going to face some very serious questions about his resume and what he really believes. he is a known vaccine denialist and, if confirmed, would be in charge of america's public health agencies, including the very agencies that approve vaccines, kennedy said as recently as 2023 that there is no vaccine that is safe and effective. just one of the reasons his own family is now speaking out, speaking up to say he should not get the job. robert f. kennedy jr. would head multiple agencies critical to the health of all americans. if confirmed. the very organizations that he has spoken out against like the cdc, the fda, nih, and on the eve of the confirmation hearing, his cousin caroline kennedy posted a video calling rfk a predator and also urged senators to vote

against him. cnn's sunlen serfaty joins us right now with much more ahead. so it's just under an hour now. rfk jr. is going to be arriving on the hill shortly. if he's not there already. what are you hearing about this? >> yeah, kate, this is certainly going to be a very contentious hearing today. he is, as you said, one of the most controversial nominees and senators up here on capitol hill have already been very vocal that they have big concerns about his stance on vaccines, spreading of misinformation, agriculture, food policy and notably, senate republicans are concerned and really want to drill down today about his past stance on abortion. now, over the past month, kennedy himself, he has been making the rounds up here on capitol hill, meeting with senators privately behind closed doors, trying to make the case directly to them for his potential confirmation to be the hhs secretary. and we have heard notably, though, this week up here on capitol hill, many senate republicans, a handful of senate republicans saying they

are uncertain on how they will vote at this moment and want to hear more from him. so very clear. those meetings have done little to quell the concern in their minds. now, adding to this, of course, is the fact that senate republicans have a razor thin majority on up here on capitol hill. the fact that he can only lose three senate republicans. that's assuming that all senate democrats vote against him to be pushed forward. so he has to make the case today very clearly to the senators and really answer all their concerns. now, adding to this mix, we heard from his cousin, caroline kennedy, really blast his nomination and really speak out in a personal way about what she believes is his disqualification to be the hhs secretary, his predatory and troubling behavior in the past. here's more of what she had to say. >> i've known bobby my whole life. >> we grew. >> up together. it's no surprise that he. >> keeps birds. >> of prey as pets, because. >> bobby himself is a predator.

bobby preys. >> on the. desperation of parents. >> of sick children, vaccinating. >> his own. kids while building a following. hypocritically discouraging other parents from. vaccinating theirs. >> so kennedy, they're really urging senators on the committee to vote against him. and that, notably, the first time that she spoke out, certainly all eyes on this confirmation hearing in just an hour. kate. >> absolutely. sondland, thank you very much for that, john. all right. our doctor, sanjay gupta, is with us now. obviously, sanjay, so much at stake here with so many questions for robert kennedy, who has spoken out in various ways against vaccines before or been highly critical of them, what role has vaccine misinformation over the years played on vaccination rates? >> a pretty, pretty significant role, john. i mean, i think even before the pandemic, you may remember, john, there were measles outbreaks that were happening sporadically. there was one in brooklyn and minnesota and southern

california. so it was happening. but if you go back to 2021 and you say, look how many parents are willing to get their kids vaccinated then versus now, see what's happened over the last 4 to 5 years. what you find is that it was around 90%. parents say that they were willing to keep their kids up to date on recommended vaccines, and now it's closer to 82%. to give you a little bit of context around that, for measles, for example, which is a very, very contagious virus, you need to have around 95% of the population at least vaccinated to get what is called herd immunity. that means you have enough immunity in the community to protect everyone. we're nowhere near that, and obviously there is significant erosion of trust in vaccines. i think in large part because of that misinformation. i'll just tell you really quick, john, one of the questions that always comes up. do vaccines cause autism? this is a question that's going to come up today. rfk jr. has said they do cause autism. he has said that recently on the record, even though at the same

time he says his kids have been vaccinated and that he believes vaccines have a crucial role in public health. and yet at the same time, he says vaccines cause autism. so it's going to be confusing. and i think a lot of these questions and previous statements will be held to account. but since this whole specter of vaccines causing autism came up back in the late 90s, it has been studied a great deal. countries all over the world, hundreds of thousands of kids who were basically tracked to see who was vaccinated, who was not, who was most likely to develop autism. let me just show you quickly. this was a study out of denmark. this was from 1999 to 2010, 657,000 children who were evaluated, some who got vaccines, some who didn't. they followed them. overall, they found that less than 1% of the children, first of all, had autism. but then there was really no difference in the vaccinated or unvaccinated group. and it didn't matter what age you were testing them, whether or not they had a family history. there

just is no correlation between vaccines and autism. it was a question that has been asked and it's been answered many, many times. and yet it still comes up and is probably the primary driver of this, this distrust that i was just alluding to. john. >> so, sanjay, robert kennedy talks a lot about chronic diseases in this country and has spoken out against chronic diseases and received credit for it, which is interesting because i think we're all against chronic diseases. i mean, who's not? but but generally speaking, you know, where does the country stand? excuse me? as i'm coughing in terms of our health. >> yeah. look, i mean, i think everyone can sort of be on board with this. i think this is one of the reasons i became a medical journalist was to educate people about what they can do for their own health, and it's challenging in the united states. put up some numbers for you. we spend, you know, well over $4 trillion, close to $5 trillion on health care. and the numbers have been going up. it's a huge amount. it's 20% of our overall spending in the

united states as a country. it's been going up. what is interesting is that it's twice as much as the next most expensive country. and we still have some of the most significant amounts of chronic disease in the world. the united states, 30% of people have two or more chronic diseases. that's very high compared to many other similar countries around the world. so we spend a lot and we don't get much in return for it. and i think that's where he's going to find a lot of support as as you said, john, we all can get behind that. >> yeah. it is something that is obviously worthy of discussion. sanjay gupta, always great to see you. thank you very much, kate. and joining me right now is a member of congress who's also a physician and has spoken out against rfk's nomination. congresswoman kim schrier of washington. congresswoman, thank you so much for coming in. you're a pediatrician, and it is your work caring for children and families. and you say that that is part of the reason why you are so concerned about rfk jr.. why that's right. >> you

know, no matter. >> what he says. >> now, the fact of the. >> matter is he has now. >> spent years sowing doubt. >> just raising. >> the question. >> that has already been settled about autism and. >> vaccines continues to. >> propagate anxiety in parents. and when that happens, even though. pediatricians talk. >> with those. >> parents all the time. >> to reassure them. >> to set the record straight. >> vaccination rates. >> drop. >> and that. >> endangers not. >> only their children. >> it endangers. >> all of us. >> to that point. and that's republican senators. they are still some are still skeptical of him. they want of what he has said, and they want they they are wanting public commitments from him on things like vaccines. but to that point, doctor paul offit is the head of the vaccine education center. and he was on with me yesterday. and he said, no matter what rfk says today, that he cannot be trusted. let

me play this for you. >> he's told you who he is. for the last 20 years, he has said again and again he considers no vaccine to be of benefit. he has said again and again that he thinks the polio vaccine killed, in his words, many, many, many more children than it saved. he's told you that he doesn't think hiv is the cause of aids. he's told you he thinks that the hepatitis b vaccine doesn't work. he he is what he says he's been for the last 20 years. why are they expecting that when he sits in front of them, he's going to be something different no matter what he says. >> then, congresswoman, if rfk jr. is confirmed, what are you going to be telling? what are you going to be telling your patients? >> well, i. will tell patients and the. >> public what i've been. >> saying for years. >> which is that. >> it is normal. >> with any. >> medical procedure. >> to have. >> questions. >> to. have doubts and worries,

but. >> that these. >> conspiracy theories that. >> he adheres. >> to. >> but also has been spreading for decades. >> now. >> do damage. >> they are. >> wrong. and that there is already proven science. this is settled science. these vaccines have been tested. they're incredibly effective. and you know, if. i see senators supporting him because, for example, they like. >> the idea of. >> preventing chronic disease. this is not an either or question. i mean, there's a whole world of qualified people out there that also want to take on the issue of chronic disease and healthy food and water in our country that aren't vaccine deniers, and that won't be a trade off and cause explosions in communicable diseases. >> congresswoman, other cabinet picks of this president has been

called controversial and have faced tough questions and have faced democrats speaking out against and even members of their own family speaking out against. and we have heard that fear and concern about these past statements of other cabinet picks have been overblown. do you think the fear and concern around rfk taking on america's taking over america's public health agencies? do you think it could be overblown, or do you think rfk may be unique in this scenario, that it is not oh, this particular decision is not just concerning or controversial. >> this is a reckless and dangerous confirmation. if he becomes head of health and human services, he clearly doesn't look at science, doesn't care about science, has his own wild theories, and that is not what we can tolerate. as a head of all of the most

remarkable health agencies in our country. this is dangerous, in fact, not just to the country. it's dangerous to the world. and the spread of disinformation is far faster than the spread of what is, frankly, a not exciting. or, um. a catchy fact, which is that vaccines have been so effective that we do not see measles, polio. >> uh. >> to any great extent in our country or around the world. >> congresswoman and doctor kim schrier, thank you so much for coming in. we'll watch this. this is the first of two confirmation hearings which offers a unique opportunity. robert f kennedy facing questions today. and then follow up questions tomorrow. thank you for coming in. coming up for us, president trump has stripped the security detail for retired general mark milley, placed him under investigation. his first major

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and security clearance for general mark milley. now, milley is the retired chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the nation's highest military officer. defense secretary pete is also directed his department's inspector general to launch an investigation into general milley, who has been critical of president trump in the past. cnn's oren liebermann at the pentagon tracking this one down for us. what are you hearing about this, oren? >> kate, general mark milley has been both a frequent target of president donald trump and a frequent critic of trump. and trump had threatened retribution. that began with the simple and the vindictive. within hours of taking office, administration officials ordered that milley's portrait be taken down from outside the office of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, not far from where i'm sitting right now, but this has clearly gone to a different level here. on news, secretary of defense pete hegseth second full day in office. he ordered that milley's security clearance be revoked and that his security detail be removed. milley has had a security detail since the u.s. assassination of iranian

general qasem soleimani back at 2020, so he's had that because of the iranian threat against him. and hegseth ordered that that be removed. milley has often criticized trump, and the two have had a back and forth relationship that has deteriorated rapidly in the final months of the first trump administration, milley said in bob woodward's book war. and i'll read this quote no one has ever been as dangerous to this country as donald trump. now i realize he's a total fascist. he is the most dangerous person to this country. so you see where trump's animosity towards milley comes from. hegseth has also ordered that there be an inspector general investigation of the conduct of milley. there's no specific accusation or one thing being investigated here, at least not a rationale given from the statements from both hegseth and the department of defense chief of staff. but trump and others have complained first about milley's phone calls with his chinese counterpart in the

closing months of the first trump administration. they have also complained about the afghanistan withdrawal. it's worth noting that it was merely who opposed the withdrawal of u.s. forces from afghanistan, but that continued because of the orders from the civilian commander in chief first trump, then biden. also worth pointing out here that president joe biden, in his final hours in office, pardoned milley and that protects him from criminal prosecution and prosecution under military law. it does not protect him from an investigation from the inspector general, which could demote him in rank after 42 years of service and after his retirement. >> oren, thank you so much. the context that you just offered also very important, especially around the afghanistan withdrawal coming up for us attorneys general from several states now suing to stop the white house from freezing trillions of dollars in federal loans and grants to give it. >> kobe didn't. >> want. >> to be one of the all time greats. he wanted to be the best.

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$30 off at. ron rowe kobe day. >> i've got good news and i've got bad news. what do you want? first? the bad. the news is newsom even more than ever. >> what's the good news? >> we're doing another season of have i got news for you. >> have i got news for you returns february 15th on cnn. >> this morning, a new message for president trump over his federal funding freeze. quote. see you in court. a coalition of states is suing to stop the white house from pausing these federal grants. this is separate from the suit that actually won a pause in the freeze for the time being on that. white house press secretary karoline leavitt said moments ago they are prepared to fight with this now. is one attorney general part of this lawsuit from the states, matthew platkin from new jersey. thank you so much for being with us. all our favorite lawyers are from new jersey. elie honig knows that, sir. what is the

what's the legal basis of your argument of this suit? >> well. >> thanks for having me. and look what the president and his administration did. uh, a little over a day ago was extraordinary and unprecedented in freezing potentially trillions of dollars of funding simply because he woke up with a political vendetta. and we have to remember what this does. it freezes funding for potentially for seniors, health care for kids, education for law enforcement. i got a notice yesterday that they were freezing all funding for drug cartel trafficking enforcement. i mean, this is extraordinary. it's unprecedented. it's illegal. and i'm confident that the courts will stop it. >> what makes it illegal? >> the president does not have authority to unilaterally overrule the constitution and duly enacted appropriations issued by congress and signed by a president. if he doesn't like what congress is appropriating

through the budget process, he can change that. but he cannot wake up one day and withhold trillions of dollars of spending for things again, like kids, education, seniors health care and assisted living law enforcement. he defunded the police. and so we're confident that, as the court did in washington yesterday, in our case, we will be successful in preventing this illegal order from taking effect. >> so there's the impoundment control act of 1974, which deals with these issues. ultimately, it may be what keeps the president legally from doing this on a permanent basis, but there are avenues within this law for a temporary pause in spending. why can't the president put a temporary pause in spending? or actually, let me rephrase that. how could he do that legally well, my job is not to advise him about how to do things legally, but they didn't even bother to cite to a single body of law in support of what they did two nights ago. >> and then they i think they

knew they overreached because they spent basically the last 24 hours trying unsuccessfully, to clarify what it is they were doing. and so they don't have a legal ground to stand on here, just like they didn't when they tried to rewrite the constitution last week to eliminate birthright citizenship from the 14th amendment. presidents are powerful in this country, but they're not kings, and they cannot overrule the constitution and the laws of this nation simply because they don't like them. >> the language in this memo, it could be legally problematic. judges will decide that. but you said it was deliberately vague. why do you think it was deliberately vague? >> well, because i think they want to scare as many people as possible. and if that was their goal, mission accomplished. because i can tell you, in the state of new jersey, 9.5 million people were freaked out yesterday. they were scared if their kids were going to have critical early childhood programs, they were scared if their parents were going to receive the medication they were entitled to. our medicaid system

was frozen, as were medicaid systems across the country all day yesterday. that was no accident. our housing funding people not sure if they're going to have a roof over their head or heating assistance in a bitterly cold winter, frozen yesterday. law enforcement services, like i said, including for prosecuting drug trafficking cartels frozen yesterday. these are the types of extreme measures. this is not nibbling around the edges of a president's authority. we have never seen a president take this kind of extreme approach to punish states and policies and political actors that he does not agree with. >> the white house press secretary keeps saying that this is not directed at aid to individual individuals. it would not affect aid, direct aid to individuals. what do you say to that? >> at what hour is it because their guidance has changed seemingly by the minute? first it affected medicaid, then medicaid got frozen. then the backlash came, and then they said, oh, it doesn't affect

medicaid. look, we have governmental process for a reason because we want people to know when congress acts, what they will be receiving. people have a right to know if their kids are going to have school, if their health care is going to be paid for, if they're going to have cops on their street. and all of that was called into question yesterday. we do not govern by tweet or by press conference for a reason. and so governing in this chaotic way creates mass confusion and harms our residents. >> all right. attorney general of new jersey, matthew platkin, we appreciate your time. thanks so much for being with us. all right. those are live pictures from capitol hill. any minute now, robert kennedy jr. is expected to arrive for his confirmation hearing. this is on the heels of just a scathing new diatribe from his cousin, calling him a predator and a liar. >> trump's cabinet picks the candidates you've heard about for months. go before the senate. who will get the votes?

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to senators calling rfk jr. a, quote, predator preying on the fears of families and saying that she felt compelled to speak out against his nomination and confirmation. cnn's harry enten is here to take a look at the numbers of we about his nomination, about his chances. what are you hearing? >> yeah. >> what am i seeing? >> you know, we. >> looked at the. betting markets a lot. >> with this, these. >> different nominations, right. >> and this is the chance that rfk jr.. >> gets confirmed. >> as. hhs secretary. >> you see, at. >> this particular point, it's 74%. it's still high. but. >> you know, there's a 25% or 26%. >> chance that. >> he doesn't get confirmed. this is not a gimme. this is. >> not a shoo in. you know. >> this is. >> not like kristi noem, right? when she got confirmed. >> these are not the same numbers. >> and i'll note more than that, right. this is down. this is down from a week ago when it was 82%. >> when it. >> was more than a four and five chance. now we're down to a roughly three and four chance. so yeah rfk jr.. >> is the. >> favorite to become the next. >> hhs secretary. >> but it's not a foregone

conclusion. >> a lot of. >> it will depend on what happens during these confirmation hearings here today. >> and you do wonder if this also shows people starting to pay more attention? >> i think. so, i think people are starting to pay a little bit more attention to that honeymoon period that trump had after, of course, he was sworn in to the white house as kind of wearing a little bit down. and so maybe his picks get a little bit lower of a chance to, in fact. >> get you think that this hhs confirmation is a little more unpredictable than others. >> why why is it? well, you know, i went back through history and i was interested different parties, the hhs secretary and the president, since health and human services became a department, there were zero. there have been zero rfk jr.. if rfk jr. is in fact confirmed, he'd be the first to be a different party than the president who in fact nominated him. and why is that so interesting? because the hhs secretary has some say over, you know, abortion in this country, abortion policy in this country. and we know that the majority of trump voters are against abortion. so that's going to be one of the interesting things to sort of focus in on. right. does rfk jr., in fact, get all the republicans? if he does, of course, he gets confirmed. but

maybe his past views on abortion, how he answers those questions on how the health and human services department will deal with abortion will, in fact, perhaps persuade some republicans not to vote for him. and the last thing i'll sort of point out here, kate, this is perhaps the reason why i don't necessarily think there's going to be that many republicans who will go against him. look at rfk's net favorability rating among republicans. look at this now plus 60 points. that is up from when he was running for the democratic nomination two years ago, when it was plus 17. democrats hate rfk jr.. i'd be surprised if he gets any democrats. but hey, we'll see what happens. >> yeah. first of two confirmation hearings about to get underway. we are watching it all very closely here. thank you so much for that. coming up for us, a major setback for the country's students with new national exam scores reveals what they reveal about the state of the u.s. education system. we'll be right back. >> in. >> the situation room with wolf blitzer tonight at six on cnn. >> subway has got a new. >> meal of the day with chips and a drink for just 6.99. or if you're.

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the highest performing students have started to regain some lost ground, while lower performing students are falling even further behind. so here's an important question what will 2025 taste like? one company claims to know the answer. mccormick, which is the leading maker of spices, has predicted the flavor of the year since 2000. no idea how often they get it right, but this year they're saying it will be aji amarillo. it is a yellow chili pepper native to south america. it is described as having vibrant fruit. notes reminiscent of passion or mango, with a moderate dash of heat like a cayenne pepper. so sweet and spicy. kate sweet and spicy. that's how i describe you. that's exactly right. let's see. i know, that's why. yeah, exactly. that was a. lot of flavor. it was a lot. i thought the flavor of the year was going to be chicken, which is what i. thought. >> wow. >> i don't know why. 2025 will taste like chicken.

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>> hsa. >> fsa eligible. get cardio mobile today for just $79 at cartier.com or amazon. this part. >> changed my life. >> superman is now nominated for a bafta award for best documentary. >> chris wanted to change the world. >> people are literally walking because. >> of him. >> super man. the christopher reeve story sunday at eight on cnn. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> hello everyone. i'm pamela. >> brown in washington, and. you're in the cnn newsroom. so let's dive right. >> into it with. >> some breaking news and moments. the first confirmation hearing on robert f kennedy jr. for health and human services secretary, it's all but certain that he'll be confronted for a litany of false claims that he has made over the years, including that he what he claims it is false that vaccines cause autism, claiming covid 19 was,

quote, ethnically targeted to disproportionately attack caucasian and black people, and saying that hiv does not cause aids. in just one day before today's hearing, caroline kennedy slamming her cousin reading aloud a letter that she sent to senators urging them to reject his nomination. >> his views. >> on vaccines. >> are. dangerous and willfully. >> misinformed. these facts alone. >> should be disqualifying. >> but he has. >> personal qualities. related to this job, which for. >> me pose. >> even greater concern. it's no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets, because bobby himself is a predator. bobby is addicted to attention and power. >> some strong words there from caroline kennedy, another cousin, patrick kennedy, is endorsing rfk jr., saying he is, quote, the leader we need on addiction. with us now is dr. sanjay gupta, phil mattingly lauren fox and alayna treene.

all right. so, sanjay, if you would just set the stage for us to start things off and just help us understand the scope of this position that he's nominated. >> for, it's a huge job. i mean, he's essentially ceo of the the largest health, medical and scientific enterprise in the world, really. so, you know, it's got close to a $2 trillion budget. hhs they have 80,000 employees, you know, medicare provides health care insurance for everyone over a certain age, over the age of 65. they get a billion claims a year. that all goes through one of the agencies under hhs, all the scientific funding, the cdc, you know, there's several agencies that are that come under hhs, 13 of them, but big ones, you know, cdc, fda, for example, the center for medicare and medicaid services. so it's a gigantic job. it's very much a ceo job. you get a lot of people who are heading these agencies, many of whom are going to hear from in the next couple of weeks, a few weeks, but it's a huge job, one that has been around for a long

time. it's changed sort of over the years in terms of what exactly it does, but at this point it is hard to to argue with the fact that it's probably the biggest health job in the world. >> so just to follow up with you, because we've all we all by now know about his his anti-vaccine stance and the conspiracy theories that he has espoused over the years. a reminder, as you know, and you can reiterate, the science is ironclad about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. they have saved millions of lives. but what would his role be when it comes to vaccines as hhs? >> i mean, he's running the whole department. obviously, when you think about things like vaccines and the vaccine schedule, which is something that, you know, pediatricians will recommend that kids get, there's agencies that are handling that. but he has made it very clear, at least somewhat clear, i should say, his stance on vaccines. and the reason that i hesitate is because he will likely be conciliatory today. he'll likely say, hey, i got my own kids vaccinated. hey, i think there's a role for vaccines. but at the same time, he has said there are no vaccines that are safe and effective. so, you know, i think he's going to have

to reconcile these remarks. what is his his role going to be with vaccines specifically? we don't know. but he has a job that oversees the people who make those schedules for vaccines. and i think this is probably going to be the biggest issue. you name some of the other ones. he has said hiv doesn't cause aids. he has questioned germ theory itself, something that's been around since the 19th century. there's all these various things that he has said. but i think with regard to vaccines, he has said nearly completely opposite things at different times. i do think, again, i think he's going to be conciliatory today. he's going to say, i'm not anti-vaccine. i think they have a role. i think they should be tested. they are tested, by the way. we can talk about that. but he's going to have a significant amount of influence, not just in terms of vaccine policy, but i think our overall attitudes towards vaccines in this country. >> and to be clear, he might say he's not anti-vaccine. but our job, of course, will be to look back at what he has said previously. i mean, even the polio vaccine, he had claimed at one point that it had killed more people than it saved, which

of course is not true. and so i think our our job will be to to look at that history, hear what he has to say today and tomorrow. and then also, it's a question of whether the senators, what they think, whether they believe it. and you now have family members of rfk jr. coming to speak out. you have, you know, at least one patrick kennedy, saying he supports his cousin. and then you have this caroline kennedy video and letter. that's pretty phil. >> yeah. >> look, it is. >> a. >> cutting, almost destruction of his personal character. and also. policy concerns and complaints that we've all talked about. but it was interesting when this popped last night. and credit to the washington post who broke it first. i was texting some republican aides on capitol hill saying, you know, what's your read on this? do you feel like this is going to move the needle at all? and the response was from one of them, any other year, any other administration, this would kill a nomination in this year in this administration, nothing matters. and the point there is not that nothing actually matters, but it's who the

nominee is. and the fact that he's in this position in a republican administration. this is a former democrat with the last name of kennedy, who used to be a supporter of abortion, big on climate change, big on the role of government and the importance of government. very, very critical of the agriculture industry. this is antithetical to every kind of ideological belief of the republican party that was once known. and yet, not only is he here, but i was talking to one outside trump world advisor who said, anyone who votes no on the republican side, we will rain holy hell down upon them. and the point there being that it's not just republicans who may have concerns, who haven't come out publicly right now, are not just facing his policy views and where he stands. they're facing the fact that the outside pressure they're facing from the kind of trump coalition is very, very significant. >> yeah, we can see rfk jr.. we did see him walking in for his hearing this morning. it's supposed to start around 10 a.m. eastern. and you make a really good point. i've also heard from sources that there will be

a pressure campaign on any senator who does not back him, who does not vote in favor of him. we've seen it previously. we saw it with joni ernst when it came to pete hegseth. we, if any senator doesn't support him or indicates that on the right, you're going to see that and you're hearing the same. before i go to the hill, i just want to follow up with you because, you know, i know we were focused more narrowly on the vaccines. and that is super important because it's such a big part of what the job would be. as hhs secretary. but i also think it's important to talk about the nuance here, sanjay, and the other positions that rfk jr. has taken that are appealing, frankly, to a lot of americans, to a lot of the senators in that room that i've spoken to. senator gillibrand, for one, was on my show saying she's she likes what she has heard from him on processed food, for example, on clean air, clean water, even questioning, you know, fluoride and water and those kinds of things. and i think that's also what makes this really unique. >> i think with regard to chronic disease, something that we have talked about in the medical establishment, part of the reason i got into medical

journalism was to talk about chronic diseases. i think with regard to that, he probably has the best shot of anyone. i've heard it actually getting something done because everyone is recognized. this is a problem, but it's been very, very challenging to tackle this problem. we spend close to $5 trillion on health care every year, 20% of our budget, and we have some terrible outcomes, really, in terms of how we stand around the world. 30% of americans have two or more chronic conditions. and for all the reasons you mentioned, i think a lot of it has to do with our food supply. and this is something he has vowed to target. >> he has. and i think that's a really important point. we hear some clapping there in the room there we see rfk jr.. i believe i saw his wife, cheryl hines. what's up? i was going to say that's not normal. we don't know who's clapping. >> i should say folks should have a much a better understanding. but that's not normal. and it also underscores what you guys were just talking about, that the elements of this that people have really locked into is extraordinarily popular. it's not just the maga folks that would be upset if there were no votes. there's a coalition that was brought

together that online influencers, there's a bunch of them that came down. i think a lot of them are at the hearing right now that have very significant followings. exactly. on the issue of health, on chronic disease that is very, very popular and resonant in the united states right now. >> i think that's really important. i want to go to our lauren fox, who is who is there on the hill bringing us inside. we just heard the clapping. as phil pointed out, that's not typically normal when you hear a nominee walk into the hearing room like that. we don't know who it was that was clapping, but bring us there and also talk a little bit about the politics here. lauren. and, you know, the fact that he still has a financial stake in some of his anti-vaccine views that could play a role in this hearing today yeah, pam, i mean, despite the. >> fact that there are. >> always these. hearings that are so. important on capitol hill. the reality is. >> for someone like rfk, when so. >> many senators. >> are still on the fence about his nomination, there's a huge question