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at night". i do not believe that you are qualified. >> i have serious concerns. >> i don't believe that you can tell this committee or the people of america that you are qualified. >> what is the diameter of the rifle round fired out of the rifle? >> 556. >> how many rounds can you fit in a magazine? >> depends on the magazine but standard issue is 30. >> what size round does the m9 beretta -- >> 9-millimeter. >> trace: it appears to be closed but pig -- pete hegseth could make it across the finish line. he spent time in the hop seat on capitol hill defending himself against low blow attacks on his left flank. democratic senators going after him with unproven allegations of excessive drinking and sexual misconduct. >> did you take your staff,

including young female staff members, to a strip club? >> will you resign? >> on behalf of the men and women i'm serving. >> you have admitted that you had sex at that hotel on octobe. >> trace: even members of the legacy media seem to think he held his own. we will have complete coverage of the confirmation hearing in moments. plus, the death toll from the devastating los angeles fires rising once again as residents of southern california are still facing extreme fire weather at this hour. santa ana winds that could propel a small spark or amber into a big problem now forecast to reach 70 miles per hour, just shy of a category one hurricane. while the flames are dying down for now, the political firestorm in california is just beginning. we will have more on that in minutes but first, senior national correspondent kevin corke live in d.c. with more on that hegseth hearing and is also being sworn in as the next

secretary of defense. >> if pete hegseth is confirmed as defence secretary,'s performance today on capitol hill will no doubt be a major reason why. he is steady, well informed and at times defiant performance left many lawmakers convinced that he's the right type of leader at the pentagon at precisely this time. and for that matter, precisely what president-elect trump wants. >> he believes, and i humbly agree, that it's time to give someone with dust on his boots the helmet. a change agent, someone with no vested interest in certain companies or specific programs or approved narratives. >> be the change. but that did not stop detractors from taking aim at the bronze star winner. >> i have many concerns about your record and particularly your public statements because they are so hurtful to the men and women who are currently serving in the u.s. military.

harmful to morale, harmful to good order and discipline. >> reporter: there were attacks aplenty but despite a string of them, the iowa senator says she will vote to support hegseth "our next commander in chief's elected pete hegseth observed in this role and after our conver conversations, earrings from iowans and doing my job as u.s. senator, i will support president trump's pick for secretary of defense. this 60% of republicans and 21% of independents say they would vote to confirm hegseth according to our latest vocque survey. but no surprise only 6% of democrats agree with that. >> trace: no surprise at all. live in d.c., thank you. that's bring in california state assemblyman bill essayli fox news contributor tomi lahren. pete hegseth says to get politics out of the military. listen to him. >> the current administration

politics should play no part in military matters. we are not republicans, we are not democrats, we are american warriors. >> trace: he's right. what do you think? >> i think he had an excellent performance today. he will stood a lot from what i feel is vultures of the left trying to get their moment in their spotlight and their sound bite. especially in talking about the women in combat, i wish some of those democrat senators would stand up for women's sports and space is quite like they stood out for women in combat. that would be nice for me to see. but he's exactly right. when you are serving as he has in the military with dust on your boots as he repeatedly said in the hearing, he understand that it's not about being a republican or democrat or independent or libertarian, white, black, it doesn't matter, it's about serving the nation you love and he's done that with honor and distinction and president trump, president-elect trump has called upon him to do that once again and you can see

by the war fighters behind him today and also the war fighters that are supporting his nomination that they want somebody with dust on their boots to lead them and i think that's exactly what pete hegseth is going to do if confirmed. >> trace: and bill, you look at what kevin corke was reporting, that the senator who was very much on the fence, now she's like you know what, i think he's the right man, which kind of improves is odds. >> i think it shows how different this term is for trump in 2016, the party is more divided -- was more divided. now you see the party is really the party of president trump. even those on the edge can't withstand the pressure. they will get run over by the trump train if they stand in the way. >> trace: you come back to california and want to talk about the politics, a firestorm, james gallagher california g.o.p. assembly leader said this about trump proving california. on x he posted at a time when california should be laser focused on responding to the devastating wildfires in la,

democrat lawmakers priority is creating 50 million slush fund to hire government lawyers for hypothetical fights against the federal government and to defend criminal illegal immigrants from being returned to their home countries. the disconnect between what californians need and what democrats are focused on his astounding. i mean talk about not reading the room. we are trying to fight fires here and they are trying to trump proof the state. >> don't need to trump proof the state, you need to fireproof the state and make sure your priorities are in line. you know i lived in la for several years and although i love the people in la and love the state of california, i simply could not take it anymore and that's why i fled to tennessee and many of your residence in california have sadly done the same. that's why the state is hemorrhaging so many folks. i hope that the folks in california are getting a giant wake-up call. this is what happens when you have a democrat super majority running a state from top to bottom. some of the same individuals who are running things in

los angeles and running the state of california would love to run for national office so i would remind folks if they kind of management you are seeing now is the kind you want over the rest of the united states, collect california democrat. but if not, maybe it's time to end these people's political career. >> trace: nobody knows it's hard to fight in california more like a california assemblyman like bill essayli because you know it's a huge minority. governor newsom posted, going after you specifically, he says republican assembly member has voted against billions of dollars in crucial wildfire prevention and fire funding including three-point a billion this year to support fire and 10,741 positions. you said not true. >> not true. i'm honored he's taking shots because that means we are doing something right. a budget is spent 5 million on immigrants, a bullet train, we voted against that. but i don't understand the point because we passed a budget and he got everything he asked for

and it still an effective. you have these wildfires, no water in the hydrants, we did not reduce the fuel loads, we weren't prepared for the fire and that's on his watch. you can't blame a signal republican for that. >> trace: thank you both. in his opening statement pete hegseth claimed he was a victim of a coordinated smear campaign that began the moment the president-elect nominated him. ashley strohmier is live with outside of the story. >> reporter: pizza said in his confirmation hearing today that allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse were all just part of a plan by the liberal media to take him down. listen to this. >> there was a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media against us. that was clear from moment one. what we knew is that it wasn't about me. most of it was about president donald trump who has had to endure the very same thing for much longer amounts of time. >> reporter: hegseth continue to explain that he knew attacks

would come once president-elect trump selected him to be his defence secretary but he did not know the depth of dishonesty that would come with them. cnn said despite the attacks of -- propagated by democrats on the armed services committee, hegseth handled himself well. >> i think he kicked their [bleep] today. it wasn't even close. they did not lay a glove on hegseth. no mistakes. >> reporter: but if you ask msnbc's joy reid, hegseth got quite a bit of help from republicans on the committee. listen to this. >> what makes you so awesome? republican senators did their best to help out trump's pick for defence secretary, pete hegseth, during his confirmation hearing today. even the chairman play down the various allegations against him. it's just anonymous sources and liberal media. >> reporter: and as we know that media can say all they want but in the end is as now the

senators well that will decide whether hegseth confirmation will go through. >> trace: he's a step closer. ashley strohmier live in new york, thank you. ♪ ♪ the "fox news @ night" common sense department thinks the democratic party has pretty much said goodbye to the whole joy and unity vibe. common sense knows this because country superstar carrie underwood is now getting big time criticism for agreeing to sing at donald trump's inauguration. she released a statement saying "i am humbled to answer the call at a time when we must all come together in the spirit of unity and looking to the future. ." common sense things only the left can take words like spirit, unity and future and defined them as traitorous. the lgbtq2ia+ community is so angry that underwood is performing for trump that one person told the singer "don't have her call yourself an ally

again. cohost of the view joy behar said "how do you love your country and support and normalize somebody who was a convicted felon, who really wants to destroy the country? so joy behar who called trump hitler considers underwood about american puck considers herself a good american. did you forget that americans voted overwhelmingly for donald trump because they overwhelmingly think the country is on the wrong track? common sense remembers that just two and a half months ago the democratic party was riding the vibe, promising all of us joy and unity. all they delivered was joy behar. let's bring in conservative commentator elisha krauss and district media group president beverly hallberg. thank you for coming on. here's the view going after once again carrie underwood. watch this. >> she says i love our country.

how do you love your country and support and normalize somebody who was a convicted felon? >> i won't be watching. >> i scheduled us paul day. >> trace: they loath half the country. more than half the country. they just loathe these people who voted for trump. >> as an og carrie underwood fan from the "american idol" days, i have to say good for her, good for her statement. i've heard rumblings for a while that she isn't exactly a conservative like me but i think she understands her audience and i think she understands that the american people need to come together during this time and it's better for democracy, which those ladies at the view claim to, you know, purport all of the time, they want to be defenders of democracy. they continually refused to acknowledge that the american people spoke democratically in november and donald trump will be my president, your president and their president on monday. >> trace: beverly hallberg you now because talking about smearing people. pete hegseth says the liberal media smeared him.

watch. >> a small handful of anonymous sources were allowed to drive a smear campaign and agenda about me because our left-wing media in america today sadly does not care about the truth. all they were out to do, mr. chairman, was to destroy me. and why do they want to destroy me? because i'm a change agent in a threat to them. >> trace: he really did get the whole treatment. >> when you look at the an honor means trump has had, it's definitely the case that pete hegseth has gotten the most eight from left-wing media for a variety of reasons. one is the fact he's been an ardent trump supporter for years. he's spoken out against woke policies in the military and i think even the fact that he's been a fox news host, that doesn't really give you brownie points with the left. i think the other reason they were terrified of him is he is a good communicator. he proved that today. i think democrat senators are coming up of this just hoping they had a sound bite go viral

because i don't really think there was a concerted effort on their messaging as a whole caucus to be able to really trip him up. he did a great job with what he said. >> trace: foxnews.com writes, speaking of the liberal media and some of the problems they are incurring, "washington post" daily digital reader pace shrunk during biden years by nearly 90%. in january 2021 the post at around 22.5 million daily active users. by mid-2020 for it's daily users hovered around 2.5-3 million daily. that's an historic collapse. >> it is but we've been seeing it dip for a long time so i don't think it comes as a surprise. i think especially 2024 was the end of mainstream traditional old-fashioned owned by billionaire left-leaning media. i think you have some of them like zuckerberg and bezos are trying to claw that back a bit, trying to be more balanced. i don't know if it will work. i think it might be too little too late. >> trace: "los angeles times",

people are hemorrhaging, leaving us in droves. here's jimmy kimmel lying and almost crying. watch. >> we see our fellow men and women coming together to support each other. [applause] >> into all of the vile and irresponsible and stupid things are alleged future president and it is gaggle of scumbags chose to say. the fact that they chose to attack our firefighters who apparently art white enough to be out there. >> trace: he attacked the politicians, beverly. >> if you look at what donald trump has been saying even before this tragedy happened, he's been pointing to gavin newsom about the potential of fires for years now. that is a white male, not a minority fireman, so this is just blanket lies and i think what we are seeing, with are talking about climate change, whether saying that donald trump is politicizing this and all republicans are pouncing, it's because they know they don't

have much of a case when it comes to their liberal politicians. you are evening seeing celebrities speak out against some of these liberal politicians and frankly i think they are scared. >> trace: beverly hallberg, elisha krauss, thank you. fire crews on high alert as residents in southern california face new wildfire warnings and possible power shutdowns. matt finn live in altadena with the latest on theirs. how's the wind tonight? >> reporter: it's hard to believe we are talking about another particularly dangerous wind warning. that kicks into affect around 4:00 a.m. this morning, late night. good news, today was the calmest today we have seen in the altadena area. the death toll remains at 16 in the eaton fire, the deadliest of the fires across la. all day long altadena was swarming with sheriff's deputies, police, search and rescue, properties blocked off with police tape we saw which can indicate human remains

found. teams are also marking the lots that have pools and basements so people don't fall through debris. today as we were doing an interview with a man in the fire zone, police asked us to step back because some type of artillery was found on a property. the man we were talking to was in the midst of telling us his neighborhood feels like a war zone and then artillery was discovered. >> we just don't know. so as you see, just talking to me a second ago and they moved us because they found live artillery rounds in amongst the fire they had to take care of. so again it is like living in a war zone. you see all this around us. >> reporter: speaking of the wind, that man says he feels like people in this area have developed ptsd from the high winds. many people unfortunately watched their homes burned. also it is night time, we've been talking to deputies and police all day long and they say the bad actors have been coming up at night.

we crossed the barrier today, police told us some were trying to use fake media badges and were also trying to present themselves as a firefighters. >> trace: it's a shame. matt finn live on the scene, thank you. and woke has to stop. because along with everything else, it's destroying our country. we are going to stop woke. woke woke is [bleep]. >> trace: let's bring in oklahoma state superintendent ryan walters. great to have you on the show. speaking of woke, the associated press said trump wants to change colleges nationwide, g.o.p. lead states offer a preview, dozens of diversity, equity and inclusion programs have already closed in states including alabama, florida... in some cases lessons about racial and gender identity have been phased out, supports and resources for underrepresented students have disappeared. is this encouraging for you, superintendent?

>> absolutely. president trump has been leading the charge on this. we have to get away from dei woke nonsense and go back to focusing on american exceptionalism, on encouraging our young people to be great and get this country to be great again. as you continue to see parents wake up to this, as you continue to see states have president trump's back you are going to continue to see america come back to being a great country again. you see the business community, colleges, red states. got to get back to focusing on exceptionalism. >> trace: "new york post" writes the following about the los angeles fires, blame la fire horror on the woke religion bringing ruin to our cities, it was the woke religion with judges people by the color of their skin, not the content of their character that propelled karen bass to the highest office. it was there woke religion that inspired the mayor to appoint a string of incompetence to the city's all-important waterboard and dream up fantastic projects

involving recycled wastewater and then shrug when deadlines were missed, budgets swelled in the city was left high and dry. it goes on and on but they are right on exactly what happened. >> they are right and listen this dei and woke ideology is literally dangerous. we've gone from -- it's not just theory. when you continue to say we don't care if you are good at what you do, if you are a good firefighter or not, we just care about the color of your skin, checking a quota box. what happens is people lose their lives, people lose their homes. it's an absurd ideology that is a mind virus and this is where you have to get back to an understanding of what to do we out of society and for the next generation. we have to start judging people based on the content of their character. and the deeds they do. we want to push people to do great things, to meet a high standard and we are not doing that. >> trace: very quickly i know you are now doing the biden administration because of all the illegal immigrants put in

schools in your area for some $500 million. 15 seconds on that. >> joe biden, this was a coordinated effort to allow illegal immigrants across the border and have them rush the schools. we thank god every day that president trump is back in charge but we have to hold joe biden and kamala harris accountable by making them pay for the illegal immigrants they forced into our schools, holding account to figure out how many illegal immigrants there are in our schools, and moving back to a situation where schools can be great again. >> trace: superintendent, thank you. coming up, california politicians still trying to knock down criticism, knocked down the criticism they say, over how ill-prepared they were for the fires and what we are hearing about president-elect trump's visit to the golden state to survey the damage. later in the nightcap... just talk about qualification, what is the largest number of people you've supervised? >> i think we had over 100

full-time staff roughly with thousands of volunteers. >> i don't think there's a board of directors in america that would hire you as a ceo with a kind of experience you have on your resume. >> it seems to me that you have supervised far more people then the average united states senator supervises. [laughs] >> trace: democrats attacking pete hegseth for being unqualified despite his extensive experience. what do you think, is he qualified to leave the department of defense, sheet d be confirmed? let us know x and instagram and we will read your responses in the nightcap. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ nothing brings us together like eggland's best eggs. always so fresh and delicious. plus, superior nutrition. for us, it's eggs any style. as long as they're the best. eggland's best. ♪ like a relentless weed, moderate to severe ulcerative colitis symptoms can keep coming back. start to break away from uc with tremfya...

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>> trace: donald trump planning a trip to los angeles to personally assess wildfire damage but it remains unclear if the triple happened while he's still the president-elect or

when he becomes the president. alexandria hoff is live with more information in west palm beach. >> reporter: good evening, trace. the trump team says this visit is a top priority. we are waiting for a time frame on it but la's mayor insight today. >> talk to a member of his administration. i have joined in with the governor and the supervisor in terms of inviting him and i know that the administration is looking hopefully to next week, shortly after the inauguration. >> reporter: in a post directed to governor newsom the president-elect stated in part, released the water from up north, millions of gallons a day, what's taking so long? the governor told the podcast that trump is operating with ignorance to the situation. as for the inauguration, five days away, festivities kick off saturday with fireworks followed sunday by a wreath laying at the tomb of the unknown soldier and then a victory rally.

monday there will be plenty of star power. elon musk appearing to confirm reports that he mark zuckerberg and jeff bezos will sit on a platform with trump cabinet members during the ceremony. he posted, honored. former president obama, clinton and bush will be in attendance but one spouse will be notably missing. former first lady michelle obama it will not be attending the inauguration according to a statement given to the associated press. it is unclear why but she almost so mr. jimmy carter's funeral. >> trace: alexandria hoff live in west palm beach, thank you. even though the big wildfires in los angeles are not yet fully contained the political fallout has already begun thanks to democratic leaders traumatic mismanagement. bill melugin is live with more on that story. >> reporter: here in california it's no secret that democrats have long held a total stranglehold on political power so these disastrous wildfires could have been an opportunity for them to show off competence and cooperation but instead many feel the leadership has left a

whole lot to be desired so let's start with la mayors karen bass who wasn't even in the country when the palisades fire first broke out. despite forecasted strong winds and extreme fire risks, she decided to travel to ghana not to attend a presidential inauguration. she was asked today if she regrets the trip but she did not give much of an answer. >> looking back, would you have taken the trip overseas? >> you know, i'm going to focus today on what we know. >> reporter: the mayor and la fire chief have been at all it's with one each other -- one another in public with passing budget cuts to the department did not impact operations while the chief says otherwise. >> we are still understaffed, still under resourced and still underfunded so with that and whether it's 7 million, 10 million. >> was the budget cut? >> it was and it impacted our ability to provide service. >> reporter: in the meantime gavin newsom is calling for an

investigation into why the hydrants were dry. >> what the hell happened to the water system? all of us want to know and i don't want to wait because people are asking me. i want to know the facts, i want them objectively determined. >> reporter: the "los angeles times" is reporting tonight that mayor bass was at an embassy cocktail party in ghana when the palisades fire first broke out. >> trace: it's a bad look. bill, thank you. let's bring in pacific palisades resident schuyler dietz along with fire captain sean doran. captain to you first, talk about the next steps, assessing damage, getting people into their homes, getting communities up and running. where do you start? >> at any given wildfire the repopulation and recovery efforts start early on. we are already anticipating this being the final phase of the

fires so for example the damage assessment teams are out there providing realtime updates on homes that got damaged to assist the property owners in filing claims, writing to the county, assisting recovery efforts. ultimately to come back and help us understand if we can make improvements in code and mitigation to help mitigate the next wildfire. >> trace: it's a long road. the reason we brought you on, schuyler dietz, you've been evacuated, you can't get back in your neighborhood. your parents live in the palisades. their home did not get destroyed. they want to go back. how do you go back into this post-apocalyptic seen that is the palisades with no power and no water and no shops and services. >> good question. the home -- whole town is destroyed fundamentally. i know more people in the palisades that don't have a home then do. my elementary school is gone, my

market, my pharmacy, everything is gone. it's truly tragic what happened and i don't really know when it's going to start feeling like normal again. >> trace: it is amazing because you look at this and you think how long does it take to rebuild. your parents will be in sooner because their house is still there but it will take some time. >> absolutely. i can't believe that things aren't there anymore. driving up my hill to get to my parents house, i live -- one side it's burnt, the other side there are cars burnt, it's really sad. >> trace: and captain, as we look at some of these pictures, the burnt out area, i'm wondering if you and maybe generations that follow will study this fire in the palisades and all to dena, the eaton fire as, you know, a way to better fight high wind events. >> absolutely. the fire service is built upon our history. we study fires from the past knowing that they will repeat in

the future. we would do nothing but a disservice to ourselves in the community if we did not take every opportunity we have to go back and identify opportunities to improve, whether a vehicle fire, car fire, wildland fire, we take pride in making sure we go back and recognize opportunities to improve. >> trace: it's amazing. i wonder, have you guys, your family, have you been given any timelines here about removing the rubble, about getting some of this wreckage and rubble out of there and being able to go in and start the process, has anybody given anybody timelines were is it too early? >> i think as time has gone on the communication has improved. we heard today that i think my neighborhood will be able to get back on thursday. so that will at least get us allowed to get end, reassess the situation, hopefully the power will be back on. for someone like my parents and the people in the pacific palisades, they don't know. there's a lot of questions on the problem is if you open it up

to some people you are going to open it up to some people who are supposed to be there and some who aren't. if it were up to me, i would not want anyone in because i would rather have, you know, it let the authorities control the situation rather than have it be free-for-all. >> trace: a very good point. best of luck to you, thank you for coming on. captain, thank you for coming on as well, we appreciate it. coming up, president-elect says there will be hell to pay if hostages are not released by the time he takes office, which is six days. and were today from the middle east that a deal could happen tonight. and what pete hegseth says about how he plans to tackle some of the most pressing national security issues, next. ♪ ♪ our hair breaking after waiting years for it to grow? new pantene with more pro-vitamins, plus biotin & collagen. repairs as well as the leading luxury bonding brand. stronger, healthier hair, without the $60 price tag. if you know, you know it's pantene.

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world war ii was 74 star generals. today we have 44 four star generals. is an inverse relationship between the size of staff and victory on the battlefield. we don't need more bureaucracy

at the top, we need more war fighters in power at the bottom. >> trace: without let's bring in rabbi chaim mentz, the aaron cohen show podcast host and special ops aaron cohen and senior fellow with the foundation for the mental democracies, richard goldberg. thank you for coming on. richard, you hurt -- heard pete hegseth thing he wants fewer generals and more war fighters. how did he do today in your opinion? >> i will tell you, i'm a former senate staffer and i been through a lot of these and hegseth gave a master class today. truly showing demonstrated mastery of policy, foreign policy, national security affairs, military affairs, the building, the bureaucracy that he will be managing. he came out i think with flying colors. i believe the testimony will be studied in confirmation prep schools from both sides of the island the future. i expect he will be confirmed as

the next secretary of defense. >> trace: interesting. rabbi, a big deal in the middle he's now, the associated press headline reads, hamas okays draft agreement of a cause cease-fire and to the release of some hostages, officials say. it sounds like the hostage deal is almost done. it looks like it could happen as early as tomorrow morning, maybe midday tomorrow. what's good, what's bad about this? >> what's good about it is it will finally get someone home. everybody agrees we have to get them home. but the deal is for the double. tonight in jerusalem, hundreds if not thousands of people, families of hostages, said to benjamin netanyahu, you do not have a mandate to go into this deal. a lot of israelis are very upset. you could have taken the same deal seven or eight months ago. why did -- why now. someone is pressuring him to get it done now. this is not good for israel because hamas lives. >> trace: and that somebody

might be president-elect trump who said there will be hell to pay. meantime hamas says it will not release the final hostages. it's a three-phase deal. will not release the final hostages until there is "complete withdrawal of israeli forces." from gaza. very sticky issue. >> this is not black and white. israel found out later in this campaign, this is from my sources in israel. israel's security apparatus, the mossad, idf, i believe they went to the prime minister and said look, we don't have the capabilities to perform hostage rescues anymore, now that a -- now that suicide terrorists have been placed around the hostages. that forces is real into a political negotiation which is part of the counterterrorism framework so i really think that bibi is doing his best, and i agree with a rabbi, getting those hostages back who have

been there for 400 days plus. israel is a master going back after these terrorists. let's deal with the immediate release first. >> trace: representative mike walz said this about the trump affect. watch. >> hamas realizes i think with the whole world is seeing in the trump effect in that he means it when he says there will be all hell to pay. there is no other option but to let our people and let those hostages go. period. i think we have made that message very clear. >> trace: richard, do you agree, is there a trump effect in play? >> yeah i mean i agree with the comments made previously, the concern, the downsides of long-term security risks in the deal but i would also say that we speak with sensitivity. if this deal goes forward we are going to have families who celebrate the return of loved ones, we will have a lot of families grieving the loss of loved ones as well. i don't think we've seen the last of the horror show up the hostage crisis as this plays

out. but to what the representative said, absolutely. i was in israel a couple of months ago and it was clear to me that the israelis have accepted this deal over and over again. it's been hamas and it's sponsors that have been playing games. but guess what, the games came to an end the minute president-elect trump said hell was going to be paid if they did not take a deal. i don't think there's an element of pressure on the israelis. the israelis have accepted the deal multiple times. the equation has changed by the president saying i'm going to bring holy hell down on hamas and it's sponsors unless the deal gets done. >> trace: what about you, what do you think about the deal, the bad side, the downside of this deal, if it's struck tomorrow? >> i think the optics, the most important piece here is getting back to the abraham accord. i think that's where bibi is leaning. i think it's about getting saudi arabia and getting the region back together to focus on iran.

that is the big picture and that's where i met with this. >> trace: rabbi, you are from los angeles, the firefights, you've seen them, does this change the political equation in southern california? >> a lot of people including myself over the last election, we all went for donald trump. why? we started realizing the left was incompetent. today in the state of california our leadership was incompetent. they can look for all of the excuses. bottom line, they failed. a lot of people in the city of los angeles and the state of california may go republican the next election. >> trace: gentlemen, thank you. democrats attacking pete hegseth for being unqualified, despite his extensive experience in the armed forces. we want to know what you think. let us know x and instagram @tracegallagher. we are back with the nightcap crew, including you, next. ♪ ♪ (vo 1) when you really philosophize about it, there's one thing you don't have enough of, and that's time. time is a truly scarce commodity.

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♪ ♪ >> trace: back with the nightcap crew, kevin corke, ashley strohmier, bill melugin, aaron cohen, rabbi chaim mentz, elisha krauss. tonight's topic, and tricks exam. democrats attacking pete hegseth for being unqualified despite his experience in the armed forces. is he qualified to lead the department of defense, should he be confirmed, ashley strohmier?

>> i think he's qualified, i think is one of the most qualified for the job and i think the only reason the democrats are worried about him getting confirmed is because he's going to bring common sense back to the military and who does not want common sense in the military? >> trace: that's right. kevin corke. >> they are worried about their dollars, worried about what he will focus on. he's infinitely qualified and if today is any indication, he most certainly will be confirmed. >> trace: people are worried about things being shaken up, bill melugin. >> did they have concerns about hunter biden's qualifications to serve on the board? they seemed to miss that. >> trace: no concerns at all. rabbi. >> 100%. he's bringing a spirit back into the army. look at how many people are signing up. we need a young strong-minded person to take it over and that is what we've gotten him. >> trace: i'm going to savior for last aaron cohen because you are the military voice and it's interesting what you have to say because a lot of people have said listen, they need

youngblood, they need somebody to come in and shake things up and as he said, there were four generals in world war ii know it got 40 something. >> what it must be like to get paid by the pentagon. but i think karen bass, avenue some, joe biden, kamala harris, barack obama, all people that we were all told were qualified and look at how much they have screwed up california and the country. >> trace: aaron cohen. >> like would-mac pete has forgotten more about war and training war fighters and getting them back to the level that they need to be at and i am fully behind pete and i think he's going to do an incredible job. he's handling this like a champion. >> trace: he was very good on his feet today in that hearing. paul says yes, he has combat and boots on the ground leadership experience. indigo, beyond a shadow of a doubt. greg, i will take the war hardened fox fox and friends reporter that has heart and... any day.

vicki says peach should be confirmed, time for a change. the same old way of doing things is not worked in a long time. and it -- says i like him but i think there are folks with more experience out there. shelby says pete is more qualified to be secretary of defense then lloyd austin, our military will thrive under him. him says he's more qualified than anyone on that committee, even elizabeth warren. tommy says absolutely the democrats are in embarrassment during this confirmation fiasco. and i think when you had some of these things like joni saying i'm in favor, is always went up. thank you for joining the nightcap, thank you for watching america's late news, "fox news at night". i'm trace gallagher in los angeles and as always, we will see you right back here for another "fox news at night" tomorrow night. ♪ ♪ my name is dana bellefeuille, and my husband and i own the village bakery located in hayden, idaho. our mission is to employ people with different abilities. tiktok is allowing us to show

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