charlie, what does this say about the momentum for the rest of the cabinet? >> i would argue that every single hearing that we have had so far for every nominee, every one of the nominees will get through, starting with pete hegseth that was probably the toughest of the ones that have gone. but even -- there are all these issues that lisa mentioned that he has to deal with. but just recruitment alone -- if that's the thing that he solves, that is an existential crisis for us and he is the perfect man for that. >> jesse: we will see if it was effective or not. it looks like he might be able to make it through. thank you for watching. jesse watters primetime. sean hannity is up next. he will have the hegseth confirmation vote. have a great night. >> welcome to hannity. we have a fox news alert at this hour. donald trump is wrapping up a

major trip to the west coast where he confronted la mayor karen bass as southern california is reeling from the devastating wild fires. he had a moment with gavinnusome. mel gibson is joining us to talk about the trip. but we are turning our attention to the nation's capital t our friend and colleagueties pete hegseth is facing a tight confirmation vote in the u.s. senate that is underway. joining us now is chad. chad, there has been -- i know because i have been talking to a lot of people all day. a lot of drama behind the scenes. i have it on pretty good authority -- it looks like, that pete will lose lisa, susan collins and mitch mcconnell, but jd vance will cast the deciding vote. >> a republican senator indicated to me that i thought

that jd vance would have to break the tie. he arrived at the capital a little bit ago. we don't know about mitch mcconnoll. as i always say, it is about the math. if you lose three, you get to 50/50. there are 53 republican inside the senate. i hollered to chuck schumer whether they could defeat this on the floor. he said we will watch the floor and see. if it is 50/50, jd vance in his capacity as president of the senate, can cast a vote and break a tie. he can only vote if there is a tie. and this would be the first time during his short vice presidency that he would do this. i talked to another republican source and they said this would come down to the wire. so the two people to look at would be mitch mcconnell and maybe tom tim tillis.

he had some questions, he has not been to the capital yet this evening but that's the one other senator that could -- and i will underscore that, could be in play. they started this vote precisely at 8:57 tonight. you might ask why 8:57. the 30 hours -- it started at 2:57 yesterday afternoon. unless they yielded back the time, the vote was going to be tonight. they kind of keep the time on the field on a senate vote. most votes take 30 minutes to an hour. maybe 45 minutes if they are moving. a late night vote, a lot of people have been at dinner or back home. we might get a sense early on how the vote is going and be able to devine if he has the vote to be confirmed. but the vote is hot right now.

the other thing to look for is when they finish the roll call vote, whether or not they have a culture vote, a procedural vote to break the fill buster on the nomination on christi home to be the homeland security secretary. if that happens tonight, they get another 30 hours. so she probably wouldn't be confirmed until early sunday morning. i had a couple of conversations with senators that thought they could get through that and move to that vote later on tonight. but that vote is on right now. again, we will see how long this takes. it is very rare to have a nominee come to the capital as pete heg seth did with his family to watch this confirmation vote. i can't remember in all the years that i have covered congress to see it happened. we asked him whether he was talking to senators that might be talking about this. he did not respond. he gave a thumbs up.

so that's in play there. we don't know. everyone seems to be saying yes, we think that we have the votes. the other thing that i would look for here -- is also, let's say it is a tie -- let's say that he doesn't have the votes. and john sune, the republican leader would switch his vote. if the vote goes down, it is not that the senator opposes the nominee of pete hegseth, but he has to be on the prevailing side of the vote to order a revote if they think they need to talk to someone maybe they could get the vote in the next couple of days. and if vance breaks this tie, that's only happened once before. it was february 7th of 2017 when the education secretary -- there was a tie vote. you had two nos, and so they

needed to bring vice president pence to capital hill to confirm her. i am getting a lot of messages here. i am told that susan collins has already voted no and mitch mcconnell, he was asked how he would vote and he raised his eyebrows. we haven't had votes from mitch mcconnell, and more. so collins is a no on the republican side of the isle. but this is organic. they vote orally, it is not an electronic system like the house of representatives. you might be seeing the senators come down to the well and they give a thumbs up or thumbs down. sometimes they stick their head in the corner and holler from the back of the chamber. you can see the jol right there, she is calling the names and going down and checking off how people are voting as they go down the list. i have been cold that lisa

mercowsky voted no. that's two no votes in realtime against pete hegseth. you saw more -- she is against pete hegseth. so again, most democrats, all democrats were expecting them to vote no tonight. but that's kind of where we stand but this vote is on the edge as we stand right now. >> all right, chad, stay there. we will go back to you in just a moment. we appreciate you being with us. joining us now is brett bear. brett, i am -- i have been following this all day. we knew about lisa, and susan collins. that is not a surprise. the other two votes to watch would be mitch mcconnell and tom tillis in north carolina.

but i understand that he has moved into the yes column. we will find out shortly. mitch mcconnell telling one or two people. i called into his office today to get an indication at all which way he was leaning. if i had to bet, i would say no. for tom tillis, i would say yes. but we will find out shortly here. >> we will. and sean, good evening, it was interesting to see president trump as he was leaving the whitehouse today heading to marine one. he raised questions about mitch mcconnell's vote. he was asked about pete hegseth's chances. he said that the two, mercowsky and collins were expected. and they said, what about mitch, what is mitch doing? and i think that there is a sense that the former senate majority leader may vote no on pete hegseth. that brings it to three no votes.

and the biggest question is tillis from north carolina. there was a glowing statement about his trip to north carolina and the affected areas today. saying how much it meant to him personally and the people surviving hurricane helene and the devastation still after all these weeks. that is not an indication how he is going to vote on pete hegseth, but that's something that came out today. it is rare for the nominee himself to be on capital hill. to bring his family to capital hill, and he was standing or holding in what is called strong herman room, waiting. and he gave reporters a thumbs up. so we are waiting for the key votes, mitch mcconnell, tillis, and then vice president vance would break a tie if it is three

republican no votes. >> yeah, brett, if i may. i got confirmation from another senator that talked to tillis. he is expected to be a yes. it won't matter what mitch mcconnell does in this vote. i think he will lean towards no. if that is the case, vance will be the tie-breaking vote. and pete hegseth will be the secretary of defence. 37-30 on the screen. if that is the case, that is a big win for donald trump. and i would argue a big win for the military. we both know pete really well. he lives, eats, breathes, sleeps everything military. and we are at a time where i believe that the country has a gap of vulnerability. we are behind on hyper sonic. we need to develop the next generation of weaponry for warfare. we have a lot of work to do. recruitment is down.

they have a lot of work there. >> they do. and you know, i covered the pentagon for four and a half five years, that building -- there is a lot of great people inside, but there is a lot of institutional bureaucracy that i think president trump talked about on the campaign trail of shaking things up which is why he chose pete. arguably both sides of the isle said that he was impressive in his confirmation hearing. obviously republicans more so than democrats, but even some democrats that i talked to said that they were impressed with how he handled himself. they went down different roads on questions, obviously. he has denied all of those accusations, and i texted with him this week, and he had kind of an optimism about the moment. he thought that he was -- he was there. so we will see these votes in a matter of minutes. if it is a tie and vice president vance breaks the tie. this is moving forward.

and the question is, how long will democrats position this confirmation to stretch out the 30 hours every different nominee. it could stretch really until march if they wanted it to. but there would be an effort to speed this up. >> brett, i think we both have been following washington far long time. and i think we can both attest to the fact that working long hours and weekends is not a top priority for people in the u.s. senate, especially. and you know, john thune was clear in my interview with him this week that he is going to work weekends and nights and he is going to stay until all these people are confirmed. at some point i think democrats might get a little bit too tired and there may not be enough coffee, cappacino, expresso available for them.

>> that's his plan if it continues to drag on like that. and then the long shot is this recess appointment thing. it would take a lot of different maneuvers for the house and senate to adjourn. he is open to it but leaving it in senator thune's hands. some democrats say they will vote for some of the nominees. but to make a stand and say -- >> >> hey, bret, if i can -- well, i just got word that tom tillis voted yes. that all be pretty much assures that jd vance at a minimum will be the tie breaking vote and he will be the secretary of defence. that is a big win for donald trump and obviously a big win for pete hegseth in what was a

big battle on capital hill. so it looks like he will be the next defence secretary. >> barring some real strange vote that we can't even see coming this is going to be three republican nos and -- and vice president vance will break the tie. senator tillis put out a statement, sean, he said from the beginning, i have been clear about my position. if the nominees were reported favourably, i would support their confirmation on the senate floor. he said that pete has a unique perspective as a veteran of war in iraq and afghanistan, and he is passionate about supporting the brave patriots like himself. so putting out a strong statement of support for pete hegseth. >> it somewhat changed today, whatever questions, issues existed, my understanding is, that there was a direct conversation between senator

tillis and pete hegseth and they came to a meeting of the minds and that happened fairly recently. so obviously now we are showing 42 nos and 40 yeses, but we expect a 50/50 vote at the end of the day. so jd advance will make the deciding vote. bret sorry to make you work late on a friday night. but we appreciate you doing it. >> happy to do it. you bet. >> joining us now, the senator from oklahoma. the next defence secretary looks like it will be my friend and colleague peat hegseth. what is your reaction to the vote today? >> sean, pete set the bar high. he is working all the way up to literally the last hour. i was with him just a second ago. he was still on the phone. you are right. him and tillis had a good

meeting today. and pete and jenny, they are a power couple. the way they attacked the media. the way that the media came you after them, and they faced it head on and took the shots over the head. they never blinked or stepped back. they continued to move forward. pete earned this vote today because of his ability to go into the fire and win the fight. and i have been so impressed by him through this process. i get to call him a friend like you. >> this just was exed out. it was put on x by senator tom tillis. from the beginning, i have been clear on my position. if the nominees were reported favourablely out of the new committees, i would support them on the senate floor. once his nomination was sent to the floor by my colleagues on the senate arms services committee, i conducted my own

due diligence including asking tough questions of pete. i appreciated his cannedor, and openness in answering them. he has a unique perspective as a veteran of wars in iraq and afghanistan and he is passionate about supporting the brave patriots like myself who serve our nation. i will support his confirmation. look forward to working with him to rebuild the military and advance the peace through strength agenda. i have to give a lot of credit to any senator -- you know taking -- advising consent as a serious matter is something that i think that -- every elected official should do. and some people, you know, get angry if senators ask extra questions or want more information. to me, they are doing their job. >> sean, what tom is is very thorough. and i am telling you, his word is gold. if he tells you where he is at, he is going to be there. at the same time, he is going to

do his job and he is not going to pull back punches. what he appreciated about pete is exactly what president trump appreciates about him too. he is not afraid of taking on the fight and tough issues. pete would take the questions and he didn't dodge them or hide from them. he addressed every single one of them, and that's why he was able to win the votes over. we knew that we were walking into a situation where we would lose three people. and we started there, thinking that we are going to have 50/50 on this vote, and jd vance will cast the deciding vote. that's where we ended up. but we did it because pete and jenny walked the halls here daily, and they were willing to take the meetings non-stop. and there is so much credit due to them. even though the senate did do article 2, section 2, advise in a consent process, it was because pete was able to keep

the nose off the board and keep the yeses where they were at. >> the one person that i have questions about would be mitch mcconnell only because mitch -- you know, his successor john thune knows how hard that job is. and pete is pro-military. it wouldn't have been hard for mitch to move to the yes column. but that didn't factor into his thinking at all. and he kept it tight to the vest all day. and i think that's a little bit disappointing. i think john thune was loyal to him. and you would think he would want to help out the new majority leader get off on the right foot. he could have helped him. >> you know, i never had a conversation with mitch through this process. i talked to susan and lisa. and i obviously had a lot of conversations with tillis and my other colleagues and they were productive conversations. but i can't really speak on

mitch's thinking because you are right. he holds everything very close. but i truly never had a conversation with him through the whole process. i left that to leader thune. there is a different leadership style in the senate between mitch mcconnell and leader thune. >> i agree. there was a tough moment in the confirmation process. where you really took on your democratic colleagues asking, oh, are you all perfect, oh, none of you had a drink and all of these images started to emerge of you as senators having alcohol, in the halls of congress, which i thought was pretty funny. >> well, if the democrats are going to hold themselves up at a moral standard or hold these nominees at a moral standard, we should hold ourselves to a standard. i am not the one to set a moral standard, i am not that guy.

at the same time -- if we are going to do that, we better be holding ourselves up to a higher standard as well and the body isn't going to do that. so it was hypocritical for him kane be demanding that if he has a drink he is going to resign and talk about his past life before he ran for sect f. i believe very high that if we are going to set a standard, we should live that standard. >> yeah. we really appreciate your time senator. as you can see, it is almost official. 48-47. 48 yes, 47, no. former senator scott brown, and clay travis. isn't that right brown, great to have you. you know how tight these votes can be. walk us through the process behind the scenes. >> there is a lot of hand -- people, you know, saying do this do that. but john is in control. i saw the interview that you did with him. he is definitely in control.

i was a little surprised with mitch. obviously with susan and lisa. i expected that. but as you know, it is 50% plus 1. it doesn't matter how you get there. pete is a change-maker. president trump deserves pete and anyone else that he wants around him. and i tell you what, the delegation hearing in new hampshire and all the democrats being obstructionists -- that gets old very, very quickly. because they should be doing this immediately as they did for joe biden and other presidents where we have basically said okay, listen, you get the time and the votes, let's get it done. i hope john keeps them there every single day until this is done. >> yeah. let's go to brian. you have been a close friend to pete for a long time. and it is hard to watch people that you know, love and care about and know their true character about and watch them go through a painful process

when this first was announced, i called pete and told him exactly how this would turn out. i wish i was wrong. i said, it was going to start with no on susan and no on lisa and no on mitch. i said if you lose one more, he will not get it. it is now official. jd vance will cast the deciding vote. let's listen in on the senate floor before we get to you, brian. apparently there is nothing to listen to. so back to you, brian. >> look, sean, this is amazing. pete has been a friend of mine for almost four decades. i knew the kid -- i knew him since second grade. i have been a colleague at fox with him. this has been a tough process to go through, obviously, but senator mullen got it exactly right. and it has been the greatest part of the process.

pete outworked everybody. he outworked his detractors and the people on the sidelines. he outworked anybody that wanted to come at him about his character or his ability to lead. and he said, i will talk to you. let me make my case and show you what i am about. to me, sean, that's the most encouraging thing that i have seen through any part of this confirmation process. he sat there in front of all of the senators in the arms service it's committee, and he listened to what they said, and he responded to them and showed the american people what he is about, sean. i knew he was going to do that and i knew that the american people would have more confidence in him. i love actually -- though i don't wish it on anybody in their personal life, i love that he went through the process exactly like pete hegseth goes through any process where he has to work and prove himself. i am happy for the pentagon and those that serve in the

military. i am happy for america that he will have the chance to do what he said he will do to make our military prepared, ready to be lethal and focussed on its mission and not anything else that the political classes try to make it for the past four years and probably beyond that, sean. >> yeah, amazing. the vote is in. official, 50/50. jd vance will be the tie-breaking vote. clay travis, when i watch people like pete or you can take it back to bork or clarence thomas, or justice cavenaugh, and they want to rake these guys over the coals, this makes me think, this is why good people don't want to serve this government. >> yeah, you are absolutely

right, sean. they got raked over the coals to get it here. this is why your senate vote is important. wins in pennsylvania by 15,000 votes or so -- that's the difference between pete hegseth getting across the finish line or not. a huge win for donald trump and everybody else in line here because if you knock one guy or gal out, the next man or woman up is the next target. right now, you keep the momentum rolling. and let me take a moment -- i am ecstatic for pete and his family. for the country and trump and everyone that voted for him. let me say this, alaska voted for donald trump by 13 points, sean. and lisa can't back donald trump and his pick for defence secretary? shame on her. everybody listening who voted for trump in alaska should be trying to kick her out of office. same thing, i know mitch

mcconnell is probably going to step down, trump won kentucky by 31 points. i understand why someone like lisa collins, her state went for kamala by 7 points, might not support every element of the trump agenda, but if you are in alaska and kentucky, your senators are defying the will of you. thankfully it didn't come down to their votes because the other 50 senators showed up and jd vance showed up. but mitch mcconnell and merkowsky they should be ashamed and everyone in alaska and kentucky should be furious. >> all right, clay, scott, brian. thank you all. we appreciate it. let's go back to chad who is with us on capital hill. well, we got to the magic number, 50. i thought mitch would be a no. i thought that tillis would be a

yes. and it turned out that way. and now jd vance will cast the deciding vote. >> it looks like we will have a 51-50 vote. we call this a van halen vote. vice president vance was in office for a couple of days. this will be his first tie-breaking vote. it doesn't happen very much depending on the arrangement of the senate and whether or not a vice president has to break a tie. he gets to do this early on. we saw this during the trump administration the first time. vice president pense had to come to break ties and lower level figures that i mentioned earlier. the former education secretary. what you are looking at right now on the floor -- the republican senator from south dakota, he is leaning back in the chair all the way over to the right there. that's the dais, and that's mike brown. at some point jd vance will come

in and preside over the senate as his capacity as president of the senate. in the old days we used to see the vice president preside all the time. that doesn't happen much any more except for big occasions or when they think they need a tie-breaking vote. they will announce the nays and. yays, as i indicated, you had pete hegseth come to the capital tonight. we hollered to see if he was going to meet with anybody. maybe try to get someone at the last moment -- tillis talked to pete hegseth for two hours today and settled his concerns. there was a letter sent where he went to chapter and verse through this affidavit that dealt with some of the allegations of sexual misconduct which hegseth has denied and

went through point by point and said, this is what happened. and happening senator tillis understand this. at some point you are going to have a new secretary of defence. he will be the 29th secretary of defence. and this is not all for the senate tonight. remember this is only the third nominee that they will have confirmed. the next one in the queue is the south dakota governor to be the homeland security secretary. and what is queued up after this is a vote to overcome the fill busker on that nomination. she is not as controversial as pete hegseth. some senators thought there would be an hour or two of debate and vote on her as early as tonted. but if the democrats run all the parliamentary traps, they could stretch this out to sunday morning,ight. but if the democrats run all the parliamentary traps, they could stretch this out to sunday morning, and next in the cue is scott besent, and shaun duffy.

you can see how long it takes to confirm nominees. i want to get into the point about the politics behind that. the republicans like the fact that they had this 30 hours of time from yesterday afternoon after they broke the fill buster to make sure that they had the votesment plus it indicated to the president and the republican base that they were willing to stay over the weekend and willing to work as hard as they could to confirm nominee. but politically for the democrats this works to their favour too because they are able to erect opposition here and say we are here late on a friday night. we don't like peat hegseth, we are going to show up on a friday night and say we think that pete hegseth is unqualified.

>> john thune says he will make them work nights and weekends. and when it becomes inevitable, it will not be a close vote, how many of the democratic senators have to get up early and work on sunday, my guess is not too many. chad, you have been covering the capital for a long time, that's that they would look forward to. >> some senators say, will come back. and there are senators that are close by. it just depends -- it depends if they are really dug in. pete hegseth was the most controversial. the next in line is going to be robert f kennedy junior for health and human services. he has a couple hearings coming up. he goes before the senate finance committee and the senate health committee.

and someone who has a hearing scheduled but is nowhere near the floor is tulsy gabbard to be the director of national intelligence. it does take weeks, it takes months. i point out that the final cabinet secretary that was confirmed for president biden was marty walsh for labor on march 22nd. but they are running behind now compared to where they were with biden or trump or going back to president obama in 2009. >> we are awaiting jd vance to cast the tie-breaking vote. chad, how soon do we expect that to happen? my understanding is that jd is in the capital and he is standing by. >> exactly. he has an office just off the floor. the vice president keeps an office here. the vice president in the constitution is a little bit fish and fowl. they are part of the executive branch and the legislative

branch. he can not anything but vote in the affirmative. and sometimes when you have tie votes -- i remember my first experience with this back in 1990. we thought that al gore had broken a tie and we couldn't understand what had happened. he didn't vote because the vote failed and went in the direction that the clinton administration wanted. just because you are there, you don't have to vote. if you think -- say you wanted the nominee to fail or the bill to fail or whatever, you are there to break the tie only if you want it to go -- you can only vote in the affirmative. so i am looking at the clock here. they started at 8:57. that's the time they anticipated. i would think in the next five or ten minutes. it always amazes me how long it takes. and i can tell you the reason that it is taking time right now, the conversations that you are seeing on the floor, these are senators talking about what you said. do they want to stay here

tonight? do they want to come back on sunday or vote to break the fill buster and maybe come it back to do it on monday at a normal time. >> we will see. chad we appreciate your time tonight. thank you as always. so informative. we are going back to the host of special reporter, bret bair. a big win by donald trump in this vote. we have other people whose votes are coming up. people like rfk jr., tulsi gabbard and others. do you see problems with any of those votes? >> you know, i don't think so, sean. tulsi gabbard, there are questions, and we will see how the hearing goes. let's go back to pete and how big of a night this is. i covered the pentagon. i rarely correct our colleague chad, but he will be the 28th defence secretary because one

man did the job twice. >> that's a good point. >> the first defence secretary was james forestall. before that it was the secretary of war. in 1947, it became the secretary of defence. think about this job, sean. almost 3 million people work for the defence department. there are 30,000 inside the pentagon building, a building that i covered for years, that is about 19 and a half miles of corridor, and every which way there is all kinds of different levels of bureaucracy. now sometimes it works really well, especially in a war when everyone has to get on the same page quickly, but there is a lot of excess. there is a lot of fat to be cut, a lot of things to change. and pete has talked about that, and did in the confirmation hearing. it is a massive, massive job, though. and he is -- he is positioned to get the people around him to

make the changes that president trump really wants to make. >> you know, i talked about the gap of vulnerability that president trump is inheriting like when reagan inherited the same from jimmy carter. and the next generation of weaponry -- i believe future wars likely will not be fought on battle fields but they will be fought in air-conditioned offices. the president has a ambitious plan called an iron dome for the entire country and then recruitment has been an issue. dei has been a problem, and waste fraud and abuse has been a problem. there is a lot of big issues. the one thing that i would add is that pete is building a really good team around him. i know that his top lieutenant is going to be a guy by the name of steve fineberg. it is a multibillion dollar corporation. he is giving up the corporation

to serve his country and he is one of the brightest smartest business minds in the country. and i think he will be a great asset to pete when he takes this position. >> yeah, i agree with you. and i know people who know the inside of the pentagon in different areas. but there are going to be other business people that they are bringing in. the trump transition has been something to watch, sean. on the inside to talk to these folks, they know what they want. they know what they don't want, and we will see a different approach to get business people with experience in companies to go inside the government. not necessarily someone that has been in government before, not necessarily someone who has gone up the ranks in politics, at all. in fact, a lot of the folks are not that, and they are taking a different perspective to try to do this job differently. this is a big night. and if you think about -- the

jobs that matter when it comes to national security, defence secretary, cia director, john radcliffe, he is creating a national security cabinet that in crisis are the people that are going to be advising president trump in the closest -- in the national security zone. >> yeah. i think you will find it kind of funny. jd vance put a post on x, i thought i was done voting in the senate. obviously joking. bret, thank you for staying up late with us. we welcome in a panel of people. thank you for being with us. and steamboat institute, kaylee mcgee white. tutor dixon, let's start with you and get a reaction for tonight's vote. a big win for the president, and a big win for pete hegseth. your reaction? >> absolutely.

this is the beginning of the golden age that he has been talking about. and we can't deny the impact of watching this vote happen. this administration has made it clear that the next four years are going to be work, work, work, for the american people. and we are going to be bringing this country back. there is nothing better to bring this country back than a strong military. this is such an amazing day to see. we thought this was going to be a tough vote. we see that he is coming through this with flying colours. all his hard work paid off. and sean, i heard what you said when you called him and said, this is going to be different than you think it is. he was able to answer all of the questions. and i will never forget when senator rick scott said why do you want to do this, and you could see a real person there. that was the most important part. you could see a real person that paused and said, because i love my country, and i will always

put the war fighter first. and that is what he is doing. for the war fighter watching today, they know that this is someone who has their back. unlike what we have seen for the last four years. >> sean: along with the next generation of weaponry, i bet under pete hegseth he is so well liked among the military, i would expect and anticipate recruitment to go up dramatically. dei will be officially dead in the u.s. military. woke in the military will go away. the military will now focus on its mission and that is defending our country. and having the biggest, toughest, meanest most deadly defence force on the face of the earth >> i would expect all of that under him. >> pete hegseth has been in the military for a long time, and he

is decorated and has several combat tours, but he has thought about the military deeply. there is a bad recruiting issue for the united states military that will continue to get worse if we don't write this ship. he knows about fighting and he brought the fight to the senate. he showed up. he did the job. he answered the questions. he took fire. and he answered back. and he was prepared to do that. and i think his performance is what got him the job on that big stage when he -- when he demonstrated that he thought about this for a long time. i have known him since we were in our 20's. they are surpassing me, my pierre peers, but he was working for vets for freedom and i watched him rise up and doing all these things. the war fighters behind him that day when he was questioned in

the senate chambers, they are indication of the people that stand beside him. he has a different way of thinking than the brass of people that would take this job. it will lead to interesting thinking and new solutions to problems. >> sean: donald trump is speaking. let's listen in. >> president trump: very impor importantly. [ indiscernible ] >> sean: we don't have the audio of that. i don't know if he is responding to the vote. we are anticipating jd vance will make the final tie-breaking vote any moment now on the senate floor. kaylee mcgee white, your reaction to the events tonight. democrats fought hard. they did not want pete to get this position. a couple of republicans, not really many surprises, but it did come out the way that donald

trump wanted and that conservatives wanted for sure, people like me. >> absolutely. it was always the correct result. there was never a good reason to oppose the nomination. anonymous allegations are not a good reason to oppose it and neither is the argument that he lax the experience necessary to run the agency. and as someone whose brother serves in the military, i can tell you sean, the last thing that people want is more bureaucracy in the defence apartment. we have seen how it goes when we hand war over to four star morons that are more worried about hanging their portraits on the pentagon wall than the lives that hang in the balance. there are 13 united states families that lost their loved ones in the afghanistan withdrawal that can speak to that. and i thank god that my brother doesn't have another reason to worry that he is going to be next. because pete hegseth cares about them, and donald trump cares about them.

and they are going to do everything in their power to protect our men and women in the military. >> sean: let's get your take, joe. >> sean, the media coverage of pete hegseth has been disgusting. almost every allegation based on anonymous sources -- does that sound familiar, there is no evidence for it. politicians echo it and the narrative is established. but this time the public by and large didn't buy it. and enough republicans didn't buy it. and the only people who were on the record to defend pete against all those allegations in terms of his behaviour in the workplace and out were his fox news colleagues, both on and off camera who all said that everything reported from the likes of nbc and cnn and the new york times and others in the dying legacy media was all bs.

and it is a good thing that pete will be the defence secretary. not just for the military, clearing house, obviously concentrating on the fighting men and women being lethal, winning forces once again, he will be the soldiers secretary. if he fell short here, it would have rewarded that gutter journalism we witnessed over the past several weeks. this was a huge victory for president trump. what he wants is what he gets. it is why it feels so much different from 2017 and the start of the first term because it is different in terms of leadership in both of those chambers, right now everyone is in lock step with the trump agenda. >> sean: yeah. we are still awaiting vice president vance to cast the tie-breaking vote. and we are -- you know waiting for him. apparently the motorcade just pulled up. we thought he was in his office. at this hour, the former president joe biden would

usually be fast asleep as you can tell. donald trump is wide awake. it was another extremely busy day for the 47th president of the country and it is not over. he landed in california to tour the devastation from the wild fires in los angeles. this was his second trip of the day. early this morning he was in north carolina meeting with locals still struggling to recover from hurricane helen after four months of inaction and disorganization from the biden whitehouse. but we begin in southern california, where he was warmly greeted by the governor. the unity that joe biden promised four years ago, look at that. right there on the screen, it looks like it arrived in california. take a look. >> most importantly, thank you for being here. it means a great deal to all of us, not just the folks in

palisades and altadena. you were there for us during covid19. i don't forget that. and i have all the expectations that we will be able to work together to get this speedy recovery. >> sean: by the way, gavin has said that about president trump and covid19, and as promised, trump will work with anyone to help his fellow americans with people in need, there no democrat or republican at the same time. government incompetence at the state level, local level and anywhere, the federal level with fima, it has to be addressed. entire neighbourhoods go up in flames, thousands of people lost everything in part because of the firefighting budget being cut. fire hydrants had no water. reservoirs were empty. and because of crazy california environmental extremists, they valued the endangered shrub that we have been showing you. and of course, access to water which should be sent from northern california to southern

california. and now la residents are blocked from rebuilding, gavin nusome says he will take away the restrictions. local officials attempt to assess the safety situation of possible hazardous materials left behind by the fire. and donald trump called out la mayor, karen bass to her face. take a look. >> president trump: you have emergency powers just like i do. and i am exercising my emergency powers. you have to exercise them also. >> i did exercise them. >> president trump: i looked. you have a very powerful emergency power and you can do everything within 24 hours. >> yes. if individuals want to clear out their property, they can. >> president trump: everyone standing in front of their house, they want to go to work and they can't do it. >> we want people to be safe. >> president trump: a week is a long time. they are safe. they are not safe now. they are going to be much safer -- a week is actually a long time the way i look at it.

i watched -- >> sean: let's go to jd vance. he is now on the senate floor to cast a vote for pete heg seth. >> the yays are 50, and the nays are 50. the vice president votes in the affirmative and the nomination is confirmed. [ applause ]. >> sean: it is now official. pete hegseth is the new defence secretary with jd vance the vice president casting the deciding vote. anyway, we have a lot more on that. the state of california, though, they are still dealing with terrible, terrible -- you know, everything that is wrong possibly wrong with california and some of the management. anyway, here tonight, legendary actor and director, mel gibson is back with a gripping new thriller. i have liked every movie that he

has ever made. at the top of the list, the passion of the christ. it is called "flight risk." sir, how are you? great to see you. >> good, sean, how are you doing. >> sean: i am good. first of all, i am really sorry for you and all the people in california, all that you have had to live through. also congratulations on your appointment by president trump. >> yeah, you come with nothing, you go with nothing. everything in between is a bumpy adventure. i am living in gratitude. i found out i was some kind of an ambassador at the same time that you did. on a tweet, i was surprised, but i am ready, willing and able to be of service in any way that i can. >> sean: you sly and john voit. i don't love a lot of people in hollywood, but you are three of my favourite people out there, and three of the best in the industry. so i thought it was funny when i

read you did not get a phone call about it, you just heard about it. i read it -- i think it was the hollywood reporter. >> yeah. well i think trump shoots from the hip, you know. but hey, i am here to be of service. you know. >> sean: yeah, good for you. and i know sly feels the same way. and john feels the same way as well. and i think the three of you can actually help the film industry, it has been hurting in so many different ways because of rules and regulations and high taxes like so many other liberal democratic states. how bad has it been? you have been living through these wild fires. you read about hydrants have don't have water, cutting fire fighters' budgets, reservoirs that are empty. it has to be frustrating. >> there are those that say, they might have done it on purpose, i won't go that far --

but if they didn't do it on purpose, they facilitated it. and my heart goes out to all the other residents. you meet people all the time who have lost their homes and you talk and commiserate and everyone is putting on a brave face. they are a good bunch out here. i am glad trump is here at the moment. it is like daddy arrived and he is taking his belt off. so you know -- i think he will get results here quickly. and you know, as far as being an ambassador goes, i think, you know, looking at tax incentives, i know that there were some tax incentives, but maybe not enough, because it is still not working. and there are things that off-set that. i had to shoot a film for one day in la, and it was cheaper for me to take the whole crew and fly them to europe and shoot for three days, lodge them, fly them, everything, than it was to shoot one day just down the

road. there is something wrong there. and i think there are solutions. and we will try to level the playing field. years ago, he couldn't do it because, you know, there were obstacles. he tried, though. >> sean: yeah. i look at this, and i mean, it was kind of a big deal, at least in my world. i am nowhere at the level that you are in terms of celebrity. but when i left new york i was kind of shocked that there was so much news about it. i made a big statement. i said i am sick of the crime, and horrible schools, and high taxes and burdensome regulation, and woke everything. and i am sick of the violence. and i made a decision. i cut the cord. i cut it hard, and i have no intention to go back. but you stay in california. why?

a lot of people have left, and i don't blame them. and they leave for the same reasons that you have just mentioned. it didn't suit them any more. even people who were liberal, it didn't suit them any more. but if everybody leaves, what is going to happen? >> sean: well i can tell you what is happening -- you know what andrew said in new york, he said tax the rich, tax the rich. we did! got forbid the rich leave. and you know what is happening, where i am in south florida, they keep talking about wall street south. all of these big equity, private equity firms and banks, they are all moving at least half their offices down here. it is helping the state of florida, the free state of florida. and it is increasing the amount of money that they have for infrastructure, the amount of money that they have to help people. you don't have the problems that you are plagued with in big cities like la, san francisco,

new york and chicago. it kind of makes sense. as now an ambassador for hollywood, what is your message to the mayor? >> um, it is -- you know, keep the kids on the farm. you know, and be competitive with the rest of the world. i mean, we are just going -- like what you said with wall street and everything else, you were going somewhere else because it was more cost effective. there are a lot of prohibitive regulations that could be lifted. but i will talk with the guys about that later and get more specific. and i have to educate myself on that more too. but i think it can be fixed. >> sean: tell me -- go ahead. >> why not? >> sean: tell me about flight risk, and my understanding is you have, in the works, maybe a sequel to the passion of the

christ. which i am very interested in, if that happens. >> flight risk is -- hey, it is fast and it is fun. it is entertainment. and people have been going to see it and texting me and saying they are digging it, so hey, i am happy. it is like anything. if you are a chef and you share a meal with people you are glad they dug it. so that's cool. as far as the resurection goes, that's in the works. and i hope to get the wheels grinding on that sometime this year. >> sean: that would be great. i will quote you from brave heart, we have got to try. we have to try. what if we been doing this three years? [ laughter ]. >> sean: i watch your films a lot. >> a lot of films. >> sean: yeah, i do. mel gibson, we appreciate your time. thank you for being with us. check out "flight risk" in

theatres now around the country. back to our own chat program. pete hegseth, we watched the vice president cast the tie-breaking vote. he will be the new secretary of defence. my understanding is that they are now debating and a culture vote will begin as it relates to christi nome. what is the status on the house floor as we speak? >> they started the vote to break the filibuster. she probably has bipartisan support if they go to the vote tonight. we don't know. if they don't agree to go to the vote, they could vote to confirm her on sunday morning. there is a lot of rattling about sticking around here all weekend. mitch mcconnell was one of the three republicans that voted no that said, desire to be a change agent is not enough, and he failed to demonstrate that he will pass this test of global leadership.

now something that i should point out about mitch mcconnell. he is no longer the leader. he stepped down of his own accord here. he is the chairman of the defence, appropriations subcommittee. that controls more than half of what we call discretionary spending that congress allocates each year. more than 50% of that, and somewhere far north of that goes to the pentagon. so that's going to be an interesting relationship between mitch mcconnell chairing that subcommittee, controlling the purse strings and dealing with pete hegseth across the river at the pentagon, sean. >> sean: i wouldn't expect that many problems. hopefully they would eliminate waste and fraud and abuse. hopefully they would agree to build the next generation of weaponry. hopefully --

>> what about ukraine? that's going to be an issue. and mitch mcconnell pushed that issue. >> sean: they might have a problem there. but there is one commander and chief and that would be donald j trump that's not mitch mcconnell. >> that's right. but again, that's where you get into this spending here, in terms of -- you talk about the overall size of the pentagon budget and how massive it is. they have to look at doing cutting if they are going >> appreciate it, chad, con grat lathss to pete hegseth, ore fist secretary of defence. that's all we have left tonight, please set your dvp so you never miss an episode. foxnews/hannitg. greg gutfeld is next. ken will recap the breaking news at 11. have a great weekend. [cheering and applause] [♪♪