♪ ♪ good day to all of you, from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome to "alex whit reports." nbc news has confirmed president biden will now allow ukraine to strike inside russia with long-range u.s. missiles.

this marks a significant policy shift, after the biden administration condemns the deployment of north korean troops to russia. we'll have more on that for you. 64 days until inauguration, new and vigorous debate today over president-elect trump's most controversial administration picks, including his latest for secretary of energy. oil and gas industry executive chris wright, a climate crisis denier. in a post last year, he said, there is no climate crisis, and we're not in the midst of an energy transition. a sentiment and choice already being criticized by environmental groups. four more trumps continue to draw criticism from democrats who pan them as unqualified. >> a republican senator, who takes a vote to consent to the appointment of matt gaetz, a

performtive, social media, no respect for the rule of law individual, a republican senator who votes to confirm matt gaetz or robert kennedy or tulsi gabbard will be remembered as somebody who completely gave up their responsibility to donald trump. >> but house speaker mike johnson says, disruption is the idea behind trump's picks so far. >> this is what i'll say about the nominees that the president has put forward, is that they are persons who will shake up the status quo. and i think what the american people have believed an what they have delivered with the mandate in this election is demand that we shake up the status quo. it's not working for the american people. we have breaking news from overseas. joe biden is making history today in brazil as the first sitting u.s. president to tour the amazon rainforest. it comes a day after the president met in blue with chinese president xi jinping, their last meeting before biden leaves office. we have a number of reporters

covering all of this for you. ali joins us now from west palm beach. we're learning the trump transition team is compiling this list of military officers who were involved in the u.s. troop withdrawal from afghanistan. for what reason? what are they looking to accomplish? >> reporter: yeah, alex, our colleagues at the pentagon have exclusive, new reporting that the trump transition team is compiling this list of current and former u.s. military personnel involved in the 2021 withdrawal from afghanistan, and they're considering creating a commission to investigate it, according to sources familiar with those plans. this news coming after a 2022 independent review of that withdrawal found that both the trump and biden administrations were responsible for that botched withdrawal. nbc also learning the trump team is exploring whether these military officials being compiled could be tried for

crimes in a military court. we reached out to the trump team for comment on this. we haven't heard back yet, but you'll remember the president-elect has repeatedly condemned that withdrawal, and said that the 2021 kabul airport suicide bombing, he called it the most embarrassing day in the history of our country. that bombing left 13 u.s. service members and 170 afghan civilians dead. one of the reactions is coming from congresswoman alyssa slotkin who was a former pentagon official and cia officer, and she's reacting to this. listen here. >> i think they've been very clear that they're putting together some sort of panel that's going to look at generals, people who have served their nation their entire lives, over multiple administrations, democrat and republican, in combat. they're now openly talking about dismissing them like some sort of kangaroo court. you can imagine the stress in

the pentagon about that. but also on the future of who we are as a military, right? our military and the role of the military is in the constitution for a reason, and i think we're really at risk of politicizing the military in a way that we can't put the genie back in the bottle. >> reporter: she also condemned trump's pick of pete hegseth to serve as defense secretary, hegseth saying in the past that women should not serve in combat roles, and he's called for the firing of military officials who support diversity efforts in the military. >> thank you so much, appreciate that. for more, joining me right now is former republican congressman denver riddleman. i'm going to get to that, but first, i want to ask you about the breaking news regarding the biden administration allowing ukraine now to use long-range u.s. missiles to strike into russia. what is your reaction to that? >> well done. i was just in ukraine, i got back last month, alex. i probably should have told you,

you know, some other time. but i was just in ukraine, and i think this is a fantastic opportunity and a fantastic decision to project power against russia. i think it's a fantastic decision. it's hard to go into all the variables in that decision making, but in the last two months before donald trump is inaugurated, i think it's this time right now that we need to make sure that russia understands what that pushback is, as they're trying to make way and take more territory in ukraine. >> okay. well, so you were in ukraine. give me a sense of what the feeling is about the war right now, and where it stands, how badly do ukrainians want it to end? how do they want it to end? when do they want it to end? i mean, what are the circumstances around all of that? >> sure. and alex, i had the good fortune to meet so many individuals, and some that were directly involved in combat. i got to look at specific types of drones and look at the intelligence that was being pushed from the frontlines. i was very fortunate to see it and i understand it as a

military officer. as a mission planner, i was in intelligence. i saw this incredible resolve. they don't want the war to end unless russia is pushed all the way out of their territories. but that was the fear expressed, if donald trump won, what does that do for their ability to push back against russia? so those are some of the things i got to see. i got to see some of the ways that they were tracking russian militaries a sets. i think the u.s. could learn from them, and i was think that we would want a bigger presence there as far as advisers and learning from the ukrainian armed forces and how they're attacking russian assets. >> can this be a game changer, can ukraine win with the use of u.s. long-range missiles? >> that's a great question. i think in two months, it will be very difficult to win. i do think it gives them some time and space for better negotiations when trump comes into power. but we don't know what donald trump is going to do. he has stated he is going to end

the war as quickly as possible, which doesn't bode well for ukraine, and that does suggest a brokered peace on territory already taken, which is a massive fear of the ukrainians. what we need to do right now is deplete as much of the russian military assets as we can over the next twmonths. that could give the ukrainians a leg up on negotiations going forward. that's the way volodymyr zelenskyy said he would like to see the war end, it was have to be done diplomatically. he believes under the upcoming administration it might be done more quickly based on a phone call he had with donald trump this week. how do you see it ending? would it be diplomatically? >> you know, alex, there are so many variables. i know we're going to talk about the picks in the trump administration and the lack of competence i see coming in. but what i do think that zelenskyy is going to be faced with, i think what donald trump is going to be faced with a territorial issue and how much territory he's willing to give

up. that's the fear they have. there could be a brokered peace quickly, but it comes down to what is zelenskyy going to accept as far as territory or that all of ukraine needs to be returned for peace. that will take a lot of talent in the foreign policy space and also in the military space to make sure that we have an agreement that the u.s. can live with, because we do -- we are a member of nato. there are issues and cascading effects, based on what russia is able to acquire in ukraine. >> i do want to talk about those picks, but i want to first ask you about the nbc news reporting about the trump transition team exploring possible court-martial for current and former military officers involved in the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. again, as a former air force officer, and you described your role there, what sort of charges could these current and former members of the military actually be charged with? not just threatened, but actually be charged with, as they were following the orders of the president to withdraw

forces. >> yeah, it's interesting. my first is going to be dereliction of duty that's what he is going to go after. that's an all-encompassing charge. my guess is they will be offered nonjudicial punishment, which every general and officer will turn down and demand a court-martial. what people don't understand is there was a cascading effect here that donald trump does go after military officers, they're going to bow up. heck, you know, if you come after me, i'm going to demand a court-martial and that it be televised. i want it as public as possible. i want people to see when you politicize the military and you have an individual who has gone absolutely rogue against people who seven this country. so i think what they need to be worried about, there's a lot of military officers and a lot of enlisted folks out. there i was both, i was a mustang, enlisted and then an officer, who is going to push back. even if they were a supporter of trump, i think you'll have

military people say enough of this nonsense. so they have to thread carefully. but there will be tens of thousands of military officers that rise up in support of any general or any senior ranking officer that is tried in any way in any tribunal. >> so you're saying you could conceive of dereliction of duty because it's broad based. if someone in lode be deserving of that charge being brought against them? >> it would be very difficult. you're talking about something -- if they're following orders from the commander in chief, you're going to have to prove that what they did was outside in their orders or in such dereliction that they caused life or death or things oh of that nature in a very difficult situation. that's the thing about the military, you have to make those decisions in real time. that's the thing that i fear the most, alex, is that we're going to have people that are stooges of the incoming government that's going after military officers who had to make very difficult decisions. if you haven't served in the military, if you don't know the stress or pressure or the fact

that you have to make life or death decisions in an instant, you might have individuals that want to bring these charges and you'll have a jury of their peers actually doing this. but again, it comes down to who are those peers? who will be selected? i can't imagine there's any ethical officer that would sit on a court-martial and judge, based on these circumstances at this time. you know, my guess is, is mike flynn going to be court-martialed? that's the one i would like to see. are we going to go after mike flynn and the officers that had russian collusion and felonies that were pardoned? let's see how they do, let's see if they're equal in that type of justice. i doubt they're going to be. this is absolutely a military officer witch hunt. >> thank you very much. i'm sorry we can't get to trump's cabinet picks, which means i'll have to see you again soon. let's go now to nbc's julie, where lawmakers, democrats and republicans alike, are calling for the ethics report on matt

gaetz to be released. tell us what we've been hearing today on the choice of gaetz for attorney general. >> reporter: well, certainly house speaker mike johnson reiterated his opposition to that report coming out of the house ethics committee, we he called a draft that is not yet ready to be released, regardless. he cites precedence and tradition and the two cases that the house ethics committee had previously released reports on former members of congress as breaches, not as precedent. so you can see where he's going with this to block that report. he took it a step further, however, saying it will not be useful to senators who will be analyzing the nomination and appointment of matt gate toz serve atop an agency that once investigated him for sex trafficking allegations. however, we keep hearing republicans, democrats, house and senate alike, they want to see the report. here is what hakeem jefferies, the top democrat in the house, and mark wayne mullen, a republican in the senate, have to say about this.

>> i believe the senate should have access to that. now, should it be released to the public or not? that's -- i guess that will be part of the negotiations. that should be part of our decision. >> of course it should be released, and that's not just democrats saying that. you have repeatedly seen senate republicans make clear who are on the senate judiciary committee or throughout that chamber, say that they want access to all available information so they can make a decision about whether the nominee for attorney general is qualified to serve in that office. >> reporter: now, the chair of the house ethics committee vowed to postpone that meeting that they were going to have on friday, when they were going to decide whether to release this report or not. gaetz had resigned from congress shortly after trump tapped him to lead this agency. but to the point jefferies was making there, senators are going to have to go on record, voting whether to confirm any of trump's nominees in january

after the inauguration. when it comes to matt gaetz, they don't want any of these allegations swirling out there and then having to vote somebody and them not knowing some of the facts. >> julie, thank you, my friend. meantime, it's nicknamed the lungs of the planet, and something historic happened in the skies just a short time ago. we're going to show you. back in 90 seconds. back in 90 seconds and stripping your skin. i use new olay cleansing melts every day. just soak, activate and wash. to clean, tone and refresh. that's a 3x better clean. olay.

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president biden touring the amazon rainforest just a short while ago in brazil. the president is about to head to rio de janeiro now for the g20 summit, it is part of likely one of his last overseas trips as president. and we're following another breaking story. nbc news confirms joe biden has authorized ukraine to strike russia with long-range missiles supplied by the u.s. let's go right to kelly o'donnell who is traveling with the president. so kelly joins me now. kelly, welcome. what's the significant of the president allowing ukraine to use these long-range missiles and now? >> reporter: well, from the beginning of the u.s. involvement supporting ukraine, defending itself against russia's invasion of its country, joe biden has tried to contain the risk of spillover, of a wider war. and so he has allowed u.s. weapons to be used for defensive purposes inside ukraine.

this is a shift in policy, with attack drones, which are limited in availability for the u.s., and would give ukrainian forces the ability to strike within russia. what has changed? well, we know that russia has been working with north korea, having some of its elite military service members who are in the region to try to support russia in its war against ukraine, and certainly there is a tension about how russia has been able to regain more territory, and it's been a very significant period of fighting. so this kind of a shift, and i want to make the distinction that our reporting does indicate that this authorization has taken place, but it's not the same as the white house or the pentagon saying so publicly. that's where all the operational security issues, sensitive military operations. given this additional tool to ukraine, the ability to strike within russia for its own

defensive purposes, not just in its own country, is a key shift. of course, we know the president has limited time left in office, and incoming president-elect trump has some different views about supporting ukraine and wants to see that war wound down quickly. clearly, he has greater affinity with president putin. so this is a significant shift, and sit it is in response to sof the changes on the ground with the help of nofrt rth korea aid russia. >> let me ask you quickly about the president, who spoke a short time ago before heading to rio de janeiro. talk about what he said. >> reporter: what is so significant is the g20 is an opportunity to talk about some of the big issues that really fkt affect the planet and all of us who call this round ball in the atmosphere home. and the president is trying to say some of the investments made in places like the brazilian rainforest and work to continue on climate issues and clean

emergency are important. and some of those resources are in place and could stay in effect, even when he leaves office. here's part of what the president said nodding to the change that's coming. >> it's no secret, i'm leaving office in january. i will have my -- i will leave my successor and my country in a strong foundation to build on, if they choose to do so. it's true, some may seek to deny or delay the clean energy revolution that's underway in america. but nobody, nobody can reverse it. nobody. >> reporter: that's one of the more overt times we've heard the president talking about the significant policy differences with his administration and what we know about donald trump and his views on climate change. so he's playing down the marker that these resources and policies are in place, and it's

up to the next administration to see how they endure. alex? >> we'll be watching. kelly o., thank you so much. new worries about revenge, prosecutions at the doj. that's next. prosecutions at the doj. that's next. my copd i noticed things changed. breztri gave me better breathing starting within 5 minutes. it also reduced flare-ups. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ask your doctor about breztri.

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now to new fears of revenge prosecutions and the fallout from donald trump's push to hire matt gaetz as attorney general. nbc news reports officials at the department of justice and fbi are reaching out to lawyers

and bracing for potentially long and costly legal battles. and if confirmed, gaetz would oversee the future of cases against january 6th rioters after publicly backing them and spreading conspiracy theorys. joining me now, joyce vance, former u.s. attorney, now law professor at the university of alabama, msnbc legal analyst and host of "the sisters and law" podcast, and ryan riley, author of "sedition hunters, how january 6th broke the justice system." as i welcome you both, joyce, even if everyone at doj is not on board with these so-called revenge prosecutions, can an attorney general gaetz still make it happen? >> so attorney generals can set priorities, and the top tier of doj appointees, those would be folks that donald trump has selected, the problem is that to

do a prosecution, you need line prosecutors. people who know how to get into the courtroom and do a case. and even if you can find folks like that who are willing to abandon principle, you still have to convince a grand jury to indict, a trial jury to convict, a judge to go along with it. so alex, much like what we have seen in the area of these threatened military prosecutions last night over afghanistan, again, this is less a goal of engaging in legitimate prosecutions and more an effort to threaten people to force them into alignment with donald trump to demand their allegiance and their bedience in advance. we should identify it for what it is. this is not any form of legitimate investigation or prosecution. >> hang on, would there be a problem from the very get-go? because can they even be prosecuted based on the supreme court ruling that the president, right, the president enjoys immunity for official acts. does it stand to reason then

that immunity would extend to all federal officers making official decisions in various government agencies at the direction of the president? >> so, look, there's no derivative immunity that's yet been established based on the presidential immunity decision. some people suspect that may be coming, that people will say because i was speaking with the president about official government business, i too am entitled to immunity. we haven't seen that yet, and you know, it would -- we don't want to get ahead of ourselves and see consequences that would impact other conduct. we want prosecutors to live up to the justice department's ethical standards, to follow the rule of law, to obey their oath to the constitution, and not to rely on this sort of off-brand immunity. >> point well taken there. so ryan, when it comes to the january 6th rioters, what are your sources anticipating for those whose cases are still pending? >> you know, what's so

interesting is in some ways a lot of the january 6th supporters in that community are on the same page as doj about what matt gaetz would mean for the justice department. you know, i had one wife of the first january 6th defender go to trial describe him as a wrecking ball. she meant that in a good way, whereas doj employees i don't think are on the same page with that being good. so they are shared in this idea that matt gaetz would be a really disruptive force if we were to be confirmed. but certainly, if you're looking at these next 60 plus days, how we -- how long we have until president trump is inaugurated, what the online sleuths are trying to do is get as many of these assault on law enforcement cases over the line and pushing the fbi to do as many of those as they can. because right now, if you went to the fbi's website and looked at their capital violence page, you would see more than 70 people who have been pictured on that site identified, whose

names are in the hands of the fbi. so if you are worried about what this could mean for the future going forward, they wanted to get as many of those arrested as they can before that. because that at least creates a record of what these folks did, regardless of whether or not donald trump decides to pardon them or dismiss these cases or -- >> on the pardons, after trump promised to issue blanket pardons to rioters, a campaign spokesperson told you president trump will make pardon decisions on a case by case basis. what's going on there? >> yeah, i was surprised that they stuck with that language, because we're post election. in april, they said the same thing, but remember, that's his campaign team, the transition team now. that's not donald trump himself. and so there's often a divide between what, you know, sort of they're trying to do and what donald trump decides to do. so that is still, i think, a very much sort of thing up in

the air about whether or not they're going to do these blanket pardons or not. >> cnn reports trump's transition team is skipping fbi checks for some of his administration picks, adding they believe the fbi system is slow and the intrusive background checks turn up embarrassing information used to inflict political information. why is this problematic, and how many do you think might have difficulty getting security clearances? >> right. so i think that's the point, alex. the fear that these background investigations could turn up let's say embarrassing, i might say disqualifying information. we've already seen that trump's team has not done a great job of vetting some of their candidates. the nominee for defense, it has already come to light that he had paid a woman who alleged that he sexually assaulted her. he denies that and said that he paid her a nuisance settlement, but apparently that wasn't known

by trump before he was nominated. so that suggests, i think, a very sloppy process for these important level positions. there's only one reason that you back away from this normal background security clearance procedure, and that's because you think your nominees can't clear the hurdle. and to the extent that some clearances take a longer time, that can be the case when people have problematic backgrounds, when they're born overseas. but let me tell you something, when the administration has a nominee who they want to get in office, they're able to get the fbi to turn that around incredibly quickly. so it's nonsense to say that's the reason it's not being done. >> okay. always good to talk to you both. thank you, guys. the way forward for democrats after a tough two weeks. fresh insight, next. eks. fresh insight, next. wow - where has this been my entire life? having to clean with multiple products is a hassle. trying to figure out okay - what am i going to use on the shower, what am i going to use on the bathtub? i don't have to think about that. with magic eraser...

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new advice today from democrats, as they face an upcoming trump term with a republican majority trifecta. the battle now beginning over how to mount a resistance and how to pick their battles. >> if we're having melt downs, you know, every tweet or every appointment and all those things, it's going to be four years. >> we have to push really hard. i've been encouraging my democratic colleagues to not retreat at this moment. i know it's hard and we need to pick up our boots here. but we've got to fight back every single day and not allow him to get away with damaging our institutions permanently.

>> joining me now, molly john-fast, host of the fast politics podcast. i'm curious your reaction to that. do democrats need to be strategic in their outrage, and how do you balance fighting back with not wearing people out? >> yeah, i think that's a really important point. i was actually really heartened to see representative garcia say that. look, that's i think exactly right. there are going to be esthetic problems with trumpism. that is a distraction, right? like, the things like him saying vulgar language or something that one might not necessarily agree with. but that isn't damaging the structural integrity of democracy. so i do think it's absolutely true. look, i agree too that like this transition is going, some picks are much, much, much more radical than others, right? some are more, like a marco

rubio is much more in the vein of what we have seen in previous republican administrations. so i do agree that if you're -- you really don't stand a chance. >> you opened the door it to, so let's talk about these cabinet picks. robert f. kennedy, jr., leading the depth of health and human services. that's one of the selections that's raised the most alarm. he's suggesting cutting entire departments and spreads vaccine conspiracy theorys. and former hhs secretary kathleen sebelius acted to his selection. >> this is life or death. the hhs affects people from birth to their grave, and is intimately connected with every state in the country. so this could be very dangerous. i think it's totally disqualifying for anyone who seeks to lead the major health agency in this country, and one of the leaders in the world, to

just unequivocally say there is no safe and effective vaccine. that in and of itself from the bully pulpit of hhs could end up killing people. >> this is life or death. could end up killing people. is this the kind of language that has to now be used, very stark terms about the risks of some of these potential nominations? >> yeah. i mean, i think like robert f. kennedy, jr., is not a doctor, he's a lawyer. like, marco rubio is a senator. he's been in -- >> foreign relations. >> yeah, right. foreign relations, he has some -- you may not agree with him totally, but he's a very reasonable choice. this person is not a doctor, usually the head of this agency is a doctor or someone who has been to medical school. i also think that fundamentally, he's one of these picks where, and again, you saw this in project 2025. the general goal here is to deconstruct the federal government and not -- you know,

so someone like this leading a department about health and human services, that is -- it's very much a contradiction. and i think that is sort of the feature and not above this idea. i don't know. look, it's going to be -- the larger question is going to be if trump is able to do recess appointments, that's going to give him power that he wouldn't otherwise have. if rfk has to sit through a senate hearing, it's hard for me to imagine. there are a lot of senators who really are in the senate because they believe their job is important, right? and that the federal government can do good for people. and so i'm not sure those people, no matter what party, really want to see an end to the federal government helping people. >> look, we've talked during the campaign about how a second trump presidency will be more efficient and successful in implementing extreme policies. what do the cabinet picks tell

you so far about that? >> it's interesting, because some are not so extreme, some are very extreme. look, the -- you know, there was -- in project 2025, with all of these conservative think tanks, there was a sort of goal, which was to dismantle the administrative state. they even say that. not that it's people who believe in, you know, federal government as a force for good, they find that to be pretty disconcerting. but that is the goal here. so some of these nominees don't necessarily seem focused on dismantling the administrative state, and some seem very focused on that. so like a doug burgum is not a huge departure in my mind from a normal kind -- he was a governor -- he's the governor of a red state, you know, so it's just very trumpy to have a sort of mix of people who seem very focused on taking apart the

federal government, and who seem very, you know, normal and traditional. >> okay. we'll see what comes. molly, thank you. "saturday night live's" take on the donald trump cabinet picks, stick around for that. it's next. round for that it's next. health care is being stolen from us. i can't believe this is the world we live in, where we're losing the freedom to control our own bodies. we need your support now more than ever. go online, call, or scan this code, with your $19 monthly gift. and we'll send you this "care. no matter what" t-shirt. it is your right to have safe health care. that's it. go online, call, or scan right now.

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it's all about surrounding yourself with the best people, and i am very fastly picking the

most epic cabinet of all time. >> we, we've got elon and matt gaetz, that's an alien versus predator. we have kristi noem and rfk, jr., they're killing the dogs and bears. >> you're picking a bunch of whacko jackos. >> that's what i'm doing, all part of a very smart plan that i definitely thought of before you just said that. [ no audio ] >> -- president-elect's cabinet picks so far. joining us right now, we have senior executive editor for bloomberg, tim o'brian. i hope i'm able to hear you. i played a little "snl" clip, because my audio went out. i don't think i heard you. will you give me a quick hello, tim. >> hi, alex. >> i'm not hearing you, which is

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okay. back with me now, worth the what, we have bloomberg opinion senior executive editor tim o'brian. as i was watching "snl" last night, which i was crying laughing, it did remind me of your latest article, and the title is "trump is casting a superhero movie with b-list

actors." i chuckled at that one. it is one thing to pick people to shake up departments, but some have no experience at all in those roles. tell us what trump is thinking. >> he doesn't care, alex, if they have no managerial experience. remember, donald trump was never a great corporate manager or bureaucratic manager himself. what he wants is loyalty. he wants people, as he says, looks the part. he's always thought of himself cinematically. he wanted to be a movie director. you can't understand how he operates without knowing these very focused in on and engaged with symbolism and all of the propagandaic kind of associations he can go with that. so he's picking these people to, i think, essentially bloez these agencies up from the inside. look like marvel superheroes, and be utterly loyal to him. not all of them fit all of those

boxes other than the loyalty and blow up the agency box, but that's his goal. right now, i think the health and human services department appointment with bobby kennedy, jr., is so troubling, because it's going to have a direct impact on public health. but trump is trying to appease his anti-vax base with that appointment. of course, all of the law enforcement appointments, beyond just matt gaetz, he's, he's appointing his former personal attorneys who defended him in a variety of cases to essentially oversee law enforcement. i think their goal is to memory hole a lot of the prosecutions. >> a.g. positions, solicitor general position. to your point. but trump has said senate gop leadership should be willing to send everyone home so that recess appointments can be made. would senate majority leader john thune go along with this, but does he proceed to the confirmation hearings? >> you know, i think we have hope that john thune will

protect the institutional and constitutional prerogatives of the senate. there's a lot of pressure obviously for rick scott to get that job, because he was a true loyalist. the senate resisted. john thune got the role, and i think that they have signaled in their responses to some of trump's appointments already that they see the confirmation process as vital to ensuring the government is cleanly run, and so they have to stand up a lot of this is really on traditional conservative republicans in the senate to stand up for the constitution, and the role they play is -- the role they play to advise and consent the president, which is chen rur en old and very important. >> "the washington post" reported that there were more no votes on his cabinet nominations than any president in history. if we get to hearings, are we going to see a repeat, tim? >> i have to think yes, alex. certainly on -- i think marco rubio will go through.

i think he's -- there will be no problem for him. but i can't see the senate confirming bobby kennedy, matt gaetz, kristi noem or tulsi gabbard. i just think those are people without the experience to play the proper role running the agencies they're nominated to run. >> do you want to give me a pick among them or somebody else that you think will be the first to drop out or get pushed out? >> i'll put it if we're going to have a friendly bet, i'll bet on matt gaetz to be the first to go. >> i'm not going to bet against you, that's the thing. all right. >> at least we can hear each other now. >> that's right. thankfully. i appreciate that. love hearing you always, tim. thank you. everyone, we have to go to this breaking news. there is a brush fire burning along the new york/new jersey border. it's jumped the containment linened prompting evacuations. let's go to our reporter in new

jersey. talk about the conditions, what they're like and what firefighters are telling you, george. >> reporter: the good news is that fire is back to being mostly contained. it did jump the containment lines because of the winds. it did spark some evacuations. most choosing to wait it out to make sure this doesn't happen again. the fire did jump the contingency line, the last line of defense that. is the very good news. you might see it in some of the pictures there. still very smoky from some of these back burns to make sure this fire does not spread yet again. officials again, just making sure they do everything. we were here earlier when they were doing more water drops, very cool images from the lake as they scoop that water and dump it all over that mountainous terrain. todd a somber day. there was the wake from that young firefighter from new york who died last week while battling the jennings creek wildfire. a very heavy heart for a lot of the crews working around the clock, many of them just tired

from all of these wildfires because of the drought we have been experiencing here. again, some of these officials talking about some of the conditions. we spoke to some of the evacuees. take a listen to what they told me. >> the wind turned and it started coming down this hill toward us. it was about halfway down when they said you have to go. >> we want to stay as long as we can. those are our houses. you want to do as much as you can to save it. but of course, you have to put your faith into the professionals. but you still want to be there as close as you can and participate in the saving of your home. can and participate in the saving of your home. >> i think everyone can relate to that. they are watching carefully. alex, good news in all of this. >> totally. >> looking at the forecast. >> rain. rain! possibly a quarter of an inch to a an inch. i am out of time. that will do it for me. we will be back next saturday and sunday prime weekend is next. saturday an