florida's agriculture commissioner, which desantis has been pushing back on, saying that that would be essentially the fox guarding the hen house. we know the florida democrats have had a field day with this. jose. the florida dems chair, nikki fried, pointing to the question. >> we just got. >> she just got reelected absolutely. >> by the party, the state party. >> pointing to the questions of why would you have florida's agriculture commissioner in charge of the immigration oversight? >> so it's great seeing you always. thanks so much. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can always reach me on social media at jd balart, and you can watch clips from our show at youtube, at msnbc.com/jdb. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrew mitchell picks up with more news right now. >> and right. >> now on. >> andrea mitchell reports. >> president trump. >> taking steps. >> to. >> radically restructure. >> the federal. >> government overnight, freezing. >> dozens of congressionally approved. >> federal aid programs. >> potentially in violation.

>> of limits. >> on presidential powers. >> plus. the latest wave of arrests in the immigration crackdown spreading to new york. >> city. today. >> nbc news reporting exclusively that. half of those. arrested the. >> day. >> before did. not have criminal. >> backgrounds and. >> a shakeup at the justice. >> department with the firing of lawyers. >> who prosecuted the president. also, the flurry of the president's orders reshaping the pentagon, reversing policies on die programs and transgender troops. we'll talk with congresswoman sarah mcbride about that and a lot more. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. one full week into the new trump administration. and the president says he is moving at historic speed to reshape the federal government. and it certainly feels that way. challenges are being raised over a controversial funding freeze on federal financial assistance already approved by congress.

the omb memo suggests it is to the tune of potentially $3 trillion, but they don't cite specifics yet lacks key details on which programs will be impacted, possibly including snap benefits. senate democratic leader chuck schumer says the president plunged the country into chaos with a dagger to the heart of americans. >> this decision is lawless, dangerous, destructive, cruel. it's illegal. it's unconstitutional, plain and simple. this is project 2025. >> and this morning, new york city was hit with shock and awe. ice arrests. homeland security secretary kristi noem was on hand herself for the operations that have been picking up unauthorized immigrants, regardless of their criminal standing. only half of sunday's record setting 1200 arrests were considered criminal arrests. an administration official tells

nbc news that just eight were considered the worst criminals arrested. the stated targets of the operation. that means that more than 560 people were detained only because they lacked legal authorization. president trump last night announcing he also wants to kick repeat criminals who are legal residents out of the country. >> i don't want these violent repeat offenders in our country anymore than i want illegal aliens from other countries who misbehaved. we're going to get approval, hopefully to get them the hell out of our country, let them be brought out of our country and let them live there for a while. let's see how they like it. >> at the justice department, president trump fired the team of career federal attorneys who prosecuted him under special counsel jack smith. doj insiders say that the move is meant to deter future investigations. washington, d. c. s trump appointed acting u.s. attorney who was a prominent stop the steal supporter, opened an investigation into the previous administration's decisions to

file obstruction charges against hundreds of now pardoned january 6th attackers. we begin today with nbc news chief white house correspondent peter alexander, new york times chief white house correspondent peter baker and former u.s. attorney joyce vance. so peter alexander set the stage here. let's start with the funding freeze. we don't know exactly how big it is, but this omb memo, a memo that nbc got exclusively shows that it could be $3 trillion. >> andrew. >> that's exactly right. i was speaking to. a former senior administration official. >> who said that this memo is. very vague, poorly written, was. their language. >> so it's. >> hard to know exactly. >> what it's referring to. >> but clearly the memo. >> does say that the. >> budget office, through. >> the. >> president's executive actions. >> will be halting, effective today at. >> 5 p.m. >> grants, loans and other. >> federal financial assistance. >> among the. >> questions right. >> now, what exactly does. >> that mean? does that impact

medicaid? does it impact snap effectively food stamps for. >> so many millions. >> of americans? whhic women's, the nutrition. >> program. >> for women and infants and. >> children. >> 11.79 million americans. are eligible to. >> receive that right now. meals on wheels. >> you could go down. >> a long list. and frankly. >> the confusion. >> itself has a. >> cost because a lot of these individuals in. >> the country who would benefit. >> by these. >> programs right. >> now do. not yet know. >> if they're impacted. and i've spoken to some of them already this morning. today, the president or i should say the white house. budget office and the statement from the acting budget director said in part that it would affect programs like. die woke, gender ideology and. >> the green new deal. >> it's worth noting about. >> the green new deal in particular. that was a. >> democratic policy proposal. it never. became law. so it's not entirely clear to what that's referring. you heard from. >> the top democrat. >> in the senate, chuck. >> schumer. >> who basically said that that congress, which has the power of the purse, has signed off on this money. it has all been

approved, and it. is by law, the. responsibility of the government to pass it out right now. >> but that's. >> where we stand at this point. >> it's certain to be among the. >> first. >> questions that caroline leavitt. >> the incoming. >> white house press. >> secretary, the new. >> white house press secretary, will face when she holds her first briefing. just a matter of a matter of an hour from now. it's supposed to take place at 1:00 today. it's certainly one of the questions that we're looking. >> to answer as we try to get. >> better clarity on exactly what this means right now and how wide reaching it is. again, it goes into effect at 5 p.m. >> today, and it's certain to last for. >> at least a couple. >> of. >> weeks because. according to this memo. >> the agencies. >> departments across. >> the government. >> have until february. >> 10th. >> to provide more detail. >> about this. and who knows how long. >> after that the pause. >> will stay in place. >> but that does give. >> you a sense of how. >> long we. >> may. be dealing with this, with this lack of certainty. >> and at one point you made is that the uncertainty of the way, the vague way, frankly, that this memo was written is affecting some of the most

vulnerable citizens that we have across america. these programs work, you know, in the snap program, which really under the agriculture department, i mean, these are, you know, fundamental programs in the social safety net. peter, as you just pointed out, peter baker, as far as i remember, going back to what i've read about the nixon years and other decisions since under reagan, doesn't congress hold the power of the purse, and the memo doesn't specify which groups will be affected? so, you know, all of this is really testing the limits of presidential power. >> yeah, it absolutely is. of course, congress once passed something called the impoundment act to prevent presidents from doing what president nixon tried to do in terms of picking and choosing which federal spending he wanted to go ahead and enact. remember, as you said, the congress has the power of the purse. they pass the federal appropriations bills. the president has a right to sign or veto them. but once they're signed into law, they're law. and he has, according to his own oath of office, the right, sorry, the responsibility to

take care that the laws are executed, not to read, not to rewrite the laws according to his own preference. now, you know, president has a certain degree of discretion and latitude. so we don't know whether this might fall into that discretion or latitude or whether, in fact, it is, as the democrats are arguing, patently illegal. certainly that's going to go to court and probably, you know, potentially go up to the supreme court. we've seen trump do this now in the eight days he's been in office, he has tried to push those boundaries time and time again. he fired those inspectors general without giving the 30 day notice that congress requires. under a law passed in 2002, he simply said he won't enforce the tiktok ban, even though congress passed it on. bipartisan votes in the supreme court, upheld it by a 9 to 0 vote. he tried to rewrite the 14th amendment to suit his interpretation, rather than the common interpretation over the last century. all of these things are going to be litigated. presumably, all of these things are going to define the range and scope of presidential power going

forward. >> and joyce, let's talk about this. editor martin is the new acting u.s. attorney here in washington. in terms of what goes on at doj and also all of the prosecuting, everything that goes on in the city of washington. he's the u.s. attorney for here. so he says he wants to, quote, get to the bottom of the january 6th prosecutions. he himself spoke at a january 5th stop the steal rally and was on the capitol grounds during the riot. let's watch. >> stop the. >> steal, stop the steal. now, listen, everybody, thank you for being here. but today is just the start of what is going to be a series of events that are going to change the world. we'll never stop fighting because we will stop the steal. >> just on a very basic level. shouldn't he be recusing himself from even dealing with these cases? he was a participant. not

not, you know, actively going into the capitol. but he's a supporter of this whole insurrection. >> yeah. >> so andrea martin. >> has what we. >> would call an actual conflict of interest, not just the perception of. one based on his involvement on. january 6th and with actual defendants. and it's an. >> important point. >> to make, lest we become very cavalier about this sort of behavior. >> which we're sure to see more. >> of. >> that this is the sort of behavior that undermines public confidence in the justice department. it's already stretched pretty thin. the fact that. >> the. >> trump administration and that the acting folks in in main justice in, in washington, from the attorney general on down, are willing to permit this to go on is really pretty astounding and a signal of what's ahead for the justice department. you know, it has to be a fairly independent agency. and trump is

trying to draw the battle lines there, showing early on that he has the ability to influence, if not direct prosecutions. this is the sort of thing that's dangerous, not just in the moment and in these cases, but to the future of our democracy and something that people need to do in short order right now is begin to take strong stands and clarify these issues for the american people. it's tough to block this sort of action by a us attorney, unless elected members of congress and former justice department officials are willing to make a blazing noise about how unusual, unacceptable and inappropriate this is to try to put it on the public's conscience. with everything else that's going on in this same moment. >> and a number of career people who were not political appointees, but who are in the national security division's, you know, key players have been moved out of their positions. i'm told that they might be

enforcing immigration law, you know, raids and other other cities around the country. i know at the state department, key people were moved out of their positions. and there's, you know, something like a 90 day or shorter period where they can find other foreign service jobs at equal rank. they're basically out. so protections of the foreign service law of civil of, you know, other protections under the federal civil service no longer apply in many of these cases. joyce, i want to also bring in from new york. now, gabe gutierrez is joining us, who has been, you know, deeply involved in chicago now, new york today in the immigration crackdowns. gabe, we see the same volume of crackdowns. do we know yet today, as they were on sunday? >> well, we don't know quite yet. andrea, the total number of arrests today, that's all of

course, still unfolding. newly confirmed homeland security secretary kristi noem here on the ground. and the arrests started early this morning before dawn, as they typically do. and as you mentioned, we saw one of these operations firsthand yesterday in chicago. now, i should tell you that according to three sources familiar with the planning, we are now learning that the trump administration plans to have three large scale operations like this each week. and so far, we've seen chicago this week, new york today, and then on thursday, aurora, colorado. and according to those officials as well, ice agents have been told that they would like to get 1200 to 1500 arrests nationwide per day. one of those officials, one of those sources, i should say, described it as a quota. another described it as a goal. either way, we've seen the numbers of these arrests rise steadily ever since last week, ever since president trump took office. and as you mentioned, andrea, about

1200 undocumented undocumented immigrants were arrested on sunday. that's according to a senior administration official. but roughly half of them did not have a prior criminal history. besides being in this country illegally. so there are a lot of questions about how these operations will play out. trump's border czar, tom homan, has told me to expect so-called collateral arrests. basically those without criminal history that happen to be in the area when ice goes after a target. so a lot of questions again about how this will play out in the coming weeks and whether these numbers continue to rise. >> andrew mccabe. >> i'm also noting there's a lot of shock and awe in this. as we've been saying, bringing reporters along and alerting everyone to where these arrests are. you've had incredible access, of course, because of your own reporting. but if you could, somebody could bring back the picture of kristi noem in full bulletproof vest on site. how unusual is it for the newly sworn in homeland security

secretary to be on site and basically dressed in new york city in battle gear? >> well, look, the homeland security secretary's day previously have, you know, addressed, you know, ice agents, they've gone down to the border, addressed border patrol agents there. but you're right, andrea, there is a certain performative aspect to this. and i point to one of the people who did a ride along this week in chicago. actually, the first one with tom homan was a tv personality, doctor phil. and, you know, yes, this administration does seem more eager to publicize these arrests, especially as compared to the previous administration. but i will point out these ice operations, they did happen under the biden administration. of course, they happened during the first trump administration. they also happened during the obama administration. so this is not something particularly new for ice. what is new, andrea, is that they do seem to be ramping

up. the numbers so far are higher, and ice agents are now working with other federal agencies as part of these operations. so there are some distinct differences. but you're right, some of this does seem performative for the cameras. >> they're certainly doing a lot to publicize it. and it is a top priority. the president won election largely on this issue as well as the economy. peter alexander, peter baker, joyce vance, gabe gutierrez, thanks to all of you for starting us off. and in just 90s, we'll talk with senator tina smith of minnesota. yes, she has some big questions for robert f kennedy jr tomorrow at his confirmation hearing to take over health and human services. you're watching andrea services. you're watching andrea mitchell reports i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. but thanks to skyrizi and clearer skin--i'm all in. with skyrizi, i saw dramatically clearer skin. and many even achieved 100% clear skin. don't use if allergic. serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight them may occur.

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>> hotel trivago one law firm climb inspector, has won some of the biggest verdicts in american history. so if a defective product, motor vehicle accident or medical malpractice caused a catastrophic injury, contact client. inspector. >> tomorrow on capitol hill, robert f kennedy jr, the president's choice to lead the department of health and human services, is going to face the senate finance committee. this is the main act where he is going to be questioned very closely about his policies. the first, though, of two confirmation hearings, he also has to appear before the health committee. health and education committee. but that is more perfunctory. rfk jr has faced criticism from democrats as well as republicans. democrats, because of his vaccine skepticism, skepticism and his positions on other health safety issues, and from republicans who object to his support for access to abortions, a group founded,

in fact, by former vice president mike pence, is stepping up efforts to sink kennedy's bid to lead the nation's health agency or try to. they've posted a new 62nd ad. the group is using president trump's own words during last year's campaign, slamming kennedy as a, quote, democratic plant and radical liberal. of course, kennedy did run for president briefly. joining me now is democratic senator tina smith of minnesota, a member of the finance committee. so, senator, you're going to have a chance to question rfk jr in the hearing. and some of the other committees, democrats on those committees have been criticized for not targeting their questions, particularly on armed services. they were limited in the number of questions they could ask. they weren't given a second round. so republican chairs are not giving the democrats a whole lot of opportunity here. but what are your main issues for rfk jr. >> well thank you, andrea, it's so. >> great to be with you. >> and tomorrow i am 100%. >> focused on.

>> showing how we. cannot trust robert. >> f. >> kennedy jr to protect our health as the secretary of health and human services. that is his number one job. and there is nothing in his record. >> that would show us that we. >> can. >> trust him, or he has the capabilities to do the. hard work. >> and very important work that. >> he needs. >> to do. just look. >> at his record. >> on vaccines. >> where he has said that there's no vaccine that he has seen that is. >> safe or effective. >> he has said that the covid vaccine. >> was a crime. >> against humanity. this is the very. same medicine that has clearly. >> saved hundreds. >> of. >> thousands of american lives. he is not trustworthy. >> when it. comes to this. >> most important job. >> and i think. >> that you'll see my colleagues in all of the time that we have really drill in on. this and really drill in also. >> on the. conflict of interest that this. >> guy has at the same. >> time that he's promoting his. >> fringe anti-vax. >> theories at the at at. >> the same time that he's doing. >> that, he. >> is making millions off. >> of those same theories

through. >> merchandise and. books and legal fees. >> so rfk jr did meet with republican committee members ahead of this hearing. did he meet with democrats? did you meet with him? >> yes. >> i had an opportunity to meet with him a week or so ago, and i asked him about these issues. and i will tell you that there's nothing in that conversation that reassured me at. >> all that he. >> is up to the job. you know, i want to just mention you highlighted his constantly shifting stances on abortion rights. and regardless of what you think of this issue, i'm strongly pro-choice. >> regardless of what. >> you think about this issue, there's no way that you. >> could. >> look at everything that he's said and have any trust. >> that. >> you could count on him to, to. do what you think is the right thing to do. you know, he's had all sorts of things about being pro-choice, and then he's he's doubled down from that. and if i were a republican, i would be looking at his nomination and really questioning whether i could trust him at all. >> and that there's already been

a public communications freeze ordered by president trump from the health agencies, cdc. so last week, for instance, they were not able to do their weekly update on health issues before the nation, including bird flu, which was obviously a real concern. >> yeah. this is this. >> is stunning news. today, i spoke with minnesota governor tim walz. about what impact this is having on the state of minnesota. >> bird flu is a. >> significant challenge for farmers. >> and producers. lots of worries about how this bug is. jumping from. >> poultry to dairy. >> and then. >> from dairy to humans. and here we have this federal government, which is that the trump administration, which is withholding grants for research, for disease surveillance. >> for the. >> hard work that we have to do to protect americans and our food supply from the avian flu. so another terrible step by this power grabbing trump administration. >> we saw the hegseth vote for

friday night, late friday night, go down to a tie. so one short to defeat him. do you have republicans on your side aside, perhaps mitch mcconnell, because he was a survivor of polio. and of course, that's the vaccine issue. but anyone else? >> yeah. well, so will this. >> remains to be seen. we'll be having the hearing tomorrow. i'll be watching my republican colleagues very carefully, and then we will vote on the rfk jr nomination probably next week. and i'm really hopeful that people will come together and see that this individual is a. >> real threat. >> to public health and does not deserve to be the next secretary of health and human services. >> senator smith, thank you for being with us. >> thank you, andrea. >> and still ahead, what president trump's foreign aid freeze could mean for millions of people around the world. you're watching andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. we planned well for retirement, but i wish we had more cash. you think those two have any idea? that they can

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>> the trump administration has placed more than 50 career civil servants at us aide on administrative leave. the actions specifically targeted leadership, including senior attorneys. the agency, which comes under the state department, coordinates foreign aid and humanitarian development around the world. us aid acting administrator the trump person said in an email obtained by nbc news. employees were suspected of circumventing trump's executive orders. this comes after a january 25th 24th excuse me directive from the trump

administration that said the state department and us aid shall not provide foreign assistance until a review of the programs are completed. joining us now is nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. so, kelly, these are programs including aid to care. for instance, this is a third of the budget to care. they provide the food that is supposed to go into gaza on those truckloads. as we know, israel objects to a lot that's coming through the un food programs and through genre. so care is a big provider of the surge in aid. that is a critical component of the cease fire deal. that's just one example. we're talking about sudan. we're talking where there's a genocide and famine and, you know, all the aid to african countries under pepfar. i mean, this is some of which is a is hhs, but it's just an incredible freeze. and by the way, ukraine and taiwan aid and military aid. so the only exceptions were israel

and egypt. >> well, andrea. >> you, of course, have a lot of experience. >> covering these stories over. >> the. years and being in those hotspots. >> where this kind of aid. >> is a. >> part of. >> the face. >> of the united states around the world, and those who have been put. >> on. >> administrative leave represent. a wide. >> breadth of experience in career positions where. they have the knowledge, the on the ground abilities. >> to make these. >> kinds of donations. where the united. >> states is. >> one of the largest. forces for good. >> on these. >> kinds of programs. >> and so a pause is certainly. >> raising questions. about the national security implications, as well as the foreign policy implications, in addition to the very ground level human being. needs that. >> could be raised. >> by this. so what it is in the bigger. >> picture fits. >> a pattern we're. >> seeing in. >> these early days. >> of the. >> trump administration in round two, where the president's view. >> is that from.

>> his first experience in the white house, he felt that. >> there were. >> actors across government in lots of different roles and jobs that were not in line with his objectives for how he wants to lead. and that is broadly his america first policy and some of the other things that he campaigned on. so in the memo that was sent. >> to the. >> usaid employees who are put on this paid. >> leave. >> that there were there were concerns about any. >> attempts to go. >> against the basic policies outlined in executive orders and. the direction that this president wants to take. the use of foreign aid around the world. >> and so. >> being in line with what donald trump wants is a very big part of the kind of review that's happening across the federal government. we're talking. >> about usaid. >> it's also happening in other places where he is trying to root out those who are not in unison, in lockstep with his views. >> and so the. >> the implications are significant. and in all of these

cases, we're learning more and more about what the potential cost of doing this is in this early phase with. these set of employees who have been put on administrative leave. >> andrea kelly o'donnell, thank you so much. there's so much i don't know how you guys at the white house are covering it all. and president trump shaking up foreign policy in the middle east, calling to clean out gaza of most of the palestinians who live there, urging jordan and egypt next door to take in a million and a half refugees so gaza could be rebuilt. on ukraine, mr. trump also declared that president vladimir putin is, quote, destroying russia and demanded he make a deal to end the war in ukraine. and the president initially threatened colombia the other night with massive tariffs after the country refused to allow u.s. military planes carrying deported migrants to land in their country. colombia quickly backed down under the threat of the tariffs. and those plans did. those planes did land. so joining us now, richard haass, president emeritus of the

council on foreign relations and senior counselor for centerview partners. richard, there's a lot there. let's talk about the middle east and gaza first, because, as you know, the foreign minister and deputy prime minister minister safadi objected immediately in jordan to this. egypt's not happy either and objects to it. egypt, a key negotiator of the group of arab countries with qatar that have negotiated the cease fire deal. and this seems to be the president just mentioning this off the cuff on air force one to reporters coming back from nevada late saturday, something certainly has been embraced by two israeli far right ministers, ben-gvir and smotrich. but this is not even prime minister netanyahu's policy. >> a couple of things. one, it's a nonstarter. it will be accepted by no palestinians. obviously, it doesn't satisfy any dimension of palestinian nationalism. it's already been

rejected by jordan and egypt. those are the first two countries, as you know better than. >> anybody. >> that made peace with israel. the last thing they want is a large influx of palestinians, which could be domestically destabilizing. the only people who will welcome this are on the right in israel, because this is their agenda to transfer it, to use the technical phrase, palestinians out of gaza and out of the west bank in the hopes that it would be settled by israelis. and i think it raises real questions, andrea, about the lack of formality or rigor in the policy making process. i can't believe that anyone who had any experience with the middle east, or any knowledge of it, would have recommended to the president that he go ahead with such a pronouncement. >> well, in fact, steve witkoff, who's been very effective in is going to the to the region and tomorrow, as soon as tomorrow and has said that he wants to go into gaza. he would i think he was probably i don't know, but i think he would be as surprised as anyone. so even people around

the president would be surprised by this. and it seems, as you point out, to be this ad hoc pronouncements on foreign policy sometimes going back and forth without interagency or the national security advisor or other people weighing in. and it also would make it impossible for prime minister netanyahu and the u.s. to have what they have long sought, which was started by president trump in the abraham accords to have any kind of agreement with saudi arabia, which they are. >> hoping in the wrong direction. right. i'm sorry. just look, it's in the wrong direction. again, it's a nonstarter. hopefully it lives a to a quick death. it just disappears. but again, i think it raises real questions about the process. well, can i say one thing about what you're talking about the aid suspension. andrew, just very quickly you can have i understand why the new administration may have some questions about aid, but why. >> was. >> it necessary to suspend it? they could have taken the next 90 days to review every single dollar being spent. and in the

meantime, aid could have continued to go for aids prevention and treatment or arms for taiwan or what have you. i just don't understand why it was necessary to stop things in order to review them. and it raises fundamental questions about being dependent on the united states. it raises real questions about american reliability and dependability, and in some cases, heart. this is what we should be a country. we have the ability to be generous. we've saved, what, 25 million lives working with others through the pepfar program. that's part. >> of. >> our strength and our appeal. >> and that came under george w bush. that was one of his signature programs. absolutely. it's such an important question. it gets to the process issue, it gets to soft power, and it gets at the small amounts of money in the foreign aid budget is, you know, a fraction of the overall budget. around the area. >> surrounding area for, you know, given the size of our economy and the size of our federal budget, quite honestly, this is you know, we're it's a

small amount. and again, even if there are some specific programs that ought to be reformed, grea. reform them. president won the election. he has that right. but i don't see why it's necessary to suspend so many good programs in order to, to, to do a review. >> i think it's the kind of questions you would have been asking at the pentagon, the nsc and the state department when you were working under republican presidents richard haass. >> something like that. >> we have to talk about vladimir putin. let's do that another day, because i'm still trying to figure out which way the president is going to go on ukraine. and i think i know, but the latest word was very tough on putin. but it seems to change. >> the news. i think the news on ukraine is actually quite positive. andrea, on china, less, more difficult to capture, but on on russia quite temporarily at least quite positive. >> thank you so much, richard haass. it's always a pleasure. thank you. and coming up,

president trump's latest executive order targeting transgender service members and what that means for their future service, we'll discuss with congresswoman sarah mcbride. sarah mcbride, coming up next. sarah mcbride, coming up next. you're ever feel like a spectator in your own life with chronic migraine? 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more. botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. in a survey, 91% of users wish they'd started sooner. so why wait? talk to your doctor. botox® effects may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as trouble swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. those with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. side effects may include allergic reactions like rash, breathing problems, dizziness, neck and injection site pain, and headache. don't receive botox® if there's a skin infection. tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions like als, myasthenia gravis, or lambert-eaton syndrome and medicines like botulinum toxins,

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americans from serving openly. the president's directive is not immediate. it does order the pentagon to update its policy in 60 days and come up with a new plan in 30 days. on one dod estimate puts the number of transgender service members at up to 8000 people. speaking at the pentagon on the first day of his new job yesterday, the defense secretary, pete hegseth, laid down the law. >> the lawful orders of the president. >> of the united. >> states will be executed. >> inside this defense department. >> swiftly and. >> without excuse. >> joining us now is democratic congresswoman sarah mcbride of delaware, the first openly transgender member of congress. congresswoman, thank you very much for being with us. so trans military members have already had to testify on capitol hill about the ban. the last time the president was in office in 2019, part of his new executive order reads, quote, a man's assertion that he is a woman and his requirement that others honor this falsehood is not consistent

with the humility and selflessness required of a service member. so that seems pretty obvious where they're going on this. what do you think the impact is? >> the commander. >> in. chief's focus should be 100% on. >> protecting our national security and making. >> sure that. >> our military. >> is as strong as possible. >> and this legislative action. >> puts at risk the careers of thousands of qualified. transgender service members. individuals who. >> in many cases. >> have been serving this country for years, taking. >> the. >> same oath as their fellow service members. >> and meeting the exact. >> same rigorous physical and medical standards that all. service members. >> need to fulfill. >> this is. >> an attempt to rid the. >> military of. >> thousands of. qualified individuals. >> and it's part of. >> a larger. >> effort by. >> this. >> administration to purge the federal. >> government of.

>> patriots who. >> seek to serve their country. >> and i. >> will say it is telling. >> that this. >> president's definition. >> of patriots. >> is pardoning. over a thousand. insurrectionists who violently. >> assault police officers. >> and apparently does not. >> include patriotic transgender. >> service members who have been ably serving this country for years. >> why do you think the dei policies, and also the issue of transgender people have been so targeted in these first opening days? and certainly this was something that the president campaigned on. the. attacks on dei, the. >> attacks on. >> transgender people. >> are part. >> of a political. >> strategy by. >> this. >> administration. >> a strategy of misdirection and distraction. this is. >> a strategy as. >> old as time. right wing leaders will often. target vulnerable and misunderstood. communities in. order to

distract what they're doing from what they're doing. >> that is deeply unpopular. >> with the. american people. for instance, just last. >> night. >> this administration. >> put a. >> massive freeze on all federal spending that is. going to assist. >> states, localities, nonprofits. >> this is federal funding that includes health care for. low income. >> folks and people with disabilities. >> this is. funding for. >> head start to provide child. care for. >> for young people. they are trying to distract from what they are doing with their right hand. because i. guarantee you, every time they bring up. >> dei. >> every single time they bring up trans. >> people, they are trying to pick the pocket. >> of american workers. >> fleece seniors. >> undermine unions and destroy the programs. and care that millions of americans rely. >> on. >> every. >> single day. and i'm hearing. >> from constituents. >> across the state of. delaware who are. >> fearful about. this federal funding freeze and fearful that there will. >> be massive. >> layoffs, fearful that there will be programs that they rely.

on that will be eliminated. they're fearful about what. the future has in store, and this is part of an effort to distract from that reality. >> i mean, one of the issues with transgender people is that they have issued an order that all government documents have only two genders. so passports, for instance, we are told, can no longer have any kind of other signifying of gender than male or female. >> and it appears. >> that they are trying to. >> eliminate the ability. >> of transgender. >> people. >> transgender men and. >> women. >> to have identity documents that reflect their gender identity and that could present a very real risk, not just for the dignity, but for the safety of transgender people. it would essentially amount to forced outing of transgender people who are trying to gain government services or travel. in the case of passports. these actions have real consequences.

>> they impose. >> real harm on real americans, but they are also part of an effort to distract from these very clear attacks on the economic and financial security of the american people that. >> are. >> happening at the very same time. and we have to be crystal clear about how all of these attacks, how all of these efforts connect and are part of this administration's larger strategy to gut programs. >> and care. >> and services for the american people. >> i know we don't have much more time, but i know you've been very active on the movement to try to do something for dreamers in delaware, and they are obviously at risk with this crackdown on immigration. >> absolutely. >> the draconian efforts that we've seen by this administration to separate families to deport our neighbors, it includes dreamers. it includes people who have been living in this country for years, growing up paying taxes, doing hard work every single day across our country.

>> and we. >> have to be very, very clear that dreamers, unfortunately, are not excluded from this administration's draconian policies that will separate families and undermine our economy. >> congresswoman sarah mcbride, it's a it's good to talk to you. thank you very much. i'm glad we could do this today. >> thank you. >> and next confusion across washington as the trump administration orders a temporary freeze on federal grants and loans set to begin today at 5:00 eastern. you're today at 5:00 eastern. you're watching socks, underwear and t-shirts are the most requested items in homeless shelters. bombas was founded to help. so one purchased equals one donated, with 140 million donations and counting. visit bombas.com and get 20% off your first order. and with the help of financing from caps, you can meet all of

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budget office, known as omb, has ordered billions of dollars in domestic and foreign aid be frozen. and that includes disaster relief, education and some funding for small businesses. also up for review by the white house. pell grants, snap food assistance, formerly known as food stamps for low income americans. various disability programs, medicare enrollment assistance and omb memo obtained by nbc news, says as much as $3 trillion in aid could be involved. at the center of this brewing fight is russell vought, trump's choice for budget director and a former architect of project 2025. vote supports new work requirements for medicaid recipients, and he was in the omb job when president trump withheld aid from ukraine during his first term. joining me now is the top democrat on the senate budget committee. jeff merkley of oregon. senator, welcome. thank you. before we talk about the omb nominee, what is your understanding of this freeze? because as we read the memo, it is very unclear, for instance, whether medicaid is also involved is also exempted as

medicare and social security are. and what's in what's out because people all over the country are confused. >> well, andrea, so. >> much is in anything that goes. >> is a grant. >> anything that goes is a. >> loan disbursement. >> and anything that goes through a third party like. >> title one funds. >> go to a school. they don't go directly to. >> children in. >> in underfunded schools. it goes through the school first. and so it's. vast and. >> it actually is just a huge attack. >> on the constitution. we have adjudicated. >> this again and again. >> the power of the. >> purse, clearly stated. >> in the constitution is with congress. this is the president saying, you know what? i want to look at. >> everything that's been approved, and i'm only going to pass money on to the. >> things i like. this battle was fought. >> when. >> nixon tried to. >> do impoundments. >> congress passed a law. >> saying it can't be done. >> in 1974. >> the impoundment control. >> act, it was adjudicated. >> to the.

>> supreme court over. >> the line item veto. the president. is not. >> the decider. >> when it comes to writing legislation. as much as trump would like it. >> he is. >> a. >> president. >> not a king. >> as much as as he would hope that the law was only a suggestion. the law is the law. >> but by the time this is litigated, people might be without their day care, without their food stamps or snap benefits. >> absolutely. >> i think. >> think of. every program. >> that we. >> we fund. >> it touches. >> health care and housing and education. >> small small business loans to keep our small businesses running. it touches hiring people to fight wildfires, hiring contractors to respond to disasters. >> it involves contracts. >> that will be essential to build the bridges. it is a very. >> significant when it comes to funding hospitals. >> it has all kinds of grants.

the fire. >> and. safer grants go. >> to. >> our firefighters. >> to hire people and buy equipment. it touches everything. and this is the challenge. this is a. power grab. it is unconstitutional and it must be opposed in the strongest terms, hopefully. >> in a. >> bipartisan way, because all these impacts are going to affect. >> red counties. >> as well as blue and. red states, as well as blue states. >> well, you asked some very tough questions of russell vought at the confirmation hearing. what do you think the chances are to try to get support against him being confirmed? >> well, at the confirmation hearing, republicans were very supportive. he was. trump's former director of. >> the office of management and. >> budget. but we now understand. >> what the. republican plan is. >> it has three parts. the first part. >> is attack. >> programs that help people stand on their feet. families stand on their feet and move. >> into the middle class.

>> second of all, borrow massively from the federal government and run. >> up the deficit. and third, give massive tax. breaks to the richest americans. that's the three part plan. well. >> part one. >> was implemented in. >> and not just an expansive way in a sweeping. >> everything is. >> covered mode. >> as of 5 p.m. today. it was issued last night, but it takes effect at 5 p.m. today. >> mr. vote was. >> very proud of the impoundments. >> he drove. >> in the trump administration. he said the court may. >> say it's the law. and the constitution protects the power of the purse for congress. but the president doesn't agree and neither do i. >> that's that. >> was his response. so a man who says, i'm not going to follow the law, i'm not going to follow the constitution, even on specific things upheld by the supreme court, is unfit to hold a cabinet position. >> senator merkley, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> thank you, andrew. >> and that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. remember, follow the show on social media at mitchell

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