city snow plows working around the clock. >> everybody out there be safe. know there's more weather coming. >> it's flooding underneath our porch. >> beyond the snow and ice. heavy rain causing flooding in some areas. severe storms even spawning a likely tornado in florida, causing multiple injuries and destroying property. while this long stretch of winter weather is exhausting for some, others, finding the joy like these, college students at virginia tech coming together for a massive snowball fight. >> ending on a high note. their thank you to adrian broaddus for that, and thank you for joining us. that does it for me today. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. >> good morning. 11 a.m. eastern, 8 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we begin this hour with breaking news out of capitol hill, where any moment

now, the senate is set to hold a confirmation vote on president trump's nominee for director of national intelligence, mr. crapo: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from idaho. mr. crapo: thank you, mr. president. in a moment, the senate will proceed to a cloture vote on the nomination of robert f. ken sabrina rodriguez, national political reporter at the washington post. basil smikle, democratic strategist and msnbc political analyst, and former republican governor john kasich of ohio. he is an msnbc political analyst. so, sabrina, what are you watching for in this tulsi gabbard vote that's about to happen? >> i mean, i think it's i'm looking at just the big picture today. you know, the conversation we were having a couple months ago was one where there was a lot of doubt that tulsi gabbard would be getting a floor vote today. and it looks like she's poised to have that

confirmation vote. we do expect that it will be, you know, a party line vote. i think there is obviously the open question, will anyone defect in the republican party? is there anyone who is ultimately going to vote against her? but right now, after seeing her get voted out of committee, see that vote for cloture to get this floor vote happening? it really is, you know, a remarkable feat for donald trump when we're talking about today, seeing votes on his most endangered nominees. >> and sabrina, i mean it, when we were speaking a couple of months ago, it was not a given that he would even get to this point. what changed? sabrina? >> i mean, i think having donald trump in office has made an impact. i think seeing, you know, the way that he, elon musk, his key allies, have certainly been pressuring members of congress to ensure that senators get in line and support his nominee, support his agenda. i think we're seeing that happen. big picture. and then i think with candidates like rfk jr and tulsi gabbard, i mean, we saw them, you know,

work the hill. they were on capitol hill repeatedly having conversations with senators, trying to, you know, give republican senators some kind of calm, kind of assuage their concerns. and for some of those skeptics about these candidates, clearly they were able to convince them. >> and, john, now that it seems pretty probable that tulsi gabbard will become the next director of national intelligence, she's going to oversee key agencies cia, nsa and so many others. what is the significance of this position? >> well, it's a big position and it's very important. and i understand that a number of those intelligence agencies are very, very skeptical of her. i think one thing we have to remember is she's really not in charge. trump is still in charge. and in terms of why these nominees are going through it, basically pressure. i mean, put yourself in the united states senate. okay. and you you know that if you vote against one of these nominees, you know,

all hell is going to break loose from a lot of the republican faithful. so you look at it. and why do they have 18 meetings with these people trying to justify why it makes sense to them? i mean, this one is really kind of surprising. i mean, a lot of people thought at the beginning gates would go down. he was he withdrew. that was the beginning. maybe they got their pound of flesh. and now nobody thought in the beginning that gabbard would have enough or get there. but she had some surprising supporters. and you combine that with you. think about joni ernst in iowa and the heat she got on hegseth. i mean, they just have been going along. and if you're sitting there, maybe you go, well, i'll just give them a vote and then i don't have to hassle with it. and, you know, it's just kind of party politics and pressure politics. i think that's, that's created this environment. >> yeah. i mean, basil tulsi gabbard has had an interesting trajectory, right? i mean, she was at one time a member of the house progressive caucus. she ran for president as a democrat in 2020. now, she's really a critical part of the new maga

movement. how did she get to where we are today? >> yeah, and it's interesting. she broke from the democratic party, if you remember, because she objected to the leadership's treatment of bernie sanders. right. and so, yeah, it's been it's been kind of a remarkable journey. and it's interesting in the positions that she's taken and the sort of support for edward snowden, if you remember. >> the whole issue of meeting with the dictator of syria. >> the dictator of syria, you know, it's the kind of allegiances that she's that she's adopted over this sort of course, of her career have raised a lot of eyebrows. and clearly, in her early meetings with members of the senate, they were really skeptical. but to sabrina's point, as i sort of zoom out a bit, this is the tightening of the screws. that's what happens, you know, when powerful presidents who believe that they have a mandate, and the senators that also believe that the president has a mandate says, we got to gabbard, but i feel so strongly i just wanted to make one last plea to my republican colleagues.

in a moment, the senate ways trying to fight for their jobs or feel that the president is and with in partnership with elon musk, a sort of gutting agencies like how do you on the one hand, do your job, but at the same time, you're fighting for your job and the integrity of your position. and what i'm curious about is whether or not a tulsi gabbard can actually bring some order to that chaos. my guess is no. >> i want to bring in vaughn hillyard. vaughn. it seems as though pretty much tulsi gabbard's acceptance is a fait accompli, right? i mean, there are what, no substantial number of republicans standing in the way? >> no. lisa murkowski and susan collins, who have really been on the front lines of being critics and questioning whether donald trump's nominee should be

confirmed. they both said that they intend to vote here this morning to confirm her. chuck schumer, the senate minority leader who you're looking at right now, just took the microphone and he told those senators assembled that he was making one last plea to republicans. let's be clear, this was a democratic party that's very familiar with tulsi gabbard. in 2019, i was in some small cafe type locations with tulsi gabbard when she was running for president, united states herself, and she was taking on the more than 20 other democrats running for president at the time. and even then, there was a lot of skepticism, not just among democrats, but the republicans, including the republican national committee. that put out a flurry of tweets, for example, suggesting that she was a traitor, that she had a sympathies for bashar al assad. this was somebody here who was deeply questioned by across the washington, d.c, political spectrum. and yet w operations throughout the country and the world.

i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the clerk: ms. alsobrooks. and despite her even walking away from those confirmation hearings with several senators from senator curtis out of utah and senator collins still openly suggesting that they didn't have wholly clear answers from her, and were even caught by surprise by her unwillingness to call edward snowden a traitor. she is now in the situation where she is expected to be confirmed here in a matter of minutes. >> as a matter of fact, the voting has already been, or at least the call to votes have has already begun. so vaughn, meanwhile, rfk jr needs to clear

one final hurdle before his confirmation vote in the senate. is there anything in his way? >> right. we expect that procedural vote to take place here today that will allow him to go for a full vote before the senate to be officially confirmed. we anticipate that official vote taking place tomorrow, and the two big question marks were susan collins and bill cassidy. bill cassidy, of course, the republican senator from louisiana who is a physician who during his confirmation proceedings, asked some very pointed questions and was openly skeptical about his vaccine positions. and yet, both of those republican senators suggested that they intend to vote for him when he goes to the floor for a vote. and now, of course, there could be others who we maybe were not necessarily paying attention to, who could come out in a surprise fashion to vote against him. we expect democrats to unanimously vote against his his confirmation vote as well. cory booker it was still an

outstanding question mark, though he said that he was increasingly becoming a no vote on kennedy's behalf here. but this is i mean, outside of the matt gaetz, who never went up for a formal vote, this is appearing to be a cabinet that donald trump wanted that was full of loyalists and people who he had the utmost faith in and may be controversial, but individuals who were ultimately going to serve in the capacities in their positions that he wanted. and it appears that republican senators are, by and large, going to support that effort. >> and, basil, i mean, talk about a trajectory. we were just talking about tulsi gabbard's trajectory. you know, robert f kennedy jr is going to most probably be in the cabinet. you know, the last time there was a kennedy in the cabinet, it was attorney general, i believe. right. his father. >> his father. >> and so you talk about the trajectory there and what it means to have a kennedy in the cabinet of the united states. >> and a different kind of kennedy, if you remember, on the

president when he was running for president, his third party, his family did a press conference denouncing his candidacy, his family did that. and then in this, in this sort of process to get nominated, caroline kennedy, you know, came out and made a point. >> who was made ambassador to japan by biden, correct. >> you know, made a statement that was extraordinarily critical of rfk jr. so, first of all, the family dynamics are amazing here. >> the kennedy family dynamics are certainly the fodder of a million books and a million books to come. >> that's absolutely right on the policy. it's interesting because there were democrats initially that were willing to lend an ear to rfk jr, in part because of things that he said about going after big farms, but also big food and having and exposing real questions about what we're putting in our food. that's particularly concerning to communities of color and the african-american community as well. >> and it should be for everybody. >> and it should be for everybody. so he did have the ear of some democrats on that. but when you start getting into

questions about vaccine and when you start talking now also about, you know, the nih funding and all that funding that is under his purview, there are real questions about what he's doing to actually address issues of diseases and food security that certainly affects communities of color, but also poor communities in this country. so it would be right for democrats to a question that and vote against him on those issues. even after there was some there was some interest in what he had to say. >> so, john, how do you see it? and rfk jr, you know, again, just what a long, strange trip it's been. >> what. yeah. >> yeah. that's a that's a great idea for a song here. a grateful dead had it right. i mean, it's really been remarkable. >> there's two things that i would like to say is. one is that you're all going to be confirmed. okay. and the democrats have to be careful. they. every time trump does something, they sort of react to it. okay. if you cry wolf too many times, then the next time

it could be real. people might not listen. they have to think about that. secondly, i really believe the democrats have to have an agenda. you know, they have to have an agenda on immigration. they got to have an agenda on how you deal with the with the national debt. they've got to have an agenda on health care. they've got to have something that's different and something that's new. and it can't be. i just don't like any change if they're willing to do that and then let this all play out. at some point when you have all this power, human nature tends to be that you can at some point abuse it. and when that happens, jose, you're going to see the public begin to react. so far, the public, even though we read these stories and we read them in depth and we understand the consequences of not enough nih funding, we actually increased it back when we were the majority. when we took over from the democrats. when these things begin to fall through, when they begin to show themselves, the public, you know, the public is going to react the other way unless the

administration gets that pendulum back to the middle. if they move it way over here, too much chaos, too many problems out there, then you're going to see a problem. but the democrats have to have a positive agenda, and i think they've got to wait until the public begins to see the big mistakes that the trump people may make. >> and sabrina also happening this hour, there is so much happening. trump's pick for deputy ag, todd blanche, is facing questions from the senate judiciary committee. what can we expect from that? >> i mean, i think it's more of the same right now. we're in that sort of period of time where we're tracking, you know, the movement on the hill to get through his his nominees. but we're also, of course, tracking everything that donald trump is doing. i mean, the number of executive orders that he's signing every day, the amount that he's posting on truth social, i think there's so much happening right now that i think, even for people in washington who follow this on a daily basis, it can be a little

chaotic. you can get a little lost in, okay, who's next? who's going to get a vote next. but but i think for the nominees when it comes to deputy attorney general, i mean the expectation is, of course, that he's going to be getting lots of questions on whether he is going to follow the law or whether he is going to follow what donald trump says. i think there are a lot of questions right now about the future of the justice department, especially as the president continues to question the courts, to question our legal system. but i think for democrats right now, there is sort of also this fear that it doesn't even matter what is said in these confirmation hearings, because we've seen a lot of things already happening behind the scenes. while nominees are moving within the agencies. >> yeah. and, vaughn, what we're seeing on our screen is the process, the roll call happening right now for tulsi gabbard and vaughn. this it doesn't seem to be moving in very fast fashion, but that's the tradition in the senate. mr. booker.

>> mr. bozeman. >> vaughn, can you hear me? i think we lost vaughn, but i apologize for that. but, you know, basil, this is essentially, it seems. and what? we're listening to vaughn as well. there there aren't four republican senators that are against tulsi gabbard. there doesn't seem to be four republican senators against rfk jr. we have to wait and see what that process is like. but the repercussions of what is dni, what are the responsibilities of the director of dni? and what impact does that person have on the president of the united states? >> right. and, you know, this is where i think about mitch mcconnell. i don't i don't know how often i think about mitch mcconnell, but this is what i think about mitch mcconnell, because i remember his statement in the hegseth nomination and him coming out very forcefully and saying, this is not the person that should be doing this. i don't know if there are

any republicans that are going to take that kind of a stand. i don't know that mitch mcconnell will do that again, but my point is that there needs to be republicans, probably ones that have nothing to lose. i don't know who that is, but there has to be. there has to be someone that actually stands up and at least for the record, says this is not a good idea. this actually could put our country in in harm's way. this is not good for the president to have to have somebody that, that, that, that answers to him that doesn't know how to do this job and that should that should scare all of us. but the problem is there not enough or any republicans that currently have an office that are willing to take that stand? >> vaughn hillyard, sabrina rodriguez, basil smikle, and governor john kasich, thank you all so very much. really appreciate it. there's still a lot going on in d.c. right now. we're just talking about some of them. but there are a lot of things happening, including fireworks. at the first ever hearing of congress's new doge subcommittee. we'll take you there next. plus, markets down

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news has learned that the u.s. has agreed to send convicted money launderer alexander vinnik back to russia as part of the terms of the exchange that freed american teacher mark fogel. this comes hours after president trump welcomed fogel to the white house after he was released from a russian prison, where he served for nearly four years. fogel got emotional as he thanked president trump for bringing him home. >> i feel like the luckiest man on earth right now and. i want you to know that i am not a hero in this at all, and president trump is a hero. these men that came from the diplomatic service are heroes. >> after the news was announced, his 95 year old mother told nbc's pittsburgh station his

family prayed all the time for his release. >> my entire family, i said, god is tired of hearing from us. he is. we have prayed rosaries every night at 930, my sisters and i, and i think it helps mentally. it helps. and i think that i think god listened to us. >> nbc news chief white house correspondent peter alexander is outside the white house this morning. peter, good to see you also. pretty extraordinary images out of the white house last night. tell us a little bit more about what led to fogel's release. >> you know, i had a chance to speak to steve witkoff. he is the billionaire friend and ally of donald trump's, his special envoy for the middle east right now. but he also engaged in this effort, telling me that he flew over, that this came together really in the last several days that he flew over to russia

before they even had confirmed, had finalized any deal to get marc fogel home. he said he got there, he received a call, wouldn't identify from whom, saying that fogel would be at the airport, that he told the president, who said to rush there, picked up fogel, brought him home. the plane deiced got out of russian airspace, made the calls home with family members, including his mom, who you can see was clearly ecstatic at his return. i do want to get to some of that new reporting that nbc news has, as it relates specifically to who was given back to the russians in return. here, as you note, his name is alexander vinnik. he is a convicted money launderer. and as i read some of the notes shared by my colleague garrett garrett hake, who first broke this reporting for us at nbc news, he did plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering last year. he leaves behind in the u.s, according to a u.s. official, $100 million worth of digital assets as part of this agreement as well. he remains in u.s. custody and is awaiting transport back to russia. we're told that's expected to happen before the

end of the week. but notably, as they sort of celebrate this return of an american, marc fogel, this u.s. official tells nbc news. we didn't swap the merchant of death for a basketball player. that is a reference to brittney griner's exchange for the arms dealer viktor bout back in 2022 under the biden administration. so here it's clear that this administration believes that this is start of a developing good relationship between president trump and vladimir putin. >> and we don't know, peter, if president trump spoke with the leader of russia specifically for this case, the president wouldn't say that last night. but there are clearly conversations going on. >> i think that's right. obviously, there have been conversations. we know that president trump has spoken to vladimir putin at least once so far since taking office, the president himself making that point. we asked steve witkoff about this a bit. he was particularly vague about details that he would share, saying he wanted to leave those to the

president, but he said, in effect, that this was the sign of good things to come between the u.s. and russia. here's part of what witkoff told us. >> i would just say to you that mark fogel coming out and he didn't expect to, is an indication of what the possibilities are. you know, i heard so many times the president being criticized for having a friendship with vladimir putin. how would you accomplish anything unless you had a rapport and a friendship with people on the other side? it doesn't mean that you always have to think the same, but you can discuss and come to compromises. >> so the question is, of course, going forward will be what this means in terms of relationships between the united states and russia, particularly as it relates to the relationship vis a vis russia's invasion of ukraine. donald trump making it clear that he is open, that he desires. he wants a negotiation to remember. he said he could finish that war on day one. obviously, that did not happen. but the white house certainly hopes that this may be progress toward that. does that require the ceding of ukrainian land to russia, something that

the past administration refused to do and ukraine certainly refuses to do? we'll see what happens going forward. >> and, peter, just bringing you back to just the human aspect of this story, right? i mean, fogel's going back home to his 95 year old mother, who reached out to president trump when he was running for reelection. >> yeah. that's right. i mean, this is obviously an effort. it's not unique. and i got to tell you, we receive a lot of different emails that come from efforts on behalf of families, of americans who are detained in far away places right now, including at least two others that are in russia at this time. steven hubbard is the name of a retired teacher, and amy may not be familiar with, but he is being held in russia right now. cascina casa. i'll make sure i say her name properly. she is the american national, the dual national russian american national, ksenia karelina. that's how you say it properly. she is the american russian ballet dancer who has been detained wrongfully, the u.s. says in russia as well. she is there so many efforts on their

behalf continue right now to try to return them home to the united states. we do know, as you said, jose, there is to be another american returned home as early as today. we expect to learn more details about that. the president and his team revealing some indications that that would happen, but we don't know specifically who they were speaking about. >> and peter, i was struck by the president last night at that meeting at the oval office with fogel and the secretary of state and others there. he referred to this fogel exchange or freedom, but he mentioned over and over again, ukraine, i. >> think you're right. and you have to think about the lens through which the president views this. as steve witkoff himself said, the president's desire is that all americans return home. but when you're dealing with americans who have been detained wrongfully in this case, in the eyes of the u.s, in russia, it's a different deal because the u.s. does have a heavy negotiation that it's likely to be a party with

upcoming between russia itself and obviously, ukraine. volodymyr zelensky has made it very clear that he is not open to returning any land to russia. but the president, president trump, has made clear that the way to end this is by a negotiation. the question is, does that require a ceding of land, particularly in the eastern part of that country? right now? pete hegseth, its defense secretary, speaking about this very topic while overseas meeting with some american allies there. ukraine has wanted protections that's come along with being a nato member. the us has made clear that they don't believe that is the way at least this administration plans to go. but but what concessions is the president willing to make as it relates to ukraine to help maintain this relationship with vladimir putin? that's what we'll be watching. >> a great peter alexander in the snowy white house lawn. thank you, my friends. good to see you. and with us now, pennsylvania democratic congressman chris deluzio, he represents the district where marc fogel lives and was at the white house for fogel's meeting with president trump last night. congressman, it's great seeing

you. i thank you for your time. you were there last night. so what was it like? >> look, it was. >> about mark and. he was overwhelmed, i think, with. >> joy and relief to be back home. i mean, three plus years detained in russia for a medical marijuana prescription. he had. i think he just felt like it was such a relief and that his country hadn't forgotten him. i think it was important for mark not only to have that welcome, but for every american to know your country, no matter where you're from, your party, they're going to we're going to fight for you and get you home. >> you know, it was. and i want your comments and thoughts on he was holding a beer the whole time. i want your information on how and where he got that beer, but it was so touching, congressman, to see fogel say that he was not a hero, that it was the president and everybody there who were the heroes. he actually referred to you when he first got into the you know, we arrived to the white house, but there's no one more heroic than fogel's 95 year old mother. >> yeah. i mean, she and his family have just been through so

much, as has mark, of course, and they really never lost the faith with with anyone with mark. and they made it clear, you know, to members like me to, to our senate delegates, our senators, members of the delegation that they were going to push hard and that they expected us to do the same. and i did hand mark an iron city beer. he's a western pennsylvania guy. and i thought it was a nice, you know, welcome home for him. and i just was so impressed with his spirits after what he's been through, to really be so optimistic and proud about this country. >> what's the what's the important message that we should all get from this congressman? >> look, you should expect your representatives and our government to never leave you behind if something like this were ever to happen to you as an american, you should expect your representative. you should expect your senators. you should expect your president to fight as hard as they can to bring you home. you're an american no matter who you are, no matter where you're from, you should expect your government to have your back. and i hope i know it took a long time, but i hope mark's case shows the country

that we will never forget anyone in his situation. >> and an iron city beer. >> an iron city beer to welcome you home. >> congressman chris deluzio, i thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. >> up next, we'll take you to the senate. the first ever hearing, however, of congress's new doge subcommittee. president trump just gave doge leader elon musk even more power over some hiring decisions in the federal workforce. we're watching jose workforce. we're watching jose diaz-balart reports on want a next level clean? swish with the whoa of listerine. it kills 99.9% of bad breath germs for five times more cleaning power than brushing and flossing alone. get a next level clean... ahhhhh with listerine. feel the whoa! when emergency strikes, first responders rely on the latest technology. that's why t-mobile created t-priority built for the 5g era. only t-priority dynamically dedicates more capacity for first responders. between molly leaving and mom's osteoporosis,

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by granger for the ones who get it done. >> what was it. >> like when trump got elected? what was the i mean, what was the reaction do you think about ice coming to knock on your front door. >> for president trump's first. 100 days? alex wagner travels to the story to talk with people most impacted by the policies. >> were you there on january? >> i was there. >> on january 6th. >> did it. >> surprise you that you were fired, given how resolutely nonpartisan you have been? >> and for more in-depth reporting, follow her podcast,

trumpland with alex wagner. >> 34 past the hour. more breaking news on capitol hill, where right now, a house subcommittee related to tech mogul elon musk's department of government efficiency, or doge, is holding its first hearing. the hearing comes as musk and president trump are facing some questions about musk's efforts to slash government spending and the government workforce. moss defended his actions during an appearance in the oval office with the president and with musk's four year old son. >> it's just common sense. >> it's not. >> it's not. >> draconian or radical. >> i think it's. >> really. >> just saying, let's look at each. >> each of these expenditures and say. >> is this actually. >> in the. >> best interest of the people? >> now, a few hours after that meeting, the president fired the inspector general of the us agency for international development, or usaid, who issued a report critical of a freeze on foreign assistance. with us now, nbc news senior white house correspondent garrett hake and danny cevallos, criminal defense attorney and an msnbc legal analyst. so garrett,

yesterday's executive order signing, turned into a press conference. musk and the president said they had found billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse. did they back that up with anything? >> well, to an extent they did, jose. waste is somewhat in the eye of the beholder, and the musk led team feels like they've canceled millions of dollars worth of programs that shouldn't be a government priority. they're canceling contracts, they're rolling up dei programs, the kind of stuff that we've talked about. but fraud is another matter that suggests criminality. and what you've seen from doge and from the trump white house on these points is basically just posts on x or on a website. they've not yet provided the kind of receipts that could prove some kind of actual serious fraud taking place. they suspect it's there, they think they've seen it. but this is sort of the whole problem with this exercise. when you just have such a small group of people going through budgets or code or computer systems, you're essentially relying on them to

be telling you the truth. and i don't think there's a lot of trust built up with the american people and this doge effort right now. >> i will tell you, garrett, though, that musk said yesterday that he found the federal government keeps its employee retirement files on papers in manila, envelopes that are taken to a mine in pennsylvania. they have to be down an elevator shaft to be filed. is this possibly true in 2025? >> jose? this is true. this mine has been well documented in the past. there's numerous news reports out there. folks can go look it up. listen to what elon musk said about it yesterday. we'll talk about it more after this bite. >> this mine. >> looks. >> like something out of the 50s because it was started in 1955. it looks like it's like a time warp. and then the speed, then the limiting factor is the speed at which the mine shaft elevator can move. determines how many people can retire from the federal federal government. and the elevator breaks down

sometimes. and then you can't. nobody can retire. >> so, jose, the elevator mine shaft part of this may be somewhat of an oversimplification, but the fact of the matter that these are paper records stored at an old limestone mine in pennsylvania is accurate, and it speaks to the problem and the possibility, frankly, for doge, for the people who support it. there have been efforts in the past to digitize these records. to try to bring this into the modern era. is that something where some of the engineers and coders and people with technical expertise that elon musk is bringing into the government could and perhaps should focus on? i think it's why it was brought up in the oval office meeting. it's why it's pinned to the top of the x account of doge. right now. they want to try to build consensus about this kind of project, which makes sense on its face and is part of the kind of reason for this group even existing. >> yeah. i mean, danny, just that whole thing is just amazing to me. you know, the 2025, this is the stuff that's and you know, why aren't we why has this not been dealt with? but that's

amazing in and of itself. but the president was also asked last last night about, you know, court rulings against him and, and what he would do as far as to either agree with those or not agree with those. here's part of what he had to say. >> if a judge does. block one of your policies, part of your agenda, will you abide by that ruling? will you comply? >> i always abide by the courts and then i'll have to appeal it. but then what he's done is he slowed down the momentum. i always abide by the courts, always abide by them, and we'll appeal. but appeals take a long time. what are your concerns here, or do you have any concerns? danny. >> i have concerns, but maybe not the same concerns that i'm seeing other folks have. they're calling this a constitutional crisis. here's the thing, jose. i feel like we have no institutional memory. i went back and i searched news stories from 2016 to 2018 on trump executive orders and constitutional crisis. and

wouldn't you know it, we raised the exact same concerns when the first administration, the trump administration, fired off this flurry of executive orders. what happens after that? although traditionally what happens is challengers wait until the agency actually implements the executive order before challenging it. but you can directly challenge an executive order. it happened back in 2017. it's happening again. it happened. >> it happened when the president of the united states, president barack obama, instituted daca. >> exactly. >> yes. and so the question becomes, at what point do you see a potential constitutional crisis? and it would be if the president disregarded or disobeyed or defied lawful orders, whether they be from the supreme court or a federal district court, that would be the area of possible constitutional crisis. but i want to stress the mere fact that the administration may do something that's determined to be unconstitutional is not the same as a constitutional crisis. the first example happens all the time. statutes, all kinds of

things are struck down. marbury v madison decided that hundreds of years ago. the courts can review what the president and what the administration, what the executive branch does. they can deem it unconstitutional. that's not a crisis. the crisis comes when the constitution simply has no answer. and that might be if an executive simply ignored a supreme court or any court order, which, by the way, has kind of happened in the past. >> and danny, just looking in history is such an important thing. i'm glad you do that all the time. it's what makes you unique and wonderful. >> why thank you jose. >> thanks, danny and garrett. hey, thank you as well. really appreciate it. senate, meanwhile, is voting to confirm tulsi gabbard to be the new director of national intelligence. i want to bring back vaughn hillyard. so, vaughn, it looks like the vote is going on. it's, you know, in these monitors, you just see the thing. it's just like so slow, but it's happening, right? >> the votes are open. and so every senator here at this point is coming down with either a

thumbs up or a thumbs down here. and we should note that the first republican to vote no on tulsi gabbard just came forward. and that was former senate majority leader mitch mcconnell with a surprise no vote on tulsi gabbard's nomination. what does this mean? tulsi gabbard could only afford to lose three republicans in the scenario that every democrat were to oppose her. as senator, schumer indicated that his party would we have one no vote from mcconnell? the question here is, are there two others, lisa murkowski and senator susan collins, who, of course, joined mcconnell in voting no against pete hegseth for defense secretary. both of those women have indicated that they will vote yes on his on tulsi gabbard's nomination here. now, we should also take into account if there were to be two other republican no votes that would make this vote a tie. and as we saw with pete hegseth, vice president jd vance is able to be a tie breaking vote as technically the president of the senate. but he is currently

overseas at this time. and republicans knew that this vote would come forward. it's still an outstanding question. and it's we're doubtful that there are two other republicans that will come forward as surprise no votes based on what we've heard over the last several days. but this vote here is still ongoing here in real time, of course. tulsi gabbard, one of the more controversial picks of his the next one up is going to be robert f kennedy jr, who we should note we are now learning the vote for his nomination will be around 7 a.m. tomorrow morning. and democrats through the night, today, this afternoon and through the night up until that vote and around the 7 a.m. hour, intend to take to the senate floor to speak out about his nomination, much like we heard the other day they did overnight when speaking out against omb director nominee russ vote, who was ultimately confirmed here. but this is a moment that we're watching in real time to see if two other republicans potentially join mitch mcconnell, the former senate majority leader, who over the last several days has been

in a wheelchair, notably and i think clearly in a much more fragile place, but clearly here still making the commitment to come up to capitol hill to cast these important votes and to be a part of this process. >> so. so, vaughn, as far as we know, as of right now, there have been no democrats voting for tulsi gabbard and, and only mcconnell so far as the republican. >> correct. >> correct. >> chuck schumer indicated the senate minority leader that no democrats would vote for her nomination. but that is where mitch mcconnell's vote was not announced ahead of time. and this is a clearly a surprise. it was actually just last night that donald donald trump jr, on his social media account, was posting explicitly that anybody in kentucky looking to seek political office as a republican should publicly oppose mitch mcconnell and should not seek to curry favor with the longtime kentucky political stalwart. and

so, clearly, there is a divide that is only increasingly grown over the years for mitch mcconnell. he voted no on pete hegseth nomination, of course, though in large part, democrats make the case that mitch mcconnell was largely responsible for saving donald trump's political career by not voting to convict him in the aftermath of the january 6th attack, which would have potentially, if the senate had sought to do this, had potentially barred donald trump from running from political office again. of course, these two have a long relationship that also goes back to mitch mcconnell's wife, elaine chao, serving as transportation secretary in the cabinet for president trump. yet president trump has attacked publicly in racist terms, elaine chao, and we have watched this relationship only crumble ever since mitch mcconnell announced that he was going to step down as senate majority leader, remain in the senate until 2026, when his term is up here but now

not overseeing the party that is now john thune's responsibility as senate majority leader. yet here, willingly showing an emboldened position to publicly oppose in these very consequential votes the desires of the president of his party. at the same time, will it be enough? are there other republicans, mitch mcconnell, has he used to have have strong sway among his republican conference here? whichever way mitch mcconnell would vote, largely, you would see the conference vote. but now, clearly here, there's a question of whether he may be the sole republican to vote against the nomination of tulsi gabbard to be this next director of national intelligence. as we watch these final votes come in. >> von hilliard. thank you. we'll of course, keep watching that. we're going to take a short break. up next, the latest inflation report is coming in a lot hotter than many expected. what it means for the economy, for all of us consumers. that's next. you're watching jose

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just 4.99 a month. call 1-888-246-2612 or visit homeserve. com. >> 50 past the hour. let's go to vaughn hillyard. what's going on in the senate? >> tulsi gabbard has officially been confirmed as the next director of national intelligence for this trump administration by a 5248 vote, a republican majority here backing her confirmation and ultimately putting her atop the us intelligence agencies. the mitch mcconnell, ultimately the only

republican to vote against her nomination. this is the second nominee of donald trump in which mitch mcconnell has voted no. but notably, lisa murkowski, susan collins, who were skeptical of her nomination, ultimately voted to confirm her. the next nomination up is robert f kennedy jr. democrats are going to begin to take to the senate floor this afternoon, through the night to denounce his nomination in what we expect to be a unanimous opposition among all democratic senators tomorrow morning, when his vote is ultimately taken up for his confirmation around the 7 a.m. eastern hour time. now, the question with vice president vance, who could be a tie breaker vote for that nomination. he is overseas presently and will be tomorrow here. and at this point in time, there are still some republican question marks for his nomination. mitch mcconnell, one of those, senator curtis out of utah, lisa murkowski as well. and if three republicans were to

vote against him, this would put his nomination in an ultimate bind. so mrs. blackburn. controversial, but individuals who he believes loyalists who will go in and effectively reconfigure these the clerk: mr. blumenthal. ms. blunt rochester. the timing for that is when you said. >> 7 a.m. eastern tomorrow morning, they have to let a certain amount of time go by to allow the debate to proceed here. and that is where democrats have said, much like what we saw them do with the nomination of russ vote to be the omb director, where senators switched off positions, where they spoke from the senate

floor. we expect that to take place here through the night, ahead of what is going to be an ea mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. curtis. republican who voted against it. and on the democratic side, it was down the line, not one defection. >> yes. >> jose. >> as you know. >> this. job is a. relatively recent job. it was only created. >> after nine over. >> 11 when people saw all the different silos of information. of these 18 intelligence services that weren't coordinated. so they decided, let's try to coordinate them and create someone at the top of that. that's the job she was just confirmed for. it's a very important job. it's the person

who actually decides what the president sees in the daily brief every morning. and what's what's important of that stuff that comes in there. i think part of the reason that people voted against her is she's not an experienced intelligence official. she doesn't understand or know those other agencies, which i think is pretty important when you're trying to coordinate them. you know, ultimately, the job of the dni is a judgment call, and her judgment has not been flawless. the fact that she's repeated lots of memes and ideas from russian disinformation and russian propaganda is something that i'm sure makes people in the intelligence community concerned. >> and so, rick, i want to, you know, using your experience for so many things, including, you know, negotiations and things. i've just been thinking about what what you see in what we've been seeing with president trump recently, talking about what the united states should be doing with gaza. i mean, the king of jordan was there yesterday. and, you know, when asked, the president was asked what

authority the united states would have to take over an entire area and displace 2 million people, he said. u.s. authority, what do you see in that? is it a tactic or is it a policy? >> you know, my best possible description of it is that it's bizarre. one of the more bizarre proposals of a president of the united states in american history. i mean, remember he ran for office saying, let's get out of these endless wars in the middle east, and now he wants to possibly do a real estate deal. that would be one of the biggest ones in history. it's just it's not something i think the american people want. it's not something that he campaigned on. and as you mentioned, it's a violation of every single bedrock principle of international law that ones that we pledged to the geneva agreements, the nuremberg trials after world war two, you can't forcibly displaced people from their land. and so he's just treating it somehow as though this is an exception to international law, and it's not.

and then, of course, you have millions of people who feel that this is their land that they've been in since 1948 and were displaced then. there are 130 countries in the un that recognize the palestinian state. so it's just bizarre. >> and i just keep thinking, i mean, it's almost as though that is such a difficult thing to talk about and to do. i mean, you know, it's certainly not abraham accords. it's certainly not camp david. i mean, there's nothing in this that is you use the word bizarre, but there's nothing in this that shows any possibility that something like this could happen. i mean, what do you do with 2 million people? what do you what do you say? no, you don't have the right to come back. you do have the right to come back, i mean, possibilities have to exist in order for something to be carried out. >> well, i mean, you use your

construction. is this some kind of elaborate bluff? and maybe he's doing it to make what he says about greenland and canada seem less bizarre, but it's also completely unpredictable and productive on the world stage, because what it does is give license to vladimir putin to talk about taking over ukraine and displacing the ukrainian people, who he says are not a nation the way so many people say the palestinians are not. so it's really a bad precedent. >> and rick, talking about vladimir putin, let's go back to von hiller, because the president just stated that he did speak with vladimir putin. von. >> right. >> this is the first confirmed phone call between the president of the united states and vladimir putin. now, he's been asked multiple times whether the two have engaged in conversations or questions about whether they communicated during the transition as well. and he has obfuscated in his answer up until the social media post moments ago, in which he said, the two man talk and i just want to read you part of it, no more lives should be lost. i want to

thank president putin for his time and effort with respect to this call, and for the release yesterday of marc fogel, a wonderful man that i personally greeted last night at the white house. i believe this effort will lead to a successful conclusion, hopefully soon, he said as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the war with russia, ukraine. president putin even used my very strong campaign motto of common sense. we both believe very strongly in it. of course, the war in ukraine would have never started if it not had been for putin's decision to invade ukraine. but what we have heard from president trump is a keenness to have some sort of negotiations with president zelensky to bring the war to a close. jose. >> you know, i'm just. rick, your reaction to this, i mean, this is coming in in real time. among the things that the president just said is that we both agreed to work together very closely, including visiting each other's nations. >> yes. i mean, talking is always better than fighting, and

i'd rather the president of the united states and the president of russia talk to each other. you know, these things in traditional administrations are elaborately prepared for, you know, there's long briefs about what you should say. and by the way, putin had that. you know, trump obviously likes to kind of talk off the cuff about it. and that's always dangerous. and that's what's what's happened in the past. but again, you know, i mean, he did say he would end the war in ukraine in 24 hours. he hasn't done that. but i'm glad at least he's talking to putin about it. and i hope he includes mr. zelensky in those discussions. >> vaughn hillyard and rick stengel. rick, thank you very much. great seeing you both, i appreciate it. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. ali vitali picks up with more news right now. >> good day. i'm ali vitali in washington, and we. >> begin with. >> breaking news from the white house. >> president trump. >> saying he's spoken. >> with russian president vladimir putin this morning. >> trump says he agreed to. >> visit russia. >> and putin is. >> coming here. >> to the u.s. it's. >> a major. >> development, as the