including, former congresswoman tulsi gabbard. urned republican who is somehow donald trump's choice to serve as director of national intelligence. back in 2017, gabbard was criticized for traveling to syria and meeting with aside. she was criticized for what she did when she returned home. as nbc news reports, she's been accused of repeatedly echoing propaganda spread by rush and the assad regime including questioning u.s. intelligence assessments that the syrian government carried out multiple chemical weapons attacks on its own people. that is part of a bombshell new report by my colleague dan deluce where he outlines why so many foreign-policy experts opposed putting gabbard in charge of our nation's secrets. he highlights in an adult when a syrian dissident going by the name of caesar, spoke with the house foreign affairs committee behind closed doors. even though there weren't cameras present, he opted to cover his face during that meeting at the urging of committee staff of both parties. thanks to this reporting, we now know

if hegseth goes out, it is tulsi gabbard next.nominating a radical person for va secretary, nominating someone to head the navy who has never been in the navy, an under secretary of defense who has conflicts of interest potentially with defense contractors and also never was in the navy. he's flooding the zone and challenging the democrats, challenging the media, challenging the public to see if they can even keep track and he knows the holidays are coming and people want to check out, they're tired of watching the news and he wants to press his advantage. the next couple of weeks are key. people are tired. people are frustrated. many people are demoralized. but right now is when you need to stay most vigilant because right now arguably tempts have democrats have the most power and the flip will switch big time. >> we're not tired. what should we be focused on? put those in order for us. >> all of those. i just did. i talked about this earlier. collins at va is equally radical, a pastor, very religious guy, he's also very loyal to

here's tulsi gabbard talking about russia. this is tulsi gabbard in her own words. >> putin has made very clear all along that their security, in his mind, is what is at stake here. >> i don't want to interrupt you here, but putin also said ukraine is not a country. >> it's not strategically possible to think that ukraine is going to beat russia. you hear joe biden say this is putin's war, this is putin's fault. it's putin who is the one who is solely responsible. well, the united states and some of these european nato countries are fueling this war. >> charlie, this is her tweet in 2015. showing support for putin. al qaeda attacked us on 9/11 and must be defeated. obama won't bomb them in syria, putin did. the agency she is being tapped to head was created in 2004 as a result of trying to prevent another 9/11. your thoughts? >> okay. so, i mean, this goes right to the heart of it. it is not simply that they are unqualified and have quirks like drinking. these two nominees pose a real present danger to national security. they

what do you make of trump's public show of support for pete hegseth and tulsi gabbard? from what you're hearing from your republican colleagues, will they get through the confirmation process, because gabbard is reportedly struggling in some of her meetings with senators. >> alex, thanks for having me back on. i'm just happy rfk wasn't there with them. unfortunately looking at the last decade what is the case with senate republicans is they huff and they puff and then fold to donald trump. my presumption is they're going to do similarly with these two picks, even though both of them are grossly unqualified for office. i imagine that these one on ones that tulsi gabbard is having are really painful because she's a bashar al assad apology gist trying to talk to senators, many of whom know their stuff on foreign policy at a time when current events in syria are front and center. i bet she's in over her head and coming across as both suspect and unqualified for the post. but my concern is she's going to be a heat shield for rfk and rfk is, if anything, more dangerous than g

tulsi gabbard, hegseth. gabbard faces criticism, for good reason. propaganda she talked about that is spread by russia and by assad's toppled regime. and ranging from sexual assault to drinking issues to the mismanagement of nonprofits. all which he denies. a record for all of it. kash patel built a career around deep state long tried to overthrow trump. now, patel said he would like to close down the fbi headquarters and reopen it as a museum of the deep staff does not matter what party you are from. after he met with senator ernst today she shared a post on twitter, take a listen to how senator reacted to one of his goals for the f.b.i. >> are you concerned at all about some of the thing that kash patel wants to do. close the fbi headquarters, fire a number of agents? >> i interpret it as high hyperbole. of all of the nominees, why? why is he gets the benefit the doubt from all of them? hopefully this group of people that know about all of these things know more. joining me now former senior advisory speakers paul ryan, and reporter for politico.

it was not a one-off for tulsi gabbard.te house briefing, situation room and how to respond. so, imagine if fast forward two months and tulsi gabbard is director when this is happening in syria? it is her and assad going down, do we trust her to bring us accurate information to the president? do we think she will not put a spin on the ball with her worldview? do we wonder what kind of contact that she has had? stuff in a basic security clearance process for mid-level government employee with a national security clearance would have trouble getting that position with views and associations she has had over the years. i think it raises questions about why does donald trump want somebody like that overseeing the intelligence community. >> i mean, the dni, one of the things that we do give the president daily briefs, sometimes the cia director. trump says, -- let's go through his friends, mbs, and besties with benjamin netanyahu, accused war criminal and accused by the icc amnesty international accused of committing genocide, h

>> i know tulsi gabbard. she's a patriot. she served our country honorably.ink, fits the reform agenda. president trump ran on disrupting washington and people will view things differently. the intelligence agencies in this country were part of the hunter biden laptop, suppressing that story. there's a lot of reform, george, that needs to happen in those agencies. tulsi gabbard is somebody who i think can execute on that, and she's also somebody that believes in our constitution, individual liberties, and i think this smearing her as some sort of foreign asset is a slur against her, and i look forward to her opportunity to answer these questions in these senate opportunity hearings. >> george: so you do have questions about her relationship with the assad regime or no? >> no, not at all. i don't think so. i don't think it's unusual for members of the congress to visit foreign countries and talk to foreign leaders. in fact, what joe biden has done is not talk to anybody and not be respected. president trump i think believes in engaging in diplomacy, solving th

there is absolutely no basis to the rumor that asad spent the i am tulsi gabbard sofa.s is what you get when you work with or will work for donald trump, we see it with pete hegseth as concerned, we see with others that were democrats. tulsi gabbard earned more delegates than, the hears when she ran for president in 2020 and now donald trump is bringing her on board because that's what diversity is and shall do a great job and be attacked. when you're connected to trump that's part of the contract. nicole: we will continue to follow this there will be salacious media headlines to follow for sure. on the jampacked hour at "the big weekend show" fox news alert on the nationwide manhunt for the killer of united healthcare killer ceo brian thompson the releasing new images of the suspected gunman taken minutes after the murder, details on where police are searching tonight. ♪ ♪ huh, noom has glp-1 meds now? yes, noom combines medications with healthy habits so you can lose the weight and keep it off. yeah, glp-1s starting at $149. that's noom smart. noom. the smart way to l

government about tulsi gabbard. naughty list and a nice list for members of congress and senators. >> reporter: on the hill, new tensions with acting secret service director ronald rowe testifying about the two trump assassination attempts. the hearing erupting into a shouting match when a republican congressman pressed him about this scene where he stood behind vice president kamala harris during this year 9/11 ceremony at ground zero. >> i responded to ground zero. i was there going through the ashes at the world trade center. i was there on fresh kills. >> i'm not asking that. were you in charge? >> show respect for the secret service members that died on 9/11. >> not doing the people's business there. that was peter alexander reporting. john, let's return to the pete hegseth situation. a few days ago, it seemed like his nomination is on life support. there were reporting that six, eight, maybe more republican senators were ready to say no. democratic senator blumenthal said that's what he heard from his gop coll

look at their history, tulsi gabbard and pete hegseth. fox or somebody a picture with vladimir putin once.o yo what exactly do you think their jobs work? theiior jobsns are exactly thato have relationships to form them into a fight them and to pipe o urfor the american people. that does not make you a sympathizer with our enemies. but this is the narrative and wd are used to it, laura. just buckle up, we are getting l started and they are fighters and we fully backing and suppor trump's' picks. >> laura: lindsey graham, peoplemina were wondering whichy he but go on these nominations, but he said today, he thinks these nominees have turned ay corner, alina, and the longer they stay warm and opinion and said to pete, fight, fight fight, some of these will go through as corn and said might get ugly. >> and president trump has been clear he stands behind thed nominations. he has said that.in they are out og n the hill talko to people's, sitting down ande going toto the confirmation process and answering tough questions and personnel allowing

. >>> later, we will talk about what the fall of the assad regime means for tulsi gabbard. she is donald trump's pick for director of national intelligence. we are will hear from dan deluce. >>> breaking news this hour. we are getting a new look at the subject of a nationwide manhunt in the killing of brian thompson. in one of the images, the man can be seen staring into the camera in what looks like a taxicab. this weekend, the nypd recovered a backpack and jacket and found monopoly money inside. the search for weapons or a weapon continues. today, a former fbi profiler says the suspect may be playing games with the evidence left behind. >> there's almost a game-like quality to this behavior. however, when you have a game player who is your offender, you have to be open that that is a ruse to cause law enforcement to look in a different direction. i'm sure they are aware of that. >> joining us now from not too far away is priscilla thompson who has been keeping up with the latest on the story. are there any indications police are getting closer to actually finding the susp

tulsi gabbard, the dni-designate.e left, i guess -- is that the wingback, let's say? speaker of the house mike johnson. they are attending the historic army-navy game. right at the moment, first quarter, midshipmen of the navy up by a touchdown, 7-0. that's early in the first quarter. we'll see how hay go. you hear the cheering. that game ongoing as the front line to take the united states into the next four years, you're looking at them, we'll see what the senate has to say, but the president-hecht and vice president-elect enjoying a saturday game. arthel? arthel: and, of course, president-elect trump is preparing for his return to washington next month. inauguration day is january 20th, and mr. trump wants to make if it a global event by inviting foreign leaders and even some of his adversaries. rebeccas castor has more from washington. >> some people say, wow, that's a little risky, isn't it? [laughter] and i said is, maybe it it is, we'll see what happens. >> reporter: the president-elect is considering inviting s

rfk has ideological opponents and tulsi gabbard does as well.nt do you think that will be in these politics play out? >> i think it will not derail the trump administration or anything but i do think it does introduce potential conflicts that could make it difficult for the president to exercise his desires as well. the thing about a presidential administration, it is not one guy yelling at 10 people to do something. it is one people telling 100 people that are telling the thousand people to do something. you need that unity and purpose to make things run smoothly and make things work. if you have deputies, cabinet officials and subcabinet officials who may be have a partisan loyalty to trump or have this ideological difference, that is the potential for wires to get crossed a little bit. i don't know what that will look like but it is a real problem. part of what the kind of commitment to parties of one president is supposed to do is to minimize this. you don't just pick people on your side but you pick people that are broadly with the team. if

but we talked a little bit about tulsi gabbard. fact that already president-elect trump is basically saying, russia, you deal with it, china, you come in and help them. that's a problem, that's a problem. that's why i asked the congressman about, you know, how concerned should all the members be, not just about the picks that are being put up, but about the attitude of a president who is already washing his hands of a major event in the middle east like this. i was struck at certain points in the conversation this morning, certainly listening to you in the first hour at 7:00 a.m. unpack all of this for the country, about a hearing, a congressional hearing in 2018 in which a syrian defector who had risked his life was coming to congress to talk about what was going on in syria, the hardships, the criminality of the assad regime, and the staffers, democrats and republicans, were very concerned about having this defector in a room with tulsi gabbard, because they were concerned about what she would then report out not to the press out

take a step back with tulsi gabbard. if you're outside the united states, the only thing you know about her is that she has been an apologist for the assad atrocities and the putin atrocities for almost a decade. that is literally the only stature that she has, that she's someone who apologizes for wars and for atrocities and that she's somebody who spreads regime disinformation from syria and russia. that's it. she has no other public profile. so the idea that she could be the one who is coordinating the american intelligence agencies naturally brings joy to the russians. there are many other quotations along the lines of the ones you showed. she's our girl friend. she's our agent. she's our person. she's been publicly praised multiple times by the russian press for spreading the russian message about the war, right? so what message does it send to ukraine? ukrainians are scrambling to find some connection to trump, where they would be able to get through this mess and confusion and try to remind mr. trump there's actua

a letter criticizing president-elect donald trump's decision to nominate former congresswoman tulsi gabbardd for closed-door senate hearings to review any government information about her. gabbard has previously faced criticism for sympathetic comments about u.s. adversaries . earlier this week, right here on the last word, democratic senator sheldon whitehouse raised another reason why gabbard's nomination is so concerning. >> the danger for gabbard is if the senate intelligence committee determines that our most significant allies and intelligence partners, particularly the country is referred to as the five islands, signal to the intelligence committee that they are not going to be willing to share intelligence in the same way that they have been, because they see her as compromised and potentially somebody who would give up their sources, their methods, their secrets to putin, to sod, to somebody with a big checkbook. >> joining us now, democratic congresswoman madeleine dean of pennsylvania. she is a member of the house judiciary and house foreign affairs committee's. great to see you.

why isn't halsey gabbard, -- why isn't tulsi gabbard, her record, not being pushed like every other thing that is going on in our country? why is that? guest: i cannot answer for why the rest of the mainstream media is not talking about how she would be a historic first, a woman from hawaii, a woman of color. i guess what the caller is getting at is the perception widely held, and i'm not saying it is wrong, of media bias, where a lot of the mainstream media will spend time touting someone is a historic first because of their race or gender they are not doing this with tulsi gabbard. i think it is a fair criticism. it is a good question for nbc, abc, cbs, new york times, washington post. host: another media question for you from x, saying are any of the nominees not qualified to fill their positions and why are so many in the media upset the nominees are not members of the swamp. it appears most of the u.s. does not feel the u.s. government is working well so why not stop the insanity and have a new type of nominee? guest: i meant is well-made. -- the comment is well-made. the harvard ken

tulsi gabbard, nominated to be the next director of national intelligence.ow facing timely questions about why she met with assad and what trump is now saying about mass deportations. the dreamers, and whether prices could go up for americans. tonight, the drone mystery widening large drones now spotted over philadelphia after being seen near thephia president elect's golf course and near a military base in new jersey. what's going on? taylor swift's eras tour takes a final bow, and what she did for her cast and crew across five continents. major league baseball star juan soto's record setting contract. tonight and america strong. this evening, the basketball team and one very silent night. the christmas tradition. and you'll see it right here. from abc news headquarters in new york. >> this is world news tonight with david muir. >> good evening. it's great to have you with us here on a monday night. we begin tonight with the breaking news in the murder of that ceo in new york city. police say a person of interest is now in custody. tonight, 26 year old luig

now, tulsi gabbard is in a different place. was able to block more of the controversial picks. people like rfk. now you are hearing from folks who have been around these meetings or heard about what is happening in these meetings and people are in their words, unimprezzed with tulsi gabbard and her intelligence. her knowledge of the intelligence community. part of that is because one of the reasons some of these folks have been chosing isn't because they have experience in these departments and leading these departments, but they have kind of a disdain and want to change these departments. of course, you don't fully need to understand how all of it works. but that's different than how we have seen other candidates work in the past. so this does feel different. i will say though, when you talk to people about who are the folks that donald trump is going to protect? tulsi gabbard's name is one of those names. she's a former democrat who came over to his side. he love as convert. he will defend her quite a bit. people are just say

i'm unsure about tulsi gabbard.have not heard from republican members of the intelligence committee that's traditional been a bipartisan body. that's real concern. i think what's happened in syria makes it harder for tulsi gabbard to get over the finish line. >> shannon: in the meantime we president trump on the world stage behaving if he is currently the president. you saw the visuals with him with world leaders in notre dame. with president emmanuel macron and president zelenskyy and many others welcoming back onto the world stage. given the weakness of the current president and the speed at which things develop in the modern world trump is in effect a presumptive president certainly foreign governments are treating him that way. >> i think so. i think in the united states the democrats have not gotten into their opposition rhetoric yet and here across the world many of the world's leaders want to meet with donald trump as soon as possible because he holds all the cards. we know he will back israel and we know he

continue to make the rounds on capitol hill with his pick for director of national intelligence, tulsi gabbardth republican senators this week. gabbard, a democrat until 2022, has faced scrutiny for past comments on russia, iran and syria and was often critical of trump's first-term foreign policy decisions. butten on monday she insisted that the two see eye the eye on an america first approach to national security. >> i appreciate president trump's leadership and his election. he is fully committed, as he has said over and over, to bringing about an end to wars, demonstrating peace through strength and putting the national security interests and the safety, security and prix tom of the american people first and foremost. paul: let's bring in our panel, "wall street journal" columnists dan henninger andwomen strassel and editorial page writer elliott -- [inaudible] she says there's no disagreement between her and donald trump, and that isn't her policy record. >> that's right. and it's not what liberals have been saying that somehow she's a russian agent or compromised or anything like that. i

, and tulsi gabbard, because of putin, i could say that about trump and putin, and with rfk jr.fauci. >> i think it's because he wants a democrat in his pool, but these two democrats are so outside the mainstream of the democratic electorate that he could choose either of them, and it wouldn't matter to other democrats. >> on the point of anthony fauci, which brings me quickly to the notion that president biden is actively considering preemptive pardons for people like dr. fauci, do you think the president should grant those preemptive pardons? and two, should they take them? >> absolutely. dr. fauci, liz cheney, the list is long. trump put people on a list, and i think this is something that the president should not just consider, he should do-- >> yes and yes trump is a unique thread. >> agreed. for longer-- thank you both for coming to the show. >>> a slim majority in the next congress, congressman elect adam gray of california won the last house race called in this election and flipped the seat blue. the message he is carrying to washington from his constituents, and what he

so can tulsi gabbard overcome kind of the predisposition of senators to say not only are her viewpointsre questions about her adjustment and meeting with assad, her views toward russia, is she capable of being the d and i. at some point, the senators take the confirmation process seriously. the question goes back to what you said earlier, how much political capital will donald trump use on these controversial nominees? we just don't know yet. >> former congressman, david jolly, and ryan nobles, thank you both. >>> up next, secretary of state antony blinken in the hot seat today. his long awaited testimony about the u.s. exit from afghanistan after the long review with republican lawmakers. eview with republican lawmakers it, punks! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ mmmm, kinda needs to be more...squiggly? only pay for what you need. perfect! so now, do you have a driver's license? oh, what did you get us? with the click of a pen, you can get a new volkswagen at the sign then drive event. lease a 2024 tiguan for zero down, zero deposit, zero first month's

and that's, i think, is tulsi gabbard's challenge. the issue with her is not personal. it's not alcohol. it's not infidelity. it's you had these views as a democratic lawmaker and you were for bernie sanders, and you met with a sod. that to me i think is harder. it's harder for the national security hawks than pete hegseth because the beef with hegseth is more his personal conduct. it's easier for them to torpedo her than hegseth. >> can't talk your way out of a meeting with bashar al assad. jonathan martin, always great to talk to you. that is our show. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." >> we're going to take up those confirmation questions with senator ed markey in just a moment here. and later in the show, we're going to be joined by declan walsh, who at "the new york times" actually has the largest geographic jurisdiction of any reporter there. he's the chief africa correspondent. and if i could possibly get "the new york times" to devote 100% of my subscription fees to declan walsh, that would please me greatly. >> yeah, earmarks. >> that's

just, again, the word is that tulsi gabbard did terribly last week.o picks right there. i have a feeling if they go by the wayside he will not be too upset. he does want rfk jr. from all we hear, but these two, i'm not sure if that was just a tip from the senate going, if you have reasons not to take those two, we understand. >> but yet it took great pains to see that publicly. what i'm hearing, and i think you're probably hearing, too, to donald trump and his team, there are conservatives, there are republicans and people who will be loyal to you or not pete hegseth, tulsi gabbard and matt gaetz. that's what they made very clear to him. they are trying to finesse this and say, we will give these guys a fair hearing and interviews but we have some other ideas of people who can be in those jobs. i'm curious, you served with a lot of these people, the big question that hangs over these choices in the next four years, is how far can donald trump push these members? how far can he push them to say, you are going to do what i say or else. do you think they

. >> senators both parties and tulsi gabbard pete hegseth, pam bondi, kash patel, r.f.k. jr.xt week of course the left is already coming after tulsi gabbard, smearing here with the same tired lies they used against trump. >> tulsi gabbard is almost a perfect product of russian information operations. >> maybe under director of national intelligence tulsi gabbard and president donald trump bashar al-assad could split his exile time between here and moscow. >> laura: that's so funny, joining me now alina habba, incoming counselor to the president alina congratulations for upcoming appointment. they are accusing pull is i being apology polling just for the now man who has fled syria, of course, bashar al-assad. it looks like both. >> of course. >> laura: with tulsi and with pete hegseth this stuff doesn't seem to be sticking. am i reading this right? >> are you saying that perhaps they could create a dossier or say that there is a russia, russia hoax and continue it for years on end? i don't believe it, laura. yeah, no kidding. this is what they do when they are desperate. we kn

robert f kennedy, tulsi gabbard and defense secretary nominee pete hegseth.ing from senators. i hear it coming from the press. so i think that there's going to be a solid effort to confirm all of the president's nominees. do you know that over the last 20 or some years, only two nominees have been voted against by members of their own party? it was only one person in each case. in the u.s. senate, i see that happening this time and president trump closing in opt nominees and allegations that are truly allegation withs no backing. larry: yeah a lot of smearing going on from the left. senator, i have to >> president trump has a backbone of steal and never backs down, return the pentagon to the war fighters, pete, is what he told me. clean out the social justice politically correct garage and get back to lethality, war fighting, accountability, meritocracy, and readiness. ness.larry: pretty strong statet and i don't know why anyone would disagree with that? >> they're refracting president trump's priorities which are correct and seen people leave the military be

he is seeing how far he can push them on everything, including maybe tulsi gabbard. >> a preview of the for today and all the years. >> congrats on a great run. >> thank you. appreciate it. thanks for getting up "way too early" on us. i'll see you tomorrow here on "way too early." "morning joe" starts now. >>

>> i know tulsi gabbard. she's a patriot. she served our country honorably. she fits the reform agenda. >> reporter: only three in ten americans say they are extremely or very confident in trump's cabinet picks according to a new a.p. poll. democrats like adam schiff sounding the alarm. >> you want someone with good judgment in that position because they may well be whispering in the ear of the president. >> reporter: schiff, who trump says should be investigated and jailed, along with other members of the january 6th house committee, also blasting trump's pick for fbi director, kash patel. >> i think if patel is made director of the fbi, all bets are off. this is someone who will do whatever dirty work the president wants him to do. >> reporter: another one of trump's nominees, robert f. kennedy jr., nominated to lead the department of health and human services is expected to be on capitol hill this week to meet with senators. linsey. >> linsey: maryalice, thank you. >>> former house speaker nancy pelosi is on the mend tonight after undergoing hip replacemen

i think tulsi gabbard was hoping to slide in under the radar with our history being exposed.f course, the events in syria and her close association with the bashar al assad government. her defense of them brought her past behavior into focus. this does as well. and the same for others who are in the trump inner circle. putin is not going to dance to trumps dance necessarily. it's going to make it difficult. and i think there is a practical consequence of that, which is that there are some people in the republican party in the senate and in the house who are not sympathetic to the pro-russian view. and with the margins in the senate and house being so tight it's going to be very difficult to sort of force down the throats of the united states congress the view that is defensive of the kremlin. in light of events like this. because it was inhumane and he continues 10 years of inhumane behavior in ukraine. >> we have talked about tulsi gabbard. i also want to make sure we talk a little bit about keith kellogg. he had president biden condemning russia's attack on ukraine. he had

let's talk tulsi gabbard. she wants to be in charge of national intelligence, and now she is being questioned about her trustworthiness, her loyalty. that seems like a massive problem. some people on the hill said she will have the toughest time getting confirmed. what do you think? >> i think she's going to have a lot of questions to answer, and i think it will be more scrutiny of her already if not more some of these other nominees, the intention attention they are getting. she has met with the brutal syrian dictator and paraded his propagandist, she has parroted vladimir putin, and i think her views will come under-- a strong look from republican senators who simply do not agree with her on these matters and are very concerned about what she has had to say in the past. and i think it will take some time for them to sift through these other nominees and get around to thinking about her meeting with her and seeing exactly how she explains what she has said in the past, her actions in the past. we will see if

>> i do, i mean, she is a very respected person but >> should tulsi gabbard be dni?nting i just want to point out there, president-elect trump was saying people just meet each other, i have no idea how any circumstance would occur that you can just meet bashar al-assad, you know? do we have to know what led up to that, what was the reason for that? what were the intermediaries that set this up? that is the kind of information we are talking about. as someone who worked at the national security council before, i know how the director of national intelligence is the one in the oval office with the president every single day, giving the president's daily brief, and if you want to ask me if i feel confident that tulsi gabbard can do that with our nation's interests at stake here, i have deep, deep concerns about that. >> and i recognize that you are being reticent saying anything definitive, because after you get sworn in tomorrow, will be a member of the senate, and then in the next congress, you will be voting on all of these people who donald trump has selected for ca

and tulsi gabbard. >> my concern is she is going to be a heat shield for rfk. and rfk is, if anything, more dangerous than gabbard in the role that he is trying to assume. his number one legal aid is a committed anti-vax or who is going to be going after not just the polio vaccine, but the measles vaccine as well, at a time when there are a half- dozen states in this country were herd immunity rates for measles are hovering at the level below which there will be outbreaks. >> now, all of this focus on rfk jr. exactly good news for some of his other nominees, putting pete hegseth and kash patel, folks who would otherwise have a lot of attention on them, a lot of scrutiny on them, because there are 36 days until donald trump takes office, and that's when the confirmation hearings will begin. every day that there is not a focus on kash patel or pete hegseth is a win in trump's mine. >> gary, thank you so much for that but we have this breaking news, there is some hope for the release of a missing american journalist austin tran29: the toppling of the assad regime,

would his best friend in america, tulsi gabbard, have us taking him in? maybe under director of national intelligence tulsi gabbard, and president donald trump, bashar al assad could split his exile time between here and moscow. all the old hands and sort of gray beards, in american news and politics, particularly people with experience in national security and foreign policy, they will all tell you the same thing about the presidential transition period. they will all tell you that the transition times between one president and the next, those are often times when things go haywire. and this transition is not proving to be a disappointment along those lines. i mean, in the blink of an eye, we have had the government collapse in germany. we have had the government collapse in france. we have had the imposition of martial law and an attempted overthrow of the government in south korea. we have had the topple of the assad regime, and potentially a wholesale realignment of all the major powers in the middle east. all while we are in between the end of one pr

also on the hill, tulsi gabbard. facing timely questions of her own, given what's played out in syria now, asked about her 2017 visit with bashar al assad in syria. and trump's new interview. what the president-elect is now saying about members of the january 6th committee, and whether prices will go up for americans. here's rachel scott tonight. >> good morning, everybody! >> reporter: tonight on capitol hill, president-elect donald trump's embattled pick to lead the pentagon, pete hegseth, meeting again with senator joni ernst. >> did she say she's going to vote for you? did you feel confident leaving that room that she would support you? >> it was a great meeting. >> reporter: ernst, the first female combat veteran and vocal survivor of sexual assault, key saying, "as i support pete through this process, i look forward to a fair hearing." late today, asked, does she support the process or support hegseth? >> i'm supporting the process. >> reporter: also on the hill, tulsi gabbard, the former democratic congresswom

kennedy, tulsi gabbard, and pete hegseth.i don't hear that chatter from senators, i hear it from the press. i think that there will be a solid effort to confirm all of this president's nominees, do you know that over the last 20 or some years, only two nominees have been voted against the by members of their own party. and it was only one person in each case. it is traditional that the president get the support of their party. and in u.s. senate, i see that happening this time. closing around -- ranks behind president trump and his nominees. larry: a lot of smearing there. from the left, senator, i have to -- let's see, pete hegseth was on hannity last night, a bit of a quote, take a listen. >> this is why i give so much credit to president trump, he has a backbone of steel. he never backs down. return the pentagon to war fighters pete, get in there clean out social justice politically correct garbage on top, get back to lethality, war fights, accountability, meritocracy and readiness. >> strong statement. and i don't know wh

i'm told that kash patel is probably going to be fine, too, but tulsi gabbard is one that causes them a lot of anxiety because of her meeting with asaad, and questioning american intelligence, so, you know, we will see how much he goes to bat for them. >> michael, i gave you a couple of extra minutes because you are getting the unanswerable question. i want to play a clip from a congressional hearing that took place today where the acting secret service director was testifying in front of the trump assassination task force and one republican congressman asked the director about a day when he appeared at a 9/11 remembrance ceremony, watch this. >> i'm asking you a serious question -- >> i'm a public servant who has served this nation and -- >> the committee will come to order! >> i'm asking you serious questions for the american people and they are not trick questions, were you the special agent in charge that day? >> i was there -- >> no! >> mr. -- >> you know why you were there? you wanted to be visible for this job -- >> you are out of line, congressman! >> you are out of line! >> y

i'm told that kash patel is probably going to be fine, too, but tulsi gabbard is one that causes them a lot of anxiety because of her, you know, meeting with assad, her claims of being a putin sympathizer and questioning american intelligence. so we'll see how much he goes to bat for them. >> i gave you a couple extra minutes there because you're getting the unanswerable question. i want to play a clip from a congressional hearing today where the acting secret service director was testifying in front of the trump assassination task force and one republican congressman asked the director about a day when he appeared at a 9/11 remembrance ceremony. watch this. >> i'm asking you a serious question and you are playing politics. >> i am a public servant who has served this nation -- >> you will not answer the question. >> the committee will come to order. >> i'm asking you serious questions for the american people and they're very simple. were you the special agent in charge that day? >> no, i wasn't. i was there representing the united states secret service, sir. >> i'm asking you yes or

still designated as a us terrorist organization so just taking a giant step back on what sort of tulsi gabbardformer congressman gabbard's theory of the case, and that is that she's doing her own research and that's why i suspect that a lot of her approach to this might resonate with republicans, because they've been so distrustful of what they call the deep state, whether it's intelligence agencies all throughout so, yes, she may have some difficult conversations here in the coming days, but what we're seeing with the republican conference in general is they're coming into line and i do think there's this interesting sort of distinction between trump world, which is making a lot of pressure and trump himself. and when you listen to trump himself, he's almost a narrator in his own play. and he's he's doing play by play, right? it's like he's al michaels on thursday night and he's and he's talking about who's competing. well. and forgive me if al michaels is not on thursday night. i just kind of came up with that but he doesn't seem like he's that vested in it himself. and he's he's just offeri

there's also new reporting by nbc news about tulsi gabbard, donald trump's pick for the nation's higheste official. what we've learned. that's next. at's next. k. unresolved depression symptoms were in my way. i needed more from my antidepressant. vraylar helped give it a lift. adding vraylar to an antidepressant is clinically proven to help relieve overall depression symptoms better than an antidepressant alone. vraylar is not approved for elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis due to increased risk of death or stroke. report changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts to your doctor. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. report fever, stiff muscles or confusion which may be life-threatening or uncontrolled muscle movements which may be permanent. high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain and high cholesterol may occur. difficulty moving, tremors, slow or uncontrolled body movements, restlessness and feeling like you need to move, nausea, constipation, insomnia, dizziness, increased appetite, and fatigue are common. side effects may

. >> donald trump's choice for director of national intelligence, tulsi gabbard, has spoken favorably about assad in the past saying, "assad is not the enemy of the united states." she has admitted to secretly traveling to meet with assad at a time when all travel in and out of syria was controlled by assad. if her nomination makes it all the way to a confirmation hearing, tulsi gabbard will be asked about every word she said to assad and what he said to her and while she's testifying the former dictator of syria will be sitting in moscow watching her confirmation hearing and knowing if she tells any lies under oath about her communications with him, assad will, of course, tell his landlord now, vladimir putin, that tulsi gabbard has compromised herself and then vladimir putin will own her future. we have the possibility of donald trump empowering a director of national intelligence who can be blackmailed by deposed dictator bashar al assad and vladimir putin. no president other than donald trump would ever nominate as unqualified and reckless a person as tulsi gabbard for any positio

but tulsi gabbard was. assad, of course, is an ally of vladimir putin. when president trump took out general soleimani in iran she publicly criticized trump for that. iran another russian ally. so the pattern with tulsi gabbard that is disturbing is that she takes the pro-russia position when it's trump's position. and we all know that trump is too pro-putin but she also takes the pro-russia position when it's not trump's position, there's a clear pattern there that's very disturbing, she cannot be trusted to run our nation's intelligence gathering operation and kash patel. we all know, has no law enforcement background at all. he was being chosen just because donald trump thinks that he will enact his retribution and his revenge against his political enemies. >> all right, congressman seth magaziner, for us this morning, sir. very grateful to have you on the show. thank you for being here come back soon. all right. 45 minutes past the hour. here is your morning roundup. house republicans voting to block the release of an ethics committee report on forme

i mean, she's a very respected person. >> should tulsi gabbard be dni?, one thing i want to just point out there, president-elect trump was saying oh, people just meet. i have no idea how any circumstances would occur that you could just meet bashar al assad. you know, we have to know what led up to that, what was the reason for that, what were the intermediaries that set this up. that's the kind of information we're talking about. i worked at the national security council before, i know how the director of national intelligence is the one in the oval office with the president every day giving the president the daily brief. if you want me if i feel tulsi gabbard can do that with our nation's interest at stake here, i have deep, deep concerns about that. >> and i recognize you're being reticent saying anything, because tomorrow you'll be a member of senate and the next congress you will be voting on all of these people that donald trump has selected for cabinet appointments. i'm going to play something else from kristen's interview with donald trump. this

we've had tulsi gabbard, robert k.ounds on the hill in repeat days and will continue to do so. what's the latest you've heard in terms of where nose nominations stand, and how much political capital is trump willing to spend on their behalf? >> look, i think with pete hegseth the tide has turned in his favor. he still has work to do and he would as i imagine be doing that work over the holidays and in the coming weeks, but i thought the tide really turned when he saw iowa senator joni ernst not necessarily come out and say she would vote for him but softened her stance. we know they had two meetings together, and during that second meeting it seemed they had kind words for each other. they said it was a productive meeting, and pete hegseth has also changed his rhetoric on some issues. we know joni ernst herself is a veteran, and we know pete hegseth has made comments about disagreeing with women in combat. maybe some movement there, but also as you see pete hegseth and the tide turning from him, you have more scrutiny