hegseth, none of those countries are in asean. none of those countries are in asean.little homework. >> stephen: yeah, hegseth, do a little homework! all right? please. everybody knows that the asean countries are... come on, wikipedia. come on. no, i don't want to donate. fine, i don't know what the asean countries are either. so, it is with a heavy heart that i withdraw my nomination to be secretary of defense. i am not qualified to run the "mil-tary." evidently all i'm good for is wearing a suit on tv and reading off a prompter. just like pete hegseth. we got a great show for you tonight! my guests are adam scott and treasury secretary janet yellen. but when we come back, my tech segment, cyborgasm! oh, it's spicy tonight. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> stephen: give it up for louis cato and "the late show" band, everybody. welcome back. there you go. [cheers and applause] i'm refreshed. i am refreshed. back on the planet. folks, i am continually amazed by modern technology. it allows us to put satellites in space, beam medical images to doctors across the planet, or for some rando on

. >> can you name the importance of at least one of the nations in the asean, in asean, and what type of agreement we have with at least one of those nations? and how many nations are in asean, by the way? >> i couldn't tell you the exact amount of nations, but i know we have allies in south korea and japan and in aukus with australia trying to work on submarines with them. >> mr.. hegseth, none of those countries are in iron cross. none of those three countries that you mentioned are in asean. i suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. >> despite all that, it looks like he could sail through among the six nominees to be questioned today, the president elect's choice for attorney general pam bondi, the florida former florida attorney general, is a loyal trump supporter who defended trump's 2020 election lie. cnn's lauren fox is joining us now from capitol hill. what are you watching for today with these many nominees? >> yeah, in just a couple of hours, pam bondi is going to take the hot seat. and you can expect the democrats are really goin

china, we are neutral on china because there is outside and downside risk but i think in india and the asean is bright because india is easily going to grow by 6.5 or even higher in terms of growth, so a very strong middle class domestic consumption. exports, particularly digital, are quite resilient and insulated from the whole headwinds associated with trade. turning to india and the ongoing debate on hib visas — a programme that allows us businesses to tap on global talent. with donald trump set to take over as president, india has been anxiously monitoring us policy on immigration. the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji is live in delhi with more. india has a lot riding on hib visas, put this in perspective for us, why is this important for indian companies? it is critical because a lot of from donald trump that is very much making... us exceptionalism continue on, tax cuts, fiscal spending or deregulation so i think the outlook is likely to be quite robust in 2025. what is your outlook for asia? a nuanced approach. i would say perhaps you have to look at... i think in china, we are neutral on chi

none of those countries are in asean.one of those three countries that you mentioned are in asean. i suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. >> joining us now, allison jaslow, an iraq veteran army captain who was the ceo of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. it's good to see you again. how do you think pete hegseth did? >> i mean, he clearly made it through the hearing itself. i think it was an unfortunately, a very short hearing. i don't know that enough questions were asked and specifically questions about his efforts to actively lobby to get convicted war criminals pardoned. and these are men who weren't indiscriminately targeted by washington politicians. these are men who had men serving alongside of them, who's experienced the same horrors of war as him, who felt he crossed lines we should not cross. they risked their reputations in some cases, but also had the courage to speak up about it. and we should be concerned that we are about to have a secretary of defense

let's watch. >> can you name the importance of at least one of the nations in the asean, in asean, andhat type of agreement we have with at least one of those nations? and how many nations are in asean, by the way? >> i couldn't tell you the exact amount of nations, but i know we have allies in south korea and japan and in aukus with australia trying to work on submarines with them. >> mr.. hegseth, none of those countries are allies, and none of those three countries that you mentioned are in asean. i suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. >> so should a moment like that matter? it doesn't seem like it's going to. i mean, joni ernst came out after this hearing and said she's going to vote for him. >> yeah. i mean, the exchanged that exchange. you saw the exchange between senator tim kaine and hegseth over the sexual assault allegations, uh, that he was involved in. he he was there was some a woman filed a sexual assault, uh, charge against him back in 2017. he reached a settlement with her in 2020. i mean, you would have thought that would

none of those countries are in asean. none of those three countries that you mentioned are in asean. i suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. listen. mr. hegseth, this is he we ask our troops to go into harm's way all the time. we ask them to go into harm's way. and this behind me is a copy of the soldier's creed, a copy that usually hangs over my desk here in the senate. and you should be familiar with it. it's the same copy that hung over my desk at walter reed. every single day that i woke up and fought my way back, because i wanted to go back and serve next to my buddies who saved my life. these same, this same copy. these words are repeated over and over and over again. and let me read out two things to you. two sentences i will always place the mission first, and i am disciplined physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior task. mr. hegseth, our troops follow these words every single day, and they man up and they pack their rucksacks and they go t

are in asean. i suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. >> so, juana, you've been in washington for a long time. i mean, i wonder in the past if a secretary of defense nominee couldn't answer some questions of that type, would that not be considered a qualification issue? >> yeah, but i think that the way it came across was as a gotcha question, it was a gotcha question. >> right? >> so i mean, i think, you know, for a lot of people watching this that, well, you know, so maybe he didn't know that, but is he qualified. and that's to me, the real question is he qualified to manage the largest federal bureaucracy. and i think it's the largest military in the world. and is he given any evidence of background in that kind of management skill? and the answer is no, but it's not what happened today. we've had one round. they're not going to have another round of questioning. i think this is crazy, but they're not having any more questions. and what he did today

hegseth, none of those countries are in asean. >> none of the countries are in asean and i suggest you do homework before you try for these negotiations. mr. hegseth, this is -- we ask our troops to go into harm's way all the time. we ask them to go in harm's way. and this -- behind me is a copy of the soldier's creed, a copy that usually hangs over my desk in the senate, and you should be familiar. it's the same copy that hung over walter reed every single day i woke up and fought my way back and i wanted to go back and serve next to my buddies who saved my life, and the words are repeated over and over and over and over again. i read out two things to you. two sentences. i will always place the mission first. and i am disciplined physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior task. mr. hegseth, our troops follow these words every day, and they man up and pack their rucksacks and they go to war and they deserve a leader who can lead them. not a leader who wants to lower the standards for himself while raising the standards for other people. by the way, our troops

china, we are neutral on china because there is upside and downside risk but i think in india and the aseans bright because india is easily going to grow by 6.5 or even higher in terms of growth, so a very strong middle class domestic consumption. exports, particularly digital, are quite resilient and insulated from the whole headwinds associated with trade. turning to india and the ongoing debate on h—ib visas — a programme that allows us businesses to tap on global talent. with donald trump set to take over as president, india has been anxiously monitoring us policy on immigration. the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji is live in delhi with more. india has a lot riding on h—ib visas. put this in perspective for us. why is this important for indian companies? well, it's very critical, steve. because notjust in professionals but every indian origined companies benefit from the h i b origined companies benefit from the h i b programme as we've seen for a long time now which is why any kind of policy change or any tinkering with h i b change or any tinkering with h i b tinkering has an impact on those

i think what they're saying with the concept, which is growing that cohesion within asean itself and dealing with the organization, while we continue to pursue those bilateral relationships with strong asean, cohesively as a unit, allows them to better deal with other countries like myanmar and also for them to try to stand up to outside forces. sen. rubio: one of the things, and i think you saw this in the first trump term, will probably see it again, to the extent you sea production moving from china to other countries, some of the countries stand to benefit from that, assuming they themselves are not the target of some terror. but i think there are benefits there in that regard. i would imagine there are also some concerns they would share with us about maybe some other policies, economic or otherwise. i do think it's an opportunity that provides some real economic development opportunities for a number of the countries who hope all of them, but certainly some more than others because of alignment of interests. what i do think is we have to be real sheik. i want to reiterate this,

. —— asean.are quite resilient and insulated from the whole headwinds associated with trade. ., ., ., trade. you said neutral on china. trade. you said neutral on china- can _ trade. you said neutral on china. can you _ trade. you said neutral on china. can you help - trade. you said neutral on china. can you help us- china. can you help us understand the situation it finds itself in going into 2025? ., ., , , , 2025? for china the issue is about disinflation, - 2025? for china the issue is about disinflation, the - about disinflation, the property market, so fairly weak and if you add the risk of tariffs that could provide additional headwinds. a lot depends on what policymakers do. they are easing policy and i think a lot of attention will be on whether they embark on more fiscal polities of support, grow directly for chinese consumers, so you want consumers to start spending again, so that is really the crux of the issue. we're tracking developments around the nippon—us steel takeover that pre

but, overall, indonesia is a key ally in the asean region for india — especially as india seeks to position ambition in the region. remember, more than half of india's trade passes through the mu laka strait as well as the south china sea. over there, getting of freedom and securing that freedom of navigation is very crucial. that was also a key point of conversation between the indian prime minister and indonesia president. indonesia has been a key focus for prime minister narendra modi in india's look east policy. that is where the conversations also circled around. ., , conversations also circled around. . , . around. thanks very much. thanks for— around. thanks very much. thanks for your _ around. thanks very much. thanks for your time. - around. thanks very much. l thanks for your time. thanks for watching. hello, and welcome to sportsday. these are the headlines: tense times for tottenham: another premier league defeat means postecoglou's problems mount. a daunting prospect for their rivals: chelsea parade their world—record signing while also extending their lead at the top of the ta

>> how many nations are in asean, by the way? >> i couldn't tell you the exact amount of nations, but i know we have allies in south korea and japan and in caucus with australia trying to work on submarines with them. >> mr.. >> hegseth, none of those countries are in allies across none of those three countries that you mentioned are in asean. >> all right. so we just heard that exchange. you had, that little exchange you had with hegseth. were you surprised he wasn't able to answer your question? >> i'm flabbergasted that he was not able to answer a very simple question, and that especially since he actually mentioned the importance of the indo-pacific in his opening statement. >> but, you know, he also couldn't tell me what are some of the ways that a secretary of defense would lead international negotiations with our allies, either. >> so, i mean, some very basic things that are anybody who wants to be secretary of defense should be able to answer. and for him to not even know a single nation out of the ten in asean speaks ver

none of those countries are in asean. none of those three countries that you mentioned are in asean. i suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. >> now, what did this guy do to deserve such an important job? >> i mean, really one of the most important jobs in the world. >> he did serve in the national guard. he deployed to iraq and afghanistan like literally hundreds of thousands of americans. he also ran a dark money republican group called vets for freedom and ran up such massive debts, the group's board had to save vets for freedom by merging it with another nonprofit and stripping hegseth of his responsibilities. >> he then went on to run another koch brothers backed right wing group, concerned vets for america, but a few years later he was forced to step aside amid multiple allegations of open drunkenness, sexist behavior and financial mismanagement. >> now, i just want to be clear here. lots of political activists, including on the right, have actually built huge nonprofit

lava nya venkateswa ra n is a senior asean economist at ocbc bank.he told us which countries could benefit from a trump administraion. i think it is going to be an interesting time, we are setting up for more production so there will be a bit of reordering in terms of supply chains and trading relationships and how they will work across the world and what we heard from the mexican president is setting up exactly that. many countries in this region are buckling up for the ride and, essentially, at this point i think the bigger concern is still trying to discern the noise from the reality and where eventually the policies will ultimately lie and what becomes of all this rhetoric at the moment that we hear.— this rhetoric at the moment that we hear. and all of this ahead of— that we hear. and all of this ahead of the _ that we hear. and all of this ahead of the inauguration i that we hear. and all of this i ahead of the inauguration of donald trump. when he was in office the first time around, vietnam was one of the beneficiaries of the trade war that b

lava nya venkateswa ra n is a senior asean economist at ocbc bank.he told us which countries could benefit from a trump administraion. i think it is going to be a very interesting time, you know, we are setting up for more protection, so there will be a bit of de—ordering, in terms of supply chains, weight training, relationships are going to work across the world and i think what we have heard from the mexican president as they are setting up for exactly that. a lot of countries in this region are also buckling up this region are also buckling up for the ride, and essentially at this point i think the bigger concern is to try and discern the noise from the reality where eventually the reality where eventually the policies will ultimately lie, and what actually becomes of all this rhetoric at the moment that we are hearing. all moment that we are hearing. all of this ahead of the inauguration of donald trump. when he was in office the first time around, vietnam was one of the beneficiaries of the trade war that began in china. how are they placed at

lava nya venkateswa ra n is a senior asean economist at ocbc bank.old us which countries could benefit from a trump administraion. i think it is going to be a very interesting time. setting up very interesting time. setting up for more prediction. they will be a bit of the order in terms of supply chains, relationships will work across the world. what we heard from the world. what we heard from the mexican president is setting up for exactly that was in a lot of countries in this region are also buckling up for the ride. essentially at this point i think the bigger concern is to try and discern the noise from reality, where eventually the policies will ultimately lie. and what actually becomes of all of this rhetoric at the moment we are hearing. all rhetoric at the moment we are hearinu. �* , . . rhetoric at the moment we are hearinu. �* , ., ., ., hearing. all this ahead of the inauguration _ hearing. all this ahead of the inauguration of _ hearing. all this ahead of the inauguration of donald - hearing. all this ahead of the l inauguration of dona

can you name the importance of at least one of the nations in the asean, in asean, and what type of agreement we have with at least one of those nations, and how many nations are in asean, by the way? >> i couldn't tell you the exact amount of nations, because i know we have allies in south korea and japan and in aukus with australia trying to work on submarines with them. >> mr.. hegseth, none of those countries are allies, and none of those three countries that you mentioned are in asean. i suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. listen mr. hegseth, this is can you we ask our troops to go into harm's way all the time. we ask them to go into harm's way. and this behind me is a copy of the soldier's creed, a copy that usually hangs over my desk here in the senate. and you should be familiar with it. it's the same copy that hung over my desk at walter reed. every single day that i woke up and fought my way back, because i wanted to go back and serve next to my buddies who saved my life. these same. the same copy. these words are repeated over and ov

you're going to be doing negotiations with asean.ou name the nations of asean in your response? and he couldn't. that's outrageous. and the fact that he was picked to be the head of the defense department is part and parcel of what trump has done with virtually all of his nominees, with the exception of maybe rubio, burgum and a couple of others, is just put people in places who look good, who will also do his bidding. amna: will he get confirmed? jonathan: oh, yes. amna: david, do you agree? david: i agree. amna: before we say goodbye here, we have talked a lot over the last two years about how this election would determine the course of this nation's future for the next several years. as we transition from one government to the next, david, how are you looking at this? david: yes, i go with the recognition that donald trump is the most consequential american politician since ronald reagan. we have seen a major shift, basically, the 50 years that joe biden was in office, liberal internationalism, a respect for institutions, at least

you will be doing negotiations, negotiations with asean, name the nations of asean. and he could not. that is outrageous. and the fact he was picked to be the head of the defense department's part and parcel of what trump has done with virtually all of his nominees with the exception of maybe rubio, burgum, and a couple of others. put people who -- put people in places who look good who will also do his bidding. >> will he get confirmed? >> oh yeah. >> would you agree? >> may be. >> before we say goodbye, we talked about how the election will determine the course of this nation's future for the next several years. as we transition from one government to the next, how are you looking at this? >> with recognition donald trump is the most consequential american politician since ronald reagan. we have seen a major shift, basically the 50 years joe biden was in office, liberal nationalism, the respect for institutions, the attempts at bipartisanship. have a system in place from 1945 to 2016 that trump said we are taking it out. and the fact he's reelected and about to tak

multiple asean members are locked in disputes with china. these are critical. the department of defense release add strategic document called u.s. department of defense vision statement for a prosperous and secure southeast asia that was centered on asean and even mentioned that, quote, the united states has worked closely with asean on defense and security in the indo-pacific region since former defense secretary robert gates attended the inaugural asean defense ministers' meeting in 2010, and it goes on to say that at u.s. secretary of defense mass attended and supported asean at every single one of those gatherings ever since. in a moment where these disputes could easily flair up, the president needs a secretary that doesn't draw a bank on questions about our allies. on the middle east, mr. hegseth remarked that isis was, quote, rage across iraq when president trump was first sworn into office in 2017 was simply not reflective of the reality on the ground at the time. combined that and the lack of knowledge should disqualify him. there is a much more clarif

. >> how many nations are in asean, by the way?ell you the exact amount of nations, but i know we have allies in south korea and japan and in aukus with australia trying to work on submarines with them. >> mr. none of those countries are in allies across none of those three countries that you mentioned are in asean. i suggest you do a little homework. >> commanders meet quotas to have a certain number of female infantry officers or infantry enlisted, and that disparages those women. >> commanders are not capable of quotas for the infantry. >> commanders do not have to have a quota for women in the infantry. >> it is true, and has been acknowledged that i don't have a similar biography to defense secretaries of the last 30 years. >> joining us now, allison jaslow, an iraq war veteran and former army captain. she's ceo of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. >> allison, good morning to you. you and i spoke a lot in the lead up to this confirmation hearings about the concerns you had about pete hegseth, the questions you had for

i think what they're saying with the concept, which is growing that cohesion within asean itself and dealing with the organization, while we continue to pursue those bilateral relationships with strong asean, cohesively as a unit, allows them to better deal with other countries like myanmar and also for them to try to stand up to outside forces. sen. rubio: one of the things, and i think you saw this in the first trump term, will probably see it again, to the extent you sea production moving from china to other countries, some of the countries stand to benefit from that, assuming they themselves are not the target of some terror. but i think there are benefits there in that regard. i would imagine there are also some concerns they would share with us about maybe some other policies, economic or otherwise. i do think it's an opportunity that provides some real economic development opportunities for a number of the countries who hope all of them, but certainly some more than others because of alignment of interests. what i do think is we have to be real sheik. i want to reiterate this,

refuge and the blue nile state and something to don bonnie kaufman reports of these camps and album, asean are being over whelmed with people searching for safety officials say more than 100000 people have come to this part of sudan, swing violence across the blue nile states. how uh escaped on foot with her children, but she lost her husband in the fighting. because i know when my husband was killed in our house, i heard gunshots. when i went back in, i found him did. he was still bleeding. but what if we don't to i from gunfire. hunger will get us, but we left my elderly step mother behind. we don't know what's happened to her if she's dead or alive. she's not the only one here. who's paid a high price in this war. many have lost loved ones and everything they own. why did he say center? it's now been a year since i've been back home to my home. i heard it was robbed. what was left was thankfully saved by my neighbors. my husband was renovating the house. the situation was very bad. we were beaten, but we survived thanks to god. he may be on these rows of tens are home to some 24000 peop

treaties, for example, like asean and coalitions, international coalitions that he will have to lead the u.s. on and in. and it wasn't clear whether or not he gave the senators asking those questions satisfactory answers there were a number of points here on which his lack of experience was very much on full display for the committee, and essentially the reaction to that broke down on on partisan lines. >> democrats, effectively appalled by it and said that it showed he didn't have the experience to do the job of defense secretary. republicans, however, focused on something completely different his commitment to war fighting and said he's exactly the right guy, but on the point you make. he was asked about three operate in other countries. they effectively set a series of rules and regulations by which u.s. service members can be in that country. and he wasn't able to name that. the democratic senator there pointed out that it was an example of his lack of experience. he may have led to nonprofits, but he hasn't come anywhere close to leading an organization of this magnitude. with t

can you name the importance of at least one of the nation's in the asean come in ossian, type of agreement we have with a least one of those nations? how we nations are in ossian by the way. >> i couldn't tell ye exact over. >> no, you couldn't because he not been involved. >> south korea and japan and in august with australia. submarines with -- >> mr. hegseth, none of those countries are in ossian. none of thosese three countries you mentioned are in ossian. i suggestst you do a a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. listen, mr. hegseth, sense -- we ask our troops to go into harm's way all the time. we asked him to go into harm's way and this, behind me, is a copy of the soldiers creed, copy that usually hangs over my desk here in the senate. you should be familiar with the pickets the same topics that hung over my death at walter reed every singly i woke up and fought my way back because i would to go back and serve with my buddy sustained my life. this same copy, these words are repeated over and over and over again. let me read out two things to you, two

i think asean, we ought to build on these international organizations within the u.n., because i thinkthat helps continue to expand our ability to deliver diplomatic results. sen. duckworth: thank you. i very much look forward to working with you in your new position. graduations. chair risch: -- congratulations. chair risch: senator shaheen. sen. shaheen: i had a couple more follow-up questions. we recognize congressman joe wilson, who i'm sure is here. nice to have representation from the house foreign affairs committee. thank you. congresswoman, the un security council recently renewed the mandate for althea in bosnia and herzegovina through november 2025. it has been a constant challenge, and i worry that the u.n.-backed peacekeeping mission is needed now more than ever. perhaps in greater force because of the republic of serbia co.'s leader, who is sanctioned by the u.s., and he continues his succession as threats. if confirmed will you commit to building consensus for maintaining that peacekeeping mission in the long term? rep. stefanik: yes. sen. duckworth: thank you. -- sen. sh

but, you know, the fact he didn't know the countries of asean. come on, give me a break. you aren't 100 people outside the foreign policy process that know that brunei is a member of asean. so i think he through the wickets, we got to hope that he is able to surround himself with people that understand audits and defense, acquisition and management of large organizations. and because he i think he's going to be the secretary of defense to some extent, it's going to be a popular nomination. he is a decorated combat veteran. he acquitted himself well as a as a soldier. he's obviously extremely capable as a communicator. so that's the situation rolling in. and by the way, there's some other picks. tulsi gabbard, mr. kennedy, who the you know, the fbi director nomination that are truly frightening. so i think this issue is probably behind us. >> well, let's just let's just say thank you so much. retired four star army general barry mccaffrey. and let's take note as we say goodbye to you, that you have a hell of a lot of dust on your boots and far more accumulated through the

now, thanks to senator duckworth, we know he is someone who can't name a single country in asean. i mean that ignorance is alarming. senators only had seven minutes during his confirmation hearing to ask questions, many asked the questions we knew our republican colleagues would not regarding hegseth's questionable character and fitness, important questions, absolutely. but because we had to spend so much time understanding whether he could do this job at the basic level, we had precious little time to ask him how he would do his job. how would pete hegseth ensure that our servicemembers and their families have the resources they need at home and abroad? how does he plan to reduce costs and development times for key military capabilities that are critical to our national security? how would he invest in our defense industrial basin public shipyard like the one in my home state of washington? how does he view the pacing threat in the indo-pacific and how would he work with our partners and allies to prepare for a potential conflict? does he have any thoughts on that at all? this is

china is the story and you also have dia and the asean economies.arding chinese growth, i think that the fact that china was able to have 5% growth last year speaks volumes about the capacity of such a large economy to continue growth rates not as high as in the past, but still cent growth rates. this was reported by policy. policy will continue to be supported this year if the chinese authorities want to maintain growth rates between 4% and 5% and 4.5% and 5%. the china's authority still has to come up with what the official target for this year. i think what is most important was the explicit acknowledgment by the chinese authorities that they will continue to support chinese growth through proper monetary and fiscal policies. with that, clearly, there is a need to revive consumer confidence. i think more needs to be done as needed in order to make sure the property sector finally stabilizes and starts recovering. we know from other historical experiences, this is something that takes longer than other things. this is china to focus on that and al

we look at the afghan union and we look at asean and other regional organizations and i think part of what the logic of the future suggest is actually we should work to strengthen those organizations and help them become more effective and help them take on more responsibility and do it in court nation with the united nations and one thought there is to give them participation and standing in some fashion in the work of the security council under the same way that some of them are in the g20 so we are decentralizing the process. coordinating it at theec same time. and they think it offers a powerful model and not that it needs to be replicated exactly but they are lessons from a used success and its challenges and shortcomings that are really important as we think about building regional capacity elsewhere in thehe world. >> do you see potential success in other regions around the world and where would you take the model next? >> africa is the one i would focus most on this paper is obviously looking long-term at a future and i've heard it's going to be increasingly critical in the de

the quad with japan, india, we strengthened our strength with asean, as the dprk and p.r.c. continue to fuel putin's war of aggression against ukraine underscore how european unity is indivisible we built support between other partners. european allies twhoarp verge of signing a major agreement with china now they're coordinating with us on screening mechanisms to pushing back on china's overcapacity and unfair trade practices. we managed our competition with china responsibly so it doesn't veer into conflict and also cooperating on challenges where the world expects great powers to lead, from climate change to fentanyl. we've demonstrated that other countries can rely on the united states to tackle some of our biggest shared challenges. and deliver on some of our own -- on their own national aspirations. preventing disease outbreaks, enhancing food security, celebrating the clean energy transition, bringing together a global coalition of more than 160 countries to address the synthetic opioid crisis. as we celebrate the return of hostages in gaza, including americans, as we

and he couldn't even answer the most basic questions i asked of him, like name a country that's in aseanost significant economic alliances in the indo-pacific. and he couldn't even mention a single one. so pete hegseth could do all he wants to try to put women to make this about whether or not women are qualified to serve, when really this is about whether or not he's qualified to be secretary of defense. and he didn't show any capabilities to me today that he is able to do this job. geoff: he also argued that it's time for someone with dust on his boots that's how he put it after years of presidents selecting generals, academics, defense contractor executives to serve as defense secretaries. when he says that he'd be a change agent and would restore the warrior ethos in the military, why did democrats take issue with that? the pentagon's recruitment struggles are real. why not try a different approach? sen. duckworth: well, the fact of the matter is, he's asking us to lower the standards for him. listen, i have dust on my boots as well. in fact, my boots are still in iraq, where i left

. >> we re-energized the quad with japan, india, australia strengthened our relationships with asean, the pacific island countries, elevated partnerships with vietnam and indonesia. as the dprk and the prc continue to fuel putin's war of aggression against ukraine, underscoring how european and asian security are indivisible. we've also built enduring bridges between our pacific and atlantic allies and partners. >> australia, japan and south korea have provided important support to ukraine. >> in 2021, european allies were on the verge of signing a massive trade agreement with china. >> now, as we continue to listen in on secretary of state antony blinken, we will, of course, continue listening in and bring more of his comments to you in just a second. but i want to right now talk a little bit on the human aspect of what may or may not be happening right now in the middle east. and i'm talking about the fact that the biden administration says the first phase of this deal would include the release of two americans, sagi dekel and keith siegel. sagi decagon was taken from a kibbutz near

i mean, remember when tammy duckworth asked him about, like, just what are the asian nations in aseancause that's where the greatest threat of a war erupting is over taiwan, something that could literally start world war three. he knew nothing about it. he doesn't know anything about this stuff. you know, he's he's he served a little bit in the military, sometimes in a reserve status. and he's spent a career trying to inject politics into our dod as a fox news commentator. all right. the reason why trump wants someone like this in, in the secretary of defense position is because he can identify with someone who's a fellow perpetrator of sexual assault, who has no moral principles, someone whose loyalty is not to the united states or to the constitution, but just to whoever gives him a job. in other words, trump has found a stooge. that's what pete hegseth is. and that's not good for our troops. >> donald trump's national security advisor and your former colleague on the armed services committee, mike waltz, sent home 160 national security council aides this week as they conduct a revi

that's what prompted her to ask him about asean, the southeast cooperation intergovernmental cooperative. and those ended up being big viral moments because hegseth was a little bit stumped and caught flat footed, and didn't seem to be as prepared for those pretty simple questions as he was for ones about his own past controversies. >> i think the other thing that struck me, and duckworth touched on it at the top of her questioning, where she said, i don't know how this hearing has become a referendum on whether or not women are qualified to serve. of course they are. she herself carries those scars every day. but talk about the undertone of misogyny that i heard in that hearing this idea that women are somehow not qualified, even if they pass the high standards of serving in combat. i felt like it was a thread. >> yeah, it was a huge thread, a very significant theme. we heard and frequently talked about. you know, how he didn't he tried to backtrack some of his past comments on women in combat, but kept saying how standards have been lowered, which is kind of saying the same thing. and

and so when he's asked what countries are in asean or how do these relationships work historically.m eager to learn about that, that doesn't cheer me. as a citizen of this country, i assume that it amuses or surprises foreign leaders who are watching all of this unfold, thinking, this is a guy who put aside, if you can, all of the allegations against him. look at this resume. it is totally unlike anything that would have been put forward by a president from either party in the hundreds of years leading up to these hearings. >> but what i'm realizing is, if i was the senator, i'd be thinking of two things. if i vote against trump, can he defeat me in two years? or if i vote for this nominee, will they make such fools of themselves that i'll have so and be so embarrassed when i run in the next race, when the democrats running against me? >> this is such an important point that i feel like we missed this week, right? let's just say all of donald trump's nominees get rubber stamped through. you know what happens next? they're going to do these giant public facing jobs, and it will be fo

asean is a great example where it is being tested. the last year, at their conference the chinese were able to prevent participation by the tie -- any mention of taiwan in the memorandum this year they are working hard to make sure no one associated with taiwan is about where near it. and also the western hemisphere, majority of nations on earth that recognize and have relations with taiwan are within western hemisphere, they have undertaken a very aggressive act in last 7 years to get countries to flip, they got panama to flip. i think it is important to recognize allies in the region that have not flipped and others who stayed strong. on porcupine strategy, i know it may sound weird to people if anyone is watching this, i know what ratings are. but let meou say, when porcupine strategy what it means and you top take cost ofns invading taiwan higher than the benefit. we want to discourage that by the chinese believing -- yes could they win an invasion. but price would be too high to pay, deterrent, that is critical, not in justst def

he could not name the countries in asean. he did not. he didn't know specifics. right.ybody is not going to feel the same way about joe biden. i do think that legacies are not made in a moment. and over time, they change, right. i will say this, pete, public opinion, we're talking this is the weekend of mlk that before we celebrate mlk day on monday, in addition to this inauguration and in the aftermath of mlk s assassination, you know, the majority of people in this country, when asked an opinion poll, said that doctor king brought his assassination upon himself. they said that he was a socialist and that he was a communist. that is what the people thought of doctor king in the aftermath of his assassination. he is one of the greats in this country, right? i say that to say that sometimes the public opinion, sometimes the people are wrong. there are many things that used to be the law of the land that people agreed with in this country, everything from slavery to women not being able to, you know, have their own bank account unless associated with their husband, let al

using all the agency we have, the middle powers, india, asean, europe, japan, the international institutionswhat we do in between those two extremes, between the unattainable ideal of prosperity being indivisible and avoiding at all cost a zero-sum world. there's a lot we can do. there's a lot that we can do. but start from the reality that there are strengths in each of our nation's, very well described. the u.s. has unique set of markets and institutions that drives innovation in a way that no other nation or region does. and as christine says, europe has human capital. i mean not just in terms of expertise but in terms of values. it's a font of the values that we admire in today's world. asia has a desire to keep opening up, to keep breaking barriers. asia is still striking fta deals and you now have uk joining the cptpp and there are several others on the waiting list. so build on these trends. the desire on the part of most of the world to stay open, to be interdependent so that we can all grow. so let's build a realistic basis for optimism, but starting from a position where people are