and warren calling out joni ernst. your respond? >> joni ernst has served in the military, if she can support pete hegseth, so will women across the country. yesterday we saw hypocrisy. senator warren doesn't upon even know rank, she called pete hegseth general. if you don't know your rank and interviewing someone for secretary of defense, you probably don't know enough about that job to make a decision here. she should probably sit this one out. >> carley: inauguration is shaping up to be unexpected group of people all together. we are learning elon musk, mark zuckerberg, jeff bez os will be sitting together and union representation there, teamsteres president, fighter union president. this is not something we saw in 2016 and it proves republicans have a unique opportunity to bring people together and get things done. how will you capitalize on that? >> this is all donald trump. we said he would unify the country and you are seeing him do that in the days and weeks before his inauguration. the world will be a safer pl

yes. >> we were talking about joni ernst. and it's not just joni ernst, right?who have just capitulated on this nominee. >> but but senator duckworth was asked why she thinks that senator ernst changed her mind. here's her analysis. >> i'm somewhat disappointed that joni would basically kowtow to maga extremists, which, you know, at first she said she had some concerns, but she came under such attacks from the maga crowd and people around donald trump up and down. >> his leadership team said that they would come after her and her, you know, she's up for reelection. they will primary her. >> and like so many of my republican colleagues, they're running scared. and frankly, i wish that they would put the national security of america over their own political survival. >> it is interesting. it is interesting to me, michael steele, that republicans have found the slightest bit of backbone and sort of strength in numbers when it comes to austerity, but they have not found that when it comes to america's national security. >> no, because they don't. that's not the play

as one senator told me, joni ernst is being made to eat the s sandwich in public. she is going to be made to vote for somebody who thinks what she did is dumb or wrong. and i want to play you now, this news that just broke a little while ago about joni ernst announcing that she will support hegseth. here's that sound. >> i am breaking news, simon. i figured you would ask this. so yes, i will be supporting president trump's pick for secretary of defense, pete hegseth. >> what did you learn in your reporting about this trajectory? >> well, it's really interesting. you pointed out at the beginning of the show that there are so many competent candidates who could have been nominated for this position. >> and a lot of people in my reporting on the senate armed services committee noted that joni ernst herself, yes, would have been a you know, my politics are very, very different from joni ernst. >> i would not have liked her as a nominee, but i think there's no question that she would have been qualified and competent to carry out a hard right, donald trump focused agend

so with joni ernst amazingly now a yes. are we looking at the next secretary of defense with his five sets of 47 push ups before his morning coffee? yeah, i think joni ernst was absolutely the canary in the coal mine here. we kind of knew that she was ultimately going to get to. yes. there was a question, though, of how she was going to get there. >> right. >> was she going to try to show that she was being tough and she was grilling him hard, and she was really taking it to him and then felt comfortable getting to yes. or was she going to do what she ultimately did in this hearing today, which was try to sort of grease the skids for him and try to help him help himself? she was very nice to him, sort of bringing up things that he had said, reminding people what they had said in private meetings, how he had changed his mind on certain things. but i think the entire episode with joni ernst was really instructive about this entire nominee process. >> right? >> because she is someone if you built someone in a lab of a republic

i think they know as well as anybody that joni ernst is the key here. if joni ernst goes south on this nomination, it could spell trouble if she backs him. i think it's very clear that he'll be the next secretary of defense. and they were clearly leaning in on that issue of women in the military. and the sort of problem for democrats is he just readily conceded he's changed his views on this. he changed his position. he no longer holds that view. and it made it hard for some of that to stick. eventually these hearings, they tend to devolve into a little bit of shirts and skins. and i think that actually works very well to seth's favor. if democrats are looking as though they are being performative and just trying to score points, frankly, against donald trump more than they are against pete hegseth, that makes it really easy for them to sort of rally together and come together. i would be very surprised at this point if he is not the next secretary of defense. joni ernst definitely was not too confrontational with him, and that may be the whole ball gam

but really the main key moment was joni ernst questioning. yes, she did dig into some of those details, particularly this issue of sexual assault in the military and women serving in combat roles. but she didn't she wasn't it wasn't a fiery, contentious exchange. and at many moments, she referred to that pair of of meetings that she had with pete hegseth last month. so no real fireworks, nothing unexpected. and i think it underscores that he is likely to sail to confirmation. now. there are, of course, a few outstanding republican senators who have not yet said where they stand mitch mcconnell, susan collins, lisa murkowski. but again, it's going to take more than three. right now, he looks like he's in a good spot. right. >> and i think there's also some question about, you know, whether ernst was she seemed to be have been looking for support. she didn't want to be the fourth person there. and she didn't really get any when she was, you know, talking about this back in december, you mentioned women in the military. and that was an issue whe

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as we just mentioned, republican senator joni ernst, all eyes on her. do you know how she's going to vote? >> i have not asked her directly, but i also haven't heard of any no votes on the committee or otherwise. >> i think pete hegseth did a great job today. >> i think he's sailing towards a confirmation. >> i think we're going to do it quickly. i think for all the national security picks, we want to move expeditiously, and i don't think anything that happened in that committee today changed anything. the reality that president trump won on a reform agenda, pete hegseth wants to go do that in the pentagon that sorely needs reform. i think he answered those questions today. and like i said, i think he's going to win the committee vote and win and have the votes on the floor. >> so hegseth repeatedly said that specific allegations raised about his drinking or other allegations were, quote, anonymous smears. i want to play some of the exchange that he had with democratic senator mark kelly. >> summer of 2014, in cleveland. drunk in public with the cba tea

senator joni ernst was one of those who felt the pressure campaign the most. and you saw some people even talking about primarying republican senators who voted against donald trump's nominees here. and so that's why i noted who was in that room today, because it really did set the tone kind of going into this hearing, to see all of those people who were there supporting him and sitting behind pete hegseth. i mean, megyn kelly was one of the figures just out of the camera shot, sitting right behind him there. and so you saw what that effort is going to look like. it could be a path that they take for other nominees if they come under increasing amounts of fire. but you've heard from a lot of republican senators who are really looking to how senator joni ernst herself was going to handle this. i will say that was something that surprised me was, you know, secretary mark esper, donald trump's second defense secretary. his name was not really brought up until the end, even though, you know, a lot of the questions that hegseth batted down, he said that they were h

cooking. >> senator joni ernst is a female veteran on the senate armed services committee.he came out tonight saying that she will vote yes on pete hegseth. >> you know, look, i got to figure there are about a quarter of a million women who are on active duty military service right now who are feeling pretty lonely that there is not a single republican so far who will stand up for them and instead are willing to pass along a person to be the secretary of defense who has said straight up that he doesn't want to see women in combat, and doesn't think that women make good soldiers. >> can i ask you? and maybe i saw this wrong, so please tell me. but i was there in the in the hearing room today. reporters kind of sit behind the guests, but but a clear view of the senators asking their questions. when senator joni ernst had her seven minutes and she first entered in a letter of praise for for pete hegseth into the record, you seem to have a reaction to that as you were watching, you know, she was the senator that everyone was essentially watching. >> well, obviously because of j

senator joni ernst revealing her vote on pete hegseth confirmation as president elect. trump appears to have won the battle for his pick to lead the defense department. democratic senator elizabeth warren will join me live after she clashed with hegseth today over his stance on women in combat. also tonight, the death toll in los angeles has now risen to 25 people. while firefighters are making progress today. forecasters have an ominous new warning. and who's in and who's out. michelle obama won't attend donald trump's inauguration next monday, but mark zuckerberg will. and he is not the only one. we have a few more names for you tonight. i'm kaitlan collins in washington, and this is the source. and there is breaking news here in d.c. after a dramatic and tense day on capitol hill, republican senator joni ernst of iowa, who at one point expressed reservations about president-elect trump's pick to run the pentagon and had the power potentially to sink pete hegseth nomination has just made a very big announcement. >> he was at a adequately able to answer all of my quest

i think that when you look tammy duckworth in the eye and joni ernst. tammy duckworth losing both legs. you better have a good reason to back it up and not oh i'm up for this position now and i decided to change my position on it. one of most poignant moments is pointing to the soldier's creed. what they sign up with and go into battle. how they protect and seven. that sounded exactly like how pete talks about his country. i couldn't really make sense why he would be parroting there's quotas they have to have female quotas. or to say this is all about the wokeification and we heard dei over and over again from the republicans on the panel, i didn't see any evidence of that when you look at tammy duckworth and women who are not needing a lower standard but can lift the weights, do the run are going out there and doing for our country. >> jess if you met with democrats, they would all love you. >> jesse: it's called a charm offensive. pete was trying to shore up the votes on the republican side and didn't have time for the democrats. to answer greg's ques

overnight, senator joni ernst announced she will be supporting hegseth's confirmation. unless there is a surprising turn in the gop, this likely clears hegseth's path to the pentagon. but his hearing did have some tense moments. garrett haake has more from the capitol. >> reporter: president-elect trump's embattled pick to lead the pentagon, former fox news host and combat veteran, pete hegseth, making an impassioned pitch for the job. >> it's time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. my only special interest is the war fighter. >> reporter: arguing he's the target of false attacks. >> there was a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media against us. >> reporter: but hegseth facing a grilling from senate democrats, including over a 2017 sexual assault allegation. police investigated, but no charges were filed. the local prosecutor saying, quote, no charges were supported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. >> you've admitted that it was consensual, were you still married and just had a child by another woman. >> completely false charges against me

, or i could work with x general or y general. >> joni ernst would fly through. e most divisive secdef candidate in history. right. so ernst would fly right through and it would be better for our national security, our stability, morale, recruiting. but it looks like they're going to push it all the way unless they pull it out in the 11th hour, because i would not put it aside that something could come out in the next six hours. i mean, it's been like that throughout this entire time. >> that you could have anything come out that's going to sway republicans at. >> this point. i think. i think a lot of them are keeping their powder dry. >> i also find that when more allegations come out, the harder the heels get dug in. i mean, bret stephens was arguing that that hegseth was looking like a very rocky confirmation until the jane mayer piece came out about about his history, his past with drinking, his the accusations of harassment. all of that stuff made it made it more imperative for republicans to confirm him. >> yesterday, a lot of people thought that collins and

prey to sexual assault, to rape, to harassment and other forms of abuse. >> again, that is senator joni ernst saying she feels it is important to be a voice for victims of sexual assault and rape and harassment. senator ernst is also a veteran, which made his comments about women in the military seemingly a particularly tough pill for her to swallow. here is how senator ernst spoke about pete hegseth just last month. >> i did have a very long, lengthy discussion with pete yesterday, and i do appreciate his service to the nation. i also am a combat veteran, so we talked about a number of those issues, and we will continue with the vetting process. i think that that is incredibly important. so again, all i'm saying is we had a very frank and productive discussion, and i know that we will continue to have conversation in the upcoming months. okay. >> it doesn't sound on your answer that you've gotten to a yes if i'm wrong about that, correct me. and if that is the case, it sounds to me as if the hearing will be critical for his nomination. am i right about that? >> i think i think you are right.

degree of experience leading the pentagon. >> you know, and i thought of this when i was watching joni ernstwonder it always seems that in the republican party, there are people waiting for someone else to do the thing that needs to be done. and maybe ernst was just saying, i'm not going to lead this charge. i'm likely to be the replacement if and when he implodes or is fired early. i think you saw what you saw. a lot of republicans basically saying, this isn't going to be our problem now. that's that's i worked in the senate many years ago. you know, senators, there used to be a time when senators said, i don't want my vote to be associated with, you know, this kind of a candidate. and senator reid brought this up about john tower at one point saying, yeah, this this body turns down senators for jobs like this. we did it to john tower. now, i think their attitude is, look, we just nothing matters. give trump the people he wants, let them implode. you know, which is it makes sense from a political point of view, from the point of view of a, of your personal survival in politics. it's really

it seems he's including senator joni ernst there. and if that's the case, then he likely has the support of the republicans on the committee and will get confirmed by the republicans in the full senate there. and that perhaps where that confidence right now is coming from, as well as from president elect donald trump's team. >> all right. cnn's oren liebermann, thank you so much. joining us now, the current republican congressman from florida. mike waltz, who will be president trump's national security advisor. first of all, congressman, congratulations on the new gig. i hope you will come on the show and talk about the president's foreign policy and the days, weeks and years ahead. so you introduced pete hegseth in today's hearing. you sang his praises. are you confident there will be no republican defections? he will get the support of all the republicans on the committee and on the floor of the senate. >> i am confident, jake. i think pete hegseth is going to be a great defense secretary. it is time for change. the status quo, as

and after haig's pick was announced by the president elect, joni ernst, senator ernst was deeply skeptical. she made it clear in her public remarks and leaking through aides that she did not think that hegseth would be qualified. she should put up a lot of resistance at the start. and then a pressure campaign begun, a pressure campaign by the trump team, by some outside groups, seem to have been effective and rattled her. and we saw, you know, after she met with hegseth before the holidays, she came out more receptive, still not committing, but more receptive. but i was told at the time, and we heard again over, over the holidays that that they believe they had moved her. and it seems like yesterday they did. and she gave an interview after the hearing, which she said she would support him. and now there were still a few votes here we're not sure about. i saw senator collins expressed some skepticism still yesterday, but but collins, murkowski, even mcconnell that's not enough. that's only three. you need at least four. now, that doesn't mean there won't be someone else who steps forward.

and of course, joni ernst, her line of questioning really did not produce any fireworks.d that a lot of her initial concerns over hegseth that they had, you know, hashed out behind closed doors, all of that. very welcome to donald trump's team. and look what they had wanted is what they saw. they wanted republicans to kind of defend hegseth to be the opposition force to the very ugly questioning that they were anticipating that would come from democrats. and that's what they saw. they saw a lot of republicans really kind of show their loyalty to donald trump, saying that they anticipated that trump knew who the best pick was to serve in his cabinet. but of course, yesterday was such a big moment for them. not only was it donald trump's first nominee to face questioning in congress, but also hegseth is one of the most controversial picks that he has. and so, of course, yesterday was going to be one of those moments that they were very worried about. i know there was a lot of, you know, anticipation, some uneasiness heading into yesterday. they feel very good about his chan

today, he seemed to have addressed the concerns of one key republican senator, joni ernst, herself a combat veteran. >> as secretary of defense, will you support women continuing to have the opportunity to serve in combat roles? >> yes, women will have access to ground combat roles, given the standards remain high and we'll have a review to ensure the standards have not been eroded. >> reporter: but democrat elizabeth warren accused hegseth of changing his position. >> this issue has always been about standards, and unfortunately, because of some of the people that have been in political power for the last four years -- >> excuse me, mr. hegseth, let's just stop right there. let's just stop right there. >> priorities other than -- >> mr. hegseth, i'm quoting you -- i'm goquoting you from t podcast. "women shouldn't be in combat at all." where is the reference to standards? that they should be there if they can carry, if they can run? i don't see that at all, mr. hegseth. >> reporter: hegseth also pressed about an accusation he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017, a charge he denies. c

but you also, of course, have joni ernst.issues that joni ernst has fought about women in combat, also fighting against sexual harassment, sexual abuse. these are two issues that have been central to what joni ernst has tried to do to make the armed forces stronger, and specifically make the lives of women in the armed services equal and fair to men who are also serving their country. lisa murkowski, susan collins, mitch mcconnell. i must say i understand the cynicism. you know, so many people are are that way for great reason about washington, d.c. but of those i named and so many others who actually care about the armed services of the united states of america and america's national security, i just it would be a dark day if there were not four republican senators who understood that we need someone. the president needs someone. the commander in chief needs someone running the pentagon. that actually is up to the task of that job. and when crisis hits across the world, whether it's with china, whether it's with russia, whet

on the charm offensive for joni ernst joni ernst was key. it appears to me that she's folded.me she's going to overlook this. and here's what everybody needs to understand. pete hegseth is who you think he is. but that's what donald trump wants. donald trump tried a man that was competent with dirt on his boots. how dare him intimate that somebody like jim mattis has not been in combat or lloyd austin has not been in combat? how dare he intimate that? but they were competent and they were in command. they were respected by the people that they were going to serve with. but donald trump doesn't want any of that. he only wants loyalty to him. and if you noticed every time he was asked to, would he stand up to donald trump? he folded like a cheap shotgun. i mean, he absolutely is not going to stand up to donald trump. and that's why he's there. he will not stand up to him. and i hope that at least other people around donald trump can convince him not to go down a path of abusing the constitution and violating the law when it comes to using our military in ways that the founding f

one of the key holdouts, joni ernst from iowa, announced she would support pete hegseth after that hearingthere are still a few outliers who have not said where they leaned one way or another, lisa murkowski cut mitch mcconnell, and todd young. if all four of those republicans vote against pete hegseth, he will not be able to be confirmed as defense secretary in the margins, but i think it is a question of will those four ultimate lee vote against him. the other folks are pretty locked in. they said they are going to support him and i do not know they would backtrack on that after reading this affidavit. it is a possibility but it is unlikely and i think folks are going to be asking, did we receive this information too late? host: you had a chance to talk to speaker johnson about president trump's january 6 pardons. what did he tell you? guest: he said he has not had an ability to review it yet. he did not have a specific reaction, sort of deflecting the question to not comment. we will try again today, assuming he has had a moment to review the pardons that president trump signed on the f

i think you see it in this campaign of intimidation against joni ernst. that is the telltale sign of authoritarianism. i think david is absolutely right. viktor orban still has elections. that's not democracy. it's the pretense of democracy. but unless the people are still retaining power, unless you have a free press, unless the other institutions retain their institutional prerogatives, and unless you have an executive who abides by the law, you do not have a democracy, you have an authoritarian regime, or you have in this case, i think, an oligarchy, because we haven't touched on, frankly, incoming president elon musk. but he's really going to have extraordinary power. >> yeah. and i think that's an interesting point, david, that we're jumping right to that. we're getting into a point where people with a great deal of power and influence in this society, including heads of social media companies or major technology companies, are jumping in both feet first. and in many cases, it's a little transparent, right? they want the ability to merge. they want t

>> i have a lot of respect for joni ernst, and she's a friend. and i'm not presuming she will vote one way or the other. >> she's indicated she will vote for him. >> and i am still hopeful. but i'm very clear eyed that republicans are falling in line. and i am disappointed. i'm frankly disappointed in any republican colleague who votes for this nominee. we showed today that he lacks the character and competence to command the most complex and difficult and important institution in this whole country, make life or death decisions. and there are no do overs for some of these mistakes if they're made. we're talking about here war and peace. and the secretary of defense has to be more than a spokesman. he has to lead with the qualifications and preparedness that the american people expect and demand in justification to those men and women who risked their lives and raise their right hand and are willing to give their lives. >> what should we make of the fact that it appears that the fbi investigation was incomplete, did not speak with his alleged acc

we obviously saw a yes vote there from joni ernst, a no vote from lisa murkowski. two closely watched female republican senators. >> and so far it is just collins and murkowski that have voted no on the republican side of the aisle against pete heck, said the two that i'm watching the most closely, i have not yet seen on the senate floor, and that is thom tillis and mitch mcconnell. the mcconnell had made his way to the floor a short while ago and might just be waiting over there. i'm just keeping an eye on the screen here. and certainly pete hegseth can only afford to lose one more republican vote and still get confirmed. i'm told jd vance is in the building. he's close by just in case he needs to break a tie. any potential tie here? but, rachel, my reporting all week on this has indicated that republican senators who have had concerns about pete heckert's nomination, not only because of the allegations in the affidavit, but perhaps most importantly, the answers that he gave during his confirmation hearing last week on how he would handle potential war crimes, the

of course, joni ernst had raised objections, but she seems to have backed off of that. so but this is what the democrats want to use the hearing for, is that they want to highlight these these instances and try and pick off a few republicans and cause trouble for hegseth. he's obviously the marquee hearing, but it's going to be a real blizzard of hearings. i don't know that people are quite prepared for how many they're going to be, but i don't know if you want to answer the question of who's going to get confirmed on day one, but i don't think many. yeah. no. maybe marco rubio. yeah. unless something horrible surfaces. i don't think that's going to happen. >> maybe. elise stefanik maybe. >> maybe. but there's some real process issues here. you know, these aren't official nominees. i don't want to get way in the weeds. although you probably would. but the, uh, you know, they're not officially nominated until the president's in. you got a lot of paperwork issues to deal with. so without democrats going along, you won't get too many. and plus, they remember they only got

. >> joni ernst was was just asked about this and we i have we don't have the sound loaded, but i canaid it's really hard to buy into the affidavit. the sworn statement from the former sister in law, when the ex-wife also swore that it did not happen. so she's not this is not it sounds like this is not going to sway her vote. she was somebody that people were looking toward because, you know, she's a she's a veteran. she's also been the victim of abuse. do you do you know why joni ernst would not be swayed by this or why she's just take the allegations out of it, why she would get behind somebody like pete hegseth? >> well. >> let's just start off. >> by saying that the ex-wife did not swear that it did happen. there was a statement that came out from her lawyers. remember that this ex-wife is dependent on mr. hegseth for child support and that she has very young children, and she has expressed a deep fear of him in the past. and so if you look at what she has said or what her lawyers have said, they're very carefully made statements. and so at no point has she swore that this has nev

and in fact, joni ernst was very active in in those investigations. and so and the not allowing us to have a second round of questions, not allowing the nominee to meet with any of the members of the minority party. those are absolutely unprecedented, and they're not consistent with the bipartisanship that normally governs the senate armed services committee and how we operate. >> senator, i just want to let our viewers know, as you might be able to see on your screen, the senate has confirmed trump's pick to lead the cia, john ratcliffe. they're now moving on to that procedural vote that we were discussing on pete hegseth. i do have to ask you, senator, in regard to this latest affidavit regarding pete hegseth that was released by his ex sister in law, his ex-wife came forward and refuted some of the claims in that affidavit. i wonder if you think that undercuts some of the claims against hegseth. >> please be clear on what happened. and that is that his ex-wife's lawyer came forward and made a statement. i understand that this woman has young childr

one focus today is doing ernst of iowa. -- joni ernst of iowa.: she had meetings with pete hegseth. in the second meeting she subsequently issued a statement of general support for mr. hegseth. we are continuing to remind her and other senators that time is of the essence. host: are you concerned there will be pushback against the president's nominees? guest: i don't think so. the responses we have seen from senators on all the nominees across the board has been welcomed. we have been very pleased with the response. time is of the essence. we can't have nominees sitting in the senate for weeks or months on end waiting to be confirmed. we have to get the work started and we have have agency has in place. host: ryan walker joining us for this conversation. the phone lines are available. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans independents, (202) 748-8002. to text us your thoughts or questions, (202) 748-8003. in the first 100 days is there a wish list from your organization of what you want to see from the trump administration?

>> welcome back. >> following a contentious confirmation hearing yesterday, republican senator joni ernsttion to be donald trump's secretary of defense. >> ernst, a combat veteran and survivor of sexual assault, was seen as one of the most likely republicans to defect against hegseth, who has previously expressed opposition to women serving in combat roles and has been accused of sexual assault, an allegation he denies. >> at the hearing yesterday, hegseth confirmed to ernst that he does support women now serving in active combat, saying, quote, it would be the privilege of a lifetime if confirmed to be the secretary of defense for all men and women in uniform who fight so heroically. >> joining us now, msnbc political analyst brendan buck. he was communications strategist and former aide to house speaker paul ryan and john boehner, and also with us, jonathan cott. he's a former senior adviser to democratic senators joe manchin and chris. >> so two hill veterans here. >> i'll start with you, brendan. >> do you think that hegseth is going to be confirmed? >> i do. joni ernst coming out las

that's that's joni ernst, remember? lisa murkowski has survived primaries before she won a write in campaign with the last name murkowski in alaska. that is not easy. i mean, it is funny, katie, but i mean her political strength historically in the state of alaska is second to none. that's that's murkowski. now on collins number one. there's a lot of speculation she won't run again. we'll have to see. she has been very, very adept at running campaigns in her state against democrats as well as republicans. she won a very contested race in 2020, spent a lot of money, had a lot of money spent against her by sara gideon, who was the state house speaker. these are people who are extraordinarily comfortable in their political skin. and to be honest with you, they have all the power they need. susan collins is the chair of the appropriations committee. outside of the leadership, the most the single most powerful republican senator in the united states senate. so i think that just gives a little bit of context without without p

here's part of the exchange with joni ernst.video clip] >> for the young women who are out there now and can meet those standards, and i will emphasize they should be very, very high standards, they must physically be able to achieve those standards so they can complete their mission, but i would like to know, let's make it clear for everyone here today, as secretary of defense, will you support women continuing to have the opportunity to serve in combat roles? >> senator, first of all, thank you for your service, as we discussed -- >> it is my privilege. >> my answer is, yes, exactly the way you copy audited, women will have access to ground combat roles given the standards remain high and we will have a review to ensure the standards have not been eroded. in any one of these cases. one of the persons we do at the pentagon is reviewing that in a gender-neutral way, the standards, ensuring readiness and meritocracy is front and center, but, absolutely, it would be the privilege of a lifetime, if confirmed, to be the secretary of

joni ernst specifically has some questions for pete hegseth.st is a former army national guard commander and endured a torrent of criticism from prominent trump supporters late last year after publicly raising specific issues. she wanted to address the role of women in the military, sexual assault prevention and auditing the pentagon for waste and abuse. her questions and eventual votes could be key to her future, as well as her own. gretchen, i think joni ernst is an important figure here. what do you think? here? >> oh, yeah. i mean, she's the linchpin to this, but what's really troubling to me, and i think should be troubling to all women and men, quite honestly, is that this shouldn't just hang on the shoulders of female senators to be the ones that are actually going to ask the tough questions or actually raise the issues of sexual misconduct. we as a country should all be concerned about this. >> and i think what was disheartening to julie and myself and many other people who work in this advocacy space was that before the end of the year

uh, matt gorman, marc caputo reports in the bulwark that as joni ernst is publicly exploring her issues with this, it didn't take her long for her to realize that she had stepped in it. shortly after, ernst offered a chilly reception to the nomination to head the defense department. she recognized she was in trouble politically, with grassroots republicans calling for her head, how do i make this go away? a flabbergasted ernst said to an intermediary, according to a top donald trump adviser who received the message. this is how she makes it go away. >> i think the interesting part about this was, again, the day before december 9th, she met with hegseth and released a statement to that effect saying all but yes, she would vote for him. she she relayed that the concerns she had had for about the month or so prior were relieved. i think in that month or so prior, she kind of didn't articulate an exact concern in that meeting with hegseth. she did, and i guess what, you know, you make a good point. what this really reminds me of, if you close your eyes, you would have thought this was a sup

that was the case with senator joni ernst. she's a republican woman on the senate armed services committee. she expressed a lot of concern about his past statements on women serving in combat roles. she obviously is a veteran herself, and she got to a place where she ultimately could support him. now, there was quite a pressure campaign against her, and there was obviously a lot of concern that perhaps if she voted against him, that could mean something for her own reelection. she is up for reelection in 2026. what does that mean for a primary? but i will tell you that republicans, over and over again in their meetings felt like hegseth came in. he was extremely deferential to lawmakers. he was extremely prepared in a lot of these meetings. he had a really strong grasp. many republican senators said of the workings of the pentagon. now, that wasn't enough for some people. senator murkowski made clear that her one of her key concerns was the fact he did not have the management experience to lead an organization as vast as the d

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we will be watching the as well on pete hegseth, liz peek, jumping will be watching what joni ernst does critical pete hegseth. >> it does not take much to derail one of the nominations and indeed joni ernst is going to be pivotal here. i think the question of the democrats going to throw roadblocks in the nominating process clearly the media would like to see that happen. one question that i have, catch patel is not up for his hearings until february why is there a delay brigade on many americans think is an incredibly pivotal post right now. >> i'll be blood the deep state is going to deep state in the agency that needs the most urgent reform evidenced by the persecution of donald trump is the fbi and catch patel, this is why heritage expended over a million dollars running ads in key states, supporting kash patel we dropped her@last week, ultimately it's income to upon said everything was done an excellent job managing the process to expedite the confirmation hearings of kash patel the fbi is in dire need not over of form but overhaul. maria: that's right we lifted as well. on the fbi

maria: i think joni ernst had real issues initially. i think she softened up by now. there was speculation that joni ernst wanted the job by the way, she would have become defense secretary. she seems to have softened on pete hegseth, he stood tough when the media was trying to take him down. we'll see how it plays out. >> i was also going to say, you know, i'm glad he brought up the defense issues. todd did. but also i think the recruitment is a big one. because they've had a 25% deficit in recruitment in the military. maria: right. yeah. we, they're driving all these people out with these rules and regulations around the climate change agenda. let's slip in a short break. we're onto markets. futures point to a gain at the start of trading, we've got the december consumer price index out in an hour and-a-half and we've got all hands on deck to bring you the report and check out market reaction. first, the word on wall street panel is coming up, they've got expectation, don't miss it, with the dow industrials up 117 and nasdaq up 100, you're watching "mornings with ma

senator joni ernst who initially said i need to hear more said i heard enough. i'm through.has 53 votes. i heard from people in the hegseth camp that the meeting with senator collins went well. that's the toughest with murkowski. what is stopping him from getting everyone mitch mcconnell ohio understood didn't meet with him. i don't know why. is he going to stand in the way? regardless. no one remembers if you got 53 or 93. >> lawrence: i heard during the committee yesterday, oh, you mean to tell me you changed your position on this? you guys put kamala harris up and she changed her position on every little thing. so if it was good enough for the person that wanted to be president of the united states. i'm sure he can change his position on some things to be secretary of defense. >> brian: the guy who lloyd austin came from raytheon and did nothing for four years. on paper the resume looked better but on execution, name something he did except for diminish the respect of our fighting forces. >> ainsley: and on secretary austin, one of the senators said that -- i guess that w

blackburn and joni ernst, as many as 30% of children dna test and found not to be related to illegaligrants posing as family members. meanwhile, drug cartels and gangs use minors to falsely present themselves as family units in seek asylum at our southern border. here is what senator ernst said fingerprinting every child at the border we not only protect our nation by learning who was attempting to enter but also protect the kids by ensuring they are not being traffic. cartels cannot be allowed to profit off of the exploitation of abused and forced labor of minors. when you consider this administration doesn't know where some 320,000 minors came across a border illegally currently are, many like this would seem to be common sense. >> absolutely. this is near and dear to my heart. i met subject matter of human traffic investigations and human identification and i rescue a lot of these children brought from united states into the country for the sole purpose exploited and also forced and forced labor trade. these laws, i welcomed them because anything that will strengthen the ability t

the questioning from democrat women was harsh, but republican joni ernst says she will vote for him. >>> on the show today, a hostage release deal looks imminent. trump's hostage enjoy, steven wit cough, kid more in one day to get a deal than joe biden as cone in a year. it is wednesday, january the 15th, 2025. "varney & company" is about the begin. ♪ ♪ stuart: let's get this thing going fast. the inflation report, we just showed it to you, up .4% month over month, 2.9% year-over-year. good morning, lauren. [laughter] this is all good stuff for wall street. lauren: well, it's good stuff because it's the bad stuff. inflation remains stubborn. that 2. 9 increase is the highest annual increase since july. core inflation, that cakes out -- takes out the volatile food and energy prices, that did tick down to 3.2% in december, but that's not much comfort to middle class americans when, look at this, the cost of transportation up over 7% in the past year, shelter up nearly 5. the great reaction in the stock and bond market is because traders now think thed fed will cut rates this summer as

joni ernst wants to close a loophole which allows illegal immigrants to post bail.charged with killing someone while driving drunk. another bill in the mix bars transgender athletes from playing sports against women. it sparked a near fracas between two house members. >> she gonna keep saying trans, trans, trans so that people will feel threatened and child, listen, i want you all. >> i am no child. do not call me a child. i am no child. don't even start. i'm a grown woman. i am not a child. >> i'm reclaiming my time. >> if you want to take it outside. >> mr. chairman fox pressed house minority leader hakeem jeffries about why he calls the bill, quote: republican child predator empowerment act. >> my statement speaks for itself. i expounded upon why their responsible g.o.p. bill risks unleashing child predators on the children of america in the sports context. >> jeffrey refused to elaborate on why he believes the bill creates more sexual predators the protecting women in sports act likely faces a filibuster. bret? >> bret: chad, fox news has confirmed in the last h