represented a misuse of military power. >> president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protesters in the legs in downtown d.c., an order secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? >> senator, i was in the washington, dc national guard unit that was in lafayette square during those events to carry out an order to. >> shoot protesters in the legs. >> i saw 50 secret service agents to get injured by rioters. >> you know what? that sounds to me? that you will comply with such an order. you will shoot protesters in the in the leg. >> joining us now is former secretary of defense mark esper, who served during the first trump administration and is now a cnn global affairs analyst. sir, thanks very much for being with us this morning. good morning. casey, are you confident that pete hegseth, as secretary of defense, would stand up to an unlawful order if the incoming president trump were to issue one? >> well, look, the senators yesterday, the democrats in particular, raised some important questions, some tough quest

this hour, i'll speak with trump's former secretary of defense, mark esper. also tonight, meta ceo mark zuckerberg announces major changes for both facebook and instagram. we're going to tell you why the social media giant is doing away with fact checkers, even as zuckerberg admits the decision will lead to harmful content on the platforms. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the situation room. let's get straight to our top story tonight. donald trump lashing out at special counsel jack smith as a federal judge, puts his report on ice. our chief legal affairs correspondent, paula reid, is joining us right now with details. paula, so what is this ruling actually mean for trump? >> so, wolf, during trump's press conference earlier today, a judge, aileen cannon ruled that jack smith's final report cannot be shared outside the justice department until an appellate court weighs in. >> trump lashed out at the special counsel several times during this press conference. let's take a listen to some of what

and i do think that, as mark esper recounts in his book, dealing that second rescue effort, that his take was that patel had just lied. but but no one could really prove it. i mean, these these are serious concerns. if you were thinking about hiring anybody simply to be a line attorney and a corporate general counsel's office, or in a law firm, much less to be director of the fbi. >> yeah, i mean, the fbi director is in the small circle of people who would know about these operations, which is important for people to know, too. let me ask you, donald trump, of course, revoked your secret service protection once he took office. you've talked about that even amid some of some very real threats against your life by iran. and you made this point to my colleague andrea mitchell, that that stood out to me, that i was so interesting. and i wanted to ask you about it. you basically said that if you were another former official does get harmed by iran, then the us would have to respond, which would be counterintuitive to trump's objectives. tell me a little bit more. and our audience, of cour

couple of days ago, in june of 2020, then-president trump directed former secretary of defense mark espershoot protesters in the legs in downtown d.c, an order. >> secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? >> senator, i was in the washington, dc national guard unit that was in lafayette square during those. >> would you carry out an order to shoot protesters in the legs? >> i saw the secret service agents to get injured by rioters trying to jump over the fence, set church on fire and destroy it. that sounds to me that you will comply with such an order. >> you will shoot protesters in the in the leg, bob. >> that is, you know, that's something that a lot of americans would be concerned about if they're protesting. and donald trump doesn't agree with the protests is pete hegseth. if he gets confirmed, the kind of guy who would send that order on down and he he, you know, waffled on that, he wouldn't be clear on that. the white house council of lawyers that donald trump is going to have, along with the d.o.j. set of lawyers. what's your

defense secretary mark esper, who served under donald trump, who refused to follow that order. let's listen. >> your predecessor in a trump administration, secretary esper, was asked and did use uniformed military to clear unarmed protesters. he was given the order to potentially shoot at them. helos flew low in washington, dc as crowd control. he later apologized publicly for those actions. was he right or wrong to apologize? >> senator, i was there on the ground and i saw the i saw i understand and i respect that i've been there, but i understand the level of secretary of defense involved in that moment. i was he right to so he was legality and the constitution. >> was he right or wrong to apologize? >> i'm not going to put words in the mouth of secretary esper or anybody else. >> he said them himself. you don't have to. what are you scared of? did he do the right thing by apologizing? >> i'm not scared of anything, senator. >> say yes or no. >> you can say no. >> tom. what did you think of that line of questioning? >> well, i think it shows again how completely unprepared he

secretary mark esper, always good to see you. thanks again for being here. >> thanks, jessica. >> still ahead. house speaker mike johnson is wasting no time pushing president-elect trump's agenda. how? he's charting that course ahead. we'll break it down with our political panel here in the cnn newsroom. >> kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible age. >> it's one of the most remarkable stories in sports history. >> i don't want to be remembered as just a basketball player. >> kobe premieres january 25th on cnn. >> are you tired of that old worn out bath or shower? now you can have a new one installed in just one day, with a new limited time offer from jacuzzi bath remodel. >> we're waiving all installation costs with no interest and no payments for up to one year. >> hi, i'm art edmonds. jacuzzi has been making water feel great for over 70 years, and now you can get a gorgeous custom bath remodel at a price you can afford. >> and the best part is, they'll install it in as little as one day with no stress and no mess. >>

. >> in june of 2020 then president trump directed then secretary of defense mark esper tissue protesters in the legs in downtown washington, d.c., an order secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? mr. hegseth: i was in the washington, d.c. national guard unit in lafayette square. >> would you obey an order to shoot protesters in the legs as directed to secretary of state? >> -- set a church on fire and destroyed -- >> that sounds to me like you will comply with such an order. you will shoot protesters in the leg. in recent weeks, refusing to rule out using military force to take over greenland and the panama canal and threatening to take and make cans of the 51st state. would you carry out an order from president trump to seize greenland, a territory of our native ally denmark, by force or would you comply with an order to take over the panama canal? mr. hegseth: i will emphasize that president trump received 77 million votes. >> we are not talking about the election. my question is would you use our military to take over greenland o

president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protesters in the legs in downtown, an order. secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? >> senator, i was in the washington, dc national guard unit that was in lafayette square during those to carry out an order to shoot protesters. >> that sounds to me that you will comply with such an order. you will shoot protesters in the in the leg. >> and when things didn't go their way, the democrats do what they always do. they just scream at you, just like the protesters. >> have you let an audit of any organization, yes or no? i don't want a long answer. yes or no? have you led an audit of any organization of which you were in charge? >> senator? in both of the organizations i ran, we were always completely fiscally responsible. >> yes or no? did you lead an audit and the way. yes or no? did you lead an audit? yes or no? completely mischaracterized. you can't answer this question. yes or no? did you lead an audit? do you not know this answer, senator? >> yes or no? of my l

. >> same with mark esper. >> so this is a very different situation here. and the question that i have been asking. while this has been. >> a. >> very uncertain vote for a matter of weeks now, rachel. >> is will. >> pete hegseth. >> if confirmed. >> come into this. >> building in any way with weaker than other secretary. >> of defense? secretaries of defense have come into the pentagon. and i. >> got to tell you, i don't know if that's going. >> to be the case. the reality. is he has so much support from. president donald trump. from the administration. >> and from this. >> overwhelming amount of. of support, whether it be in social media. whether it be. >> in. >> republicans. that we have seen the. >> pressure campaign that has existed. >> to get. >> pete hegseth, this vote. >> above the. >> threshold has. >> been unlike. >> anything i have ever. >> seen before. there has been. >> a real. >> lobbying campaign. >> to get him across the vote. even what we were hearing from julie, the fact. that he went to the senate tonight. >> with his. >> wife. >> with his

. >> in june of 2020, then-president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protesters in the legs in downtown d.c, an order. secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? >> senator, i was in the washington, dc national guard unit that was in lafayette square during those. >> would you carry out an order to shoot protesters in the legs? i saw 50 secret service agents to get injured by rioters trying to jump over the fence, set a church on fire and destroy. that sounds to me that you will comply with such an order. you will shoot protesters in the in the leg. >> that was defense secretary nominee pete hegseth getting grilled by senator mazie hirono of hawaii yesterday, one of several big moments from the four hours he spent before the senate armed services committee. >> the question is, did he do enough to convince republican lawmakers that he's qualified for the job? ahead, winds across southern california were not as strong as predicted yesterday. >> as firefighters continue to battle the now week old wildfires. the qu

donald trump's former defense secretary mark esper, who was named in this hearing, namechecked in thisng, is going to discuss it with us. plus, dangerous winds ramping up again in southern california as people there try to put their lives back together. >> i got up at night, scream and cry, and sometimes my wife tells me to be strong. >> i can't be strong. >> kobe, the making of a legend premieres january 25th on at morgan stanley. >> old school hard work meets bold new thinking to help you see untapped possibilities and relentlessly work with you to make them real. >> greatness hurts, but sometimes you gotta put on your game face. >> that's why tylenol provides fast, effective pain relief. that's tylenol, that's care without limits. >> gold bond believes touch says everything it says. i see you, i feel you, and i know you. gold bond get in touch with irresistibly touchable skin like a relentless weed. >> moderate to severe ulcerative colitis symptoms can keep coming back. start to break away from uc with tremfya. with rapid relief at four weeks. tremfya blocks a key source of inflamma

the attorney general, defense secretary mark esper. you think the ouster of turner sends a message to other republicans? and will they listen to that message? >> it definitely sends a message. other republicans will have to check their own consciences. and we'll have to wait for events and see what they do. you know, this this parade of cabinet nominees, pam bondi saying there's not going to be an enemies list. et cetera. they're saying the right things in these hearings. but what will they really do if they are in fact pressed by trump to agree to a policy or to take an action that they know is wrong, that they know is counter to either either law or or propriety or is just wrong. and yet to see, you know, jeff sessions followed his conscience in many instances and he and he was out. and i think if these cabinet officials and republicans in congress follow their consciences, i think there will be consequences for them as well. >> so meantime, vaughn, nbc news is reporting that the fake ramaswamy is emerging as a surprise prospect to f

a, i guess, 4 or 5 years ago when mark esper was the pentagon secretary, he refused to carry out that and to invoke that, that was something that he said he believed was not necessary and should only be used as a last resort. so that would obviously be quite a change to see a defense secretary who would be willing to carry that out. obviously, we've seen how closely they are tying the military to this mass deportation effort right now. we haven't seen a huge change in the numbers. that is something that we are keeping an eye on as this is going out in terms of the number of people who are being deported, in terms of the number of flights that are going out, we are seeing them use military aircraft, even though it's a lot more expensive for the taxpayers than it is for a chartered flight. tom homan told me last night that's because they can get more people on those flights, he argues. but jake, really the focus here at the white house today, and certainly in that briefing earlier, was this pause on federal funding for trillions of dollars in the federal government that came out last ni

trump's two secretaries of defense, jim mattis, had like 98 or something votes, and mark esper had 90. we haven't had anything that was this disputed for this position since chuck hagel. he still won, but he was bruised somewhat in his hearing in 2013 by his own party, by republicans. but by and large, when you're looking at this position, this is something that usually you go into it with a with a huge bipartisan majority. so even if pete hegseth is confirmed tonight, he's going to be entering the job somewhat diminished by the fact that he will have more than likely lost all of the not have any of the democratic votes to begin with. and he will have lost at least two that we know of right now. republican votes from susan collins and lisa murkowski, and who we don't know yet if there will be one, if there's one more than we need jd vance to break the tie. and if there's but he can't lose more than one more republican vote after that, it's game over for him. >> well, can i ask a little bit more about that, helene, if he is going to emerge from this confirmed but nonetheless bruised by

. >> in june of 2020, then-president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protesters in the legs in downtown d.c, an order. secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? >> senator, i was in the washington, dc national guard unit that was in lafayette square during those. >> would you carry out an order to shoot protesters in the legs? >> i saw 50 secret service agents to get injured by rioters trying to jump over the fence at a church on fire and destroy what? >> that sounds to me that you will comply with such an order. you will shoot protesters in the in the leg. moving on. president elect has attacked our allies in recent weeks, refusing to rule out using military force to take over greenland and the panama canal and threatening to take to make canada the 51st state. would you carry out an order from president trump to seize greenland, a territory of our nato ally denmark, by force? or would you comply with an order to take over the panama canal? >> senator, i will emphasize that president trump received 77 million

. >> in june of 2020, then-president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protestersn downtown d.c, an order. secretary esper refused

people who worked for him in the last administration, including mark milley and james mattis and mark esper. i mean, does that undermine the no enemies list that looks like something of an enemies list? >> i think there's a difference between we're not going to hire certain people and we're going to prosecute certain people. and i think that that is the distinction there. i also would argue that trump missed a few people who we know were on that list of his personally. it becomes unrealistic at a certain point to say, i am not going to hire anybody who ever might have had an interaction with certain people or said certain things, but the trump team has made loyalty in their terms a pretty top of mind focus as they are doing these hires. that is different than, uh. here is a list of people we are going to prosecute. now what the incoming attorney general, assuming she gets confirmed, said was we're not targeting people just because of their political party. that gives her a little bit of room on what exactly that might look like. i also don't think that pam bondi or todd blanche or emil bove

mark esper, 90 to 8. and james mattis, 98 to 1. however, this turns out tonight it will be a very partisan vote. and hegseth doesn't even have the support of his entire party. >> kate warren, thank you so much. outfront for us next. we have breaking news. president trump on the ground in southern california at this hour. take a look at these pictures. touring some of the disaster area, but also making clear federal aid may come with a catch. also breaking donald trump now using the u.s. military to deport migrants out of the united states. tonight, cities on alert for more raids. and we have new reporting next. and a new crackdown in china. this time it's over. what people are posting about pandas. some people even arrested, according to the new york times, this as a pair of giant pandas from china just made their u.s. debut. >> kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible age. >> people who may never even. know what a basketball. >> looks like felt his presence. >> he wants the opportunity to make his own mistakes. he's going

mark esper said that trump asked him to send in the 82nd airborne to put down peaceful protests in washington, d.c. he convinced him against it. i want to know that this secretary isn't a watered down version of the previous secretaries and is going to actually push pack back. he couldn't unambiguously say he will push back with the president asks him to do something that is unconstitutional. that is why i couldn't confirm him. there are a lot of other things in his background i don't like, but i look at the strategic and irreversible threats to our democracy, and that's using the uniformed military in ways that violate the constitution. >> martha: you have the confirmation hearing this week of tulsi gabbard for director of national intelligence. you spent a good part of your career in intelligence. what do you want to ask her? >> well, i'm not technically in those hearings, but we will be voting on her. look. i mean, the people have been asking me and other senators have been asking me. you want someone of character and of competence, right? and i served with tulsi gabbard. we were on the ar

. >> mark esper did. >> and akkala in the final hours before the vote, the two republicans, everyone, everyone was watching was senator mitch mcconnell and senator thom tillis of north north carolina. right. i got it right, right. their seats are up for reelection next year. mcconnell voted no, but tillis voted yes. we talked about the mcconnell vote. but what do we know about tillis ultimate decision here? >> well, really, what he explained here is he felt like he didn't see enough firsthand accounts from some of the allegations that we saw here. we saw hegseth during his hearing, really talking about these are anonymous sources. these are journalists. these are just reportings and really trying to dismiss it that way. and so that ultimately seemed like why he came to the end here. but you can't ignore that. there was a pressure campaign, really, from the very beginning, we saw ads running are really urging republicans to support pkexec. you saw people like elon musk also supporting him. so there was certainly a pressure campaign from the trump world. and i think that really got to a

president trump orders the military to do something unconstitutional the way that secretary of defense mark esper did. >> and kayla, in the final hours before the vote, the two republicans, everyone, everyone was watching senator mitch mcconnell and senator thom tillis of north north carolina. right. i got it right, right. their seats are up for reelection next year. mcconnell voted no, but tillis voted yes. we talked about about the mcconnell vote. but what do we know about tillis ultimate decision here? >> well, really, what he explained here is he felt like he didn't see enough firsthand accounts from some of the allegations that we saw here. we saw hegseth during his hearing, really talking about these are anonymous sources. these are journalists. these are just reportings and really trying to dismiss it that way. and so that ultimately seemed like why he came to the end here. but you can't ignore that. there was a pressure campaign, really, from the very beginning, we saw ads running out, really urging republicans to support pete headset. you saw people like elon musk also supporting him. so

i'm joined now by mark esper. he, of course, served as defense secretary under president trump.e is a cnn global affairs analyst, and he does serve on the board or is a strategic advisor for a few aerospace and defense companies. secretary, how do you see this moment? >> well, good afternoon brianna. look, it's a great moment for the hostages and their families. hopefully in the next couple of days, we'll see 33 living hostages go home. that leaves, we think, 60 or so remaining, half of half of half of them probably deceased, which is tragic. but i think it's good news on that front. my concern is on the security side of this, it doesn't really resolve what the issue will be after the end of six weeks. we don't know. >> or at least we haven't been told what will happen if this agreement follows through. who will control gaza? who will govern it? >> who will police it, who will provide public services? and what will the role of the israeli military be in that context? and both hamas and israel have very stark differences on this issue, which is which is why i'm kind of skeptical

and mark esper and general mark milley, who were the two leaders at the pentagon at the time, talkeds trying to do, she's a new senator from michigan. she's worked at the pentagon. she has a lot of experience in this. was trying to get pete hegseth to talk about what he would do if he, as a defense secretary, was facing a president who is trying to do something that is illegal. would he talk him out of it? would he fight him on that? would he just salute and carry out whatever trump says? >> and you can't really say that this is a hypothetical situation because it happened with the exact same president. >> so he would have 30s would you say he mostly ducked? >> he completely ducked. >> he ducked a lot of he ducked most of the democratic the democratic questioning. he ducked a lot of. but he definitely ducked on on that one the same way he ducked other senators who were trying to pin him on other a whole, whole host of other issues. yeah. >> helene cooper, the last time we had you on, we were talking about ufos and the government's dealing with that issue. now we're focused more on pr

ramming attacks, and former defense secretary under donald trump and cnn global affairs analyst mark esperke with cnn earlier about the seriousness of something like this happening again. >> i think it's a serious risk, and i think it's prudent to put it out. we often see copycats when these types of events happen, and we have a number of important events coming up. we have president carter's funeral coming up, but also inauguration, the super bowl. so a number of high profile events coming up that might attract somebody who wants to make a name for himself or herself, or who wants to advance their cause. so i think it's very smart to take extra precautionary measures. >> and investigators looking into the new year's cybertruck bombing in las vegas have recovered a second letter from a cell phone left behind by the man responsible for the explosion. they say it sheds more light on the political grievances he harbored in the final days of his life. natasha chen has that story for you. >> one letter that investigators believe was written by livelsberger calls for action to remove democrats f

i watched a video today of when secretary defense secretary mark esper and trump's first term came out and said he wasn't invoking the insurrection act because he thought that putting the u.s. military in law enforcement roles was a last resort scenario. last case, worst situation you could think of and that he wasn't going to do that. what do you do here if if that is something that defense secretary pete hegseth is willing to do, do democrats have any options there? >> we have options because we have the power of the purse. we have the appropriations power. they need us because of the filibuster rule, because debate can be extended indefinitely. not for these nominations, necessarily, but otherwise for legislation in order to pass it. and they do need cooperation from us in some ways. but ultimately, we have to go to the voters, the american people have to have a say here, and they will have a say. if pete hegseth encounters the kind of difficulties that we've predicted. but here's why i am so deeply saddened and outraged with my republican colleagues. in the meantime, he could do a

saying, i'm not answering hypothetical questions, but it's not really a hypothetical because it was mark esper was in that position, and he felt like he got orders that that he when it came to politicizing the military, it seemed like a non-answer. it was it was a very it was very hypothetical question. and that's what they kept. all the democrats kept trying to have hypothetical questions of what if, what if, what if you don't know all the circumstances behind a what if it's not cut and dry, it's when someone has to make an in the moment decision. there's a lot of factors that go into play at that time. and so a hypothetical question and that type of atmosphere is something you can't not answer. >> shouldn't that answer always be yes, i would refuse. >> he kept saying is he said, i'm going to follow the constitution. he kept going back to i'm going to follow the constitution. and that is about as straightforward as he can without answering the hypothetical, he always said that he will follow the constitution of the united states of america. what else do you want? he's going to he's going to r

. >> june of 2020 then president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protestersn the legs and downtown d.c. in order secretary esper refused to comply with, would you carry out such an order from president trump. >> senator i was in the washington, d.c. national guard unit in lafayette square during the riots on behalf of my country. >> would you shoot them in the leg. >> i've seen them get injured from rioters set the church on fire. >> that sounds that you will comply with such an order. >> you will shoot protesters and the like. moving on. president-elect has attacked our allies in recent weeks refusing to rule out military force to take over greenland in the panama canal and those threatening to make it a the 51st date. would you carry out an order from president trump to seize greenland and territory of our nato ally of denmark? by force or would you comply with an order to take over the panama canal. >> senator i will emphasize that president trump receive 77 million votes to be the lawful commander. >> were not second about the election. my question is wou

served a portion of president trump's term and then stepped down and president trump nominated mark esper who had been secretary of the army to succeed general mattis. trump administration nominee paid me the honor of asking if i would introduce him before the armed services committee. and i did. he's a virginian. i had worked with secretary esper when he was army secretary on military housing issues. he had been responsive and professional. and so i said sure. you're president trump's nominee but i'm going to introduce you before the committee. secretary esper was approved in the committee i think unanimously and the vote on the floor for secretary esper was 98-2. i bring that up just to say it is not my desire or norm to stand on the floor and speak in opposition to a nominee for secretary of defense. to speak in opposition to a nominee by president trump for secretary of defense. i spoke the other day, probably two days ago here about why i am opposing pete hegseth to be secretary of defense. what i want to focus on today is his claim because i know my colleagues have been on the floor

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 hypotheticals. but elissa slotkin, who is the new senator from michigan, there she was the last democrat to go and is also served. she had one of the most incisive lines of questioning when it came to past examples of situations that trump's other defense secretaries have been in, and secretary esper has an entire book that he wrote saying why he resigned, in part because trump wanted to use the military for political reasons, and she was questioning pete hegseth if he was faced with an order like that from president donald trump, whether or not he would follow it. and i think that, you know, talking about the allegations against him, obviously, there is a reason that democrats wanted to go there. but also, if he is going to be confirmed as the next defense secretary, that is something to watch, because whether it was secre

if anything, the through line of trump's picks to lead the pentagon from general jim mattis to mark esper to pete hegseth represents and perfectly encapsulates the complete erosion of standards that, ironically, pete hegseth likes to complain about. except hegseth attributes an erosion of standards to women women who serve their country with honor, women who go toe to toe with any man serving in the us military. here's senator tim kaine questioning pete hegseth on his past. >> you cheated on the mother of that child. less than two months after that daughter was born, didn't you? >> those were false charges. >> well, not fully investigated. >> and i was completely cleared. and i am so grateful for the marriage i have to this. you've admitted me. >> you've admitted that you had sex at that hotel on october 2017. you said it was consensual. isn't that correct? >> anything. >> you've admitted that it was consensual and you were still married and you just had a child by another woman. again, how do you explain your judgment? these false charges against me? >> you know, i investigated, and i wa

. >> in june of 2020, then-president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protesters in the legs in downtown d.c. an order secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? >> senator, i was in the washington, dc national guard unit that was in lafayette square. during those, would you carry out an order to shoot protesters in the legs? i saw 50 secret service agents to get injured by rioters trying to jump over the fence, set the church on fire and destroy it. >> that sounds to me that you will comply with such an order. you will shoot protesters in the in the leg. moving on. president elect has attacked our allies in recent weeks, refusing to rule out using military force to take over greenland and the panama canal and threatening to take to make canada the 51st state. would you carry out an order from president trump to seize greenland, a territory of our nato ally denmark, by force? or would you comply with an order to take over the panama canal senator, i will emphasize that president trump received 77 million votes t

you see the list of names there, people like john bolton, mike pence, nikki haley, james mattis, mark esper do you make of all that? i mean, pam bondi has said that there will not be an enemies list over at the justice department, but we're not hearing the same thing from donald trump about the white house. >> i am shocked, shocked? i tell you. listen, i think every president wants to make sure the people who work for him or her are soon to be her. hopefully, uh, every president wants to make sure that the staff comes to work for them is going to be some people who, you know, align with their views and their values and people who support them. we all go through being vetted when we go to work in the white house, and they ask you questions about what you might have said, and they ask me questions about critical things i said about joe biden when i went to the biden white house. but the question here is, are they hiring people who are going to exercise their best judgment on behalf of the american people and are going to try to fix the institutions that the american people want them to fix, t

mark esper, the secretary of defense, bill barr, the attorney general, mark milley, the chairman of the, said, mr. president, president trump, do not deploy the 82nd airborne on the streets of the united states against protesters. and they won that argument and he would not commit to that. and he would not praise esper for that. and he would not talk about the bedrock american principle of an apolitical military. and that was startling. and that shows and we don't know what's going to happen, but the need for these nominees to be as loyal as possible to donald trump and not criticize him in any way in public. and so that was very concerning. >> and by the way, you could go down the line. it's not just pete hegseth. if you know that you're there in your position because of the loyalty you have shown to donald trump, that is the foundation, the bedrock. that's your operating principle, isn't it? yes. >> and i and i there was talk about whistleblowersnd people who talked about his issues. and look, i edited and approved the story. nbc news ran of ten current and former fox employees saying

you can't go shoot people in the knees as mark esper described to quality domestic protest.presidency. the backstory here is important and in the days after january 6th 2021, then chairman millie did three of her things. he called the leader of the chinese military and reassure them that the united states was stable. he had a conversation with speaker pelosi where they talked about what they believed was president trump's mental unfitness for office. and his conduct at the time. and he had a private meeting at the pentagon with key officials saying if president trump decides to do anything militarily, make sure that general milley is read end. once these episodes were reported by bob woodward and myself in our book peril, he became under enormous certainty and he had to testify on capitol hill about the decisions he took on january 6th, 7th, at 8 of 2021 and the consequences of those decisions as he told you on "60 minutes" continue to hover over his life and that is why i am told by a source close to president biden he built a relationship with chairman millie in his own pr

trump on nearly everything during his first term yet i still voted to confirm james mattis and mark esper when he nominated them for this same role. pete hegseth never ran an entire army like esper did. no, the only thing hegseth has ever run, he's run into the ground. the only major organizations he's ever led, he's led into debt. hegseth is unqualified. he is unprepared, he is unethical. and most of all, he is unfit. mr. hegseth may talk about how having had dust on his boots make his worthy of becoming secretary of defense, well, as someone who left her boots in a dusty field in iraq, let me tell you exactly why he is unif i think to lead our leer -- unfit to lead our leer rose. he likes to say that our military is a great mayor to -- meritocracy. the secretary of defense oversees the federal government's largest agency. they manage a $900 billion budget along with the 3 million servicemembers and civilians who fall under its umbrella. during his time in uniform, pete hegseth never commanded a unit with more than 200 people. 0 meanwhile, on the civilian side, both organizations that he

esper and joint chiefs chairman milley. when they pushed back against that decision that he wanted to do. julia ainsley, thank you so much. and joining us now is arizona's democratic senator, markrmer u.s. navy pilot, astronaut commander who now serves on the intelligence and armed services committees. senator, thank you very much. good to see you. and first, i guess i want to ask you about the us military. do you think that they can provide a useful role sending active duty troops to the southern border? do you think they're needed? >> well, andrea, right. now at the border in arizona, i represent a border state. border security is incredibly important to me. when you look at the numbers today. compared to where they were at the end of trump's first administration, they're lower now. so these are border crossings. the border. you know, it gets chaotic at times. the numbers go up. they go down. what we need is our lasting solutions to the border security problems that we face. and we're going to get that hopefully by democrats and republicans working together on this issue to provide some lasting solutions. >> and you have been such an advocate for a bipartisan immigration law.