many have not spoke with pete hegseth before this hearing is taking place, despite the fact pete hegseth spent several weeks trying to meet with republican and democratic lawmakers. >> brian: if you look at the democratic side jack reid, serious guy, janine, same thing. gilllibrand, same. these are ones i think will go out for blood, duckworth, elizabeth warren, who submitted 100 questions, rono and richard blumenthal, who was last night frantic because he thought he had a great witness and it blew up in his face. pete has 20 years of war experience and this man-made up being in war. pete comes with harvard, princeton, iraq, afghanistan, gitmo experience. you have under secretaries that are going to be extremely organized. they understand big corporations. they are seeing surge of people signing up for the military, we have not had that in four years. >> lawrence: because culture is changing. they understand what donald trump stands for and pete wants to get back to war fighting. you saw chuck schumer, this is resistance. republicans on the committee and senate that have to vote on this,

pete hegseth has that. think that pete hegseth with dust on boots which i agree larry love that illustration. but, people should know about pete hegseth, while he is a dust on boots sort of guy, there is no compromise in intellectual capacity he is a brilliant man and eloquent on issues that matter. larry: he? he turned out well. >> he -- >> [ laughter ] he cover its beautifully. derrick van orden are we close to a deal? do you think a cease fear deal and hostage deal with hamas? i'm reading about it president trump has made mention of it, do you think we're close. can we trust hamas? >> no, we can't trust hamas at all. ever. justs we cannot trust the mullahs and iran to have a nuclear weapon. i hope we're getting closer to hostage deal. i think hamas understands that donald trump means what he says, and i agree for our -- grieve for our israeli brothers and sisters. so, here is what hamas better understand. you touch an american, you harm an american or one of our allies you will never have another peacefu

something simple, pete. your kids. >> our seven wonderful kids: gunnar, jackson, peter boone, kensington, luke, jack, rex -- sorry, it's a lot of them -- and gwendolyn. >> jordan: a little tipsy, okay! big deal. no biggie. my dad was always mixing up me and my siblings' names, and he launched perfectly successful counteroffensive rapid deployment amphibious incursions into iran all the time. although pete probably should've given his kids names he could remember more easily. maybe like don julio, jim beam, johnnie walker, jose cuervo, and don't forget little michael hard lemonade! anyway, now that that's over, it's time for the grilling. republicans, i know he's your guy, but i also know you love the military, so i'm sure you've got some hard questions for the man who wants to run it. >> why do you want to do this job? what drives you? >> tell me something about your wife that you love. >> how many push ups can you do? >> jordan: a follow up question, sir. i have this jar. could a big, strong man like yourse

what did pete hegseth say that changed you?ly about the sexual harassment questions. there are no actual people, it is all anonymous, no substantiated things held against him, through his businesses and people he's worked for. he said, i'm an open book, ask my wife, my businesses, anybody, you will get same answer. his military career and what he stood for, realism over idealism and getting a job done, i take that seriously as a military veteran of marine corps and navy corps for four years. we have to have the right leadership, the right idea how to close that chain and do our job effectively and he's the right guy. >> todd: schumer has has democrats loaded today coming out expected to be in full-on attack mode. bwell bwell -- blumenthal,s he is unqualified and schumer says you want a candidate drama free, his background and deeply troubling. and tammy duckworth says this man is not qualified to run appleby's, let alone department of defense. your respond? >> this coming from unqualified people for health care and other things

pete hegseth fixed that.ome of his findings from this morning saying, the problem isn't that the u.s. military has gone "woke" as maga partisans like hegseth allege peer the problem is america became complacent after the cold war when it downsized its armed forces and defense industrial base. since then come the united states prepared and military suitable for fighting insurgents in afghanistan or iraq, but inadequate for an extended fight against the major power. also max boot adding this to his column, saying, now it will be up the senators to decide if hegseth, who was dogged by accusations of mismanagement and misconduct at the two nonprofits that he ran, is the right person to rebuild america's atrophy defense capabilities. committee members should grill him not only about his past, but about his plans to address this challenge. his record doesn't inspire confidence that he can rise to the task that would severely test far more experienced executives. that is from max boot in the washington post. this is

pete hegseth in charge.f you got dropped down on the ground in a war zone, which i have been to, as a female, do you want pete hegseth, do you want toxic masculinity covering your back or do you want the five covering your back? i guarantee if there was a choice if you are getting dropped down on the ground, boots on the ground in the middle east, you are going to choose pete hegseth, toxic men like the six, toxic men being your verbiage, not mine, versus these little pansies like the five? host: ok, angela in north carolina. let's hear from republican, tom, connecticut. caller: that caller was hard to follow because she is right on, i think pete is going to do a good job. he would like to rebuild the military and it is like she's doing and remarked because there's nobody there. i don't have much to say because i'm not a senator, but i do appreciate the republican senators fighting back this time. leaning back and let the democrats tear them to pieces. i appreciate them fighting back and i wish pete hegseth

trump more than pete hegseth. they just better get over it, larry. the world is on fire to your point. we have had weak leadership for four years and seen the response to the world by that. the world is looking for a strong america again and pete hegseth is the absolute perfect person to lead that charge at the pentagon. larry: yeah, mr. van orden, i want your take on how unwilling democrats of the armed services committee. it's a real major league committee in the 123459 and the congress. i was quite surprised. none of them wanted to work with hegseth. none of them. really, just hammer away, hammer away, hammer away and a lot was the smear stuff, anonymous smears or knit picking and haven't commanded enough people in your life before as those senators have i think at one point, senator wicker said senators don't manage many people in their office either. that was a good rebuttal. were you surprised and what in general did you take away from the hear something >> i was not surprised at all. there are no many moder

pete hegseth is a change agent.t i thought was pitiful about the democrats performance this morning as they were eager to slander him personally and to drag them through the mud. very happy to go with anonymous accusations from people not willing to put their name to it or evidence behind it but what they didn't want to talk about is the job he'd been nominated to do. to lead the department of defense and the change. i think he's going to be a major change agent to bring the department of defense back to his core mission of fighting and being prepared if necessary peer defeating and killing our enemies and under joe biden and the debet -- democrats the department of defense has run down every woke rabbit trail of whatever political agenda at the moment is instead of fighting the war fighter. and want to make a british and, when pete hegseth is confirmed as secretary of defense, we are going to see illicit numbers rise and rise dramatically because young and women who want to fight to defend the country they don't wa

washington does not build men like pete. combat builds men like pete." as i said, there are more letters expressing the same endorsement. we will hear from the nominee rightly. i want to thank mr. hegseth, as well as his loved ones for being here today. i look forward to discussing his nomination and hearing from mr. hegseth about the ways he hopes to rebuild the american strength that secures the piece. -- peace. i turned to ranking member reed for his opening remark. sen. reed: thank you very much, mr. chairman. i would like to congratulate you on your chairmanship. i look forward to continuing our committee's strong tradition of bipartisanship and collaboration. thank you for your thoughtful and conscious service over many years. i would like to take a moment to join chairman wicker in welcoming our new members, senator slotkin, senator banks and senator shaheen. welcome. we look forward to working with you. mr. hegseth, i welcome you and your family today. i'm glad to recognize my former colleague norm coleman and congressman mike walls. mr. hegseth,

like pete, i served in the u.s. army. like pete, i'm a veteran.nistan and all over the world at the height of the war on terror. which is the war of our generation. like thousands of other war fighters, we've witnessed the hardships of war. we've experienced the loss of friends in combat. we've endured too much time away from family and friends and no one -- i can promise you this -- no one hates war more than those who have had to go fight it. no one does. pete's story isn't that much different from the millions of other veterans and they know it and they appreciate him for the experiences that he has gone through. after our country was brutally attacked on 9/11, pete hegseth answered the call of duty like so many others. he put the interests of this country ahead of his own. and i can tell you firsthand, as can the heroes sitting in this audience behind me, pete's character of country, his selflessness, his duty, these are the key ten either that have shaped him into the leader that he is today. these are the traits that president trump recogniz

get your thoughts on pete hegseth confurthermoration hearing yesterday. much criticism has to do with what he said about women in combat roles. you were the first woman ever to graduate from the citadel, what did you think yesterday? >> i thought senators were unhinged and off the rails, unfair during his testimony yesterday. what he did was remarkable. this is the mark of a man, a leader who cares about his country and his fellow countrymen and women serving in uniform. he wants us to be the strongest fighting force in the world and soldiers come back in one piece. he pointed out there are physiological differences from men and women. he knows reality of the battlefield. for example, yesterday the sack and rifle and ammo a soldier is carrying is upward of 100 or 200 pounds, i'm 5-6, 120 pounds, i can't carry that anywhere. we can do this if we work together and smart about it. i hope other nominees had their pencil out and were taking notes, this is how it is done. >> todd: democrats with their own interpretation of pete hegseth comments when it comes to

you will not have that question after pete goes. by the way here is pete's military evaluation.eals hegseth was incredibly battle proven leader some may question the qualification for the job the problem is he's not reviewed that way. an infantry officer. if you are a ivy league guy and you decide to sign up for the military, you don't need to go in the infantry. he went in the infantry. not only am i going to war, i'm going to make sure i see action and lead troops. two bronze stars. combat infantry badge. when he got out decided to work for an organization to benefit veterans. what else do you want? >> ainsley: other hearings also this week. tomorrow you can see the full screen or the big board right there. yeah. kristi noem, pam bondi. marco rubio, list goes on. thursday you see doug burgum. he was supposed to go today but doesn't get the paperwork. then next tuesday, the 21st, the day after the inauguration doug collins. >> brian: so many of these, ainsley are going to sail. doug b bessent. tulsi gabbard under fire? she has thought this thing through and not going to budge.

pete hegseth for secretary of defense. when pete walked into the hearing room, he got a standing o.. usa. >> usa. usa. usa. >> hundreds of combat veterans showed up in washington to march in support for pete, but there were a few troublemakers in the room which caused things to get off to a kind of a rocky start. >> pete, you are a misogynist. not only that, you are a christian zionist. >> accountability and readiness. >> when are you going to stop bombing babies in gaza? veterans are committing suicide and are homeless. the genocide in gaza. >> that's the recruiting crisis. come on. no money for disasters. only 8 billion to answer your children. that's the recruiting crisis. >> can i leave? please? >> once that was all over, hegseth delivered his opening statement. watch. >> unlike the current administration, politics should play no part in military matters. we are not republicans. we are not democrats. we are american warriors. our standards will be high and they will be equal, not equitable. that's a very different word. it is true, and has been acknowledged that i don't have a s

and in those 63 days, the american public learned a lot about pete hegseth. there were his controversial public positions, like his defense of accused and convicted war criminals, his contempt for the geneva conventions, and his repeated insistence that women in the military should not serve in combat roles. and then came a flood of revelations about his personal life. first, there was the discovery that he had entered into a settlement with a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her. at a conference in 2017. hegseth denied that allegation, but soon other stories were surfacing. stories about his reputation for drunkenness on the job, both as the head of two veterans organizations and as a weekend host on fox news. there were also stories about his financial mismanagement of the organizations he led, and stories alleging a history of cruel and offensive public behavior like drunkenly chanting kill all muslims at a bar in ohio. all of that made it look like pete hegseth might, just might just fail to get the republican support he needed to become trump

senate must put true warrior pete hegseth at mr. trump's side to help him do it, and that's the riff. all right, joining me now bam bap senator tom -- alabama senator tommy tuberville. i don't know if you got wind of the -- they just put if out after 3:00 p.m., fox news digital report on the military evaluations of pete hegseth. but these evaluations i mentioned a couple of them in the opening riff, they are spectacular. senator tuberville, one after another. spectacular. what do you make of it? everybody on armed services. i hope someone will distribute this fox news story. because it did is very important evidence, they are military evaluations of hegseth, they are as i said spectacular. >> outstanding resume. i was in that press conference today with a lot of people that had served with pete, and listened to story after story about how he motivated people, he took his command and led his people in to battle, he did things that a lot of these woke generals that have been in pentagon would just dream babout, pete has done it we nee

pete hegseth. right.ight after nine over 11, you are promised great victories in iraq and afghanistan, and you are lied to and misled by george w bush and dick cheney. and after the kind of outburst of jingoism around those wars on the right, you know, if you're a fox news person, all you were told for the bush years is we're on the precipice of some great victory. there was a lot of anger and resentment about how those wars turned out. but importantly, and this is not unusual when superpowers fail to win wars, that anger didn't get channeled kind of at foreign policy. it got channeled at an enemy within. and if you take seriously, as i do, what pete had said, this said and written for many years, he is railing against liberals. he's railing against islam. he's railing against, you know, quote unquote woke culture. he's railing against women in combat, gays in the military. it's all these enemies within. and he shares that with trump, and he shares trump's interest in having a secretary of defense who's t

pete knows. >> pete knows all these things. we're going to get them. we're going to get them confirmed, sean. and we're going to do big things for president trump and this country. >> conversations with him. i've had more substantive conversations with pete hegseth on issues that we discussed than than happened in that room today. it was a waste of time. thank you, congressman. we appreciate it. now, while democrats, while they were running a smear campaign all day on capitol hill, senator tim sheehy well, actually asked important questions about the department that hegseth has been picked to lead. take a look. >> how many genders are there? >> tough one. >> senator, there are two genders. >> i know that. well. >> i'm a sheehy, so i'm on board. >> how many rounds of five, five, six. can you fit into? the magazine of an m4 rifle? >> depends on the magazine, but standard issue is 30. senator. >> and what size round is the m9? beretta standard issue sidearm for the military fire a nine millimeter. senator, what kind of batteries do you put in your night v

pete did exactly what he said he was going to do. he was going to take the fight to the members and not let the media figure this out themselves. and he went from meeting, from meeting to meeting, meeting with one member at a time, explaining the situation, facing the tough questions. and then today, he handled himself with dignity and class. he took the oncoming fire. he was composed and he handled himself with with great compassion for the job. and i think at the end of the day, he was like, that's what i was looking for right there. and she waited till she saw what she needed to see and committed to voting for him. >> do you think her saying, yes virtually assures that he will get confirmed? yes. >> she you know, i know there was a couple other republicans that was looking at the way she was going to go, that they were going to follow her lead. i think, with her saying, absolutely yes, she's going to support him now all but confirms his ability to to be the next secretary of defense. >> so we heard from senator gary peters there o

pete is somebody that believes in this country. larry: secretary tuberville coming up on the show in just a moment. tomorrow, hundreds more veterans expected to peacefully rally in support of pete hegseth at veteran's memorial and dc landmarks and in addition to serving as a much decorated combat veteran and several wars and pete s hegseth was educatedn princeton and harvard and war on warriors that argued the importance of ending woke fixation on diversity, equity, and ibram collusion and changing in favor of reinvigorating the warrior culture in the pentagon and all through the armed services. now, joe biden leaves the white house with the world in an extremely dangerous place, donald trump intends to turn this completely around to america's advantage. the senate must put true warrior pete hegseth at mr. trump ocean side to help him do it and that's the riff. all right, joining me now is alabama senator tommy tuberville, aforementioned great friend of the show, and strong helicoptering seth and i don't know if you -- hegseth db o

pete hegseth, u.s.se secretary nominee: when president trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was to bring the warrior culture back to the department of defense. lisa: for pete hegseth, that means blocking diversity programs that conservatives challenged. pete hegseth: the dumbest phrase in military history is, our unity is our strength. no, our shared purpose is our strength. lisa: republicans see it as raising standards. >> you are a breath of fresh air. lisa: but democrats see a nominee who has repeatedly questioned women's rules in the military, including in a podcast about two months ago. pete hegseth: i'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. it hasn't made us more effective. lisa: at the hearing today with two women senators who served in the military, strong pushback. >> you will have to change how you see women to do this job well, and i don't know if you are capable of that. >> mr. hegseth, should we take it to believe that you believe that

we got you, pete.gned to save you money and gives you access to wifi speeds up to a gig. so you get high speeds for low prices. better than getting low speeds for high prices. right, bruce? -jealous? yeah, look at that. -honestly. someone get a helmet on this guy. xfinity internet customers, ask how to get an unlimited line free for a year, plus a free 5g phone. ains. >> carley: we are back with your headlines starting with major developing story out of the middle east. right now negotiators are reportedly putting the finishing touches on a gaza cease-fire deal that would potentially bring some, if not all of the remaining hostages still under hamas captivity home. an israeli government official tells fox news the deal is close but not quite there yet. we are told that hundreds of palestinian prisoners will be exchanged for the hostages if this deal goes through. the officials saying of the talks, quote: this is the only time since november 2023 that we are really negotiating with hamas and they are no

you need somebody like pete to bring it home. i'm with judge, i am so proud of pete. i basically taught him everything he knows. >> dana: same for all of us. >> jesse: we made pete what he is today. >> dana: coming up. gavin newsom is now attacking elon musk relating to the wildfires. when you're a small-business owner, your to-do list can be...a lot. ♪♪ super helpful. ♪♪ [ cheering ] what are invoices? progressive makes it easy to see if you can save money with a commercial auto quote online so you can get back to all your other to-dos. absolutely not. get a quote at progressivecommercial.com. at patriot mobile, we take the word service to new heights. serving customers with top tier mobile service is our business, but our mission is to honor and serve patriots, like harry mcbrien. post 911. my life oscillated between multiple tours with the marine corps and my police job, profoundly disrupting my health and changing who i was. harry reached out to the boot campaign, which offers individualized care to veterans and their families. the boot campaign's intervention was

nothing hit pete. i mean they think he is actually going to do what trump directs him to do with consultation with military experts. but that's what they are really worried about, correct? >> yeah. they are, laura. just look at the issue i discussed with pete today. that's women in ground combat roles. people have talk about women in combat. women have been in combat for a long time as pilots, medics or mechanics. talk about infantry and artillery and there are certain reducible commands. nothing pete hegseth will do make a machine gun weigh less than 47 pounds. not make artillery shell less than 100 pounds. the shoulder weigh less than 250 or even 300 pounds. those are irreducible physical demands. we need high and gender neutral standards for those jobs to make sure that all of our troops are safe and ready to fight. the democrats though kept coming back to the issue because they don't care about that. they would rather have social engineering and quotas to meet their desired instate as to having a f

pete g. writes, "my tween wants a new phone. how do i not break the bank?" we got you, pete. xfinity mobile was designed to save you money and gives you access to wifi speeds up to a gig. so you get high speeds for low prices. better than getting low speeds for high prices. right, bruce? -jealous? yeah, look at that. -honestly. someone get a helmet on this guy. xfinity internet customers, ask how to get an unlimited line free for a year, plus a free 5g phone. ♪ ♪ >> laura: for climate change agents have boxed themselves into a corner. now, they are defending california democrats against criticism that they did not properly prepare for the wildfires on grounds there was nothing elected officials could have done. >> there was a fire catastrophe in california. you know how they always say, it actually does, the winds move things and sparks move things. it doesn't matter how much water you have if 900,000 buildings go up at the same time. it is too soon to be saying it is gavin newsom's fault. it is nobody's fault! >> laura: but if that is the case as whoopi goldberg said, it is

pete hegseth says the liberal media smeared him.ch. >> a small handful of anonymous sources were allowed to drive a smear campaign and agenda about me because our left-wing media in america today sadly does not care about the truth. all they were out to do, mr. chairman, was to destroy me. and why do they want to destroy me? because i'm a change agent in a threat to them. >> trace: he really did get the whole treatment. >> when you look at the an honor means trump has had, it's definitely the case that pete hegseth has gotten the most eight from left-wing media for a variety of reasons. one is the fact he's been an ardent trump supporter for years. he's spoken out against woke policies in the military and i think even the fact that he's been a fox news host, that doesn't really give you brownie points with the left. i think the other reason they were terrified of him is he is a good communicator. he proved that today. i think democrat senators are coming up of this just hoping they had a sound bite go viral because i don't really th

first of all, pete hegseth, in some of the more pointed questioning about his qualifications. >> pete hegseth made it clear that he would have no idea what he's doing as secretary of defense. >> which means one thing you would expect to see in a pete hegseth run defense department is that a whole bunch of people undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, the deputy secretary, all these other people would basically be running the pentagon without very much guidance. >> because as far as pete hegseth is concerned, you know, dei programs are the enemy and everything else. >> there wasn't much substance here to find out what he actually would care about in the rest of his management of the defense department. so one thing you'd have is a lot of chaos, because when you have a weak, unqualified secretary of defense, the pentagon and the defense department is huge. >> it's several fiefdoms. >> and, you know, it's like trying to it's 3 million people, all of whom are in different departments within that department. >> and he would spend his time going on tv and doing what he did today at this h

like pete, i served in the us army. like pete, i'm a veteran.s of other warfighters, we've witnessed the hardships of war. we've experienced the loss of friends in combat. we've endured too much time away from family and friends. and no one. i can promise you this. no one hates war more than those who have had to go fight it. no one does. pete's story, though, isn't that much different from the millions of other veterans, and they know it, and they appreciate him for the experiences that he's gone through. and after our country was brutally attacked on nine over 11, pete hegseth answered the call of duty. like so many others, he put the interests of this country ahead of his own. and i can tell you firsthand, as can the hero sitting in this audience behind me. pete's character of country, his selflessness, his duty. these are the key tenets that have shaped him into the leader that he is today. these are the traits that president trump recognized when making the decision to nominate pete for this critical role. he will bring the perspective of b

do you think you could change her opinion on pete hegseth to lead the department? looking forward to finally meeting with him tomorrow. i will ask him questions about a lot of prosaic stuff like getting the nation's shipbuilding back on track etc.. this is the most important cabinet position, in my opinion. you need is somebody not only of solid qualification, but somebody whose character is very, very stellar. i will say the nominee has more baggage on the personal behavior and character side than any nominee that has come before any of the committees i have been on in the senate in the last 12 years. i am looking forward to the discussion tomorrow and we will see where it goes. >> pete hegseth says he is a change agent and his supporters say he is a disruptor that the defense department desperately needs. it is opaque and bureaucratic, they say. it has failed seven audits. is that what the position needs? >> i do think we need some significant change. maybe not modest change, significant change. but if you want to change an organization you need eight track recor

pete hegseth. democrats say there's holes in that. republicans say that the democrats are just looking for controversy right now. but there are a lot of members in the rank and file who do want to see this investigation. and one of the things that the democrats plan to address in this hearing in a matter of minutes, is to see it. they want to all see this. and typically for nominees, it's only the chairman and the ranking member who see those background checks. but it doesn't always happen that way. in fact, oftentimes or sometimes in controversial situations like one of the most famous one, john tower, who was the last nominee, who was actually voted down by the senate, a cabinet nominee voted down by the senate over allegations himself of excessive drinking as he was picked to lead the pentagon. the whole committee at that point did see the fbi background check. expect democrats to point to that in this hearing here. but as i tried to ask pete hegseth on his way in, if you support having the whol

if you thought today's hearing with pete hegseth was wild.ate ton cut rates in fission hearings underway for trump's cabinet and roger marshal joining us to preview what's ahead. we'll be back after the break. >> yes or no, did you lead an audit? yes or no, did you lead an audit? yes or no? what are you afraid of? you can't absolutely this question? yes or no, did you lead an audit? do you know know the answer? yes or no? yes or no? yes or no? i'll take this as a no. where ya headed? susan: where am i headed? am i just gonna take what the markets gives me? no. i can do some research. ya know, that's backed by j.p. morgan's leading strategists like us. when you want to invest with more confidence... the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management (auctioneer) let's start the bidding at 5 million dollars. thank you, sir. (man) these people of privilege... hoarding the financial advantages for far too long. (auctioneer) 7.5 at the back. (man) look at them — unaware that robinhood gold members now enjoy the vip treatment — a 3% ira match on retiremen

pete hegseth was serving in iraq and afghanistan. tim kane was running for office over and over again. he is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with the washington swamp but he's not alone. today many democratic senators disgrace themselves. at one point elizabeth warren galt -- almost got left out of the room. >> will you put your money wear your mouth is and agree that when you leave this job you will not work for the defence industry for ten years? >> that's not even a question i've thought about because it's not one -- my motivation for this job. >> i just need a "yes" or "no" here, time is short. i need a "yes" or "no". >> i would consult with the president what the policy. >> you are quite sure that every general who serves should not go directly into the defence industry for ten years. you are not willing to make that same pledge. >> i'm not a general senator. >> sean: it such a waste of time, a colossal waste of time. they also looked foolish after exposing a real problem with the u.s. military,. >> the statements you

maria: democrats wasting no time in attacking pete hegseth. watch. >> you have many concerns about your record in your public statement because they are so hurtful to the men and women who are currently serving in the u.s. military, harmful to morell harmful to good order and discipline. we will have to change how you see women to do this job well. i don't know if you are capable of that. >> in you casually cheat on a second wife and she on the mother of a child who was born two months before in utility are completely cleared. >> how is that a complete clear. >> what are you afraid of you cannot answer this question, yes or no did you lead an audit, do you not know the answer. maria: oklahoma senator markwayne mullin by flipping the script on the other side of the aisle. >> how many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? have any of you asked them to step down and resign for the job? don't tell me you haven't seen it because i know you have and how many senators have gotten a divorce for cheating on their wives? did you ask them to st

and pete g. writes, "my tween wants a new phone. how do i not break the bank?" we got you, pete. xfinity mobile was designed to save you money and gives you access to wifi speeds up to a gig. so you get high speeds for low prices. better than getting low speeds for high prices. right, bruce? -jealous? yeah, look at that. -honestly. someone get a helmet on this guy. xfinity internet customers, ask how to get an unlimited line free for a year, plus a free 5g phone. >> dangerous winds returning to los angeles. gusts up to 70mph. firefighters reaching a critical point as they race to contain the deadly wildfires. plus, president elect donald trump's cabinet picks. gearing up for a week of potentially bruising confirmation hearings. first up, his choice for defense secretary. pete hegseth and mark zuckerberg sits down with joe rogan as the social media empire gets rid of fact checkers. good morning. i'm jim acosta in washington. you are live at the cnn newsroom. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> and good morning. at 7 a.m. in los angeles, daybreak and more heartbreak in southern califo

they threw a lot of stuff at pete hegseth, but you know what, pete, a professional, war fighter, he camepared. he was ready. and, do you know what? ultimately, he is going to be confirmed because they really didn't -- there were no gigantic mistakes that he made and it's going to be hard for people to say he is not fit. >> brian: i don't think there was any mistakes he made. he said they wanted to attack him personally. when markwayne mullin says hey, by the way you guys ever show up drunk? you guys ever have problems with your marriage? did you ever resign? >> lawrence: the look on their face when he said that because they knew it was true. >> brian: have you ever seen a confirmation nominee walk no chants of u.s.a., u.s.a.? he didn't organize that. trump team didn't organize that it's very hard to have a secretary of defense nominee that is seeing support by the masses. other story going to come out in the next couple weeks. maybe sooner, the amount of people signing up for the military. now that they know he is going to get through, you watch those numbers grow. >> ainsley: they want

if you're able to get pete hegseth, we'll come back to you. thank you for that, senator. look, you've been through hearings before, so look beyond the politics of this. there's a huge, as i said, the stakes in this are huge to head the defense department. but if you're one of those senators who has indicated or may have been on the fence. joni ernst obviously was an obvious one. people were looking to see how she would do because of the accusations of sexual misconduct and his statements on women in the military. but if you're wondering how your constituents are viewing this, did pete hegseth help or hurt? himself? >> well, i mean, i think we have to acknowledge he's a good communicator. that's what he does for a living. that's frankly what his career has really been focused on for most of the last decade is public communication and so on. that score, i think he did a good job. but there's a couple of things that really matter here. the first is let's just for a minute do a thought exercise. imagine if somebody with this profile, a history of problems running small organi

you need somebody like pete to bring it home. i'm with judge, i am so proud of pete.ything he knows. >> dana: same for all of us. >> jesse: we made pete what he is today. >> dana: coming up. gavin newsom is now attacking elon musk relating to the wildfires. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need, and the flavor you love. so, here's to now... now available: boost max! and my progressive rep was super helpful. tom hayes is passive progressive. the way kevin says he always has to help you. tom doesn't have progressive, so he takes it out on those who do. if you switch you can save hundreds. that's great. you can buy more of that cologne we all love. huh. progressive called me back about the claim i filed. support when you need it? i wonder what that's like, huh? in my office. now, tom. -don't be passive progressive. -this is bad right? switch to get good coverage and savings for yourself. dexcom g7 sends your glucose numbers to your phone and watch, so you can alw

joni ernst told fox digital, she will back pete hegseth.mericans deserve strong president of defense, i will work with pete to create the most lethal force. first is pam bondi, john ratcliffe and marco rubio at 10:00, guys. >> steve: question on your experience. you have been posted at the pentagon for a long time. you have a lot of contacts. what do people that have been there 10 or 20 years, what did they think of pete hegseth and his performance yesterday? >> i received text messages from people who loved what they heard. some other brass are nervous, they know changes are coming and generals could be replaced. from rank and file i spoke to, a very excited about pete hegseth coming to be secretary. >> brian: you are hearing recruiting numbers going up. >> lucas: people think recruiting will get a boost with pete hegseth. talking about standards. they don't want to see standards lowered, they want military to stay elite, elite unitses should stay elite including 11 bravo infantrymen, they should not lower standards for women. >> brian: be

we got you, pete. xfinity mobile was designed to save you money and gives you access to wifi speeds up to a gig. so you get high speeds for low prices. better than getting low speeds for high prices. right, bruce? -jealous? yeah, look at that. -honestly. someone get a helmet on this guy. xfinity internet customers, ask how to get an unlimited line free for a year, plus a free 5g phone. >> it's awesome. >> don't let this happen to you. >> download rocket money today nba on tnt is bringing you a night of conference rivalry with a lot of star power. >> spectacular, where elite offenses go head to head. >> oh my goodness what a finish. cavaliers. pacers. nuggets. mavericks coverage begins tonight at 630. presented by state farm on tnt breaking overnight, the newly resigned special counsel jack smith, has just put out his final report. >> and what it amounts to is an historic condemnation of the president elect and his efforts in 2020 to stay in power. just days before he's about to reclaim that power, now,

pete hegseth. personal life. along with allegations of excessive drinking, which he has denied, and other tough questions from democrats about hegseth, his past comments about women in combat roles. but it is republicans, of course, not democrats, who are in control of the senate, and a trump transition official says that republicans are feeling good about his chances for confirmation. cnn's oren liebermann reports now on the tense hearing for president elect trump's unorthodox pick. >> you lack the character and composure and competence to hold the position of secretary of defense. >> pete hegseth past took over the present, especially his comments that women should not serve in combat roles. >> i would be honored to have the opportunity to serve alongside you shoulder to shoulder, men and women, black, white, all backgrounds with a shared purpose. >> democrats on the armed services committee attacked hegseth over past comments demanding more than contrition and clarity on his policy view of women

so, my name is pete.'s not like a tough man's name. it's not like, "hey, whose harley is that?" "it's peter's." [ laughter ] i asked my dad, i go, "why did you name me peter?" he goes, "'cause i thought it was the strongest sounding name in the bible." i was like, "eh, no, you could have named me satan." [ laughter ] pretty sure nobody would call me satan, satan, pumpkin eater, [ laughter ] [ applause ] my dad's like, "no, i'm offended by that. because in latin the word peter means rock. so, your name means rock." and i'm like, "i'm pretty sure that's not true." [ light laughter ] "'cause otherwise, he would have called himself dwayne "the peter" johnson." [ cheers and applause ] "can you smell what the peter is cooking?" [ laughter ] all right. that one got weird. [ laughter ] i feel like we're really bonded. what do you guys want to do after this? [ light laughter ] do you guys all, as an audience, wanna go to the same bar all at once? [ cheers and applause ] yeah. i think it'll be fun. i'm down. yeah.

pete did as well. he articulated that very well today. amna: the rape allegation from 2017 came up the one mr. hegseth paid to settle. there is new reporting in the new yorker citing three sources that said senators including joni ernst and susan collins turned down offers to hear privately from hegseth's accuser. would you want the chance to meet with the accuser privately to be able to see through your due diligence in this advice and consent role? sen. banks: it is unfortunate that we deal with anonymous allegations and sources. if these people want to come forward and publicly make those claims they would be much more credible and taken more seriously. that has not happened. democrats on the committee repeated anonymous allegations today. amna: i want to clarify. i am asking if you would meet privately with the woman behind accusation in 2017. sen. banks: sure, but nobody has reached out to me to do that. at this point we need to get pete hegseth on the job in the role of secretary of defense to clean up the mess over the last four ye

defense secretary follow knee pete pete leg a face the senate arm -- pete hegseth will face the senated on wednesday as well as secretary of state nominee marco rubio. two navy seals, including our next guest, are bringing hundreds of vets to washington to support pete hegseth. of you watching probably at least have some familiarity with bill. every summer, the nominee of secretary of defense and i would swim the new york navy if seal swim. now here you are, bill, and you're putting something else together. you have gathered a group of war fighters, primarily navy seals, to descend on washington, d.c. in support of pete. >> that's right. we want to exercise our first amendment right. we want to show our nation's leaders in the senate where the war fighter class stands. you know, pete's gone to war for our country. there's so many issues now that are at risk for our nation. our pentagon's been astray, a lot of us feel that way, and we want kind of a historic first. we want our leaders to know where the war fighters stand. so what our plan is, is we're going to exercise our first amendme

i mean, because what's the upside to a woman just randomly say, oh, yeah, pete, pete hegseth or any otherg to be an investigation or inquiry about that. why would anyone do that in such a high profile situation? and why do we as a country still look at them like you lying? >> yeah. well, we've come a long way when you do the work that we do on a daily basis. my case at fox news was already eight and a half years ago. but we've come tremendous. we've made tremendous strides since that time. women are actually being believed. there are severe consequences for predators in our society. but julie and i often say that even though we passed two bipartisan bills into law in 2022 and the most hyper political time of our generation to eliminate silencing mechanisms that keep these women at bay with their stories never to be heard. even though we accomplished that changing culture, we often say, is more difficult than even that. passing laws is the first way to try to, for lack of a better term, force companies and other individuals into treating these courageous people who come forward in a better

i will work with pete to create the most lethal fighting force force.he first hearing gets underway with pam bondi 9:30 eastern and john ratcliffe and marco rubio at 10:00, guys. >> steve: i think one guy is going to have a pretty easy day today. that is chris wright, secretary of energy nominee because today is his birthday. >> >> ainsley: they should give him a pass. >> steve: exactly. >> brian: work with burgum with ininterior overseeing oil and gas. a key role. one clarification, pam bondi will testify only one day but her nomination will be considered for days. the second day is three witnesses for her, two against her in the opposition if the democrats choose that. >> lawrence: gang of 8, experience, someone sail through. john ratcliffe should sail through his nomination. considering he used to manage the cia with his old. >> steve: pete hegseth mathematically he got the job. if you missed his opening statement yesterday. here is a portion pete hegseth. >> unlike the current administration, politics should play no part in military matters. we are

tuesday pete pete leg was grilled. -- pete hegseth was grilled. 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 react

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we got you, pete.ves you access to wifi speeds up to a gig. so you get high speeds for low prices. better than getting low speeds for high prices. right, bruce? -jealous? yeah, look at that. -honestly. someone get a helmet on this guy. xfinity internet customers, ask how to get an unlimited line free for a year, plus a free 5g phone. obligations. get the real value from your life insurance when you need it. with abacus. >> it's monday. it's monday everyone. >> happy to have you here on this monday night. >> what would you do as dnc chair to better communicate with this generation? >> you feel like the u.s. government is starting to figure out how to do this. >> everything matters. >> lots to get to every monday night. like this. same way on monday night. >> don't look now. but there is new trouble in paradise between the two. biggest, most powerful, best funded factions of the actual maga political movement. as a student of this movement, i can explain, and there's lots of coverage that plays out how t