lankford, aye. the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 52. the nays are 48. the concurrent resolution as amended is considered agreed to. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. the democratic leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, tonight one amendment at a time, democrats exposed republicans' true colors here on the senate floor. for the first time this year, senate republicans were forced to go on record and defend their plans to cut taxes for donald trump's billionaire friends. what happened tonight was only the beginning. this debate is going to go on for weeks and maybe months. democrats will be ready to come back and do this over and over again because americans deserve to know the truth. and what is the truth? under donald trump's republican party, billionaires win and american families lose. billionaires win and american families lose. that's it. that's the republican agenda. tonight we gave republicans one chance after another to do the right thing and put the needs of american families first. we v

senator lankford was the guy behind this bipartisan immigration bill. senator lankford, a very conservative republican, in a very conservative state of oklahoma. a lot of trump people were very mad at him for trying to do a deal with the democrats. he now faces potentially a primary challenge. what is his message? what's your advice to him in that situation? because you literally have a real-world example of this. >> the biggest mistake that has been made is talking about the border problem, which is a real problem, as an immigration problem. it's not. our immigration problem, our immigration policies in this country have been broken for 40 years. the reason why we have the border problem is we don't have enough people coming in legally. we only allow 1.2 million a year. it is not matching what we need for our economy. we need to have a system to bring in people that really want to be a part of this country, not just want to take advantage of the jobs that are here. and the worst thing that happened, we were given to move -- we were beginning to move to

lankford said it was a softball but listen to what happened. >> did he betray a duty? did he betray the trust of the american people? which is, according to merriam webster, that's the definition of a traitor. >> edward snowden broke the law, and he released this information in a way that he should not have. he also acknowledged and exposed information that was unconstitutional. >> was he a traitor this time when he took america's secrets, released them and ran to china and became a russian citizen. >> i'm focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again. >> you work with these senators. the republicans and you're from a different party, but when you speak to them privately, do you think they can get over that, her refusal to call him a traitor and actually vote to confirm her, or move her out of committee? >> listen, margaret, edward snowden released more information probably did as much damage to our intelligence community as anyone in history. the fact that miss gabbard, who had legislation to pardon edward snowden, called him a

i think that's that was the case with senator lankford on edward snowden. and i think that was also the case with senator cassidy on rfk jr.. s previous statements about the link between autism and vaccines, you know, there was one point where, um, rfk jr. said that he was willing to change his mind if wrong, but he did not state, you know, after giving several opportunities directly that there was no link between autism and vaccines. and that's what senator cassidy is grappling with. >> yeah. and, stephen, rfk jr.'s, you know, vote in the senate finance committee really does hinge on that exchange with senator bill cassidy, who is, by the way, also a doctor. he had some pointed questions about vaccines during the hearing last week, among other things. do you think kennedy, um, managed himself well with cassidy? and if he didn't, is that an indicator that, you know, cassidy is going to be a no vote? >> well, i don't think he managed himself well with cassidy. like sophia said, there were some sort of pointed interactions that i think kennedy, uh, you know,

chair crapo: senator lankford? sen. lankford: thank you for stepping into the fray. there is a lot to be done. the last four years there has been very little done and this committee has been frustrated with the lack of a phone call coming in to say how we figure out trade policy. a lot of us have ag producers that have a great product that the world wants to buy and ustr has not helped us. if you can't do it, we will ask your son to take over. everyone looks well prepared in your family. when you step in, there are several things we talked about. the abraham accords. they are still asking the same question. what's the benefit? one of those things should be trade. if you joined, here's the benefit. how do you develop those things? mr. greer: i know this is important to you. we had a good conversation. we have existing trade agreements with jordan and morocco. we know there is a pathway for good relations with these folks. some discussions i had earlier with senator bennet, where the president directed, let's look at existing trade agreements and markets where they mig

senator lankford. sen. lankford: is good to see you again. thanks for the time we got a chance to speak with you. thanks for your service in congress, though you are in the wrong party at the time and your service to the country including in my great state of oklahoma that you had the opportunity to serve there. i want to give you an opportunity to answer a few things and i want to send some context. there's been a lot of questions about 700 to and edwards noted. it may feel like -- about 700 to and edwards noted -- about 702 and edward snowden. folks serve our country every day, they do not have a uniform on, people do not buy them lunch because people do not know who they are. they worked very hard to protect americans. when edward snowden got mad at his employer that he did not get the promotion he wanted and started harvesting information and found things he did not like on it and then kept going and then released them to media and went to china and then went from china to russia and became a russian citizen and continued to be able to la

. >> lankford mr.kford i mr. >> daines mr. >> daines i mr. >> young mr. >> young i mr. >> barrasso mr. >> barrasso i mr. >> johnson mr. >> johnson i mr. >> tillis mr. tillis i mrs. blackburn mrs. >> blackburn i mr. marshall mr. >> marshall i mr. >> wyden. no. mr. wyden. no. >> miss cantwell, no. >> miss cantwell, no. mr. bennet, mr. bennet, no. mr. warner, no. mr. warner, no. mr. whitehouse, mr. whitehouse, no. miss hassan, miss. hassan, no. >> miss cortez masto. >> miss cortez masto. >> no. >> miss warren, no. >> miss warren, no. >> mr. sanders, mr. sanders, no. >> miss smith, no. >> miss smith, no. >> mr. lujan, no. mr. lujan, no. >> mr. warnock, no. >> mr. warnock, no. >> mr. welch, mr. >> welch, no. >> mr. chairman, >> chairman. votes i. >> mr. chairman the final tally. >> is 14 ayes. >> 13 ayes. >> the vote. >> was. would the clerk please restate the vote. >> mr. chairman. >> the final tally was 14 ayes. >> 13 ayes. >> the vote was 1413. the nomination is reported favorably. we will now turn to ot

chair crapo: senator lankford. sen. lankford: thank you. kennedy, good to see you again.we had some great visits in my office. we have talked about 100 different issues and backgrounds. and things. you have addressed a lot of them today. just different questions to clear up social media rumors. things out there on it. i appreciate that. we have talked about pharmacy benefit managers, your views on agriculture and commercial, food issues. you made it very clear you will not tell americans what to eat. you do want americans to know what they are eating. i think it's a pretty fair perspective on that. i do want to talk to you about some areas that you and i have talked about as well. we have disagreements on the issue of life and when it begins. you have been outspoken on that. we have had good opportunities to talk about that. title x is in the hhs area. this has been an area interpreted for a long time -- president trump in the first administration interpreted that rule to say his administration will prohibit the performance, referral for, promotion of abortion as a part o

lankford, aye. the clerk: mr. wicker, aye. mr. cassidy, aye. the clerk: mr. warner, no. mr.ders, no. the clerk: mr. schiff, no. mr. whitehouse, no. mr. marshall, aye. ms. baldwin, no. the clerk: mr. warnock, no. the clerk: mr. schumer, no. the clerk: mrs. murray, no. the clerk: mr. merkley, no. the clerk: mr. graham, aye. the clerk: mr. markey, no. the clerk: mr. blumenthal, no. the clerk: mr. grassley, aye. the clerk: mr. scott of south carolina, aye. mr. ossoff, no. the clerk: mr. mr. padilla: no. ms. klobuchar, no. the clerk: ms. gillibrand, no. the clerk: mr. risch, aye. mr. schmitt, aye. the clerk: mr. van hollen, no. the clerk: mr. budd, aye. the clerk: mr. sullivan, aye. the clerk: ms. lummis, aye. the clerk: mr. young, aye. vote: the clerk: ms. hirono, no. the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 53. the nays are 47. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: department of health and human services, robert f. kennedy jr. of california to be secretary. mr. wyden: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr.

lankford. aye. mr. daines. aye. mr. barrasso, aye. mr. johnson, aye. mr. tillis, aye. ms. blackburn, aye mr. wyden, no. ms. cantwell, no. mr. bennet, no. mr. warner, no. mr. whitehouse, no. ms. hassan, no. ms. cortez masto, no. ms. warren, no. mr. sanders, no. ms. smith, no. mr. lujan, no. mr. warnock, no. mr. chairman? the chairman votes aye. the final tally is 14 ayes, 13 nays. chair crapo: with the click please restate the vo--with the clerk restate the vote? >> 14 ayes, 13 nays. chair crapo: the vote is reported favorably. since i asked my republican colleagues to hold off at the outset, i will go to my republican colleague first. senator tillis. sen. tillis: i voted aye today and i wanted to briefly explain why. i believe in my 65 years -- i will be 65 in august -- that mr. kennedy will be one of the first people coming before who is not a trained health care expert. he views this through the lens of an attorney. he's brought many lawsuits on food safety, vaccine safety, a number of other things. mr. chair, i think it was senator warnock that said that the president s

also, senator james lankford had some issues about how she answered the question about edward snowden in particular, at that hearing, she did not explicitly call snowden a traitor in that hearing. she later had comments about that behind closed doors, wrote an op ed about her views on that one over james lankford. but senator todd young remains uncertain. he is still the key swing vote and could determine whether or not this nomination moves to the senate floor. that vote tomorrow also, jake robert f kennedy jr. a critical vote tomorrow before the senate finance committee for him to lead the health and human services department. one person to watch. senator bill cassidy, the main swing vote on that committee just moments ago, jake, he said he still has not made a decision on how he will vote tomorrow. he did speak with rfk jr.. yesterday, and i caught up with the chairman of the senate finance committee, mike crapo, who indicated that he has been talking to senators to try to advance this nomination. >> have you. >> have you spoken to senator cassidy about this. >> to all the senators

listen to james lankford who is concerned about the fact that he was pro-life 20 minutes ago before donald trump offered him the opportunity to have a ton of power and you say the senators are bought and paid for by big pharma, show me where bernie sanders a out from big pharma elizabeth warren. >> what has bernie sanders done for my health for my kids? >> moved to vermont and have a conversation with bernie sanders can deliver but don't be dishonest about it. this felt like the first hearing to me where the senators were 99% of them took it seriously and they had real questions but that's because the range of awfulness or insanity on display and rfk junior is so broad. everything from anti- vaccine which loves to deny they had him on tape over and over again on podcast, rafael warnock repeating him and lyme disease is material engineered by a weapon, pesticide turning your kids trans -- he can say whatever he wants today but he's on record having said these things. elizabeth warren i get, the town got high-pitched what she's talking about the "wall street journal" who did a big piece, he'

lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- barrasso, cotton, cramer, crapo, cruz, fischer, justice, marshall, moran, mullin, rounds, sheehy, thune, tuberville, wicker. senators voting in the negative -- blunt rochester, cantwell, kaine, kelly, kim, murray, and warnock. ms. alsobrooks, no. the clerk: ms. baldwin, no. mr. mccormick, aye. the clerk: mr. schatz, no. mr. daines, aye. the clerk: mr. reed, no. ms. hassan, no. the clerk: mrs. blackburn, aye. mr

brianna: senator lankford on earlier willing to negotiated our sovereignty that we've seen you don'tain in mexico" cancels, res kruk border we'll designates cartels terrorist organizations there is stuff can happen with real leadership should be to republicans people like joe biden had opportunity after opportunity sacrificed this opportune for political gain. maria: great points all longer. joe: i want a salute to doge doge, i think starting to see you know lot rubber off tires but some point the trump administration has to make a better nexus between what is happening at doge what is happening in regular american lives mention with refund check maybe people getting stuff like that to link back to where the sayings is going how going to affect american wallets going to affect american debt i think that is next argument trump administration has to start making. >> yesterday president trump talked about, tariffs i'm wondering if he's going into specific sectors now. not necessarily just countries, but reciprocal tariffs on sectors coming from those countries. >> yeah. well, i think th

senator james lankford with the details.eveals the latest quarterly earnings. friday attorney general pam bondi says her top priority is keeping america safe, alabama attorney general steve marshall with me friday. h it's already hereae with "mornis mor"morningswith maria". ya knod 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 ♪ ♪ the flag replacement program got started by a good friend of mine, a navy vet, saw a flag at the office that needed to be replaced and said wouldn't this be great if this could be something that we did for anyone? comcast has always been a community driven company. this is one of those great examples of the way we're getting out there. at ameriprise financial we know our clients are so much more than clients. they're conquerors and champions, and what matters most to them matters most to us. it's no wonder we have a 4.9 out of five client satisfaction rating. ameriprise financial. >> at least nine people are

. >> other senators, like james lankford, who has publicly expressed concerns about gabbard. >> so i.ink she is going. >> to have a tough time getting confirmed. and i don't think the other. >> two. >> patel and. >> kennedy, are. >> shoo ins either. >> we did. >> see that senate republicans with the matt. >> gaetz nomination. >> did move. >> quickly to. >> torpedo him. we saw. three astray. >> on this vote. so i. >> wouldn't be surprised if one. >> of these nominees was. >> shot down. >> doug, last night we learned the trump administration has pushed out senior officials, senior officials at the doj and fbi involved in investigating and prosecuting january 6th rioters. at least six high level fbi executives have already been fired, and thousands of other agents are under review. as a former federal prosecutor yourself, what could be the impact of this kind of purge? >> well, i think it's very dangerous to our law enforcement system in the country. the fbi, whether you like them or not, they're still one. >> of. >> if probably the greatest law enforcement agency in the world. they have

it's senator james lankford. >> steve: oh. >> jimmy: his health tip is, "get cardio as draco malfoy'sble." [ laughter ] >> steve: oh. he's a double. >> jimmy: up next, here's senator rick scott. his health tip is, "feast upon the blood of your college interns." [ laughter ] finally, here's senator mitch mcconnell. his health tip is, "maybe skip me for this." [ laughter and applause ] there you go. that's some good -- just a a couple tips. four or five tips is all you need. some business news, today apple announced that they're about to introduce "the newest member of the family." yeah. this is what happens when you don't use apple'protection plan. [ laughter ] apple was like, "remember nine months ago when you -- [ laughter ] -- finally got your macbook to hook up with your printer?" some tv news, this sunday, the third season of "white lotus" premieres. [ cheers and applause ] ooh, i'm excited. i'm excited about this. in fact, i saw a teaser for it earlier today. check this out. ♪ >> beautiful amenities, spacious rooms, mysterious murders. check in this sunday to "the white lotus." >

so we're joined by senator james lankford of oklahoma.f you're from the state of this representative, be sure to really cheer loudly here. ok. anyone from alabama? for senator katy britt? senator johnierness of iowa. senator cindy hyde smith from mississippi. senator pete ricketts from nebraska. and moving to the u.s. house of representatives, congressman andy biggs from arizona. congresswoman julie fdorchyk from north dakota. closer to home, congressman andy harris of maryland. congressman bob latta from ohio. got a lot from ohio. congressman john mcguire from virginia. congressman bob ander from missouri. we'll be hearing from him in a minute. congressman chris smith of new jersey. congressman derek van orden from wisconsin. we're also blessed to have among us today governor jeff landry from louisiana. we are so honored to be joined by these elected leaders who are fighting for life across the nation and on capitol hill. i'm also delighted to be joined today by two incredibly dedicated leaders in congress. leader thune and speaker johns

it's why i supported the bipartisan senator lankford agreement to invest $20 billion to strengthen security of the u.s.-mexico border. that's why i pushed the last administration to prioritize additional resources to stop the flow of illicit drugs like fentanyl from coming through ports of entry. and as vice chair of the senate intel committee, i know there are a number of threat actors that are seeking to exploit weakness in our security measures. i believe we should do more to protect the homeland and bolster military residents -- readiness. we should invest more ships and submarines. and we should do more to support service members and their families both during their time in service and afterwards. and of course a strong national defense is not only about who has the most tanks and guns, but who is making strategic investments andujar necessarying emerging technologies like -- and harnessing emerging technologies like a.i. if this is about energy independence, we should use every tool at our disposal to lower the cost for working families. while also working to make sure the new energy

but then you saw someone like james lankford, who walked out and told us, you know, and several othere that he wasn't sure that he really tried to help her, you know, get this on the record that she believes edward snowden is a traitor. and she refused to say so. >> mhm. so it's now been, you know, more than a week since the white house put a sudden 90 day freeze on almost all foreign aid. several non-governmental organizations who spoke to cnn say that they haven't gotten answers about which funding has been suspended. you've reported that programs include the president's emergency relief plan for aids relief, refugee and resettlement services. so what are some of the other programs that are being impacted by this freeze? >> i mean, it's kind of runs the gamut, right? i think what most people do not know, the scope and breadth of u.s. foreign aid and the corners of the world that it touches. i mean, we're talking about, as you mentioned, hiv aids in nigeria. you know, the presidential pepfar program, which has gone through several administrations, republican and democrat, and has bro

lankford. moran. mullen. risch. rounds. schmidt. scott of south carolina sheehy. >> tillis. >> tuberville. mr.. hoeven i. >> clarity of what everybody is watching right now. senators get to come in and vote. they don't technically have a clock on them. they may claim otherwise. what you just heard was a clerk reading off the votes of those who have voted yes. anybody who hasn't voted can come in and vote while they're doing it. i'll just say it's actually a very cool thing to watch. if you're a senate procedural nerd, you see the pages sitting down there. >> senate procedural. >> nerds. i've met some adjacent. i'm adjacent to them. yeah. the guy sitting down right next to the to the desk or the the pages who actually run the senate. um, but are actually enormously helpful. so we're continuing to watch the senators come in. i believe you see somebody wearing an eagles jersey right there who clearly lost a bet. um, at some point, um, you know, you're allowed to have a little bit of fun, although you're supposed to be wearing a jacket

we saw yesterday, collins and lankford.day we just talked about this todd young, who had had some concerns, saying yes, now we know it's going to go before the full senate. she is one step closer at this very moment to having the top intelligence job in the united states government. i just want to get your reaction to that, mark, as someone who has spent so many years on the inside. >> well, chris, i think we're you know, we're past the point of really discussing whether she has the qualifications or whether she's suitable. i think myself and many others would argue that she does not. but it's pretty clear from the vote today. and i think what we're going to see coming up in the full vote of the senate, she's going to be confirmed. i think the gop senators, especially those who care about national security, certainly know better. but it doesn't matter, because as you've been discussing now, you know, the threat of getting primaried. the threat of elon musk. the threat of, you know, backlash from from donald trump is just to

lankford, aye. mr. sheehy, aye. but we've had a.nd vote in a fashion that kind of affirms our assumption about the direction of this confirmation vote in that rfk jr. will likely be easily confirmed. bill cassidy, who we talked about before. the senator from louisiana who expressed some skepticism about his nomination, just voted yes. and also john curtis, the new senator from utah, who is often thought of as a potential swing vote. he voted yes for rfk as well. >> so that. >> are two votes in the affirmative for kennedy that demonstrate that he will. likely be confirmed. >> in terms. >> of the effort that the white house used to make sure that these nominees got over the finish line, they. first established exactly where they, you know, were going. >> to be. >> when it came to these nominees during the pete hegseth nomination process, where you saw serious reservations from republican senators, you saw new revelations about hegseth and his background, much of which was broken here by nbc news and my colleague julie sirkin and other

heard from most of the republicans on that committee, including senator susan collins and james lankford, who announced last night that they would vote yes on this nomination after yet another rocky hearing from gabbard last week. but there's still a huge question mark surrounding todd young. he's a republican who serves on this committee, who was mum last night when reporters repeatedly were pressing him on what he would do. he said he would make an announcement today that hearing and vote is going to take place later today. so two really critical moments for trump's nominees on capitol hill happening in just under an hour. >> all right. to definitely to be watched very closely this morning. thank you so much lauren sara. >> all right. thanks, kate. right now the recovery operation continues for the deadly mid-air collision in the potomac river. investigators are still lifting pieces of the wreckage from the river. and you're looking at a live view of that going on right now. today, the ntsb is expected to release new data from the black hawk helicopter. the agency has been analyzing th

you had senator lankford expressing concern. and so if she loses one, she's in trouble getting out of committee. but then on the other side, you have rfk jr., who really kind of would not say that he he would accept the information that vaccines cause autism. and he was asked repeatedly, there is a ton of literature peer reviewed. for decades, for decades that show that they do not. but he said, if you show me proof, i'd be willing to to accept it, even though that proof is already out there. >> yeah. and that hedging really raised some concerns. listen to how bill cassidy said after the hearing. and also susan collins, who sits on the key committee, the intelligence committee, considering tulsi gabbard's nomination. >> my concern. >> is that if there's any false. >> note. >> any undermining of a mama's trust in vaccines, another person will die from a vaccine preventable disease. and that is why i've been struggling with your nomination. >> do you want to weigh in on tulsi? >> i need to review. >> the entire hearing. >> the jur

lankford, aye. mr. kaine, no. mr. warnock, no. ms. hirono, no. in previous controversial senate nominations confirmation hearings. rather, senator mitch mcconnell of kentucky has just voted yes. mr. booker, no. mrs. a supreme court showdown. let's go to nbc's julia ainsley, who's following this for us. julia, what have we learned about this? what comes next in this battle around the 14th amendment to the constitution? >> well. >> alex. >> look. >> as soon as the president signed this executive order the night he was inaugurated, we knew this would potentially go to the supreme court. now it's looking like that could come. even faster, because what happened in the ninth. >> circuit, which is an appellate court. >> traditionally the. >> more liberal of those in the country. >> they have said that they will not. reinstate that. >> executive order that. >> would ban birthright citizenship for. >> anyone born who is does not have at least. >> one parent who is in. >> the united states, either. >> as. a u.s. citizen or. >> as a legal permanent resident

another republican skeptic, senator james lankford. after that back and forth about stone last week, he had some concerns, but he had conversations with gabbard afterwards. he is now a yes, which means that this vote is going to happen along party lines. they'll be approved by a single vote. then it will be sent to the senate floor, where we expect gabbard's nomination to be taken up as soon as next week. and at that point, she can only afford to lose three republican votes on a party line vote. and at the moment, we don't expect more than three republicans to vote against her. so she is in a very good spot to get this position. after weeks of battling with democrats and winning over some of those skeptical republicans, including senator todd young, a critical vote support announced today, brianna. >> manu raju, thank you for the report. boris. >> and more breaking news into cnn. we've just learned that the fbi has complied with orders from the department of justice demanding officials turn over information about employees who worked o

lankford, aye. mr. sheehy, aye. the clerk: mrs. murray, no. the clerk: mr. hoeven, aye. the clerk: mr. scott of south carolina, aye. . the clerk: mr. merkley, no. the clerk: mr. budd, aye. mrs. gillibrand, no. mr. moran, aye. the clerk: mr. fetterman, no. the clerk: mr. schatz, no. ms. smith, no. mr. husted, aye. ms. lummis, aye. the clerk: mrs. capito, aye. ms. cantwell, no. the clerk: mr. cramer, aye. mr. kim, no. ms. murkowski, aye. mr. coons, no. mr. kaine, no. the clerk: mr. warner, no. mr. king, no. the clerk: mr. warnock, no. the clerk: mr. mcconnell, no. the clerk: mr. schmitt, aye. mr. cruz, aye. mr. lee, aye. mrs. moody, aye. mr. daines, aye. mr. schiff, no. mr. booker, no. mr. padilla, no. mr. padilla, no. is led by this. we wish to be everywhere all times. with allies and partners and encouraged everyone to invest have they represent but it requires realistic nominees. a lot of to the media anyone suggests abandonment are trying to drive away allies. we are committed to that and understand the importance. the fiscal reality of the have to. nato has to spend m

james lankford, too, was concerned about her not calling him a traitor. snowden a traitor during that testimony. gabbard over the weekend tried to clean it up. she put out an op ed saying that she didn't want to call, label him a name, just deal with the facts, not with not with the actual name calling and the like. is that enough to win over those republicans? a big question, because there are some concerns about other senators who are not on the committee. if it does advance to the floor. >> you are going to have one of many busy days tomorrow. manu, thank you so much for that reporting. thank you for watching inside politics today. cnn news central starts after the break. >> the boeing 747 has crashed in the lockerbie area., trying to. >> find out the why of it became everything. >> nothing is what it seems in the lockerbie story. >> lockerbie, the bombing of pan am flight 103, february 16th on. >> a vacation starts with how you get there. a private jet experience from one flight's budget. you've got to see this. plug in your itinerary. search from ove

. >> that was, again, a bipartisan bill that was negotiated by senator lankford from oklahoma. certainly not a moderate republican. but i do want to ask you, when you mention guantanamo, do you have concerns because even as you are looking here, right, to kind of let off a pressure valve as they need to because they are doing so many arrests? do you have any concerns about the problems that bringing migrants to gitmo could create, for instance, the legality of it, how migrants might access the legal services that they're entitled to? >> well, a couple of different things. just to go really quick back to that bipartisan bill, just because the bill is bipartisan doesn't make it operationally effective. and so there were a number of concerns with that bill. as we talk about. >> i mean, it would have. >> shut down the border. >> it would have shut down the border and brought numbers down, as we saw ultimately it did. >> no. >> it would have triggered at a certain number. >> per day. it would not have done any of that. it wouldn't have done any of that. but look, when we talk about

susan collins, james lankford, both coming out saying they're going to support her.u support the nomination as well, but how do you feel that nomination is going to go, particularly in the wake of the questions about her refusal to call edward snowden a traitor during her hearing? >> well, listen, i've been in the senate for about three weeks now, so take my prediction for what it's worth. but i think she's a great lady. i was actually stationed in hawaii as a navy seal when she was elected to congress first. so she's a combat veteran officer like my my wife, also a marine combat veteran from afghanistan, i think very highly of tulsa. she's an unconventional pick and she's unconventional for a good reason. she's going to approach things from a different point of view. she's an incredibly smart woman, and she's got my support. >> sen. tim sheehy, appreciate your time, sir. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> and coming up, new details on the deadly mid-air collision here in washington. >> have i got news for you? it's back for a new season, whether you like it or not. >>

james lankford voted yes. lisa murkowski voted yes. susan collins voted yes. mitch mcconnell is the lone no vote. and that's not enough to sink her nomination. she is now the next director of national intelligence. despite all these concerns, and now against the backdrop of trump and putin beginning to have a very specific and direct line of communication ally. >> it also makes sense, ryan, when you look at the way that mcconnell has talked about the way he's going to continue to flex his muscle, even though he's out of leadership, foreign policy and america's role on the world stage has always been the focal point that he has returned to. this idea of pushing back against america first exceptionalism. so this makes a lot of sense. but the other way that a lot of these reluctant senators got to, yes, was through jd vance. right? >> that's exactly right. and i'll make two points about that. the first, you're right that this is mitch mcconnell flexing his muscles, but it also demonstrates that he doesn't have nearly the authority and sway that he once had when h

and senator mcconnell got senator jim lankford from oklahoma to lead the effort. and the reason for that was he had great credibility with house conservatives and they came up with a pretty important immigration package and one that, frankly, was very favorable to republicans. and senator mcconnell tried to sell it to his members as we're not going to get a better deal in this. but then then candidate donald trump said, don't do it. no deal. and the deal fell apart. so he's senator mcconnell has been involved in immigration issues for a long time. another major debate, negotiation that he was part of, of course, as senate leader was in 2017. the massive tax overhaul that came along. republicans are in charge president trump is in the white house. it became law. how big of an issue was this for the leader? mcconnell? it's a really important issue because it's an important issue for the republican party. part of their orthodoxy. it's an important issue for the republican donor base. and it was an important issue for then-speaker paul ryan. paul ryan was an expert on

things the president could agree on and he could agree on an senator anr mcconnell got center jim lankfordklahoma to lead the effort and the reason for that is in great credibility of house conservatives. they came up with a pretty important immigration packagege and one that was frankly very favorable to republicans senator macconnell tried to sell it to his members as were not going to get a better deal than this. but then candidate donald trump said don't do it, no deal and the deal fell apart. senator mcconnell's been involved in immigration issues for a long time. >> another major debate negotiation that he was part of as senate leader was in 2017. the massive tax overhaul that came along. republicans are in charge, president trump is in the white house. it became law. how big of an issue was this for later it macconnell? >> it's really important issue for the republican party. as part of the orthodoxies important issue for the republican donor base. it was an important issue for then speaker paul ryan. he was an e expert on these isss but senator macconnell really wasn't. he and paul

but the real moment of truth came when senator lankford of oklahoma asked her what he himself has publicly said was a softball question. and the question was, is edward snowden a traitor? it really should have been pretty easy. if you believe edward snowden broke the law and the law he broke is the espionage act, it's pretty clear that's exactly what he is. he's a traitor. she wouldn't answer. senator bennet gave her another opportunity. she didn't take it. now, colonel gabbard came into her confirmation hearing with a plan to give the same nonanswer over and over again about edward snowden. and she was counting on that being enough to skate by. it wasn't for me. and i still can't understand to this -- to this day i still can't figure it out why she will not call this guy a traitor. colonel gabbard would be leading the men and women of our intelligence agencies whose work and lives edward snowden put at risk. i ask my republican colleagues, how can we entrust this responsibility with someone who wanted to free edward snowden and still to this day cannot say whether or not he's a trait or?