for the very latest on these confirmation votes, let's bring in annie greer on capitol hill. annie, what more can you tell us about now? noem's confirmation? >> well, her confirmation process went off pretty smoothly, and she was just confirmed by the senate of a vote of 59 to 34. and that meant that seven democratic senators joined with republicans to confirm her. and we expect her to be sworn in shortly. but now that she has been confirmed, the real work for her begins. as trump's leader of the department of homeland security, noem will have the extremely huge job of running trump's immigration proposals from what he wants to do on the southern border to his mass deportation plans. and trump has already issued a number of executive orders in this area that it will be noem's job to figure out how to carry out and continue. noem will also oversee fema, which deals with disaster relief. and we've seen president trump just yesterday talking about potentially wanting to eliminate that entire agency. subagency under homeland security. and as the country is recovering from the deva

for more on this and these cabinet votes, let's bring in annie greer on capitol hill. annie, good to see you again. so bring us up to speed on how kristi noem's vote played out just a short time ago. >> well, her confirmation process and vote this morning went off pretty much without a hitch. she passed the senate with a 5934 vote with seven democratic senators joining republicans to confirm her as trump's next department of homeland security. but now that noem is confirmed, the real work begins for her. trump has laid out an extremely ambitious immigration plan from what he wants to do on the southern border to mass deportations, and he's already issued a number of executive orders on these fronts and is going to need nome to continue to carry out these policies for him. we've also seen trump in the last day make news around what he wants to see happen with fema, which deals with emergency funding. he said that he's he doesn't know if that agency should continue. and as california is recovering from disastrous wildfires and the south is recovering from hurricanes in th

and let's go straight to cnn's annie greer, who is live on capitol hill. annie, what are you hearing from lawmakers about these this late night move by president trump? >> well, i'm hearing a wide array of reactions from lawmakers, both democrat and republican. but i first just want to put in context exactly what trump did, which is he fired nearly a dozen independent watchdog agency individuals whose job is to oversee government agencies. their role is to examine whether there is any waste, fraud and abuse or or mismanagement happening at these agencies. they're not political individuals, but trump removing them allows him to install his own choices for these. again, nonpartisan roles. and he did so without giving congress the 30 days heads up that is required by law before removing any of these individuals. so republican senator chuck grassley, who leads the judiciary committee, has some concerns about this. and i want to read you a statement that we were provided. he said, quote, there may be good reason the ig's were fired. we need to know that. if so,

. >> all right, annie greer, thanks so much. and we just got some news, too, that president trump has accepted an invitation from house speaker johnson to speak to a joint session of congress on march 4th. so we put that on our calendar march 4th. we will see that unfold. let's turn to develops now developments now on president trump's new immigration policies. the first deportation flights have started with the white house press secretary sharing images last night of migrants lined up, handcuffed and boarding a military aircraft. guatemalan officials are confirming 264 guatemalan nationals have been deported from the u.s. on military flights back to their home country. cnn's rafael romo is joining us now. rafael, you've been tracking this. what more are you learning tonight? >> well, jessica, guatemalan officials have been trying to put a brave face to weather this storm. they have chosen to seek cooperation with the trump white house so that they can prepare for what could be a large number of guatemalan citizens returning to

in fact, he told separately, he told our colleague annie greer that he met with two republican congressmen, congressman keith self and gus bilirakis, as part of a smaller group of lawmakers. i asked if he was going to meet with the speaker of the house himself. he had no plans to do so, yet he said he did, would like to he would like to meet with donald trump, although he said that no plans to meet with the president are in the works. but overall, he indicated that he didn't have regrets for his actions on january 6th. and he contended he did nothing wrong, even though he was found guilty by a jury of his peers. what do you say to folks who are alarmed of your presence here, given what your role on january 6th? >> what's my role in january 6th? >> i sit outside. >> express my first amendment right to. >> free speech. that's it. >> i didn't go in the capitol. i didn't tell anybody. >> else to. >> as all the. >> witnesses said. >> but you were convicted by a jury of your peers. >> sure. >> unfair jury. >> selected from the jury pool. >> seditious conspiracy is an incredibly serious charge. >