i've been participant of confirmation hearing of a number of street court justices including brett kavanaugh and how ugly that can be and not just on him but also on his family, but he and his wife have made clear they are willing to take financial sacrifice in order to serve the country and i respect that. >> did you address sexual misconduct allegations, financial mismanagement that people accused him off. did that come up in your conversations? >> it did but a lot of this has been anonymous, and i think what we will be able to do through the background check, the fbi or hearing itself to see whether they are anonymous or whether anybody will claim responsibility. what i learned in kavanaugh hearings, there's a lot of people who make anonymous claims but will not show up and be accountable for that. so i think it's important to give him a fair process but we also need to have a process where we can get all of the facts out before we have to make our decisions. >> do you think that senator ernst and others -- >> i think it's premature. >> i know senator earnst want to see the process throug

he says the media is trying to give him the brett kavanaugh treatment. going anywhere. he penned an article in the "wall street journal" yesterday. quote, it's a testified manufactured media takedown. talk to those who served with me in guantanamo bay. iraq, afghanistan on or about the national guard. they support me. i'm honored by that i have never backed down from a fight and won't back down from this one. i look forward to an honest confirmation hearing with our distinguished senators. not a show trial in the press. hegseth has been meeting with republican senators up on capitol hill all week long. is he trying to shore up support for a future confirmation hearing he met with senator joni ernst yesterday who wrote on x, quote: i appreciate pete hegseth's service to our country. something we both share. today as part of the confirmation process, we had a frank and thorough conversation to which hegseth responded, quote: thank you, senator ernst, for your service to our country and commitment to this morning process. hegseth met with roger wicker the i

and lindsey graham did this in this interview comparing pete hegseth to brett kavanaugh and saying, weon't want to allow what happened to kavanaugh to happen here and essentially saying, okay, this person has to come forward or we're going to move forward. >> yeah, but i'm confused by that, because if the person comes forward, it hasn't. his attorney said that they would. in fact, then sue. sue. i mean, it's a little confusing. well, i think that's why we're finding this noteworthy, right? >> that if he's going to if lindsey graham says, okay, he's going to release her from this confidentiality agreement, then obviously the implication would be there would be no lawsuit or repercussions. >> yeah, the implication would be that there would not be, but who knows? i mean, look, a lot has changed in the last three weeks. and look, politics has turned on its head. i mean, the fact that pete hegseth only really needs the support of three senators who may be wavering on him right now, because that's the magic number in the united states senate. he doesn't need any democrats. he needs a bulk of

he is now supreme court justice brett kavanaugh stay and fight. and he pushed he pushed back on that with the trump team behind him, obviously very aggressively there and made his way to the bench with republican support for him. i would just note there is. so i agree, we don't know what we don't know yet if there is more information to come. and that includes somebody putting their name on something that changes the the calculus of where we are in this. that's why i think this hearing is going to be so important. if there's no new information that comes at that point, you could see this being on a more glide path towards a nomination. if it does, i think that's a totally different equation. it is clear that the trump team and if you speak to them, they will say this to you privately. um, they could not give another scalp here. right. that would that would set this whole transition. this is a major you know ag already matt gaetz gone. if that happened with the defense secretary. now also before it gets to a confirmation hearing, they were going to

she met jd vance at yale law school and went on to clerk for john roberts and brett kavanaugh until 2014. usha vance was a registered democrat. now she's introducing herself to america as the powerful female voice on jd's left shoulder. >> when jd met me, he approached our differences with curiosity and enthusiasm. he wanted to know everything about me, where i came from, what my life had been like. >> although he's a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet. >> before i knew it, he had become an integral part of my family, a person i could not manage, could not imagine living without the jd. i knew then is the same jd you see today. except for that beard. >> joining me now is kate andersen brower. she's the journalist and author of first women, a bestselling book about america's first ladies. also, former colleague at bloomberg who've gone on to do much more impressive stuff than most of us who were in that newsroom. i do want to i want you to take a listen to jd vance describing usha vance first meeting with the president elect. listen to this. >> he asks her wha

the coverage have influenced senators to kind of come to his defense the same way they defended brett kavanaugh. what's your sense of the landscape for hegseth yeah, i heard that. >> and i kind of get it on one hand, that oh, the media are coalescing around pete hegseth, and therefore we've got to defend him because this is a hit job but have you read the jane mayer piece? i mean, it would have to be diabolical to invent. so many different accounts of so much behavior over so many years. and by the way, i'm sensitive to the idea that someone can clean up their act either through, you know, an epiphany of a religious nature or something else. but that still doesn't mean that we look past all that. your history has entailed. there's just too much there to ignore. and and if there are hearings, if it gets to that point, which i seriously doubt because the president is apparently president elect not working the phones for hegseth. that's the big tell. if it gets that far, i think those hearings will be ugly. and the bigger picture and concern that i have is the demise of the background check. peopl

as brett kavanaugh recognized they cannot stand up here and say if these alternativesere imposed they would know d transition is, they can't illuminate the risk so it becomes a purexeise of weighing the benefits versus risks and the question h many miners have to have their bodies irreparably harmed or for unproven benefits is one best left -- >> i am sorry, counselor, every medicatment has a risk. even taking aspirin. there is always g to be a percentage of the population after any medical treatment that is going fer harm. the queioin my mind is not due policymakers decide whether one person's life is more valuable than the millions of others who get relief from this treatment, the question is can you stop one sex from another sex fromving that benefit. so if the medical condition is unwantedr buyer 9-year-old boy who can r estrogen for that because at 9 years old at and picked on and p isughed coming in tooly, but a girl has unwanted hair says, or has unwanted breasts o boy at that age can get that drug that the other can't, that is the sex-based difference. the medical condition is

lives, they did it to president trump in 2016 and we saw those cases were dropped, they did it to brett kavanaughttacking people that are going to come in and be disrupters in a good way. america needs to be saved. these people report to president trump, the soap opera stuff need to stop. are they going to stop? no, we have full support of republican party for these people. they have served our country, pete hegseth, for instance, has been in combat and understands what this is. he was there. if they want to distract him, try to ruin his family, that is par for the course in this media process and liberal panic that we see out of d.c. right now because there is changing of the guards. >> brian: i don't think so, i think america has moved past it. > >>en 100%. >> brian: marines are coming out for pete. those are type of things that should let people know who they are voting for. >> they will get through flying color, not one pick i'm concerned about at this moment, i'm talking about smear campaigns the poor individuals have to go through. they are ready to serve and will follow through with presid

and senate republicans hear pete hegseth hearing could echo chaotic hearing of justice brett kavanaughemocrats. >> are you working right now? >> brian: yeah, could you get the moose out of here. first responders delivering toys in new york city and around the country. and janice dean has a christmas story and we have christmas trivia top of the hour. i'll sit here since chris has nothing to do. soon there will be three more anchors, i don't know who they are, i'll wait for it to pop up. they are my friends. we can go to break right now. you'll be there. but it's okay to accept a little help. so you can be my daughter. not my caretaker- just you. home instead. for a better what's next. if you have wet amd, you never want to lose sight of the things you love. some things should stand the test of time. long-lasting eylea hd could significantly improve your vision. more people on eylea hd had no fluid in the retina compared to those on eylea at 4 months. eylea hd is the only wet amd therapy that helped 8 out of 10 people go up to 4 months between injections after 3 initial monthly treatmen

hes he will not let media give him the brett kavanaugh treatment. he says he is not going anywhere. in the "wall street journal," it is textbook manufactured media takedown. talk to those who served with me in guantanamo bay, iraq, afghanistan or national guard, they support me and i'm honored by that. i have never backed down and won't back down from this one. i look forward to honest confirmation hearing with senators, not a show trial in the press. pete hegseth has been meeting with senators all week long trying to shore up support for future confirmation hearings. he met with joni ernst yet who wrote, i appreciate pete hegseth service to our country, today we had a frank and thorough conversation. hegseth responded saying, thank you, senator ernst for your service to our counter and commitment to this important process. hegseth met with senator roger wicker, chairman of armed services committee whos hegseth pledged he would stop drinking entirely if confirmed as . >> allegation was made about him being intoxicated several times. the question every member will ask him led to this

following the brett kavanaugh playbook of when you are in real trouble. fight back hard, that is something you want to see. we have not heard from republican members of the intelligence community. kind of a bipartisan body. i think what is happened in syria makes it harder to get over the finish line. >> we have president trump out there on the world stage behaving as if he is the world president. you saw the visuals of him with world leaders in notre dame with president macaroni and zelensky. former house speaker said this. trump is a presumptive president certainly foreign governments are treating them that way. >> i think so. the democrats have not gotten into their opposition rhetoric yet. many of the world leaders want to meet with donald trump as soon as possible because he holds all the cards. we know that he will back israel , he wants to end the war in ukraine. a bunch of tariffs are on the way. so many of these world leaders want to get with him so fast to be able to discuss these. hightailing it down tomorrow lago. i know that everyone in notre

we saw similar allegations against brett, justice kavanaugh that although to be clear and in defense of justice kavanaugh, honestly, he actually was not accused of things like this. >> he was not accused of being in real time. he was not accused. no, he was not accused of anything like this, actually. >> well, i'm saying as far as allegations, because there was literally a hearing at his confirmation hearing and it came up during his confirmation hearing. so i do we need to be careful on this notion that these are allegations. there is no criminality attached to it yet. it may be, but i think we need to be careful with that. i'm not a fan of the report coming out at this point. and what matt gaetz said, if you saw him over the weekend, he kind of alluded to, well, maybe i'll introduce and i can't remember what this articles are about him. >> yeah. well he, he i think this is what you're going to talk about. he's he says maybe he'll show up in congress in january, participate in the speaker election, basically to punish. yes. speaker johnson perhaps for allowing this to happen, perhap

my publication is all about fighting the lies of the age whether trump, brett kavanaugh or covid it and not allowed to say that were support agencies that do it a horrific violation of the first amendment. americans need to know how much money is going into it and that monies needs to stop flowing immediately. >> john: you and jonathan turley are in the same restaurant as well. >> the biden administration is in my view of the most free-speech administration since the admin administration. and has helped find this massive censorship system that a federal court called perfectly orwellian. >> john: third company when it comes to your opinions, miss mollie. thank you for joining us, sandra. >> back when i knew him, he was nice, polite, driven, athletic. he had everything going for him in everything you would want in a high school kid. >> sandra: we are learning brand-new details suspect of the murder of united health care ceo, brian thompson and what we are learning. >> john: battling wildfire malibu, california, and senior national correspondent william la jeunesse with an update. >> malib

they are trying to do to pete hegseth what they tried to do to clarence thomas and brett kavanaugh but to themselves, amazing thing. all the stuff swelling around pete hegseth, so much of it are absolute lies, we have anonymous staffer from fox said they smelled booze on his breath and everybody else in fox, no, we didn't, oh, excuse me. then one of the vet organizations hegseth works, he smelled it then too and trustee, no, we didn't. doesn't matter, the press keeps regurgitating it. isn't washington sleazily? isn't it unbelievable? you have to assume that two-thirds of the media sleep and are drunk, i know a few already, i can tell you who are adulters and drink heavily, maybe half of congress, maybe i'm a little high, maybe i'm a little know. i don't know but we know that's happened before. they put a slush fund together, remember, 18.2 million congressional slush fund for me too claims now in addition to the me too claims meaning sexual harassments, sexual abuse, sexual molestation, you know, these are our representatives after all. they had other disputes, paid disputes and workpl

garden, but again, these are unconfirmed reports.ed >> r laura: first of all, we didn't hear the brett kavanaugh me just say, there is asses important cases coming up in the court.o ju may be she needed to express herself in a different way andd the limited time she has with her torrential questions and oral arguments. >> she said it was her dream, laura to be the black supreme court justice onbroa broadway. she made it!>> l >> laura: that is another first. >> jill biden trieied d to kickr ecthe christmas season, laura, d she needed a correction. >> hello, how are you? i met, how are you? happy christmas, yes. they went from the madness that babes. the dnc holiday reception you play a little bit of thisu plearlier but not this part. kamala harris gave uart,s word f the day: work! ♪ ♪e >> fighting for the promise of america takes hard work. you can all help me finish this, and many of you have heard me say it, we like hard work. hard work is good work. hard work is joyful work. we will continue our work.r. >> laura: didn't she take most of august off? >> laura, help me finish this: she has vanish

in washington but you running for office and the treatment of donald trump, the treatment of brett kavanaughwilling to expose themeses themselves. >> if you want a high caliber taken on government service, this is not a good look who wants to subject themselves to this and constant barrage on social media all of the things that come with it. but patriots like pete are the ones that we need he's willing to take the fire to stand and serve his country. >> mr. speaker we've seen this process play out almost like dominoes falling it with matt gaetz and pete hegseth and tulsi gabbard will be on the hill this week. why should we have a assessment it won't happen to tulsi and then robert f. kennedy does he not have a right it seems when democrats make their selections republicans confirm. the democrats like joe biden selections -- >> this is a really important tradition and principle that the president a new president gets to choose his or her team and he has the right to choose the people that he wants. to fulfill this man debt he's been given by the american people and so it is not right for them

. >> well, and let's highlight some of the hypocrisy in that because brett kavanaugh though decided tohis ignorance by trying to draw an analogy between women's and girl's sports and the opportunity for transgender children to be able to participate in those sports and the idea of these trans children being able to have access to life affirming gender affirming care. >> right. it's so important to note that that's not an issue in this case. it was an issue in the election, right. as part of the massive juggernaut that was frightening people about the sector of allowing, you know, trans kids to participate in sports and so you're right to say that you know, justice kavanaugh, who coached girl's basketball, is suddenly like this is the hill he wants to die on. the other thing that justice kavanaugh kept harping on which is so interesting is that there's going to be regret. there's this enormous regret from people who feel that they made a mistake and over and over again, you heard the advocates in this case saying people regret medical procedures all the time. infinitesimal numbers of pe

justices divided tennessee law banning transition care for minors let let's start with justice brett kavanaugh get you to react to him. >> it strikes me as pretty heavy yellow light if not read write for this court to come in, the nine of us, constitutionalizthet the forefront of this are pumping the brakes on this kind of treatment because of concerns about the risks. >> brian we anticipate rolling supreme court late june. how do you see this case? >> i saw comments from justice sotomayor hotel like we should not get involved and let parents decide whether a kid's a girl or boy appeared to the more you read about it, the more crazy 2020 george floyd riot, boys aren't girls and girls are employees and we don't know what a girl's and we don't know what a woman is. we get it, the lpga gun out of their way to say we read thought it and you have to be born a male in order to compete. they are readdressing it. take your seats at two countries throughout new york doing the same thing. what is so wrong about telling a kid you have to wait until 18 when it comes to drinking question why so many things

paul: let's listen to the justice brett kavanaugh when he spoke in the oral argument. >> england's pullingkes me as, you know, pretty heavy yellow light if not red light for this court to come in, the nine of us and to constitutionalize the whole area when the rest of the world or at least the people, the countries that have been at the forefront of this are, you know, pumping the brake withs on this kind of treatment -- brakes on this kind of treatment because of concerns about the risks. paul: that's a pretty important statement because he's considering one of the swing vote here. what did you see? is. >> it seemed there's probably a majority to uphold this tennessee law, and the key word i would pick up from kavanaugh there is constitutionalize. because the argument that the the government is making here is that this law necessarily gym that nates on the basis of -- discriminates on the basis of sex similar to the famed bostock ruling that justice gorsuch, his opinion a few years ago saying employment discrimination by sex necessarily covers sexual orientation and and gender identity. b

brett kavanaugh back in the day, there would be no overturning of roe v. wade. kavanaugh says -- collins called it consistent with what kavanaugh said during hearings. they are trying to pretend that donald trump is promising that everything is going to be fine and hegseth is not going to drink any more and everything is going to be good. they want to be fooled. >> yeah. well, i mean, that's who they are. i mean, we have seen this movie before. i mean, this isn't the first time where republican -- i mean, tuberville, i mean, he needs a playbook with diagrams of the constitution. maybe that's what he'll understand. >> picture book. >> yes. but, you know, we have a -- senators have an obligation to exercise independent judgment. and here you are basically having senators ready to advocate that role. and that's not surprising because we have seen it before. i mean, it's what we saw two impeachment trials where the man was unquestionably guilty and he didn't consider -- most of them didn't -- >> and mitt romney said they were afraid for their lives. the idea is that

that and in an incredibly insulting comparison, he said you know, it's the same thing as the brett kavanaughs pete hegseth seriously think that a public confirmation hearing would actually end up being a better form for which people are going to express their concerns? it's not just the allegations of sexual assault, it's the allegations of drinking problems, the allegations of financial malfeasance when he has been ahead of various organizations, it's not just limited, it is like a buffet of sin that pete hegseth is being accused of. >> a buffet, yeah, well look, there's definitely some bluster that you are going to see it from his team's perspective as well, which is right now they are taking a lot of incoming and negative headlines and what has developed in the last 24 hours is his legal team has gone out and said, some of these accusers, if they come forward at a senate confirmation hearing and what they say are lies, we will sue them, so now they are effectively threatening litigation against some of these potential witnesses who might come before the senate judiciary committee or other

republicans holding open scalia's seat for neil gorsuch, pushing through brett kavanaugh despite allegations of sexual assault, then pushing through amy coney barrett through weeks before an election after saying you can't confirm a justice in an election year. it looks dirty and looks wrong. and a few years ago justice sotomayor was warning of the stench that would come from the court if it suddenly began overturning precedents after a that spate of trump appointees was pushed on. i think that stench has wafted down to the public and it has become impossible to ignore. >> yeah, i will say when american confidence in the courts is on the same level of that of the confidence in myanmar, and i'm have burmese so i know something of what's going on in that country, that is not a good sign of a robust democracy. in fact, it's a sign of a failing system when the courts are so at odds with public opinion and the people no longer believe they are issuing opinions in the best interests of the people themselves. mark joseph stern with slate, mark it's always good to get a little perspective from you,

not unlike what brett kavanaugh faced. >> do you think you're being kavanaughed right now?er not 45 minutes ago look me in the eye in private and say that's what they're trying to do to you. get ready for more. they're going to make it up. all anonymous, all innuendo, all rumor. nothing sourced. no verification and they're just going to keep doing it because you're a threat to them. you're a threat to their system. you're a threat to all the things in washington, d.c., the swamp, the things that people have rejected, you're a threat to that. >> those stories were heavily sourced and verified but meantime, the house ethics committee that investigated matt gaetz meets again to decide whether to release the report. later this evening, the full house could vote on a motion that could force them to make it public. i want to bring in julie on capitol hill. tim miller helped lead jeb bush's campaign. and in studio, vaughn hillyard. julie, where do things stand with the hegseth conversations? >> reporter: he's back on the hill today as you saw in those videos meeting with senate re

charlie: we saw it we donald trump, we saw it with brett kavanaugh.of the anonymous business, the anonymous sources. if, you know, if the new yorker reporter, writer came to my newsroom with that story, putting aside the fact that they have a radical leftist agenda, if they came into my newsroom with that story, it'd be, like, okay, listen, you've got maybe, like, three things here that are legitimate ifly worthy of putting into a newspaper story, but 97% of everything else here, you need to go back and do some reporting because you don't have a single name for any of this stuff. you're making it all up and destroying your credibility. will: well, the good news is this morning, senator john cornyn of texas last night publicly declared she will -- he will support pete hegseth, senator scwoanny ernst seems to be leaning in the direction -- rachel: lindsey graham as well. will: let's put it this way with, if you voted for other people's confirmation, you probably shouldn't have questions about pete hegseth. rachel: yes. will: in just hours, president-ele

brett kavanaugh said that he would have granted the case but justices alito and thomas both signed onhey thought parents had the fundamental right to direct the raising of their children in the manner of that i remember choosing and that included objecting to support for trans care. what do you make of that given just a week earlier these two individuals seemed incredibly skeptical of parents' rights to bring their children forward for gender-affirming care? >> i think it just underscores a smorgasbord approach to the law of this court. it's not about following precedent, it's not about establishing predictability, it's very much however they seem to want to rule in a case they decide to cherry pick and put together whatever specific arguments allow them to do that. so as you say, i mean, amy coney barrett had to say that scermetti if they affirmed the sixth circuit was not going to impact parental rights because everyone knew it should on the face of the law. they are saying that it doesn't. it's because this court, again, it's a smorgasbord approach to the law which i think it one o

the other thing this reminds me of, ana, remember the embattled nomination of brett kavanaugh to be areme court justice. the sharks were circling, a full-fledged washington frenzy around his nomination. reports came out that trump wasn't sure if he could make it or not in the end. i think that hegseth is following the kavanaugh playbook of being combative, going on fox, putting his mother on fox to defend him. we'll see if that same script works this time. >> vaughn hillyard, courtney kube, susan glasser, thank you all. >>> right now we're watching high stakes at the supreme court. the justices hearing a case that could have major ramifications for transgender rights. we're back in 90 seconds. power e*trade's award-winning trading app makes trading easier. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools and paper trading to help sharpen your skills, you can stay on top of the market from wherever you are. e*trade from morgan stanley power e*trade's easy to-use tools make complex trading less complicated. custom scans can help you find new trading opportunities, while an earning

because i'm looking at pete hegseth and it is giving me flashbacks of brett kavanaugh . >> thank yous important for employees to know whether the prospective companies are intending to silence them from the first day of work. and more than a third of all american workers are bound by the nda's. over 80% of all american workers are bound by forced arbitration. and they can effectively prevent people from coming forward in the daylight and sharing their stories with anybody. and by anybody, i mean their spouses or parents or children or priests or rabbis or psychiatrist or anybody. which goes to show how extensive the silencing is in the american workplace and something i think more people should know about and be aware of before they take a job so that they know whether the employees are silencing them. as for pete hegseth, we work very hard to pass the speak out act which is a lot to ban or predispute the nda's for sexual misconduct or assault. and it was a groundbreaking while the first time the federal government really put a marker down saying that the nda's are not appropriate. a

brett kavanaugh suggesting while europe was on the leading edge of pushing this for, they have done complete what he said during the arguments. >> england is pulling back in sweden is pulling back and it strikes me a yellow light or red line for the court to come in and constitutionalize the whole area when the best of the world, or at least the people where the countries at the forefront of this hour pumping the brakes on this kind of treatment because of concerns about the risks. >> john: people who read the tea leaves and i know you are one of them think the supreme court will uphold the tennessee law. >> here is what is interesting, we think this will come to trio justices, and gore sage said nothing which is unlike him wit, many arguments since he joined the bench and for him to not ask a single question had not pushed either side, he seems to be holding this close. so you have to look to those three. we know where alito and thomas are and the chief as well. but you know these cases can take a long time. till they had their first secret go behind closed doors and they stick to normal ro

take a look which i participated in wasn't senate armed services look at brett kavanaugh's hearing. oeveryone who is coming be the senate, every nominee needs to be prepared to go to the level they are going to have to go to to answer some questions in many cases and some unfair questions the democrats have made it very clear at the kavanaugh hearing, nothing is sacred. family, past experiences, personal experiences, high school yearbooks that nominees need to get ready and then you to answer these questions to the satisfaction of the republican members of minimally then there will be many nominees i think we'll get significant democrat votes i believe marco rubio will, doug collins over the va. we are not talking at all the nominees that are moving there quickly. we are talking three or four that have legitimate questions that have to answer. jacqui: the basic pressure seems to have it pressure on jody urge she's a combat veteran herself a sexual assault survivors she went from being publicly lukewarm on trump's defense secretary nominee pete hegseth you asking for a second meeting

he provided complete cover for a fake investigation by the fbi of brett kavanaugh's sexual escapades, and now all he gets -- now all he gets is ushered out the door. one thing to be looking for, i think, in the future, is trying to figure out what sticks i might have been offered to christopher wray to get him to violate the term of office that he accepted when he signed up, which has a real purpose of its own. it is intended to separate the tenure of an fbi director from the political cycle of presidential elections, and he has deliberately dumped it right back into that cycle, so, i think there's probably a fair amount going on behind the scenes here that we need to get taking away accurate >> senator, he has a 10 year term, there are three years left, i know you have expressed dismay and you just it again about him stepping back from that. what kind of carrots and you think there could be or what kind of questions are you looking for more information on in that regard? >> it's hard to tell, but if you take a look at what has happened to my colleague, a very good person, joni ernst,

they also acquiesce when it came down to brett kavanaugh, back in 2018, to some degree.in a situation like this, it may be difficult for collins and murkowski to support a hegseth nomination like this, and they can afford, hegseth can afford to lose them. he can't afford to lose four. between those two and joni ernst who i know that the maga republicans are putting a big pressure campaign on her back in her home state of iowa, threatening to potentially primary her into 2026 if she doesn't support him, they're butting a lot of pressure on them, but, you know, the only hope can be that they stand up for the constitution and their role to advise and consent, not to pledge fealty to donald trump when they see a pick like hegseth who is wholly unqualified to be secretary of defense for a litany of reasons. >> and, tara, just using your experience on capitol hill, looking at all of the president-elect's picks so far, who do you think has a tough path to senate confirmation, and do you see any of them being essentially shoe-ins? >> well, i think some of the cabinet offices, no

he will have an allegation to make, come forward and make it like they did with brett kavanaugh, we will decide whether or not it is credible. right now, he is being tried by anonymous sources, that will not stand. >> that same level of confidence is coming from the parties conference chair, arkansas senator tom cotton, he took america to class on x, writing, "i expect our republican senate is going to come from all of trump's nominee is point of the 72 cabinet secretary nominees since the clinton transition, only two nominees i've ever received no votes from the president elects party. no one should be surprised that the republican senate will confirm president trump's nominees." what happens if they don't, senator? well, the new coleader of the oge has an answer. elon musk, trump's right-hand man, posted a response, claiming he was threatening to challenge republicans who don't support trump's nominee is point he responded how else? there is no other way. thankfully, not all republicans are blindly following the leader. here's senator tom just today on fox. >> there is a lot of informa

[music] brett kavanaugh and in paris, french president emmanuel macron and his wife attended the first notre dame cathedral since the devastating fire there in 2019. some 170 bishops from france and around the world took part in the service. the mass was not open to the public, but a second service later in the day welcomed members of the public who secured reservations ahead of time. >> today was awesome, an experience that i'll be telling stories for a lifetime. >> an incredible day aboard a whale watching tour boat with an unexpected surprise, the group of puppies born thanks to the help of a san francisco police officer. [music] >> okay, we're dropping into a workweek, and we've got some temperatures that are going to be warmer than you expect, and then clouds and maybe rain. we'll look into it. i'll see you back here. >> dozens of cases of bird flu have been reported in t u.s. what federal officials are n (♪) when you have moderate to severe eczema, it's okay to show off. with dupixent, show off your clearer skin and less itch. because you have plenty of reasons to show off your s

justice brett kavanaugh also brought up the topic of women's sports encourage minors to appreciate their and ban treatments that might encourage minors to become disdainful of their sex. >> sounds to me like we want boys to be boys, and we want girls to be girls. if you prevail here on the standard of review, what would that mean for women's and girls sports in particular? >> would transgender athletes have a constitutional right, as you see it, to play in women's and girls sports? >> it seems to me that it is something where we are extraordinarily bereft of expertise the decision is expected by july. >> kate bedingfield how obviously this case is very sensitive for these families. it's very emotional for people involved, but it's also become a central part of our political debate. it was in the campaign and it's clear and jeremy peters wrote about this in the new york times, that there are shifting opinions around this. he says this the public does not appear to be growing more empathetic to the transgender cause. fewer americans today than two years ago say they support some of the rig

with trump repeatedly over the years, senator lisa murkowski, someone who opposed his pick of brett kavanaughserve in the supreme court, also voted to convict donald trump in that second impeachment trial, indicated that this effort is all trying to get republicans to toe the line. >> the approach is going to be everybody toe the line, everybody line up. we got you here. and if you want to survive, you better be good. don't get on santa's naughty list here because we will primary you. >> but even so, wolf, this pressure campaign seems to have worked to some extent. senator joni ernst ernst, one person who had been critical at least, had been pointedly declined to take a position on pete hegseth to be the next defense secretary. after much online pushback and pressure, wolf, she's been more positive going forward. she contends it has nothing to do with that pressure campaign. but a lot of people believe that it is effective, at least keeping these republicans, letting them keep the door open to some of these more controversial picks, wolf and manu, it's interesting. >> hegseth was up on capito

supreme court justice brett kavanaugh faced during his own confirmation hearing do you think you're beingnow? >> i had a member not 45 minutes ago. >> look me in the eye in private, just he and i, and say that's what they're trying to do to you. that's what they're trying to do to you. that's their playbook. get ready for more, and they're going to make it up just like they have so far all anonymous, all innuendo, all rumor nothing sourced, no verification. >> and they're just going to keep doing it because you're a threat to them. you're a threat to their system. you're a threat to all the things in washington, d.c.. the swamp, the things that people have rejected you're a threat to that hegseth mom made an appearance on fox and friends this morning as well, attempting to do damage control following reporting from the new york times that she emailed her son in 2018 accusing him of a years long history of mistreating women and i want people to look at pete judge people or understand him for who he is today and to disregard the media that was seven years ago and most of it is misinformatio

someone who is who opposed the nomination of brett kavanaugh to sit on the supreme court over his own sexual assault allegations with, of course, kavanaugh also denied here. murkowski met with pete hegseth. they had what she called a good exchange of ideas, but she refused to say if she would back him and went to lengths to try to avoid reporters questions. she did respond to some, including mine, but would not say if she would vote for him on the senate floor. >> i had a good exchange with mr. hegseth. >> are you ready to support him? >> i had a good exchange and we'll see what the process bears. >> but ultimately, pete hegseth can only afford to lose three republican votes. the question is, are there more than three who could scuttle the nomination? at the moment, no republicans are opposing him, which is why republicans are confident he can ultimately get there. now, there are other controversial picks who republicans believe are falling in line behind what donald trump wants, including replacing the fbi director, christopher wray, who has got three more years serving his ten year

you, of course, remember the very contentious confirmation battle over supreme court justice brett kavanaughre despite the claims about kavanaugh's past conduct came to light, there was a very emotional hearing from kavanaugh's accuser. trump doubled down on his support for kavanaugh. the fact that kavanaugh was willing to defend himself was something that impressed trump and ultimately led to his confirmation. the question is, are we dealing with the same situation here? it seems pretty clear at this point hegseth is willing to take on this fight, whether or not he'll be successful and also of course the possibility of more stories about his background still exists. even more information could come forward. at this point he is staying in with the hopes of being confirmed. chris? >> congressman, some supporters are wavering. now punch bowl quotes saying these allegations come up in just the last 12 to 14 hours are a surprise to all of us. and so, yes, he does need to address those because this was not something of which we were aware, nor was president trump aware of them. i mean, that's a p

chief justice john roberts and conservative justice brett kavanaugh.roader question on whether they are the right people to be to be deciding this. >> my understanding is that the constitution leaves that question to the people's representatives, rather than to nine people, none of whom is a doctor. >> the constitution doesn't take sides if they're strong forceful, scientific policy arguments on both sides. in a situation like this. why isn't it best to leave it to the democratic process? >> and joining us right now is the attorney general of tennessee jonathan skrmetti. thank yoso much for coming in. i really appreciate your time. how are you feeling about the chances your chances with this case coming out of oral arguments yesterday well, you never want to speculate as to what the court's going to do. >> you know, there will be months while they review this and put the opinions together. but we put on a good case yesterday, and i think we have some strong arguments on our side. ultimately, i think the chief justice of the point that you just played o

>> yeah, yeah, she voted against brett kavanaugh. of course he opposed that nomination. and she's been known to break ranks on a number of times. she voted, of course, to convict donald trump in the second impeachment trial, as did senator susan collins. i've asked murkowski about pete hegseth over the last several days in the absence and the aftermath of those misconduct allegations. she has been pretty down the middle on this yet saying she wants to review the allegations, have a chance to question him, see how the confirmation proceedings play out. and of course, she is not a member of the key committee, the senate armed services committee, which will first take up the nomination so she does not have to take a position today. in the aftermath of that meeting, she'll probably want to watch how the proceedings play out before saying if she's a yes or a no. so but it's still a key point moment for hex as it tries to make sure a key swing vote comes on his side. we'll see if it happens. >> yeah, no question about that. chairman reed just indicated a few moments ago that,

chief justice john roberts and justice brett kavanaugh suggesting the issue should be left up to legislaturested by july. the russian woman accused of stowing away on a delta flight from new york to paris, now in fbi custody. she is due in court today after being returned to the us yesterday. it is still unclear how the 57 year old avoided tsa checks to sneak onto the flight last week. she is expected to face at least one federal charge all right. time now for weather. the great lakes, parts of the northeast getting hit with more snow. the eastern part of the country seeing a drastic drop in temperatures. let's get to our meteorologist, our weatherman, derek van dam. derek. good morning. it is, in fact, cold this morning. >> yeah. good morning casey. and we're dealing with a clipper. we've been talking about this now for the past couple of days. it came in hard. it came in fast, and we're feeling it. this morning. and that means conditions are going to be treacherous, especially for some of those northern new england interior regions. so here's a look at the latest winter weather alerts. and

. >> i think it's a question of whether brett kavanaugh and john roberts want to take up this thornyue for the future. at some future date, i think i don't i don't see juan merchan entering our national conversation much after this. >> just one little bit i wanted to add was a lot of the lawyers for donald trump are now in the administration, including staff secretary role, doj roles. it's going to be really fascinating to see how they deal with some of these legal issues once they're in power. >> yeah for sure. all right. coming up next here on cnn this morning, that deadly school shooting in wisconsin leaving two dead and six others critically injured, congressman marc veasey of the house gun violence prevention task force will be here to discuss. plus, palling around with the president elect. tech ceos pilgrimage to mar-a-lago, trying to get on donald trump's good side the first term, everybody was fighting me. >> and this term, everybody wants to be my friend. i don't know my personality changed or something you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime.

here and you heard it in in that lindsey graham interview on meet the press, is comparisons to brett kavanaughand graham was actually explicit in making that connection and saying in particular that anonymous allegations, they were not going to allow those to impact their decision. that was, you know, what leads to these questions about letting this woman in question out of her confidentiality agreement just because they were willing to do that doesn't mean that she's going to come forward, especially after what happened to some of the women that came forward. >> well, it's going to say kavanaugh to that point. she could come forward. but we remember what happened to christine blasey ford. so it's not like this is an easy path for them to come forward. and then all of a sudden, the senators will all believe her. that's not necessarily a guarantee based on what we've seen from the senate in just recent years. >> yeah. so big picture. what are we expecting this week from trump's nominees on capitol hill? because it's going to be another week of full court press. right. >> so hegseth seemingly wi

in which they both seemed to kind of imply that he was getting the same treatment that justice brett kavanaugh got when he was accused of sexual assault, when he was going through his confirmation hearings. take a listen to what they said. >> do you think you're being kavanaugh right now? >> i had a member not 45 minutes ago. look me in the eye in private, just he and i, and say that's what they're trying to do to you. that's what they're trying to do to you. that's their playbook. get ready for more, and they're going to make it up just like they have so far all anonymous, all innuendo, all rumor nothing sourced, no verification. and they're just going to keep doing it because you're a threat to them now one thing to note is that hegseth has denied all of these allegations, but it's not just hegseth that has been taking to the airwaves. >> it's also his mother. now, this is relevant for a reason, because over the weekend, new york times published an email. she had written to her son back in 2018 when he was going through a divorce, which essentially said that he mistreated women, something th