nbc's ryan nobles joins us from capitol hill. good morning. what is it? >> reporter: it's a new policy, jose. it goes into effect immediately. the house speaker has a wide range of purview and authority to install policies like this when it comes to the administration of the house side of the capitol. and it comes after a caaign of e republicans really highlighted transgender rights and their opposition to transgender rights. at the same time, in delaware they were electing the first transgender women to congress. delaware's sarah mcbride made history in november becoming the first openly trans woman to win a seat in congress. >> thank you so much to the congressional progressive caucus. >> reporter: her win came as republicans made opposition to trans rights a major part of their campaign strategy. >> now that fight is front and center on capitol hill. rz. >> this isn't manufactured. this is a real thing. >> reporter: south carolina's nancy mace, who broke ground as the first woman to graduate from the all-mail military academy arguing mcbrid

play out in the campaign and now the real world consequences of that divide happening here on capitol hills at the capitol, thank you. >>> what is next for democrats after their stinging defeat in the 2024 election cycle? well, one of the first steps deciding who will yo oversee th party's path fort ward as the d chair. my next uest, joining us now martin o'malley who earlier this week was the first candidate to throw his hat in the ring to be the next dnc chair. we heard lots of explanations for what went wrong in november. some democrats say the party moved too far left to on culture issues, others say not enough focus on the economy. what do you think went wrong? >> well, i believe that, you know, there is going to be a proper after action to get to the answer to that question. but from the many state chairs, congressional leaders, governors i've spoken with, it would appear we became disconnected from the concerns of working people and the most important place in america, which is the kitchen table of every family. democrats win when we chart a forward course that makes life better for

gaetz cut a very specific profile up here on capitol hill.a lawmaker up here for many years, didn't have many friends because of the actions that he took, especially in the last two years in ousting former speaker kevin mccarthy, so gaetz cut a different profile. but the questions we were asking senators about gaetz, about the sexual misconduct allegations and qualification concerns, those are pretty similar to the questions that we're also asking senators about pete hegseth, though it is for a different confirmation process and for a different position. but listen to how the senators are responding to those questions that we're asking when it comes to hegseth. watch. >> -- assault should be defense secretary? >> i am trying to determine if there is substantial evidence to -- first off, first question. why didn't they prosecute? >> he said/she said, the case has been drudging up something it reminds me of what happened to brett kavanaugh. >> we have only the press reports. >> reporter: so we're watching those questions get answers in real tim

you know, there is a lot of republicans on capitol hill.d say most republicans on capitol hill do not like matt gaetz. in fact, they severely dislike matt gaetz for a host of reasons. personal, professional, they think he is a chaos agent. but what matters now, is that donald trump is president and most of these republicans have been unwilling to buck the president, especially a new president-elect, i should say, as he is coming in, starting to form his cabinet. usually members of congress, the senate, give deference to a president, on their cabinet choices, for the most part. and when it comes to matt gaetz they are going to have to choose between potentially someone they dislike, someone they think is not qualified for the job, or going against the leader of the party. >> it is not just matt gaetz, there's controversies surrounding multiple cabinet pics, from gaetz to rfk jr. to be had seth to -- pete hegseth. mike johnson is not reporting -- addressing reporters on capitol hill. we are monitoring and if he says anything about the process

dagen: congressman byron donalds, there was a hearing on capitol hill today.of thousands of migrant children lost by one political party, and then one the republicans standing up in outrage. top of the hour. ready. the markets, like life, will turn and challenge us. but when emotions run high, we stay grounded. with the hcm buyline, we work to empower investors, in navigating market volatility and complex conditions. we provide a diverse portfolio with proprietary mutual funds and etfs aimed at growth and preservation. so you can invest with confidence. visit howard c.m. funds dot com. ♪ ♪ ♪ something has changed within me ♪ ♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪ ♪ ♪ liz: welcome back. fema chief faces tough questions today over fema's response to hurricanes and claims of political bias. fox news senior congressional correspond entertainment chad pergram has the story live from capitol hill with more. chad it's great to see you. reporter: liz, good afternoon. lawmakers grilled fema administrator at two hearings today. there were questions about a whistleblower w

our nbc news reporters are following all of the latest developments but we begin on capitol hill where reaction is pouring in from matt gaetz's former colleagues and others, i know that you just spoke with josh hawley, what are you hearing overall?>> reporter: just spoke to senator josh hawley, you can see outgoing senator mike braun over my shoulder giving his reactions. holly was one of those republicans that sits on the senate judiciary committee, he made with matt gaetz yesterday, i asked him if he thought this was surprising especially given the fact that matt gaetz was sounding pretty optimistic as he left capitol hill last night and he was one of those senators who had spoken support of the of gaetz as the attorney general nominee. when i asked if it was surprising, he said maybe not necessarily given the fact that it was an open secret but this was going to be a tough nomination process, certainly another piece is something that i asked as well, which is where other colleagues of his on the judiciary committee vocal about the fact that there could have been problems with them g

thank you on capitol hill. thanks. >> dana: let's go to chad pergram with the latest on the leadership battle. >> a secret ballot between john thune, john car nine and rick scott. 27 is the magic number. the winning candidate needs a majority of all republicans voting. senators are keeping close counsel. >> i will hear everybody out. i think it is good we're having a forum tonight to listen to everybody and there are a few things important to me all along. one i want to make sure we execute on the mandate we got last week. >> if no candidate stores squarest scores a majority they will go to a second ballot. senators elect get to vote and vance can vote, still a senator. he doesn't become vice president until next year. utah republican mike lee does not like the secret ballot. >> yes, we could depart it and change the rule. that would take a majority involvement there doesn't appear to be support for that. it doesn't stop individual members from saying or being asked how they voted or how they intend to vote. >>

>> so, pete hegseth just left jd vance's office here on capitol hill, right by where i'm standing. and addressed these allegations against him for the first time since that police report was made public. and hegseth said i'll read his direct quote for you right now. as far as the media is concerned, i'll keep this very simple, the matter is fully investigated. i was completely cleared and that's where i'll leave it. not completely accurate in that the idea that he was completely cleared, but it is accurate that police did look at the evidence in front of them and decided not to charge hegseth in that matter. as it pertains to the republicans that met with him today, he met with i think four or five different republicans, they all left that meeting for the most part believing his account of that story and many of them saying that he has the ability and the capacity to be the next secretary of defense. listen to what markwayne mullin of oklahoma had to say about his meeting with hegseth and his explanation about these allegations against him. >> i don't think there is any way in the

i know it is not the week ahead on capitol hill, but i want you to explain it.uest: grover cleveland is the only other president elected twice in nonconsecutive terms. the 22nd and 24th president lost the battle to the 23rd is at. benjamin harrison came back, won the presidency. shares that connective tissue with all trump now. grover cleveland from a suburb of new york city. they have this historic site, his birthplace home, which is operated as a museum and educational center. it is across the street from an exxon station and a dunkin' donuts --which is true caldwell, new jersey, by the way. grover cleveland also has other things in common with donald trump. he was somebody who came to politics from the outside. he has some differences from donald trump. grover cleveland was a reluctant candidate for president, didn't want to do it, especially the second time, but managed to vanquish his previous defeat. we'll see if there are any more similarities that reveal themselves. host: nj.gov is where you can go to learn about the grover cleveland birthplace historica

kate, back when we were a little younger, we both covered capitol hill.w things work there. this is a secret ballot. there are very few secrets, if it any left in washington, except for this vote. i can guarantee you, many of these senators have gone out and have pledged they would support multiple people quietly. but in the end, it's a secret ballot, and we'll never know who they voted for. >> just a quick shot. this is where the senators are meeting. we should shout out one of the best reporters in the business. that tall drink of water right there, ted barrett. >> with one of the others. >> and with manu. i was just going to give an unsung hero some singing. that's part of our team on the hill who brings us all of that news. >> i should note one thing about donald trump not speaking and not saying anything about rick scott, probably doesn't speak well of rick scott's chances. donald trump seems to not want to weigh in if there's not a good chance that the guy he's going to back is going to win. >> or maybe just a sign that he can't get the intel on thi

thank you for that report from capitol hill. us now with more on this, "new york times" congressional correspondent luke broadwater. in the past, trump has called both thune and cornyn weak and ineffective, he suggested they're both rinos, republican in name only, for refusing to join the ranks of election deniers. and some of his biggest allies, people like elon musk or tucker carlson, they have publicly backed scott, so is it surprising trump didn't weigh in on this leadership battle? >> well, what i'm told is that donald trump has declined to weigh in so far because he's worried about backing a potential loser. he wants to be seen as picking the winner and having strong influence on capitol hill. and all the indications so far is that rick scott is the underdog in this race. that's going on right now as we speak, just one floor below me, behind closed doors. john thune and john cornyn have better, longer standing relationships with the other republican senators. most people believe it is going to be one of them who secures th

ryan nobles has more on hegseth's trip to capitol hill.ht, president-elect trump's pick for defense secretary pete hegseth defending himself after a potential new hurdle in his confirmation fight. nbc news obtaining a police report detailing a woman's allegation he sexually assaulted her. >> did you sexually assault a woman in monterey, california? >> it is very simple. the matter was fully investigated and i was com completely cleared. >> the woman said she met hegseth at a total where he was speaking in 2017. at one point she blacked out alleging he took her phone and blocked her attempt to leave the room and remembered saying no a lot. police investigated and did not file any charges against hegseth. he said the encounter was consensual. his attorney said hegseth later paid her to keep her from going public so his career would not be hurt and saying mr. hegseth is innocent. it was fully investigated by police and video surveillance as well as multiple eyewitness statements show that she was the aggressor. hegseth today on capitol hill w

hegseth today on capitol hill with vice president-elect vance. meeting with republican senators who will decide if he gets the job. >> senator did you talk to him about the sexual assault allegations? >> it's a disgrace those allegations are nothing but what you said. allegations that are he said she said. this case has been dismissed.quiet. >> i d >> are you disturbed that he paid her to keep her story quiet? >> i don't know the circumstances behind it. i think all of those will come out. but i believe his story. >> reporter: hegseth is a former fox news host and decorated combat veteran. but his lack of government experience raising questions among some gop senators over his qualifications to run the largest federal government agency. >> there needs to be legitimate vetting when i say legitimate, i mean thorough vetting that the committees do. this is our job. >> reporter: two other trump picks facing new backlash. tulsi gabbard picked as the director of national intelligence. slammed by nikki haley overnight. >> this is not a place for a russi

there was just pure disbelief from many on capitol hill yesterday, including republicans.s gaetz have the qualifications for this job? >> no. this a laughable pick and it would be laughable, i suppose, if it weren't so deadly serious. i think if i were still in the department of justice, i would have grave concerns about this pick. this is someone who has distain for the department of judge. you just heard he has talked about defunding the fbi. he has attacked the people who work there. he has attacked it as an institution. and so i think it is possibly the worst possible pick that donald trump could have made and in some ways, completely shocking. in other ways, completely on brand. i think the only hope is that he is such a uniquely awful choice that he cannot and will not be confirmed. >> what do you assume the reaction would be at doj for the careers of the prosecutors and the like who are there, but also if gaetz is confirmed, what would that mean? we know trump has talked about getting retribution against his perceived political enemies. how would gaetz carry t out?

. >>> on capitol hill, the republican senate majority grows stronger after veteran democratic senator bob casey concedes to dave mccormick. that gives the president-elect 53 senate republicans and a better chance of getting his cabinet nominees across the finish line. of getting his cabinet nominees across the finish line. >>> good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we have breaking news on the president-elect's hush money case. new york judge juan merchan has indefinitely delayed the sentencing that was scheduled for next week while agreeing to hear defense motion to dismiss the case entirely now that he is the president-elect. all this as mr. trump has picked a long time loyalist, former florida attorney general pam bondi to be attorney general now that matt gaetz has ithdrawn under fire. she was part of his defense team during his second impeachment trial. she also promoted his false claims about the 2020 election and insisting incorrectly that he won pennsylvania four years ago. >> we are not going anywhere until they declare that we won pennsylvania. >> they're try

live on capitol hill. thank you so much. let's discuss more with our political experts. shermichael singleton is a republican strategist and alyssa farah griffin was the white house communications director under donald trump. thank you both for being with us. alyssa, why do you think trump is pushing so hard general what is he uniquely poised to might not that's the perfect question, boris, because listen, matt gaetz is somebody he is a practicing attorney he's a smart guy. >> he can present, well but he's also a deeply polarizing figure who's been plagued by these allegations. and he's also widely, widely disliked in congress. i'd argue he's probably the most disliked member from his effort to unseat kevin mccarthy, his own personal dealings are well known. donald trump likes him because he's a loyalist, and he's somebody who he thinks will have a heavy hand and implement his objectives as attorney general by the way, those are all things donald trump as president elect is entitled to. but the senate's got a key role here. they're advising consent role. matt gaetz not o

there up on capitol hill. but just by a little bit, i mean, we'll have to see how the final numbers shake out. but the republicans look like they'll have the majority just by a smidge. and yesterday trump did confirm that he will declare a national emergency and use the military to carry out mass deportations. you obviously served in the military what's your response to that? and given the numbers up on capitol hill, is there anything democrats can do to stop him from from carrying out those mass deportations with the use of the military? >> well, look, the president has made a statement. it's not backed up by any details. so it's hard to assess exactly what he's looking at doing anytime you have american troops on american soil performing what appear to be law enforcement concern. and in posse comitatus, and whether it land. so i am concerned, but i look forward to seeing exactly what it is the president was referring to. is he using troops to construct, construct camps? is he using troops to round people up?

senators elect a brand new leader on capitol hill who oversees the confirmation of trump's nominations and the in going and outgoing presidents met face to face for nearly two hours at the white house. we got the panel standing by to react to all of it. we begin first with fox team coverage tonight. we have chad pergram up on capitol hill in the selection of john thune the next senate majority leader. we begin with senior national correspondent aishah hasnie in west palm beach tonight where the president-elect is churning out these nominations, aishah what can you tell us? >> gillian, good evening to you. president-elect trump is shaking things up in washington with an announcement that really is splitting even some republicans on capitol hill and that is florida congressman matt gaetz has now been nominated to attorney general. gaetz served in the house judiciary committee. he conducted oversight of the justice department. he also investigated the russia collusion accusation. now, trump says of gaetz, matt will end weaponized government and restore the badly shattered faith and confid

a sweet show of support on capitol hill.es from the famous halterman's bakery located in her district of staten island. the special delivery came after "the view" whoopi goldberg accuse the bakery of refusing to take her order of cakes for her birthday due to her pol politics. the accusation is simply not true and says they should apologize. they look delicious. john? >> john: they certainly do, wonder if they taste as good as they look. home sales up for the first time after mortgages dropped. more in the newsroom. it what's going on with it? >> home buyers can't catch a break. weekly survey mortgage rates, taking higher to -- that is below last year's high 7.22, but it is still a barrier to affordability for buyers and we are likely to seeing more of the same. another report out today, monthly existing home sales does show some positive news for the housing market which is a multi-decade lows. home sales higher in october by 2.9% year-over-year and that get this, the first year gained since july 2021. keep in mind, though,

since 1979 can we have been your primary source for capitol hill, providing balanced, unfiltered coverage of government, taking you to where the policy is debated and decided, all with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting, powered by cable. >> florida republican congressman carlos gimenez spoke about the latino vote in the 2024 election and border security during a conversation with "the washington post." it is about 25 minutes. >> hi, everybody come and welcome to "washington post live." i am arianna sotomayor, congressional reporter for "washington post," and i'm joined by carlos gimenez, republican compass men from florida. i'm getting ready for you all to come back to capitol hill tomorrow, but i want to look back at the night and the week that republicans have had. what a sweep by now- president-elect donald trump, not just winning florida overwhelmingly, we have seen him make significant gains in liberal states like new york, obviously swept all seven battleground states. senate republicans have the majority again, and now it seems like waiting on

meeting about is really atypical for the way that they house ethics committee actually works on capitol hill. a lot of the things we have seen in this process are not the traditional way that we do them or see them on the hill, but also the fact that the house speaker, mike johnson, weight in really early and said, he did not want to see the house ethics committee release this ethics report. the reason he said that, yes, for politics reasons he is clearly in line with lockstep into the line with the usc bites, down to the walkout of the wwe fight with the president-elect, but also, typically, if you are not a member of congress anymore, the ethics committee stuff goes away. their jurisdiction no longer applies. technically, that is true with gaetz, but because of the extenuating circumstance, high- stakes, and rare precedents for the ethics committee deciding after-the-fact to release investigations, all of this now suddenly applies. again, we are watching norms refrain in real-time here. >> most people leave congress when they don't get their ethics reports released because they are just le

ali vitale on capitol hill. what is in store for them? how to maneuver around congress. everything from how to get to their office space to how to get to the house floor, really just the basics of becoming a lawmaker, but what's interesting about what speaker johnson who is still talking behind me is talking about right now is the ways that he's not just juggling the majority that is still very much coming together with seats outstanding in places like alaska and california, but also the ways that he's juggling that slim majority with many key items on the to-do list including government funding and including republicans wanting to get a jump and moving on things like energy and the border, but then also the fact that the majority is still coming together is kind of dwindling as former president, now president-elect trump starts pulling members for his cabinet. we know, for example, that he has already tapped elise stefanik, one house member for that role. there's also another that he has tapped to be his national security adviser. that's

interesting. >>> pivoting to capitol hill. lawmakers are returning after their extended election recess and they have several critical legislature items on their to do list and it's clear donald trump wants to have his fingerprints over every piece of this lame duck session of congress and they will hear from him directly as he heads to the capitol tomorrow. our chief congressional correspondent is there for us. what are you hearing about the majority leader's race in the senate? trump at least publicly has not waiting. >> reporter: yeah. and it's a wide-open race between two men. senators john thune and senator john cornyn pick rick scott has supported a lot of trump alice but the former president has not weighed in on this yet. cornyn and soon are seen as the clear favorites. some people in the senate believe soon may have the slight edge being the current republican whip. cornyn used to be the republican whip, number two position in the senate republican congress. both have served for a long time and they have deep relation

since 1979, we have been your primary source for capitol hill, providing balance, unfiltered view of coverage taking you to where the policy is debated and decided all with the support of america's cable companies. 45 years and counting. powered by cable. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] announcer: the family members of hostage members held by, speak to a meeting in the white house. they urge the outgoing biden administration to work with the incoming trump administration to free the hostages and end the conflict in gaza. it is about 10 minutes. >> good afternoon, everyone. my name is jonathan tackle jen -- dekel chen. [indiscernible] we had a meeting a little while ago when the national security advisor. we are all american citizens, and they have been held in gaza now for 407 days. americans are crying out, the vast majority of israelis, and millions in gaza are crying out for an end to the conflict. 403 days have passed, f

plus a culture war on capitol hill as republican congresswoman nancy mace calls to ban transgender womens in the capitol. >> the height of hypocrisy and gas lighting they are threatening to kill me now because i as a woman am standing up to protect other women. could go up with the stock market lock in your gains? and when the market goes down, you don't lose anything. forward with your money. never backwards would have that investment strategy, that product actually existed? good news! it does! if you have at least $100,000 to invest, get your investor's guide and see if it's right for you. have you compared your medicare plan recently? with ehealth, you can compare medicare plans side by side for free. so we invited people to give ehealth a try and discover how easy it can be to find your medicare match. this is pretty amazing. i can go on a vacation with this money. i have quite a few prescriptions. that's why people call us. we're going to compare plans, and i'm gonna try to get you as much bang for your buck as possible. that's great. this one here covers all your prescriptions, you

, the subcommittee on capitol hill.say about the move on "sunday morning futures." >> let's talk about federal employees that have not shown up to work ever since covid. we are also looking at many, we have thousands of buildings at the federal government owns and pays for with over $15 billion a year but yet those government buildings stood empty and these government building worker stay at home still today. this is the exact time of waste fraud abuse and failure. >> i'm a fan of get your you know what that to work. you took a job for the employee experience, you've got to go to work to get that. >> i guess covid has had its ramifications across the country >> it is over. >> i want the government to run efficiently and i don't wanted to be inflated. if it is just a little bit, it helps. >> have put out the plan, lauren . had the constitutional, had the court cases that are relevant. they stayed quite clearly that they will do it based on the constitution. >> cut $2 trillion of federal spending. that is a big number. ca

the closed meeting happening now on capitol hill. house ethics committee report on trump's pick for attorney general, matt gaetz. but will to see the light of day with pushback from the speaker? >>> and back in the ring. donald trump taps former wrestling executive linda mcmahon to lead the department of education. but her choice is bringing publicity to lingering charges that the wwe abused workers, including children. >>> also,

matt gaetz is so deeply disliked by members of congress on capitol hill. that is likely to be as important as anything. >> google what house members say about matt gaetz. i cannot say it on television. and it did happen during the obama administration and it led to convoluted sessions that said that obama could not use it or abuse them. i think it is clear with the transition team and it comes back to testing institutions. senators like being the senate and like being deferred to the senate. and we know that mitch mcconnell will vote with murkowski and collins on that. and so are they going to try to blow up the filibuster? >> well, look, it has already pretty much been blown up because of nominees. we are in for quite a ride. >>> coming up, the other trump pics, tulsi gabbard as the director of national intelligence. what that might reveal as the foreign policy plans. and the foreign senate race headed for a recount. and president biden preparing for his last meeting with xi jinping. >> they always say if you have a smart president you will never have a p

the other thing i think to bear in mind is matt gaetz did not have a lot of friends on capitol hill, a lot of friends on capitol hill, inside his own party, he was someone who, the bomb thrower who brought down kevin mccarthy, the house speaker. so i think when it came to it, did not have the words to withdraw on, and there was also the question of the allegation, the second allegation you mentioned. we don't have the details on that, although it appears to be the same 17 year old girl who we know about in that initial allegation, all of which he denies, of course, and none of which he has been charged with. so i think all of that coming together over the past week -- it has only been a week since the nomination was meant -- and this one was the first to fall. christian: he has been sucking up all the oxygen in washington this past week, gary. he's not the only one facing a rough confirmation process. gary: that will be the interesting thing over the coming days. does this open the way for the other controversial nominees? now that donald trump won, people like tulsi gabbard, who has

details about matt gaetz and what was told to him behind closed doors when he met with senators on capitol hill. stay with us america's favorite holiday. >> spend thanksgiving morning with cnn with live coverage of parades around the country. john berman and erica hill host cnn thanksgiving in america live next thursday at 8:00 on cnn. it's the most wonderful time with the kids. >> jingle be of good cheer. it's the most one. >> whether your phone's broken or old, we've got you with verizon anyone can trade in any phone, any condition and get iphone 16 pro with apple intelligence on us and ipad and apple watch series ten. all three on us. that's up to $2,000 in value only on verizon. hello. >> confused by the medicare abcs? if you have original medicare, then you have parts a and b. have you considered part c medicare? part c is sometimes known as a medicare advantage plan, and it's one of the best ways to help protect yourself from out-of-pocket medicare costs if you only have medicare parts, a and b, there are three things you should do one. call the number on your screen two, give the license

for orientation inclinselecting their capitol hill offices by lottery. the house and senate also returned tuesday facing a government funding deadline and ass additional listion by decembeo avoid a shutdown. these is back tuesday at noon eastern. members will and can -- will conseregislation to increase transparency, also will ing the education department make fafsa available to all students. week on several of presidentthe biden'judicial nominations for u.s. district and tax courts. and the director of the federal office of government e watch live coverage of the house on c-span and wat a of our ressional coverage on our free video a, c-span now or online at c-span.org. ♪ >> the house will be in order. >> c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979 we have been your primary source for capitol hill, providing balanced unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to where the policy is debated and decided all with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> c-span now is a fr

. >> two meetings around capitol hill. i'm told those meetings are going to be taking place today and tomorrow. and what's really interesting is that vance is planning to sit in on those meetings when matt gaetz goes to meet with some of these key senators who are going to be involved in his senate confirmation process. the vice president elect is going to be there as well. and it's another sign of just how much donald trump is not backing away from some of his more controversial picks. i'd note, as well, that we know that elise stefanik and doug collins, donald trump's picks for the u.n. ambassador, as well as the to lead the veterans affairs department respectively, they will be on capitol hill meeting with senators as well. but vance is not sitting in on those meetings. he is only sitting in on the ones where we know that both of these men have pretty controversial pasts and allegations that are resurfacing. now, one thing that's very clear again, though, is that donald trump is digging in on matt gaetz. we know, and we

host: matt gaetz was on capitol hill meeting with senators yesterday. at was happening on that side of the capitol? guest: the house ethics committee meeting about whether or not to release this sprawling report. the investigation has been going on for three years down. on the other side of the capitol , the congressman was crisscrossing different congressional offices, meeting with senators to talk about his confirmation. this is something that always happens when you have a presidential nominee and the confirmation in the senate, they meet with the individual senators to discuss the confirmation. this would happen in a different context. the house ethics committee was debating whether to release the report. number of senators have also called on the ethics committee to release this report because they want to look at the findings before weighing in on matt gaetz's confirmation. things look dicey but nonetheless the president's team and former congressman plowing ahead with this nomination. matt gaetz was talking to senators yesterday. host: there has b

since 1979 we've been your primary source for capitol hill provided balanced coverage of government. attacking you to where policy is debated and decided all in support by the cable companies. 45 years and could noting powered by cable. >> florida republican carlos jimenez spoke about the latino vote in the 2024 looks and border security. it is about 25 minutes. >> welcome to washington live. i'm a congressional reporter at the "washington post" joined by florida congressman carlos gimenez. how are you. guest: i'm doing well. host: i'm getting ready for you to come back to capitol hill tomorrow and i want to look back at the fight and week republicans have had. what a sweep by president hrefrbgt donald trump not just winning florida but made gains in new york and all seven battle ground states. senate republicans have the majority again and it seems like a couple calls in california and arizona but house republicans likely to keep their majority. can you explain, are you surprised by how president-elect donald trump has done in his tend influence in the relying base? guest: in a sens

gabbard is set to visit capitol hill next week to meet with senators regarding her nomination. she's expected to face real scrutiny for comments she made that appear to echo russian disinformation as well as a 2017 visit to syria where she met with president bashar al assad. let's listen to what james lankford had to say about her nomination yesterday. >> does anything about her concern you? >> well, we'll have lots of questions. she met with bashar assad, we'll want to know the purpose and what the direction for that was. as a member of congress, we'll want to get a chance to talk about past comments she made and get them into full context. sure there is comments that are floating out there, but we want to be able to know the rest of the story. >> meanwhile, several senate republicans are rejecting a proposal by trump's team to forgo traditional fbi background checks for the president-elect's high level cabinet nominees and instead just hand that job over to private investigators. the hill reports that allowing pis to vet trump's top picks could make it easier for some nominee

>> guest: this is a conversation floating around on capitol hill. a lot of uncertainty surrounding recess appointments. a lot of folks were trying to figure out what the constitutional law is here. what would have to happen for recess appointments to take place. i would say it's definitely a possibility, something we know we've seen present electro demand, ask for taking when the senate gop leader race was going on. trump said whoever is an ex-senator republican leader has to agree to use recess appointments. it's a possibility of the table but there's a lot of uncertainty surrounding that, what it looks like constitutionally, and what appetite there is for that among lawmakers on capitol hill. still something to dig into but deathly something to continue to talk about. >> host: you were part of the former reporters that was covering this story yesterday outside of the committee room with a house ethics committee met. there were a lot of reporters gathered there waiting to get word from any one of these members of congress. i want to show our viewer

and what they are meeting about is really a typical, atypical for the way to actually work on capitol hill, and so a lot of the things that we have seen in this process are not the traditional way that we do them or see them on the hill, but also the fact that the house speaker, mike johnson weighed in really early and said that he didn't want to see the house ethics committee release this ethics report and the reason he said that yes, for politics reasons he is clearly aligned in lock step down to the walkout at the ufc fight, down to the walkout at the wwe fight, with the president elect, but also typically if you are not a member of congress anymore, the ethics committee stuff goes away, their jurisdiction no longer applies and so technically that is true with gaetz but because of the extenuating circumstance, the high stakes and there were some rare precedents for the ethics committee the siding after the fact to release investigations, all of this now suddenly applies and again we are watching norms be frayed in real-time here. >> most people leave congress when and don't get there et

_ from the lawmakers on capitol hill this— from the lawmakers on capitol hill. hill. this comes into play with a lot of other— hill. this comes into play with a lot of other policies. - hill. this comes into play with a lot of other policies. a - hill. this comes into play with a lot of other policies. a lot i a lot of other policies. a lot of people _ a lot of other policies. a lot of people say— a lot of other policies. a lot of people say ok, - a lot of other policies. a lot of people say ok, trump i a lot of other policies. a lot. of people say ok, trump could enact — of people say ok, trump could enact terrors— of people say ok, trump could enact terrors unilaterally - enact terrors unilaterally because _ enact terrors unilaterally because he _ enact terrors unilaterally because he could - enact terrors unilaterally because he could use - enact terrors unilaterally - because he could use executive orders — because he could use executive orders and _ because he could use executive orders and other— because he could use executive orders and other administrati

one way to put it, they joined advocates on capitol hill to push for clemency. washington correspondent raquel martin reports. >> there are 61 days remaining in your presidency and the time to act is now. >> democrats are calling on president joe biden to shorten the sentences of thousands of inmates serving time for nonviolent drug offenses. how disease not see the humanitarian. >> a dignity and people who've been incarcerated for many years. elders milbury served 9 years after being wrongly convicted for attempted robbery in 1998, and a thing that could have been been in prison my life. but i was in the war on drugs in 1988, warehousing. there's a lot of us. we can tell the same story in 1994. then senator biden championed the 1994 crime bill which increased mandatory minimum sentencing for some drug offenses to have the moral of the patients to everything within your power to right the wrong in 2018, congress did attempt to rectify the law. >> passing the first step act which slashed mandatory sentencing guidelines for nonviolent drug offenses. the law signed

>> reporter: yeah, obviously a really momentous day on capitol hill.onald trump meet with house republicans in just a couple of hours, you can expect this to be a warm reception. that is in part because some of his staunchest allies have been in the house republican conference. in fact, yesterday at a republican leadership press conference you heard speaker mike johnson say that he is actually going to go down to mar-a- lago this weekend to spend time with the president to discuss what agenda he wants to move forward when january comes. this is going to be a big day for new leadership on capitol hill, though, because in the united states senate starting at 9:30 a.m. this morning you're going to see this first race for a new republican leader in nearly 20 years, two decades. mitch mcconnell stepping aside. that now is clearing the way for either john thune, rick scott, or john cornyn to take the mantle. despite the fact scott is getting late surge of maga support it's unknown who is going to win the race because it's going to happen behind closed door,

. >>> meanwhile, the president-elect's other controversial select pete hegseth was on capitol hill yesterdayting with lawmakers just as the police report detailing an alleged sexual assault was released. we will bring the details of that report. >>> we will get expert analysis on a major escalation by russia using a ballistic missile in ukraine. ♪♪ >>> good morning. welcome to "way too early" on this friday, november 22nd. i'm sam stein in for jonathan lemire. >>> we begin this morning with matt gaetz withdrawing his game from consideration for attorney general. gaetz made the announcement yesterday about one week after president-elect donald trump nominated him for the position. gaetz explained his decision, writing on social media, quote, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the trump/vance transition. a day earlier, the former congressman with republican senators on capitol hill, alongside vice president-elect j.d. janice and gaetz appeared optimistic and calling it great day but gaetz is facing alleged misconduct and sexual assault.

thank you so much, rafael. >> brianna, we have some breaking news from capitol hill. let's get right to cnn's manu raju, who has been staking. >> thank you guys house ethics committee meeting just wrapped up. >> manu, what can you tell us yeah. >> michael guest, the chairman of the house ethics committee, the republican emerging from this closed door meeting not saying a whole lot to reporters but saying this very significant statement saying there was not an agreement by the committee to release the report. of course, that report referring to matt gaetz, donald trump's pick to be the next attorney general of the united states. this report detailing going into allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use by the former congressman. that report, of course had been part of a bipartisan probe for the past two years and its final stages. but it has not been released to the public yet. why? because gaetz abruptly resigned as a house member last week in the aftermath of his selection as attorney general. now, republicans, including the speaker of the house, say that sh

let take you live to capitol hill with lauren fox. obviously, this is a big win for thune. >> reporter: yeah. this is a really huge moment for the senator from south dakota who has spent the last several years being the republican whip. that is the number two job under mitch mcconnell in the united states senate republican conference. it is also a big moment because it shows that there is a streak of independent senators in the republican conference who want to have an elected leader who knows the way that the senate works but also hasn't always had the closest or coziest relationship with donald trump. he's done a lot of work over the last several months to repair that relationship. he went down to mar-a-lago in the spring. he also, according to people close to him, has had several conversations with the president in recent months and weeks as he was campaigning and crisscrossing the country, trying to get the republicans elected to take back control of the senate. but there was a time where he called for donald trump to pull out of

since 1979 we have been your pry rarery source for capitol hill providing balanced, unfiltered coverage of government. taking you to where the policies debated and decided all with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> house republican leaders held a press conference on the steps of the u.s. capitol just before congress returned for its first session since the election. they spoke about the incoming congress and highlighted the president-elect donald trump will be meeting with house republicans on capitol hill before a scheduled meeting with president biden at the white house. this is about 25 minutes >> >> good morning. my name is richard hudson, chairman of the nrcc. i'm here to till it's morning again in america. leaks day americans sent a clear message to reject the consequences of democrat control. they said they couldn't afford the basics for their families' needs. they didn't feel safe in their communities. their values were under attack. joe biden, kamala harris, hakeem jeffries, and extreme house democrats were the cause.

want to go back to rachel scott on capitol hill.ide of this hotel because this is where president-elect donald trump is huddling with republicans behind closed doors. he traveled here to washington, d.c. touching down not too long ago with a team of advisers, but also with billionaire elon musk. this comes as he is moving quickly to fill up his administration. one of his picks catching many off guard, secretary of defense. trump choosing fox and friends weekend host pete hegseth. he would oversee the pentagon and 1.3 million active troops. but he just said he didn't believe women should be in combat roles. trump also announcing one of his biggest supporters who is joining him here today, billionaire elon musk will lead a new department of government efficiency alongside vivek ramaswamy. he also announced south dakota governor kristi noem will be selected to lead the department of homeland security. after he wraps up here he heads over to the white house for the one on one meeting with president biden. rebecca? >> rebecca: thank you.

he is planning to meet with president biden and republican leaders on capitol hill. if we see him arriving in washington, we will show you that as well. now go ahead. caller: -- the democratic vermin that reside in this country, i guess that needs taken out. anyway, as far as the democrats having an autopsy or whatever on this election is useless. it is only going to matter -- over a couple years. trump will have us in a recession. who knows what else? putting in place people like stephen miller is just, you know. it is crazy. host: what do you not like about stephen miller? caller: he is heinrich himmler reincarnated. host: let's leave off the nazi references. tell me policy is and what bothers you. what do you think stephen miller is going to do? caller: it is going to be a bloodbath with this immigration thing. they are going to be killing these people left and right. i mean, it is going to be bad. this idea with the executive order to the generals saying that if you are not trump enough we are kicking you out, this is -- people do not understand what is going to