stuart: vivek ramaswamy is on capitol hill. they will get together to discuss with lawmakers the department of government efficiency, doge. do you think doge, kind of like it, the centerpiece of trump's domestic policy? brian: there are some carrots in the policy and a big stick. i think doge is the stick, they will be on capitol hill, here's what we are going to do, shrink government, shrink spending and you get on board or we will point that massive x megaphone at you and you are going to be in trouble and they will say yes, sir, we will do whatever we can. think how much money is on the line with these two taking their time, they are serious. they are there to say get in line. stuart: they want to be the center of power, they love it. brian: and pretty good at it. that the other piece which america likes. stuart: you are with me for the hour. elon musk's artificial intelligence startup, x ai, probably a major expansion. come on in, details please. ashley: he's planning to expand the ai supercomputer the tauzin memphis, tenne

happy to be on capitol hill tonight. chad pergram. thanks for inviting us into your home be in coming days another place in washington. that's it for "special report," fair, balanced and still unafraid. ingraham angle is coming up now.

the other praised a capitol hill police officer. and i want to run people through both of them and talk about the significance of it. now, let's take a look here at this pence one. first, where she's retweeting someone. this is on her feed. she took it off. it says love him or hate him. he kept the wheels of democracy moving and pushed forward to certify his own loss. thank you, mr. vice president. that post also included a video of mike pence certifying the election, calling it a dark day in our nation's history well, why did she remove that? well, that post essentially admits that donald trump lost the 2020 election, something that he still doesn't admit and something that the entire republican party has been just such a big part of the trump movement. now, this other one that she removed is really interesting. it's a post in which she praised a capitol hill police officer she called him a, quote, hero and what did this, this, this guy do well, this capitol hill police officer, eugene goodman, and there were rioters essentially so

senior congressional correspondent chad pergram explains from capitol hill.d evening, chad. >> bret, good evening. a thermal nuclear verbal exchange on a radioactive topic. g.o.p. texas representative pat fallon and acting secret service director ronald rogue brawled over roe standing close to president biden at ground zero on 9/11. >> the -- you were there schaj show respect for a secret service service member that died on 9/11 you know why you were there you visible. >> fallen member of this agency. >> you are a danger. >> vice president. >> out of line because you put those agents out of position. did you have a radio with. >> you mr. fallon you are -- >> you are out of line! >> now, this is the photo in question. fallon accuses roe of big footing actual protective agencies for president biden vice president harris and president-elect trump. fallon accused r rowe to angling to become the full time secret service director. >> i think he was auditioning for a job. a job i don't believe he is going to get come january 20th. him exploding like a child. >> fall

the leaders visited capitol hill, sparking energy for a new day in america. rob, new york, democratic caller . what do you say? caller: you are doing a great job as usual. you are for that. there are so many simple fixes. i remember hearing a few years ago that they could streamline the paperwork for health insurance companies from medicare, and save a fortune, but i think ultimately before you start cutting, you have to put proper taxes on those earning more than $400,000 a year, which republicans refuse to do. by the way, oddly, elon musk and even our incoming new president make fortunes of these tax breaks that have been extended and will likely continue to be extended. i believe you have to remove the cap on social security, on those earning over 126,000, that cap should be removed, and you can shore up social security, so we are not doing the basic things we need to do, raising taxes on those earning more than $400,000. i think it is a big game the republicans are playing. we don't believe in trickle-down economics any longer. thank you for that and for

>> i mean, there's certainly support among some on capitol hill. i think that there's probably a subsection of the republican party, the more moderate centrist side that that, you know, a lot of the folks who were there on january 6th who were attacked on that day, uh, obviously a very scary day, who who don't want those folks to be pardoned. so that's another thing that will will split the party. but i think that there's, you know, a good chunk of the republican base that would that would be okay with that, that see those individuals as people who have been politically persecuted and been prosecuted because of their their political views. so i think the president elect would have some, some sympathetic ears on capitol hill if that was the the route he chose to go. >> you know, and another thing that that might sort of split the gop in some senses is it seems like congress is is haggling or going back and forth over another spending stopgap bill. and i know you wrote about that for for axios that congressional republicans are setting themselves up

senior national correspondent aishah hasnie is on capitol hill tonight.ood evening, aishah. >> aishah: bret, good evening to you. trump's defense secretary nominee, pete hegseth is vowing to not drop out of this nomination process, even as multiple g.o.p. senators are still on the fence about him. >> are you looking forward to your meeting with president trump tomorrow? >> peter: it's not on the schedule right now. we are staying on capitol hill and meeting with senators. >> aishah: pete hegseth telling fox news he is staying in washington for now. to continue courting senators despite reports that he was planning to visit mar-a-lago on thursday to speak directly to trump. hegseth is battling allegations of sexual misconduct and a drinking problem, both of which he denies. he says he is not backing out. >> peter: make sure we are putting the war fighters first. that's what donald trump asked me to do. >> aishah: today, hegseth met with g.o.p. leader john thune and incoming armed services chairman roger wicker said hegseth offered to stop drinking all toge

pete hegseth says that he will be back on capitol hill later to meet with republican senators as he tries to salvage his bid for defense secretary. this will be his fourth straight day on the hill amid mounting allegations of sexual assault, alcohol abuse, and other misconduct. hegseth told cbs news yesterday that he had spoken to president-elect donald trump who told him to keep fighting. one of his key meetings yesterday was with senator joni ernst of iowa. she is, of course, a combat veteran who is also a sexual assault survivor. while she gave very little insight about what happened in her sit-down with hegseth, a democratic senator was very blunt about where the former fox news host stands with lawmakers. >> can you summarize it for us? >> it was a very frank and thorough discussion. >> senator, will you support mr. hegseth's nomination? >> it was a frank and thorough conversation. >> did he ask for your vote specifically? >> keep walking -- >> thank you. >> when you met with matt gaetz you said he brought up some of the allegations against him. did hegseth bring up any -- >> it was

it's not one that we frankly see very often on capitol hill. i was really struck by that as well. issues, without really gaining new ground. a couple of the things that we have heard, number one, the outgoing chairman, congressman mike mccaul from texas, he was very critical at the top of the hearing of secretary of state antony blinken saying that he had not appeared before the committee, specifically to discuss the withdrawal from afghanistan. blinken pushed back on that saying he has appeared more than a dozen times before congress, including taking a number of questions about afghanistan. but one issue that has come up again, and this is one that this committee specifically, house foreign affairs has really focused on is the notion that the bomber at abbey gate was identified by a group of marine snipers before the attack and could have been taken out, but, in fact, those marines were told not to engage. jose, that's something that was investigated several times by the u.s. military. the most recent report on that came out in april this year. and it found that, in fact, it was

ali, what's going on right now on capitol hill?this is a hearing that's gone on and off, vacillating between fiery and tense, but most of these members seeming to recognize that the sole witness before them is currently the head of the secret service, but was not the person at the helm of the organization at the time of these assassination attempts, specifically the one in butler. nevertheless, just in the last minute or two we did see a very fiery and explosive moment where congressman pat fallon and the acting secret service agent ronald rowe seemed to get into a shouting match. the gavel had to, hit -- but it was literally screaming between the man at the witness table and one of the wmakers on the dias. there is abject failure, regarding what happened in butler and regarding what happened or almost happened but thwarted in west palm beach. specifically with butler, the secret service director reiterating several of the key pieces that this committee and others who have done investigations into what went wrong have said in the p

eastern, i am jose diaz-balart and we begin with chaos on capitol hill as congress now has less than 13 hours to pass a spending bill to keep the federal government open last night, lawmakers on both sides voted overwhelmingly against the donald trump back spending bill which came after the president- elect, with some of his key allies, killed the 1500 page bipartisan spending agreement that would have funded the government through march. despite all of this, this morning, mike johnson rejected optimism. >> you stay tuned, we have a plan. >> we have reached a new agreement? >> we will see. >> ryan, less than 13 hours, that clock on the bottom right is exactly right now, 13 hours away from that major deadline, the house first dealt with a 1500 page bill that was shot down and they brought in a 130+ page one which was also shot down. what is next? >> they are back at the drawing board and we know that congressional republicans, house republicans in particular , have been huddled all morning in the office of mike johnston with different stakeholders coming in and out all morning long as

he's up on capitol hill. what else are you hearing, manu?hat's the latest yeah, this is interesting because we have actually not heard much from speaker johnson over the last several days. >> he's been holed up in the speaker's suite trying to cut this deal, trying to appease donald trump's demands and giving his pitch there about why he thinks the bill should should be enacted. there were more changes than he made. seem. they took a bunch of provisions out of the bill. some democrats were upset about some of the research funding that was removed from it, and he downplayed the very significant additions to this bill, which would be to suspend the national debt limit until january 2027. remember, that is such a huge fight. typically, every time this comes up, this leads to a major battle in washington. republicans typically demand spending cuts to offset any increase of the national debt limit, and democrats typically are okay with that spending cuts because they say that we just need to pay for all the spending that we already did and avoid

>> that meeting with senator murkowski is another hurdle that they will have to clear on capitol hillal and you have to imagine that will be here in the room. >> this comes as they find themselves in a critical moment and you think it could have an impact on the bid bite tulsi gabbard? >> it reminds people of her secret visit to spend time with then-president aside and reminds people that she had operated in conflict with u.s. policy with regard to that and it will raise questions and a lot of people have forgotten much about syria and assad prior to eight or 10 days ago but her feelings or actions or opinions or views of syria and dictators like tran one will be front and center at this point. >> meanwhile the president- elect said he is opening -- open to protecting daca recipients but he did try to got the program and just listening to that dreamer testifying before congress. how big of a political issue is daca and how big of a political issue should be? it seems like daca recipients are forgotten many times. >> it is a big issue especially for swing voters and i know it is still

don't stop on capitol hill.nergy's internal watchdog called for suspending biden's $400 billion energy loan program warning of the dangers of rushes $22 billion out before trump takes office. back at the white house, a totally different focus with just weeks left in office, the biden administration is pushing for $4.5 billion more in student loan forgiveness. >> >> president biden is back at the white house after several days in delaware. he did not comment on the latest funding package. vice president kamala harris has put off her california holiday travel in case her vote is needed to break a tie in the senate. bret? >> mike, the "wall street journal" is out with this lengthy report on how the biden white house functioned with the diminished president biden in charge. what's the reaction to that? >> yeah, bret, a deep dive into how could he advisers insulated president biden from cabinet secretaries, even allies on capitol hill. noted that president biden has good days and bad days and sometimes decisions were

let's go now to cnn's lauren fox on capitol hill.auren, i don't usually go to senator richard blumenthal for whip counts of where the senate republican conference is. but the point he's making is one that i think you are definitely hearing behind the scenes. i've heard behind the scenes as well. there are issues here. how deep are the issues that pete hegseth is dealing with, with republicans well, phil, i will give an example of someone whose job it is to count republican votes and that is current republican whip john thune, who will become the next republican leader in january. >> i asked him repeatedly if he was ready to back hegseth after >> that that is a very telling sign right now of where things stand. everyone is in wait and see mode on capitol hill now, pete headsets went into senator joni ernst office this has been one of the most watched meetings coming up on capitol hill. >> that is because of some of the past comments that pete hegseth has made about women in combat. some of the vision that he has for the pentagon, thos

from president-elect drums pickford defence secretary pete hecht says he just made remarks on capitol hill after meeting today with senators. watch this. >> it afternoon everybody i want to say its been a great week and a great day and a great day yesterday on the hill meeting with senators earning every vote i've great deal of respect for this process advised the council has gotten great advice. we don't take anything for granted the conversations have been robust and candid at times with great questions on policy personality everything. we will earn those votes. grateful to have the presidents support because his vision for this department is to bring it back to its core capacity of deterring our enemies and if necessary defeating those enemies. that means ultimately putting more fighting at the middle of what the pentagon does. no more social justice politically correct approach as to how we conduct wars, it's about readiness, more fighting and accountability appear i'm grateful president trump has bestowed this opportunity on me the process has been a very good one despite all the nois

co-leaders of trump's so-called department of government efficiency, or doge, they're also on capitol hill today elon musk and vivek ramaswamy. they're the co-heads it's not actually an official department. what can you tell us about their plans on the hill yeah, there's a lot of excitement and interest from republican senators. >> many of them have been trying to cut federal spending in various areas and in government agencies over the course of their own careers. >> so they come with sort of a laundry list of ideas about specifically where they want to see those cuts. i think the challenge and republican senators are acknowledging this to me today is that what is one senator's waste? fraud and abuse is another senator's constituency, right? some of these senators have things and agencies in their states that employ people. and i think that that is going to be one of the really difficult pieces of trying to knit together a constituency to back some of these ideas. obviously, we're going to see a lot more after this. 2:00 meeting today. so we'll be staying tuned on what exactly the plan is

i should note the former congresswoman, while she was here on capitol hill, did not answer questions from reporters when she was asked about her own relationship with the now ousted syrian dictator. my source here tonight is the newly reelected deputy chair of the house progressive caucus, democratic congresswoman ilhan omar of minnesota. it's great. great to have you here on tulsi gabbard. you obviously served in the house with her. you overlapped briefly for for a little bit of time you have your own history with her given her past and, you know, her meeting with assad after he gassed his own people. what she has said about his rule, how do you feel about her potentially overseeing the nation's top intelligence agencies? >> i mean, you know, i don't obviously get a vote on her confirmation but, yeah, of course some of those stances that she has taken are a little alarming. >> and i think the intelligence community, um will probably be really worried about having a director that has not always been the clear eyed about where our priorities are. >> as as a country. and, you know the

chaos flowed through capitol hill yesterday after president-elect trump and his top adviser, elon musk, torched the bipartisan agreement to fund the government through march.ve congressional leadership and vice president-elect j.d. vance spent the day working on new legislation that would appease trump and the already very small alrepublican majority. after hours of negotiations, the group managed to come out with a bill that had trump's seal of support, however, it did not have the fullbacking of the republican conference. this new slimmed down alternate package failed, 174-235 falling far short of the 2/3 majority needed to pass. moments after the bill failed on the floor, republicans tried to ooblame democrats for tanking t legislation, but democrats for their part utmade sure to say tt the gop backtracked on the deal and felt no need to bail them out. let's take a listen to some of these comments. >> the democrats just voted to shut down the government even though we had a clean cr because they cldidn't want to give the wapresident negotiating leverag during his first term or the f

the other question that remains, despite this pardon, is what will happen on capitol hill? and we are getting our first reaction from republicans in the house in particular, i want to read a statement we just received from the chairman of the house oversight committee, james comer, who says in part that joe biden has lied from start to finish about his family's corrupt peddling activities. the charges hunter faced were just the tip of the iceberg in the blatant corruption that president biden and the biden crime family have lied about to the american people. what that statement indicates and hyperbolic type rhetoric embedded in it is that whether or not the justice department, under a president trump and under it potential attorney general pam bondi may choose to continue and maybe even widen other areas of investigation that special counsel david weiss in the state of delaware had already been looking into, including foreign lobbying, we know that republicans in the house that are already holding the gavels now and the senate republicans, the republicans that will soon tak

>> aishah: chad pergram on capitol hill for us. thank you.er looks at how chinese hackers have been attacking american interest. and, later, the panel on the trump transition and how the white house is defending the biden pardon. a ♪ d traditional coffee sucks, despite my expression. no, that wasn't a question. my brow girl had traditional coffee this am and then she crashed into my brow. did i mention this is permanent. don't get your eyebrows done if your eyebrow girl doesn't drink everyday dose. everyday dose coffee, functional coffee for all day energy without the jitters or crash. it's okay. it's gonna be. it looks good, right? >> aishah: this week the national security officials are accusing china of hacking at least 8 telecom firms impacting dozens of countries, the white house says beijing was able to access private text messages and phone conversations of a nobody of americans including senior government officials. the campaign is part of a growing effort by china to target telecommunications companies. tonight, bret baier takes a lo

elon musk causing chaos on capitol hill. the duo putting a blowtorch to a gop spending bill that speaker mike johnson had spent months putting together. now, house speaker johnson's own future as speaker in doubt, trump calling the bill a nasty trap organized by democrats even though it is a republican led bill, and saying he wants a bill without democrat giveaways. outgoing republican senate leader mitch mcconnell summed it all up with this comment. oh, this is going to be the way it's going to be next year. cnn's sunlen serfaty, tracking the frenzy to fund the bill on capitol hill this morning. >> things are not in a good place right now up here on capitol hill, the spending bill is dead. speaker johnson has not yet revealed a plan b, another plan and the next steps at this moment are very unclear. and all this chaos and drama up here is unfolding just one day before a potential government shutdown. friday night at midnight into saturday morning. now, leaders today they will be attempting to navigate what one lawmaker says

also, another moment from capitol hill.-span cameras at the task force on the attempted assassination of donald trump when he was running for reelection this past campaign cycle. they had their final hearing on capitol hill. we will share this moment. republican of texas, ronald rope got into a shouting match over accusations of not properly protecting former president trump and president biden. [video clip] >> yes sir, i do. >> was this remnants of september 11 in new york? >> it was, ground zero. >> who's usually at an event like this, president of the united states security wise? >> special agent in charge of the detail. >> were you the special agent in charge of detail that day? actually, let me address this, thank you. >> actually, congressman, what you are not seen is they detail out of the pictures you. that is the day where we remember the more than 3000 people who had died on 9/11. i actually responded to ground zero. i was there, going through the ashes of the world trade center. >> i'm not asking you -- >> i'm as

i want to bring in julie on capitol hill. tim miller helped lead jeb bush's campaign. aughn 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 republicans. most friendly meetings today except for senator rounds who said after meeting with hegseth he still had some questions. he wasn't fully there yet but felt good about the meeting. i asked hegseth himself if he's going to stay in through the end and he said he will. he told garrett haake that as long as he has the support of president-elect trump behind him, he will continue to stay in and not withdraw his name despite the allegations surrounding him. i talked to many senators yesterday who met with him. their point, this alcohol problem is definitely an issue sparking concerns among republicans in the senate but also his comments about women in the military. especially women in combat. that is something that of course perked up the ears of joni ernst who is the first woman combat veteran to be in the senate. she

ali vitali joins us from capitol hill. what do we know? >> reporter: you likened it to the nightmare before christmas. happens to be my favorite movie. at the end of that movie they pull off christmas, but maybe there's a little bit of that energy. right now they need it. the speaker is saying we'll see, maybe we have a plan. in the last hour or so as our team has been standing outside the speaker's office, the members seem to disagree whether or not they're at a fully baked plan that's ready to be voted on or if they need time to haggle and put it together. that's the open question. they can't move on to the floor. they don't have anything to vote on yet. that's where the speaker stands. there's an unclear picture of what the other options could be. we know that plan b was a paired down version of plan a. you just ticked through the differences. plan c, it's unclear that gop leadership has the ability to take things out like the debt ceiling negotiation which is a sticking point for democrats, but it's also the thing that trump and musk v

we turn to to capitol hill. pete hegseth will continue to meet with senators to build support for his bid to become the secretary of defense. hegseth is set to sit down with susan collins of maine after he met with the senator from alaska. moderate republicans whose votes could decide if hegseth is confirmed as the leader of the pentagon. this is what he had to say about the meeting followed by democratic senator richard bloomathal's assessment. did you learn anything that could persuade you at all? >> 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. >> reporter: what did you learn? >> he has probably half the senate that he's going to visit with w he's got a process that is going to involve full vetting through the administration and ultimately a committee. they are still less than 50/50. >> reporter: you're hearing dissenting voices by your colleagues. >> they are questions about if he can do this job and our national securi

he's on capitol hill this week. he told one of our producers that he is ready to go on day one and he will ensure a peaceful transition between the current fbi administration and his administration and the president-elect donald trump posting on truth social that it is a great day for america when christopher wray announced he is resigning stepping down here in the next few weeks in trump praised kash patel, his nominee. but it's not a done deal until he gets confirmed. liz: david spunt thank you so much. joining us now for his reaction, american ceo ned ryun. what do you think of his resignation? >> you saw the proverbial handwriting on the wall and knew he was done. he had to resign or he was getting fired by donald trump so he took the easy way out and resigned. i have to tell you, liz, i think he's been one of the worst fbi directors maybe ever and that's saying something since his predecessor was james comey who was an absolute disgrace but 10 year at the fbi, wray, they hid the hunter biden laptop, manipulated

what is likely to be the response on capitol hill to this breaking news?ith you. >> see? i told you so. they're all like that so the next time any of us complain about anything trump does, this -- this pardon is just deflating. for those of us who have been out there for a few years now yelling about what a unique threat donald trump is, for joe biden to do something like this, trump -- nobody's above the law, we've been screaming. well joe biden just made clear his son hunter is above the law. donald trump lies every time he opens his mouth, we've been screaming. joe biden repeatedly lied about this. the politicization of the justice system, donald trump and his people have been screaming. that's exactly what biden said here. >> joe, is this a politics of purity. we had donald trump pardon sheriff joe arpaio during his term and there was not a lot of a cry about that and this was a father who saw his first wife killed, his daughter killed in a car crash. his two young sons survive, one goes on to r have real difficulties with a ddiction an another died. i

they are doing great work out on capitol hill. host: we just did an hour long segment on trump in the united states and american views on the news industry in the wake of the 2024 election as we enter 2025, as we enter another donald trump administration. where do you think that stands as somebody who can look at it from the inside out? guest: the trump news is down. people are watching the news less. they are getting their news through other mediums, whether it be podcasts or different new segments. something that definitely be have to look internally and say why are people not following us, what are we doing? it is just an objective fact that people don't trust us anymore. i think it is more of an introspective thing we have to look at and say why don't people trust us? what have we done for the past 10 years that has led to this point and really how do we get the trust back from the american people? it is something that i think we have to do and really commit to it. host: patio bring that into a story about funding the governme

and so, um, he'll be up here on capitol hill. but again, i don't think he is a serious candidate. >> and i do want to ask you about the killing of the unitedhealthcare ceo. police say they found a homemade pistol and silencer in the alleged killers backpack, a so-called ghost gun. unfortunately, nevada knows all too well the devastation caused by gun violence in this country. it had the deadliest mass shooting in u.s. history back in 2017. i know you've been working on this issue, had lots of discussions about gun safety laws in this country. what does this case tell you that you have apparently a 3-d printed gun in the possession of the suspect? >> well, first of all, with any violence, it is never the answer. our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this violent behavior, and we can have policy differences. you can be upset with things, but we use legislation. we use our court system. you can be an activist. you don't resort to violence. you certainly don't murder someone. and you're absolutely right. whether it's bump

the chaos unleashed on capitol hill came not at the hands of donald trump. the chaos was kicked off by the early morning rantings of omnipresent first buddy elon musk, the unelected south african born and raised world's richest person who torched the original bipartisan deal with more than 150 posts to his 208 million followers starting at 4:15 a.m. on wednesday. and after all his political threats, they fell in line to kill the original deal. now the deal passed by the house last night and then by the senate early this morning made winners of the american people by keeping the federal government open until we have to go through all this nonsense again in march. but the drama surrounding its passage made losers of trump and johnson. on thursday, trump forced republicans to vote on a doomed alternative bill that included elimination of the debt ceiling and 38 republicans defied him. last night, 170 republicans defied him again by voting for a bill that was stripped of language related to the debt ceiling. johnson is a twofold loser in all this. he got the bil

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michael s.: we will be watching those rooms on capitol hill, where, behind closed doors, lawmakers are trying to hammer out something that would satisfy so many different needs. not only those of the president-elect and elon musk, who have really weighed in in such public fashion against previous iterations of this legislation, but also the republicans and democrats in congress who have to vote on it, and mike johnson has to figure out a way to get enough votes to get this through. it is unclear whether he will try to do it all in one fell swoop, one package, or it will be a series of votes on different pieces of it. all this remains up in the air. we are seeing a lot of reporting on how the sequence might go through, but a lot of it has not been confirmed just yet. we will be watching closely, what our teams on capitol hill turning up with their reporting, and we could see a vote as soon as tonight, or it may be kicked into the weekend, and we could enter into a technical shutdown of the u.s. government. scarlet: michael shepard, senior editor for us at bloomberg news. in washington.

we'll see tiktokers marching on capitol hill and the white house, demanding...cing on capitol hill. dancing, yeah, dancing their way up pennsylvania avenue. well, here we are again. another week, another path to the presidency. and this week, sumi and i arejoined by our dear colleague here in the dc bureau, anthony zurcher. hi, anthony. great to be here. it's a long path to the presidency. you've already been travelling it for a while, but i'm glad to join you in yourjourney. and a long way still to go. a long way to go — and we're in december now. are you guys holiday—partied—out? i didn't realise what a season this is in washington, dc. can you have too many festivities? yeah, it's exhausting. i went to my first one last night, i think i've got another two next week, and that's when it really kicks in. oh, i got a cookie party tomorrow, or saturday night, at a friend's house, where everyone has to bring a holiday—themed cookie and share it. so, by the time you leave, you walk out with a huge box of all these different cookies people made. and with many cavitie

especially anymore. >> i want to bring in nbc's ryan nobles who is on capitol hill. s vaughn hillyard is coffer covering the president-elect and courtney kube and david jolly from florida, and msnbc political analyst. we expect hegseth to speak on the hill today, ryan. what are you hearing first from senate republicans? any of this damage control, the meetings he's been doing, any of this seemed to have helped him? >> reporter: it seems clear that pete hegseth is not going to go down without a fight. there's growing republicans who seem to have real concerns about his confirmation. he is trying to convince them, up the charm offensive, the stories published about him are taken out of context or are outright wrong and he still has the backing of the president-elect donald trump. this despite the fact that there is reporting that donald trump is already looking for options beyond just hegseth. now, up until this point, hegseth has been very reluctant to talk to the press of any kind to discuss these on going issues that are surrounding him. only given one statement on c

congressman, for us that are outside of capitol hill, how does something like a c.r.egotiated? who is in on the negotiations and why does it seem that for republicans, certainly, the trump-world republicans, this was almost like a surprise? >> yeah. so first typically large bills such as this are negotiated by what is called the four corners. house democrats, house republicans, senate republicans, senate democrats. nothing should have come as a surprise to donald trump or people close to him. one would presume that speaker mike johnson and his republican leader team were keeping the president-elect informed. the reality though is donald trump does not always make clear to them what exactly he wants. even yesterday, it was hours and hours of elon musk loan out there on twitter on his platform bashing this and an untimely some hours later donald trump finally broke his silence and came out against it. that has been a problem i saw before the first time donald trump was president. even a bill his own treasury secretary has negotiated. >> so what do you think is going to

should we even be surprised by what happened on capitol hill this week?surprised has not been paying attention for the last two years. that is exactly the thing that has been going on. the border bill that they were working toward with the bipartisan compromise. trump stepped in and the whole thing developed into chaos. we should not be surprised this is happening. i am a little surprised that trump chaos has begun even before he takes office but this is a preview of coming attractions because if you thought the house was ungovernable for the last two years as it was with the majority between three and five, now we are down, as you pointed out, to essentially a majority of one. you have 38 people defying trump in the republican caucus in the house. it is only going to take one to deny mike johnson the speakership or to deny donald trump his tax cuts. i think i can go out on a limb and say it is going to be absolute mayhem in the house of representatives for the next couple of years. >> one more question for you. if not mike johnson, who? >> who would want

that wasn't only excitement on capitol hill d.o.g.e. vivek ramaswamy and elon but they weren't screaming it out. liberals are fighting so kids will be able to watch and access pornography. they say they aren't but they are. i "angle" next. how easy is it to play the lottery with jackpocket? step one grab your phone. step two download jackpocket and start ordering tickets for your favorite state lottery game. step three let the good times roll. jackpocket is so easy to use from home or on the go, and there have been over $500m in total prizes won. so now the easiest way to enjoy the lottery is right in your pocket. jackpocket. download america's number one lottery app today. what if your mobile network wasn't just built to work out here... ...but was designed differently to also give you blazing fast wifi where you are most of the time? reliable 5g, plus wifi speeds up to a gig where you need it most. xfinity mobile. now xfinity internet customers can buy one line of unlimited and get one free for a year. (♪♪) when you have moderate to s

. >> tonight we are live on capitol hill, where president-elect trump's top cabinet picks have been making their cases to republican senators, one of them who even trump acknowledged is controversial, is gaining key support this evening. and we also have breaking news this hour as the suspect in the unitedhealthcare ceo's murder was in court tonight. i'm kaitlan collins, and this is the source tonight we are learning new details about what happened in the moments that authorities captured the suspect in the killing of the unitedhealthcare ceo. right now, 26 year old luigi mangione is being held in pennsylvania arraigned this evening on five forgery and gun charges. but it was just after 9 a.m. today when he was arrested at a mcdonald's more than 250 miles from manhattan. an employee there had tipped off authorities after recognizing him from pictures that had been on the news. when police arrived, he was wearing a medical mask and sitting at the back of the restaurant in front of his laptop it was a peaceful arrest. >> first and foremost the officer quickly recognized the male as the suspe

nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent, garrett haake.spondent, jeff mason, and former republican congressman from florida, msnbc political analyst, david jolly. so, garrett, you caught up with hegseth on capitol hill today as he's meeting the senators and we should point out as kelly o'donnell noted, he's accompanied on these calls with senators on the committee. with his wife. this is very unusual. that is not usually taking place. it certainly could inhibit their questioning him about some of the sexual misconduct allegations. any case, talk to me about his response and some of the comments today. >> reporter: that's an unusual step and within the last 24 hours, we've seen a shift in how he's conducting himself through this process. he's decided to lean in much more in terms of defending himself. this is the first time he's answered any of my questions about this process and note his answer here when i asked him about what, if anything, might cause him to end his pursuit of this job. listen to a bit of our conversation. do you feel lik

how has the mom played on capitol hill? >> well, for pete hegseth's strongest republican supporters, it's valuable testimony. it's a character witness that they can point to and say she's apologized for that note, retracted it, she says he's a different person. for those who want to get to yes on pete hegseth, that is not going to be a problem. for the skeptics, i think it's the cascade of allegations, the allegations of financial mismanagement, the sexual assault allegations which he denies, the question of treatment that his mom put down in the letter that she has since retracted. it's a lot for senators to consider, and if he does make it to a confirmation hearing next month, if he plows through all this turbulence as he insists he will, that will be a very uncomfortable confirmation hearing, in part because joni ernst will be sitting there and also across from him is tammy duckwort, a woman who lost both of her legs in combat fighting for the united states. i don't suspect that's going to be a comfortable exchange. ther

we are going to start this hour with no reaction to the chaos on capitol hill. today, republicans and democrats of the current victory in the government funding showdown. democrats are highlighting passing a funding bill that did not lift the debt ceiling. >> a republican party that is not really interested in helping out working-class americans, but is really determined to enact massive tax cuts for the wealthy, the well- off, and well-connected corporations. that was the centerpiece of donald trump and elon musk's demand with respected recklessly trying to suspend the debt ceiling and secure a four to $5 trillion blank check . thankfully, we stop that from happening. >>> and meanwhile, republicans are celebrating voting for a new funding bill with fewer pages. that's the size of the stock, what we originally presented, we started out with over 1500 pages, we got it down to 120 pages. >> they went from a 1572 page document that was a full report. >> also new today, democrats are focused on chaos and the rocky road that led to the bills passage after the midnigh

>> norah: it is busy there on capitol hill. all right, nikole killion, thank you very much.l, tonight, the financial markets are reeling from another big sell-off. the dow plunged more than 1100 points. it's now fallen for ten straight days, something that had not happened in 50 years. the nasdaq fell by more than 3.5%, and the s&p nearly 3%. cbs's kelly o'grady joins us now. all right, kelly, the markets tanked after we heard from the fed chair. what was it that he said that really worried people? >> reporter: that he is cautious about interest rates and inflation, norah. so, as expected, the federal reserve cut rates today by a quarter of a point, bringing down the key borrowing rate, but what tanks the market was investors' concerns about what chairman powell had to say about 2025. so the federal reserve initially pretty good it would cut points by four-point next year. today, they/that forecast to just half a point. that's because inflation is on the rise, getting further from the 2% goal. now, more interest rate cuts makes borrowing money cheaper, and helps companies fo

let's go to nbc news correspondent ali vitali on capitol hill.ted to be contentious, what have we heard so far? >> certainly that has been the tone at this early point. they are just getting through their opening statements now. when you listen to the way that chairman mccall opened this hearing, this is something he has been trying to do since the spring. he tried to play it nicely, asking the secretary of state to come to capitol hill and give this update. of course ultimate little that was -- ultimately that was escalated to a subpoena and a contempt referral to the committee itself. just before the referral was set to be voted on by the full house, it was pulled back because these negotiations were still ongoing and ultimately leave a settled on blinken, coming to the hill today for the hearing that we're watching right now. the tone and tenor at this early point, and you can see the ranking democrat, gregory meek's giving miz giving his open remarks here, chiding the secretary of state for putting the committee in the situation they're in to

on the button east coast, time for the hot topic of the hour musk rams to capitol hill to speak with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle how they knew their efficiency commission would make cuts in budget will attend first senate doge caucus meeting chaired by joni ernst a 60-page plan to present to be musk and ramaswamy sheared that with reports conclusively includes reducing remote work selling off empty government office space to reduce waste in her report stresses the government will have to quote use it or lose it. mike johnson will hold a meeting with musk and ramaswamy with republicans from both house and senate a trying to look for ways to cut wasteful spending more pr nominees on hill meeting he with lawmakers ahead of the confirmation process, trump pick for treasury secretary scott bessent spoke to "fox business" yesterday. >> knee "fox business", are you competent that you went through with this idea of a shadowed fed chair wouldn't make the fed political? >> i am here today to listen, learn and meet senators. >> president trump reportedly considering replacing defense s

are ready to get to work. >> there is still an energy and buzz on capitol hill.e had a packed caucus room, many more people attended than we thought. we had 50 republican members and three democrats. first thing is to build trust before the two parties have not trusted each other. >> carley: new york congresswoman claudia tenney joins me now, she was inside the meeting. what was it like? >> it was great and energetic and great to see it bipartisan. it will be bicameral because senator blackbunrn and i have introduced the doge act. you can talk about the shrimp on the treadmill, if you don't fix it, you will have that kind of spending. we want to see major cuts and changes so our government is accountable and transparent with the american people. i see the bipartisan support, it was great on to have the democrats in the room. >> carley: when it comes to cutting government waste, what ideas were discussed yesterday? >> first of all, we are going to have oversight committee will have a sub-committee chaired by representative marjorie taylor greene and a lot of great

trump are raising some eyebrows on capitol hill. in a letter to mr.mocratic senator elizabeth warren writes, mr. musk's substantial private interest present a massive conflict of interest with the role he has taken on as your unofficial co-president. but some legal observers say nasa's extensive procurement regulations keep the door open for competition. >> is there a conflict of interest? yeah, common sense standpoint of course there is. he has the president's ear. how is that different from any other legacy space company and the relationships they have within the faa and nasa. >> nasa officials still want multiple companies to deliver their astronauts to and from low earth orbit. outgoing administrator bill nelson told starliner pram remains on track despite reports boeing is exploring a potential sale of its space business. nelson acknowledged it's up clear whether the spacecraft will keep the boeing name. bret? >> bret: jonathan, thanks much up next, china is building nuclear arsenal with the pentagon's latest report says about that. ♪ add more gu

let's go back to ali vitali on capitol hill. will vote with rules under suspension. tell us what that means for what we have been following today. >> basically they have decided on the procedural method that they are going to use and the procedure is important because it changes the number of votes you're looking for, for something to pass, doing something on suspension means you need 2/3 majority to get it and that means you need republicans in line and democrats. we are watching this coming together in real time. the meeting i have been standing outside of for a few hours seems to be wrapping up. the speaker sounding optimistic as he left the room, saying that they will have the vote potentially today and the shutdown would be averted. he did not give details, but the understanding is reporting throughout the day remains true even now that they are going to be doing three key pieces. funding the government through mid-march while including disaster relief and extension of the farm bill, that's the crux of this and left on the

donald trump as the doge team of elon musk and vivek ramaswamy are beating on capitol hill to discuss kostka undercutting measures with congress we have news on the caucus plans coming up as a shocking report claims abide in white house wants to preemptively pardon allies like adam schiff, this cheney and anthony fauci before president trump assumes office many expecting biden to prioritize pardoning his brother jim to screw any influence peddling charges were breaking at this moment in time all morning long, markets look like this, take a look at futures lower across-the-board fractional moves as morning on stocks, the big story is bitcoin, bitcoin topping $100,000 yesterday for the first time in history, bitcoin is continuing the rally this morning. is it too late to get in on digital assets, were talking about it. rates look like this take a look into straight to the ten year treasury yield up to have basis point sitting at four-point to 0% as investors rake the federal reserve meeting jay powell saying the strength of the academy can give the central bank to change into chance to