congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, thank you for coming in. sara? >>> this morning, some are calling on supreme court justice sonia sotomayor to accept down before democrats lose power. how she's responding to that. >>> plus, firefighters battling blazes on both coasts. what officials are telling residents of new york and new jersey to do as more fires than we've seen in recent history rage at the same time. >>> and texas firefighters save a 2-year- old trapped inside a burning home. you've got to check out this amazing rescue. that's ahead. >>> all right. this morning, supreme court justice sonia sotomayor is making it clear she has no plans to resign. this is despite calls from some on the left for her to step down before president- elect donald trump takes office, which would give president biden a chance, in theory, a chance, to put a younger justice on the bench. former federal state prosecutor elie honig is with us. the sotomayor thing, that appears to be done and dusted at this point. but that's not to say that donald trump in four years can'

with us now, florida democratic congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz.your time. what do you make of trump's idea of wholesale recess appointments? >> i mean, i agree. it is anti-constitutional and authoritarian and wholly undemocratic. not surprising coming from someone who has really nominated the most extreme, dangerous cabinet in history. star wars bar level craziness, and i mean, if you go pick by pick, not only are each of them -- many of them individually unqualified, they should be disqualified. and so this is a man who is setting us on a course towards danger and the american people being put in jeopardy and he's asking for unfettered approval from the senate by not having to be required to have them review his choices. it's unacceptable. >> let's -- i want to get your read on some of those choices if i could. let's start with matt gaetz. former congressman. florida congressman. to to be attorney general, what do you make of that? >> it's breathtaking in its -- in its extremism. matt gaetz has no experience whatsoever with the department of just

bigger picture broaden this out if democrats continue like debbie wasserman schultz and nancy pelosi the economy and the border doesn't that bode well for republicans come 2026. >> oh, yeah. if democrats don't actually take a hard look at themselves and figure out what went wrong, is is going to continue to happen. they have focused on identity politics and not focused on immigration, the border, real issues such as inflation and the cost of goods, cost of items they need to look at the fact that their candidates need to be able to sell a message and answer tough questions. the fact that kamala harris couldn't answer the most basic of questions shows that these candidates often aren't challenged. they need get used to a curious media environment, they need to be able to answer questions. because, if they don't, the american people are not going to vote for them anymore. like i said, there is a lot of introspection that needs to happen. >> carley: we have seen the clips. there were many members of the media, who said insulting things about trump supporters ahead of the election and it

democratic congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz of florida joins us. congresswoman, thanks so much for being with us. we ap it. we just heard. yeah. and we just heard about these allegations against trump's education pick linda mcmahon and the newly released police report on pete hegseth trump's choice for defense secretary mcmahon and hegseth both deny wrongdoing but trump is not even in office yet. and there's already all of this controversy. how do you expect this confirmation process to go? and what really realistically can democrats do to block some of these >> jim, this is one more revelation in trump's assembly of his chaos cabinet. i mean, that's that's really what he has been in the process of aggressively assembling. i mean to nominate a woman who is at the center of a lawsuit where she was accused of looking the other way about child abuse child sexual abuse allegations. i mean, for years, i mean i understand that she's denying it but this is an accusation. and and there were there was credibility lent to it over many years. and, and so of a

let's bring in democratic congresswoman from florida debbie wasserman schultz. congresswoman, both you and pam bondi have long been in the politics of the state of florida different parties. what is your reaction to her nomination as u.s. attorney general well, with a big thud falling out of donald trump's chaos cabinet, my matt gaetz, um the nomination of pam bondi, at least falls into the category of, i would say elections have consequences, jake. >> no, i mean, he does have the right to appoint people. like i've been saying who are qualified with a healthy senate review for advice and consent. but pam bondi was the attorney general of the state of florida for eight years. and so she does have the requisite does ha experience. but she comes with the the heaviness of having been a massive election denier. i mean, she even went so far as to suggest that there were fake ballots stuffed in pennsylvania. she really what was really serious problem was she actually looked the other way when trump university clearly committed massive fraud robbing students of millions

here's what debbie wasserman schultz had to say about her. >> tulsi gabbard has met with war criminalstment of state's guidance, secretly went to syria and met with assad who gassed and attacked his own people with chemical weapons. she's considered by most assessments a russian asset. >> leader jeffries, do you agree she's a russian asset? >> here's what i have to say about several of the nominations that have been made by the incoming president, including that one that wasserman schultz was referring to. the incoming president promised the american people we would have the best economy, border security and administration possible. the question that has to be asked, is this the best that we can do in the context of some of the nominations? is this the very best that america has to offer for a moment like this? with so many challenges we confront. of course not. america deserves better. hopefully we'll see the senate republicans do their job, scrutinize these picks. certainly confirm those that meet the basic level of qualifications and reject others. >> you're not willing to say she's

and waltz security advisor, and democratic congressman debbie wasserman schultz said this about the picks no question i consider her someone who is likely a russian asset who would be as the dni responsible for managing our entire intelligence community, hold all of our most significant intelligence information and secrets and essentially would be a direct line to our enemies. griff: john, your thoughts? >> well, i don't like add homonyms thrown from the left or the right. it's true, that he's a controversial pick. to my mind, the greatest danger to american national security is the growing cooperation of our foes, china, russia, iran and north korea and it's not clear that ms. gabbard understands that. you know, trump was very strong in his first term when he took us out of the iran nuclear deal, when he launched the attack on soleimani, and criticized those things. we know that rearming japan is important to containing china and she's raised questions about the wisdom of japan rearming so it seems she's a little out of sync of trump's approach peace through strength and we see what the

yesterday congressman debbie wasserman schultz made this astonishing claim. >> tulsi gabbard is somebodyd the department of state guidance and secretly clandestinely went to syria and met with the sod who gassed and attacked his own people with chemical weapons. she is considered to be essentially by most assessments a russian asset and would be the most dangerous. >> is that how you consider her? >> there is no question. i consider her someone who is likely a russian asset. >> what do you make of that and what concerns do you have if hers is the final say on what intelligence is delivered to president trump? >> certainly if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck call it what it is. i think she's being accurate. we have somebody here who has repeated kremlin talking points and pushed russian propaganda. i think that is incredibly dangerous for someone that will be overseeing the intelligence community. i say that it is dangerous because i do think it will implicate and affect international relations with our sharing intelligence with our partners, allies and i'm curious to see wheth

just last week congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz said gabbard was likely a russian asset. >> i wouldn't describe her that way. but i would say this, she has certainly echoed talking points for the kremlin. she appeared to have taken putin's side when he invaded ukraine. and, you know, her fondness for someone who is gassing his own people calls her judgment deeply into question. here you have someone with questionable judgment and no experience. that's not a great recipe for running the agencies. the problem is if our foreign allies don't trust the head of our intelligence agencies, they'll stop sharing information with us. that makes our country less safe. >> i want to play something that president-elect trump said about you when he was a candidate. he called you quote, more dangerous than foreign adversaries. take a listen and i'll get your reaction on the other side. >> the enemy from within in my opinion is more dangerous than china, russia and all these countries. if it you have a smart president he can handle them pretty easily. i got along great with all of them. i handled them.

democrats keep playing down this enormous when that the republicans have had dnc chaired debby wasserman-schultzed it was not a wave election at all for the gop she said this on cnn yesterday, watch this. >> this was not the way the election that the majority of the media is portraying, voters had trump on the ballot the last three elections and we had a very short presidential campaign with our nominee and there were a lot of others as well. maria: excuses keep on coming. they will not focus on the failed policy decisions even though we know that's what voters moved on the selection. >> republicans did better in 48 states than they did in 2020. they're going to hang onto the fact that they kept seats for the senate in arizona and nevada and now they're arguing about pennsylvania and if that's really what they want to hang their hat on, that is unfortunate, there should be a deep autopsy happening within the democratic party right now to see what went wrong and why they so miscalculated the selection they're still trying to blame biden and blame your policies, people voted on policies and issues

here's what debbie wasserman schultz said about her this week.e a look. >> gabbard is someone who has met with war criminals. violated the department of state's guidance and secretly clandestinely went to syria and met with assad who gassed and attacked his own people with chemical weapons. she's considered essentially to be by most assessments a russian asset. >> leader jeffries, do you agree she's a russian asset? >> here's what i have to say about several of the nominations that have been made by the incoming president, including the one that debbie was referring to. the incoming president throughout the campaign promised the american people that we would have the best economy, the best border security, and the best administration possible. the question that has to be asked is this the best that we can do? in the context of some of these nominations? is this the very best that america has to offer for a moment like this? with so many challenges that we confront. of course not. america deserves better. hopefully, we'll see the senate republican

debbie wasserman schultz said gabbard was likely a russian asset.e those concerns or is that overstated? >> well, i wouldn't describe her that way. but what i would say this, she has certainly echoed talking points for the kremlin, she appeared to have taken putin's side when he invaded ukraine, and, you know, her fondness for bashar al assad, someone who is gassing his own people, called her judgment deeply into question. here is someone with very questionable judgment and no experience, that's not a great recipe for running the agencies. and the problem is, if four foreign allies don't trust the head of the intelligence agencies, they stop sharing information with us and that makes our country less safe. i have profound concerns about her. >> speaking of foreign allies and adversaries, i want to play something that president-elect trump said about you when he was a candidate, he called you, quote, more dangerous than foreign adversaries. take a listen reaction on the other side. >> the enemy from within in my opinion is more dangerous than china a

your fellow democrat, debbie wasserman schultz, called her quote, likely a russian asset. now, you and tulsi gabbard are both veterans. you served with her in the house. what do you think of her? well, i think she's compromised. i think by going to syria and basically um, backing uh, you know, a brutal dictator there. um, i mean, russian controlled media called her a russian asset so i do think that we have a real deep concern whether or not she's a compromised, uh person. and, frankly the u.s. intelligence committee, i'm sorry. the u.s. intelligence community has identified her as having troubling relationships with america's foes. and so my worry is that she couldn't pass a background check so you know, you are a democrat. you are in the minority now. and the united states senate if she can find the votes among republicans likely to get confirmed, it sounds like that would worry you to have her in that job. very much so. she has no intelligence background whatsoever. when she was in iraq she was a medical records clerk e-4 below the rank of sergeant. uh, her second deplo

about the incoming trump administration what is your message to allies, sir congresswoman debbie wasserman schultzut tulsi gabbard, donald trump's intelligence there's no question i consider her someone who is likely a russian asset. >> to be clear, we have asked democrats if they have evidence of this. and so far they have not provided any just concerns, though a lot of them they point to how gabbard has echoed russian propaganda repeatedly over the years and openly questioned u.s. intelligence assessments. we're also learning tonight that trump's own team is surprised that gabbard is not getting more scrutiny. alex marquardt is out front with more on how gabbard got here. >> reporter tulsi gabbard's journey from democratic congresswoman from hawaii to trump's choice for spy chief has taken many twists and turns democrats now say she's become an apologist for the putin regime consistently spouting russian propaganda. >> ukraine isn't actually a democracy as the war in ukraine began, she argued, as russia has, that ukraine shouldn't be allowed to join nato. president putin, zelenskyy and biden. it

representative mike walz and representative debby wasserman schultz for leading this bill. i ask all my colleagues support h.r. 825, a measured response, and a most timely piece of legislation. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. ms. porter: consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. porter: the bolivar act would temporarily prohibit agencies from entering into contracts for the procurement of goods and services of any person or business they determine with the concurrence of the department of state knowingly engages in significant operations with the regime in venezuela. the bill lists certain exceptions including contracts vital to u.s. national security or necessary for the purposes of providing humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, or other urgent life saving measures or to carry out noncombatant evacuations. i certainly understand the motivation behind this bill. the maduro regime's blatant disregard of the recent election results in venezuela is a violation of

joining me live is congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, who served as chair of the democratic national2016. a lwa ys always great to see you. thank you so much forjoining us tonight on bbc news. this is donald trump's republican administration, but i want your thoughts on these initial appointments that we are hearing for donald trump's second term. certainly, thank you for having me. certainly, thank you for having me. certainly no one should have any impression that donald trump was going to moderate himself or not to lean in on extremism with these initial appointments. we certainly have a decent relationship, but he has no experience whatsoever with environmental issues. i can only imagine that his appointment as one responsibility and that is to dismantle the environmental protections that have been built through decades and generations because that's the stain that donald trump and his extremists have for protecting our environment. took trum - protecting our environment. took trump campaign _ protecting our environment. took trump campaign has _ protecting our environment. took