again, i think the defense department is an important example of the turmoil that really has to be addressed. it was unique, never have been done before, that a secretary of defense was fired between the period of the election and outgoing president. there has been a lot of turmoil there. the defense department in particular was one of the few places where there was not good collaboration with the incoming biden administration. so they were not getting -- the biden team was not getting all of the information they needed to get up and ready. it was the first time since 1980 nine an incoming president did not have their secretary of defense confirmed on day one, day three is not a huge delay, but at the moment, the defense department has a secretary of defense and a lot of other people that's now have to be confirmed, but you have the person at the top who knows the issues and the organization, so he's going to have his work cut out for him. but he is at least in seat. host: tell me the difference between a civilian leader inside of a government agency and a political appointee. what is the di

go in the department of defense. to look at civilian control of the military and its expression in these appointments, more holistic way across the department and the positions. >> a comment and another follow-up. we mentioned the politics and the partisan nature, politics and all instruments of power as being centcom commander. there's a lot of learning and experience a centcom commander would bring and the conventional wisdom starting about general mattis's character, not sure i agree with that, that secretary mattis brought forward is an important development, a bipartisan development, it was worked on by secretary mattis, the incoming biden administration will want one cabinet official, with military experience. if he is confirmed, secretary of transportation, mayor pete buttigieg who was a reservist. one of his roles fight for budgets that relate to the military. does it make sense to make the case, on the national security team with significant military experience in this regard and that is my final question, th

a sign of just how serious things are, the defense department approved a request by the d.c. mayor to national guard forces. there's a chance president trump will address some of those demonstrators. the news continues. let's hand it over to chris for "cuomo prime time." >> happy new year. good to see you, anderson. i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." top of the new year and our collective state in 2021 will be greatly influenced by what happens this first week. the retrumplicans, they are insistent. they just want to ignore reality. do you know that every 33 seconds someone now dies in america of covid. every 33 seconds. there's desperation everywhere. the vaccine is being wasted. the distribution is a mess. there's no word of or worry about how to improve it by this leadership. and instead of obsessing over the reality, trump and co. are engaged in the fantasy that our election was a fraud. and yet these same men and women who say they're so worried about manipulation of votes that they must -- they must try to stop our constitutional transfer of power, the same peop

defense. lloyd's accomplishments at the department of defense are without peer. he graduated from west point. he led troops in almost every level. commanded in combat. served as america's military commander during the drawdown in iraq. served as vice chief of staff of the army, and is commanding general of the u.s. central command. all of you know that is one of the key combat commands at the department of defense. i met lloyd when i came to dod as secretary in july of 2011. we had just six months to implement the drawdown in iraq. lloyd was the man on the ground charged with getting it done. it was a huge logistical task. he consulted carefully with the president, with the vice president, national security advisor, his colleagues at the state department, and those in the intelligence community. a carried out with diligence and professionalism -- he carried out with diligence and professionalism they plan set forth by me and others civilian leaders at the pentagon. he had to negotiate with the iraqis who were not easy to negotiate with it that time and ensured ou

well he could one urgent priority is to ensure full staffing of the defense department as you know in the u.s. we have trying to extend to transition every time his new president and that requires showing dozens of keep his actions within a defense department they've started that already and he indicated several times that he needs to go deeper into the budget to find out precisely what the programs are to trim and what the priorities should be he did emphasize the importance of strengthening the u.s. defense posture in east asia but also europe and the middle east so he's probably going to build on is extensive experience within the army and the middle east to learn perhaps more about other forces and other locations it could be argued that the stuff that the department of defense after 4 years need some stability do you think in the brief amount of time that we have seen that lloyd austin in public do you get the sense that they're going to get that with him yes the u.s. government over the last 2 years has seen extensive turnover not only in the defense department but in many posit

that's why civilian leadership at the defense department is very important. can betical role there addressed by a strong national security advisor, and a national security council that really does conduct an open dialogue with everybody involved in national security issues. probably the best example i can point to is what happened under -- when he was leading the national security council. condoleezza rice obviously did that very well. but things like that, that is where the concerns that you raise are best addressed. and i think if people are invited to be part of a conversation and not necessarily stay in their own lane, but offer expertise from peripheral vision, one of the challenges i found as chief of staff is most of the people that work at the white house are hired because they have good tunnel vision. they are experts on something. i found it was also important that there be people, especially may be in the chief of staff's office and the communications office, that have peripheral vision, so they understand where the tunnel vision is needed and not

would delay the urgent work to be done to restore the independence and capabilities of the defense department which we must do as soon as possible. with that, i urge a strong bipartisan vote to grant this waiver for secretary designate lloyd austin to be -- to serve as secretary of defense. i salute him for his patriotism. thank him for his heroism. and look forward to calling him mr. secretary. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california yields back. the gentleman from washington reserves. gentleman from alabama, mr. rogers, is recognized. mr. rogers: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'm proud to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. jacobs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mr. jacobs: i thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of the waiver allowing general lloyd austin to serve as secretary of defense. civilian leadership at the top of the pentagon is desirable and necessary. i believe this should be -- should only be reserved for unique circumstances r

can the defense department was characteristic text or communications that these two national guardsmen question for the plot against vice president biden? with a threat and violence were they saying? >> there inappropriate text. they will continue to look at this whether it's an internal dod within the chain of command or investigation by others is something that is been determined. so i do not want to get ahead of that investigation and get in the way of that. i am providing it's important for them to know is those individuals have been removed. it will not be at the capitol fleet undercover anyone else with sending inappropriate messages or have flags identified by our law enforcement partners will be removed as well. >> i appreciate doing everything you can but in this case it sounds like the defense department is trying to hide this. what is it can you say did they threaten present like biden or campbell here skeeter roll that out? >> once again we have an ongoing investigation into a part i will share the comments were inappropriate for the individuals have been removed in the app

today are tom the structure of washington headquarters services and also the lead for the department of defense transition team. and general dan hogans and the chief of the national guard bureau. i want to thank them both for being here today on what i imagine is likely one of the busiest if not the busiest days of their careers. as they both prepare for events tomorrow. in just a moment we will have transition actives including activities taking place tomorrow and including the continuity of command here at the pentagon. following that general hogans and will have update on security efforts and national capitol region head of tomorrow's inauguration and efforts with the national guard on the country and in the following days. i have no other announcements so go ahead, tom. >> good afternoon everyone thank you jonathan. i can tell you that we are prepared to receive the agency new administration appointees beginning tomorrow at noon. we believe we are going to onboard a significant number of political appointees the very first day on day one. get them straight to work in their new offices that

the department of defense has an immense role to play. i welcome your comments on p fas and increasing resilience of our military installation. i'd like to work with you on a total program or plan for the department of defense beyond the magnitude what have is done now and i know you've indicated your interests in it so i'm not going to ask questions about it but i do think that the use and procurement of clean energy, the energy efficiency steps that d.o.d. can take will not only save dollars, it will save energy and environmental values and provide leadership for the whole world. i want to focus on military sexual assault, which my colleague, senator gillibrand, did so well before. and say that i'm working on legislation that would create liability for perpetrators and for the department of defense for sexual misconduct among service members so that the survivors would have a right of action. it would be empowered to take action. will you support that kind of legislation, sir? gen. austin: i certainly look forward to reviewing what's in

schumer: he will be the first african-american to ever helm the defense department in its history, aerful symbol of the diversity and history of america's armed forces. reporter: he was approved despite concerns he had not been out of uniform for the legally mandated seven year period. he was granted a congressional waiver to get around the law. during his 41 your military career, he rose through the elite ranks, breaking several racial barriers in the process. president joe biden nominated him to restore stability across the defense department, which went through six leaders during the trump administration. austin said he will also emphasize inclusivity. >> we owe people a working environmentree of discrimination, hate, and harassment. if confirmed, i will fight hard to step -- to stamp out sexual assault and throughout the ranks of racists and extremists, and to create a climate where everyone fit and willing has an opportunity to serve this country with dignity. reporter: austen wrote on twitter he is especially proud to be the first black secretary of defense. now he says it is t

cbs news has learned fema has asked the defense department to provide staff for up to 100 federal vaccinationcted to ask the pentagon for as many as 10,000 service members to run them. >>> and the department of homeland security has issu rare warning. it says the u.s. is facing threats from violent domestic extremists. the agency says groups may feel emboldened after the deadly riot at the u.s. capitol earlier this month. no specific threat is cited, but the adviso r now washington is sending money to help keep the marquees lit. elise preston reports. >> reporter: movie theaters have sat mostly empty for nearly a year. the pandemic first led to shutdowns, many like santikos in texas were able to open, but the big blockbusters didn't return. >> over 80% of the movies have been delayed. some have gone direct to streaming. >> reporter: theaters have tried to attract customers. in the philippines moviegoers can see a show on a social distanced gondola. similar u.s. operations are finding some success playing older popular movies. and places like amc will let you rent your own theater for as still

we have made a lot of progress over the last week alone at getting new members to the defense departmenteam. we have welcomed now 30 new appointees in just the last week . another dozen are slated for next week. of those, 25 came to the office of the secretary of defense, two into the department of the army, and three went to the department of the navy. among these new arrivals are kimberly jackson, deputy secretary of defense for readiness, and taylor farrell is the deputy general counsel are for environment and installations. we also want to thank congress for their support in helping us get some of these positions filled. next tuesday, the senate armed services committee will hold a confirmation hearing for kathleen hicks, who is nominated to be the deputy secretary of defense. we are looking forward to a speedy confirmation for dr. hicks. we are obviously very happy to see all our arrivals, and we thank them for their willingness to serve. let me shift gears to secretary austin. we have been providing readouts of the calls he has made to several international counterparts. he spoke a

we have made a lot of progress over the last week alone in just getting new members to the defense departmenteam. we've welcomed now 30 new appointees in just the last week. another dozen slated for next week. of those 25 came to the office of the secretary of defense. two went to the department of the army. three went to the department of navy. among these new arrives are kimberly jackson inside the personnel and readiness director and kennedy farrell. if you want a full list, happy to provide that after we're done here. we want to thank congress for their support in getting these positions filled. next tuesday the senate armed services committee will hold a confirmation hearing for kathleen hicks. we're grateful that got scheduled and we're looking forward to a speedy confirmation for dr. hicks. we're obviously happy to see our arrivals and we thank them for serving. let me shift gears to secretary austin. you've been seeing we've been providing read-outs of the calls he's made to several international counter parts. he spoke again today with the french foreign minister -- french minister o

defense. the department of defense is the largest of all executive departments and agencies and its budget isthan half of the total budget of the federal government. when committee hearings are completed, bills move to the floor of the house or senate where they still can be amended, debated and discussed. final passage requires only a simple majority in each house, but such action by congress does not automatically make a bill a law. to become a law, a bill must be approved by the president or, if he vetoes it, by a written -- by an overriding two thirds vote in congress. the presidential veto power illustrates a unique system of checks and balances that is the heart and soul of our federal government. the framers of the constitution established three major branches of government, the legislative branch or congress to enact law. the executive branch, or the presidency, to carry out the laws. and the judicial branch, symbolized by the supreme court, to interpret laws and to protect the first ash personal liberties of the people as set forth in the constitution. the powers of these three branc

you can call it the dark state, whatever it is but the professionals in the department of defense, the nationals in the treasury department, the professionals throughout government are enormously important and they've been under assault in recent years but i would say the professionals have come through by and large with some exceptions but we are very very fortunate to have institutions that have held up in some very difficult circumstances. finally, i would say we are the most innovative society in the world. we have tremendous research and development and again, georgia tech is so much a part of that so we have so much to be grateful for and i'm excited in the phase of life i'm in now because i'm going to be spending a lot more time working with students at the nunn school and adam has done a great job of building crosswalks with computer engineering . the cyber school that's been stood up as well as the school of mechanical engineering all those things are taking place but frank, bottom line is you've done a tremendous job. i'm very grateful someone with your professional capabilit

just one defense department official but it shows you the level of urgency. it includes snipers targeting dignitaries. suicide type aircrafts entering washington's restricted air space and a drone attacking the crowd. >> cnn has also obtained an internal fbi bulletin that warns planning is underway for armed protests at all 50 state capitols and the u.s. capitol in the days leading up to the inauguration. this fbi bulletin warns of storming government buildings and the fbi says it's tracking several threats against biden, vice president-elect kamala harris and the house speaker nancy pelosi. with the inauguration eight days away, one of joe biden's top aides says law enforcement is prepared this time. >> secret service has been working on this for over a year. there are a bunch of partners now, the national guard, homeland security. mayor bowser in dc along with others will join forces to make sure this event is safe. >> even with security measures stepped up, key federal leadership is nowhere to be found. overnight chad wolf stepped aside as acting head of h

would delay the urgent work to be done to restore the independence and capabilities of the defense department which we must do as soon as possible. with that, i urge a strong bipartisan vote to grant this waiver for secretary designate lloyd austin to be -- to serve as secretary of defense. i salute him for his patriotism. thank him for his heroism. and look forward to calling him mr. secretary. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california yields back. the gentleman from washington reserves. gentleman from alabama, mr. rogers, is recognized. mr. rogers: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'm proud to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. jacobs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mr. jacobs: i thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of the waiver allowing general lloyd austin to serve as secretary of defense. civilian leadership at the top of the pentagon is desirable and necessary. i believe this should be -- should only be reserved for unique circumstances r

same at the defend-- defense department well.rd from president-elect biden say they are not getting the cooperation they need at the defense department. so not only maybe it are there things being channed at the last minute but there could be things in some ways hien in bureaucracy in the last few days in the trump administration. >> sreenivasan: one of the things that we have heard is that when joe biden comes into office, he wants to have a series of executive actions to try to jump start the process on how to tackle the pandemic, how to roll back some of the rules that president trump has put into place. >> that's right, president-elect biden when he becomes president biden is going to be moving very quickly to sign a number of executive orders to try to reverse some of the trump administration things that have passed in the last few years. there was an extensive list released by his chief of staff. some of them include reversing the muslim ban, issuing a mask mandate, rejoining the paris climate accord and extending the feder

but in many physicians and my impression is the biden team wants to and that in the defense department and elsewhere secretary austin indicated that he seemed to indicate for example and is ricky using him self for many business deals with racing on for 4 years that he plans to stay the whole term and i think that's true with the other people there whiting. still ahead on al-jazeera the southern african nation of malawi has imposed its 1st covert $1000.00 lockdown what they fear may be causing the virus to spread its big tax and big threat google accused of blackmail and bullying is a challenger's new regulation. it's time for the perfect gentleman the winter sponsored point qatar airways they will be considerable snow miles i think in honshu where it has recently because rain is coming in as far north as tokyo which could be the transition zone where you might see the new be more falling at height for most parts of east asia is fine looking now stopped especially code shanghai down to 9 but hong kong is about $24.00 though it does cool little bit by the time you get to sunday there is

history that's particularly important in the defense department because 42 percent of the armed forces are people of color and right now of the $41.00 general officers that generals and admirals only 2 are black and so this sets the direction for the defense department it's a it follows a similar pattern that we had here in the national football league where a lot of the players were black or they weren't in management will joe biden is trying to get senior black people in management there in the pentagon and elsewhere and he started with a national security team on purpose he's got his director of national intelligence admiral haynes has been approved and he's working on getting tony blinken the new secretary of state nominee approved as well and we are told that could happen as soon as today thank you with the latest from washington john hendren. development important element today a senate trial of donald trump could begin as soon as next week after the chambers top democrat revealed that the impeachment charges would be received on monday former president made history becoming the

there was a story that said that the doj had -- the dod, department of defense, had refused to give any national guard support. that has been -- that story is not true, not verified according to jennifer griffin. there's a lot of discussion at the department of defense. people said will you get involved if there's not a peaceful transition of power? there's hesitancy to stand that line, to let the capitol police deal with the situation. if it becomes worse, there's going to be a very difficult decision to make for the department of defense though. >> bill: martha, thank you. we'll get to our reporters here in a minute. juan williams watching this as well. juan, it seems to have settled in to a moment here where there are hundreds perhaps thousands gathered on the capitol steps. i don't know what happened inside. the report are not good. your observations as we watch this together now. >> you know, i heard kevin mccarthy and others who were inside the building, bill say there's more sadness than fear. that is the way i feel about this. i can't believe this is our america. it is just trag

that's why we have to ask why it took so long for the department of defense to get there. deployif you can't thousands of soldiers to the u.s. capitol, when the vice president is there, the speaker of the house, the president of the senate, within an hour. why are we sending $700 billion to the military if you can't figure out a way to get significant trips to the capital within 60 minutes of an attempted assault on the capital? sure what they purpose of the investment we make every year is. do with the has to protocols that provide a bunch of checks before the department of defense arrives to quell a civilian protest. there are some good reasons for those checks. clearly, that process took too long yesterday. withe you in agreement senator schumer that the sergeant and arms should no longer be employed by the legislative branch? >> i am. i am. >> next, morgan rate. >> just wondering where you stand with supporting these efforts to invoke the 25th amendment. do you support going down the route? where do you stand with those? supportive ofely an effort to invoke the 25th am

we have made a lot of progress over the week alone and just getting new members to the defense department team. we welcome out 30 new appointees in the last week. another dozen or slated for last week. came to the office of secretary of defense come to it to the department of army and three which of the department of the navy. among the arrival, kimberly jackson deputy for readiness and personnel readiness and taylor fair is it general counsel for environment installations. josÉ went to thank congress for their support in helping us get some of these positions filled. next use of the senate arms services will hold a confirmation hearing for doctor katherine hicks has been nominated big decorative while deputy secretary of defense but were grateful scott and short order looking for speedy confirmation of doctor hicks. >> may see all of our arrivals we thank them for their willingness to serve. secretary austin we been seeing readouts of the calls easement to sever international counterparts. this was a french foreign minister i'm sorry french minister of the armed forces to the important a

. >> reporter: now the defense department has just one year to conduct a rigorous study into k2. >> not a 15-year survey. >> reporter: it is a huge step forward, blames reproductive health issues on the base. >> decade's worthes >> reporter: now looking to the biden administration to finish the job. >> ask the president himself, help us, you can get us, get us the presumption of service, and get the veterans help they need and families the help they deserve. >> spokesperson for lloyd austin tells cbs news he's aware of the issues and will consult with the va over the appropriate way forward. adding the secretary believes strongly in [phone rings] “hello, how can i” sore throat pain? try new vicks vapocool drops in honey lemon chill for a fast-acting rush of relief like you've never tasted in... ♪ honey lemon ahh ♪ woo vicks vapocool drops now in honey lemon chill gillette proglide and proglide gel. five blades and a pivoting flexball designed to get virtually every hair on the first stroke, while washing away dirt and oil. so you're ready for the day with a clean shave and a clean face.

at the defense department, climate change is a direct threat to more than two thirds of critical operations. this could well be on the conservative side. many climate calamities are colliding all at once, it is not the pandemic that will keep people inside, it is poor air quality. studies have shown air pollution is -- has led to an increase in deaths since 2019. just like we need a unified national response against covid-19, we need a unified response against the climate crisis. we must lead the global response, because today the challenge has been met by the united states alone. we know what we have got to do, we just have got to do it. this is a case where conscience convenience will cross paths with economic -- with increasing our economic growth and prosperity. when i think of, -- when i think of climate change, it is building a modern, resilient climate structure with clean energy that will create millions of good paying, union jobs with not just minimum wage, we can put millions of americans to work. we have already reached a point where we are going to have to live with what it is n

of individuals, maybe hundreds as were entitled to the defense board that helped advise the defense departmentnovation, science, technology and policy. now here is the kicker, maria, these appointments were all signed by secretary of defense chris miller. i will give you one example, maria. i was sworn in to the defense policy board and i received an e-mail from the white house liaison office for the biden administration that said, even though that you were sworn in, we are pausing your on-boarding process. i don't know where they get the constitutional ground to do that or the gull but this call for unity is garbage. i will give you one stark example that struck me on my way out of the pentagon. they terminated my employee to around paternity leave because they were appointees to president trump. if we did that that would be travesty of justice and investigation for months to come. how could you terminate someone who has taken paternity or maternity leave to take care of their newborn. the call for unity is garbage. maria: unbelievable. you have to believe that to be true until president bide

congresswoman sarah jacob is calling on the defense department to investigate whether current serviceoman, thank you for awaking up with us. >> of course, thank you. >> i know you sent a letter whether active or former military members are allegedly participating in any of these attacks. we have, of course, the police officers even from fndy members might have been there as well. what did you say in your letter? >> you know, we called on the department of defense to investigate any current members of the military that might have been involved in the attack on the capitol and in some cases they have the authority to investigate former members of the military, that they can call back and pull to trial under the military justice code. so, i represent a proud military community of san diego. and i was getting so many calls from my constituents saying that the reports they were hearing of potentially current and former members of the military are part of this attack, really dishonor the oath that they took, the oath that i took, to defend the constitution. >> have you heard back from the d

>> we are waiting for operation warp speed officials from the defense and health departments to start the news conference on the distribution of the covid-19 vaccine. live coverage on c-span2. >> through operation warp speed we have supported the development of six candidate vaccines, two have been shown to be safe and incredibly effective with in record time leading to their authorization by fda just last month. we had seen substantial rises in america's confidence in these vaccines and interest in taking them. we are now at an important juncture in the vaccine program where we are ready for a transition that we outlined last september in the vaccine playbook we sent to states. that shift occurs as supply expands to meet demand allowing us to expand the scope of people recommended to receive the vaccine and expand the delivery sites used. we have achieved several milestones, several triggers that brought us to this point. nearly 38,000,000 total doses of vaccine to date including about 25,000,001st doses have been made available for states to order against, with more become available

i am also urging the apartment of homeland security to coordinate with the department of defense, the department of justice, the united states congress and the united states supreme court to establish a security and federal force deployment plan for all federal property which will ensure that the metropolitan police department's ability to focus on the local mission remains possible. in addition i asked the attorney oferal at the department justice to direct the federal bureau of investigation to provide an intelligent and threat briefing on daily basis sscng the period of the and nees. belso asked for permits to canceled and denied applications for public gathering during the period january 11 through january 24. --addition to heating heeding our call, i'm asking d.c. residents to sign up for special inauguration day alerts. you see the text information to 888-777 for updates on public safety, street closures, weather alerts, transit updates and more. since that briefing, the national guard says it will increase troops in d.c. to at least 10,000 by saturday to boost security ahead of

of defense and the departmentof homeland security to implement a process whereby not only trans people can remain in the military, but can unless. also ensure trans people able to access health care while serving under the military and that anyo can have the record marking their gender updated to accurately reflect they are. this is incredibly important development. one of the most aggressive examples of discrimination against trains -- trans by the trump administration are gone. juan: those who see the military as a career, this issue of executive orders basically determining whether trans people can serve is basically -- it could go back and forth. what are the prospects for some kind of congressional decision on this issue so that we don't have to depend on the whims or viewpoints of a particular administration? >> that is a good question. in many ways over the past eight years and more, really, we have seen because of the failure of congress to act, the power of the executive -- so much being done by executive

rather, the department defense had rouz. fused to give any national guard support that has been that story is not true. not verified, according to our own jennifer griffin, and there's been a lot of discussion at the department of defense, you know, because people kept saying, oh, well, will you get involved if there's not a peaceful transition of power, so their hesitancy here is to stand that line toe let the capitol police deal with the situation. but if it becomes much worse, there's going to be a very difficult decision to make here for the department fence bell? yeah martha. thank you. we'll get to our quarters in a moment. here. one williams, watching this is well and wanted seems to have settled into a moment here where there were hundreds, perhaps thousands gathered on the capitol steps and i don't know what happened inside, but the reports were not good. your observations as we watch this together now. you know, i heard kevin mccarthy and others who are inside the building. bill say that there is more sadness than f

the saudi led war in yemen we also are hearing from lloyd austin biden's pick to lead the department of defense he will be the 1st african-american to lead the department of defense is confirmed and his confirmation is expected as well this is a 4 star general who has served for decades in uniform rising to leader of u.s. central command overseeing the withdraw of u.s. troops from iraq and widely respected by both parties there is the one thing in his background that is to his detriment which is his recent service in the military by federal law the secretary of defense should be out of uniform for at least 7 years before assuming that civilian. host of leading the u.s. military and so austin would require a congressional waiver and he was very clear today testifying on capitol hill that he would see his role leading the defense department out of uniform very differently than he saw when he was general. custer many thanks. still ahead on al-jazeera we'll look ahead. 100 days. and we'll tell you about the arrangements that race out there without precedent. for. how low the weather set looking pre

construction, labor, defense, departments, regulation of transportation, foreign trade, taxes, bills, bills, bills. and every act is informed to the written constitution of the united states which fixes the rules. rules made by the people themselves, acting through representatives of the people. rules for the people, rules which govern the great enterprise of democracy that is america. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> we the people of the united states, in open corum -- >> we are the people, the component parts of a giant organism, the nation. we sustain it. we are sustained by it, we move through it, and we change it. we, the people. america today has over 200 million people. and it is still growing. it has been ever since the first shiploads of settlers began arriving almost 400 years ago. 200 years ago, america was organizing itself into a republic of 4 million people. a nation of farms and settlements, and a few cities emerging on the edge of a vast wilderness. since then, the population has grown across the continent in cities and towns from the atlantic to the pacific even out into the pacific, and nor

and at the defense department, reports say climate change is a direct threat to more than two thirds of critical operations. two thirds, and this could well be on the conservative side. and many climate calamities are colliding all at once. it is not just the pandemic keeping people inside, it is poor air quality. multiple studies have shown air pollution is associated with an increased risk of death to covid-19. -- risk of death from covid-19. just like we need a unified national response against covid-19, we need a unified response against the climate crisis. we must lead the global response, because neither challenge can be met, as secretary kerry pointed out many times, by the united states alone. we know what we have got to do, we just have got to do it. when we think about climate change, this is a case where conscience and convenience will cross paths, with increasing our climate growth and our -- our economic growth and our prosperity one in the same. when i think of climate change, it is building a modern, resilient climate structure with clean energy that will create -- wit

and the defense department is aware of possible threats that would be posed in the coming days. mona, alex. >> kenneth, thank you. >>> and there are growing calls on capitol hill to remove president trump even as he barely has less than two weeks left in his term. i spoke earlier with barbara comstock and amanda renteria. barbara, amanda, good morning to you both. thank you so much for joining us. we have a lot to get to. barbara, i'm going to start with you. in a tweet on sunday, you said the house should immediately subpoena president trump's phone records as well as rudy giuliani's phone records. can you further explain what you meant and what do you think is the next move here? should the 25th amendment be invoked? we know the house is inching closer to a second impeachment. >> first of all, there are three ways you can get the president to leave office. first, he could resign but we don't expect he will have the decency to do that. like richard nixon, he can't even rise to that level of nixon. secondly, you have the 25th amendment. which the vice president and others have i

the department of defense stands fully in support of the state department's lead on trying to get a settlementtical solution here bolstered by a cease fire. that's where the defense department wants to help contribute. so right now secretary austin as he said in testimony, we want to take a look at the negotiations that have occurred between the taliban so we can better understand the nature of the commitments. clearly violence has not stopped there. s that a real key component going forward. >> but i know you said and openly committed for a full troop withdrawal from the region. seems -- this is making a leap, that it's not going to be imminent. >> i don't want to get into hypotheticals, neil. we're going to review the status of the negotiations going on. we made no decisions about future force posture. the secretary looks forward to speaking with commanders and get a better grip on what the troop level ought to be going forward. we've been hearing initially anyway that the 2,500 troops that they have right now are commensurate with the missions that they've been given. the secretary says he

an acting secretary of defense and the pentagon's been pretty quiet over these last 4 years unlike under the obama administration where we saw regular briefings at the department of defense state at the white house that really hasn't happened the 1st question i imagine is going to be about these 2 national guard troops that they've identified as possibly belonging to an extremist group and that's going to be the question for the military going forward and part of that is because we're seeing now in the arrests of the from the mob that the rioters that storm the capital we're seeing a lot of curfew current police officers ex-military officers that were involved in overtaking the capital and there's concern that more of that is going to come out so the question is going to become now that the by the ministry says it has acknowledged that white supremacy and extremism is a huge problem in this country are they going to expand that and start vetting the force more cares carefully because of what we've seen so yes say now that 25000 national guard troops in the nation's capital never before have we seen any sort of security like this for an inauguration i just saw

picks seem to be a continuation of that this is an ongoing thing and that coupled with his his defense department picks a 3rd of whom have major ties to the defense industry all signals are that we are about to see some serious neo-con foreign policy problem is that you have this inertia within us foreign policy and there's 2 parts to the inertia one is just the fact that all of the think tanks all of the contractors everyone that is part of the military industrial complex is supporting and promoting these types of these types of aggressive war hawks to the state department and the department of defense but there's also something more sinister at play here is the fact that there's an underlying jingoism that is built into us foreign policy and has been for several decades in this jingoism tells us that the u.s. government the u.s. military can go wherever it wants whenever it wants and kill whomever they wish including civilian casualties and that there can be no negative blowback or consequences for if anyone so much as tries to defend themselves there are mediately a terrorist and when that is