ernst's vote was especially critical. and just last month, senator ernst was very much on the fence, as you can see in that interview. but in the days since republican senators and especially joni ernst have been on the receiving end of an unprecedented pressure campaign from donald trump and his allies, and elon musk backed pressure groups spent more than half $1 million on ads supporting hegseth, including this ad, which reportedly targeted ernst's home state of iowa. >> pete hegseth is a patriot. the deep state is trying to stop his nomination, but pete isn't backing down. call your senator today and urge them to confirm pete hegseth for secretary of defense. >> that is just the tip of the iceberg. as the new yorker's jane mayer reports this week, the amount of private money being spent on the effort to confirm hegseth is staggering. for a cabinet nominee, the sum is rivaled only by the cash that has been spent to pressure senators into confirming supreme court justices. one group, american leadership pac, reportedly p

yes. >> we were talking about joni ernst. and it's not just joni ernst, right?who have just capitulated on this nominee. >> but but senator duckworth was asked why she thinks that senator ernst changed her mind. here's her analysis. >> i'm somewhat disappointed that joni would basically kowtow to maga extremists, which, you know, at first she said she had some concerns, but she came under such attacks from the maga crowd and people around donald trump up and down. >> his leadership team said that they would come after her and her, you know, she's up for reelection. they will primary her. >> and like so many of my republican colleagues, they're running scared. and frankly, i wish that they would put the national security of america over their own political survival. >> it is interesting. it is interesting to me, michael steele, that republicans have found the slightest bit of backbone and sort of strength in numbers when it comes to austerity, but they have not found that when it comes to america's national security. >> no, because they don't. that's not the play

and warren calling out joni ernst. your respond? >> joni ernst has served in the military, if she can support pete hegseth, so will women across the country. yesterday we saw hypocrisy. senator warren doesn't upon even know rank, she called pete hegseth general. if you don't know your rank and interviewing someone for secretary of defense, you probably don't know enough about that job to make a decision here. she should probably sit this one out. >> carley: inauguration is shaping up to be unexpected group of people all together. we are learning elon musk, mark zuckerberg, jeff bez os will be sitting together and union representation there, teamsteres president, fighter union president. this is not something we saw in 2016 and it proves republicans have a unique opportunity to bring people together and get things done. how will you capitalize on that? >> this is all donald trump. we said he would unify the country and you are seeing him do that in the days and weeks before his inauguration. the world will be a safer pl

and you say this trump has put ernst in an excruciating position.an who is deployed as a commanding officer in kuwait during the iraq war is caught between holding on to her seat and selling out her own history of service on behalf of a nominee who has called men more capable. as one senator told me, joni ernst is being made to eat the s sandwich in public. she is going to be made to vote for somebody who thinks what she did is dumb or wrong. and i want to play you now, this news that just broke a little while ago about joni ernst announcing that she will support hegseth. here's that sound. >> i am breaking news. >> simon. i figured you would ask this. so, yes, i will be supporting president trump's pick for secretary of defense, pete hegseth. >> what did you learn in your reporting about this trajectory? >> well, it's really interesting. you pointed out at the beginning of the show that there are so many competent candidates who could have been nominated for this position. and a lot of people in my reporting on the senate armed services committee n

as we just mentioned, republican senator joni ernst, all eyes on her. do you know how she's going to vote? >> i have not asked her directly, but i also haven't heard of any no votes on the committee or otherwise. >> i think pete hegseth did a great job today. >> i think he's sailing towards a confirmation. >> i think we're going to do it quickly. i think for all the national security picks, we want to move expeditiously, and i don't think anything that happened in that committee today changed anything. the reality that president trump won on a reform agenda, pete hegseth wants to go do that in the pentagon that sorely needs reform. i think he answered those questions today. and like i said, i think he's going to win the committee vote and win and have the votes on the floor. >> so hegseth repeatedly said that specific allegations raised about his drinking or other allegations were, quote, anonymous smears. i want to play some of the exchange that he had with democratic senator mark kelly. >> summer of 2014, in cleveland. drunk in public with the cba tea

as one senator told me, joni ernst is being made to eat the s sandwich in public. she is going to be made to vote for somebody who thinks what she did is dumb or wrong. and i want to play you now, this news that just broke a little while ago about joni ernst announcing that she will support hegseth. here's that sound. >> i am breaking news, simon. i figured you would ask this. so yes, i will be supporting president trump's pick for secretary of defense, pete hegseth. >> what did you learn in your reporting about this trajectory? >> well, it's really interesting. you pointed out at the beginning of the show that there are so many competent candidates who could have been nominated for this position. >> and a lot of people in my reporting on the senate armed services committee noted that joni ernst herself, yes, would have been a you know, my politics are very, very different from joni ernst. >> i would not have liked her as a nominee, but i think there's no question that she would have been qualified and competent to carry out a hard right, donald trump focused agend

joni ernst in iowa, perhaps susan collins in maine. these are both senators that are up for reelection in 2026, and we'd be foolish to think that's not at least part of their calculation as they go through this process. >> it's not just trump's ire, his anger, it's the spend that could come against them. as elon musk has promised to primary anybody who stands in donald trump's way, promise to use his money to primary them. all right. ryan nobles, chief capitol hill correspondent, thank you very much. and joining us now, democratic strategist and author of the salty politics newsletter on substack, julie roginsky. she worked with hegseth at fox news and along with former fox news anchor gretchen carlson, wrote a letter to the armed services committee to share their perspectives as survivors of sexual misconduct at fox news. also with us iraq veteran, army captain and ceo of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america allison jaslow and staff writer with the atlantic, tom nichols. allison, i do want to begin with you. in watching the hearin

they had been keeping a close eye on people like senator ernst. she's a veteran and a sexual assault survivor. but there was a sigh of relief at mar-a-lago following that hearing, especially tonight, now that they have a seal of approval from ernst herself, the committee chairman, senator roger wicker, told cnn earlier that he expects all republicans on his panel to vote to advance hegseth nomination for defense secretary. that's a major reversal of fortune for hegseth, whose nomination appeared to be in deep trouble just a few weeks ago amid allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement and nonprofits that he oversaw and also alleged excessive drinking, all of which he denied adamantly over and over today. and remember, it was less than six weeks ago when ernst herself was publicly expressing those reservations, saying that she believed hegseth had his work cut out for him to get confirmed into this place. tonight. i was there in the room today as she and her colleagues questioned hegseth and also had the chance to hear firsthand the

but really the main key moment was joni ernst questioning. yes, she did dig into some of those details, particularly this issue of sexual assault in the military and women serving in combat roles. but she didn't she wasn't it wasn't a fiery, contentious exchange. and at many moments, she referred to that pair of of meetings that she had with pete hegseth last month. so no real fireworks, nothing unexpected. and i think it underscores that he is likely to sail to confirmation. now. there are, of course, a few outstanding republican senators who have not yet said where they stand mitch mcconnell, susan collins, lisa murkowski. but again, it's going to take more than three. right now, he looks like he's in a good spot. right. >> and i think there's also some question about, you know, whether ernst was she seemed to be have been looking for support. she didn't want to be the fourth person there. and she didn't really get any when she was, you know, talking about this back in december, you mentioned women in the military. and that was an issue whe

but this is one of the things that senator ernst has been waiting for. now, she has many other questions, but it's clear that this is what she chose to focus on. the hearing today. i've covered senators for a long time, as have you. this made it easier to support pete hegseth. we will see if anything else comes up, but as of now, people around senator ernst would be very surprised if she did not support him. she hasn't said that yet, but you could just see by the line of questioning she chose to ask today. she could have been. she had many concerns. in december about his womanizing, his allegations of drinking. et cetera. this, of course, is what she focused on. but i think that the a lot was learned about him. i think overall, as someone who has never been in a confirmation hearing before, he actually handled himself pretty well, talking with some staffers and things. they thought the smirk was a little bit too much. at some point, unclear, he did not have some specifics of like members of asean, for example, there are ten asian countries, so i'm not su

so with joni ernst amazingly now a yes. are we looking at the next secretary of defense with his five sets of 47 push ups before his morning coffee? >> yeah, i think joni ernst was absolutely the canary in the coal mine here. >> we kind of knew that she was ultimately going to get to. yes. there was a question, though, of how she was going to get there. right. was she going to try to show that she was being tough and she was grilling him hard, and she was really taking it to him and then felt comfortable getting to yes. or was she going to do what she ultimately did in this hearing today, which was try to sort of grease the skids for him and try to help him help himself? she was very nice to him, sort of bringing up things that he had said, reminding people what they had said in private meetings, how he had changed his mind on certain things. but i think the entire episode with joni ernst was really instructive about this entire nominee process. right? because she is someone if you built someone in a lab of a republican who

i think they know as well as anybody that joni ernst is the key here. if joni ernst goes south on this nomination, it could spell trouble if she backs him. i think it's very clear that he'll be the next secretary of defense. and they were clearly leaning in on that issue of women in the military. and the sort of problem for democrats is he just readily conceded he's changed his views on this. he changed his position. he no longer holds that view. and it made it hard for some of that to stick. eventually these hearings, they tend to devolve into a little bit of shirts and skins. and i think that actually works very well to seth's favor. if democrats are looking as though they are being performative and just trying to score points, frankly, against donald trump more than they are against pete hegseth, that makes it really easy for them to sort of rally together and come together. i would be very surprised at this point if he is not the next secretary of defense. joni ernst definitely was not too confrontational with him, and that may be the whole ball gam

ernst:. -- senator ernst. sen. ernst: thank you mr. chair and thank you chair and where -- ranking member. it is good to be back on the committee after a hiatus for many years. good afternoon mr. vought. thank you for really robust discussion yesterday. i a truly -- i truly appreciate that. you were here six and a half years ago as well and i do remember that, as your kids had been sitting behind you during that as well. and, one of my colleagues, very inappropriately, questioned you on your faith as part of your first confirmation hearing before the senate. i just wanted to commend you because during that period you handled yourself with extraordinary grace. i truly appreciate that. i just want to be on the record as stating that i think people of all faiths should have a place in the public square. as the chair of the senate doge caucus i look forward to working with you to make the government more transparent, accountable, and efficient. it is impossible to achieve these goals if we do not even know how washington is spending tax do

larry: senator joni ernst thank you, ma'am, appreciate you. word. lidate bad debt and save money for your next goal. take a swing at your kitchen reno... meant that literally. or design your actual dream wedding. consolidate bad debt and fund all your ambitions with a sofi personal loan. go to sofi.com to view your rate. sofi. get your money right. nice to meet ya. my name is david. i've been a pharmacist for 44 years and i'm from flowery branch, georgia. when i have customers come in, i recommend prevagen. number one, because it's safe and effective. does not require a prescription. and i've been taking it quite a while myself and i know it works. and i love it when the customers come back in and tell me, "david, that really works so good for me." makes my day. prevagen. for your brain. it's a smart move to get a second opinion. you do it when you're looking for a contractor. you definitely do it with medical advice. so why not with your stock market investments? we can help you see opportunities you may be missing. at hennion & walsh it only

and after haig's pick was announced by the president elect, joni ernst, senator ernst was deeply skeptical. she made it clear in her public remarks and leaking through aides that she did not think that hegseth would be qualified. she should put up a lot of resistance at the start. and then a pressure campaign begun, a pressure campaign by the trump team, by some outside groups, seem to have been effective and rattled her. and we saw, you know, after she met with hegseth before the holidays, she came out more receptive, still not committing, but more receptive. but i was told at the time, and we heard again over, over the holidays that that they believe they had moved her. and it seems like yesterday they did. and she gave an interview after the hearing, which she said she would support him. and now there were still a few votes here we're not sure about. i saw senator collins expressed some skepticism still yesterday, but but collins, murkowski, even mcconnell that's not enough. that's only three. you need at least four. now, that doesn't mean there won't be someone else who steps forward.

shortly after, ernst offered a chilly reception to the nomination to head the defense department. she recognized she was in trouble politically, with grassroots republicans calling for her head, how do i make this go away? a flabbergasted ernst said to an intermediary, according to a top donald trump adviser who received the message. this is how she makes it go away. >> i think the interesting part about this was, again, the day before december 9th, she met with hegseth and released a statement to that effect saying all but yes, she would vote for him. she she relayed that the concerns she had had for about the month or so prior were relieved. i think in that month or so prior, she kind of didn't articulate an exact concern in that meeting with hegseth. she did, and i guess what, you know, you make a good point. what this really reminds me of, if you close your eyes, you would have thought this was a supreme court hearing right outside affiliated groups, uh, spending really with by the time of the confirmation, the only thing is a few senators and and the actual hearing itself, yo

ernst, who is a survivor of sexul assault, is seen as a critical vote.ommittee vote on hegseth's confirmation is set for next week. norah? >> norah: nikole killion on capitol hill. nikole, thank you very much. tonight, red flag warnings stretch for about 300 miles, from california's central coast all the way to the san diego area. those powerful santa ana winds have returned, and gusts could top 70 miles per hour, threatening to expand the deadly palisades and eaton fires in the los angeles area, in addition to possibly fueling new fires. we have two reports from the fire zone, starting with cbs's jonathan vigliotti. >> reporter: this is a dramatic look at what could be the origin of the devastating eaton fire. cbs news has confirmed this video was shot just 3 minutes after that fire ignited near electrical towers above altadena. this, as southern california faces a particularly dangerous situation three times already this season. that warning has been followed by devastating wildfires, especially when fires in pacific palisades and altadena exploded, pu

ernst: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ms. ernst: mr.ve allowed murderers who come here illegally to roam free at our communities and commit more crimes. these two young women, sarah root and laken riley and their families deserve justice. and, folks, we can make this happen tonight. after all, this is not a partisan fight. i'm honored to have my colleague, senator fetterman from the great state of pennsylvania cosponsoring sarah's law. the truth is the border crisis has impacted every state, not just southern border states like texas and arizona but new york, georgia, pennsylvania, and, yes, folks, even iowa. the end of this month marks nine years since iowans michelle root and scott root who i know personally woke up to every parents' worst nightmare. their daughter sarah was killed by a drunk driver who was an illegal immigrant. sarah, a 21-year-old from council bluffs, iowa, had just graduated from belleview university in nebraska with a 4.0 gpa. she was headed home after celebrating this milestone, very important day in her life wit

, or i could work with x general or y general. >> joni ernst would fly through.he most divisive secdef candidate in history. right. so ernst would fly right through and it would be better for our national security, our stability, morale, recruiting. but it looks like they're going to push it all the way unless they pull it out in the 11th hour, because i would not put it aside that something could come out in the next six hours. i mean, it's been like that throughout this entire time. >> that you could have anything come out that's going to sway republicans at. >> this point. i think. i think a lot of them are keeping their powder dry. >> i also find that when more allegations come out, the harder the heels get dug in. i mean, bret stephens was arguing that that hegseth was looking like a very rocky confirmation until the jane mayer piece came out about about his history, his past with drinking, his the accusations of harassment. all of that stuff made it made it more imperative for republicans to confirm him. >> yesterday, a lot of people thought that collins an

we obviously saw a yes vote there from joni ernst, a no vote from lisa murkowski. two closely watched female republican senators. >> and so far it is just collins and murkowski that have voted no on the republican side of the aisle against pete heck, said the two that i'm watching the most closely, i have not yet seen on the senate floor, and that is thom tillis and mitch mcconnell. the mcconnell had made his way to the floor a short while ago and might just be waiting over there. i'm just keeping an eye on the screen here. and certainly pete hegseth can only afford to lose one more republican vote and still get confirmed. i'm told jd vance is in the building. he's close by just in case he needs to break a tie. any potential tie here? but, rachel, my reporting all week on this has indicated that republican senators who have had concerns about pete heckert's nomination, not only because of the allegations in the affidavit, but perhaps most importantly, the answers that he gave during his confirmation hearing last week on how he would handle potential war crimes, the

. >> but in a positive sign for hegseth, iowa's joni ernst, a combat veteran previously seen as a hegseth skeptic, appearing more supportive today. >> will you support women continuing to have the opportunity to serve in combat roles? >> my answer is yes. exactly the way that you caveated it. yes, women will have access to ground combat roles, combat roles, given the standards remain high and will have a review to ensure. >> that was nbc's garrett hake reporting. and those senate confirmation hearings continue today, with six more of trump's cabinet picks set to face lawmakers. >> homeland security secretary nominee kristi noem was supposed to be among them, but the hearing for the south dakota governor was pushed back to friday morning because of a delay on her fbi background check. >> today's high profile hearings, though, include senator marco rubio, who is the president elect's pick for secretary of state. >> rubio is one of those that's expected to have a smooth path to confirmation, with likely bipartisan support. >> but john ratcliffe, trump's selection for cia director director, a

. >> republican senator joni ernst herself a sexual assault survivor and who many believe is a key voteo hegseth's confirmation followed up. >> will you appoint a senior level official dedicated to sexual assault prevention and response? >> yes, i will. >> then, there will were also allegations of past alcohol abuse. >> your own writings and alleged conduct would disqualify any service member from hold anything leadership position in the military much less being confirmed as a secretary of defense. >> a small handful of anonymous sources were allowed to drive a smear campaign because i'm a change agent and a threat to them. >> republicans were quick to come to his defense. >> how many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? [laughter] have any of you guys asked them to step down? >> pete hegseth spent nearly 20 years as national guardsmen and oversaw two veterans nonprofit organizations. >> an independent forensic accountant discovered evidence of gross financial mismanagement. >> a problem given the pentagon's nearly $850 billion budget. >> yes or no, did you audit yes or no. w

ernst: very good. and what would your plan be to get federal employees, including those that are covered by collective bargaining agreements to show up for work? mr. vought: well, we'll look at the collective bargaining agreements and we're aware to the extent the biden administration is locking in or attempting to bind the trump administration with the c.b.a.'s that last an extended period of time. i don't have anything to announce other than agree with you that it's a concerning phenomenon and one that we are looking at very closely. sen. ernst: very good. i have a number of other questions as well. we went through a number of these yesterday in my office. i truly appreciate that. i could go on and on and on and would encourage everyone if you'd like a copy, we may have some extra and this is the tip of the iceberg, mr. vought, and i look forward to your confirmation and working with you on these issues. thank you very much. chairman paul: thank you, senator ernst. the full committee is very interest

i think that when you look tammy duckworth in the eye and joni ernst. tammy duckworth losing both legs. you better have a good reason to back it up and not oh i'm up for this position now and i decided to change my position on it. one of most poignant moments is pointing to the soldier's creed. what they sign up with and go into battle. how they protect and seven. that sounded exactly like how pete talks about his country. i couldn't really make sense why he would be parroting there's quotas they have to have female quotas. or to say this is all about the wokeification and we heard dei over and over again from the republicans on the panel, i didn't see any evidence of that when you look at tammy duckworth and women who are not needing a lower standard but can lift the weights, do the run are going out there and doing for our country. >> jess if you met with democrats, they would all love you. >> jesse: it's called a charm offensive. pete was trying to shore up the votes on the republican side and didn't have time for the democrats. to answer greg's ques

one focus today is doing ernst of iowa. -- joni ernst of iowa.: she had meetings with pete hegseth. in the second meeting she subsequently issued a statement of general support for mr. hegseth. we are continuing to remind her and other senators that time is of the essence. host: are you concerned there will be pushback against the president's nominees? guest: i don't think so. the responses we have seen from senators on all the nominees across the board has been welcomed. we have been very pleased with the response. time is of the essence. we can't have nominees sitting in the senate for weeks or months on end waiting to be confirmed. we have to get the work started and we have have agency has in place. host: ryan walker joining us for this conversation. the phone lines are available. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans independents, (202) 748-8002. to text us your thoughts or questions, (202) 748-8003. in the first 100 days is there a wish list from your organization of what you want to see from the trump administration?

ernst, aye. the clerk: mrs. fischer, aye. the clerk: mrs. capito, aye. mrs. blackburn, aye. the clerk: mr. heinrich, no. mr. warner, no. ms. blunt rochester, no. mr. sheehy, aye. mr. ossoff, no. mr. boozman, aye. the clerk: ms. murkowski, aye. ms. collins, aye. the clerk: ms. warren, no. mr. van hollen, no. mr. curtis, aye. mr. ricketts, aye. the clerk: mr. banks, aye. the clerk: mr. cruz, aye. the clerk: mr. wicker, aye. the clerk: mr. thune, aye. vote: the clerk: mr. lankford, aye. mr. gallego, no. the clerk: mr. fetterman, aye. mr. durbin, no. the clerk: ms. cortez masto, no. ms. baldwin, no. mrs. shaheen yoiks mr. markey, no. mr. kelly, no. mr. schiff, no. mr. cotton, aye. mr. blumenthal, no. the clerk: mr. murphy, no. mr. hawley, aye. the clerk: mrs. britt, aye. the clerk: mr. justice, aye. mr. risch, aye. mr. grassley, aye. the clerk: whitehouse, no. mr. husted, aye. mr. welch, no. mr. tuberville, aye. mr. bennet, no. the clerk: mr. kennedy, aye. the clerk: ms. hirono, no. the clerk: mr. scott of south carolina, aye. mr. booker, no. the clerk: mr. sullivan, aye. the cl

especially considering what you heard from senator ernst. democrats raised a whole bunch of questions over the course of that very long hearing about not just the allegations you heard laid out, but qualifications, questions about judgment, his decision-making capabilities. to knock him out of contention, they needed to land the punch with somebody like ernst. clearly, they did not. it seems like hegseth, barring any surprises, is on track here. >> let's look ahead to the other ones here. to garrett's point, you have about a dozen more of these confirmation hearings to come. secretary of state, attorney general coming up next. what will you be watching for? >> couple big ones. for senator marco rubio, he is a colleague of the people he will be in the room facing. the question with him is really going to be about how many democrats might actually get on squn board. we want to see how many democrats we can get behind senator rubio here to serve as secretary of state. john fetterman signalled he would, in fact, back rubio. pam bondi, a close tr

overnight, senator joni ernst announced she will be supporting hegseth's confirmation. unless there is a surprising turn in the gop, this likely clears hegseth's path to the pentagon. but his hearing did have some tense moments. garrett haake has more from the capitol. >> reporter: president-elect trump's embattled pick to lead the pentagon, former fox news host and combat veteran, pete hegseth, making an impassioned pitch for the job. >> it's time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. my only special interest is the war fighter. >> reporter: arguing he's the target of false attacks. >> there was a coordinated smear campaign orchestrated in the media against us. >> reporter: but hegseth facing a grilling from senate democrats, including over a 2017 sexual assault allegation. police investigated, but no charges were filed. the local prosecutor saying, quote, no charges were supported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. >> you've admitted that it was consensual, were you still married and just had a child by another woman. >> completely false charges against me

that's that's joni ernst, remember? lisa murkowski has survived primaries before she won a write in campaign with the last name murkowski in alaska. that is not easy. i mean, it is funny, katie, but i mean her political strength historically in the state of alaska is second to none. that's that's murkowski. now on collins number one. there's a lot of speculation she won't run again. we'll have to see. she has been very, very adept at running campaigns in her state against democrats as well as republicans. she won a very contested race in 2020, spent a lot of money, had a lot of money spent against her by sara gideon, who was the state house speaker. these are people who are extraordinarily comfortable in their political skin. and to be honest with you, they have all the power they need. susan collins is the chair of the appropriations committee. outside of the leadership, the most the single most powerful republican senator in the united states senate. so i think that just gives a little bit of context without without p

it seems he's including senator joni ernst there. and if that's the case, then he likely has the support of the republicans on the committee and will get confirmed by the republicans in the full senate there. and that perhaps where that confidence right now is coming from, as well as from president elect donald trump's team. >> all right. cnn's oren liebermann, thank you so much. joining us now, the current republican congressman from florida. mike waltz, who will be president trump's national security advisor. first of all, congressman, congratulations on the new gig. i hope you will come on the show and talk about the president's foreign policy and the days, weeks and years ahead. so you introduced pete hegseth in today's hearing. you sang his praises. are you confident there will be no republican defections? he will get the support of all the republicans on the committee and on the floor of the senate. >> i am confident, jake. i think pete hegseth is going to be a great defense secretary. it is time for change. the status quo, as

joni ernst specifically has some questions for pete hegseth.st is a former army national guard commander and endured a torrent of criticism from prominent trump supporters late last year after publicly raising specific issues. she wanted to address the role of women in the military, sexual assault prevention and auditing the pentagon for waste and abuse. her questions and eventual votes could be key to her future, as well as her own. gretchen, i think joni ernst is an important figure here. what do you think? here? >> oh, yeah. i mean, she's the linchpin to this, but what's really troubling to me, and i think should be troubling to all women and men, quite honestly, is that this shouldn't just hang on the shoulders of female senators to be the ones that are actually going to ask the tough questions or actually raise the issues of sexual misconduct. we as a country should all be concerned about this. >> and i think what was disheartening to julie and myself and many other people who work in this advocacy space was that before the end of the year

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and indeed joni ernst is going to be pivotal here. the democrats going to throw roadblocks in the nominating process clearly the media would like to see that happen. one question that i have, catch patel is not up for his hearings until february why is there a delay brigade on many americans think is an incredibly pivotal post right now. >> i'll be blood the deep state is going to deep state in the agency that needs the most urgent reform evidenced by the persecution of donald trump is the fbi and catch patel, this is why heritage expended over a million dollars running ads in key states, supporting kash patel we dropped her@last week, ultimately it's income to upon said everything was done an excellent job managing the process to expedite the confirmation hearings of kash patel the fbi is in dire need not over of form but overhaul. maria: that's right we lifted as well. on the fbi. what about tulsi gabbard, what are your thoughts? >> i think tulsi of all of the appointees and probably has the most difficult path i don't get the most

senator joni ernst who initially said i need to hear more said i heard enough. i'm through.has 53 votes. i heard from people in the hegseth camp that the meeting with senator collins went well. that's the toughest with murkowski. what is stopping him from getting everyone mitch mcconnell ohio understood didn't meet with him. i don't know why. is he going to stand in the way? regardless. no one remembers if you got 53 or 93. >> lawrence: i heard during the committee yesterday, oh, you mean to tell me you changed your position on this? you guys put kamala harris up and she changed her position on every little thing. so if it was good enough for the person that wanted to be president of the united states. i'm sure he can change his position on some things to be secretary of defense. >> brian: the guy who lloyd austin came from raytheon and did nothing for four years. on paper the resume looked better but on execution, name something he did except for diminish the respect of our fighting forces. >> ainsley: and on secretary austin, one of the senators said that -- i guess that w

blackburn and joni ernst, as many as 30% of children dna test and found not to be related to illegaligrants posing as family members. meanwhile, drug cartels and gangs use minors to falsely present themselves as family units in seek asylum at our southern border. here is what senator ernst said fingerprinting every child at the border we not only protect our nation by learning who was attempting to enter but also protect the kids by ensuring they are not being traffic. cartels cannot be allowed to profit off of the exploitation of abused and forced labor of minors. when you consider this administration doesn't know where some 320,000 minors came across a border illegally currently are, many like this would seem to be common sense. >> absolutely. this is near and dear to my heart. i met subject matter of human traffic investigations and human identification and i rescue a lot of these children brought from united states into the country for the sole purpose exploited and also forced and forced labor trade. these laws, i welcomed them because anything that will strengthen the ability t

and of course, joni ernst, her line of questioning really did not produce any fireworks.d that a lot of her initial concerns over hegseth that they had, you know, hashed out behind closed doors, all of that. very welcome to donald trump's team. and look what they had wanted is what they saw. they wanted republicans to kind of defend hegseth to be the opposition force to the very ugly questioning that they were anticipating that would come from democrats. and that's what they saw. they saw a lot of republicans really kind of show their loyalty to donald trump, saying that they anticipated that trump knew who the best pick was to serve in his cabinet. but of course, yesterday was such a big moment for them. not only was it donald trump's first nominee to face questioning in congress, but also hegseth is one of the most controversial picks that he has. and so, of course, yesterday was going to be one of those moments that they were very worried about. i know there was a lot of, you know, anticipation, some uneasiness heading into yesterday. they feel very good about his chan

the questioning from democrat women was harsh, but republican joni ernst says she will vote for him. >>> on the show today, a hostage release deal looks imminent. trump's hostage enjoy, steven wit cough, kid more in one day to get a deal than joe biden as cone in a year. it is wednesday, january the 15th, 2025. "varney & company" is about the begin. ♪ ♪ stuart: let's get this thing going fast. the inflation report, we just showed it to you, up .4% month over month, 2.9% year-over-year. good morning, lauren. [laughter] this is all good stuff for wall street. lauren: well, it's good stuff because it's the bad stuff. inflation remains stubborn. that 2. 9 increase is the highest annual increase since july. core inflation, that cakes out -- takes out the volatile food and energy prices, that did tick down to 3.2% in december, but that's not much comfort to middle class americans when, look at this, the cost of transportation up over 7% in the past year, shelter up nearly 5. the great reaction in the stock and bond market is because traders now think thed fed will cut rates this summer as

today, he seemed to have addressed the concerns of one key republican senator, joni ernst, herself a combat veteran. >> as secretary of defense, will you support women continuing to have the opportunity to serve in combat roles? >> yes, women will have access to ground combat roles, given the standards remain high and we'll have a review to ensure the standards have not been eroded. >> reporter: but democrat elizabeth warren accused hegseth of changing his position. >> this issue has always been about standards, and unfortunately, because of some of the people that have been in political power for the last four years -- >> excuse me, mr. hegseth, let's just stop right there. let's just stop right there. >> priorities other than -- >> mr. hegseth, i'm quoting you -- i'm goquoting you from t podcast. "women shouldn't be in combat at all." where is the reference to standards? that they should be there if they can carry, if they can run? i don't see that at all, mr. hegseth. >> reporter: hegseth also pressed about an accusation he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017, a charge he denies. c

but you also, of course, have joni ernst.issues that joni ernst has fought about women in combat, also fighting against sexual harassment, sexual abuse. these are two issues that have been central to what joni ernst has tried to do to make the armed forces stronger, and specifically make the lives of women in the armed services equal and fair to men who are also serving their country. lisa murkowski, susan collins, mitch mcconnell. i must say i understand the cynicism. you know, so many people are are that way for great reason about washington, d.c. but of those i named and so many others who actually care about the armed services of the united states of america and america's national security, i just it would be a dark day if there were not four republican senators who understood that we need someone. the president needs someone. the commander in chief needs someone running the pentagon. that actually is up to the task of that job. and when crisis hits across the world, whether it's with china, whether it's with russia, whet

on the charm offensive for joni ernst joni ernst was key. it appears to me that she's folded.me she's going to overlook this. and here's what everybody needs to understand. pete hegseth is who you think he is. but that's what donald trump wants. donald trump tried a man that was competent with dirt on his boots. how dare him intimate that somebody like jim mattis has not been in combat or lloyd austin has not been in combat? how dare he intimate that? but they were competent and they were in command. they were respected by the people that they were going to serve with. but donald trump doesn't want any of that. he only wants loyalty to him. and if you noticed every time he was asked to, would he stand up to donald trump? he folded like a cheap shotgun. i mean, he absolutely is not going to stand up to donald trump. and that's why he's there. he will not stand up to him. and i hope that at least other people around donald trump can convince him not to go down a path of abusing the constitution and violating the law when it comes to using our military in ways that the founding f

one of the key holdouts, joni ernst from iowa, announced she would support pete hegseth after that hearingthere are still a few outliers who have not said where they leaned one way or another, lisa murkowski cut mitch mcconnell, and todd young. if all four of those republicans vote against pete hegseth, he will not be able to be confirmed as defense secretary in the margins, but i think it is a question of will those four ultimate lee vote against him. the other folks are pretty locked in. they said they are going to support him and i do not know they would backtrack on that after reading this affidavit. it is a possibility but it is unlikely and i think folks are going to be asking, did we receive this information too late? host: you had a chance to talk to speaker johnson about president trump's january 6 pardons. what did he tell you? guest: he said he has not had an ability to review it yet. he did not have a specific reaction, sort of deflecting the question to not comment. we will try again today, assuming he has had a moment to review the pardons that president trump signed on the f

ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mr. gallegos.. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. mr. rowe no. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king cop. ms. klobuchar mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. alumnus. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. marino. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of souths. carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. she he. miss slotkin. mrs. smith. mr. thune mr. tillis. mr. turberville. mr. vane. hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. >> a quorum is present. a quorum is a president present. how to preserve the leadership time is reserve the senate will be in the period of morning businesspe with th