we were really worried about tulsi gabbard.ratic and republican staffers came to me first saying, custodians of the caesar file for a while and the anonymity and the protection of caesar is paramount because russia wants to kill him and aside wants to kill him. >> what were you worried was going to happen? >> terrified that she may take a photo or record his voice or identify anything about his identity and bring it back to the adversaries whether putin or aside. >> it was not sure only interaction with tulsi gabbard. you were on the trip that she took in 2015. what is your view of she should have the top intelligence job? >> i am proud to watch what's happening in syria because it delivered itself from a horrible dictator ship. someone like tulsi gabbard would do everything they can to try to keep aside and power. she was a big fan. aside is gone but now my worries for the united states. tulsi gabbard is almost a perfect product of russian information operations. she backs things like, she's criticized allies whether it be jap

tulsi gabbard, hegseth. gabbard faces criticism, for good reason. propaganda she talked about that is spread by russia and by assad's toppled regime. and ranging from sexual assault to drinking issues to the mismanagement of nonprofits. all which he denies. a record for all of it. kash patel built a career around deep state long tried to overthrow trump. now, patel said he would like to close down the fbi headquarters and reopen it as a museum of the deep staff does not matter what party you are from. after he met with senator ernst today she shared a post on twitter, take a listen to how senator reacted to one of his goals for the f.b.i. >> are you concerned at all about some of the thing that kash patel wants to do. close the fbi headquarters, fire a number of agents? >> i interpret it as high hyperbole. of all of the nominees, why? why is he gets the benefit the doubt from all of them? hopefully this group of people that know about all of these things know more. joining me now former senior advisory speakers paul ryan, and reporter for politico.

if hegseth goes out, it is tulsi gabbard next.nominating a radical person for va secretary, nominating someone to head the navy who has never been in the navy, an under secretary of defense who has conflicts of interest potentially with defense contractors and also never was in the navy. he's flooding the zone and challenging the democrats, challenging the media, challenging the public to see if they can even keep track and he knows the holidays are coming and people want to check out, they're tired of watching the news and he wants to press his advantage. the next couple of weeks are key. people are tired. people are frustrated. many people are demoralized. but right now is when you need to stay most vigilant because right now arguably tempts have democrats have the most power and the flip will switch big time. >> we're not tired. what should we be focused on? put those in order for us. >> all of those. i just did. i talked about this earlier. collins at va is equally radical, a pastor, very religious guy, he's also very loyal to

what do you make of trump's public show of support for pete hegseth and tulsi gabbard?s from what you're hearing from your republican colleagues, will they get through the confirmation process, because gabbard is reportedly struggling in some of her meetings with senators. >> alex, thanks for having me back on. i'm just happy rfk wasn't there with them. unfortunately looking at the last decade what is the case with senate republicans is they huff and they puff and then fold to donald trump. my presumption is they're going to do similarly with these two picks, even though both of them are grossly unqualified for office. i imagine that these one on ones that tulsi gabbard is having are really painful because she's a bashar al assad apology gist trying to talk to senators, many of whom know their stuff on foreign policy at a time when current events in syria are front and center. i bet she's in over her head and coming across as both suspect and unqualified for the post. but my concern is she's going to be a heat shield for rfk and rfk is, if anything, more dangerous than

now, tulsi gabbard is in a different place. was able to block more of the controversial picks. people like rfk. now you are hearing from folks who have been around these meetings or heard about what is happening in these meetings and people are in their words, unimprezzed with tulsi gabbard and her intelligence. her knowledge of the intelligence community. part of that is because one of the reasons some of these folks have been chosing isn't because they have experience in these departments and leading these departments, but they have kind of a disdain and want to change these departments. of course, you don't fully need to understand how all of it works. but that's different than how we have seen other candidates work in the past. so this does feel different. i will say though, when you talk to people about who are the folks that donald trump is going to protect? tulsi gabbard's name is one of those names. she's a former democrat who came over to his side. he love as convert. he will defend her quite a bit. people are just say

gabbard aligned herself with russian and syrian officials. there's gabbard, hegseth.at what we are watching unfold does change the cal calculus for some republicans in the senate who might not have wanted to have this fight? >> yes. the trick is you can't put it on just one. when you put it on just one person, they shrink. and the beauty of gaetz not being the nominee is that no one can say who the senator was that took out gaetz. and so they need to find a way to collectively come together to take down these nominees. by the way, i thought it was so interesting, michael, that pete hegseth, a man who said no woman should ever go into combat, sent his poor mom into combat to try and save his butt. i feel bad for her. >> she did have thoughts about him, too, before that. >> yeah. >> when your momma tells you you're not much of a man, yeah, that puts you in a very interesting position. >> congressman eric swalwell, thank you so much for being with us. >>> next, how donald trump is responding to syria. this is "the weekend" weekend ♪♪ over 600,000 usps employees working i

here's tulsi gabbard talking about russia. this is tulsi gabbard in her own words. >> putin has made very clear all along that their security, in his mind, is what is at stake here. >> i don't want to interrupt you here, but putin also said ukraine is not a country. >> it's not strategically possible to think that ukraine is going to beat russia. you hear joe biden say this is putin's war, this is putin's fault. it's putin who is the one who is solely responsible. well, the united states and some of these european nato countries are fueling this war. >> charlie, this is her tweet in 2015. showing support for putin. al qaeda attacked us on 9/11 and must be defeated. obama won't bomb them in syria, putin did. the agency she is being tapped to head was created in 2004 as a result of trying to prevent another 9/11. your thoughts? >> okay. so, i mean, this goes right to the heart of it. it is not simply that they are unqualified and have quirks like drinking. these two nominees pose a real present danger to national security. they

will it be tulsi gabbard, robert f. kennedy, jr., or pete hegseth? what is happening is trump's picked to lead the pentagon, pete hegseth, has been walking the halls of congress and meeting with republican senators in an effort to save his defense secretary nomination. trump nominated former fox host is fighting to save his nomination amid allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement, and alcohol abuse, all of which pete hegseth denies. while defending pete hegseth today in a social post, donald trump stopped short of asking republican senators to confirm him. in an exclusive interview with kristen welker, set to air on meet the press this sunday, donald trump said this: >> it looks like pete is doing well now, i mean, people were a little bit concerned. he is a young guy with a tremendous track record actually. he went to princeton, he went to harvard, he was a good student at both, but he loves the military, and i think people are starting to see it, so we will be working on his nomination, along with a lot of others. >> since you brin

why isn't halsey gabbard, -- why isn't tulsi gabbard, her record, not being pushed like every other thing that is going on in our country? why is that? guest: i cannot answer for why the rest of the mainstream media is not talking about how she would be a historic first, a woman from hawaii, a woman of color. i guess what the caller is getting at is the perception widely held, and i'm not saying it is wrong, of media bias, where a lot of the mainstream media will spend time touting someone is a historic first because of their race or gender they are not doing this with tulsi gabbard. i think it is a fair criticism. it is a good question for nbc, abc, cbs, new york times, washington post. host: another media question for you from x, saying are any of the nominees not qualified to fill their positions and why are so many in the media upset the nominees are not members of the swamp. it appears most of the u.s. does not feel the u.s. government is working well so why not stop the insanity and have a new type of nominee? guest: i meant is well-made. -- the comment is well-made. the harvard ken

take a step back with tulsi gabbard. if you're outside the united states, the only thing you know about her is that she has been an apologist for the assad atrocities and the putin atrocities for almost a decade. that is literally the only stature that she has, that she's someone who apologizes for wars and for atrocities and that she's somebody who spreads regime disinformation from syria and russia. that's it. she has no other public profile. so the idea that she could be the one who is coordinating the american intelligence agencies naturally brings joy to the russians. there are many other quotations along the lines of the ones you showed. she's our girl friend. she's our agent. she's our person. she's been publicly praised multiple times by the russian press for spreading the russian message about the war, right? so what message does it send to ukraine? ukrainians are scrambling to find some connection to trump, where they would be able to get through this mess and confusion and try to remind mr. trump there's actua

it was not a one-off for tulsi gabbard.te house briefing, situation room and how to respond. so, imagine if fast forward two months and tulsi gabbard is director when this is happening in syria? it is her and assad going down, do we trust her to bring us accurate information to the president? do we think she will not put a spin on the ball with her worldview? do we wonder what kind of contact that she has had? stuff in a basic security clearance process for mid-level government employee with a national security clearance would have trouble getting that position with views and associations she has had over the years. i think it raises questions about why does donald trump want somebody like that overseeing the intelligence community. >> i mean, the dni, one of the things that we do give the president daily briefs, sometimes the cia director. trump says, -- let's go through his friends, mbs, and besties with benjamin netanyahu, accused war criminal and accused by the icc amnesty international accused of committing genocide, h

do you think that holds true for someone like gabbard?ike the sept sees it that way. >> i think the entire slate had been helped by the fact gaetz got torpedoed because trump doesn't want to have a pattern of yanking his nominees because it's simply embarrassing. look, i think hegseth can explain away his drinking by saying i'm sober now and he can explain away his infidelity by saying here's my wife, we have a happy marriage, which he's done, by the way, on those meetings on capitol hill. he's talked about his sobriety. what he can't necessarily do, alex, is sort of talk away his ideological views, and that i think is tulsi gabbard's challenge is that the issue with her is not personal. it's not alcohol. it's not infidelity, it's you had these views as i say a democratic lawmaker, you were for bernie sanders and met with assad, that to me i think is harder -- it's harder for the national security hawks than pete hegseth. because the beef with hegseth is more his personal conduct. with tulsi it's ideological and principle, that's why i th

same thing with gabbard.o hear that the intelligence community was pretty concerned with her nomination. for him, it's -- it is loyalty. he wants people to be there, but he ultimately sees his role as, i make the decision. >> george: it'll be interesting to see whether republican senators have the same kind of support for former democrats like tulsi gabbard and rfk jr. as they do for someone like a pete hegseth. >> this is what's so fascinating. if you take the trump nominees in aggregate, there is no ideological consistency there, and there's no consistency in terms of even the political parties they have supported before, and so i think you're right, marianna, it doesn't matter. this is about personal loyalty more than anything else, and as by turn the corner and we get into the actual administration, we all know two things. one, donald trump as president, will be held responsible by the american people for outcomes over the next four years, and two, loyalty is fleeting sometimes with president trump. if he

and especially gabbard.ar a prediction, alex. tulsi gabbard is going to have a harder time getting confirmed than pete hegseth. >> and reuters is reporting as such, same as many as eight gop senators have doubts about gabbard. do you think that we are in a position now where -- i know i just asked you about these democrats being in a sort of class of their own, but in the broader context of trump nominees, if he's lost gaetz, can he lose gabbard again? does it say anything? there is this notion they all had to be packaged together like vaulter on because if you broke one off they were all endangered. do you think that holds true for someone like gabbard? it doesn't seem like the senate sees it that way. >> i think the entire slate has been helped by the fact that gaetz got torpedoed because trump doesn't want to have a pattern of this, of having to yank his nominees, because it's simply embarrassing. look, i think hegseth can explain away his drinking by saying, i'm sober now, and he can explain away his inf

gabbard or mr.e this populism to get themselves into power with false narratives, if they then choose to run the organizations as professional organizations, the organizations will work hard for this new administration, but if they continue to disparage the work force, it's going to be a difficult challenge for them. >> is there any way the intel community can push back? if all 18 agencies agree on a particular piece of intelligence and gabbard disagrees, she can change the presidential daily brief, appoints the briefer, she has an enormous impact on what the cia produces. she's in between what cia is assessing, the pros, the professionals, and what gets presented to the president of the united states. >> right. there's just a massive amount of intelligence coming in every day. her bility to control all of that is going to be limited. however, there's going to be things that president trump, one of these people who wants to hear only what he wants to hear. most leaders, they want their assumptions c

rfk has ideological opponents and tulsi gabbard does as well.nt do you think that will be in these politics play out? >> i think it will not derail the trump administration or anything but i do think it does introduce potential conflicts that could make it difficult for the president to exercise his desires as well. the thing about a presidential administration, it is not one guy yelling at 10 people to do something. it is one people telling 100 people that are telling the thousand people to do something. you need that unity and purpose to make things run smoothly and make things work. if you have deputies, cabinet officials and subcabinet officials who may be have a partisan loyalty to trump or have this ideological difference, that is the potential for wires to get crossed a little bit. i don't know what that will look like but it is a real problem. part of what the kind of commitment to parties of one president is supposed to do is to minimize this. you don't just pick people on your side but you pick people that are broadly with the team. if

there is absolutely no basis to the rumor that asad spent the i am tulsi gabbard sofa.s is what you get when you work with or will work for donald trump, we see it with pete hegseth as concerned, we see with others that were democrats. tulsi gabbard earned more delegates than, the hears when she ran for president in 2020 and now donald trump is bringing her on board because that's what diversity is and shall do a great job and be attacked. when you're connected to trump that's part of the contract. nicole: we will continue to follow this there will be salacious media headlines to follow for sure. on the jampacked hour at "the big weekend show" fox news alert on the nationwide manhunt for the killer of united healthcare killer ceo brian thompson the releasing new images of the suspected gunman taken minutes after the murder, details on where police are searching tonight. ♪ ♪ huh, noom has glp-1 meds now? yes, noom combines medications with healthy habits so you can lose the weight and keep it off. yeah, glp-1s starting at $149. that's noom smart. noom. the smart way to l

does that hold true for someone like gabbard?d by the fact gaetz was torpedoed. i think hegseth can explain away his drinking by saying i'm sober now. he can explain away his infidelity by saying i have a wife and we have a happy marriage. he brought his wife to the meetings and talked about his sobriety. can he can't necessarily do, alex, is sort of talk away his ideological views and that is tulsi gabbard's challenge. the issue with her is not personal. it is you had these views as a democratic lawmaker. you with were bernie sanders and met with assad. that is harder for the national security hawks. the beef with

. >> national security -- tulsi gabbard, the dni nominee.u know, my sense is that all of them could be approved, but all of them may not be approved because it all is going to come down to what happens in those hearings and how they conduct themselves and what do we hear from others about them. and it's interesting, you know, kash patel, who's a high profile and if could potentially controversial nominee, has benefited from the fact that like trey gowdy who is enormously respected by members of congress, his former colleague has come, you know, former -- their former colleague and who saw him in action as a staffer have come out on his behalf. but let's see what happens when all four of these get into a hearing and what happens. all of them could pass, some of them may not. paul: all right, karl, thanks very much for coming in. >>> still ahead, as donald trump's cabinet nominees continue to make the rounds on capitol hill, our panel takes a closer look at the choice of tulsi gabbard to observe as director of national intelligence, and the pr

tulsi gabbard, the dni-designate.e left, i guess -- is that the wingback, let's say? speaker of the house mike johnson. they are attending the historic army-navy game. right at the moment, first quarter, midshipmen of the navy up by a touchdown, 7-0. that's early in the first quarter. we'll see how hay go. you hear the cheering. that game ongoing as the front line to take the united states into the next four years, you're looking at them, we'll see what the senate has to say, but the president-hecht and vice president-elect enjoying a saturday game. arthel? arthel: and, of course, president-elect trump is preparing for his return to washington next month. inauguration day is january 20th, and mr. trump wants to make if it a global event by inviting foreign leaders and even some of his adversaries. rebeccas castor has more from washington. >> some people say, wow, that's a little risky, isn't it? [laughter] and i said is, maybe it it is, we'll see what happens. >> reporter: the president-elect is considering inviting s

, and while all the focus is on hegseth, we aren't seeing as much scrutiny on gabbard., we'll have to wait and see. whether you take into account, robert f. kennedy jr., tulsi gabbard, kash patel, and pete hegseth, and this long list, who under normal circumstances would be controversial and have a very difficult time getting through, there's a real possibility that most if not all will be confirmed in part because there are just so many of them for the senate to deal with. >> there you go. david, republican senator john cornyn says he told hegseth his confirmation fight will be a very unpleasant process for him and his family. democratic senator richard blumenthal puts hegseth's chances at less than 50/50. let's listen. >> i think my republican colleagues are really deeply troubled and to be really blunt, if the fear of donald trump and his potential retribution were less, there's no question that this nomination would go down and go down heavily. >> david, is that fear of trump's retribution enough to get even his most troubled picks confirmed, do you think? how does

government about tulsi gabbard. naughty list and a nice list for members of congress and senators. >> reporter: on the hill, new tensions with acting secret service director ronald rowe testifying about the two trump assassination attempts. the hearing erupting into a shouting match when a republican congressman pressed him about this scene where he stood behind vice president kamala harris during this year 9/11 ceremony at ground zero. >> i responded to ground zero. i was there going through the ashes at the world trade center. i was there on fresh kills. >> i'm not asking that. were you in charge? >> show respect for the secret service members that died on 9/11. >> not doing the people's business there. that was peter alexander reporting. john, let's return to the pete hegseth situation. a few days ago, it seemed like his nomination is on life support. there were reporting that six, eight, maybe more republican senators were ready to say no. democratic senator blumenthal said that's what he heard from his gop coll

. >>> later, we will talk about what the fall of the assad regime means for tulsi gabbard. she is donald trump's pick for director of national intelligence. we are will hear from dan deluce. >>> breaking news this hour. we are getting a new look at the subject of a nationwide manhunt in the killing of brian thompson. in one of the images, the man can be seen staring into the camera in what looks like a taxicab. this weekend, the nypd recovered a backpack and jacket and found monopoly money inside. the search for weapons or a weapon continues. today, a former fbi profiler says the suspect may be playing games with the evidence left behind. >> there's almost a game-like quality to this behavior. however, when you have a game player who is your offender, you have to be open that that is a ruse to cause law enforcement to look in a different direction. i'm sure they are aware of that. >> joining us now from not too far away is priscilla thompson who has been keeping up with the latest on the story. are there any indications police are getting closer to actually finding the susp

look at their history, tulsi gabbard and pete hegseth. fox or somebody a picture with vladimir putin once.o yo what exactly do you think their jobs work? theiior jobsns are exactly thato have relationships to form them into a fight them and to pipe o urfor the american people. that does not make you a sympathizer with our enemies. but this is the narrative and wd are used to it, laura. just buckle up, we are getting l started and they are fighters and we fully backing and suppor trump's' picks. >> laura: lindsey graham, peoplemina were wondering whichy he but go on these nominations, but he said today, he thinks these nominees have turned ay corner, alina, and the longer they stay warm and opinion and said to pete, fight, fight fight, some of these will go through as corn and said might get ugly. >> and president trump has been clear he stands behind thed nominations. he has said that.in they are out og n the hill talko to people's, sitting down ande going toto the confirmation process and answering tough questions and personnel allowing

i'm unsure about tulsi gabbard.have not heard from republican members of the intelligence committee that's traditional been a bipartisan body. that's real concern. i think what's happened in syria makes it harder for tulsi gabbard to get over the finish line. >> shannon: in the meantime we president trump on the world stage behaving if he is currently the president. you saw the visuals with him with world leaders in notre dame. with president emmanuel macron and president zelenskyy and many others welcoming back onto the world stage. given the weakness of the current president and the speed at which things develop in the modern world trump is in effect a presumptive president certainly foreign governments are treating him that way. >> i think so. i think in the united states the democrats have not gotten into their opposition rhetoric yet and here across the world many of the world's leaders want to meet with donald trump as soon as possible because he holds all the cards. we know he will back israel and we know he

doesn't do one for gabbard or patel. are there tools within the senate to get that information, maybe not within the fbi, but to gather it themselves within the intelligence committee? >> there may be records within the intelligence committee of activities that she engaged in that caused intelligence oversight to engage, but i don't know if that's the case. so i really couldn't tell you. it is possible for an american citizen to pop up on our own intelligence services screens and it's also possible for them to turn up on foreign intelligence screens and our allies i think would want to share with us the information if they had it about a potential candidate for dni who had grave enough security issues that they would be reluctant to share evidence in the way we've grown accustomed to. >> you've been very outspoken on the need for an ethics code of conduct for the supreme court. one that they are required to abide by. the supreme court has met internally. they've come up with their own code of conduct. their own ethics co

rfk has ideological opponents, so does tulsi gabbard.n or anything but i think it does introduce potential conflicts that can make it difficult for the president to exercise his desires, his will. the thing about a presidential administration, it is not one guy yelling at 10 people to do something, it is one guy telling 100 people telling of 1000 people to do something. you need unity and purpose to make things run smoothly, to make things work. if you have deputies, cabinet officials, subcabinet officials, who aren't, maybe have partisan loyalty to trump but committed to saving the interest of republican party or have ideological difference, that is potential for the wires to get crossed a little bit. i don't know how that will look or what that will look like. it is a real problem and part of what the commitment to party interest on what the president is supposed to do is to minimize this. you're not just picking people on your side, you are picking people broadly with the team. if you're not doing that and you have this mix of people

in addition, security officials note that gabbard would be the least experienced director of national intelligence since that position was created back in 2004. with that in mind, the group urges the senate to carefully evaluate gabbard through closed door hearings that would give lawmakers the opportunity to review government files on the d&i pick. elsewhere in -- on capitol hill, elon musk and vivek ramaswamy were meeting yesterday with republican lawmakers. they are the co-leaders of the new department of government efficiency, doge. musk had a private meeting yesterday morning with incoming senate majority leader john thune, while ramaswamy met behind closed doors with a group of 15 senate republicans. musk has repeatedly faced questions about potential conflicts of interest of interest in advising on the federal budget. his company, spacex, is a major federal contractor with the defense department and nasa. and according to ramaswamy, one of their potential cuts is a $6.6 billion loan to electric vehicle maker rivian. the automotive company that's a competitive to tesla. musk has

we've had tulsi gabbard, robert k.ounds on the hill in repeat days and will continue to do so. what's the latest you've heard in terms of where nose nominations stand, and how much political capital is trump willing to spend on their behalf? >> look, i think with pete hegseth the tide has turned in his favor. he still has work to do and he would as i imagine be doing that work over the holidays and in the coming weeks, but i thought the tide really turned when he saw iowa senator joni ernst not necessarily come out and say she would vote for him but softened her stance. we know they had two meetings together, and during that second meeting it seemed they had kind words for each other. they said it was a productive meeting, and pete hegseth has also changed his rhetoric on some issues. we know joni ernst herself is a veteran, and we know pete hegseth has made comments about disagreeing with women in combat. maybe some movement there, but also as you see pete hegseth and the tide turning from him, you have more scrutiny

and that's, i think, is tulsi gabbard's challenge. the issue with her is not personal. it's not alcohol. it's not infidelity. it's you had these views as a democratic lawmaker and you were for bernie sanders, and you met with a sod. that to me i think is harder. it's harder for the national security hawks than pete hegseth because the beef with hegseth is more his personal conduct. it's easier for them to torpedo her than hegseth. >> can't talk your way out of a meeting with bashar al assad. jonathan martin, always great to talk to you. that is our show. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." >> we're going to take up those confirmation questions with senator ed markey in just a moment here. and later in the show, we're going to be joined by declan walsh, who at "the new york times" actually has the largest geographic jurisdiction of any reporter there. he's the chief africa correspondent. and if i could possibly get "the new york times" to devote 100% of my subscription fees to declan walsh, that would please me greatly. >> yeah, earmarks. >> that's

gabbard less so., monumental implications for lots of people, but also for tulsi gabbard. poor timing for her. >> she's shown great openness to assad and putin, as well. this is something we've talked about on "morning joe." donald trump, we'll get you a loyalist. someone who will do what you want in terms of national intelligence, but not her. they don't trust her with the intelligence secrets of this country. perhaps, i think yesterday we saw a lot of people saying, we had productive meetings. we're open to the possibility. we didn't hear a lot of full-throated endorsements. a couple said i'm on board. again, it doesn't take many. if there are eight, even six republicans, even five republicans who say no, she could be in jeopardy. this whole dynamic we're going to talk about on "morning joe" in a minute, donald trump and, yes, elon musk pulling the strings on everything that happens in the government before he's even president of the united states, is donald trump going to call these senators? is he

we're going to talk about that later, but i want you to listen to what gabbard told jake tapper back2017 about that trip the syrian people recognize, and they know that if president assad is overthrown, then al qaeda or a group like al qaeda that has been killing christians killing people simply because of their religion or because they won't support their terror activities, they will take charge of all of syria. >> this is the reality that the people of syria are facing on the ground, and why they are pleading with us here in the united states to stop supporting these terrorist groups. let the syrian people themselves determine their future well, it's a complex. >> i mean, anyone that does syria policies have been on the syria desk for the last three presidents understands how complicated the mix of groups that are there, the shifting alliances, the current group that's now looking like it's in charge obviously says they disavowed al qaeda, but they are still designated as a us terrorist organization so just taking a giant step back on what sort of tulsi gabbard or former congressma

>> well, it's concerning tulsi gabbard is completely wrong. bashar al-assad is an enemy of the united states unless we feel that a leader who is willing to drop barrel bombs and use chemical weapons against his own people is okay. the united states has some moral responsibility to stand up for people who can't stand up for themselves, and to think that we can just be neutral on this question of assad's regime shocks the conscience, and it does call into question whether a person who held those outrageous views could suddenly be sitting next to the president of the united states and have the last word as he makes decisions about how the u.s. should respond to a situation like this she's completely wrong and it's a it's a dangerous moment. and i hope the senate takes that that particular line of questioning very seriously as they consider her qualifications. >> there is new reporting from nbc about how there was at one point a syrian defector who came to speak to members of the of the committee. i believe it was house foreign affairs and the aid

tulsi gabbard, nominated to be the next director of national intelligence.ow facing timely questions about why she met with assad and what trump is now saying about mass deportations. the dreamers, and whether prices could go up for americans. tonight, the drone mystery widening large drones now spotted over philadelphia after being seen near thephia president elect's golf course and near a military base in new jersey. what's going on? taylor swift's eras tour takes a final bow, and what she did for her cast and crew across five continents. major league baseball star juan soto's record setting contract. tonight and america strong. this evening, the basketball team and one very silent night. the christmas tradition. and you'll see it right here. from abc news headquarters in new york. >> this is world news tonight with david muir. >> good evening. it's great to have you with us here on a monday night. we begin tonight with the breaking news in the murder of that ceo in new york city. police say a person of interest is now in custody. tonight, 26 year old luig

just, again, the word is that tulsi gabbard did terribly last week.o picks right there. i have a feeling if they go by the wayside he will not be too upset. he does want rfk jr. from all we hear, but these two, i'm not sure if that was just a tip from the senate going, if you have reasons not to take those two, we understand. >> but yet it took great pains to see that publicly. what i'm hearing, and i think you're probably hearing, too, to donald trump and his team, there are conservatives, there are republicans and people who will be loyal to you or not pete hegseth, tulsi gabbard and matt gaetz. that's what they made very clear to him. they are trying to finesse this and say, we will give these guys a fair hearing and interviews but we have some other ideas of people who can be in those jobs. i'm curious, you served with a lot of these people, the big question that hangs over these choices in the next four years, is how far can donald trump push these members? how far can he push them to say, you are going to do what i say or else. do you think they

new report from the bulwark, trump and his team are most focused on getting former democrat tulsi gabbard and rfk jr. confirmed. allies believe that with cement trump's legacy as expanding the republican coalition to include disaffected democrats and independents. meanwhile, at least one republican senator is very optimistic about kash patel becoming the next fbi director. john cornyn, i was surprised by this one, said today he is confident that patel will be confirmed then he went on to say that patel has quote, vast experience and is highly recommended by people he respects. despite what cornyn said about patel's experience, he's never been in charge of an $11 billion budget at about 35,000 government employees. with that, let's get smarter with the help of our panel. madame caldwell, we turn to first, it seems like pete hegseth will not give up, i mean he is banging down the door, but maybe nobody is even inside the house, what's going on? >> he's not giving up, and the reason is, is because essentially, donald trump has told him to keep fighting, and he's going to do that. but the cat

and you throw gabbard and kennedy on top of it.ve going into it would be that of actually failure and mutiny and i just think that is something he will not countenance. >> yeah. there is some real risk of that. of things unraveling. it's not like things haven't unraveled for trump before in many of his private businesses and the first administration. so it is possible. i did notice today, john thune has maybe a less lackadaisical schedule for the senate than the past. but even if they get through, contentious confirmation hearings for several of these. where there is more bad press. as much as donald trump doesn't like losing he likes even less. all of that is a real risk for them for january. >> reporter: meanwhile, democrats are engaged in i guess what has been termed their own mutiny. ousting long time senior leader ins the house. there is a question about whether alexandria ocasio- cortez might head the oversight committee. i know you are well versed in the political culture of the democratic party and the republican party but

now with gabbard and rfk, those are two people who really fulfill donald trump's campaign promises. he obviously made a deal with rfk during the campaign in exchange for his endorsement that he would bring him into the fold and let rfk do what he wants with the health agencies and with tulsi gabbard, she is also someone who has become extremely loyal to donald trump, someone who is a former democrat, but out of the nominees aside from pete hegseth, i'm hearing from members on capitol hill, republicans who have a lot of concerns about her. i'm told that rfk's probably going to be fine. i'm told that kash patel is probably going to be fine, too, but tulsi gabbard is one that causes them a lot of anxiety because of her, you know, meeting with assad, her claims of being a putin sympathizer and questioning american intelligence. so we'll see how much he goes to bat for them. >> i gave you a couple extra minutes there because you're getting the unanswerable question. i want to play a clip from a congressional hearing today where the acting secret service director was testifying in front o

do you think patel and gabbard are in trouble? >> i think gabbard is going to have a tough uphill battle, in part because of some of the statements we've seen from many republican senators on some of her positions on national security. i think that all of the other nominees will probably ultimately get confirmed from some of the things that i'm hearing a lot of republicans do believe that trump was given a mandate to sort of act in a certain way in terms of appointments and ultimately confirming those appointments. it's very rare, kate, that you'll see the party senators of the party, of the president elect vote against all of his nominees. maybe 1st may not get past maybe two at most. uh, you know, there's historic precedent for that. but beyond that, i just don't see that happening. so again, i think kash patel, i think pete hegseth. i think even rfk could probably get confirmed. tulsi, i'm not necessarily sure, but everyone else, i think they'll probably ultimately go and lead and they'll follow the directive from the president

and tulsi gabbard. >> my concern is she is going to be a heat shield for rfk. and rfk is, if anything, more dangerous than gabbard in the role that he is trying to assume. his number one legal aid is a committed anti-vax or who is going to be going after not just the polio vaccine, but the measles vaccine as well, at a time when there are a half- dozen states in this country were herd immunity rates for measles are hovering at the level below which there will be outbreaks. >> now, all of this focus on rfk jr. exactly good news for some of his other nominees, putting pete hegseth and kash patel, folks who would otherwise have a lot of attention on them, a lot of scrutiny on them, because there are 36 days until donald trump takes office, and that's when the confirmation hearings will begin. every day that there is not a focus on kash patel or pete hegseth is a win in trump's mine. >> gary, thank you so much for that but we have this breaking news, there is some hope for the release of a missing american journalist austin tran29: the toppling of the assad regime,

even tulsi gabbard has a decent chance. in fact, a very good one, according to senator mike rounds who spoke to punchbowl news. how much of this is the senators' own independent judgment, how much is it respecting historical norms and how much is it bending to pressure from maga? "the new york times" writes, the people close to president-elect have been telling him that this was a moment that would test his power as he prepared to return to washington. it would be catastrophic, they argued, if he allowed republican senators like joni ernst of iowa to obstruct his mandate. and trump himself implies to "time" magazine in his interview as person of the year, he was still open to anything including recess appointments. quote, i really don't care how they get them approved as long as they get them approved, trump said, adding, quote, i think i have a very good relationship with senator thune and the others. all of them, i think, almost everybody, many of them, i was very instrumental in getting them elected. joining us now, nbc

there's also new reporting by nbc news about tulsi gabbard, donald trump's pick for the nation's higheste official. what we've learned. that's next. at's next. k. unresolved depression symptoms were in my way. i needed more from my antidepressant. vraylar helped give it a lift. adding vraylar to an antidepressant is clinically proven to help relieve overall depression symptoms better than an antidepressant alone. vraylar is not approved for elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis due to increased risk of death or stroke. report changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts to your doctor. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. report fever, stiff muscles or confusion which may be life-threatening or uncontrolled muscle movements which may be permanent. high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain and high cholesterol may occur. difficulty moving, tremors, slow or uncontrolled body movements, restlessness and feeling like you need to move, nausea, constipation, insomnia, dizziness, increased appetite, and fatigue are common. side effects may

especially tulsi gabbard.as talking to a former top british intelligence official this week and former secretary of state and they were most concerned with gabbard for dni because of the access to the swath of u.s. intelligence she would have. what are you hearing? >> reporter: the majority of the conversation here sort of on the sidelines is really about the defense secretary nominee, pete hegseth. probably because this is more defense related but i have heard talk about gabbard. particularly about the reporting nbc has done about this new letter, 100 former national security officials, bipartisan group of officials calling for congress to hold closed hearings to talk about gabbard. the goal here is to get some of this classified information that may not be able to be released in public to get that information to the senators and to the members of congress before they make a decision about whether to confirm her to the top intelligence position director of national intelligence. that has been a topic of conve

you know, there's interesting reporting relevant to mike rounds perhaps, mark, that tulsi gabbard and rfk jr. are trump's red lines. this is from the reputable news source "the bulwark." he reports, the importance of rfk jr. and tulsi gabbard represent a realignment in american politics that you saw in the election, said roger stone, a longtime trump friend and adviser. as if we needed to know. he, trump, understands the historical significance of that realignment. that basically fwabard and kennedy -- gabbard and kennedy represent badges of honor in terms of flipping former democrats into maga land. and that trump is i guess going to fight for them in a way that i think he hasn't fought for the other nominees. are you buying that? >> you know, that was an interesting report. i hadn't thought of that -- i also thought that if trump is going to sort of line up behind or sort of go to the mat for nominees he would have a bias toward the more brute force nominees like someone more out there stylistically like a gaetz. obviously not going to be gaetz at this point. you know, maybe a hegse

on gabbard.ent things. and these hearings are going to be important because it's going to set a more strong narrative for the american people about the shortcomings of these nominees. it is -- and by the way, i mean, i'd be curious with j- mart thinks but i don't think this is a lock that tom tilliest is running again. you know, cassidy voted against -- voted to convict trump. so -- >> right. >> you have got -- you know, you have got players here and then there's others. you know, i mean, joni ernst may have folded on hegseth but there's other people on the armed services committee that may not. >> claire, really -- we don't know that yet. she backed off and said i'm going to let this go through the process. but as you and i both know, you can say stuff like that to buy some political space. and hope that gravity stops you from having to take the vote that you will end up taking at the end. >> correct. >> joe. >> correct, by the way, furiously behind the scenes, furiously behind the scenes, repub

gabbard who are they saying with russia. that is the ultimate i've delivered on you so i can do ten things that i told i wouldn't do and i'll do it any way. it's all about optics with him. >> the casting. >> it's all about casting. >> matt dowd, we talked earlier in the week after hegseth's interview on making kelly about drinking. let me show what donald trump's nephew fred trump said about alcohol and alcohol abuse yesterday. >> i've heard hegseth say, i'm going to stop drinking if i become secretary of defense. as i said before, is it that simple? if it was that simple, everybody who wanted to stop drinking, would stop drinking. it's a dangerous thing to have a guy like that running the largest bureaucracy maybe on the planet. i think it's just too dam dangerous. >> matt dowd, just picking up on our conversation about this topic before, of all the things that trump does not find disqualification, allegations of sexual abuse and sexual assault and allegations of substance abuse problem, especially alcohol, is one that repo