kate bedingfield, cnn political commentator, former communications director for the biden white house and erin perrine, republican strategist at axiom strategies. welcome to all of you. thank you all for being here this morning. stephen collinson, let me start with you, big picture, because what we saw from hegseth, of course, yesterday was trying to show donald trump that he was willing to fight this, to push forward on this. and of course, he was going into these senate offices and apparently promising him, promising them that he won't drink as defense secretary. what do you make of it all? >> he seems to be adopting the kavanaugh defense, trying to make this about something bigger than just his own qualifications, saying that he's the victim of partisan witch hunts, et cetera.. i think it's pretty clear that there are enough republicans who don't want to vote for him, and they don't even want a hearing, which could turn into a real circus. just before president-elect trump takes office next year. i think for hegseth, what he has to do is keep this going, try and push it into next y

the same kinds of political pressures that, say, members of the house are. >> scott jennings, kate bedingfield, thank you both so much. appreciate you, kate. >> is it a drone or is it a plane? if you're trying to figure out what is flying in the sky above you, there is an app for that. and a lifelong dream fulfilled. a supreme court justice makes her broadway debut. what had justice ketanji brown jackson entering stage left this weekend? >> can't fool myself. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life has extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> luther. never too much new year's day on cnn. >> okay, everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. >> ensure with 27 vitamins and minerals, nutrients for immune health, and ensure complete with 30g of protein type two diabetes discover the ozempic tri-zone oh oh oh ozempic. i got the power of three. i lowered my a1 c cv risk and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1 c

elliot williams, cnn legal analyst, former federal prosecutor and star wars fan kate bedingfield, cnn political commentator, former biden white house communications director. and brad todd, cnn political commentator and republican strategist. welcome to all of you. thank you for being here. alex. i actually kind of want to start with you on this. as we look back at just an incredible campaign, much of which you covered as you were covering then candidate joe biden. and just, you know, i'm interested in your reflections on the arc of it, especially for the outgoing president and his decision to there were so many unbelievable things that happened in the course of this campaign. but really, his decision to drop out of the race, hand it to kamala harris, was such an unprecedented moment for all of us. >> and his decision to run in the first place at 80 years old, i think will also be one of the more consequential decisions of this election cycle. and i think actually when we look back, we'll probably think of this election was over in june and july. the combination of that debate perform

and i think that's how we'll look back on this election. >> well, and kate bedingfield, i think the popular vote piece of it is one of the things that has led to a feeling that donald trump will enter office with a significant mandate, because it really kind of showed a a significant switch from 2016 where, yes, he won the electoral college, but he lost the popular vote. how do you think what message do you think democrats took away from that piece of it? and what should they be taking into the future? >> yeah. look, i think there's no question that the political winds are at donald trump's back. i do think as we have gotten farther and farther from the election, i think democrats are absorbing it a little bit less as a, you know, to use obama's words, a shellacking and a little bit more of a look at where voters are dissatisfied with the status quo and how democrats can can think about really tacking to their concerns, particularly on the economy. i think, you know, there this is not a great moment for the democratic party. they are in the political wilderness, but out of the wilderness ca

kate bedingfield, cnn political commentator. former biden white house communications director. and matt gorman, former senior adviser to tim scott's presidential campaign. welcome to all of you. good morning. good morning jonah. man, that walk down memory lane of trump on the world stage. i mean, that's what we are heading back to as as biden steps off. >> yeah. time is a flat circle. uh, i think they're working on cloning donald trump right now. so he can be president through 2065. um, because it just feels like this is just this is not going to end anytime soon. >> kate bedingfield, how do you see what the president did here with this pardon in terms of the big picture for his presidency here? i mean obviously he did this on a sunday night and then he flies off to africa right as donald trump, as we just outlined, is about to step back on to the world stage and his party here at home has not exactly been kind to him. yeah. >> look, i think the idea that that biden has somehow opened the door for trump to do things that he was not otherwise going to do is completely ludicrous.

kate bedingfield, cnn political commentator, former biden white house communications director. and brad todd, cnn political commentator, republican strategist. welcome to all of you. good morning. brad, here we are again. it feels so familiar. i was in the hallways when many of those early bites that we played, played out in public. but this. i mean, it felt to me like there was some tension yesterday with elon musk going at this and at this and at this and everyone waiting to see what trump was going to do. and he ultimately went with musk. but i mean, who who's in charge? >> well, i think first of all, this bill is in trouble from the start. all continuing resolutions. that's what they call these cr at the end of the year, to try to keep the government open for a few more months. they're always hard to pass with republican votes. very few republican votes want to vote for any government spending, much less a temporary government spending measure. >> and does elon get that that like he's going to need democrats to actually do this? >> i don't know if he does or not. i mean, he

kate bedingfield, thanks so much for joining me. i want to start with you, because what i was struck by, given the timing of this report release, was what we heard from matt gaetz yesterday at a big conservative rally down in arizona. take a listen. >> my fellow floridians have asked me to eye the governor's mansion in tallahassee. >> maybe special counsel to go after the insider trading for my former colleagues in congress. >> it seems i may not have had enough support in the united states senate. maybe i'll just run for marco rubio's vacant seat in the united states senate and join some of those folks at any other moment. >> shermichael in history, you would say after a report like this, that person probably doesn't have much of a future in politics. i take what matt gaetz was saying there quite seriously. what do you see about his future down in florida in elected politics? >> yeah, i think maybe he may run for governor. >> i'm not exactly sure if desantis would appoint him to the senate. i think the governor is probably eyeing a

. >> let me get kate bedingfield into this conversation. ou see an opening, kate, for democrats right now, now that trump is seemingly backing away from his promise, his pledge to bring prices down? oh, absolutely. >> i mean, the president trump is going to learn or relearn, i guess that it is much more challenging to be president in many ways than it is to campaign for president. and i think the democrats will have a big opportunity here, because the reality is the president of the united states only has limited influence over fiscal policy in this country and limited impact on how much something at the grocery store costs. there are many, many other factors that go into determining what the cost of eggs is. but, you know, i think democrats are going to have an opportunity here to lay this at the feet of donald trump once he's president. you know, any any domestic policy that he puts forward, democrats will reasonably be able to paint as driving up prices, or at least not bringing prices down, if that is, in fact, what we see happening here

isaac dovere, cnn senior reporter kate bedingfield, cnn political commentator and former communications director at the biden white house. and brad todd, cnn political commentator and republican strategist. welcome to all of you. thank you very much for being here. brad, you were here, i think it was last week at this point, basically predicting that the allegations against pete hegseth were going to actually be what saved his nomination. is that what we're seeing here? >> i think so. i think it galvanized republicans because it came from quarters where republicans don't like democrats got over their skis a little bit in some of the media outlets, like the new yorker magazine, with anonymously sourced articles. i think republicans got a little ptsd. they saw the kavanaugh hearings playing out all over again. and that's that's sort of signaled to republicans it's time to rally. i also think pete hegseth is probably doing pretty well in his meetings with senators, from what i understand. and that's how this advise and consent process works isaac, how much of this do you think is about the

political analyst, national political reporter for axios, former federal prosecutor elliot williams, kate bedingfield, former biden white house communications director. and mike dubke, former trump white house communications director. welcome to all of you. thank you very much for being here this morning. good morning. elliot, let me start with you. i don't want to lose sight of the remarkable situation here because we have gone from that. i mean, we showed that shocking moment, right? it shocked the country when he fired james comey. this it's more it's more like a whimper. >> it is more of a whimper. and it's hard to understand why he did it and the wisdom of doing it. now, none of us are christopher wray, none of us are in his head. and quite frankly, it's a personal choice from someone who's at either at or about to be in the middle of a major maelstrom with the former, with the former, and soon to be president. what i think is a little hard to get my head around is this idea of doing this to avoid dragging the fbi into the fray, which were his words. it's going to be there regardless of whether

elliot williams, cnn legal analyst, former federal prosecutor kate bedingfield, cnn political commentator and former biden white house communications director. and brad todd, cnn political commentator and republican strategist. welcome to all of you. and, brad, let me let me start with you on this vaccine question, because polio in particular is one that we have used for so many years, and rfk jr. has tried to, you know, earlier in that interview, i asked him if he still doesn't believe that any vaccine is safe and effective. and he tried to say that. i never said that. i never said that. he has said that. he has said no vaccine is safe and effective. how much of a problem is this going to be for him in the confirmation process? when i mean, we can also acknowledge that some of the other things he is for has some cross party appeal. >> well, he has some of the things he's for has cross party appeal, but some of his problems are cross party appeal problems. right. i mean, his vaccine hesitancy comes from the left. another chunk of his problems is he's been strongly pro-abortion his entire

let's discuss with former biden white house communications director kate bedingfield and former campaign advisor for marco rubio's 2016 presidential bid. among many other republican campaigns. terry sullivan, nice to see you in person. nice to see you, too. but i see him less often. i want to play some examples of democrats who are coming at this from different directions, starting with michael bennet, who spoke to kaitlan collins last night and then, well, let's do that. and then i'll tell you who's coming next that is incredibly unhelpful when you think about the the the precedent that it's going to set for donald trump, it's a gift to donald trump because he's going to come here and claim that he's just doing what joe biden did. okay. so now i want you to listen to jasmine crockett democrat from from texas, who argues like many others, that donald trump was going to do it anyway and we should be prepared to fight like they do listen the american people are tired of us bringing a butter knife to a real fight, a real war. >> i applaud the president because the american people have been