john cox and katie higgins. thank you, basil

john cox and katie higgins. thank you, basil and mara, thank you for being with me for the hour. and thanks to all of you for letting us into your homes during these really trying times. we are so grateful. the beat with ari melber starts right now. hi, ari. >> hi, nicole. thank you very much. >> welcome to the beat. >> i'm ari melber. we begin. with breaking news. new reporting on a partizan purge, a plan to politicize the fbi. this involves donald trump. and i'm going to show you exactly what's happening. but the first thing to know is this breaks with history and precedent. it is not normal. it is not standard, and it is not part of the other traditional and even expected personnel moves that you have between administrations. you may have heard the term political appointee and our coverage of these hearings. that's all standard, what's not standard, and what could be a friday night sort of news dump, an effort to hide something that donald trump doesn't want you to see on the news tonight. is this top, nonpartisan and career fbi officials basically being pushed in a so-called

higgins close to the bottom. very close to the bottom. maybe they'll get there. larry: it's a 12 step program. joe concha, katieve forbes, thank you very much. we'll ask former dhs secretary chad wolf, next up. i'm kudlow, thank you, kids. appreciate it. ♪ - [female narrator] they line up by the thousands. each one suffering with a story that breaks your heart. like ravette, who needed help, because every step brought her pain. their only hope is a ship unlike any other. mercy ships. the largest floating civilian hospital in the world to bring free surgeries and care for people who have no other hope. only 62 cents a day, $19 a month, will help provide urgently needed surgery for the world's forgotten poor. if you have ever wondered: "how can i, just one person, make a difference?" this is your answer. so many are still suffering. so don't wait. call the number on your screen. or donate now at mercyships.org. that's the number on your screen. ♪ lyric all right, issue here is defense secretary pete hegseth says military force is on the table with respect to problems on mexico and the cartels. joining us now, for