represented a misuse of military power. >> president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protesters in the legs in downtown d.c., an order secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? >> senator, i was in the washington, dc national guard unit that was in lafayette square during those events to carry out an order to. >> shoot protesters in the legs. >> i saw 50 secret service agents to get injured by rioters. >> you know what? that sounds to me? that you will comply with such an order. you will shoot protesters in the in the leg. >> joining us now is former secretary of defense mark esper, who served during the first trump administration and is now a cnn global affairs analyst. sir, thanks very much for being with us this morning. good morning. casey, are you confident that pete hegseth, as secretary of defense, would stand up to an unlawful order if the incoming president trump were to issue one? >> well, look, the senators yesterday, the democrats in particular, raised some important questions, some tough quest

this hour, i'll speak with trump's former secretary of defense, mark esper. also tonight, meta ceo mark zuckerberg announces major changes for both facebook and instagram. we're going to tell you why the social media giant is doing away with fact checkers, even as zuckerberg admits the decision will lead to harmful content on the platforms. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the situation room. let's get straight to our top story tonight. donald trump lashing out at special counsel jack smith as a federal judge, puts his report on ice. our chief legal affairs correspondent, paula reid, is joining us right now with details. paula, so what is this ruling actually mean for trump? >> so, wolf, during trump's press conference earlier today, a judge, aileen cannon ruled that jack smith's final report cannot be shared outside the justice department until an appellate court weighs in. >> trump lashed out at the special counsel several times during this press conference. let's take a listen to some of what

defense secretary mark esper, who served under donald trump, who refused to follow that order. let's listen. >> your predecessor in a trump administration, secretary esper, was asked and did use uniformed military to clear unarmed protesters. he was given the order to potentially shoot at them. helos flew low in washington, dc as crowd control. he later apologized publicly for those actions. was he right or wrong to apologize? >> senator, i was there on the ground and i saw the i saw i understand and i respect that i've been there, but i understand the level of secretary of defense involved in that moment. i was he right to so he was legality and the constitution. >> was he right or wrong to apologize? >> i'm not going to put words in the mouth of secretary esper or anybody else. >> he said them himself. you don't have to. what are you scared of? did he do the right thing by apologizing? >> i'm not scared of anything, senator. >> say yes or no. >> you can say no. >> tom. what did you think of that line of questioning? >> well, i think it shows again how completely unprepared he

secretary mark esper, always good to see you. thanks again for being here. >> thanks, jessica. >> still ahead. house speaker mike johnson is wasting no time pushing president-elect trump's agenda. how? he's charting that course ahead. we'll break it down with our political panel here in the cnn newsroom. >> kobe believed in himself at the youngest possible age. >> it's one of the most remarkable stories in sports history. >> i don't want to be remembered as just a basketball player. >> kobe premieres january 25th on cnn. >> are you tired of that old worn out bath or shower? now you can have a new one installed in just one day, with a new limited time offer from jacuzzi bath remodel. >> we're waiving all installation costs with no interest and no payments for up to one year. >> hi, i'm art edmonds. jacuzzi has been making water feel great for over 70 years, and now you can get a gorgeous custom bath remodel at a price you can afford. >> and the best part is, they'll install it in as little as one day with no stress and no mess. >>

. >> in june of 2020 then president trump directed then secretary of defense mark esper tissue protesters in the legs in downtown washington, d.c., an order secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? mr. hegseth: i was in the washington, d.c. national guard unit in lafayette square. >> would you obey an order to shoot protesters in the legs as directed to secretary of state? >> -- set a church on fire and destroyed -- >> that sounds to me like you will comply with such an order. you will shoot protesters in the leg. in recent weeks, refusing to rule out using military force to take over greenland and the panama canal and threatening to take and make cans of the 51st state. would you carry out an order from president trump to seize greenland, a territory of our native ally denmark, by force or would you comply with an order to take over the panama canal? mr. hegseth: i will emphasize that president trump received 77 million votes. >> we are not talking about the election. my question is would you use our military to take over greenland o

president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protesters in the legs in downtown, an order. secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? >> senator, i was in the washington, dc national guard unit that was in lafayette square during those to carry out an order to shoot protesters. >> that sounds to me that you will comply with such an order. you will shoot protesters in the in the leg. >> and when things didn't go their way, the democrats do what they always do. they just scream at you, just like the protesters. >> have you let an audit of any organization, yes or no? i don't want a long answer. yes or no? have you led an audit of any organization of which you were in charge? >> senator? in both of the organizations i ran, we were always completely fiscally responsible. >> yes or no? did you lead an audit and the way. yes or no? did you lead an audit? yes or no? completely mischaracterized. you can't answer this question. yes or no? did you lead an audit? do you not know this answer, senator? >> yes or no? of my l

. >> in june of 2020, then-president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protesters in the legs in downtown d.c, an order. secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? >> senator, i was in the washington, dc national guard unit that was in lafayette square during those. >> would you carry out an order to shoot protesters in the legs? >> i saw 50 secret service agents to get injured by rioters trying to jump over the fence at a church on fire and destroy what? >> that sounds to me that you will comply with such an order. you will shoot protesters in the in the leg. moving on. president elect has attacked our allies in recent weeks, refusing to rule out using military force to take over greenland and the panama canal and threatening to take to make canada the 51st state. would you carry out an order from president trump to seize greenland, a territory of our nato ally denmark, by force? or would you comply with an order to take over the panama canal? >> senator, i will emphasize that president trump received 77 million

. >> in june of 2020, then-president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protestersn downtown d.c, an order. secretary esper refused

ramming attacks, and former defense secretary under donald trump and cnn global affairs analyst mark esperke with cnn earlier about the seriousness of something like this happening again. >> i think it's a serious risk, and i think it's prudent to put it out. we often see copycats when these types of events happen, and we have a number of important events coming up. we have president carter's funeral coming up, but also inauguration, the super bowl. so a number of high profile events coming up that might attract somebody who wants to make a name for himself or herself, or who wants to advance their cause. so i think it's very smart to take extra precautionary measures. >> and investigators looking into the new year's cybertruck bombing in las vegas have recovered a second letter from a cell phone left behind by the man responsible for the explosion. they say it sheds more light on the political grievances he harbored in the final days of his life. natasha chen has that story for you. >> one letter that investigators believe was written by livelsberger calls for action to remove democrats f

and mark esper and general mark milley, who were the two leaders at the pentagon at the time, talkeds trying to do, she's a new senator from michigan. she's worked at the pentagon. she has a lot of experience in this. was trying to get pete hegseth to talk about what he would do if he, as a defense secretary, was facing a president who is trying to do something that is illegal. would he talk him out of it? would he fight him on that? would he just salute and carry out whatever trump says? >> and you can't really say that this is a hypothetical situation because it happened with the exact same president. >> so he would have 30s would you say he mostly ducked? >> he completely ducked. >> he ducked a lot of he ducked most of the democratic the democratic questioning. he ducked a lot of. but he definitely ducked on on that one the same way he ducked other senators who were trying to pin him on other a whole, whole host of other issues. yeah. >> helene cooper, the last time we had you on, we were talking about ufos and the government's dealing with that issue. now we're focused more on pr

. >> in june of 2020, then-president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protesters in the legs in downtown d.c, an order. secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? >> senator, i was in the washington, dc national guard unit that was in lafayette square during those. >> would you carry out an order to shoot protesters in the legs? i saw 50 secret service agents to get injured by rioters trying to jump over the fence, set a church on fire and destroy. that sounds to me that you will comply with such an order. you will shoot protesters in the in the leg. >> that was defense secretary nominee pete hegseth getting grilled by senator mazie hirono of hawaii yesterday, one of several big moments from the four hours he spent before the senate armed services committee. >> the question is, did he do enough to convince republican lawmakers that he's qualified for the job? ahead, winds across southern california were not as strong as predicted yesterday. >> as firefighters continue to battle the now week old wildfires. the qu

donald trump's former defense secretary mark esper, who was named in this hearing, namechecked in thisng, is going to discuss it with us. plus, dangerous winds ramping up again in southern california as people there try to put their lives back together. >> i got up at night, scream and cry, and sometimes my wife tells me to be strong. >> i can't be strong. >> kobe, the making of a legend premieres january 25th on at morgan stanley. >> old school hard work meets bold new thinking to help you see untapped possibilities and relentlessly work with you to make them real. >> greatness hurts, but sometimes you gotta put on your game face. >> that's why tylenol provides fast, effective pain relief. that's tylenol, that's care without limits. >> gold bond believes touch says everything it says. i see you, i feel you, and i know you. gold bond get in touch with irresistibly touchable skin like a relentless weed. >> moderate to severe ulcerative colitis symptoms can keep coming back. start to break away from uc with tremfya. with rapid relief at four weeks. tremfya blocks a key source of inflamma

saying, i'm not answering hypothetical questions, but it's not really a hypothetical because it was mark esper was in that position, and he felt like he got orders that that he when it came to politicizing the military, it seemed like a non-answer. it was it was a very it was very hypothetical question. and that's what they kept. all the democrats kept trying to have hypothetical questions of what if, what if, what if you don't know all the circumstances behind a what if it's not cut and dry, it's when someone has to make an in the moment decision. there's a lot of factors that go into play at that time. and so a hypothetical question and that type of atmosphere is something you can't not answer. >> shouldn't that answer always be yes, i would refuse. >> he kept saying is he said, i'm going to follow the constitution. he kept going back to i'm going to follow the constitution. and that is about as straightforward as he can without answering the hypothetical, he always said that he will follow the constitution of the united states of america. what else do you want? he's going to he's going to r

i will say that was something that surprised me was, you know, secretary mark esper, donald trump's second defense secretary. his name was not really brought up until the end, even though, you know, a lot of the questions that hegseth batted down, he said that they were hypotheticals. but elissa slotkin, who is the new senator from michigan, there she was the last democrat to go and is also served. she had one of the most incisive lines of questioning when it came to past examples of situations that trump's other defense secretaries have been in, and secretary esper has an entire book that he wrote saying why he resigned, in part because trump wanted to use the military for political reasons, and she was questioning pete hegseth if he was faced with an order like that from president donald trump, whether or not he would follow it. and i think that, you know, talking about the allegations against him, obviously, there is a reason that democrats wanted to go there. but also, if he is going to be confirmed as the next defense secretary, that is something to watch, because whether it was secre

if anything, the through line of trump's picks to lead the pentagon from general jim mattis to mark esper to pete hegseth represents and perfectly encapsulates the complete erosion of standards that, ironically, pete hegseth likes to complain about. except hegseth attributes an erosion of standards to women women who serve their country with honor, women who go toe to toe with any man serving in the us military. here's senator tim kaine questioning pete hegseth on his past. >> you cheated on the mother of that child. less than two months after that daughter was born, didn't you? >> those were false charges. >> well, not fully investigated. >> and i was completely cleared. and i am so grateful for the marriage i have to this. you've admitted me. >> you've admitted that you had sex at that hotel on october 2017. you said it was consensual. isn't that correct? >> anything. >> you've admitted that it was consensual and you were still married and you just had a child by another woman. again, how do you explain your judgment? these false charges against me? >> you know, i investigated, and i wa

. >> in june of 2020, then-president trump directed former secretary of defense mark esper to shoot protesters in the legs in downtown d.c. an order secretary esper refused to comply with. would you carry out such an order from president trump? >> senator, i was in the washington, dc national guard unit that was in lafayette square. during those, would you carry out an order to shoot protesters in the legs? i saw 50 secret service agents to get injured by rioters trying to jump over the fence, set the church on fire and destroy it. >> that sounds to me that you will comply with such an order. you will shoot protesters in the in the leg. moving on. president elect has attacked our allies in recent weeks, refusing to rule out using military force to take over greenland and the panama canal and threatening to take to make canada the 51st state. would you carry out an order from president trump to seize greenland, a territory of our nato ally denmark, by force? or would you comply with an order to take over the panama canal senator, i will emphasize that president trump received 77 million votes t

mark esper, the secretary of defense, bill barr, the attorney general, mark milley, the chairman of the, said, mr. president, president trump, do not deploy the 82nd airborne on the streets of the united states against protesters. and they won that argument and he would not commit to that. and he would not praise esper for that. and he would not talk about the bedrock american principle of an apolitical military. and that was startling. and that shows and we don't know what's going to happen, but the need for these nominees to be as loyal as possible to donald trump and not criticize him in any way in public. and so that was very concerning. >> and by the way, you could go down the line. it's not just pete hegseth. if you know that you're there in your position because of the loyalty you have shown to donald trump, that is the foundation, the bedrock. that's your operating principle, isn't it? yes. >> and i and i there was talk about whistleblowersnd people who talked about his issues. and look, i edited and approved the story. nbc news ran of ten current and former fox employees saying