mitch mcconnell and henry clay. well, i'm not sure anybody would call senator mcconnell the great compromiser, which is what people called henry clay. that said, senator mcconnell has reached a lot of compromise over time. i interviewed senator angus king of maine and. he said the problem for mitch is, is that his obstructions are notorious and people don't really see his compromises. but even lately in the biden administration, you could see that. you could see that in the infrastructure bill, you could see that in the chips act. you could see that in the gun safety bill. those are all the products of compromise that he put together when he needed to obstruct. what was his mindset when he thought he needed to obstruct? well, that he when after president obama was elected, the republicans were really on their backs. you know, they for a while, the democrats had 60 votes. and so senator mcconnell told his conference, you know, we still have a lot of power here. really, the power they had is the power of no, because i

so so mitch mcconnell is a hypocrite. i could care less what mitch mcconnell thinks. he's irrelevant at this point in time. he once upon a time had power. his influence over the u.s. senate is over. >> one moment. i do want to stand by because we are expecting to see the vice president, jd vance, arrive here on the floor to cast that vote. as ashley noted his response there, saying that she believed he was making light of the fact that he is going to have to come in and do something we rarely have to see a vice president do break a tied vote on a cabinet nominee. we're going to bring that moment to you live after a quick break take an ekg from anywhere. >> but with six times the data in your smartwatch, do that. introducing cardio mobile excel the fda cleared ekg that provides six times more heart data than any smartwatch, and it detects three of the most common arrhythmias in just 30s, including atrial fibrillation, bradycardia, and tachycardia. cardio mobile excel, the world's most advanced personal ekg. get yours today at cartier.com or amazon. >> on weight loss me

so at this point, we're waiting for mcconnell. but it really does seem like this vote might be cooked, and it seems like pete hegseth will, in fact, be confirmed as donald trump's defense secretary. now, i've seen stranger things happen before. this felt almost like it could have been that moment where john mccain at the last minute, saved obamacare repeal several years ago. but since that moment, things have been pretty predictable in terms of how they're going to go both under the first trump administration, both under president biden. and this vote tonight had people really sitting on the edge of their seats. thom tillis wasn't even in the building all day. he seriously just came in for this vote. i don't even know if he officially voted yet, but his position is clear in his tweet. he did his due diligence after the confirmation hearing. i know he had serious concerns. he's communicated those to the administration before that, to the trump transition. certainly there's been a lot of pressure on these senators, but ultimately it

mitch mcconnell voting no. and in a statement explaining his vote, mcconnell talked about the daily, the daily test of managing nearly 3,000,003 million personnel and nearly $1 trillion budget, and america's global alliances, saying, quote, mr. hegseth has failed as yet to demonstrate that he will pass the test. what should we take from mcconnell's no vote tonight? >> i think we're not too surprised about mcconnell. here he is in the past, been willing to break from president trump. and trump even openly opined today about whether he would vote. so trump may have known that perhaps mcconnell wasn't going to support pete hegseth. but i do think it's been a remarkable turn of events since last week. it seemed that pete hegseth was going to smoothly be confirmed. that is not what has played out. we saw that affidavit from his former sister in law come out, and that seemed to really change people's minds and weigh on people like senators collins, like senator murkowski, and now mitch mcconnell. and they really refe

mcconnell voted no, but tillis voted yes. we talked about the mcconnell vote. but what do we know about tillis ultimate decision here? >> well, really, what he explained here is he felt like he didn't see enough firsthand accounts from some of the allegations that we saw here. we saw hegseth during his hearing, really talking about these are anonymous sources. these are journalists. these are just reportings and really trying to dismiss it that way. and so that ultimately seemed like why he came to the end here. but you can't ignore that. there was a pressure campaign, really, from the very beginning, we saw ads running are really urging republicans to support pkexec. you saw people like elon musk also supporting him. so there was certainly a pressure campaign from the trump world. and i think that really got to a lot of senators here, including tillis. >> all right. i was giving i was giving you sort of that stink eye at you, but stink eye at senator tillis response here, because to me, there was an fbi background check that was given over not to the entire co

mitch mcconnell telling one or two people. i called into his office today to get an indication at all which way he was leaning. if i had to bet, i would say no. for tom tillis, i would say yes. but we will find out shortly here. >> we will. and sean, good evening, it was interesting to see president trump as he was leaving the whitehouse today heading to marine one. he raised questions about mitch mcconnell's vote. he was asked about pete hegseth's chances. he said that the two, mercowsky and collins were expected. and they said, what about mitch, what is mitch doing? and i think that there is a sense that the former senate majority leader may vote no on pete hegseth. that brings it to three no votes. and the biggest question is tillis from north carolina. there was a glowing statement about his trip to north carolina and the affected areas today. saying how much it meant to him personally and the people surviving hurricane helene and the devastation still after all these weeks. that is not an indication how he is going to vot

that's i mean, trump doesn't like mcconnell. obviously, that's been very clear in many of his truthsocial posts. but but he was walking out this morning about 12 hours ago, believing he was going to be a no. anyway. >> yeah. and i mean, i thought it was really interesting. our colleague ted barrett talked to thune earlier today, and thune said that he had sent a list to the white house of who was backing hegseth. it's unclear what that list said exactly. and obviously, mcconnell did vote to advance this nomination yesterday, but it is not unheard of. it is not necessarily even uncommon that a republican senator believes that they should continue the debate in the process. in the united states senate, but then ultimately decides to do something else on the final vote. so it is just a question mark of is that donald trump projecting what he thinks might happen with someone who he has not been close with on capitol hill? or is donald trump in the know about something because of communication from capitol hill? and i think we just d

this is something that when mcconnell, a former senate leadership aide, told me yesterday about mcconnell said that there isn't a single ideological similarity between mcconnell and the murkowski collins wing of the party, which tells me this. he's deadly serious about being totally uncompromising in his defense and foreign policy views. and two, somebody in the trump world is going to need to come up with a mcconnell strategy because he could be a real problem for their entire agenda if they don't come up with something. >> i'm a little skeptical. i mean, i think. >> you think he'll fall in line. >> i don't think he'll fall in line, but i think he'll definitely it feels to me like he's prioritizing his legacy. right? like, post us january 6th, we know that there's been a rift between them. and now that he's out of leadership, it feels like on the issues he cares the most about, he can make a point about the ways the party has changed and the ways that we know he has been uncomfortable with. and it reminds me of more like john mccain in the first term or or moments of mitt romney, someone

michael tackett, deputy washington bureau chief for the associated press and author of the mcconnell" join us wednesday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> witnessed democracy in action with c-span, experience history as it unfolds with c-span's live

i will leave it up to senator mcconnell to explain his vote. at the end of the day i was okay. now, all of these accusations against him were disturbing, but they were never proven and he did a really good job at the hearing and that's what got me to yes. >> all right. let's move on to president trump's agenda, his mass deportation plans. he wants to deport the 11 million people who are here in this country illegally. you are proposing a $100 billion package which by some estimates would deport about a million people. so, senator, my question for you is what happens? what is the plan for the remaining 10 million people who are here illegally? >> i'm not so sure they're going to deport 11 milliopeople. he said they're going to deport people here that are part of gangs, that are criminals. there's 1.4 million who have had their case fully adjudicated and they are still here. there's about 680,000 convicted of serious crimes. but here is the question for the republican party, we talk about doing this, but we don't have the resources -- we haven given the trump team the resources.

mitch mcconnell. i mean, this is a man that his job was to push a cabinet official over the line, if need be, when he was in charge of the senate. and now he could be the guy, the senator, that could potentially help sink it, do you think? could you see mitch mcconnell voting against donald trump on this? >> we'll find out soon enough. but i think changing your position right from the leader of the party to an individual senator representing his state, has a liberating quality, right? when you're the leader, you obviously have to represent the majority of your caucus as an individual senator. that is not his responsibility. and so i think he's probably looking very closely at the historical consequences of this vote. i certainly hope he is. i don't know any more than you do at this point in time, but i've heard the same reports that you're sharing. >> if hegseth is confirmed in the end, no matter how the math works it out. what's your biggest fear? >> my biggest fear is this is a person, number one, w

and put plug in mcconnell and trump. i mean, this has been true really, you know, since trump arrived. but what mcconnell, above all can do is compartmentalize. i mean, you know, there are points where he can break with trump. but i think on the biggest policy goals of the republican party confirming justices mcconnell was the one who, in essence, stole the seat from obama back in 2016 after antonin scalia died passing the tax cuts. mcconnell will be there, but that doesn't mean he's going to be there always, and certainly i think now that he's leaving office, he is letting his true feelings for trump be, you know, a little better known. go back to the period right after january 6th. he excoriated him on the floor, but he blocked him from, you know, really from being convicted by the senate in a way that paved the road for everything that followed, allowing him to run again. i think that's i think that's pretty much what you're going to get from mcconnell. >> there were a lot of contradictions, though, you know, exhibite

no vote saying mcconnell is always a no. the 2 have had an estranged relationship for years. the president's unconventional choice to lead the pentagon was met with skepticism even from some republicans due to the lack of experience managing something of that size and allegations of sexual assault and alcohol abuse. hegseth denied that. trump and his allies leaned heavily on senate republicans and managed to get him through with the slimmest of margins. >> kevin: rich edson in d.c., thank you. appreciate that. let's bring in tonight's political panel, republican strategist matt whitlock, democratic strategist and judicial watch president. i want to play this quick, this is pete hegseth. people were talking about whether or not he could do the job, a qualified he might be. it certainly was confident. listen to this and i will get your reaction on the other side. >> we want world war ii was 74 star generals -- 1 -- today we have 44 4 star generals. it's time to give someone with dust on his boots the helm. a change agent. poli

and, you know, that really suggests that mcconnell is concerned about u.s. national security, and he doesn't think that pete hegseth is up for defending u.s. allies. or if he would, um, you know, mcconnell, very significantly, will be the chair of the defense subcommittee of the appropriations committee. and that means that he will be controlling the budget of the pentagon. and hegseth will be coming before that subcommittee to ask for more money. i think it's a sign that, first of all, we we have no guarantee that mcconnell will be a yes on all of other trump's other nominees. and second of all, it just sets up this very contentious, potentially contentious relationship between trump and hegseth for the next couple of years, as well as, you know, mcconnell saying, i'm i'm willing to buck trump if i need to. >> let me ask you about this reporting from the washington post overnight that the president late yesterday fired at least a dozen inspectors general. new york times has that number at 17, just to 2022. congress passed greater protections for the indepen

according to several of these senators, we don't know about mcconnell just yet. concerns about his experience or lack thereof, and also his comments about women in the military and in combat roles. >> yes. well, thank you, abby. it's deeply concerning and it's disappointing, disappointing to see that he was confirmed. um, i served in iraq in 2007 and six, 2006, 2007. i was a company commander of military police. i had the privilege to lead men and women in combat. and these comments, i feel like that he's made on the record about women. he's he's kind of changed his position a couple of times. but the comments he's made already. um, it degrades their service. i'm going to tell you the example of one soldier, one of my females. um, a gunner in her truck when her truck was hit with an ied, the squad leader was fatally wounded. it was her calm under pressure that rendered life saving aid to her teammate and her calm that allowed to communicate to the rest of the squad. they got out of the kill zone, and now we're talking. almost 20 years later, her service, her sacr

and mcconnell no longer has any sway. he has lost his perch, and now he is crying in the wilderness, just like those democrats used to do, who he used to mock, who he used to steamroll over. so frankly, i'm not all that impressed with what he's doing. it's sort of nice that he's come along. welcome to the resistance. but it doesn't make a dime's worth of difference. and it would be very nice if he would go back and do some mea culpas and talk to some of his colleagues about the danger they have now taken on themselves. every screw up, every scandal, every casualty, every mismanagement in the pentagon they own because they voted for this guy knowing he was an incompetent fool. and mcconnell might want to put the put them, you know, up to that might remind them of this. what i would say is this the only good thing about this is maybe some of them will think twice and three times about confirming even more ridiculous nominees like tulsi gabbard or kash patel. you know, guys, you don't want to vote against all of them. just v

well, mcconnell joined senator susan collins and lisa murkowski in giving the old thumbs down. he refused to reveal how he would vote until he reached the senate floor. but now he is not holding back. in a searing statement released just a few moments ago, he wrote this the united states faces coordinated aggression from adversaries bent on shattering the order underpinning american security and prosperity in public comments and testimony before the armed services committee, mr. hegseth did not reckon with this reality. now, hegseth had faced serious questions over allegations of sexual assault, alcohol abuse and also financial mismanagement of veterans charities. he denies all of that happened and the man he will soon report to is very pleased with tonight's outcome. >> we just heard that we have a great secretary of defense. we're very happy about that and we appreciate everybody's vote. >> are you disappointed that mcconnell voted no. >> i didn't even know that. no, i don't know that. i just heard that we won. winning is what matters, right? >> let's talk more about this bre

and when you have susan collins and mitch mcconnell, those are two voices who have not been hesitant about pushing back on trump in the past and they could use their way to do that. host: what is mitch mcconnell's role going to be now that he is not majority or minority leader in the senate? guest: that is a good question and one that we are watching very closely. he's made it clear that he continues to push for american strength of the world stage, he plans to push for boosting defense spending. that is really his number one priority that he has said over and over again. he will be chairing the subcommittee, so he will have a lot of power in deciding how much money and where money is spent when it comes to u.s. defense. that will be a key focus for him he's also made it clear he stands by john through to fight to keep the filibuster in place. last time around trump didn't demand that the filibuster be ended to get things done easier, mitch mcconnell said no, released it is grounded in the first ministration. john thune has indicated that he plans to protect the filibuster and we kno

eastern as we explore the life and career of senator mcconnell. views on the importance of the senate, his 17 years of leading his fellow republicans and mans for his remaining 2 years in office as well as other topics. our guest is the deputy washington, d.c. bureau chief for the associated press and author of the new mcconnell biography, "the price of power." join us for the career and legacy of senate leader mitch mcconnell tonight at 8 p.m. eastern on can c-span. ♪♪ >> the house will be in order. >> this year c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979 we've been your primary source for capitol hill providing balanced, unfiltered coverage of government, taking you to where

and mcconnell no longer has any sway. he has lost his perch, and now he is crying in the wilderness, just like those democrats used to do, who he used to mock, who he used to steamroll over. so frankly, i'm not all that impressed with what he's doing. it's sort of nice that he's come along. welcome to the resistance. but it doesn't make a dime's worth of difference, and it would be very nice if he would go back and do some mea culpas and talk to some of his colleagues about the danger they have now taken on themselves. every screw up, every scandal, every casualty, every mismanagement in the pentagon they own because they voted for this guy knowing he was an incompetent fool. and mcconnell might want to put the put them, you know, up to that might remind them of this. what i would say is this the only good thing about this is maybe some of them will think twice and three times about confirming even more ridiculous nominees like tulsi gabbard or kash patel. you know, guys, you don't want to vote against all of them. just v

and mcconnell no longer has any sway. he has lost his perch, and now he is crying in the wilderness, just like those democrats used to do, who he used to mock, who he used to steamroll over. so frankly, i'm not all that impressed with what he's doing. it's sort of nice that he's come along. welcome to the resistance. but it doesn't make a dime's worth of difference, and it would be very nice if he would go back and do some mea culpas and talk to some of his colleagues about the danger they have now taken on themselves. every screw up, every scandal, every casualty, every mismanagement in the pentagon they own because they voted for this guy knowing he was an incompetent fool. and mcconnell might want to put the put them, you know, up to that might remind them of this. what i would say is this the only good thing about this is maybe some of them will think twice and three times about confirming even more ridiculous nominees like tulsi gabbard or kash patel. you know, guys, you don't want to vote against all of them. just v

susan collins lisa and your presidents sir mitch mcconnell have you spoken with those three?regularly and the job i had prior is the whip in the senate on any given day over the last couple for years we were playing defense more than often's now it's moving the agenda now we're rolling in the same direction with more conversations and only republican in new england the only one who can win in the state of maine so they'll bring their own views to this and they tell senators your vote is your vote and be with the team whenever you can. and they try and make sure pulling everything together as there is more than an incentive than ever before we've a presidential came with a big mandate and responding to what the american people are telling us. and is they are tired of left-leaning progress when it comes to cultural issues and 90% of the american public says it's wrong and whatever you come from in the country a lot of what president trump campaigned on and what we want to accomplish is a winning issue. mitch mcconnell had the issue at donald trump and had his issues there no re

pete hegseth has been confirmed by the narrowest of margins, mitch mcconnell among others, the formerpublican leader basically came out against him. along with susan collins. you mentioned the statement from mitch mcconnell, it goes on to say, it is a damning statement and lengthy as well, in his testimony before the community pete hegseth provided no substantial observations on how to defend taiwan or philippines against a chinese attacked or whether he believes the united states should do so. he felt for that matter to articulate in any detail a strategic vision for dealing with the gravest long—term threat emanating from the prc. the people's republic of china. what i think this does is it underlines the power of donald trump over the republican party that he can get so controversial a nominee as pete hegseth through albeit absolutely tiny margin. we have any detail of what kind of defence secretary pete hegseth would to be? we defence secretary pete hegseth would to be?— defence secretary pete hegseth would to be? ~ ~ ., , , , would to be? we know trump sees him as a disruptor_ wo

but the big surprise of the night was mitch mcconnell voting against hegseth. and there is no secret to the tense relationship between mcconnell and trump. in fact, i caught up with republican senator tuberville just a few minutes ago who spoke with me about just how tense this relationship is and how it's it's no mystery why mcconnell voted no. but hegseth nomination process in general was just full of controversies. there were a number of allegations of sexual misconduct with women, of excessive drinking, and how he spent his money and his former jobs. so he had a lot to defend throughout this entire process, he continued to maintain he did nothing wrong. and trump stood by him this whole time. so getting hegseth over the finish line and doing so so quickly was a huge win for trump. and now with hegseth officially sworn in, that's another another win for trump and his administration. >> yeah. and one has to wonder whether that will help set the tone for the process for some of the other nominees. all right, andy greer, thank you so much for that. all right. w

but the big surprise of last night was that senator mitch mcconnell voted against hegseth nomination. now, there is a long history of tension between mcconnell and trump, and last night's vote just showed the latest installment of that. i want to read to you some of mcconnell's statement from last night as to why he voted against hegseth. and mcconnell said, quote, effective management of nearly 3,000,003 million military and civilian personnel, an annual budget of nearly 1 trillion. and alliances and partnerships around the world is a daily test with staggering consequences for the security of the american people and our global interests. mr. hegseth has failed as yet to demonstrate that he will pass this test. now, when i tried asking mcconnell in the hallways this morning for any further details, he did not respond to any of my requests to comment, but he says he has confirmation process from the beginning was a bumpy one. he has faced allegations of sexual misconduct against women, of excessive drinking in the workplace and mismanagement of funds of his previous organizations. but

. >> after becoming the longest-serving party leader in senate history republican mitch mcconnell ofdown from his leadership position this week, watch c-span tonight at 8:00 pm eastern as we explore the life and career of senator mcconnell. he shares his views on the importance of the senate, 17 years of leading his fellow republicans and plans for his remaining two years in office as well as other topics. our guest for the program is michael tackett, bureau chief for the associated press and author of a new mcconnell biography, the price of power, join us for the career and legacy of senate leader mitch mcconnell tonight at 8:00 pm eastern on c-span. >> witness democracy in action with c-span. experience history as it unfolds with c-span's live coverage as republicans take control of both chambers of congress and the new a new chapter begins for the swearingen of the 40 seventh president of the united states which on friday don't miss the opening day of the one hundred 19 congress, watch the election of the house speaker, the swearingen of new members of congress and the senate and

disappointed that. >> mcconnell voted no? >> i didn't even know that. no, i don't know that. i just heard that we won. winning is what matters, right? >> just a few hours ago, pete hegseth was sworn in. vice president jd vance actually took a question while that swearing in was going on. a reporter asked, why should women trust? why should women in the armed services trust, pete hegseth, given the allegations that he has denied, though, but of sexual assault and abuse. the vice president issued a full throated response. he said all people in armed services should trust him because he looks out for them. he's going to fight for them. he's going to make sure that we have the kind of military that we can all be proud of. so the trump administration certainly is excited and happy that pete was able to make it through. but we should note that this was only the second time in history that there had to be a tie breaking vote for a cabinet official. alex. >> yeah, absolutely. the other being betsy devos in the first trump administration. yamiche, stay right there. because joining us

susan collins, lisa murkowski, mitch mcconnell now that he is not in leadership anymore. mitch mcconnell has a singular focus for the remaining two years on his senator which is to continue to advance his national security doctrine, his foreign policy doctrine, how he sees the world, and that involves of course pushing back against what he sees as a more isolationist streak popping up at his party. in one of the ways he is thinking about doing that is on these nominations. so you have to really consider is mitch mcconnell going to vote for someone like tulsi gabbard or someone like pete hegseth? a lot of it depends on what they say during the confirmation hearings and how they lay out their case in terms of who to watch on the senate floor, i think those three. young that, some senators to have their pet issue they like to focus on when it comes to certain subject matter areas that cabinet nominees could have jurisdiction over. so again, it is nominee-dependent that i would say those three are the ones to focus on. host: c-span collars also have their issues like to focus

. >> kentucky senator mitch mcconnell has spent 40 years in the u.s. senate, 17 as leader of his republican colleagues, the longest any senator has been at the top of the leadership wrong in either political party. senator john thune was elected a few weeks ago to head up the republican majority in the senate in 2025. journalist michael tackett's book, a profile of senator mcconnell, is called the price of power and subtitled a mitch -- how mitch mcconnell mastered the senate, changed america and lost his party. mike tackett conducted over 50 hours of interviews and was granted access to never before released oral histories. >> journalist michael tackett with his book, the price of power on this episode of book notes plus with host brian lamb. book notes plus is available on the c-span now free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. >> democracy. it is not just an idea, it is a process shaped by leaders, elected to the

" and subtitled how mitch mcconnell mastered the senate, and lost his party. the bureau chief of the associated press conducted 50 hours of interviews and granted access to never before released oral histories. >> michael tackett, "how mcconnell mastered the senate an lost his party." book notes is available on the free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. democracy, it isn't just an idea, it's a process, a process shaped by leaders, elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with regarding its basic principles and where debates unfold and decisions made and the nation's courts is charted. democracy in real time. this is your government at work. this is c-span, giving you your democracy unfiltered. >> a conversation now on think tank funding with ben freeman.

meaning mitch mcconnell former senate majority leader. do you know today? on closure last night to vote for pete hegseth. we have another vote tonight 9:00 to 10:00. we'll probably lose collins and murcowski but i think if you look at the long game here, senator mcconnell understand we have to get somebody in there very quickly because of all the fires that we have all over the world. but again, we really don't need his vote. we still have 50 and jd vance can come over and break the tie. i'm really not concerned about that one. i'm more concerned about those down the road. we have close the book on him and hopefully we do that tonight. >> on the hegseth vote. if mcconnell votes no on hegseth you couldn't lose anymore. jd vance would have to break the tie. is there anybody else you are worried about? >> not really. if you look at this, again as i said earlier, they were on the attack mode last night before the vote going around to each one of us. each had had an assignee saying you'll regret this. we didn't do all this when they had their nominees. thats the

mitch mcconnell had his issues with donald trump. donald trump had his issues with mitch mcconnell. i don't think there's any reason to rehash any of that. however, mitch mcconnell is in a very unique position, and as much as he knows how hard your job is, right, have you? because he seems to be a question mark, especially on some of these cabinet picks, and i want to go over those with you. have you had the conversation? mitch, i'm really going to need your help. you know how hard this job can be. and he's from kentucky. it's not like he's from a blue state in any way, right? >> i think and i think he understands his job, obviously. and i and i expect that he will be doing everything he can to help the team make sure that we're successful. he obviously has strong views on national security, foreign policy. >> the most interesting democrat that i see right now, and a person that seems the most independent, is john fetterman from pennsylvania. he supported israel. he supported closing the borders. obviously, he's very pro-energy being from pennsylvania and fracking. but he also has b

it's no secret that mcconnell and trump have a long, bitter history. and this was just the latest development in that chapter. but hegseth was confirmed and sworn in this morning. and then noem had a much more easier confirmation process. she even had seven democratic senators vote to confirm her this morning. so what we're seeing play out is republicans trying to give trump these early wins, as he's trying to get his cabinet sewed up as quickly as possible. >> all right, andy greer on capitol hill, thank you so much for that reporting today. right now in las vegas, president trump is rallying with supporters. and tips are top of mind for the president in nevada. it's a swing state he took back for the first time in 20 years for republicans back in november. cnn's senior white house reporter, kevin liptak is joining us now. kevin, obviously, this rally is still ongoing. we see the big sign behind you. no tax on tips. what else are we hearing from the president yeah, he did just get to that subject in this speech. >> he's about 25 minutes into his rally

do you see mcconnell potentially swinging the pendulum here?r in a leadership position. >> i think the fix is in. and here's why. i think that in texas favor jodi ernst was the key swing senator. she's on the armed services committee. she herself was a victim of sexual abuse and was, of course, in the military and then the right wing pressure machine got put on her in a very big way, and she folded. and i think every other senator realizes mcconnell is probably different, because my guess is he's in his last two years, he's had his glory days, and he doesn't really he's immune from those kind of attacks. but no other republican senator is. and we know how they're going to react because we saw how they reacted to these pardons. >> to people. >> who viciously beat cops. 2 to 1. they were apologists. i didn't read it. i didn't see it. but the fact. >> that they. >> could. >> take that. >> and sort of basically say, let's move on shows that their fealty to trump is unchecked. so i think it would be shocking. maybe mcconnell will be a no vote again.

mcconnell is an old nemesis of the president. >> reporter: are you disappointed that that mcconnell voted no? >> i didn't even know that, no. i don't know that that. i just heard that we won. winning is what matter, right? >> reporter: on hegseth, democrats said they had reservations about allegations of sexual assault, which he denies. >> so as we near the vote for this most important position, my plea to my colleagues as one who has supported every secretary of defense who's ever come before my if committee,s democrat or republican, is don't rush this and make a mistake. everyone knows the risk we would be undertaking in confirming pete hegseth to be secretary of defense. >> reporter: time is of the essence to confirm if nominees. the senate broke a filibuster last night on the nomination of kristi noem to serve as home security secretary for confirmation -- her confirmation vote comes at 11:30 eastern time, expect bipartisan support. jackie. jackie: chad pergraming thank you so much. meantime, pete hegseth's vote coming down to that tie breaker. is that that a preview of what's still t

that playbook comes from a rather unlikely source, senator mitch mcconnell.go down in history as an infamous obstructionist. he opposed warmer president obama's agenda at every turn he refused to call out russian meddling in the 2016 election and he failed to follow through on his own condemnation of president-elect donald trump's role in inciting january's now, imagine if democrats use mcconnell's playbook of simply saying, no. for good. rick wilson and molly jong-fast are with us. molly, they told democrats that when they go low, we go high. but even she is now repeating that catchphrase, where she campaigned for kamala harris -- isn't it about time that democrats sort of learn how to get into the mud with their opponents or do you think that democrats may have kind of missed the boat on that ends and too long on some imaginary moral high ground >> >> yeah, i think that is a really good point. look, democrats just ran on the idea that this was an election about democracy, that this was incredibly important, so the question is, if this is true, if what they

eastern as we explore the life and career of senator mcconnell. he shares his views on the importance of the senate, his 17 years of leading his fellow republicans and mans for his remaining 2 years in office as well as other topics. our guest is the deputy washington, d.c. bureau chief for the associated press and author of the new mcconnell biography, "the price of power." join us for the career and legacy of senate leader mitch mcconnell tonight at 8 p.m. eastern on can c-span. ♪♪ >> the house will be in order. >> this year c-span celebrates 45 years of covering congress like no other. since 1979 we've been your primary source for capitol hill providing balanced, unfiltered coverage of government, taking you to where the policy's debated and decided all with the support of america's cable companies. c-span, 45 years and counting. powered by cable. >> goodno afternoon, everyone. welcome to to midtown cinema. my name is stuart landon, i am the director of community engagement at the cinema. i'll be your host and moderator for this afternoon's pro

>> yes, thune watched mitch mcconnell for a long time, he was a top mitch mcconnell sort of acolyte,nd mitch mcconnell is still around and a lot of his leadership team is up in the air, but some are still around. a lot of the experience will still be around john thune. he has a leadership team already that's been in the room sort of knows how to deal with not only the schumer team and that operation, but also just the senate in general, the way that the floor works, so, i think that they'll probably hit the ground running, it's not like, you know, when speaker johnson became speaker after kevin mccarthy was without-- he had no experience at all in leadership, so it's not that type of situation. >> what role will senator mitch mcconnell play in the 119th congress? as noted he's still serving and representing kentucky. >> he'll still have a voice in leadership and still obviously a lot of folks look at him as somebody who has a ton of experience and he's going to be on the subcommittee on appropriations for defense and a lot of say over defense spending which is obviously a huge priori

mitch mcconnell was still condemning him months after on the floor. nancy pelosi decided to use january 6th as political gain. she refused to allow mccarthy to appoint republicans to the committee, she didn't let them put january 6th committee with republicans -- >> the january 6th committee had the republican of all republicans, liz cheney and she was booted out of your party. >> good republican. >> let me ask you this, maria, attorney general merrick garland put out a statement saying he's proud of the -- the public servants of the justice department have sought to hold accountable those criminally responsible for the january 6th attack on our democracy with unrelenting integrity. they have conducted themselves in a manner that adheres to the rule of law and honors our obligation to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of everyone in this country. but, you know, maria, and i don't have to tell you this, a lot of democrats are just totally disappointed in merrick garland and think he botched this. did he botch this? >> i think way too much ti