milley: probably not, but i'm ok. >> good, good. well, we're honored to have you here and to share your expertise and knowledge about it. what is a dangerous world? and, and i know you've given a lot of thought to it and you keep tabs on everything going on the world. let's go around the world to some of the hot spots that you're keeping an eye on. let's start in the middle east. we've seen what's happened over the last few, almost the past year. we saw this past weekend the israeli strikes in iran. you and i in the pentagon been talking about israeli strikes in iran a few years ago. that was a very big deal. it is a very big deal. what's your sense of where this goes next and just how dangerous it is going forward? gen. milley: first, let me thank you and the team for inviting me and, uh, i recognize that i can't see hardly anybody but i know that the people in the road are controlling basically $24 trillion or $25 trillion of a $30 trillion economy. so good on you for doing that. and you may or may not quite realize it, i know peo

he was talking about court-martialing general milley. congratulations again on your win.> thank you. >>> yesterday it was matt gaetz. today it is rfk jr. will president- elect trump add more names to his cabinet list? i'll ask one of the most well-sourced reporters on all things trump. ♪we can secure our world.♪ ♪don't just use a password alone.♪ ♪mfa sends a call, a text or a code to your phone.♪ learn more at cisa.gov/secureourworld ♪that's how we can secure our world!♪ ♪we can secure our world.♪ ♪watch out for offers too good to be true.♪ that's phishing! ♪someone's trying to take advantage of you.♪ learn more at cisa.gov/secureourworld ♪that's how we can secure our world!♪ >>> with our politics lead, a total challenge to the system. that's how one trump ally described to cnn the president- elect's cabinet and staff picks. with me now, from "the new york times." we've wrested her phone away from her because she has constantly breaking stories. thank you for giving us the four minutes before your breaking stories. yesterday matt gaetz. today, rfk jr. what is the mindset

. >>> plus, my sit-down with former top general mark milley. his defense of women in combat that's clashing with trump's choice to lead the pentagon. >>> and elon musk and vivek ramaswamy reveal their plans for massive cuts on federal employees as "the 11th hour" gets underway on this wednesday night. >> good evening once again, i'm stephanie ruhle, and the trump transition is moving along quickly. jd vance is spending his days on the hill rallying gop support for two of president-elect trump's cabinet picks, matt gaetz for attorney general and pete hegseth for defense secretary. a spokesperson tells nbc news, quote, he reiterated that mr. gaetz deserves a fair and transparent process, something that all of trump's nominees deserve. meanwhile, the house ethics committee met toopd on whether to release their reports surrounding allegations of -- that he denies. the committee, despite talking about transparency did not come to an agreement about releasing that report, but they did agree to complete it. gaetz is facing a very tough confirmation ba

. >> that sentiment was echoed last night by retired general mark milley. he served as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under trump. >> what's your take on women in combat in the military? yay or nay? >> women have been in combat, and it doesn't matter if that 762 hits you in the chest. no one gives a [ bleep ] if it's a woman or a guy who pulled that trigger. you're still dead. so, if you meet the standards, our military must be and always should be a standards-based, merit-based military. period. full stop. >> he was at this event in washington, d.c. last night, and stephanie ruhle asked about the trump team's promise to make government more efficient. milley said the military could use reforms, but they have to be done carefully. >> if all you're going to do is come in with a wrecking ball and just blow things apart, then you're, what you're going to get is rubble. and if that's what you want, that's awesome if you want rubble, but that's not going to defend the united states. >> milley says he thinks the pentagon needs reforms to adapt to the moder

this is where milley held the line.why he is going to the pentagon and defense industry first. the first formidable what he wants to execute. >> laura: first he said it they want resistance that's why they like people like milley. supposed defenders of norms and protocol. they have forgotten that the president, not the secretary of defense is the commander-in-chief. the pentagon chief is supposed to carry out of the president's defense priorities, not disrupt them. now, legitimate questions with a nominee's relevant experience, that's par for the course, that's one thing. but the argument that a nominee is not qualified because he is aligned with the president on policy is ludicrous. and that's going to fail. so if democrats learn nothing here, they tried to stop trump's re-election with these types of generic hyperbolic attacks for the past three years. well, really the past nine years. how did that work out for them? and let's face it the pentagon needs major reform. it's lurch from one disaster after another from the

. (♪♪) >>> i think mark milley has to be recalled to active duty on the afternoon of the 20th. a military tribunal, a court-martial has to be called or impaneled a court-martial. and mark milley has to be brought up on charges in a court-martial. >> that was steve bannon earlier this evening relishing the thought of president-elect donald trump exacting revenge on the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. the now retired general mark milley who has reportedly called trump the most dangerous person to this country and a fascist. as the transition to trump 2.0 gets underway, trump and his allies have their eyes set on retribution and their plans are coming into focus. the "wall street journal" reports on the establishment of a warrior board to review and recommend the removal of senior officers deemed unfit for leadership. and new reporting from reuters reveals that trump's team is drawing up its own list of military officers to be fired. a list that could include the chairman of the joint chiefs as well as any and all officers connected to former chairman milley. accordi

when he chose mark milley, he thought he was choosing somebody that was going to be loyal to him.ark milley turned out to be the ultimate in his mind -- >> yes, we know the turning point for general milley, that was walking across lafayette park during the -- >> george floyd. >> during george floyd protests and millie peeled off and said, this is political. and later apologized for that. so it certainly -- at that point for donald trump, he was no longer a loyalist. although he managed to stay. >> david: rachel scott, from your reporting on the trail, names that you have interacted with that you think have potential shots at being part of a trump administration? >> i had my eyes peeled on doug burgum, who was there, north dakota governor. vivek ramaswamy as well. we've reminded just how much this is a party that has coalesced around the former president. after january 6th, mitch mcconnell saying donald trump was morally responsible for what happened that day. he's now endorsed him. if donald trump is the projected winner, if he goes to the white house, there is no senate majority

milley's right here.'t believe he was right before when he called trump a fascist and i don't believe he believe that. we are a big strong country and part of the reason is because of this beautiful thing hour founding fathers gave us called constitution that provides checks and balances to whoever is in office. i would like to give the liberals a little note, do some deep breaths, recognize and meditate this evening after you are done watching the show that those checks and balances are a good thing. whenever the guy that you don't like ends up being and power. >> trace: leave the drama. may mailman, former federal prosecutor, cnn analyst said this to "new york magazine", quoting here "somebody needs to tell the manhattan d.a.'s office that the trump case is over. but the question here is alvin bragg, because he's hanging on for dear life. >> yeah so presidents while in office cannot be prosecuted but there was an open question since president trump was prosecuted before he was president for the second t

. >> and intellectuals like mark milley arcs a bright man, and john kelly, both admitted that donaldre said milley, should they be concerned about retribution from that kind of board? >> i would expect so. we have seen this before in history, different armies. the most notable is the stalin army early in world war ii when he went through a purge of his center corpse. it sewed deep mistrust in the atmosphere corps and created an incompetent army that solved their problem with cannon meat, as they called it back then, still do. >> y'all. let's play pete hegseth, the gentleman who is going to be the new secretary of defense. here he is defending january 6th attackers. >> these are people that understand first principles, love freedom and free markets and see exactly what anti-american left has done to america. don't have to believe the election was stolen to know that the system has begown un to undt people who love our country. that's what they were there. >> he said they need to rename military bases for confederates. what do you make of this appointment? >> well, mr. hegseth served h

. >> that sentiment was echoed by retired general mark milley. he served as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under trump. he spoke at an event in washington d.c. last night. >> what's your take on women in combat in the military? >> women have been in combat. it doesn't matter when that 762 hits you in the chest. nobody gives a [ bleep ] whether you're man or a woman. you're still dead. it should be a standards-based, merit-based military. >> milley says the u.s. military is still the most powerful in the world. >>> the u.s. expects its embassy in kiev to return to normal operations after specific information about an air attack forced the embassy in ukraine's capital to close yesterday. it comes as ukraine launched its first strike on russian territory with u.s.-supplied long-range weapons and after vladimir putin lowered the threshold for a nuclear strike. let's go to matt bodner for the latest. good morning, matt. >> reporter: frances, good morning. tension was high in kiev yesterday, following that u.s. embassy statement but the ukrainia

that is why they love mark milley, joint chief sandra trump.ll after january 6 with nancy pelosi under which she expressed concern about trump's ability to launch a nuclear war. >> she was concerned and made various personal references characterizing the president. i have repeatedly assured her, there was no chance of an illegal, unauthorized or accident to launch. by law, i'm not in the chain of command and i know that. in the chain of communication to fulfill my legal statutory role as the president's primary military advisor. >> laura: millie was the establishment's best hope for trump proofing defense policy. you can hear the condensation in his voice. who will be there stopgap now questioning. >> trump is the pentagon first because they stopped him first. that is why he's going to the pentagon and health ministry first because formable resistance to what he wants to execute. >> laura: of course, he said it, they want resistance and they want people like mark milley. suppose late defenders of norms and protocols that they forgot the preside

they dismiss general mark milley as a meme. "the washington post" decides when you have two of the most highly decorated soldiers of the 21st century in mark milley and also in general john kelly, that should be dismissed. so that's one side of the equation. the other side of the equation here is, donald trump is talking about republicans here. he's talking about somebody who had a 95 acu rating. somebody who has been the conservative's conservative for years. so more conservative in every way than donald trump. yet, just because she is disloyal to him, just because she said there's something deeply wrong with a commander in chief allowing riots to go on, refusing to stop those riots, and, in fact, going into his dining room alone, staring and looking at some of the most violent parts of the riot, rewinding them, watching them again, rewinding them, watching them again. while his vice president and secret service detail are locked up in the basement, and his secret service detail, mike pence's, calling their families and saying

. >> he didn't like what general milley said and said he would like to see milley court-martialed.h military the terry is the most admired institution in the united states and not only is it admired if things we really criticized like the iraq war it's not the product of the military it's the product of the president of the united states. vietnam, disaster, that was not the product of g.i.'s, or generals, it was the product of the president of the united states. so the whole idea of the military being corrupted by these generals -- in fact the kind of education military and historic and diplomacy and warfare that these generals get is probably the most unique education system in our culture. >> but i don't understand what you mean by woke. >> you are talking racial integration, and i think that makes sense. is that what you find woke as? i'm curious. >> i was referring to-- >> -- general milley. >> i think we trump and republicans are field full of is the core mission of the military to fight wars and wind win wars over late social cultural programming into military that is commonl

you're going to hear an older soundbite from hegseth, and then you'll hear general milley. i'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. it hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated. most of them actually are a lot of them are pushed. i shouldn't say most, but many are pushed into a combat track because they're so highly capable. but if they had their first choice, they probably wouldn't be that. don't lecture me about women in combat. women have been in combat and it doesn't matter if that 7.62 hits you in the chest. no one gives a if it's a woman or a guy who pulled that trigge, you're still dead. so if you meet the standards our military must be and always should be a standards based, merit based military. period. now, back to gates for a minute. he resigned his florida congressional seat to take the job that he's no longer applying for. he can't resign. he can run again. nobody's filed to run in his district. but it means if he won, he'd be a congressman again. and the main reason the house ethi

tim, i'm happy to see general milley out there.s the most are the most enthusiastic about fresh eyes and reform. but i think what's stark is that what he is making clear there is that that's not what they are to go at all. it is about rubble. it is about destroying these agencies. >> yeah, i think there are two insights there worth sitting on. one is an observation about this incoming administration and what they want to do and it's plain as day. they say they ant to dismantle the administrative state. that is their plan. it is their stated goal. and i don't think that they care about whether there will be some shrapnel organslary damage related to that. and so i think that's something that the people should be alarmed about and i think it's a clear-eyed assessment of what the incoming add administration wants to do. the second part, the democrats then get put in this box, right, and i think it's one of the things that they struggled with during the election was democrats and us and pro-democracy types are always in the position of

this is where milley held the line and stopped him from deploying the national guard against americanirst, it is the most formidable resistance to what he wants to execute. >> general mccaffrey, life long doj folks have said, well, it is going to fall to the line officers now. paul just said it is going to fall to the men and women in the military to hold the line. i come back to a question i asked for four years, why didn't it fall to former leaders, like secretary mattis or general milley to speak out so that it wouldn't fall to these men? and i would say the same about the attorney general, why when the leaders refused to weigh into our politics does it fall to the men and women who make up the career officers of the agencies to hold the line against an american president? >> well, look, i would probably take somewhat different approach than paul has articulated. he's got a very sound case, with what he put on the table. i think the nominee is actually very qualified. we had a harvard professor, congressman, intellectuals, secretary of defense, this nominee comes in with harvard, p

hegseth nomination meanwhile, getting pushback from mark milley.hest ranking person in all of the american military appointed by trump in his first term. hegseth, you remember, wants to remove women from combat roles. now you're going to hear an older soundbite from hegseth. and then milley just now, i'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. it hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated. most of them actually are a lot of them are pushed. i shouldn't say most, but many are pushed into a combat track because they're so highly capable. but if they had their first choice, it probably wouldn't be that. don't lecture me about women in combat. women have been in combat, and it doesn't matter if that 7.62 hits you in the chest. no one gives a if it's a woman or a guy who pulled that trigger, you're still dead. so if you meet the standards our military must be and always should be, a standards based, merit based military. period. full stop. it's a big day in congress. it's offic

life looks really bad word from behind bars milley reportedly told patel. when he named patel deputy director of the fbi, bill barr confronted the white house chief of staff and said over my dead body and when in the final weeks, trump planned to name patel deputy director of the cia, gina threatened to resign. trump relents after an intervention by vice president pence and others. none of these folks are around. no more vice president pence, more no gina haspel, no more mark milley, no more bill barr. the title of that piece is "the man who will do anything for trump. >>> will he, and what could that extend to? >> reporter: i'm told by two sources he's under consideration to take the reins as director of the cia or fbi. he's not a veteran of either of the agencies he did work for the national security council, before working as a deputy to the acting director of national intelligence before making his way in the after math of the 2020 election for that brief period of time, as chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense. and in the interim, kash pate

when we return, i got to sit down with trump's former top military official, general mark milley. what he had to say about women in combat, trump's court-martial plan and elon musk. speaking of the tech billionaire, we will dig into his plan to slash the size of the federal budget. we are just getting underway on a wednesday night. just getting a wednesday night. to me, harlem is home. but home is also your body. i asked myself, why doesn't pilates exist in harlem? so i started my own studio. getting a brick and mortar in new york is not easy. chase ink has supported us from studio one to studio three. when you start small, you need some big help. and chase ink was that for me. earn up to 5% cash back on business essentials with the chase ink business cash card from chase for business. make more of what's yours. ♪ ♪ from chase for business. ♪ something has changed within me ♪ ♪ it's time to try defying gravity ♪ ♪ ♪ (ominous music) (bubbles rising) (diver exhaling) (music intensifies) (diver yells) (shark roars) - whoa. (driver gasps) (car tires screech) (pedestrian gasps) (both p

. >> i think mark milley has to be recalled to active duty on the afternoon of the 20th.unal, a court-martial has to be called or impaneled, a court-martial, and mark milley needs to be called up. >> just 24 hours later, we got news that nbc news had reported that the trump transition team was making a list of current and former u.s. military officers who were involved in the 2021 afghanistan withdrawal, and exploring whether those individuals could be court-martialed for their involvement in the withdrawal. >>> taking it very seriously. nbc news has reached out to the trump transition team for comment. molly jiang jong-fast. and jill, let me go to you first. it's not unprecedented for criticisms. but more often than not that is channeled. what do you make of this. that the military is united states --ing the courts-martial in context. >> i don't think they'll get far, under the uniform military code of justice, you cannot be court-martialed for actions that you took that were lawful. and you need -- as you would in krainl criminal cases. you need? facts to start a case.

milley's phone call with the chinese to reassure them in the wake of the january sixth riot was, quote, an act so egregious that in times gone by, the punishment would have been death. trump wrote on his social truth social platform. >> then came his 2024 campaign. after actual violence erupted at the capitol trying to prevent the certification of joe biden's 2020 win. >> ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the horribly and unfairly treated january sixth hostages. you see, the spirit from the hostages. and that's what they are as hostages. they've been treated terribly unbelievable patriots. and they were unbelievable patriots and are he called people put in jail for what they did that day quote. unbelievable patriots. and as the campaign has gone on, he has made these promises. >> i am your warrior. i am your justice. and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, i am your retribution. i am your retribution. and 2024 is the final battle that's going to be the big one. >> this is the final battle. he says he's talking about the election happening four days from now. >> in her clo

>> and here's what mark milley told my colleague, stephanie rhule, this week. >> women have been in combatt matter if that 762 hits you in the chest. no one gives a [ bleep ] if it's a woman or a guy who pulled that trigger. they're still dead. doesn't matter if you're black or white, man or woman, catholic or protestant. what matters are standards. readiness standards. >> look, hegseth has also spoken out against diversity in the military. how do you see the defense department changing if he wins senate confirmation? >> i think that's a great question because i don't think people understand the massive amounts of service members who will be under his control and purview and policy. as the daughter of veterans, my mother is also a navy veteran, this is something they're not going to stand for. i'm going to be looking to those service members and how this is going to be pushing back but hearing that clip from milley is yet another reminder of why donald trump is staying away from established military leaders. they're the ones who identified him as a threat to the future. they're the ones ca

chairman brown, milley before him, their predecessors, our military focused on trying to stop sexualault in the military. i work with senators for the last 15 years it is still a skurg to have someone in the military who, himself, is potentially guilty of sexual assault is such a violation of public trust and when he says he was cleared. no. he was not cleared. they stopped the investigation. we don't know why. and, we need to get to the bottom of why the investigation fact was stopped in the armed services committee before we confirm him. >> do you think you will? >> we are going to look for those files, i think we need them. we deserve them before we make judgments. and i would challenge roger wicker, as he got in the elevator. to do a full investigation. it should not be classified or confidential. the american people deserve to know the truth. >> hopefully we are on the way to do that. >> thank you, appreciate it. >> thank you. >>> still ahead this evening. we will get reaction from inside the justice department to trump's choice of pam bondi to replace matt gaetz as potential at

he's floated the idea of executing joint chiefs chairman mark milley. and he's talked about siccing the military on, quote, the enemy within, which includes american citizens and named congress members adam schiff and former speaker pelosi. and in the final days of this election, this vile, violent rant is a stark reminder of just how unambiguously different the two choices for president are. on one hand, you have vice president harris running on unity and hope for the future, someone who despite everything is offering republicans a seat at the table. on the other hand, there's trump, whose entire campaign has been centered around retribution for fellow americans he calls his enemies, a point vice president harris made today. >> this must be disqualifying. anyone who wants to be president of the united states, who uses that kind of violent rhetoric, is clearly disqualified and unqualified to be president. representative china is a true patriot who has shown extraordinary courage in putting country above party. trump is increasingly, however, someone who

as well as vice chief of staff of the army, general james mingus, who also served under general milley on the joint staff is director of operations. have you heard any reaction from these current or former military officials about their targeting or whether they have heard if they could be facing repercussions? >> we have not heard anything about this, specific preparations of this list, i'm not sure many people knew about it. in the past, many officials have said that they questioned these kinds of allegations. one of the core problems is the talk of a court-martial. all of these officers were following the orders of the biden administration, the biden administration decided the u.s. should withdraw from afghanistan. more importantly, so did the trump administration. donald trump, when he was in office, signed an agreement with the tele-band that agreed to pull out all 13,000 u.s. troops out of afghanistan. biden continued with the agreement and made the final pull out of 2500 occur. most reviews of what happened in afghanistan was chaotic, blames both administrations. we will see how

i think we all know that when general kelly, who is donald trump's chief of staff and general milley,ead of the joint chiefs, they both knew the f-word, fascist, when describing donald trump. whether one thinks that goes too far or not, people can decide. but that is a very significant thing. when you have all these people who worked with trump who were coming out and saying he should not be returned to office. nikki haley just last night reiterated what she said during the primaries. she said i don't take anything back that i said during the primaries, and during the primaries she said he was dangerous. now for her own political reasons she's coming on board, but she stood behind what she said during the primaries which is what republicans privately know, he's dangerous. and i would just as people, if the shoe was on the other foot, with say that back in the obama days that obama's chief of staff and the chair of the joint chiefs and the obama years, if they had both said barack obama is a fascist, would you have wanted to vote for him for reelection in 2012? of course not. the peopl

and i base this on what john kelly has said, on what general mcmaster has said, on what general milley has said, on what so many people with firsthand experience of the empowered donald trump said, have said, and at great personal risk in their professional and personal lives came out against the event that just happened. don't listen to me. listen to the people who served him. and so, is this a real risk? absolutely, it's a real risk. nothing, no concern that people had before this week went away this week. the risk became real, as opposed to perspective. - in her statement acknowledging that donald trump had won the election, former representative liz cheney said, quote, "citizens across this country, our courts, members of the press, and those serving in our federal, state and local governments must now be the guardrails of democracy." the press, jon, as you well know, took a lot of criticism from both sides throughout this campaign. and frankly, if 's going to be a guardrail in a next trump administration, with decreased confidence in the media, how will the media play a role in a

. >> i think mark milley has to be recalled to active duty on the afternoon of the 20th, and i thinktribunal, a court-martial, has to be called, and paneled, a court- martial, and mark milley has to be brought up on charges and court-martialed. we are going to burn some of these institutions down to the ground, because you know why? they need to be burned down to the ground, metaphorically. the justice department is getting swept out, the fbi is getting swept out. you people suck, okay? now, you are going to pay the price. >> so, this is been in tearing down the state rhetoric, he has been doing this for 10, 15 years, now. that is not entirely new. he may see his dream come true. did he express to you in this interview what he thinks any of these institutions should be replaced with? i mean, for example, if you don't like the fbi because they investigated trump, the fbi also investigates domestic terrorism, the fbi also investigates international crime, the fbi also investigates gun rights. so, when he says "tear down these institutions," those who want to build them back up? or, doe

. >> and again, i think she is responding to the words of people like general mark milley and peoplel sam christo, and people like admiral still read us. i'm an army guy. and these are names that are hallowed names inside of the military community. >> john: with the exception obama fired -- >> their life. [laughs] but that is a collection of names that frank lee for everybody who has served, we keep those names, that's rare. and so when you are hearing people like mark milley, when you're hearing people like john kelly, when you are hearing people like the admiral who are saying that they believe that a return for donald trump to the oval office would actually be a danger to this country, i think that is something for a lot of us. not just democrats, it is independents, does give a lot of people pause. >> john: something oprah winfrey set as part of kamala harris' closing argument last night, listen to this. >> we don't get to sit this one out. [cheers and applause] if we don't show up tomorrow, it is entirely possible that we will not have the opportunity to ever cast a ballot again

general milley, have you ever seen combat? this's loyalty and credentials are unprecedented. i do not understand the emotional uproar, but that is all democrats have, emotion. they failed to investigate. i am an x marine and i asked a question. your use of language. you call a baby a fetus. you call americans black americans. i am an american black. i have neighbors who are american hispanics. they are not hispanic americans. that only serves to divide our country. i'm sorry. we are all americans first. please, will you self identify as an american and then your race, ethnicity, or if you want to be american gay, go for it. but please identify as an american first. host: dave brought up has get -- hegseth as defense. here's more on his background. he has served in the military, although he lacks national security experience. after graduating from princeton university, he was commissioned as an infantry captain in the army national guard, serving overseas in afghanistan and iraq as well as guantanamo bay. he was formerly head of the concerned veterans for america, a group back

there will be no general kelly mattis general milley, vice president mike pence and so they're really worried that this forecasts what trump would do. one last thing. a source close to uh, liz cheney pointed out to me this afternoon that we have to notice that donald trump goes after her over and over again. the source said to me, this is because she gets under his skin and because he has no defense for what he did on january 6th. wolf. yeah very important reporting. thank you very much for that. scott jennings, let me get your analysis. you worked for the bush-cheney administration. you know, liz cheney and i believe you do respect her. is this kind of talk from a former and potentially future president of the united states acceptable to you >> i do know liz cheney, and i do respect her. and i don't begrudge her her views on this, but i personally think that any fair review of this remark is really simple he was making a crude if well-worn argument that often comes from the anti-war left, and that i heard repeatedly during the bush years about politicians who vote to authorize wars,

steve bannon said it recently just last week, that that's what he's pushing for, for for general milley. and there's been, you know, stuff out there about others. what are you hearing it is a serious concern. >> i know a number of the organizations that i work with. we have been looking at the use of the military for immigration enforcement, for law enforcement bringing back individuals, for court martial or possible reduction in rank. that is an option to that can be exercised. i've worked on cases over the years. usually because there was some significant, you know, criminal charges against these individuals. and there is a process to reduce and rank. i think that is a serious threat. you know there is talk of creating a panel, a civilian panel to assess at the three and four star level whether or not those individuals should be terminated. it is, of course, the prerogative of the president of the united states as the commander in chief. article two of the constitution to really exercise an amazing amount of power, just hasn't been done before. but the biggest concerns i have with thi

it was general mark milley, the commander of u.s. at mckenzie, who gave their opinion. and they both say they were heard by the senior leadership of both the trump administration and the biden administration. and both of them recommended against a complete withdrawal. and and yet, the civilian leadership that runs the military that is then president trump and then president biden decided to continue with the withdrawal. donahue, as a two star, was brought in essentially to manage a very difficult situation. and he did what he could with the orders he was given by the civilian leadership. >> yeah, it's a little confounding oren liebermann, thank you so much. live you. so next, we're going to head live to the white house where this guy birds have just been pardoned gift. >> give hands free sketcher slip ins, footwear. you just step into and they're on. >> there's no bending down and no touching your shoes plus, hands free sketcher slip ins are perfect for everybody, from kids to grandparents give your loved ones hands free. >> sketcher

now you're going to hear an older soundbite from hegseth, and then milley.st now i'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. it hasn't made us more effective, hasn't made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated. most of them actually are. a lot of them are pushed. i shouldn't say most, but many are pushed into a combat track because they're so highly capable. but if they had their first choice, it probably wouldn't be that. don't lecture me about women in combat. women have been in combat and it doesn't matter if that 7.62 hits you in the chest. no one gives a if it's a woman or a guy who pulled that trigger, you're still dead. so if you meet the standards our military must be and always should be a standards based, merit based military. period. full stop. january 6th attacker edward kelly, who was found guilty of attacking police officers in the riot, was found guilty yesterday of plotting to kill the law enforcement officers who investigated the crime. kelly, from tennessee, will face sentencing on the two crimes next s

former military chiefs like mark milley and general john kelly, they call donald trump a fascist, andack into power, there is going to be an attempt to impose authoritarian rule on the united states of america. people outside the country see that, and that doesn't project power — that projects deep vulnerability in the united states. well, it's too bad that these people who trump fired have such sour feelings about that, that they keep saying this. but look, your own countrymen have said very positive things about trump coming to power. borisjohnson said he's fundamentally optimistic. liz truss said the world was safer and we need a strong america now more than ever. this is about trump coming back. and i talk to many people in europe and in asia, and, you know, they may not want to say so publicly, but they see the weakness of the biden—harris administration as enormously destabilising. that's why they want trump back. fred fleitz, we're out of time, but thank you very much forjoining me on hardtalk. thank you. good to be here. hello there. our quiet weather story continues, but that

it was actually general milley who called him a, quote, fascist to the core.borated and something that general kelly then said on tape that was widely circulated. the idea that trump will put the military onto u.s. soil in the functions that he's said out loud to say nothing of what we don't know he may be planning, what does that actually look like when the military gets their orders from the white house? the commander in chief through their civilian leadership to carry out what may be an illegal order. >> yeah. i think this was contemplated actually during the george floyd riots when then president trump wanted to use the military under some theory of using the insurrection act to quell first amendment protected activity. and general milley looked at the facts, looked at what was happening and looked the president square in the eye and said we're not doing that. and i believe general c.q. brown the current chair of the joint chiefs of staff and other members of the joint chiefs of staff, the service chiefs from the army, from the navy, from the marine corps,

prosecute joe biden, kamala harris, barack obama, liz cheney, antiballistic, adam schiff, general mark milley, justin james and that is just some. do you support him using the justice department to laughter the people who disagree? >> he did not do it in his first term. >> that this is a second term. >> i want to stop this political targeting, political -- we all know the fani willis case and the jack smith cases were driven by politics. the american people understood it and that is why they had that overwhelming win for trump. i'm against the retribution and the justice department saying if your mom and dad show up but is for -- school board meeting we will investigate you. -- >> i just want to put a button on it fit what you are saying is that all of the times that president trump said so many things about people that he promised he would go after them and prosecute them. you are going to encourage him not to do that? >> well all i know is what he didn't do. >> were talking about -- >> secretary clinton and lock her up. he didn't do that but the democrats went after -- >> i'm talking about

general stanley mcchrystal and admiral and he has promised the same punishment for people like general milleythose threats? >> if he would try follow through i would hope that our officers would court-martial. you are not supposed to carry out unlawful orders, so i would hope that the members of the military each and every one of whom have dedicate tld lives to defending this nation and the constitution would remember the all enemies foreign, but dommestic and stand up to donald trump and not allow that to happen. i think that there are enough good officers out there who would not carry out an unlawful order and i would have trust in the military that they would do so. >> would it create a standoff, though? >> what would that be like for them? >> it would probably end their career, but at a certain point you have to decide. do you -- do you owe allegiance to donald trump or allegiance to the great nation that you've sworn an oath to defend and i would hope they remember their allegiance is to the united states of america and not one individual. >> senator duckworth, it's extraordinary that we

was close to donald trump that had pledged allegiance to the united states, general kelly, general milley. they took umbrage with donald trump. his former defense secretary. all of them did not endorse donald trump in this last election. nikki haley could have done the same thing. so to talk about it now when seems too late is a little hypocritical. >> your thoughts on scott bessent being chosen by trump as his choice for treasury secretary? >> unfortunately, when you look at this and you compare some of these other places on paper, he would seem as though he is a more reasonable person. but he didn't have to carry out. will he stand up to donald trump when donald trump says he is going to put 10% tariffs on all of our allies? what will that do with reference to inflation? will he carry out that agenda or come to something more reasonable? if you talk to any economist, they will tell you what he has said, he, donald trump, is inflationary. so what will this guy do? is he just going to follow? because donald as said if you don't do what i tell you to do, he won't last long. he'll be gone.

prosecute joe biden, kamala harris, barack obama, liz cheney, nancy pelosi, adam schiff, general milleyvin brag, and that's just some of the people he has talked about. do you support him using the justice department to go after the people who disagreed? >> he didn't do it his first term. >> right, but this is his second. >> what i support is stopping this law fare. stopping this political targeting, political cases. we know the willis and jack smith cases were driven by politician. what's why we had this overwhelming win for president trump. so i'm against the retribution, against the justice department saying if you're a mom dad showing up at a school board meeting, we're going to investigate you. >> so i just want to put a button on this. so what you are saying is that all of the time that president trump said so many things about people that he promised that he would go after them and prosecute them, you were going to encourage him not to do that? >> well, all i know is what he didn't do. >> i know, but we're talking about -- >> talking about secretary clinton, lock her up. but the

mark milley, secretary of defense esper and others talked him out of it.t going to take his orders and implement them. the if the secretary of defense is given an order, odds are it's going to be carried out. it sure seems like, at least to start with, we need to take trump at his word that he's going to try these things at least. >> i think that's right. when we say, well, he said a lot of stuff, he doesn't do them. what's bluster and what are those that he follows through? in 2016, during that campaign he led rallies that chanted "lock her up" about hillary clinton, and he said i'm going to put you in jail when he was on the debate stage with her. after the election, he struck a different tone. he came and visited the "new york times" editorial board and said, no i'm not going to do that, she's been through enough. then he threatened to do it anyway. even if he comes in on january 20th and says i want to unify the country, let's move on, i've won. he has no reason to come after his enemies because he's won the vindication that he sought these last four y

. >> our stupid generals, our terrible generals, you know, the guys up top, like milley, like kelly,dumb as a rook. >> my pledge to you, to always put country above party and self. >> adam shifty schiff. [ crowd booing ] i call him pencil neck. he's got the smallest neck i've ever seen. he's got about a 4, and he's got the biggest head. i don't know how the neck can hold the head. he is an unattractive guy, both inside and out. >> this is about a future with freedom and opportunity and dignity for all americans. >> i will prevent world war iii from happening. i know all the players, and it is a very good chance it will, indeed, happen. the level of enthusiasm is five times greater than their level. they have no level of enthusiasm. they don't believe in her. >> and momentum is on our side. momentum is on our side. can you feel it? we have momentum, right? [ applause ] >> i mean, we're certainly at the two or three yard line, and the only way we can blow it is if you blow it. i've given you the ball. you have to go and vote. >> make no mistake, we will win. >> nothing particularly new

the pentagon when they refused, they actually go along with just about everything including mark milleycarry out the insurrection. what is it about treasury where he thinks they're going to do all -- none of these four people seem likely to do all the things trump wants done at treasury. but honestly, all of those grievances you listed, he doesn't have those against treasury. he doesn't see that department as an agitant against him. he knows he needs treasury to promulgate policy. those other things are like how do these people impact me so what type of hurt can i put on them now that i'm back on the job. but you guys know this and i learned this the hard way in washington. washington is hard to move and hard to change and they're ready for president-elect trump. they're going to grind him harder in the second term than they grinded him in the first term and they're adaptive. it's like an immune system ready to reject him harder the second time. >> i started to ask you about the election. i want to have that conversation with you. you were out knocking on doors that weekend before elect

>> in 2017 i believe general milley was. >> wow. interesting. do you think this is happening elsewhere, this kind of stuff? >> representative in the u.s. army, i do not think it is. >> here is what i would do. i would i would i would demand answers to the questions we are asking. i don't even know how to use my last minute of time because they are not going to answer and if the consequence is not public it does not sit -- it does not serve as a sufficient deterrent. when you allow this to happen for years with no consequence and then eight years later whenever when you are called out on that you say there is a consequence but we will not tell you what it is, then you increase the recidivism of this type of behavior and not for nothing, it is one of the reasons why some of the key demographic armies the -- areas the army is traditionally drawn from to reestablish rank is struggling right now i think we are owed answered -- own answers. i yield back. >> dr. schaeffer, i have a couple of questions for you. thank you both for your testimony here tod

let's listen t ho general milley and i will ask a question on the other side to.ottom line, america is going to be okay. if all you will do is command with a wrecking ball blow things apart, what you will get his rubble. with that is what you want, tha isyo awesome if you want rebel. but that will not defend the united states.s. so we absolutely have to defend the pentagon, but it has to beo. done correctly. >> trey: wheo n itbe comes to te military what is the differencet between disruption and reform or distraction? as the generalsaid said getting rubble rather than reform? what is the key to you? >> i think the pentagon is in dire need of reform, serious reform, particularly after the afourft years of the biden-hars administration. in my discussions with pete hegseth, one of the thingsr i like and by the way thiseay li national security team and not just pete hegseth but marco rubio, secretary of stateo mike waltz national securitytion advisor, this is a strong trio the president has put forward.fo but here's my keeping from the perspective, trey, we need to t

i want to play something that general milley said this week.it for the audience and talk to you about it on the other side. >> don't lecture me about women in combat. women have been in combat, and it doesn't matter if the 762 hits you in the chest. no one gives a [ bleep ] if it's a woman or a guy who pulleded the trigger. you're still dead. if you meet the standards and our military must be and always should be a standards-based, merit-based military. period. full stop. it doesn't matter if you're white, if you're black, if you're a man, if you're a woman, if you're a catholic or protestant. none of that matters. what matters are standards, readiness standards. do you meet the standard or not? if not, pass go, infantry. >> i want to ask you on a personal note as a former navy pilot, you talked about women in the military such important roles and do you worry about the chilling effect and what other consequences do you think this could have on the ride of women in the military? >> worry about a chilling effect with all of this. i've heard memb

milley tried to convince trump that he was hurting navy morale. mr.hat happens in battle. you can't do that kind of thing. it's a war crime of trump said he didn't understand the big deal. the reporter who covered gallagher's saga for the "new york times" described the impact of the acquittal inside the navy. >> what's the gallagher effect? in some ways it's very real and has already happened. after he was acquitted, the navy prosecutors in san diego looked at the cases of some of his friends who were also facing charges for killing people overseas and just dropped the cases. >> when the daily beast first broke the story that fox news' pete hegseth was lobbying trump to pardon accused war criminals, including gallagher, they spoke with people who explained why hegseth might have wanted to get involved. most people said hegseth strongly views current rules of engagement as too restrictive, and that that restrictive name sets u.s. troops up for failure, and to be unfairly branded as criminals or monsters in combat zones. now donald trump wants that man

mark milley. he couldn't figure out how to fire the chairman of the joint chiefs. be those people this time around because he won't want them and they probably won't want to serve in the first place. they have seen that movie and they know how it ends. >> in fact, maria, vaughn hillyard spoke to one of the people who has been talked about and trump said he would like to have as part of his second administration as a health czar and that is rfk junior. here is his conversation with vaughn hillyard a short time ago. >> i'm not going to take away anybody's vaccines. i have never been anti-vaccine. >> reporter: you will not take any vaccine on the market? >> if vaccines are working for somebody, i'm not going to take them away. whatever we were doing in this country was the worst of every country in the world. >> reporter: you say, clearing out corruption in your terms. would that mean clearing out the top level federal service workers that are at the fda and cdc? >> in some categories. why do we have cereal that has 18 or 19 ingredients and in canada it has two or thr