i'll say this for lisa murkowski. anybody that says no on this or any other nomination, it takes real courage to, in today's political environment. it used to be that senators understood what their job was to make an independent decision. now to go against donald trump takes a lot of courage. i guess it's kind of doing your job, but we'll call it courageous. and she gets a lot of credit for that. and i hope there are others that join her, not just on this one, but other nominations that are, you know, completely ill qualified for the for the positions they've been nominated for. >> former congressman adam kinzinger, always good to talk to you. thank you. >> yep. see you. >> we are staying on top of this critical hegseth vote. it is just minutes away. we're live on capitol hill. we'll take you there next. plus, we are also closely following the new fires and new evacuations in southern california. firefighters are continuing to face dangerous conditions that are only growing with these explosive fires. that's all ahead

collins and murkowski who had telegraphed that. yes. with yesterday's vote also a no vote for mitch mcconnell. that means that if pete hegseth is indeed confirmed tonight, as it looks like he probably will be, he'll be confirmed with fewer votes than i believe any defense secretary in american history. we're used to defense secretaries being confirmed. and we've had we had one turned down. john tower famously didn't make it through because of allegations of his treatment of women and heavy drinking. that's very awkward. aside from him being voted down, everybody else has been confirmed. 58 votes for barack obama's nominee in 2013. other than that, we're used to voice votes or 100 to nothing votes for defense secretary. what do you think it may mean at the pentagon for pete hegseth, both to get there and to get there by the skin of his teeth? >> yeah. and john. >> tower. >> remember, that's 1989. >> so that's decades. with what is. >> virtually often. >> seen as. >> a bipartisan support for the defense. >> secretary nominee. >> and remem

and that seemed to convince at least some of the key republicans. >> yeah, murkowski in particular. statement really focused on character and what she thinks about character. she's also had she had a statement related to donald trump renaming mount mckinley, renaming denali as mount mckinley. she's shown a willingness to buck donald trump. what's letting her do that? >> absolutely. i mean, both collins and murkowski have, for a long time now been the voices willing to push back against donald trump even in the first term. they are now two of only three senators still currently in the senate who voted to convict trump of impeachment. right. so this going into this, we knew they were going to be key players in this congress. and murkowski in particular, has shown that she's not only willing to to vote differently, she's also willing to speak out. for example, you know, the issue of renaming denali to mount mckinley, which is, of course, in her state. it's something she feels very strongly about. i've asked her about it, and she intends to continue talking to the president about that d

lisa murkowski, susan collins. people were looking toward joni ernst, but she's indicated that she's going to stay on board with pete hegseth. is there anybody else that could be a no vote after all? roger wicker, the chair of the armed services committee, was signaling that he did want the vice president to stand by to be a tiebreaking vote. >> so the only. >> other person i. >> would look to is mitch mcconnell. >> mcconnell voted yes today. >> on advancing the nomination, which listen. >> it's a good signal. >> it's not a complete. you're out of the woods situation, meaning you're going to get mcconnell's vote. i don't know that you're going. >> to. >> get his vote. he hasn't said one. >> way or another. >> listen, the people who are. >> in charge of. >> seth's nomination believe. very strongly that he will be confirmed to be secretary of defense. >> hard stop. >> now, does that mean. that that jd vance won't have to come up here. >> to break. >> a tie vote on. >> his on a. >> 830 on a friday night? no, it does n

his this fact also contributed to lisa murkowski, the republican senator.asons, you know, she cited in terms of why she's not comfortable supporting headset's nomination. ana, we also have reporting that in one briefing received by wicker and reid, the chair and ranking member of the committee, trump's transition team told him that his ex-wife. pete hegseth ex-wife, samantha hegseth. spoke to the fbi. regarding her ex-husband and gave them a prepared statement saying he had and continues to have a problem. with alcohol abuse. that's according to two sources who spoke to our colleagues, julie sirkin and sarah fitzpatrick. headset's team denies all of those allegations from samantha hegseth, and said the claims are, quote, clearly and obviously false to any objective viewer. >> ana. >> okay. sahil kapur, thank you. keep us posted. if there is any new development that should shake loose during this hour. joining us now is former senior republican congressional advisor reena shah and former clinton adviser richard goodstein. and reena, as far as the white house

tonight, senator murkowski saying, "while the allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking do nothing to quiet my concerns, the past behaviors mr. hegseth has admitted to, including infidelity on multiple occasions, demonstrate a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces." senator collins citing another matter. hegseth's statement last year that women should not serve in combat roles. >> i'm straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. >> reporter: he said this at his cop fir make hearing. >> yes, women will have access to ground combat roles, given the standards remain high. >> reporter: collins tonight saying, "i am not convinced that his position on women serving in combat roles has changed." despite the push back, hegseth is expected to be confirmed when the senate votes tomorrow. >> are you worried about his confirmation? >> no, no surprises there. it's too bad, you know. it's the way -- the way it is. too bad. >> reporter: the president tonight also signing an executive order to declassify the files related to thr

two republicans, lisa murkowski, susan collins, expected to vote no. we don't yet know about senators mitch mcconnell and thom tillis. thom tillis did speak to manu raju earlier today and indicated if he found something new that might have impact his vote, but it sounded like he was heading toward a confirming vote. but again, we don't know for sure that will be come on the air tonight. senators just started the final confirmation vote on president trump's controversial pick to lead the pentagon. pete hegseth himself has just arrived on capitol hill to watch this proceeding up close. we're told that he's in a room with his family near the senate floor. you are looking live at the floor because right now, at this hour, his fate is uncertain. senate republican leaders and the white house are closely watching two major wild cards this evening. we just heard from the senate majority leader, john thune, who said he is not sure how senators mitch mcconnell and thom tillis are going to vote. now, if both are noes, along with senators lisa murkowski and susan

murkowski, they will need two others in order for that nomination to be successfully blocked., though, i just talked to several senate republicans downstairs in the same building as they were headed to this vote, senator john hoeven, for example, telling me that he's confident because he spoke to his conference that despite the no's that we may see out of lisa murkowski, susan collins, and maybe 1 or 2 others, that he thinks that this nomination will go forward earlier, roger wicker, who is the chairman of the senate republican senate armed services committee, that process texas nomination, had also said that he's confident they have the votes. but he did tell jd vance, he says not to go far. chris. >> julie sirkin, i know you'll keep us posted. thank you for that. and coming up, the latest in the trial over an alleged deadly crime spree against gay men in new york city. you're watching chris jansing reports watching chris jansing reports only on msnbc. it ain't my dad's razor, dad. ay watch it! it's from gillettelabs. this green bar releases trapped hairs from my face... game

murkowski said. all of that shows, quote, a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces, unquote. susan collins also said she's not convinced that headset's position on women in combat has actually changed that. he's been kind of skirting around that one. at the end of the day, chris, this is still a deck that is stacked in favor of all of trump's nominees. there are 53 republicans and only two republican senators who have any meaningful history of breaking with the party line. so if that goes down, it would be surprising. it would be shocking. but we have been shocked here before. stay tuned. >> so that's really, really clear. so the so tillis and mcconnell basically sounds like the votes to watch. are there any other unannounced votes. >> there are some who were watching in the event of a dam breaking. i would say if you're trying to count to 50 and 51, it would probably be those two. but if we're in a situation where the dam breaks, watch other senators like todd

uh, i was very surprised that collins and murkowski would do that. and of course, mitch is always a no vote. i guess that's mitch, a no vote. how about mitch? >> one thing is certain. tonight it is going to be close. probably closer potentially, than any vote for defense secretary in modern history. you can see here almost every nominee in the last 50 years has had overwhelming bipartisan support. until tonight. i want to get straight to capitol hill, where cnn's manu raju has been working his sources. manu, obviously, a lot of uncertainty going into this evening. where does this stand right now as this vote is just getting started? >> yeah. this vote is on a knife's edge. caitlin. uncertainty looms in the senate. gop leadership. they are cautiously optimistic that they will get there, but they simply don't know for sure because they are watching senator mcconnell very closely. senator tillis very closely. and if they vote no, they'll be enough to sink this nomination. now, it's very possible that jd vance will be needed to break a tie. in fact, i ju

now, the reason for that comment by senator murkowski was statements made by mr. hegseth. 30 days before his hearing about the lack of value in women serving in the military and the inability, lack of capacity of women to serve in combat. he reversed himself, would one of my colleagues called nomination conversion. and modified his previous remarks. but he couldn't tell you what caused him to have a different opinion. and in the course of that hearing, truly revealed that he continues to have that view of women, which is a problem for recruiting women. they are now 18% of our military force. and more than just recruiting women, retaining women, especially when the scourge of sexual assault continues to be so problematic in the military. we fought it for years, a number of us on the armed services committee have supported measures that would provide for more effective prosecution through a system of investigation outside the chain of command. we've adopted those reforms. and military leaders have joined us in seeking to combat sexual assault and harassment. and her

murkowski and. >> susan collins. >> here's the thing, though.licans have. >> 53 seats in the in the senate. right. so you need. >> four republicans. >> to actually drop any of these nominees. that's why jd vance has to stick around, right? if there's a third person, then he would be the tie breaking vote. you would assume he would vote for all of the president's nominees. so i think that you might see this from collins and murkowski. the clip there that you played of joni ernst in the hallway, though, i think was the most important. right, because she was kind of the key senator being on the armed services committee, having having talked about sexual assault in the military being a key issue for her, having expressed skepticism of hegseth, if. she was against, then you could easily see a path. >> to four. >> but she and that she seemed defiant in that hallway interview. so it's kind of hard to see who would join murkowski, collins and maybe mcconnell who who the fourth person is. someone would have to emerge that we haven't heard a peep from at

i can't believe murkowski, trump got 54% of the vote in alaska. pete hegseth wrote the book on the radical nature of the military and deserve to get the nominees. she will have to answer to her voters. susan collins, as well. murkowski did not even vote for brett kavanaugh, no problem voting for lloyd austin, how will she explain that? looks like pete will not need it, though. >> ainsley: he can afford to lose three republicans and still be confirmed because j.d. vance will come in and a fourth no? >> brian: mitch mcconnell was the worry and he is in. he is in. kristi noem is in. b scott bessent and sean duffy. and mike huckabee, he does not even have a date. you have ambassador to china making rounds this week, important positions in russia, ambassador positions. when you slow up a high-profile person because you are throwing a tantrum, you slow up everybody. only one train on the track at a time. it is agonizing. so significant to see president trump when questioned, take it in stride, not crying chuck is hurting the country. john thune is a goo

murkowski citing lack of experience and past allegations.h just two out, hegseth is expected to get the 51 votes that he needs. that is without vice president j.d. vance. yesterday, the senate finally confirmed john ratcliffe as president trump's cia director. 74 to 25. quite a big bipartisan showing there he was sworn in shortly after the senate, you guys, is moving at a snails pace right now as democrats are forcing republicans to sit through 30 hours of debate for each nominee. the thick is there is not a whole lot of debating going on. yesterday, cory booker was reading poems out loud on the senate floor written by senate pages. so president trump has brought up using recess appointments. hasn't pulled the trigger yet. >> i would be willing to use recess appointments. it's up to john. we'll see. john thune is a great guy. great senator, knows his stuff inside and out backwards. i would use a recess appointments if he wants to do that, absolutely. the democrats are just delaying. they always delay. >> aishah: meanwhile, more hearings have

i talked to senator lisa murkowski. is one who has broken ranks, repeatedly voted against pete hegseth. i asked her specifically, are you concerned about the backlash from donald trump it should not be a situation where you. >> feel that you can't. exercise your. >> your conscience. >> your. >> judgment, because of fear of retribution or retaliation? >> um, this is still america. >> as best i know. >> trump said he was surprised by your vote. >> i didn't talk to him. he didn't talk to me about it. whether it's. >> the. >> president or the majority leader or the minority leader. i think they've. >> they've all come. >> to recognize that. lisa murkowski does her homework and does what she thinks is right for her constituents and for the right reasons. >> i mean, there are some senators who are going to be difficult for trump to get get them to fall in line. >> well, that's so interesting that she said that he didn't even call. yeah. >> at least some people should have like, thought, you know, maybe she's in play. we shoul

what lisa murkowski ultimately would do.ne of a handful of republican senators who have not said how they would vote. and murkowski is a perennial swing vote, particularly on controversial bills and on controversial nominations like pete hegseth. and in a long statement that she just put out on x, she goes after hegseth, raises questions about his character, raises questions about his experiences, fitness for the job, raises questions about allegations of personal misconduct, and statements that he made in the past, criticizing women in combat. now, this is what she said as part of this statement. she said after a thorough evaluation, i must conclude that i cannot in good conscience support his nomination for secretary of defense. i did not make this decision lightly. i take my constitutional responsibility to provide advice and consent with the utmost seriousness. now she goes on to talk a lot more about a number of issues. she talks about these allegations in the past about sexual assault and excessive drinking and the lik

lisa murkowski just won reelection back in 2022. that was after the trump impeachment vote. she was able to defy any challenge and stay in congress. she's not going to be up until 2028 again. so i suspect that trump folks in the maga world are going to try to put retribution to these three. will they be successful, though in the past it just hasn't been right. >> and i saw an interview with susan, senator susan collins saying she is already getting pushback. i bet on on her twitter feed. amy, a word we hear thrown around a lot is mandate. pete hegseth has the opposite of a mandate. he enters this role by the skin of his teeth. how will that impact how he's received by the men and women of the military? >> well. >> you know. >> i actually think that the men and women of the military aren'. really watching. the confirmation hearings, like you and i might be doing. >> we. >> the men and women of the military, are going to follow orders. they are professional, as i said. but i do believe that pete hegseth comes into this position in the back of everybody's mind, especially milit

you're right that senators collins and murkowski were no votes. and senator murkowski laid out in a way that was as clear as any democrat could lay out why this would be a disastrous nomination. i hope that my republican colleagues will realize there are strongly republican, pro-trump folks with military expertise who could do this job, but who don't have the serious character deficits that mr. hegseth has displayed throughout. >> his career. >> well, i wonder what you are hearing. i mean, are these allegations against hegseth at all weighing on any of them in particular, the ones you talk about with, you know, strong concerns about national defense? would it have been better, perhaps politically, to focus more on hegseth qualifications, or lack thereof, as opposed to the allegations against him of a sexual nature? >> well, many did focus on his qualifications in the hearing. he ran two nonprofit organizations that were very small organizations. there was a whistleblower complaint against him and running one of the organizations that is a multi-pa

but he's learned from those. >> but gop senators murkowski and collins both questioned whether or not hegseth was qualified for the job, could do the job, and murkowski, in particular, raised questions about his character and his judgment, which is why they voted against him. but, wolf, those questions were not widely shared among senate republicans who fell in line behind this nomination. and now hegseth is expected to be confirmed by tomorrow night for this hugely critical post. wolf. >> hugely critical indeed. >> manu, standby, as we're joined by kaitlan collins. she's over at the white house for us. caitlin, what is president trump saying about hegseth and the fate of his nomination? >> well, here at the white house. >> wolf. >> they are. >> all. >> watching the numbers. >> very closely. >> and looking at. >> what happened today. >> and obviously they are not pleased that this new information is coming out, including a specific dollar amount on what pete hegseth paid this woman who accused him of sexual assault, which he denies. but they do feel good about the numbers that they ar

senator lisa murkowski, also issuing a very lengthy statement. really siding with a lot of the concerns that democrats had raised as well, she said in that statement. while the allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking do nothing to quiet my concerns, that past behaviors, mr. hegseth has admitted to including infidelity on multiple occasions demonstrate a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed services. and jake, despite their opposition, that was not enough to stop his nomination from going forward. it did clear a key hurdle overcoming a democratic led filibuster on a 5149 vote. an incredibly narrow vote for a nomination. typically, defense secretary supported widely along both sides of the aisle, but not on this one. hegseth, though poised to be confirmed as late as tomorrow night. jake. >> all right. manu raju on capitol hill, thanks so much. let's bring in former senior adviser to president obama, david axelrod, and former trump white house communications director alyssa farah griffin. david, presid

lisa murkowski just won reelection back in 2022. that was after the trump impeachment vote. she was able to defy any challenge and stay in congress. she's not going to be up until 2028 again. so i suspect that trump folks in the maga world are going to try to put retribution to these three. will they be successful? though in the past it just hasn't been right. >> and i saw an interview with susan, senator susan collins saying she is already getting pushback. i bet on on her twitter feed. amy, a word we hear thrown around a lot is mandate. pete hegseth has the opposite of a mandate. he enters this role by the skin of his teeth. how will that impact how he's received by the men and women of the military? >> well. >> you know. >> i actually think that the men and women of the military aren't really watching the confirmation hearings. >> like you and i might. >> be doing. >> we. >> the men and women of the military. >> are going to follow orders. >> they are professional, as i said. >> but i do believe that pete hegseth. >> comes into this position in the back of everybody's min

people like lisa murkowski, susan collins and mitch mcconnell are not. afraid to vote against trump. they're not. afraid to go against trump. they proved that tonight, though. >> that begs the question of. >> how many times will they be willing to do this right? >> that was always the question. >> from the beginning, is how we knew that these three and some others were going to be the key republican senators to watch, but folks were wondering, how many are they willing to take? how many times are they willing to take. >> to. >> cross trump? mcconnell his big thing is defense. >> foreign policy. >> he's going to be the defense subcommittee chair for the appropriations committee. so this was one that was particularly one for him to watch. >> but i'm. >> curious to see. >> if those three will be willing to cross trump going forward. and then the second question is, you know. this was only three, which is significant, but it wasn't enough to tank the nominee because jd vance came in as a tie breaker. >> who were some. >> of those other folks that may cross t

murkowski. that does not reflect a person that is steady in their advice. now, look, one thing i don't agree with donald trump on a lot, but we know he has never has had a drink because of the problems in his family. that is not and i admire that. that is not the type of person you want sitting in the situation room, two chairs down from where the president sits when you have a fundamental decision. boots on the ground bombing? no. is there a piece of other civilians life to be lost? those are choices you make all the time, and you have to counsel and advise the president his judgment as reflected on these kind of issues and controversies around both personal his personal behavior, show you he does not have the judgment. and he ran a small veterans organization. the secretary of defense is going to run the largest government agency we have. that is not the person you a should have been nominated. but in that case, every senator is going to have to answer to this in their conscience and their vote, and they own it. that's what they have to do when they go to

senator susan collins and senator lisa murkowski. >> he is a good man. >> trump stood by his choice.i was surprised collins and lisa murkowski would do that. >> it appears those will not be enough to stop his confirmation. >> it is so rare to get republican senators willing to oppose a trump nominee. >> next week is shaping up to be a consequential one when a trio of trump's top picks robert f. kennedy jr., tulsi gabbard, and patel face their confirmation hearings here on capitol hill. >> that will be quite a day. thank you. thousands of antiabortion rights activists converged on the capitol today for the march for life. trump addressed the crowd in a video while vance spoke in person. they are encouraged by trump election victory in his decision to pardon protest who blocked access to abortion clinics. hamas says it will release four soldiers abducted in the october 7th attacks tomorrow. they will also release more palestinian prisoners and detainees as part of a fragile cease-fire agreement. we get the latest from ramy inocencio. >> 475 days ago, terrorists through naama levy into

. >> feel i do alaska senator lisa murkowski says she's seen enough about president trump's choice tothe pentagon. >> pete hegseth. on thursday, hegseth cleared a procedural vote in the senate, setting up a final confirmation vote on his nomination as defense secretary for later on today. murkowski was one of two republican senators joining susan collins of maine to break ranks with their party and vote against hegseth nomination. >> in general, i do believe the president deserves deference, but obviously i take seriously the advice and consent role assigned to the senate. >> in separate statements, both of these women senators called hegseth character and experience into questions. senator collins saying, quote, he does not have the experience and perspective necessary to succeed in the job. and senator murkowski saying of hegseth, quote, he lacks that strength of character and good judgment that in all departments we need to have, but most particularly in the department of defense. hegseth has faced allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking that he denies. but two more re

. >> and lease mu lisa murkowski d on x she will not be supporting pete hegseth.ngthy statement and said that his past behaviors including infidelity on multiple occasions says demonstrates a lack of judgment, she says, that is unbecoming of someone who will lead our armed forces. she talks about how the behaviors for men and women in the uniform, they are held to a higher standard and they would be held accountable for such actions and they deserve leaders, she says, who uphold these same standards. so she is out. murkowski, and keeping a close eye on senators mitch mcconnell, and susan collins, they also could be no votes and that would mean that vice president j.d. vance would have to come down here to capitol hill and break a tie. that is if three republicans wind up voting no on pete hegseth. we can't get to pete hegseth until we get a vote for cia director john ratcliffe and that is going to happen today because democrats are jamming up the senate floor right now, applying this 30-hour debate rule on every single nominee. if that is the case, sandra, we're g

murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- barrasso, budd, cornyn, crapo, daines, graham, hassan, hyde-smith, johnson, kaine, kim, lee, lummis, marshall, mcconnell, mccormick, moody, moreno, paul, rounds, scott of florida, tillis. senators voting in the negative -- alsobrooks, duckworth, gillibrand, klobuchar, lujan, murray, padilla, reed, sanders. mr. schumer, no. mr. hickenlooper, no. the clerk: mr. schmitt, aye. the clerk: ms. rosen, no. ms. ernst, aye. the clerk: mrs. fischer, aye. the clerk: mrs. capito, aye. mrs. blackburn, aye. the clerk: mr. heinrich, no. mr. warner, no. ms. blunt rochester, no. mr. she

yesterday we saw murkowski and tillis huddling in a room to talk about this.s still somebody to watch. i will also tell you, of course, the pressure from the other side of pennsylvania avenue has been raining down on these republican senators, even senator susan, senators collins and murkowski have been feeling the heat since they came out publicly yesterday. i bet that's having a lot to do in terms of calculations for these other senators, including mitch mcconnell, by the way, to vote yes or no tonight. >> and, jeff, it's really extraordinary because if you behaved as he has, as has been acknowledged, certainly by many people, he's denied the public, some of the public alcoholism that's been described by colleagues. but if you behave that way as an enlisted man, you would be up on charges of the military code. it's just, you know, going to the strip joints and all of the other things with members of his staff when he was dealing in the private sector and being, you know, you know, publicly drunk, according to those multiple descriptions. again, that he has d

lisa murkowski, susan collins joining them. of course, that's still not enough to tank him.ly as a couple of minutes ago between senate republicans. certainly two of them would need to join on collins and murkowski in order for that vote to fail tonight. but as you can imagine, there is a ton of pressure coming from the other side of pennsylvania avenue. of course, the white house wants this nomination to go forward. they want to close the chapter. they want hegseth in this position as secretary of defense. but that's not withstanding the many concerns that members on both sides of the aisle, even ones who might vote to confirm him tonight, have and continue to have. for example, senator thom tillis told us this week that he will vote on the procedural votes for brexit, but he could change his mind in the final vote that he was still trying to corroborate some of the evidence that we reported first in that affidavit, and there are still very real questions that are coming out for questions on the record that he answered from senator elizabeth warren about how much he paid to

murkowski's grievances with hegseth are very notable. doubts, his basic qualifications and judgment, past opposition that he's had to women serving in combat, allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual assault. excessive drinking, all of which he. >> denies, as. >> well as infidelity. >> in his past, which he does not deny. there are some republicans. >> who sounded skeptical at first, like senator joni ernst, but she's now a yes. i talked yesterday to senator roger wicker, the chairman of the armed services committee. he said he's not surprised. he understands why collins and murkowski are voting against hegseth. but he's ironclad, in his view, that hegseth is the right man for this job. >> well. >> the white house also seems like they're doing their unofficial whip counts because as trump was leaving the white house just in the last few hours, he seemed to think that in addition to murkowski and collins, that mcconnell was also someone likely to vote no. he's also on our list. but ultimately, we will see how this vote shakes out la

. >> murkowski because. >> they voted against him in committee. but the former republican leader, mitch mcconnell, voted against. >> him, too. >> now, ahead of her no vote on pete hegseth confirmation, senator susan collins. >> said this. >> i ended up. having a number of concerns they had. >> to do. >> with his lack of experience in managing. an organization as large and as complex as the pentagon, given that he had had a decidedly mixed record in managing two very small, nonprofit veterans organizations where there were allegations of wasted money and mismanagement, in addition, we're facing a world right now where the threats have arguably not been this high since world war two, and i felt that we needed an individual. who not only had the experience and qualifications, but also the perspective to run that that giant department in the face of these global threats. he seemed very. eager to do a wholesale firing of generals and admirals and other high ranking officers at a time when we need their expertise and dedication. so in the end, to me, it

two republicans, lisa murkowski, susan collins, expected to vote no. we don't yet know about senators mitch mcconnell and thom tillis. thom tillis did speak to manu raju earlier today and indicated if he found something new that might have impact his vote, but it sounded like he was heading toward a confirming vote. but again, we don't know for sure. the news continues right here on cnn. >> outfront next. breaking news. >> hegseth in danger. less than two hours before. >> his confirmation vote. >> republicans, unsure. >> if trump's pick for. >> defense secretary has the votes. >> could his nomination actually go. >> down tonight? also, breaking donald trump on the ground in california face to face with the very governor he ridicules and name calls regularly. will he withhold aid to the state because of petty politics? plus, trump cozies up to kim jong un again, calling him smart and predicting another summit soon. what will kim want in return? let's go out front. good evening everyone. i'm kate bolduan in for erin burnett outfront tonight we are follow

we expected senator susan collins and lisa murkowski because they voted against him in committee. but the former republican leader, mitch mcconnell, voted against him, too. now, ahead of her no vote on pete hegseth confirmation, senator susan collins said this. >> i ended up having a number of concerns they had to do with his lack of experience in managing an organization as large and as complex as the pentagon, given that he had had a decidedly mixed record in managing two very small, nonprofit veterans organizations where there were allegations of wasted money and mismanagement, in addition, we're facing a world right now where the threats have arguably not been this high since world war two. and i felt that we needed an individual who not only had the experience and qualifications, but also the perspective to run that that giant department in the face of these global threats. he seemed very eager to do a wholesale firing of generals and admirals and other high ranking officers at a time when we need their expertise and dedication. so in the end, to me, it was the right decision

as for what the president says about murkowski and collins. >> no surprises there. too bad, since the way the way it is too bad. >> no surprises there. but could there be a surprise for some of trump's other controversial picks? he can only afford to lose three republican votes. now, two have shown they're willing to go their own way. while trump trump's grip in congress may not actually be as ironclad as he wants. he is trying to flex his strength in other areas, like deciding who gets to keep secret service protection. we're learning now that trump has revoked the security detail for his former secretary of state, mike pompeo. it was just yesterday that he took away the former national security adviser, john bolton, and his security. both had been getting threats from iran. and in trump's telling, protection has a time limit. >> when you have protection, you can't have it for the rest of your life. do you want to have a large detail of people guarding people for the rest of their lives? i mean, there's risks to everything. >> joining me now, former republican cong

senator murkowski was talking about just a few moments ago. said she had concerns about donald trump's pardons of violent january 6th offenders. do you? well. >> i can understand the concerns, and i don't know all those different cases. i know that many of them have already served jail time, and they had confrontations with police officers with violence. but we're not going to be partisan about this. we want to be really fair. there was a person who was pardoned by joe biden who killed two fbi agents. now i'm a guy who was in the marines, who have a lot of my buddies who came out of the marines, went into the fbi, who put their life on the line every single day. >> two congressmen. >> did the same guy. >> does president biden's pardon for folks over here excuse donald trump pardoning people who beat up cops, who attacked police officers? i mean, i'm asking you about that. >> yeah, i'm telling you. so i don't excuse that. i don't excuse those people who beat up a police officer or got in a confrontation, but they've served jail time. you're tal

caught up with her and asked murkowski about her decision to break with her party on this. and she said she evaluated not only what was out there publicly. she said his responses in his hearings. all that, everything that was out there, she said she came to the conclusion that he lacks the strength of character and good judgment, that in all departments we need, especially in the department of defense. but, jake, those concerns really were not shared widely within the senate gop, even as he is expected to be confirmed 5149, which is incredibly narrow for a secretary of defense, a nominee which is typically supported by wide bipartisan majorities in the senate. this time not the case, as donald trump chose to go this route picking someone. fox news host, military veteran, someone who has not done anything near what is expected to him to do here, and all those concerns about his past ultimately making this a very partisan affair, which we saw on the senate floor just moments ago. >> as hegseth moves forward, how are things looking for tulsi gabbard, trump's pick to run the de

senator murkowski announced her opposition ahead of the vote, writing in a statement, quote, the leader of the department of defense must demonstrate and model the standards of behavior and character we all expect of service members. and mr. hague's nomination to the role poses significant concerns that i cannot overlook. senator susan collins also explained her decision in a lengthy statement, noting headsets changing position on women in combat roles, saying, quote, he and i had a candid conversation in december about his past statements and apparently evolving views. i'm not convinced that his position on women serving in combat roles has changed. now, republicans can only afford to lose one more vote when it goes to the full floor. if that occurs, vice president jd vance would have to vote in favor to break the tie and thus confirm hegseth. senator mitch mcconnell chose to advance hegseth to a final vote, but he has signaled he's not sold on his nomination. and then there's senator thom tillis of north carolina, who told reporters yesterday he was still looking into allegations that

two we expected senator susan collins and lisa murkowski because they voted against him in committee. but the former republican leader, mitch mcconnell, voted against him, too. now, ahead of her no vote on pete hegseth confirmation, senator susan collins said this. >> i ended up having a number of concerns they had to do with his lack of experience in managing an organization as large and as complex as the pentagon, given that he had had a decidedly mixed record in managing two very small, nonprofit veterans organizations where there were allegations of wasted money and mismanagement, in addition, we're facing a world right now where the threats have arguably not been this high since world war two, and i felt that we needed an individual who not only had the experience and qualifications, but also the perspective to run that that giant department in the face of these global threats. he seemed very eager to do a wholesale firing of generals and admirals and other high ranking officers at a time when we need their expertise and dedication. so in the end, to me, it was the right decision

murkowski saying, i believe that character is the defining trait required of the secretary of defensend must be prioritized without compromise. also at issue, hegseth's comments that women shouldn't be allowed to serve in combat, a position he walked back in his confirmation hearing. >> yes, women will have access to ground combat roles, combat rows, given the standards remain high. >> reporter: but senator susan collins saying she's not convinced his views have changed. >> oh, it's going to be tight. 51's tight. that's what it was yesterday. it could even be 50. who knows? >> reporter: and tonight this margin for error is so slim, republicans can only afford to lose three votes. and in that case, vice president j.d. vance would come up here to capitol hill to break that tie, whit? >> whit: jay o'brien, thank you. >>> overseas tonight, we're just hours away from a new hostage and prisoner exchange. hamas set to release four israeli soldiers. israel expected to free about 200 palestinian prisoners. and tonight, the difficult images from both sides of the divide. abc's tom soufi burridg

we had a word that senator murkowski of alaska we'll be a nobody of course it would take at least three no votes which it doesn't sound like they have in order to even need j.d. vance as vice president tie-breaking vote bear but it doesn't sound like it will be necessary a this point he is clear the hurdle that is the main hurdle before this vote for secretary of defense. i should also mention we are waiting for the swearing in of john radcliffe. thanks are moving a bit faster today as we see movement on t this. we expect to see a swearing and as sort -- cia director as you remember he of course was rector of national intelligence in the first from presidency and will have an intelligence role as head of cia in this presidency we will wait for the swearing in. executive order coming from the white house a lot to watch this afternoon let's check in with her senior national correspondent reporting live from capitol hill on all of t this. >> hey, martha this is a big deal for the secretary of state nominee because it may mean he has 51 votes that he needs for final confirmation without the

two republican senators, susan collins and lisa murkowski. they're now coming out against pete hegseth, just a day before the senate plans to vote on his fate. team trump can only lose two more republicans, or his confirmation fails. now, this comes as we learn that a former fox host paid a woman $50,000 for an nda after she accused him of sexual assault. he denies those claims, but it's for those reasons. along with his inexperience, that murkowski says he lacks the strength of character to serve in this role. it is maybe a little bit surprising that more people did not come to the same conclusion because, uh, it's just hit after hit after hit. in his background, his ex-wife came forward. according to our sources, to the fbi, and told them he drinks more often than he doesn't. are you surprised that more republicans haven't said, hey, hold on a second. maybe we need to rethink this one. >> i think the president made it very, very clear when he decided to double down on pete hegseth that he was going to do everything he could to make sure tha

again, lisa murkowski and susan collins, both of them say that they could not vote for him because of the past delegations and they did not feel like he was prepared to lead such a large department like the pentagon. if democrats and republicans do not come to a time agreement which we are not sure about that just yet, we are waiting to find out, then hegseth would not see a confirmation vote until at least friday night sometime around 9:00 p.m. john ratcliffe just got confirmed this afternoon for cia director. that was also delayed because of the same reason and that is because democrats are john make up the senate right now. forcing republicans to debate for 30 hours really all of trump's nominees. and as schumer told me this morning that includes nominees to have bipartisan support. watch this. >> of the nominees i do have democratic support, bipartisan support there are some like john ratcliffe do you support chris murphy slowing this confirmation process down a? do you think that will happen with other bipartisan a? >> i have some doubts about mr. radcliffe is so for a day or two

um, murkowski and mitch mcconnell. what i kind of want to zoom in on is, is the mcconnell of it all because he's no longer leader of the senate republicans. and it is going to be interesting to see how he wants to play this moving forward, because this week we have confirmation hearings for kash patel tulsi gabbard and robert kennedy jr.. >> i think we're all waiting to see what mitch mcconnell does about tulsi gabbard in particular, maybe rfk jr., because of the polio controversy. uh, who knows? i don't know what he's got in mind, but he clearly sent a shot across the bow and let the trump people know he was no longer a guaranteed vote because he's no longer in leadership. collins and murkowski are not surprising, and especially in collins case, she represents a blue state, and she's coming up in two years. uh, remember, there was almost a fourth one who would have killed the hegseth nomination, and that was thom tillis from north carolina. but he's also up in 2026. and trump is particularly strong in republican prima

there are still a few outliers who have not said where they leaned one way or another, lisa murkowskiut mitch mcconnell, and todd young. if all four of those republicans vote against pete hegseth, he will not be able to be confirmed as defense secretary in the margins, but i think it is a question of will those four ultimate lee vote against him. the other folks are pretty locked in. they said they are going to support him and i do not know they would backtrack on that after reading this affidavit. it is a possibility but it is unlikely and i think folks are going to be asking, did we receive this information too late? host: you had a chance to talk to speaker johnson about president trump's january 6 pardons. what did he tell you? guest: he said he has not had an ability to review it yet. he did not have a specific reaction, sort of deflecting the question to not comment. we will try again today, assuming he has had a moment to review the pardons that president trump signed on the first night of him being in office but the reaction from the house republican conference is mixed. i spo

murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of souths. carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. she he. miss slotkin. mrs. smith. mr. thune mr. tillis. mr. turberville. mr. vane. hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. >> a quorum is present. a quorum is a president present. how to preserve the leadership time is reserve the senate will be in the period of morning businesspe with the senators permitted to speak and they're in for up to 10 minutes each. the majority leader will then calling up. i'm not going to read. [laughter] majority leader. >> not a present asking a subset of the sea of consideration as friends one comment which was submitted earlier today. >> clerk for pope reports a resolution for. s >> s rez one to establish a committee to inform the president of the united states a quorum in each house is assem