paul rieckhoff, thank you so much, lieutenant. >> thank you.laura. >> still ahead, it's the cabinet position that arguably donald trump cares most about. we're talking about the attorney general. so what kind of questions should pam bondi be facing tomorrow? well, congressman dan goldman has some ideas. he's here with me next. >> i lay on my back frozen, thinking the darkest thoughts, and then everything changed. dana said, you're still you, and i love you, super man. >> the christopher reeve story february 2nd on cnn. >> you're seeing skechers famous glide step footwear everywhere. and now that famous design is available in hands free. skechers slip ins get the comfort and style of glide step now with the convenience of slip ins, with no bending down or touching your shoes, try glide step skechers slip in. freely. the third. >> my parents worked hard for everything we had. they taught me the value of a dollar and how to use it wisely. those lessons are forever and today i share them with all our employees. it's why i team up with vanguard for

paul rieckhoff still here. all right.memo in the project 2025 amendments and footnotes. was this something that you saw coming? >> the plan. >> was what's happening right now was part of the. >> strategy was to. create trauma. >> for federal employees. >> in fact, wrestlevotes said that. and i think it's really critical. you know, there's all this discussion. >> about, you know, some pressure, some public pressure, these judicial orders. but i also find it extremely important. >> to note that they. >> started to sort of obfuscate. >> and. >> say they were. rescinding and try to walk some of these. >> things back. >> right. when russ vought came into the focal point and democrats started saying. >> they were. >> going to do everything possible. >> to slow down his sort. >> of. >> approval, to move in to become the omb director. >> and that's the answer to your question. this was part of the plan. the part of the. plan here was to create as much trauma. >> and confusion. >> for individual. >> employees of the federal govern

. >> paul rieckhoff. >> started reporting publicly. >> on what. >> appears to be trump's. >> new hiring. >> freeze at the va, at the veterans administration. quote. >> job offers to new. >> employees that have a start date after. >> february 8th are now being rescinded. >> this includes some folks who've already moved to new cities with their families, doctors, nurses and counselors. this is throwing. a massive. hand grenade, rieckhoff says. >> into the largest health care system in. >> america, one which. serves millions of american veterans. >> it's already hurting morale and retention. >> it will impact recruiting at va forever. >> it is. reckless and stupid. >> and he says. >> quote, it's intentional. >> this is how you drive people out of va and make sure they don't want to work there, which for many trump people. >> has. >> always been the plan. if you want to shrink the workforce and privatize the va, this is how you. accelerate it. >> hiring freeze. >> at. >> the va, affecting doctors, nurses, counselors, everybody. >> veterans have been sounding the alarm. >> on. >> that this w

us veterans, including the founder of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, paul rieckhoff, started reporting publicly on what appears to be. >> trump's new hiring. >> freeze at the va, at the veterans administration. quote. >> job offers to new. >> employees that have a start date after. february 8th are. >> now being rescinded. >> this includes some folks who've. >> already. >> moved to new cities with their families doctors, nurses, counselors. this is throwing a massive. hand grenade, rieckhoff says, into the largest health care system in america, one which serves millions of american veterans. it's already hurting morale and retention. it will impact recruiting at va forever. it is reckless and stupid. and he says, quote, it's intentional. this is how you drive people out of va and make sure they don't want to work there, which for many trump people has always been the plan. if you want to shrink the workforce and privatize the va, this is how you accelerate it. hiring freeze at the va, affecting doctors, nurses, counselors, everybody. veterans have been sounding the alarm on t

. >> including the founder of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, paul rieckhoff. >> started reporting. >> publicly on. >> what. >> appears to be trump's. >> new hiring. >> freeze at the va, at the veterans administration. >> quote, job offers to new. >> employees that have. >> a start. >> date after. >> february 8th. >> are now. >> being rescinded. >> this includes some folks who've already moved to new. >> cities with their families. >> doctors, nurses and counselors. this is throwing a. >> massive hand. >> grenade, rieckhoff. >> says, into the largest. >> health care system in america, one which. >> serves millions. >> of american veterans. >> it's already. >> hurting morale and retention. >> it will impact recruiting. >> at va forever. >> it is reckless and stupid. >> and he says, quote. it's intentional. >> this is how you drive people out of. >> va and make. >> sure they don't want to work there, which for many trump. >> people has always been. >> the plan. if you want to shrink the workforce and. privatize the va. >> this is how. >> you accelerate it. >> hiring freeze. at the. >

and when paul rieckhoff, founder of iava, again signals that this is something that folks in trump's orbit have wanted to do demoralizing, shrinking, weakening the va workforce is something they've wanted to do because they wanted to effectively get rid of the va. they wanted to privatize it. indeed, he is on solid ground in saying that trump's nominee to run the va is doug collins. his nominee to run the defense department is pete hegseth. again, we are going to have some more news on pete hegseth coming up later this hour. but both of these nominees for the second trump term for va and for defense, both of them have crusaded to privatize the va, which means effectively ending the va because, yeah, sorry, veterans, there's money to be made here somewhere. so we're going to privatize it and get rid of the system that's been taking care of american veterans since, oh, i don't know, the 1790s. i mean, stopping doctors and nurses and counselors from working at the va, trying ultimately to get rid of the va. this is not a thing that is a popular idea among the american public. this, i do

founder of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america and host of the independent americans podcast, paul rieckhoffhouse correspondent. paul, really good to have you. okay. pete hegseth, for a while, it looked like there was no way he would survive this process. and then things calmed down. we heard joni ernst say nicer things about him. it seemed like the road was getting smoother. but then you just heard there john barrasso, who is the whip, not exactly say that he's got the votes. what is your prediction? >> i think trainwreck chaos. mayhem is right for what we're about to go into. vacation time is definitely over and here comes the mayhem. i think most people are keeping their powder dry. i think that's what they're doing. they're saying the things that can keep them in good graces with trump, or keeping them kind of off the radar and waiting to see what comes out, not just in the hearings, but in the next 48 hours. and what could happen after the hearings, because it doesn't look like he'll get a vote immediately after the hearings. >> so we're talking about maybe another week of breaking news

host of the independent americans podcast, founder and ceo of independent veterans of america, paul rieckhoff, joins us as well. paul, what did active duty military think of jim mattis? >> he was a god. >> i mean, they called him saint mattis. >> they were shrines to mattis in marine corps barracks all around the world. >> and he was held up, you know, as our generation's patton in many ways, in part because he embodied the ethos and the values of the military loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, personal courage. >> we all know them. and mattis embodied all that. what you saw today is someone who violates all those values. and i think what you saw today is the first major battle in trump's culture war. and that's a culture war. we've talked about it over the last couple of months. pete hegseth is an effective culture warrior, and he brought that war to this confirmation hearing today. and we didn't talk about iran or about nuke policy or about, you know, carrier strike groups. we talked about whether or not he can be trusted to get drunk on the job or not, and whether

founder of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america and host of independent americans podcast, paul rieckhoffhere pete hegseth picks up a democrat. tell me what exactly you know right now and where this vote might fall. >> well, i think that democrat you're talking about, katie, is john fetterman. if he stays with his vote yesterday, which was to vote against advancing this nomination, i think he will stay with the democrats. and you can have 47 of them voting against him. lisa murkowski, susan collins joining them. of course, that's still not enough to tank him. there are private conversations happening as recently 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