it's not just pete hegseth there are other nominees across the board. the democrats are stalling as well. whose backgrounds might look a lot different even than pete's or other nominees. let's get this. let's get these these cabinet secretaries in place so that we can get to work. >> murkowski and collins are no votes. they're they're republicans. do you think they're playing games? >> i don't i don't know what their reasoning is. i haven't talked to them about the nomination. >> but murkowski. said she didn't think he had the character to lead the pentagon. >> well, obviously i disagree. i just voted to confirm pete hegseth, but it's the democrats who have been playing stalling games and holding up the vote. and i'm glad that leader thune has brought that to an end. we're voting right now, and by the time your show is over tonight, pete hegseth will be confirmed and he'll be sworn in tomorrow. >> the question that some of your colleagues have had, even republicans, were about the allegations about excessive drinking. on behalf of pete hegseth, he has pl

i think pete hegseth will be willing and able to partner with us in that regard the senate armed servicesommittee convened to consider mr. hegseth nomination. and testimony lasted nearly four hours, he addressed three key audiences. ourco committee, and i say senae as a whole, and the american people. i think the american people liked what they saw. i know i did. he showed each of us why president trump chose him to be the next secretary ofe. defense. first of all he articulated a clear vision of the pentagon it's clear to anyone who listened he is going to bring energy and fresh ideas to shake up the department stagnant bureaucracy.ar he will restore a war fighting east coast and relentlessly to focus on's core mission to deter conflict and if necessary to win a war. mr. hegseth committed to bringing a swift and to the corrosive social policies that serve to divide our service sere members rather than unite them. and as i pointed out earlier in the american people are behind him in this regard overwhelmingly. he correctly stated we need to change the way the pentagon does business. he wi

the republicans know what kind of a man pete hegseth is. they understand the alcohol abuse problem and how that puts our nation at risk. they understand that the allegations against him on sexual assault are serious and undermine the good order of our active duty military, and they understand that he has no experience running a big agency. all of those are real problems for our national defense. and the republicans have decided they're going to put donald trump and what he tells them to do ahead of their own understanding of how we protect our nation. >> senator warren, heading into tonight's vote, we expected, frankly and again, expectations are a are a mug's game. but we expected all democrats to say no to this nominee. we expected senator collins and senator murkowski on the republican side to say no. and the question was whether two additional republicans would join with collins and murkowski to make this a nonviable nomination. now, we have had senator mcconnell side with them, which was not something that we knew to count on one way o

that's two no votes in realtime against pete hegseth. you saw more -- she is against pete hegseth. so again, most democrats, all democrats were expecting them to vote no tonight. but that's kind of where we stand but this vote is on the edge as we stand right now. >> all right, chad, stay there. we will go back to you in just a moment. we appreciate you being with us. joining us now is brett bear. brett, i am -- i have been following this all day. we knew about lisa, and susan collins. that is not a surprise. the other two votes to watch would be mitch mcconnell and tom tillis in north carolina. but i understand that he has moved into the yes column. we will find out shortly. mitch mcconnell telling one or two people. i called into his office today to get an indication at all which way he was leaning. if i had to bet, i would say no. for tom tillis, i would say yes. but we will find out shortly here. >> we will. and sean, good evening, it was interesting to see president trump as he was leaving the whitehouse today heading to marine one. he raised questions about mitch mcconnell's

this was high drama in the vote to confirm pete hegseth as defence secretary was on a razor's edge. the g.o.p. lost 4 votes, the nomination would have failed. most republican supported hegseth but there were g.o.p. knows. >> he has satisfied me he will be a change agent in the department of defense and that he's the person we need. he's the president's choice and we owe it to this commander in chief to put them in this position. >> reporter: the 3 g.o.p. knows... it's about the math. with 53 republicans in the senate, that's why vance head to break the tie. mcconnell indicated he did not think hegseth was up to the job. democrats thought the same. >> the american people deserve nothing less from the secretary of defense. the question i have is, is pete hegseth truly the best we have to offer? i do not believe so. i urge my colleagues to vote against this nominee. >> reporter: democratic senator adam schiff skipped a meeting with president trump in california on the wildfires to vote no on hegseth. >> we need a secretary of defense that can lead and inspire our troops from the most se

they are capable of doing it with pete hegseth. there are other people who could serve in this administration. they could have communicated to the white house that even if hegseth hadn't paid a woman $50,000 to settle her accusation that he sexually assaulted her, an accusation he denies, even if there weren't a bunch of former coworkers, relations and acquaintances saying that hegseth has a drinking problem, which he denies, and detailing specific incidents, both anonymously to reporters and on the record. even absent all that, okay, just plainly like the resume. this man is plainly and obviously unqualified to oversee the armed forces of the united states. i mean, if you're being charitable, i think you could work as the pentagon spokesperson. we're talking about the most powerful military in the history of human civilization, the largest workforce and employer in the government, the aircraft carriers, the nuclear armed bombers, the massive civilian workforce that keeps the pentagon running, all of it. all it takes is a look at hi

we defence secretary pete hegseth would to be?— defence secretary pete hegseth would to be?would to be? we know trump sees him as a disruptor_ would to be? we know trump sees him as a disruptor but _ him as a disruptor but disruption comes in many different forms.— disruption comes in many different forms. this is a man who will be — different forms. this is a man who will be an _ different forms. this is a man who will be an instrument - different forms. this is a man who will be an instrument ofl who will be an instrument of change in a department donald trump long railed against. and long been suspicious of, his former defence secretary had his portrait removed atjust a couple days after donald trump took office. that is the sort of opposition donald trump has for the establishment in the pentagon. this agent of change pete hegseth purports to be will be regarded with some suspicion by the old guard at the pentagon as he takes up his office. there will be many in his own party also when i now have serious doubts about what he intends to do with that department for superma

pete hegseth and his second ex-wife, samantha. this clause is not a full nondisclosure agreement. a lawyer for mr. hegseth, tim parlatore, tells msnbc, quote, it is a limited non-disparagement agreement. these are two legally distinct concepts. there's nothing inappropriate or inaccurate about mr. hegseth answers to the committee. it takes some significant imagination and intellectual dishonesty for anyone to consider this, to bear on the credibility of his testimony. both parties will refrain from engaging in any public discourse disparaging the other party. senator kaine provided a statement to msnbc as well, saying, quote, that clause in a divorce settlement could expose someone to severe consequences for sharing unflattering information about an ex-partner, even if that information is true, the existence of this agreement, which has not been previously reported, seems important. on the eve of pete hegseth s confirmation vote tomorrow in the united states senate, one that seems to hinge on just 1 or 2 votes. msnbc legal correspo

pete hegseth is a yes man. if president trump calls pete hegseth at 2:00 a.m. in the morning and says, pete, i'm about to start a nuclear war, even though we haven't been attacked with nuclear weapons. what will pete hegseth say? he will say, yes, sir. and so from this perspective, mr. hegseth is the worst possible choice to lead the department of defense. we need someone who can challenge the president's thinking, slow him down, curb his worst impulses, and give him sober, reasoned advice, and with hegseth, that's not going to happen. there are other monumental decisions on nuclear policy that president trump will need reasoned advice on that he is not likely to get from pete hegseth. during the campaign, trump had just one clear proposal related to nuclear policy -- to build an iron dome missile defense system to ensure that no enemy can strike our homeland. now, this is a throwback to former president ronald reagan's 1983 proposal called the strategic defense initiative, also called star wars. to build a system of space and ground-based interceptors to make n

with respect to that fear of pete hegseth. was no physical abuse. there is not a lot of contradiction between that statement and what danielle hegseth is saying. danielle hegseth has an allegation of one instance of sexual abuse, and she herself draws a distinction between physical and sexual abuse in her affidavit. >> briefly. have you heard anything from capitol hill tonight? >> i have, i've. >> heard from senator tim kaine's office because senator kaine was asked what this means to him. he said, not only can he understand this language as sort of a disincentive for someone to speak, but a spokesperson for the senator commented to me tonight when i asked them, do you think hegseth was untruthful or misleading? in his answers to the questions senator kaine asked him during his testimony? the response on the record attributable to a spokesperson for senator tim kaine is, yes, he does think that, rachel. >> that's important, given that his vote is slated for tomorrow. lisa rubin, msnbc legal correspondent, thank you for this rep

pete hegseth. i left mr. hegseth hearing last week that the number of unanswered questions and some real concerns about his qualifications and ability to serve in the role of secretary of defense. every single member from republican to democratic administrations has met with me and other members on both sides of the aisle on the committee before their confirmation hearing. i voted for every one of those nominees both democrats and republican administrations secretaries panetta hagel carter mattis esper and often. i didn't always agree with their views or their policies but i thought they all had the qualifications and the temperament to be the secretary of defense so i supported their nomination. mr. hegseth chose not to meet with me or any other senate democrats except the ranking member zach reid and he broke with strong long-standing traditions to ensure that our work on national security remains free from partisanship and i think that's the important point. we are stronger as senators, as congress as a nat

pete hegseth mother's email completely supports and agrees with that position. say, samantha told me that she once hid in her closet from hegseth because she feared for her personal safety. this happened in their house sometime during the years between 2014 and 2016. i believe what samantha told me, because what she told me is consistent with what i personally observed of hegseth erratic and aggressive behavior over many years. i was aware that samantha had a plan to deploy if she felt she needed to get away from hegseth, samantha told me and another person close to her about this plan, which involved samantha texting me a safe word code word that meant i should call the other person so that person could fly out to minnesota to help her. samantha did text me this code word sometime in 2015 2016. i was myself a witness to and even a victim of emotional abuse by hegseth. he drunkenly yelled in my face one night in 2009, danielle hegseth concludes her affidavit by saying, i believe hegseth to be an erratic, volatile person with an alcohol abuse problem. i do not be

we have seen pete hegseth's confirmation hearing and vote in committee.ne of the key holdouts, joni ernst from iowa, announced she would support pete hegseth after that hearing. there are still a few outliers who have not said where they leaned one way or another, lisa murkowski cut 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 wi

we saw that with pete hegseth this past time.t a may struggle, rfk jr., perhaps tulsi gabbard? >> and likely kash patel. all those hearings have been scheduled over the next two weeks, i think those are likely the three ute standing hearings that you're going to -- outstanding hearings that you're going to see issues not just from democrat, but also republican concerns for some of their past statements and past views. but the vast majority of these cabinet secretaries are moving through the process quickly. this is, again, faster than we saw during the biden first administration in terms of timing with these nominees. so democrats just want the process to to play out, get the full information, get the background checks and get those hearings through expeditiously. mike: all right. from politico, republicans plan a slew of reconciliation with meetings at their florida retreat. your thoughts. >> we need to be clear that this is donald trump's congress, this is donald trump's government. we've already seen him in charge of the congr

pete hegseth says he no longer has a. problem with alcohol. >> abuse. >> and samantha. >> hegseth set and said in. >> a statement. >> as we've already said. repeatedly on this program, many, many times that she has said, pete hegseth has not physically abused her. the issue of abuse in the in the second marriage case has never been an issue of physical abuse. no one has alleged that it is possible that some of the republican senators who voted to limit debate might still be undecided about how they will vote on the nomination. for example, senator mitch mcconnell. >> has. >> not indicated how he will vote on the nomination if pete hegseth loses, one more republican senator than the vice president will have to cast the tie breaking vote in the senate. and if pete hegseth loses, two more republican senators between now and the time of the vote, he will not be confirmed, and donald trump will have to look for another defense secretary. leading off our discussion tonight is democratic congresswoman mikie sherrill of new jersey

that's what pete hegseth is. security advisor and your former colleague on the armed services committee, mike waltz, sent home 160 national security council aides this week as they conduct a review of personnel. and a source tells nbc news the goal is to ensure the nsc is staffed with individuals committed to fulfilling president trump's agenda. you released a statement. give me your response to this news. now, alex, let me let me be fair here, because mike waltz actually, i believe is a good american. he's a good veteran. he served honorably and he knows the right thing to do here. but again, he's just caving to donald trump. it is not safe for our nation to send home all the national security staff, especially during a presidential transition when we don't have all the formal folks installed yet, and therefore the staff that works behind the scenes every single day to keep our nation safe, to respond to crises, to anticipate things that are coming, you know, to say that, oh, you know, there's going to be a miss

pete hegseth checks there. there is no box that is checked next to the name pete hegseth.doesn't meet any of the qualifications for this. you know, other than being a fox news weekend morning co-host, i guess, which maybe is all you need. >> it seems to be good enough for the trump standard of, you know, if you're on fox news, that meets his standard. right. >> thank you lawrence. >> thank you rachel. >> thank you. >> well, it doesn't have to be this way. it really doesn't. the united states senate doesn't have to be confronted with the worst presidential nominees in history for senate confirmation. and donald trump himself proved that today that it doesn't have to be this way. when donald trump's choice for cia director, john ratcliffe, was confirmed by the united states senate, 74 to 25 cia directors before the trump era used to be routinely confirmed unanimously, but 74 to 25 is as solid a vote as you can expect for a trump nominee. 21 democratic senators, 21, are betting that john ratcliffe will be at least okay as a cia director. that's all. a yes vote means you votin

. >> voting against pete hegseth. i know. >> you've. >> been very. >> busy covering. >> it all night. >> so i don't know if you've seen the one. >> pager that that. >> mitch mcconnell put out. >> but if i. >> can just. >> read a couple of things. >> to. >> you, he he makes a. >> reference in a paragraph. >> to. >> george marshall. >> and to caspar. >> weinberger and. >> to bob gates, and the kinds of shoes. >> that pete hegseth. >> is going to fill. he then says, quote. >> mere desire. >> to be a change agent is not enough. >> to fill. >> these shoes, and. dust on boots falls fails. >> even to distinguish. >> this nominee from. >> multiple predecessors. >> over the last decade. nor is. >> it a precondition for success. secretaries with distinguished combat experience and time in the. trenches have failed. >> at the job. >> mr. hegseth has failed as yet to demonstrate. >> that he. >> will pass this test. but as he assumes. >> office, the consequences. >> of failure. >> are as. >> high as they have ever been. >> and fun

pete hegseth is a litmus test. donald trump put the worst people possible out there just to test his power over the republican party. just to see, guaranteed you will fire pete hegseth in a month. he knows he's not qualified. he knows it. this is a test to see how far he can push the republican party and he pushed them. host: that was betty in massachusetts. theodore in florida, line for republicans. good morning, theodore. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i hope as far as the good thing is, the major, i pray for him. i'm talking as a u.s. citizen. secondly, with the new nomination, i was told he was a public servant in lower realms. i pray he puts people around him who do the right thing because i think we might have a wartime president and defense secretary and hopefully we don't go to war and hopefully we are still here because i wasn't happy with the nomination but it is what it is. thank you for your call and being out there for your service. thank you. host: let's hear from edward in maine.

, the questions you had for pete hegseth. been remedied by what you saw during these confirmation hearings? >> alicia. thank you. >> you know, i would say that no, it hasn't been remedied. >> and also, i think some of the senators who were on the armed services committee failed to show up and actually challenge him in the way that he deserved to be challenged as a part of that confirmation hearing. >> give me examples. who are you talking about? what did you want to see? i mean, let's name the names. >> yeah. >> i mean, you and i chatted about this when we were last together. alicia. you know pete. pete hegseth, excuse me? actively lobbied to get convicted war criminals pardoned. and these were men who were only convicted because men who served alongside of them, who experienced the same horrors of war on the same battlefield as them, felt like they crossed lines that we shouldn't cross. they they risked their reputation in some instances, those who are navy seals, but also had the courage to speak up and turn those men in. a

pete hegseth's nomination to be secretary of defense. mr. hegseth is the ninth defense secretary nominee that i have considered as a member of the armed services committee. i have voted in favor of all of his predecessors, including those in the first trump administration. while some former secretaries and i have disagreed politically, there was always an understanding that partisanship has no place when it comes to providing for our men and women in uniform. indeed, the weight of this position, secretary of defense, is an onus. the secretary is responsible for leading a department of 3.5 million servicemembers and civilians, an annual budget of nearly $900 billion, and hundreds of thousands of aircraft, ships, submarines, combat vehicles, satellites, and our nuclear arsenal. they also play a powerful role with allies, partners and adversaries abroad, having to meet, communicate, and coordinate with a whole range of individuals from many different ethnic groups, many different religious groups. that's part of the role of secretary of defense.

that last comment was in reference to an affidavit that was submitted by an ex sister in law of pete hegseth, who alleged that he was engaged in alcohol abuse and mistreated his second ex-wife. his second ex-wife contended that there was no physical abuse in their relationship, and of course, hegseth himself has denied repeatedly those allegations of sexual misconduct, allegations of excessive drinking, and has told senators he would not drink if confirmed to this critical position. but in just a matter of minutes, we'll see if he has the votes to pass this first hurdle. and if he does, he could be confirmed as late as tomorrow. >> manu, thank you. boris. >> let's discuss with democratic >> have to come and vote to pass to move into the next stage. i hope that at least three more republicans step up there a moral center and realize that this man is not fit to lead the bravest men and women in this country, the ones who wear the uniform of our great nation. >> have you spoken to collins or perhaps other senators that have expressed apprehension, or at least have not come out in support of heg

but the affidavit was submitted by, as you said, pete hegseth. former sister in law, danielle hegseth. and it's really telling katie she it is again, it is a sworn affidavit that she submitted to the senate armed services in response to a january 18th letter from the ranking member, senator jack reed, asking for more information about information that she has about the marriage and the time that that pete hegseth and samantha hegseth were married. now, in it, she details times where she was told by samantha hegseth, his ex-wife, that she feared for her safety because of pete hegseth s behavior. now, as you said, and i want to read this because i want to give the entire statement here. we did reach out to samantha hegseth first. we heard back from her on monday. we reached out to her again today. and she she does deny that there was any physical abuse in her marriage. and she's asking and she does say that she doesn't want to speak anymore about her marriage to pete hegseth, as you mentioned. his attorney, tim parlatore, also denying this and point

now, this is hardly the first time pete hegseth has faced and denied very concerning allegations. ning enough to, like, conceivably threaten his fox news job, let alone his secretary of defense nomination. in november, we learned through his attorney that mr. hegseth had paid off a woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her. in 2017, mr. hegseth denied the sexual assault allegation. prosecutors did not bring charges against him for it. the woman did. the woman was treated at a hospital and had a rape kit examination done, though in december, jane mayer reported in the new yorker on seth's work for two veterans groups, writing that hegseth was, quote, forced to step down by both of the groups that he ran in the face of serious allegations of financial mismanagement, sexual impropriety, and personal misconduct. a lawyer for hegseth said the new yorker's reporting was based on claims from a disgruntled former associate. just a few days after that report, ten current and former fox employees told nbc news that pete hegseth drank in ways that were concerning. two of them said they

you know, pete hegseth goes through. he will not have the respect of the admirals and generals that he is going to lead, because they know the ethics of our military. they have risen to the highest ranks, and they know that this man really would not be promoted anywhere near their rank. and also, it's more than just the sexual misconduct allegations and the alcohol abuse allegations. it's the fact that he is simply unqualified. i mean, think about the fact that this guy has never held a leadership position of any magnitude in any organization greater than the size of your neighborhood. mcdonald's. i mean, that's literal, and that's what we're looking at here. and these senators have to know that they care about our national security. they got to know this man is unqualified. >> well. >> can i. push on that. >> a. >> little bit? it's not simply that this is a question of military ethics. it also may be a question of martial law. it's my understanding that the military code of justice prohibits adultery for those who are e

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

losing those senators will not hurt pete hegseth. he actually cleared his initial vote which is overcoming the filibuster earlier this afternoon. that its a big deal. he got 51 votes including which mcconnell who we were also watching and waiting to see how he would vote. that means he is now headed to his final confirmation vote. 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

that was our brand new defense secretary, the pete hegseth. he just got sworn in. rtment of homeland security nominee kristi noem faces her confirmation vote in the next hour. of course, we are going to take you there, but notable that hegseth was surrounded by his children and his wife. he thanked the president and the vice president as well. >>> all right. right now president trump heading to las vegas today where he's expected to talk up his no tax on tips proposal. he pitched that, of course, during his campaign. lucas tomlinson is in las vegas with the details nurse. hi, lucas. >> reporter: hi, jackie. good morning. president trump has returned here to nevada, becoming the first republican to win this state in 20 years, all part of his seven swing state sweep on his way to capturing the popular vote. and as you mentioned, president trump expected to hold a rally this afternoon at 12:30 local, 3:30 eastern time where he's going to thank supporters and particularly those in the service industry which is massive here, of course, jackie, home to some of the largest

only 19% of adults approve of pete hegseth. but forget the domestic political audience paying attention to this. what's more important is that our adversaries are watching. do american adversaries look at donald trump's determination to force, through a nominee with a record of reported public drunkenness and difficulty with impulse control and see strength? do american adversaries see a commander in chief who demanded that general mark millie's portrait at the pentagon be removed? i'm not sure. a whole lot of us knew that there was a portrait of millie at the pentagon, but now it's gone. ten days after it was unveiled. is that pettiness or is that misplaced power? a lot of questions here. joining us is tom nichols, professor emeritus at the united states naval war college and staff writer at the atlantic. and jennifer rubin, co-founder and editor in chief of the contrarian. she's also an msnbc political analyst. good evening to both of you. thank you for being with us. tom. let me just start with you, because there are few buc

pete hegseth is a litmus test.ump put the worst people possible out there just to test his power over the republican party. just to see, guaranteed you will fire pete hegseth in a month. he knows he's not qualified. he knows it. this is a test to see how far he can push the republican party and he pushed them. host: that was betty in massachusetts. theodore in florida, line for republicans. good morning, theodore. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i hope as far as the good thing is, the major, i pray for him. i'm talking as a u.s. citizen. secondly, with the new nomination, i was told he was a public servant in lower realms. i pray he puts people around him who do the right thing because i think we might have a wartime president and defense secretary and hopefully we don't go to war and hopefully we are still here because i wasn't happy with the nomination but it is what it is. thank you for your call and being out there for your service. thank you. host: let's hear from edward in maine. he's on t

pete hegseth will be the biggest bad ass on the block. ddest fighting force on the face of the planet focused on lethality is what the country needs. pete will be sworn in sometime today and the recruitment that'll be there. glad the hostages are home but, boy, this fight is far from over. lieutenant colonel donald arias, thank you so much for joining us this morning on "fox & friends". >> thank you. jason: all right, president trump telling hurricane helene survivors he won't forget them. two survivors who spoke alongside trump, they join us next. lowe's knows it's easier to make the right calls, when you have the right team. cj stroud putting up points with mylowe's rewards. he is really cleaning up. c'mon, man. 'cause the cart, he's got all the cleaning supplies in his cart. in store. online. our lowe's team has you covered. [tv announcer] premium meat for natural diet. most people don't realize how processed typical dog food is. at the farmer's dog we believe dogs should be able to get their daily nutrition without the excess processin

just ahead on -- coming up in the senate, there will be a test vote on the nomination of pete hegseth secretary of defense. it's believed that -- and hegseth believes it himself, he told me the other day, he's going to lose two votes. murkowski, and collins and take him down to 50, and that means the vice president j.d. vance would have to come in as a tiebreaker and hegseth was very confident friday night he would become the secretary of defense. we've keeping watching that. sandra. >> sandra: we there. and another wildfire is breaking out in southern california. it began just a couple hours ago, and quickly spreading as you can see. there are constant efforts to contain this. this after two other infernos began spreading yesterday, and they are trying to contain the fires and the chaos 16 years ago, and bringing in the captain of the los angeles fire department, sheila kelliher sheila kelliher,thank you for j. this is a stunning inferno. >> it is in a good position where they have some air attack on that and they should make quick work of the fire and the conditions and our crews ma

foreign affairs about this. >> he knows. >> pete hegseth. is dangerous. and so i'm not surprised. >> and john, this was a showdown there was reporting that trump was considering pulling the hegseth pick when the controversies came out. but he stuck with him and set up this stare down with senate republicans. trump ultimately won, but mcconnell made his presence felt. but what does it mean for trump if mcconnell is willing to go against him for the next two years? or does it mean anything? >> well, it means if that's the case, and. >> i'm. >> not sure. >> that we can say that that's. >> the case quite yet, but we are we are looking at free mitch mcconnell. now, you know, the guy's no longer the republican leader in the senate. he's able to do what he wants to do. he obviously disagrees with president trump on a great number of issues and has, you know, challenged president trump's character in the past, even at times when he was carrying the white house's water during the first trump term. so, look, i think mitch mcconnell will be one of the most fascinatin

i think pete hegseth has worked hard to go answer these questions. and, you know, roger wicker, the chairman of the committee, says that he thinks these allegations don't pass scrutiny. roger wicker is a sober, square individual. i trust roger wicker, and i think most republican senators are going to, too. >> all right, brad todd, gretchen carlson, ashley allison, thanks very much. coming up next, what president trump has now ended secret service protection for two of his former top officials. the question tonight, did he do it because they've spoken up against him or for other reasons keeping them honest. later you'll meet a remarkable woman and mom still searching for answers and her missing son. austin tice 12.5 years since he disappeared in syria. >> i still. >> love. >> to surf, snowboard and of course, skate. so i take magnesium to support my muscle and bone health. kunal's high absorption magnesium glycinate helps me get the full benefits of magnesium. kunal, the brand i trust. >> they are trying to shut down this legal loophole to get 100 mil

host: we talked about the confirmation for pete hegseth. currently, who is the acting secretary of defense, and what do we know about him? >> sure, the acting secretary of defense is a manguest: the actif defense is a man named robert salassa as dod employee ever since just after the 9/11 attacks. he is a retired, his time all over the pentagon managing large numbers of people. he is a highly qualified individual, the kind of resume you would expect to see for someone stepping into the role as basically a manager for now. he came from washington headquarters services for his latest role that's basically the umbrella organization of all the support facilities around the washington, d.c. area that helps the pentagon operate, whether that includes the office of general counsel, whether it includes literally the facilities, folks like thousands of people who work to get the office space up and running, all the communications directorates, even the communications offices is under that office. so he is overseeing -- he has overseen a lot of peopl

watch. >> i think pete is going to be a great secretary of defense, pete hegseth. and we are honored to have. >> i didn't even know that. i just heard that we won. winning is what matters. >> pete went on x and posted thank you for your confidence and the tiebreaker, mister vice president, thank you, senators for 50 votes. this is for the troops, for the warriors, for our country. america first every day. we will never back down. >> they brought out all the things they could throw at pete and he persevered, donald trump persevered and it reminded a lot of us of the brett kavanaugh hearings where democrats were making up stuff. everything was anonymously sourced. some of it provably false, what i love about it is brett kavanaugh has proved himself, you might not agree with everything he does on the court but proved himself to be a very fine justice of the supreme court and it is punctuation on how ridiculous democrats are when they make up these stories and literally willing to launch any accusation and pete is going to do that as well when the rest of the country le

so why pete hegseth? was it just to show that donald trump can force republican senators to bend to his will, even on the worst nominees? this could be a win the battle, but lose the war situation. literally. trump doesn't have that kind of political capital to spare. the president who claims he got a landslide senate landslide won with 49% of the vote. 50% of american voters voted for someone else. he starts his presidency with 47% approval, according to a new reuters poll. only 19% of adults approve of pete hegseth. but forget the domestic political audience paying attention to this. what's more important is that our adversaries are watching. do american adversaries look at donald trump's determination to force, through a nominee with a record of reported public drunkenness and difficulty with impulse control, and see strength? do american adversaries see a commander in chief who demanded that general mark milley portrait at the pentagon be removed? i'm not sure. a whole lot of us knew that there was a

what she says is that samantha hegseth, for example, told her that she was so afraid of pete hegseth s that they had a safe word, meaning samantha hegseth had a safe word with some of her friends and family so that, if necessary, she could develop an escape plan. and the reason that matters is because samantha hegseth very carefully worded, terse denial could possibly be explained by a document that i discovered yesterday in the divorce decree from 2018 between pete and samantha hegseth. there is a provision that is a very broad non-disparagement provision. i want to draw a distinction, if i can, between non-disparagement and nondisclosure, nondisclosure agreement or provision says i cannot talk about x, i will not talk about event y. that's not what this is. what it says, though, is that neither of the former, the former hegseth wife or pete hegseth will engage in any public discourse, including through the traditional media or social media, that could disparage the other. and given how much of that is open to interpretation, that could explain why samantha hegseth won't say anything

you believe pete hegseth is on his way?definitely on his way and we will have a hearing at 5:00 inauguration day and he'll be ported to the full senate the very first day and vote for him for the end of the week. >> some say he will be filibustered. >> it can only be done two or three days so by first week, pete hegseth will be in place at the pentagon and we need somebody right away at the pentagon is the most dangerous situation the united states has faced, world war ii facing not only russia and china but north korea and ayatollahs in iran and they are in it together like they've never been before so we need leadership, we need to change and we need somebody in charge and am looking forward to working with pete hegseth and also the theme he's putting in place. >> stephen feinberg deputy secretary of defense, undersecretary of defense mike duffy for acquisitions. everyone has an expertise in a certain area. that's important to see the whole picture. >> no question about it that they understand will have to build up nation

do you think pete hegseth has what it takes to do the job? >> well, look, i think something that's very concerning is how he ran some of his non-profits. and businesses. i mean, the secretary hegseth now is responsible for a workforce of nearly 3 million people and a budget of nearly $1 trillion. if past is any indication of what the future could hold, mismanaging funds and american taxpayer dollars, that's very serious. i think senators on the hill had their concerns. i think there are concerns, certainly. >> that i have. but look. >> you know, he's he is now the secretary of defense. he has a lot of work ahead of him. and i hope that he relies on the civilian workforce and those who are in uniform that know that building that have served, you know, a very long time in the military to help guide him through some of the challenges that he's going to face. >> we will be watching very closely with your help as well. sabrina singh, good to see you. thank you so much. thanks, alex. coming up next, donald trump's executive order, that could be his

that is if three republicans wind up voting no on pete hegseth.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 going to be here not just here week days, weekends, you name it. i actually got to talk to democrat leader chuck schumer about this, and i pressed him on what his plans are and here's what he told me, watch. >> on the nominees that do have democratic support, bipartisan support because there are some like john ratcliffe, do you support chris murphy slowing this confirmation process down, and do you think that's going to happen with other bipartisan? >> i have some doubts about mr. ratcliffe. so i think for a day or two or a few hours to examine these nominees who have such power thoroughly, absolutely. absolutely. >> so remember, sandra, the senate floor is a one-track train station, and the next train or the next nominee can't come in if the first one do