titans of capital peter phillips. thank you very much for coming. go by the book. he's going to be up here. so go get your book. he'll sign and you can continue to ask your questions. thank you so much for supporting book passage. thankwelcome to

peter hamby, thank you for joining us tonight. thank you all so much for joining us here at cnn news night with abby phillip is up next. >> tonight. mr. hegseth grilled on the hill. >> i have read multiple reports of your regularly being drunk at work. >> from the personal, you have admitted that you had sex while you were married to wife two to the policy. i suggest you do a little homework. the big question is donald trump's man to lead american forces qualified for the job. plus, tiktok on tiktok as the ban looms. is elon musk shopping? and when they go low, she stays home. why? michelle obama is breaking tradition and snubbing the inauguration live at the table scott jennings, ashley allison, kevin o'leary, catherine rampell and juan williams americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here they do. good evening. i'm abby phillip in new york. let's get right to what america is talking about. a contentious job interview, the first of donald trump's controversial cabinet picks is likely to be confirmed to lead america's military. one key republican senator, joni ernst, now says she is going to support

so charlie peters, our national reporter, revealed yesterday that jess phillips had a declined rejected calls for an independent inquiry into the grooming scandal in oldham, saying that it should all be deau saying that it should all be dealt with locally, essentially. now charlie peters seen a letter that shows this and it's gained a huge amount of traction online and in the media, and we're going to have charlie on the show to explain exactly why he thinks that is what's gone on, what jess phillips is being accused of here, and whether there's been a huge oversight. but it just shows how much renewed interest there is in trying to tackle and trying to bnng trying to tackle and trying to bring justice for some of those victims of the grooming gang scandals across our country. >> i think i think there is a temptation for politicians of all parties to think this is a very difficult topic to talk about, but they'd rather not talk about it, brush it under the carpet, keep it dealt with at a local level. not need any intervention from the home office, not from the safeguarding minister, not

>> well, frankly, it's because of this channel gb news and charlie peters, his amazing scoop this time last week that jess phillipse safeguarding minister, had said no to a national inquiry that oldham was calling for that amplified by elon musk, of course, on x, the world's richest man, soon to be right hand man of the incoming president. trump has sent this story into orbit. and really, what struck me story into orbit. and really, what

peter, good morning to you and let's talk about the grooming gangs inquiry. i mean, the government. there's all this hoo ha over what jess phillipsblocked or not blocked, but the government says, well, there was an inquiry that concluded in 2022, which we called for, and we supported. >> indeed, that is the case. i mean, this is the most extraordinary row that came out of nowhere. it's a kind of a kaleidoscope of conflicting interests. what we're looking at here and at the very close to the centre of which is elon musk, who's weighing in with in a particular muscular fashion, if you'll pardon the play on words there. i mean, the i mean, this is a foreign businessman launching into british politics. i wonder if our own tech billionaire, james dyson, decided to tell to tell donald trump how to do his job. i cannot imagine somehow that would go down especially well in the make america great party. and so but but to deal with the issue in hand that you specifically mentioned, steve. i mean, the fact is, yes, there was an inquiry, it was supported by sir keir starmer and also arguably it should have been very much bigger. but nigel fa