senator jack reed, who's the top democrat on the armed services committee, as well as roger wicker, the chairman of the committee. wicker defended the decision not to allow the rest of the committee to do this, saying that that's consistent with some past practice, although there have been instances when the full committee has been able to access that. democrats sharply critical of that and also critical of the investigation itself, saying there were gaps in the investigation. certain people were not interviewed, including the accuser of that sexual assault allegation from 2017. but wicker defended that investigation. jake told me it was a thorough probe and he had no issue with how it was conducted. >> jake, manu, i can't help but notice you're standing outside the office of republican senator joni ernst. she's a key member of the committee. she is a veteran of combat in our armed forces. she's also a survivor of sexual assault. where is she? on the hegseth nomination? >> you know, she has not, said jake. there is an expectation, though, that she will back this nomination, even though

to attend the hearing where he qualified for secretary of defense, ably conducted by chairman roger wicker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. flood: mr. speaker, i rise today to celebrate one of northeast nebraska's most important institutions, northeast community college. this year the njcaa men's soccer national champion hails from nebraska's first congressional district. our very own northeast hawks. throughout the national tournament northeast consistently defieded the odds. they fought through several close matches, claiming victories against teams that bested them in previous seasons. they even beat the odds in the championship game while ranked fifth our hawks try yumed of with a 2-1 victory over the second ranked team to secure their historic title. from the head coach to every player, the hawks have displayed remarkable team s

when it does begin you'll hear from roger wicker the chairman from mississippi.king democrat out of rhode island. opening statements from michael waltz and norm coleman and from pete hegseth which republican senator dan sullivan said is a striking statement and we will want to hear that as we listen together. elizabeth warren says she has 100 questions for pete hegseth. see how many she gets in when the hearing begins in six minutes. for 44 years and i'm from flowery branch, georgia. when i have customers come in i recommend prevagen. number one, because it's safe and effective. does not require a prescription. and i've been taking it quite a while myself and i know it works. and i love it when the customers come back in and tell me, "david, that really works so good for me." makes my day. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. but st. jude has gotten us through it. st. jude is hope for every child diagnosed with cancer because the research is being shared all over the world. i had the worst dream last night. you were in a car crash and the kids a

roger wicker, a republican, said, because he lacks qualifications that have led me, like jack reed, to say yes and vote for general austin and general mattis and others before him. but what struck me today is that at most, this nominee is qualified to be a spokesperson for the department of defense. he's very glib and facile. he's excellent as a communicator. that's what he did as a talking head for fox. but he is unqualified by virtue of his running two veterans organizations into the ground financially. the accusations of sexual impropriety and alcohol abuse, there's enough already on the record, but republicans are choosing to look the other way simply because it's donald trump, and they are, frankly fearful of the pressure and the threats and intimidation that he's directed at them. >> it appears that includes senator joni ernst, who is a combat veteran herself, who has talked about experiencing sexual assault, or in the military, herself, being a victim of it. she has indicated she's supporting him. does that surprise you? should it surprise us? >> i have a lot of respect for joni

more so the discussion i had with roger wicker was about meeting with mr. hegseth.m multiple times. have not been able to schedule a meeting in my office, and he's not meeting with any other democrats on the committee other than the ranking member. more information is better if he wants to be confirmed for this job. i think it's in our best interest to have everything out on the table. >> former democrat tulsi gabbard, she is controversial as well. republican senator kapita was on fox and said when she met with tulsi gabbard she pressed her on that trip to syria that came in the wake of a chemical weapons attack carried out by dictator bashar al assad against civilians. gabbard told her, she said, that she didn't even know she was going to syria, that she intended to go to lebanon on the scheduled visit and ended up in syria. is that a credible answer? >> i talked to congresswoman gabbard this week, met with her in my office. we talked about the trip to syria. she didn't tell me that part. i think it's kind of unusual that you wind up in one place that wasn't part o

. >> now, as is customary, only the heads of the committee, republican chair roger wicker and ranking member jack reed, were given physical access to the full fbi report. >> they then were responsible for relaying those findings to all other committee members. >> this, as nbc news reports, the contents of the report may be lacking. the fbi security check of hegseth does not include interviews with any of his ex-wives, or the woman who accused him of sexual assault in 2017. >> that's according to three three sources with direct knowledge of the background check. >> hegseth was denied any wrongdoing in that case, and the local district attorney declined to file charges, saying there was no proof beyond a reasonable doubt the assault took place. democratic lawmakers are sounding the alarm that there may be additional key information left out of the report. >> i only know that some of the folks that have the women in his past, women in his life, have wanted to be interviewed, but have not been interviewed by the vetters. >> the transition team has slow walked and stonewalled us, but we do

roger wicker being the only republican senator wicker indicating that he would not allow the full accesso the committee, in keeping with practice from other nominees in the past. but even, dana, as you know, the democratic complaints only go so far. they don't have the votes to stop him at the moment. republicans are confident they will have the votes to confirm him. >> yeah, and i know that people out there might be saying, why are the democrats complaining about something that might seem sort of processy, but they also, most of them who have been there made the point at the beginning of their questioning if they have voted for republican nominees for defense secretary in the past, that that's what they did, meaning that this is not always the partisan situation, that it is in this particular case, even with donald trump in his first term. manu, thanks so much for that. great reporting. i want to go now to oren, who covers the pentagon for us. oren, you're still up there on capitol hill. it really it was striking, not surprising, given the way that we have seen hegseth kind of evolve in

he got back in this for i'm the chair of the armed services committee and roger wicker, who made very clear that many have suffered, as he pointed these experiences. so we are seeing at the moment seems proceeding along the partisan lines, in which case if it goes he will get nominated, given the fact that the republicans have a 3 person majority in the chain. but okay, thank you so much, mike. a montana for us. the in capitol hill for firefighters in the us city of los angeles, and preparing for another round of powerful winds that they've been able to contain . for awhile 5, the palisades blaze is to belong just an only 14 percent contained as being burning for a week. on monday, another 5 bro accounts in neighboring ventura county northwest of ally. it's training parts of the city of oaks that prompting evacuation notice at least 24 people have dies and 23 others. i'm missing hope to hear a has been taken behind police lines to see the damage from the palace sides 5. this went down and entire area of los angeles residents don't yet know when they will be allowed to retain philip el

part of the reason him and roger wicker hit it off, he did a comprehensive look prior to trump winning. wicker said, i heard enough, he gets it. >> lawrence: don't be surprised if john fetterman votes for him. he said he finds the senator doing interest ing and he is no rh right or left, he's in the middle. when the allegations come up, they will probably use a female senator to drive that message. pete was never arrested, the investigation went away, they did not find he did anything. if you want to submit record of people's allegations, we can do the same thing for people and members of congress that have allegations against them, you have to prove in court of law. should not be discourse in a committee meeting. >> steve: 9:30 this morning, hegseth confirmation hearing starts. pete's opening statement is strong, you will see it live on fox. another alert, president-elect trump is making plans to visit the west coast and los angeles so he can see first hand devastation from the wildfires. >> lawrence: strong winds threaten new areas as folks are warned to be ready to evacuate at a mom

the chairman, roger wicker said that hegseth was a tour de force today those were his words in answeringke. the hill has this take democrats hopes of derailing trump's nominee fading fast the lull and attention on the nominees winter break combined with the sure deluge of proceedings short time frame is giving trump's picks a lot of momentum. all of trump's pending nominees now appear to have good chances of winning nomination thanks to the comfortable 53 seat republican majority in the senate. with that bring in our panel guy benson political editor at town hall.com most of the guy benson show on fox news radio. josh holmes, ruthless podcast and former chief of staff to mitch mcconnell and meghan hayes. thoughts on the overall hearing today and what did you take from it. >> i felt like the questions from democrats ranged from tough and fair and important to sorted and hostile. i think pete hegseth for the most part acquitted himself well there was a dose or two of humility which helped him. it's important for american people to have a sense of how this went and for us in rooms like this

. >> foxconn firms that armed services committee chairman roger wicker and jack reed of rhode islandtudied the customary documents the fbi prepped for the transition team about hegseth. reid wonders about his readiness for the job. he is not the only one. >> unfortunately, deeply troubling to put it generously. >> mike lee scheduled a hearing for interior secretary doug burgum for tuesday but nixed it until thursday because of what he called an unacceptable bureaucratic delay a hearing slated for doug collins tomorrow also postponed due to paperwork. other big hearings come wednesday for attorney general nominee pam bondi, khs secretary nominee kristi noem and secretary of state nominee marco rubio. he could be the easiest to confirm, maybe on inauguration day. bret? >> bret: chad pergram live on the hill. chad, thank you. stocks were mixed today. the dow surged 359. the s&p 500 finished ahead 9. the nasdaq lost 74. >> up next, as president biden steps off the world stage, has he strengthened or weakened america's image abroad? we talk with brit hume. ♪ ♪ did you take your vitamin to

committee chair roger wicker praised him as unconventional. >> that may be what makes mr.th an excellent choice. lisa: but democrats decried him as lowering standards for the top defense job. >> i hardly think you are prepared to do the job. lisa: hegseth focused on his leadership skills and vision. pete hegseth: i want smarter and more capable people around me than me. and you will get that at the department. what is your bedtime? lisa: but democratic senators hash raised other concerns, past affairs and reports of hegseth being falling-down drunk at work events. pete hegseth: a small handful of anonymous sources were allowed to drive a smear campaign. lisa: democrats pointed out it was not all anonymous. they said some eyewitnesses to drinking have given their names and -- >> so, you acknowledge that you cheated on your wife and that you cheated on the woman by whom you had just fathered a child. lisa: adultery is illegal under the uniform code of military justice. hegseth repeatedly did not comment when asked to deny or explain many accusations. but he did reject allega

senators roger wicker of mississippi and jack reed of rhode island.ittee received texas fbi background check on friday. two sources tell nbc news the 25 member committee does not necessarily need to review his background check to proceed with the nomination hearing, but two committee sources familiar with the process said it was unprecedented that the report took this long to get to the panel's members. democrats on the panel have been frustrated by the delay and suggest the report may not be thorough, but they say they'd prefer to see it before this hearing tomorrow regardless. a spokesperson for the fbi declined to comment. hegseth, a veteran and former fox news host, has faced multiple controversies and allegations since he was announced as trump's defense secretary pick. he's met with multiple republican members of the committee, but his team has told most democratic senators that he would only be available to meet with them after the hearing. joining us now is senior investigative producer and story editor for nbc news, sarah fitzpatrick. sarah,

and roger wicker basically said, thank you. noted. and that's it.t's that's all he had to get through. he doesn't come back for another day. chuck hagel went through three rounds. ashton carter went through. two senators are sent. when a senator asks for this. it should get more than a shrug. but i think everybody just understood he's not qualified. he's got a lot of baggage. get through this four hours and then just, you know, ram him through as quickly as possible. now that may not happen. there may be those four republican votes. i'm not as sanguine as some as you were or ryan are. you know, at this point that he's headed for a nomination, but that may just have been his thinking. just get through it and don't answer these questions. >> yeah. listen, there is a there is time. it's going to be a vote by the full senate. so there might be some republicans who we haven't heard from who have enough reservations putting pete hegseth up there. julie, you mentioned before that you think that there's a fear factor involved with some of the way some of th

details of which have been briefed to both jack reid and the republican chairman of the committee, roger wicker other members of this committee have not seen the contents of that investigation. they expect to get briefed on it. and right now, in this closed door meeting, i tried to ask the the jack reed, the top democrat on the committee, about that investigation, and he did not want to comment about this at all and suggested he would have more to say tomorrow. any concerns about the background check, the fbi background check, not really. >> until tomorrow. >> you're not. what i am i'm going to have a hearing tomorrow along with my colleagues, and we'll see what happens. are you going to vote for mr. hegseth? >> he has has to have an opportunity to testify. would you have concerns with his nomination more generally? >> you do. >> i think, you know, on the public record that we have right now, put aside all of the charges of sexual impropriety and alcohol abuse. >> there has never been a nominee for an office of such serious consequence. who is so unqualified and unprepared in recent american hi

senator roger wicker, who's the chairman of the senate armed services committee, indicated that he plans to move as early as monday, as early as next week, to have a vote in his committee. wicker, coming out of that hearing, told me that he believes that hegseth is on his way to confirmation. >> this was a tour de force, a takedown, a triumph. i think it was a magnificent display of his knowledge and his ability to communicate, his leadership abilities. and i feel very good about this hearing today. >> nothing he said convinces me that he is up to doing this job. >> and in fact, what i'm hearing is him saying all the things he thinks he needs to say in order to get this job. >> now. wicker also told me, wolf, that he expects all republicans on his committee to vote to advance this nomination. that would include senator joni ernst, who has not yet taken a position on this nomination. i'm waiting outside her office. wolf, in case she has something to say about her position. so far she has not commented, but she did have a very friendly exchange with hegseth, which leads many to believe tha

roger wicker, the chairman, came out afterward and said he understood that he wasn't sure she wanted to talk to the committee. and of course, i mean, the experience that christine blasey ford had with kavanaugh had to have been weighing there. >> yeah, i think, you know, look, the way these hearings have been done and the way that the background checks have been done has not been acceptable, i think, to the american people. i think the democrats are doing the best that they can, knowing that they cannot really stop his confirmation and doing the best they can to bring some of this stuff to light. like you heard senator gillibrand doing that. you heard, uh, some, you know, elissa slotkin doing the same thing and doing that what they can here to make the best of it. but to your point, and we talked about this on monday, he is a media personality. he was very good at keeping his cool and doing and being right on his talking points and not letting it get under his skin. less trained people in media would not have been able to do that. and donald trump is not dumb. he knows that this is a

our reporting has been that roger wicker had suggested, hey, it's okay if democrats see this, but it the trump team that doesn't want it out there. >> the historical norm is that the chairman and the ranking member have access to that. and that's exactly what we're doing here. we're doing the same thing that we did with joe biden. but i got to say, i find a little bit rich that democrats are now complaining about the fbi. but i have to say, don't worry, democrats, and only a couple short weeks, we're going to confirm kash patel to be the next director of the fbi or get the politics completely out of it. and we can have confidence in our law enforcement once again. but today, pete hegseth, i think, is going to do very well across the street. right now, we have dozens of veterans and gold star family members and other supporters of gaetz who've been out there since 4 a.m. ready to support him. and when people see pete hegseth address this committee and talk about his knowledge of what we have to do to return that warrior spirit back to the department of defense, get away from the wokei

tonight, now that they have a seal of approval from ernst herself, the committee chairman, senator roger wicker, told cnn earlier that he expects all republicans on his panel to vote to advance hegseth nomination for defense secretary. that's a major reversal of fortune for hegseth, whose nomination appeared to be in deep trouble just a few weeks ago amid allegations of sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement and nonprofits that he oversaw and also alleged excessive drinking, all of which he denied adamantly over and over today. and remember, it was less than six weeks ago when ernst herself was publicly expressing those reservations, saying that she believed hegseth had his work cut out for him to get confirmed into this place. tonight. i was there in the room today as she and her colleagues questioned hegseth and also had the chance to hear firsthand the reception that pete hegseth got when he walked into that hearing room. it was filled with trump's top allies and his supporters. you can hear the applause he got going into it. republicans on that committee, like senator tommy tuberville t

you're looking at the armed services chair, roger wicker. >> good morning. >> the hearing will come to order. >> let's listen in. >> the committee on armed services has convened this hearing to consider the pending nomination of mr. pete hegseth to be secretary of defense. and at this point, um, in light of the continued suffering and death in, in and around los angeles, california, i'm. i'm going to ask my colleagues and those in the audience to, um, observe a moment of silence. >> i'm in. thank you. i also want to take this opportunity to thank my good friend, um, ranking member jack reed. this is my first opportunity to chair this committee and this congress. i want to thank senator reed. under his chairmanship, he proved time after time that he cares deeply about national security and about the united states of america, and particularly the men and women who wear the uniform and stand watch both here and around the world to protect the united states. senator reed, i want to thank you for the many courtesies that you have extended to me in the past, and i look forward to working wit

we have already heard from the chairman of the committee roger wicker who gave an opening statement in support of hegseth and the ranking member of the democrat jack reed who flatly said he does not believe that hegseth has the qualifications necessary to become the next secretary of defense. one republican to look for, senator joanie ernst who could be skeptical of hegseth's nomination. if she asks skeptical questions, it could be an indication of where this goes. >> ryan, thank you. >>> turning now to the middle east. high-level talks on a cease-fire g the release of hostages held by hamas for more than a year. those talks are gaining momentum. the president saying negotiators appear to be on the brink of an agreement. let's get to nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel who is in jerusalem for us. richard, good morning. what can you tell us? >> reporter: so, good morning, savannah. two israeli officials tell us that they've never been closer to a cease-fire deal with hamas. that for the first time they're really getting into the specifics. now, first of all, this is how the

and remembering reed, senator roger wicker of mississippi wrote, "there is no more significant figuren day mississippi republican party than clarke reed. our state has lost a giant." >> yeah, i mean, we lived in mississippi in the late '60s and early '70s. carmichael, meridian, and clarke reed. two republicans in the entire state. jon, you knew him well. he was the father of julia reed. think of taking the republican party from nothing to a dominant force in mississippi was tough? i think he'd tell you raising julia was more difficult. >> that is correct. >> you wrote an absolutely beautiful, touching tribute to reed. it reads in part this. "handsome, charming, peripathetic, reed, who spoke in a delta patois that was best described in a drawling mumble or a mumbled drawling. he was big, consequential, fascinating life. reed was not only present at the creation of republican south, he was one of its creators, and his politics seems quaint now. never an extremist, he believed in an america that was engaged in the world. you could disagree with clarke, but his motives were not petty but

as a reminder, neither read nor the top republican on the committee, roger wicker, have a hard copy astrol the government? as as president joe biden is still the country's president. merrick garland is still the country's acting attorney general. he's the attorney general, not acting. christopher wray is right now, as of 518 in the east, the fbi director. why not do things normally? why all these abnormal concessions to trump and his, in your words, unqualified nominee ahead of them being in charge of anything? >> i really don't know. i don't understand why you wouldn't allow the members of the committee, all the members, to read the report. i don't understand why you wouldn't allow the rest of the senate to read the report. i mean, this is such a consequential a the most consequential sequential position in the united states government. it is the largest agency in the united states government. as i mentioned, this is in the chain of command for nuclear weapons employment. and the fbi report is going to talk about, you know, past personal conduct. and this is so important because if yo

that's not how roger wicker says they are. and also, i tried to ask him about there is precedent in this committee to allow the full access of all the members who sit on this panel to review a background check that happened with john tower. he was the last cabinet nominee, defense secretary nominee to be rejected by the full senate over allegations of excessive drinking. members did review at that time. i said, well, why not now? and he said he was in tennis shoes and wasn't a member of the senate back then. that was for some time ago. so you can see a push by the republican chairman to get this nomination done. and if he's got republicans in line, which he appears to have at the moment, he will get this done. despite the democratic complaints from this very tense hearing. dana. >> yeah, we were we were all in tennis shoes and knee pants, whatever. he said when the john tower thing happened. but we also have history books, so we know what went down. and i'll be interested to see what jack reed, the top democrat on that committ

and you can tell roger wicker and jack reed worked together very well. >> i just i hope republicans really look at this candidate without thinking about anything else. just look at this candidate and look at his qualifications and make a decision based on that. coming up, president biden is set to deliver his farewell address tonight. we'll take a look at his four years in office and the legacy he is leaving behind. >> plus, we're learning more about who will be attending donald trump's inauguration next week. and the one prominent figure who will not be there. we'll tell you who it is you're watching morning joe. we're back in 90s. >> muscle cramps were keeping me up at night. >> so then i tried slimming the magnesium plus calcium supplement that helps relax tense muscles so i can rest comfortably and slow. meg tablets have a slow release formula that's gentle on my stomach. that's why i use slow meg. >> well, you're in the big leagues now. >> how was your vacation, sir? >> well, i needed one with your 10% loyalty program discount. >> that's $225 for the night. >> not bad. >> $155 for the