you are, as we said, the vice chairman of the senate intelligence committee. we watched that hearing for tulsi gabbard this week. she had two particular exchanges with republican senators. todd young and james langford, who pressed her to say that edward snowden was a traitor. langford said it was a softball. listen to what happened. >> did he betray a duty, did he betray the trust of the american people? which is according to mariam webster, that's the definition of a traitor. >> edward snowden broke the law and released this information in a way he should not have. >> was he a traitor when he took america's secrets, released them in public and ran to china and became a russian citizen? >> senator, i'm focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this happening again. >> you work closely with these senators. i know the republicans and you are from a different party, but when you speak to them privately do you think they can get over that, her refusal to call him a traitor and actually vote to confirm her? move her out of committee? >> listen, ma

trump-russia was a thing as a bipartisan report from the senate intelligence committee pointed out. that bipartisan senate intelligence committee report found that russian president putin had ordered the russian effort to hack computer networks and accounts that were affiliated with the democratic party and that were affiliated with the democratic national committee and that the purpose was to find and to leak information that would be damaging to hillary clinton in that election. here's what the committee found. i quote the report, the bipartisan report. moscow's intent was to harm the clinton campaign, tarnish an expected clinton presidential administration, help the trump campaign after trump became the presumptive republican nominee, and undermine the u.s. democratic process. that was the finding of the u.s. intelligence committee. -- sorry, community. as well as the finding of the intelligence committee. it went on. you remember that famous meeting, where trump took the russian ambassador and the russian foreign minister right into the oval office and divulged to them highly cla

it appears no longer, with the senate intelligence committee advancing her nomination. s that suggest? lisa: frankly, she's on the path for confirmation, which is quite a turnaround, when it was moving the other way. today, the senate intelligence committee voted behind closed doors along party lines. i want to show three of the republican senators, that our watching. these three broad of different points, especially about her refusal to call edward snowden a traitor. i spoke to senator collins. senator langford in the middle, i talked to him as well. he said in talking with her, he was reassured she will protect programs he cares about, including warrantless wiretaps. democrats say these republicans are swallowing their own concerns across the board. yes, these are non-status quo nominees that trump ran on, but this is something else, and democrats are just laying down and doing what trump tells them. geoff: you are also tracking the news involving the fbi. bring us up to speed. lisa: we expect another confirmation, pam bondi, for attorney general. also on track is the

recruited and trained cia officers also imperils the long-standing bipartisan efforts by the senate intelligence committee to actually modernize and streamline the agency's hiring process. because we need to make sure that we continue to recruit and retain talented young officers when it comes to con 0 fronting the growing national threats posed by the prc. we need leaders in the intelligence committee and throughout government who are prepared to stand up to these short-sighted attacks to attack our workforce at the expense of our national security. unfortunately, i don't believe ms. gabbard is such a leader. nor is she well suited by experience or judgment to serve as director of national security. dni is a position of great importance and significance for national security. created after one of our worst security failures in our nation's history, 9/11. when congress established this position, in many ways due to the efforts of my good friend susan collins, it mandated in law any individual nominated for the position must have, and i quote, extensive national security expertise. as i noted previously, t

also the senate intelligence committee votes today on the nomination of tulsi gabbard to be director of national intelligence and gop indiana senator todd young says he will support gabbard. >> harris: chad, thank you. minute-by-minute. in "focus" new gianno caldwell. we are finally starting to see some movement even though we're probably a week away from that final floor vote for rfk, jr. big news today. >> quite big. i'm so excited. pam bondi, to see her sworn in as attorney general and heading to d.c. after the show. she is on the caldwell institute for public safety advisory board. there are so many good cabinet members. some of them are controversial, tulsi being a controversial person but she just supports her country. donald trump will have an exceptional cabinet. people focused on providing a stance that america first. people who will follow the trump agenda and people to make america healthy again on secure our borders and streets and prosecute crime. i think donald trump 2.0 is the best one we'll see yet. >> harris: we're following it stem to stern here in terms of the nomin

senate committee votes today. the senate finance committee is scheduled to take up the nomination of robert f. kennedy jr. as health and human services and the senate intelligence committee is set to vote behind closed doors on the nomination of tulsi gabbard to be director of national intelligence. >>> and the fbi is facing a deadline of noon today to turn over to the justice department the names of employees who worked on cases related to the january 6th riot at the u.s. capitol. it comes one day after there was another deadline for thousands of fbi agents and employees to fill out a trump administration questionnaire asking about their roles investigating the capitol insurrection. there's concern the president could be taking retribution against those involved in investigating january 6th. >>> secretary of state marco rubio says el salvador's president is offering to accept deported migrants from the u.s. of any nationality including violent american criminals currently in prison. rubio made the announcement during a signing ceremony on an unrelated matter with el salvador's foreign minister following a meeting with the president. after rubio spoke, a u.s. o

senate finance committee voted 14-13 in favor of robert f. kennedy jr. as secretary of health and human services and the senate intelligence committee voted 9-8 for tulsi gabbard to be director of national intelligence. >>> now to the wild weather hitting parts of the u.s. evacuation orders were issued along part of the russian river in california's sonoma county. a home was seen sliding into the river after torrential rains hit the area. thankfully no one was home at the time. the sheriff's office says current forecasts expect the river to swell to more than 35 feet in certain parts today. and farther east a new winter storm will bring the threat of ice and snow to 40 million people from kansas city to boston. by the evening commute drivers in indianapolis and cincinnati could be dealing with a slippery trip home. and overnight ice will accumulate in parts of pennsylvania, virginia, and maryland. >>> coming up, diamond district raid in new york city, how it could be linked to the burglary of a high profile athlete. >>> and the son of basketball great michael jordan is arrested. the charges he faces. the charge. moderate t

senate. intelligence committee vice chair, mark warner, told hundreds of protesters in washington on wednesday that the closing of usaid is, quote, a gift to our adversaries. >> where this is being celebrated right now is. >> beijing. >> it's beijing. and until we can end up not letting china into this spot, we are making america less strong. >> that's senator mark warner is joining us now. >> it's beijing. >> and it's also moscow. >> where dmitry medvedev has. >> praised the end of usaid. >> they're applauding that china is celebrating because. >> foreign aid. >> has been such a force in u.s. diplomacy and global standing. talk to me about your concerns. >> well. >> andrea, where do i start? i mean, on. >> the. foreign aid. >> issue. >> we. >> spend less. >> than. >> half of 1% on. >> foreign aid. i think about sudan. where we've spent a year trying to. get aid into that country. >> where more people. >> die than gaza and ukraine combined. and yet we've got american aid sitting at. ports going rotten, because. >> all this assistance. has bee. >> removed and. >> china will definitely step in.

visit to assad in syria, um, she did manage to convince the swing republican votes on the senate intelligence committee. susan collins and todd young, to vote for her. so she got out of committee. and so it does appear that she is on her way to a glide path for this nomination. um, it is it is not without its complications, and it is not without its reservations. but it does appear that because of the backing of trump, that she will get those republicans to to line up behind her. >> you're watching senator ron wyden, a democrat on the floor, speaking now, alayna treene, who's over for us at the white house. i want to talk to you because alex makes a good point about kind of what we saw publicly. and in that hearing where i don't think anybody on either side of the aisle thought gabbard came out of it looking particularly like she was on a glide path. but the behind the scenes, you've done a ton of reporting on this that they were able to kind of secure conversations that were critical to getting her to this point. walk people through that. >> right. i mean, i can't overstate how crucial some of the beh

. >> any minute now, the senate intelligence committee will hold its closed door vote on tulsi gabbard'sion for director of national intelligence. just this morning, she got a major boost when republican senator todd young, who initially appeared skeptical, said he will support her. i want to bring in nbc's capitol hill correspondent sahil kapur, as well as former congresswoman donna edwards and msnbc political analyst sahil. we've been watching senators go into the closed door hearing. do we have a good idea of gabbard chances, and will we ever know who voted for and who voted against? >> first. >> chris. >> yes, we do. expect the senate intelligence. committee is meeting right around now behind closed. >> doors to. >> vote on the nomination of tulsi gabbard for dni. we do expect her to be reported out. >> of committee favorably. >> the reason. >> is. >> there are. nine republicans. >> on this committee. >> eight democrats. we don't know if. >> any republican. >> who is voting no on tulsi gabbard. and a few of. >> the republicans that we. >> were watching closely as. >> potential swing

um, uh, senator collins came around on the senate intelligence committee because she because gabbard ended up agreeing to saying that she would streamline the office of the director of national intelligence. todd young was another holdout, and he was essentially comforted by what gabbard had said about, uh, proceeding with what's called section 702. >> alex. no, alex, i want to ask you about this, because those are all, uh, lot of concerns that that people had on both sides of the aisle, including republicans. i got a text from a senate republican who said, well, yeah, i have reservations, but i'm going to vote yes anyway, because the dni, even though it has a a big fancy name, doesn't really have that much power. can you just talk about that? you covered this agency and all the agencies underneath it. is that true? >> and this was the major concern about her total lack of experience in intelligence. i mean, she served in the military, but not in intelligence. and now she's going to be a top not one, but 18 different intelligence agencies overseeing all of them. i think her job will

the senate finance committee is going to be voting on the nomination of robert f kennedy jr for secretary of health and human services, and the senate intelligence committee is going to be voting on the nomination of tulsi gabbard for the director of national intelligence. nbc news vaughn hillyard, washington. all right. thank you very much. we're going to have much more on president trump's tariff plan later in the newscast coming up at 530. our political analyst, larry gerston joins us. he's going to talk about the president's motivation for these tariffs and how much it could ultimately cost you every year. now, back to the issue of immigration and the president's massive crackdown. nbc news has learned that some migrants arrested by ice agents have been released back into the u.s. the reason space limitations and court orders. in a statement to nbc news, an ice spokesperson says federal court cases limit ice from detaining people indefinitely if their countries refuse to take them back. that's resulted in some migrants being sent back to the u.s. on a monitoring program. since taking office, president trump and his allies have touted immigra

gabbard president trump's director of nation intelligence nominee testifies before the senate intellige committee now a member of the repn party, ms. gabbard previously represented hawaii as a democrat in the u.s. house 2013-2021.

tulsi gabbard, trump's pick for director of national intelligence, approved today by the senate intelligence committeerobert f kennedy jr. trump's nominee for secretary of health and human services. approved by the senate finance committee. >> there's tens of millions of americans who are hopeful that rfk jr will be the next hhs secretary, and we expect all senate republicans to stand tough and strong and vote for him. >> gabbard and kennedy will now face a final vote by the entire senate. that could happen in the coming days. in an effort to keep communication ongoing with senate republicans, president trump has invited the senators and their spouses to mar-a-lago for dinner on friday. their support is critical to advancing his cabinet nominees and agenda. perry russom, abc news, washington. >> can $50 million help trump proof? california state democratic lawmakers passed two measures to try to lessen the administration's impact on issues such as the environment and immigration. will it make a difference? we'll get insights the national weather service has issued a severe thunderstorm outlook for par

, trump's pick for director of national intelligence, passing a party line vote in the senate intelligence committee, despite republican concerns over her meeting with former syrian dictator bashar al assad and her refusal to call edward snowden a traitor. gabbard and kennedy, two disruptors in a team of them. the leading figure, billionaire elon musk, who is out to reshape the government itself. his department of government efficiency staffed largely by young engineers. at least one of them just 19. have brought beds into their government offices. musk posting on x, "working the weekend is a super power." his team getting access to the treasury department's payment system, which processes trillions of dollars of the government's bills and includes the personal information of millions of americans. musk then seizing control of usaid, which provides humanitarian assistance around the world, helping an estimated 32 million children suffering malnutrition and bringing food, water, shelter, and health care to victims of natural disasters. usaid's $43 billion budget is a tiny fraction of what the governm

these were her very words in for confirmation. hearing with the senate intelligence committee, when, as a member of congress, i learned about president obama's dual programs that he had begun really to overthrow the regime of syria and being willing to through the c. i a is a timber sycamore program that has now been made public of working with an army and equipping all kinda in an effort to overthrow that regime starting at another regime change or in the middle east. today we have and is list extremist who is now in charge of syria, as i said, who danced on the streets to celebrate the $911.00 attack who ruled over it live with an is the most extremist governance. and who has already begun to persecute and kill and arrest religious minorities, lake christians in syria, tulsa gavin's job as director of national intelligence will be to provide president trump with a daily briefing, showing him what's going on in the world. and because housing gabbert is someone who has a very different understanding of world events than us, mainstream media, this is leading many to be helpful that pe

we think there might be a couple of other senators on the republican side of the aisle who are not on the intelligence committeervations with her. we think that most democrats if not all would be opposed, but tulsa gabbard is en route to the senate floor. that's not going to happen right away. as you heard from the senator, probably sometime next week. >> we will be looking forward to that. thank you. appreciate it. now, that's. >> his mother got into the hospital bed and laid next to him. gently stroking his beautiful head of dark brown hair. i was holding his right hand when he drew his last breath at exactly 5:08 p.m. >> heart breaking. that parent who has been tragically impacted directly by the effects of fentanyl, speaking out about the effects of that hearing today. the drug and administration acting administrator is here to discuss. e heart failure or chronic kidney disease, farxiga can help you keep living life, because there are places you'd like to be. (♪) serious side effects include increased ketones in blood or urine and bacterial infection between the anus and genitals, both which may be fatal, s

the senate intelligence committee will vote today on advancing tulsi gabbard nominations out of committeeional intelligence to the senate floor. gabgabbard facing a tough vote. senator todd young has not said if he will vote for gabbard but senator susan collins says she will be voting yes for gabbard. now, the senate finance committee is going to vote to send rfk junior's nomination out of committee for health and human services secretary. all eyes are on senators bill cassidy, susan collins, lisa murkowski and mitch mcconnell, none of whom have committed to backing kennedy yet so a lot will happen today. israeli president benjamin netanyahu meeting with president trump at the white house today, becoming the first foreign leader to meet with trump in his second term. netanyahu spoke with u.s. middle east special envoy steve witkoff and national security advice i mike walz yesterday as the administration is pushing congress to approve a $1 billion weapon sale to israel that would include thousands of bombs and armored bulldozers. well, state farm insurance is asking for an emergency rate

down pennsylvania avenue, senate intelligence committee prepping tulsi gabbard nomination for director of national intelligence behind closed doors and will vote on r.f.k. jr. for health and human services secretary. president trump expressed confidence the two will be confirmed. >> senators have concerns about tulsi gabbard or r.f.k. jr.? >> president trump: yes, i've gotten great response. they want to do what is right. we have the finest people ever recruited for government. >> madeleine: both nominees may not get a vote before the full senate until next week. >> todd: do the two at the end of the day get confirmed? a few weeks ago, we would have said, it is looking tight. it seems like momentum is going in their favor. what are you hearing? >> madeleine: tulsi gabbard got a boost yesterday. senator susan collins was seen as a possible no vote, late last night she said she would vote for gabbard, saying she does not think gabbard will pardon edward snowden. i look out for senators todd young and jerry moran, they were possible no votes. on r.f.k. jr. side, watch out for senator bill

reporter: also, the senate intelligence committee votes on tulsi gabbard to be director of national intelligenceupport gabbard and senate votes to confirm pam bondi as attorney general later today. ashley. ashley: see how the math works. chad pergram, thank you so much. appreciate that. bring in caroline cavalerro and caroline, begin right there. what do you like about rfk jr.? >> yeah, thanks for having me, ashley. pretty simple. our children are very sick. our children are very sick and sicker than they've been before. parents in this millennial and now gen z generation coming up are demanding radical transparency. it's very clear to parents with sick children that if we could vaccinate and drug our way out of this problem, we would be, and our children would be healthier. but the reality is that this system has failed results, and it's very clear, it's plain and simple, we have the highest rates of prediabetic children, highest rates of children os antidepressants and other drugs and the way i like to describe it we're at a fork in the road. we either continue along the path we've b been goin

senate. intel intelligence select committee's chamber. manu, tell us what you're hearing. >> yeah, this vote is going to happen in a matter of minutes. this committee typically operates around bipartisan lines, but this is a bitterly divided committee, which will be a party line vote. and just in a key moment earlier today, senator todd young, a republican who had been wavering about this nomination, announced that he would vote to move ahead on kavanaugh's nomination to lead the intelligence community. after having extensive conversations. i was told with jd vance, the vice president, and getting assurances, including about some of his concerns about about how she would deal with people who had leaked classified information, including edward snowden. that became a big flashpoint during the hearing last week. and that is something that democrats have seized upon as well. the top democrat on the committee, senator mark warner, earlier today lashed out at gabbard's nomination and urged republicans to vote against her my concern is this. >>

intelligence no knee tulsi gabbard face challenging confirmations. but the nominations are now on a glide path to the senate floor. cleared by two senate committees>> intelligence committee just voted to report tulsi gabbard's nomination to be the director of national intelligence favorably to the full united states senate. >> chad: the vote was 9-8. indiana republican todd young voted yes in committee. he received unspecified assurances from gabbard. young also talked with president trump, vice president vance and elon musk. young said the president told him to vote his conscience. >> never and intimation. i have done my work. i have done my vetting. i have done what i think as a former marine corps intelligence officer is consistent with the national security interest. >> chad: democrats doubt that gabbard can guard the nation's secrets especially after she once backed spy edward snowden. >> it's flabbergasting to me that she couldn't even bring herself to call edward snowden a traitor. someone i think all of us involved in the intelligence community feels is a traitor r.f.k. jr. barely escaped committee. cassidy worried about his stance on vac

the senate intelligence committee votes on the nomination of tulsi gabbard to serve as director of nationalligence. are nomination likely gets out of committee thanks to supportive indiana republican todd young. next in the queue, a vote to confirm pam bondi as attorney general. >> pam bondi has promised to get the department back to its core mission: prosecuting crime, protecting americans their safety and freedoms. i look forward to confirming her later today. >> the senate voted to confirm doug collins as va secretary today 77-23. there have been bipartisan votes for 9 of the ten nominees confirmed by the senate so far. >> chad, thank you. >> they may try to play dictator in washington, d.c., but he doesn't get to shut down the agency for international development. >> in the last ten days, donald trump has done more to destabilize things across the planet. we don't have a fourth branch of government called elon musk. that's going to become real clear. >> there is no question that the billionaire class trying to take over our government right now -- >> this is what the beginning of dictat

kennedy, jr., the senate intelligence committee will vote on tulsi gabbard, she kicked up a key endorsementcollins elsewhere in washington marco rubio the acting director u.s. agency for international development, as trump administration, moves to shut down, the u.s. aid agency entirely yesterday employees reportedly locked out of the office democrat brian said he will place a blanket hold on all trump's state department nominees until he backs off of push to shut down u.s. aid, this could impact stefanik trump pick for us ambassador to united nations joining me david mccormick, great to see you this morning. thanks so much for being here. >>good morning, maria,. >> what is going on with colleagues on the left with all games to obstruct. now they want to shut down everything in terms of further picks to for the state department until president trump changes minds ouvenlt said. >> the last two weeks incredible i was in pennsylvania, over the weekend, i did a number of visits people cannot believe, the amount of energy, the productive the success that is happening under two weeks of president

gabbard's recent hearing before the senate intelligence, a select committee on intelligence, in response to almost every question, tulsi gabbard avoided providing any real answer, whether it came from democrat or republican. she simply dodged the questions over and over and over. and that's not leadership. this is not an example of someone who's qualified and this is not a candidate who will keep america safe. i urge my republican colleagues to join me in listening to common sense, to thinking about our men and women who serve, think about folks around the globe, to be about everyone here in america, to reject this clearly unqualified and dangerous nominee. it doesn't have to be this way. let's have president trump nominate someone else who we can agree is qualified for this critical and consequential role who has our nation's best interest in their heart. tulsi gabbard is not that person. the safety and well-being of our country depend on having a qualified nominee. again, i urge my republicans to join us to reject tulsi gabbard and put someone up who has the heart and experience to do

was approved by the senate finance committee and now heads to a full vote in the senate. and intelligence committee advanced tulsi gabbard for director of national thence. dates for their confirmation votes have not been set yet. >>> remember sharpie gate? the chief who supported mr. trump's assertion that a hurricane would hit alabama? he has been rehired. >>> another winter storm is bearing down on the midwest. let's see what it's going to do. here's angie lassman who's tracking that system. >> we've got alerts from the plains to the east coast, 64 million people included in these. as we gear up for this storm system to work its way through the east today. notice the snow, the rain, the ice focussed across the midwest and the ohio valley today. likely some slick spots stretching from iowa to delaware. you can see by tomorrow, a wintry mix that we'll have to deal with along the i-95 corridor. we could see gusty storms across the tennessee valley. when it comes to totals, highest amounts, 2 to 5 inches across northern new england, boston included in that. and we'll also see that difficult

the safety of vaccines. >> now, like you mentioned, in just a short time, we expect the senate intelligence committee to hold their vote on whether or not to advance tulsi gabbard. as the director of national intelligence. right now, we have heard from all of the republicans on that committee. we do expect her to get confirmed and advance to the united states senate floor. again, i talked to todd young, a republican who had been on the fence just about 24 hours ago, who said that jd vance had a big role in helping him get to yes, as well. >> but it appears the vice president and his input. clearly, having republicans fall in line. lauren fox live for us on capitol hill. thanks so much. still ahead on cnn news central. that cheap breakfast at waffle house may be getting a tad more expensive. and it's all because of one ingredient. we'll be right back. >> mr. clean magic eraser. wow. where has this been my entire life? having to clean with multiple products is a hassle. trying to figure out, okay, what am i going to use on the shower? what am i going to use on the bathtub? i don't have to think about t

senate finance committee voted along party lines to send to the full senate robert f. kennedy jr.'s nomination to lead the department of health and human services. and the senate intelligenceee advanced former congresswoman tulsi gabbard's nomination to serve as director of national intelligence. our congressional correspondent lisa desjardins is following the cabinet confirmation process and joins us now. lisa, let's start with hhs first, since it is one of the largest federal agencies. what is the committee's vote mean? lisa: unless something changes, rfk junior will become the next hhs secretary. there are enough votes on the floor for him. he is a 71-year-old, of course, who does not have a history or expertise in health care. he spent years researching and writing about health care. he does deserve credit for changing the conversation about processed foods, and that is what we heard during his senate confirmation hearing, but at the same time, there are open doubts about his views and passed statements about vaccines, studies have shown there is no link between autism and vaccines, and that raised real concerns about him. you can hear are very sharply different views

nominee tulsi gabbard will be facing the senate intelligence committeehile trump's hhs pick rfk jr. in front of the senate finance committee. both committees may not get a floor vote until some time next week. did you hear this? new jersey governor phil murphy's team is now backpedaling after the governor made this claim suggesting he was sheltering an illegal immigrant at his home. tammy and i were talking about -- i don't want to get into too much detail there is someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to and we said, you know what? let's have her live at our house above our garage and good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her. >> murphy's rep telling the neww york post" that the governor's comments have been, quote, misinterpreted and that, no one has ever lived in his home. and a new study says that teams spend an average of an hour and a half on their phones during the school day and at least 25% of them are on their devices for more than two hours. the study finding soc

intelligence post. we saw the republicans expressed concerns about her in the confirmation hearings. today senator collins said she will vote to confirm. we know that senate intelligence committeeheduled for tomorrow afternoon. gabbard cannot afford to lose a single boat. what do you see happening? >> it looks like she's in an increasingly good position. she looks to be in a stronger position than she did during her hearing which did not go particularly well. she was frequently asked whether edward snowden was a traitor and she could not answer that or would not answer that question directly. the reality is that we haven't seen a lot of senators willing to put their necks out. republican senators willing to put their necks out and go up against trump on his nominees. they are repeatedly saying he wants these people and we will give them to him. we should remember he also threatened to appoint them through recess appointments to force them in if the senate did not go along with it. i don't know where we will see the pushback. we might see it with rfk junior, we might not. we have not at this point seen a lot of pushback for instance on the administration's access to college fund

also today, the senate intelligence committee voted to advance the nomination to be the director of nationale. there was a time when this was thought to be a highly controversial nomination but as you know there is a strong majority in the united states senate. this has just come out of the finance committee, the first step. they also signed off on robert f. kennedy jr. to lead health and human services. these will now go to the full vote in this senate. keep in mind that both of these individuals who are now among the closest advisors and potential cabinet members to president donald trump were democrats, not too long ago. then they became independents and endorsed president trump over the summer. becoming an independent in 2022 enjoying the republican party last year during the election process. it is really astounding to see how this new coalition is coming together support president trump in the cabinet meanwhile senate democrats have put holes on the trump nominees to drag this process out because they are accusing the new administration of a authoritarian moves like shutting down the s

gabbard's recent hearing before the senate intelligence, a select committee on intelligence, in response to almost every question, tulsi gabbard avoided providing any real answer, whether it came from democrat or republican. she simply dodged the questions over and over and over. and that's not leadership. this is not an example of someone who's qualified and this is not a candidate who will keep america safe. i urge my republican colleagues to join me in listening to common sense, to thinking about our men and women who serve, think about folks around the globe, to be about everyone here in america, to reject this clearly unqualified and dangerous nominee. it doesn't have to be this way. let's have president trump nominate someone else who we can agree is qualified for this critical and consequential role who has our nation's best interest in their heart. tulsi gabbard is not that person. the safety and well-being of our country depend on having a qualified nominee. again, i urge my republicans to join us to reject tulsi gabbard and put someone up who has the heart and experience to do

senator roger wicker, senate intelligence committee chair dianne feinstein joins me now. i, congressman chris van hollen, senator dick durbin, i'm joined now by senator john mccain, chair of the armed services committee. >> let me. >> emphasize, andrea. he's not putin is. >> not strong. >> he we have an overwhelming advantage of him. but what he's doing is ryan crocker said he's playing his cards skillfully. >> wow. >> the training is tough. what do you do if you're on the road and get surrounded by bad guys, ram the car in front of you at full speed. >> go go go go go. >> go go go. >> people are still ashamed to say they're hiv positive. the only way we're going to sort this out is by being. >> more loving. >> toward each other. >> what do you see in facebook? what is it about facebook that you think to those who say, well, what is the business model here? >> you know, it's a technology that brings people together. >> it's the. >> village square. but it was the leadership of it that got me excited. >> i was in the middle of that scrum as it was all happening, and right be

intelligence. she's hanging by a thread because of one republican senator on that senate intelligence committee that senator todd young, just walked into the room. he still would not answer questions. moments ago when we asked him if he would support tulsi gabbard's nomination. so that's something to watch. this afternoon. two key committees, two nominees hanging by a thread by two senators, republican senators who have not said how they will vote. bill cassidy still, at this moment unclear whether he's going to break ranks and could scuttle this nomination in this committee or will join with his party advancing to the floor, setting up a major test for one of the most important positions in government. phil. >> yeah, a huge day for the nominations. manu. elena. sanjay, stay with me. we're going to take a quick break. we'll be back in just a moment nothing is what it seems in the lockerbie story. >> lockerbie. the bombing of pan am flight 103, february 16th on cnn. >> a lot of people need to replace their windows or patio doors, but they put it off because they think it will be too expensive. hi, i'

the senate intelligence committee, similar split. one republican senator could break ranks and defeat this nomination. there are at least three that have not said how they will vote. senator susan collins swing vote on virtually everything. senator todd young, someone who didn't support trump in the last go round. he also was not satisfied with how she addressed the edward snowden question. james lankford, too, was concerned about her not calling him a traitor. snowden a traitor during that testimony. gabbard over the weekend tried to clean it up. she put out an op ed saying that she didn't want to call, label him a name, just deal with the facts, not with not with the actual name calling and the like. is that enough to win over those republicans? a big question, because there are some concerns about other senators who are not on the committee. if it does advance to the floor. >> you are going to have one of many busy days tomorrow. manu, thank you so much for that reporting. thank you for watching inside politics today. cnn news cent

tulsi gabbard, trump's pick for director of national intelligence, approved today by the senate intelligence committeekennedy jr. trump's nominee for secretary of health and human services. approved by the senate finance committee. >> there's tens of millions of americans who are hopeful that rfk jr will be the next hhs secretary, and we expect all senate republicans to stand tough and strong and vote for him. >> gabbard and kennedy will now face a final vote by the entire senate. that could happen in the coming days. in an effort to keep communication ongoing with senate republicans, president trump has invited the senators and their spouses to mar-a-lago for dinner on friday. their support is critical to advancing his cabinet nominees and agenda. perry russom, abc news, washington. >> now, any change to federal funding for schools can have a very big impact on california. in the last academic year, california schools got roughly $131 billion from local, state and federal funds. now, abot 10% of that traditionally has come from the federal government. the school year, california got $31 billion of ad

then later this afternoon, the senate intelligence committee is going to decide whether or not to confirm tulsi gabbard to be the director of national intelligence. now, we have heard from most of the republicans on that committee, including senator susan collins and james lankford, who announced last night that they would vote yes on this nomination after yet another rocky hearing from gabbard last week. but there's still a huge question mark surrounding todd young. he's a republican who serves on this committee, who was mum last night when reporters repeatedly were pressing him on what he would do. he said he would make an announcement today that hearing and vote is going to take place later today. so two really critical moments for trump's nominees on capitol hill happening in just under an hour. >> all right. to definitely to be watched very closely this morning. thank you so much lauren sara. >> all right. thanks, kate. right now the recovery operation continues for the deadly mid-air collision in the potomac river. investigators are still lifting pieces of the wreckage from the rive

in the aftermath of last week's hearing before the senate intelligence committee, those two senators senator susan collins of maine, saying she will support the nomination, saying she had alleviated gabbard, had alleviated some of collins concerns. also, senator james lankford had some issues about how she answered the question about edward snowden in particular, at that hearing, she did not explicitly call snowden a traitor in that hearing. she later had comments about that behind closed doors, wrote an op ed about her views on that one over james lankford. but senator todd young remains uncertain. he is still the key swing vote and could determine whether or not this nomination moves to the senate floor. that vote tomorrow also, jake robert f kennedy jr. a critical vote tomorrow before the senate finance committee for him to lead the health and human services department. one person to watch. senator bill cassidy, the main swing vote on that committee just moments ago, jake, he said he still has not made a decision on how he will vote tomorrow. he did speak with rfk jr.. yesterday,

committee in security classification, security clearance and classification reform in narrowing severely those who have access to the most sensitive and compartmentalized intelligence reporting and capabilities. chair cotton: senator bennet. sen. bennet: thank you for your generosity, mr. chairman. thank you again for hanging in there for this discussion, colonel gabbard. the house intelligence committee review of the snowden disclosures found not only that he was a traitor but that since snowden's arrival in moscow, he has had and continues to have contact with russian intelligence services. you can see the deep concern on both sides of the aisle here. you had in your opening statement all kinds of complaints about former officials, intelligence agencies, united states press, journalists, media, democrats. suggested you were not being treated fairly when you are coming here. no condemnation at all for this comment which leads me to wonder why it is so hard for you to say edward snowden was a traitor to our country and the question i guess i have for you is, how if you can't say that, you feel that the concerns that this committee has -- that we need somebody here who will actually honor their oath as you said. ma

she's going to get through the senate intelligence committee. i have to imagine most likely she will get through the senate floor. and donald trump. i mean, we have to say this. donald trump has effectively completed or is on the brink of completing a clean sweep of his cabinet nominees. i mean, it's pretty pretty astounding. and it does speak to number one. it speaks to, again, trump's hold in the party. number two, his the senate republican leadership, which has worked with this white house to get their nominees across the floor. i mean, remember a month ago, two months ago, three months ago, we were talking about recess appointments, which was always this, i would say, media fascination that that donald trump brought up wasn't really tethered to reality. he's going to get all of his nominees across the floor quite quickly. and that's that's pretty impressive. he's outpacing even president joe biden at this point. >> jake sherman on capitol hill, thank you very much, my friend. appreciate it. >> we turn. >> now to more breaking news. nbc news h

the senate intelligence committee voted 9 to 8 yesterday, all along party lines to back the former democraticrt from republican senators susan collins of maine and todd young of indiana, both of whom were considered as potential no votes. ultimately they didn't. the pair ultimately voted in favor of advancing gabbard's nomination, and the committee's vote now opens the way for the full senate to decide if gabbard should be confirmed as the country's top ranking intelligence official. joining us now is scripps news national security correspondent liz landers. liz, you've been following the ins and outs of the tulsi gabbard confirmation battle. i think a lot of people were surprised by susan collins and todd young. what was your reaction and what did your reporting tell you about how they got to. yes. >> i was surprised by that as. >> well, when. >> i saw. >> especially todd. >> young from indiana. >> he i had heard. >> from. >> republicans on. >> the hill that. >> he was really. >> debating whether or. not to. >> vote for. her and her confirmation hearing as well. we heard tough. questions fro

mark warner, the vice chair of the senate intelligence committee, to question the move by the cia, sending this in an unclassified manner, suggesting that foreign adversaries china could put a target on these individuals backs, not being too difficult to take. the first name and last initial of individuals and ultimately determine who those individuals are. i think it's important to note that the cia exactly the employment, the number of people employed by the cia has always remained confidential and classified information because of the sensitivity of the individuals working for the agency, and this through the demands of the white house, through this executive order, in the doj's efforts to try to eliminate parts of the federal workforce. all of this is leading to concern, particularly among democratic lawmakers who are the ones actively speaking out. jose. >> nbc's garrett. >> haake and vaughn hillyard. >> thank you. >> both so very much. and joining. us now. >> with. >> more. >> symone sanders townsend, former spokesperson. >> for former vice. >> president harris and. anchor of the wee

nomination of tulsi gabbard to be the director of national intelligence welcome to the senate intelligence committeei also want to welcome your family in attendance today including your husband abraham, mother carol, and your sister. i also want to acknowledge some very special friends of yours. dakota myers and pat --, both medal of honor recipients. on behalf of a grateful nation heightened by deepest angst to you and the heroes with whom you serve. [applause] i also note that our next attorney general pam bondi is joining us. apparently she didn't have enough fun at her own confirmation hearing. welcome and congratulations. [applause] and finally, senator joni ernst and, richard burr will introduce miss gabbard shortly. i think it is fair to say that miss gabbard's nomination has generated a bit more interest and attention than most nominees for this committee and i want to stress that miss gabbard has been and will be treated with the exact same respect, consideration and professionalism that we extended to every nominee. no more, no less, and no that is having three to john ratcliffe just two w

he's the ranking democrat on the senate finance committee, and he also sits on the senate intelligencemittee. senator, thank you so much for being here. you've been very busy. i just want to start with new evidence regarding elon musk's doge team accessing sensitive federal data, because i think a lot of people sitting at home are wondering what they're doing with this. what should we know? where is this information? and you wired reporter mr. musk team has claimed they had read only access to treasury materials. that's key. but reporting from wired states, at least one musk aligned official had the ability to change the code of the treasury's payment system, which also feels important to me. you've called on the treasury secretary to come clean about musk's infiltration, because we all have all these questions. have you gotten a straight answer or learned anything? >> we haven't gotten a straight answer. >> and. >> i'm convinced this read only matter. jen is just a blatant lie. later reporting showed that. >> in effect. >> the henchmen. the musk henchmen were going in there to cut off