k when you are looking tammy duckworth and i melissa, jody ernst people are served honourably before you're making that kind of argument, yeah, betterue have a good reason to back it up other than know i'm just up for this position now and i decided to change my view on it. when is a more poignant moments was tammy duckworth pointing tog the soldiers creed which is what they live by what they sign off what they go into bow to withy every dasiy how you feel about country that sounded like out detox about his country so i couldn't make sense why he wouls be parrotingen these quotas they need to have the female quotas they said which is not true we heard dei over and over again from republicans on the panel i didn't see evan any evidence yoi look at somebody like tammy duckworth talking about everyone who serves feels about the country and that women not meeting a lower standard so they can go out there what they're doing for the country. >> if he met with democrats they would love you. i would be laying it on thick he was probably trying to shore up the votes on the republican sidi eno

tammy duckworth losing both legs. you better have a good reason to back it up and not oh i'm up for this position now and i decided to change my position on it. one of most poignant moments is pointing to the soldier's creed. what they sign up with and go into battle. how they protect and seven. that sounded exactly like how pete talks about his country. i couldn't really make sense why he would be parroting there's quotas they have to have female quotas. or to say this is all about the wokeification and we heard dei over and over again from the republicans on the panel, i didn't see any evidence of that when you look at tammy duckworth and women who are not needing a lower standard but can lift the weights, do the run are going out there and doing for our country. >> jess if you met with democrats, they would all love you. >> jesse: it's called a charm offensive. pete was trying to shore up the votes on the republican side and didn't have time for the democrats. to answer greg's question, no you are not confirmable.

senators tammy duckworth and jacky rosen. a handful of other confirmation hearings are happening today. we will cover president-elect robb's pick for attorney general pam bondi before the judiciary committee and the intelligence committee hosts cia nominee john ratcliff. we will have those hearings and others live on c-span now our free mobile video app and later in our schedule. president biden will give his farewell address to the nation tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span. on c-span3 we are waiting for the secretary of state confirmation hearing to get underway. [quiet indiscernible background conversations] >> live coverage from capitol hill expecting the senate foreign relations committee to gaveling in. the top democrat on the committee is jeanne shaheen of new hampshire. there are 20 additional members, including two women, senators tammy duckworth and jacky rosen. a handful of other confirmation hearings are also happening today. we will cover president-elect trump's pick for attorney general, pam bondi, who is appearin

. >> illinois senator tammy duckworth, on today's bruising hearing for pete hegseth. >> how can we ask these warriors to train and perform the absolute highest standards when you are asking us to lower the standards to make you the secretary of defense? >> then house democratic leader hakeem jeffries, on loyal opposition in the new congress. and jen psaki joins me with her exclusive interview with california governor gavin newsom on the fires burning in his state and the misinformation making it harder to fight them. >> but somehow, there's a magical spigot in california and northern california that just can be turned on, and all of a sudden there will be rain or water flowing everywhere. it's not helpful when all in starts right now. >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. i want you to mentally bracket out for a second. the very serious allegations of sexual assault against pete hegseth, the man donald trump wants to be his secretary of defense. yes, it is an allegation borne of an actual police report filed after his accuser went to the er seeking a rape kit. yes. hegseth de

senator tammy duckworth, thank you so much for making the time tonight.eth is far from the only dangerous and unqualified trump cabinet pick to face scrutiny this week, with the senate holding more than a dozen hearings in, what, one republican. this is a republican, not me is calling a train wreck. we'll dive into train wreck. we'll dive into can neuriva support your brain health? mary. janet. hey! eddie. no! fraser. frank. frank. fred. how are you? support up to seven brain health indicators, including memory. when you need to remember, remember neuriva. it's easy when you know where to look. >> trivago compares hotel prices from hundreds of sites so you from hundreds of sites so you can save u after last month's massive solar flare added a 25th hour to the day, businesses are wondering "what should we do with it?" i'm thinking company wide power nap. [ employees snoring ] anything can change the world of work. from hr to payroll, adp designs for the next anything. introducing new eroxon gel, the first fda-cleared ed treatment available without a prescr

it's liberal democrat senators tammy duckworth, john ossof, john hick en looper. isn't that a big blow to joe biden and nancy pelosi and chuck schumer and the far left? this is an embarrassment to them. the laken riley act will let i.c.e. arrest and detain illegal aliens who have committed theft, burglary or shoplifting until they are deported. we've got nine nfl athletes hit by home invasions across the country. minority, hispanic, black communities getting hit hard by illegal alien crime. now we've got nine liberal senators saying yes, move the laken riley bill. they are for it. what do you think? >> well i think they are finally listening to the american people. that their number one concern this biden inflation is the safety and security of their family so we've heard that over and over. this was the number one polling issue was the number one issue for at least a year before the election, so i think they hear them saying that. liz: we now have news coming in. the trump motorcade is now approaching capitol hill in moment we're expecting to see president trump

senator tammy duckworth joins us live. also this hour, just weeks before the infernos in los angeles, local firefighters publicly warned they were at a breaking point. cnn is looking into concerns that l.a. has one of the most understaffed fire departments in america. plus, a new public health alert in the fire zone urging people to wear masks to protect themselves from ash and smoke. doctor sanjay gupta will show us why the air in parts of southern california is so very dangerous right now. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in the situation room. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> we begin with breaking news. the trump cabinet confirmation hearings kick off with very high tension and very tough questions. one of trump's most controversial picks. pete hegseth up first in the hot seat. as cnn's brian todd reports, democrats zeroed in on the former fox news host and whether he has the experience and the character to lead the pentagon. >> good morning. the hearing wi

think first of all, it should be noted that one of those women that was just referenced, senator tammy duckworthwas shot down in iraq and lost both of her legs before pete hegseth saw combat. and so, you know, what you've seen in our military is an evolution in policy that meets the realities that i experienced on the battlefield, in addition to tammy duckworth. and so all we've done is make sure that any able bodied woman who wants to serve in this country can do so however she would like to. and i will tell you, you know, additionally, when you see those women who are graduating from ranger school, those women are objectively tougher and in both mind and body than many other men in the military. ranger school has a 50% dropout rate. so the women who are graduating not only are meeting the standard are not only graduating in the same course that a bunch of men are also graduating from, but there is a 50% dropout rate that includes a whole lot of men as well. and i think that's, you know, there's a lot of perspective that's been lost in this debate. >> this is such an important it was such an im

he has also been impressed multiple times, including this now by senator tammy duckworth, on his ability an organization like the pentagon, especially the cost cuts would like to

geoff: democratic senator tammy duckworth thank you for joining us this evening. we appreciate it. >> israel and hamas are the closest they have been to a cease-fire in gaza, the board from senior u.s. and israeli officials as well as a hamas statement. nick shiffer and is following all this and joins us now. what is in the deal and how close is it to being done? >> regional officials say they are as close as they have been since negotiating the deal beginning with phase one of the six week cease-fire during which hamas would release 33 is rated hostages, women, children, elderly, and wounded including five female soldiers. israel would release nearly 1000 palestinian detainees. 30 detainees for nearly every civilian hostages hamas releases, 50 for every single soldier hostage hamas releases. then israel would also facilitate the arrival of 600 humanitarian aid trucks every day. the united nations said the number today was 70. israeli forces would leave populated areas. let me show you how the leaving of populated areas would work on the map. israel would leave th

geoff: democratic senator tammy duckworth, thanks for joining us this evening. it. >> thank you. geoff: israel and hamas are the closest they have been to a cease-fire in gaza, nick schifrin is following all of this and joins us now. nick, what is in the deal and how close is it to being done? >> officials tell me -- nick: regional and u.s. officials tell me, geoff, as you just said, that they are as close as they have ever been since they started negotiating this deal, which would begin with phase one and a six-week cease-fire, during which hamas would release 33 israeli hostages, women, children, elderly and/or the wounded, including five female soldiers. israel would release nearly 1,000 palestinian detainees, 30 detainees for every civilian hostage that hamas releases, 50 for every single soldier hostage that hamas releases. and then israel would also facilitate the arrival of 600 humanitarian aid trucks every day. the u.n. said that number today was 70. and israeli forces would leave populated areas. and let me show you how that leaving of populated areas w

illinois democratic senator tammy duckworth says hegseth doesn't have the needed qualifications. if just look at his work experience, the largest organization of i can find that he's ever run was a platoon. 13 cabinet picks will face confirmation hearings this week repopting in washington reshad hudson. >> next in sports, the warriors continue their road trip there in to rondo. >> taking on the raptors, aaron wilson. let us know how that fell as did sports is next. >> we're just one week out from inauguration day and explain what we know about the security plans in place for the big event. i'm hannah brandt in washington on that story. coming up. pete g. writes, "my tween wants a new phone. how do i not break the bank?" we got you, pete. xfinity mobile was designed to save you money and gives you access to wifi speeds up to a gig. so you get high speeds for low prices. better than getting low speeds for high prices. right, bruce? -jealous? yeah, look at that. -honestly. someone get a helmet on this guy. xfinity internet customers, ask how to get an unlimited line free for a year,

how can you not pay attention to tammy duckworth sitting there minus limbs? as a woman who served in the u.s. military with great distinction, and you're saying women aren't qualified, but okay, i'll do it. i'll say it now because i want to be confirmed to me. this is like, you know, expediency. >> i think it's not only about this unexplained flip flop on women serving in the military. it's not only about the fact that he hasn't managed something as large as a burger king. probably, but that he could not answer basic questions, not just gotcha questions like questions like, would you uphold the geneva conventions? would you refuse an unlawful order if the president gave you one which did happen under trump before with with spath? would you ever sick the u.s. military on american citizens? you know, there are many examples of questions that yes, he was very articulate and polished and he's a tv host. that's his main qualification. i know in tv we sometimes get confused. >> why do you denigrate this man's service? i don't understand 20 years scott decorated sco

and tammy duckworth says this man is not qualified to run appleby's, let alone department of defense.fied people for health care and other things that had nothing to do with people. look at secretary of health and human services, a lawyer put in charge of healthcare and lost every legal case in front of supreme court. talk about unqualified and they pull this nonsense. he knows his military stuff. when i was talking about contracting and making ourselves efficient and lethal, he understands what he doesn't have spshlt in and knows who to hire and how to shore up what he thinks his weak spots are and how to learn on the job. he is very intelligent and will do a great job. >> todd: would you be excited to sign up and fight under pete hegseth? >> absolutely. and that is what matters. my sons could fight under him and that would be great. >> todd: folks in house of representatives do something about it. new study by national association of manufacturers show six million american jobs at stake, 540 billion in lost wages and gdp shortfall, are you close to working out internal disagreement

his conversation with tammy duckworth was noticeable. one thing he could have been better prepared was when ductwork got him. he didn't seem to have an answer for that one, so memo to the people who prepared him for the hearing, you have to anticipate anything could come down the pipe. >> let's bring in michael allen. thank you for being here. as we watch him say his goodbyes and greet some of those senators, your review of what you just saw and heard. >> i thought he was very well prepared. he give a very good performance. he will be the soldier's secretary. he talked so much about the war fighter lethality, training, readiness. we need to lean into what his strengths are and those are his communication skills and ability to promote the force, to ensure recruitment comes back and to sell to the american people of the congress hired defense spending because of china and the other threats. democrats came at him hard. that is part of the process, but he handled himself very well. >> it was interesting the democrats are trying to tell the n

system of articulation liz: that was senator tammy duckworth going after pete hegseth and retired u.s. army special forces veteran jim hanson and we're excited to talk to jim. we'll break it down. there's a brand new recall effort just launched to remove far left governor gavin newsom from office in california. plus the push is broking to enforce la mayor karen bass to resign. beth accused of botching it and negligence in la wild fires and those fires right now at this hour are getting even bigger and going for them and antonio sabato jr. going with all that. >> passage of time to see what's possible. to see what can be unburdened by what has been. liz: that was vice president kamala harris and well known for so-called word salads and tonight we'll show you the new one she added to her list, this time insulting her on constituents in california and being slammed by la fires. outkick's tomi lahren is here to react and excited to talk to tomi too, she's so smart. but first, this story. >> would you carry out an order to shoot protesters in the legs? would you use our military to take ov

can expect some pretty tough questions from democrats, especially from someonllinois senator tammy duckworth, a combat veteran who lost both her legs in iraq. my panel is back now. uh, it is kind of remarkable. manu, that we were watching you run through the hallways. you were talking to senators. we were talking to our sources. and at the beginning of this process, this transition process, several of donald trump's nominees, including and especially the one we'll see tomorrow, pete were in trouble. yeah. doesn't seem like that. >> it doesn't seem that way because a lot of republicans have been convinced saying, let the process move forward. hold your concerns. don't don't draw any red lines. don't take any positions. and we've not heard any opposition whatsoever. and remember, in order to get confirmed, they need to make sure that they can limit republican defections to three. and at the moment we have not heard anyone say they're opposed to pete hegseth, even very notably joni ernst, who we're going to be watching very closely at that senate armed services committee hearing. they worked ve

the one who is going to sound off on him is tammy duckworth. is going to challenge him, go ahead, about women in the combat role. she a wounded vet. pete has described that as that was my view as a war fighter. i worked for the president of the united states and president trump doesn't feel that way. he also cited how heroic women have been that he has served with. but his army national guard tours in iraq and afghanistan. his days over at gitmo. continue to work domestically and internationally his degrees from harvard and princeton. is he going to be a very unique secretary of defense. if you think you are going to rattle him and get under his skin. that's called every day when you are on fox. democrat attack him is not going to be unusual. he will have the answers. >> lawrence: i predict you will see the pete smile that he gives to a lot. >> steve: the pete smile. >> lawrence: the little smirk that he gives when they try to go after him. he has been doing this for a long time. i would also caution them to actually know the positions because

. >> illinois democrat tammy duckworth questioned what hegseth knew about military structure. she questioned him about military agreements with other nations and about how he handled the books at veterans organizations he led. >> yes or no. what are you afraid of? you can't answer this question, yes or no did you lead an audit? do you not know this answer, yes or no. yes or no. yes or no. i will take that as a no. >> republicans rose to the defense of the nominee. iowa republican joni ernst had two meetings with hegseth and she will vote yes and work with him to create the most lethal fighting force ever. other republicans argued hegseth has the proper resume to lead the pentagon. >> you have a man who has put his butt on the line. he served 20 years in the service multiple deployments. has heard the bullets crack over the top of his head. what other qualifications does he need? >> the armed services committee to try to send hegseth's nomination to the floor early next week. in 2017 the senate voted to confirm james mattis for defense secretary hours after mr. trump took offic

for example, senator mazie hirono from hawaii, elizabeth warren from massachusetts, tammy duckworth from herself was injured in combat. they have the right people to deliver that message. whether it's going to make a difference at this point is unclear, but they think that tomorrow is one of those rare confirmation hearings that could actually matter, where the responses from pete hegseth and in return from republicans both on and off the committee could make a difference for his confirmation prospects. republicans on the armed services committee have already noticed a vote -- a committee vote on his nomination for next monday, which is inauguration day, at around 5 p.m. it will be members only, limited staff allowed in the room. that will be presumably where they vote on hegseth's nomination to advance it to the senate floor. based on the composition of the armed services committee on the gop side, i don't anticipate any no votes there, so he will be fine to advance out of committee. the republicans can lose no more than three votes so there's a number of people we will be watching for.

illinois democratic senator tammy duckworth says hegseth doesn't have the needed qualifications. if just look at his work experience, the largest organization of i can find that he's ever run was a platoon. 13 cabinet picks will face confirmation hearings this week reporting in washington reshad hudson. >> a bay area donating supplies, too. wass angeles evacuees will take a look at >> stephen federal funding to install more electric vehicle charging stations. the 12 million dollar project will install 237 ev charging post across san jose. most of them are going to be located at public facilities like libraries, community centers and parks. mayor matt mahan says these charging stations will make ev charging more accessible and convenient for people in the south bay. samtrans has a new and improved app for its riders. it's called ride. plus and it you can download it now. right? plus offers on-demand transportation for riders in half moon granada east palo alto and the belle haven neighborhood of menlo park. right now the transit agency is recommending riders keep using existing ap

illinois democratic senator tammy duckworth says hegseth doesn't have the needed qualifications. if just look at his work experience. >> the largest organization of i can find that he's ever run was a platoon. 13 cabinet picks will face confirmation hearings this week reporting in washington reshad hudson. >> still ahead, incarcerated firefighters. prisoners are hard at work in los angeles. why what they're doing and the working conditions they're dealing with is being discussed by some plus, a south bay startup is doing what it can to help firefighters. why new suppressant spray. it's key to those efforts and why adopting a pet in san francisco can >> now at 4.30, a growing force of firefighters moving into the la area has more powerful winds are expected to trigger new danger that could set back recent containment progress. at least 24 people have been killed in the fires and more than 12,000 structures have been destroyed. it's astronomical number. as we take a live look here at the situation. this is above the palisades fire where you can see areas that have burns the black c

illinois democratic senator tammy duckworth says hegseth doesn't have the needed qualifications.just look at his work experience, the largest organization of i can find that he's ever run. >> was a platoon 13 cabinet picks will face confirmation hearings this week reporting in washington reshad hudson. >> a federal judge has okayed the department of justice to release special counsel jack smith's report and president-elect donald trump's 2020 election interference case. this is the latest in the back and forth court dispute over the report from the special counsel who prosecuted trump in 2 cases. the justice department abandoned in november after temporarily blocking the release of the report. today, the judge cleared the way a temporary injunction barring the immediate release of the report remains in effect until tomorrow. still ahead here, the lineup for one of the biggest music festivals in the bay area has been. >> police will see are the >> police will see are the headliners for bottle rocket. would you be a superhero or a supervillain? hmm... superhero. superhero? ok. i jo

one of those senators is illinois senator and combat veteran senator tammy duckworth. she has been red hot about this nomination, saying, quote, i need to see his fbi background check. we need to see his financial disclosures. we need to know about any other potential lawsuits he might be facing, any other allegations he might be facing. she says, quote, is he someone who might be? excuse me? is he someone that is blackmailable? i don't know, but i should be able to know if i'm going to have to vote for him for secretary of defense. senator duckworth continues, quote, i just want to know if he can do the job. maybe he has hidden talents that he's not telling people about. maybe he's led an organization larger than a 40 man platoon, which i believe is the largest unit he's ever been in charge of. maybe he has successfully led an organization with a budget of around $800 million. i don't know. from what i've seen. he's led two partizan political groups, veterans organizations, both of which said that he mismanaged their finances. but maybe he's run a boeing or a northrop

decorated combat veteran tammy duckworth, who lost both of her legs in combat as a helicopter pilot, said this. >> how can we ask these warriors to train and perform the absolute highest standards? when you are asking us to lower the standards to make you the secretary of defense, simply because you are buddies with our president elect. >> lower the standards. that is what donald trump has done every day of his political life. that is what republican senators did today for the job of secretary of defense of the united states of america. lower the standards. the vote in the senate on the hegseth nomination is going to be a vote to lower the standards, yes or no. and republicans who are constantly claiming to believe in nothing but meritocracy will vote to lower the standards, and democrats will vote to preserve the standards. >> let me make it clear. you can't seem to grasp that there is no us military as we know it without the incredible women that we serve, women who've earned their place in their units. you have not earned your place as secretary of defense. >> senator elizabeth wa

here's tammy duckworth, a democrat on the committee. >> my understanding is that several of the. uh, witnesses, um, were not interviewed by the fbi, even though they wanted to be. >> and that includes the accuser of his sexual assault accuser. >> i have not seen the fbi report, and they've not made it available to us. >> but who is not interviewed? >> 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. >> for a change. now, it's important to keep in mind that pete hegseth can get through without a single democratic vote that includes a single democratic vote on the committee. it's really those key republicans that we're going to have to keep an eye out for to determine whether or not hegseth is going to have the votes to get this job, his performance today. a lot is at stake, john. >> a lot is at stake. though his prospects seem to be radically different than they were a few weeks ago, when confirmation seemed unlikely. now it might just be the reverse. lauren fox on ca

tammy duckworth asked him to name the asean countries, and he he sort of couldn't.et's watch. >> can you name the importance of at least one of the nations in the asean, in asean, and what type of agreement we have with at least one of those nations? and how many nations are in asean, by the way? >> i couldn't tell you the exact amount of nations, but i know we have allies in south korea and japan and in aukus with australia trying to work on submarines with them. >> mr.. hegseth, none of those countries are allies, and none of those three countries that you mentioned are in asean. i suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. >> so should a moment like that matter? it doesn't seem like it's going to. i mean, joni ernst came out after this hearing and said she's going to vote for him. >> yeah. i mean, the exchanged that exchange. you saw the exchange between senator tim kaine and hegseth over the sexual assault allegations, uh, that he was involved in. he he was there was some a woman filed a sexual assault, uh, charge agains

pete probably exercised more restraint than i could have, especially with tim kaine and even tammy duckworth. i mean, she is so self-righteous. i mean, i hate that she lost her legs. >> i know something about that. >> but. >> but you can sit up there and talk about how this military should be conducted without the attacks that they that they levied. >> and, you know, you look at senator warren gets on him about this ten year deal. i kind of want to explain to the audience the reason why they do that. they're playing games. and pete was a step ahead because if pete had said and he may very likely want to pledge to not go into the defense industry after ten years. but if he says that they're going to use that, democrats are with every single nominee after him. so it's a catch 22. and so some of those questions he didn't answer, especially the hypotheticals, because they're not just going to use them against him. they're going to use it to box into a corner every trump nominee. and so the games they played today were unbecoming of the office of senator when it comes to trying to defend our coun

and as my colleague tammy duckworth said, he has a ceo. he's a friend of that ceo. he is unconventional as a chairman. 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

and i think you might see and that she's a veteran, you also may see tammy duckworth and her kind of partner together. so you actually may see bipartisanship with women tomorrow in the hearing. and that confirmation i don't know if she'll vote for him or not, but i think so. >> yeah. i mean, look, people's minds might be made up, but that hearing is going to be uncomfortable because there are so many unanswered questions out there. and but it will be interesting to see which democrats are the ones who kind of take the lead on this. what about you, arthur? >> i would think i would agree that pete is probably the one who's going to have the biggest issues, but i would think there's been behind the scenes kind of vote counting and figuring out where is where and who's what. and i think president trump has a lot of political clout right now. it's very different than when he came in the last time. i think people are rooting for him, people who i knew who hated him were like, all right, fine. he's going to be here for four years. then he's gone. let's give him a shot. much? it's a differen

senator tammy duckworth questioned him about what he knows concerning u.s.nts with some of the indo-pacific countries. let's take a listen can you name the importance of at least one of the nations in the asean, in asean, and what type of agreement we have with at least one of those nations? >> and how many nations are in asean? >> by the way, i couldn't tell you the exact no, you could not. but i know we have allies in south korea and japan and in aukus with australia trying to work on submarines with them. >> mr.. hegseth none of those countries are allies across. none of those three countries that you mentioned are in asean. i suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. >> terry, shouldn't it matter that a nominee that is about to head the most powerful military in the world doesn't know this? >> well, when you say this, i'm not familiar with asean either. and so but you're not heading the department of defense? no, thank god, but but no, it is a, um, uh, look, i don't it's a game of gotcha. and both sides of the p

tammy duckworth, like so many of our veterans, has sacrificed more than all of us combined. >> and whenw, senator, we i think we all would agree. i think you would agree that a president that's elected by 77 million americans usually should have the right there should be a presumption that that president elect has the right to put who he wants in to, to cabinet agencies and judicial to, to judicial positions. in this case, i must say, though, it seems extraordinary. does it not, that a man who has very little managerial experience and whatever managerial experience he's had has been driving two veteran organizations into the ground, according to whistleblower reports, that he would be responsible for the largest, most complicated and probably most important bureaucracy in american government. how do we how do we get to this point as a country where somebody so woefully ill equipped to handle that bureaucracy is rubber stamped by republicans? >> you have a president who will make a decision that matt gaetz. matt gaetz should have been the leading law enforcement official in the united st

we know tammy duckworth. we played a little bit of sound from her a few moments ago. the senator from illinois, i was just reading further from what she had to say yesterday. she also wondered that in some cases, the women involved may not have wanted to come forward because they were fearful of their safety or the safety of their children. so i think that's an element here. but we know that's not the case, at least for the one ex-wife who proactively reached out to the fbi. so why she was rebuffed, why she was ignored. that will be one of the mysteries that i think we heard this from senator blumenthal as well. i was just reading his his notes that will we will probably hear in the first minutes of the hearing today. why did it happen this way? >> i need to understand more. the transition team gets to tell the fbi how to do a background check, because last i checked, a background check isn't a background check unless it's a background check. like the way they do it. >> i well but but but but in the in this case though, there were negotiations on whether there would b

senator tammy duckworth, also on the committee and the senator who served in iraq, said this, quote,d fewer people than the manager of an applebee's end quote, meaning it will be left to republicans to move trump's pick along if they choose to do so. a point made in new york magazine in this quote. it is the first serious test of donald trump's newly invigorated strongman model of governance, and of whether he can continue to bend the republican party to his will. on friday, we learned the top two senators on the armed services committee received the fbi's background check on hegseth, a coveted resource for them. in light of these allegations. and one senators have been asking for. nbc news reports this, quote, the 25 member committee does not necessarily need to review this 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 top members. that is where we start the hour with democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut, a member of the armed

host: one of the people who sit on the senate armed services committee was democrat tammy duckworth,he herself as a military veteran, talking about previous comments that pete hegseth had made about the women in combat. topics that will most likely appear later today when he appears before the full senate armed services committee. here is senator duckworth from last month. [video clip] sen. duckworth: he has been saying that women are not as strong. the one in those roles have met the same standards as men and passed rigorous testing. he is flat out wrong. our military could not go to war without the women who wear this uniform and america's daughters are just as capable of defending liberty as her sons. >> what you think of the idea that women make fighting more complicated? that was specifically what he focused on. sen. duckworth: it shows his lack of understanding of where our military is. he was a pretty low ranking guy in the military and never had a command position. he was a platoon leader once or twice but never commanded a company. this is a man who is unqualified for the po