and hegseth also sent to senator thom tillis a letter. manu. >> yeah, that was essentially it. at least the questions that tillis had. he said that he needed to speak to the hegseth. hegseth responded to those questions and not just hegseth responding to those questions. other republicans also weighing in directly with thom tillis, the majority leader of the senate, john thune, spoke to him several times through the course of the day. so no doubt. thom tillis, up for reelection in 2026, potentially could face a primary as well. he has faced enormous pressure to get in line to fall in line, but believes that his questions have been answered about those allegations of abusive behavior and the like. so that's how he got to. yes, caitlin. >> yeah. that's remarkable. great reporting there. manu raju everyone stay with us. we're going to take a quick break, but we are watching closely because we do believe we're going to see something, as manu noted there, that you don't ever see the vice president having to come in and break a vote for a cabinet nominee. only the second time in moder

thom tillis wasn't even in the building all day. he seriously just came in for this vote. i don't even know if he officially voted yet, but his position is clear in his tweet. he did his due diligence after the confirmation hearing. i know he had serious concerns. he's communicated those to the administration before that, to the trump transition. certainly there's been a lot of pressure on these senators, but ultimately it does feel like even asking these questions of pete hegseth up until the final moment, which hegseth just posted on x, which i find the timing so curious in that. but certainly it does appear like hegseth will get confirmed. tillis has officially voted yes for him, i'm told, on the senate floor. now we're just waiting for mcconnell and potentially jd vance if he has to break a tie. >> all right, julie, if you'd stand by, we've got senator tammy duckworth joining us to talk about what she's saying and what she understands about this process thus far. senator duckworth, i really appreciate you being here as a member of the armed services committee and a sen

we don't yet know about senators mitch mcconnell and thom tillis. thom tillis did speak to manu raju earlier today and indicated if he found something new that might have impact his vote, but it sounded like he

we don't yet know about senators mitch mcconnell and thom tillis.tillis did speak to manu raju earlier today and indicated if he found something new that might have impact his vote, but it sounded like he was heading toward a confirming vote. but again, we don't know for sure that will be

thom tillis thank you. joe i'm so frustrated, man. like yeah i got everybody asking me, you know, how do you feel and what what do you want and all. we just wanted accountability. and it's gone. it's gone. like and people are the shock of people. and why are you shocked like byron donalds making a statement and jd vance you know what they probably thought there's no way in hell donald trump is going to pardon these people. they probably thought that they probably did think that. but then again, donald trump said, hey, proud boys, stand back, stand by, i got you. do y'all not remember that? like, he wasn't just lying. he wasn't just talking out of his. he meant it. >> yeah he did. david jolly, this is proof. and you and then joyce, this to me, is proof that colorado was right. he is an insurrectionist. he did violate article three of section 14 because he essentially said to his mob, go free, get your guns. >> he did. he conspired to defraud the american people through the use of violence to interrupt an official proceeding of the sena

what thom tillis said. we we've heard that several several of the whistleblower reports were actually blocked by republicans. so those people that made those complaints couldn't come forward with it. it'd be interesting to see if thom tillis has tried to reach out to those. so first of all, with with the ratcliffe vote, another fairly bipartisan vote like marco rubio and like several others that are going through and i like we suspect, the treasury secretary nominee will also breeze through. but but on pete hegseth, you have, of course, mitch mcconnell. and we just heard there, thom tillis, i still am wondering about two people. have we heard yet from. senator young, who again, has committed his life to strengthening the united states military and certainly understands that pete hegseth is not qualified, regardless of these allegations, to be secretary of defense at this stage of his life. and also, if we heard anything from dave mccormick, a west point grad who's not up for reelection for six years and cer

it is why you hear somebody like thom tillis saying that he is doing his due diligence.roborate this information from danielle hegseth. they are all seizing on that statement that she provided to us, saying that there was no physical abuse, in part because the state's attorney is circulating that statement to republicans. he sent a letter to senator roger wicker earlier this week, copy pasting that email from samantha to courtney kube in her response about the physical abuse allegations, saying, look, nothing happened here. and so they're clearly under a ton of pressure here. but i know this is still a very light ball. katie. >> all right. julie sirkin, paul rykoff, lisa rubin, everybody, thank you very much. still ahead, a new round of hostages will be freed by hamas tomorrow, along with a new round of palestinian prisoners in israeli jails. what we know so far about that trade, as the nearly week old cease fire holds. first, though, what president trump said to threaten fema as he tours disaster zones in north carolina and california. today, former fema administrator d

right now, it is not clear how mitch mcconnell or thom tillis are going to vote. our colleague ted barrett reporting just a few minutes ago that thune's office is in regular contact with tillis office. that is a sign, obviously, that they still are trying to keep those lines of communication open, perhaps because they are trying to convince him to get to yes or get him information that would convince him to get to yes in this moment. look, a couple hours ago, it seemed like everything was moving forward on a on a glide path. in this moment, it's just really unclear if hegseth is going to have the votes. let's walk through a couple of different scenarios. yesterday we saw murkowski and collins vote against advancing this nomination. if those are the only two republicans, then this nomination would be approved at 9:00. when the senate votes tonight, let's say that there are three republicans, either mcconnell or tillis, join those two republican women in voting against hegseth. then you have a situation where the vice president would have to come and be a tie breaker

well, thom tillis is probably a little bit he might be more concerned about his right than.usan collins is worried about the middle because maine versus north carolina republican primary. yeah. so i mean, i take your point, though, that like, this seems to be going forward. the other interesting thing is, like peter, you know, hegseth has no experience doing this job. and so, you know, now the hard part starts, as they say. >> yeah, you know, so much, so much of the debate has been over the personal misconduct or alleged personal misconduct, and not the fact that you're talking about 3 million employees and an $800 billion budget. >> well, that's hard enough to do sober, i think, is the issue. i think the question is like, is he is he can he pick up the phone at three in the morning? >> and we and we forget that these are massive management roles. and is this person competent to do. >> it right. and he has struggled. i mean, we've seen evidence that he has struggled to manage much, much, much smaller, less complicated organizations than the department of defense. so this is

second is thom tillis, who's up right now. that's why thom tillis, he wanted to vote against this, but he didn't want to have opposition in his primary. and there's a bunch of congress people lined up to run against him. and lastly, the one who probably showed the most courage is susan collins, who's up for reelection in 26 and voted with her heart and decided to vote against this. look for her to have primary opposition that is funded by donald trump and his likes. >> yeah, i mean, they've made it very clear that that's what's coming. do you think that's fair in this situation? >> well, i think tonight's result ultimately speaks to the power of the republican party right now, to the strength that senate republicans have behind donald trump. they're standing with him with, you know, what might be the most controversial nominee at this point? there was a point in december in which we thought maybe we would never get to this day. and obviously, not only did we get here, but he's across the finish line and will be our next secret

and i think that is what seems to be bothering some, like thom tillis, senator lankford. i mean, do you share some of that concern, though, that this could set a bad precedent? and, you know, raise safety concerns and, and that kind of thing? >> well, obviously, we support the police. i support the police. we've always been there to make sure we didn't cut the budgets of the police force, make sure they had bulletproof vests and the equipment they need to be able to protect themselves. we certainly don't, you know, condone violence against police. i think that this is a question that that president trump will be asked. and i think that he'll certainly give his reasoning as to why. but with respect to the pardons, you know, my answer is he said he was going to do it, unlike joe biden, who said he was not going to do it. so i think that's, you know, that's where where i am. i support the president's decision. but i do think you should. i think joe biden should explain more. i believe he should have to come on your show and answer why he pardoned his people. and certainly tr

his denial in a written letter was enough to win over thom tillis support. so with tillis on board, republicans had no margin for error, given that they had already lost two republicans. senator lisa murkowski and senator susan collins, and they could only afford to lose three at most. and when mitch mcconnell went to the floor and said thumbs down, that meant that they needed jd vance ultimately to break the tie. now that pete hegseth is in there by the narrowest of margins, he takes on a pentagon with enormous challenges ahead and concerns among democrats and some republicans that he is not fit for the job, that his allegations of misconduct raise questions about his character. and someone who is a former fox news host and military veteran simply is out of his depth in running the pentagon. that's what his critics say. his supporters say that he is the exact person to come in and reform a military in badly need of reform. that's what donald trump has said. that's why he picked him. and that's why republican senators ultimately fell in line and pushed him th

lauren fox, with some very good reporting up on capitol hill, senator thom tillis, republican of northlina, saying these pardons of the january 6th rioters are a legitimate safety issue. we'll have more on that in the hours ahead here on cnn. in the meantime, thank you very much for joining us this morning. i'm jim acosta. our next hour of newsroom with pamela brown starts after a short break. have a good day. >> super man. the christopher reeve story february 2nd on cnn. >> time to press rewind with neutrogena rapid wrinkle repair. it has derm proven retinol expertly formulated to target skin cell turnover and fight not one, but five signs of aging with visible results in just one week. neutrogena. >> when we started feeding bogie the farmer's dog, he lost so much weight. pre-portioned packs makes it really easy to keep him lean and healthy. >> in the morning, he flies up the stairs and hops up on my bed. >> in the past, he would not have been able to do any of those things. >> if you have generalized myasthenia gravis, picture what life could look like with vivarte. >> hi, a subcutan

neither has thom tillis. but this is the decision of the republicans. the chairman could allow us to see it. and he he said no, he wouldn't even give us a second round of questions. and mr. hegseth was kept away from all the democratic committee members, and we were not even allowed to meet with him in person prior to the hearing. and in fact, i'm still waiting to meet with mr. hegseth. i've been requesting a meeting with him since december 18th, and so for thom tillis to say what he says is factually correct. but there's a lot behind the scenes, and that is the information, isn't there? because the trump transition team is blocking that information, because the chairman of the committee is not allowing us to see it. and because the fbi report is designed to be lacking. and so we're now at this place where we're going to have to vote on the person who's going to run the greatest military on the face of the earth, the person with access to the nuclear codes. and we don't have information about this man's character. >> the trump team is essentially arguin

in fact, thom tillis revealed to us yesterday that even if he gets confirmed, he will foia put out amation for danielle hicks. that's full fbi interview. we know that she had many conversations with the fbi. those didn't seem to make it into the presentation that was given by the trump transition team to the top two senators on the senate armed services committee. and, of course, there's also his questions. for the record, those are the additional questions that senators on the armed services committee are able to ask of hegseth outside of the scope of that public confirmation hearing. those are on the record. those are public. and in one of those questions posed by senator elizabeth warren, she asked hegseth about that payment that he made to the woman who accused him of sexual assault in monterey, california, in 2017. he answered that the number, the amount of that payment was $50,000. and we also have a statement from his attorney talking about it, he said. hegseth strongly felt that he was the victim of blackmail and innocent collateral damage in a lie that the complainant was ho

i saw thom tillis, our senator to the north. i heard his comments.ave for them, and we certainly don't want to leave for them. a country with disrespect and regard disregard for law, for the law, and for this country's greatness, that is not going to get us there if we continue the kind of rhetoric. last night, the inaugural speech was not wasn't too bad last night. those speeches were horrible. >> we heard donald trump after his inaugural speech, go downstairs and talk to some of his most loyal supporters, saying a lot of things, a lot of conspiracy theories, bringing that up in the middle of it. he talked about he said that he had spoken to chuck schumer and said, they have got to figure out how to come together and work and pass legislation. and i'm curious, what where are there some possibilities for that sort of legislation where even after last night, which i think most americans, i believe most americans would be shocked by, but but what what's what's legislation that democrats and republicans can work together on and pass? >> well, you've men

there are some republicans pushing back already, thom tillis, north carolina, the hurricane disaster there and rick scott, florida who has seen a lot of disaster aid help his state, too. let's move onto the bigger reconciliation package. president trump said he wants one big, beautiful bill and sounds like he re reiterated that this morning in a phone call. >> he wants to make sure we get the job done. he says that all the time. president trump is a visionary, a big picture guy. not so much caught up in the details of the procedural stuff that we wrestle with, he wants to make sure that we check the boxes and i do, as well. he has seen the one big package as the best-- the highest probability of success and i have as well and that's why we've been sort of settled on this. >> and yet, yet, despite him endorsing this sort of bill with tax, border, the energy all of this. senator lindsey graham, budget chair says-- or he indicated last week he was going to forge ahead as planned, writing plans for a budget that's more narrow, specifically focused as you know you can't have reconciliatio

thom tillis supports trump. he opposes it. >> it's not right left. >> it is right. i mean it clearly. >> no, it's not right left. he's right, he's right. it's not right. >> left to be right. left. >> that's right. wrong and. >> wrong right. >> for the presidential power, it's what's best for our community and our society as a whole. you're right. all of those officers that died and lost their lives and committed suicide, they should be honored. they lost their lives. but it doesn't matter why you attack a federal building. you can attack a federal building because you're mad because somebody got killed, or you can attack a federal building because you're mad because somebody didn't win an election. no, no, no, it doesn't justify it. it doesn't. >> justify. >> disparaging. >> this is. >> doesn't justify disparaging treatment. >> but i take your point. >> can i say something? i would argue that letting what 1500 people lose who are now emboldened and feel that they are untouchable because the president of the united states has their back, people who many of them have

you know, speaking in north carolina, thom tillis, this is a really good example.s. now i don't know what you guys think, but i have a feeling 2026 may be a little rough for the republicans. a guy like thom tillis is looking at election in about ten minutes in the senate terms. he's in cycle right now, and what is he going to be doing over the next two years? is he going to be rubber stamping donald trump in a state like north carolina where you can't gerrymander a senate seat? where there are democrats that have won there certainly in our recent lifetimes? he's going to have to find a way to keep his primary at bay without the trump machine coming after him but appeal together moderate voters in north carolina that are going to decide the race. >> of course, claire, susan collins also up in the state that joe biden and kamala harris won easily. two senators that will be up. you're right, in an offyear for the party in control in the white house. >> i think donald trump will overplay his hand. if the nominations are a status of his mental indication, they represent

north carolina senator thom tillis said support was not a given and he did not reveal his stance untilwas already underway. he said he would back trumps picked, giving him enough support to be confirmed with vance's tie-breaking vote. that was the second time in history that a vice president was needed to confirm a member of the cabinet. this tweet from c-span in february of 2017 talks about the first time. vice president pence breaks 50-50 tie on betsy devos secretary of education vote. the first tie-breaking vote on a cabinet nominee. vance who served in the senate until just earlier this year also tweeted after the vote, saying i thought i was done voting in the senate. several hours of debate led up to last night's vote with members speaking in favor and in opposition of pete hegseth. one of the members speaking in his favor was republican roger wicker, chair of the armed services committee. here are some of his remarks. >> the president has made his choice and he's putting his team together to strengthen our military. the person he has chosen to lead the defense department is pete

north carolina senator thom tillis said support was not a given and he did not reveal his stance until the vote was already underway. he said he would back trumps picked, giving him enough support to be confirmed with vance's tie-breaking vote. that was the second time in history that a vice president was needed to confirm a member of the cabinet. this tweet from c-span in february of 2017 talks about the first time. vice president pence breaks 50-50 tie on betsy devos secretary of education vote. the first tie-breaking vote on a cabinet nominee. vance who served in the senate until just earlier this year also tweeted after the vote, saying i thought i was done voting in the senate. several hours of debate led up to last night's vote with members speaking in favor and in opposition of pete hegseth. one of the members speaking in his favor was republican roger wicker, chair of the armed services committee. here are some of his remarks. >> the president has made his choice and he's putting his team together to strengthen our military. the person he has chosen to lead the defense departme

and i think thune and thom tillis who's up next year and a lot of republican senators who are up in 2026that there's no mandate here. and yeah, they're going to go along with trump because his success will partly benefit them. they'll go along with him if they think it will help them. but as you say, thune is interested in a republican majority not only in 2026 but beyond. >> jamelle, one thing your description of the trump cabinet that's coming in, one thing that donald trump seems to have tried to guarantee is that no one in his cabinet would possibly agree to invoke the 25th amendment to remove him, which is an option open to the cabinet, and they did discuss it after january 6th last time, some of them did. donald trump's making sure there's not a person there who'd even think about it. >> that's right. he is selecting primarily for loyalty. which for someone who is worried about that kind of backstabbing that makes sense. but it's also important to recognize the most loyal people aren't necessarily going to be the ones with the greatest handle on running these agencies. and these ag

senators ted bud and thom tillis say they will fix fema so people have a warm place to stay at night.emperature has been below freezing and they need help, lawrence. >> lawrence: yeah, they do. thanks, steve. >> steve: you bet. >> lawrence: today female athletes protesting outside the ncaa convention demanding protection for women's sports following a major win on capitol hill. the house passing a bill banning biological males from female school teams. if it passes in the senate, the bill will strip funding from all schools that don't comply. our next guest was on capitol hill yesterday when it passed. host of the gains for girls podcast on outkick.com, riley gaines joins us now. good morning, riley. >> good morning. it's good to be on with you. >> lawrence: so, aoc had this to say about the bill. let's watch it. >> republicans, who have voted against consistently against the violence against women act, now want to pretend today that they care about women. and why? to open up gender, and yes gentle examinations into little girls in this country in the so-called name of attacking trans

joe: senator thom tillis, republican from north carolina, speaking with scott bessent. senator: when you were being attacked by one of my colleagues saying the guy looks like he has a heart rate of 40. you are very composed. thank you for staying on the facts. someone put in your question of viability, a lack of public service. sometimes i think we have too much public service in people's background here, and not enough business experience. why might this represent your first entry into public service? mr. bessent: as an adjacent state and homeowner in north carolina, i appreciated our conversation in your office. i have been in public service, just not in the government. in new york, i was a strong supporter of a charter school called harlem children's zone, which takes young residents, a gigantic plot keeps getting bigger area of harlem, takes them from cradle through high school. i have found my service, anyone can write a check. what has been fulfilling for me has been mentoring these young people. i am still in touch with them today. i was a trustee for rockefeller

gop senator thom tillis. >> i particularly liked it was a strong bipartisan vote coming out of the senatecertain things we'll do on a party line basis but a lot can be done if we're smart, patient and we execute. >> harris: there are changes ahead when it comes to the debt ceiling and a looming government shutdown in march. they just pushed that can down the road. chad pergram is on capitol hill. chad. >> good morning. republicans are talking unity right now but they are miles from having concrete specifics on their tax cut bill. they also have not addressed any spending bills since before christmas. i pressed mike johnson where gop divisions may eventually lie. >> these are healthy family discussions, not just inside the house republican conference but between the house and senate republicans. and that dialogue is going very well. >> republicans have a slim majority but may need help from gop leaders to impose discipline. that could get numbers to stick together on tough votes. all republicans will vote for the revised laken riley act later today joined by at least four democrats. >> tha

even some republicans like north carolina's thom tillis say they were caught off guard. surprising to me that was a blanket pardon. while the president implement his plans by pen. >> congress is working to confirm his cabinet. got congratulations. former senator marco rubio was sworn in as secretary of state tuesday. he said he's focused on advancing american interests. anything that makes us stronger. >> safer, more prosperous. secretary rubio is the first to be confirmed to the president's cabinet. several others are still waiting for a vote in the senate that could potentially happen later this week in washington. i'm maddie beer-temple. >> well, 905, is the time and new this morning. the justice department now has directed federal prosecutors to investigate cities and states that obstruct immigration enforcement. but doj released a memo to employees earlier this month and that memo says or this morning, i should say, and that memo says that the department will return to the principles of charging defendants with the most serious crime. it can prove which takes away p

don't know what's going to happen and until then gop senators from tom cotton to lindsey graham, thom tillis meeting yesterday in a bunch of others, their pretty united that the law must be followed. >> i am shocked out of everything that is going on right now this is what we are super united on and we can all agree on this i understand the need for regulation across all special social media platforms not just tiktok, i agree facebook, instagram should be off of government phones. in the five years that a bit on the app i've not once seen any propaganda, messaging via political or security threat in any way shape or form, i think i'm still in shock that is finally happening. liz: we are waiting for what was back in march top secret revealed for members of congress, certain members of congress where you had the department of defense at important people revealing the real problems. i'm still waiting to see it, mark warner the democratic senator from virginia was ahead of the meeting so we asked him and he said he can't reveal his top-secret but hopefully one day we will make the public so we c

even some republicans like north carolina's thom tillis say they were caught off guard. surprising to me that was a blanket pardon. while the president implement his plans by pen. >> congress is working to confirm his cabinet. got congratulations. former senator marco rubio was sworn in as secretary of state tuesday. he said he's focused on advancing american interests. anything that makes us stronger. >> safer, more prosperous. secretary rubio is the first to be confirmed to the president's cabinet. several others are still waiting for a vote in the senate that could potentially happen later this week in washington. i'm maddie beer-temple. >> and just in to the kron 4 newsroom. the justice department now directed federal prosecutors to investigate cities and states that obstruct immigration enforcement. the department of justice released a memo to employees earlier this morning. that memo says the department will return to the principles of charging defendants with the most serious crimes. it can prove. meant to remove a prosecutor's discretion to charge at a lower leve

. >> 2 republicans from hurricane prostates, rick scott, florida and thom tillis of north carolina publicly supporting a california with no strings attached. we talked to local teams specifically trained dogs in the bay area making their way to los angeles to help the group is from the search dog foundation and they're on their way. the rescue and recovery efforts. the foundation says dogs are rescued from shelters and they've now become trained to become rescuers. a local rescue organizations are stepping up to help pets in overwhelmed shelters in los angeles county. now, the goal is to get these dogs a forever home here in the bay area. as more pets are set to arrive later on today. versed in kerman reports. >> i just so excited for tomorrow when we get to meet 10 new ones all sizes, all shapes. but all all over 7 muttville senior dog rescue founder sherri franklin is talking about the arrival wednesday of 10 more senior dogs from fire-ravaged southern california. we're taking dogs that were at the shelter and up for adoption at the shelter and we are taking those shots and we're just int

you know, north carolina, my colleague ted budd and thom tillis, i mean, they spoke eloquently on theor about the suffering. in that event, there was a weather system that we haven't seen in a couple of hundred years. the weather just came up that valley, and it just parked and rained and rained and rained. so they had an event that they'd never had before. and it was because of extremely different weather and a pattern that's developed since we've had rising temperatures. now the tragedy here is that it's absurd for the president to be denying something that everybody knows exists with this extreme weather. what makes sense for us to do is try to figure out the path forward, where we're going to be able to take advantage of the necessity to harden our communities against extreme weather and to reduce carbon emissions, and in so doing, come up with technologies that are going to create jobs and make people not only stronger economically, but safer physically. >> senator, confirmation hearings get underway this week for the incoming administration. as a member, as a member of the judic

even some republicans like north carolina's thom tillis say they were caught off guard. surprising to me that was a blanket pardon. while the president implement his plans by pen. congress is working to confirm his cabinet. got congratulations. former senator marco rubio was sworn in as secretary of state tuesday. he said he's focused on advancing american interests. anything that makes us stronger. >> we're safer, more prosperous. >> secretary rubio is the first to be confirmed to the president's cabinet. there are still several others waiting for a vote in the senate that could potentially happen later this week in washington. i'm maddie beer-temple. >> well, new this morning, the justice department now directed federal prosecutors to investigate cities and states that obstruct immigration enforcement. so the doj released a memo to its employees earlier this morning. and according to the memo, the department will return to the principal of charging defendants with the most serious crime that it can prove taking away a prosecutor's discretion to charge a lower level off

some of them mitch mcconnell, bill cassidy, lisa murkowski, thom tillis decided they would just come out and criticize the pardons decision that actually happened today. and today. an episcopal bishop in washington was brave enough to tell trump and j.d. vance to their faces that the country needs them to be decent and needs them to be merciful, and that the country is afraid of what they're going to do. that bravery from that bishop today also hit the brake pedal just a little bit. >> let me make one final plea, mr. president. millions have put their trust in you. and as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving god. in the name of our god. i ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. there are gay, lesbian and transgender children in democratic, republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives. and the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in h

even some republicans like north carolina's thom tillis say they were caught off guard. surprising to me that was a blanket pardon. while the president implement his plans by pen. congress is working to confirm his cabinet. got congratulations. former senator marco rubio was sworn in as secretary of state tuesday. he said he's focused on advancing american interests. anything that makes us stronger. >> safer, more prosperous. >> secretary rubio is the first to be confirmed to the president's cabinet. there are still several others waiting for a vote in the senate that could potentially happen later this week in washington. i'm maddie beer-temple. >> 10. 0, 8 is the time new this morning. the justice department now directing federal prosecutors to investigate cities and states that obstruct immigrant immigration enforcement. so the doj released a memo to its employees earlier this very morning. and in that memo, it said the department was returning to the principle of charging defendants with the most serious crime. it can prove which is taking prosecutors discretion to c

thom tillis, the republican senator from north carolina council on this.at he still had some questions. it's going to be about the math as i always say. they can lose up to three votes if they lose three votes. then vice president vance would break the tie. this has happened before only once on a cabinet secretary nomination. you had mike pence, the former vice president break a tie on the nomination of betsy devos to be the education secretary. that walls in 2017. >> the senate is going to vote here probably around 8:57 p.m. eastern time. why 8:57? well, yesterday afternoon, they finished the filibuster, they cut off the filibuster at 2:57. so they have 30 hours. there is a 30 hour meridian until they can vote and we expect that vote to start sometime around 9:00 eastern tonight. laura? >> laura: chad, thank you so much we will be watching. and joining me now is ben domenech fox news contributor, editor-at-large of the spectator. ben, before we talk about the pete situation, interesting scuttlebutt, i know you are following it out there in california wher

. >> people like thom tillis have to make a decision. what's more important, my continued. party. or taking a vote that might put men and women in the military at risk, our national intelligence at risk. so this is one of those moments where, again, it feels very, very familiar watching the republican party, you know, bend the knee to donald trump. but the clarity of the. choice and the clarity of the choice that that they they know it, and the fact that even mitch mcconnell. would say, yeah, no. >> i you know. >> he's he's sending a signal to others. but it was interesting that nobody picked up. >> nobody followed him. >> and that's exactly the thing that i mean, the clarity of the choice, charlie is right. it is crystal clear that none of these people should be in this job. and yet pete hegseth is now the secretary of defense. so i know. yeah. >> and. >> you know. >> it's interesting. because particularly in the case of rfk. >> jr. >> they've sort of put a muzzle on him. and anything that that might potentially coming out of the department of health. and at a time when, y

remember, there was almost a fourth one who would have killed the hegseth nomination, and that was thom tillis from north carolina. but he's also up in 2026. and trump is particularly strong in republican primaries in north carolina. so tillis has to be very careful. or he could lose the primary. so all in all, i think almost all maybe all of his key appointees will be confirmed. and actually, jessica, that's the norm. that's what normally happens for new presidents as they come in. >> all right. larry sabato, always good to see you. thanks so much. we appreciate it. >> thank you jessica. >> still ahead, president trump says he may consider now rejoining the world health organization organization after cutting ties. this week we are joined by the former secretary of health and human services under the obama administration, kathleen sebelius, to talk about what could happen to global health if the u.s. isn't at the table here in the cnn newsroom. >> i lay on my back frozen, thinking the. darkest thoughts. >> and then everything changed. dana said, you're still. >> you, and i love you. >> super

even some republicans like north carolina's thom tillis say they were caught off guard. surprising to me that was a blanket pardon. while the president implement his plans by pen. >> congress is working to confirm his cabinet. got congratulations. former senator marco rubio was sworn in as secretary of state tuesday. he said he's focused on advancing american interests. anything that makes us stronger. >> safer or more prosperous. secretary rubio is the first to be confirmed to the president's cabinet. several others are still waiting for a vote in the senate that could potentially happen later this week in washington. i'm maddie beer-temple. >> and just inhto the kron 4 newsroom. the justice department now directing federal prosecutors to investigate cities and states that obstruct immigration enforcement. the doj released a memo to employees earlier this morning. that memo says the department will return to the principles of charging defendants with the most serious crime. it can prove which is meant to remove a prosecutor's discretion to charge a lower level offense i

. >> well, even republican senator from north carolina, thom tillis, north carolina, of course, one ofr relief aid at the end of the year for the damage from the storms that happened in the fall, said we shouldn't be doing this and playing this game with disaster funding. but it speaks to, i think, why we've seen so many members of the california delegation. your colleague, congresswoman chu, the governor himself, saying he wants the president elect to come to the area. he wants the speaker to come to the area. is that because they want them to see it and then make sure that there's no retribution or party politics in this? >> when you're on the ground and you can feel the pain and you can see the devastation, and you see how much money is going to cost to rebuild. and you also recognize that the character of los angeles could change fundamentally. i think then you realize that they have we have to have the funds that we need and the flexibility to reconstruct. without these kinds of partizan discussions, i will say that california democrats have been working with california republican

today, a handful of republicans, including senators mitch mcconnell and thom tillis, criticized this blanket approach. some said they had not read the executive order. and somehow the senate's new republican leader tried to say the president actually did take a case by case approach. >> you had thought that these were not going to be blanket in the past. i think you believe in that case. >> i think they are blanket. i think there's a lot i think it's a case by case. >> well, keeping them honest. leader thune is making the words case by case do an awful lot of work. unless, of course, those words mean this. the president took a case by case approach and decided in every single case, nonviolent and violent alike, to either issue a pardon or commute the offender's prison sentence to time served. which means that even organizers and instigators like stewart rhodes and enrique tarrio went free. rhodes, on the right, leader of the so-called oath keepers from an 18 year sentence. tarrio, leader of the so-called proud boys, serving 22 years, both men for seditious conspiracy. tonight, the pr

now, we heard from susan collins, thom tillis and others, even ron johnson, who was frankly in favoring many of these prisoners and those who were here on that day saying that, you know, they do respect law enforcement. they don't believe that anybody who assaulted them should be in trouble or should be let out of prison. i will tell you, though, that lauren boebert, who is a congresswoman here, yesterday invited these released january 6th prisoners, some of them at least, to the capitol to get a tour. we don't know yet when that's going to happen, but they have all the authority to bring them into this building if they want to do so, and i expect they probably will. anna. >> okay. julie sirkin, thank. >> you for the update. >> we're also hearing from some of the police officers who responded to the january 6th attacks, reacting to those pardons and the threats they faced. here's former metropolitan. >> police officer. >> michael fanone. >> i didn't even make it through my testimony before i received the first threatening phone call. my mother has been the victim of swatting incident

someone like senator thom tillis was a little critical with his discomfort. but again, a lot of the republicans are doing what they have long done with this leader of their party, which is to largely suppress concerns and alarm and to try to just move forward. >> and, garrett, let's talk about the latest development on hegseth. where does that stand now, as far as you know, from the hill? they're beginning to take some preliminary procedural votes today. >> that's right andrea. senators have had a couple of days now to review this new affidavit from danielle hegseth, the nominee's former sister in law, about his relationship with his second ex-wife. and senators are very much in discussion about what this will mean. but as you say, we're going to see the first procedural vote today on the hegseth nomination, which i think will tell us a lot about whether the allegations contained within this affidavit or any of the other reporting about pete hegseth has done what ashley was just describing, sort of take the private concerns that many republicans have about do

vote, the two republicans, everyone, everyone was watching was senator mitch mcconnell and senator thom tillis of north north carolina. right. i got it right, right. their seats are up for reelection next year. mcconnell voted no, but tillis voted yes. we talked about the mcconnell vote. but what do we know about tillis ultimate decision here? >> well, really, what he explained here is he felt like he didn't. see enough firsthand accounts from some of the allegations that we saw here. we saw. >> hegseth during his. >> hearing, really talking about. these are anonymous sources. these are journalists. these are just. reportings and really trying to dismiss it. >> that way. and so that ultimately. >> seemed like. why he came to the end here. but you. can't ignore that. there was a pressure campaign, really, from the very beginning, we saw ads running us, really urging republicans to support kenseth. you saw people. >> like. >> elon musk also. >> supporting him. so there was certainly a pressure campaign from the trump world. >> and i. >> think that really got to a lot of senators here. >> includi

another one to watch is senator thom tillis, the north carolina republican. he told our team yesterday he's moving forward with this vote. he voted for the procedural motion to get to this point, but that he is still examining the record and doing what he called extensive due diligence before arriving at a final decision. a number of democrats have said, don't listen to me. listen to lisa murkowski. they pointed to her statement to try to convince those extra few republicans to flip. it's really extraordinary to look at the litany of concerns and issues that murkowski brought up in her blistering statement everything from basic qualifications to lead this department to his past opposition to women serving in combat, allegations of financial mismanagement at veterans groups, allegations of sexual assault, excessive drinking which he denies, allegations of infidelity, which he doesn't deny. murkowski said. all of that shows, quote, a lack of judgment that is unbecoming of someone who would lead our armed forces, unquote. susan collins also said she's not convin

thom tillis, chuck edwards and others republicans. politics doesn't matter when you need water or when the roof is off your house or your family members are missing. there is -- look, asheville is hard to get to, i get that. i-26 is the best way to get there. but helicopters? frankly graham is not the only guy in the world with a helicopter. fema dropped the ball. if it weren't for these proverb at entities that body count would be go up hire than what it is now. >> harris: the waterways accordings to the u.s. army corps of engineers haven't been tackled with. sources told me on the ground and publicly reported now after 122 days that that's where we could see more victims. trey, that's what you are talking about. we are looking at the department of public safety, asheville regional airport where the president of the united states landed a few moments ago and now he is going to this hangar at the airport for a briefing. that's where you see all of those officials. some of the ones that trey just mentioned. all of those officials are s