but in the senate, i was just really struck by thom tillis, thom tillis, senator from north carolina, right, who is up for reelection in 2026. north carolina, very interesting place. some days it's purple, some days it's red. and thom tillis, way back when he wasn't yet confirmed. thom tillis went to john thune, the leader of the senate majority, the senate republicans, and said, we have the votes. and thune told tillis, you got to take that up with the white house. and to me, it's kind of like, what do members do, particularly republicans, if when they do garner the, you know, the wherewithal and the courage to go to the leadership, the leadership doesn't back them. if i'm thom tillis, i guess it's like, well, i'm on an island. what do i do now? and obviously he ended up voting for pete hegseth, but i just couldn't imagine a mitch mcconnell leaving his members out there like that, telling them to go it alone with the white house, because i'm not going to have your back. what do these members do? what recourse do they have if the leadership is not going to stand up for them and with t

thom tillis said there are a couple of kinks in the slinky.ey said he would prefer the money go to rebuilding u.s. communities. but there are republicans who supported. mike johnson has said his vision is bold. anchor: good to have you reporting. joining the live now is the former prime minister of israel. thank you for being with us. many are charged with being serious. what are you making of it? >> [indiscernible] we cannot do that. we do not own gaza. it is not ours. it is palestinian. as soon we in to the war, which we have to do now, we have to pull out from gaza after all the hostages are returned back to israel. there will have to be a security force to prevent any further terrorist actions. if america wants to rebuild gaza , it would be very positive.

thom tillis said there are a couple of kinks in the slinky.ey said he would prefer the money go to rebuilding u.s. communities. but there are republicans who supported. mike johnson has said his vision is bold. anchor: good to have you reporting. joining the live now is the former prime minister of israel. thank you for being with us. many are charged with being serious. what are you making of it? >> [indiscernible] we cannot do that. we do not own gaza. it is not ours. it is palestinian. as soon we in to the war, which we have to do now, we have to pull out from gaza after all the hostages are returned back to israel. there will have to be a security force to prevent any further terrorist actions. if america wants to rebuild gaza , it would be very positive. i think this is not tractable. not doable. anchor: can i ask you whether or not this comes to fruition? we have had comments from the israeli defense minister ordering the army to draft a plan. palestinians fear that this could amount to forced explosion -- expulsion. >> different plans w

the one vote i've been watching, thom tillis, the north carolina republican up for re-election in 2026troduced kash patel and validated him. seems nobody has jumped up this weekend to say i'm opposed. >> scott mcfarland, it's going to be another interesting week in washington. thank you for bottom lining it. we'll be right back. >>> the temporary cease-fire between israel and hamas is still holding and three more hostages were released yesterday including american israeli dual national keith siegel. his niece hannah is with us this morning. good morning. you've been waiting for this for over 400 days. how is your uncle doing? >> first, thank you for having me. i've been dreaming about being here today. he's doing okay. he's -- he's lost some weight. he's pale. but he's strong. he's doing okay. somehow. we're incredibly grateful. >> we've seen the video and images of him being reunited with family members. will your father, his brother, see him soon? >> yes. he's on his way. we've been staggering the family visits so as not to overwhelm him. we are all going to see him and actually his

senator thom tillis suggesting there are, quote, probably a couple kinks in that slinky. and senator john cornyn says, check back with me tomorrow. delaware senator chris, seen here covering his face in disbelief as reporters told him about trump's idea for the first time, had this to say. >> you can report that i was speechless. i'm speechless. that's insane. i can't think of a place on earth that would welcome american troops less. and where any positive outcome is less likely. this is between offensive and insane. and dangerous and foolish. >> major actors in the region also responding overnight, the terror group hamas, which governs gaza, released a statement calling trump's proposal a, quote recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region before adding our people in the gaza strip will not allow these plans to pass. but far right lawmakers in israel are hailing the u.s. president, the former national security minister, ben gvir, writing on the platform formerly known as twitter, quote donald, this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship. joining us now

north carolina senator thom tillis also saying, obviously, it's not going to happen. i don't know under what circumstances it would make sense, even even for israel. cnn's lauren fox is on capitol hill. i'm most curious about how republicans and more republicans are responding to this, as they have generally followed trump's lead, saying they don't want to be involved in foreign wars. and trump is talking about sending troops in to remove forcibly remove palestinians from their homeland. lauren, what are you hearing on the hill this morning? >> yeah, i mean, there was a late. vote last night. >> on capitol. >> hill in the united states. >> senate. >> and it was. >> clear that a lot of republicans. >> were trying to. >> dodge reporter questions around this, saying that they had not seen these comments, saying that they needed needed to take a closer look at them. but one thing that is exceedingly clear is the fact that no one on capitol hill is really endorsing or getting their arms around this idea. most people are making clear when they are commenting that they have

that's from senator thom tillis. he was telling that to notice, but it's not uncommon for presidents to flex a little bit on where they can spend and where they can stop spending. joining me now is former republican congressman jaime herrera beutler. thank you so much for being here. it's really nice to see you. i was so eager to talk to you for lots of reasons, not the least of which is you were one of ten republicans in the house who voted to impeach donald trump for inciting the january 6th insurrection. you faced his wrath and the wrath of maga. you ultimately did not win your primary bid for reelection. given that deep understanding of what happens when somebody goes against him and against the republican base, help our viewers understand perhaps why your old colleagues are sitting back. well, so i would take this. >> a little bit from, you know, i served on appropriations and and when i came into congress, right. it was the tea party wave. and there. >> was a lot of. >> conversation about things like earmarks a

they watched what happened to thom tillis. they watched what happened to bill cassidy. if they put their individual heads above the parapet, the financial threats from musk, the political threats from trump's thug crew around him, the launch of what i call the flying monkeys, the internet and maggot creeps who threaten your children and home and your life and all that stuff. all of that piles and very suddenly. so what has to happen is that five or six of them have to get together. probably through their leader, forming a quiet resistance so that they can push back to the white house until susie wiles, this goes too far. we put up with a lot out of you. but there's a limit and here's where some of the limits are. until that happens, the really brutal political treatment of individual senators is going to be what carries the day. at some point, people do get sick of that. i think making sure that the republican senators are hearing from their home states and organizations in their home states the cries of pain and anger and dismay is really important. if we do care about

thom tillis likely with the quote of the night, which was, "there are probably a couple kinks in that desi: "there's a couple kinks in that slinky?" that's how desperate these guys are to not openly disagree with trump, they're just making up sayings now. of course some of his supporters, like steve doocy, are trying to give trump the benefit of the doubt. >> it was a jaw dropper last night. the the cover of "the new york post" is "we'll take over gaza. " i think this is just the tipping -- you know, this is the conversation starter. because obviously, the president knows when he says we'll take gaza, he knows the united states can't invade another country. [audience reacts] >> desi: of course, america would never invade another country. you can read all about it in steve doocy's american history book, "me just got lobotomy, by steve doocy." [cheers and applause] so to summarize: maga people think this is dicey. their eyeballs think it's batshit crazy. and the entire plan is d.o.a. unless trump can do some real outreach to countries in the middle east. and based on his response to thi

and thom tillis says, if you just shut down every program in there, i think it's a mistake, and it will have policy and political consequences. but that's exactly what elon musk did. he shut usaid down. >> well, first of all, going back to the transparency, you have not had a more transparent president than president donald trump. every executive order, every conversation he has with a world leader, there is a printout. it is on social media, and we are learning what's going on in real. >> time that he's shutting down usaid and tell us why he's doing it. >> well, first of all, usaid and i sat on the foreign affairs committee, and i've tried to expose this as a member on those committee hearings. i mean, we cannot get any accountability from this agency. we can't get any metrics from this agency. this is a real bureaucratic mess. the usaid, the money is being spent and shoveled to countries all over the world, countries that hate us for programs that i mean, you have countries that where people are starving and they're focusing on, you know, die, die and transgender programing. it's ridi

. >> three of your colleagues in the senate, senator bill cassidy, jerry moran and thom tillis, have they've raised some red flags over what's happening at usaid. cassidy wants to know why clinics in africa are not getting the drugs that that usaid provides. jerry moran is wondering why there's american food rotting in in ports of entry. and thom tillis says, if you just shut down every program in there, i think it's a mistake and it will have policy and political consequences. but that's exactly what elon musk did. he shut usaid down. >> well, first of all, going back to the transparency, you have not had a more transparent president than president donald trump. every executive order, every conversation he has with a world leader, there is a printout. it is on social media, and we are learning what's going on in real. >> time that he's shutting down usaid and tell us why he's doing it. >> well, first of all, usaid and i sat on the foreign affairs committee, and i've tried to expose this as a member on those committee hearings. i mean, we cannot get any accountability from this agenc

senate republicans are in, because if you're somebody like thom tillis, you're like, well, i tried.up for reelection within the next two years? i think the last question i have for you in the last minute or so we have, is a tweet you sent yesterday that reminded people that elections have consequences. people are upset. >> about. >> that tweet. why? i think they're upset about. >> the tweet. >> because a. >> couple of things. i think that there are people who did sit out the last election or maybe voted third party or wrote someone in because they were upset about the administration, the biden administration's policy towards how they were handling the war between israel and hamas, and the effect it had on the palestinian people. and i and i think that those are very valid reasons. but my point is, elections have consequences all around the board for candidates what they did and didn't do on the campaign trail, what they did and didn't say for voters whether they voted or they didn't vote. there are consequences to everything. and i think the best thing to do is learn from this last

and jonathan lamir, thom tillis, i think, had the quote of the day a few kinks in the slinky. >> yeah. >> that's. a new one. >> i'm not aware. >> of that particular. >> phrase, but it does. >> but it works. >> we'll run with. >> it this morning. >> but yeah, it is. >> it is. >> a breathtakingly. >> audacious proposal here from. >> donald trump. >> one that. >> was. >> indeed met with a lot of pushback immediately. >> first. as noted. this flies in the face of how trump. views foreign policy. >> he wants to. >> pull back. >> u.s. engagement. >> and yesterday he was asked repeatedly whether or not. >> u.s. troops would. >> be. >> sent to gaza. >> to help secure it. >> while it's being rebuilt. he did not rule that out. this, of. >> course, is. >> a. >> conflict that has been in gaza. >> there's decades in the making, a contested land since israel's. >> creation in 1948. >> this is the first time a u.s. president. >> has. >> suggested something. >> like this, with. >> the u.s. being. >> an occupying. >> force. >> we have seen that saudi arabia, as you just said already. >> which is. seem

. >> dana: thom tillis saying it's about time. >> elon musk is trying to look at waste in government that continues to grow and grow and grow. if we don't come up with a structural approach for reducing the cost of government, we're all going to be confronted with a debt driven fiscal crisis that nobody wants to see. >> dana: fox team coverage. mike emanuel on plans to dismantle the department of education. first fox business hillary vaughn on capitol hill. hi, hillary. >> hi, dana. good morning. federal workers have one more day to decide if they want to quit and take the buy-out. eight month paid vacation or stay on the job. so far 20,000 federal workers have taken the buy-out option. the government expects the final number to be a lot more than that. but if not enough workers take the offer there could be layoffs. a supervisor at the government service agency sent a message saying layoffs are likely. two to 5% reduction in force government wide is the goal. the spending is being downsized. doge has been busy deleting contracts that they think are unnecessary. yesterday alone cance

this is a big deal here speak up you had thom tillis, the questionable vote for mark pete hegseth. we watched real time if he was going to vote for mike pete hegseth for mike secretary of defense. he came around. then, you have bill cassidy coming around. he specifically said assurances from the white house on vaccines were part of that. now, you have todd young, coming around on tulsi gabbard. this speaks to the huge political tail wind behind the trump presidency. >> democrats need to take a breath and look at rfk jr. specifically. he has not said "i am a conservative." he said "the issue is so important to me, i'm willing to stop fighting on these other things and focus on that." that's a compromise america is asking for. at and see tulsi gabbard or rfk did neither principals or things they said. a lot of heat against them is that they wouldn't change their answer. if they hadn't -- they would've been attacked on that. i see compromise within the republican party we would expect or like to see among congress. there's no way 50 senators agree on anything. they all see a president

even some republicans acknowledge that, like north carolina's thom tillis, who said elon musk "runs afoulconstitution in the strictest sense. but it's not uncommon for presidents to flex a little bit on where they can spend and where they can stop spending," adding, "nobody should bellyache about that." yeah, everybody knows you can fudge the constitution a little bit. that's why at the very end it says, "or not!" whatev. senator tillis isn't alone. last night, louisiana senator john "not that john kennedy" kennedy went on the fox news to defend trump and musk, but he got off to kind of a weird start. >> let me try to put all this in context for you. um, i like omelettes. i mean, i really like omelettes. i could eat an omelette at every meal. um, i like omelettes better than sex. [laughter] >> stephen: i've been eating at the wrong diner. i like an omelette. senator, you are saying? >> i like omelettes better than sex. not really, but you get the point. i like omelettes. you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs. >> stephen: wait. stop. all that ramp up about omelette was just

i know the man you see there right now, senator thom tillis of north carolina was thinking of maybe voting a no on hegseth and insiders told me there was some spirited conversation between the white house and tillis, which maybe led him to change his vote or his say in this. >> dana: a long piece in the "wall street journal" today about that 24 hours to get him to be a yes on hegseth. chad pergram, you are standing by to give us your analysis and update. hello. >> just before the vote started we got a statement from bill cassidy, the republican senator from louisiana who chairs the senate health committee. not the committee with the main jurisdiction over this nomination. this was the senate finance committee that had to vote to get the nomination out and send it to the floor. that vote was a party line vote. this is what he said. he indicated yesterday that he was kind of working through this nomination. he indicated that the hearing before his committee late last week that he needed to talk with the nominee over the weekend. we're told that happened. in his statement he says the followin

>> republican senator thom tillis says that while he believes trump's actions run "afoul of the constitution" he believes "nobody should bellyache about that." >> you're comfortable if he shuts those down without getting congressional approval? >> well, congress will be involved at some point, but i think the country's comfortable. >> they're using that authority right now in a way it hasn't been used in a long time so it looks radical. it's not. >> do you think he violated the law? >> well, technically, yeah. i'm not, you know, losing a whole lot of sleep. ♪ ♪ [applause] >> jon: well, it's been a good run, america. it's looking like we're becoming less like the constitutional republic it's been for 250 years, and more like the monarchy that we all fought to escape from... but i think the important thing -- [slow clap] [cheers and applause] >> well, well, well... [cheers and applause] >> the prodigal son appears to have returned! [cheers and applause] >> jon: hold on. do my eyes deceive me? is that young john oliver? are you here to offer us your wisdom and counsel? >> oh, no, no, jon, i'm h

the same with thom tillis, who's going to have to justify a vote for pete hegseth and katty kay? question is, we talked about the doctor, bill cassidy, down in louisiana, but every republican is going to have to justify a vote for rfk jr. who again, has has has been what appears to be anti-science and just on the just on the working knowledge appears not to know the difference between medicare and medicaid. he couldn't even answer that question when asked about the difference between medicare and medicaid. >> yeah. and remember, tulsi gabbard and kennedy are both democrats. you'd think that they might be easier for senators to vote against with their own constituents saying that, you know, we disagree on principle or ideology. the wall street journal had a fascinating tiktok of the 24 hours that it took for thom tillis to go from a no on pete hegseth to a yes on pete hegseth. and the amount of pressure that was put on him. and that's not even the joni ernst style online pressure that could or could not be orchestrated by elon musk if he chose to. some members of congress that i'v

senator thom tillis said specifically, he thought that the pardons and excuse the expression sucked.m tillis said he was going up to capitol hill police officers and apologizing to them for this happening. senator thom tillis, senator lisa murkowski, senator susan collins, senator mitch mcconnell, those are the four votes. and tillis was the one vote that let hegseth get confirmed to watch here, because we're talking about an estimated number of the times reported, is that 6000 of the 38,000 fbi agents in this country were told and ordered to play some role in the january 6th investigations. so that is 15% of the fbi's workforce. and what this leads to, again, is chaos and distraction. instead of hunting down fentanyl traffickers and hunting down chinese or russian spies, the fbi is in turmoil and distracted from its mission. >> all right. david rohde, brian riley, thank you so much for your reporting and analysis. we'll continue to follow this. it is the top of the hour right now, and crews are still searching for bodies and debris in the potomac river after that deadly midair colli

republican thom tillis and democrat john fetterman did not vote tonight, but other than that, it was has been a leading voice against gabbard's nomination. senator, thank you so much for being here tonight, sir. >> good to be with you. >> you spoke tonight on the senate floor in opposition to her confirmation. you called it dangerous and a five alarm fire. what do you think the american people should know about her as a nominee? as we're heading toward that final vote tomorrow. >> well, first, i think it's important, as with all these nominees, to just level set. normally, if you're talking about someone who's going to head an agency, let alone in this case, all the intelligence agencies, you would expect a nominee to have some experience, maybe having worked for an intelligence agency, maybe having led an intelligence agency, or even at a minimum, served on a relevant committee like the intelligence committee in congress. tulsi gabbard has none of that experience. zero. nada. zilch. that would normally, in a normal world, be disqualifying. but she goes far beyond that. she has echoe

thom tillis didn't vote against him. so i think she's. in trouble. i think kennedy again, cassidy. these issues with, you know, all these vaccines that have he's seen as a physician help people. so if there is a flip, it would be those two nominations. but i do think that kash patel will will get through and be confirmed. >> david. >> talk a little bit more. >> about thom tillis. my understanding. >> had been that he hadn't been keen on pete hegseth, didn't. >> think he was necessarily. qualified for the job, but because he is up for reelection himself in 2026, he doesn't want to jeopardize his own chances of becoming senator again. why would he take a different stance on. >> tulsi gabbard? >> is there a feeling that somebody like tillis. has a pass on one of these? and that's just where he's choosing to play his his get. out of. jail free card, as it were? >> or is this. >> genuinely that he is more concerned about. gabbard than he might have been about hegseth? >> it's fascinating and a great question, and we've been reporting on it, and we'll try to report more. danielle hegseth

in that case, thom tillis indicated he was troubled -- he was a possible no vote.p got on the phone with him for two hours and he relented and that's the kind of pressure that trump alone can bring, and we'll see if he does that in these cases. >> george: you believe gabbard is in more trouble? >> i think she's in trouble because of questions like that snowden question. a fairly straight forward question that is shared bipartisan -- views are that snowden has been a traitor. she had another moment when she said she wouldn't seek to pardon -- from president trump and that seemed to assuage susan collins, but the inability to answer that question is one that's going to hang over her head in addition to things like lack of experience, the sort of mysterious trip to syria to see assad. there's a lot of open questions around her right now. >> george: how do you see interplay between the nominations and the amount of political capital president trump would have to spend to get them through and the big fights coming down the road on the tax and spending plans? >> well, it

. >> thom tillis. there might be a. >> couple of kinks in that slinky. >> i think that's probably the. >> best. >> the best summation of this. here's what i would say. the appetite. >> for foreign. >> intervention, even with an ally like israel, which republicans have stood steadfastly behind for much of the last 5 or 6 decades, the appetite is relatively minuscule. and even then, someone like lindsey graham, who again, stands with trump. is not terribly afraid of foreign intervention. he's saying, thanks, but no thanks. >> and this. >> gets back. >> to raw. >> individual politics, right? >> because these are. >> these are members of congress, not. just those. >> 4 or 5 that you had up there. >> republican members of congress. >> have to. go home. in the case of a u.s. intervention in a place like. >> israel or. >> anywhere else in the world, and explain to mothers and fathers and soldiers and airmen and seamen and everybody else, that why they are sending their children and soldiers in harm's way, and

are still some detractors in the senate who aren't trump's biggest fans mcconnell, todd young, thom tillis. but with donald trump in the white house, that is a really strong force. and we're seeing republican senators find it a hard time to go against him. >> and a lot of folks offering up their money to primary folks who vote against this president on these picks. another one who, again, early on kash patel for the fbi, seen as a long shot. senator dick durbin is alleging that he is already personally directing the purge of fbi employees before he's been confirmed. have a listen to how the senator put it. >> follow the dots. >> it goes from the white house with stephen miller, the deputy to the president, to the acting attorney general. beauvais, and the messages kash patel kp the initials wants you to move faster in purging the ranks of the fbi like they've done already in doj. this is the day or two days before patel testifies under oath and on that committee that he's had nothing to do with this. so clearly he's misleading us or worse. >> durbin says if that's true, he perjured himself

here they are in in north carolina, outside one of thom tillis home state offices. you see the big vote no there, meaning no on russell. vote also on the right side of the screen there. send musk to mars. here they are at another office for senator tillis in north carolina. a bigger group goes all the way around the block. they're here's a little group, just three people showing up to senator john fetterman's office in wilkes-barre to tell him to stand up and stop this stuff. they said when they weren't allowed to meet with anybody, they left a note explaining what their demands were as his constituents. i mean, even even when it's a smaller number of people making these visits to their offices, they're making contact there in some cases, frankly, producing intel on what senators might need an additional nudge here, for example, are some folks, some indivisible folks and other folks in washington state saying that they went to the offices of both senator patty murray and senator maria cantwell. they reported back from those meetings. quote, cantwell needs a lot more

republicans thom tillis and senator lindsey graham. >> i haven't seen the firsthand account, but obviouslyif you're an american soldier. so, yeah, we'll see what the arab world says. but, you know, that'd be problematic at many, many levels. >> and when lindsey graham is against it and he's not literally jumping up for donald trump like a marionette, marco rubio, the now secretary of state, asked about this idea of taking control of gaza. he attempted to suggest that trump was only proposing to clear out and rebuild gaza. not sure what that means, and not claim indefinite possession of the palestinian territory. and he's saying the only thing trump has done very generously, in my view, is offer the united states willingness to step in and clear the debris, clean the place up from all destruction, including unexploded munitions, so that people can move back in. no, what he actually said is we will own it. we will take over gaza. we will own it. why the confusion inside the confusion inside the party? what does that tell you about whether this is a real plan or some sort of negotiating tacti

. >> well, that's missouri senator eric schmidt, and here's north carolina senator thom tillis, aftereing asked about the authority for eliminating usaid, which congress established and funded. >> we'll look. >> at the legality of it. but the outcome that's that's been the how maybe it's maybe there are some questions about the how, but the what of getting usaid focused on its core originating mission is critically important. i think president trump's had the courage to get out there and explain it. >> beyond spreading some falsehoods about usaid like that. it sent 50 and later claimed $100 million worth of condoms to gaza. the president has done little explanation. in a moment, you'll hear from samantha power, who served as usaid administrator until last month. but first, a quick and troubling late note about elon musk's people. it concerns the department of energy, which is responsible, among other things, for the nation's nuclear weapons. two people knowledgeable with the situation tell cnn that a representative from doge was granted access to doe. doe. i.t. system yesterday. his n

. >> thom tillis said.s doesn't exist anymore. >> in this case. >> it's not. congress has rolled over here for trump and musk. we did see, though, for the first time, perhaps. in the two weeks. >> that trump has been in. >> office, democrats have found their voice. they have really pushed back against this. do you, as someone. >> who has. >> counseled them to be more active, is this something? do you think they're doing it the right way? what more do they need to be saying to call attention to everything musk is laying waste to right now? >> i mean. >> first of all, that. >> the democrats transition from being asleep during a coup to being awake during a coup is a trend in the right direction. being awake is certainly preferable to being asleep. >> up next, former u.s. ambassador. >> to. japan rahm. >> emanuel will tell us why he thinks that democrats have become the party of permissiveness. you won't want to miss that next on morning joe. weekend. >> thanks for calling. >> consumer cellular ranked number o

thom tillis mr. president, do you have a reaction to the new time magazine cover that has elon musk sitting behind your resolute desk at time magazine? elon musk. comment dara massicot. >> is time magazine still in business? i didn't even know that. >> time magazine. >> elon is doing a great job. he's finding tremendous fraud and corruption and waste. you see it with the usaid, but you're going to see it even more so with other agencies and other parts of government. he's got a staff that's fantastic. he's wanted to be able to do this for a long time, and everybody else knew it was existent. but i think never so much. when you look at usaid. that's a that's a fraud. the whole thing is a fraud. very little, uh, very little being put to good use. every single line that i look at in terms of events and transactions is either corrupt or ridiculous. and we're going to be doing that throughout government. and i think we're going to be very close to balancing budgets for the first time in many years. i thin

thom tillis ayura quote, probably a couple of kinks in that slinky john cornyn simply saying, quote, check back with me tomorrow. as for democrats, well, senator chris reaction seemed to sum it up. you see him here burying his face in his hands. moment captured by nbc. telling reporters this. >> you can report that i was speechless. i'm speechless. that's insane. >> i'm speechless. that's insane. the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, stood, as we pointed out, alongside the president, and he was smiling as president trump first laid out his ideas. then netanyahu said this. >> i've seen you do this many times. you cut to the chase. you see things others refuse to see. you say things others refuse to say. and on after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads and they say, you know, he's right. >> my panel is here. mark preston, cnn senior political analyst. elliot williams, cnn legal analyst. former federal prosecutor karen finney, cnn political commentator, former senior adviser to hillary clinton's 16 presidential campaign and kristen soltis anderson, cnn political analyst,

they reached out to senator thom tillis, who was wavering at the time. they spoke for two hours on the day that tillis ultimately came on board. cassidy clearly has concerns he wanted kennedy to simply say that vaccines do not cause childhood autism. kennedy could not say that. simply said, i need to see the evidence. if you have the evidence, i can. >> he was like, please let me get to yes, give me cover. >> there have been decades of evidence that showed the debunked, that notion that there is any link for cassidy. the complication is this he could defeat this nomination tomorrow, but he also is up for reelection next year. he's already facing a primary challenge. he's also invited also the anti-trump wing or the pro-trump wing to come against him. he was one of the votes to convict donald trump in his second impeachment trial. the politics are very complicated for cassidy, which is why it's uncertain how he's going to come down. >> real quick, tulsi gabbard tomorrow. tomorrow as well. >> yeah. another key vote. the senate intelligence committee, simil

and you have senator thom tillis saying, quote, there are probably a couple of kinks in that slinky. yeah. i want to talk about the domestic implications with shelby talcott, white house correspondent for semafor. lance trover, a republican strategist and former spokesperson for doug burgum 2024 presidential campaign. also here, alysia johnson, a former senior adviser to the biden 2020 campaign. shelby, let me begin with you here. you were in the room when that announcement was made. i was watching it on television, and i could feel the collective gasp that was happening. tell me about the reaction in that room. was there true shock and surprise that this had actually gone down? >> yeah, there was shock. and actually you saw all of the reporters sort of checking their live transcripts, and i heard whispers of people saying, is this what he said? sort of confirming before they tweeted it out. so, yeah, a lot of people were surprised by this, this. and i was getting texts during the press conference from people close to donald trump who were also surprised by this and who were actually

there were threats of a primary, thom tillis in north carolina.d others. cassidy in louisiana. how much is the politics palpable here? >> the politics. >> is almost the number one issue for a lot of them. and it's unfortunate that we've gotten to a point where being primaried is probably the toughest part of winning a reelection fight for a lot of these members. >> especially in maga. >> especially in maga. and a call from mike davis, steve bannon or elon musk is the most terrifying thing any of these senators can get. knowing that means a primary challenge is coming and they don't want to face that. so i think it is looming over them. no matter what they say, they have to look two years ahead and say, do i want to spend the next two years trying to raise $100 million and fend off a primary challenge, and then have to go head to head in a purple state against a well-funded, moderate candidate? after i've gone so far to the right, it's not easy. >> is there a limit to those threats, though? can you only threaten someone with a primary for so long?

then we have thom tillis, senator from north carolina, saying that people should have the right to sue sanctuary cities and states that aid and abet in law. breaking your comment on all of that. >> well, i think the governor is pretty foolish saying what he said, because i got note of it won't let it go. we'll look into it. and if he's knowingly, knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien, that's a violation of title 18. united states code 1324. i will seek prosecution or the secretary will seek prosecution. so maybe he's bluffing. if he's not, we'll deal with that. and as far as suing sanctuary cities, well, get in line because the trump administration is going to do that already. sanctuary cities are sanctuaries for criminals. there's one example, right. if the young sanctuary cities in new york city, if they would have gave us over the killer of lake and riley when he got arrested in new york city for endangering a child, he would have been in jail. and he would never kill lincoln riley. sanctuary cities are responsible for deaths of thousands and thousands of young childre

senator thom tillis told politico there's probably a couple of kinks in that slinky. and senator josh hawley says, quote, i don't know that i think it's the best use of u.s. resources to spend a bunch of money in gaza. i think maybe i'd prefer that to be spent in the united states first. let's get right to cnn's alayna treene at the white house, where i imagine there is some fallout this morning, or at least people behind you watching the reaction very closely. >> i mean, absolutely, john, what the president said yesterday was truly remarkable and stunning to hear, especially during a press conference. one thing that struck me, though, was that the president seemed to be building toward this sentiment all day, even before prime minister benjamin netanyahu arrived at the white house yesterday afternoon. now, i do want to just focus again on what the president said. he said that he believes that the united states could take over gaza. he said will own it. he also would not rule out using u.s. troops to do so. again, just very remarkable comments. and again, as well. thi

and you have senator thom tillis saying, quote, there are probably a couple of kinks in that slinky. yeah. i want to talk about the domestic implications with shelby talcott, white house correspondent for semafor. lance trover, a republican strategist and former spokesperson for doug burgum 2024 presidential campaign. also here, alysia johnson, a former senior adviser to the biden 2020 campaign. shelby, let me begin with you here. you were in the room when that announcement was made. i was watching it on television, and i could feel the collective gasp that was happening. tell me about the reaction in that room. was there true shock and surprise that this had actually gone down? >> yeah, there was shock. and actually you saw all of the reporters sort of checking their live transcripts, and i heard whispers of people saying, is this what he said? sort of confirming before they tweeted it out. so, yeah, a lot of people were surprised by this, this. and i was getting texts during the press conference from people close to donald trump who were also surprised by this and who were actually

and senator thom tillis, the north carolina republican, said there are a few kinks in that slinky. that's a direct quote from senator tillis. now, democrats were less subtle in their pushback. senator tim kaine called this idea deranged and nuts. senator ruben gallego dared trump to seek congressional approval, suggesting that that was never going to happen if he tried to move forward with it. and then there's senator chris. take a look at how he responded when our colleague frank thorp asked him about this, he literally covered his eyes with his hands. he says, quote, you can report that i was speechless. he goes on, that's insane. i can't think of a place on earth that would welcome american troops less, and where any positive outcome is less likely. and of course, chris, one of the suggestions of lawmakers is that the mere suggestion of the us taking control of gaza could make u.s. bases and u.s. assets in the region a target. >> sahil kapur a lot to unpack for us. thank you so much. let's go now to exclusive new reporting on the pentagon's plans for a full withdrawal from syria

i also tracked down thom tillis, republican senator from north carolina, and i asked him whether he had attempted to talk with the white house at all or express any concern about the access to the treasury payment system or the opm personnel database, or to data from usaid. and he told me, why would i need to reach out to the white house suggesting he had no concerns and that he would let everybody know when he did. but at that point in time hasn't come. i want to let you listen, though, to john kennedy, the republican senator from louisiana last night who i caught up with. and the reason i want folks to listen to john kennedy is because it had to do directly with elon musk and usaid and the effective crippling that elon musk and doge have done in at usaid. take a listen to kennedy. >> some of my colleagues are screaming like they're part of a prison riot, that this is unconstitutional and wrong. and they're very process driven. in my opinion, they should be substance driven. by that, i mean, the central question here is, what were we spending taxpayer money on whether the president had

. >> my favorite line that i've seen tonight, thom tillis, a republican from north carolina, says there are probably a couple of kinks in that slinky, but i'll. >> have understatement of. >> the century. take a. >> look at. >> the statement. >> it's always good to imagine. what would they say if just the party was switched, if biden had floated this idea, what would republican senators have said about him acquiring something else? they would have freaked out. and they often do this. democrats do this, too. they will not react to something equivalent because it's their side versus the other side. i think if you asked anybody, take out how they feel about trump, about this and you're crazy. >> i'm a libertarian. >> i'm an independent. so i can look at this and i can tell you that most people i know, so many, i'm in michigan, i know so many people who voted for trump. they voted for him because of the border crisis, because of inflation, because of the economy, not because they want to go on another military adventure, this time invading the gaza strip. >> a lot of arab. >> americans in mi

. >> your time is ticking, thom tillis. >> i'll go with. i'll go with winston churchill and hulk hogan. two. amazing orators who would have a lot to talk about in terms of rallying crowds and getting people to come to their side. >> all right. >> ashley, okay, this is not an odd couple, but i just want to have fun because it's the super. >> bowl and you're. >> going and i'm going. so if anybody has a box, they want to put me in. shein know, i would do coach prime and big freedia. you already know. okay. >> all right. >> that's funny. >> um, well, i am watching the super bowl with lawrence taylor, who's always fun to be with. um, but apparently i wasn't allowed to announce him because he's my friend, so i really wanted to hang out with someone. i want to have. >> fun i want to have. >> well, that's who i would really be with, but i would be with president clinton, who i think is just a great guy, and he's a lot of fun to hang out with. and charles barkley, who's absolutely hysterical and he's the life of the party. and i think the two of the

congressional representatives that especially are in swing districts or senators like thom tillis. >>ion in 26. and also. >> for all of these. >> republicans that think. >> they're going. >> to. run for president. >> in 2028. >> go and explain. >> to the american. >> people that you've basically trampled all over the constitution over and over and over again. >> i don't. >> think that's. >> a winning move. >> or a. >> winning message. >> i do think it's important that we keep our eyes on the prize when it comes to the potential and the way that the administration and key members are toying with. do we adhere to what the courts are saying? do we not? at this point, they are working through the appeals process on various of these items. but i want to drill down with you because in addition to your resume, you also ran for president in 2020. i covered that campaign, and immigration was such a central focus for you. but it does feel in my conversations on capitol hill, like many democrats, feel they've lost the plot when it comes to immigration policy. and so as much as trump is enacting