wicker: i think so. i think so. >> you think so? sen. wicker: yes. you know, your last conversation, quoted president trump as saying something very strong, to the extent that russia should fall in line. two days ago he might have said something a little confusing in that regard. so one of the things about donald trump is he keeps people on their toes. and guessing. but i think in the united states, we view nato as important. we've had seven decades or more since my dad was over here fighting for the united states and britain, france, germany, luxembourg, belgium. and we've had relative stability. there is one guy who is sentimental about the u.s.s.r., he's running russia right now, and he covets not only ukraine, but mol dovinga -- moldova. everyone knows that. and he's got his eyes on romania and armenia and if i were azerbaijan i wouldn't feel too comfortable about this little flirtation that they've had with putin recently. and of course georgia, part of georgia is now being occupied. this is a guy who is a war criminal, he's a brutal dictator, a

wicker: yes, indeed. but we should have a foreign policy that is consistent enough that when the united states makes a solemn promise along with the west that we keep that promise. jonathan: let's talk about the reason you ran for six more years and by the way, this will be your final term do you think, senator? sen. wicker: i just took the oath six weeks ago. do i look that old? jonathan: you have a lot of grandkids. i tried to ask, mrs. wicker. sen. wicker: i thought i was coming over to meet you in a pub. it is a little early in the morning for the hard stuff. i almost did an about face. who are all these people? jonathan: these are the folks that want to talk to you afterwards about keeping aid flowing to ukraine, i'm sure. let's talk about your recent conversation with president trump and why you ran. sen. wicker: i had a good conversation with the president about what we will do with 21st-century peace through strength. and my proposal to make the pentagon more modern like tesla is and like spacex a

wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. senators voting in the affirmative -- alsobrooks, baldwin, bennet, blumenthal, blunt rochester, booker, cantwell, fetterman, gallego, gillibrand, hassan, heinrich, hickenlooper, hirono, kaine, kim, king, klobuchar, lujan, markey, merkley, murphy, murray, ossoff, peters, reed, rosen, sanders, schatz, schiff, schumer, shaheen, van hollen, warren, wyden. senators voting in the negative -- banks, barrasso, blackburn, budd, cotton, cramer, crapo, cruz, curtis, daines, ernst, fischer, graham, grassley, hoeven, husted, hyde-smith, johnson, justice, lankford, leigh, mccormick, moody, moran, moreno, mullin, paul, ricketts, risch, rounds, scott of florida, scott of south carolina, sheehy, thune, tillis, wicker, young. mr. marshall, no. ms. smith, aye. mr. sullivan, no. mr. mcconnell, no. ms. murkowski, aye. ms. duckworth, aye. mr. coons, aye. mr. tuberville, no. ms. lummis, no. mr. padilla, aye. mr. schmitt, no. mr. kennedy, no. mr. welch, aye. ms. slotkin, aye. mr. cornyn, no. mr. whitehouse,

wicker: mr. baylis, do you speak for smart hub, or for yourself today? mr. baylis: that's a good question. i believe i have have really tried to consult my team. sen. wicker: is there a minority view there that does not agree with you? mr. baylis: i do not believe so. i believe we are unified in the sense that we're trying to develop adapt and adaptive and reconfigurable technology to solve the very spectrum crisis. sen. wicker: would it be helpful if you had somebody inside the team who was the devil's advocate and could bounce these absolute objections against your -- mr. baylis: devil's advocate as to what? sen. wicker: i'll tell you, when we get the military and the skiff, i'm not giving away any secrets. just is absolutely impossible. we can't give an inch, and anything that the chairman might advocate would be detrimental to national security. am i pretty much correct that that's their testimony? mr. baylis: i believe we have objective people on our team that would give me devil -- and do g

roger wick wicker from mississippi. armed services. >> put me where i belong.c chair oraor, ranking leader for many years. secretary of state rubio goes to p panama. and he will stop construction contract with china. something that was phasing in, he is not doing it, i don't know that answered the question. i want to talk to you, they still are controlling two ports one in atlantic and one ins pat irive, there was testimony before the senate commerce committee by smart lawyers saying that china has broken the neutralrry act, if we wanted to u.s. could have capacity to act in canal zone under the law, what do you think about that. >> it would be able to act under the law itself, but let me tell you if a real sure enough war broke out, do you think we would hesitate to utilize the panama canal, it would call for extreme measures, i 4-rd. --- will heard, i understood that the lock and transit fees were being reduced or eliminated. that would also be very fortunate and safe u.s. a lot of money. the point is tariff went to effect, panamanian president acted quickly

wicker: absolutely vital. not one single household has been connected, and i'm told there has been an in less round of negotiations about the application process. it seems to me that a man like he was going to be able to cut through that and at least tell the states, yes, your application, we know what that is about and we are going to respond to your application. mr. lutnick: i expect the states to provide the most efficient way, the most cost efficient and effective way to get broadband to every house. i heard a story where they were planning to run fiber for $200,000 to a house that was worth $125,000. the waste of america is over in the commerce department. we are going to get broadband to people. we are going to do it at cost effectively, but get it and give you the benefit of the bargain. sen. wicker: two more things if i can squeeze it in. i'm glad we mentioned noaa. the noaa national data bouy center is at the space center in mississippi. it is the national premier rocket propulsion facility. in the ne

roger wicker here.en... for long lasting arthritis pain relief. (♪) force factor prostate advanced reduces nighttime bathroom trips, helps fully empty your bladder, and promotes a normal prostate size. why? force factor prostate advanced contains clinically studied saw palmetto, beta-sitosterol, and cranberry extract. rush to walmart and find force factor prostate advanced. (luke) so why can't we say we're the best home shopping site? (lawyer) because while true, you just can't say that legally. (luke) so i can't say... “homes-dot-com is the best!” (lawyer) no. (marci) what if we jumbled up the words? (luke) homes best is com dot the. (lawyer) no. (luke) what if we said it in spanish? (marci) homes-punto-com es el mejor. (lawyer) no. (marci) what if we whispered it? (luke) homes-dot-com is the best. (lawyer) no. (luke) fine! what if he said it? (morgan) homes-dot-com. it's the best. (lawyer) mr. freeman, i'm sorry, but we can't say that. (morgan) say what? (lawyer) homes-dot-com is the best. (morgan) ah

wicker told politico he was puzzled and disturbed. he said hegseth, quote, made a rookie mistake in brussels and he's walked back some of what he said, but not that line. i don't know who wrote the speech, wicker said. it is the kind of thing. tucker carlson could have written, and carlson is a fool. again, this is roger wicker, the republican chair of the armed services committee. i prefer we didn't give away negotiating positions before we actually get started talking about the end of the russia, ukraine war, right. also, just a short time ago, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy said the u.s. that he does not believe the u.s. has a plan for settling the conflict in his country. a lot going on, a lot being walked in, walked back with us now, cnn global affairs analyst kim dozier and cnn chief national security analyst jim sciutto. couple what happened with hegseth texas saying what he said, walking part of it back now at all with jd vance, the vice president, giving an interview with the wall street journal where he said there a

but wicker today had some harsh words for hegseth. hegseth had announced what critics said amounted to giving up leverage before peace negotiations between ukraine and russia even began. hegseth said that ukraine can't join nato and can't go back to its 2014 borders. wicker called that a, quote, rookie mistake by secretary hegseth and added this. >> everybody knows and you know, and people in the administration know. you don't say before your first meeting what you will agree to and what you won't agree to. >> yeah, i was. >> puzzled by that too. >> i was puzzled too. and i was disturbed. i was disturbed by it. >> for his part, wartime ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy said he's, quote, thankful for american support, adding this week adding this about his call with president trump. >> enough conversation to talk about some details. >> not enough. >> to make a plan. >> definitely not. >> enough. >> amidst the chaos and confusion and drama and explosion at chernobyl. today, ukraine says that russia committed a war crime when it la

roger wicker will be here. i'm kudlow are.ate fundraiser. ♪ with the chase mobile app, things move a little more smoothly. ♪ deposit checks easily and send money quickly. [coins clinking] ♪ that's convenience from chase. make more of what's yours. (♪) at enterprise mobility, our experts always see another road. because when there's no limit to how far mobility can go, there's no limit to how far businesses can go. (♪) 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. (♪) car, this isn't the way home. that's right james, it isn't. car, where are we going? we're here. (♪) surprise!!! the future isn't scary. not investing in it is. car, were you in on this? nothing gets by you james. nasdaq-100 innovators. one etf. before investing, carefully read and consider fund investment objectives, risks, charges, expe

wicker: i look at it differently. i think what you're saying is that i'm the only nonvoting member of this committee that is here at this hearing. i have been at an armed services committee hearing most of the morning. let me ask about something that happened a long time ago and something that is happening right now. colonel gabbard, i was a member of the house of representatives on 9/11. i was at the pentagon that very morning when the attacks happen. where were you when 9/11 happened? we all remember where we were. ms. gabbard: i was in hawaii. there is a five or six hour time difference. when i woke up that morning, it was several hours and i remember the first thing i saw in waking up was that horrific footage of those airplanes attacking the twin towers in new york city. sen. wicker: you obviously have read a lot about it during the 24 plus years since that and most americans have. there's a general consensus that there was a mess intelligence failure. this caught is all by surprise. even though the world trade c

senator wicker talked to pete hegseth. that made pete hegseth take back his assertion that ukraine can never be part of nato, and russia gets to keep all of the parts of ukraine that it's already claimed. why is that? because senator wicker is not a commentator, right? senator wicker is the chairman of the senate armed services committee, the republican chairman of that committee. he has power to wield here to stop the administration from doing what it's doing, which he plainly thinks is wrong. he doesn't think vladimir putin should be getting a state visit in the united states of america. he thinks if vladimir putin steps foot in the united states of america, he should be arrested, incarcerated for the rest of his life or potentially executed. well, it's one thing to think that it's another thing to say it. you could even say it on a podcast. it won't matter. but if you say it and you're the republican chairman of the senate armed services committee committee, it matters. and you can change the actions of this government.

and so wicker, i think, doesn't even have the same excuse as some of the other senators.e he knew this will be bad for something i care about, but i care. i care about the politics. to get back to chuck's point and mitch mcconnell, like for all the reason that he all the reasons he voted potentially to vote against these nominees, the reason why he was able to actually go through with it is not just because he's not running for reelection, but because he can count to 50. and he knew if i'm not going to be the one to take this vote, i can take this and not hurt the party overall. so he looked around and said, you know what? i may as well do it because it's not going to bring down this nominee. i'm not going to be the one to topple the nominee myself. when there were people who voted with him on set, that was great. doing this by himself, he was more than happy to take that hit. >> i'm thinking of potential backlash to all of this, right? like in 2018, for example. obviously there was a lot of democratic momentum. strategists said that it was because some republicans were s

roger wicker is the chairman of the senate armed services committee. manu raju, thanks so much. appreciate it. and our politics lead. moments ago, president trump signed an executive order calling for policy recommendations to expand access and affordability for ivf and other fertility treatments. with me now, republican senator katie britt of alabama. she's one of the driving forces behind the executive order. senator britt, thanks so much for joining us. what is this executive order call for exactly? >> yes. so it says that his team, the domestic policy team, takes the next 90 days. >> and looks for any. >> impediment to access to ivf. that looks whether. >> that's, you know, financial. >> whether that's. >> something kind of sort of in that space. and he wants to come up with solutions for that. so as you remember, the president about a year ago very clearly said, look, i believe in access to nationwide access to in vitro fertilization. i was proud to lead all 49 republican senators at the time and saying we wanted continued nationwide access to ivf. and president trump said,

. >> you know, your republican counterpart, roger wicker, he is the chair of the armed services committee, was really sharp in his comments at munich. he was saying -- he was puzzled, he was disturbed by what the defense secretary, a member of his own party, had said about ukraine. he was very clear that what vladimir putin is doing, he said, is absolutely out of adolf hitler's playbook. those are sharp words considering the president of the united states says he wants to meet face-to-face with vladimir putin and possibly bring him to the white house. >> well, they are sharp words and they are very much justified. regardless of what president trump may be doing to try and lay the groundwork for any future negotiations, the fact is there is strong bipartisan support in congress to help ukraine in this unfair war that russia has initiated, and i think senator wicker's comments are very important. >> at the conference you are at you are able to speak with european leaders. what are they saying to you about their view of america now? >> well, we had a chance to meet with representatives from

senator wicker then responded again, saying, quote, he made a rookie mistake.ind of thing tucker carlson could have written and quote. carlson is a fool, said the senator. again, that is a member of pete hegseth own political party, boldly criticizing his performance on this trip. it's worth noting, as senator wicker was making that unfavorable comparison to mr. carlson. mr. carlson himself was posting a new interview with hungary's authoritarian leader, viktor orban, an interview where, as politico puts it, quote, orban repeated kremlin talking points that russia invaded ukraine in a bid to stop it from joining nato because, yes, russia was on the ropes. they were the real victim here. they just had to invade. meanwhile, today, ukraine accused russia's military of ramming a drone with a high explosive warhead on it into the former chernobyl nuclear site. the drone reportedly damaged the protective shield that is supposed to prevent radiation leaks from that famously radioactive site. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy says the damage was significant, but

. >> your republican colleague, mississippi senator roger wicker, he's the chair of the senate armed services committee. he wants ukraine to have a seat at the table. and he called putin a war criminal, said he should be jailed for the rest of his life if not executed. said he should not be trusted in these talks. does that go anywhere with this white house? >> i don't think it does. i think the white house is set on its path. it's willing to take criticism. it's valuable, though it's certainly i praise senator wicker for for saying what we're all aware of, of how horrific putin is as a dictator. the losses of all freedoms in russia, the massive loss of lives of him feeding them into this, this war in ukraine, his invasion and his plot to begin with. so thank you, senator wicker, for pointing out the obvious, but being willing to say it at a time when this white house is assembling authoritarian power here in the united states, and being quite harsh on those who would criticize it, especially republicans who would criticize it. >> what are president zelenskyy's options now as you see

wicker is a long time vocal supporter of ukraine.d no idea what they were signing up for when he voted for pete hegseth. >> no, he knew exactly. he knows the trump. administration's feeling on. >> the war in ukraine. >> he also probably knows that. hegseth doesn't really know what he's talking about, and had that speech. >> written for him by somebody else. >> so there's no surprises here. it's these guys are afraid to challenge trump. i don't know why. you know, i don't know why. their integrity and the things that they care about, the values that ukraine represents aren't worth more to them. but that's just the basic facts of it. >> susan, speaking of somebody who had a spine, lost a spine, maybe has found a spine again, is mitch mcconnell. he's free from toeing the line now because he's no longer in leadership. he actually has voted no on three of trump nominees in the last few weeks. i got to ask susan, does he have no influence any more to be able to say to all the other republicans, this is not going to work? >> i'm actually su

yeah, i think chairman wicker has a right to his own opinion. i support pete, and i know he supports. i say secretary hegseth completely. um, sure. what he was referring to at that point. i mean, i'll just have to let what senator wicker says for stand on its own. so i want to ask you about kash patel, who was just confirmed as director of the fbi. you were a big supporter of his. um, i think there are a lot of people would say he wouldn't be the. i don't know if he's been sworn in yet, but he would be sworn in tomorrow. he'll be sworn in. okay. he wouldn't be the soon to be fbi director. what do you say to critics? and and there were two republicans who voted against him. um, murkowski and collins. what do you say to critics who say, hey, look, he wrote a book in 2022? he called. it's called government gangsters. he listed 60 so-called deep state operatives. he called it a cabal of unelected tyrants. and these include a number of trump officials. right. attorney general bill barr, national security advisor john bolton, white house counsel pat c

i mentioned roger wicker earlier, the republican chair of the armed. >> i don't know if. >> political gravity. >> means political gravity to m, means this. donald trump and republicans are still susceptible to pressure because roger wicker called pete hegseth after he made those ridiculous comments in munich about ukraine and about redlines and giving things away to vladimir putin in public and walked it back. and i guess what that tells me is pressure works. it doesn't mean it's the solve or the catch all for everything, but it means you can't disengage from the pressure. i take your point. i do think that republicans are still susceptible to good old fashioned pressure. >> do you think they're going to face new topic, different pressure, right. when you see all these members of congress go home and they have to face their constituents, the acts of doge, while it's happening in dc right now, is starting to make its way through the country. right. tomorrow we are going to see doge. we're going to see a move where they're going to go into the irs, which is already chronically underfund

and senator wicker says, quote, i prefer we didn't give away negotiating positions before we actually get started talking about the end of the russia ukraine war. specifically, he's talking about saying that ukraine won't be part of nato. there are other things as well. what do you think of that? >> right. >> well, i think. >> that that is is right in principle. i don't agree necessarily. that's what hegseth was doing. but it's been clarified already by vice president vance, both in his interview with the wall street journal and then some of the conversations he's already been having here in munich is making clear that nothing is off the table. there is no limitation on the decisions that are going to be before president trump in the future. i think what hegseth was doing, and if you read his comments carefully, it was saying that it's unrealistic for ukraine to take back its territory militarily right now, very similar to what president zelenskyy said back in january. and then also that it's unrealistic that russia is going to agree to ukraine's nato membership, which is also true, a

senator wicker is a diplomat and a gentleman.ut this is not the way you negotiate with the russians. i don't think it's the way you negotiate with anybody. but by making those comments, they were concessions to putin. they're exactly what putin wanted to hear. you have to give up territory. there was a second one, by the way. you can't join nato and no american troops will be part of the peacekeeping. now, maybe in a negotiation, the ukrainians will have to decide that they want to make one of those concessions about their territory. and maybe the nato alliance will make that decision about that concession. and maybe the united states of america will make the third concession. but you do it in the context of a negotiation. you don't give away everything before you've begun the negotiations. and i know having experience with the russians, you give them something that put it in their pocket and then they'll ask, what now are you going to give me? in addition, it just was diplomacy 101. you don't capitulate before you get to the neg

. >> jonathan: senator roger wicker is the chair of the senate armed services committee, and he saidcontinue to supply weapons to ukraine until there is a ceasefire. do you think that's the way the white house sees it? >> you know, the chairman wicker and i haven't had a direct conversation about that since president trump's been in office, and neither has president trump and i. i know that negotiations are moving forward, and we want to have ukraine and -- and russia both at the table, and i think that negotiations go better if both sides are looking for a peace deal because they're at a neutral position. so now what the negotiation deal looks like, jon, i don't know. that's going to be -- that's going to be dependent on those that are sitting at the table, and i'm not going to be one of those guys sitting at that table. >> jonathan: now you saw zelenskyy seemed a little miffed that ukraine is not being included in these talks with saudi arabia. it was pointed out over the last nine or ten days, you've seen marco rubio and the treasury secretary, the vice president jd vance, all mee

is roger wicker wrong? >> no, usaid, maybe not under its current leadership is the way to do it. but there's a mechanism in which to have and dispenseoreign aid properly. >> okay. so you as i mentioned, you sit also on the house armed services committee and we are expecting layoffs of the civilian federal workforce. i wonder if you are expecting layoffs or dismissals of any of the military leadership any time soon. >> well, that's going to be the purview of the commander in chief. but clearly we need to take our most talented folks and reward them. and folks that aren't doing their jobs well, they need to go. and, i mean, it was the father of modern progressivism, franklin delano roosevelt talked about public sector unions and how problematic they are. so i would agree with fdr in that regard. >> can you guarantee that there will not be a political purge of military brass, of general and flag officers by this administration? >> i think the president is going to focus on what the military does best, and that is projecting power, both soft and hard power and lethality. and the gene

we heard that same sentiment from roger wicker. of course, other arguments can be made that i've heard is, look, nothing was happening. this war was continuing under president biden, and he had iced out russia. so why not try to bring them in and reach a peace deal? but do you think do you see the point about the potential of putin using the u.s. here, using trump, and that he shouldn't be trusted? what do you say to that? >> well, uh, you know, i don't trust putin. i don't believe that president trump trusts putin. i think he realizes what putin is. uh, he's a war criminal. he's also the head of russia, which needs to be taken seriously as former, you know, uh, you know, vocation was kgb. so, look, and russia is an oligarchy. he's the head oligarch. there's no doubt about it. and ukraine, also an oligarchy type of government. zelenskyy is not the most powerful. or at least he's a competitor. but he is not the undisputed leader of of those oligarchs. and again, in order to go to nato, they would have to do political reform that is

but if senator wicker is disturbed about his comments.ably let him know that trump himself backed up every single thing that he said. >> what was nato membership for ukraine? >> i don't think it's practical to have it. personally. i know that our new secretary of defense, who's excellent. pete made a statement today saying that he thinks it's unlikely or impractical. i think probably that's true. >> do you see any future in which ukraine returns to its pre 2014 borders? >> well, i think pete said today that that's unlikely, right. it certainly would seem to be unlikely. they took a lot of land and they fought for that land and they lost a lot of they lost a lot of soldiers. >> were you aware. >> of what secretary hegseth was going to say in his speech at nato? >> generally speaking, yeah. >> trump and hegseth are on the same page. they are being very clear about where they stand even before the negotiations start. they are signaling they will give putin basically everything that he wants. i actually don't think in defense of pete hegseth,

do you agree with senator wicker that they were a mistake? >> i think the last three days have probably flabbergasted both our european allies and our ukrainian partners. uh, the secretary of defense on wednesday said ukraine cannot be in nato. uh, that's reversal of nato policy in american policy. and he did that without talking to any of the european allies first. and then that was walked back or maybe not walked back. he also then made the point about ukraine having to lose territory. so right off the bat, he's given concessions to two major russian positions. president trump then speaks with president putin before he talks to president zelenskyy, and then says he plans to meet several times with president putin. that goes against a de facto policy of the last three years among major western leaders that you do not meet with putin. uh, and then the vice president today at a speech where i think everybody is looking for him to kind of clarify things, he ignores the elephant in the room. he doesn't talk about the russian ukraine war and inst

senator wicker and i worked on that. you're welcome. the work that must be done on getting broadband some of the farthest corners of our country. we have an investment once in a generation investment under the bipartisan infrastructure law. and again the freeze would have affected this work temporarily on hold. talk about your support for broadband. >> you past the bill and they have put up any of the money. nobody has gotten broadband. it's time for a new commerce secretary to get broadband out to people. i want to give congress the benefit of the bargain which is you appropriate money for broadband, let's get in the hands and let's do it. the pause gives me time to be confirmed and to study and get the team working on it. when that pause in to get out the door and get it done. >> i'm out of time. thanks. >> senator wicker. >> mr. lutnick, i look forward to working with you. it's going to be a fun, productive for the american people. the leader was correct. some members of this committee voted for the infrastructure act and some of us

i did hear senator wicker notably say some things publicly, which was good to hear, but what happenedblicans from the congressional delegation, house and senate, sitting with european leaders and trying to reassure them and trying to say congress here is united in a bipartisan way with ukraine. we stand with ukraine. we do not approve of the administration's moves to negotiate just with russia. we don't approve of what secretary hegseth, a fox news personality, did just a day before basically selling out the ukrainians by giving away our biggest leverage in the negotiation, saying that it was unrealistic for ukraine to get its sovereign borders back and for ukraine to ever join nato. so what the delegation was trying to do is make up for the administration. but the result was chaos. and our european leaders, with whom we have stood strong in nato to prevent wars in europe ever since world war two, they feel really lost and they feel abandoned as allies. >> but you once again bring up a scenario that may seem familiar to viewers. it certainly feels familiar to me as a reporter in washi

hegseth concessions to russia got the attention of the senate armed services chair, roger wicker, whorussels, i don't know who wrote this speech. is it some kind of thing tucker carlson could have written? and carlson is a fool. there are good guys and bad guys in this war, and the russians are the bad guys they invaded. contrary to almost every international law, and they should be defeated. and ukraine is entitled to the promise that the world made to it, end quote. so here's donald trump today, not knowing who the bad guys are in this story. >> yesterday, you mentioned that you thought ukraine's nato aspirations were one of the main. >> reasons that the war. >> broke out. who do you blame. for the war? ukraine or russia? >> well, i think this i think that there were a lot, a lot of people to blame. >> a lot of people to blame vladimir putin, who invaded, contrary to what the republican senator roger wicker said is almost contrary to almost every international law and who he says should be defeated. what does trump say about him? quote, we agree to work together very closely, includ