Senate gets Ready to Rumble over Trump Nominations

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It is official. We have a new leader in the Senate.
It is Senter Thun. And before we get into that,
we also have President Trump and President Biden meeting in
the Oval Office in a very interesting moment. And I
want to explain the grin on the face of Joe Biden.
This is a meeting that did not take place in

(00:21):
twenty twenty, but it has taken place now. Why I
actually believe it's because now Joe Biden understands what a
coup attempt against you feels like. After the Five Families
and the Democratic Party went against him and I believe
threatened him with a twenty fifth amendment, He's now the
happiest man in Washington because one of those that was

(00:41):
involved in that coup was none other than Kamala Harris,
Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and the
Obamas were all involved. Well, now he gets to laugh
because it was a disaster. After they threw him out
of the White House and room at midnight at the

(01:01):
Democratic Convention early on in that week to say see
you later, We're done with you. They also did not
want him on the campaign. They did not want him
helping Kama Harris whether that backfired or not, we may
never know, but it was very clear they didn't want
him anywhere close. We also are seeing Democrats who said,

(01:22):
you know, you must concede if you lose an election. Yeah,
I guess what. They're full of crap. Bob Casey now
refusing to concede the Pennsylvania seat with Dave McCormick, as
Democrats tried to block him from even coming to Congress
to get his orientation. Now we're going to get back
to all of that in a moment, but I want
you to hear Joe Biden welcoming Donald Trump to the

(01:44):
White House, and this is the friendliest we've ever seen them.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Ms President elected in former President found congratulations, thank you
and looking forward to having, like you said, through transition
to every week and Rich sure you're a comminating.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
What you need.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
It's very good chance to talk about some about today.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
It's good.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Well, thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
And politics is tough, and it's many cases not a
very nice world, but it is a.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Nice world today.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
And I appreciate very much a transition that's so smooth.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
It'll be as smooth as you can get. I very
much appreciated on you you will there. It is their moment,
and it was a genuine grin from Joe Biden to
Donald Trump. I also think these two men may have
been softened a little bit. I think the assassination attempt
on Donald Trump's life has changed him, and I think

(02:42):
Joe Biden, in the way that he's been treated by
the Democratic Party has also changed him. And so what
we are now witnessing is something that is truly shocking.
What we are witnessing now is something that Democrats absolutely hate.
They can not stand watching a Democrat and a Republican

(03:04):
get along in this way. Now, let's get to the
other news that everybody's obsessed with, and that is Senator
Thom Chuck Schumer coming out on the floor of the
Senate saying this, I.

Speaker 5 (03:15):
Go, mister President, I have just been told that Senator
John Thune will be the next Republican leader in the Senate.
I congratulate Senator Thun on being chosen by his colleagues
as the next Republican leader. I look forward to working
with him. We've done many bipartisan things here in the

(03:36):
Senate together, and I hope that continues. As you know,
I strongly believe that bipartisanship is the best and often
the only way to get things done in the Senate.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Yeah, I'm going to call bs on that line. We
all know that that's crap, And I love how he's like,
We've done many bipartisan things in the Senate, except we're
in charge, and then we say to the republic Wilkins,
here's our two middle fingers. But now that we're in
the minority. Oh, we want to work together. We want
to get along, we want to be best friends. Yes,
all of these things we want. We want to get along, kumbaiaism.

(04:14):
We're so excited that everybody can just work together.

Speaker 6 (04:17):
Now.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
There are many Conservatives that are angry right now. They
are frustrated that Thune is the guy that got it
Mini Maga. Conservatives saying this is not who he wanted,
and they're angry, and a lot of senators who voted
for him. Let's be clear, there are a lot of
Conservatives that voted for the senator from Florida, Rick Scott

(04:38):
on the first round. Now we're going to find out
more about that. But Manu Raju on CNN as he
was reporting on this news, here is what he said about.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
It, and I apologize.

Speaker 7 (04:48):
We're going to get back to you. We want to
go back down to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue
once again because we have breaking news on the Senate
Republican leader race. It is John Thoon of South Dakota Monor.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Take it away.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
Yeah, the new Senate Majority Leader, Senator John Thun, elected.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
First in two thousand and four, has worked.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
His way up the rungs of Republican leadership. Has been
a committee chairman, was now the current Republican Whip has
now is sended from the number two spot to the
number one. He will be the Republican leader the majority
of the person who is in charge of setting the
agenda on the floor of the Senate, one of the
most consequential jobs, and Washington will have to work with
the incoming Republican White House and incoming Republican President to

(05:34):
get this agenda through.

Speaker 3 (05:35):
Now, this a vote just wrapped behind closed.

Speaker 4 (05:38):
Doors, according to multiple sources that John Thune edged out
John Cornyn on a vote of twenty nine to twenty four.
Cornyn was a former Republican whip, a two time member
of the Senate GOP campaign chairman. This campaign had taken
shape behind the scenes for about nine months and the aftmat.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Of Mitch McConnell making that decision not to run again
for Republican leader.

Speaker 4 (06:00):
Mc coney has dominated the Senate GOP for eighteen years,
the longest.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
Serving Senate party leader in.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
History, but decided it was time for him to step aside.
And now we're seeing a new generation of sort of
John fud is sixty.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Three years old.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
He has served in the Senate, says two thousand and five.
His politics are much more in the mainstream of GOP orthodox.
You don't have to figure out a way to work
with Donald Trump. Sometimes they have not always been in line.
In fact, and the aftermath of that Access Hollywood tape
in twenty sixteen, he called on Trump to step drop
out of the presidential race, and the aftermath of the
twenty twenty election, he thought the election should not be overturned.

(06:33):
He criticized Donald Trump as well and supported Tim Scott
for in the Republican presidential primary.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
But Fune over the last.

Speaker 4 (06:40):
Several months has endorsed Donald Trump has gone on the
Trump train.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
Of sources, they've been in frequent.

Speaker 4 (06:45):
Communication up told the last he and his team over
the last several months to try to bolster that relationship,
and Trump himself decided to stay neutral in this race,
perhaps recognizing.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
That even though fun may not be in line with.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
Some of the others who were running, particularly Senator Rick
Scott who lost in the first on a balloting, that
decided to stay up because this race could have gone
any which way. And oftentimes, Dan, as you know, these
races come down to relationships, they come down to commitments
they have made to these members, committee assignments that they
may promise, fundraising.

Speaker 7 (07:14):
In the like.

Speaker 4 (07:15):
So there are lots of different reasons for people to
vote a certain way. But this momentous decision by the
Senate GOP picking John Thune as the next Republican leader,
the majority leader, someone will decide the party's strategy for
the years ahead.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
Yeah, this is again and you heard, and this is
the part that I think many of you need to understand.
There was a first round ballot and there were a
lot of people that voted for Scott, the Florida Senator.
He was the one that many Conservatives wanted. He didn't
have the vote, so that was the problem number one
with that. Then you move on to the second round.
The question is would you rather have Thune or corn It.

(07:51):
Many conservatives believe that Thune is better than Cornyan. I
wish that we could have gone in there and picked
exactly who he wanted. The reality is, the Senate's a
old school club with a bunch of really old people
that were going to do what they wanted to do,
and there was nothing that was going to happen without

(08:12):
them saying, all right, we're fine with it. They were
not going to be bullied. That was very obvious. If
they could have been bullied, then we would be talking
right now about the next Senate majority leader being the
senator from Florida. We are not, because on that first
ballot he did not get the votes that he needed. Now,
this is again one of those moments where I do

(08:33):
believe that there is a lot of good that can
still come out of this, because I do believe that
Thune understands his role right now and doesn't want to
go against Trump. Okay, I just I don't I think
he understands that. Now do we watch him like a hawk? Yes?
Is this the guy that I think everybody really really
really wanted. No, but this is who we got. And

(08:55):
some other breaking news by the way, Cia officer has
been charged with leaking class info on Israel's plan to
strike Iran. This coming at the same time, as one
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(10:47):
So the numbers are now coming out, so let's get
into the votes. And as I'm recording this as the
latest information that we have, so if something changes after this,
it's because like while I'm recording this, something could change.
But this is what I'm getting from sources in DC.
I'm being told now that Thune received twenty three votes
on the first ballt and I remember these are supposed
to be secret ballots. That's why I'm saying. I'm getting
this intel and I believe it to be pretty good.

(11:10):
Fun received twenty three votes on the first ballot for
short of locking up a victory, Senator John Cornyn received fifteen,
that is Cornyn from Texas and Senator Rick Scott came
in last place with thirteen votes. So on the second ballot,
Thune secured a victory over Cornyn twenty nine to twenty four.

(11:33):
So it was a very tight race obviously divided. There
Republicans convened Tuesday night for a leadership forum that was
organized by Senator Mike Lee, the Republican from Utahs. They
grappled with who was best to lead them through the
Trump administration and beyond. Those discussions centered on how to
return more autonomy to individual centers as well as effectively

(11:55):
advanced to a conservative agenda after McConnell often partnered with
Democrats to advanced legislation, most notably the ridiculous spinning bills.
And that was a problem that obviously many conservatives in
Congress had a real problem with. And I understand why
now Scott, the conservative favorite, seemed to gain traction after

(12:18):
the forum. His candidacy likely initiated concessions also from Thune
and Cornyn to have certain people that they would make
promises too. McConnell, as you know, sir, for eighteen years,
screwed many hardcore conservatives every chance he got. It's unlikely
Thune will match that record. By the way, fun generally
considered the favorite despite his past and a mosity towards Trump,

(12:43):
now is going to have to navigate the challenges of
a much different Senate composed of much more Trump friendly Republicans,
and so there I am sure, okay, I am sure
that that is something that is going to be part
of the back room deal that happened here to get
him the job. Now we're also hearing more about Trump's

(13:05):
orbit and the people around him. President elect Trump, it's
just been announced as bringing four advisors from his presidential
campaign into his White House, his deputy chiefs of staff,
including two longtime aids, and the political directory put a
key role in his victory. This coming now from the
Associated Press. President Elect Trump bringing in these four advisors

(13:27):
from the presidential campaign into the White House's deputy chief
of staff, including these two aids as well. Trump announced
the longtime aid Dan Scavino, will serve as deputy, without
giving a specific portfolio. Now, Dan's been around him since
early in the campaign twenty sixteen. He was the White
House and then went down to Florida with him as well.

(13:48):
This is not a surprise and a great person to
serve the president.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
Now.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Campaign political director James Blair has been named as Deputy
for Legislation, our Legislative, Political and Public offas that's the
official title, and Taylor Butterwich will also have a major
job as Deputy chief of Staff for Communications and Personnel.
All of these will have the rank of Assistant to

(14:12):
the President in their title.

Speaker 8 (14:14):
Now.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
Trump also formally announced Stephen Miller and Immigration Hardliner will
be Deputy chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security
advisor that had previously been confirmed by Vice President le
Like Jeddi Vance on Monday as well. Now Blair was
the political director for Trump's campaign and, once Trump became
the presentative GOP nominee, the political director for the Republican

(14:36):
National Committee. He previously worked on Trump's twenty twenty campaign
in Florida and was a top aide to Florida Governor
Ron DeSantis as well. Now Dan was a senior advisor
on Trump's campaign. In his first term in the White House,
he worked as a social media director and did an
amazing job. He began working for Trump as a caddie
at one of Trump's golf courses and was part of

(14:57):
a small group of staffers who travel with the president
across the country for the entirety of the campaign. He
frequently posted memes and videos of Trump's campaign travel online,
cataloging the campaign from the inside on social media, and
it worked. Before joining the campaign, Butterwich worked for the
pro Trump super pac MAGA, Inc. And Trump's political action

(15:18):
committee known as Save America. Dan, Steven James, and Taylor
were best in class advisors on my winning campaign, Trump
said in the announcement, and I know they will honorably
serve the American people in the White House. They will
continue to work hard to make America great again in
their respective new roles. Miller is one of Trump's longest
serving aids, dating back to his first campaign for the

(15:39):
White House. He was a senior advisor and Trump's first
term and has been a central figure in many of
his policy decisions, particularly on immigration, including Trump's move to
separate thousands of immigrant families as a deterrent program back
in twenty eighteen. So that is obviously very big news there.
Now there's also another war that is shaping up. And

(16:02):
I mentioned this in a in a prior show, but
it's very clear now Democrats they're going to try to
derail the nomination of Pete headseth Uh, the the Fox
News weekend host at Fox and Trump is going to
nominate as he's as he's already said him to be

(16:23):
the Secretary of Defense. Nobody fights harder for the troops
is what troops are saying about him. That the pick
is being loved by those in the military community, it
is not being loved by many of the establishment warhawks
in Washington, d c. Because this is where they make
their money. And if you are pro defense, and when
I when I say pro defense, I mean pro buying

(16:44):
a bunch of goods and services and technology, and you're
one of those, you do not like this pick at all,
because this is a guy that's not necessarily going to
spend just insane amounts of money and make a lot
of people really really rich, defence contractors and lobbyists. The
list goes on and on, and so they are fighting back. Well,

(17:06):
the media also is seized on this, and the Democrats look,
they want a conservative Trump pick ahead on a stick,
and it looks like this is the one that they're
wanting to go after. I say that to again go
back to what you need to be telling people and
saying it to them over and over and over again.
Lloyd Austin, for example, is a guy that went a wall.

(17:29):
That is the current Secretary of Defense. He was in
the hospital incapacitated. Didn't tell anybody you want me to
believe that Pete is a somehow threat to America while
that guy was doing that. Let me also just put
it in perspective for you that Pete and let's compare
him to the vice presidential candidate Tim Waltz under Kamala Harris.

(17:50):
They both served in the Minnesota National Guard. Waltz, however,
decided to abandon his unit right before they were deployed
to Afghanistan. He also lied about his rank. Many have
said it's stolen valor. You can decide for yourself, But
Pete actually went to Afghanistan and getm and Iraq. You

(18:11):
want to know the difference between these two men, Well,
Pete received the Bronze Star and two Army Commendation medals
as well. And what do we have from well Tim?
He lied about his service, He lied about combat. Never
forget this dude lied about being in combat. He said
it clearly. We played that clip on the show before

(18:32):
where he says he's hell weapons of war, been in
war with weapons of war, and only you know when
he was talking about gun control and I know weapons
of war, right Like That's that's what he said, over
and over and over and over and over and over
again and then he got busted and he's like, oh,
I'm kind of a you know, an income put sometimes.
Remember when he said that on his debate. He's like, oh,
sometimes I just say things, and you know, he just

(18:54):
said it's not always true. I'm gonna say it again
because it's important. It's really important. Okay, it's extremely important.
When they start attacking Pete, remind them of who we
have running the DoD now and remind them of the
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two five also uh something else. Center Thun walking up

(20:47):
to the podium. Here is what he had to say
a moment ago after becoming the Senate majority leader. Take
a listen.

Speaker 9 (20:55):
It's a new day in the United States Senate, and
it's a new day in America. The American people have
loudly rejected the failed policies of the Biden Harris Schumer agenda,
and this Republican team is united.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
We are on one team.

Speaker 9 (21:11):
We are excited to reclaim the majority and to get
to work with our colleagues in the House to enact
President Trump's agenda. We have a mandate from the American people,
a mandate not only to clean up the mess left
by the high Biden Harris Schumer agenda, but also to
deliver on President Trump's priorities. We will make sure that

(21:33):
the President his team have the tools and support that
they need to enforce border security laws and to remove
the violent criminals who are wreaking havoc in every one
of our states. We will work to make America prosperous
again by streamlining the bureaucratic machine and overturning costly Biden
Harris regulations. And we will work to restore American energy dominance,

(21:59):
not just our energy security, but energy dominance, which will
lower costs and bolster our national security. I'm excited to
get to work with this team right away, and I
want to thank my colleagues who place their faith in
me to serve as leader, and to those who were
supporting another candidate, I promise to be a leader who

(22:19):
serves the entire Republican conference. We'll have an ambitious agenda
and we'll take each and every Republican working together.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
To be successful, I think. And again he was asked
a question. Here is what he asked about how he's
going to run things. Listen carefully. Concerns about President Hump's
cabinet picks so.

Speaker 9 (22:42):
Far, and what advice would you give him when it
comes to choosing nominies who will pass to confirmation. Well,
as you know, the Senate has an advice and consent
role in the Constitution, so we will do everything we
can to process his noms quickly, get them installed in
their positions so they can begin to implement.

Speaker 1 (23:01):
Pretty clear, Thune was speaking directly to conservatives, to MAGA voters,
and to Donald Trump directly. There Now, the biggest fight
that Donald Trump is going to face is so far
and all of the people that he's announced is going
to be the Attorney general nomination of Matt Gates. This

(23:26):
happening late in the day yesterday, and it was an
immediate bombshell because nobody saw Gates's name on the shortlist
at all. The media losing it immediately. Former Democratic Congressman
saying on CNN, Gates's appointment is horrifying. My niece or

(23:47):
nephew are more qualified than he is. For example, they
wanted to derail this nomination. And what's also very interesting
is Gates is the only one that we've seen that
is actual. They resigned from their position in office to
then move forward with their nomination process. That's not normally

(24:09):
how this happens. Normally, you actually wait till you're confirmed
and then you resign for your position. Listen to this
on CNN as they are ready to go to war
over the Gates nominee is So we'll get to more.

Speaker 10 (24:21):
On Pete Hexseth that's coming up. I want to start
with the shock waves developing from Matt Gates's nomination. If
you will to be the next Attorney General of the
United States, Mondarra Jones, you're a former US Congressman.

Speaker 1 (24:34):
What do you think? What is your take on this pick?
To pick your former colleague.

Speaker 11 (24:40):
Yeah, look, I started with Matt Gates on the House
Judiciary Committee. He is not only unqualified for the role
of Attorney General of the United States, but my niece
and nephew are each more qualified than he is because
they know right from wrong.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
At least, this is horrifying.

Speaker 11 (24:57):
I mean, we have now someone who could become the
nation top cup, the top law enforcement officer who has
been credibly accused of child of sex trafficking and who
was actively under House ethics investigation, a committee I used
to serve on when I was in the House, being
close to having tremendous authority. It's one of the most

(25:17):
important positions, and I don't think the American people understood
that that's what they were voting for when they elected
Donald Trump president.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
Let me get Aaron Parini's thoughts on this as well.
Go ahead, Aeron, I don't think we Let me just
stop there and go back through this for a second.
This is the interesting part about this because what the
media seasoning on here is the fact that he has
resigned from Congress and then there's this ethics investigation going
on around him. Ned Ryan on Fox News saying something

(25:45):
very different than this about the Gates nomination, and this
is what he said, talking about how he believes that
Matt Gates was attacked and by a Department of Justice
that was weaponized to go after Trump allies, and that
he was one of them. It was a great time.

Speaker 12 (26:01):
Today now, Ned the Gates nomination. I mean, we're going
to get to the hegseeth fury. There's some of that building.
But the Gates nomination takes official Washington fury to a
new level, and some conservatives are also criticizing it. I
have someone crawling on my floor by the way, right now,

(26:23):
this is live TV.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
So what do you take away from this right now?

Speaker 12 (26:28):
Where we are on the attorney general pick. It's a
critically important position, and of course President Trump was undermined,
he believes, by previous picks in that position, so he
wanted a loyalist there.

Speaker 3 (26:41):
Oh.

Speaker 8 (26:41):
I think it's a very clear signal from Donald Trump
that you will never weaponize the DOJ against the duly
elected sitting president of the United States. We're going to
have somebody in there who's a loyalist, who will fight
for Trump inside of the DOJ to make sure that
never happens. And I think another part to it, Laura,
is the idea of Matt Gates being Attorney General.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
I'm not sure how many.

Speaker 8 (27:05):
Of those career DOJ lawyers will be left by January
twentieth if Gates can get confirmed. But it was a
very clear signal from Donald Trump with Gates's nomination, you
will never weaponize the dj against me Again.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
Congressman, I totally agree.

Speaker 13 (27:22):
Look, I sent out a message earlier today, congratulations to
the Florida man, Matt Gates. But if you want to
clean out the Department of Justice, this is who you want.
Somebody who's not afraid to open up all of the
all the files were.

Speaker 12 (27:34):
Going to lead. Where is what's going to lead if
he gets confirmed? Where where could we find the real
bureaucratic bodies buried here?

Speaker 13 (27:43):
Fortunately, I think you're going to find a lot of
it in the political brass. I think the rank and file,
they just want to do their job for them. You know,
for the most part, we respect that. But the political
brass has been allowed to stay and linger for a
long time. I think that's where you're going to find
most of your rot. He's going to get to the
bottom of that. Have full trust in it.

Speaker 12 (27:58):
Need Can he get confirmed?

Speaker 1 (28:02):
I think this is going to be a test of
the new centement, he said. I think it's going to
be a test. That is the big question. There are
a lot of Republicans that are very quiet tonight over
this pick. As I am looking at their words, there's
a lot of people that have not come out and
endorsed Matt gets Or said he's going to be confirmed.

(28:23):
This is something that is And by the way, I
said this earlier and I'm going to I'm going to
say it again. I thought the Democrats are going to
dig in and really try to derail Pete Headseth at
the at the Department or at the Pentagon and the
Defense nominee. I don't think that's going to be the
case now. I think they're going to go all in

(28:45):
on Gates to do everything they can to stop him.
All right. I think this is one all in to stop,
no matter why, Matt Gates from being in this position
of power. I also believe that this is going to

(29:09):
be yes a test for Trump with a new Senate
majority leadership and the Senate majority leader electing Thune, are
they going to do what the President says or are
they going to say, hey, this is a stretch too
far for us because of some of the allegations against Gates. Now, again,

(29:29):
I'm giving you the lay of the land here. I'm
not going to come on here and tell you how
I think he's going to get confirmed, because I don't know,
all right, I don't know. But what I do know
is there's going to be a fight over this, all right.
It's going to be a fight.

Speaker 5 (29:46):
Now.

Speaker 1 (29:46):
There was also something else interesting that happened, and that
was Representative Thomas Massey on whether Gates will be confirmed
as the Attorney General by the Senate. He said, really simply, yeah,
it's called a recess appointment. Gop Massey saying, recess appointment.
When ass of Gates can get confirmed by the Senate,

(30:07):
he's the attorney general. Suck it up. Those were his words.
He was asked by a reporter today, listen carefully, he
turned general, suck it up. Recess appointment. When ass Gates
can get confirmed by the Senate, he's the attorney general.

(30:27):
Suck it up. Massy's words came after President like Trump
announced Gates had been selected to serve as the attorney
General under his incoming administration. Trump praising Gates as being
a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney who had been trained
at the William and Mary College of Law. He then
went on to talk about how they came after him
and attacked him, and so now this is the war

(30:50):
that Democrats were looking for to unite them after the election.
Number one. And then this is going to be a
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you an example of how quick they pivoted because they
were targeting earlier in the day. Pete, that's like, hold on,
we got Gates now, Mani rajju Over at CNN on

(33:29):
the reporting that Republican senators quote aren't ready to engage
on Trump's Gates appointment. Listen the breaking news.

Speaker 14 (33:37):
Blindsided. That's how many Senate Republicans feel by Donald Trump's
choice of Matt Gates to be Attorney General, Sources telling
CNN they were audible gasps on the Hill as the
announcement was popping up on people's phones they were hearing
from reporters. Here's how Republican Senator Susan Collins described how
she felt when she heard the news.

Speaker 15 (33:54):
I was shocked that he has been nominated.

Speaker 1 (33:59):
If the nomination proceeds, I'm sure that there will be
an extensive.

Speaker 12 (34:05):
Background check by the FBI and public hearings and a
lot of questions.

Speaker 14 (34:11):
As Kevin Kramer also raising the issues very explicitly of
the background check from the FBI making it clear many
perhaps feel that that will block it before they have
to deal with it. Manu Raju is out front live
on Capitol Hill, and Manu, I mean you have been
trying to talk to Republicans tonight there you were there
witnessing those audible gasps. What are they telling you?

Speaker 4 (34:33):
Yeah, it's very clear, Aaron, that this is going to
be a rocky road to confirmation because a lot of
Republicans are concerned about a number of things that mad
Case has said or done.

Speaker 3 (34:43):
Over the years' efforts to try to oust.

Speaker 4 (34:45):
Kevin McCarthy's speaker, successful efforts and leading that charge, the
fact that he's facing a House Ethics investigation into sexual misconduct,
something that he denies, as well as his defense of
Donald Trump in the aftermath of January sixth.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
And it really goes down the line. It does not
inlign with the.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
Of the views of the Republican senators who have the votes.

Speaker 3 (35:02):
To confirm him.

Speaker 4 (35:03):
Now, that doesn't mean that everyone wants to talk about it.
In fact, I try to talk to a lot of
Republican senators tonight about Matt Gates being nominated to the post,
and they made clear they were not ready to engage.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
I'm very I'm about Matt Gates.

Speaker 11 (35:25):
Process.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
I don't know yet I think about them.

Speaker 4 (35:28):
You have any concerns about it, we'll see what do
you think Matt Gates is confirmable? You find out war
Senator Kennedy, what are you think of Matt Gates the
attorney general?

Speaker 1 (35:41):
Thanksgiving? You can hear it. There a lot of Republicans
not necessarily want to say anything about Matt Gates now,
even on Fox News. Uh, and this is where this is.
I'm telling you this is going to be a big fight.
I want you to hear what Byron your set about
this nomination. This was on Fox.

Speaker 16 (36:04):
There are, to her point, very few people in Washington, Byron,
who are going to take on the task of real
DOJ reform in the specific way that the President elect
wants it.

Speaker 17 (36:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 15 (36:18):
Well, what the Senator said can be true, and Matt
Gates can still be a terrible pick. And I do
think it was a terrible pick. And we don't know
the status of the House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged misconduct.
We do know the Justice Department investigated and didn't charge
him with anything, But the thing we really know for

(36:39):
a fact is that Matt Gates played a hugely aggressive
role in nearly destroying the House, the Republican Party in
the House of Representatives, and with based mostly on a
personal vendetta against Kevin McCarthy, who was then the Speaker
of the House. And I mean, he's very lucky that
the House has no role in confirmations because this guy said,

(37:03):
he's got enemies all over the place, and the reason
he has those enemies was that the things he did
were so damaging for no good reason.

Speaker 1 (37:12):
That was on Fox. Now you listen to that, and
I'm going to leave you with one final thought about this,
and this is going to be a fight. It's going
to be a war. This is going to be intense.
Coming out after that. On Hannity, Lindsey Graham, who will
get a vote on this, said this about Gates.

Speaker 6 (37:34):
After all that Donald Trump has been through and the
weaponization of our DOJ and it's so sad to me
that great agencies like the FBI and the CIA have
been so politicized.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
The way they've been.

Speaker 6 (37:50):
Anybody that is not in favor of restoring those agencies
and those to their former greatness and those apartments to
their former greatness to me, would be disqualified. Let's get
to the issue, and that is the hissteria on the
left about back Gates and Matt has been in the

(38:12):
forefront with Jim Jordan of fighting against weaponization.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Does he not deserve a chance to be heard?

Speaker 17 (38:19):
Well, not only does he deserve a chance to be heard.
Every president deserves a chance to pick their cabinet.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Elections do matter.

Speaker 17 (38:29):
When I say elections have consequences and I vote for
Democratic nominees that I would not have chosen, I am
some kind of great statesman. When I apply that same
standard to a Republican president, I'm somehow a lackey.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
I am telling you exactly what I'm going to do.

Speaker 17 (38:47):
I did it for Bush, I did it for Obama,
I did it for Biden, and I'm going to do
it for President Trump. He won the election. He deserves
a chance to pick his cabinet. I am predisposed to
allow him to do that. I think Matt Matt Gates
is very bright. I think he's qualified. He'll have a
hearing and he'll have some tough questions to answer. But

(39:10):
to every Republican, please follow a process to give President
Trump the ability to pick the people he thinks can
do the job and give Matt a chance.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
And you have a history of that. You do it
for everybody. I do it for everybody.

Speaker 6 (39:26):
And in fairness to you, you are being consistent. And
I wish Democrats would be as consistent as you are.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
But they're not going to be.

Speaker 1 (39:34):
It's clear Lindsey is taking a different approach. This is
going to be the nomination they wanted to derail because
it's such an important post. They want this to be
a fight where he has a big loss. This is
all about wanting to make sure that they get a

(39:54):
head on a stick politically of somebody that Donald Trump nominated.
Be ready for this, because if they get momentum and
they can get Gates gone, they're gonna move immediately to
Pete and they're gonna move down the line. And Democrats
are gonna use this as a rallying cry. And I'm
letting you know right now this is gonna end up

(40:15):
being a serious fight. Don't forget. Shared this podcast with
your family and friends, shared on social media wherever you are,
and I'll see you back here tomorrow.