Meet the Press NOW — November 20

If it's Wednesday. Former Congressman Matt Gates back on the Hill today trying to announce support to be the next Attorney General as the House Ethics Committee meets decide whether to release a potentially damning report on his conduct. Plus, Republican Senator Kevin Kramer meets the press after spending the day with President elect Trump and warning publicly that Matt Gates has a steep hill clock decline to win his support for confirmation. And Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sits out exclusively with NBC News for his first one on one interview since the election, responding to Trump's take to run the Pentagon saying women should not serve in combat votes.

Welcome to Meet the Press. I'm Yamiche Sendor in Washington. Right now there is a full court press underway on Capitol Hill to mobilize support for President elect Donald Trump's most polariz cabinet fix. And this afternoon the House Ethics Committee met to debate whether to release a potentially damning report on one of those picks, former Congressman Matt Gates.

Moments ago, the Republican chair of the committee, Congressman Michael Guest, left that meeting swarmed by reporters telling them there's been no agreement on releasing the report. He provide no other details about the discussions. But on his way into the meeting, Congressman Guest suggested the committee has multiple paths to choose from. To me, these, there are two separ one is a public release of everything we have at this point and other things, the nomination that comes even as some Republican senators dismiss the importance of the report itself.

I mean we are going to see that information most likely come up. So let's dispense with the idea that somebody just shuts it off. It's gonna be dealt with, it's gonna be reverse engineered, it's gonna be before the committee. That's the way it works.

I think that Mike, I'm sorry, Speaker Johnson is right. I think you can make an argument that would be politicizing the process. I don't have any problem. In fact, I want the ethics committees in the House and the Senate to actually maintain some integrity.

They have a lot of it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Senate Democrats disagree. Today, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting evidence from the closed Department of Justice investigation into Matt Gates on alleged sex trafficking. Gates has denied the allegations and all of the investigations into him.

This comes as Vice President elect Jake Evans on Capitol Hill meeting with Senate Republicans with Matt Gates. Privately, more than half of Republican senators are saying they don't see a path for Gates to get confir. No senator has explicitly said they would vote against confirming Matt Gates. Today.

The top republic on the Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham said Gates deserves to go through the process. Here's what I told him. No rubber stamps and no lynch. MO I think Matt is a very, very smart guy and these allegations will be dealt with in committee, but he deserves a chance to confront his accusers.

And the process is turning into a lynch mob, and I'm not gonna be part of that. Of course. Gates is just one of several polarizing choices for Trump's new administration. Tomorrow, Vice President Elect J.

Vance is set to return to Capitol Hill for meetings on Pete Hexeth, Trump's choice to run the Pentagon. Now, Hexath is facing new scrutiny after his lawyer confirmed that his client dated woman who accused him of sexual assault, allegations Hexeth denies. Meanwhile, the president elect is press administration picks. He has tapped Tradition Team co chair Linda McMahon to head the Department of Education.

It's an agency that Trump, on the campaign trail, vowed to dismantle when he took office. Trump has also chosen Matt Whitaker as ambassador to NATO. That's another organization frequently criticized by Trump during his first term and while he was running this election cycle, both McMahon and Whitaker have little relevant experience for their respective cabinet roles. And joining me now from Capitol Hills, NBC News is Ryan Nobles, NBC's Bond Hilliard, discovering the Trump transition from West Palm Beach, Florida.

And with me on set is NBC News chief Political analyst Chuck Todd. Thank you all for being here. Ryan. Is the House Ethics Committee meeting over?

Do we know also about the report, what the committee is saying and what actually has done at this point? Yeah, so there's a lot we don't yet know. We know that at this point, there are not going to release the report publicly. Michael Guest, the chairman of that committee, saying as he was leaving that there was no agreement to do so.

But they did say that there could perhaps be some avenue for the House Ethics Committee to share some of their findings with the Senate Judiciary Committee, who's handling the confirmation process of Matt Gates, but did not get into the specificity around that. What we're waiting to see is how Democrats on this Ethics Committee responded to this back and forth. And we are expecting the ranking member of the Ethics Committee, Susan Wild, to speak here in the next few minutes. We're monitoring that that could happen at any moment and see if, for instance, that the Democrats on the panel very much wanted to see that report be released publicly, but it was Republicans that rebuke them.

Now, that's important because if all the House Democrats said yes, they wanted the report to be revealed, and it's not Coming out, that would mean that every single Republican said that they wanted to keep it under wraps because that a committee that's made up of equal parts of five Republicans and five Democrats. So as you heard from the Senate Republicans that are going to be tasked with this confirmation process, they believe that they'll get this information in some form or fashion, even if it's not the House Effects Committee reports, specifically whether through the FBI background check, whether to their own investigation. But right now it appears that the House Ethics Committee, at least for now, is not going to see the light of day. Well, it's interesting as you're talking about sort of whether or not this report can see the light of day.

There are Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, as we said, sending this letter to the FBI. So how much do we know about how ready and willing Democrats are to have this fight over Matt Gates? So I think the Democrats want to get all the information out there, but they also are being very careful not to turn that Gates into some sort of MAGA martyr who will then get this support rally around him because it appears that Democrats are out to get him. They've seen this playbook used before by Republicans.

The best example being during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation, which is interesting. That sounded played earlier from Lindsay Graham where he described the lynch mob mentality. That's what he used to describe the Brett Kavanaugh situation. He became one of Brett Kavanaugh's biggest defenders here on Capitol Hill.

They want Republicans to own this confirmation. And I believe we have development with Susan right now. You shall send it back to you. Okay, let's listen to them.

My attention that in fact, we agreed that we were not going to discuss what had transpired at the meeting. But it comes to my attention that the chairman has since betrayed the process by disclosing our deliberations within moments after walking out of the committee. And he has implied that there was an agreement of the committee not to disclose the report. That is an untrue.

To the extent that that suggests that the committee was in agreement or that we had a consensus on that, that is inaccurate. And I will say that vote was taken. As many of you know, this committee is evenly divided between Democrats, Republicans, five Dems, five Republicans, which means that in order to affirmatively move something forward, somebody has to cross party lines and vote with the other side, which happens a lot, by the way, and we often vote unanimously. That did not happen in today's vote.

And I do not want the American public or anyone else to think that Mr. Guest's characterization of what transpired today would would be some sort of indication that the committee had unanimity or consensus on this issue not to release the report. That would be an inaccurate portrayal, and nobody should take that. From what they have heard so far, there was no consensus on this issue.

We did agree that we would reconvene as a committee on December 5 to further consider this matter. And this statement I just made is on behalf of all the Democratic members of the Ethics Committee. So that was Representative Susan while talking about the House Ethics Committee. Right.

I want to come back to you. I'm a little concerned about whether or not what you were saying was accurate because it sounded like the committee chairman was saying that there had been a decision. She's saying that maybe he violated some sort of agreement there. And it was suggested that there she was in an agreement not to release it.

What do you know? So, first of all, the first point she was making was that the committee made an agreement that when they left the room, they weren't going to talk at all about their deliberations. That was the first part that she felt that Chairman Guest violated because German Guest did talk to reporters as he was leaving. And I think the particular part of what Guest said that she's making abundantly clear and making sure that people don't interpret incorrectly was that Guest said that there was no agreement as it relates to releasing the report, and she did not want to give the impression that there was a unanimous vote not to release the report.

Now, Guest is not incorrect in saying that there was no agreement to release the report, because if you read between the lines here, it seems pretty clear, especially what she said, given at the top of her remarks about the fact that they're equal parts Republican and Democrat. It sounds like there were five Republican votes not to release the report, five Democratic votes to release the report. Therefore, there was no agreement to release the report. So both of them are correct in their interpretation of this.

What I think Wild is making very clear here is that this was not unanimous agreement to keep the reports under wraps. And I think the other point that is important, which Guess also alluded to, was that there would be a continuing conversation about how to handle this material and that they would meet again after Thanksgiving on December 5th. That's right. The commissioner said we have regularly scheduled meetings between now and the end of the year.

So this continues on. Thank you so much. Ryan Nobles from Capitol Hill and Vaughn, I want to now bring you in tickets inside this push to get Matt Gaetz confirmed as attorney General, especially today while he's on Capitol Hill with Jamie Vance. How much more do we know about the sort of fight mode or maybe celebratory mode that the transition team is in?

Right. Well, this is multiple. Number one, the vice president to be J.D. vance walking alongside up on Capitol Hill, shepherding him around to Senate offices to try to get him to those 51 votes.

But then you also Donald Trump, who has made phone calls directly from as Mar A Lago estate. We also had Donald Trump yesterday travel with Texas for The Elon Musk SpaceX launch, joined by Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Bill Haggerty. So for the Trump operation here, this was a decision made to put back Gates forward, one in which they knew all too well that there would be controversy and difficulty in getting to the 51 vote. Stephen Miller, who is a close Donald Trump, a deputy chief of staff to be inside of this next White House, was on Fox.

John Hanney last night was asked whether Donald Trump would seek recessive appointments in the scenario that there's a hold up among senators in confirming any of his nominees. And he directly answered yes, of course, this is going to call into question the constitutional grounds which Donald Trump could try to adjourn the Congress come January of 2025. But I think if you look at Donald Trump's social media post, just from a video this afternoon, I think it's very representative where Donald Trump mindset is when it comes to Matt Gates and Speed Hagset and others of ROBERT F. Kennedy jr.

If you take a look social media post from Donald Trump. This is what the radical athletics do to people. They dirty them up, they destroy them and then they spit them out. They're trying that right now.

Some great American patriots are only trying to fix them. That's what the Democrats have made out of our country. We will win maga. It's interesting that you point that out.

I wonder if you could in some ways talk about the mindset of Trump a little bit more, especially when it comes to whether or not he's worried at all that Matt Gates might not be confirmed because we are hearing at least privately from some Senate Republicans that they don't see this path forward. Right. It's a good question. But I think that if I think that the body of evidence of Donald Trump in his history is I think, the most representative of his fights, ultimately you win mentality.

And that especially coming off of not only a defamation case, but one which was found who actually abused Egypt Carroll. Donald Trump didn't back down and stopped denying the underlying Facts and evidence and the claims made by Euge Carol and individuals close to her in his own case, 2023 and 2024. Instead, he largely even campaigned on it and made a case of using unfairly attacked. And so we have seen here with Matt Gates him continue to stand by his side.

But this goes back to 2017. He's on because of Roy Morris was credibly accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct towards teenagers years ago. We saw him do with Charles Herbster who was in Nebraska, a gubernatorial candidate in 2022 who had seven. We went and come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him.

He went campaign for him in 2022. So for Donald Trump, this is another chapter of perhaps would it be uncontrolled defense for most people. For Donald Trump, he has not seemed to have any, any idea of stepping away from individuals like this. Yeah, he's of course been pushing that against his own allegations and people saying that he's done things that were untoward.

So thank you so much from West Palm Beach. Chuck, of course you talked about this in your column. The political capital that President Trump is is using up or maybe using up when it comes to ma he made of that. Does he have enough capital, political capital to pull this through?

Is it worth it? In his mind, look in his mind, I think he thinks he's invincible. Right. Look what he has been able to get away with.

Right. Throughout his entire political career. If you look at the last 10 years, it's his political career. If he said I'm untouchable, I'm invincible and he has a feeling, I don't think we should sit here and he is the he now is representative of what he said 10 years, famously nine years ago, I could shoot something into that when my probate won't go down.

So with certain parts of base, I think he does feel that invincible. The problem is the reality of how politics works. And he's going to burn expand when you have he's acting like he has a mandate. He won an election.

He didn't get a mandate. In fact, there are a lot of Democratic senators that got reelected in states that Donald Trump carry, which to me is like in direct contrast to a mandate. It's almost as you can interpret that as the voters are saying we want you there, but we don't trust your entire party. Yeah, you can interpret that any way you want.

Now, the irony is that the reason these Democratic senators are returning is his own voters showed up, voted for him and left because they don't care about the Republican Party, they cared about Trump, but Trump's going to expend all this capital rallying these guys right now. They have no choice but to support him on these controversial picks. Most of them, I think one of them goes away. Probably he sees his sort of family and he's going to fight.

Confirmed. I think he says he makes it that far. I think he's one because he doesn't think there's the same personal connection. But he's going to burn up all his political capital and then he's about to go do what Joe Biden did for a year and a half, negotiate one big fat bill with his own party with incredibly narrow majorities, particularly in the House.

Oh, by the way, he had made sure government's funded in mid March. He is the first president that was able to successfully shut down the government while his own party controlled both houses in the Senate. So you can't rule anything out here. So he's got all these favors early on.

He's calling in you and I both know eventually the public where's now and how is he. So he's using a capital now before he's ever taken the oath. Look, it's not the way to have a successful presidency and successful agenda. It is a way if he wants to seek revenge and burn the place down.

Yeah, Well, I want to be part of your column. I think it's important to sort of talk about this and you say here's the political problem for Trump that he's creating for himself. He's taking full ownership of the entire bureaucracy. Now, this time he has to deliver.

And his ability to deliver depends on whether he can put together a stable set of political actors to not only do his bidding, but also somehow deliver on his promises to a whole new group of voters who are trying out Trumpism for the very first time. So if you think about that, if voters pick someone who could sort of be a chaos and change here and get does it matter sort of if he's focused on all of these things. But that could get wrong. And it's the same stake abide folks made is that they think the person who was a 5149 voter and the person that was a 9010 vote, meaning there's no way of course they're going for that party.

That's what they always do versus the London thing. I don't know, but I'll try this out. Donald Trump won because of the margin of the I don't know. I'm gonna try this out.

I certainly didn't like what the Biden Harris was. So I do think there's a core part of the space that wants to burn it down. They want to get rid of the state. They want whatever that means and to you know, it's sort of imagined mythical thing but everybody has own definition of it and they want to create a new bureaucracy that they control.

Right. I don't think at the end of the day the American people are always going to libertarian, meaning when one party thinks, you know, they don't want any party telling them how to live their lives, doesn't want any party telling them these things. So I, I just, I question whether this is going to have tank power just because this is, it's nobody is immune from political sort of what you would call it sort of, you know, I'm losing this word here but essentially gravity, political gravity. Thank you Melissa Frankel in my ear and no one's into it neither Donald Trump the first term he could excuse his inability to get anything done and he really didn't do anything other than that tax cut and works.

He could say, oh it was Mitch McConnell's fault or it was Fauci's fault or it was all these other people that I didn't really want this time everybody's his. So when the government messes up, he can't blame somebody else. Democrats don't control the House, the Republicans do. And that's now his burden.

I don't think he fully appreciates that now every in the state government makes there's no deep state to blame. He is the deep state. Bobby Kennedy's the deep state, Tulsi Gabbard's the deep state. They control it.

Now when I talk to you more about this because I also have questions what are the consequences being a lame duck. But I have to go because we are of course, thank you so much. And coming up I'll talk to the one one of the Republican lawmakers who has been critical of that Gates. He did a phone call and a truck though the SpaceX launch with President elect Trump did that changed his mind.

North Dakota co Senator Kevin Kramer is standing by. He joins me next year watching. Welcome back. As we mentioned, the Trump transition team is making a concerted effort to get his cabinet fixed across the finish line.

The president elected and working the phones according to sources familiar with the push. And yesterday in Texas, Trump was also with some Sen. Republicans to watch the state's ex Tesla watch. Among them was Republican senator from North Dakota Kevin Kramer who joins me now.

Thank you so much Senator for Being here. So you talk to President Trump about his desire to see Matt Gates confirmed as Attorney General. And you're also with Trump in Texas just yesterday. So what can you tell us about your conversations with the President Elect?

Well, first of all, you know, we've been together for many, many hours. The last, you know, obviously yesterday. And I know we can talk quite a while. And the issue of Matt Gates was not the prominent issue of the day.

It wasn't even, it wasn't even a long discussion other than him just expressing his desire to see Matt confirmed. And he really hopes that that's what happens. But I have to say, I didn't feel like there's a full court precedent. He doesn't need to reiterate to me how important, Sistine.

I mean, it's, after all, he's carrying out what he promised the people he would do. And he said Matt Gates wasn't a big, big topic. But you have said yourself that Matt Gates, quote, destroyed the House of Representatives for several months and that Gates says a, quote, steep hill decline to get your vote. You also question whether it's worth Trump's political capital to get Matt Gates confirmed.

So did you share those concerns with the President elect? And if so, what was his response? I haven't even. I get the sense right now he's going through a normal process where he's doing some personal lobbying.

Obviously, JD Vance is helping him. Matt himself is reaching out, and he called me, and that's why I called him back. We haven't been able to connect yet. He's just, he's going through the normal channels and not spending so much capital as just spending some time on the effort.

And I think it's really clear, and it's an important distinction that he does want Matt Gates confirmed. This isn't a diversion of some sort of distraction from other controversial pics, because I don't think they're all that controversial. But he clearly knows what he wants and he's put that forward. And I don't think he feels yet like he's spending a lot of capital.

And I. You say the president feeling like he's spending a lot of capital, but I wonder if you yourself determine that Matt Gates is unqualified to be Attorney General. Do you think yourself that you are willing to go toe to toe with President Elect Trump on this issue, maybe even other Senate Republicans? Well, it's an important part of the process.

When the president's party is the majority party in the Senate, they're gonna have the final say on this confirmation, obviously, part of the, part of the path involves personal conversations, and there's nothing wrong with that. That's entirely to be expected. I don't expect there'll be a big public brawl of any type. I actually think that, you know, he's going to measure and weigh, you know, every, every decision he has to make from now until we begin this process of confirming.

And frankly, yesterday, most of the time we discussed prospective Cabinet secretaries. I mean, you know, he had some, some announcements yesterday and some teases yesterday. Dr. Oz, of course, we talked about that.

We talked about the possibility of a new FBI director for you. Specifically, if you determine that Gates isn't qualified, would you vote against Matt Gates? If Donald Trump, President Elect Trump, is saying, I think that you shouldn't do that, would you believe. Yeah, my vote is my vote.

And, you know, I, I think back to when I voted to override his veto and National Authorization act, we prevailed. Senators don't give up their votes easily. At the very least, there's transactions that take place that's entirely appropriate. So I'm not gonna say what I'll never do, and normally I say what I'll definitely do in this case, because there's a process, and process involves background checks, and it may involve release of the, the House Ethics Committee or may not, I don't know.

But there's gonna be background checks, testimony appearing in the Judiciary Committee that I'm not a member of. And, and after that, then we'll go to the next level and we'll see what happens. Well, you bring up the House Ethics Committee, and it is meeting today, or didn't meet today. You said the committee should release its report on that case.

Speaker Johnson disagreed. And so what should the Senate do if the committee keeps this private? And how hard is the Senate willing to fight to see this report? Specifically, how hard are you willing to fight to see this report?

Sure. Well, I'm not worried about seeing them, but I think the easy thing to do, the appropriate thing to do, would be for them to release it, at least to start with the Judiciary Committee, who has the opportunity to review it. But if they don't release it, then I think it'll be repeated. I mean, the Judiciary Committee has a lot of power itself and has investigators, subpoena power.

They'll have hearings, they can have witnesses. All of the same things that created the House Ethics report can be recreated. So I think that that's likely, at least to some degree. I don't think anybody's just going to cast a vote without looking into the background.

These are serious allegations. None of them have, by the way, have gotten convicted. And in fact, the FBI just stopped their investigation altogether. So it's not like he's been convicted of anything.

Nobody should be surprised that Matt gave is a maverick, that he is strong, that he has, some people may say reckless at times, but that is what Donald Trump wanted. And that's what he wants, is what he campaigned on. He's fulfilling that promise, as per my vote. That will be determined later once he's moved on through the committee process.

And we owe it to that. We owe it to the president. We owe it to the American people to have that process. I want to also ask you about the headset.

You're on the Senate Armed Services Committee, where the headset will appear before his confirmation. He said that women should not have combat roles in the military. As you know, the military roles opened all combat roles, women in 2016, and they found success, including the thousands of women who saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and earned valor awards. Are you comfortable with that position, Bakken Hex?

Well, first of all, that's his position. That's his personal position. He certainly has earned the right to have it being an American, and even more so being an American warrior as he's been. So I don't find that as controversial as some people may, that may not be the military's position.

Even if he takes that confirmed as a secretary, I, at this point see no reason why he wouldn't. He is a warrior's warrior. I think he will represent the enlisted man and woman and, and certainly he'll have something to say about the people around him. But he's a great face, frankly, for a modern American military.

He loses a peace through strength. And, and that's exactly what Donald Trump wants. And I don't at this point, I see no reason not to support the hex. I intend to do everything I can to help me across.

And I know you said that you're willing to do what it takes to get across with him. A US Military official, though, told NBC News that, heck, that showed, quote, zero leadership capability during his service with the D.C. national Guard and that he, quote, had his own agenda. He didn't care what the rules.

Are you comfortable with someone like that leading our men and women in uniform? Well, first of all, one military Official from the D.C. national Guard is not who I turn to for my council. I will look forward to visiting with you.

I know him a little bit. We're going to have a meeting. I look forward to discussing things with the things that I agree with, things I don't disagree that I disagree with that he has said, particularly about generals and informing the commission and all those things that root out the woke generals. I think what we need is somebody who elevates the military and elevates service and elevates the aspirations of young officers who'd like to someday be a general.

And I think for the most part, generals salute to the political leadership. I remember not so long ago when Gina Ortiz was the undersector of the Air Force, she drove a lot of Air Force generals out of the service because they wouldn't be woke because they wouldn't read her DEI report out loud. So all of these are issues that matter. But collectively, you have to come up with a, you know, eventually binary decision.

Yes or no. At this point, everything I see about Pete ha says he'd be a very fine secretary. Secretary of Defense. Yeah.

Well, I hear that clearly from you, Senator. Well, thank you so much, Senator Kevin Kramer, for your time. My pleasure. Thank you.

And up next, NBC News exclusive interview with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, his response to Russia's new nuclear doctrine and the president elect pick to run the Pentagon. Don't go anywhere. You're watching the press. Now let's kickstart your wellness journey with the doctor workouts meal plans.

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It's more context and clarity from the reporters you trust. Download the NBC News app now and subscribe for more. Welcome back. Just days after Ukraine began using US Supplied long range weapons against Russia, the US Announced that its embassy in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv closed after receiving quote, specific information like potential significant air attack.

This also comes after President Biden approved anti personnel landmines for Ukraine to allow key to defend itself from advancing Russian troops. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended The US policy changes in an exclusive and wide ranging interview with NBC News's Courtney Cube. He also discussed them on other topics. His potential successor Pete Hexf President elects pick for the President.

Let's pick to lead the Pentagon. Courtney has more. Today the US Embassy in keep closing its doors and issuing a warning to employees and Americans to shelter in place amidst the threat of an imminent large scale attack by air on the capital city. Now this comes as tensions are already high in the area after Russian plus President Vladimir Putin said that he was lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons by Russia.

We spoke with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin today in an exclusive interview where I asked him about that threat from Russian President Vladimir Putin to use a nuclear weapon. But Putin is also escalated just announcing that he's lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons. He announced this right after press reports that the US authorized attacking strikes inside of Russia. Is there a reason to believe that Vladimir Putin may use a nuclear weapon?

We've known for several weeks that they were revamping their policy on the use of nuclear weapons. As I look at what they're doing and we watch their strategic forces very carefully, I don't see a change in their strategic force posture. And so we'll continue to remain vigilant in this regard. But at this point, no, I don't see an indication that there's an imminent intent to use nuclear weapons.

Is he bluffing with this change? He has rattled his nuclear saber quite a bit and this is dangerous behaviors you've heard me say before. We expect that countries with nuclear capability be a heck of a lot more responsible in terms of how they how they act and what they're saying. Putin's nuclear state rattling comes after the Biden administration made two big policy changes with respect to Ukraine announcing that they will now send anti personnel landmines to Ukraine for use against Russia and that the Biden administration has lifted restrictions that now will allow Ukraine to use long range attacks or long range missiles to strike inside of Russia.

Two big policy changes that Ukraine has been asking for for some time now. The interview today with Secretary Defense Floyd Austin is the first one he's done since the election and since President elect Donald Trump announced Pete Hegson death of Fox News media personality as his choice to be the next Pentagon chief. Hexaf has made some comments about policy changes he thinks need to be made at the Pentagon, some of which have gotten a lot of attention. I asked Secretary Austin about some of those policy decisions.

Do you have any concerns about women in these combat roles like the ones that you mentioned when you're serving in Iraq, do you have any concern that women impact readiness of these units? They do impact readiness. They make us better. They make us stronger.

And again, what I've seen from our women is quite incredible. And I'm not, I'm not, this is not a purple. This is, I'm just telling you what I've seen. And I think, you know, as the years have gone by, our women get better and stronger.

I also asked Secretary Austin about Pete Hagset's recent comments that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General CQ Brown should be fired for his support of diversity initiatives. This Secretary Austin fiercely defended General Brown, saying he's one of the best officers he ever served with. And he said that the United States military needs to reflect the population as a whole and diversity will always be one of the strengths in the US Military. Back to you.

Thanks so much, Courtney, for that reporting and doing tonight, tonightly news to catch even more important exclusive one on one interview with Secretary Austin. And still to come, Speaker Johnson's ever shrinking majority and what it means for how he'll run the US House. Plus a debate over transgender rights in Congress. You're watching.

Welcome back. It's been more than two weeks since the election and still there are four uncalled House races. And right now Republicans are looking at a one. That's right, one seat majority.

And they're also looking at three potential agencies with Matt Gates resigning, two other members packed for roles in the new Trump administration. Ali Bali of course, covers Capitol Hill for us. And she joins me now with what Speaker Johnson is facing. So right now, Ally, we have four uncalled House races.

Who's leading those races? Yeah, four uncalled House races. And you look at the balance of power right now, I mean, we knew it was going to be tight, Yamiche. But 218 for Republicans, that is in theory the magic number here.

And then Democrats at 213. The ways those numbers are going to change depend on these four races. And we actually just called one of those. There used to be a fifth until like two hours ago.

That was in Ohio. Mercy capture. The Democrat was able to keep that seat. So that lent one more to Democrat column.

But here, look at Alaska. This is a Democrat on defense seat. The reason you're not seeing percentages is because they're in a right choice voting state and they are currently reallocating those votes because they're onto the second balloting round. And so we're going to wait to see if Mary Peltilla can keep her seat.

The same can be said of John duarte in California's 13. This was a race where, again, it was closed last time. Now you got a difference of 227 votes going to be closed again this time. The same can be said of California's 45th district.

This is a state. This is an area where Michelle Steele, the Republican incumbent, is playing defense. The Democrat leads by just over 300 votes there. And then Iowa's first congressional.

I opened this up and I thought, oh, my God, this race total hasn't changed. But for three votes since two or three weeks ago when I opened this up the last time, right now, the Republican playing defense there. So effectively, if you are able to look at this, you have one more, two more in the Republican column, potentially three more in the Republican column, and then one more in the Dem column. I don't do very well with math, but as we back it up here on the board, if you're adding three more here, you end up with 221 and then 214 as the board kind of rebels against me.

And so again, you're looking at Republican majority, but not by much, especially when you take the fact that three of these seats are gone now. So you stay back at 218. It's just a little bit of messing up right now for Republicans. Yeah, well, someone who's definitely trying to do that math is also going to be House Speaker Johnson.

So Republicans had a lot of trouble getting things done when they had even a larger majority in the House. I wonder now, because now that we control the presidency, the Senate and the House, even if it is by that slim, slim majority, is that going to make things easier? Probably not, especially when you look at the fact that they're going to have some special elections coming up, too. So Johnson knows the majority that he's dealing with is going to be small, but he's also got many of the same kinds of unruly members who might want to exact their own agenda or put their own stamp on legislation in this Trump era.

And so at the same time, as you're getting rid of, most likely a motion to vacate threshold at 1, that at least puts the speaker's job in a little bit less jeopardy, they're probably going to put the motion to vacate at 9 now. But at the same time, Yamiche, you're also looking at the ability, when you've got margins that are discussed close, any single person actually gets to be a majority maker effectively. Yeah. And I'm not asking you to come on over because apart from the big board, which of course is incredible, and the other thing that Peter Johnson having to deal with is Nancy Mace and this anti transgender bill.

So tell us, what is there? Nancy Mace basically trying to force this issue as the first transgender member of Congress makes their way to this building, Sarah McBride of Delaware. And none of these rules go into effect until January. But what Mace is saying is I'm going to push a privilege resolution on the floor that says that people who were born male are not allowed to use women's bathrooms.

The speaker, for his part, basically backed that up, both in a statement yesterday, but also saying today, he says all single sex facilities in the Capitol and House office buildings, restrooms, changing rooms, locker rooms are reserved for individuals of that biological. He says it's important to note that each member office has its own private restroom and unisex restrooms are available throughout the capital. Women deserve women's only spaces. None of this is real until the rules package passes in January.

So this is sort of future casting right now. But I can tell you, bathrooms of the Capitol in the immediate vicinity of the House floor, I can't actually think of any unisex stalls that are near there. And so there's a question of accessibility, a question of dignity, and a question, frankly of why they're targeting just one member. Well, that one member, of course, is representative elect Sarah McBride.

She released a statement. So did Nancy. So what are they both saying to Sarah McBride? Statement?

She said, I'm not here to fight about bathrooms. I'm here to fight for Delawareans and to bring costs down for families, like all members under all the rules, she says, as outlined by Speaker Johnson, even as I disagree with them. She calls this a distraction for Democratic colleagues, for their part, to me for saying that this is bullying. But Mace has also released a statement, as you mentioned, where she says at Speaker Johnson, the fight isn't over just yet.

We want to ban men from women's spaces in every federal building, school, public bathroom, everywhere. So Mace is clearly not just willing to stop with the Capitol. She wants to make this a larger battle for this Congress. Yeah.

And this has been, of course, a big battle here, but also throughout the country who. Definitely a place. Thanks for doing, Del. And still to come, Dr.

Oz, a former reality TV star, a Fox News host, and now more. We'll dig deeper into the political fallout as Trump fails his administration. The panel's next. You're watching me, the press now.

Welcome back. As we mentioned, Congress and in particular, the Senate has a lot on its plate as President Electron quickly named some polarizing figures to his cabinet. For more on all this, I'm joined by the panel. Idris Calhoun, Washington bureau chief at the Economist, Megan Hayes, former special assistant to President Biden, and Mark Lauder, former director of the strategic communications for the Trump 2020 campaign.

So thank you all for being introduced. I want to start with you. What do you think of the fact that President elect Trump is working the phones and sending JD Vance to meet the senators when it comes to trying to get back Gates across the finish line? Well, he wants what he wants.

Right. You know, Gates is not a sacrificial lamb. Some people thought that he might be to get the confirmation through. The president actually wants to get through.

But I think he'll have his hands full. I think that, you know, unlike the other appointees, there are five or six Republican senators who have already said statements suggesting that they're not going to vote for him. I think it'll be, it'll be the hardest one for him. I think the other ones will probably get through.

And there's this question of whether or not it's surprising to see President elect Trump expenditure capital this early on. But part of me thinks, well, maybe there is, this is a well that's never going to run dry because he's the one that's responsible for a Republican votes power in Washington. Yeah. It also allows him to see what the landscape is.

You know, Thune is the leader. How does he play this? Who is opposition going to be? Is it McConnell, is it Collins, Is it Murkowski?

I mean, it's also kind of a trace around for all the problems he's going to have to be dealing with in the future. Yeah. And Mark, I want to read you something our colleague Chuck Todd wrote in his column today. He said, he writes, these moments of peak political capital are fleeting and when they go, they go.

Just ask President Joe Biden. The question is whether Trump and his GOP understand how they won. If they don't accept the premise that they won because of who they were not, rather than because of who they are, they'll see their support erode as quickly for them as it did for Biden. I wonder how you see that, especially when you think of how much political capital Republicans might be willing to spend on that case.

But also this idea that Trump has defied sort of traditional history and then the way that politics works. So I wonder your view of this. Well, I think, I agree with Chuck, but I think I disagree in one area. I think fighting whether it's the swamp, the so called deep state, the bureaucracy that is one of the reasons why Trump won.

It may not be with the midd who decided on immigration and economy, but for a large portion of his base there is. They want to see someone that's going to get in there and fight. So I think that capital has a very deep well for him to tap into. Maybe with some of the other in that more in the middle, it's a little thinner.

But this is to your point, this is not about six or five, it's about holding, holding the defections to three. Yeah. And you of course work closely with President elect Trump. So I want to ask you, do you think he's thought really deeply about the idea of reset, the consequences of asking Republican senators in particular to advocate their responsibilities, they would say their duty to confirm his nominees?

Well, I think in some cases, you know, especially if you're from a very deep red MAGA state and you do not necessarily want to vote for confirmation, you might welcome a recess appointment because then you don't have to have an up or down vote that would be on your record when you seek a reelection. Yeah, I wonder what, Megan, what do you think it'll take for the dominoes to fall when it comes to MacGates? Do you think that Senate Republicans will be willing to sort of publicly be open to this Matt Gates appointment, especially if maybe another person steps through or they just say, hey, he's not qualified, I can't do this. I think that the information about what's in that ethics report is continually going to leak out through different sources.

You saw the lawyer on TV from the past couple days. Every day it's going to get worse and worse and it's just going to keep mounting up. And I think eventually that the, the week they're gonna be too much and President Trump, President Elect Trump will probably pull the nominations. They won't have to vote on it because I think that they realize voting not getting him through is more of a problem for President Elect Trump than it is just pulling back his nomination.

Is that sort of wishful thinking though? Do you think that that might happen or do you think that it's like. I think if you look at President Elect Trump and how much he wants this, I mean, does he really want this or he is out there saying he does? Because it's your point.

There's been five or six centers out there that have already said they probably will not vote for him on the Republican Side, there's a bunch of House members who are also up there. Doesn't like the spotlight more than him. I think that this just creates more mud in the well for him. I think that will be problematic for the other people who are actually problematic.

Remember the art of the deal, you know, the longer he keeps him up there, the more you have a bargaining chip if this comes to pass to say, well, maybe one of my other ones, you pull this one down, I'll be there for you on the other one. I'm not saying that's happening, but that could happen. That's Washington D.C. yeah.

It's interesting because still publicly, no Republican senator has said he's voting against confirming Matt Gates. But there has been some publicly, some public statements when it comes to the New York Post and it's, it says while most of the cabinets have been excellent, they say some of them are risky but promising. Gates and Gabbard are dreadful. They say dread we plead that he rethink them.

They're distracting chaos agents who won't accomplish what Trump wants them to and will most likely backfire on the agenda. So I wonder, do you think these pleas, they resonate with President Elect Trump? I think New York Post carries more weight than the New York Times for him. I think, you know, the Journal editorial board will carry more weight with Republican senators.

There's certainly a number of them who pay attention to that. So I don't think that these please are for not. And I also think that to the recent appointments question, you know, the new Senate is going to get seen until January 3rd. To be in recess, you have to be there for 10 days.

So what is the 10 day period that Donald Trump's going to take to break up his 100 day agenda to actually get through Matt Gates? I mean it might not come until Easter. Is he really going to wait four months to get Matt Gates? I think, you know, one way or another, I don't see, I don't see it happening.

Right. Mark, I wonder if there's a question of how much Donald Trump is willing to sort of push these senators and which senator stands up and actually goes toe to toe with President Elect Trump. As one thing that sort of whispered reporters. I don't think it's a pat.

It's another thing to be the sign of san But I'm not voting for person law. I'm not sure they'll go that far depending on the senator and where and what state they're in. I mean if you're and I'm not going to ascribe these beliefs to anyone. Specifically if you're Elisa Murkowski, if you're a Susan Collins, you've already made your positions known on a lot of Trump policy and or beliefs.

If your Senator Richmond Collins may not be running again for re election, you don't care what it is. And so again, each one of these senators will have to calculate their position based on where they are with their base, their election cycles, and if they think they need something for it in the long term and make it not only something that Senator John Fetterman said about Matt Oz, who of course the person who has been picked to lead the massive Medicare Medicaid agency. Take a listen to what senator how to say we're going to have to work with these individuals. And if he's about protecting and preserv preserving Medicaid, air and Medicare, then I don't know.

That's controversial. I'm not going to have like a knee jerk like, well, no, just because he said some mean things to me in an election or whatever. You know, we're all professionals, we got to move on that. And if he meets my criteria, then then, then I vote for him.

If he meets my criteria, then I'll vote for him. As somebody who faced off with him, what's your reaction? I think that's the way the Senate supposed to work. Right.

If these people are qualified and are going to do what they think they should be doing in these spots where they're Democrats or Republicans, whether or not you're Democrat or Republican, you should vote for them to confirm them. I just, I think that that's when these unqualified people come in to have trouble like a Mac Church together and that's where people get called up. But I think that what center of government said is pretty honorable and right thing to do. I think it's great to see, you know, obviously people on both sides are gonna hold their due diligence, do their jobs.

That's what the Constitution gave them the power to do. And even if it's in some ways with that going on, do you think there's in some ways this idea to lower the bar if Democrats are in the state? You need the criteria, I'll vote for you. But then if you have people that maybe like Tulsi Garbers and others who maybe are even seen as lower bar, that that might be a problem.

I think generally the president should be entitled to a lot of deference under picks. And I think that, you know, there's a really good argument for why Matt Gaz doesn't need it, but the president wants in place. Then he'll get federation, but he'll get both Pennsylvania senators. Pennsylvania turning more red.

Yeah. Well, thank you all for all of this. And we'll be back tomorrow with more MEET THE PRESS now. But the news continues right now with Hallie Jackson.

I'm Craig. Mel. Cheers. Cheers.

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