Meet the Press NOW — November 21

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Conditions apply, offering a 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers. Visit HyundaiCanda.com or your local dealer for details. If it's Thursday, former congressman and MAGA firebrand Matt Gaetz withdraws from consideration as President elect Trump's attorney general as Justice Department officials read a sigh of release and the Trump transition team goes back to the drawing board. Plus, Trump's pick for defense secretary plays defense making the rounds on Capitol Hill to build support among Senate Republicans as the police report services containing graphic new details of alleged sexual misconduct alle and sources tell NBC News that Trump is planning a flurry of executive orders when he takes office.

The Senate motion his promise of mass deportations as the new administration gets ready to test the limits of its power on day one. Welcome to Meet the Press. Now I'm Yamiche Door in Washington. We begin with breaking news from the Trump transition.

The president elects pick for attorney general. Former Congressman Matt Gaetz has withdrawn from consideration. The news coming as House Democrats are pushing for a vote on releasing a potentially damning ethics report indicates alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Today, Gates announced his withdrawal via social media, saying his confirmation, quote, was unfairly becoming a distraction.

The news sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill and it came just a day after Gates, alongside Vice President elect JD V. Lobby Republicans on the Hill to support his confirmation and as Trump was personally working the phones as well. Here's Gates just last night expressing optimism. Senator's been giving me a lot of good advice.

I'm looking forward to a hearing. Votes have been very supportive and say we're doing a fair process. So it's a great day moment for the Trump administration. Today the president elect thank Gates on social media writing, quote, I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gates in seeking approval to be attorney general.

He was doing very well, but at the same time did not want to be a distraction for the administration for which he has much respect. The withdrawal raises questions about who Mr. Trump will choose as his next pick for attorney general and what the failed bid might mean for some of the president elect's other polarizing choices. Those choices include his pick to lead the Department of Defense Pete Hexth.

Today, the Fox News personality joined Vice President Elect J. Vance on Capitol Hill to petition Senate Republicans to confir him. Those meetings come as we're learning new details about a 2017 sexual assault allegation against the Fox News host. Hexeth was not charged in connection with the alleged assault, but documents released by the Monterey, California Police Department are providing insight into those allegations by a California woman identified as Jane Doe.

She told police in graphic detail that after the two met at a Republican women's conference, Hexef took her phone, physically blocked her from leaving the hotel room and sexually assaulted her. Hexeth told police he had sex with Jane Doe, that the encounter was consensual. Speaking today on Capitol Hill, Hexeth again denied the allegations of assault and pointed to the fact that he was not charged as far as media is concerned. To be clear, police did not give a reason for charging Hexaf.

Today on the Hill, several Republican senators pointed to the lack of charges as they voiced support for Mr. Trump's choice. I think he's going to be in pretty good shape. Did you talk about the allegations in the police report?

The sexual ass? We weren't specific, but, you know, since no charges were brought by the authorities, we have only the press reports. I believe his story. I believe we're pizza on this thing and I'm going to be pushing to get him confirmed.

It's a disgrace that those allegations enough for what you said. Allegations that are he said, she said. This is a case that's been dismissed. This is just dredging up something to try to smear disputed candidate.

Let me bring in our team of reporters to cover all this news. Vaughn Hillier is in West Palm beach covering the Trump transition. Ryan Nobles is on Capitol Hill and Kendall has the latest reaction from the Justice Department. So, Vaughn, I want to start with you, President Elect Trump.

Thank Gates on social media. But I wonder, was there an effort by Trump or the team to encourage Gates to do this, to withdraw from the nomination? And I wonder what this reporting of a second alleged encounter with this minor at the 2017 party that pushed this over and changed the dynamic of things on. Right.

It's not clear if that that allegation of that second sexual encounter ultimately spurred Gates to back out or not, or whether it was the potential acknowledgment that there were multiple senators who were going to ultimately block his bid for the nomination. Was that the last pin for him to drop in the realization that it was going to be not a fruitful two months ahead for him before those confirmation hearings and proceedings were to move forward. Look for Matt Gaetz, this is of course was going to be an opportunity to be the lead prosecutor for the Department of Justice, a big career opportunity. You could make the case and somebody who has been no more staunch political ally to Donald Trump than really anybody else up on Capitol.

But this is even a greater defeat for Donald Trump. The presidential act, it showed that there was a at least part of the Senate that was willing to block his topic for a very significant position. And for him this is a moment in time where we are still again two months out from Inauguration Day and still plenty of other controversial picks from Tulsi Gabbard to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

To be Hegseth who he has put forward here over the last days and are going to face the same level of scrutiny and challenges up on Capitol Hill. Yeah, well, when you talk about the fact that this is sort of a defeat for President elect Trump, I wonder where does the church go from here when it comes to getting a new AG cell? Who's going to be as loyal as Back Gates? And I also wonder because the president elects that the Gates has a wonderful future ahead.

Could we see Gates go somewhere else in this tribunal? He doesn't require a Senate confirmation. There's hundreds of thousands of other political appointed positions that do not require a Senate confirmation. So he very well could wind up here at the Department of Justice or at the White House or in some other department or agency.

But I think for Donald Trump, this is the difficulty here compared to eight years ago when he was looking to go around and fill his cabinet in top administration post. He made it very clear that he wanted to ensure that loyal individuals who would carry out his agenda, whether it be at the DOJ or at the Pentagon or at the or at Health and Human Services, that he was going to have people that he could rely on in these roles. And naturally when that is a commitment that you want these individuals you're going to nominate to make to you, that pool of individuals becomes even smaller. And so of course he put forward Todd Blanche to be his deputy attorney general and he could very well be alternatively picked to be the ag.

We also feel like Mark Paletta, who is an attorney who has been helping out transition process, who is not as well publicly known, may not be outwardly as bombastic, yet could also carry out the idea that the Department of Justice under a Donald Trump presidency shouldn't be this independent entity from the executive branch of the White House here. And so I think for Donald Trump, of course, he is not clear exactly who his alternative is at this time. Yet we know that there's no reason to believe that he will not pick somebody who he deems to be almost just as loyal and ready to carry out this idea that they want to take out the deep state. So he calls it inside the Department of Justice.

And somebody who is willing to take on his perceived enemies through potential investigations. Yeah, I mean, as a number of other people to choose from. Now, Ryan, I saw you in the video. You were chasing lawmakers today as you always do.

So well, what was the reaction to this to this day, withdraw on Capitol Hill. And we're surprised. Surprised. I think you just a bit of an understatement.

It seem to catch everybody in this building off our. In many ways it seems as though a bomb was dropped here, especially because the Trump transition seems so intent on trying to find a path to confirmation for Matt Gates and that Gates seem so positive when he left here last night about the round of meetings that he had with these senators. But listen to how they responded when in many ways we informed them of the news that case was no longer the nominee. It would change the way the dok.

I think what Matt decided to do was, was a, was a decision he had to come to and was probably positive decision for the administration. But I think it probably reflects is the meetings that he had yesterday with senators. I think that he has put country first and I'm pleased with his position. And what we're hearing, my colleague and myself and others, is that he was basically in a position where the math just was not adding up.

There was far more than just the four senators that he could potentially lose in a confirmation vote that were not willing to vote yes for his appointment as the necessary general. And despite the fact that he had made this outreach, the president elect himself had made that outreach, the vice President elected Vance was here with him to try and make that outreach. That many of these members were just immovable forces. They just could not see their way to voting yes for Matt Gates.

And you mean. I do have to say I think it is an indication of just what type of Republican Senate we may be dealing with here in this new Congress. This was something that Donald Trump wanted and at least at this stage, they were telling him no, which is indication they may be willing to say no to him in the future as well. Yeah, definitely a window in the dynamics.

Now, when I heard this news, I had this thought that sounded wild in my own head. And we talked to the team here by the same question, which is Matt Gates, Ryan has already resigned from Congress. He said he doesn't intend to serve his next term, though he was reelected. But can he unresign Ryan?

So I've been asking this question myself. You were not, it was not ridiculous that you posed that question to me. I think many people are asking that. I was in contact with his team today and they told me that he is not even thinking about the next stage of his life, that he's, you know, still dealing with the fact that this nomination quest has come to an end and he's still evaluating what steps are remaining.

But he made it pretty clear in his statement to the speaker, in his letter of resignation that he did not intend on being seated in the next Congress. I don't think it's, there's not a legal reason why he couldn't change his mind if he changed his mind up until the day this morning where he could theoretically be seated. But I do think the practical possibility of that is very small. You have to remember one of the big reasons he left Congress was of this Illuminatics report.

And the only reason that that did not see the light of day was because he resigned Congress. If he decided to be sworn back in, that investigation would fire right back up again. And there's a very good chance, even if he's not the potential attorney general nominee, that we'd see that report come to light. Really important to mention that report, Vaughn.

Of course, all this comes as JD Vance was literally back on Capitol Hill again. We get another polarizing pick trying to get support for that. This of course, being peak. Hegstad, does Maggie's withdrawing cause more problems for someone like P.

Kexeth or even Kelsey Gabbard? Where does it pave the way for their confirmations? I actually think to Ryan's point exactly is that it shows a willingness among some of these Republican senators to buck Donald Trump's wishes and that they're going to truly carry out the advising consent rule that constitutionally the Senate has been obligated to play. And that's where for Pete X at his visit to Capitol Hill is so prudent because there are reasons than these Republican senators, including a great many of them that are going to be outgoing in just a few years time.

Some of them also, like Bill Bocasity and Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins actually voted to convict Donald Trump after January 6th. So they've already been on the side of Donald Trump's ire. And so there's really at this point in time, especially with the fact that Donald Trump most likely would not be running for president again four years from now. They have political capital themselves in which they are able to put some handcuffs potentially on who Donald Trump is placing because like the likes of Pete Hexset who is facing the serious allegation of sexual assault from 2017.

There's also questions though about him. He served as, yes, a decade of combat veteran, but he's never led one of the branches of military or had a leadership role in the Pentagon. And so I think that this is only draws more attention to people like Pulsi, Gabriel and RFK in the extent to which they only need to convince these particular Republicans senators that they are worthy confirmation. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much to Vaughn and to Ryan for all that great reporting. And can you impatiently skin and by because you are of course covering the building where people were waiting to see what happened here. So there was a lot of concern at the DOJ about this choice for Matt Gates as Attorney General.

What's the reaction to the just at the Justice Department today's news and is there a sort of sense of relief here? 100%. Yamiche. We are getting messages expressing incredible relief.

This is a great weight off the shoulders of many people over there. They were absolutely horrified by this pick in part because the Justice Department had investigated Gates. There were actually prosecutors over there who built that investigative file filled with damaging information about Matt Gates. And they were facing the prospect that he would be their boss.

And there's a whole unit that investigates sex trafficking of minors. It just was mind boggling. They can leave all that aside and get the fact that he had never really practiced much law, had never had a job even remotely similar to running a large bureaucracy. The Attorney General's not only the top legal officer, he or she is a very important national security figure receiving very sensitive intelligence that the president gets.

So they are really relieved, but they're also very concerned now about what comes next. And we're really at crossroads here because Donald Trump has elevated his defense lawyer, Todd Blanche to be the Deputy Attorney General, which is really an important job, like a chief operating officer. And Todd Blanche, while he did defend Donald Trump and criticize the special counsel investigations, he is well regarded inside the building. He worked there.

He was a prosecutor in Southern District. He's a real lawyer. And he doesn't believe the nutty conspiracy theories that hold that the FBI, you know, somehow corruptly framed Donald Trump. He knows that's not true.

So the question is, will Donald Trump point someone who thinks like Todd Blanche or someone who thinks like Matt Gates. And there's been some names floating around that run the gamut. A guy named Mike Davis, who's advising the transition team, tweeted today and he offered some names, one of which is Mark Paoletta, who does seem more in the Gates camp. And then there's a guy named Chris Landau, who' the ambassador to Mexico and Trump administration went to Harvard is a mainstream law firm who seems more like he's the Todd Blancht.

So that's the big question right now. DOJ officials very concerned about what comes next year and what it says about the direction the Trump administration wants to take just as part of it. Yeah. So, you know, that case is done.

There's a lot of bracing for what might come next. When he was important that might come next. I have to worry about the next bit. Well, thank you so much, Ken, for all your reporting.

And let me now bring in Congressman Glenn Ivy, a Democrat from Maryland and a member of the House Ethics Committee. Thank you so much, Congressman, for being here. So Gates is no longer in consideration for attorney general. What was your reaction to this withdrawal and what happens now to the Ethics Committee report that you and your colleagues have worked on?

Well, the withdrawal surprised me almost as much as the initial selection. There've been a lot of surprises in between, too. So it's been an interesting tale. You know, as far as what comes next, I'm not sure.

Frankly, as your commentators just alluded to a moment ago, there is the potential that he could change his mind about not pursuing the congressional seat that he was elected or reelected to. There are also other possibilities if Marco Rubio is selected for the Cabinet and confirmed and maybe that he could be named to fill out that term. I've also seen speculation that he might run for governor in 2026 in Florida. So I don't really know what's up next for him.

I guess we'll just have to see. When you talk about all those official positions that could be up next, do you think the publican still deserves to see this ethics report and will you push to make it public? Well, the House Ethics Committee does have a precedent for releasing reports even after a member of Congress has resigned and left office. And I know that there may be some scenarios where that was done in part because the individual was considering seeking additional office or running for office.

I want to say that was the Bonner case. I want to say it was around 1987, if I recall correctly. So I think that's still a possibility. You know, how the committee will or if the committee will consider that, I'm not sure, but I think we'll have to see.

But as far as I know, the December 5th meeting is still on the books and, you know, we'll see how it goes. Do you think you yourself will be out there saying we should publish this report, and do you think the full House should also take up this matter? Well, I think it contains information that the public should have, especially if he does decide to pursue additional office, whether it's a congressional seat, a Senate seat, gubernatorial seat, a different kind of appointment to the Trump administration. I think the public should see that information.

And I know in some of the prior occasions, the fact that, well, you know, the potentially material that could be relevant to larger debates about how we pursue cases, whether it's at the Ethics Committee level, Department of justice, there might be some light to shed on that, too. I can't go into details there, but that's another consideration. I'm sorry, what was your other question? That was a question.

And I think when you talk about the fact that you can't go into too much detail, there was this sort of public tensions that we saw between House Committee ethics members. What have the last few days been like inside that committee? I can't really talk about the internal deliberations, but I think you've seen some of the external statements that have been made after those meetings by the chairman, Mr. Guest and the ranking member of Ms.

Wild. And, you know, there were some, you know, tense exchanges there. So. But that can come with the territory, I think.

You know, these are matters that can sometimes raise strong feelings. But our Ethics Committee has had a good record working together back to the Santos investigation, for example, and I hope we'll be able to do that in the future moving forward. Yeah. Another that's interesting is that Matt Gates was already the subject of a House investigation when Alchem chosen.

I wonder, do you think that given now that he's not subject to this, that it makes it possibly easier for other controversial picks to get through because now he's sort of even seen as the sacrificial lamb of all this? You know, I don't know. I think it does shift the spotlight, though, to other nominees. You know, Gates was sucking up the oxygen with respect to the nominee for Department of Defense and Tulsi Gabbard, you know, for the National Security Post.

I think they'll get more scrutiny now than they were, you know, while his nomination was pending. And that's probably rightly so. I think they both have very, you know, questionable things in their backgrounds that the Senate and certainly the public should consider carefully before they elevate either of them to those kinds of positions. And there's other nominees, too, that, you know, President elect Trump has sent up that are kind of head scratchers, frankly.

So I think we'll just have to see how that plays out. But, you know, it's clear that he's not having a strong and thorough vetting process before he makes some of these elections. And so I think that makes it even more incumbent on the Senate and the public to pay close attention and, you know, do this, do the vetting for him. Yeah.

Well, I also want to ask you about what happens in January when President elect Trump takes office. Republicans will have this razor thin majority, but majority nonetheless. That being said, I wonder how you and other House Democrats plan to govern in the minority. Well, we're probably more the same.

You know, we're in the minority now, and our leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has done an outstanding job of managing us and keeping us unified and working together and moving together. And we've had great strength in our solidarity there. So we'll have to see. But, you know, in this current Congress, you know, the stuff that really had to get done was based on the leadership of Hakeem Jeffries, whether that was keeping the government open, which we've done on a couple of occasions, making sure the United States pays its debts and doesn't default on those.

That was Akeem Jeffries leadership that made those happen. You know, we'll continue to work with the Republicans where we can and maintain our principles. But if they're going to cross lines and support the types of things that we've seen so far or just the Project 2025 proposals, we'll stand against those and fight those. Yeah, you say it really interesting.

You talk about the idea that you make sure that things that need to get done got done. So with that said, do you see a scenario where Democrats will help Republicans if legislation stalls? We've already done that. And you know, those two examples I cited, but there have been others, too.

But I think the key is not so much are we going to bail out the Republicans, but what are we going to do to make sure that the American public gets what it needs done by the government? And we're definitely willing to make sure that those things happen. We'll stand to make sure that, you know, the government moves forward, we get the things done that the American people need. Well, Congressman Glenn Hafi, I really, really appreciate you coming on a newsy newsy Thursday.

Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. And more reaction to Gates withdraw and what it means is ahead. Coming up, what's next for Pete Hegseth and the Pentagon as Trump's in battle pit for defense secretary fights back against sexual allegations while fighting for Senate support.

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As Kes makes his case to senators for why he's best suited to leave the Department of Defense, sources on ABC News, the Trump transition team is stepping up their search for a deputy defense secretary. The move is reportedly intended to push back on criticism that Hex doesn't have the qualifications for the role. Hex has also been a frequent critic of the Department of Defense. He has said he wants to see the military purge of quote, woke officials.

And he has said he believes women should not serve in combat. Last night, former chairman of the Joint Chief General Mark Milley, a frequent target of Trump, lashed out. Don't touch me about women combat. Women have been in combat.

And it doesn't matter if that 7, 6, 2 hit you in the chest. No one gives a if it's a woman or a guy who pulled that trick, you're still dead. It doesn't matter if you're white, if you're black, if you're man, if you're a woman, if you're a Catholic, if you're a Protestant, none of those identification things matter. What matters are standards, rating the standards.

Do you meet the standard or not? If yes, Pascal, collect your joint infantry. But some members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will consider the nomination first, dismiss the comments. Yesterday, North Dakota Senator Kevin Kramer told me Hexeth is allowed to have a personal opinion.

Take a listen. That's his personal position. He certainly earned the right to have it at being an American, even more so being an American warrior as he's been. So I don't find that as controversial.

Some people made. He's a great face, frankly, for a modern American military. He loses A piece through strength. And that's exactly what Donald Trump wants.

And joining me now is Link Cooper, Pentagon correspondent at the New York Times. Lane, great to see you. I want to start with these questions around Hexf on experience as someone who covers the Pentagon. You've been there a while.

What has been the mood there about a potential Defense Secretary Hexset? Hi, Amicious, nice to see you. I see you guys are still having to bleep out. Billy, the mood at the Pentagon is just, the reaction has not been great, as you can expect.

Women in particular. I mean, the United States military has hundreds of thousands of women who serve and many. And we have a lot more women in combat now than we did say 20 years ago or 30 years ago or, you know, 40 or 50 years ago, which is where a lot of people think that Hexat's views of women in combat sort of belong. You can make that by applying his logic.

You can have them. You can easily apply that same logic to, I don't know, blacks, minorities in combat, in serving the military. So that sort of, that sort of seems to align of women in combat as crazy when you look at the Pentagon. I think his woke is not just the issue of where his thoughts are about being too, the Pentagon being too woke, for instance, which is really rich when you're talking about one of the most conservative institutions in the American government.

It's almost a Tea Party demographic. But this whole idea that the Pentagon is woke has been one that's been a very big Trump talking point for years now. And you have this hard right narrative that's been pushed by a lot of Republicans, people like Matt Gates, for instance, who complain that the Pentagon is too woke because they say they shouldn't have renamed bases that were named after Confederate generals, for instance. They shouldn't have be promoting more, promoting the whole idea of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Pete Hexaf has even taken a shot at the African American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General CQ Brown, who's an Air Force fighter pilot with hundreds of combat flying hours under his belt because he's angry that General Brown made a video after the George Floyd protest talking about his experiences with racism in his 40 year military career. So this is the guy who President Trump, President Elect Trump is proposing come into the Pentagon. This Pentagon has 43% minority to begin with, enlisted men and women. You have men, women, African Americans, you have Latinos, you have everybody serving in this American military.

And President Elect Trump is proposing a very divisive candidate to put at the top. So that being said about the divisiveness of this and sort of how he's being viewed, what kind of guardrails are there within the command and control structure of the military as the Trump administration prepares to take. Because it's a big question. And I know of course you having worked in understanding the Pentagon for so much of your time there, that you understand sort of the guardrails.

There are, there are a lot of guardrails. For instance, one of the things that President Trump's allies and allies of Pete Hexa, for instance, are talking about is court martialing people who were involved in the Afghanistan evac. The American military though, is run in a chain of command type structure and the President is the commander in chief. President Elect Trump, when he was last president, is the one who negotiated the initial terms of the American evacuation from Afghanistan.

He's the one who came up with the agreement with the Taliban to begin with for the United States to evacuate. And now they're talking about, now they're talking about going after the generals and people who were involved in this, what was in truth a bosh evacuation. But this is all coming from the commander in chief. You can't, you can't go and you can't prosecute the people who take commands from the commander in chief if you don't, you know, for something like this, if you don't forsweft the people who gave the command to begin with.

So there are guardrails in place and they're in place because the military is very much a top down type structure where you follow, you're supposed to follow all lawful and lawful being the right term here. Orders of your chain that come down during your chain of command. The other kind of big guardrail I would say just to be the size of the military to begin with. This is the Pentagon.

But if you're looking at a budget of 900 billion a year, you're looking at an employee calculus of what, 3 million people. It's a really big institution and that's a hard institution with entrenched legal structures and bureaucratic structures. That's going to be a really hard institution to really unravel. So it'll be interesting to see whether PPEXF has the ability to do all that he's talking about.

Yeah. Well, Helene Cooper, thank you so much for your reporting. It reminds me why I would sit your desk now in your time to listen to your brilliant. Thank you so much.

Appreciate it. And turning now to the White House, these are live pictures right now. President Biden welcoming the Boston Celtics to the White House South Lawn to celebrate the basketball team's NBA championship. The Celtics, of course, made history back in June when they won their 18th championship, a league record, against the Dallas Mavericks.

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Download the NBC News app now and subscribe for more. Now. I have voted for almost everybody's nominates and I can promise you, when a Democrat nominates somebody, I don't have this problem of walking down the phone, oh, with a microphone in my face. The double standard is atrocious and it needs to sell.

So we want to get ahead of the process. There's a process and that's why, you know, we go through the process, get all the information, work through as well as we can. Welcome back. And that was some of the reaction from Senate Republicans to today's surprise news that Matt Gates was withdrawing from consideration for Attorney General.

For more on all this news, I'm joined by TMH, Washington Bureau Chief for the Atlanta Journal Constitution at 11, Foreign Democratic Congressman from Michigan and now a distinguished senior fellow at the center for American Progress Action Fund. And Mark Short is also with us, former Chief of Staff, Vice President Mike Pence, and now I Meet the Press contributor. So thank you all for being here. Tina, I want to start with you.

We should start with Mark, actually, which is. Mark, we were just talking during the commercial work, you thought maybe Matt Gates might last a little bit longer than he did. Why do you think he's withdrawing today? Well, I think typically if you nominate the sex predator to be a trained journal of the United States, it's not going to end up too well.

And I think that that was just the nature of where this was likely to end up. I do think that the Trump team wanted to fight it longer. But, you know, I think that this is also set back on other reasons because you have senators have now gone out on limbs that have supported me. I considered groups who said they would fundraise for him and I think to the president's signal, if he wants recess appointments, it will give even more caution to any senators who would entertain that because they now look like if this is being nominated during recess, I'm more welcome to agree.

Yeah, that's because I wonder, do you think that when you see what's going on with Matt Gates that we'll have a Trump administration with justice? What do you think is Matt Gates's future given the fact that he's loyalist, that he's someone that the trumpet that Trump inside his wonderful future? I don't know. I mean, I've read the reports he wants to run for governor, but I think that was the case.

This was a misstep. Because if you think you're gonna bury the report by resigning from Congress and doing this by, by becoming a nominee also sure that report was going to come out in a confirmationary. It's go hard to say that that's not gonna come out. He runs for public office again.

Yeah. Here's a question any person might have. Well, is he gonna take his seat or not? Right.

He was the rest of this term, but he was just reelected. So if he takes a seat, then the investigation continues. I think what maybe more likely is he get a different role in Trump's orbit, whether it's in the White House or in a, in a lobbying firm that's friendly with the Trump administration, but a role that doesn't require confirmation. Yeah.

Well, I also want to ask this, which is tia we don't see former President Trump race President Elect Trump, he has a lot of backlash from Republicans. This is the moment where Senate Republicans even get said it quietly. So you're not getting this. What does that tell you about the future dynamics here?

I think it shows that there are at least a handful of senators. I don't know how many there were. And I think Matt Gates was an extreme case. But I think it shows that there are senators who are willing to stand up to Trump to say no.

We think it's too far. Now the question is, does it take someone as extreme as Matt Gaetz to get those senators to stand up to Trump or will they be willing to do it with other no. That are problematic but in ways that aren't so controversial like your Tulsi Gabbards or your RFK junior. Andy, I wonder when you think about this and see what the Senate Republicans just did here.

Again, you're going to do it quietly, but this gives you the idea that maybe they want to see a rubber stamp on Donald Trump or do we think that this may be an anomaly and for the next four years Trump will usually get what he wants. You know, Yamiche, I have no idea. But what I you know, my uncle was the chair of the Armed Services Committee for in the Senate for so long I was a ranking member depending on who was in charge there. This idea of somebody is ranked manifestly unqualified as Hegseth being the Secretary of Defense.

Right. I mean, let's see how it plays out. But I think these senators really have a lot to consider with him, with Tulsi Gabbard and I served with her. She has no business being the Director of National Intelligence.

I doubt Mark disagrees with that. I don't know. Of course I agree. I mean she's a lifelong Democrat, so recent convers.

She's somebody who has praised Assad. She's somebody who I think I think was most probably is not just her affection for Putin, but in fact that she's praised Edward Snowden and Julian Assange, which is people who have leaked American secrets and poor men and women in uniform in danger. To be leading the intelligence community is quite startling. And I should just note as we talk about Matt Gates, these are allegations against mates.

These are also allegations against Nobody's been charged or convicted of anything. That being said, Mark, you're making the point of sort of there's concern about other picks. How concerned are you about the next pick regime? It's hard to know.

Yet again, I think there are people who align with Republicans wishes to see great reforms in Department of Justice and to see a lot of changes made who are not necessarily predators of children. And so I think that there's a wide breadth of reasonable conservatives who could have point to that position and still accomplish the same means. I think, again, I think it's actually been destructive to the president's intentions and desires because. Weaken your case on recess appointments, too, I was gonna say.

Just to your point, I think the vast majority of Senate Republicans, probably nearly all Senate Republicans, want to help Trump build his team, want to give him the nominees that he desires, but they want him to make better choices. So they're making difficult decisions because they do believe that their constituents back home, for the most point, most part, are supportive of Trump's administration. But some of these nominees are considered so beyond kind of the scope of who you would consider for these various roles. Yeah.

Well, I just want to ask you, if you think about that, should Pete Hexef then be in fear of his nomination? I think so. I mean, I think Pete Hexef is going to run the risk of when he starts meeting with these senators here in the same thing that Matt Gates heard, but for possibly different reasons. But I think Pete Hexenth is going to find that there are a few Republicans, probably enough to keep him from being confirmed.

So I also want to ask this, that I was thinking about this. Peter Baker of the New York Times point out in the New York Times said this week that Trump is defying the MeToo movement with Cabinet picks facing accusations. May I start with you, Mark? When you think, do you think that Trump is sort of actively picking these people, regardless of their backgrounds, or do you think that this is somewhat indicative of the fact that these allegations against men that they are maybe don't have the same potency because you have someone like President Electronic who had his own allegations against him also able to push back on those allegations.

I think we can read too much into it. I think it's more a function of a process that should be more deliberate. And when you just throw out names as quickly you have without background checks or FBI background checks, I think that it leads to more problems. What think do you.

You know, I really agree with Mark, and I also think it shows that, well, this is what the MAGA movement is. You know, traditional Republicans and Democrats agree about national security and not putting like a tool, a seeming mouthpiece of Russian propaganda in to lead our national intelligence. This is really serious stuff, right, Yamiche? And I think that he's he's putting loyalty to him above all else and being good on TV or something.

Lord knows I would never be picked for anything. Well, see, I want to bring you in which is that we had this me too moment. There are some who are wondering has it peaked or is it not going to have the same potency? Or when you see someone like Matt Gates who of course is withdrawing, people would say it's likely in connection to these allegations that there is a potency here that maybe Donald Trump and some people can defy them, as are so anomaly here.

I in Trump world particularly, it doesn't have the same pool, particularly when someone doesn't get charged with crimes. But even after, you know, charges he wasn't charged with a crime. The Trump was found liable in a civil suit. Again, it didn't bring him down in a presidential election.

That's what the general electorate of the United States. So I think unfortunately, if it doesn't involve someone underage, but you know, with Matt Gates, there is someone underage if it doesn't involve also video or something hard evidence that people really see. I think unfortunately, when people want to believe the other person and not the accuser, they find themselves creating pathways to do so. And I don't think that has to do with politics.

Unfortunately, that's part of our American culture. Yeah. Well, definitely a lot to think about as we think through all of these nominees and lay forward. So thank you so much to Tia and Andy, to Mark.

And after the break, the Trump transition team gets its day one priorities ready. Telling NBC News that the president left executive actions, quote, like nothing you've seen. We've got the details. You're watching me Press now.

Welcome back. As President elect Trump forges ahead with filling out key posts within his administration, NBC News has new reporting about what day one of Mr. Trump's second term will look like. Transition officials to NBC News that AIDS plan to roll out a flurry of executive actions aligned with campaign promises on the military and immigration for Trump to sign on his very first day in office.

Joining me now is NBC News Digital senior White House reporter Peter Necklace, who had this great reporting. So, Peter, what are you hearing from Trump officials about these executive actions that will happen on day one? What will they include? Well, what we may see, as many as half a dozen executive orders deal with immigration alone.

This is a much faster pace than we saw in 2020. And Trump is trying to make good on the promise that he's going to seal up the border. He's going to begin the process of deporting people or living here illegally with a focus on those who might represent national security threats. So he's going to convey a sense of action and purpose, all consistent with his campaign promises.

And when you think about that, he's thinking about campaign promises. He talks about literally ending the wars in Ukraine and the Middle east at warp speed. He said, are those foreign policy issues still a top sort of conservative when you think about also they think about deportations, among other things. Is foreign policy still top of mind?

Certainly. You know, there's a concern that he, that this approach may be too scattered. We talked to New Gingrich, for example, former House speaker and post Trump ally, who said if you try to do too much, you know, you may find yourself failing to enact some of the core promises. So you mentioned tax reform, which is another promise which could, you know, which also requires some focus.

But yes, I mean, ending the war in Ukraine and Gaza is going to be a priority, but that's a diplomatic measure. That's something that's going to take some time. You'll see movement on that quickly on the diplomatic front. Yeah.

I also ask you, it's interesting you talk about the movement that's going to happen. Trump walks in as a lame duck. I wonder how much that impacts his pace and his sense of urgency. Well, I think that's exactly right.

You mentioned that he In 2026, we're going to be moving Congress's focus on midterm elections. There's really only a year, year and a half window for him to take advantage of his high political capital and try to execute this agenda. So and then, you know, before we know it, people will be looking at 2028 when Trump can't run again. So this is his window where he really has to make it on these promises.

And that's why I think you're going to see movement on so many fronts. Yeah. And it's interesting when you think about sort of the movement you're going to see. Do you think that Democrats are going to have sort of the wherewithal to push back on any of this or.

Because there's going to happen. I think a lot of it is going to happen. And I think Trump feels he has a mandate, he feels a decisive victory. Democrats are in the minority.

I mean, the Republican majority in the House and Senate is kind of thin. But Democrats are certainly going to try to be resistance as best they can. But I think the public is of a mood to give Trump a chance and, you know, to see if he can act These parties. Yeah.

It's going to be really interesting to see how much leeway he has to do all this, but thank you so much, Peter. Nicholas, thank you. And still to come, a revealing look at how some Senate Democrats and key battleground states were able to win despite Vice President Harris losing this election cycle. And as the early jockeying begins for the next one, don't go anywhere.

You're watching. Welcome back. The results of this month's election were made clear, and it made clear that Democrats have a lot of work to do with battleground state voters. But despite the presidential headwinds, Senate Democrats in Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada and Arizona all came out on top, even though Vice President Kamala Harris lost each of those battleground states.

So what really made a difference here? Joining me now to get that answer to that question is NBC News senior national politics reporter Natasha Karaki. Natasha's, great to see you with so many stories together. Happy to be on TV with you.

So why were senators in these credible battleground dates able to have success when Vice President Harris did not? It's, it is really fascinating to see what is going on. And we're learning more and more every day as we see more data and as more photographs. So even since last week, what we're learning now is that in a couple of these battleground states, Harris actually outperformed the Democratic Senate candidate who won.

And that because there was a severe undervote by Republicans down ballot. So people were going in voting for Trump and they're not voting down low or crossing over in some of these cases. In Washoe county, our great politics editor, Scott Bland was able to drill down some of these numbers. In Washoe county, there was evidence that, that Jackie Rosen was able to get crossover voters in that case more successfully than Sam Brown was able to.

Sam Brown lost by just a few percentage points behind Jackie Rosen, but Jackie Rosen actually ran behind Harris. So what we saw was something fascinating. We're still gonna be looking at this. But what each of those Senate candidates did was sort of they were able to run their records.

They were able to point to here's what we did, here's what we didn't do. Harris couldn't do that. Harris had to sever the ties from the Biden administration to try to push a new way forward, as she said. But people want to change.

It's really interesting. I stopped in my tracks and I saw that, I know me that said raw vote totals where Harris have more raw votes than some of the Senate candidates. But I also want to ask about the future of the Democratic Party. Where do things stand in the race for DNC chair and the direction of the party?

Sure. So there's a lot of activity going on. DNC chair, we saw two or three people officially get in the race today or this week and probably as we're speaking. So yeah, maybe today.

But yes, we saw Martin Melly get in. We saw Ken Martin get in. Martin Melley, former governor of Maryland. Ken Martin is Minnesota party chair.

Also has a, you know, long time record within the dnc. Over here, some other bigger names. Ben Wickler, Wisconsin party chair. Rahm Emanuel, blast from the past.

He may come back. So there's a lot of stuff, you know, floating around right now. Right. I think we're going to see a lot of push and pull.

We're going to see some fault lines, you know, created here with do we leave, you know, our Democrats, they go too far to the left, did they not? Do we need a new way forward? Is that Rahm Emanuel? Is he the past?

So a lot of these fights are like that. Yeah. Last few seconds here. What about that 20, 28 to be?

It's coming fast and furious. We're seeing a lot of governors step up, you know, people speaking on their behalf, you know, J.D. pritzker, you know, Shapiro. These are things that are getting thrown around already.

So we're seeing that. Question is, do they need an outsider? Some people think they do. Yeah.

Well, so good to see you, Natasha. I'll see you on Slack. I'm sure we're back tomorrow with more Meet the President now, the misconducts right now. Hallie Jackson, I'm Craig.

Mel. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers.

I've always been a glass half full kind of guy and now I'm talking to some people who look at the world that way, too. Some really fascinating folks who share their defining moments, their triumphs and challenges. Their stories are funny. And so I hope you'll join me each week.

Who knows, you might just come away with your own glass half full. Search Glass Apple with Craig for today on YouTube and wherever you get a podcast.