Transcripts For MSNBC Andrea Mitchell Reports 20130125

Good day. Im Andrea Mitchell. Somebody can kidnap us. Live in washington where president obama just named his advisor Denis Mcdonough to run the white house from now owner where republicans are meeting in charlotte and planning a revival of the grand ole party. More on that in a moment. More for our daily fix. David gregory, moderator of meet the press, nbc News White House correspondent Kristen Welker and justice correspondent Pete Williams. A loot going on all fronts. Denis mcdonough, and news out of the white house on the secret service skrefgs in cart hana. Thats right. Andrea, well, ill first start with the breaking news. According to a source from the hill and also Law Enforcement source the Inspector General has finished its report on the secret Service Scandal and specifically the secret services own investigation into that scandal. We are told that that report will be sent to the hill a little later on today. It includes the agency did implement proper reforms. That is what we are being told at this point in time, but, again, andrea, this is developing. There are a lot of moving parts. We will undoubtedly learn more as the day goes on. In terms of Denis Mcdonough, president obama did announce today that Denis Mcdonough will become his new chief of staff. He is one of the president s most trusted aides, most recently serving as the Deputy National security advisor, but he has advised the president really for the past decade going all the way back to when president obama was a senator, he was also advising him when president obama first ran for president back in 2008. This is someone who has built up a lot of trust here among staffers m white house. He has helped advise president obama on some of his key Foreign Policy decisions, including drawing down the troops in afghanistan, ending the war in iraq, and also responding to some of the natural disasters that have occurred in recent years, including haiti, and japan. He is someone who has built up a lot of trust here in the white house. You heard that today when president obama talked about him, talked about how much he meant to the staffers here. We should also mention he was pictured in the situation room during the raid on osama bin laden, so this is certainly someone who is very close to the president and will be a key figure moving forward with this white house. Andrea. Thank you so much, Kristen Welker. David gregory here and Pete Williams joining us as well. Autoweve seen good chiefs of staff and bad. Some of the best. Jim bakker, ken duberstein, leon panetta in times of trouble. Howard baker certainly rescuing the Ronald Reagan second term from don regan, a bad chief of staff by all accounts. What is the pluses and minuses of Denis Mcdonough. He knows the president so well, and at the same time. I think its indicated in his second term he wants the people who he is closest to to run things. I think that trust and loyalty are two of the big factors here. I want to talk to you about your big interview and the Republican Party coming up with paul ryan on meet the press. There is breaking news also today. Pete williams, the Appeals Court in d. C. , the court right below the Supreme Court has delivered a big setback to the president on recessed appointments, and these are big recess appointments. Sdhoo these are the controversial ones the president made a year ago to richard coregray to run the new Consumer Protection board and for three people to be on the National Labor Relations Board. All were recess appointments. You may remember this big fight between the president and congress. We come in every day and say were iffing to be back tomorrow, and the president said thats a sham. Youre in recess. I can do these recess appointments. The Appeals Court said wrong on both counts, mr. President. They said, first of all, the constitution says these can be made during the recess. Not a recess. Thats a break between one session of congress and the other. The president can only appoint someone when a recess arises. They say the whole point of this recess appointment clause goes back to the early days of this country when congress was gone for months at a time between sessions, and couldnt easily jump on a plane and hustle back here and to prevent the government from shutting down the congress had this power, the constitution gave the president this power for recess appointments. Noefr apeeltz court abbinging on judge William Pryor said that a president could make these appointments during these little short breaks. It does seem like this very case is headed for the Supreme Court, but for today certainly at the very least it invalidates a lot of action over the Labor Relations board over the past year. It calls into question actions by the Consumer Protection board. If this decision holds its going to scale back a power that president s of both parties have used. And let me just be clear here because what the senate has been doing is gaveling down for 15 seconds. Right. They say that theyre in session, but they just gavel down, and its one person who stays in town and does that. Its not a real session. The white house, of course, said that that was a sham. This is the Appeals Court. Its republicanappointed, but thats because of the current judges on that court, the three judges that are all appointed by republican president s, but the bottom line is this also means that the National Labor Relations Board whose appointes were held up for months because republicans in the senate that issed they were too prolabor, now cant function because they cant function without a full team. Right. What the court of appeals said is these decisions are invalid because the nlrb had a quorum. They had no authority to be there. The important thing about the ruling, though, is that they dont say that the senate is right because it can create a nonrecess by these little short were in session, well see you again tomorrow things. They say the real question is the calendar. Not what so much what the senate says or what the president says, but what the calendar says, and the constitution says theres only a one recess, and thats between the two sessions of congress. Thanks so much. Pete williams, david gregory, this is a beg deal. Richard was just reappointed again, a recess appointment, just yesterday by the president. He succeeded Elizabeth Warren in this very important Consumer Protection board, and this was his show of force to wall street that he was naming Mary Joe White from the Southern District of new york, who you know well, of the big tough prosecutor. Small in stature, big in the clout that she wields, and also Richard Cordray that had beaten up on bank of america in his role as s. A. G. In ohio. This is a huge setback for the white house. Back to the drawing board on some of these things. Particularly at a time with Mary Joe White that he wants to send a different kind of signal about how wall street is going to operate. In winter meeting Bobby Jindahl said we cant be the stupid party any longer. There were some moves by republicans in virginia, michigan, ohio, pennsylvania to change the Electoral College, and permit proportional voting by the Electoral College, which would have, if it were done nationally, had mitt romney taking the oath of office on monday even though he would have had 276 electoral votes according to one computation even though he lost the popular vote by fully by four poens. Are these kind of gaming of the systems, these maneuvers smart . I think youll see the party in a much different direction talking to folks on capitol hill. Marco rubio talking about immigration reform. I think they want to get a deal on that, the republicans do. It will be interesting. I think the budget wars will be telling because this is still a huge fight over the role of government, over how much government safety net should be kept versus not. This is the battle that the president wants to have, and whether its paul ryan or other potential candidates in 2016, you know, thats where a lot is going to be decided many terms of this Coalition Politics that they want to play in a president ial race. Paul ryans moves in williamsburg even before these winter meetings telling the caucus we have to make this deal on the debt ceiling and fight live to fight another day, he really is looking more and more like a 2016 possibility because he is trying to recast the posture of the party. I dont know where he gets tough sacrifices. What he asked before, and now he wants to do a budget of ten years that will balance the budget. You know, to do that would require even more drastic cuts that i think he knows democrats will not go along with. Thats going to be difficult. I think its a question of what issues do they take off the table like immigration as well as how they approach the budget and build out their own coalition, which they havent figured out yet. And we see transitions tim geithner, saying goodbye. He ligue really with the respect of the white house and respect of the markets . I think, you know, its a question that paul krugman gets at in the New York Times today. What et cetera the right path to ultimately create jobs and growth . Do you still have to focus on the deficit, or will that take care of itself to some degree versus more budget cutting . This is a thing that geithner felt strongly about, that you couldnt get too far out ahead of slashing the budget during a weak economy. The other thing, of course, is financial reform. Did and he the president put in place some things along with congress that boo prevent another financial disaster . Well be looking forward to your interview with paul ryan, his first interview since the election. First interview since the election. Well have a lot to talk about in terms of the future of the party. Thank you very much. And now to discuss the future of the Republican Party, haley barbour, former chair of the Republican Governors Association joins us now from capitol hill. Thank you very much. Good to see you. Lets talk about Bobby Jindahls instructions to the republicans at the winter meeting. We cant be the stupid party. Do you think that your fellow republicans have figured out a way forward where they wont be the quoting Bobby Jindahl the stupid party . I think he is talking about during the campaign we had a couple of candidates for senator who made stupid remarks that not only hurt them in their own races, but spilled over and hurt other republican candidates, made republican candidates have to repudiate that sort of stuff. Interestingly, andrea, as you know, one of those republican candidates for senator, todd akin in missouri was the beneficiary of more than 1 million of Campaign Spending on behalf of akin in the republican primary with senator harry reids pacts money. You know, the democrats decided that was a guy they wanted to run against, and they turned out to be right. When somebody says something stupid, it doesnt just hurt them when youre in the middle of a national election. I think bobby is exactly right. We need to be we need to be careful that we talk about things in the reasonable way. The battleground states to make the Electoral College decisions in those states proportional. Now, theoretically, hypothetically, if that were done in every state, it already is only done in nebraska and maine, and its never influenced the outcome of a president ial race. If it were done nationally, mitt romney would have been taking the oath of office on monday. Thats true this time. Other time it might have been just the opposite. Im a traditionalist myself. I really am a conservative. You cant predict with any sort of precision who it will help from one president ial election to the other. As i say, im i am more of a traditionalist conservative, and if people want to do that, its obvious that states have the right to do that. Maine has done it. Nebraska has done it. We have some indications from richmond from governor mcdonough that he isnt going to be in favor of this. At least a leading state senator there has said so far that he is against it, and if it not going to get out of committee in the senate, its not going to be approved, it wont get to the govern governors desk. Doesnt it make it look as though the republicans are trying to sort of game the system . Isnt it a bad sort of andrea, how can isnt it a bad tactic for the Republican Party to take i dont know how you can ask that question when you in the immediate previous breath told me that. Maybe somebody has to be a republican. The democrats wont let out of committee, usually the Democratic Party doesnt have to answer for my point is or get out of committee. My point is that since the reports this morning, which said that this could actually be passed in virginia by next week, weve been checking, weve been, you know weve been making the calls and trying to find out where the governor is and the hints are from his people that later today he may indicate that he is not in favor of it. That said, other states are proceeding. Republican legislatures in michigan, in pennsylvania, in oh ohio. I dont think theres any sort of national movement, and you have sort of convinced me that in virginia there may not be even state movement. It may be an isolated legislator. Im not going to try to judge that with as few awe facts that i have, but i think its wrong to say theres a big republican conspiracy to try to change this. One more question on the subject of gun control. Joe bide seven in richmond today following up on his task force. Where should the Republican Party be on gun laws on perhaps background checks, the loophole. John manchin, has made some moves. He campaigned vigorously with, you know, an advertisement that had a rifle a couple of years ago. Where do you think leading republicans should be to try to join this debate . I think joe manchins point in that commercial wasnt the rifle. It was shooting obamas Energy Policy with the rifle. Ill let joe speak for himself. You look at connecticut where this awful, sickening crime occurred. Everything that guy did was illegal already. If its just a reminder if you make having guns fwens the law, the only people that will have guns are criminals. Thats the way thats the result in connecticut. The Supreme Court has already ruled in the heller case that there can be exceptions, that the d. C. Gun law was unconstitutional, but other assault weapon bans might not be unconstitutional. The constitution does not preclude other restrictions on guns, and background checks. And other measures that are considered and have widespread support. Do you think that republicans should take a closer look at some of the other options in the aftermath of newtown . Again, i think the most productive thing being talked about here is how do we prevent mentally ill deranged people from getting firearms or any other dangerous weapons. That is a useful thing for us to get to the bottom of because thats the real problem. I thought it was interesting. Vice President Biden said he was not concerned about getting guns out of the hands of minute people. Well, im the same way. I dont think we should take away from good people, lawabiding people, the right to own firearms. , and what we ought to focus on is where the real problem is. You look at some of the plays that have strict gun control. Washington d. C. Had the strongest gun control law in the country. Ofsh the highest murder rate. They understand the issue is the people that pull the triggers on those guns ask trying to keep guns away from them. Thats what we ought to be focused on, and the mentally ill part i do consider a productive step that hopefully something will come of. Haley barbour, thank you very much, governor. Thanks for joining us today. Appreciate it. Coming up next, carolyn mccarthy, a gun violence victim, and one of the strongest advocates on capitol hill as joe biden takes the road on gun violence. And its the best as i understandoff. Tim geithner could have asked for. The market reactions to ed. This is Andrea Mitchell reports only on msnbc. This is anna, hey teaching the perfect swing begins with back pain and a choice. Take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. Or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. Good eye. She was a picky eater. Well now im her dietitian and last year, she wasnt eating so well. So i recommended boost complete nutritional drink to help her get the nutrition she was missing. And now she drinks it every day. Well, it tastes great [ male announcer ] boost has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones, and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. And our great taste is guaranteed or your money back. Learn more at boost. Com [ dietitian ] now, nothing keeps mom from doing what she loves. Being my mom. But, dad, youve got. [ voice of dennis ] allstate. With accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates wont go up just because of an accident. Smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. Are you in good hands . More likes. More tweets. So, beginning today, my son brock and his whole team will be our new senior social media strategists. Any questions . Since we make radiator valves wouldnt it be better if we just let fedex help us to expand to new markets . Hmm gotta admit thats better than a few likes. I dont have the door code. Whos that . He won a contest online to be ceo for the day. How am i supposed to run a business here without an office . [ male announcer ] fast, reliable deliveries worldwide. Fedex. Joining me now is karen mccarthy, a very many of gun violence years ago, and she introduced new legislation to ban high capacity ammunition magazines this week. Congresswoman, its good to see you again. We know that this is deeply personal for you with the death of your husband and the long island Commuter Rail shooting and the shooting of your son, and its how you got into politics when we first met. What is your reaction to whats happened so far from the republican side . Well, to be honest with you, im sorry to hear their reaction, and i have to say even listening to the governor in the early part of the show we are not taking away the right of people to own a gun. As you brought up, that was settled with the Supreme Court ruling and a constitutional ruling that a person has a right to own a gun, but with that being said, were iffing to go forward. Weve introduced the assault weapons ban. Were going to be working on mental health, and everything elsewhere its going to be a holistic package. What we want to do is stop all these mass murders, but also stop the shootings that go on in o a daily basis. When the governor talked about washington d. C. The guns are coming in from other states. We wanted everybody to go through background checks. Those are fair and reasonable things to fight for. Again, they keep saying we are infringing on their constitutional right. That is not true. You have been working together with Dianne Feinstein in both houses and your colleague kersten jones. We intrufd her yesterday. I know youre hitting all points, but politically what do you think is viable . Do you think things have changed since newtown, or do you think we are still back with the power of the nra and the money that they contribute to members and the domination by republicans on the house side who will not let it get to the floor . Well, listen, those are all things that are certainly out there, and anybody that ever underestimates the nra dont kid yourself. They are extremely powerful. What im saying is newtown did change because the American People have responded to it overwhelmingly. Here we are 47 days after the shooting, and were still talking about it. Thats how deeply its affected everybody. Its going to be up to the American People to be very honest with you on where we go. Saturday theres going to be the million moms walking against gun violence across the country. We have more groups than weve ever seen before stepping up and saying how can we help . Its really a matter of organizing and even in the white house getting out there almost like a campaign and educating the American People on really telling them what were trying to do, not talking away the rights of someone to own a gun. This past week we had several hearings, and we had gun owners. We had hunters. We had sportsmen. They agreed we dont need the large magazines we dont need the assault weapons, and i think most nra members, the polls show that they believe something has to be done and they stick with us an awful lot. Basically were dealing with the nra that is trying to scare the members of congress. Thats been for years. Many of them have said to me they would love to vote where me, but they dont want to lose their election with b it. We have to show them the American People will stand behind them, their constituents will stand behind them. Good luck with the march today. Democrats link first in the filibuster fight. The politico briefing next right here on Andrea Mitchell reports. Twins. I didnt see them coming. I have obligations. Cute obligations, but obligations. I need to rethink the core of my portfolio. What i really need is sleep. Introducing the ishares core, Building Blocks for the heart of your portfolio. Find out why 9 out of 10 large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs. Ishares by blackrock. Call 1800ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Read and consider it carefully before investing. Risk includes possible loss of principal. Who emailed it to emily, who sent it to cindy, who wondered why her soup wasnt quite the same. The recipes not the recipe. Ohhh. [ female announcer ]. Without swanson. The broth cooks trust most when making soup. Mmmm [ female announcer ] the secret is swanson. Maybe you want to incorporate a business. Or protect your family with a will or living trust. And youd like the help of an attorney. At legalzoom a legal plan attorney is available in most states with every personalized document to answer questions. Get started at legalzoom. Com today. And now youre protected. When it comes to democratic hopes for getting rid of this that 60 vote requirement to get anything done at all in the senate, liberals are going to have to wait at least two more years. Last night Senate Majority leader harry reid cut a deal with republican leader Mitch Mcconnell delaying filibuster reform once again, except for streamlining a few procedural rules. To paraphrase Rachel Maddow last night, that means the senate will get nothing done but get it done a little faster. Politico editor in chief john harris joins me now. Hey, john. Well, they basically said the 60 vote requirement is still there except for moving things along to the floor. Thats a clever line by your colleague, Rachel Maddow. She may be on to something. Shes the aboutest. The other thing i would point out is the choice wasnt doing passing something and having a wealth of legislation and activity take place. If senator reid had made the choice, we are reallying to fwg to have a huge battle over this. I think the likelihood is that this would have dominated the senates proceedings for the next several months, and also would have created a climate of ill will that would have echoed for even longer than that. I think theres a process issue about filibuster wree form. In fact, that was the nuclear option, as they put it up there, and it would have, of course, put in place permanent rules that could have backfired if democrats ended up returning to the minority. Right. Politics which is quite likely. I think that probably was also in reids mind, which is like, look, we got 55 now, but who is to say that that wont be different in two years or four . He was thinking, as is appropriate for somebody in his job, thinking about the sort of longterm institutional interests and his longterm political interests. Jon harris, putting it all in context. Thank you very much. Up next Tim Geithners goodbye after four years, is the economy really on better footing . Were live in cairo as egyptians mark two years since the revolution. [ man ] ring ring. Progresso this reduced sodium soup says it may help lower cholesterol, how does it work . You just have to eat it as part of your heart healthy diet. Step 1. Eat the soup. All those veggies and beans, thats what may help lower your cholesterol and well thats easy [ male announcer ] progresso. You gotta taste this soup. Gives you 1 cash back on all purchases, plus a 50 annual bonus. And everyone but her likes 50 more cash, but i have an idea. Do you want a princess dress . Yes. Cupcakes . Yes. Do you want an etchasketch . Yes do you want 50 more cash . No. You got talent. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card gives you 1 cash back on every purchase plus a 50 annual bonus on the cash you earn. Its the card for people who like more cash. Whats in your wallet . I usually say that. Yeah. Then howd i get this. [ voice of dennis ]. Safe driving bonus check . Every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. Ok. [ voice of dennis ] silence. Are you in good hands . To help protect your eye health as you age. Would you take it . Well, there is. [ male announcer ] its called ocuvite. A vitamin totally dedicated to your eyes, from the eye care experts at bausch lomb. As you age, eyes can lose vital nutrients. Ocuvite helps replenish key eye nutrients. Ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. Now thats a pill worth taking. [ male announcer ] ocuvite. Help protect your eye health. The second anniversary of the revolution that ousted hosni mubarak. They say morrissey has betrayed the revolution, and dozens were injured. Some hospitalized. Nbcs amman joins me from cairo. Lets talk about the protests, pro and conmorsi today. What is the overall feeling about president morsi two years in . If we had to measure it by the show of force or the protesters that are out today, you would say that on the second anniversary, his popularity among those on the streets, is very low. In fact, you know, andrea, were standing several hundred feet among one of the streets near the Division Building here, and the tear gas that is being used is so strong we can feel it here in our office. These clashes have been by protesters who say that president morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are taking over egypt and betraying the aspirations of a revolution they foot for two years ago. Now, no doubt, president morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood enjoy support and popularity. They are not on the streets today. That is because the Muslim Brotherhood has ordered their supporters and their followers to stay away from any of these public protests that are being organized. Most of by the liberal and secular left in the country. The clashes were seeing are mainly between police and these protesters that are converging on to Tahrir Square and other public squares all across the country. Ministry of Health Officials say the number of those injured today has now reached 185. Theyre expecting it to continue well into the night as more and more protesters join these matches in parts all across the country. Thanks so much for that update. Here at home, the Supreme Court has been booming in the weeks leading up to treasury secretary Tim Geithners final day today. Whats the score card on geithners tenure . The Unemployment Rate is where he started when he took on the job. Its the same as today. 7. 8 . The economy has experienced some major twists and turns. Joining me now Pulitzer Prize economic writer. What is the basic feeling about tim geithner who came in during such a perilous time . How has he done . Well, youll get opinions of sort of across the spectrum. He obviously has big republican critics. He also has a lot of critics among liberals. I think when you sort of look at the evidence, i would say a few major things. One, i think he deserves substantial credit for having overseen much of and been one of the central people involved in breaking the back of this financial crisis. If you look at indicate orz, it looked like the great depression, and it didnt end up nearly as bad as the great depression. We didnt get unemployment anywhere near 25 , and geithner and bernanke and a few other people were really the central people involved with that. He made mistakes along the way with that. I think he and the whole administration underestimated how bad housing was as part of this. On the whole, you have to say that they succeeded more than they failed on that, and that one of the easiest ways to see that is that the American Economy is healthier than the economies of a lot of other rich countries also trying to survive from the crisis. I think the big outstanding question about him involves financial regulation. By any measure, we have a Financial Sector that has grown very large and that appears to have helped caused this crisis. With the dodd frank bill that he was central to putting together, had they really done something that made future crisis less likely, i think its hard to know the answer to that question, and i dont think its an answer well know for a number of years. Of course, the friday feels that dodd frank has hurt more than its helped. Now weve had ran Appeals Court ruling that questions the whole Consumer Protection board and the aability to be appointed as a recess appointment. A lot of the regulatory stuff still has to play out. Overall, what is your take on the economy . Are we recovering because housing is coming back . Is this potentially another bubble . Well, im really this time a stock market bubble. Recovering because it looked like we were recovering in 2010, and then we werent. In 2011, and thn we werent. In 2012, and we werent quite. One of the main mcmorgan stanley takes that the Administration Made and geithner is part of this, was being too optimistic about the state of the economy at several points. Theres debate about how much they could have done about that. I think there were things they could have done. They would argue that, no, there wasnt anything they could have done because of congressional opposition. We made the mistake of being too opt mythsic again and again over the last few years. Having said that, i think the odds are better than 50 that we are, many of the, now in the early stages of a recovery. We have a long way to go for the economy to be anywhere near healthy. As your questions suggested, i dont think the stock market is any huge bubble, but we didnt get to the end of this crisis with stocks being cheap from a historical perspective. Its not like we should assume were at the cusp much a great stock market boom. David, thank you very much. Thank you. Coming up, transitions not just at treasury. At the white house as well. Our Political Panel on the confirmation challenges ahead for some of the new cabinet secretaries. And later, the candid prince. Harry opens up about the realities of war and life in the media spotlight. [ male announcer ] kids grow up in no time. Marie callenders turkey breast with stuffing is a great reason to slow down. Creamy mash potatoes, homestyle gravy and 320 calories. Marie callenders. Its time to savor. And 320 calories. Ive got two tickets to paradise l set . Pack your bags, well leave tonight. Uhh, its next month, actually. Eddie continues singing to tickets to. Paradiiiiiise no four. Remember . Whoooa whooaa whooo you know ronny, folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. And how happy are they jimmy . Happier than eddie money running a travel agency. Get happy. Get geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. We all work remotely so this is a big deal, our first full Team Gathering i wanted to call on a few people. Ashley, ashley marshall. Here. Since were often all on the move, ashley suggested we use fedex office to hold packages for us. Great job. [ applause ] thank you. And on a protocol note, id like to talk to tim hill about his tendency to use all caps in emails. [ shouting ] oh im sorry guys. Ah sometimes the caps lock gets stuck on my keyboard. Hey do you wanna get a drink later . [ male announcer ] hold packages at any fedex office location. Honey, i think you shrunk my pajamas. Looks like he was up late watching nba on his phone again. Why . Do i look tired . No, you look like kevin durant. You look fine to me. Really . He looks fine to you . Go play. Mommys got some things for daddy to do. [ male announcer ] unlimited nba from sprint changes everything. Get truly unlimited data from sprint. Official wireless partner of the nba. The president has a new chief of staff today, and he has nominated a new Foreign Policy team. Take a closer look at the changing of the guard for the second term. Joining me now jonathan kapart and msnbc contributor and chris with national journal, and Olivia Bowe Miller with the New York Times. Its been a long week. Get me through this, you guys. Jonathan, first to you. We see today dennis mcdonough, the new chief of staff. Weve seen john kerrys confirmation hearing next friday. Were going to have on january 31st well have chuck hagels confirmation hearing at the Armed Services committee. Hillary clintons long farewell. How is it shaping up . What can we read into the Big Decisions that the president has made . Well, clearly the president especially with the announcements today, is filling out his team. The team thats going to carry him through to the second term, and its also the first term was all about the folks that were close to the president personally, folks who worked with him in chicago, folks that worked with him in his senate office, on the president ial campaign trail, and this goround it appears that the president is appointing people who are close to him philosophically, idealogically, from a policy point of view, and so thats why you see someone like senator kerry who, as youve reported many times, has undertaken Many Missions on behalf of the president. Some public. Some not so public. Think senator hagel will get the nod. Youve been following this very closely. Elizabeth, in covering the pentagon, what is the mood at the pentagon about chuck hagel coming in . Well, to some degree you know, the they salute. They dont have a lot of opinion they share with us. They also say it doesnt make that much difference to them who is defense secretary. It will make a difference as the troops come out of afghanistan. That will be the president s policy for that drawdown schedule. You can be sure that what we know about senator hagel that he is he is very much in sync with the president about wanting troops out more quickly than perhaps some of the commanders would like. And theres some pretty Big Decisions, including how dont ask dont tell gets implemented, whether benefits are available to couples and especially to married couples in advance of a Supreme Court decision on doma, as well as the decisions on how quickly get integrated into combat forces. Thats all going to be on hagels plate. Thats all on hagels plate. You see a lot of republicans who are uneasy about giving chuck hagel the raines on that. You had jim the Ranking Member on Armed Services say he wont be able to vote for him, but i think when you have chuck schumer, has kind of cleared the way for a lot of Kirsten Gillibrand leaning on it. He has been able to neutralize the jewish and israel problems that he has had with chuck schumer. Im not sure he is going to be able to quiet all the republicans that are nervous about him, but, again, this is the president s choice. He is a republican. I think it will be tough for republicans to oppose him in block. Barring some unusual circumstance that we dont know about coming up at the hearing, jonathan, president s do get the cabinets that they want most often, but weve also seen that the Republican Opposition has really struck by watching the republican questioning of both Hillary Clinton and john kerry. Hillary clinton questioned about benghazi, clearly a setback, and a major crisis revealing that the state department was not prepared for the kind of security and threat warnings that they should have been on top of, but the questioning of Hillary Clinton by senator johnson and some of the others was, lets just say, less than effective. Less than effective, and, you know, i would say as i wrote yesterday, rude, disrespectful. I think what were seeing here is senator johnson is a first term member of the senate. He is someone who is a darling of the tea party, and as we have seen, especially since the 2010 midterm elections, the folks associated with the tea party are different brand of legislator, different brand of republican. They dont like washington. They certainly dont like the obama administration, and theyve come to washington to change the way things are done, and what we saw in the rhetorical fight between secretary clinton and senator johnson was a clash of sort of two systems, one the tea party system that, you know, flies in the face of decorum in washington, but then it went up against secretary clinton and Old Washington hand who has been under the National Spotlight and global spotlight for 20 years sitting in front of that in front of that committee and other committees for many, many years, so she knew how to handle them, thou. She knew how to handle them, and john kerry took them to school yesterday when johnson said to kerry, well, we dont know what happened in benghazi yet, and kerry said, well, did you sit with us for hours when we on the committee watched those tapes, the videotapes . We know exactly what happened. We had Intelligence Experts taking us through it. Well, no, i wasnt there. Werent you there . It was available to all of us. I mean, theyre not doing their homework. Briefly, chris, on guns, the end of a very of a difficult and em week on all sides. Joe biden moving much more rapidly than people expected, the white house moves. Still up against a lot of opposition. A lot of opposition. We saw that yesterday with senator Dianne Feinsteins press conference. She had victims of gun tragedies on the hits and reporters tearing up. Thats kind of unusual and i think that even with that kind of emotion an assault weapons ban is very tough. We saw joe biden moderate that by saying i care about how many bullets are in a clip than a certain kind of gun. I think House Republicans are trying to figure out where can they go on this . Waiting for the senate as we talked about on this show before they are forced in to it. I think we get background checks and limited ammunition clips. Thank you very much. Elizabeth, hagel confirmed . Looks like the white house expecting that 60 votes at least. Thank you very much. Jonathan, as always, thank you. Thank you. Up next, prince harry but from afghanistan but not without some controversy. Of carousel one. Of carousel one. Theres carousel two all right [ male announcer ] when you combine creamy velveeta with zesty Rotel Tomatoes and green chiles, youll get a bowl of queso that makes even this gettogether better. But, dad, youve got. [ voice of dennis ] allstate. With accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates wont go up just because of an accident. Smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. Are you in good hands . Prince harrys candid commentings of combat as a second tour in afghanistan caused a lot of controversy this week. Take a life to save a life. Thats what we sort of revolve around, i suppose. If theres people trying to do bad stuff to our guys then, you know, well take them out of the game, i suppose. Now that hes safely back in london, or in the uk, hes being a little more cautious. So now hes sort of walking back or not being so explicit about the fact he indicated he killed taliban in afghanistan. Yeah. Thats right. And the newspapers, you know, went with med liheadlines sayin killed taliban. Hes the outspoken one in the royal family. Perhaps too much and was more cautious and said, talked about the challenges actually of being out there and the Afghanistan War and that sort of thing. So, you know, he did try to row back a bit. Its interesting, really, watching the interviews because you get harry, the vivacious kind of young royal saying it like it is and clearly a railroad complex character so, for example, over and over again says negative things about the media and clearly angry with the media and asked directly why that is. He says it goes back to his mother diana. Clearly, for those of us fairly obvious how far back it goes to when i was very small. Everybodys guilty for buying the newspapers i guess but hopefully no one actually believes what they read. Which i certainly dont. But yeah. Of course, of course, i read it if theres something about me i want to know whats being said. But all it does is upset me and anger me that people get away with writing stuff they do. I dont think theres anything such as a private life anymore. Clearly understood. Clearly still angry. Understand that completely, gone lived through the whole everything that happened with diana, with his mother. Understandable that he has that take. Thats right. But then whats worrying people a little bit and people are talking about is 28 now. But what about in ten years time if hes still that angry and his fathers always saying to him, act like a prince and people said he needs if you like to grow up a little bit. Well, the royals are always of interest. Thank you, keis simmons. That does it for us this week. News nation is next. [ bop ] you can do that all you want, i dont like v8 juice. [ male announcer ] how about v8 vfusion. A full serving of vegetables, a full serving of fruit. But what you taste is the fruit. So even you. Couldve had a v8. Looks like youre in a pickle. Yeah. Can you get me out of it . Just so happens i know a chap. Book any flight and hotel together and get access to our free personal concierge service. Any need, any question, were on call 24 7. Starts with arthritis pain and a choice. Take tylenol or take aleve, the 1 recommended pain reliever by orthopedic doctors. Just two aleve can keep pain away all day. Back to the news. Lets say you pay your guy around 2 to manage your money. Thats not much you think. Except its 2 every year. Does that make a difference . Search cost of Financial Advisors ouch. Over time it really adds up. Then go to etrade and find out how much our advice costs. Spoiler alert its low. Really . Yes, really. Etrade offers Investment Advice and guidance from dedicated, professional financial consultants. Its guidance on your terms, not ours. Thats how our system works. Etrade. Less for us. More for you