GOP Derails Hegseth Impeachment Push

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1:03Out front next, the breaking news tonight. Democrats vowing more impeachments and investigations. Threats from AOC tonight of, quote, many subpoenas, all in the face of a failed GOP-led effort to impeach Pete Hegseth moments ago. Plus, the Mississippi Senate nail-biter, the deadline to count ballots in Mississippi is up. So where do you think stand at this instant? Can the Democrats, Scott Cologne, hold his lead or not? And breaking news this hour, CNN learning President Trump was warned again that NVIDIA's CEO was in a relationship with a suspected Chinese spy, this time just before Jensen Huang joined Trump on Air Force One to fly to China.

1:43Information that contradicts what Trump just told reporters. Let's go out front. And good evening, I'm Erin Burnett. And out front tonight, I want to begin with the breaking news. Pete Hegseth's impeachment is off for now. Republicans in the House sinking efforts by one of their own to impeach the president's defense secretary, but Democrats moments ago vowing to take action as soon as they take over the House. This is not over. Armanu Raju just talking to Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and Pramila Jalipal. Should you guys impeach Hegseth in the new Congress? There are so many criminals in this administration, it's hard to figure out who should be the order of operations.

2:28There are going to be many, many, many investigations. I imagine many subpoenas, and we have to follow wherever the evidence takes us. I do think that there will be impeachments and investigations that tie together corruption, violation of constitutional rights, and affordability. because the war ties all of those three things together. I mean, what Pete Hegseth has done as Secretary of Defense is take us into an unconstitutional war. They say they'll go wherever the evidence takes them. That is, of course, a challenge to Trump and his allies, who today worked the phones relentlessly to kill Republican Congressman Thomas Massey's push to impeach Hegseth.

3:11Now, all of that calling paid off, as I said, today. House Republicans falling in line with Trump, which is significant in the wake of the wave, even after the vice president and a growing number of Republicans have openly blamed the war for the party's historic midterm defeat. We saw Iowans absolutely reject the war on Iran and the cost that it's causing on American families in their pocket. The message in 24 was clear. We don't want these wars. young people, they felt betrayed on two things in particular, the war and on affordability. And that is true. I mean, according to our voter polls, right, asking people as they voted what they felt, six in 10 voters said taking military action against Iran was wrong.

4:00And they took that resentment out on Republicans. And Democrats will soon have at least 256 seats in the House. We've got 11 races that are still undecided. So that number could go up. Of those still undecided, Democrats lead in four of them that are currently held by Republicans. So that could potentially be four more flips. So far, Democrats' net gain is 42 seats, which is the most since the post-Watergate midterms. Just to again emphasize the moment that we are in. As we are also waiting for more results in the two Senate races that have yet to be called, Mississippi and Alaska. Currently, Democrats have a 54-seat majority in the Senate.

4:37and we'll see if that ends up going up to 55 or 56, depending on those races. But Democrats are now firmly in the majority. No matter how you look at it, that is obvious in both the House and the Senate. And when it comes to the Republicans who survived that brutal blue wave, their message today was they're going to fight. Hours ago, they elected Jim Jordan to be their new House leader, someone who, of course, has made a name for himself as an unapologetic and ardent defender of President Trump. We knew President Trump didn't do anything wrong here. Donald Trump has never been about retribution.

5:11I love the president's intensity and his willingness to fight. Have you ever heard the president lie? I've not. Okay, Manu Raju is out front live on Capitol Hill. And Manu, I know you've just spoken with a number of people on Capitol Hill, including Democrats, when you just played some of that, including from Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez. What more are you learning?

5:36Yeah, Democrats are making very clear that this is not the end of the road. In fact, that was the message from Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, as he walked out the floor, told our colleague Ellis Kim that this is not the end of the story because this could very well come up in the next Congress. And this had a chance of actually passing tonight. In fact, there were 11 Democratic absences right now on the House floor. The final vote was 211 to 204 to kill it. And just seven Republicans, there were 11 Democratic absences, seven Republican absences. And the question is, how will they proceed after this?

6:10Democrats are making very clear that they want to move forward, not just with the HECSF impeachment. There are others in the cabinet that Democrats are very, very eager to go after as well, potentially RFK Jr. There's talk about Kash Patel as well. So expect this to be the beginning of the effort, as Hakeem Jeffries indicated. and certainly not the end of it as they were close, but not close enough, because now that they have effectively, the Republicans have killed this in this Congress, this is probably done for now, Erin, and that means the Republicans can breathe a bit of a sigh of relief because they were worried that this impeachment trial, Congressman, what do you think of the 11 absences, Democratic absences right now in the House?

6:53This could have passed if these Democrats were here. How concerned are you about that? I mean, the people send us here to do a job. I can't speak to, I don't know if anyone had any real health issues or anything significant to that respect. So I want to leave room for that. But that being said, at the end of the day, we're here to do a job. And the same way I had a clock in when I worked at a restaurant, we got a clock in and do our work here. But again, I don't know if anyone had any outstanding health issues, and I want to keep room for that as well. And you want this to be a top priority, the Hexeth impeachment in the new Congress?

7:29Well, hopefully we don't even have to wait for the new Congress. I think that should we have the appropriate numbers, Massey could bring it again or anyone else. And what other cabinet officials do you think you'd want to go after in the new Congress beyond Pete Hexeth? Well, I want to also be clear that it's not just about impeachment, because I don't want this just to be about removal from office or being ineligible for office again. If someone committed a crime and they are guilty of a crime, then they should be prosecuted under the same rule of law that any layperson and any citizen would be subject to.

8:10And so impeachment is one question, but actual prosecution, I think, is something that in instances of guilt where there is evidence of a legitimate crime is something that that needs to be, you know, brought up, pursued. just like any right if someone it's a crime you're there's an expectation

8:43there shouldn't be any exception an everyday person walking down the street or whether you're the secretary of defense how high do you go do you go after Trump I mean do you try to impeach Trump I mean I think we should leave all options on the table absolutely I mean of course this Supreme Court as well has also kind of legalized a lot of his criminality and they're pointing at impeachment. Impeachment in this Republican majority at that time was pointing at the Supreme Court. So we'll see. We'll approach it. But I think all options are on the table. Thanks for your time. Thank you. I appreciate it.

9:17All right. Erin. All right. Manu, thank you very much. Manu just speaking there, as you saw to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. two big things she just said there. One, she does not necessarily believe that the effort to impeach Pete Hegseth is over, even in this lame duck session, right? That she didn't think it had to wait for a Democrat majority in January. She thinks Thomas Massey, the Republican, can bring those articles again here in these next few weeks. That's important. And also saying all options should be on the table with further impeachments, including possible proceedings for President Trump himself.

9:49All right. I want to talk about all of this out front now. I want go to John Elliott first, though. He served as Hegseth's Pentagon spokesman. He also served in the first Trump administration, and he's now the author of a new book, The President Deserves Better. Paul Rykoff and Jamal Simmons are also here as well, familiar faces to everyone. But, John, I want to start with you, if I may. Interesting in the wake of what Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just said, that these articles could come again. But when you look at Thomas Massey's articles of impeachment that go through specifics, you also conclude that guilty is the verdict?

10:21Well, look, it's up to Congress, but he's going to get impeached. I mean, whether it's now, whether it's before the January or whether it's in January itself after the Democrats take the gavel. So, but to me, Aaron, it's not about impeachment. If you're somebody, if you look at that news conference that Hegseth did today, where he's screaming at reporters and he's yelling across them, he looked like a Fox News fire breather, frankly, or a cable news fire breather who is trying to get a point across. So he's essentially somebody who is, he makes it about himself, not about the troops. He makes it about, he actually likes this, to have the focus on him and to be able to, it's as if he's on a set of Fox News.

11:03And what I've said and what I say in the book is that the president deserves better than that, that when he was appointed by the president in the transition, that if, and he was confirmed, only remember 50-50 with Vance casting the tie vote. If I'm somebody like that and I'm getting in there and it's such a thin margin, then when I get in office, I would pivot from being a Fox News co-host and instead focus on bringing the volume down, just figuring it out, talking to people and not making it about yourself. So what I say is the president deserves better. And that if I were if I looked at that news conference today and I just say, hey, look, president's got two more years to go.

11:41He doesn't need this headache. You want to resign, but I think you go even further. By the way, I'm thinking when you talk about making it about himself during the war, we had to look at him putting out videos of himself lifting weights and talking about testosterone tests for troops and all of those things. You think he shouldn't have taken the job to begin with? Yeah. So what I would say, Aaron, is that let's say I'm on the transition. And just as a reminder, I was a senior advisor on President Trump's campaign in 2016. That was at the same time that Pete Hagseth was calling him an armchair phony warrior is what he said.

12:09He was not backing the president when we were working in Trump Tower to get him elected. So that's number one. Number two is that when you talk about Hegseth himself is basically he's somebody that when he was offered the job and he knew that he was just a Minnesota National Guard major, which we honor everybody's service, no question about it. But then he had no management experience. And if he's also built a career as a bombastic guy on Fox News, that's very helpful to go up the ranks from a contributor to it. So I'd say if I were in his shoes on cable news, not to be running the department.

12:42So for me, if let's say the president came to me and said, hey, John, for all your service you've done me over the years, I want you to be my deputy attorney general. I would say, Mr. President, I get a big car driving around, big motorcade. But you might want to think about somebody with a law degree because I'm not qualified for that. And so that's what I think that Secretary Hicks should just say, look, you know, I'm a Fox News host, bombastic, like to throw bombs. I'm not the unifying figure that you need after President Biden and looking forward. And you would be better served with somebody else who's better qualified.

13:14All right. And OK, so so, Paul, just to make the point, John was the Pentagon spokesperson for Higset. So it's significant that you're saying what you're saying. But we're here tonight where this just failed. OK, Alexander Ocasio-Cortez is saying, well, it failed for now. And for now, I don't mean till January 3rd when Democrats control. I think Thomas Massey could do it again and succeed. He should, because today is the Marine Corps birthday. Tomorrow's Veterans Day. And Pete Hexeth never should have gotten the job. He should have long ago lost a job. And every day he's in that job, he's making our country less safe.

13:47He's making it about him. He's dragging our military down. Our enemies are celebrating every single day he's in office. And it's about our national security. So, yeah, the Democrats blew it tonight by not having enough people there to pass it. But they should bring it back tomorrow. Drop it on Veterans Day. You want to serve our veterans? You want to serve our military? Remove the number one problem that we have facing our military. And it's Hexeth. And there's bipartisan support for that now, but he does want to make it about him. He wants to grandstand. He wants to amplify his profile, and he probably wants to run for president.

14:15Well, I mean, we've heard that that's all but a sure thing from those close to him. I don't know whether he will or not, but I mean, that reporting's been there. But Jamal, what about what the congresswoman said? Where were those Democrats that caused the failure today? Because it's all about a complicated set of a rubric of math when it comes to the House and its votes. You know, the Republicans have learned nothing since Election Day. I mean, they're not changing course. You pick Stephen Miller to be the White House chief of staff. You pick Jim Jordan to be the minority leader for the House.

14:42That means they're not changing course. They're not listening to the voters. But you know who has learned something is AOC. Think about how constructive she sounded when she was there. She didn't throw bombs at her colleagues. She gave people grace to sort of figure out where they were. And then she opened a path. I don't know what's up with people's health. But by the way, I clocked in at my job when I worked at a restaurant. She got a lot of things in there. She made her point and she made it in a way. Absolutely. She made her point and she made it in a way that didn't take anybody else down.

15:07But then she also opened the door for the Democrats to act. And here's what's important about that. When you've got Jim Jordan being named as a minority leader, that means the Republicans are knuckling up. They're getting ready to get into a fight. And now you get people like AOC who are saying, I'm knuckling up, too. If you guys want to do that, I'll match you. Yeah, Jamal is absolutely right that that sends a bad signal from the outset. But look, I've worked with Stephen Miller and, you know, he is obviously a hardliner on immigration. But he does know the Senate. He worked for Jeff Sessions from Alabama when he was there.

15:39So I don't know, but my hope is that he pivots just like Hegseth didn't pivot after barely getting, he didn't pivot from being a Fox News fire breather over to actually doing the job. I'm hoping that Stephen Miller says, look, I'm no longer in charge of immigration. I have to make this president succeed and work with Democrats. And so I'm going to, we'll see. The jury's out. Now he's in charge of everything. And hope is not a course of action. I think the reality is we're in for a new phase of war. It's going to be open combat between all sides. And I think this period, again, between now and January is especially dangerous.

16:15Because what this tells you is Hegseth is still there, which means the most important story in the world is still that Trump can do anything he wants with the most powerful military in the world and nothing is stopping him. They didn't slow him down today. They didn't check him today. And forever war rolls on. That can include Cuba and anything else he wants. Because he circled the wagon and he closed the circle. The CIA warned you multiple times that the CEO of the single most important company in the AI war against China is sleeping with what they say is a Chinese spy, and Trump chooses to do nothing about it.

16:42We don't know about the whys and the motives on all this, but we know the basic scaffolding of the story. We do, because we also know the president of the United States has given information to Russians in the Oval Office that was supposed to be secure. We know that he met with Putin and came out of a meeting and said, I trust Putin more than I trust my intelligence officials. So there's like real questions about how the president feels about intelligence in general. The question for me about Stephen Miller is it could also be that Donald Trump likes to negotiate from positions of strength. And Stephen Miller is like a loaded gun that he put on the table to let Democrats know that if we're going to fight, I've got somebody I'm ready to fight with.

17:18But now perhaps there is a doorway open for the Democrats to negotiate. But the Democrats have to fight back, too. They have to show Trump that they are willing to go just as tough as he is. Yeah, yeah. Go ahead. What I would say is, look, President Trump has two years. Those of us who work for him for over a decade now, off and on, in and out, first term, second term, we know that he's only got two years left as president. He's already shown that maybe he wants to fight, be very combative. But at the end of the day, I still think he can take a step back and say, hey, look, I want to work and get something done.

17:50He's always concerned about these legacy projects like the ballroom and everything like that. His true legacy is going to be whether he comes to the table and actually gets things done in a bipartisan way. Last thing that I would say is that if you're Hegseth, if you're truly loyal or anybody for that matter, Christy Noem, for example, if you realize that you're being a drag on the president, if you're loyal to him, then you owe it to the president to say, it's not about me, it's about you. And I've become a distraction. When you write in your book, The President Deserves Better, you know, Trump picked Hegseth.

18:18Right. And there were people around him who warned him. And early on with Signal Gate and all of that. I warned. I wrote an op-ed right after I left. Why do you think Trump stands by him? I think President Trump, I don't think that he realizes how much of a drag Pete Hegseth is. You've had good things that have been happening in the military up until the war in Iran. But our munitions stockpiles, everything else. Did you hear what Pete Hegseth said? It was all rosy. He was giving all the top lines. Most of that that he was talking about could have happened no matter who was Secretary of Defense.

18:48It was CENTCOM. It was STRATCOM that did a lot of the actual attacks on Iran that were a year and a half ago. So bottom line, he's making it as if he, recruiting was already going up when he first came in office, dismantling identity politics programs. That went across, that was across government. But does Trump ever say, hey, wait a minute, this guy didn't tell me the truth about the munitions. He didn't tell me the truth about the U.S. bases. He didn't tell me the truth about the aircraft carriers that are in the region. It goes on and on and on. Right. So Trump, what he might be doing is establishing that I'm not going to do what the Democrats want.

19:26And then three days from now, he asks Trump to find somewhere else to go. Because here's the real bottom line. The real bottom line is the American people have said they want a change in direction. And right now, the Republicans aren't giving them that. That's going to hurt every single other Republican that's going to be up for re-election soon. And Trump doesn't care. Trump doesn't care. Maybe tonight was a pure victory for Hexeth. All right, I got to leave it there. But I appreciate all of you very much, and thank you. And next, one headline calls them the, quote, scape gals. A majority of top Trump officials who have left or been fired happen to be women.

19:56Former Republican congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene has something to say about that and a lot more next. And breaking news, new numbers just in for the 11 House races that have yet to be called. We're going to go to the magic wall, break down where these stand, how close we are to calls. as the top Democrat in the House makes his feelings known about Trump's new chief of staff, Stephen Miller. Do you think he can be a viable partner for Democrats? No. Well, there's a one-word answer. Will the man about to become chair of Homeland Security be willing to work with the man behind Trump's immigration policy?

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21:12This holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just$15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song. Like, all I want... Right. Okay, we can't afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three months,$90 for six months, or$180 for a 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms.

21:45All right, we've got breaking news, new numbers just into CNN right now. This is for the 11 House races that have been still too early or too close for us to call. And all in, when you look at these races, there are still almost a quarter million votes to be counted, it, 214 ,000 to be specific. Right now, Democrats are leading in four Republican-held districts. The net gain leading into this is 42 seats, so four more possibly on deck. And then, of course, there's the two Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi, also yet to be called. So here I am at the magic wall with, of course, Harry Enten.

22:20Here we are. All right. So as I said, 214 ,000 votes still to be. I mean, that's a quarter million votes. So when we're looking at some of these margins, it's 38, it's 22, but it adds up to a lot. So what are the latest numbers? All right. So let's start off in the Senate and then we'll go to the House. We'll start off in the Senate because we've been getting ballots over the past 24 hours from Alaska. Mary Patola's lead has been growing in Alaska. It has grown. Remember, it was in the hundreds. Now she's 2 ,500 votes ahead. Based upon historical trends, I would bet that that lead would grow wider.

22:50Now, we have not gotten anything from Mississippi. We expect some stuff from Mississippi tomorrow, potentially. Scott Colombe still leading there. Look at that. He's now up nearly 2 ,700 votes. So again, that lead has been expanding since Election Day. Now let's go to the U.S. House of Representatives because that's where I think the picture gets very interesting. What are we talking about here? Well, let's go to the state of North Carolina because there's been a lot of interesting little nuggets going on in North Carolina as provisional ballots have been counted. We'll go to the northwest part of North Carolina.

23:18Virginia Fox, longtime incumbent there. She She actually was ahead for a little bit earlier today, but Chuck Hubbard has actually regained the lead. Or Hubbard has regained the lead there, up by 325 votes. Virginia Fox, of course, a longtime incumbent. Then we're going to go to the southeast part of the state, and this one is very interesting. Greg Murphy, the incumbent, also in trouble as we see Raymond Smith. 284, that's it. 284 votes. And I will just note, I always love this little nugget because you can see the red line was slightly ahead, And then all of a sudden, Raymond Smith took the lead earlier today as those provisional ballots have been counted.

23:52And this is a seat that, of course, was not on very many people's radars. No, I mean, and it's not alone in that regard. In fact, that is that is, you know, in some some districts, right, Democrats get over the line. But you're seeing these swings in some incredibly red districts as well. How big are the swings? Yeah, let's talk about this. Let's talk about these shifts. I mean, my goodness gracious, biggest shifts from 2024 press to 2026 House. And these are districts that flip from a GOP rep to Dem or the Dem candidates ahead right now. Look at this. Texas 15, 42 points. California 22, 38 points.

24:25North Carolina 11. Look at this. 25 points. Kentucky 6, 24 points. And Tennessee 4, look at this, 24 points. My goodness gracious, I'll note that Tennessee 4 district, Donald Trump won that by over 20 points back in 2024. I mean, swings like this, I mean, I don't know if we've ever seen anything like it. Certainly not in this many places. This is across the political map. Okay, so tell us something else we don't know, because I bet you very few people watching knew about all of this. These ridiculous swings. All right, I'll tell you this. Where are Republicans doing well? Well, how about the one GOP— Well, there we go.

25:02Right here. This was actually going— This is live television, folks. This is where I thought we had a rep who was outperforming Donald Trump, but now it's gone gray. It's gone gray. So, in fact, I'll tell you something you don't know, Erin Burnett. At this point, there is not a single district that is represented by a Republican in which they are actually outperforming Donald Trump's performance from two years ago. Not a single one. Not a single one. We thought it was this one. And it literally changed as I was on live television. Not a single one. Not a single one. Believe that. Crow Creek, place to go on your list.

25:34Here you go. All right. Thank you, Harry. Thank you, Harry. And next, we've got the breaking news. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just here out front live telling Armanu Raju that, quote, all options are on the table when it comes to Democrats impeaching President Trump. Another top dem weighs in next. And more and more women disappearing from the Trump administration. Former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is our guest.

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26:36Breaking news in the alleged spy scandal targeting NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. President Trump has been warned, he was warned for the second time about Jensen Huang's relationship with the suspected Chinese spy in May. And here's what happened. It's an incredible story. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is with Trump on Air Force One, and he tells the president just before Huang was going to join Trump's trip to Beijing. Okay, now Huang was going to join just at the last minute, right? He was actually initially left off the list of tech CEOs traveling to China on the trip, which at the time was newsworthy.

27:08Why was his name off there? Well, then Trump unexpectedly invites Huang to meet up with Air Force One on its refueling stop in Alaska. Huang shows up and his private jet gets on the plane. The New York Times reports, though, that as stunning as this is, right, that he's worn by Rubio and Trump is and Huang gets on the plane that it was the second time in seven months that Trump was told about Huang's alleged involvement with the suspected spy Alice Huang. First time was was over a year ago. And this contradicts what Trump told reporters just yesterday. When were you first told of these potential issues with Mr.

27:41Huang? You didn't answer that question. Well, I've been hearing about it and I've been reading a little bit about it over a period of time, but not too long ago. We'll look into it. Not too long ago, he said yesterday, Of course, we know that there was a warning at least a year ago. And then that whole reporting that we just shared from The New York Times. Out front now is the former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. And Congresswoman, I appreciate your time. I mean, obviously, with the U.S. and China, there is nothing more on the front lines than AI and NVIDIA's chips. This is at the heart of national security for the United States.

28:17You were on both the oversight and Homeland Security committees. Do you think this is a big problem for Trump? I do think it's a problem. And I also think it's like this is kind of U.S. CEOs 101. If there's a woman in China that's very interested in you, she's probably a honeypot. She's probably a spy. So, I mean, with that being said, of course, the president shouldn't have allowed him on the plane. But then again, look at Donald Trump's tolerance for affairs and the people that he hangs out with that are listed on the Epstein file scandal list. So there's a lot of deference there. But really what bothers me is I know the president very well and can tell when he's pretty much lying or not wanting to engage with the press on an issue of this extreme importance.

29:10And so it is it is concerning. The House moments ago killed that resolution by Republican Congressman Thomas Massey. That was the resolution to impeach the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, who calls himself the secretary of war. Massey was the only Republican congresswoman, the only one who voted to oppose it after intense pressure by President Trump and the White House to defeat it. I'm just curious what you think about this. I mean, Republicans are angry about the war with Iran. Many of them publicly and almost all of them privately express extreme issues with Secretary Hegseth himself. So are you surprised when this came down to it that that almost none of them, only one stood up?

29:54Unfortunately, I'm not surprised. I think that was a big team party politics play. They did the same thing to me when I introduced articles of impeachment on Joe Biden's secretary of homeland, Alejandro Mayorkas. They tabled the committees and well, they actually they sent them to the Homeland Committee to go through the committee process. But I had to fight very hard to force those articles of impeachment for a vote. So I'm not surprised that they voted, but it was the easy way out, Aaron. And let's talk about my Republican colleagues. These are people that call themselves pro-life. Well, you know what's not pro-life is killing children.

30:34And Secretary Hegseth oversaw the war plans and was completely in charge when those bombs hit the children's school in Iran. And so it's pretty hard to stand by and defend that. And I thought that was a significant piece of Thomas Massey's articles of impeachment. Plus, it's the Republicans that are constantly preaching the Constitution. Well, it's unconstitutional for the president to go to war without getting permission from Congress. So I thought there was a lot of merit there to those articles of impeachment. The biggest tell tonight from that vote is that nearly, I think it was every single Democrat voted no to send the articles of impeachment to committee.

31:17they were prepared to vote yes on impeachment. And so when you look at the numbers coming in with Democrats next Congress and an already resolved current Democrat caucus ready to vote on impeachment, I think that's a big tell for what's to come next year. You know, Trump obviously didn't waver in his support of Hegseth, at least up to this time. And it comes, though, as something Congresswoman, you and I have spoken about. The overwhelming majority of top Trump officials who have chosen to leave or been fired in his second term are women, okay? Many of them embroiled in controversy, but so have a lot of men in his administration.

31:54But the men are still there. Six of the women who are gone, Pam Bondi, Lori Chavez de Rimmer, Tulsi Gabbard, they were all, they're all gone, all replaced by men. Men took the roles vacated by Kimberly Guilfoyle, Kristi Noem, Susie Wiles, all of whom were forced to leave their positions, and perhaps deservedly so in some cases. But this is an issue of whether everybody's being treated the same. Do you see a pattern here? Oh, I see a pattern. And Aaron, I would like to add to it. Look at how he treated me. He also how he treated Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace. I think we could also put Elise Stefanik in that group.

32:35He did her wrong the way that whole thing ended with her being the ambassador to the UN. And so, no, there is a pattern and it's women. And he tears women down constantly. And, you know, Republicans have a serious women problem. And I have been telling them over and over again. So it's no wonder that they cannot get the women vote by the way they treat women. It's very disrespectful the way they treat women. And even how so many of the Republican men just stand by Donald Trump and his fight against releasing the Epstein files even to this day. So, yes, it's quite a clear pattern. And some of those women, yes, there are clear controversies that I'm not going to apologize for or stand with.

33:22But, however, that pattern is still there, and it's quite a problem. Yeah. Well, Congresswoman, I appreciate your time, and thank you so much for being here. Thank you, Erin. And next, the breaking news. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just telling Armanu Raju here out front live that when it comes to impeaching Trump, all options are on the table. Top Democrat responds next. And we've been talking about NVIDIA's CEO, who's accused of having a relationship with a suspected Chinese spy, potentially putting U.S. national security at risk. And as you're about to see, he has a history of publicly talking about his marriage.

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35:11Breaking news. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez moments ago telling Armanu Raju live here out front, quote, all options are on the table, including impeaching President Trump. How high do you go? Do you go after Trump? I mean, do you try to impeach Trump? I mean, I think we should leave all options on the table. Absolutely. I mean, of course, this Supreme Court as well has also kind of legalized a lot of this criminality, and they're pointing at impeachment. Impeachment in this Republican majority at that time was pointing at the Supreme Court. So we'll see. We'll approach it. But I think all options are on the table.

35:50Out front now, Democratic Congressman Benny Thompson of Mississippi. Congressman, I appreciate your time, and we've got a lot to talk about tonight. But first, Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just moments ago said that live here on our show to Manu. Is impeaching Trump on the table for you? Well, absolutely. I think everything is before us. And for me, if it hits the table, I'll support it. Which is obviously a significant statement here because it very well may come to that. But when it came to the impeachment today, that was of Pete Heggseth. And I'm trying to understand what happened. It obviously failed, but because 11 Democrats were absent tonight for the vote.

36:35Do you feel your own party cost you the chance to move forward with Hegseth's impeachment, given that that impeachment was led by a Republican? Well, I think it's a problem. Obviously, it came up if we'd had our members that outcome could have very well been different. But there'll be other opportunities. I think the record is clear in terms of the Department of Defense and the mismanagement and the fact that we're at a war that Congress had nothing to do with approving. So clearly, there are some things that we will address in the near future. I want to turn to your state, which, of course, is right now at the center of the political wave that hit this country.

37:19Scott Colom is leading Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Senate race there by 2 ,607 votes. To be extremely exact, Congressman, obviously Trump won your state by double digits three times. So this was stunning to many, not to Mr. Colom, who I remember a few weeks ago was on this program saying that this would happen. But Cindy Hyde-Smith said she is confident that she's going to prevail. And Scott Colom has responded. Here he is. if she thinks she truly has the ability to win explain how he told me a few days ago he's 100 confident he's going to win how optimistic are you well look i'm cautiously optimistic i've run campaigns for a long time i know that scott cologne did everything that a winning candidate should do he was public in his facing in the campaign.

38:14He didn't run from the issues. He even campaigned at a Donald Trump rally for his opponent. So that tells me he has the courage and tenacity to win. He deserves to win. And I'm convinced, based on the way things are going, he will be victorious. We have until Friday of this week to certify the election. And at that point, I'm convinced Scott Colon will be victorious. So Friday, you say the certification needs to happen. So just between now and then, what it comes down to is something that you know better than anybody else, Congressman, and that is your county. Hines County includes Jackson, which you partly represent, and nearby Holmes County, those two counties.

39:00What do you understand about how many ballots remain in those counties, when we'll see the results, and how the ballots that are coming in already there indicate where this may go in these next hours? Well, the machine vote from both counties, Scott Colon carries about 80 percent of the vote. It's a good county for a Democrat to run in. It's a good county for Scott to feel like he will carry whatever votes that are out. So I feel good, too. But, you know, it's not over until it's over. and it will be Friday, if not before. I'm excited about his campaign. He ran a wonderful campaign. He targeted the low propensity voters that most people don't even consider, and he brought them out to the polls.

39:52When you look at the poll precincts, when elections were happening, he was absolutely on point. The people were there. Heather, it seems like they were. And as you say, this will have to be certified by Friday. And a call could come before that, I understand. Maybe in the next 24 hours, there are some in Mississippi who think it could come then. We shall see. Congressman Thompson, I appreciate your time and thank you so much for coming on. Good to see you again. Thank you. All right. And next, the breaking news, Senator Chuck Schumer just tearing into President Trump for defending the embattled NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who's accused of having a relationship with a suspected Chinese spy.

40:42Breaking news, the Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer ripping President Trump for defending NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang at the expense of America's national security. Schumer responding to the news that Trump was warned at least twice about Huang's affair with a suspected Chinese spy. Schumer just said this. One of our most important companies that's involved in national security and the CEO might be having an affair with a Chinese spy and Trump did nothing about it? What a dereliction of duty. He's supposed to protect America, not China, not his friends. We're at the tip of the iceberg of this scandal and Will Ripley is out front with more on how it is already rocking Huang's family, the company, and the whole world.

41:32That was my pickup line. Long before the alleged Chinese spying scandal and his admission of an extramarital affair, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang loved telling the story of how he met his wife, Lori. I was 16 when I went to college. And when I met my wife, I was 17. She was 19. And so I was the youngest kid in school, in class. In the early 1980s, Huang was an electrical engineering student at Oregon State University. By his own admission, not exactly a smooth operator. So I walked up to her and I said, Do you want to see my homework? Then I made her a promise. I said, if you do homework with me every Sunday, I promise you, you will get straight A's.

42:21Born in Taiwan, Huang spent part of his childhood in Thailand. Then his parents sent him to America at just nine years old. His mother tried teaching him English, even though she couldn't speak it herself. By college, he'd found a way to turn homework into a courtship. About five years after meeting, they married. At 30, he co-founded NVIDIA, the company that would make him one of the richest men on earth. Through more than four decades of marriage, Lori Huang has largely avoided the spotlight. An engineer herself, she now leads the couple's charitable foundation. Her husband is one of the most famous faces in tech.

42:57Jensen built NVIDIA into an AI powerhouse and built a following here in Taiwan, bordering on celebrity worship. To many Taiwanese, Jensen Huang is proof someone from this island can conquer the world. He signs autographs like a rock star, once famously on a woman's chest. Just weeks ago, Lori Huang was at his side for one of their highest profile appearances together, a White House state dinner honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping, a remarkable measure of Jensen Huang's influence and reputation. Until this, a mysterious Chinese tech executive named Alice Huang, no relation, at the center of an international scandal.

43:37Over the past year, U.S. intelligence and the FBI, in a classified memo, had concerns after they concluded she was a Chinese spy. Two U.S. sources tell CNN. Beijing denies any spy plot. President Trump confirms the FBI is investigating. CNN obtained photos appearing to show the pair together at a luxury California golf resort at NVIDIA's headquarters and an upscale Shanghai restaurant. CNN's continued efforts to reach Alice Wong for comment have been unsuccessful. This story is on the front page of pretty much every newspaper here in Taiwan. This headline reads, Jensen Huang admits to extramarital affair.

44:16Jensen Huang has admitted to being unfaithful to his wife, apologizing to Lori and their two children, but he did not identify the other person. NVIDIA's board ordered an independent investigation into reports foreign intelligence targeted Huang. The board says it has no reason to believe company secrets or national security were compromised. U.S. lawmakers want to question Huang next week about the espionage allegations and NVIDIA's security safeguards. Are you surprised that somebody as high profile as Jensen Huang could be allegedly targeted and actually had somebody could have access to him in this way?

44:55Not only would Jensen Wong be a target, he would be one of the highest priority targets, and that you could go across the industry and realize that any of the leadership of these companies, anyone in the C-suite of these companies, is likely to be an intelligence target. Former CIA counterintelligence analyst Peter Mattis describes a classic espionage tactic known as honey trapping, using romance or intimacy to gain access to sensitive information and sway decision making. This is something that the CCB is known for only because they've been caught at it a few times. NVIDIA is a family affair.

45:31Both of Jensen's adult children work there. I met his son Spencer, a director at NVIDIA's robotics business, last year. His daughter Madison is a senior director at NVIDIA. She was also at that Taipei restaurant. The night cameras captured her father with Alice Huang, including his own daughter's camera.

45:53This is obviously a huge blow to his public image here in Taiwan to be on the front page with his wife and also with Alice Huang right next to him after people here really revere him. The U.S. obviously believes that China targeted Jensen Huang, but, you know, Russia and other countries also use these honey traps, Aaron, to gather intelligence. And not just women. During the Cold War, East Germany even trade male seducers. They called them Romeo agents. And today, AI chips are basically the nuclear weapons of our time, experts say, and the people developing them are these prime targets. In fact, he told me that every AI executive should assume right now that they're being targeted.

46:25And this case could be just the beginning. Yeah, it could be just the beginning. And as you point, AI, the nuclear weapons of our time, that is why this scandal, we could just be at the tip of the iceberg of where this reaches. Well, Ripley, thank you so much from Taiwan tonight. And thanks to all of you for joining us. AC360 starts now. This holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just$15 a month. A holiday deal this good, It obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song, like All I Want. Right. Okay, we can afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain.

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