Hegseth Impeachment Push Grows

0:01Are you ever shopping online and suddenly a discount that helps you save pops up? It makes your day, sometimes even your week. Want that feeling month after month? Well, new customers who save by switching their home and auto insurance to Progressive save hundreds. Cue your happy dance. Get your quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and other insurers not available in all states. Kate holds the key to every brand asset your business has ever made. She's the only person who knows the difference between teal, turquoise, and the correct company blue. But she's going on vacation.

0:39Luckily, before the company falls into design disarray, you realize you can put Kate into Canva. Save every color, font, and logo to a brand kit everyone can access. And Kate can vacation happily in the knowledge that no one will ever use Comic Sans. What will you canva today? Happening now, lame duck Congress. Today, lawmakers return after the GOP's major midterm losses. A slew of items are on their to-do list before the Democratic-controlled session starts, including funding the government. And pushing for impeachment, Republican Congressman Thomas Massey says he'll reintroduce his resolution to impeach Pete Hegseth as more GOP lawmakers express doubt about the defense secretary.

1:24And foreign spy probe NVIDIA is now investigating whether its own CEO was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, what the head of the world's second largest company is now saying. Plus, Mississippi Nailbiter new updates on the Senate race there as the margin remains razor thin. Welcome to our viewers, the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown, Wolf Blitzer is off, and you're in the Situation Room.

1:59Happening now, Congress returns. Today, lawmakers are back on Capitol Hill for a lame duck session after the GOP midterm route. In January, Democrats will take control of the House and the Senate, and until then, Republicans remain the majority. But that may not help a battle. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, outgoing GOP Congressman Thomas Massey, plans to trigger a vote this week to impeach Hegseth. And more Republicans are now expressing doubt about the defense secretary nearly two months after Massey introduced the articles of impeachment. Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to civilians.

2:41The lawful conduct of United States military operations, the integrity and credibility of the United States Armed Forces and the Constitution. Hegseth's just not the right guy for the job. Nothing personal. The guys just demonstrate, like, no, that they're not up to the task of running these large, complex organizations. The president deserves better than that. And I hope he comes to that conclusion before we take on more water as a result of excess incompetence. I can tell you with a high level of confidence that there's a lot of questions about hedge sets. we have no idea what the strategy is moving forward in Iran.

3:19No one's happy about Iran. And I think the Republican voters are more upset about what's going on in Iran than the Democrat voters. CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju joins us now from Capitol Hill. Manu, you just spoke to Congressman Thomas Massey. What did he tell you? Yeah, he said that he plans to introduce the articles of impeachment against Pete Hexeth today. And that would trigger a vote as late as Wednesday because the House will have to act within two legislative days to take up that impeachment measure. And he told me that he's introducing a new version of that plan that he'd offered earlier in the fall.

3:54He'll offer that new version today. It has eight articles of impeachment in it. It has a 34-page resolution and mostly deals with his efforts to wage war in Iran as well as with Yemen without explicit congressional approval. It also raises a number of other issues involving Hexat's conduct, such as they say, he says, kidnapping a sovereign foreign leader, referring to what happened in Venezuela earlier this year as well. Among the big questions, though, is how many other Republicans will ultimately join him? Because right now on the House floor, the Republicans still control the House, Pamela, as you know.

4:30This is a razor-thin Republican majority. There are a lot of Republicans who are upset with Pete Hexat, upset with the Iran war, and simply are not coming back to Congress next year because they lost their elections last week. Will they vote with Thomas Massey and vote to approve this measure? And with Republican absences expected as well, that could be enough for Democrats to help join with Massey and maybe a handful of other Republicans to push this over the finish line, which is why GOP and Democratic sources are telling me that they do expect this to pass the House. It would require two-thirds of the United States Senate to convict and remove Peaks Hexet from his position.

5:06That is highly, highly unlikely in the Republican-controlled Senate. But nevertheless, this would be a very significant rebuke. Could happen by the middle of this week. And Massey, Pamela, telling me this morning that he thinks it's, quote, far more likely it would pass today than before the election. So what else do Republicans have planned for the lame duck session? Yeah, the big ticket item that they'll have to deal with by mid-December is to avoid a government shutdown. And Republicans will need Democratic support in the United States Senate. in particular in order to avoid a government shutdown.

5:37Those negotiations are still ongoing. There's also a big debate within the GOP about how to approve additional funding for the war with Iran. The House Republicans took one step to move a bill that would allow them to circumvent a Democratic filibuster in the United States Senate. But there's big divisions in the Senate among Republicans about whether to move ahead with that measure that includes Iran war funding. So that's going to be one of the big fights within the GOP in the final weeks of this session. All right, Monty Raju, thank you so much. Well, President Trump says the Republican candidates are to blame for last week's election losses.

6:14Not him. He sat down for a wide-ranging interview on CBS's 60 Minutes and defended his handling of the economy and the war with Iran. And he says he's ready for the new balance of power in Congress come January. You came out after the midterms. You congratulated the Democrats. You said that you were open to working with them. True. What is one thing you would like to work with a Democratic majority on? I'd love to do something on immigration. Would you work with the Democrats? I would absolutely. I don't mind guardrails. On AI safety. I don't mind guardrails, but I don't want to put us in a deep second position.

6:48We're leading number one. And China has no guardrails, by the way. All right, let's go to the White House where we find CNN's Elena Trine. What else stood out to you from this interview, Elena? Yeah, I actually thought it was a fascinating interview. And you even heard 60 Minutes kind of acknowledge that they believed the president was in a more reflective mood than he had been defiant, even though, Pamela, he refused to accept any blame on himself, to personally blame himself for the kind of the reckoning we saw last week for the Republican Party in the midterm elections. But he was, I think, a little less defiant than normal.

7:26And that is actually, Pamela, what I hear in my conversations with White House officials, the president's advisors, basically in the days following Tuesday night, more and more the president privately willing to admit some of the midsteps his administration has taken and even at times him. And I think that was really kind of on display with his answer about immigration, looking at an issue that was, of course, really a huge priority for him and his team when they entered office for his second term. Listen to what he said. Do you think immigration hurt you in the midterm? Do you think the crackdown hurt you?

8:01I think it both helped and hurt. I think I got an A-plus for closing up the border. I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out. But I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation for breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally. So you think your deportation policy went too far? It was too tough. I think it might be too tough, yeah. Now, Pamela, as someone who has covered President Trump for many years, to hear him say that about an issue again, I remember when I started covering his second term in this White House, when they came in, his top officials, in January of 2025, they said repeatedly that they believed they couldn't go too far on immigration.

8:45Now, of course, that's very different when they look at this being one of the key reasons for a lot of voters, Latino voters specifically, said that they voted with Democrats and against Republicans. I will say, too, though, how this comports with the president elevating Stephen Miller to be his chief of staff is a bit of a confounding answer. Stephen Miller, of course, is the architect of a lot of this administration's hardline immigration policies. He spends most days wondering how he can bring deportations up even further. So unclear how he's going to try and balance the two of those. But the president as well did say that he doesn't necessarily need to chart a new course in his final two years in office, even if it ends up being unpopular with American spam law.

9:28All right, Elena Treen, live for us from the White House. Thanks so much. And still ahead here in the Situation Room, the CEO of tech giant NVIDIA now under investigation. Was he the target of a foreign spying operation? Plus, defending his billions, what President Trump told 60 Minutes about the massive amount of money he's made during his presidency. We'll be right back.

10:17Your quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and other insurers. Not available in all states. What will you Canva today? What will you brainstorm, collaborate on, present today? What will you resize, post, edit, imagine? What will you research, test, switch, and finally have the courage to pitch? You got this. What will you visualize, design, brand, animate, create, generate? What will you translate, pour your heart into, or have a laugh doing? Whatever you want to make, it's possible. So what will you canva today? Happening now, NVIDIA shares are down almost 4%.

10:59This morning, you see it on your screen. This is the company's CEO is under investigation from his own company's board. It follows reports that Jensen Wong may have been the target of, quote, a foreign intelligence effort. The head of the world's largest AI chip developer yesterday admitted to having an affair. Wong apologized to his family and his company, writing in part, I take full responsibility for what I did and the hurt I caused. I am committed to protecting NVIDIA and supporting America's national security. President Trump defended Wong this weekend. He's a fine person, in my opinion.

11:36In hindsight, do you wish that you had acted on the intelligence when you were briefed about the spy last year? I think, you know, I think he's an honorable guy. I think he probably has an excuse for it. Yeah. You have to hear it. So let's go live now to CNN AI correspondent Hadass Gold. What more can you tell us about the board's investigation here, Hadass? Yeah, Pamela, this will have potentially massive implications, not just for NVIDIA, which is one of the world's most valuable companies, but for the AI industry as a whole because of NVIDIA's role, not only providing much of the hardware and chips that the AI industry runs on, but also a lot of the financing and also could have major implications for U.S.-China relations.

12:13So here is what we know. There is a Chinese woman named Alice Wong, who has no relation to Jensen Wong, who was an executive at a Singapore-based data center company called Megaspeed that was an NVIDIA customer. She had been seen at events with Jensen Wong there. You can see her there in the pink dress. They were seen getting into cars together. And her company had already been suspected of smuggling some of these high-end NVIDIA chips that are under expert control laws into China. This is something that they have denied. And then late last month, the New York Times reported that this woman, Alice Wong, is actually also suspected of being a Chinese intelligence asset.

12:49Now, obviously, there's a lot of worries about that, that she could be feeding information, not only about NVIDIA, but also about President Trump because of Jensen Wong's close relationship with the president. He's often consulted about AI issues, is often seen with the president at events. And now we're learning, this was first broken by the Financial Times, that U.S. officials believe that this was actually a romantic relationship. And then yesterday afternoon, Jensen Wong sends this explosive memo to his staff where he says, I was unfaithful to my wife. He says his actions hurt her and her children, that there's no excuse for what I did.

13:20And now we're also hearing from the NVIDIA board, which is opening its own investigation into this. They say in part, the board prioritizes U.S. national and economic security, which is paramount to the interest of NVIDIA and its shareholder. They go on to say that the board has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised. Now, they also say that Jensen supports this investigation and he will continue to lead the company while they undergo this investigation. But obviously, investors are paying close attention and so is Congress. Jensen Wang has already been called to a closed-door briefing before several House committees.

13:53That's expected to take place within the next week or so. And we're hearing from more members of Congress that we should expect more investigations into this because of those huge national security implications. And a lot at stake. Hadas Gold, thank you so much. Let's continue this conversation with us now is technology journalist Jacob Ward. He's a CNN contributor and founder of theripcurrent.com. First of all, Jacob, just explain to our viewers the significance of this. What a mess. I mean, Pamela, what a mess, right? This is the guy at the center of, as Hadas described so well there, one of the most consequential companies in the United States, if not in the world.

14:32I mean, it is the centerpiece. I believe that the latest, the last market numbers, this one company accounted for 8 % of the S &P 500, right? It's the centerpiece of a very circular piece of vendor financing in which it's pouring money into its own customers and keeping the whole hyperscaling, you know, frontier model building world alive. And he's tight with President Trump. So you have a guy who's literally, he's the face of the AI revolution. And even more difficult for him is the incredible number of times he has said in public that he thinks export controls on China were a bad idea and should be walked back.

15:13He said it, you know, a half dozen times in public. And now all of that gets called into questions. They're going to have an earnings call pretty soon, Pamela. And I have to imagine that is going to be a rough conversation. It appears he still has the support of NVIDIA's board. But despite this investigation, do you expect that support will continue? They are in an impossible position, this board, because on the one hand, they have, you know, if you look at past instances of executives lying to a board about an affair, they tend to be tossed out. We've seen that, you know, the CEO of Intel once upon a time, McDonald's, Nestle, these various companies, when they've discovered that there's an inappropriate relationship and that the CEO has been lying, they tend to toss them out.

15:56But in this case, this is the most valuable, I guess, second most valuable company in the world. And this is a guy who has built a unique position for himself, essentially as kind of emperor inside this company. He reports, 60 people report to him directly. And he is famous for that structure, having built a system that he controls sort of absolutely. He oversees the details of every part of that company. So who's the second in command to put in first? There's Colette Kress, the CFO of the company. You know, she'd be my pick maybe, but, you know, there's no clear second in command. So the normal rules of tossing out someone who's been found lying to people about an affair, much less lying to them about an affair about someone who may be an intelligence asset, it's unprecedented.

16:42I have no idea what the board's supposed to do here. If he does leave the company, how do you think investors would view that? Well, I mean, I think that he is so synonymous with the company. He is such a face of the company, right? His, you know, leather jackets that he wears at every interview have become a collectible. You know, I mean, he is so central to this company's appearance that I have to assume that that would be an issue. On the other hand, right, it is the connections that this company has to the rest of the AI field and its customer base that really makes the difference here. I think Jensen Huang really had, as I understood it, you know, banked a great deal of the future of this company on the idea that he was going to get into the China market.

17:27He was the face of that effort. And now that that effort has been, I would argue, compromised by his compromising relationship with this possible intelligence asset, you know, I think that it really affects the future of a company that literally, you know, this is a company, Pamela, with the power of nations. It is the most it is it is its GDP exceeds that of most nations. And now its head has been found to be potentially compromised. And there's no path forward in this weird world in which the United States is treating a company as one of its most valuable strategic assets. And now the head of it is compromised this way.

18:02It's an it's an insane story, Pamela. It really is. Jacob Ward, thank you. Well, coming up, a Republican congressman is planning to trigger a vote on Defense Secretary Pete Hegsess' impeachment. I'll ask Democratic congressman and retired Army Colonel Eugene Binman if he supports this effort. Up next.

18:36Mind knowing your loved ones are protected with Progressive's accident response. Learn more at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Limited availability in California. Driver is responsible for emergency and towing charges not covered by the policy. Coverage subject to policy terms and conditions. Happening now, President Trump tells CBS's 60 Minutes he still has confidence in his defense secretary, Pete Hexet, even as impeachment talk grows on Capitol Hill. and outgoing Republican Congressman Thomas Massey could introduce the resolution to impeach the defense secretary as soon as today.

19:10Here now is Congressman Eugene Bindman from Virginia. He's a retired U.S. Army colonel who serves on the House Armed Services Committee. He is also a Democrat. Congressman, thank you so much for being here with us. So you've said that Hexas conduct warrants impeachment. You said that you would vote to hold him accountable. What specific offenses specified under the High Crimes and Misdemeanors classification under the Constitution do you think that he has engaged in? Well, first of all, thank you for having me today. Today is our first day back on the Hill in seven weeks since the midterms. I'm looking forward to seeing what that floor looks like this evening.

19:49As it relates to Pete Hegseth, Pete Hegseth is the least competent, least capable, least experienced secretary this country has ever had. I've been calling for his removal, resignation or removal since Signalgate. And he was never held accountable then. And this has led to a string of failures over the course of the last 18 months, culminating really in this fiasco of an Iran war, a war that he is the head leader for, the head strategist for. And that's gone extremely poorly well, poorly for this country. And so he needs to go. And there's a litany of actions, whether it's his strikes in Yemen or the boat strikes in the Caribbean, the mismanagement of the Iran war, signal gate.

20:36There are just so many. And it's time for him to go. Pete Hexeth has been fighting back. He has posted several defiant videos on social media. Here's part of a video he shared over the weekend. To the troops, don't blink. Ignore the noise. Never hesitate. You see, all this is politics. You do real things. So stay the course. And as always, President Trump leads the way. And I'll assure you, we have only just begun to fight. What is your reaction to that? My reaction is that it's silly. And, you know, the Secretary of Defense needs to be focused on a strategy for the Iran war, on our competition between peer competitors like Russia and China.

21:25And instead, he is producing videos. I think it's silly. I think I find his machismo distasteful. But really, that's besides the point. It's his complete lack of competence, inexperience, and inability to manage a massive organization like the Department of Defense that has not only Democrats but Republicans extremely angry with him. Remember, this is a Republican proposal. This impeachment is a Republican proposal. And I think there's going to be a majority of members that are going to support that, given his mismanagement and the impact that this Iran war has had on the midterm elections. Senator-elect in Kansas, Adam Hamilton, he flipped deep red Kansas, says that he supports ending the war in Iran.

22:11But he also said this about investigating members of the Trump administration. Let's listen. If I spent the next two years, my first two years in the Senate in investigations, I'd be deeply disappointed. Let's focus on helping the American people. And I'll tell you, the Democrats, if they don't if we don't figure that out and get to work on helping people, this is going to be a one and done kind of, you know, kind of blue wave. How do you walk that line of pursuing accountability, but not overreaching in a way that could backfire? Look, the senator elect is 100 percent right. And I think the Democratic caucus, especially on the leadership of Hakeem Jeffries, is going to be very much consistent with that.

22:50So we have to walk and chew gum at the same time. We have a constitutional obligation to exercise oversight, checks and balances. The American people clearly in the mandate that we got on Tuesday want checks and balances. And so on the one side is a focus on affordability. We have to be laser focused on affordability and we're going to be laser focused on affordability. rolling back the cuts to health care, re-implementing the ACA tax credits, restoring SNAP benefits. 100%, you know, we have to be working on those issues. But at the same time, we have to ensure accountability and the checks and balances that the American people expect will be in place.

23:31Corruption was one of the major factors that drove people to vote for Democrats. They were fed up with the corruption of the Trump administration, where the president and his cabinet are raking in billions, and his billionaire backers are raking in billions of dollars. And that's on the backs of average Americans that are paying more costs at the grocery store, at the pump, and other places. President Trump said in the 60 Minutes interview that he would work with Democrats on immigration. And he admitted, rare admission, that his policies were too tough when it came to deporting people who had been here for a long time, who he says only violation was crossing the border illegally.

24:09Would you be willing to work with the White House on immigration? What would you like to see happen on that front? Well, first of all, I'm glad to hear the president say this. I also think it's odd that if he thinks that he was too hardcore on some of these policies, that he's installed Stephen Miller to be his chief of staff. That looks like a double down on the policies of chaos, cruelty, and corruption. Look, where it makes sense, we're going to work with the president. And we anticipate, I anticipate, he's going to work with us. He's going to have a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate with pretty massive majorities to contend with.

24:41And so he's going to have to work with us. Otherwise, he'll be a lame duck president. So we're going to find those areas where it makes sense for the American people. If we can agree on lowering costs, we can pass some bills related to lowering costs. If we can agree on national security issues, we still face major national security issues, whether it's Ukraine or Iran or, again, competition with China. Those are things that we need to actually, we can't just sit around for two years and wait until the next election. We have to make progress there. Otherwise, the American people are the ones that are going to suffer.

25:13Last question for you. Do you plan to support Hakeem Jeffries' bid for Speaker? 100%. I think Hakeem Jeffries has held a coalition of Democrats together with duct tape and spit in a very hard two years, really historic. And on the back of that built massive majorities in the House, I think he's a great leader and he has my support, ironclad support. Democrats, though, I mean, yes, there was a huge blue wave, but they're not exactly popular, right? What do you plan to do to address that? Well, again, the mandate from the American people was straightforward and simple. They want us laser focused on affordability issues and also accountability.

25:55That's the checks and balances that we as Congress are supposed to have on the other branches of government. All right, Congressman Eugene Vindman in Virginia, thank you so much. We'll be right back.

26:09Are you ever shopping online and suddenly a discount that helps you save pops up? It makes your day, sometimes even your week. Want that feeling month after month? Well, new customers who save by switching their home and auto insurance to Progressive save hundreds. Cue your happy dance. Get your quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and other insurers. Not available in all states. What will you Canva today? What will you brainstorm, collaborate on, present today? What will you resize, post, edit, imagine? What will you research, test, switch, and finally have the courage to pitch?

26:50You got this. What will you visualize, design, brand, animate, create, generate? What will you translate, pour your heart into, or have a laugh doing? Whatever you want to make, it's possible. So what will you canva today? Happening now, it is day one for the new White House Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller. Miller, a Trump loyalist, was given the job on Friday, and he's taking over for Susie Wiles, who had served in the position since President Trump's re-election. With us now is CNN political commentator Jamal Simmons, former communications director for Vice President Harris, and Pete Seat, vice president of Bose Public Affairs Group and former White House spokesperson for the George W.

27:33Bush administration. Nice to have you both on. Pete, to you first. So President Trump's new White House chief of staff, Stephen Miller, starts today. What signal does this send, especially after Republicans experienced such a resounding defeat, in part because of immigration policies that Stephen Miller backed? Well, certainly depends on who you ask, Pamela. If you ask the president and the most ardent defenders of the MAGA movement, this is without question the perfect pick because Stephen Miller is unapologetic about the agenda. He is combative on television, particularly taking it to Democrats, which the administration is not going to have to face, Democrats in the House and the Senate.

28:16And he is unflinching in his loyalty to the president. Who would be better? But if you look at the results of the election, it's fair to say who would be worse. They're not really hearing the message that was sent. The policies that Stephen Miller embodies, immigration being one of those, were soundly and roundly rejected. at least some of the moves that were made in places like Minnesota and elsewhere around this country, not necessarily the good work that was happening at the border. And I think President Trump even said that himself in the 60 Minutes interview that aired last night. So it depends on who you ask, but I think a lot of people on the Hill are worried because they are sensing more gridlock with this pick.

29:01Yeah, he was asked about his deportation policy. The president said it was too tough. So he went on to say that he would like to work with Democrats on immigration. Jamal, what kind of immigration reform could you see Democrats working with the president on? I think we might be getting the Stephen Miller hire a little bit wrong this way. I think hiring Stephen Miller as chief of staff is like putting a loaded gun on the table before you start the negotiation. Number one, Donald Trump has rustled the attention back away from the Democrats over the weekend by the Stephen Miller pick and then talking about his White House press secretary ideas.

29:38And then number two, if you're going to go into a negotiation, think about how the president negotiates. He puts tariffs on Canada and then he starts a trade negotiation. He sends aircraft carriers to the Middle East. Then he starts trying to have a negotiation with the Iranians about what's going to happen in the Straits. I think that this is just the beginning of how he negotiates, which is to let people know we can do this like gentlemen or we can get into the rougher stuff. But he wants to let people know that he's got a very, very big, bad weapon to use if the negotiations don't go well. Meantime, Pete, just moments ago, President Trump posted this on social media.

30:17Quote, does anybody really believe this election was honest? How could the polls be so wrong? He goes on to say, quote, it's all about the machines, which are far more important than the voter. What? What do you think about that? Pete? I don't know what to think about it. You know, despite all the predictions up until this point in this post, the president had not called into question the results of the election after the votes were counted. He seemed pretty despondent about the results. If you saw that Politico phone call that they did on their live stream with him the night of the election, he sounded a little depressed about what had taken place and was recognizing the severity of the losses that Republicans took all across the country and what it meant for his agenda.

31:11But then you have this post, which just goes back to what President Trump likes to do, which is call into question, say that elections are rigged and try to distract away from the fact that this was a message. This was a referendum. You hear this even from Republican members of Congress, those who won and those who lost. They understand the stakes. They understand the message that was sent and they're ready to get to work. The question is, is the president ready to get to work? Well, what do you think, Pete? Do you think he is? Well, we're getting mixed messages on that. We get the Stephen Miller pick.

31:48I think Jamal made some interesting points on that. But you get that pick, which says we're going to be combative. We're going to fight against these hearings and these investigations and not necessarily come to compromise with Democrats. But at the same time, you have the president saying, oh, I want to work with Democrats on some potentially comprehensive immigration reform. So there's mixed messages. Who knows what direction he's actually planning to go? That's why we're here talking about these things, because there is a lack of clarity. So we put Stephen Miller in chief of staff role. And Jamal, he said Saturday that he had offered ultimate fighting championship CEO Dana White the role of White House press secretary.

32:29A source familiar with the matter says White declined the offer. Trump said he was joking. What do you think? Was he actually joking? I'm sure he wasn't. Listen, the president, first of all, he likes to get the light back, right? We were talking about Democrats for a few days. The president wanted to get the light back on himself. Number two, this is just all kind of his, the way, the theater of it all for the president. We'll see what happens when he actually has Democratic members and senators and congressmen sitting across the table from him and they've got to negotiate. The question for the Democrats, though.

32:57This is what I've been writing about on my Kill the Spider substat. The question for the Democrats is, what are the things that are going to unite them in this big, diverse caucus that they have that stretches from, you know, really Democratic socialist members all the way to more conservative members? And I think it's a few things. People want to make sure everybody can participate in the prosperity of the country. We want to have security, that we're using our powers responsibly to have security for the American people. And number three, to make sure that we're protecting the rights of every man, woman, and child in the country, which is something you wouldn't think you have to say, but apparently you do in the Trump era.

33:29And the number four, the American dream, that people want to know that they can still achieve the American dream in this country. Now, we're going to fight. The Democrats are going to fight over how to achieve those things. But those big, broad issues, every time they talk about it, we should talk about something that's bigger than just the moment at hand. And that way, the American public will know what ideological destination we're headed to before we start arguing about the cars that we're driving to get there. We know that in this election, corruption was on the top of minds for a lot of voters.

33:57That's according to the polls. The president was asked about this. He was grilled on 60 Minutes about his net worth growing by$3 billion during his second term. Let's listen. So your son manages or helps manage a cryptocurrency company called World Liberty Financial. Which son are we talking about? You are a co-owner of that company. That's correct. That's correct, right? This company is also partially owned by investors connected to the government of the United Arab Emirates. I think if I told you that story, and it was about the Biden family, if I said Joe Biden is the part owner of a company, and it has all of these investments from the Middle East, you would say that sounds corrupt.

34:40Right? Well, he did have a lot of different things. Sure, but you. But why is it different? Well, here's the thing. I'll tell you why. Because I know nothing about it. Pete, what do you make of the president's answer? Do you buy it? Well, a lot of things can be true at the same time here, not just two things. It can be true that Donald Trump was a successful and wealthy businessman before he came into the White House. It can also be true that there are unseemly moves that are being made on crypto and sneakers and coins and all the other things that have been pitched and hawked to the American people before and during this presidency.

35:19It can also be true that the corruption fears are not just about what people are seeing in the administration or around the administration, but also on Capitol Hill. There are a lot of questions about Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and how their net worths have exploded because of stock trades since they've been in office. So there's a lot of focus on just the Trump administration. But I think this is much broader than that. When you ask the American people, they see politics as corrupt. How do you see it, Jamal? Well, first of all, it's got to be a great way to live to never have any responsibility to take any responsibility for anything you've ever said in the past or anything you've ever done in the past.

35:59The president just sort of makes these things up to get his way through these interviews and doesn't have to really explain himself about anything he's ever done before. Listen, I think that what's going to happen now is there are going to be oversight hearings that are coming out of Congress. And so it's interesting to do an interview where you can say whatever it is you want to say. But when you have Elizabeth Warren or one of the other oversight committee chairs asking questions under oath of people in your family or business associates, that's a very different question. And we'll see whether or not the president just pardons everybody with a big blanket pardon and so they can all get away with it.

36:32But the American people have said this kind of corruption, it was too much, too fast, too far. They want it to stop. All right, Pete C., Jamal Simmons, thank you both. Thank you. Coming up here in the Situation Room, the president is giving some new details on his plans for the war with Iran, telling CNN that renewed attacks are highly unlikely. So how does the conflict come to an end? That's next.

36:59Progressive's accident response can contact emergency services if you're in a major accident. The only thing worse than someone you love being in an accident is not being able to help them. So Progressive is here to help when you can't. So get peace of mind knowing your loved ones are protected with Progressive's accident response. Learn more at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Limited availability in California. Driver is responsible for emergency and towing charges not covered by the policy. Coverage subject to policy terms and conditions. President Trump tells CNN renewed U.S.

37:33military attacks on Iran are highly unlikely. as long as there's progress in talks over Tehran's nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which, by the way, Trump has said the U.S. controls. President Trump's comments come as he once again rallies behind Pete Hegseth and his handling of the Iran war, with the defense secretary poised to face an impeachment vote in the House this week. Joining us now to discuss is CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Layton. And it's interesting that he's saying it's highly unlikely that the U.S. would re-engage in war with Iran at a time when these negotiations are happening.

38:14Is he taking away some leverage by saying that? I think so, Pamela. And it's a really interesting negotiating tactic when you think about it. because on the one hand, he's trying to signal to the American public that he may have heard some of the discourse from the election because a lot of people were very upset about the election. Of course, his own vice president, that is the prime cause of the war. But the other thing that you have to keep in mind is when the audience is also Iran, the problem that you run into is that the Iranians see this as a sign of weakness or at least potential weakness.

38:48So they know that Trump wants to extricate himself. They were watching the election as well. They've seen some of the efforts by the administration, which in some cases you can say, you know, reek of, you know, you don't want to say desperation, but they are clearly in line with views where people need to move out of this region and do things like that. So there are several factors in play here. One of them is the fact that the Iranians destroyed a large portion of our bases in the Persian Gulf region. And that, of course, is a significant thing. That changes the American military footprint there.

39:24So Iran has achieved a degree of victory in that sense already. The question then is, will the United States rebuild its bases or some kind of base structure in the Middle East? What does that then do to the Gulf alliances? What does that do in places like Saudi Arabia or Gulf states like Qatar or Bahrain or the UAE or Kuwait? And that becomes a real issue for those countries. And so if the administration wants to have some kind of a peace arrangement with the Iranians that allows for or enables the security of those countries, they have to be very careful in what they say before these negotiations get to a point where they are reaching that final point where we're getting close to an agreement.

40:05So do you think Iran has the upper hand right now in these negotiations? I think so, yes. And the reason they do is because they've achieved some of their military objectives. You know, their efforts, you know, with the bases, of course, were one thing. The other thing is that they at least are still continuing to threaten the Strait of Hormuz. Now, there are signs of Iranian weakness as well. As the president correctly points out, there is weakness in the Iranian economy. Their ability to control the Strait of Hormuz is limited by the U.S. naval blockade. And the U.S. could maintain a presence theoretically there for some time.

40:41They could do basically a replica of what we did after the first Gulf War, where we maintained Operation Southern Watch and Operation Northern Watch over Iraq, which were basically a lot of, you know, a lot of aircraft were used by the U.S. in order to prevent Saddam Hussein back in those days from flying missions over large parts of Iraq. something analogous could potentially happen in with Iran but this idea that they that they have where they were some people in the administration are talking about pulling out is something that they really have to think very carefully about because that would really weaken the US position and could potentially have impacts not only in the Gulf states but on the world economy I'm curious what you think about everything surrounding Pete Hegseth right now we expect Republican congressman Thomas Massey to introduce his resolution of impeachment of Hegseth this week.

41:33Do you think that Hegseth's ability to lead the military survives if he does not survive an impeachment vote? If he does. Maybe he's not convicted in the Senate? If he's not convicted in the Senate, I don't think he has a real chance to effectively lead the military. His effectiveness is already being called into question by several actions. You go all the way back to Signal Gate. that was a real problem for him because it's a do as I say not as I do moment in leadership and whenever a leader does that you lose a lot of trust of subordinates in any organization not just in the military but then you move forward to the conduct of the Iran war and that conduct was something that was really basically subpar.

42:16Hegseth was one of the people that advocated for this war thought it would be in essence a one and done type situation like Venezuela and that is That's absolutely not the case. Iran is a much more complex place, a much more vibrant, dynamic military and intelligence apparatus that can withstand a lot of punishment. And that is something that Hexeth and many others did not take into account when they started this effort to go after Iran. All right, Cedric, always great to have you on. Thank you for your analysis on this. We'll be right back.

42:54Progressive's Accident Response can contact emergency services if you're in a major accident. The only thing worse than someone you love being in an accident is not being able to help them. So Progressive is here to help when you can't. So get peace of mind knowing your loved ones are protected with Progressive's Accident Response. Learn more at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Limited availability in California. Driver is responsible for emergency and towing charges not covered by the policy. Coverage subject to policy terms and conditions. Kate holds the key to every brand asset your business has ever made.

43:28She's the only person who knows the difference between teal, turquoise, and the correct company blue. But she's going on vacation. Luckily, before the company falls into design disarray, you realize you can put Kate into Canva. Save every color, font, and logo to a brand kit everyone can access. And Kate can vacation happily in the knowledge that no one will ever use Comic Sans. What will you canva today? Happening now, why a top tech CEO's admission of an affair has triggered national security concerns from his company and top U.S. lawmakers. And then later, the health update we just got from Joe Biden as the former president prepares for his book tour.

44:11Welcome to our viewers of the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer is off and you're in the Situation Room.

44:25Happening now, shares of NVIDIA, the world's top AI chip developer, are down about 4 % this morning. You see it on your screen right now, and this follows news that its CEO is under investigation by NVIDIA's own board. There are concerns that Jensen Wong may have been the target of a, quote, foreign intelligence effort. CNN senior international correspondent Will Ripley has the full story. This story is dominating the headlines here in Taipei where Jensen Huang was filmed with a woman now at the center of a suspected Chinese spy scandal. The NVIDIA CEO is facing an independent investigation by his own company.

45:01In a message to employees, Huang writes, I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There's no excuse for what I did. I'm deeply sorry. That apology is exploding on Chinese social media, drawing more than 40 million views on Weibo as of Monday morning local time. Much of the discussion focuses on his infidelity rather than the alleged spying. But there is an important distinction here. Huang's statement does not identify the person involved, and it does not confirm an affair with this woman, the corporate executive identified by The New York Times as Alice Huang, no relation to Jensen.

45:36The Times reports U.S. intelligence concluded she was passing information to Beijing and had developed a close relationship with Jensen. CNN has not independently verified her identity or those intelligence findings. They were filmed leaving a private dinner together here in Taipei last year. The two were also photographed together at a Taipei bar in 2024 during the Computex technology show. Now, NVIDIA's board says independent directors and outside lawyers will investigate the reported foreign intelligence effort. The board says, quote, while the board has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, the board's inquiry will examine all available information.

46:16Huang says he will cooperate fully and President Trump is standing by him. I just know he's a fine person, but you never know what is going on. I'm sure I hope everything's fine. He's done such an incredible job. And so I would certainly hope he's a fine person, in my opinion. In hindsight, do you wish that you had acted on the intelligence when you were briefed about the spy last year? No, I don't think so. I think, you know, I think he's an honorable guy. I think he probably has an excuse for it. Now, congressional Republicans are seeking a briefing from Huang on November 18th. Beijing rejects the allegations, and NVIDIA says it has no reason to believe that any secrets were compromised.

46:55But no doubt there's much more to come on this story. Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei. And our thanks to Will Ripley for that reporting. Happening now, questions about President Trump's immigration policy after the Democrats' widespread midterm election wins. Republican Governor Greg Abbott had put Texas at the center of the immigration debate for years, but we're already starting to see a shift. On Friday, Houston's mayor signed a new directive to limit how much local law enforcement cooperates with ICE on traffic stops. And this comes as Trump admits his sweeping deportation policy was, quote, too tough.

47:31Do you think immigration hurt you in the midterm? Do you think the crackdown hurt you? I think it both helped and hurt. I think I got an A-plus for closing up the border. I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out. But I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation for breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally. So you think your deportation policy went too far? It was too tough. I think it might be too tough, yeah. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has covered Trump's immigration policy extensively. And I'm wondering, Priscilla, what you're hearing from your sources and ICE about what President Trump has said, elevating Stephen Miller to chief of staff, and now what Texas is doing, poised to provide this challenge to his enforcement push.

48:19Everyone I've spoken with expects that there is going to be a doubling down of the president's immigration crackdown simply because Stephen Miller, the architect of the president's hardline policies, has been elevated. He is now the White House chief of staff. So the signals that that sends to the Department of Homeland Security is that there is no relenting on the president's immigration agenda. In fact, I had one Homeland Security official tell me Trump got his MAGA mojo back. So that gives you a sense of how they're thinking about this and how they're preparing to move forward the next two years.

48:48Now, Texas is important in all of this because it's not just a state story. It actually has national implications. In fact, Texas had served as a roadmap of sorts for the Republicans with what Republican Governor Greg Abbott was doing there, be it the crackdown that was led by the state along the border, the way that he bussed migrants to Democratic-led cities in the Biden years. And the president, President Trump, adopted some of those ideas. He put buoys in the river after Greg Abbott had started doing that. The president plucked some of Abbott's advisers to be in the Trump administration. And so now we're seeing an entire shift happen because a state that had been led by this Republican governor is now going to be led by a Democratic governor.

49:27Now, she has not laid out how exactly she plans to proceed on the matter of immigration. but she has said that things like Operation Lone Star that was launched by Abbott was political theater and was very costly for the state. So there, a lot of sources I'm speaking with, anticipate changes on that front. And then, as you mentioned there at the top with the Houston mayor, cities already making their own decisions on how they limit cooperation with ICE. And that was, even the mayor said it, because, quote, elections matter. And so they are even adjusting the way that they approach this. Now, the Department of Homeland Security is watching this.

50:02One official tells me it's too soon to tell exactly how it's going to affect their operations. But again, it's not just a state and how the immigration landscape may change there, but also will it serve as the blueprint for Democrats navigating this issue, particularly with the president, who is still open, or at least suggested he's open to working with Democrats on immigration. Of course, everyone takes that with a bit of a grain of salt because he has said it before. But certainly this could really change the way that this state in particular has played in the broader immigration agenda, which in addition to what Abbott did, there's detention centers there, including family detention.

50:37There has been really the most agreements with ICE in that state at the local level. So this is really a shift that is happening there, but also may have implications across the country. I know you'll be watching all of it very closely. Priscilla Avarez, thank you so much. And still ahead, still counting, an update on the ballot tally in Mississippi and the razor-thin margin in the Senate race. And mass shooting in Poland, what we're learning about the shooter. You're in the Situation Room, and we'll be right back.

51:16Happening now, new members just elected to Congress are on Capitol Hill for their orientation, but Senate races in Mississippi and Alaska are too close to call this morning. In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Cologne is ahead of Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by roughly 2 ,500 votes. The Secretary of State in Jackson says just more than 2 ,800 ballots are left to be counted. Here now is the circuit clerk of the heavily Republican-leaning county of George County, Mississippi, Chad Welford. He serves as the registrar of voters and issues on all absentee ballots. Mr. Welford, thank you so much for joining us.

51:51So counties must certify their results by Friday. The Secretary of State says 75 of 82 counties in your state have uploaded their unofficial election results. Where do things stand in your county right now? And do you expect we'll know the winner this week? I do. We've uploaded all our results except the few that are coming in by mail or the IDs that have five days to perfect their affidavit ballots. But we expect to have that in George County resolved Thursday morning early. because the deadline to present them is Tuesday at 5 o 'clock. So tell us more about the affidavit process and why they're so critical.

52:34I mean, a lot of people call them provisional ballots in Mississippi. They're considered affidavit ballots. Tell us more about that and the kind of response you're getting in terms of people curing their ballots, because these are really the ballots that could make the difference. It is. So, you know, the legislature commissioners take those ballots that was cast by affidavit, And they have to look at each one of them individually to make sure that they voted in the correct precinct. They're an eligible voter under Mississippi law. And at that point in time, they can accept or reject that ballot.

53:06That doesn't mean they're counted at that moment, but they're accepted, rejected and put into a stack so that we can count them when the process is finished. Mississippi Secretary of State said, oh, go ahead. And, you know, we're very cautious throughout Mississippi with election commissioners and circuit clerks to make sure that we research each one, you know, very well to make sure that we give credit to those voters who are eligible to cast a ballot. Because we won't ever vote to count it as under Mississippi law eligible. So Mississippi's Secretary of State said yesterday that about 77 percent of the provisional ballots have been accepted.

53:44Both parties, as you will know, are gearing up for a legal battle over how those are counted. How is your office preparing for any possible legal challenges? We, under the same process, we're a forever election. You know, we count our ballots. We do a good job. Electric commissioners work tirelessly. Our poll workers work tirelessly. We seal everything. We keep everything in order. So if a lawsuit is filed in George County, and I would say most every county in the state of Mississippi, that we've got the ballots secured. We keep them locked. And we don't look forward to a legal battle, but we're ready if they want to check our ballots.

54:27Election officials say they've rejected more than 200 provisional ballots cast by students at Jackson State University because either the student wasn't registered to vote or went to the wrong precinct. Mississippi Gulf Coast Community Colleges in your county. Have you seen any similar issues? Our county is very small in the junior college atmosphere. I have not seen any on that level. But there is people that I know moved to George County and never registered to vote that cast a ballot. And unfortunately, those ballots won't count because they're not a registered voter in George County 30 days prior to the election.

55:06You have people that have went and got an ID from another county for whatever reason, and they registered under that county's address. Unfortunately, when you do that, that ballot won't count because they're not a resident of George County. But the majority of our ballot affidavit are counted. I'd probably say 75, 66, 75 % of our affidavit ballots are counted. You are very familiar with Mississippi politics. This is an extremely close race in a deep red state. Why do you think this race is so competitive?

55:45Well, I think that the Democratic Party and Scott Collum ran a really good race. And that gives him some advantage points there. I think that the current gas prices and economic times probably swayed a small portion of voters that are independent up the line between Democrats. And when you take a race that everybody knew was going to be tight to start with, those few votes there is where we're looking at. Those put you a couple thousand votes ahead. And I think that's where Scott's at. And I think that's probably the trend. It'll stay from here on out, in my personal opinion. You think he you think he will end up being the winner?

56:32I think so. Most most times affidavit ballots, absentee ballots, they all follow the same path as Election Day ballots. I know in our affidavit ballot count, it was almost exact same percentages as the Election Day ballots cast. And I think that'll follow for the most part throughout the other counties as they process these after they've been ballots, because when they process them, they don't open about to see who they voted for. They're just looking at the facts. And once they determine accept or rejected, then they go to a process of being counted. So you can't tell who people are voting for.

57:07You're totally relying on the facts of that individual voter. And is he eligible to cast a ballot? Before we let you go, I wanted to just get your reaction to this. I think that's really important, given your position in the elections era in Mississippi. Just this morning, President Trump posted this on his social media account. Quote, does anybody really believe this election was honest? How could the polls be so wrong? He goes on to say, quote, it's all about the machines, which are far more important than the voter. What is your response to that, especially as your state is still counting?

57:44in George County and I can speak for George County personally, we didn't have lines. We had enough equipment and enough ballots for the voters to vote. Maybe eight minutes, nine minutes would probably be a long wait in George County. I know there's other counties that had longer lines. I think that the turnout was more than maybe some predicted, maybe not enough machines there. But we learn from every election and we look forward to moving to the next one and being better. And I tell, you know, all my poll workers, every election, you should be better than the election before. But what do you think about him casting doubts about the election results?

58:26I mean, you have a front row seat to it there. I know all the election commissioners and circuit clerks and deputy clerks in the state of Mississippi. I've served as our president's association. And I truly believe that our ballots are cast legally. I think it's done professionally. And I think when the total is announced, we'll have a winner. And I truly believe that is the will of the people of Mississippi that cast ballots. Chad Welford, thank you so much for coming on the show. We appreciate it. Thank you for the opportunity. And up next, congressional Democrats say they'll investigate President Trump and people in his orbit for possible corruption as the Trump family's wealth swells during his second term.

59:13Why the president says he's still not concerned.

59:22Happening now, the man who shot and killed at least six people in Poland this weekend has died at the hospital. Authorities say 16 other people were hurt in the rampage at Krakow's historic main square, including two police officers. One of them shot the attacker. Officials say the 24-year-old shooter likely was driven by far-right ideology, and they're investigating this as a possible terror attack. Former President Biden says his cancer will keep him from doing much to promote his upcoming memoir. The book is set to release November 17th. The 84-year-old revealed his cancer diagnosis just months after leaving the White House.

59:57And in August, Hunter Biden told the BBC the cancer had spread to his dad's bones. Well, imagine seeing this in your rear view mirror. A small plane landed on a highway in Fort Myers, Florida. The pilot reported engine trouble and then had to make this emergency landing right here. The plane crashed into the back of a pickup truck before making it to the ground. The two people on the plane and the driver of that truck are fine. Wow. Happening now, President Trump is pushing back against critics who accuse him of profiting from the presidency. Some Democrats say they will investigate his business ties to foreign entities when they take control of Congress in January.

1:00:37On 60 Minutes, the president was asked about his part ownership of a cryptocurrency firm. It's also partially owned by investors connected to the UAE government. Here's what he said. So your son manages or helps manage a cryptocurrency company called World Liberty Financial. Which son are we talking about? You are a co-owner of that company. That's correct. That's correct, right? This company is also partially owned by investors connected to the government of the United Arab Emirates. I think if I told you that story, and it was about the Biden family, If I said Joe Biden is the part owner of a company and it has all of these investments from the Middle East, you would say that sounds corrupt, right?

1:01:21Well, he did have a lot of different things. Sure, but you. But why is it different for you? Well, here's the thing. I'll tell you why. Because I know nothing about it. CNN's Kevin Liptock is at the White House for us. So what else did the president say, Kevin? Yeah, and this was really one of the most combative sections of this entire 60 Minutes interview. And I think it was revealing for a few reasons. One, the president clearly views himself still as primarily in the real estate business and is attributing this surge in his net worth. You know, Forbes estimates he's at$6 billion now. That's up from about$2 billion in 2024.

1:01:57He's attributing it to the stock market when, in fact, the bulk of that has come from his crypto ventures. You know, charging fees and transactions for his meme coin. That brought in about$600 million last year. Also, his involvement in World Liberty Financial, which is the company he was talking about there, that's brought in more than$200 million. And the president is trying to downplay all of that, suggesting that other presidents had family businesses as well and claiming that he has no involvement in any of it. Here's more of what he said. It seems like you could just walk away from that and then, you know, and then you would not be accused of corruption.

1:02:38I have, but you have sons where they go around and they build buildings. That's what they do. That's what I did long before I became president. I did it better than anybody. Now I'm putting my expertise to use at the White House, fixing the White House and doing things that should have been built long ago. But I was very good at real estate. I made a lot of money. But I have a company. My sons are in the company. It's hard to say to them, don't do anything anymore for four years because I'm president. So the president saying that it is his sons that are running this and that he has no involvement in it.

1:03:12But he has actually been involved. Remember, last May he hosted the top purchasers of his meme coin for a black tie dinner at his club out in Virginia. He has also pursued aggressive deregulation of crypto. And he pardoned the CEO of Binance, which trades on World Liberty Financial, on his family's trading platform. And so there has been involvement here. Democrats, of course, made this a major issue in the midterm elections. And our voter polls found that many Americans were concerned about this. 55 % said that government corruption was important to their vote. And Democrats who are now coming into power in Congress say that they will pursue this aggressively.

1:03:55So Richard Blumenthal, who is the senator who will most likely lead a subcommittee related to corruption and investigations, has already sent letters to crypto firms asking for documents related to their donations to the president ballroom. Robert Garcia, who will chair the House Oversight Committee, most likely has said that he will be, quote, focused like a laser on investigations, including on the Trump family's crypto ventures. All right. Kevin Liptock, live for us from the White House. Thanks so much. And just ahead, President Trump says there likely won't be any more fighting in Iran as long as talks make progress.

1:04:32What Secretary of State Marco Rubio says about those quiet negotiations as he meets with world leaders in France.

1:04:44Happening now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Paris for a meeting of G7 diplomats. Allies are expected to press the U.S. to end the Iran conflict. President Trump has told CNN that it's highly unlikely he'll resume attacks as long as Tehran makes progress on an agreement about its nuclear program. But Rubio is tempering hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough. Right now it hasn't been very productive because the Iranian demands are simply not just unacceptable, but in some cases outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic. CNN national security correspondent Kylie Atwood is in Paris. So, Kylie, is there a sense among U.S.

1:05:24allies that the Republicans' midterm losses could force Trump to reassess his foreign policy, including the Iran war? They are definitely asking those questions, Pam. I caught up with a multitude of diplomats on the sidelines here of the G7. But, excuse me, Secretary Rubio is not really giving them anything to work with, at least at this point. He was asked on his way over here if there are any lessons learned on the foreign policy front as a result of the midterm elections not going in favor of the Republicans. He effectively said he's not an elected politician. I'm told he told that also to diplomats here.

1:06:00So he's not going to weigh in on the midterms. But he did double down on his idea that effectively what happened in those midterms is the normal course of American politics and not likely to change the trajectory of foreign policy at this point. Listen to what he said. It is not uncommon to have a division of power in this country. We've seen it before. We've seen elections go one direction and a couple of years later go another. It's just a feature of our system. We'll have elections again in two more years. And they can look very different. They can look the same. I don't know. But this is the way our system works.

1:06:38Now, he reiterated his own conviction when it comes to the Iran war, that that was a necessary war for the Trump administration to pursue. Obviously, Vice President J.D. Vance has said that that war is the reason that the Trump administration, that the Republicans lost the midterms. Marco Rubio wouldn't make that direct connection. He said, again, he's not going to get into politics. But he did say this. Sometimes when you do the right thing, you know whether it's popular or not, but it's still the right thing to do. So effectively saying the administration had to go forth with this war. Now, the question of actually concluding the Iran war is still an open one.

1:07:16President Trump told our colleague over the weekend it's highly unlikely that the U.S. is going to go back to war with Iran in terms of direct military strikes. That begs the question, how does diplomacy look? Secretary Rubio, as you played in the introduction there, Pamela, said that diplomacy with Iran has not been highly productive as of late, even calling some of their late demands outrageous. So we'll have to watch and see where this all goes. But I can tell you, the diplomats here are really trying to figure out how the administration is going to change their foreign policy, if at all, following last week's loss in the midterms.

1:07:50All right, Kylie Atwood, thank you so much. and President Trump suggests that he's not looking to escalate the war with Iran, but he also makes clear that he has no regrets either. We blew up their nuclear dust. They're not going to have nuclear weapons. And we saved Israel and the Middle East. If they would have had it, there would be no Israel right now. There would be no Middle East. They have no money, and they're not doing well. And at some point, they're going to be reasonable. Now, I could go in and blow them up right now. The problem with that is you'll never be able to rebuild it. if I blow up the bridges and the power plants.

1:08:26Sabrina Singh joins us now. She is a CNN global affairs commentator and was Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary. So I wonder what your view is of how the election results have changed this dynamic when it comes to these negotiations with Iran. And do you think Iran actually has more leverage now? I think Iran definitely has more leverage. I mean, just looking at the election results, looking at the long post that J.D. Vance put out right after the election, that the election was lost because of this war, Iran sort of goes into these negotiations with the upper hand because they know that this has just been a political albatross on the Republican Party.

1:09:01And so, you know, I think for the president right now, he's severely weakened. He has kind of a menu of options. He can either continue status quo, continue the naval blockade, allowing our Navy to escort some barrels of oil out of the strait, but kind of giving him some time to consider what's next. They can go back to diplomacy and try and force that, you know, Iran to the table. And it's really the question of the sequencing. Do we talk about the nuclear program first or do we talk about opening the Strait of Hormuz? Or the other option, which I think the president is frankly reluctant to do, is looking at those wider, larger scale strikes that could impact dual use infrastructure that both the Iranian military use and Iranian civilians use as well.

1:09:42We heard Kylie's report on Secretary of Mark Arubu. He has really tempering hopes of a breakthrough in diplomatic talks and says that some of Iran's demands are unrealistic and unacceptable. How far apart are the two sides right now, in your view? I think they are probably far apart enough that that's why you're not. I mean, I think it's a good thing that there are still negotiations, that there are these conversations that are going to happen. But I think what's really the division between the two sides is the sequencing of the events. The U.S. wants to address Iran's nuclear program first, And Iran does not want to talk about that and wants to talk about, OK, let's talk about the Strait of Hormuz unfreezing billions of dollars of assets that you have, and then we'll get to the nuclear program.

1:10:24And so that type of distance between the two sides is ultimately what's going to lead them to either not come back to the table and talks collapse or lead to a resumption of strikes. So let's talk about what's happening with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. You have Republican Congressman Thomas Massey planning to introduce his resolution to impeach Hegseth this week. Trump, for right now, is standing by Hegseth. But some Republicans are actually now blaming him for overselling the war, for his handling of the war, for some of these Republican losses in the midterms. How much damage is this doing to Hegseth's credibility as defense secretary?

1:10:59Well, as J.D. Vance said in his post, the war was the reason why Republicans had such sweeping losses last Tuesday. And so Hegseth has been, I think, the prominent face really selling this war. And when he put out that video the next day saying, you know, we have to keep the fight, fight, fight up and that, you know, we can't stop. We have to keep going against Iran. That was actually different messaging than what J.D. Vance was putting out. And so what's interesting right now is it's actually the Republicans that want to pursue impeachment against him. Democrats will join, but it's like you said.

1:11:32I mean, even James Comer is looking at articles of impeachment. Earlier on Sunday, you had a French Hill from Arkansas saying that he would consider looking at the arguments for impeachment. So I think it's interesting that it's this Congress that is still Republican-controlled on both sides. And then you also have someone like Tom Tillis in the Senate that could introduce articles of impeachment as well. But I think it will be harder to get those passed in the Senate right now, just given control. I mean, can he effectively continue to lead the Pentagon if he's facing this impeachment push and losing support from members of his own party?

1:12:07What does that do to morale? Well, morale was already pretty low. I mean, when he put out that video, when Hegseth put out that video on Wednesday, I have never seen so many calls that I got because people were just enraged. I mean, he's making it all about himself. In terms of morale, I mean, whenever a leader is under such scrutiny, it's always going to be lower. So can Hegseth survive? I mean, he survived Signalgate, so it's possible. But I do think at least Democrats coming in want some accountability for this war. I think Hegseth's name is the first one on the list. All right, Sabrina Singh, thank you so much.

1:12:39Coming up, taking on tariffs. President Trump's trade war with Canada isn't over, but his leverage is changing as Democrats in Congress gear up for a challenge. We'll be right back.

1:12:54happening now Democrats on Capitol Hill say that they will make it a priority to repeal President Trump's tariffs on Canada when the party takes control of Congress in January you may remember in July the president slapped a 50 percent tariff on about 20 billion dollars in Canadian goods Canada they retaliated with its own tariffs on U.S. goods and then in September the president blocked imports of Canadian alcohol, motorcycles and whey. Joining us now is Jean Charest. He previously served as Premier of Quebec and Canada's Deputy Prime Minister. Thanks for being here with us. First of all, I just wonder what your reaction is to the results of the election and what you think that means for Canada.

1:13:36Well, Pamela, Canadians obviously follow the election campaign in the United States very, very closely. And by the way, we are always very respectful of the choice made by Americans. We don't question that, whether it's President Trump or Congress, the Senate, the House. The choice Americans make is one that we respect and acknowledge. We were actually encouraged by the fact that the tariff story in Canada was part of the election campaign, and that narrative was part of what was debated during the election campaign. We always argued, Pamela, that tariffs mean a higher cost of living for all Americans, as it does for us when we do counter tariffs or tariffs.

1:14:20We, you know, it's a bad choice all around on both sides of the border that hurts our respective economies. So to see that happen during the election campaign was actually encouraging. And as much as that debate happened, now we're waiting to see as the dust settles where the Congress will go with this issue. They've committed to acting upon it and will cooperate with all those who are involved in this debate, including continuing to work with President Trump. What do you think can actually happen that's tangible given the president's veto authority? Well, Congress could very well put forward legislation to try to deal with these terrorists with Canada.

1:15:03Let me take a second to explain why, in the case of Canada, this is so significant for the American economy. Our economies are so, so intertwined. More than any other country in the world, Canada's economy with Mexico is the most intertwined. If you do tariffs, Pamela, you tilt the playing field. It hurts everyone. It's not like Europe or South Korea or Japan. And so what we think could be done is that if Congress chooses to prevail themselves of what is their jurisdiction, which is trade and tariffs, they could very well vote legislation. If the president chooses to veto that legislation, who knows?

1:15:41There may be enough Republicans out there who have just gone through this campaign, heard the message by the people who are dealing with affordability issues to actually side with a majority and the 60 percent or the two-thirds majority you need to be able to override a tariff, a veto. And who knows? That could very well be a scenario. So Washington and Ottawa have been in talks to lower the temperature in this trade war. And that could create a dilemma. Should Canada hammer out a partial deal now, knowing that it would still leave some tariffs in place or hold off for the new Congress in hopes Democrats will eliminate the tariffs altogether?

1:16:16Which would you advise? Well, it's a dilemma. The tariffs are hurting us now. They are hurting Americans now. And so we are open to negotiations with the administration. We're open to doing a deal in as much as it is a good deal for both sides. It's not just the Canadian side. And maybe, Pamela, at this point, we should look at the bigger picture of our relationship between both countries. It isn't just about tariffs. It's about defense. It's about the Arctic. It's about strategic minerals. It's about potash and all these issues. Canada has always held the view that our relationship is unique.

1:16:57It is broad. We are physical neighbors and allies. Why not look at the bigger picture and enter into a new era of cooperation that would be good for both sides and does not include tariffs? But what is Canada doing right now in terms of building relationships with other countries with trade as you wait to see how the dust settles here in America? Prime Minister Carney has just co-chaired a summit with the European Union. There is a very real willingness on both sides of the European Union and Canada to work much, much closer together, not just economically, but also on issues like data protection and satellites and undersea cables, the Arctic.

1:17:45I mean, there's a whole host of issues. Prime Minister Carney will be leaving in the next few days for a nine-day tour of Asia and entering into trade agreements, probably with the Philippines, but also with the ASEAN, the 10 ASEAN countries. He'll be attending the APEC meeting with President Trump in Shenzhen and the Francophone Summit in Cambodia. So the prime minister is on a very important initiative to diversify trade with the rest of the world. And we're not doing this against the United States, by the way. This is not hostile to the United States. We're doing it because it makes sense for all of us to build a stronger relationship with the rest of the world on trade and on a whole host of other issues, including national defense.

1:18:31All right, Jean-Jaray, thank you so much. More when we come back.

1:18:39All right, we are now halfway through the NFL season with a better idea of who's a contender and who is a pretender. And tonight, two of the league's hottest teams clash in what could be a Super Bowl preview. CNN's Coy Wire is here. Coy, one of those teams is one we keep a very close eye on here in the Situation Room. Buffalo, yes, native Wolf Blitzer. I played for the Bills. I've got a titanium plate and four screws on my neck as a souvenir. So, yes, Pamela. There you go. And I'm an honorary fan just because of you and Wolf. Your happiness depends on whether they win or lose because you have to sit beside Wolf every day.

1:19:13Listen, tonight's matchup, big-time postseason energy in November. Monday night football, two 6-1 teams. Buffalo's number one scoring offense against Minnesota's number one scoring defense. Josh Allen's Bills averaging 33 a game. The Vikings surrendering just 13. Something's got to give. And listen to this. Since 1970, teams tied for the NFL's best record have met this late in the season just 21 times. 17 of those matchups featured a future Super Bowl team. Minnesota without injured quarterback Kyler Murray will turn to Carson Wentz. The lights are bright. The stakes even brighter. Let's check the heart rates of fans in Chicago from yesterday.

1:19:53Caleb Williams came out hotter than a deep dish pan against the Bucs. Two touchdown passes in the first quarter. Bears were up 14 to zip. But then Pamela, oh boy, here come the interceptions. Not one, not two, or three. Williams threw four interceptions. So Tampa Bay erases this 11-point fourth quarter deficit. Baker Mayfield ran in the two-point conversion. Here we are tied at 24. But when Chicago needed them most, Williams spotted a hole in the coverage just big enough to park the team bus. Colston Loveland for 38 yards, then kicker Cairo Santos from 38 yards out, hitting it as time expires.

1:20:31Bears win 27-24. It's ugly, but a 7-2 record looks pretty good in the standings. The best play in the NFL weekend, though, Pamela, did not come from a player. Halftime in Charlotte. They had a corgi race. Meet Quinn. The race ended. Nobody told her. Look at this little loaf of bread with a burst. Pamela, the second half is supposed to start, and these grown adults out here are taking bad angles to the tackle. Finally, somebody does get on the ground we need to get this corgi a contract all right bam you'll love this story we end with some history remember this name blades brown just 19 years old on sunday in los cabos mexico seven shots back then he shot a nine under 63 made everyone else do the math it looked like enough until ben james rolled in a 20 footer for eagle at a par 5 18 so back to 18 for a playoff they both barely missed Eagle putts on the first extra hole so they go to 18 again this time Brown nails his birdie putt and the teenager takes the title last time someone this young when a PGA Tour event was 1931 and there's a great story behind his name Blades it's his mom's maiden name Rhonda Blades Brown she made the first ever three-pointer in W.A.

1:21:47NBA history so mom made basketball history now son is making history on the golf course how sweet is that? What a great story to end And I love that. Koi Wire, thank you so much. Always nice to see you. And thank you all for joining us this morning Inside Politics with our friend and colleague, Dan Abash, starts now.

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