🔰Is Chuck Schumer trying to turn Hegseth’s Senate hearing into a ‘circus’? Bartiromo

Welcome back. Well, the first Senate confirmation hearing takes place on Capitol Hill today. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Defense Secretary Pick Pete Hegseth will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee in just over an hour. A large group of Navy SEALs and veterans lining up outside the Senate building to support Pete Hegseth. They plan on packing as many veterans into the hearing room as possible. Two other hearings scheduled for today were postponed over alleged paperwork issues. Veterans Affairs Choice Doug Collins rescheduled to January 21st and Interior Secretary Pick Doug Burgum moved to this Thursday. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer reportedly plotting to turn the hearings into a circus. Axios writes this Hegseth's hearing is the party's first shot to carry out the demands handed down by Schumer skewer Trump's nominees and the MAGA brand. Here's Chuck Schumer yesterday on the floor. Over the next four days, over a dozen of the president elects nominees will testify in committee and make their case to the country. These hearings in a very real way are the opening salvo for holding the Trump administration accountable to the public. Joining me now is West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito. She's the chairwoman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and Environment and Public Works Committee. She's also a member of the Senate Appropriations, Transportation and Rules Committee. Senator, it's great to see you. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. Good morning. So what should we think about this? Chuck Schumer wants to turn it into a circus. What should we expect? Well, you know what? I think we we and the nominees, we, the Republicans and President Trump, welcome the hearings that we're going to be seeing this week because it does give the nominees the chance to talk about how improving the Department of Defense, improving the EPA, improving the Department of Transportation and other cabinet positions are actually going to work for the American people, how we're going to have a stronger country, how we're going to have a country that doesn't burdened by regulations where you can't even build and you can't move forward. So while he sees this as a threat, I see it as an opportunity, an opportunity for the people to actually see that President Trump has appointed people that are reflective of what the vote that that the American people overwhelmingly made in November. Yes, of course. And The Wall Street Journal does a nice job today of going through the Senate and where they see each nominee. I know you'll be leading the EPA nominee Lee Zeldin's hearing on Thursday. You'll also be part of Sean Duffy's confirmation hearing tomorrow. What are your expectations and what specifically are you thinking about asking some of these folks in terms of, you know, getting some reveal about how they will behave? Well, I mean, Lee Zeldin, obviously he served here in the House, great representative from the state of New York. So by being a representative from New York, he's he's seen all different types of clean air, clean water issues and the best way to solve those problems. So we're going to talk about the regulatory environment that we've seen over the last four years in the EPA that's just loaded up with all kinds of climate issues that just stymie the ability to develop and grow. So we'll talk to him about that. Also talk to him about transportation. We have a big highway bill coming up and a water and wastewater resources bill coming up that's important, I think, to move the country along. And I think also he is very much aware of the impacts of what President Trump has said he wants to do in the permitting area and other areas that Lee Zeldin will be able to lead. And then on the transportation side, Sean Duffy, again, somebody that I know and that has served, I served actually on committee with him in the House. He also understands how government works. But I think part of the charge for both of these nominees is to cut through the bureaucracy, make things easier, workable while maintaining clean air, clean water and the environmental provisions that we as Congress have passed and not loading extra things that really don't have an added benefit, but also stymie the ability and hold up the ability to move forward. Yeah, I mean, I mentioned the journal piece because some senators have not discussed how they feel about certain people. I mean, you've got Pete Hegseth. You've got Chelsea Gabbard and Kash Patel among those that, you know, sort of sparked some some debate for sure. Mitch McConnell is a swing vote. Susan Collins is a potential swing vote. Utah's John Curtis, another swing vote. Do you have confidence that all of Trump's nominees will get through and get confirmed? You know, I think today will be a good marker on that. Certainly, Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearing today, we're going to see the tone that the Democrats are going to set and, you know, any extraneous information that they can they can put into the public record. I expect him to be very strong. I expect him to be very affirmative in his responses. He's he's been around certainly to meet individually with many, many senators. You know, I don't think this is anything unusual as you see the turnover of an administration where you have certain nominees that sort of catch fire and then others that draw fire. And so I look forward to these. I think it's going to be very enlightening because it's going to show the vision that President Trump has for certain departments through his nominees. Yeah, I mean, and all of this time you've been working on executing the Trump agenda and how to do it with your colleagues. And all of a sudden you get thrown an emergency situation in California. Our hearts break for those people who've lost everything. Speaker Johnson on the House side said he's open to putting conditions in place for aid for California wildfires in that latest reconciliation bill plan. He also says there's been talk about tying the debt limit increase to the disaster aid. How do you want this worked out? Well, first of all, I would like to express just my horror at what we see and the great empathy and sympathy with all the Californians. I mean, it really is unimaginable to if you look at the pictures to see what's happened. And I do think in the aftermath of looking at this and reflecting at this, where did city and state and even federal agencies fall short to be able to protect so many people? But I think that I think, number one, the speaker is talking about, yes, aid to California will be on the agenda as it will be much needed. But it will be a time to reflect to see are some of these policies leading to the precarious situations that we have. I think that it's it's it will warrant a big and full discussion. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I don't think it should be misconstrued as a you can't have your aid and we're not going to help you unless you do everything we do. I think we have to look at it in a more comprehensive way to see the best way to prevent this from happening again. Well, look, you you were very clear. President Trump has an open invitation to go speak with you and your your colleagues. And he did so.