Impeachment effort against Defense Secretary Hegseth fails

And thanks for joining us on another busy night of all things people, power, and politics. This, my friends, is The Pulse. I'm Rup Raj. Some major news coming from Capitol Hill today. New leadership for the Republicans and a key vote in the impeachment attempt against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Attorney Neil Brand dives into the impeachment efforts in just a few minutes. And that's also what we're diving into with former Democratic State Rep Leslie Love and Republican commentator Jamie Rowe. Those articles were brought by an outgoing outgoing Republican senator, but can we expect more from the Democratic Congress? Next year, Leslie and Jamie talk about that and the future of both parties. Plus, we're diving into the young vote. It's played a huge role in last week's election. Former state lawmaker Rebecca Warren, who joined forces with another former lawmaker to teach college students what was on the ballot, reflects on their efforts and the election. All that is just ahead. So let's begin by running through some of the other big stories we're on top of in the world of politics right now. And there's a lot to talk about. We begin on Capitol Hill, where we are now learning who will lead Republicans in the minority once the new Congress starts next year. Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan will be House Republican leader, beating out current majority leader Steve Scalise. Jordan is co-founder of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus. Minnesota's Tom Emmer will be House Republican whip, while Michigan's Lisa McClain will stay on as conference chair. And in the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune will stay on as Republican leader, although his title will switch to Senate Minority Leader. As for the Dems, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is widely expected to serve. As next House Speaker. But in the upper chamber, Senator Chuck Schumer's job as Democratic leader could be in jeopardy. Senator Bernie Sanders joined a number of incoming Democrats saying he wouldn't support Schumer. He was joined by Senator Alyssa Slotkin, who said she wants a full plan from possible leaders about priorities for the new majority. Slotkin isn't seeking the job herself. Schumer said just last week he's confident he'll be elected majority leader. All right, now to the big story of the day, House Republicans shooting down an impeachment effort against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Not surprisingly, this vote was mostly along party lines, a procedural vote that ended with it being sent to committee. The resolution was brought by outgoing Republican Thomas Massie, who lost his primary to a Trump backed opponent. It largely focused on his handling of the war in Iran, but also his conduct in offices and strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in Latin America. Hegseth blasted the attempt at a news conference this morning. What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight and it's not accountability. It's a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment. Time for one man's final days in Congress to try to do damage to this president, this country, and most irresponsibly the warriors who defend it. It's a farce and it's a stunt. And everybody knows it. Like we said, we are less than two months for Democrats taking control of Congress. So this might just delay an impeachment against Hegseth. But tonight, we wanted to get a legal perspective on all of this. Joining us now is Attorney Neil Brand. He's back in Studio C with us tonight to unpack some of this for us. And Neil, it's always good to see you. Thanks for joining us. It's great to see you, Rup. Thank you. So we know late this afternoon, this was essentially taken off the table for now and put into committee. But this may, in January, come back. There are several things that... This Republican Thomas Massie and other Democrats claim that Hegseth has done not above board. What are some of those things and how impeachable are those supposed and alleged offenses? The biggest thing is the war in Iran and this is a controversy over policy. This is not a high crime and misdemeanor. This should never lead to an impeachment. Massie was also upset about what happened with the drug boats coming out of Venezuela. But you have to remember, these people were designated as terrorists by the United States government. It's no different from a procedural standpoint as going after a terrorist who's going to bomb the country. These were people funneling drugs into our country. That's the two things he was really upset about. You know, you think a little bit about a little too much too early. Really, I mean, it's almost like Here we are with Democrats about to take control in January, and now we have all this talk about whether they will go to try to impeach Pete Hegseth. In your mind, from a legal calculus point of view, what is the likelihood of even with a majority Democrats being able to move forward with that? Well, you heard what President Trump said. He said, I wanna work with Democrats. And I think what the Democrats did after 2022, it cost them the 2024 election. I mean, I don't think Democrat leadership is going to take that route and start impeaching people. I think first they're gonna see if they can take the president at his word and work with him. So I don't see it as a likelihood. I don't even think it's a smart move. You're hearing some people in Washington and some sources that I'm familiar with that are basically saying, look, this is an effort by Democrats to early on come in and slowly perhaps strip apart the cabinet from President Trump and then refuse to vote for new cabinet members, essentially humiliating the president. None of this, in your mind, legally speaking, is very feasible. It's not feasible because they would have to resign or Trump would have to fire these cabinet members. But I think when it comes down to it, These parties, the Democrat Party, now that they're in power, they really don't want to embarrass themselves further by doing things like this, because ultimately, they take an oath to do what's best for our country. And making it so the president can't have a cabinet, it's really not in the best interest of our country. They want to show unity to the American people and take the president at his word that he's going to work with them on reasonable legislation. Take us through January, if this Democratic Congress and Senate decide to try to do something, the viability in terms of, again, only legally speaking, what they could and couldn't do. The viability is zero of an impeachment succeeding. They would need to get 67 senators, even if the impeachment resolution passes through the House. So maybe it would. You have enough. Hardcore hardline Democrats that maybe it could maybe you have a couple Republican defectors, but it's never going to pass the Senate. So we're wasting our time with that and I would urge everybody in Congress. Let's legislate. Let's pass meaningful legislation regarding immigration and other reform rather than take your time on expensive. Impeachment that isn't going to go anywhere. What's fascinating about the word impeachment, when you think about impeachment, you think about presidential impeachments, right? You think about people making efforts against Clinton and Trump. But there have been impeachments have been happening for a long time. And a lot of times are for judges, right? And for other people in the legal world. And they almost never work out because they're politically motivated most of the time. And unless somebody does something really, really bad, they die in the Senate. What do you think when it comes to trying to move forward with anything of an impeachment against anybody in the Trump administration, they have to have legal sound ground, right? And you're basically saying that with Hegseth and the war, the war powers and all the things that people say that he didn't honor. That's not something that's feasible and not at all high crimes and misdemeanors or violating your oath to the Constitution. Every president going backwards for both of our lifetimes, respectively, has dropped bombs somewhere, whether it's in Libya or Syria or Granada or wherever. And it's always been without congressional approval. Presidents do this, they avoid the war powers clause, and they never get impeached, and from a policy standpoint, somebody's always upset about it, and nothing ever happens. These are policy debates. Yeah, it certainly was, and it was a policy debate back in 2012, when then President Obama was dropping bombs on Libya, and trying to take out the leadership there without the congressional approval. People were upset about it, but they certainly weren't something, it wasn't something that Was impeachable then, and it certainly isn't now. It happens in every administration, and it will happen in every administration for the future. Attorney Neil Brand, always great to get your perspective. Thanks for joining us tonight on The Pulse. Thank you, Rup. We're keeping the conversation going after the break. Democrat Leslie Lovett, Republican Jamie Rowe, they're weighing in on the direction of the parties, both the Republicans and the Democrats. What's next for both of them after the midterms? You're watching The Pulse on Fox 2. Back now on The Pulse, looking at all things people, power, and politics. Here to dive into a host of issues, including the impeachment attempt against Pete Hegseth, as well as what's next for both parties after the midterms, former Democratic State Representative Leslie Love and Republican commentator Jamie Rowe. And it's so good to see you. Thanks for joining us here tonight. Thank you. Someone was asking me, so what happens after the election? You know, what are you going to talk about on The Pulse? And I was like, are you kidding me? The stage is set for what will be a very interesting and I think newsworthy time in our country as you have Democrats taking over the House and Senate. Here at home as well, you have the blue wave going on. And Republicans, of course, are gonna be fighting for not just their lives, but also for their identity. And I think that Jamie Rowe, being a commentator and a strategist, it's great to have both of you here today. What do you make of, we'll begin with you, Leslie, what do you make of the impeachment push? In Congress and how it was kind of squashed today and put into conference. Well, before I answer that, can I just give a shout out? To the ladies of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Incorporated in their Founders Day tomorrow, 104 years. So happy Founders Day, Sorority. Happy Founders Day. That's great. Yes. This is a good time for Democrats. I'm feeling good. This Pete Hegseth situation, we'll see what happens, how it plays out. I think he's insulated. They'll protect him until they can't, until they have the vote. But don't you think it's more important at this stage, with all the momentum the Democrats have gained in Washington, Of course, people coming from all over the country to go govern, to just do that and govern. You believe that's part of it? I think you can do two things at once. You can govern and you can carve out what I'm gonna call evil, because that behavior has been despicable. And I think it is a Democrat's job to come in and try to right the wrongs of this administration. I don't think in recent history people have been more excited to see Democrats show up than they are right now. Jamie, what do you make of the blue wave that you saw in the last few days? It really kind of take root now with orientation happening in Washington with all these new senators, senator-elects. What is your hope for the country? I mean, you're an America first guy because you love America before party, right? A hundred percent. You know, I've worked on Capitol Hill for 14 years, so I've been through several of the, my former boss was the chairman of House Admin, we ran new member orientation when Candace was in charge of that. It's an exciting time. I mean, even when a new group comes in that's going to take over, it's an exciting time for the country, new ideas, they're going to go through their... Struggles here on getting organized first and then deciding upon what the agenda is going to be. And one thing I hope that they don't do are ridiculous things like what went on today with this attempted impeachment of Secretary Hegseth. It's a waste of time, does nothing to lower anybody's costs, doesn't do anything to help make America more affordable. All the things that they ran on, that is not what the American people wanna have happen. I want to, look, we talked about the Hegseth thing for a while, but it's kind of been tabled. So we'll table it for now and talk about the things that are moving forward. I do find it noteworthy that both of you, I mean, you've been a lawmaker here in Michigan. Orientation's a thing at the state level as well. And then at the federal level, what are some things that we don't know about that people start realizing when they become lawmakers? In other words, you know, I remember there was a picture of President George W. Bush, who was so hopeful on Inauguration Day. Then he walked into the White House, and there was some kind of a meeting for like seven or eight hours, and he walked out. He looked like he aged by 10 years because he found out what he has to do and what he can't do. Leslie, what is it that you think people realize when they finally get it? It is literally the truth when they say it's like drinking water out of a fire hydrant. It is so much incoming. Everyone wants to meet you. Everyone wants to speak to you from the lobby firms to citizens who have issues that they've been pulling for for years and years and years and haven't gotten it done. You're trying to figure out what committee am I gonna get on. And how you have to wheel and deal to get on committees. Just so much office, staff. Yeah. How do I find the bills that I want to... To enroll, so a lot of that will come in, it's a lot to take in right now. A lot to take in and a lot to talk about, including healthcare. Michigan Senator-elect Abdullah Al Sayed quoted in a lot of reporting out there, is essentially saying that he's willing to work with President Trump if he moves to pass a universal healthcare plan. Jokingly, Abdullah Al Sayed referring to it as Trump care for all. This is Al Sayed, who's a smart guy, telling another guy who's also pretty smart. Telling President Trump, I want to work with you, and we'll even name it after you. Does that help move things over the heap for him? Well, I think it's actually pretty smart of him to do that. Because quite frankly, Donald Trump's going to be the president for the next two years. And if you want to have... Any sort of legislative achievements over these next two years, you're going to have to work with President Trump. He's the guy who's going to have to sign the bill. I saw that quote today, too. I thought it was very clever and smart, because I hope that they can find common ground to solve some of the problems that we have in this state and in this country. So let's hope they get something done. Leslie, what do you make as a Democrat? What do you make of Stephen Miller being appointed as chief of staff, who's an ardent and a loyal supporter of President Trump? President Trump, who's uber conservative in a lot of his value systems, in fact, with immigration was probably more hardline than President Trump himself. President Trump on 60 Minutes just the other day saying, I may have been too tough on immigration. Perhaps we should be allowing more people to be able to work here if they're productive members of society. What kind of a President Trump are you gonna see in the next two years? I think he's kind of putting around him his tough guy. I think when Senator-elect Al Sayed called the president a bully. I wanted to get him a t-shirt that said bully buster because what he's doing to me signals I'm going to get one of my toughest, roughest guys around me just in case you Democrats try to pull it off because President Trump realized that he's no Willy Wonka with a golden ticket and he didn't deliver for Republicans. So, what do you do now? You try to get your fellas around you and protect yourself so you're ready for battle. So what, Jamie, does it mean when we have Stephen Miller on one hand and on the other hand you have him saying I'm willing to work with Democrats and perhaps I was too tough on immigration. What kind of a President Trump are we seeing here in the next two years? We're gonna find out. I'm really not sure. We're gonna find out. He's not been in this situation yet. So we're gonna find out how he operates with a Democrat Congressman. I think that this president wants to get some things done. So I think ultimately he is going to want, he is gonna have to cut deals with the Democrats who are gonna run Congress in order to get something done. So hopefully they can find some common ground on issues that are important to this country and make some progress. I don't believe he's gonna sign a Medicare for all bill, but there may be other things that they can get done. His legacy is at stake, isn't it, Leslie? It is, and I really think this is a perfect storm for him. I think it's noteworthy that in the days after this midterm election, President Trump and his cabinet members did not push back on the results for the election across the country, even in close races. And he also says he's willing to work with Democrats. So I'd be curious to know what that looks like in one month, two months, three months. Yes, I'm a little cynical. Well, I don't, I understand. I know Senator Slotkin had been warning for months that we were gonna have Troops at the polling places, none of it happened. It was never going to happen. Well, we're glad to know that that didn't happen and that things were run with integrity and everyone's on the same page with that one. Jamie, thank you. Leslie, thank you as well. And look, we're back every night. This is Detroit's only nightly political talk show. We'll be getting the pulse every single night. We're turning back to the election right after the break. Former state representative Rebecca Warren was part of a bipartisan push to teach young people about what's on the ballot and young people move the meter. She's back in studio, Cedar. reflect on those efforts. You're watching The Pulse on Fox 2. It is people, power, and politics. Welcome back to Detroit's only nightly political talk show. Here to reflect on the impact the youth vote had this year, Democratic advisor for Michiganders for civic resilience, Rebecca Warren. She's also a former state senator, and it's always good to see you. Thanks for joining us here tonight. It's great to be here, Rob. I just find this noteworthy. Young men moving left. This coming from WWMT, according to campaign data, El-Sayed's targeted outreach, including high-profile media appearances and a network of 25 campus chapters, swung young men toward the Democrats by a dramatic 55 points compared to previous cycles. This is noteworthy. Why, to you? Well, first and foremost, I was on the show in mid-September with Charlie, you weren't here that night, but with my Republican co-lead for Michiganders for Civic Resilience, Tanya Shootmaker, and we were noting how many young people in Michigan came out and voted in the primary in August. We saw a historic watermark we hadn't seen in 30 years. So we were previewing this, that we saw young people getting more engaged, wanting to learn more, paying more attention to the issues. So it it's really telling because there's a lot of data that shows the earlier in life that people get involved in the process in voting, the more committed they stay to voting for the rest of their lives. So we might be building that next generation of voters and the loyalty to getting out and voting whatever they feel about the issue, whatever party they vote for, that they get out to vote. And the work we were doing was to try to educate them on how the process works, demystify, How elections are processed and ballots are counted, and to show them the other ways besides voting that they can be involved, being poll challengers, being observers in polling locations, volunteering for their clerks. And so it was a wonderful process just to be engaged with young people on campuses around the state. You said demystifying, what was it that they were mystified about, would you say? Well, I think in this era of a lot of information flying at people, a lot of information online, You know misinformation, disinformation, and then just people who sometimes are getting it wrong, right? Saying, well, oh, but wait, can I vote if I'm on campus in Ann Arbor, but I grew up in Lansing or Saginaw? When do I have to be registered? And if I get an absentee ballot, What happens to my absentee ballot? Some of our local clerks, our city clerks and county clerks, both parties, you know, everything our organization does is cross-partisan. We always have a Republican and a Democrat, at least one of each party in the room. And we brought the clerks right to campuses to talk to students about what it looks like, how the process works. And the fact that if any moment you're concerned about the process, you could come in. They do the public. Accountability tests, you can come and watch them with the tabulators testing to make sure you know your ballots safe. This is interesting. And so the campaigns, as you know, both Republicans and Democrats, their focus was to figure out how to get young people to the polls, right? And I find this reminiscent of 2024, when the podcast phenomenon really kind of took off and took root in political campaigns. You saw Barron Trump, President Trump's son, say, Dad, you gotta get on these podcasts. Kamala Harris was showing up on these podcasts. And so in the future, traditional media needs to be utilized like this. President Trump spoke with us, Mike Rogers spoke with us, El Saeed spoke with us. But you also gotta get onto the iPads and the phones, right? So how is it that that's being done differently, would you say? Well, I do think that increasingly people are getting their information from what we would consider non-traditional sources, right? They are getting it from their favorite influencer, from their favorite social media site. And the Pulse, right? And the Pulse. But legacy media, right? So in this era of AI where if they're searching for things, where is AI scratching? Where is it gathering up all this information often from legacy media? So there's such an important role, of course, for print journalism, for TV journalism, for radio journalism, along with influencers who I think are the ones who can give a perspective. But the work that we do, we're not at Michigan Center for Civic Resilience, we're not trying I'm not trying to tell anybody how to vote, how to I feel about an issue, what we wanna do is everything we can to restore some civility to our public square, to make sure that people know that our elections are safe and secure and transparent, and that we all can find a way to work together. Does it make you a little optimistic to know that this past time, you didn't really have tremendous challenges coming at all the results across the country? Absolutely. And, you know, in Michigan, we did have, you know, we had some pretty stunning changes of power, right? Some races that folks didn't think were going to be as close as they were. Some races that people didn't think were going to be won by the margins they were. And I have to say there were some pretty heartfelt, impressive concession speeches, concession concession letters, concession calls, and that peaceful transfer of power is. Everything that our democracy is built on. So I'm very much encouraged by folks accepting the results of the election, whether they're Democrats or Republicans, if they didn't win. That peaceful transfer of power is the foundation of the civility and the decency by which this country is run with and by. So we're so grateful for that as well. And Rebecca, we're grateful for your time here tonight. Thanks for the work that you do, you and your whole team. Great to be with you. Appreciate having you here. That is the pulse for tonight. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Ruth Barrage. As always, it was good to be with you.