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Well, today is the day. Republican Congressman Thomas Massey says
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he is planning to trigger an impeachment vote against one
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of Trump's most controversial cabinet officials, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
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And moments ago, Hegseth told reporters he'll hold a press
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conference on the issue tomorrow morning at the Pentagon. Hegseth
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has faced bipartisan outrage over his handling of the Iran
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war and the military at large, from the firing of
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top generals to block promotions for female and black officers.
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The controversy top of mind, not just for current members
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of Congress, but incoming lawmakers who've arrived in Washington for orientation.
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We have soldiers at war. We have Navy sailors at war.
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And the secretary of defense is more worried about his
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political future.
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I think everything needs to be on the table, including
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Pete Hegseth, including, you know, some of these other other
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agency heads like.
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Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified secretary that this nation
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has seen. He has caused significant damage to us as
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a country and put us at risk and really damaged
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the readiness of our entire military force.
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Let's bring in MSNL Pentagon reporter Priya Sridhar, MSNL Capitol
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Hill reporter Michael Schnell, and MSNL contributor and staff writer
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for The Atlantic, McKay Coppins. Michael, what do you know
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about the support for Massey's impeachment push?
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Yeah, well, Lisa, you had the news at the top
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right there that Thomas Massey plans to finally trigger this
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impeachment resolution today. I was texting him with him earlier today.
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He said today is the day that he will start
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this process. It's important to note that that doesn't mean
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we're going to see an impeachment vote today. It's just
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going to start the process. GOP leadership will have two
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legislative days to then set a vote on this matter.
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So expect it to come up imminently this week. But
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what I'm hearing from sources is that there is a
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real possibility that this impeachment resolution can pass. I was
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talking to House Republicans last week. who told me for
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a while now there has been deep frustration with Pete Hegseth,
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how he's been handling the department. Also some consternation with
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his performance before committees during various hearings, saying that he
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hadn't really answered the questions that lawmakers were asking of him.
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So there is a.
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Real possibility that this could happen this week. But the
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discrepancy is that when you ask lawmakers publicly on the record,
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they kind of have a different answer.
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It's not a total no, but the door is open.
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Take a listen to what they're saying. Should Hegseth be impeached?
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Well, the question is for the president, should he continue
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to serve as.
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The secretary of war? You're going to be asked to
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answer this, though, by Representative Masson.
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Yeah, that's right.
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Well, you know, I want to hear the debate on
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it to see if it merits impeachment. I think there's
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a lot of discomfort with the effort in Iran. I
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think that if the Secretary of Defense will come out
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quickly and address those, I think that every Republican should
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be solid in that. Now, having said that, that doesn't
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mean we want to continue down the same path in Iran.
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Now, Paula, those, of course, are not resounding yeses, but
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it's also significant that they're not firm no's. And as
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I mentioned, there's a difference between folks talking on the
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record publicly and behind the scenes. To me, I'm going
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to read you a quote that a House Republican told
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me last week. They went a step further and said
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that Pete Hegseth should resign, telling me, quote, he needs
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to have the honor and the integrity of knowing that
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he's done a bad job in service to the country.
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in this particular position. So certainly not mincing words there. Now,
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to get
Load full transcript
an eye into what the Hegseth camp is
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thinking right now, are Paula Reid reporting this morning that
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him and his advisors feel that they have a solid
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defense as they head into this? But again, we could
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see a significant moment this week with the House potentially
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voting to impeach the defense secretary.
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It was remarkable that first clip, McKay. I mean, you
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basically have Republicans on Capitol Hill begging the president to
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spare them having to take this impeachment vote. Here, though,
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is the president, what he had to say about Hegseth.
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We saw Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the hall.
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He was meeting with you just before now. His name
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has come up a few times as someone people have
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called for his resignation. Do you have confidence in him?
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I do.
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Look, we've won two wars.
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We've won Venezuela. We won that war in less than
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one hour. And you credit Hegseth. And nobody was killed.
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You credit Pete Hegseth for that?
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No, but he was a part of it. So many
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things wrong there. There wasn't a war in Venezuela. Nothing
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was won. Let's put aside the facts for a minor second, McKay.
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I get that loyalty is important to this president. Why
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has Pete Hegsath remained so sticky? Why is it that
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the president is unwilling to throw him under the bus
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and say, listen, this whole Iran thing was a terrible idea.
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I blame Pete Hegsath. Let's move on.
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Great question. I mean, this whole thing reminds me of
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Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearings. If you'll recall, he made it
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through those hearings by the skin of his teeth. There
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was a moment there where it looked very likely that
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he was going to sink there. There was, you know,
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extensive reporting about his personal behavior, his drinking. There were
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a number of Republican senators who said they weren't sure
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that He should get confirmed. Trump stuck by him and
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he wrote it out. You know, one way
to think
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about this is that Pete Hegseth, before he became secretary
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of defense, was one of Donald Trump's favorite cable news anchors.
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You know, this was a guy that Donald Trump watched
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on TV all the time. He really I mean, I
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don't want to be oversimplistic here or glib, but like
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Trump is a fan of Pete Hegseth. You know, he
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got to bring one of his favorite TV guys into
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his cabinet. He is somebody who embodies the ethos of
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Trumpism in many ways. He is incredibly confrontational, combative. He
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says the things Trump would want his secretary of defense
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to say on TV, on social media. I don't know whether, though,
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what the president is saying in public right now will
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actually translate to sticking to him, because the reality is,
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as far as everybody is concerned in Trump's orbit, the
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war in Iran is the reason that Trump lost office.
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I think there are a lot of reasons that the
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Republicans lost in the midterms. But the war in Iran
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was a huge one. And they're going to want a scapegoat.
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Trump isn't going to resign. He's not going to get impeached,
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most likely. I think there are going to be a
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number of people in the president's orbit pushing him to
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throw Pete Hegseth under the bus. And I could see
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them prevailing. I don't know how that will ultimately play out.
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But you're absolutely right, Alicia, that Republicans in Congress do
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not want to have to make this decision. They want
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Trump to take it out of their hands. And we'll
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see if he does.
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I mean, I think part of the reason that we're
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talking about the Iran war is because I do think
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it is where you see the greatest bipartisan agreement. Republicans
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understand it was a big part of the reason that
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they had significant losses on Tuesday. Democrats have been sounding
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the alarm on this for months now. But that's not
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the entirety of it. You have some brand new reporting
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about what is happening inside the Pentagon. Talk me through it.
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Yeah, that's right, Alicia. For the very first time, we're
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actually getting a glimpse of the mechanics of how Secretary
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Hegseth was able to carry out what many people call
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his Pentagon Purge. So that's either firing top senior military
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officers or withholding their promotions. And we know that many
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of those people have actually been women and people of color.
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So I spoke to a source who's a very senior
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official inside of the Pentagon who told me that workers
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inside of the Pentagon were asked to conduct Internet searches
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for senior officers who were selected for the rank of
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one or two stars by a merit based board. And
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they were told to look for one of four things,
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any relation or connection to encouraging troops to take the
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COVID-19 vaccine, which, by the way, was mandatory at the time,
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any connection to the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan,
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any connection to General Mark Milley, who was the chairman
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of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Trump during
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his first term. But when he retired, he spoke out
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publicly against him. And most importantly, and the one that
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most of these officers sort of fell into this category,
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was any connection to any diversity, equity and inclusion initiative.
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And so what ended up playing out was, at least
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in one service branch's one- and two-star boards, 15 senior
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military officers who were selected, their promotions were withheld. And
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that meant that every single woman or person of color
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except for one, didn't end up getting promoted. And so
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what does that mean? That means people with decades of
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experience who were in charge of commanding carrier strike groups,
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they were highly decorated, had multiple degrees from schools like
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Johns Hopkins and MIT, and had served in different war zones,
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were now being removed for things like attending a pride
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event that had rainbow flags or being photographed after people
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They took their COVID-19 vaccine. And I asked the Pentagon
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about it. And they insisted, Chief Spokesperson Sean Parnell, that, no,
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this is a meritocracy. My source told me that this
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is anything but a meritocracy. And last thing, Alicia, is
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there's actually very intense questions right now about the legality
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of all of this, just like so many other things
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that Secretary Hexup is now under the microscope for.
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Yeah.
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An impeachment, unlike a resignation, would bring all of this
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to light. Priya Sridhar, Michael Schnell, I know it is
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a busy day on Capitol Hill, so thank you so
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much for taking the time to be with us.
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McKay. Hey, it's Rachel.
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I am so glad to see you at the end
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of that clip because this is where I get to
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tell you about a new way to watch all our
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Thanks.