Speaker 1: First, let's bring in CNN's Annie Greer on Capitol Hill. So what is happening right now with the vote for Kristi Noem?

Speaker 2: Well, we just learned that Kristi Noem was confirmed to be Donald Trump's secretary for Homeland Security. The vote was 59-34, which means that Democratic senators joined Republicans in confirming Noem, who was the governor of South Dakota before this. So Noem now has a huge job in front of her. Just getting confirmed was honestly just the first step. Leading the Department of Homeland Security means that she's going to have to take on Trump's very aggressive immigration proposals, whether it comes to the southern border, when it comes to mass deportations. And DHS also oversees FEMA, which deals with disaster relief, and Trump is making news on that. Just yesterday, he was saying that he doesn't even know if FEMA should continue to exist. And as the country is reeling from the devastating fires in California and hurricanes across the South, Noem is going to have to contend with all of that. So she has a huge agenda in front of her. But the Senate gave Donald Trump another win for his cabinet today.

Speaker 1: Right. And so let's talk a little bit more about the president's, you know, Pentagon pick. Well, he was confirmed and he got that tie-breaking vote from the new vice president. It didn't come easily.

Speaker 2: No, it was a very close vote. Given the narrow majority that Republicans have in the Senate, they could only lose three Republican senators. And that's how many they lost, which is what required Vice President Vance to have to come in at the 11th hour to put Hegseth over the finish line. Now, we knew that Senators Collins and Murkowski were going to be voting no on Hegseth. They had made that clear prior to the vote. But the big surprise of the night was Mitch McConnell voting against Hegseth. And there is no secret to the tense relationship between McConnell and Trump. In fact, I caught up with Republican Senator Tuberville just a few minutes ago, who spoke with me about just how tense this relationship is and how it's, it's, it's no mystery why McConnell voted no, but Hegseth's nomination process in general was just full of controversies. There were a number of allegations of sexual misconduct with women, of excessive drinking and how he spent his money in his former jobs. So he had a lot to defend throughout this entire process. He continued to maintain he did nothing wrong. And Trump stood by him this whole time. So getting Hegseth over the finish line and doing so, so quickly was a huge win for Trump. And now with Hegseth officially sworn in, that's another, another win for Trump and his administration.

Speaker 1: Yeah. And one has to wonder whether that will help set the tone for the process for some of the other nominees. All right, Annie Greer, thank you so much for that. All right, with me now to talk more about this Cabinet vote and other issues surrounding Trump's first week in office for his new term, Keri Cordero, she's a CNN national security and legal analyst. Keri, great to see you this morning. Thanks. Good to be with you. All right. So this was just the second time in history a vice president had to cast the tie-breaking vote for Cabinet pick. One of Hegseth's first tests will be how he handles Trump's demand to send U.S. troops to the border and potentially assist in his vows of mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. So what kind of legal and national security concerns might you have on this?

Speaker 3: Well, now that he's in the position of secretary of defense, I think anybody who's involved in national security issues is rooting for his ability to manage the completely complex enterprise that is the Department of Defense. Domestic deployment of the military is just one aspect of the responsibilities that he's going to have. When we look at all of the executive orders that the president has issued this week, declaring the national emergency on the border and the ability to deploy domestic troops is actually, I think, on the lower scale of the things that will be challenged or that the administration won't be able to do. I think the more complex challenges from the military perspective will be dealing with international partners, dealing with the hotspots all around the world.

Speaker 1: Some pretty powerful words coming from Senator Mitch McConnell. He didn't mince words, really, on talking about all of those things that you just mentioned. In his words, he said, effective management of nearly three million military and civilian personnel, an annual budget of nearly $1 trillion, and alliances and partnerships around the world is a daily test with staggering consequences for the security of the American people and our global interests. Mr. Hegseth has failed as yet to demonstrate that he will pass this test. Your thoughts on this? And he was one of those votes dissenting, along with Murkowski and Collins.

Speaker 3: Sure. So one of three Republican senators who had a different view as to really both his qualifications and his fitness when we look at the statements of both Senator McConnell and Senators Collins and Murkowski. But he's in the position now. The vice president under our system casted the deciding vote. He has been sworn in. He's the secretary of defense. And so we will see whether he has the capabilities moving forward to lead the department, put in place the individuals, and whether there's Senate confirmation of the individuals who will work beneath him so that they can move forward. But it will be an incredible test, as it is for anybody, given the complexity of the job.

Speaker 1: Right. He has no government or agency leadership, whereas the flip side to that also being confirmed now this morning, former South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem now confirmed as a new leader of the Department of Homeland Security. Of course, she does come with government leadership. How do you see her being able to transition from governor to now Homeland Security Secretary?

Speaker 3: So the Homeland Security Department works really closely with state and local partners. And so hopefully the fact that she has been a governor and worked extensively at the state and local level will be a benefit for her in this role. I think the biggest challenge that she will have and that any secretary of Homeland Security has, but particularly she will have given the policy attention that the Trump administration places on immigration and border security in particular, is whether or not she can also balance the responsibilities with everything else that the department does. Secretary of Homeland Security is a really complicated job. It has so many different responsibilities. So for example, it's got 22 different agencies originally that were then rolled into the department over 20 years. And so she's got to manage the cybersecurity functions of the department. Obviously, the last year has demonstrated that there needs serious attention towards the management operations of the Secret Service. She's got transportation security agency. I mean, she's got so many responsibilities that are beyond border security and immigration. And so the question will be, will she have the bandwidth to pay attention to those other

Speaker 1: issues? A lot's going on in these first five days of Trump being in office from those nominations and confirmations, also executive orders. And then in a late night purge overnight, Trump also reportedly fired at least a dozen independent inspector generals who serve as the government watchdogs. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley is already calling on Trump to explain these firings because he was supposed to provide notice to lawmakers before making such a move. Democrats also very concerned. Let's take a listen to Senator Schumer.

Speaker 4: Yesterday, in the dark of night, President Trump fired at least 12 independent inspector generals at important federal agencies across the administration. This is a chilling purge, and it's a preview of the lawless approach Donald Trump and his administration are taking far too often as he's becoming president.

Speaker 1: So can Trump unilaterally do this, or do you see some legal challenges coming here?

Speaker 3: Well, it's going to be difficult to challenge it at this point. But what the law says, so the Inspector General Act was, first of all, inspector generals were put in place by Congress to provide independent oversight over the executive branch. And so they have special authorities that enable them to do investigations within the executive branch. When the Inspector General Act was amended, 2008, I think, in terms of being able to have the president have authority to remove inspector generals, but the president under the law is supposed to provide 30 days notice to Congress. So the president has authority to do it, but the law requires that he provide 30 days notice.

Speaker 1: And if not, then what? What's the potential ramifications?

Speaker 3: If not, then Congress has a problem. So we are going to be in a situation, and this inspector general issue is one. The TikTok law is another, where Congress passed a law that said a certain thing is supposed to happen, and then that doesn't happen. So the remedies available to Congress are obviously, number one, they can do oversight. They can demand information from the executive branch explaining what happened. They can hold hearings if they want to. Normally, the other lever that Congress has available to it is the budget query, whether in this particular situation, Congress would want to adjust budgets because they want inspector generals to be funded. And then another option that's potentially available is sometimes the House of Representatives actually brings lawsuits. But we'll see whether any of those things will happen. I think Senator Grassley, obviously, who has long been a defender of inspectors general, will want to demand answers for why these individuals were removed. But it is contrary to Congress's law.

Speaker 1: All right. All fascinating. And more to come. Kerry Cordero, thank you so much.