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Hegseth Impeachment Blocked, Mississippi Senate Cliffhanger & Ole Miss Fallout · The Breakfast Club

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: A Republican takes on Trump's defense secretary, but the battle
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: in Washington is far from over.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Well, he's right about one thing. I'm a defeated congressman.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: I'm not disgruntled.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Then a Senate race in Mississippi could make history, and
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: it's coming down to the final votes.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: The reality is she can't point to a direction where
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: she has a possibility to win.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: And a viral video at Ole Miss leads to a
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: major development, but the families involved say this isn't over.
• 0:34
  Speaker 4: For her peace, because I feel like it was a
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: good option for her.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: It's Thursday, November 12th. From the Black Effect Podcast Network,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: I'm Mimi Brown, and here are the day's biggest stories.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Stay with me. We begin in Washington where Defense Secretary
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Pete Hegseth is keeping his job, but the effort to
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: impeach him is raising some bigger questions about the war
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: in Iran. And here's what's making this interesting. The push
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: to remove Hegseth did not come from a Democrat. It
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: came from Republican Congressman Thomas Massey of Kentucky. Massey introduced
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: eight articles of impeachment, accusing Hegseth of serious wrongdoing, including
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: launching military operations against Iran without congressional approval. the capture
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and deadly strikes against suspected
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: drug votes. But the House never actually voted on whether
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Hexef should be impeached. Instead, lawmakers voted 211 to 204
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: to send the changes to a committee. What that means
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: is the impeachment effort has been put on hold. Massey
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: was the only Republican to vote against the move, siding
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: with Democrats. Hexeth addressed the controversy at a news conference.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: We will not apologize for stopping the flow of drugs
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: that kill our citizens. We will not apologize for destroying
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: the capabilities of a regime that chants death to America.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: And if that regime makes one wrong move, as the
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: president said, we remain locked and loaded with the full
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: weight and lethality of central command. We will not apologize
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: for restoring a military that recruits based on merit, restores
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: real standards, and fights to win. These resolutions are a farce.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: They mock the Constitution, they attack the chain of command,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: and they criminalize the warfighters who execute lawful orders. So
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: to the troops, as I've said before, don't blink, ignore
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: the noise, never hesitate. This is all politics. You do
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: real things. Stay the course.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: And here's why this story matters beyond the impeachment vote.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: At the center of this fight is a question about
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: who has the authority to take the country to war.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, while
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: the president serves as the commander-in-chief. Amasi argues the administration
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: has gone too far without congressional authorization. He's now planning
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: a separate vote that would force lawmakers to take a
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: public position on the war in Iran. Meanwhile, Democrats say
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the impeachment fight could return when they take control of
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Congress in January. So Hexeth may have survived this round,
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: but the debate over the war and his leadership is
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: far from settled. Now to Mississippi, where one of the
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: closest Senate races in the country could produce a historic result.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Democrat Scott Colom is leading Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: nearly 3,000 votes, with about 98 percent of the ballots counted.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: And this is a state where Republicans have dominated statewide
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: politics for decades. So the fact that a Democrat is
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: this close to winning a U.S. Senate seat is a
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: major political development. But the race hasn't been called, and
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: much of the attention is focused on Hines County, which
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: includes Jackson. It's one of Mississippi's largest Democratic strongholds, and
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: election officials are still working through outstanding ballots. Both candidates
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: insist they can win. But Cologne challenged Hyde-Smith in a
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: news conference, questioning where she expects to find enough votes
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: to erase his lead.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: The reality is she can't point to a direction where
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: she has a possibility to win, right? I mean, if you,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: if she thinks she truly has the ability to win,
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: explain how. Because I can tell you, I'm very confident
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: based on the performance of the ballots in Hines County
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Election Day. Once these affidavit ballots come in from Hines County,
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: the lead is going to be insurmountable. I mean, you know,
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: you look at Tishomato County. That was a county that
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: voted pre-Republican. She gained one vote from the affidavit ballots.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: I mean, at some point, you know, we have to
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: put the people of Mississippi above our personal feelings and
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: partisan politics. I'm also concerned at this point that we're
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: not going to, that there may be some disadvantages to
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: our potential to lead in D.C. as a result of
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: not being in orientation and as a result of not
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: being able to, you know, make sure we can fight
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: to get what we earn and deserve. So at this point,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: I think that the Julian Senator has to look out
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: for her state. Right. She's a Mississippian. There's things she's
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: done well. We appreciate her service to the state. It's
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: not easy to be a leader. But the people have
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: chosen to go in a new direction. And I think
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: she should look out for those people. And let's go ahead.
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  Speaker 3: and allow a smooth transition so I can start fighting
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  Speaker 3: to get on these committees where we can deliver for
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: this state.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: And here's what happens next. Counties have until Friday to
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: submit their official election results. And with a margin this narrow,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: legal challenges are still possible. And the stakes go well
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: beyond which party gets another seat. If Colon wins, he
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: would become Mississippi's first black U.S. senator in more than
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: 140 years. Think about that. Mississippi, a state with one
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: of the largest black populations in the country, hasn't elected
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: a black U.S. senator in the modern era. And Mississippi
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: isn't the only U.S. Senate seat we're watching. In Alaska,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Democrat Mary Patola has expanded her lead over Republican Senator
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Dan Sullivan to more than 2,500 votes. Yesterday, it was
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: 600 votes. But Alaska has ranked choice votes, which means
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: voters can list their candidates in order of preference. If
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: nobody receives more than 50% of the vote, those second
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: and later choices can help determine the winner. So between
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Alaska and Mississippi, there are still important Senate races waiting
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: to be decided. And finally, we're following new developments in
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: that viral video out of the University of Mississippi. The
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: video shows white women making monkey noises and gestures outside
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: an apartment where three black female students live. And since
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: that video surfaced, the fallout has continued to grow. One
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: of the women has been identified as 18-year-old Elena Kunis,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: whose family owns the Kunis Auto Group. Kunis has apologized,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: acknowledging that her actions were hurtful and inappropriate. But she
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: maintained she did not know Black students lived in that
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: apartment and says she wasn't deliberately targeting anyone. Now Kunis
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: has withdrawn from Ole Miss. The three Black students and
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: a parent spoke with CBS News correspondent Jerika Duncan about
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: that development.
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Do you think her withdrawing from the university was the
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: right move? Yes.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: I feel like it was a good option for her.
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: I hate that she wouldn't do it for school. You
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: see what I'm saying? Of course, her life, that's going
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: to affect her too. That's something about a child. So
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: that bothers me because I don't like seeing kids, you know,
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: you just started. These babies, they're 18. So I hate
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: that for the young people. I wish people would be
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: mindful and just think.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Kunis also says she and her family have received death
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: threats since the video went viral. But for the students
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: and their families, there's still questions about accountability. Tasha Bolton,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the mother of one of the black students, previously spoke
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: with us here at Front Page and shared that video.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: She now says her family is hiring an attorney and
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: Ole Miss is continuing its investigation. The bigger question now, though,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: is accountability, what that will look like and what the
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: university will do to make sure students feel safe and
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: respected where they live and attend school. That's your front page.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: I'm Mimi Brown. This podcast was brought to you by
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: the Black Effect Podcast Network.