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A veteran Florida reporter revealed the message Donald Trump wanted to send to his embattled defense nominee Pete Hegseth by floating the name of a high-profile replacement.

Marc Caputo, recently hired away from The Bulwark by Axios, told CNN that the president-elect appears to have been behind rumors that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could be a potential backup pick to lead the Department of Defense if Hegseth's nomination can't be saved from allegations of excessive drinking and sexual misconduct.

During an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," longtime political analyst Jonathan Martin admitted he was astounded that critics of Donald Trump are actually being put in the position of feeling like they may need a pardon from President Joe Biden to protect themselves from his wrath after he assumes office.

During a discussion about Biden giving a pardon to his son, "Morning Joe" regular Mike Barnicle brought up the threat that Trump's Department of Justice will go after Trump adversaries like ex-Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

"Did you ever think we would be living in an era where we would be talking about preemptive pardons for people like Dr. Fauci or like Liz Cheney?" Barnicle asked.

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Dems consider whether Biden should ‘clear the slate’ and pardon Trump

"It's completely shocking to even write this," the Politico columnist admitted. "The idea of offering people who have not been charged with any crime, there's no even hint of committing any crimes, pardons, because the nature of the incoming administration is such that they're pretty open about the idea of pursuing a kind of third world model of where 'When we come in and go after the old guys.'"

"Now, I can hear what the Trump folks are going to say immediately, which is, 'He's only doing what they did to us,' and I think, guys, that's what you'll hear next year if the Trump folks do pursue these revenge investigations or indictments of 'They started lawfare first, they indicted Trump left and right,'" he predicted.

Watch below or at the link here.

A pair of opposing political operatives disagreed on CNN over the status of embattled defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth.

The former Fox News host has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill talking with senators concerned about reports of his alleged excessive drinking, sexual misconduct and mistreatment of women, and CNN's John Berman was astonished that Hegseth had assured lawmakers that he would stop drinking if confirmed to lead the Pentagon.

Reacting to Vivek Ramaswamy glibly claiming it will be "good for many of the [government employee] individuals when they make a transition from government service back to the private sector," MSNBC host Joe Scarborough and "Morning Joe" regular Steve Ratner thoroughly dismantled the Donald Trump advisor's economic plans for the country.

Newly installed into Trump's proposed Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), the tech entrepreneur, along with co-chair Elon Musk, have been making broad claims of eliminating trillions in government expenses without providing much in the way of messy details.

On Thursday morning, host Scarborough introduced the clip of Ramaswamy speaking and, after admitting he is in favor of government cutbacks, bluntly said of the Trump's appointees proposals, "This is a scam."

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Dems consider whether Biden should ‘clear the slate’ and pardon Trump

"Steve, let's cut straight to this," Scarborough said to his guest. "I know you're going to go through these charts, but his is something that you want to hear these two guys talking about: how they are going to cut $2 trillion from the budget."

"It's a joke," he pronounced before adding, "And it's a joke because this is something you and I have been obsessed about for very long time, the national debt, getting the deficit under control. Just looking at your first chart here, people need to understand, Social Security and Medicare make up about 50 percent of what the government spends. You add defense and veterans benefits, that's another 20 percent, you are up to 70 percent. You then add debt, and how much it costs to service that debt, that's another 10 percent."

"So Steve, before they even start talking about cutting these so-called federal employees that are bankrupting us, the United States government has already spent 80 percent of its budget on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, vets, defense and interest on the debt," he added.

"I love some of these other numbers," he joked. "Again, forgive me for killing Hamlet in the first act here: let's cut law enforcement, that's 1 percent of the budget., but let's cut sciences and medical research, we spend too much on that they may be saving 1 percent of the budget.

"Transportation, those barrel projects is going to bankrupt us, it's only 2% of the budget," he jokingly exclaimed. "Again, I will actually let you explain this far better than I am right now, but this is a scam unless they are going to slash Social Security and Medicare and Veterans Affairs. They are never going to get the $2 trillion so they need to just stop pretending."

Reacting to Fox News personality Pete Hegseth's roaming the halls of Congress on Wednesday hoping to salvage his nomination to be Donald Trump's secretary of defense, the panel on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" called attention to the embattled nominee's history of financial mismanagement with multiple veterans' non-profits he managed.

MSNBC host Joe Scarbourgh was joined by Mika Brzezinski and Jonathan Lemire as he cited reporting from the New York Times that documented how Hegseth drove two organizations onto the ground with his extravagant spending that led to donations drying up before he was ousted.

"It adds to his list of concerns specifically," the MSNBC host began. "First of all, we have the sexual misconduct, including rape allegations and then you have financial mismanagement."

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Dems consider whether Biden should ‘clear the slate’ and pardon Trump

"So these are the numbers that the New York Times brought up today," he continued. "They had an $8.7 million budget in 2008. Four years later, by 2012, it was in debt as the New York Times said, quote, 'It fizzled out.' He then was at Concerned Vets for America, who the Times said was at the time, continually spending more money than it took in. And then the last year he was there, it was $37,000 in debt. That's where these two small vets organizations –– and then on top of that, forget the financial mismanagement –– on top of that, you have the New Yorker piece that talks about the whistleblower complaints of his activities while he was there."

"So sexual misconduct, public drunkenness, financial mismanagement –– these whistleblower reports," he ticked off. "And all of that is on top of concerns that a lot of Republicans have he just doesn't have the qualification to be secretary of defense."

"I've got to say, as other people reporting, this looks like a failed PR attempt yesterday as sort of a last gasp, but it looks like the Trump transition team is already ready to move on," he added.

Watch below or at the link here.

The co-host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" kicked off Thursday morning with an extraordinary 22-minute combined rant that addressed a blow-up with conservative guest David Frum on Wednesday that then turned into a defense of their highly-criticized meeting with President-elect Donald Trump.

On Wednesday co-host Mika Brzezinski spoke about a comment Frum made about Fox News and the alleged drunk behavior of former employee Pete Hegseth. With Brezinski calling the remark "flippant," Frum left the show and penned a column for the Atlantic to complain about how he was treated, writing, "It is an ominous sign that Morning Joe felt it had to apologize for something I said."

A prominent FBI criminal profiler laid out three possible motives for the Wednesday morning killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO that left New York City – and the country – stunned as police continued searching for the suspect.

Candice DeLong said that while the average American likely wouldn’t recognize Brian Thompson’s name, his position as the head of a health care giant that covers over 100 million Americans could have made him a potential target.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley appeared to muddy the waters for Donald Trump's embattled Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, telling reporters that the Fox News co-host facing numerous allegations including possible sexual misconduct and alcohol abuse, has canceled his scheduled interview with the Missouri GOP lawmaker. Senator Hawley also repeatedly suggested he isn't sure at this point what the President-elect's intentions with Hegseth are anymore.

Speaking about Hegseth, Hawley told reporters Wednesday, "I don't know where things stand at the moment," "I was supposed to sit down with him tomorrow, but they canceled that meeting," "it's not 100% clear who [Trump] really wants as Secretary of Defense right now," and, "I don't know what the case is at this point."

Democrats went on the offensive Wednesday night during a discussion on CNN about whether President Joe Biden ought to preemptively issue pardons to possible targets of President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to seek retribution once he takes office.

When anchor Abby Phillip asked whether it would be a good idea for Biden to issue pre-emptive pardons, Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha gave a full-throated endorsement.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appeared to sing a different tune when asked his thoughts on President-elect Donald Trump’s troubled pick to lead the Department of Defense on Wednesday.

Graham came to Pete Hegseth’s defense a day after calling allegations against the nominee “disturbing,” but stopped short of predicting he would breeze by the Senate confirmation process as questions surrounding his past treatment of women and alcohol abuse come into focus.

The end could be near for Donald Trump’s controversial selection of Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense, according to a top New York Times reporter.

In an interview on Wednesday, Times reporter Maggie Haberman said the likelihood of Hegseth remaining as Trump’s choice for Pentagon head is a mixed bag at this point. And the president-elect isn’t thrilled with the negative headlines, she added.

Shocking video of the moment UnitedHealthcare’s CEO was gunned down on a New York City sidewalk offered new clues into the suspect still at large for the brazen Wednesday morning assassination.

Former FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe said the suspect’s calmness during what appeared to be a calculated killing leads him to believe the trigger wasn’t pulled by a novice and could “possibly even [be] a professional.”

President-elect Donald Trump's selection of Kash Patel, a former House GOP staffer and longtime MAGA loyalist, to serve as FBI director, means the nation's top law enforcement agency will be in the hands of an avowed conspiracy theorist, warned MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Wednesday.

And he brought the sound clips to prove it.