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Weeks ago and said, well, that means that this is a terrible thing. >> certainly could not have been a surprise to the chinese that we're spying on them, just as they're spying on us. i did think that jay carney's language was particularly tough. i think the chinese calculation may have been let's get this guy off our territory, out of hong kong, let him be somebody else's problem so we aren't the ones on the hook to decide what to do with him and whether to turn him over to the americans. but i think pretty tough language we heard there from jay carney. >> written language which means it was ...

And the president puts together a team. when it comes to national security, we really shouldn't be playing these kind of games. >> jonathan, is he going to get the votes? that's the big question. >> when they did the closure vote on friday, he got 59 votes. it wasn't enough to stop the filibuster, but when you have the confirmation vote of a simple majority, he has the votes to be confirmed. >> all right. last i want to show everybody and the benghazi situation is still really stuck in the craw for a lot of people in washington, d.c., but david gregory and john mccain talking about that, just ...

Positions that senator hagel has taken. >> so this is in reference to when we talk about payback time, peter, the fact that the -- at the time, that senator hagel didn't support the iraq surge. and now john mccain denies that that has anything to do with it. what is it today that we're hearing is where the -- where the votes stand? because it seems to be the confirmation is going to happen. >> yeah, tom. a good question. administration officials still feel confidently that about a week from tomorrow, the 26th of this morning shortly after congress will be back in session, they will be able to ...

Moments ago senator graham said barring a bombshell in the next week, he thinks hagel will be confirmed. so what is the white house reaction to all of this maneuvering in the senate? >> reporter: well, obviously some tense moments for the white house. one person calling this unconscionable, that the republicans would take what the white house believes is a delay tactic. however, if you talk to white house officials, they continue to insist that ultimately once this comes to a full vote before the full senate, they believe that chuck hagel will be confirmed, but they admit that right now this c...

>> i think let's break it down to senate math. he would like to think that he can threaten democrats with a failure at reelection time. if he's successful in doing that, he can pick off enough to avoid a 60-vote closure vote. he would like to think there enough moderate republicans and there a couple left that he could scare into towing the line so they too would not go along with the 60-vote closure. that's the math going on here. he is trying to say i will block you, chairman. i will block your legislation. he can only do that if he can block a 60-vote closure number and that's the game. tha...