I confess I did not know who Pete Hakeses was until about 20 minutes ago.

He does not seem to have much of a detailed background in DOD policy.

To the extent he's worked on any of that stuff, it has been on veterans' policy, not on DOD issues.

So the lack of experience is concerning.

Now I have not heard what his plans are, so we will see what his plans are.

But it was surprising and it is concerning just given that lack of experience.

You know, the Pentagon, biggest bureaucracy in the world, it's a hard thing to run.

So I think it's going to be a challenge.

That was the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, Democratic Congressman Adam Smith,

of Washington State reacting to Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary. Even some Republicans on Capitol Hill were caught off guard by the selection

of the Fox News host, Pete Hegseth, admitting they don't know much about him at all. We'll play

for you their reactions and go through Trump's other cabinet picks. Also ahead, we'll preview the

White House meeting later this morning between President Biden and President-elect Trump,

part of Biden's commitment to a peaceful transfer of power.

Meanwhile, the incoming administration appears to be taking the first steps to follow through

on Trump's promised mass deportation plan.

NBC's Julia Ainsley joins us with new reporting on that.

Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Wednesday, November 13th. Along with Joe, Willie,

and me, we have the host of way too early White House Bureau Chief at Politico, Jonathan Lemire,

managing editor at the bulwark. Sam Stein is with us and congressional

investigations reporter for the Washington Post, Jackie Alamani. So let's get right into it.

We'll start this morning with Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense. He has chosen Fox News

...