>> final comment? thank you for being with us. >> economic growth is accelerating at the fastest pace since 2010. equities are expensive. if you can find cheap ones exposed to economic growth that's where you want to be. tech, industrials, media. >> pleasure. thank you. also buying calls on target. that does it for "halftime." an awesome "power lunch" begins right now. >> it sure does, brian. thank you. we'll see brian in a few minutes. i'm michelle caruso-cabrera. big three automakers topping the big three things we're watching this hour. president meeting them today at the white house. ripple effects and more straight ahead. we're also waiting a white house press briefing set to begin in less than half an hour from now. we'll bring it to you live. and busy day of earnings, five dow components out with results. latest market reaction from wall street coming up. "power lunch" starts right now.

>> welcome to "power lunch." i'm melissa lee. dow and s&p having their best day in three weeks. we are just about seven points away from the s&p's record high. president trump signing an executive order giving the keystone pipeline the go ahead. we'll get those in a few minutes and home builders having a great day on upbeat earnings. take a look at this gain in shp. higher tan 2.7%. >> and another busy day at the white house. president trump meeting with all the auto executives, signing executive orders on the trans-canada and dakota pipelines and this afternoon will meet with senate leaders, including majority leader mitch mcconnell. aemon javers is standing by where the president has been extre extremely busy all day. >> trio of big three auto

remaker remakers. >> it's the long-term jobs we're looking for. we're bringing manufacturing back to the united states big league, reducing taxes, very substantially, and reducing unnecessary regulations. >> and, as you say, the president also signed those five executive orders today, using the power of the presidential pen. let me walk you through each of the orders that he signed. one on the keystone pipeline, making sure that that has the pathway cleared for creation of that pipeline, so big on the campaign trail, dakota access pipeline. similar treatment today and a requirement that pipeline builders do use american steel when they build those pipelines and two executive orders designed to expedite permits and reviews for manufacturers, building new facilities and plants around the country.

as you said, guys, we will see mitch mcconnell here, republican leader in the senate, later this afternoon along with some democrats and key senate leadership in terms of a supreme court nomination expected by the trump white house at any point now. some speculation that we could see that nomination coming as early, maybe, as next week. but still no formal guidance on timing on that. back to you. >> eamon javers, thank you. phil lebeau is taking a look at just how many cars are actually produced in america. phil? >> whether or not you agree with president trump and his push to have more of the vehicles sold here, built here, it all comes down to how many are imported right now. it's a huge percentage. of the 17.5% of vehicles sold in the u.s., 43% were imported from mexico, canada, japan, europe, and a host of other countries, which then brings up the question, if you bring those plants back here, is there capacity? no, not initially. you would have to build more

plants because the industry in the u.s. is already running at close to capacity. the big three, by the way, they build 70% of the vehicles that they sell here in the united states. but from president trump's standpoint if you bring those plants back, if you bring those jobs back, you will see an improvement in auto manufacturing jobs. we're still not back to where this industry was before the recession. yes, it's come back by about 50% from bottoming out in 2009 but we're still a ways from the 1.1 million you saw in 2006. by the way, as you take a look at the shares of the automakers, people say they're all going to be under pressure after meeting with the president, saying they're going to have greater costs. uh-uh. they're actually up today. that's what they're doing over the last year. guys? >> devil is in the details, of course. you say cars made in the united states, what percentage of the components are also made in the united states? are the components from elsewhere simply assembled in the united states? >> a high percentage coming from auto suppliers based in mexico

or canada or other parts around the world. the theory is that if you were to bring these final assembly plants back to, say, ohio, indiana, michigan, wherever, that you would get a decent percentage of the parts coming back as well. suppliers would say i would like to be close to the assembly plant and would likely move that production back as well. >> got it, phil. thank you so much. let's talk more about the president's meeting with the automakers this morning. auto motive research and jay timmons, national association of manufacturers. paul, let me start with you. all the auto ceos came out. we heard from two of them. they said very, very positive things about the meeting. do you believe them or are they getting bullied behind closed doors? >> they're getting bullied. it's not behind closed doors. it's actually bullied in public. what he's saying is i want you

to build more factories here, regardless of whether there's a business case or not. look, the president comes out of commercial real estate development. so, it's the equivalent of saying let's build some more skyscrapers here because it will create jobs, construction trade jobs, steel, glass jobs and all that sort of thing. oh, by the way, there might not be occupants for these skyscrapers. look, the automakers are clearly off balance, trying to work with the president but being pressured very heavily in public. >> jay, what do you say about that, the idea that perhaps they're doing things that they normally wouldn't, that they're doing things that make them less profitable but because the president is telling them to do it. >> let me tell you what's been bullied. the american economy has been bullied not just for the last eight years but for decades. we have the highest tax rates in the world. we have oppressive regulations and we have an infrastructure system that's falling apart.

if we fix those three things, which the president has already started to do, then we're going to see more investment in this country. we're going to see more jobs created in this country. that's great for manufacturers. that's great for our economy. you know, that meeting today, i think, was an indication that this administration cares about american manufacturing. and that's a good thing. >> it is a good thing, jay. and our viewers know that we've been on this issue for a while. i'll push back a little bit. bringing back jobs may also bring up costs. do you believe that while trump may care and your constituents may care, does the american public care about buying american? >> well, look, i certainly hope the american public cares about creating jobs. because, quite frankly, no matter what side you are on in this election, that's what it was all about. it was about a forgotten group of people who have been trying so hard to make a living, to have decent, respectable jobs.

and what they've seen is the america they've known over the course of their lifetimes erode, again because of our policies that we've created or that we've ignored in washington, d.c. we've got a chance to correct things and i do think people care about that. >> i'm curious, when you're talking about bringing manufacturing back to the united states, do you look at manufacturing output or do you look at the number of jobs? >> yeah, sure. >> the idembedded in this idea bringing back jobs -- >> i think you care about both, right? we want more manufacturing. we want more output. we also want to create more jobs. we talk about technology, robotics. here is a statistic that worth thinking about. 5.5 million unemployed americans. >> hold that thought for one second. the nasdaq composite has just hit a record high. some resumption of that trump rally we saw begin on november 9th is, once again, under way.

finish your thought, jay. >> great. thanks. 5.5 million unemployed people in the country right now, 3.5 million jobs are going unfilled. that is largely because folks don't have the right skills to be able to fill those jobs. >> right. >> a lot of those jobs are technology driven. technology is important. it's never going away. it's only going to improve over time and we have to make sure our workers are trained to be able to take advantages of the opportunities of the future. >> paul, you heard a lot of points that jay made earlier, right? the way capital has been treated here has been relatively poor compared to the rest of the world. donald trump has made that point over and over again. if we do things like corporate tax reform that lowers the corporate tax rate, if we do all the things that jay is talking about, is that enough to offset what are higher labor costs here in the united states? could the auto manufacturing that's been moved out be moved back in a profitable way? >> hopefully, some of it will

be. in that case, i don't think you need to pressure people. you just have to create the right business environment in terms of corporate taxes, regulations and that sort of thing. businessmen are quite rightly selfish people. they make selfless decisions. if you incent them properly, you don't have to bully them. i think it pretty much boils down to that. and it will be true that some vehicles make sense to be built here in america. big suvs, pickup trucks, high-profit vehicles. but the low-profit vehicles, small cars that frankly a lot of poor, lower income people buy, you don't want to be building those here in america and push up costs and hurt those customers. i don't think. >> paul, you know, the three automakers ceos are certainly a smart bunch. two of them at least came out and said these are plans that have been in the works, mark fields and sergio marcioni. we've had those jobs in the

pipeline planned to come back. are these guys saying -- are these guys really being bullied or are they just giving the impression because that serves all purposes? serves everybody's purposes? >> sure. they're trying to publicly accommodate the president while also doing what's right for the business. in some cases that absolutely is square and spot on. for example, ford counseled a small car factory in mexico. nobody is buying small cars anymore. it seemed to make president-elect trump, now president trump happy on the score. but they're trying to walk this line between what's doing right for the business and what's right for their -- what the president wants. >> for what it's wort and it's probably worth nothing but i ran a little twitter poll, had a couple hundred responses. is buying an american-made car important to you? 61% of the respondents said no, they just want the best deal. do you view that as the

represented look for america? do you think people really care? >> who is the -- >> jay, go ahead and answer if you want. >> let me jump in and say the best deal will be from a country that can produce things in a cost-effective way. when we talk about cost input in this country and the highest taxes in the world, we talk about an oppressive regulatory system that costs manufacturers lots of money, we fix those problems, we'll have great product and it will be affordable right here in america. >> guys, thank you. paul and jay, we'll see how it all works out as we move through all these reforms we're looking for. >> thanks. >> okay. meantime, some huge moves in the infrastructure stocks, folks. acom, big global builder, fluor, and massive builder based in l.a., tutor perini.

those that provide gravel, aggregates for roads, those stocks up, too. biggest winner of all, guys, allegheny technology. we talked about it on half time. ati the ticker. who the heck is this company? among other things they make liners for pipelines. the president signing that executive order, perhaps speeding up keystone and dakota. ati heavily shorted as well. that stock up more than 20%. a couple of analysts during the commercial breaks on half time, there's so much regulatory costs built into projects that if you can release that burden it not just speeds them up but makes them more profitable. >> you're going to be talking to david seton? >> yeah, by the way, ceo of fluor, david seton, will be on closing bell at 3:00. >> he addressed how many changes he would like to see that would

make business here better. rick santelli is tracking the action. what's demand like? >> all the emotion of all that red tape getting cut, that's taken over stocks and interest rates moving to the upside. didn't help the auction much. i gave this auction a c. 26 billion of two-year notes. $1.21. pretty much right about where it was pricing, maybe a little light. 2.68 the cover. 48.8 on indirect since may 2016. here is where it gets a little week. 9.3 on direct, same as the december auction. january 2015 to find a lower number and that yield was 1.2 on this auction, 1.28 last auction. you have to go back to november of '08 to find any higher yields. not a lot of interest yet in this auction. we'll see how the rest of the 88

billion in terms of fives and sevens go on wednesday and thursday. melissa lee, it's all yours. lockheed martin out with earnings today. stock is trading lower right now. we are standing by for white house press secretary sean spicer, expected to hold his briefing moments from now. we'll bring it to you live as soon as it begins. stay tuned.

welcome back to power lunch. hitting a new record high, the nasdaq. big driver in today's session on this hunt for a new record high, semi conductors, philadelphia semi conductor index up by 1.6%. in fact, some of the top performers on the nasdaq, sea gate, semi conductor stocks, all in spite of the weakness in biotech shares. gillead, in fact, one of the biggest hit a new record low but new record for the nasdaq composite. >> i always jump in and say yes, but inflation adjusted would be about 7200. but that takes away from the story so i won't say that. >> we have to get to this level before we can get to 7200.

>> it's the path. shares of lockheed martin are lower today. what's driving them lower, morgan brennan joins us. >> president trump has introduced a little more uncertainty into the world of defense contracting and trump's criticism of the cost of the company's f-35 joint strike fighter program was front and center on the call earlier today with ceo and chairman marilyn huson, saying they're very close to a deal for the lot of planes that will price lower after multiple meetings with trump, she stressed the f-35s increasing affordability and the job opportunities it's creating. >> the meetings that we've had have been very productive. very good dialogue. he asks excellent questions and he's really focused on making sure that the cost comes down on the program. and it's not about flashing our profit. it's not about our margins.

when we have those discussions it's about how do we get the cost of the aircraft down today and in the future. >> so, heyson said she suggested ways that the defense department could buy aircraft differently in the future to help cut those costs and she and other executives noted that lockheed martin would be a benefactor of tax reform and little impacted by a border adjustment tax since it manufactures stateside. when it does export -- it does export its products rather than import. lockheed is considered a bellwether of the broader defense sector, setting the stage for other names including boeing, general dynamics and raytheon, just to name a few. >> thanks for joining us, david. fourth quarter, guidance was a little shy. your competitor over at rbc points out, though, that lockheed is notoriously conservative. beating initial guidance on

average 6% the past three years. should we be looking through this shortfall in guidance? >> that is true, lock kls heed is mostly conservative. pension expense, pension income was a little bit higher than we had thought. overall the business guidance, 6% to 7%, in margins, came in about where we were expecting. the miss relative to what we were expecting out of the guidance. >> how big of a concern is it, the weakness, in internal control controls in the sworski unit? >> they have not, as a result of that, seen any change, any material change in their financials as a result of that. >> ache a look the how the stock

is valued right now. do you think it's factoring in the worst case scenario in terms of pricing pressures being driven by trump administration? >> well, if you look at the f-35, the f-35 accounts for 20% to 25% of lockheed's revenue and earnings. the program today is currently booked at a high single digit margin. we certainly expect that some of the pricing pressure that is coming through on the program to potentially have a negative impact on their margins. so, we do think that ultimately there could be some pressure on the stock once we get an agreement and we see the progression on the margins as a result of lower pricing on future lots on the contract. >> david, neutral on the stock. thanks a lot for joining us, david strauss. >> sure. >> live picture of the white house press broefi inbriefing r. they are getting set there. press secretary sean spicer expected to hold a press

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welcome back. nasdaq hitting a new record high moments ago and, guess what, that's right, we are back on dow

20,000 watch. been waiting like a month, folks. it's finally here, like the oscars. >> you know you love it. >> and you want more and we're going to bring it to you. >> not the same story for verizon. ouch. that stock falling hard after missing estimates on the most recent quarter. fewer than expected wireless subscribers. cell phones clearly a fad. came in a notch below wall street expectations. biggest home builder, 8% beat. d.r. horton. white house press secretary sean spicer expected to hold a press briefing at any moment. live picture from the white house. we won't do this every day for the administration. in the early days for the administration, however, we

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hello, everyone. i'm sue herera. your cnbc news update this hour. britain's supreme court ruled the government must get parliamentary approval before starting the process of leaving the european union. this could potentially delay prime minister teresa may's plan to trigger brexit negotiations by the end of march. >> north korea's state-run tv releasing video of leader kim jong-un test firing a launch of a missile in june 2016. after watching the launch, kim said the country now had the capability to attack u.s. interests in the pacific. >> hewlett packard has expanded a recall of batteries for hp and compaq notebook computers. the expanded recall involves 1,000 lithium ion batteries in computers shipped and sold

between march 2013 and october 2016. bad news for salmon lovers. the price of salmon has surged worldwide after contamination of sea lice, which eat the fish. you're up-to-date. i'll send it back to you, michelle. >> ew, sea lice. >> melissa. either one. ladies, back to you. white house press briefing room. white house press secretary sean spicer expected to hold a press briefing at any moment in light of the five executive orders signed this morning. we definitely want to hear the questions asked about them. we will bring it to you as soon as it begins. meantime, let's check back in on the markets as we await that press briefing. nasdaq hitting a record high. western digital, micron technology, memory and chip makers are doing well, leading

the nasdaq higher. by the way, welcome back to dow 20,000 watch. up to 19,920. we've been gaining momentum. let's gain even more and bring in jim paulson, wells capital management chief strategist. wow, it's amazing. the president whose meeting/brow beating ceos in the white house, trying to bring jobs back here. that's a good thing. you never know where the latest trumpism is going to come, jim. you say don't worry about it, the market can shake it off. how come? >> i think the best thing that president trump has going for him, brian, is an unbelievable and unrelenting economic momentum here. economic reports almost a daily event come out better than expected. and it's sure hard for a market to go down when you get reports every day showing manufacturing coverage, showing consumer health, you know, showing profit health. >> but is that all -- we'll

bring in larry kudlow in a moment. was that already organic, bubbling up and this helped to foment it? 2% to 5% of many big products, faster project completion or both. does it add a kick? >> i think it definitely does. having a pro-biz president who profess professes lower regulations and corporate taxes. u.s. growth and acceleration around the globe with global growth, broadening of the recovery both to main street and the united states with real median incomes rising and wages rising, reaching middle america and a broadening across the globe is global economic surprise indices are at their highest in years.

refresh and restart of the earnings cycle. you ended the global manufacturing session. you're ending global deinflammatideflation that was so worrisome. normalizing monetary policy in the united states. we've got a great animal spirit juicer cocktail here. >> everything is coming up roses. but the fact of the matter, when you take a look at the market action, let's bring in larry kudlow, cnbc contributor, as we wait for sean spicer to begin at the white house. we've been pretty flat on the s&p 500 since mid december, seen a rally in the bond market past few week, gold at two-month highs. it looks like there's some skepticism about the levels we are at and whether or not we will continue on this trajectory that we've seen since the election. >> well, you know, i think that jim's right, there's some upward momentum at the end of the year. i'll buy that. you see a little bit in raw

materials, for example. i like that. there were some better numbers on business investment, which i like, which has been the achilles heel of the story for almost 20 years. how far that goes, how deep that is, whether the profits improvement is going to stay, we need more productivity. those are all open issues. yes, i think as jim put it, there's some organic improvement. on the other hand i've got to say trump is making good on a lot of his pro-growth policies, coming out of the gate very fast. at least it's a level of symbolism, politics and growth, this business about approving the pipelines is excellent. obama should have done it vefrl years ago, keystone and dakota. that is sending you a signal that trump, i'm going to make good on these promises. we're talking friday -- >> during the inauguration. >> think big, dream bigger. the time for action is now. don't forget that. he's the guy who wants to follow through on this stuff. >> larry, he has made very clear

that the investing environment here has not been good and he's going to change that. that's message one. >> uh-huh. >> even within his executive orders today, approving the pipelines, there's the buy american steel. protectionist overtones that help drive up costs that could hurt margins. how do you square that? free market guy. the big message is very, very good and yet execution sometimes runs counter to free market principles. >> whoa have to see. you're right. very important threat. we will see. i heard a couple of good things about this over the weekend from trump and other aides. for example, he said we are not going to go and slap anything on china until we talk. that was very important. hard ly noticed by the press. very important. second, phone calls with mexico looks very good. calm, peaceful discussion. third, as steve schwartschwartz

said, one of the advisers, the canada thing will be just fine. and prime minister from britain is coming to town friday. she's going to be the first person or second person he sees and they are going to begin to negotiate a free trade agreement bilaterally to the united states and our cousins in britain, magna carta 2.0. this shows you trump's motive, very important. he doesn't want big deals with multinational governments but bilateral deals that can be enforced. >> takes a lot of time. jim paulson is still here. >> patient. >> you're an investor. strip the politics a little bit out of it. if you're buying a stock, have you ever thought and said, hmm. i like this stock. maybe it's a pharma, but, man, the president could tweet out something or summon the ceo to the white house and i'm toast. >> yeah. he creates a little bit of that risk. >> does that go into your thinking at all? or do you just say if it

happens, it happens? i've just got to go on with what i know? >> it's actively small in the aggregate, for the market as a whole. he's not likely to tweet out something that impact the whole market, brian. you have to be somewhat concerned in sector specific bets or even separate name bets that he may take a stand against a stock that you're involved with. and what has been the case thus far, as far as that occurring, is that it's usually been a buying opportunity. tweet hits, the stock sells off. if anything you buy it and it recovers. it wouldn't necessarily have to be that way. i think you kind of know some of the areas that's going to be involved with, going forward. i believe it could be in some manufacturing companies, certainly health care will be a contentious area he's going to weigh in on over time. and i think, to some degree, the energy industry. but it does give stock specific risk that wasn't there out of the white house. but i still think i'm with

larry. there's a lot of good stuff going on here. i think after a two-year pause in this recovery and in the market action, i think we're starting to restart it all again here, looking forward. i think we're early in this restart. >> can i just say one thing? >> yes. >> these are not attacks on the companies. very important. >> they're not attacks on companies? >> that is correct. he is saying -- >> i don't know that they were attack. >> they read like attacks sometimes, in the tweets. >> they are not attacks. i'm sorry. he is saying to these large companies particularly, don't jump ship now. i'm going to give you massive corporate tax reform and regulatory reform. so it will pay for you to stay in the u.s. and build here. and so will the rest of the -- >> that's the carrot part. the stick part is i'm going to slap you with a border tax. >> the stick is not a bad thing. not everyone gets a trophy here. >> does the donkey --

>> you've got to pai pay attention. >> a carrot, stick and a stock in the middle. does the donkey come out ahead? what i mean by that is, does the stick of, hey, drugmakers, you've got to lower your prices but the carrot is, we're going to cut corporate taxes. investors at home understand your concept, larry, but wonder which one will net benefit them more? >> at the end of the day, it's all about profits. let's put that -- that's the fundamental point. i don't have any problem with this. what did he do sunday? i was talking to jake novak about this. he basically posted a deregulatory item with respect to health care, which effectively probably ends the individual mandate, okay? how good is that? that is good for everybody. that is good for you, you, you. that is good for the pharma, for the entire health care system. let's have free market reform. i'm going to pause this until i'm proven wrong, which i may be, lord knows. the war against business, which

has taken place -- i'm not just going to blame obama. bush had some of this, too. the war against business so far as i can tell, is coming to an end. he is saying i don't want you running out on me until i get these reforms done. i theveink that's a very sensib action plan. >> our thanks to you, jim paulsen. again we're waiting white house press secretary sean spicer in our briefing, carrying it live as soon as it begins. take a look at the markets. nice rally right here. it is worth noting that the nasdaq composite, new record high intra- day by .75%. dow 20,000 watch is back on. "power lunch" is back in two. lp, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next.

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in addition to these productive meetings, the president took major steps toward fulfilling some of his biggest campaign promises to the american people. he ushered in a new era of u.s.

trade policy by withdrawing from the transpacific partnership agreement and restored respect for taxpayers by instituting a hiring freeze on the executive branch. he also reaffirmed his commitment to life by re-establishing the mexico city policy and the president ended his day yesterday with a bipartisan meeting with congressional leaders where he made it clear he expects no delay getting his agenda through congress and action out of washington. this morning, the president began his day. he spoke about the importance of increasing manufacturing capabilities, specific to the automotive industry. they touched on the need for regulatory reform and modernized safety standards, which will advance the industry, leading technology and job creation in the united states. you've been briefed on the attendees. mary barra, head of general motors, former governor matt

blanc, mark fields of ford, craig gilden of swren motors, roger carr of fiat-chrysler, sergio marcioni of fiat-chrysler, the head of government affairs for ford and then from the administration, jared kushner, reince priebus, steve bannon, gary cohn and hope picks. a series of executive actions that will move our country toward energy and independence, but more importantly continue to get americans back to work. the president memorandum swift approval for the keystone pipeline, inviting trans-canada to resubmit their proposal and direct agencies to approve it without delay. there's an energy revolution that's going to happen in this country and in spite of the bureaucratic and political barriers that have been in place in the past we're ready to move forward. oil and gas production is up

significantly in the last sec decade and imports have been cut in half. the president's actions today will create tens of thousands of new jobs for the american workers and move us greater towards energy independence while at the same time ensuring we keep the environment as a top priority. the president also signed a memorandum, regarding the dakota access pipeline, directing agencies to expedite reviews and approvals for the remaining portion of this pipeline which the previous administration had held up. already 90% clooe complete will carry over 500,000 barrels a day of crude oil from north dakota to oil markets in the u.s. in both these areas, as the president remarked this morning, he will ensure we continue to negotiate both areas to provide the best deal for the american taxpayer. the president signed an executive order, establishing a framework for expediting --

delays are severely impeding critically important projects that will help us remodernize and rebuild our nation's infrastructure. this order will help put an end to the crippling delays caused by bureaucratic red tape. the president also signed a memorandum, requiring the commerce secretary to submit a report, recommending how best to streamline manufacturing permitting. the president has been hearing from manufacturers that excessive regulation are driving them out of the u.s. as part of his commitment to making america work again, the president has directed the commerce secretary to reach out to manufacturers in the public, directing the commerce secretary to lead a study looking into building the keystone and dakota access pipelines as well as any other future pipeline with u.s.-made steel and pipe. and accessories. this is the first step in the president really delivering on

his campaign promise to put american steel back at the backbone of the u.s. economy. the u.s. has lost nearly one-third of its manufacturing base since 1997. even though the country's population has increased by 50 million people. we're going to rebuild our infrastructure and do it with american workers and with american resources. as many of uh-uh recall, the buy american theme was a major part of the president's inaugural address. this is clearly an immediate action and extension of that promise he made to the american people last friday. we sorely need these infrastructure jobs. without improvements to our transportation systems, quote, the united states will lose more than 2.5 million jobs by 2025. creating jobs and boosting wages is the president's top priority and has been made very clear over the past 36 hours, this is an area where he's taking immediate action. at 1:00, the president was

speaking with indian prime minister mody. we'll have a readout if that's available during the briefing we will. this afternoon, the president will hold a bipartisan meeting with the majority leader, minority leader, majority whip and minority whip to discuss his nomination for associate justice of the united states supreme court. as he noted earlier today, he intends to have a decision by the end of the week, an announcement early next week. the president has made it incredibly clear he will appoint justices to protect our liberty and hold the highest regards for the constitution. he continues to carefully consider future justices based on their commitment to upholding these principles. this meeting is an important opportunity for the president to consult with senate leaders from both sides of the aisle on his potential choices for the bench. as you may have heard speaker ryan extended an invitation to the president to address a joint session of the congress february 28th. i'm pleased to inform you that the president has accepted that invitation and looks forward to

sharing his plans for moving the country forward. by the time we get to february 28th, i have a feeling we'll have a lot to talk about. it was great to see the nominations of dr. carson, secretary chao, were advanced out of committee today. by the end of the first week of president obama's first week in office, he had 12. senate has a little catching up to do. i hope the senate democrats do their job and help us catch up to that number. one quick follow-up on our storm relief efforts that have plagd the southeast, white house staff is in touch with officials in the states and will continue to provide assistance to the recovery. fema team is on the ground in atlanta, georgia. fema liaison officers have been sent to centers in mississippi and georgia for response activities. with that, i'll be glad to take a few questions. jim stenson? >> today, immigration enforcement organizations and activists expressed concern that

they haven't seen immediate action on daca and dada. that was a key campaign plan. >> right. >> of president trump on the campaign trail. when can people expect action on that? it wouldn't require -- it would only require stopping renewing the applications. it wouldn't actually be retroactive against anyone. so what's the hold-up? >> as i mentioned yesterday, when it comes to immigration and the promises that the president made during the campaign to both ensure that we build a wall and enforce our southern border, as well as reform our entire immigration system, his priority is, first and foremost, focused on people who pose a threat to people in our country, to criminals, frankly. that's where he wants i.c. encht to focus their efforts. with respect to daca, he wants to ensure his cabinet level team implements a plan to move

forward. that's where we are right now. david jackson? >> sean, there are stories out there that epa officials have been gagged from talking to the press and media, same thing we had from the interior department over the weekend. first of all, is that true? and why is that being done? >> i don't know. that story literally was breaking as we were entering the briefing room. we're looking into it. i don't think there's any surprise when there's an administration turnover we're going to review the policies. with respect to the question you're asking, i don't have any information this time. we asked the team to go look into it as we're entering the briefing room. if i have an update as we're here i'll get back to you. >> the interior department supposedly they were banned from tweeting over the weekend. >> i read that. my understanding is that because they had inappropriately violated their own social media policies, there was guidance put out to act within the compliance of the guidelines put forth. >> keystone and dakota access

signings this morning, he said he would like to renegotiate some of the terms. what exactly was he talking about there? >> great question, steve. one of the things that the american people clearly know about donald trump, he as a successful businessman and successful negotiator. as he looks at these deals, what he is trying to ensure is that these projects that are great in the sense that they're going to create jobs and help our economy. in a lot of these cases they're going to make these organizations a lot of money. he is ensuring that the american taxpayer gets the best deal possible. he's asking his team to review those deals and make sure if we're going to do all of these things to expedite these projects that go over or under a piece of u.s. soil that the american taxpayers are considered in this process. not just future jobs, economic growth and energy security but in terms of making sure that the taxpayers at large, who own some of these lands or access to these lands and waters and rivers, in case of dakota, get

the best deal possible. charlie sparing? >> as you know, march for life is on friday. and the president george w. bush had a tradition of traesing tad the marchers through a phone call on the mall. will the president be continuing that tradition on friday? >> i know kellyanne is going to attend the event. i think we're still working through details. we'll have further for you on the president's potential participation on that. it's no secret the president has campaigned as a pro-life president. it's something that is very important to him, as evidenced by the mexico city policy restatement that he issued yesterday. obviously we'll have heavy administration presence there. it's no secret that this administration and this president will do what they can to fight for life. we'll find out if it's a greeting or some sort of call. i'll have an update for you.

>> does the president believe millions voted illegally in this election? why wha evidence do you have of widespread voter fraud in this election, if that's the case? >> the president has believed that. he stated that before. he stated his concerns of voter fraud and people voting illegally during the campaign and he continues to maintain that belief, based on studies and evidence that people have presented to him. >> exactly what evidence? paul ryan said there's no evidence. national association of secretaries of state say that they don't agree with the president's assessment. what other evidence do you have? >> as i said, i think the president has believed that for a while based on studies and information he has. john roberts? >> in the waning hours of the obama administration, they quietly transferred $220 million to palestinian authority. is the president okay with that transfer? and if he is not, would he seek to claw back some of that money? >> how u.s. taxpayer money is spent in general, whether it's overseas or here at home, you've seen through the hiring freeze

and other actions that he's going to take. i just mentioned to steve, he is very concerned about how taxpayer money is spent, whether it's sent overseas and what we get for it in terms of the relationship or our support for our democracy or aid to another country for their defenses. but he will be examining all aspects of the budget and how we look at all money. there is a newfound respect for how the american people's tax dollars are spent in this administration. with his background as it is as a businessman and one who scrutinizes projects to bring them under budget, on time, he is bringing that business accumen to the white house to the benefit of the american taxpayer. >> is he okay with that particular transaction? >> i'm going to say that he will make sure going forward every deal, every dollar spent on behalf of the government is done in a way that respects the american taxpayer. >> sean, you're talking about voter fraud, are you going to ask for investigation? is white house going to ask for

a probe into this -- >> i think he won very handily with 306 electoral votes, 33 states. he's very comfortable with his win -- >> trouble him if he's bringing it up. >> he was having a discussion with folks and mentioned it in passing. this isn't the first time you've heard this concern. >> it's not but it's worth clarifying whether illegal ballots or illegal -- >> there's been studies that came out of pugh in 2008 that showed 14% of people who voted were noncitizens. there's other studies that have been presented to him. it's a belief he maintains. >> not that they were counted improperly as dick durbin said the president personally told him last night? it's that -- >> i think i've asked and answered it. it's a belief he maintained for a while, a concern he has about voter fraud and that's based on information provided. >> following president trump's executive actions earlier today, is he concerned about large-scale protests around the construction like we saw at

standing rock? how will he address the concerns of those who oppose those plans? >> i think he will make sure that he's working with all parties involved. that's part to steve's question. there's a way to continue to negotiate that, whether it's the native americans, concerns they have on some of the lands in the dakota pipeline. you're 93% there with dakota. the president has shown through his business life that he knows how to negotiate a great deal where parties come out and he is willing to sit down with all the individuals that are involved in the dakota pipeline, to make sure it's a deal that benefits all of the parties of interest. or at least gets them something that we want. that's part of it. mara? >> mara or margo? >> one at a time. we'll stick to the ms for a while. >> i wanted to ask you about jim comey but also wanted to follow up on the question about the renegotiation of the pipelines. some of those renegotiations

might already be happening or they would start happening and i'm just wondering if you can clarify, are the mechanisms for them set? have those discussions already begun? >> he just signed the executive order today and part of it was as he moves these things forward, he wants to make sure that he gets the best deal for the american taxpayer and works with the parties involved to ensure that people who might have concerns have an opportunity to come back to the table and see if there's a way to -- >> so still being flushed out? >> yes. that's correct. >> with regard to jim comey, can you make it official what's been reported by u.s. officials all day long, which is that the president has asked -- decided he wants jim comey to stay on and that jim comey said he will stay on. did they discuss the russian investigations? >> i don't have anything for that. i don't know what the status is. i'll have to follow up with the president. mara? >> okay. just to question about the executive hiring freeze yesterday. it doesn't exempt the va and there are 41,500 unfulfilled

medical jobs at the va, which has been an extremely large number. the va was one of his top priorities. >> right. >> it's a freeze. part of it is to ensure -- hold on. but part of it is to get our va secretary in there and to figure out how we can best -- hiring people when you have a system that's not working and then going out and hiring additional people doesn't seem to be the most efficient way of solving the problem. what we need to do, whether it's the va or any other agency is making sure we're hiring smartly, effectively and efficiently. and i think the va, in particular, if you look at the problems that have plagued people, hiring more people isn't the answer. it's hiring the right people, putting the procedures in place that ensure that our veterans, whether it's health care, mortgages or the other services that the va provides to those who have served our nation, get the services that they've earned. right now the system is broken. so the freeze is meant to pause, allow there to be an analysis of what can make this better.

and it's not just the va. although obviously that's high on the president's list. but it's make sugar that all the service s of government are don anyway way that, a, respects the taxpayer but also gives benefit to those that they truly deserve. >> a scandal of astronomical proportions if 3 million people voted illegally. wouldn't he want an investigation of this? this is a huge, huge scandal. >> as i noted several times now, he has believed that for a long time. >> i'm not questioning his belief at all. >> he won handily so -- >> why not investigate something -- >> maybe we will. >> the biggest scandal in american electoral history, 3 to 5 million people voting illegally? >> we'll see where we go from here. right now the focus that the president has is putting americans back to work. it's a comment he made on a longstanding belief. >> sean? >> yes. >> mr. trump's campaign, he talked a lot about banning

muslims from coming into the country and extreme vetting. when can we expect him to take action on this? >> i think that will be one of the things that he looks at, his department of state, when rex tillerson gets confirmed and some of the other departments in homeland security, trying to put together a place that enacts this extreme vetting. the interesting thing about the question that you're asking is that we're sitting here today with two confirmed -- three cabinet with mike pompeo last night. we're sitting here asking whether the president's agenda is moving forward at a time when senate democrats are holding up a massive amount of his cabinet. >> do you think they're doing it purposefully? >> absolutely. there's no question about it. when you look at -- look. let's walk back a second and remember that chuck schumer put out a statement saying they had an issue with eight or nine of them. that leaves about 12, 13 of them that they didn't have a problem with. they were consensus kacandidate. and every one of the people that

the president has nominated to serve in his cabinet, i believe, are qualified, even the democrats admitted that 12 or 13 of them were consensus canned days and they wouldn't oppose them. yet here we are -- >> do you have a message for those democrats? >> let's get it done. we have a continuity of government in place to ensure we it can continue to protect and serve this country and move business forward. but the reason you have a confirmed secretary or directer or administrator is to make sure that you can enact the agenda that the president campaigned on. and i think that every minute that we stall is a moment that the democrats should have to answer for. yeah? >> i'm anthony harper, christian newspaper association and israel leaders concerned about the misuse of u.s. tax dollars going to u.n. schools that are inciting kids to violence against the jews. what do you think president trump -- how would he respond to

these israel leaders? sharon haskell, glick, i recently met and had interviews with them. their concerns are very serious and would want to know how president trump would respond to the misuse of -- >> i would go back to what i said to john a minute ago. he has tremendous respect for how tax dollars are spent and i would mention again, we need a u.n. ambassador. we need a secretary of state. there's a lot of these things that can start to happen under the direction of the new leadership that's being held up right now. thank you. tara? >> is the president open to the idea of choosing a mainstream candidate, like some of the democratic congressional leaders are urging him to do today. >> for? >> sorry for supreme court nominee. >> i think that defines it. he has been very clear about his priorities. he has put out a list during the campaign of individuals he would consider. but, i mean, i think it's pretty mainstream to support the

constitution. pretty mainstream to respect, to follow the law and not to create laws from the bench. that's what i think the majority of americans would agree. when it comes to candidates he has put up for his cabinet, look at the quality and caliber of these individuals. that's what he is going to continue to look for. people of high quality, high caliber, that have gone -- you know, that fit the philosophy that he campaigned on. april? >> i want to ask you a couple of questions. one, starting off with sessions. this delay in a vote, primarily because of concerns about issues of civil rights with sessions as well as voting rights. yesterday, you talked about the issues of race, dealing with congressman john lewis and his statements. what do you say when people are, once again, bringing up the issue of race and voter fraud when it comes to jeff sessions, this man that president trump has so much faith in to lead the justice department? >> i think senator sessions record on voting and civil

rights is exemplary. he has fought very hard both as an attorney general in alabama, u.s. attorney and as a senator. for voting rights, for civil rights. on areas of minority rights, he has pushed forward. and so when you look at his entire record, the people he prosecuted, as both the u.s. attorney and alabama attorney general, he has been very forceful when it comes to making sure that voting rights and civil rights are enforced and protected. not just that, but advanced when the voting rights act came up for renewal, he was a huge champion of it. not just his record as an attorney but as a senator he was a very forceful advocate of the continuation of the voting rights act. >> i have a couple questions. >> oh, i'm sorry. >> yes. i know, we're new to this. so on the issue of race, going back -- because you talked for a long time yesterday on the issue

of race. i wanted to ask you a couple of things and i talked to former head -- excuse me, current head of the naacp, accusing this administration of something called stereotyping by omission, saying that the president has met with athletes and entertainers but yet has not met with civil rights leaders. and during his inauguration speech, he talked about intercities, urban areas being riddled with gang, violence and drugs. what is the agenda? what are you planning -- >> just the other day he sat down with martin luther king jr. i would call him a civil rights leader. >> iii. >> i think that he has done a lot for that. there's a lot of the pastors that he has met with. he has met with a lot of individuals on that issue throughout the campaign. they've come up and down the tower. he has brought them in and out during the campaign and during the transition. he was with eveda king during the prayer service.

a ton of individuals he has met with to talk about this issue. i don't think it's something that he takes lightly. he has talked about it tremendously. it's important to him both in terms of where this country moves forward and some of the issues that face some of the minority communities in terms of not just education, but jobs, hiring, health care, and access to small business lending. those are all areas that that he has been very concerned with and has talked about the need to address. >> but the plan. >> we're on day two. >> made this statement during the inauguration. >> i understand it. and we're on day two. look what he's doing. you look at the jobs programs, the dakota pipeline, keystone pipeline, things that will bring jobs back and good-paying jobs with benefits benefit every american, regardless of the color of your skin. and i think he talked to the labor leaders today about apprenticeships and how we can grow the economy, bring back training centers. those benefit every american. and i think that those are the kind of things that he's committed to, figuring out how

do we look at the educational piece to ensure as people transfer out of one job to another, as technology evolves, prepare people who had a blue collar job to transfer into a technology-based job. there's a lot of things we can do in terms of training, retraining, votec and other areas of our society that help people advance, regardless of their background. and those are the kind of the things that will help move -- yes, sir? >> a report came out that said if the current spending levels stay as they are, the government is going to spend about another -- put the country in another $10 trillion of debt over the next ten years. does that reinforce for the president the need to cut spending? >> absolutely. >> and if so, where in the government can he cut spending enough to make a dent on that? >> the american people elected the right guy at the right time. this is somebody who understands how to cut a good deal, negotiate a good deal and how to

watch, manage a budget. look how he has managed himself and his projects, under budget, on time or ahead of time. that's the kind of philosophy he's bringing in to this government, to this white house, is making sure that not only do we respect taxpayers and figure out whether or not we're talking about the hiring freeze or how we do business or how much money we send in aid, that we make sure that the money we send is being used well, programs we're implementing are done in the most efficiently and effective ways. it's a whole of government process. it's trying to make sure that, look what he did with boeing and lockheed on the planes. it's going in and saying, we can lower that price more. we can negotiate further. it's why, when steve asked about the two pipelines, that he wanted to make sure he inserted pieces to say we can negotiate further. if we can get a better deal out of the american taxpayer, if someone is getting use of our lands or waterways, to benefit something they're going to profit for, can we find a way to ensure that the american

taxpayer receives a benefit? that would go to the u.s. treasury. a lot of ways he will continue to look at this, whether it's money coming in or money going out. how do we get a handle on this? i think we have the right guy at the helm of the country to ensure that our tax dollars are spent well and our deficit is addressed. it's not just about energy. it's not just about finding new ways to find energy in this country but new ways of economic growth, looking at ways that our natural resources cannot just benefit us to become more energy independent but to reduce the deficit, create jobs or whatever. there's a lot of new thinking that's going on, that he has empowered his team and cabinet to look at, to create jobs, to grow the economy and to bring the deficit down. yes, sir? >> two questions. and both -- i know you love us. but if there are protests again, if this pipeline goes through, last time during protests, there

were infinite journalists that were arrested and detained. same question i asked the obama administration, would this administration at least support reporters in trying to do their jobs in gathering facts? >> you know i'm a huge fan. >> like that on the record and number two, proposing sponsor legislation for national shield law. would this administration support a national shield law for reporters? >> that's a great question. then congressman pence was a champion of that when he was in the house. i have not asked. that's a great question. i would be glad to follow up with you on that. >> on keystone, initial process up to ten years, how fast does the president wasnnt this? >> as quick as possible. that's why it was done the day it was done. to get this process back on track and get it moving. it's too important for the jobs and economy of our country. >> prime minister trudeau, did

they talk about the keystone? >> they talked about setting up an agenda that would include nafta. i'm sure that will come up in their conversation when they meet. the call they had was more congratulatory, setting up the meeting. i'm sure that will be on the agenda. >> very, very last. promise. there's a tradition, very first trip outside of the country is -- for the new president is mexico and canada. will this tradition be maintained? >> we'll have further updates. teresa may is coming this friday. we set up a meeting with the prime minister of canada, and president of mexico. president netanyahu is coming. when we have an update on the president's first foreign trips, we'll let you know. yes, sir? >> oh, i'm sorry. a couple of follow-ups to yesterday. first, you said that the phone call between the leaders of russia -- has a visit been scheduled? >> not that i'm aware of.

>> also, tyou referred us to th pentagon, which said there was no such communication. >> that's right. >> is there any new guidance? >> i believe that the pentagon has fully read that out. come on, that's two. >> my real question is -- my real question is a basic one. we know that the president -- >> those were easy? >> those were easy. the president has been, what i can only describe as viciously, viciously attacked for his attitude toward russia by his opponents here. he has withstood those attacks. but i'm from russia. >> i can tell. >> please explain to us why, what's his logic? why is he standing firm on wanting to improve -- we're

happy that he stands firm on that, but please explain to my audience his reasoning for believing that we can do it together? >> because i think he's a great deal maker. and he's going to do what he can to fight on behalf of this country. and if a deal can be found, whether it's fighting for american taxpayers or working with another country to protect our national security interests or economic interests, he's going to make a deal that's in the best interest of this country. thank you. jeff? >> you said the president believes that there was voter fraud. i wonder if you believe that. you were at the republican national committee at the time and chief of staff reince priebus was there at the time. do you believe -- >> it's not my job. >> how can he be comfortable with his win if he believes 3 million votes. >> very comfortable with his win. >> maybe he didn't win. >> electoral based system. 33 of 50 states voted for him. jeff, i've asked and answered this question twice. he believes what he believes based on the information he has been provided. >> what does that mean for

democracy, though, sean? >> thank you, jeff. >> if he does believe that, what does it mean for democracy? >> i've answered your question. >> have you? >> president has been meeting with business leaders. are there any plans to target u.s. multinationals with more favorable tax regions? >> these countmpanies you saw yesterday and even -- first priority he has is on u.s. based companies that he is trying to bring back or grow here. johnson & johnson, dow, down the list of individuals that he met with yesterday and then take the auto industry that was here today, ford, chrysler, gm. they all have massive overseas investments. and i think part of the problem that he was talking about is greater market access for them, the ability to get into markets that we might not want, that we may have trouble with. >> small follow-up, any plans --

has the president issued his official invitation to the president of ireland for the official st. patrick day celebration? >> no. thank you for bringing that up. that's on the list. can you write that down? blake? >> yesterday the president met with ceos, broad based, met with union leaders broad based but today he specifically met with auto leaders. >> right. >> why was that his choice as the first industry to meet with? and taking it broader from that, what is the criteria or the policy that the president, the administration has or might develop that will determine which leaders are brought here to the white house to meet with the president? >> well, look, i appreciate the question. i think, again, i keep reminding you, we're on day two and can only have so many meetings in a day. when you look, stop and remember what you just said for a second. yesterday, union leaders,

business leaders, bicamera group. his day one is prit daetty darn robust. i've gotten out of the quantifying game. when you compare that to the past, i bet we probably put that up there, the amount of action that he took and number of folks. that's what you're going to see a lot more of. today he wanted to sit down with the auto industry in particular because he thinks that's vital to our manufacturing base but he's going to have a lot of meetings and is going to meet with a lot of folks from a lot of backgrounds who he thinks have an interest in working with him. that's basically, to your point on the criteria, that's what it is. yeah? >> does the president have any plans to change u.s. policy towards cuba? any executive orders as it relates to u.s./cuba relations? >> i would have to follow up with you. nothing we're ready to announce at this point. >> one more question, if i may. >> i'm doing two. >> that's right.

picking up on what april said, are there any plans in the near future for the president to meet with leaders of the congressional black caucus or the congressional hispanic caucus? >> as i mentioned, it might even be april that asked this yesterday. i think that the president started with the leadership. as he should. you start with them. today in the group he's meeting is part of the advice and consent role in the constitution with respect to appointing a supreme court justice. he is going through the motions of that. but you are going to see a lot of meetings with a lot of individuals. he welcomes the input, ideas and advice that these people are coming in with on how to move his agenda forward. this is something that he has really enjoyed not just during the transition, but in the last few days of his administration. of hearing the feedback. and one of the things that's interesting about the meetings is, with the exception of the pool spray that opens them up, the president largely has sat and listened, asked questions, tried to elicit their ideas

about what barriers they're facing, to hire more people, what the regulatory or tax impact is on their ability to create more jobs or to keep manufacturing here in the united states. you're going to see a lot more of that. what he wants to do is further expand whether it's governors, members of different groups within the house and the senate, to come down here and get their advice and ideas on how to work together, to move an agenda. >> sean? >> you mentioned that the president is commissioning review of the islamic state strategy. can you tell us who exactly is involved in that review, how long is it going to take? what are some options being considered? >> i don't want to get too much in detail. obviously, there's a lot of the key individuals, not to get back on my high horse here. but i think a lot of individuals that will be part of that process, he has got some of his senior staff on that process now, but obviously secretary of state, cia director, u.n. ambassador. there's a lot of folks that, you

know, have not been consulted yet because they haven't been confirmed. they have in private. but i think they need to get together, get confirmed. get in their respective departments agencies and be able to help provide, get with their staff and provide feedback. hallie jackson? >> thanks, sean. not to belabor a point here. you said the president believes, his belief for a while there is widespread voter fraud but only four days ago did he get the power of the presidency to be able to do something about it. why not definitively say he will investigate if he believes, and the administration's position is that there was massive voter fraud? >> first of all, the comment he made was 3 to 5 million people, you know, could have voted illegally. based on the studies that he has seen. he is very clear he won the election based on the 306 electoral votes he got. we're here on day two. let's not prejudge what we may or may not do in the future. >> if he lost, would he be upset? >> of course. who wouldn't be upset if he lost? >> i mean the voter fraud. >> the election is held in our

country by electoral votes and won overwhelmingly with 306 electoral votes, most of any republican since reagan. depth and breadth that he got from the american people, 9 of 13 battleground states. he is very, very pleased with that. >> the second topic, quickly, the pipeline, if you don't mind. >> you're right. you get two. >> on keystone when you look at the dakota access pipeline as well, given the president's former business ties, his last financial disclosure showed that he did have some stake in energy transfers. he sold most of t at least from his last disclosure, thousands of dollars that he has. can you reassure -- >> thousands of dollars for a guy who say multibillionaire, i don't know that that's true. huh? excuse me? >> to those concerned about potential conflicts. >> he has no conflicts. by law, he can't have conflicts. and i think the president has gone above and beyond, as was

outlined at the press conference a couple of weeks ago, his efforts to make sure that his focus is entirely on the american people, bringing back jobs and growing this xi. yes? >> the president said nato was obsolete. does he share the view of secretary of defense general mattis that the u.s. has an unshakeable alliance with nato? >> as it's structured now, the president doesn't feel it's doing what its mission was set up to do or being particularly effective. i think secretary mattis and others have some ideas about how to reform and make organizations like nato more effective and benefit the amount of money that the united states is putting into whether it's nato, the u.n. or other organizations like that. but i think he's not pleased with what he sees in terms of the u.s. contribution and the output it's giving. yes? >> senator collins and senator cassidy, obamacare but allow states that want to opt in to

continue to have it. would the president support that type of legislation? and if he did, would that go back on his promise to have a full repeal? >> well, i think, first and foremost, let's get back to his goal. we're working with congress, some of those conversations started last night. staff has been working on a plan to repeal and replace. his goal, first and foremost, is to make sure we give the american people a health care system that's more affordable, more accessible, more doctors, more plans. that's his goal. how a state chooses to implement that -- right now the idea that we've had these mandates requiring people to get things, it's driven out competition and driven up cost. it's not a health care system he's pleased with and wants to support the repeal of. kristen? >> sean, thank you. i want to be clear about this investigation. you potentially opened the door for one. have you discussed with the president -- >> which investigation? >> possibly investigating this voter fraud. >> no, i did not. >> you said it's possible.

>> of course. anything is possible. >> have you discussed it with him? >> no. i think at some point -- i was asked a question. there is no investigation. i said it was possible. anything is possible. it was a hypothetical question. my point to you is that to ask us on day two -- he made a comment last night on something he has believed and said for a long, long time. and the question that was asked to me is whether or not -- it's been asked and answered. >> israel has approved -- >> he has asked his team to get together. israel continues to be a huge ally of the united states. he wants to grow closer with israel to make sure it gets the full respect that it deserves in the middle east. what he's going to do, as i mentioned yesterday, going to have a meeting with president netanyahu and will continue to discuss that. we'll have a question with the prime minister.

>> thank you, sean. during the campaign, president trump said he wanted to fill up guantanamo bay with bad dudes and i'm wondering if the white house is formulating a plan to do that, has he directed the armed services to start arresting terrorists overseas? >> we have nothing on that right now. >> sean? >> sean, thanks. two questions related to the supreme court and the to the meeting with the senate leader shup. can you talk to us about the goal of the meeting? sounds like he's closing in on a decision. is he sharing with them a short list of his final choices? >> i'm not going to -- one quick correction. i mentioned two individuals at the beginning. the only attendees are sarah mcconnell, schumer, grassley and feinstein. the whips will not be attending. that being said, look, the idea is to hear their input on what they want, how far he wants to extend himself on where he is in the thought process. i think he wants to hear what they're looking for in a judge, any ideas they have.

>> sean, when senate democrats change the fill buster rules, they exempted the supreme court nominations from that. >> right. >> would the president encourage -- >> i think he will appoint a quality associate justice that, hopefully, will achieve overwhelming support. his goal is that he's going to choose someone who, hopefully, i think, everybody recognizes is a jurist that will adhere to the constitution and not legislate from the bench and that we should achieve bipartisan support. >> your frustration with the nomination process so far, is that something he would recommend to republicans that they should consider? >> we're early in this process. he will hear from them tonight. i want to thank you all. i'll see you all tomorrow. have a good one. >> sean spicer, wrapping up his press briefing. cnbc senior contributor, larry kudlow and steve liesman. what did you think, larry? especially the last discussions there about the pipelines?

>> a whole bunch of things that sean did that i really liked. he kept emphasizing growth on almost every count with respect to the pipelines, growth, unions, retraining, the leasing numbers are very good. in other words, they're sending messages here -- and i'm not sure the rest of the world gets this. but as i see it, they're sending very important messages to keep campaign promises. not just on pipelines but building and construction and economic growth. and we were talking offset. education retraining and so forth. this is terrific stuff. terrific stuff. >> i'm wond eerwondering if the today is in response to these executive orders and his promise to growth. >> it wouldn't surprise me. you had all this weirdness over the weekend. now they're sort of really back on message. by the way -- hang on. sean spicer, old friend of mine,

is a bulldog. watch how he controlled this press conference. >> i was going to ask you about that. you read my mind. >> very important now. he's getting his sea legs. i've known him from years. you are not going to dissuade sean, push him around. he is going to be a bulldog. interesting to me, they're picking conservative journalists, again and again, including right at the top when they picked laura ingram life gazette. >> two days in a row. >> shout out by our contributor, cnbc contributor, getting her first-ever question, tara. if you're out there, congratulations to you as well. not as much talk on the economy and jobs. steve liesman as i kind of hoped. let's go back to the beginning of the press conference. talked about executive orders, manufacturing to a bit. >> we did. so, just a couple of things. first of all, it's nice to see we're down to the business of informing the american public. which is what the journalists want to be doing and what i

think sean spicer wants to be doing. if i could just make one negative comment here. if donald trump would not talk about illegal votes, maybe the journalists would find some other story to talk about. >> i doubt it. >> but we could all be more on point. >> i doubt it. >> if these other comments were not made by the president. >> did you say more on point or moron point? >> he's the one who brought it up. i'm not spending our time on it, though. i want to move on. >> let go. more important things in life. >> this issue of they want to bring back manufacturing jobs. in fact, the data show manufacturing, the percentage of the economy has done just fine because of productivity numbers. >> not for job. >> are we really ever going to bring those jobs back? if we bring the manufacturing location back to america it seems to be just as likely that a robot would get the job. >> manufacturing output versus number of jobs? >> yeah. >> one of the great --

>> pipelines as manufacturing. >> that's a good question. i believe it shows up in goods producing. >> whatever. the pipeline story is so crucial. i don't understand. if president obama had gotten on with passing these pipelines. everyone else signed off on them and he wouldn't. >> i agree. >> unions like this, want this, the hard hat, blue collar workers like this. construction equals manufacturing equals job opportunities. the add on -- steve, you agree with this and spicer got into this. training reform. not federal job training programs that have dismally failed. local community colleges, tech schools. >> that's bipartisan. >> he's getting all that out. that's a growth message. love that. >> two minutes just to -- >> hold on. i want to go back to the keystone pipeline and we'll get to it.

something that the obama administration frustrated a lot of people about keystone. when the pipeline is done, i get it. there will be 30, 50, maybe 100 jobs because it's running and they're just fixing things. but in construction of it, it's a lot more. and there was always a dismissal by the administration. temporary jobs. on that basis, why build anything? every construction job, by its nature, is a temporary job. >> any. >> is it not? >> what's wrong with that? >> nothing. you have to build stuff. >> i think it's at the margin. and i hope and i believe that donald trump will come off the process of creating jobs place by place, job by job and get to the broader stuff that will create, hopefully, hundreds of thousands of job. >> tax reform and -- >> but, but, but, there are other advantages here. usa needs west to east pipelines in a very big way. and that's what these things are all about.

we don't get the stuff up to the northeast the way we should. we need to build refineries. we need to build terminals. energy is our manufacturing renaissance and to stop it in any way, as was down in the prior administration, was a mistake. to keep it going the way trump is reviving it is terrific. one other point, not so small, for these local states and locality, they're going to make good money on this. these lease backed deals are very profitable. >> eamon javers was in the room. what stood out to you? >> clearly what will dominate the news cycle the next 12 to 24 hours is spicer's answer on whether or not donald trump believes there was millions of illegal votes cast in this past election. he does, in fact, believe trump believes that but did not provide substantial evidence except citing a pugh study a few years back.

that's the president's belief based on information he has received. you can expect this white house will get a lot of questions on why it believes the things it believes and why the president believes the things he believes. spicer asked if he believes that and declined to answer that question, harkening back to a question yesterday he got about the unemployment rate. what does the president believe that the current unemployment rate is in the united states of america and declined to answer that. a series of questions now about data evidence, what this white house believes, what this president believes. that will dominate the next 12, 24 hours, guys. >> amazing. >> tess a shame. it's a shame. i don't know, larry, i believe these are self inflicted. i know you think maybe place more blame on the media. getting unemployment right, those should be easy things. the president has an exciting, interesting agenda i'm very excited to cover and i want to hear the details of that more than i want to hear about the idea that -- >> he talks about so many things and they focus on that.

>> but, michelle, when you make an allegation about illegal votes that swayed the election and were significant, how do you not? >> if you read right-wing media, there's a lot of talk about voter fraud. >> do you believe so, michelle? >> i'm sorry, we have to go to break. i got to call a time-out here. >> you read my mind. >> sorry. okay. >> who is -- >> tim seymour -- >> it's a close tie. keeping the eye on the markets here. s&p hitting new intra-day record highs. like a real nasty moving back in with his parents. what? no. i just broke my leg. no, this is a full blown move in to the basement, you're gonna be out of work without that money from... aflac! you might miss your rent. aww i just moved out. bummer man. hey i used to have my own place. yeah?

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witnessing the s&p, nasdaq composite. winning sectors here are materials, financials are also leading the charge here. largest companies on the s&p 500 aren't doing as well with smalls and mids, really outperforming. >> let's bring in michael arone.

they have just $2.5 trillion effectively under management. michael, thank you very much. that's a lot of money, first off. we look at this investing environment. all kinds of stuff going on. an economy that's getting better. inflation is creeping up a little bit. earnings have been, on average, better than expected. how do you frame out the investing environment right now? what looks good right now? >> well, it certainly seems to be kind of all trump all the time. and we're moving from the situation where it becomes don't tell me what you're going to do. don't tweet me what you're going to do. show me what you're going to do. so from our perspective, we think that repositioning portfolios for fiscal policy, infrastructure spending and tax reform make a lot of -- >> let's dig into specifics. when you say position it for infrastructure spending, are you talking about literally just buying some of the big

infrastructure stocks? >> it's more about companies that are likely to benefit from an increase in government spending in infrastructure projects, caterpillar, for example, and other construction companies. particularly as it relates to government-oriented projects a lot of companies with industrials, materials, energy. we're seeing the reaction today from the keystone and dakota access pipeline, infrastructure projects. those are the types of companies that will benefit from increase in inflation and increase in government spending. >> we see on the wires that chuck schumer thinks that trump should label china a currency manipulator in order to bring back jobs. donald trump, the president, has called chuck schumer a clown. but we know that on this particular topic, apparently, they agree. it just highlights one of the concerns that some investors

have about this market and whether or not we'll be seeing some kind of trade war, economic battle with china. do you worry about that? do you factor that in or try to look past that and think okay, we're getting tax reform, a government that's much more friendly to capital? >> yeah. i've been describing this environment as the new abnormal. so on the one hand, we think that fiscal policy, infrastructure spending and tax reform are pro growth. we think the packages are probably going to be a bit smaller and take more time than the market has already priced in. but they are coming and should boost growth in 2018 and perhaps later this year. on the other hand as you're describing, any type of trade restrictions, rising u.s. dollar and detearatirioration natural contradictions in the new

abnormal. as it relates to the market yesterday we saw them react negatively to more trade oriented, trade restriction news and much more positively on trade restriction. >> michael, sorry for the interruption. one stock you actually singled out, caterpillar. you're willing to pay 56 times current pe ratio for a stock that's already up? >> i was using caterpillar of an example as a company that may benefit from a reflationary environment. representing an interesting opportunity for investors aas we continue to see, perhaps, a rebound in economic growth, rebound in inflation expectations and rebound in growth. >> using that as a poster child, does that imply you want to pay up for these names or they're worth paying up for because of the growth that's in store?

>> i think paying up for growth in an environment where fwroeth has been hard to come by, an environment that's shifting toward more inflationary environment, and any type of tax kind of reform is likely to benefit companies like that, i would be willing to pay up a little bit for earnings at this point. the market has done that, at least in the short term. >> michael arone, pleasure to have you on the show. thank you. a lot of stocks are up today. but there's a big gain for the homebuilders. we'll get the numbers behind the move and ask the trading nation team if it's not too late to get in on some of these names next on "power lunch." we've done wel,

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mattis. you know what's working today, what's building money? impressive earnings and supply

data. let's dig in deep with the trading nation team to find out if you can make some money. aaron gibbs with s & b global. where your bread and butter is. d.r. horton looked pretty good. do you think a, there's more earning gains to come and, b, more stock gains to come? >> growth with attractive valuations. we're looking about 15% growth of earnings for next year, above what we're expecting for the s&p 500 and their valuations are at one of the low points. it's just at that support level of ten times forward earnings that it has been hitting for all of 2016. so it actually looks like a good entry point and evens the consensus price on these stock about 16% higher than where they're trading now. we're looking at decent gains about what wall street is expecting. across the board, looking good. >> everybody loving housing.

strip out the emotion. look at the charts, whatever else you want. do you agree with erin, do you think there's more gains in the home builders to come? >> i think these charts are getting better. they've been basically sideways for four years, with no price progress. four years ago these names were trading about 19 times earnings, now they're trading ten times earnings at the same level. i think ultimately the momentum of these stocks are beginning to exhibit is a positive sign for the future. let's start with the small ones. toll brothers, tol, are starting to turn. both these stocks have been cut in half the last two, three years, just starting to act better, two spots where we looked at exposure. >> good names there. we like it. bullish view. chris and erin, thank you. >> thank you. >> for more trading nation, you know it by heart by now. tradingnation.cnbc.com.

double dots. pharma companies have been getting away with murder, says president trump. that's not stopping the drug price increases. that story next on "power lunch."

president trump has not been shy about praising or punishing american companies since his election. the biotech industry is concerned about being targeted by the new administration. let's bring in barbara ryan founder of barbara ryan investors. thank you for being with us. let's talk about the supply chain in terms of pharma and drugs. which part of the supply chain should feel it the most if there are an attack on prices? >> i think a lot of people will get on here and talk about what they think the trump administration will do about drug prices. i would argue at this point nobody really knows, right? the market hates uncertainty so that's a challenge for the whole sector as a whole. >> right.

>> you've been talking a lot about the initiatives to accelerate growth in the economy. that, too, from a macro perspective is challenging for health care because health care shines when the rest of the economy is grown slowly and they're outperforming. i think to your question about the spectrum, i think probably biotech is the best position because they have the most innovation, the smallest spaces, the fastest growth rates. pharma i think, you know, have strong balance sheets, have always the lever of cost cutting. will probably benefit from tax reform and certainly repatriation if we get that. and those in the pharma, biopharma ecosystem, if you will, like the pdms, like the distributors, like the generics that have really lived on price increases are probably those that are going to be most vulnerable. >> so within the area that you think is best positioned, biotech, i mean, do you have to be a stock picker at this point? when you take a look at the component, one of the biggest

gilead had a 52 week low. a new low, nasdaq composite is a new high. >> absolutely. i think, you know, this whole issue of pharma and biotech is a bit of a misnomer. it's the biopharma industry. you characterize that whether you have a four letter signal or three letter signal. in addition to the fact that pharma is where it's growing, smaller companies can grow faster. gilead is more of a large cap company, right, so they're not in the same universe, but the other piece i think that will continue to be quite compelling for investors in health care and specifically in biopharma is mna. mna, the strategies and the targets are not going to be influenced by tax policy but they will be enhanced by it because there will be more capital and better returns from whatever happens. so i think biotech, again, the

smaller companies, have been where we've seen the lion's share of deals. >> when you look though at all of these -- everything that's coming out of washington, whether it's donald trump -- president trump himself or whether it's the house gop tax plan, everything is designed to prevent inversions, to prevent companies from leaving. >> yeah. there are so many pharma companies that did this. >> yes. >> that's over, it appears. it's going to be over in some form or fashion. >> absolutely. i think -- i've been on this show before talking about this and arguing with andrew about this, but i think, you know, the good news in that is why did companies invert? they inverted because we had disadvanced tax policies. if you are a u.k. company, you are at a disadvantage. they would be happy to stay. pfizer would be happy to stay if we had a tax policy -- >> distortion going on. >> you think bristol myers gets

stocks down big. they built a gigantic new building. look at the price from the moon. costs a bundle. bmi gets bought? >> jeffries just had a note out yesterday saying 50 bucks a share for bmi. >> the other piece is pharma's top line is growing slowly. j. and j. reported they had organic growth in their pharma business of 2.of% whi-- 2.6% wh was an acceleration. we will still see consolidation in pharma. while bristol was a big flying stock, et cetera, and the stock has come down, the reality is that relative to its peer companies, it's still got a very attractive opportunity and portfolio. >> thank you. check please is next.

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the stakes are so high, your finances, your future. how do you solve this? you don't. you partner with a firm that advises governments and the fortune 500, and, can deliver insight person to person, on what matters to you. morgan stanley. check, please. >> time for check please. we've seen air conditioners, carrier, cars get called to the white house. will there be another industry? can i publish an article tonight or tomorrow, it's a big industry trump might go right after them. that's a tease. >> we'll read it. >> i hope. i hope i write it. >> all right. of course we're watching the markets. we've hit a number of record highs today within the markets. s&p new record high. nasdaq new record high. it does appear as we are getting into the final hour of trading that we are levitating to a

fresh one. >> which means once again we're talking about dow 20,000. we're close again. stay tuned. >> are you guaranteeing we'll hit it tomorrow? >> no way. we've learned our lesson. >> thanks for watching "power lunch." >> "closing bell" starts right now. hi, everybody. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm kelly evans of the new york stock exchange. >> and i'm bill griffeth. dow 20,000 is within striking distance. look at that. >> wow. >> blue chip average rallying. we're within 70 points now. well, 60 points. the nasdaq and the s&p are in record territory, kids. russell is pretty strong as well today. a gain of 1.6% right now. we have all the market moves coming up. >> it kind of snuck up on us. another busy day for president