morgan that was competing with it saying now we're backing off. you have some potential there. >> dick's sporting goods upgraded by goldman, up 30% in the past year. quick, one comment. >> it's down more than that, three months from the peak. they sell the same issues. >> that does it for us. "power" starts now. i'm melissa lee. here is what's on our radar right now. president trump gets back to business, signing executive order to cut regulation after meeting with the host of small business owners. we're live at the white house straight ahead. wall street is getting hammered with stocks having their worst day of the year. is the president putting fear back into the markets? we're minutes away from white house press secretary sean spicer taking the podium in the briefing room. his comments could move these jittery markets. we'll bring you there live. "power lunch" starts right now. >> i'm brian sullivan.

as melissa noted, worst day of the year so far for the dow. down 175 points right now. the immigration order getting all the headlines. keep in mind, it is the commodity sensitive names, chevron, caterpillar, dupont leading the dow lower. oil-related stocks are down across the board. we'll dig in a little deeper. michelle? welcome, everyone. i'm michelle caruso-ka brara. this is what wall street woke up to, border war, travel ban sets off chaos. "hell no!" front page of just about every newspaper with president trump's execute action over the weekend. big business sounding off, too. netflix, starbucks, the list goes on and on at companies coming out against that order. regulation, taxes and pivot away from what many are call iing --

>> this is part of that push/pull you're seeing between the trump administration and american corporations. regulatory action was something that a lot of people in big business had been really looking for. officials at the white house explaining to a number of us that the way this will work is that each agency under the trump administration that proposes a new regulation will also have to propose two existing regulations that they will cut to make room for it. they will score all these in terms of the economic impact of each regulation and they want to make sure that the total dollar value of the regulations being cut equals the value of the new regulation that's being put in. that's something that business has wanted to see for a while. then you're also seeing the singling out of individual companies by this president, which is something that we haven't seen in this way before. take a listen to the president talking earlier today about lockheed martin. >> look what's happening with lockheed. number one, we're cutting the price of their planes a lot, but

they're also expanding. that's a good thing. ultimately they'll be better off. we cut approximately $600 million off the f-35 fighter and then only amounts to 90 planes out of close to 3,000 planes. >> reporter: so no ceo wants to be the focus of donald trump's negotiating focus at this point here. but a lot of people on wall street and throughout corporate america will welcome this regulatory overhaul, portraying that as a significant first here in the white house, saying that nothing like this has been done ever before in terms of putting a score economically on these regulations and making sure that the net regulatory cost for fy17, the fiscal year we're in right now, is zero. guys, back to you. >> eamon javers at the white house. thank you. joining us now from the new york stock exchange, bob pichlt sani.

you have a commodity haircut as well. what are they saying about the true declines? >> getting distracted. president trump is getting distracted away from the main issues of tax cuts and lower regulations to a certain extent but particularly infrastructure spending. s&p 500. the whole world got down, essentially this morning, but we moved even lower after mr. trump started speaking here. i think it's very program to understand what trump and the markets are all about right now. what moves the markets forward is the reflation theme. tax cuts. what stalls the markets out is getting away from those topics. immigration policy, trade issues, obamacare, very difficult for the markets to handle right now, in a bit of a quagmire here. brian is right about some of the commodity stocks moving to the downside. but the reflation themes of caterpillar, boeing, goldman,

they're moving to the downside. revising the h1b visa under discussion reportedly would have a big impact on the ability to recruit software talent around the world, very worrisome to what's going on in silicon valley. you see the big software stocks all on the down side. back to you. >> thank you, bob pisani. global strategist for jp morgan, alex, great to have you with us today. >> hi. >> how do you interpret the selloff we're seeing in the markets, particularly the 1% decline in the nasdaq? is it jitters over perhaps fears that trump may not be able to enact what has underpinned the rally so far, and that is tax reform and some sort of infrastructure spend? >> what we're seeing in the markets at the moment is a transition taking place, trance

fri -- transition was never going to be an easy one and hiccups along the way, such as what we're seeing in the markets today. actually, investors' attention will start to focus back on what central banks are up to. now, we have a number of key meetings in the u.s., the uk and japan. since the collapse of lehman brothers, top central banks around the world have cut interest rates 700 times, one interest cut every three trading days and also combined it with ultra loose monetary policy. >> convince me that everybody is going to pay attention to central banks again, alex. it would be a refreshing relaxation period to actually go back to focusing on central banks. it's been nothing but what are going to be the policies of president trump now, whether it's what we saw today, lower regulations, keystone pipeline last week, the issue with immigration over the weekend. do you really think the world is going to shift back to focusing

on central banks or will they be more focused on what is u.s. domestic policy? >> there's a lot of news flying around in the fiscal policy and government policy space. it's hard to interpret the market moves from trade to health care reform. painfully little detail about fiscal policy. there's very little mention of infrastructure spending and tax cuts in trump's inauguration speech and focus seems to be on health care and trade. it's very difficult in the administration's timeline for markets to get their head around this and try to make some sense of it. >> you say there's a lack of clarity as to what the trump administration will actually be able to accomplish and there's somewhat of a lack of clarity as to what central banks around the world are going to do. s&p valuations at about 20 times current earnings. >> on the equities versus bonds backdrop even ignoring some of the fiscal policy, u.s. and global economy is in a pretty

good state. december and january numbers have been hitting multi-year highs, which means that sort of strong global economic backdrop continues to favors equities versus bonds. awful lot of political news and fiscal news to digest. overweight stocks versus fixed income. >> do you believe we'll have a global trade war when this is all over? >> at the moment it's still very early days to try to work out the positioning of the u.s. and what that means for mexico, china and european trading partners. at this moment, it's still rhetoric. it hasn't completely translated into law just yet. >> what if it looks like we're -- because if we don't do it, everything sort of remains the same. so, if we venture down that path, what do we buy? what do we sell? how does that change the investing outlook if it looks like we're creeping closer to that? >> i think there's still a lot of positivity in the u.s.

economy and equity markets. that's where i would be looking to go in a scenario such as any sort of trade disruption or in this pro-growth, reflation trade. the u.s. consumer, which makes up 70% of u.s. gdp looks like they're in a healthy position from the balance perspective. that provides a good backdrop regardless of what's happening in washington. >> where we are right now you think is simply underpinned by fundamentals? >> and a boost for more fiscal policy. >> so when do we start backing out that part of the valuation premium out of the premium? what sort of signals are you looking for from the trump administration to say maybe that premium should be taken out of equities right now. >> i think what i will be looking for is if there is no mention over the next few months of any sort of tax cuts and more infrastructure spending. that's when the reflation fee

might start to dive slightly and we need to take that out of the markets slightly. even with that taken out we're looking at good economic growth in the market, in the global economy which continues to favor at-risk assets. whether it's at these elevated levels will depend part way on what the fiscal policy is going forward. >> alex dryden, jp morgan. thank you. >> thank you very much. we've got a statement from arconic on the heels of wall street swrurjournal saying that investors are looking to oust ceo kleinfeld. the company saying -- it's a long statement but the company saying that klaus kleinfeld transformed arcoa and has unlocked significant value for all shareholders and relentless

in driving costs down and productivity up, $4.4 billion out of alcoa from the time that mr. kleinfeld joined. so, all of this coming just a little over 24 hours before arconic reports earnings after the bell tomorrow afternoon, the first report we'll get from that company since the commodities businesses were spun off into what is now alcoa. take a look at shares of arconic. they're down today, up about 4% since the split november 1st. i say only because compared to alcoa, that company is up 7%. >> on deck, an interview you do not want to miss. head of a huge russian fund is here to talk about relations with america and vladimir putin. we are standing by for the white house press briefing. sure to be a fiery one today.

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white house press secretary sean spicer expected to hold a briefing at any moment. we'll bring it to you as soon as it begins. you can imagine lots of questions about events over the weekend. meantime, russian president vladimir putin could meet with president trump before the g20 meeting in july. that's the report from the kremlin. russia called the conversation a positive one and stressed the importance of restoring economic ties. good news for investors in russia. joining us now is ceo of the russian direct investment fund, one of russian's sovereign wealth funds, has $10 billion in assets. unlike other sovereign wealth funds, this is designed to invest alongside investors in russia. good to have you here again. >> thanks for having me. >> a little bit of delay, we want to warn our audience. tell us about what you think this phone call between president trump and vladimir

putin means over the weekend and for the future of russia/u.s. relations? >> well, we believe it was a very important phone call and very important that it went in a very positive and respectful manner. and that means that we can continue working well on the economic front. obviously, it's a win/win geopolitically because we can fight global terrorism together. a good foundation for our countries working together, for investors to work together and we believe it's very important. >> what is your wish list, total removal of the sanctions? what would make investing in russia much better right now? >> russian economy is actually doing quite well. our stock market grew in 50% dollar terms last year. gdp grew around % th2% this yea. oil prices stable and opec agreement really gave stability.

i think it's very important for job creation in the u.s. and russia to have markets that are open to one another. so, we don't really focus so much on sanctions. what we focus on is really working with u.s. businesses to pursue joint projects. one of such projects is international, invest it in a time in russia. we believe we can do many projects like this, that create jobs in the u.s. and in russia. >> kirill, what do you find the investment opportunity, as u.s./r russian relations will improve or pure play domestic russian company that caters toward the domestic economy? >> well, first of all, you know, we invested with some of the u.s. investors in russian stock exchange and some other opportunities. but we really are open to strategic corporation with u.s. leading corporations and just yesterday we discussed some

projects that involve infrastructures in russia, where u.s. capabilities and know-how would be very relevant. we open to big corporations and russia really wants to pursue synergy. >> skeptical investing in russia, with everything that's gone on. that's an understatement. tell our audience right now why they should feel safe at all putting their money into a country that has, let's be honest with you, not always lived up to its end of the economic bargain in big contracts. >> well, over the last five years when rubel really collapsed and economy was in a very difficult circumstance, and we continue to work with the largest sovereign wealth funds of the world. one of our companies is going public, grew 30% last year.

so i think if pooebl people really understand russian story, knows that our market during last crisis of 1998 grew eight times in the next couple of years really will be more flexible about thinking about russian economy. >> i'm going to push a little more on brian's question. rule of law. it's something that a lot of people have had concerns about when it comes to russia. russia has moved up on the list of world banks. ease of doing business. but it's still relatively low, considering where it is in terms of being an industrialized country compared to other industrialized countries. can investors really be confident in rule of law in russia right now? >> really stimulated those efforts. so, we have our investments with leading companies and people do

feel comfortable with them. we attracted lots of investors from saudi arabia, ue and china. in those investments, we believe people are comfortable and rule of law, of course, is ab served. >> you announced in davos you would have a big u.s. trip to russia. any takers yet? >> of course quite a few people who will be joining us in may and st. petersburg economic forum. president put sbin president trump important to restore relationship. the message is business needs to re-engage. business needs to think about joint projects so we expect many more business people at st. petersburg forums this year as well. >> can you tell us any names, specific american companies? >> not yet. i can tell you that they are leading u.s. companies and, by

the way, you have u.s./russia business council working. quite a few companies are engaged in working jointly with russia. many of them meet with our prime minister during fiat meetings, foreign investment advisory council. that will continue to become stronger. >> mr. dmitriev, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. thank you very much. news alert here. president george h.w. bush has been discharged from the houston hospital. he was there, being treated for pneumonia. so that's good that he's out. good news there. next up, the worst day for stocks so far this year. we'll take a closer look into what is leading the downward trend. remember, we are standing by for the white house press secretary, sean spicer. that briefing could happen at any moment with an increasingly tense relationship between the press and the president. a press briefing that you cannot

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lower today in what's shaping up to be the worst day of trading so far this year. energy materials and financials all lagging in the markets so far. energy is off 2% as oil prices dip on supply concerns. energy sector, also the spdr, ticker xle is off lows of the session but 2% so far today.

that etf is 3% lower this month for its worst month in over a year. melissa, with the markets and s&p down 1% at this point, traders wondering if this could be the beginning of the drop we have been waiting for. perhaps we'll see. >> dom, thank you. to the bond market now, rick santelli is tracking all the action. hi, rick. >> hi, melissa. slip in rates, that's continued a bit. although not in great range size. open the chart up. couple of things should jump out at you. rates have held the upper end of its range. for 2017, high yield closed at 251. look at the dollar index, definitely the same pattern but a lot more give back on the foreign exchange side. finally, talk about very little give back. look at the hyg. you could look at this,

barclay's, spreads. high yield has really been very well behaved. good investment class considering all the issues of the day. melissa lee, back to you. >> thank you very much, rick santelli. michigan in the crosshairs. no state has more on the line in president trump's crosshairs. she was headed to boston for a new job but wasn't allowed to board her flight to the u.s. an iranian scientist whose life and career has been interrupted by the president's executive order. standing by for sean spicer. that briefing could happen at any moment. we'll bring it to you as soon as it begins. stay tuned. ecnemmic

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good afternoon. i'm sue herera. quebec police say only one of two men arrested in the mosque shooting is considered a suspect. the other is now considered a

witness. the two have been identified as alexandre bissonnette and mohamed khadir. video shows a man grabbing the female driver by her neck but the passenger beat back the attacker with his cane before the attacker was subsequently arrested. google has created a crisis fund that could raise up to $4 million for four immigrant rights organizations, funding an additional $2 million that can be matched with up to $2 million in donations from employees. company executives are also donating separately to the effort. starbucks is launching a voice operated ordering capability with its mobile app and the popular amazon alexa platform. you can now tell alexa to order your usual starbucks order. that's the news update this hour. back to you, melissa. >> thank you so much, sue

herera. let's take a look at the updates right now. worst day in 2017. dow jones industrial average down .9%. nasdaq is taking it on the chin, down 1% year to date given the nasdaq is up 4%. s&p 500 is off by almost a percent here. russell 2000, a bit of an unwind. small caps, of course, domestically oriented companies. potential corporate tax reform would benefit the most. that group of stocks down 1.4%. bank trade having a little bit of trouble in today's special, down 1.2% on the etf that tracks the financials. across the board with big losses at bank of america. >> by the way, following up on that quickly. energy stocks are way down. pinged a couple of traders who said, listen, huge jump in recounts last couple of weeks. we've been focused on the president. domestic production, guys, is

going like this it's finally starting to pave its way through the energy stocks. you are looking live at a picture of the white house. white house press secretary sean spicer is expected to hold a press briefing at any moment. if he doesn't a lot of people that have come to that room will be disappointed. we'll bring it to you when it happens. meantime, no state has more on the line under president trump's executive orders than michigan, which nearly went for trump in november. special correspondent scott cohn is live in detroit and has a look at exactly what is at stake. scott? >> reporter: brian, it's easy to forget that michigan is very much an international state, detroit an international city. that's the ambassador bridge to canada behind me. 1.5 million trucks a year. it's also a state of immigrants, which helps explain the big protests last night in detroit, only california took in more seyrian refugees than michigan

did last year. so people turned out big time at the airport last night. >> i'm here to tell mr. trump we need to come to a solution. you are the white house not the hate house. >> reporter: then there's trade. no state has more on the line as far as the north american free trade agreement than michigan does. that is with both canada and mexico, which is a key part of the modern day auto industry supply chain. donald trump won here by campaign i campaigning against nafta, pushing the idea that nafta costs jobs. one economists says the whole situation is a lot more complicated. >> what you need to do is change fundamentals so that american manufacturing companies are more productive so that it becomes profitable and even more profitable to produce in michigan than it does in other countries. >> this is still, though, a very competitive state. a far cry from year's past.

michigan climbed to seventh in our annual top states for business rankings last year but a lot up in the air this year, as donald trump takes hold. guys? >> scott cohn, thank you. president trump's policies a hot topic in china right now. with us today, joining us here at cnbc headquarters is eunice yoon, based in china. >> despite the fact that it's a holiday. state media there have been a lot of questions raised about whether or not this attitude in the policies will eventually impact chinese. and overnight the global times, a communist party paper, had an article with the headline that read will trump's immigration policy fire burn chinese? state media the focus is mainly on the visa programs. h1b work visa, eb5 investor

visa. both of those very popular. eb5 visa program is up for renewal in april. there's a lot of question about whether or not that will be renewed. in terms of social media, the focus is on green cards. people are worried because a lot of chinese travel back and forth on their green cards and also there's concern as to whether or not trump, because he has appeared so tough on china, would use visa restrictions as a weapon against china. so, that's the main talk. now, in terms of why we always care, chinese people have -- want a very deep connection with the united states. and this is despite the fact that there are all these tensions. and so we see chinese people use the eb5 visa program as a way to get their money out of the country. >> let's remind everybody. if you invest a certain amount in the united states. >> yep. >> usually a real estate project as diana has told us about. then you are fast tracked to a

green card and potentially u.s. citizenship as well? >> absolutely. it's a fast track. a lot of wealthy people look at it. in china people want to get their money out. they see this as a popular way to get their money out. chinese students want to get education. a lot of people still dream about education in the united states. chinese students make up the largest -- >> has it downgraded people's view of america? >> in terminas of -- >> damaging brand usa in china, which has been incredibly strong? >> the main thread on social media is their concern about the relationship between china and the united states and whether or not trump would actually go ahead and continue to question the sovereignty or what they see as their own sovereignty, taiwan, south china sea and those issues are just constantly discussed right now on social media and the state media. >> could this clamp down, though, in the end, actually benefit chinese companies who are looking for the same talent that the u.s. is competing for

in tech talent? >> interesting you say that. china and u.s., both partners, are also competitors and china has laid out its goals that by 2020 they want to be a technology leader and are creating their own version of silicon valley. and, in fact, robin lee, ceo, at china's own world internet conference has said if anybody feels uncomfortable with trump's policies and you're in the tech world, china will welcome you. i spoke with a number of companies over the past few days and nobody wanted to put their name on record but they all felt very uncomfortable with the level of uncertainty, but some of them did see a potential opportunity for chinese entrepreneurs, startups and the tech culture there. >> eunice yoon, thank you. >> it was a chaotic scene this weekend at many of the nation's airports following trump's order on immigration.

predominantly muslim countries denied entry into the united states. joining us on the phone is an iranian scientist, samira asgari, who was unable to board a plane to boston where she was supposed to begin a new job at brigham & young women's hospital. what happened to you? >> i was connecting via frankfurt, in line to board my flight. right after i scanned my boarding pass, i was called by a gentleman that was standing there, called me by my name. he asked me if we can talk and told me that my visa is not valid for travel to united states. i responded back that my visa clearly states it's valid and he told me that it's the government of the united states that

decides to issue the visas and they can change their mind the moment they wish so. and my luggage had been unloaded already from the flight. i should go back to the help desk to ask about my luggage and book a return ticket to geneva. >> what's it been like since then? how did you feel as all of this is happening to you? >> i was shocked. i mean, i couldn't even believe this is happening. i was like, it's not real. i was extremely shocked and after i sat for a few minutes to digest the news that came right after that feeling of frustration and sadness, i had been preparing for this particular position in this particular lab and this particular project for months and i've been dreaming about going to boston to continue my research and to learn from them since the beginning of my phd. >> how long did it take to get the visa that you had that you

thought was valid? what is the process like? was it difficult, easy? >> the process, no. it's very standard. i've been through that multiple times before, for american h1b visa. i basically provide some documents and i provide reason of my travel. in this case, a letter from my employer. and it took two months. so i applied for a visa on 30th of november and i got a positive response to my visa demand on the 25th of january by e-mail. i had my passport is valid, stamped on the 27th in the evening. >> so now things will be much tougher. has brigham women said they would hold their job for you? what's next at this point? are you hoping once the 90 days has passed you can get back in? >> well, my boss in brigham has

been extremely, extremely supportive. everybody in the lab has been supportive and they are doing what they can. they haven't completely talked about what is next because we are still hoping that i can get there. because of this new ruling in boston, it might be possible if i can get to boston or basically if i get to boston i can enter. for the moment the problem is no swiss airline -- we talked to them and they haven't heard about this boston federal court rules so they don't allow me -- >> samira, we'll have to let you go here. we're going to go to sean spicer and the white house press briefing. thank you. great to see everybody. thank you all for coming. it's great to see the interest is still there. i want to start off by noting that the president got off the phone a short time ago with canadian prime minister trudeau to discuss the vicious attack on a mosque last night.

the president offered his condolences as well as the thoughts and prayers to the victims' families. this is another senseless act of violence that cannot be tolerated. he also pledged to help in any way necessary. prime minister trudeau was appreciative. canadian law enforcement officials are actively investigating this matter. we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. it's a terrible reminder of why we must remain vigilant and why the president is taking steps to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to our nation's safety and security. we, of course, are praying for those injured in the attack and keeping in close contact with officials in quebec and canada. we're moving into a quick recap of the events the past few days. as you all know, the president had an extremely busy weekend. he followed up on a week -- his

first week of action with a weekend of action. saturday and sunday alone, the president spoke with eight foreign leaders. he signed executive orders, delivering on some of the biggest campaign promises that he made to the american people and he met with staff to continue to plan another busy week. also over this weekend we carried out a very successful raid against al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, which resulted in the death of 14 aqap members that will better enable us to counter and prevent future terrorist plots. tragically, during this raid the life of a brave service member was taken and four were wounded. our thoughts and our prayers are with the family of this fallen american hero and we also pray for a speedy recovery and complete recovery of those service members who sustained injuries. as a quick recap, on friday you saw the president's enthusiastic reception at the department of defense for the ceremonial

swearing in of secretary mattis as our secretary of defense. while at the pentagon the president signed two executive actions to protect america from those who wishes to do us harm, focus on securing our borders and homeland was a major part of what the president campaigned on. now he's doing exactly what he told the american people he would do. the president will always put the safety and prosperity of our country first and foremost. we kicked off saturday by launching the weekly address, which debuted for the first time on facebook live. nearly 11 million people were reached by the address online. over 1.1 million people engaged with the post via comments, likes and other interactions. just as did he throughout the campaign, this is another example of the president being able to take his message directly to the american people. on saturday the president signed three executive actions on issues ranging from government ethics to national security. as part of the president's plan

to drain the swamp in washington and return power to the american people, he signed an executive order imposing strict post employment rules on all federal political appointees, and lifetime ban for foreign government lobbying among other restrictions. the president continues to make it very, very clear that if you want to be part of a trump administration, you will be serving the country, not yourself. the president also signed a memorandum, modernizing the structure of the national security council and the homeland security council. there's been a lot of misreporting this week about what this memo does and does not do. let me walk you through this real quick. there's two issues at hand. one is the makeup of the nsc and the other is the makeup of the principle committee. nearly the nsc minus the president. the idea is that the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and dna are being downgraded or

removed is utter nonsense. they are at every nsc meeting and welcome to attend the principle meetings as well. the memo lays out if there's a principles meeting out their scope -- for example, a domestic issue that doesn't pertain to the military -- they're not required but certainly welcome to be in attendance. we welcome certain homeland security issues may not be military issues and it would not be in the best interest of the joint chiefs valuable time to be at these meetings. just yesterday we called several outlets who were severely misreporting this topic to better inform them about what this memo means. let me walk through this real quick. this is the 2001 nsc stand-up memo. this is the 2009 memo. and then this one is the -- i have the 13 here as well -- 2017 rather right here. this is the language that consists of the national security team, the director of the central intelligence and

chairman of the joint chiefs of staff as statutory advisers to the nsc shall also attend nsc meetings, identical language in 2017 as it was in 2009 when obama drafted his, verbatim, identical. the makeup of the principles committee from 2017 is exactly as it was in both 2017 as it was in 2001. 100% identical except we added the word "also." i think it's pretty clear if you look at all three of these, that's what it does. to be clear, the memo just yesterday we called that out. starting with the membership to the nsc, you can see the language that's part of the president's memo is identical to the language from president bush's 2001. the only thing that's changed in this is the addition of the director of national intelligence, a position that didn't exist in 2001. for what it's worth, it's the same as obama's, save for the word "also." in terms of the principle's

committee, you can see from the various language here -- and i'll give you 2017 on the principles committee. this is the principles committee in 2017. and this is the 2001 principles committee. it is literally 100% the same. 2001 and 2017 are identical. so this idea that there's been a change or downgrade is utter nonsense. with respect to the joint chiefs in particular, the president holds chairman dunford in the highest regard. the suggestion that he would downgrade in matters of national security reveals fundamental misunderstanding of the respect that the president holds for the chairman himself and the joint chiefs as a whole. for the record, someone tweeted out where was the cia in this. the cia hasn't been part of the

nsc since the dni was sworn in for the first time in 2005. that being said, the president has such respect for director pompeo and the men and women of the cia that today the president is announcing he will amend the memo to add the cia back into the nsc. i know that there was a tweet yesterday from the former national security adviser that said where is the cia out of everything. i would like to remind the former national security adviser when the memo was drafted in 2009, i don't see the obama administration including the cia in theirs. it is president trump that is including the cia, not the former administration. so, just to be clear, when it comes to the cia, as you know, number one, it wasn't part of the restructuring of the nsc after the dni was named and sworn in in 2005. we are the administration that's adding it back into the nsc and

amending it in. it was the obama administration that didn't have it in. to answer the former national security adviser's tweet, the cia is in ours and it wasn't in theirs. with respect to -- one second. moving on, the president also signed another memo at the department of defense, instructing the joint chiefs of staff to deliver to him a plan to defeat isis. this comprehensive strategy and plan must include a recommendation to changes of any rules of engagement and other policy restrictions that exceed the requirements of international law regarding the use of isis. public diplomacy, and cyber strategies to delegitimize isis in its radical islamic ideology, and policies to empower coalition partners to fight isis and its affiliates, mechanisms to cut off isis financial support, including financial

transfers, money laundering, human trafficking, sales of historical facts and other revenue sources and detailed strategy to robustly fund the plan. it's a profound statement that the president's clear objective is to defeat and destroy isis and we are going to do it systematically. this is not only a necessary step for america's national security. it is also a humanitarian imperative. if isis is left in power, the threat it poses only grows. we know it has attempted to develop chemical weapons capabilities. it maintains a to recruit homegrown terrorists. united states must take decisive action and the president is taking the necessary steps. over the weekend the president also held constructive phone calls with the heads of government from australia, france, germany, japan, russia, saudi arabia, south korea and the united arab emirates. during the calls the president

reaffirmed our partnerships and discussed strengthening our mutual interests throughout the world. safety of american people and security of american homeland continue to be the president's top priority. his outreach to these leaders is a critical step in turning the page on the failed foreign policies of the past eight years. notably, he did all this in the face of extreme obstructionism for democrats in the senate, holding up 17 of his department agency leads that require senate confirmation. in contrast, ten days into his term, president obama only had seven people in these positions awaiting confirmation. president bush had all but four confirmed. senate democrats thank voters are going to be okay with them continuing business as usual, dragging their heels and confirming qualified nominees, they sorely misunderstood the message this november. the truth is, these cabinet members are unbelievably qualified and will all be confirmed by the senate. democrats know this. so, it's time to stop playing

political games with the core functions of our government. this morning, the office of the u.s. trade representative sent 12 letters officially notifying the nations to the transpacific partnership that the u.s. has withdrawn from the agreement. the next step in fulfilling the president's campaign promise to get our country out of unacceptable trade deals that don't put america's interests first. the president will continue to negotiate new, better trade agreements that will bring jobs back, increase american wages and reduce our trade deficit. the white house office of intergovernmental affairs has been hard at work, making sure all lines of communication are open at all levels of government throughout the country. as of today, the white house has made contact with all governor's office in every state and territory and deeper conversations on a range of issues have taken place with 32 governors or their offices. outreach efforts have touched 22 of 50 state attorney generals, 16 speakers of the house, leaders of the ten largest

federally recognized tribes and leaders of some of the country's largest counties and municipalities. all have expressed enthusiasm about working with the white house on issues impacting their local communities and families. intra-governmental affairs office is preparing for the national governors association meeting at the end of february be in which the president plans to host a dinner. today the president started his day with a breakfast and listening session with small business leaders, a list of attendees is available if you're interested. the meeting comes on the heels of similar listening sessions that the president held last week with some of the country's top business union leaders and front line worker. he has made it clear in his first week in office through executive actions, meetings, listening sessions that he's fully committed on fighting on behalf of union workers and small businesses. he host a breakfast with king abdullah ii of jordan at the

naval observatory and he expects to greet the king this thursday at the national prayer service. he thanked the king in his efforts in advancing peace and stability in the middle east and reaffirmed the commitment to jordan's economic development. ways to accelerate the coalition's efforts to defeat isis and political solution to the syrian conflict. the vice president welcomes the king's views on potential changes in and reiterated the united states is at the early stages of this decision making process. the two leaders discussed how to best make progress toward a comprehensive agreement toward israel and the palestinians. the vice president and king abdullah agreed on the importance of strengthening the u.s./jordan relationship and planned to stay in contact on events in the region. the president signed an executive order reducing regulation and controlling regulatory costs. the order instructs the office of management budget to issue guidelines that for every one

new regulation, two existing regulations in the agency be eliminated. we're calling it one in, two out. the order states the cost of all new regulations finalized in fiscal 2017 must be no greater than zero for each agency. and beginning in 2018, each agency will have an incremental cost cap set by the director of omb beyond which it cannot issue regulations. this executive order is the first step in the president delivering on his promise to slash bureaucratic red tape that is choking our nation's small businesses. under the president's leadership, federal government would no longer punish americans for working and doing business in the united states. every year overregulation costs our economy billions of dollars and reduces the wealth of every american household. this executive order will help get the economy back on track and is part of the president's bold plan to create 25 million new american jobs in the next decade. it's worth noting that this order is perhaps the most

significant administrative action in the world of regulatory reform since president reagan created the office of information of regulatory affairs in 1981. finally, a few administrative notes. i'm pleased to announce that prime minister netanyahu of israel will visit the united states february 15th. our relationship the only democracy in the middle east is crucial to the security of both our nations and the president looks forward to discussing continued strategic, technological, military cooperation with the prime minister. tomorrow 8:00 pm, the president will announce who he intends to nominate for the supreme court. and for a party preaching tolerance it's interesting to see that democrats have already come out against this unnamed individual. with that, i'm glad to take a few questions.

it is important when we talk about stability in the region. so we'll have continued discussions on t that first step of getting both sides on the first page was a huge step forward. >> thanks, sean. the president said today in that on-camera session with business leaders, talk about how the market has run during his last couple of months. i want to ask you a question related to that. today, coincidentally, happens to be the biggest market drop since october. and one of the uncertainty for investors is that tax reform might not get done this year. my question to you is, can the administration submit major tax reform in 2017? >> it's a two-way street.

i think that the commitment from the president to fight on behalf of small businesses. that's what this regulation thing was today. i can't underscore how important it is. since 1981, we've not seen anything of this magnitude to address the regulatory impact that small businesses face. we'll continue to work with both houses of congress, both the senate finance committee and house ways and means committee to develop a comprehensive tax plan and i think there's eagerness on behalf of congress to do that as well. that is a very promising thing. when you look not just at the ups and downs of the market, but consumer confidence and a lot of other market indicators, a trump presidency brought a lot of confidence back to traders, to investors. more importantly, to job creators. you look at the number of individuals, small businesses, large businesses, the automakers. all coming in and saying to the president, i want to be part of your effort, your agenda to make the country better, to grow jobs here, to bring jobs back here.

i think it's a positive sign not just on the ups and downs of one day market fluctuation, but the overall commitment that businesses have to want to work with this administration, to add jobs, to create better jobs, to find out how the president can ease the regulatory burden they face. it's a holistic process that is being undertaken to unleash the american economy. and it's the approach that he's taking not just in small businesses, in large businesses and with union workers but the energy sector. who you do we unleash america's natural resources not just to make us more energy independent but how do we do that to create good-paying jobs in america as well and get the economic boone that can come out of it? >> sean, two questions. one, how important is national security to you? you're saying they're at the table and they can't come to the

table if they wanted some meetings -- >> no, no, that's not what i said. i don't think i can underscore this enough. what we're saying is that nothing has changed. we've added and grown this. the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the joint chiefs are, by statute, part of the nsc. full stock. what we've done is made sure on issues of homeland security and domestic policy they are always welcome to attend, 100%. however, if the issue is on pandemic flu or other domestic type natures that don't involve the military, it would be a waste of time to drag the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff over. if he wants to attend, he's part of the committee. he can come any time. to try to talk about downgrading or not taking this seriously is a misreading of this. it's really a disservice. i think for those people who took the time to read it, they understand that. i've seen so much misreporting. all this weekend about downgrading this individual or upgrading -- the language could not be clearer. it is 100% identical.

and so any misreading of it otherwise is a spread of misinformation. plain and simple. >> so you're saying they're at the table? >> no, no. i'm saying they've always been at the table and they continue to be and that he has a tremendous amount of respect for them. any reporting otherwise is a misunderstanding of it 100%. >> let me ask my question. >> okay. >> they're at the table but how important are their suggestions or their statements to this administration? >> unbelievable. when you look at secretary mattis in the oval office, he was on the phone with cia director pompeo this afternoon -- or this morning. he has had -- he values their opinion. i don't think you can express in words how much respect he has, whether it's chairman dunford, general mattis, general kelly, secretary pompeo. he has shown in deed, action and word. the first stop he made was to the cia because of how much he values the work that they do and the respect that he has for

them. so, i don't -- i really don't know how much more he can do to show how much he values them. >> and my second question, last question, when you talk about these seven countries, these muslim majority countries, talking to a former official of the obama administration for homeland security, they're saying that what you're doing is very different from what they did. and it's much more restrictive. what do you say to that? >> we're going to put the safety of americans first. we're not going to wait and react, as i said in the statement. the president is going to be very proactive with protecting this country. we're not going to wait until we get attacked and make sure we figure out how it doesn't happen again. he is going to do everything in his power to stop every potential threat. that's keet point. how do we get ahead of threats? how do we keep america ahead of the curve when it comes to people who want to do us harm? that's what the president has done. he has made shufr that every way

possible we get down the path of securing this country, putting america's safety and security first and foremost, bar none. major garret? >> sean, you suggested over the weekend and so did steven miller, that the action taken on the executive order might have been related to some specific intelligence and it was necessary to prevent something from happening. and any questions about why certain agencies may not have been as briefed up can be explained, in part, because it needed to happen right away. can you -- >> well -- >> explain what you were trying to get at there? >> i appreciate that opportunity. i think what we're trying to say is you don't know when the next threat is coming. you don't know when the next attack is coming. the best you can do is get ahead of it. if you wait, you're going to be reacting. i want to be clear on that the president is not going to wait. he's going to make sure he does everything in his power when he can to protect the homeland and its people. that's it. getting ahead of threats is the key. not waiting till they happen. not saying, hey, once it happens how do we react and make sure it

doesn't happen again? what i want to be clear about is since becoming president he continues to take steps through executive order and otherwise to make sure that this country is as safe as it can be and that we're ahead of every threat. >> in other words, it was not put in place on the timeline it was put in place and the procedures it was put in place because of specific intelligence that was suggesting something -- >> no, no, no. i'm not saying that at all. all i'm saying is that his view, in general, is not to wait, to get ahead of the curve. there wasn't a specific threat saying we have to do this saturday, sunday. the point that i'm trying to make is that we don't know when that hour comes. we don't know when that individual crosses into our border to do us harm. so the idea of waiting, when you don't know, could it be that night, the next day, the next week? the president's view is i'm not going to wait. i'm going to make sure we protect the homeland and its people as soon as possible with every measure i can. john roberts? >> following up on that, i have

two questions unrelated. number of legal challenges against this executive order, what's your level of confidence that you will prevail legally and what's the basis for that level of confidence? >> well, the most prominent case is the western in the eastern district of new york. and i think we won't even have to prevail in that case. it tonight make any sense. it deals with people being deported. the action never spoke to it, never intended to deport people. it had to do with how do we process people in, detain them until we ascertain whether or not they can -- they sought to do us any harm. we're talking about a universe of 109 people. there were 325,000 people that came into this country over a 24-hour period from another country. 109 of them were stopped for additional screening. we've got to keep this in proportion, folks. this is 109 people being stopped out of 325,000 over a 24-hour

period. i know everyone likes to get where they want to get to as quick as possible. i think the government did a phenomenal job of making sure we process people through. we did so, knowing that the people coming in hadn't done anything seeking to do us harm. that's t plain and simple. that's an important thing to note. when you look at the perspective of what's going on, you note the polls that were going up this morning, the majority of americans agree with the president. they recognize that the steps that he's taking were to keep this country safe, and look back say i wish we had done the following. [ inaudible ] >> all of the enforcement and action regarding the executive order is in place and it still remains right now. we feel pretty confident if there's any problems we'll prevail. again, this is a national security issue. these seven countries were a drive from what the obama administration deemed needed

further travel restriction. we follow through on that. we continue to go through this 90-day process review, put a system in place that vets, extreme vets these people coming into our country that potentially could do us harm, plain and simple. >> second question. >> i'm sorry. john said two. >> you can't forget things like that. >> i apologize. >> what's the president's response to iran thumbing its nose at the u.n. security council order? >> we're aware of -- >> if i could finish, president netanyahu, coming here on the 15th, is looking to the white house for more sanctions? >> we're looking at that and aware that iran fired that missile and into the exact nature of it. i'll try to have more for you later. >> thank you, sean. >> john? >> thank you very much. two brief questions. first, the president of doa put out a statement, following the

president's proclamation on the holocaust saying the owe mission of jews and what they experienced was painful, unquote. is the president aware of criticism from the american jewish community and does he plan to do anything about it? >> he is aware of what people have been saying but by and large was praised for it. tremendous loss of life that came from the holocaust the president recognized. with respect to israel and the jewish people specifically, there's been no better friend than donald trump when it comes to protecting israel, building a better friendship with israel. you look what prime minister netanyahu has talked about. he welcomes this administration. he appreciates the friendship and respect that he has shown to israel and the jewish people. to suggest otherwise, john, i frankly -- i've got to be honest. the president went out of his way to recognize the holocaust and the suffering that went through it and the people that were affected by it and the loss of life. and to make sure that america

never forgets what so many people went through, whether they were jews or gypsies, gays, disability. priests. and i get it but at the end of the day, when you look at the state of israel, the jewish people themselves, i think there has been no better friend than donald trump, especially after the last eight years. the tremendous respect he has shown israel, the jewish people. to suggest anything otherwise is frankly a little disappointing. >> second question. >> getting way too many second questions. >> thank you. the several npos that have helped people from the countries affected said they specifically focused on people that interpreted for our military and said they would be affected by this. i believe secretary mattis said he hoped to satisfy that. >> right. >> to give these people a better shot at it. >> right. >> will there be any change? >> that one interpreter who was

interviewed came back and said i love donald trump. we recognize people who served this country, we should make sure that they are helped out but that doesn't mean they are given a free pass. people came to the united states and tried to plan an attack in kentucky. i think we have to recognize that people who have help this had country, served this nation may not be citizens at the time that want to come here and we need to appreciate the service that they've had. that doesn't mean that we don't let them in without a certain degree of vetting. that's what we're going to do to make sure, again, the ownous is on us to protect the american people. people want to come into this country do so in a peaceful way. marta? >> i wanted to ask you about dodd/frank. president trump said this morning he's going to do a big number on dodd/frank and i wanted to know what the timeframe for the big number is

this legislation that you're looking at teaming up with republican lawmakers on or do you think that the big number can mostly be handled through an executive action? >> we're continuing to work with -- today was the first step down the path of regulatory relief to our nation's small and large businesses as well. and i think that he understands, especially as a businessman himself, and somebody who has been involved in financing that the impact that dodd/frank has had on lending, in particular, and the impact that it has on small and large businesses. i think we'll continue to work with congress on reform. we'll have more for you on that at some point in the future. >> we're doing two-fer today. >> that's great. okay. i'm wondering, do you expect an eo on h1bs as part of all this coming any time soon? and i wondered if you were aware that president obama through his spokesman has now issued a

statement on the executive order. >> okay. thank you. i think with respect to h1bs and other visa it's part of a larger immigration reform effort that the president will continue to talk about through executive order and through working with congress. but you've already seen a lot of action on immigration. whether it's that or spousal visas or other type of visas there's an overall need to look at all these programs. you'll see both through executive action and through comprehensive legislative measures a way to address immigration as a whole and the visa program. >> since we're doing two, i've got two for you. on the nsc organization with regards to the president's chief strategist that sxested in president obama's tenure, what does that speak about mr. bannon's role within the white house? >> let's be honest. david axelrod walked in and out of nsc meetings frequently, by

his own account and several of your account. this administration is being transparent, putting out in the public who will be going in and out of those meetings, not just letting people go in willy nilly. it shows that this administration is trying to make sure we don't hide things and after the fact. steve will not be in every meeting. like axelrod he will come in and out when needed. we wanted to be up front about it and make sure that was stated so it wasn't a story when did. yeah? i'm sorry. >> i'm sorry. just on the strike over the weekend, can you talk about the president's part -- [ inaudible ] >> he was aware of the strike occurring, kept in constant contact saturday night of the status of the mission, both the success that it had and the

tragic loss of life that occurred to that member. we are currently following department of defense next of kin procedures and as soon as it is appropriate, the president will be speaking with the family members. >> thank you very much. on north korea announced that if the united states intercept, it would mean war. how did you -- >> how did we what? >> how do you respond to north korea if you intercept the icb launch. >> i'm sorry, how -- >> how do you respond? >> how do we respond to north korea? >> yes. >> i don't have any further readout on that. we're working through diplomatic channels. >> sean, one more. i'm sorry, secretary. president trump -- and also said

that in south korea to strengthen and join defense capabilities. >> right. >> what is the -- >> they spoke last night about 7:00. there's a readout provided of that call. we'll have further steps to announce in follow-up to that call. but it speaks for itself. >> the supreme court pick, can you talk about why tomorrow night, it sounds like -- can you tell us who the pick is? is the pick off the list he has been using? is he 100% sure this is the pick? >> he is 100% sure he is the pick. this individual is part of the list he put out and maintains exactly what he said he was going to do. but i'm not going to share any further guidance on that. i appreciate the try. >> you said he? i said the individual. >> you also said he. he's the one.

>> just following up on the president's comments last week that illegal immigrants voted in the election. you said he was going to have an executive order on that. is he still planning to do that? >> yes. >> second follow-up on your statement about the holocaust statement, last night republican jewish coalition called it an unfortunate omission that the white house did not address the jewish people. >> it wasn't in president bush's statement either. >> he did mention anti-semitism. can you explain why you decided to depart from bipartisan -- >> the statement was written with the help of an individual who is both jewish and the descendents of holocaust survivors. to suggest that remembering the holocaust and acknowledging all of the people, jewish, gypsies,

priests, disableds, gays, lesbians. it's pathetic people are picking on a statement. at christmastime calling christ the king and reporters in this room started to wonder if we were referring to the king as the president-elect. do you know how offensive to christians? i mean, the idea that you're nitpicking a statement that sought to remember this tragic event that occurred and the people who died in it is just ridiculous. i think he acknowledged the suffering that existed and wants to make sure that it's enshrined in the american people's memory so that something like this never, ever happens again. to sit there and suggest that he was trying to single out anything and a people of which he has shown such tremendous respect for and such a willingness in terms of the state of israel to go out there and show the partnership that needs to exist between us, and

the respect. and when you contrast that, frankly, a statement, a statement and you look at the actions of the last administration, the iran nuclear deal, them giving palestine an equal footing at the u.n. security council on their way out the door, to compare a statement that remembers the holocaust with the actions of the last eight years and the disrespect that was shown to israel is unbelievable. where were the questions about the u.n. security council resolution that came forward and the idea of this unprecedented step that the outgoing administration took as a massive slap in the face of israel? where were the questions then? [ inaudible ] >> did i say that? no. >> you mentioned -- >> i know what i said. i didn't say jared's name. i'm just saying -- no, i'm not getting into who wrote it. several members of the jewish faith on his senior staff.

to suggest it was an omission of anything else is kind of ridiculous. >> sean, there is, i think -- i'm sure you're aware there's a descent cable being circulated inside the state department. >> right. >> and takes issue with the executive order. are you aware of it? what's your reaction to it? and are you concerned that you are facing a bureaucracy at the state department that may not be working in the same direction you are? and since it is two-fer monday, if i could press you on the very first question you were asked on safe zones, president trump said a couple of times before the election that he wanted persian gulf countries not only to be open to this but to support it, to pay for it. >> yeah. >> is that the request he made of the king of saudi arabia and the phone call over the weekend? >> so on the first part, the first part dealt with -- yes, we're aware of that. this is a procedure that's part of the state department's way of letting career officials, career

foreign service officers express themselves. obviously we're aware of it. but i think that any government official, anyone who doesn't understand the president's goal in this, and what this actually was -- again, i think this has been blown way out of proportion and exaggerated. in a 24-hour period, 325,000 people from other countries flew in through our airports, and we're talking about 109 people. from seven countries that the obama administration identified. and these career bureaucrats have a problem with it? they should either get with the program or they can go. hold on. hold on. hold on. this is about the safety of america. and there's a reason that the majority of americans agree with the president. because they understand that that's his number one priority. and it's his number one duty, as it should be with any leader to keep our people and institution safe from attack and that these steps, frankly, are common sense steps that the president is taking to make sure we're never looking in the rear view mirror saying we should have done

something like this. >> on the safe zones? >> on the safe zones he did have a conversation about financing with them as well. yes. >> thank you, sean. president obama, the statement that was just referenced earlier, said he's heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country. does president trump have a message for the protesters? and does he have a message for the 109 people you just mentioned? and since it's two-fer monday, on this memo about the plan to defeat isis, the president campaigned and said he had a plan to defeat isis. does he? >> yes, he does. he's talking to his generals to make sure they provide him the feedback necessary to implement it. that is an ongoing conversation he continues to have with the joint chiefs, secretary of state designee, homeland security and secretary of defense. he has been having that conversation within his national security council, within his advisers. he has tasked the joint chiefs with a plan to come up with and implement some of his recommendations and some of

theirs to make sure we can defeat isis. >> and the protesters, specifically to the families this weekend who were caught up in this? >> yeah. i think it's a shame that people were inconvenienced, obviously. at the end of the day we're talking about a couple of hours. i would rather, you know -- i'm sorry that some folks may have had to wait a little while. but i think the president would much rather know that he a's not placing a call to someone who was killed because someone was let in this country to commit a terrorist attack. so if you weigh the calls that we have to have, someone being temporarily inconvenienced coming into an airport -- and i think when you do talk to some of those people. a couple of them were interviewed and they said we understand the president is doing this in the best intent of the country. being able to come to america is a privilege, not a right. it is our duty and it is the president's goal to make sure that everybody who comes into this country, to the best of our ability, is here because they want to enjoy this country and

come in peacefully. and so he takes that obligation extremely seriously. and so -- hold on. i just want to finish cecilia's question since she was so good on the second one. to make sure that somebody is inconvenienced a little. and people experience this all the time sometimes going in and out of tsa. we have to wait in lines, too. but we do so to make sure we're getting on a plane to make sure we're going to a destination, not committing a nefarious act. the safety of our country and our people will always be at the forefront of this president's head. this is where he wants to go. so, again, i think we've got to keep all of this into proportion. we had 109 people that were temporarily detained. they're all in. but they were temporarily detained to make sure that the safety of the other 324 million americans was put first. i don't see how that's a big problem. >> to follow up on the extreme vetting, advocacy groups are saying that we already have extreme vetting.

it takes anywhere from 18 to 24 months for people who are applying for asylum or refugee status to go through that process. how do you justify making it more extreme? also do you plan to add more countries to the list since -- >> it's a 90-day review period. it's a 90-day review period. if you have other countries, please let us know. >> saudi arabia. >> i understand that. it's interesting that you're talking about adding countries when i keep hearing all these countries was it too much and too quick? you can't have it both ways. you can't argue that we should add more countries yet you didn't like we're having all these issues with the -- >> some other countries that have problems with terrorism are not in the list. >> right. we're reviewing the entire process over this period of time to make sure we do this right. you don't have to look any further than the families of the boston marathon in atlanta, in san bernardino to ask if we can go further. there's obviously steps we can and should be taking. the president will continue to do what he can to make sure that

this country is as safe as possible. >> what about the vetting process? >> last night we were told by senior administration officials that top immigration staffers on capitol hill and other offices were involved in drafting the executive order. that does jive with the report that we have, we're hearing from offices that they weren't involved. so can you say which offices -- >> you're talking offices that weren't involved. >> any offices on capitol hill. >> there's 535 offices plus territories. did you talk to them all? >> which offices -- >> just because you called one of 535 offices. as was told to you last night, there was staff from appropriate committees and leadership offices that were involved. yeah? >> thank you. two questions, please. one, on behalf of the america thanking president trump for the cabinet level post of nikki

haley. >> right. >> question is under president trump administration, do you think india will be a member of the u.n. security council and what changes do you think we can see at the united nations? >> obviously, the president is very pleased with ambassador haley being confirmed and spending her first week up will in new york. she's going to do a fine job representing us. and i'm not going to get any further with respect to seats on the security council. >> second -- >> of course. >> thank you, sir. president trump promised -- since president trump's victory to make america great again my question is both leaders, i understand, are in the same boat because india is the same. nye my question is how will work for u.s. immigrations are concerned and india is ready to welcome president trump. >> well, he appreciates that. they had a great conversation the other day and the relationship between the two

countries will continue to grow stronger. yes? >> sean, first to follow up on these questions. my understanding is the wheels are already in motion on the raid offer this weekend but did the president have to specifically okay it? >> he did, yes. >> report in the uk that the president plans to withdraw from the paris climate agreement within days. can you confirm that? >> i don't have anything on that. will have to get back to you. >> i have two on immigration. >> okay. >> two on immigration. first the president says he's a great counter puncher, but he attacked senator schumer over fake tears, that he had shed fake tears over the weekend. senator schumer did not attack president trump. he went after his policy. was this gracious of the president? >> the president's tweet speaks clearly for himself. he knows what he's talking -- senator schumer, kellyanne pointed out this morning, where have senator schumer's tears been for all the other problems

going on in this country, homeless? in eight years with all the stuff that's gone on in this country with crime and the economy, i haven't seen too many sheers from senator schumer. >> my other question is, you said it's been 109 people. but the associated press is reporting that the congressionally approved program by which 300 iranian christians, jews who are at threat of persecution in this country were coming to austria as a way station to come to the united states, have been blocked from coming to austria. >> right. 109 were detained in the u.s. temporarily. >> but that doesn't talk to the 300 who have been blocked from coming. >> okay. >> so that's 409. >> no, no, that's not what i said. i said 109 people -- let me answer the question. 109 people were detained in the united states. they were processed through in a way to make sure that they weren't causing anyone in the

united states harm. they were processed through the system. that's what i said. that's exactly what happened. scott? >> sean, what's your level of concern about any kickback from some of these countries that are on that list of seven as far as how relations may work in the future? some people obviously critical of the fact that you have countries like saudi arabia, afghanistan, where we have had attacks on u.s. soil with connection to those countries. do you foresee those being added? >> you are asking what is our concern with their reaction to us? >> absolutely. >> yeah. look, i think the president's number one goal is the protection and safety of the united states and its people. if they want to act in a way that's inconsistent with their concerns, then that's up to them to do as a sovereign nation. it is our duty and his duty to make sure that this country and its people are protected first and foremost. >> sean? >> yes, sir? >> sean, the human rights campaign has issued a statement saying that -- citing rumors that president trump religious freedom executive order that undermine lgbt rights.

is the president considering any kind of order? >> i'm not going to get ahead of the executive orders we may or may not issue. there are a lot of executive orders that the president will talk about. we have nothing on that front. >> the 90-day ban being extended indefinitely? >> right now it is what it is. the executive order calls for 90 days to review those seven countries. again, at the end of that, we'll see where we go from there. right now that's the goal of this. >> and on supreme court, i don't believe you answered this question earlier. what was the reason that president trump decided to move up his announcement from thursday night to tomorrow night? >> because he wanted to. >> was it a way -- >> no, no, no. >> flip the script here? >> he wanted to move it up. he was ready to go. as he mentioned friday, he was making his decision. he made the decision and the president chose to go with it. plain and simple. really nothing more. daniel?

>> new york immigration coalition claims a syrian refugee with a visa was among detainees released from custody at the airport. why was that person allowed to enter the country? was it violation of president trump's -- >> every person that has entered this country has gone through vetting. the individual must have gone through the system, pretty plain and simple. >> daily briefings not on the president's schedule tuesday, wednesday, friday of last week. can you confirm he has not received the daily briefing? >> he gets it every day. i just answered the question. chr kristen? >> sean, thanks. seeing it as a recruiting tool. michael hayden said he believes this travel ban could make the u.s. less safe. what do you say to those who argue this travel ban will make the country less safe? >> let's go back and look at what it is. seven countries that the obama administration had already

identified needed further travel restrictions. >> they didn't issue a ban. >> i understand that. what i'm saying is that the president recognizes that it is his duty and obligation to make sure we keep this country safe and by instituting a process by which we look at these countries over a 90-day period and the process by which people can come in and out of this country to ensure the safety of each and every one of us makes a heck of a lot of sense. i understand. in a lot of cases -- i say this respectfully. some people have not read what exactly the order says and are reading it through misguided media reports. when you actually read the report and understand the nexus of it and how it's working -- again, look at how it worked. when you talk about the 325,000 people, 109 were temporarily inconvenienced for the safety of us all. >> there was a 5-year-old from iran that was separated -- >> they were processed through, kristen. the point is that you can go through and nitpick and say this individual this -- that's why we slow it down a little.

to make sure if they are a 5-year-old that maybe they're with their parents and they don't pose a threat. to assume that just because of someone's age, gender or whatever that they don't pose a threat would be misguided and wrong. >> let me ask you about the rollout as well. did secretary kelly find out about the executive order as it was being signed and secretary mattis find out only hours later? >> i'll tell you what has been briefed out previously. all appropriate agencies and individuals that needed to be part of the process were. everybody was kept in the loop at the level necessary to make sure we rolled it out properly. >> respond to former president -- >> on that note, how much -- how well were those departments briefed? you just said yourself that the president is willing to act very quickly when he has to to keep the country safe. is there a lesson to be learned from what happened last week in terms of maybe better preparing the departments that are relevant? >> let -- i understand the question you're asking. two things that have to be cleared up. one is if we announced this a lot earlier, it would have given

people plenty of time to fly into the country that could have done us harm. that's not exactly a sound strategy. the people that needed to be kept in the loop were kept in the loop. the people that needed to be briefed were. again, i think that this is largely overblown. when you look at the context of how big this was and the number of people that caught up, it's relatively minor as a percentage of the overall total. so when you look at how this worked on a saturday, 109 people out of 325,000 were slowed down going in. i truly believe it is being blown out of proportion. the extent to which this actually was, for what it did. frankly, government functioned very well. we made sure that the people coming in weren't coming in to do us harm. we made sure that the people who said they went back to a country that was one of those seven did so without any intent to do this country or people harm and they all got in after the screen. the system actually worked really well. i mean, that's the takeaway from

this, the system worked well. the country is safer for it. >> do you want to respond to the former president? >> can you answer how many -- i know you said 109 over the last 24 hours, since the executive order. how many went through since that 24 hours? >> we've been listening to white house press secretary sean spicer wrapping up his wide-ranging briefing. obviously a lot of time devoted to the issue of the immigration order issued over the weekend. one question that investors will really want to hone into is the question about corporate tacks and the ability to get something done in 2017, would the administration be committed to tax reform in 2017 and spicer said essentially it's a two-way street, but that they will work with congress. take a look at how rashes are reacting. we had bounce off session lows. s&p 500 down .8%. nasdaq down less than a percent. nasdaq had been off by about 1.4% going into this news conference.

individual stocks, fitbit plunging 17%. preliminary fourth quarter results coming well below expectations, cutting 110 jobs, 6% ofity workforce. materials, financials, industrials. so what is working in the selloff? gold miners. check out newmont mining, hanes brands biggest gainers on the s&p right now. >> news conference went about as i expected. john? >> yeah. it's still going on, michelle. sean spicer was batting back inquiries about the executive order reorganizing the national security council. he said it was false as the media has reported over the weekend, that the chairman of the joint chiefs and the director of national intelligence had been demoted in that process. he cast steve bannon's conclusion to a chair on the national security council to be an act of transparency by the

administration rather than not say that the political adviser was at the table. they were disclosing that up front. he said that the travel ban, that the implications of that, the people who were held up have all gone through screening and entered the country. and he said that was a small price to pay for american security. he did alter in one way or say that the president, the administration was altering in one way the executive order on the national security council by adding the director of the cia, mike pompeo back to the seat at the table. >> thank you very much, john harwood. let's get thoughts now from dan griswold, leading expert on trade and immigration policy. dan, thank you very much for joining us. obviously there's been a lot of utilizerage over the weekend and maybe a lot of confusion out there. 109 people, according to sean spicer. do you believe that corporate america or america in generals had a firm understanding about the executive order and exactly what it entailed?

>> well, i think sean spicer was right in the fact that it wasn't a large number of people, 109 people. i understand virtually all of them got through. it does create foreign polishes that will ripple through. in terms of the economic impact on corporate america i think it's pretty minimal. i think in the ceo offices around the country they're much more concerned about building a wall along the mexican border and all the implications that has for our trading relationship with our third largest trading partner. teresa may visiting and the implication that has for brzpit and perhaps a u.s./uk free trade agreement. those are the big issues in terms of the economy. >> we spoke with the doctor that was expecting to come in from iran to boston to begin a residency and is in limbo in switzerland. let's focus on the other side, the southern border perhaps. 10 or 11 million undocumented immigrants in the united states. many of them work and live in our communities.

should we give them amnesty? >> well, whatever you want to call it -- >> make them legal, tax them. >> yes. i don't think it's amnesty if you legalize them and they pay a fine, they pay backtaxes. they have to go through a security check. this is in our national interest. it brings them out of the shadows. they tend to get paid more, invest more in their language and work skills. we would all be better off if we allowed this underground, illegal population to become legal. and then we can fix the immigration system so that we don't have this problem of illegal immigration. and the answer there is to expand channels for legal immigration and, by the way, that would make us more secure on our southern border. if our border patrol agents could go after real criminals instead of wasting all these resources going after people who want to pick lettuce and pound shingles and cook fast food. >> if we could go back to the whole issue that happened over

the weekend and all the drama that was sparked, limited number of people, according to sean spicer. when you listen to the narrative about what the values are of this country. we're an immigrant nation, et cetera. how welcoming, historically, is the united states to immigrants? it's been my impression that we talk a big game on this front. but, in fact, it's quite difficult to get into the united states. >> well, that's correct. it is difficult to get into the united states. our immigration rate today, the actual number of people coming in per thousand population is lower than the national average. so, we're well within the norm. we've had a love/hate relationship with immigrants, haven't we? we have been welcoming to immigrants and yet have anxieties about the most recent wave. i think the executive orders over the weekend do send a mixed signal. basically using a meat cleaver when a scalpel is more appropriate. we need to have our radar up and not let people in who want to do

us harm but i think we see a lot of people from these countries are coming here as students, they've helped the united states in iraq and afghanistan. we need to be welcoming to them. >> dan griswold, pleasure to have you on "power lunch." complicated issue. >> yes, thank you. weighing in on twitter is drew houston, saying executive orders affecting world's most vulnerable are unamerican. dropbox embraces people from all countries and faiths. comments come as dropbox unveil s new products and says it's on track for $1 billion in annual revenue. joining us now, drew houston, for "power lunch" exclusive. >> thanks for having me. >> dropbox, how does it affect the company or employees? >> we don't support it. as far as directly impacting our employees, we're looking into that. it's a small number. we think it's more fundamental, our values as a country and

certainly as a company. and we want to do everything we can to support our employees because they come from all over the place. >> are people from abroad, maybe on h1b visas. are there other sorts of collateral affects you may not be facing now but could be facing down the road? >> well, sure. i think it's an issue, longer term issue for american competitiveness. we have a place that attracts the best and the brightest from all over the world. we educate them here only to kick them out. so i think even from an economic standpoint -- >> isn't it a very different issue? you're talking about the issue of students who are already here, h1b visas. this is different than that, isn't it? an area that had been identified, seven countries who already had been identified by the obama administration as areas where they had to do even more vetting of people coming into the country. apples and oranges, no?

security and safety and then there's also the future economic drive of the country. and i'm not sure that the two match up here. >> well, i don't think singling people out from these countries or in effect these faiths is the american thing to do. so i think it's the wrong decision. >> let's talk about business, drew. dropbox is banded about as a potential ipo on 2017. i don't expect you to comment on whether or not you're definitely going public or not. in terms of valuation, how should investors start to think about what you're announcing today, $1 billion in revenue? last time you got valued in 2014, it was $10 billion. fidelity and t. rowe cut. what are the numbers as far as the run rate you're projecting now and what the run rate had been in 2014 when you had a $10 billion valuation. >> well, it's a big day for us.

we had a launch event and we shared that drop box just across the $1 billion run rate and ibc confirmed that dropbox is the fastest software as a service company to ever hit that milestone. something we're excited about. we're really excited. >> so you don't want to comment on valuation, which is the question i asked? >> well, it's really the investors who set that. we just focus on building a great product and our business. the scale that we just announced is a big indicator of that. and yesterday free cash flow positive. and these are two big indicators of the health of business. >> so look for 2017, drew? >> that's one of the great things about having a healthy business. we have some flexibility to go public on our own timeline. we'll go when the time is right for us and the time is right for the market. >> drew, thanks for joining us. drew houston, ceo, dropbox. stocks are having their

worst day of the year so far, dow down 160. is this a turn on trump trade, something else, is the rally still intact? valuable investing advice just for you after this.

taking stock of trump's early moves and trying to figure out how this investing in disrupters. julia boorstin. >> reporter: hey, michelle. self-driving cars continue to attract investment regardless of who occupies the oval office. the big question is whether trump's presidency makes new investors attractive. personal security, which is why he's investing in a car security camera company. he also says the president's move away from globalization is bad for tech investments.

that's incredibly bad. in my mind that means i have to be a lot more careful. >> proceeding stage. >> he says he's proceeding cautiously, former analyst now venture capitalist gene muenster says the president's policies won't affect the process. augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and robotics. and they see opportunities to invest in infrastructure. >> if the administration and congress include technology as part of their investment in infrastructu infrastructure, i think that could be a very big boon for the technology industry, particularly with the internet of things, censors, more wi-fi, more connectivity throughout the nation. >> we'll be looking for

companies from all those sectors for cnbc's disruptor 50. we're accepting nominations now for the list. that will be revealed in may. you can find more inbe foe in the nominations forum at disrupter 50 cnbc.com. today's market slide pushes the dow back to 20,000. marks the worst day of 2017 for the major averages. we have dmo capital markets and steven wood, chief investment strategist with russell investments. good to have you here. pretty big selloff today. there are concerns that supposedly it's because he has his eye off the ball with tax reform, distracted with the executive order. do you buy that? >> no rk, cleansing breath. this is a less than 100% pull back. we're in the middle of earnings season. i'm speaking monotone. >> i was wondering why. >> because i'm trying to remain calm. this is about investing. we had a big run. we have to as a market start to act to not react to everything

that happens on a daily basis. we really do. >> we should all stay off of social media for the rest of our lives. >> we need #boycottbelski. >> you obviously hate america because you're investing -- we've got to have a little fun up here. your investing thesis is america is great except from an investing perspective, europe and japan are better. >> right. we agree the fundamentals look good. we don't think there's going to be a recession in the u.s. we think the earnings cycle is going to improve. we think the fed will go 2 not 3 times. we think the valuation has been more of a story. >> over valued in the case america is wildly over valued. we're okay but we're going to be more okay somewhere else? >> i think we are over valued. pick your favorite measure of expensiveness. i think the u.s. is expensive. i think we would caution investors to not be put in the

false area of the forecast. we would, for example, as you mentioned, look at europe. the cycle's improving. earlier stage economic and earnings cycle, margin cycle. european central bank will be accommodatetive. >> what if the market is pricing in tax reform and much more profitability because of a better economy. >> i would agree. >> couldn't that be in that multiple? >> i think so. a lot of that good news is we think getting priced closer to perfection than not. >> it's not that i don't want to agree with you just because you're a green bay packers fan and i'm a vikings fan and we were talking about it in the greenroom because we were watching the wonderful press conference. i don't believe, we don't believe that cash flow, sales and earnings, the denominator's part of the valuation has goen into itself. i believe that numbers are still way too low in the structural secular positive that we see that could last multiple decades is less regulation.

i don't think enough people are talking about that. we don't know what the tax cuts are, what the infrastructure bill is going to be, what the repatriation bill is going to look like. what we do know is regulation across the board not just in financials, health care, epa, in the fcc is going to be major positive tail winds with respect to pushing earnings and sales higher. >> the question though is is any of that priced into and is that embedded in the multiple? i appreciate your bullishness. i appreciate the cleansing pause. it's less than a percent off the s&p 500 but the context of the move is that we have gone nowhere on the s&p since december 13th or so. >> great question. >> flat line. here we had a bump up to dow 20,000 and we were back down. so we're still at that stand still sort of pace. >> here's what we said. here's what we've actually published. we're transitioning into an earnings driven market from a multiple market. performance is more bumpy because we don't believe the earnings. we believe too many clients

around the world have focused too much on tax cuts and not on some of the bumpy period as we transition to real fundamental growth. we're going back to the mid 90s. >> i would say a lot of that is priced in in our estimation. don't make that false choice. europe merging asia, japan, globally diversified and active portfolio. >> japan has burned people so much. >> it is. >> about 20 recessions in the last six years. >> that's where the active part comes in. so we've had a team on the ground for 30 years in japan. not setting up that effort now. so i think security selection, being able to get around the nuances of abenomics. kuroda will be very active so that is an opportunity to add value. right now i think that the multiples are becoming -- multiples you can run and you can't hide on valuation. you really can't. >> thank you. brian belski, more monotone. >> yes. >> check please is next. d saic c

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check please. listen, i think it's a corporate social media risk as well. now you've got in terms of the right wing because they're going to hire 10,000 refugees.

why do they feel the need to say anything. >> we're in a society forget the issue if you don't come against it, you're automatically before it. >> your customers are expecting it. >> disclosure, i wrote a book. i immigrated to the united states. howe spu welcoming we are to immigrants. this is definitely our reputation. it's incredibly hard to get into the united states. when i travel all over the world people are always telling me how desperate they are to come here. >> all right. >> market. >> i'm obviously watching the markets. the worst day for stocks since

october, really 4/27 is up 17 as well. we're watching big tech tomorrow. that's going to be key for the nasdaq which has advanced most of the major three indices. key day for the market. >> thanks for watching "power lunch." "closing bell" starts right now. big businesses are thrilled what's happening. the stock market has gone up massively since the election. everyone's saying the market will go down. i said, not going down. the smart people know them. the business people know me. they'll know what i'm about. so the market went massively up. >> that was president trump earlier today but right now stocks are actually seeing their worst day of 2017. is this a healthy pull back or is the trump rally really getting derailed? that's the question of the day and welcome to the