discussion. >> he claims he has resigned from his businesses as of the inauguration. >> thank you for joining us. >> "inside politics with john king" starts right now. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing time with us today. it's a busy first monday for president trump making jobs and trade an immediate focus as he opens up a week of executive actions focused on getting some of his biggest campaign promises. >> we want to start making our products again. we don't want to bring them in. we want to make them here. >> also today, an ethics group filing a lawsuit against the new president arguing he's not done enough to wall himself off from business conflicts and foreign influence, and we'll see whether this afternoon's second trump white house briefing is as surreal as the first.

most of what the press secretary said on saturday was not true but the new administration has a new term for not telling the truth. >> don't be overly dramatic about it chuck. you're saying it's a falsehood. our press secretary sean spicer gave alternative facts to that. >> brace for it, parents of america, alternative facts when you catch your kids doing whatever. with us to share reporting and insights, cnn sara murray, ed o'keefe. it is president trump's first full week at the white house. brace yourself for a lot of action. the president signed an executive order to withdraw the united states from the transpacific partnership. that's a massive trade deal corporate america loves but a deal that the new president says hurts american workers. >> we're going to sign three memorandums right now. the first one is withdrawal of the united states from the

transpacific partnership. >> everyone knows what that means, right? we've been talking about this for a long time. thank you. >> okay. great thing for the american worker we just did. >> earlier this morning a roundtable where the president brought carrots and sticks. promised corporate tax cuts are coming but issued a warning that shutdown operations in the united states and moved jobs elsewhere. >> a company that wants to fire all of its people in the united states and build some factory some place else and then thinks that product is going to flow across the border into the

united states, that's not going to happen. they're going to have a border tax to pay. substantial border tax. now, some people would say that's not free trade. we don't have free trade now because we're the only one that makes it easy to come into the country. >> first monday on the job bit of a rocky weekend we'll get to that in a moment but in terms of the first monday bringing in business leaders to talk about manufacturing and talk about jobs and warns them about trade. some republicans don't like that. warns them about border tax and signing this order again. corporate america likes the transpacific partnership. donald trump says it's one of those trade deals that screws the little guy. what do we make? focus on big campaign promises. >> if donald trump can stay on the issues today and sean spicer can avoid having a meltdown from the podium during the white house briefing, this is a good day for donald trump. this is an opportunity for them to go out and say a major criticism of barack obama was that he did not have an open channel of communication with the business community or with members of congress. we're doing both of those setting the tone for that on the

first day. and in addition to that, we're meeting with union leaders. your guys voted for me. the question with donald trump's advisers and administration as it always is can they be disciplined and can they stick to the things that people voted them in to do or will they get distracted by these side battles? >> if you look at what's been done and what he vowed to do and what he just did in the last few minutes, it's all classic republican, you know, policy and promises fulfilled. he's now pulled out of the tpp, which will upset part of his party. he put a freeze on federal hiring. and then once again imposes the mexico city order or global gag rule by saying that u.s. funding can't go to international organizations that do anything regarding abortion. that was instituted by reagan and george w. bush's clinton and

obama did it. put back in place. classic republican stuff so far. >> we can put up for viewers our three orders to think of that. on the last point, the trade issue certainly will be defining issue for this president. ban on federal hiring traditional for republican president. the military can go forward there. the mexico city policy if you do remember the reagan days is not so significant if you think it's a republican president but it is to a degree an early test because, remember, if we went back a decade, donald trump was pro-choice. he said he changed his view. republicans weren't sure especially cultural conservative republicans weren't sure as president if he would stick to this. we have a supreme court fight coming up. it's that part of it. the trade stuff is not conservative. that part of it is conservative. >> i think the mexico city thing was basically a no-brainer on the part of trump. i do think that it is largely symbolic. it really doesn't have the --

let's face it. the big show is going to be the supreme court. >> and i think also the planned parenthood funding. some republicans are squishy on that. >> one other thing he said this morning that will cause concerns on the hill from his party was talking about a border tax, instituting a border tax on companies that ship jobs overseas. that's something when he talked about that after the election, republicans were running away from that. majority leader of the house, kevin mccarthy warned it could start a trade war. paul ryan started to distance himself from that saying we'll worry about doing this in a larger tax reform bill. trump today made it very clear that he wants to go that route. as president, you do have fairly wide latitude to impose tariffs. does he carry through with some of those threats? i agree with karen. a lot of stuff is symbolic.

we knew tpp was dead. a symbolic move. when we get into details of legislative push on obamacare and supreme court nominee and on doing things like the tariff, that's when things will start to really heat up. >> he hasn't taken any dramatic steps with his own pen so far. there was talk today that might be the day that he starts moving the u.s. embassy to jerusalem as of this hour it hasn't happened and may not happen today. and we haven't seen any action regarding deferred action for childhood arrives. immigration policy he said he would like to undo. nervousness among republicans and legislation ready to cover those kids on the hill that might move quickly should he decide to step in and do that. >> on deferred action for childhood arrivals, he has spoken on both sides of that issue. >> interesting to hear priebus suggest yesterday they may not do it through an executive action. he suggested part of a larger immigration effort. i'm sure that would upset elements of his base that expect him to take a hard line on that

issue. >> it's a great point. in the first week, first full week, first full week people are testing because he did say many things that were either contradictory or at odds with his campaign and as he got up to speed on issues. you have latino community wondering if he's serious? will he round them up and kick them out? he said the 1950 operation, wetback, he used that term, no he's not serious about that. he's sounding tough. i'm told and you're right it didn't come today or not yet that the whole week will be executive actions and events built around those executive actions to try to promote the first 100-day message and agenda. >> i think it will be interesting to see how far he's willing to do with some of these executive actions because part of what we know is that the hill only has so much bandwidth to respond to what donald trump has decided to do and create legislation to support. if you put an expiration date on dhaka or you try to make these

moves, that has to set the hill into action to move forward with whatever comes next and whatever will replace it. same with obamacare. what we heard from paul ryan and his conversation with trump was you got to sort of give us one big thing at a time. that's how the hill works. we can't really juggle every policy priority. >> it's not how donald trump works. >> in that vain, john mccain called the tpp a serious mistake to pull out but offers no legislative alternative. >> that is again the feeling out period we have with the new president who is a republican president but a lot of his ideas, john mccain's opposition there across the party. they don't agree with him on trade. they don't agree with him on pulling out of trade agreements or on opposing border tariffs. the president himself said he wants to do this country by country and negotiate better deals. the issue is -- first, let's go back. you saw the president at the top of the show signing the papers.

i've been talking about this for a long time. he has about the transpacific partnership. bernie sanders moved hillary clinton against it. hillary clinton and donald trump were both against it. here's how donald trump described it during the campaign. >> the tpp is a horrible deal. it is a deal that will lead to nothing but trouble. it's a deal that was designed for china to come in as they always do through the backdoor and take advantage of everyone. >> now, his critics and proponents of the deal went crazy after that statement because that's not what it was designed to do. it was a coalition of 12 nations designed to counter china because china is an economic force in the region. so now you have australia and japan not happy with this. it's not just republicans in the united states senate or corporate interests here in the

united states. our alleies are saying why? >> if this does not take effect, it could lead to china becoming more powerful and not have the -- have the opposite impact of what president trump wants. it will be interesting to see how people like paul ryan respond to this. paul ryan distanced himself from tpp during the campaign. he was instrumental in passing that legislation that had to pass before enacting tpp. he's a free trader. how does the rest of the party react? we heard john mccain say because there are those global concerns that this could empower china. >> this has been a moot question for a long time now. this is an argument that president obama was unable to sell to his own party. going back and debating the merits of a product that did not sell is sort of, you know, at this point pointless. >> ben seth, republican nebraska senator, issued a statement suggesting that. proponents of free trade failed

to make their argument and they need to regroup. >> interesting to see what changes he wants to make to nafta and what other sort of shots across the bow they send to china to warn them they are on different footing with this administration. >> you mentioned nafta. that's next for the president. he said it would rip it up during the campaign. now he says he'll renegotiate it. meetings planned with prime minister of canada and president of mexico and will renegotiate it. a kinder, gentle approach. more diplomatic. i think he's handled that one in a way that's turned the temperature down a little bit because it was negotiated in the 1990s. we didn't have so many robots and factories back then. why not renegotiate. it sounds better to our partners to the north and south than rip it up. >> or modernize. that sounds good to people on the hill and friends on k street and everyone can agree that a deal you sign back then maybe doesn't translate so well in 2017. >> aspirationally. we'll see how those conversations go. everybody sit tight. up next, the new president makes

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welcome back. it was a signature theme of donald trump's campaign and of president trump's inaugural address. >> from this day forward, it's going to be only america first. america first. every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit american workers and

american families. >> that blunt talk is all the buzz in global capital. leaders wonder just what it means when it comes to big economic and security issues. we're getting a few early clues. the president spoke over the weekend with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. they say the new administration will proceed cautiously. slowly. the question as you mentioned earlier on, this is one of the other areas where he's upending the apple court. what does that mean, slowly and cautiously? >> there are ramifications of doing this. one is inciting a lot of violence in the middle east, undermining whatever efforts are under way for mid east peace and undermining the united states standing in the region. this is something that they are going to have to proceed cautiously with, and i think this is another example of the difference between what you campaign on and what you govern

on. >> word out of israel though is that prime minister netanyahu who wants the united states to do this but even he said just be careful how you do this. i want it to be the end result, but let's be careful. >> the other thing in that regard is what to do about the iran deal that netanyahu so aggressively campaigned for the united states to block and trump suggested that he would rip up right away calling it the worst deal that was ever negotiated but the problem is some members of his cabinet, club general james matis, secretary of defense, suggesting it's not so easy to pull out and the deal is being implemented. campaign on one thing but when realities of governing set in, that changes your approach. >> every president goes through that. candidate trump was so america first. all my decisions we base on america first. how much of a difference will we see? this week is with president may

of the u.k. she's going to meet with republican lawmakers at their retreat. so there's another one there. he was a big fan of the brexit. she now has a huge challenge getting her country out of the european union and what she wants from the new president is one thing he's skeptical about, a trade deal. can he give her what she needs to go home with or will they do that quickly as possible? >> issue one is demonstrate that we can pull out of europe but remain the special relations with the united states and we'll see whether she can get that from him. it is notable that she's meeting with lawmakers. most of the time world leaders don't do it in such a way that she's going to philadelphia for that. it's stunning from what he said on friday afternoon through today how much of the world order really just has to be looking at this and going we really don't know what to expect right now. the news he just made in the last hour will undoubtedly be royal markets when they open

again in asia overnight and a lot of those leaders must be really thinking how do we get through to these guys and say is there any chance that we can reopen this? can we try again? >> donald trump would argue that this sort of uncertainty was exactly what he was trying to create. he kept saying over and over, i like to be unpredictable. here we are. >> he thinks it helps him in negotiations too. peop if people are on edge, he thinks it helps him get a better deal. >> he must feel that way as he goes into conversations with the uk as well. he feels like he has an upper hand because president obama said they would be sent to the back of the line. donald trump did not say that in the wake of brexit. he said today i'm not opposed to negotiating new trade deals. he certainly feels like if he goes into a unilateral trade deal, especially at this moment with the uk, he feels like he has the upper hand and can get a better deal.

>> did everyone spend the weekend studying the constitution and the emolument clause? >> this lawsuit filed says donald trump is in violation of the constitution. it says the president is in violation because the constitution prevents the president from coming under the influence of foreign governments. taking money from foreign governments. the lawsuit argues that because he has his hotels. because he still has other business arrangements around the world and that foreign governments spend money in those hotels or do transactions with his businesses in some way, that he is in violation. here's how one of the lawyers who helped file the suit, historical reference here, listen to why they explain why donald trump is wrong. >> he is in violation of the constitution if he's receiving payments from overseas from foreign governments or from corporations controlled by foreign governments and this goes right back to the tent of the founders. what was the point of having a tea party and throwing king george's tea into boston harbor if you're going to have a president who is buying and selling tea from king george?

>> i'm not smart enough to understand the legal merits of this. i always love references to my hometown and the tea party. >> there's a supreme court with a bunch of strict constitutionalists on it. you wonder how they might rule. >> the president says he separated himself from his business. stories that paperwork on that hasn't been filed. a spokeswoman says he has separated himself from his business. we need to see paperwork filed to confirm that's true. >> beyond how this comes out and what the final legal is, we lived through clinton years. we know that having a lawsuit out there means things like depositions. it means having to disclose things. so how the judge -- the degree to which they let this -- >> if they give these guys standing, a lot of people see this as proxy back door to get his taxes. if you're trying to get into foreign payments and the like and you get into the deposition phase, you demand donald trump's taxes so the first question is

do they have legal standing? >> this is the avenue that the liberal groups which are pushing this lawsuit are going to proceed on the courts. they're not going to get much action in congress to oversee a lot of things business dealings and conflicts of interest and so if they do gain some traction there, it could be potentially problematic because that's really the only effort to have some accountability and recourse against the administration. >> waiting for the first tweet against activist judges. next, the lesson of a fascinating weekend for women that turned out in huge numbers to march and the new white house and its alternative facts. boost

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welcome back. it's an old will rogers line. you never get a second chance to make a first impression. for sean spicer, that first impression was, to be polite, horrible. in an angry statement spicer lashed out at the news media but his tirade included a number of statements that just simply weren't true. >> this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration period both in person and around

the globe. >> the boss liked it. then trump counselor kelly wallace -- kellyann conway took this leap. >> why come out to the podium and utter a falsehood. >> don't be so overly dramatic about it, chuck. you're saying it's a falsehood. they're giving sean spicer alternative facts to that. >> the facts he uttered were not true. alternative facts are not facts. they're falsehoods. >> i don't want to be overly dramatic about this to borrow a phrase there. we get silly when we worry about ourselves and how the president and his team interact with the news media. the idea that you can when you are the president or speak for

the president and standing in the white house, which is owned by the taxpayers, speak alternative facts meaning deliberately say things that you know not to be true, that gets dangerous. crowd size. who cares. that will be behind us in a few days. what if it's about policy? what if it's about foreign relations? can iran come forward with alternative facts about its nuclear program? >> i think that's one of the things that white house reporters are not -- it's not abnormal to have an adversarial relationship with your sources. some days are better than others. i do think it's a question of sean spicer is supposed to be the bridge between the government that people elected and the free press which shares with the american people what this government is doing. so there is a certain level of honesty the american people have to be able to get from the person in that role. it doesn't really matter when it comes to crowd size, but it does matter when we talk about a

terrorist attack. it does matter when we talk about moving american ships. it does matter when we talk about a number of these other issues that are imperative in the coming years. that's what's concerning about this. >> it's worth pointing out that he's now in a position where the american people are paying his salary. it's not the trump campaign. it's not the rnc. i actually thought the single most unsettling, chilling part of the entire performance was after he spews out essentially a firehose of misinformation, he says this is what you should be reporting and covering. and for someone in his first outing at that lectern to stand there in a society with a free press and a government official ordering them what to be reporting and covering is -- it's just so far beyond the norm. >> we all know sean. he's not new here. let's just say he was told to say that and we know that from

reporting to be true. i don't think he personally believes in that. he took this job and his credibility is at stake. let's listen to the president himself. the president went to cia headquarters and as part of his speech there, he discussed his running war with people like us. >> as you know, i have a running war with the media. they are among the most dishonest human beings on earth. [ applause ] they sort of made it sound like i had a feud with the intelligence community. i just want to let you know the reason you're the number one stop is exactly the opposite. >> now, of course that's not true. that's not true. he started the fight with the intelligence community with his words and his tweets including at one point saying they're like nazi, germany, they were leaking on him.

let's leave that aside. we did learn in the campaign if donald trump disagrees with you or thinks that you are a threat to him like his opponents, he tries to undermine you. is that what he's doing? essentially if you don't hear it from me, it's not true? >> they're trying to tarnish the credibility of the news media. as any president will experience, most of the press is negative press. y you get pretty hostile adversarial relationship with the press corps that does investigate on things you're not doing that you promise on the campaign trail and conflicts of interest, et cetera, and trump had his fair share of bad press. if he can say that everything we're saying is not accurate, perhaps what he's saying that no one will listen to us and listen to him. that's what they hope. he needs an enemy. >> he's fully aware that the press isn't in great standing with the american people. we can't worry about our popularity. >> neither is he. that's what all of this is

about. from everything he signed today to everything he said over the weekend, it's designed to shore up his base of support. pretty soon that may be all he has. he went into the presidency last week with a rating no bigger than the 40s. the worst rating of any new president in modern history. if he starts to lose that even more, it's going to be very difficult for him to get done in the next few weeks and months, so he went after us because we're just as unpopular as congress these days frankly. that's fine. we'll continue doing our jobs. he's got to do his which means throwing us under a bus. >> one thing i will say in their defense which is a difficult thing to say after that sean spicer briefing and falsehoods, today they do have their reporters at the white house and letting them in to see the executive orders and that part is encouraging. this is still the people's house and press should still be let in to broadcast to the american people at least a part of what he's doing in the white house. that part is encouraging. >> it's a feeling out process shall we say early on. we'll see how this goes.

so many fascinating moments over the weekend in the early days of the new administration. one of them was the president had a reception for first responders and law enforcement. among those there, the fbi director. you might remember his fight with the intelligence community started over these reports that the intelligence community, including the fbi director, had presented him with alleged russian compromising information but so james comey, the fbi director, is in the room and donald trump decides he wants to greet him. >> jim is more famous than me. [ applause ] >> what makes this moment rather delicious is the democrats are furious at james comey for how he handled the clinton e-mail situation during the campaign but we know as the fbi as we speak investigating possible contacts between trump associates and the russian government during the campaign. so here you have the fbi director getting called out by

the president of the united states whose associates are under investigation. >> i don't think comey liked that probably. it undermine his credibility among liberals and democrats who don't believe he has any credibility left. it really reminds folks of the bill clinton meeting with loretta lynch on the tarmac in the middle of the hillary clinton e-mail investigation. people will point back to this moment if they don't like the results of this investigation. >> there's a question about whether comey stays even. >> a dispute about who was hugging who there? clear the president was pulling in the director. >> it's a fun early days here in this new one. up next, a big week for team trump on capitol hill beginning with today's debate about whether the new president is trying to bring back waterboa back waterboarding. remove 4 times more stains than detergent alone. mthat stuff only lasts a few hours.

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over pompeo. the senate democratic leader wouldn't budge. >> that's ridiculous. number one, we have never had a cia director confirmed on the first day. number two, there are very capable people watching over the cia and third and most important, pompeo is going to have huge, huge power, and there are issues that have been very vexing to the congress. >> by very vexing to the congress, at his hearing and congressman pompeo will be overwhelmingly confirmed in a few hours, at his hearing he said he would follow the law. the law says you can't waterboard but there's been some conversation that the administration, including director pompeo, may look for some backdoor way to reinstate it. get a legal opinion that says you can do this? >> seems this way. he issued a response to written questions over this over the last several days and suggested he would consult with attorneys to see what's allowed under the

law. much different than what he said at the hearing. absolutely he would not go forward with waterboarding and emphatic about that. he will be confirmed tonight. the question is rex tillerson good news? tonight marco rubio saying he would suggest tillerson's nomination. interesting to see what will happen with the budget director nominee who has his confirmation hearing tomorrow. he has some tax issues. didn't pay taxes for several years on a household employee and acknowledged that and tom price heading to second round of confirmation hearings tomorrow for health and human services secretary. so trump may get some nominees confirmed. not on the time line he wants. we'll see the impact that has on the rest of his objective. >> you mentioned rex tillerson. marco rubio was the big obstacle

because he said he had a lot of concerns that he was too soft on russia. other concerns. wanted commitments on cuba policy. hamlet played out and on facebook today senator rubio said this. "given the uncertainty that exists at home and abroad about the direction of our foreign policy, it would be against our national interest to have this confirmation unnecessarily delayed so despite my reservations i'll support mr. tillerson's nomination." a distraction to unnecessarily delay or embroil, why not say i have reservations but it would be a dristraction. >> he's marco rubio. he lives for the attention. we all say it. that's what he does. he tries to do this. sticks his head out a little bit and pulls back and becomes a good soldier here again. >> he got out far on the limb here during that hearing. he was going after tillerson probably more than most democrats even on the committee. that's what suggested he could

vote against tillerson but his aides said he had a private meeting with tillerson last week and they discussed these issues. 90-minute meeting. a blunt meeting. a hundred written questions and answers. perhaps some of his questions were alleviated. it does feed a lot of criticism of the way rubio played this. >> attention will shift to other nominees now that tillerson is through. we may see the confirmation of elaine choi. pompeo will go tonight. democrats keep honing in on betsy devobets betsy devos. democrats are asking for another hearing saying now that we've seen her ethics paperwork released friday night in the middle of the inaugural festivities, they found

problems. this is all democrats can do is try to delay things as long as possible because now you only need 51 senators. republicans have 52. there's no sign of republican opposition. >> the quick confirmations were general mattis for defense department and general kelly for homeland security and nikki haley moving through noncontroversial picks. you mentioned mccain skeptical of tillerson has come around. he talked to him several times and tillerson sounds tougher when it comes to russia than president trump does. george stephanopoulos asked this question. >> i have the utmost confidence in general flynn, general kelly, dan coats. i couldn't have picked a better team. i'm confident that he will listen to them and be guided by them. >> you say you have utmost confidence in his team.

do you have utmost confidence in donald trump? >> i do not know. he has made so many comments that are contradictory. >> this is sort of one of the defining themes of the early weeks of the trump administration. leadi leading figures in his own party say i don't know. >> consistency is not the hallmark of donald trump style. you brought up waterboarding a few moments ago. even on that issue donald trump told "the new york times" almost immediately after the election that general mattis sort of made him rethink this. maybe it doesn't work so well. and when you listen to some of these confirmation hearings, rex tillerson said during his confirmation hearing that he and donald trump had never discussed russia. that his department of -- >> he's only the secretary of state. >> his department of homeland security chief is not part of the immigration discussions. it's extraordinary. >> people don't know who donald trump is going to listen to

within his camp. people that are close to him? his family members? his cabinet secretary? many of whom have very different views and trump has not necessarily as karen said been consistent on these views so where does he come down? reminds me when i asked marco rubio in october, do you think donald trump will keep america safe? he said i think the military will keep america safe. i think you're hearing some of that from republicans even in the early days of the new white house. >> watch as it plays out. nervousness in town. again. candidate trump transition president-elect trump, and president trump keeping everyone on their toes. the most important story mr. president trump that people are not paying enough attention to coming up. absolutely ageless® night cream with active naturals® blackberry complex. younger looking skin can start today. absolutely ageless® from aveeno®. i'm good.? i just took new mucinex clear and cool.

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from their notebooks. sara murray? >> we know the trump administration is woefully understaffed at the moment. they're working to staff up. as they struggle to do this, donald trump had some of his own policies to blame for the fact that it's hard to find employees like officially saying we'll pull out of tpp and saying he wants to renegotiate nafta. when it comes to trying to hire for top spots in places like treasury, republicans say no thanks. i'm going to pass. they feel like they cannot go out there and defend donald trump's economic policies. they believe it's an isolationist agenda. even though republicans are in the white house, they can't bring themselves to join the administration. >> ed? >> we had that big march on washington this weekend organized by various women's groups. not organized by the democratic party but a lot of big stars that may think about 2020 were there. interesting to see them show up. remember, these tea party rallies began a few years back

were proving ground for a lot of folks that got elected into congress and elected governor in some states if these keep up would be interesting to watch. one thing i found interesting. only one official congressional candidate on the official list of speakers. a woman who is running in the 13-person democratic primary in los angeles to replace the candidate who becomes california attorney general. >> fun, fun, fun. >> like it or not, the 2018 midterm cycle is upon us and that means the retirement watch is upon us too. a number of senate democrats and republicans, people looking at possibly not running for re-election including some veterans like dianne feinstein of california, orrin hatch of utah, bill nelson of florida, all coming to the top of the list. feinstein i asked specifically about that. she said she dodged a question

when i asked hatch who said he would retire after his last re-election and now suggesting he may run again saying that he's getting encouragement to run again and bill nelson is running like a jackrabbit. people can change their minds but one person to also look out for is bob menendez indicted on corruption charges running for re-election at this point. we'll see if that changes if that indictment turns into a conviction. >> no youth movement in the united states senate is what you're trying to say. karen? >> mine is a reminder in president trump's news conference a couple weeks ago he said he would have a supreme court nominee ready for us within a few weeks. the size of this fight is going to dwarf anything that we have seen. this really is going to be his test among other people the evangelicals who sort of put aside what they don't like about his personal life and what they don't like about his past positions because to them the

supreme court was everything. i think for a lot of these people that we saw marching on saturday, the same could be argued. >> that's a great point. democrats still mad the senate wouldn't consider president obama's picks. there could be playback there. i'll close with this. sometimes silence speaks volumes. take major business groups like the chamber of commerce. most big business organizations are supporters of the trade agreements president trump plans to abandon but largely silents the president takes the first big steps in enacting his america first promises. one reason, they like other parts of the trump agenda like slashing corporate taxes and regulations and they hope republican allies in congress will prevent the trump white house from enacting that border tax the president talked about this morning. there's another big reason too. trump loves getting into fights with establishment groups so keeping quiet, not provoking a trump counterpunch is viewed as the smart tragedy early on.

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hello. i'm wolf blitzer here in washington. it's 1:00 p.m. in washington. from wherever you're watching around the world, thank you for joining us. we start with president trump kicking off his first full week in the white house. part of that will be the first official white house briefing with press secretary sean spicer. he'll take questions from the press, we're told. we'll bring that to you live once it gets under way later this hour. as for the president, he met with business leaders this morning and then signed a series of executive actions. the first, withdrawing from negotiations over the transpacific partnership or tpp trade deal. another put in place a federal government hiring freeze and a third bans federal funding for