hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. wherever you are watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. up first, we're standing by for the start of today's white house press briefing. the press secretary sean spicer will be briefing reporters looking at live pictures coming in from the west wing of the white house. the briefing room. we'll bring you that briefing live as soon as it begins momentarily. also, we just heard from president trump in an interview with abc news about his promise to build a wall along the border with mexico. listen. >> are you going to direct u.s. funds to pay for this wall? will american taxpayers pay for the wall? >> ultimately it will come out of what's happening with mexico.

we're going to be starting those negotiations relatively soon, and we will be in a form reimbursed by members of the jury -- mexico. >> so the american taxpayer will pay for the wall at first? >> we'll be reimbursed at a later date from whatever transaction we make from mexico. >> mexico's president said in recent days that mexico absolutely will not pay adding that it goes against our dignity as a country and our dignity as mexicans. he says -- >> i think he has to say that. he has to say that. but i'm just telling you there will be a payment. it will be in a form, perhaps a complicated form, and you have to understand. what i'm doing is good for the united states. it's also going to be good for mexico. we want to have a very stable, very solid mexico. >> when does construction begin? >> as soon as we can. as soon as we can physically do it. we're -- >> in months? >> i would say in months, yeah. i would say in months. certainly planning is starting immediately. >> later this hour, the

president signs another executive action. this time green lighting that wall along the border with mexico. he also plans to sign an order to end so-called sanctuary cities where local officials around the united states refuse to hand over undocumented immigrants. another issue that is sure to come up during today's briefing, the president's -- their refusal to back down from false claims of massive voter fraud during the 2016 election here in the united states. today the president tweeted this. i will be asking for a major investigation into voter fraud, including those registered to vote in two states, those who are illegal, and even those registered to vote who are dead and many for a long time, depending on results. we will strengthen up voting procedures." that was the tweet from the president. let's get some more on all of this from our team of reporters who are watching these developments. our senior white house correspondent jim accosta is with us, michelle kazinski is

leila santiago is in mexico city. jim, first to you. you just heard what the president said a few moments ago in that interview with abc news that he believes mexico eventually will pay the united states back for this border wall. that would be billions and billions of dollars. what details are you hearing about this new executive order or action that he is signing today on immigration? >> not sure if it's going to be a completion of the wall along the entire u.s.-mexican border. according to a source that we have been speaking with about what what's in this executive order, the department of homeland security will be looking at, aid that is provided to mexico, so that could be an avenue where they could be looking to funds to help pay for this wall, and also, from what i'm told by talking to a source,

that they're going to be trying to use existing funding in the department of homeland security that is authorized by the secure fence act that was passed during the bush administration way back in 2006. wolf, they're looking at using existing dollars, existing law to get this wall started, get it under construction. we're going to hear from the president in just a couple of hours over at the department of homeland security to offer up some more details, but, wolf, this executive order that president trump is going to be signing later on this afternoon dealing with immigration, it is going to be sweeping. it is not just dealing with starting construction of that wall on the u.s.-mexico border. it's going to be ordering immigration agents to step up enforcement, removal of what they call criminal "aliens" although we don't use that term. it's undocumented people in this country who are suspected of committing crimes. >> i'm going to interrupt you right now. there's sean spicer, the white house press secretary, starting today's press briefing. >> as soon as he gets going over there, i'm going to wrap up.

we got a little while together. the president brought leaders of both parties to discuss his next nomination of the supreme court. it's an incredibly productive conversation. as you can see from the president's tweet, he will announce that nomination next thursday. the president also spoke with prime minister modi of india yesterday. unfortunately, i wasn't able to give you a read-out during the briefing. during the call, the president emphasized the united states continues to consider india a true friend and partner in addressing challenges around the world. in a broad area such as the economy and defense. they also discuss security in the region of south and central asia. president trump and prime minister modi resolved that the united states and india should stand shoulder to shoulder in the global fight against terrorism, and president trump

looks forward to hosting prime minister modi in the united states later this year. today the president is focused on fulfilling one of his most significant campaign promises to the american people by making america safe again. by taking steps to secure our borders and improve immigration enforcement inside the united states. the president intends to sign two executive orders after observing the swearing in of secretary of security -- secretary of homeland security kelly. the first order is the border security and immigration enforcement improvements. it addresses long overdue border security issues, and it's the first order in that will be to build a large physical barrier on the southern border. building this barrier is more than just a campaign promise. it's a commonsense first step to really securing our porous border. this will stem the flow of drugs, crime, illegal immigration into the united states, and, yes, one way or another, as the president has said before, mexico will pay for it. the executive order also

provides the dedicated men and women of the department of homeland security with the tools they need -- the tools and the resources they need to stop illegal immigration from entering the united states. under the constitution the american people get the final say who can and cannot enter our nation, and they have spoken loud and clearly through our laws. we're going to create more detention space for illegal immigrants along the southern border to make it easier and cheaper to detain them and return them to their country of origin. we're going to end the last administration's dangerous catch and release policy, which has led to the deaths of many americans. we're going to once again prioritize the prosecution and deportation of illegal immigrants who have also otherwise violated our laws. after these criminals spend time in prison for the crimes that they've committed, they're going to get back one-way tickets to the countries of their origin, and their governments are going to take them back. the second executive order enhancing public safety in the interior of the united states addresses the enforcement over

immigration laws in the united states and returns the power and responsibility to the dedicated men and women of the department of homeland security's immigration and custom enforcement to help them enforce the law. these men and women want to enforce the law and we're going to help them do that. federal agencies are going to unapologetically enforce the law. no if's, and's, or but's. we're going to restore the popular and successful secure communities program which will help ice agents target illegal immigrants for removal. the state department is going to withhold visas and use other tools to make sure countries accept and return the criminals that came from their country. we'll insure that these countries take those individuals back, and we're going to strip federal grant money from the sanctuary states and cities that harbor illegal immigrants. the american people are no longer going to have to be forced to subsidyize this disregard for our laws.

reforming our immigration system has been at the top of president trump's priority since he announced his candidacy. now in just the final -- just in the first week -- we're not there yet -- of his presidency, the administration will restore value to the american citizenship, our greatest asset in the 21st century. as to the rest of the day scheduled this morning, the president started off his day in the oval office, carrying out some official duties. he -- this morning he had the honor to greet now ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley in his office after the vice president swore her in in his ceremonial office across the street. as one of the most respected governors in the country, ambassador haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of their background or differences to create opportunities for bettering her state and now our nation. the president is pleased that ambassador haley to the best of my knowledge, at least, says is our nation's first indian-american cabinet level officer. that's a big deal for indian-americans throughout this

country. and now she's able to get to work representing our nation as our nation's top diplomat. in just a few minutes the president will be departing the white house to visit the department of homeland security. he will attend the swearing in of secretary kelly, but then be briefed by fema on the storm relief efforts in the southeast and conduct other related business with specific to keeping our nation safe. secretary kelly has dedicated his life to protecting our country, enlisting in the marine corps in 1970, commanding at every level from platoon commander through the corp. level and combat and command. he has a sincere commitment to fighting the threat of terrorism inside of our country and ending the dangerous flow of illegal imgrabi immigrants through our borders. the president is looking forward to working with secretary kelly to implement his plans to restore our borders and protect our country. for everyone keeping score at home, this brings us up to four total confirmations of our cabinet or cabinet level appointees, and as a reminder, the obama administration had 12 done at the end of their first

week. needless to say, we think senate democrats should continue to spend some quality time getting our nominations moved out of the senate. this afternoon the president will have his final event -- public event, anyway, by speaking on the phone with mississippi governor bryant. they're going so discuss storm relief and recovery efforts underway in mississippi and any help that the governor needs from the federal government. today the president also announced the appointment of an incredibly qualified team to serve under the guidance of white house counsel don mcgann to discuss ethics matters. this team consists of stephan, deputy assistant to the president and deputy assistant counsel to the president. rudan -- and james schultz as special assistants to the president associate counsel. together these aegs i'med lawyers have decades of experience in political counsel serving senators, members of congress, congressional committees, governors, and federal agencies. the appointment of a team of this caliber at such a high level reflects the critical

importance of ethics compliance to president trump and his administration. stephan has received the highest praise from party leaders of both sides from whom he has worked with. as former gingrich said, no one nabz the ethics process better than stephan, and as you saw from his tweetd this morni this is looking into various ways to stop voter fraud and he will travel to philadelphia with a retreat of congressional republicans where in addition to discussing his legislative agenda, he will also provide an update on the actions that he is going to be taking in the next few days. and, finally, before you ask, because i know it's an issue that is near and dear to me, i was asked yesterday about the status of the invitation of prime minister kenny from ireland to visit the united states on st. patrick's day, and i'm pleased to announce that the president has extended that invitation. it happened actually during the transition period, and we look forward to the prime minister attending. with that, i would love to take some questions. >> thank you, sean.

can you shed any light on his draft memo that's going around about interrogation practices? >> yes, i can lend a lot. >> which agency did it originate in -- >> it is not a white house document. those who have reported on it, this is now i think the second day that we've had a document that was not a white house document get reported on as a factual document. it is not a white house document. i have no idea where it came from. but it is not a white house document. >> has the president directed it be drafted in the first place? >> no. i mean, as i said, it is not a white house document so i'm not sure where it came from or how it originated, but it is not a white house document. i don't know how much clearer i can say that. laurie montenegro from telemundo -- >> with regar-- with regards to. it's already estimated that it will cost bill yobz of dollars. has the president figured out how mexico will pay for this,

and do you have any guarantee from republicans in congress that they will provide all of the funding necessary to see this project come to completion? also, about two days ago you were asked about daka, and some of the dreamers, as they are known, have lots of questions regarding what is their future. >> right. >> do they continue to apply? those that have identified for renewal, will their applications be processed? with regards to stripping funding from the sanctuary cities, what fundings are we talking about? >> that's a great -- thanks, laurie. i think with respect to the last par part of that first, what the executive order does is directs the secretary to look at ways that the -- look at funding streams that are going to the cities of federal moans and figure out how we can defund those streams. part of this is a directive to the secretary to look at those funding streams and then figure out how they can be cut off. that's what the actual order directs them to do. the first part with respect to

daka, i have talked about this a couple of days. the order today doesn't specifically deal with that. we will have further updates on the rest of the president immigration agenda further in the week, but as i mentioned before, i think the president will talk about it in an interview tonight, but his priority is first and foremost, people who are in this country that seek to do us harm, and he understands -- i mean, the president understands the magnitude of this problem. he is a family man. he understands. he has a huge heart. he understands the significance of this problem. he is going to work through it with his team in a very humane way to make sure that he understands -- that he respects the situation that many of these children are in that were brought here, but his priority with respect to immigration is first and foremost, making sure that people who are in this country that are seeking to do us harm or have committed a crime are at the forefront of that. francesca chambers. >> has the administration figured out how mexico will pay

for it? >> i think the president is working with congress and other folks to figure out opportunities for that to happen. there are a lot of funding mechanisms that can be used. at this point his goal is to get the project started as quickly as possible using funds and resources that the department currently has, and then to move forward and work with congress on an appropriations schedule, but, you know, again, we're here at day three. it's an issue that he has brought up several times with congress in terms of making sure that we understand that they understand the need to make sure that that's included in the appropriations process. francesca. >> thank you, sean. could you give us a little bit more of a read-out of yesterday's meeting with senators about the supreme court justice? how was that received specifically by democrats, and has the president witled it down to three names or one name that we're hearing? >> the president is not witled it down. at least not to the extent that he is willing to share with us. maybe in his mind he has is tth

going. he had a very instructive and productive conversation with senate leaders yesterday about the advice and consent role that they have getting their ideas -- the principle that is they expect, and he was sharing with them his -- the qualities and the values that he expects in a judge to serve on the supreme court. i'm not going to go further than that, but i would just say it's a productive and constructive meeting. eli -- >> national park -- that were assigned to about the change. any of those tweets disappear shortly after there? i'm wonder if anything this white house had anything to do with that, and if there's a broader -- as been reported by some organizations, if there is a broader mandate going out to federal agencies about stopping, halting speech coming from those agencies? zbloog no, there's nothing that's come from the white house. absolutely not. i think in some cases i know in the park service, for example, over the weekend somebody who an unauthorize the user had an old

password in the san francisco office went in and started retweeting inappropriate things that were in violation of their policy, and they directed -- again, remember, you know, i know this happened in the e.p.a. as another example of i think some social media accounts. the e.p.a. actually violated the anti-dwirkt si act and the anti-lobbying bans a year ago of the -- during the obama administration and inappropriately marketing some policies of president obama, and i think there's a couple of these agencies that have had problems adhering to their own policies, and i would refer you back to them as to why those things are happening, but i know that they are taking steps in both of those two cases to address inappropriate use of social media. yeah. >> has the president reached out to mayor emmanuel or any chicago law enforcement authorities to discuss the concerns that he expressed in his tweet last night? >> he met with mayor emmanuel during the transition, expressed

to him his support for the city, the need to deal with crime and the killings that are occurring in chicago. he extends his support to mayor e emmanuel. the return call for help has not occurred. john. john roberts. lynn, i will get to you, but that was very, very enthusiastic, and i appreciate it. you're getting an award today. >> for the record i very much appreciate and respect lynn. you mentioned this morning the president has brought this out in the news again that he wants to launch an investigation into voter irregularities in the 2016 election.

>> not just in 2016. i think in terms of registration where you have got folks on rolls that have been deceased or moved or registered in two counties. this isn't just about the 2016 election. this is about the integrity of our voting system. >> there were studies that back up what he tweeted out this morning to suggest that people are registered in multiple states and that people who were dead are still on the rolls. attorneys who are representing the president-elect during the recounts in several states emphatically stated that all available ed suggests that the 2016 election was not tainted by fraud or mistake. how do you square those fwtwo? >> there's a lot of states that we didn't compete in where that's not the case. look at california and new york. i'm not sure those staltements - we did not look at those two states in particular. he campaigned to win the electoral college, not the popular vote. he campaigned in places like iowa. he campaigned extensively to win maine too, and i think if you were campaigning to win the popular vote, you don't spend -- with all due respect to my brethren in new england, you don't spend a ton of time in

maine too to get that one electoral vote. you would have campaigned more in california, which he didn't. you would have campaigned more in new york, which he didn't. there are big states, very populist states in urban areas where you would have spent more time. he played the game according to the rules of the game. that is an electoral strategy. when you look at where a lot of potential -- >> may i ask about the e.p.a. and other departments that have been told to cease and desist in terms of social media? >> let me be clear, i'm not saying that. >> or suspend -- >> zero. hold on. no, okay, i think i need to make sure that we're clear on this, john. they haven't been directed by us to do anything. from what i understand they've been told within their agencies to adhere to their own policies,

but that directive did not come from here. >> the question is does this president believe that these agencies and some of the federal work force has become politicized? >> i honestly don't know that we spent a lot of time thinking that. we've been fairly busy on other things. it's a good question. i have not asked him that question. i think our focus has pretty much been getting the job done as you have seen through the meetings that he has had, the work that he has had, the union workers, the auto heads, the other business leaders. i mean, his focus has been much more focused on getting the job done than various tweets that are getting tweeted and untweeted. sorry. lynn sweet. not that i want to encourage anyone else to yell. >> this is so important. >> i'm sure. >> and president trump has talked a lot about chicago. my question is he said if chicago doesn't fix the carnage, i will send in the feds. would you share with me a little bit about what is the nature of the federal help that the president has in mind, agents,

law enforcement agents, or national guard, and what factors will determine if he asked -- ron's people told us after the meeting in trump tower on december 7th he did tell him things that would help chicago that he could do, such as summer jobs, more prosecutions and gun laws. >> i think what the president is upset about is turning on the television and seeing americans get killed by shootings, seeing people walking down the street and getting shot down. the president of the united states giving his farewell address and two people being killed that day. when you look at a city like that, he has had conversations with police officers in chicago and asked them what is preventing you from solving this? i think in many cases there are some rieshz that can be resolved that will help them do their job better keep the people of chicago safer. what he wants to do is provide the resources of the federal government, and that can span a bunch of things.

there's no one thing. it can be -- there can be aid that can be if it was requested up true the kwf through the proper channels. that the federal government can provide on a law enforcement basis. there's other aid that can be extended as well, either through the u.s. attorney's office or other means that will insure that the people of chicago have the resources to feel safe. that is what he means. part of it is no american, whether or not you live in chicago or nebraska, shouldn't feel like you can walk down the streets of a city -- of the streets of a city in this country and fear for your life. i think too often that's happening in chicago. >> i think up next we'll get a dialogue started with mayor emmanuel and figure out what a path forward can be so that we get -- we come up with a plan that can keep the people of chicago safe and help ease the problem there. >> do you feel president trump

and president -- will be on the same page after they meet next week in terms of who is paying for the wall? >> i hope so. i think that they're definitely going to stress not only nafta, but the wall. there's a lot of stuff that's going to come up. we have a lot of trade between the two countries, and homeland security issues. there's no question i think nafta will be big on that list. trade overall. but with respect to your first question, i don't think we y generally telegraph for people what executive orders we're going to send. >> has the president seen that draft? >> i'm sorry the one that he is signing? >> no, no. the draft executive order that would undo the restrictions on how to handle detainees? >> i guess i'm having a hard time -- you're asking me if a document that's not a white house document he has seen. i don't believe to the best of my knowledge. i would ask -- there's a -- this

is the second day in a row we're getting asked about documents that are floating around, and people saying -- frankly, reports being published attributing documents to the white house that are not white house documents. >> i haven't attributed -- >> i'm not saying you. >> do you know if he has seen it? >> to the best have my knowledge he hasn't seen it. i think he has a lot of other things -- you get one. let's not -- >> is he considering -- >> don't -- this is -- i'm not going to start answering hypotheticals about documents that are floating around. that's a ridiculous -- kristen, we're going to end this right now. hunter. no. hunter walker. thank you. hunter, thank you. >> the president has reportedly going to limit ak sis to the country for visa holders and refugees from iraq, iran, libya, somalia, sudan, syria, and yemen. will he be taking any steps that will affect people from those countries who are already here, including perhaps registering them or beginning deportations? >> i think we're going to have something -- look, the president has talked extensively about

extreme vetting. today and you'll see more action this week on keeping america safe. this has been something he talked about in the inaugural address and the campaign. as we get into that implementation of that executive order, we'll have further details, but i think the guiding principle for the president is keeping this country safe and allowing people who are from a country that has a propensity to do us harm to make sure that we take the necessary steps to insure that the people who come to this country, especially where areas that have a predisposition, if you will, or a higher degree of concern that we take the appropriate steps to make sure that they're coming to this country for all the right reasons, and i think we'll have further information on that fact later this week. >> what's the ultimate goal here? essentially, isn't the president questioning the legitimacy of his own election? >> i think that the question -- look, voting is the most sacred right that we have as americans. this is what -- this is the hallmark and the foundation of our democracy, and to insure that we know that every person's

vote counts equally as the next citizen is probably one of the greatest things that we can do. >> there are balances already in place. >> part of the reason we need to do i astudy is to make sure, look, there is -- i don't want to start throwing out numbers, but there's a lot of people that are dead that are on rolls. there are people voegtd -- that are on the rolls in two different states, sometimes in three different states. i think taking the necessary steps to study and attratrack w with he can do to understand the scope of the problem and then secondly, how to stop the problem going forward is something that's definitely clearly in the best interest. john. >> thank you, sean. two brief questions. first, congressman todd -- of the vice president's home state of indiana himself a former secretary of state, is the father of that state's voter id law, which went to the supreme court. he has long advocated other states following the indiana example, all states adopting

voter id. is that something the president would get behind to achieve his -- >> i think the president's number one goal is to make sure that we -- georgia is another great example of a state that implemented a successful voter id program. i think that's what the president is looking -- one of several things. the first step is for him to get this, you know -- i don't want to call it a task force yet because it's not there yet, but this effort underway that can look at the scope of the problem and then, john, maybe make some recommendations and maybe it is voter id in states, but right now we've got 50 states in the territories that all have various different id's and i know that there are some compliance issues to make sure, but part of that is to figure out the extent of the problem. in some states what it takes to get a driver's license might be an issue, and i'm just -- but i think we to understand where the problem exists, how deep it goes, and then suggest some remedies to it, but right now to sort of prejudge the process

would sort of get in front of the whole need to have it. >> i have a he could is question. next week is the national prayer breakfast, sean. >> it is. >> and presidents from eisenhower to president obama spoke about their faith. will the president attend? >> i'm going to have to get back to you. i would be glad to check on that. i don't have the president's skenl for t schedule for the next week. hold on. paul bernard. >> sean, what will the white house do to sanctuary cities and counties that say, go ahead, keep your money. we don't care. we're going to harbor these illegal criminals, and also what do you do about countries that pretty much say the same thing who won't allow those people to come back into their country? >> well, i think the first step, paul, is the funding piece. this is a multi-step problem. it's why you have started to see different executive orders get rolled out, and then there's a congressional piece that we have to do legislatively. to the extent the president can continue to identify areas that

he can handle within executive actions and orders and memoranda to get -- start curbing the problem of executive -- of illegal immigration, but also, again, it's about -- we talked a little bit about it yesterday in terms of funding. there's a taxpayer issue here. you've got the american people out there working, and then having their money sent to places where folks that aren't in this country legally are getting isn't to cities that are there for using their tax dollars. that's a part of it. it's not a one step solution. i think that's why you've got the wall. you've got some funding issues. you've got the vetting. it is not a one step process. it's going to be a multi-tier, multi-step problem. >> sean, on the supreme court, what is the president's view of -- he is a name that's circulated. more broadly, does the president feel like the choice should be someone who is in their late 40s, early 50s as a way of leaving his imprint on the court? >> i think that there have been

several names that have been floated out there. he put out the list a while ago of 20 or so. that's where i would look. i'm definitely not getting ahead of the president on this, but i would suggest to you that the people that are on that list that he put out during the campaign represent the kind of people that he is not just going to represent or he is not going to nominate for the supreme court, but we have well over -- i think it's 103 vacancies at the federal level and at the appellate level, and that's going to continue to guide him. marta. >> could we get the executive orders when the president makes the announcesmement? >> yes. i was just told the president is about to speak. i will get you the executive orders asap. thank you very much. real quick -- hold on. real quick. guys, hold on. can i -- just for guidance purposes, we will be gaggling tomorrow on air force one. we look forward to seeing you in philadelphia. bye, guys.

>> all right. about a half hour briefing by sean spicer, the white house press secretary, making all sorts of news that i want to make sure we can assess. joining us right now jeff mason, the white house correspondent for reuters, david, our cnn political director, gloria bo borger, our cnn chief political analyst. he was very forceful in defending the president's decision to go ahead and seek some sort of federal investigation, for example, on voter fraud, which the president has suggested is massive and a lot of illegal immigrants were voting. he suggested the other night, what, 3 billion to 5 billion. no evidence of that. >> no. >> he is going forward with a full scale investigation. >> we don't know how that investigation would take place. there has to be a complaint according to justice correspondent pam brown for the justice department to investigate it. would he ask congress to do an investigation? congress seems uninterested, including republicans seem

uninterested in doing that. the case he made or tried to make was that this is not just about 2016. this is about the integrity of the system, and he used examples of people who are registered to vote in two states at the same time. that, however, is not evidence of voter fraud, wolf. that doesn't mean that those people go to the polls in two states or that a person who has died is still on the rolls. nobody is voting there. and so he didn't really make the case for what the president is charging, but he tried to make the case that this is larger than donald trump's complaint that actually he would have won three million or so votes had illegal voters not been able to vote. >> i think he made the case for something different. i think it's weird that what sean spicer was trying to do there is move this conversation.

that it is no longer about the baseless, unsubstantiated, totally incorrect claim by the president that three million to five million illegal votes were cast in 2016. instead, we are now getting from sean spicer a more traditional argument of voter irregularities that are out there, whether it is registrations that are not correct, due to people that are deceased or registered in two places. he said he didn't want to get ahead of a thursday announcement of some sort of -- i don't think -- it certainly sounded like there may be a task force coming to look at this that are going to make recommendations about these registration problems. i think sean was trying very hard to move it off what the president was saying and make it about something. >> dwikly after he was questioned about the fact that the president's own lawyer had said that there had been no sign of irregularities. i believe it was in the state of michigan, and that's whether he said, well, we're going to focus on larger states, such as california and such as new york.

it doesn't really address the heart of the charge that the president of the united states is making that is completely unsubstantiated. >> david makes a good point, jeff, that the review that he wants to go forward with now is different than the allegation he made the other night. >> that's right. you also heard him talking about just some broad eer voting righ issues. he talked about the difficulty of sometimes getting driver's license. not sure what he meant there in which states. he certainly touched on some issues that will be very controversial for democrats. you see this no doubt as an effort to reduce the ability of minorities to vote in states where, you know, there have been long fights about whether or not you should have to show a picture id at the voting booth. >> let's go to jim accosta, who is in the briefing room right now for us. the spokesman -- the press secretary also said the president is going forward with plans to build what he called a large physical barrier along the border between the united states and mexico. that would be the wall, and he

said very quickly mexico will pay for it. >> that's right, wolf. obviously we all watched what sean spicer had to say. we don't have all of the details for that, but they are looking to existing law. they're looking back from what i'm told to the 2006 secure fence law that was patched and signed into law during the bush administration. the question is how much money is in that account and is there enough money in that pot to build a wall along the entire u.s.-mexico border? my sense is, wolf, that there is not, and that is why there is likely to be some negotiations that go on between president trump and the mexican president about having mexico chip in for this, but obviously as we heard during this news briefing, sean spicer was asked about this. the president of mexico has said adamantly they are not going to be paying for any wall along the u.s.-mexico border, and this is setting up what appears to be a confrontation that is looming on the horizon between the u.s. and one of its biggest allies, and

the question becomes what does president trump do in if mexico just flat refuses? we do understand that as part of this executive order package we're going to see the president sign today that they're going to be looking at having the department of homeland security examine just how much of its money goes to mexico in terms of foreign aid, but i can't manual, wolf, there is enough money in that pot to help pay for the billions and billions of dollars that would be required to pay for a wall to be constructed along the u.s.-mekxico border. we've talked about this time and again. this is an extremely daunting task that the president seems determined to undertake. >> we're going to be hearing momentarily, as you know, jim, from president trump. he is over at the department of homeland security right now signing some new executive actions, making a statement. we're going to get that audio and that videotape momentarily. we'll have it for our viewers right now. set the scene for us. he decided to go over there not

only to talk about the wall that mexico would pay for it, but also talk about other issues involving undocumented immigrants here in the united states, including his plan to do away with what are called sanctuary cities in the united states. >> that's right. in the nation's capital is one of those sanctuary cities. this is essentially a federal program where grants are provided to cities to allow undocumented immigrants to find sanctuary in those cities. it was a program that was supported by the obama administration. it is something that donald trump railed against out on the campaign trail and it's a program that he plans to end. you are already hearing from municipalities around the country and local officials saying, well, they're not going to abide by this, and they're going to find other ways to make their cities, sanctuary cities without the federal government's help. it's unclear as to what the actual affect will be of that executive order, but from what we understand from talking to sources about what will be in this executive order package,

there's going to be money for stepping up enforcement, stepping up removal of what they consider to be criminal, undocumented immigrants in this country, and they're talking about ending the so-called catch and release program. that says also something that's going to be very controversial, but you heard sean spicer during this briefing today say that the law is going to be enforced, and this is keeping one of donald trump's campaign promises, wolf. elections have consequences, and they are going full steam ahead when it comes to all of these immigration actions that he talked about during the campaign. >> stand by for a moment. he also said, by the way, that if u.s. wants to deport undocumented immigrants, that most countries don't want to accept them, the u.s. will retaliate with visa and other issues as well. everyone, stand by. president trump about to sign executive actions directing the building of a wall. a couple of thousand miles along the border between the u.s. and mexico, and ending sanctuary

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welcome wack. any minute now president trump will sign executive actions on immigration and a boarder wall with mexico. he is at the department of homeland security for a visit right now. we're bringing that to you as soon as it happens. in the meantime, the president is asking for "a major investigation into voter fraud here in the united states stemming from his false belief that millions of votes were cast illegally in the recent presidential election. here to talk about that and more, the former new mexico governor, the former u.s. ambassador to the fusion united nations, bill richardson. governor, thanks very much for

joining us. >> thank you very much, wolf. >> do you believe a formal federal investigation into voter fraud in the united states is necessary? >> no, i don't believe it's necessary. i'm flabbergasted that he keeps repeating these claims with zero evidence. who is going to do the investigation? the congress doesn't want to do it. the justice department has to have a complaint. this is a fabrication, a political fabrication. he is trying to justify how hillary clinton beat him close to three million votes by the popular vote. i think that's all it is. he is a sore winner. put this away. nobody is going to do this investigation. i'm flabbergasted that he believes that he could just order an investigation of any kind with zero, zero evidence. >> well, he says that there are a lot of voters out there who are registered, let's say, in

your state of new mexico but may be also registered to vote in california if they move, for example, and there are dead people who are still listed on voter registration lists. is that a problem? >> well, look, every state handles their own voter frauds -- by the way, most states are run by republican secretary of states that manage elections. i'm going to have fun seeing how these republican secretary of states who claim there is no outright voter fraud -- yeah, there's some abhorations like in any election, but they're minimal. they're almost nonexistent. he is claiming three to five million illegal voters, illegal immigrant voters. this is his campaign against illegal immigrants. this is his political campaign still going on, feeding for his constituency that wants action on immigration. the same with the border wall. this is going to cost $14

billion. the president of mexico, it would be political suicide for him to do this. they're not going to pay for it. although he is a good president, he is less popular than president trump. he is not going to agree to this. look what he said yesterday, wolf. >> let me interrupt for a second, governor. what president trump says is there are complicated ways that mexico will wind up reimbursing u.s. taxpayers for the billions of dollars of this new wall and he will come up with that arrangement, 100%, he says, mexico will pay for the wall. your reaction? >> well, i think it's nonsensical. it doesn't make sense. this is what mexico has said it's going to do. he said maybe mexico will pull out of nafta. that affects on the border a lot of firms created by nafta in new mexico, in arizona, in texas, in

california because of nafta. that's got to go. secondly, we need mexico's cooperation on security issues, on the cartels. we need mexico's cooperation on migration. we need some kind of renegotiation on nafta that protects american workers but, you know, the mexican president by saying he is pulling out of nafta possibly with this negotiation, we're going to be at the short end of the stick if mexico doesn't cooperate with us on cartel issues, on drugs. what if they don't send another el chapo? he is negotiating against himself. >> all right. i think we just are losing -- unfortunately, we're just losing the satellite connection with governor bill -- former governor bill richardson of new mexico. we apologize for that. thanks so much for joining us. coming up, any moment now the president, president trump, will sign executive actions directing the department of homeland security to fulfill one of his most contentious campaign

promises, building that wall along the border with mexico. we're going to bring it to you once it happens. stay with us. ugh. heartburn. sorry ma'am. no burning here. try alka-seltzer heartburn relief gummies. they don't taste chalky and work fast. mmmm. incredible. can i try? she doesn't have heartburn. alka-seltzer heartburn relief gummies. enjoy the relief.

. the president donald trump has just signed two executive actions one ordering the much talked about border wall with mexico the other calls for a major increase of number of border control forces here in the united states and looks to increase deportations of undocumented immigrants. david chalian, gloria borjer and -- are with us. we are going to get the feed of the signing, we will show it to our viewers, but the wall will be built. there will be tougher measures

to domestically to deal with undocumented immigrants, particularly those who will hurt the united states. >> he said that we are first going to pay for the wall then mexico will pay us back, so effectively americans are providing a down payment if which we will be reimbursed. we have no idea how that will work other than he says it's complicated. we also don't know where we're going to get this $10 billion, there are estimates flying around, we're not sure how much it's going to cost. is there already money unappropriated in the budget that's not spent? but when you talk about $10 billion this is a congress that intends to do tax reform, provide tax cuts not only for middle class americans but also corporate america, so the question begins -- people begin

to ask where are we going to get all this money from and how much red ink is going to accrue. >> and it's something that the republicans are going to have to defend if they become a party that's spending more. we're just a few days into this administration. anyone who thought that donald trump was not going make good on some of these promises have seen that's certainly not the case and he has ran straight ahead on things like the wall that were big in his campaign. >> he said no longer -- cities. we just heard sean spicer say the president is determined to make sure ha tthat the laws of united states are enforced. >> this should surprise no one. he talked about the terrible

murder of kate steinly on the campaign trail all the time as a reason to end this system of sanctuary cities. one thing he told david mere about the paying for the wall. he said donald trump is not paying for the wall, it like don't you have to say that they have to pay for it? neither one has shown how they are going to pay for it but i don't know how donald trump can say they will pay, but nobody seems to know the path forward here. >> and the president is going to be visiting next week an you have high level mexican officials here, and he was asked did you give them a heads up and he said basically no, we don't generally do that so when the

mexican president meets with the president of the united states we'll have to see what comes out of that meeting. you will recall the meeting during the campaign donald trump didn't mention paying for the wall during that meeting. >> he pointed out to his bedrock campaign promises signing executive orders, beginning the process of dealing with these issues, you know, it's sort of been under mined of how big an audience was behind us for the inauguration or this issue of 3-5 billion illegal immigrants voting, those are the issues that have taken away from what are serious steps that he's take ago, promises he's trying to continue on. >> imagine if that was not happening, the complete focus for the news media and the

country overall would be checking off these promises. >> i know you have been working with sean spicer and other white house officials to make sure that the access of top aides are being fulfilled. how are you doing? >> pretty well. we did have a long discussion began whether or not to keep the briefings in the briefing room and they considered moving us out into another space and they backed off on that and they are taking place in the briefing room, we also have had what we call pool sprays, a group of journalists when he signs a bill and takes a couple of issues, there are still some issues that we've been working on -- >> and he's been taking those

questions, sometimes we have seen presidents do pool sprays and he is answering. >> i think donald trump likes the show and tell so he likes the signing the documents then taking a question or two and escorting the press out because i think he likes the formality of being president and of being able to do these things and then instantaneously being on television, it's a role he likes sitting at a desk in the oval office. >> it's not just for us to be able to see it and be able to report on it but the white house also benefits from having a chance to get its message cross. it's our job of course to aggressively report on that and do our jobs as journalists but being physically present is really a win-win. >> but it's encouraging that so far so good. >> i agree. >> given some of the statements that were made earlier. >> we start from the a position of having to explain and defend

a lot of the role of the media but gotten at least so far a pretty decent place. >> thanks. that's it for me, i'll be back 5:00 p.m. in the situation room, newsroom with brooke baldwin starts right now. all right, wolf, thank you. i'm brooke baldwin, thank you for being with me, a big day, a huge week for the first week of the president in office. he just signed executive action that will fund a wall along that u.s.-mexican border waiting to get tape of him actually signing that executive order, but the president also just revealed though that mexico will not be funding it the way a lot of americans were