know -- otherwise we don't need the supreme court so badly, right? and we're doing well in that regard. very well. i think we have problems that are a lot bigger than people understood. i think i was left something that had a lot of problems, but i think we'll straighten out those problems. i think we'll straighten them out very strongly. judge gorsuch is an exceptionally qualified person from the standpoint of experience and education. columbia with honors, harvard law school with honors, oxford at the highest level. great, great student. great intellect. supreme court justices white and kennedy, he clerked. i just think it's really great that we're having this meeting because we want to -- we want to have him go through an elegant process as opposed to a demeaning process because they're very demeaning on the other side, and they want to make you look as bad as

possible, and, of course, the press can be very demeaning too, so -- but i'm sure the press will be very dignified in this case, but i really want -- that's the word. i really think he is a very dignified man. i would like to see him go through a dignified process. i think he deserves that, and hopefully it will go quickly, and we'll see what happens. what we might do is just -- we might ask for the folks in the room just to give yourself a quick your name and a little introduction and, wayne, i would say they know you. perhaps they know you better than they know me. >> i doubt that. wayne lapierre, national rifle association. >> nance, the ceo and president of concerned women for america. >> i'm charmain yost. >> i'm juanita duggan with the national independent business association. thank you. thank you. >> mr. president, congratulation on a fantastic nomination. >> thank you.

thank you. >> norquist, americans for tax reform, and congratulations on the election. >> leonard -- federal -- >> marjorie -- susan b. anthony list. >> thank you. thank you for the help during the campaign. with that i'll ask you to all hit the road. >> as you put it last night -- >> he was confirmed by a unanimous -- in 2006. now a number of democrats say they're going to oppose him. what would you say to those democrats, and would you encourage senator mcconnell to

invoke the nuclear option if if he feels he can't get 60 votes? >> well, i think there's a certain dishonesty if they go against their vote from not very long ago, and he did get a unanimous endorsement, and he is somebody that should get -- you can't do better from an educational, from an experience, from any standpoint. a great judge. he will be a great justice. no, i feel that it's very dishonest if they go about doing that, and, yes, if we end up with the same gridlock that they've had in washington for the last -- longer than eight years. in all fairness to president obama. a lot longer than eight years, but we end up with that gridlock, i would say if you can, mitch, go nuclear because that would be an absolute shame if a man of this quality was caught up in the web. i would say it's up to mitch, but i would say go for it. okay? thank you. >> mr. president -- >> welcome to "inside politics."

i'm john king. you're watching the tape of the president of the united states, donald trump. smartly bringing in a number of leaders of conservative groups from around the country who are going to help him push the confirmation of his supreme court nominee. cnn's dana bash, david drucker and the atlantic's molly ball. i want to get into the judge, into the pick, why the president picked this man, what he was just talking about there, if you don't understand what go nuclear means. it involves senate procedures. a lot of times we have to translate washington to the rest of you. >> not an actual weapon. >> not an actual weapon. the thing i'm so struck by, picture-perfect last night. the president rolls this out in the east room. a good event. brings in the senate republicans and brings in house republicans. very well done to bring everybody on board. judge gorsuch goes to capitol hill today and see mcconnell and mike pence is with him. the president brings in these groups. the morning after.

they've already helped him make this pick and go through this process, but they are now going to get out there and work the roots for the votes, especially for the democratic votes he needs and the more conservative states out there. this is how you do a roll-out. whether you agree or disagree with something, and after the last few days, how can something like the travel ban be so rocky and so confusing where government agencies are not talking to each other, and they do this again. whether you like the judge or not or a president from a marketing and branding standpoint. that's perfect. >> this is the dividing line in the white house. the travel ban was ushered into being by steven miller and steve bannon who are disrupters by nature. they create this sort of environment of chaos as part of their governing philosophy, but the supreme court pick is a very conventional washington thing. this is a reince priebus operation. it was done by the book. it was contrary to what everybody thought -- it was a very conventional roll-out. just a standard press conference

standing there with his wife. they brought in antonin scalia's widowed wife and his children. this is the white house. it's two camps. at this level two camps. the priebus camp, the bannon camp, and they're functioning on parallel plains, but you see a bipolar white house emerging out of all of this. >> the president scoring it day by day. i think the establishment camp or the traditional camp wins the last 48 hours. >> no, no, and this process for the supreme court nominee is kind of rinse and repeat. i mean, it is different players when it's a democratic president, but it's the same process. you have the sherpa, which now we know and we've seen today, is the former senator from new hampshire, kelly ayotte, which she was brought in because she was obviously defeated, which is why she's not a current senator, but she does have good relationships across the aisle. okay. so you do that. you have the communications person in charge. ron. you have somebody who is the aide who is going to make sure that the nominee gets ready for

the hearings. we know who that person is. and you bring in the groups. president obama had the same kind of thing, the same players when he had his nominees. this is something that is not hard to figure out. when you are doing something that has not been done before, at least in modern times, like a partial travel ban, travel restrictions, whatever you call it, and you want to do it fast, and you want to do it by executive order and you want to disrupt, as you say, that's a completely different thing, and we saw that there were big problems with that. >> i think what was most noticeable last night was how normal the roll-out was. the president introduced mr mr. gorsuch. didn't talk about himself at all. he just mentioned that the voters had a choice in november and they chose to go this route, but he didn't talk about his victory. he didn't talk about himself. he talked all about the nominee. that to me was fascinating. he also even though democrats didn't attend, he invited democratic leadership down to

the white house for the roll-out. they chose not to attend. the one thing i thought, though, was interesting and why this worked well is that the white house didn't have to work with anybody really to do this. one of the things that we saw over the past week as they rolled out executive orders to do it right, it requires a lot more coordination with congress, especially because you need their help in selling this and a lot of coordination with the executive agencies that are charged with carrying out various executive orders. that's really where the trump administration tripped up. with this roll-out, it was strictly the president's decision. they were completely in charge of the roll-out, and i think that's one of the reasons this worked so much better. >> i'm going to say that's a really good point. this doesn't prove that any of those problems have been solved, right? because this was a solo decision, all of those problems still exist. all of the worldwide problems and the problems with conservatives over the ban still exist. that hasn't gone away. that hasn't gotten any better, but what was most remarkable to me about the announcement last night was how relieved republicans were.

they were still on tender hooks up to the last second. they thought maybe he is going to surprise us or disappoint us, even though we knew who the finalists were, even though in the end they ended up being extremely pleased and republicans and especially conservatives are ecstatic about this pick. they couldn't be sure that he was going to follow through on it until he actually did. >> and a republican rallying moment after days of even republicans mostly being polite in public, but some of them not only disagreeing with the travel ban, but how it happened. the heavy use of executive actions in the early days also alienating the congress. a rallying point there. if you missed it, let's go back into the east room. the president of the united states and his new choice to fill a seat on the supreme court. >> the qualifications of judge gorsuch are beyond dispute. he is the man of our country and a man who our country really needs and needs badly to insure the rule of law and the rule of justice.

>> it is the role of judges to apply, not alter the work of the people's representatives. a judge who likes every outcome he reaches is very likely a bad judge. stretching for results he prefers rather than those the law demands. >> that's the judge last night and the president in the roll-out. everyone has mentioned how happy conservatives are. they view this as a younger, kinder, gentler in some ways, and that's not to criticize antonin scalia. he was more of a brazen, outgoing personality. this is a -- judge gorsuch in a case about federal power, executive power, was -- wrote the decision with other judges, but then he wrote his own consent to his own decision because he wanted to get more of his personal views. he had to have consensus in the opinion.

>> actually, given the current environment, the speed and the sort of intensity of president trump's executive orders maybe gorsuch is the right person on the court right now. the best we can do under a republican administration. you know, some democrats right now are facing a situation that republicans were in a couple of years ago saying, wow, the president is doing so many things that congress should really be doing. you know, there are some democrats who are arguing gorsuch is as middle of the road as one could get under a

republican administration. he might serve as a check on, you know, a strong executive power, which could be very important for democrats. >> and conservatives are hoping. it's the opposite that he is a former clerk to anthony kennedy, who is the swing vote on the court, and you have the more conservative guy, who is very close to justice kennedy. maybe he pulls him the other way in the decisions. let's unpack what we heard from the president at the top of the show. he talked about he wanted a dignified process. again, the senate will decide whether judge gorsuch gets confirmed. i want to give him some props here. for ten months judge merrick garland was waiting for a confirmation hearing. the republicans refused to get him. the first call judge gorsuch made was to call judge garland. clearly trying to say, look, i'm sorry. that not my doing. it's a club. the judges are a club just like the congress and the senate. the last part, let mitch go nuclear if he wants. that's -- the president doesn't speak washington, which is probably one of the reasons he is president and got elected.

the idea -- right now senate rules say you have to have 60 votes to break a filibuster. mitch mcconnell says that's his preference. he is an institutionalist. he has made clear and we've seen other developments we're going to talk about in a minute where the republicans are getting a little frustrated, but he is willing to go that way if he has to. it is that where we're going to end up? >> probably not onlile only in that the 60 vote threshold is to -- for at least at the beginning is to allow a vote for the nominee, and we have seen little by little democrats come out, particularly those from red states, and even a democrat like dick durbin, who is not from a red state, and he is actually the leadership, but he says that it is his preference at least in the short-term, to vote to allow a vote. i know it sounds like, really, a vote to allow a vote? that's what you have to do in the united states senate. you do. if the democrats had enough that

they could actually block the vote from even coming up. i think that that is the first. the answer is we're going to have to see what happens in his hearings. if he charms everybody, if he reassures people that he is not a big bad wolf and he is not going to, you know, blow the supreme court apart, then it's going to be hard really for democrats to filibuster him, and also, this is not something that mitch mcconnell wants to do. it's not just because he is a traditionalist. it's because they know from recent history the shoe is very quickly on the other foot, and there's a democrat in the white house and democrats in control of -- >> everybody hold that thought for a sec. the democratic strategy, more on the supreme court pick judge gorsuch making the rounds already. up next, though, democrats trying to stage a boycott today. republicans threw out the rules. a power play to confirm some of the president's cabinet picks. we'll be back in just a second. , with the help of the lowest taxes in decades,

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live picture perform the floor. senator chuck schumer talking for the moment about his nominee for the supreme court and how he would like the senate to proceed on that front. back to that story in a moment. there's other drama on capitol hill today as well. president trump trying to get his cabinet approved. democrats boycotting several of those members and a republican chairman of the finance committee orrin hatch of utah usually a gentile kind of fellow deciding instead to change the rules of the united states senate. he says he is so frustrated with the boycotts with the democrats, and without a democrat under the old meetings, you can't advance a nominee. today he changed those rules and moved the nominees forward, and the senator explains his reasons. >> this is a ripple in an otherwise calm sea, but i don't

think they can -- i don't think they can complain. my gosh, we've used the rules. we have the rules to use, and they used the rules the way they thought they could use them, which are -- there's no excuse for what they did yesterday, and there's no excuse for them not coming today. we notified them, and they just plain -- they used a cheap political ploy. they should be ashamed. they should be ashamed. >> hatch also using the term idiots to describe the -- the power by republicans allows the president's nominees for to move to the full senate for a confirmation vote. now democrats say they have questions. they don't want to have that vote just yet. our senior congressional correspondent manu sfs raju, you are up there in a calm sea, manu. how are the ripples? >> well, it's pretty choppy right now, john. you know, the republicans indeed taking this pretty dramatic move, an unprecedented move. they said it was unprecedented

for them to boycott that finance committee hearing this morning and yesterday to try to deny a quorum and deny a vote in that committee, taking matters in their own hands to try to push this through, change the rules to get tom price confirmed to hhs, and also to get steven manuchin confirmed to the treasury department. scott pruitt to head epa, they boycotted those proceedings this morning, but the chairman of that committee saying they're planning to take matters into their own hands and probably emulate what senator hatch just did and push their -- pruitt's nomination through to the floor of the senate. similarly, nick mulvaney to be the budget director, that vote was postponed this morning when the democrats wanted more time to review his fbi report, and there are questions about whether or not he would get support to pass that committee because of john mccain's concerns about nick mulvaney's views about the defense can i. ron johnson said no matter what

happens in that committee, they're still going to try to push and jam the nomination through, take it directly to the floor of the senate. what you are seeing here, john, is a really concerted, aggressive effort by the republicans to do -- use the power of the majority to get their nominees for donald trump's cabinet confirmed. while it's taking a little longer than donald trump would like, he probably will get all of these nominees confirmed. no matter how much -- how many obstacles democrats put in their way, john. >> manu raju on capitol hill. president angle into the wake. angle into the wake in those rough waters. let's come back into the room. this is extraordinary. the town has been polarized a long time. we knew the democrats don't like this president. weren't going to like most of his picks. they say they have lenl i want questions about some of the financial dealings otherwise here. we are seeing this again. senator hatch schangz the rules. you move those two forward. out of the judiciary senator sessions comes out on a party line vote. every democrat voting no. every republican voting yes.

what -- does it mean anything? is it just the partisan split that is washington? is this a new level of toxicity in the environment? >> i think this reflects where each party's base is. neither has any use or any desire to stick with senatorial courtesy or senate rules. what they want to see are results. for democrats they're kind of in a pinch because there's not really much they can do, and their base wants them to fight everything, and i think strategically that hurts them because they might do a better job and get more results if they focused in on a couple of trump's cabinet picks and put all the attention there. for republicans and understanding the democrats and republicans play this game and both feel like they've been slighted unfairly, republicans are still smarting from senator reed's use of the nuclear option a couple of years ago when he changed the -- broke the rules to change the rules as we've been discussing, and so they just don't care as much about following rules as they might have had that never happened. >> and i would even go further than you on the question of the democratic base. it's not just that they want

results. sure, they would love results. they want to fight. they want their members to stand up and fight. i agree with you that it might not be in the long run the greatest strategy because there are some things that democrats can get done, and at what point does the cycle stop? we thought perhaps at the beginning that there was going to be a little bit of a give and take. stand up to the republican president and the republican leaders in congress when it mattered, and otherwise, don't. for the nominees, you know, which is traditionally unless there's a huge problem, something that you give to a president, the fact that they're standing up on this issue tells you a lot about the fact that the base is so rested and they're dying for their members. >> chuck schumer is a new leader. he is a known figure here in washingt washington, but as a democratic figure, he is a new leader. he voted against mitch

mcconnell's wife. elaine chow was confirmed. she got 94 votes. 90 something votes. he voted against the other leader's wife. that is unheard of in the united states senate. >> what's funny about that is there were some democrats who worried that chuck schumer wouldn't be willing to fight enough. but, i mean, you know, given what dana and david are saying, we also have to remember that the precedent for this was set by republicans over the last eight years. democrats are just adapting a sort of tea party strategy in washington to deal with this new administration. it would be unprecedented if the last eight years hadn't happened, but because it did, i think the democratic base is saying republicans did this, and they were rewarded with the white house, the house, and the senate. it's hard to -- the sort of trade-off here is a little bit -- the calculus is different, and i think some democrats, you know -- they are looking at 2013 when republicans failed to show up at an e.p.a.

confirmation hearing meeting for one of president obama's nominees. they refused -- or they delayed votes on the labor secretary nominees. these are all tactics that have been used before. >> so for somebody -- for somebody watching out there who is like, i got to get the kids to school or run a business or pay their bills, this sounds kind of fifth grade, though. it sounds like a bunch of pelty grievanc grievances. i'm going to do this in this congress. is that right? this is payback, and then we escalate? you did that pretty well in the last congress? i'm going to take you what you and do it even better. listen to this exchange here in the judiciary committee vote. al franken, democrat of minnesota, ted cruz of texas was not in the room. what al franken was saying is that ted cruz at the jeff sessions confirmation hearing where there were questions, he says he misrepresented his fact. ted cruz's senate colleagues not only his best friend, but his senate colleague jumps in to defend him. >> senator cruise did the very thing that senator cornyn is

accusing me of doing. in my absence he misrepresented me, he misrepresented mr mrmr. mr. hebert. he personally went after me. he personally -- you didn't object then, did you? >> i'm not sure i was here, and i'm want sure -- >> i wasn't here either. >> let me continue. >> it would be a decent and honorable thing to do it in the senator's presence and not -- >> well, get him here, but he will have a tape. >> it's good theater, and clearly some of them don't like each other or some of them -- maybe some of them like each other just fine and they're performing. my question is does this affect what does the president get for a tax reform plan? does the president get his isis strategy through congress? what happens to repeeling and replacing obama care? when it comes to specific policies, and the ones he needs democrats on, replacing obama care, an infrastructure plan. is this just for show, or does it affect what this president is going to get a week, a month, a year from now? >> i think you're absolutely right. this is not just about process.

this is about results. it's a reminder that when there are things that the republican president and republican congress all agree on, they can make them happen. with the cabinet, you have the republican congress wanting to show support for president trump. the white house has been quite anguished and annoyed and frustrated that it has taken them longer than it took president obama in a lot of cases to get the cabinet through. this is something that the republican congress can all agree to do for him. it will be different when they don't agree with him. either when he proposes something that republicans in congress can't agree on or that they don't support and so that's going to be a completely different kettle of fish. trump benefits to the extent that senators do look like a bunch of fifth graders squabbling in a sandbox, right? that's very much the sort of -- >> they might sue you for sland are wresh. >> second graders, excuse me. even my second grader is more mature than that. you know, to the degree to which, you know, he was elected by saying these guys are all a bunch of fools, and i can

overpower them, that helps him. >> let's keep in mind that the insurgent conservative tactics that republicans used in the obama years were not successful at all, and where democrats may perceive the democrats having profit from that by winning the white house, they won for other reasons. it was always the leadership in the establishment that had to come in and save the their bacon when these tactics failed and went down in flames. >> the democrats seem to be enjoying trying at the moment. we'll see. up next, the democrats call it a stolen seat, but do they have a plan to deny the president his pick? but then i realized there was. so, i finally broke the silence with my doctor about what i was experiencing. he said humira is for people like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief. and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

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welcome back. one big asset is president trump's supreme court choice, a resume, confirmed as an appearat judge with zero democratic objection. gorsuch was confirmed on a voice vote as part of a deal between leaders. we don't know how many democrats might have voted no had there been a reported roll-call vote. the fact a voice vote was allowed tells you there was not significant opposition. leading democrats say that was then, this is different. >> let me tell you, he is moving from triple-a ball to the big

leagues here, and he is going to be the deciding vote on the future of the court for a long time, it appears. this is an important decision. when someone moves up to the supreme court level, different important questions are asked, and people are much more careful. that's the way it ought to be. >> makes perfect sense. what the democratic senator says there. it also makes perfect sense for the president and republicans to say you lod him last time, he got through without any objection. this is all partisan. >> i this i it helps republicans enormously from a public relations perspective to be able to say look at all these guys. over a dozen democrats were in the senate when they allowed him through, and i think there are also even now where a few hours into his nomination, democrats are writing statements that are basically saying he deserves a vote. if they're starting, you know, day one not being on the same page about how to move forward procedurally, i think it's going to be very, very hard for them to mount a real opposition to him. >> but they can't be on the same page because they've come from

such different places. by definition. you have the democrats accident like elizabeth warren, who is a democrat from massachusetts. incredibly popular in her own state. never mind the fact that she's the head of the liberal wing of the party right now. whether she likes it or not. she likes it. and then you have democrats like heidi hidecamp from the reddest of red states. it's sort of politically miraculous that she's in the united states senate as a democrat from north dakota saying, whoa, whoa, whoa. that is what republicans are relying on is for those democrats who are from states where donald trump won and where democrats are not really usually representing them to say, okay, i'm going to give this -- >> to that point, again, the value of preparation, unlike some of the other roll-outs, the trump administration was ready for this one, and they have conservative allies who as we speak are airing television ads in these red states. ten democratic senators up in 2018 in states that trump won.

we can show you the map. some of them, you know, trump won michigan just barely. trump won florida just barely. how much wind does he have there? when you look at heidi of north dakota and joe manchin of west virginia, that was 32 points in west virginia. if you start, republicans have 52. senator durbin is on the record saying he wants a vote and not filibuster. there are a handful of democrats that have said that. that gets you up to 56, 58. they only need to peel a couple of the other people to make this go away and have 60. my question is, number one, we'll have to see if it works, but kudos to the republicans and conservatives for being ready to mount this campaign. the question is will it work? >> the republicans are aided by the fact that judge gorsuch is a known quantity, and also by the fact that he will not be changing the balance of the court if he is confirmed. because his views are seen as so similar to former justice scalia's, it is not the case that democrats can argue that all of this judicial press debt is suddenly going to be out the window. it is not the case that he is such an unorthodoxed choice,

that he is so outside the mainstream, a term that senator schumer used to describe what he would be looking for. it is not the case that this is, you know, somebody that trump literally picked off the set of the apprentice. the democrats get some mileage out of saying, you know, this isn't someone with the right experience, the right qualifications. now, they will argue -- >> you are surprised it wasn't amarosa? >> they are making this on ideology and on his judicial interpretations, and it is not unprecedented for there to be votes against or even a confirmation denied for that reason, but it's different than saying, you know, here's someone who is not qualified. it's different than saying this is someone who is going to totally change the face of the court. >> egit's a great point. >> this is all about politics within the democratic party. you just referenced the 2018 senate map, which i can count to four, maybe five because of that. i can't count to eight, which is what they need to overcome -- which is what democrats need to provide to kill the filibuster. i think democrats need to decide if they're going to take the short-term view possibly angering their base or take a

long-attorney general view. if they do not filibuster this and if mitch mcconnell doesn't have to use the nuclear option to change the rules, i think they could set themselves up to be in a better position to influence president trump's next supreme court nominee if somebody retires than if they just changed the rules. in which case trump doesn't even have to consider how the next supreme court justice pick would pick or how to get them through the senate, but if it they decide to just go to the mat over this one, then he won't have to take democrats into account. >> that's such a good point. democrats give up their leverage for a next pick if they go to the mat on this one. >> the next one could matter immensely because this is, again, a younger scalia replacing a scalia. not a big shift in the idealogical balance of the court, but a lot of people also think -- a lot of conservatives say justice kennedy in private conversations says he wants to retire, and he thinks, oh, trump is doing well here. he is picking good guys. maybe he will go. that's the swing vote on the court. we'll see.

this debate will end in 70 days brsh that's the average run time for a nominee. sometimes they look very different at the end than they do at the beginning. go back in your history books. how you frame the beginning matters. listen to the senate, the majority leader mitch mcconnell trying to set the standard here. >> judge gorsuch received a unanimously well qualified rating by the american bar association when he was nominated to his current position on the court of appeals. he was confirmed without any votes in opposition. that's right. madam president, not a single democrat opposed judge gorsuch's confirmation. not senator barack obama, not senator hillary clinton, not senators joe biden or ted kennedy. >> i don't know if that history will matter, but that's well played, including senator obama -- then senator obama, now former president obama, was a classmate at harvard with judge gorsuch. >> it also underscores the

degree to which this potential new justice is a card-carrying member of the establishment. right? for all of the disruptive things that trump has done, this is not one of them. the question for a lot of people in trump's orbit both the republican leadership in congress and even people inside the white house who are as abby mentioned sort of at war with each other, in different camps, divided as to the approach he would take towards different things, what signal is president trump going to take from how well this roll-out is perceived as having gone? will he take a signal, oh, i could make less trouble for myself by doing more things this way, doing more things in the normal way. i mean, the establishment way. or does he want to -- or he likes it better when people's heads are exploding. >> it's important to note that the supreme court -- a supreme court nominee is different from anything else that he will deal with because there is a conservative machine out there at the ready, and they have been at the ready with ads, with

ideas, with a whole lobbying apparatus to use whatever republican president they had, whether it's president trump, as a vessel to get the person on the supreme court. >> it's a great point you raise. this works well, but does he prefer chaos? we'll find out. a seemingly routine hearing in washington, but it has a big purpose. to get the president's attention. as soon as i left thl after a dvt blood clot, i sure had a lot to think about. what about the people i care about? ...including this little girl. and what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? so i asked my doctor. and he recommended eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. yes, eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. both made me turn around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding.

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you know how painful heartburn can be. for fast-acting, long-lasting relief, try doctor recommended gaviscon. it quickly neutralizes stomach acid and helps keep acid down for hours. relieve heartburn with fast- acting, long-lasting gaviscon. >> this is the house armed services committee. just one of the routine hearings you find in the congressional schedule. 10:00 a.m. it started. house armed services committee. this one was scheduled with a purpose. many in congress worry about the new president's world view and they know he watches television. they're trying to get his attention.

it is not naturally self-sustaining. we have sustained it. if we stop doing so, it will fray and eventually collapse. this is precisely what some of our adversaries seek to encourage. >> translation? don't be nice to vladimir putin because he is trying to disrupt the european union and the nato alliance. >> this is really -- i mean, this is really serious stuff. he is not the first person to say this. former general james mattis said basically the same thing in his confirmation hearing. there is this risk that the north atlantic treaty is going to disintegrate if we don't continue to sustain it, if we don't continue to do the things fwheed to do to start alliances with the u.k., for example, as "posed to with vladimir putin who is explicitly about undermining nato. this goes beyond trump. it's about the world view of the folks around him. the idea that we should rethink

this whole world order thing is very real, i think, in the white house, and that's why some of these folks -- >> the point you made earlier about the competing powers, it is fascinating we have a president never been in the military or been in government service. that's never happened in our history. there's an open tug-of-war and a competition for his world view, for his focus. be pro-putin? no, don't do that. say nato is obsolete? no, it's the fundamental source. he is in office, and there's still a tug-of-war for his world view. >> trump surrounded himself with hawkish generals. on the other hand, he has elevated steve bannon to the principals committee and diminished the role of the dni, the director of national intelligence, the joint chiefs of staff in terms of being guaranteed regular attendees to these meetings. i think it's still unclear as to which direction trump is going to go. in his inaugural address, he gave very short ideas philosophically as the u.s. as

the gaurn tear of world peace. he has talked dif i'visively ab what we get out of these. we're going to have to see which direction this goes. >> trump is very consistent about this throughout the campaign. he repeatedly questioned whether nato was obsolete. this was also a major theme of the british prime minister's visit last week. prime minister theresa may seeking some kind of assurances from trump that he would not go as far as he has said he would go, and she did not get any commitments from him either. there is still a lot of nervousness on the world stage. the administration and trump also have never made any commitments about what they're going to do with russia's sanctions either, and so there's a lot of uncertainty. >> one of the things driving the debate is the immigration ban or restrictions, call it what you will, that the president put in place earlier in the week. he tweeted this morning because there's been a debate about can you call it a ban. he has used the word ban. when his press secretary says it's not a ban, and they say the president calls it a ban. call it what you want.

it's about keeping bad people with bad intentions out of the country. smart messaging from the president there. make it about safety. there's a process in the state department. this may sound more dramatic. they have this dissent process. if you are in the foreign station, you're stationed for the state department somewhere around the world, you can join this dissent process. more than 1,000 people have signed this dissent cable protesting this policy, and they say the end result of this ban will not be a drop in terror attacks in the united states, but, rather, it would be a drop in the goodwill towards america. it happens in other administrations. this is early in this administration. you've had the white house press secretary on notice saying either get with the program or resign. the acting attorney general, an obama holdover, wouldn't enforce this policy. the president said you're fired. how will this be processed in this administration? will they say, great, we're having a conversation about this, or will they say go away? >> not well. i mean, like you said, sean spicer, the white house spokesperson, was as blunt as you can be. get with the program or get out.

that isn't how it works, and it is -- this process or at least our colleague has been doing great reporting on this. the reason this process is even in place in the state department is because of the vietnam war because afterwards the officials who are in charge realized that they need place and a mechanism for people who have expertise in areas to voice their dissent, their opposition, and their concern. you know what, we should welcome that. it's something that is incredibly important. this is not an autocratic government. that's not how we operate. certainly within certain branches, i guess, you know, donald trump was in his right to fire the acting attorney general, but this is a process that needs to happen, and they probably should not say get with the program or get out because

at some point they're going to need people to say, excuse me, this is going to hurt you. >> and it goes beyond the state department. across the government there's been this sort of, like, undercurrent of dissent among career public servants. it's interesting to see are the white house with a lot of people that have never been in government or run government before, dealing with the unwieldy nature of the vast federal bureaucracy. there are a lot of people who may or may not hold dissenting views, and they have ways to make those views known. it can create a lot of turmoil for this white house if they're not careful about managing the fact that most of these people are not political appointees. they're career people who have been there for decades. >> the offense they've taken mostly, but when it goes public, their attitude is i won the election, i'm in charge of the government. you work for the government. we'll see how this goes. we'll see if they do it quietly. maybe they'll tolerate it more.

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remarkable picture of last night. a moment of prayer for the supreme court nominee at the white house after the announcement of neil gorsuch for the vacancy. see the president, the vice president of the united states there, two of the sons. mrs. scalia and his son roman catholic priest there, as well. the white house attorneyer and judge gorsuch and his wife. a remarkable to get behind the curtain of the white house is one of the things we love to do. what do you think when you look at that? >> well, nlg, it's a moment of unity, a moment of joy. this is obviously an occasion that a lot of conservatives, particularly social conservatives, literally were praying for. went around the country to trump rallies, a lot of traditional

conservatives and church going social conservatives who had their doubts about whether he was personally a godly man, nonetheless, they were praying for a conservative choice on the supreme court. an ento see that prayer answered by judge gorsuch is a happy moment for them. >> excellent point. you made a point in break just chatting about how, you know, mitch mcconnell's not there and how this moment is here because of mcconnell's decision ten months i'll hold out. >> i think people forget that immediately upon scalia passing away, mitch mcconnell, the republican majority leader, made it clear -- >> before the nomination. >> there would be no hearings and no votes for no reason whatsoever would he waver from that. a lot of people, particularly conservatives and the insurgent community doubted him. they have not been always happy. he didn't hold the line the way they would prefer. the president would not have had this opportunity, he wouldn't have been able to make the bargain of wary conservative

voters in the election if mcconnell has not done this. he spearheaded this. top down. that's why gorsuch will be most likely the next justice on the supreme court. >> may be the reason donald trump is president. >> absolutely. >> democrats thought republicans would take a political hit for leaving the supreme court vacancy. they thought that voters would be mad at what that did to the institutional fabric of the senate. not only did republicans not take a hit but they drew political advantage from it getting conservatives out to vote. >> and conservatives not seen donald trump as their guy. let's be honest. who might otherwise have stayed home because this is a guy who was for single payer, actively outwardly pro-choice and so on and so forth and because he put out the list of potential nominees early on, very smartly, he convinced the conservative base that he would take care of them and he did. >> and trump is also facing a

huge group of people at the lower court level that he can fill in part because of mitch mcconnell's strategy throughout eight years of holding the line on federal judges. >> thanks, everybody, for dealing with the rock n roll today. that's what happens with live television. thank you for joining us. press secretary sean spicer getting ready. my colleague wolf blitzer will take you there in just a moment. w york state is already in motion. companies across the state are growing the economy, with the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and world-class innovations. like in plattsburgh, where the most advanced transportation is already en route. and in corning, where the future is materializing. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today at esd.ny.gov

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by nominating judge neil gorsuch. >> i'll do all my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the constitutional laws of the nation. >> it's a hostile appointment. >> the democrats will not succeed in filibustering. >> democrats are delaying confirmation votes for president trump's cabinet. >> when the president of the united states lies, it's a job of the attorney general to call him out on it. >> really important that the democrats get over it and start to play ball.