change and they are looking at -- >> ambassador? >> yes. >> sorry. we're short on time with all the breaking news. we have to let it go. thank you so much for your time. we really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you so much for joining us at this hour. "inside politics with john king" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com thanks. welcome in. day 4 of the presidency and there's disruption everywhere you look. not what you traditionally hear at the solemn annual prayer breakfast. >> we had tremendous success on "the apprentice." when i ran for president, i had to leave the show. that's when i knew for sure i was doing it, and they hired a big, big movie star, arnold schwarzenegger to take my place, and we know how that turned out.

the ratings went right down the tubes. it's been a total disaster, and mark will never, ever bet against trump again and i want to just pray for arnold if we can for those ratings, okay? on capitol hill the first cracks in public loyalty. the president is likely to get all of his cabinet picks, but one, just barely. >> i will not, i cannot vote to confirm her as our nation's next secretary of education. >> and on the world stage, words of intense call with a word ally on the pacific and a blunt warning after a missile test in the persian gulf. as of today, we're officially putting iran on notice. >> general flynn just one of the new faces creating controversy. here's another. he gives top adviser stephen bannon, the driving force behind

america's first views on trade and immigration. with us to share their insights, sara murray. dal ball, mary katharine ham of the federalist. the president is about to greet some from harley-davidson. today is the first day on the job for secretary of state rex tillerson who thanks to a volatile world and interesting boss he has his hands full. >> i know this was a highly contested election and we do not feel the same about the outcome. each of us is entitled to our expression of political beliefs but we cannot let our personal convictions overwhelm our ability to work as one team. let us be understanding with each other about the times we live in as we focus our energies on our departmental goals. >> we don't take sides here. among his immediate challenges,

common key allies who are alarmed both by president trump's words and his personality. that list includes most of europe, mexico, and canada, and it is growing. just today, words of an uncomfortable conversation with australia's prime minister turnbull. >> the world is in trouble, but we're going to straighten it out, okay? that's what i do. i fix things. we're going to straighten it out. believe me, when you hear about the tough phone calls i'm having, don't worry about it. just don't worry about it. they're tough. we have to be tough. it's time we're going to be a little tough, folks. we're taken advantage of by every nation in the world virtually. it's not going to happen anymore. >> greg, your reporting is essential to the story. at one point he spoke to

turnbull he had spoken with four other world leaders and that this, quote, was the worst call by far. he's untraditional, he's disruptive. why does this matter? >> well, i think it matters for a couple of reasons. one, it gives us some insight with how he's interacting with foreign leaders and close ones. there's some vitriol that they get on social media or news organizations get day to day. also it's just, you know -- this is a critical american relationship. it's hard to think of another country that has been more steadfast in its support for the united states than australia from world war i through world war ii, korea, vietnam, iraq, afghanistan. so it's really destabilizing. at least -- i mean i was on the phone with lots of australian news organizations last night really confused about what signal this sends to the country. >> if you look in the rear view

mirror and forward, incredible as china flexes its muscles. i want toe show you pictures of this phone call. you see there general flynn, the national security adviser, and steve bannon in the room as the president makes these phone calls. and we know, a, they both think the obama administration was weak and the obama administration broadly should speak more clearly, more bluntly when it comes to these things, air your differences. that's not necessarily all bad but it makes people unsettled. >> everybody is unsettled by this. he's the biggest story in the world. almost every day he's doing something to disrupt a relationship whether it's with an adversary or as greg said, his ally. that's disturbing. it's true he was elected on an advocacy of change and promise of change and he's doing all, that but he's breaking crockery at the same time and the question is which is going to

have the biggest crock. >> we thought washington was the china shop and he was the bull. . when you put this out it was sort of, everything is fine, and then you hear this fabulous reporting afterward about this very tense call and not hanging up the phone and abruptly ending it like that. as we sit here and say, how can you do this to an ally, they like this. >> right. even though they put out some of a sanitized whitewash transcript, i think they look at it as donald trump doing exactly what he said he was going to do. if you look back at that speech, that very clearly put both allies and foes on the united states on notice, that they're changing up the relationship, shaking up the order, and above all, they're prioritizing america above everyone el. i think that's what we saw donald trump doing in this call with australia. what i think is worth noting,

they said at the end of the call, they both agreed that the u.s. is going to take these refugees. it's a pre-existing agreement. he may have talked the talked but the outcome is different. >> he said he's going to review this as he said dumb deal. >> apparently he thinks donald trump is too straight. >> we have had a close relationship with australia. they fought alongside us in wars, including losing over 500 brave australians in the vietnam war, which some of us remember. and this, my view, was an unn unnecessary and harmful review

in corporation with australia and working together including training of marines in australia and other areas of military cooperation and intelligence. >> speaking calmly and slowly there, but this is probably the fourth or fifth day in a row where john mccain has taken on this white house over some aspect of his foreign policy. so he's disrupting the world. he also has a lot of critics up on capitol hill who frankly are nervous about this president's world view and the two men in the oval office. >> this is mccain's turf. he's passionate and he's going to get comfortable running up against the white house. can i point to the fundamental problem that the white house is so different and pretty inscrutable and much of the coverage if i may has been made fairly frantic. how important is each story and what was the tone and what are motivations of people telling the stories? so as an on serve of news and reporters of news, i have trouble with that. that's one of the problems we

have to cope with. i think on the substance, he's free to ask about this deal. look, you took a bunch of them, threw them in detention centers. that's a fine conversation to have but the tone is very trump-like. >> that's his style. >> he didn't change the deal. >> it's still the same deal. >> didn't change the deal. mccain calls it amateur hour. this is a bigger issue. germany is on edge. the prime minister was here. goes home and criticizes the travel ban. when you talk with national security choruses to mary katherine's choice, this is a trump trade. he sort of asked for a mile at the beginning to get everybody on edge and the hen tried to get his inch >> you can see in this call, the 25-minute call, he's looking at what am i getting out of this 20 25-minute conversation that i'm

going to get out of this. i think it's distorting to allies. we were talking about how this deal appears to still be intact although trump said on twitter he's inclined to be evaluated. who do you believe? the embassy or the president's twitter feed? >> that's a great point. what does it mean when national security walks into the white house and says we're putting iran on notice. >> gosh, i would love to ask that question and we asked a lot of senior administration officials exactly what that meant because it felt like they were drawing a line. they didn't take anything off the table so maybe that means economic sanctions. maybe it means military action. we really don't know. it seems to be a verbal slap on

the wrist to try to encourage iran toll voltaiuntarily change their behavior which they made clear this morning they have no intention of doing. the trump administration wants us to know they're nothing going to take it like the obama administration did. if you draw this red line and you don't have anything to back it up with, you're going to catch. >> what are their options? >>. >> one of the things you can do before you scrap a deal or in lieu of that is for flynn to say you're violating the deal which obama was not saying when they were clearly violating the deal. so that's a rhetorical change that could make the deal. >> during the campaign trump at one point or more said he wouldn't necessarily tear up the deal but he knows what negotiations are like and what deals are and he would enforce

it to the letter of the law. >> that's right. they seemed to try to make clear they don't believe this is part of it. they agree it's separate. and they'll try to put pressure on iran with this separate agreement which remains intact for now. again, what that pressure is aside from talking tough, we don't know yet. >> mccain said this morning on local radio that he has -- he has questions about whether this ballistic missile test does in fact both him. >> we learned this on the campaign. sometimes don't take trump literally. people around the world or in his own administration. we know some have criticized the travel ban. we know one who is going to asia who has different views at least in nay to public.

do think they, we shouldn't react to every day and see where we are in and see what happens after all of this nose. going farther than those senior cabinet-level officials that we named, it's not clear who the players are. the new cia director was an avowed foe of this iran deal. now he's in a position of evaluating it. he's going to be the one to go to the door and ask them. >> when sean spicer steps up to the mike, we will bring it back here. arjs democrats up on capitol hill. they don't have much to do about it.

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welcome back. again, we're standing by for the white house briefing. we're also standing by to see tape of the president of the united states and the vice president of the united states greeting members from harley-davidson who we're told may have brought toys with them. can't wait to see that. a plan to advance the process for president trump's cabinet picks. and they're facing intense pressure from liberal groups to find some way to block the president trump's court picks. not to mention tax reform, health care, and much, much more. paul ryan recalling the days when the republicans were in the minority has a little empathy. >> i understand why they're upset. they had a bad election and they're upset about it. that's not going to deter us from getting our work done and doing what we're elected to do.

>> a little understanding from the speaker of the house. kellyanne conway, not so much. >> the democratic party, we're seeing it unraveled in front of our eyes and being revealed in front of our eyes. a bunch of crybabies who are going to repeal the supreme court process without knowing his name and impeccable record. >> we were talking about tone and how the world is on edge about the president's tone. we see it in the domestics sphere as well. kellyanne conway, we're going to need them on trade deficits. they're crybabies. >> kellyanne conway showing why donald trump loves her so much with that sort of language and being very different from paul ryan who, let's face it, is in a different position than kellyanne conway.

as you said, he's got to be on the hill and try to navigate these very difficult legislative actions that he wants to take, whether it's obamacare, whether it's on trade. i think democrats -- i mean what chuck schumer is facing is people outside of his house wielding signs that say, chuck, grow us fine, chickens. >> these are his friends. >> his constituents. so that's what he's dealing with and that sort of protest movement. progressives are calling it the resistance. that's what's coming obviously to the hill as well with democrats trying to channel that. listen. they're in the minority, so they're in a difficult spot trying to balance these two things. >> so in some ways the beginning of what kellyanne conway is saying, there's some truth to that. we saw it in the women's march and the travel ban. they want the democrats to stop some of this and the democrats

don't have the votes to stop some of this. what happens to the democratic party? >> we've seen it on the right. they want to stop all of it. it's impossible to do that. they start by getting rid of the filibuster. now they're creating a new filibuster on the fly and they have to decide whether they're going to filibuster on the supreme court. and looking ahead, there may be others and they want to save it for that. but the base might not listen to them. >> but the republican reaction was birth of the tea party. you had protests going back to george w. bush. it wasn't about barack obama. but then it became primary challenges. are we going to see that? >> i don't think you can rule that out at this point. the interesting aspect of the moment we're in is there is no opportunity for nuance in terms of the political discussion and

what we're seeing -- in contrast to eight years ago when kind of the resistance to president obama started at the top right on inauguration night at the famous dinner that was written about, this resustain has welled up from the ground up. the democrats are now having to deal with. nobody can control that. nobody can predict exactly how that's going to play out. the leaders in the congress, particularly in the senate, are having to make it up day by day how far they'll have to push and what they'll yield on, but they don't know what the reaction is going to be. at this point there is such visceral opposition to donald trump that people are not thinking about, well, what's the right tactic at this moment. >> just say no. that's how the tea party got here. no more spending, no more this, no more that. we're told we're about a minute away from seeing the president greet the executives of

harley-davidson. we'll bring that to you in just a second fr. the white house perspective, to see the democrats trying and failing, again, i'm sure is pleased. he's going to get, far example, probably his entire cabinet even though there are a lot of questions. >> i think they are pleased but i heard president trump has been perplexed by the cabinet picks that have been questioned. there has been a little bit of frustration that some of these things that ire putting out there they're doing without treasury secretary of state s we have to remember that republicans did this too. republicans were obstructionists as you guys pointed out. they refused to meet with mar merrick garland.

what goes around comes around. >> it's escalating. let's take a look. the president, vice president, reince priebus. a little bit of white house flavor. let's have a listen. >> wisconsin. i love wisconsin.

>> we're watching the president of the united states. the vice president along with him, chief of staff reince priebus. there was some talk the president would go to wisconsin this week and then that trip that was never officially scheduled had to be pulled off of the tentative book because of security concerns. you see him outside the south lawn of the white house meeting with executives and looking at some mighty fine motorcycles. whatever your political views,

you can't help but take a peek at that. a chilly day in washington. a couple of interesting points. we'll watch this tape as the president speaks in an audible way. it's interesting. he has tried repeatedly to focus on jobs. he has said he's picking up the phone, whether it's the carrier deal during the transition since he's been in office, make jobs priority number one, wisconsin, one of those blue states he turned red in the last election. as you heard the president at the top, i love wisconsin, but also the production of the trump white house. this is the south lawn. we saw him this morning at the prayer breakfast and meetings at the roosevelt room. now an event on the south lawn. for a president who gets the optics, he is using every piece of the platform. i don't mean this critically. the white house, the bully pulpit of the rose garden, the east room, and now you're on the south lawn walking down the driveway and bringing it in for a jobs pitch. >> this is how trump likes to work. he's not a guy who wants to sit in the office and read a bunch

of briefings books. he wants to talk to people, meet them face-to-face and in his view get the deal-making process going. i feel like we would be remiss if we didn't know even though he has invited a number of companies, business leaders to the white house to meet with him, they have these very showy meetings, a lot of people in the business community are afraid of what a donald trump presidency is going to be like. they're worried about the taxes he floated, the immigration moves and that high-skill visas are going to be on the chopping block. it's not all merry and rosy. >> it's a great point. they love when they say we're going to give you lower corporate taxes because of the uncertainty -- not just the last eight, but the bush administration. but you mentioned harley-davidson sells a lot of those bikes overseas. the president talked earlier about renovating. he's a builder.

renovating naf to add a second "f." again, disruption and uncertainty in the first week of the presidency. >> i think the uncertainty is there has been push from the left or the activist groups to say sanitize your hands, never meet with trump, we'll boycott you. one of trump's strengths is he does sin the size information from new people all the time and enjoys meeting people. i would caution sanitizing oneself and not coming to the table does not work. >> he said to someone at the prayer breakfast, i hope to see you seven more times. he's think iing. he's going back to the white house. all politicians is local. it's playing on national television. it will play in wisconsin too. pretty smart guy too. >> he thought about the way to

run the campaign much to the surprise of the people who thought about how campaigns should and could be run. he is thinking about that. go back to the economic point. sa sara's point was good. he's done a lot of things which have attracted attention. they're basically small things. a small number of jobs saved, a small number of jobs created. but he's going to be judged in the way all are judged which is by the big mac crow numbers. how many jobs actually is he creating and what is the level of employment or unemployment. and, you know, it's way early on that. he's sending signals to the people who backed him that he's going to think about their situation and do everything he can to create more manufacturing jobbed in the united states, to think about the workers who have been left behind, to figure out a way to bring their wages up, but so far we've seen very little in terms of policy. we've seen more than just

jawboning here and there. >> excellent point. a lot of businesses don't like jawboning. they're afraid of a twitter attack. wage growth. not just job growth but wage growth. we'll see those numbers. shall we get through 2018 and head on to 2020. quick break. we're standing by for the white house briefing today. stay with us. all finished. umm... you wouldn't want your painter to quit part way.

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welcome back. let's go straight to the white house. sean spicer, the press secretary. >> you get some time to get a glimpse of summer at the winter white house in mar-a-lago. the president is going to start his meeting at 1:00 sharp. you probably saw the b roll of harley folks rolling on in literally. i'm going to keep this quick. the president signed a proclamation ushering in black history month. he looks forward to events honoring the enormous contributions that african-americans have made throughout history. last night he was honored to host the swearing-in the of the next secretary of state, rex tillerson. as he said, he's respected all over the world for the

tremendous life he has led and now will bring his years of experience to the critical task of making our nation more safer, more prosperous, and more secure. it's time to bring a clear eyed focus to our foreign affairs and now with secretary tillerson at the helm of the state department, we'll do just that. we'll strengthen our alliances, form new ones, and enhance america's interest throughout the world. speaking of the excellent nominees, praise is pouring in from around the country. first pick for the supreme court. "the detroit news" said judge gorsuch is a superstar. the richmond dispatch said the initial reaction was to cheer. the south florida "sun sentinel" said excellent qualifications. yesterday judge gorsuch had his first meetings on the hill. from everything we heard the judge knocked it out of the park on the senate as well. the senate looks forward to a

fair and expedient process for this qualified nominee and jurist. in addition to the meeting with majority leader mitch mcconnell. cornyn and grassley and joe manchin of west virginia. recently he suppress expressed the belief that gorsuch could win enough. i agree with the senate on that one. have to have a few to win the election. as i pointed out yesterday, the so-called 60-vote standard is simply not standard. they're grasping at straws. i'll repeat neither of the two supreme court justices that president obama put forward were subject to the 60-vote threshold. so while i agree with senator manchin that gorsuch will get to 60 it's simply not ever been a requirement. now with events today, the

president started by attending the national prayer breakfast. it's a tradition that's continued over six decades going back to president eisenhower. he thanked the people for their faith and prayers. that's inspired him. noting the five words he's heard more than any others in the country are "i'm praying for you." he spoke at length about isis genocide and threats of people and he made it clear the united states has a moral obligation to speak out against such violence. he encouraged americans to remain a tolerant society where all faiths are respected and all citizens can feel safe and secure. he's taken action to ensure the united states will not allow a beach head of intolerance to spread throughout the nation. in the coming days we'll develop a nation that those admitted in our country fully embrace our

values of religious liberty. the president also committed to get rid of the johnson amendment and allow representatives of faith to speak freely and without retribution. in a particular poignant moment in his remarks the president recalled yesterday his visit to doercher air force base to join the family of chief owens. after giving his life in defense of the american people. the president quoted john 15:13. a greater man had no love than this than to lay down his life for this. he returned to hold a legislative affairs meeting with the team. the team continues to work closely to enact the president's agenda with a nomination of gorsuch. extennive outreach is under way on capitol hill and we look forward to the judge receiving a swift and fair hearing. between his meetings the president was pleased to see the

epa leader was voted out of the senate works committee. as has unfortunately become the practicing, the democrats again boycotted the hearing. following the strategy session the president met with senators hatch, widen, and congressmen brady and neil. it was a chance to meet with the finance committee and house and trades committee. the president has put together an all-star trade team that will will work closely to craft new trade deals. the president has expressed his concern time and again with nafta which he believes is an out of date agreement. the ultimate goal is the best and fairest treatment and the president believes that those interests are best secured bibi lateral rather than multi-lateral trade deals. he looks forward to working closely with ustr. for those of you who weren't

outside and saw the harleys roll up. it's no surprise he'll host a meeting with the harley executives and union representatives. for a list of those individuals, please contact our office. harley davidson has been a success story since 1921. in 1903 they began building motorcycles in the united states and today the company has approximately 6,000 ploems and $6 billion in annual revenue. their headquarters are located in milwaukee, wisconsin, which may have had something to do with getting them in so quickly and there's a certain staffer. today he'll meet with harley-davidson executives to make it easier to create more jobs. beyond the company executives, rep tevs from the steelworkers unions will also be in attendance. their motorcycles have cared our american servicemembers in war,

carry the police, the secret service and joy to millions of americans throughout the world. the president is looking forward to hosting these leaders from one of the great on tre tre pre nearial success stories. a few administrative notes. the national security adviser mike flynn announced an addition to the t staff. johnizenberg, deputy assistant to the president. nsc. kevin harrington, deputy assistant to the president for strategic planning and kenneth juster for international affairs. lastly we had a great introduction to our skype seats. please contact the press office

if you know of anyone who wants to join us in the future. >> tomorrow the president will host a strategic planning meeting and tomorrow he'll go to mar-a-lago. with that i'll take some questions. katy pav lidge. >> today president trump talked about the genocide and last year obama confirmed a genocide in the middle east and north africa. now that rex tillerson has been sworn inned a secretary, what do you plan to do regarding the legal obligations in protecting these groups under the 1948 treaty? >> that's a great question. i think secretary tillerson is learning his way around the building. he gave a great speech. ily will be further guidance coming out, katy. right now his job is to get in.

back to the issue. it was important. it was throughout the campaign. it's something he's expressed this morning and something he's committed to in terms of the executive orders and allowing christian minorities and key countries seek asylum in the united states. he recognizes that these are the oppressed groups an accordance with how the u.s. defines it. i think you'll see further guidance. jennifer. >> i have two questions. the president promised to protect religious liberty. some see it as code for discrimination. can you kind of give us a sense how the president views this? >> it's an interesting question because i do -- you know, this is something that comes up quite a bit. i think there is a line. people should -- we have freedom of religion in this country and i think people should be able to practice their religion, express areas of their faith without reprisal and i think that

pendulum sometimes swings and i think the president and vice president both understand that one of the things that makes our country and this democracy so great is our ability to express our religion, believe in faith, express it, and live by it. that's where i think the important part is. whether it's a small business owner or employee who wants to have some degree of expression of faith of the company. too often those voices get, you know, pushed out in the name of political correctness. he's going to make sure we not only speak up for it but find ways to keep the line a little let blurred. we should. impose a religion on anybody. we're free to express our religion or be, you know, not have one. that's obviously in our country an equally valid way of living

your life. but at the same time people who want to express their faith shouldn't be ostracized for wanting to link that. major. >> if you could give us an example, if you could, of the pendulum swinging in the direction and as you may know a draft is circulating around town and many are wondering if that is going to be a way to either silence those and the left. talk to us through both of those. >> if you look back at the little sisters case. >> would you pout hobby lobby in that category? >> i would, yes. several institutions, catholic institutions and others who have been mandated or certain things t. those are instances where the pendulum is swinging the other

way. there's clearly a lot of evidence in the past couple of years with the government coming in with regulations and policy that deny people to living. >> per the president that's discreme na torrey its. they want to make sure they don't penalize swg. if you can keep that in line and alieu people who don't have that faith or opposing fakts make they're equally comfortable in the workplace but we shouldn't mandate them which is in direct contradiction to their faith. >> what about executive orders. we maintain that. it's not a question. there are a lot of ideas being floated out.

i mentioned this the last couple of days. that doesn't mean -- part of it as the principle. in a variety of sun jekts. 6 people go on, i thoi thought, an idea of process. until the president makes up his mind, there's something else. >> sean, in light of the strategy that happened in quebec city last week which prime minister trudeau is calls an act of terrorism, what is the pretty doing? whanishive is he take that that home grown terror isn't going on? >> he's looking at a lot of things. i this i the first thing is to look at your borders. you've about got to protect your own people, look at the cyber

threats. there's a holistic approach. it's a multi-tiered step. you look at the borders, who we're letting in. then you look at who we're doing what with our intelligence agencies whether it's the cyber threat that we face or other terrorist agencies. >> oklahoma city, american kid. >> sure. that's what i'm saying. part of it is looking at the assets that we have here t nsa, fbi. looking to see if we can get ahead of the curve and see thing chlsz for when there are telltale sign. it's a multi-effort process if you will. kristen. >> thank you.

why is the president easing sanctions? >> we're not eases sanctions. the treasury didn't, from what e substance it's a fairly competent treasurely department to see whether or not there are different carveouts for different industries or products and services that need to be going back and forth, but i would refer you back to the treasurely didn't on that one. >> saerngs hold ean, hold on. the website suggests you're easing sanctions and authorizes certain transactions with the federal security service. does that not suggest a shift? >> no, it doesn't. it's a regular course of action the treasury does quite often when there are sanctions imposed. i would refer you back to them. >> thank you. could i ask you to describe the call on the way in between the australian prime minister and the president and also outline the president's concerns about

refugee-ding questions. and i ask it this way. could you clarify whether the deal was on or not because the president tweeted last night i will study this dumb deal. >> right. the president had a very cordial conversation with prime minister trumbull where they went through an extensive discussion of this deal. the president is unbelievably disappointed in the previous administration's deal that was made and how poorly it was crafted and the threat to national security it put the united states on. he has tremendous respect for the prime minister and australian people and has continued to review that deal and to ensure that as part of the deal, which was always part of it, that we would go through a very, very extreme vetting process to ensure that every single person that goes -- that is being offered up is coming here with peaceful intentions and poedss no -- poses no threat

to the united states. while he has resuspect for the australian people and prime minister trumbull we do not impose a threat to the american people. the deal that was cut is something he is extremely, extremely upset with. he does not like it but out of respect for him, he ooh going to allow that process, continue to study it. under the conditions that had been set that there will be extreme vetting on every single. >> just for clarity. the deal it is still under review so it's not certain to proceed. >> part of the deal was that -- the deal allows for the united states to vet the vings that are being offered up to be processed. the president's goal is to make sure every one of those people in accordance with the deal and discussed in a ton fore cain

very sags, to make sure. i cannot understand score how disappointed he was in the deal that was made and it was a horrible deal offed up by the united states under the previous administration. sara. >> they want to put iran on notice but they haven't specified what that is. what options are on the table and are there any options like military action that is off the table? >> i think general flynn was very clear yesterday, that iran has violated the joint resolution, that iran's additional hostile action that it took against our navy vessel are ones we are very clear we're not going to sit bayer by and take. clearly we wanted to make sure iran knows they're not going unnoticed, we will respond.

john. >> thank you, sean. on january 27th at the republican retreat in philadelphia, vice president pence had a closed door meeting with several republicans where several of them brought up the case of irs commissioner. it was an attempt to impeach him that some felt it was unfair to the commissioner and they urged him to tell the president that given his entire record, he should fire him or ask for his resignation soon. my sources said the vice president said, i can hear you. is there any action on that? >> i have nothing to update you on that. hallie. >> it was initially described over the weekend, the raid, as a successful raid by the administration. there's now a question about additional civilian casualties. i have a couple of questions.

would you still stand by the fact that the raid was successful. was there more than one option given and were there complications about the raid moving forward? >> i'd hike to walk through that. i appreciate you bringing this up. let's go through the tick tock on that raid. on september 7th, they sent it. that was clearly under the previous administration. on december 19th, that plan was approved by the department of defense and recommended it be moved ahead. again, this always happened under the previous administration. on january 6th there was an interim deputies meeting. it was recommended they go ahead. the conclusion was to hold for a

minerless night. then trump was president trump. shortly after taking office, general mattis read it and offered his support. on january 24th it was confirmed. the president asked to see secretary stratus and jointing chief of staff dunford. he on that meeting had a dinner meeting which included the president, vice president, jared kushner, steve bannon, general kol log, general flynn, and cia director pompeo. the indication at that time was to go ai head on friday. the committees met again. also reaffirmed their support for that.

on january 26th the president signed the memo. not only was it a very, very thought out process we this administration. it started -- clearly well before that. this was a very, very well thought out and executed effort. >> where was the president the night of the raid and do you still stand by is that it was successful? >> secretary mattis and others had kept him updated on both the raid and death of chief owens as well as the foim who were not injured. again, i would think i would go back to what i sads yes. it's hard to except loss of life when you have that or people

injured. . when you think of the loss of life throughout america and institutions and in terms of the world in terms of what some of the individuals could have done, i think it is a successful operation by all standards. again, i want to reiterate. it's tough to use the word "success" when somebody has lost their life, but when you go back and look at an individual that dedicated their life to serving this country and went over and ore and over again and knew not only the risk that it took but wanted to do it because of knowing the kind of threat these individuals pose to our country and to our people, that's -- while not a success that you lost him, you know he died in sacrifice for someone else here in this nation. hunter walker. >> thank you, sean. i've seen some criticism of the president's remark at the prayer breakfast this morning.

can you shed any light on why he thought that was a good venue to mock "the apprentice" for its ratings? >> look. mark burnett who has a longtime history with the breakfast and that, if you look at the totality of the remarks, they were absolutely beautiful. i think to hone in on that, wit as light-hearted moment he was trying to have with a big supporter of the national prayer breakfast and a friend. guys, i'll be out tomorrow. i want to make sure we all see the president. take care. bye-bye. >> all right. the white house press secretary sean spicer wrapping up a daily briefing with reporters. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. lots going on at this briefing including word that there was what u.s. officials are called a limited easing of at least one

sanction that has been put in russia. it will allow companies to do limiteded by anyone as fsb. it's seen as a minor easing of the sanction put in place at the end of the obama administration that limits business to $5,000 a year for any calendar year. according to officials the move eases the sanctions that. wut put in once again at the end of the obama administration. the move was made as a technical fix to the sanctions, their words, that were put in place to avoid conflict. we heard sean spicer t white house press secretary, also insist this was not necessarily a major move right now. i want to go to cnn white house skront jim acos kocosta who's j

us from the briefing room. talk to ugg about what sean spicer said about this very limited easing of at least one part of the u.s. sanction that was put in place at the end of the obama administration. >> i think you heard sean spicer say this is not an easing of sanctions. there wasn't a whole lot more information beyond that. obviously this is a question that's going to come up. when the treasurely didn't puts out a document like that it is from what we can tell a minor relax yaks of sanctions when it comes to the russian intelligence agency, the fsb, but you heard from the podium there's some sensitivity to, i guess, qualifying it as a relax asian in terms of russian

hacking and so forth. but the word here at the white house, you heard it a few minutes ago, this is not an easing of sanctions, wolf. >> let's talk abouting the fact that a navy s.e.a.l. was killed. the president went to delaware to receive his remains. you got information. we're getting more information on the actual u.s. operation. i take it that military personnel from the united arab emirates was there as well. >> that right. you heard from sean spicer. he was asked the question why exactly initially suppressed the raid as a success. we started to hear him clarify that yesterday say it's not a success if you have a loss of life when it comes to a