welcome to "inside politics," i'm john king. thanks for spending time with us on another busy day here in nation's capital. president trump vowed to win the court battle over the legality of his controversial travel ban. >> we're going to take it through the system. it's very important. it's very important for the country regardless of me or

whoever succeeds at a later date. we have to have security in our country. we have to have the ability. when you take someplace like syria and all of the different people -- and if you remember, isis said, we are going to infiltrate the united states and other countries through the migration. and then we're not allowed to be tough on the people coming in? explain that one. >> a key test looms later today in a federal appeals court hearing. states attorney generals will make their case. top democrat gets a call from the president supreme court pick. we get to see the top of that meeting and we'll take you there when we can. on the senate floor right now, a showdown over the president's choice to be education secretary and an important and broader test of the test of wills early in this new political environment. betsy devos is the nominee in question.

senior congressional correspondent manu raju is joining us. i guess the vice president of the united states has to be there potentially to break a tie vote tells us that at least the beginning of what we expect to be a dramatic hour ahead. >> absolutely. this remember, john, is a historic note. we have not seen a vice president come to the senate to break a tie on a cabinet nominee. this is the first time this will happen. we do erk pekt betxpect betsy d confirmed. we're getting no indications that republicans are breaking ranks outside of the two republicans who initially voiced their objections, susan collins and lisa murkowski. that's why it's a 50/50 vote and mike pence has been called in to break the tie. jeff sessions needs to be here

to vote as well on betsy devos. so right for her to be confirmed this hour and then afterwards, john, the senate to vote a filibuster on jeff sessions' nomination to be attorney general. expected to be confirmed as senate republicans try to muscle through two other nominees, steven mnuchin and tom price for health and human services. they hope to get this all done, even though it may mean a rare weekend session in the senate, an effort to make sure donald trump gets his picks in place and democrats doing their best to stall it as long as possible. john? >> and manu, tell us about the last few days up there. i saw senator mark warner, democrat of virginia and thousands of calls a day like it was in the middle of the health care debate. is that democratic spin or is that true? >> that's true from both sides. i'm hearing from republicans and democrats. they are getting flooded with phone calls from constituents. a lot of republicans, john, are quick to dismiss those calls

because they say this is organized by outside groups, by teachers unions, by progressive activists. but nevertheless, they are jamming up the switchboards and the democratic base is very, very engaged on this nomination, which is why you're seeing something somewhat rare here. democrats united from the most conservative wing, joe manchin and heidi heitkamp up for re-election in 2018 to the most progressive members, elizabeth warren and al franken, all voicing their opposition to betsy devos. a sign of how polarizing she's become as a nominee. john? >> manu, thank you. this vote takes about 20, 25 minutes. we'll keep an eye on it as it plays out and get back to capitol hill when it's important. joining me is laura of the "wall street journal," jeff zeleny and jackie kucinich of the daily

beast. this vote is about democrats trying to point a flag. you're going to need our votes when you replace obamacare and chuck schumer wants to prove today, yes, we have red state democrats in trump states up in 2018 and, yes, from time to time they may leave the flock, if you will. but when we need to, we can plant a flag and prove our relevance, right? >> and this is sort of the left-wing side of the party asserting itself and saying just as the right ring for a long time has, you know, really controlled the republicans in congress and gotten them to do what they see is best, it's what is happening now, saying you can't just go along. in woman is not qualified for the job, in their view. and also make it uncomfortable for trying to switch things up on them, make it uncomfortable for the republicans to say yes

to her. >> they can't be less enthusiastic than their base. they are calling their members of congress and flooding the lines. chuck schumer can't look like his members aren't willing to stand up as firmly as those who are, you know, leading these movements. >> and early in his career as leader so someone who spent a lot of time on the hill, there's a lot of layers to this and chuck smum mer is trying to prove to the guy who calls him a clown, the president of the united states, that you have to deal with me. you may get your cabinet but you have to deal with us. >> this gives us an important window into the democratic coalition. the census bureau came out with their annual membership of union membership. it's down across the board and it's been on a decline for 30 years. teacher unions play a huge role in the democratic party, more so than unions that will oppose president trump's pick for

commerce secretary or someone like that. they have immobilized the entire party and they are making their voices heard. they are forcing mike pence to cast a vote that no other vice president has ever cast. >> if you look at the screen, jeff zelleny, the voting is undr way. we have a great team there. this is expected to go about 20, 30 minutes. mike pence is not in the chair at the moment but he's prepared to come in when necessary and republicans say it will be necessary to break the vote. i want to give people a flavor of the debate. democrats took over the floor. they are making their case against betsy devos but also making the case essentially for democratic unity and sending the president a message. listen. >> if you cannot be a champion for republican lick schools, you cannot be a champion for

schools. >> we have the wrong person who may be confirmed as a secretary of education. >> we need just one more republican to stand up for the children of america. >> there are certain issues that are too important that demand putting country above party. >> the secretary of education has an enormous amount of power to shape our nation's future. so this is not a job for amateurs. >> let's ask president trump to send us someone who is qualified. >> show of unity there across the spectrum of the democratic party and more conservative democrats not in that little montage there. the democrats are united. the republicans lost two. susan collins and lisa murkowski, two of the more moderate members and both parties are polarized and dug in in the third week of the trump presidency. what does this tell us?

>> usually this happens much later into an administration. usually this happens after the first 100 days. this tells us a couple of things. one, the math is working out perfectly for the president to break this tie. it would be major shock if another republican stepped forward. the reason this won't happen, most likely, is because that would cause huge problems for this administration. that would be the first nominee that he has that would not make it through. it's clear that mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader, is going to get this president's nominees through come hell or high water. betsy devos has another relationship with most republican senators. she's been one of the biggest contributors for so long. if she was someone unheard of, unknown, i'm not sure all republicans would be standing with her. but it is good politics to be with her. but uncomfortable as well. dean heller, school children writing them, this is a vote that is going to stick for a while. >> it's a vote that is going to sting for a while and as we

watch it play out, a very important point about betsy devos, these new nominees are going through. she has more of a history with the members of the trump team going in. we're waiting for her to come in but what does it also tell us, one of the objections to her is she's a big proponent of school choice, giving federal money to the states and saying run about your own programs being don't let washington tell you what to do here. she can do some of that administratively but it's federal money. congress appropriates the money. if they can't stop her nomination, what kind of fight are we getting into when she wants to implement the agenda and the democrats only have 48 votes but that's enough sometimes to slow the train? >> one of the interesting elements of this is that the reason that senator collins from maine and lisa murkowski of alaska are opposing her is because her policies would affect rural schools. if this is the first window into -- the first opportunity that some democrats have to talk to a part of the base, a part of

the electorate, they could sting even more over the long term. >> and back to the question, is this just about betsy devos or how much does it mean going forward? the trump cabinet picks are going forward. most of them. the hearing for labor secretary has been rescheduled several times. his ethics paper has not been posted online because he's the ceo of carl's jr. and hardee's. just yesterday, weeks into this process, he disclosed this. my wife and i employed a housekeeper for a few years during which i was unaware that she was not legally permitted to work in the united states. when i learned of her status, we immediately ended her employment and offered helping her get assistance. we have fully paid back taxes to the irs and the state of california and submitted all

required paperwork. if betsy devos goes through, they will immediately turn to pudzer. >> he worked to help adjust her status. that's not the fate of most in this country. in fact, under the executive order signed recently, all those people are subject to deportation if they are viewed in the eyes of an i.c.e. officer of being a threat. there are no real standards as there was under obama who is subject to being deported. that was a compassion nation way to look at it. i think that there's a certain irony there. >> a few weeks back, i reported that he had shown some skepticism and i'm told he was told to stay in the fight. do we have any indication? i know the white house wants him to stay in the fight.

do we have any indication that, a., he would go or, b., they can get three republicans and not two republicans and make it interesting? >> i don't see any indication whatsoever. there is no sort of organized protest. and there's not really -- >> yet. >> yet. and there's not the incentive that a democratic grounds swell against a nominee for congress position as there would be for secretary of education. >> and to jeff's point earlier, you would not be seeing this vote unfold. we think it's going to take another 20 minutes. mitch mcconnell would not allow this to begin if he didn't have iron clad commitments because he would be embarrassed and the president would be embarrassed. we expect 50-50. the vice president will come into the chair. i want to get to this. also on capitol hill, former general now secretary kelly. there was a big dust-up about the rollout of the travel ban. we'll have a court case later tonight. we'll see how the legal case goes. in washington, members of congress felt blind sided, some agencies were blindsided.

general kelly took one for the team here. listen. >> in retrospect, this is all on me, by the way, i should have delayed it just a bit so that i could talk to members of congress, particularly the leadership of committees like this, to prepare them for what was coming. the desire was to get it out. the thinking was to get it out quick so that potentially people that might be coming here to harm us would not take advantage. >> general kelly, by the way, is a proud member of red sox and patriot nation. he's doing his job, as coach belichick would say. >> this doesn't happen often. this happens once, maybe twice. if the trump administration continues to blindside or keep their cabinet secretaries out of the loop, like they have done, like they reportedly did with kelly initially and with rex tillerson, whether he was brought in, they were moving things around that have made his life harder on day one. i would just keep an eye on this

and maybe at this point everybody is singing from the same hymnal but somebody like general kelly is not going to take this lightly if it happens again. >> he's a good soldier or, in this case, other adjectives we could use to describe this here. but the reality here is, everyone in that room in the committee know what happened. >> yes. >> he was on the job for a number of hours before this happened. he had barely been sworn in. they know it's not his fault. i think you're absolutely right about this. he only does this a couple times here but he's being a team player here and wants this to work, obviously. but i'm not sure anyone believes that it was his fault. >> because it wasn't his fault. >> we're going to keep watching this vote. education secretary betsy devos being voted on at the moment. into when we say everybody is talking about donald trump, we mean everybody, including the e ayatollah. and the new england patriots are making their way through the

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live pictures here. the united states capitol, a busy day there. several hearings under way and a dramatic vote under way at the united states senate. betsy devos is donald trump's nominee for secretary of education. we're expecting a 50-50 tie. the vice president of the united states is ready to come in and break that tie and give the president his education pick. we're watching the note and see

if there are any surprises. moving on, russia, iran and al qaeda in the arabian peninsula in the most recent propaganda. the supreme leader's reaction to this. >> putin's a killer. a. >> we've got a lot of killers. you think our country is so innocent? >> here's what ayatollah khamenei thought of that statement. we however thank this guy in the white house since he largely did the job we've been trying to do in the past decades. to divulge the true face of the united states. their claims to human rights are no longer tenable." people said the russians would use this as propaganda and essentially attract russian propaganda and what the president was saying about the united states, saying, thanks, you've been trying to improve our human rights records and now the united states conceding we're all equals.

>> i'm not sure we should be surprised about this. he said something similar during the campaign and it clearly seems to be where he's coming from, in that he sees a lot of flaws in american policy and so therefore he's not going to use that as a way to criticize russia. he seems very reluctant to say anything bad about them. >> when you're a president, your words are magnified around the world. this is the latest example. no question about it -- >> but it's something he said. >> a list of examples on the wall when you're president, your words may be the exact same but taken differently, more importantly now. this is an example of that. it has more than republicans scratching their heads. >> and that's what i was going to say. that's why you saw the immediate reaction across the spectrum with the exception of vice president pence who kind of tried to clean up the mess but that's what he does. you saw this with marco rubio, liz cheney, mitch mcconnell. they don't want to respond to things like this but they have to because it's so fundamental.

>> here's another one. al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. a raid in yemen. things went wrong. a navy s.e.a.l. was killed. there was a statement, 11-minute audio recording. i'll read this part. "the new fool of the white house received a painful slap across his face." now, throughout the george w. bush administration, to a lessor degree in the obama administration, we have had bin laden and donald trump is someone who reflectively reacts. what do we think? >> well, i think we see the perils of that and it's true across the board on the domestic policy for sure and constantly responding with his comments about the judge in seattle who issued the ruling were completely out of step with what a president normally would do but when it is, as jeff said, on the foreign stage when you're

talking about serious issues like this, we're talking about al qaeda and you respond, there are consequences. now, it's only been 2 1/2 weeks, that's hard to believe, but we maybe haven't seen them yet. i think we will. >> it's an interesting point. you just alluded to this. i want to read you something that manu raju spoke to senator rubio yesterday. he said this. in the end, the most important thing is not what he said but what they are doing. he was talking about the stay in the whole terror -- the travel ban. but this is a united states senator saying on the record what's the most important is not what he said. he is the president of the united states. paul ryan today at this press conference said something very similar. he said he's an unconventional president. he gets frustrated with judgments but the most important thing is his actions, not what he says. >> this is something we've heard out of the white house nonstop. this don't take him literally but take him seriously and the weight of a president's words truly matter, especially at this

huge stage. this moment in which the world is in peril and then he says something like he did yesterday talking about the media not reporting terrorist attacks. this sort of beggar's belief. to lawyer raz point, everything he said on the campaign trail, he has done. sure sounds like we should start taking him literally. >> without question you have to take him as both as president. but i think it's so interesting what he says about all of these 74 acts of terror. it just simply isn't true. we have uncovered all of them, to some degree, most of them to a major, major degree. i'm struck by now the third president in the row here who talks about terror. sounding totally different. again, it's early but he was almost sounding like he was stoking the fears that we need to be -- it was so different. what he was doing on that is deflecting and building support for his travel ban. that's, of course, what he's

doing. >> and by reminding people, because there wasn't an action that caused this reaction, something didn't happen, thank goodness. but that -- so he needs to bring up these other things to show people why they should be afraid and we have to keep focus on that. that is what he's doing. >> and to both of your points here, this is the president of the united states implying that americans need to be afraid. and that's not something we've heard. we heard from president bush. it's not something we heard from president obama or heard from -- >> we have a president who actually said, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. now this new guy is saying let's all be afraid. >> it's an interesting moment. we're watching the final ta tail end of this vote. we only have a handful of senators left to vote and mike pence is standing by in an office off the senate floor. he gets to vote when there's a tie and we are told to expect a tie today. betsy devos is a philanthropist, billionaire from michigan.

she's trump's pick to be the next secretary of education. we'll stay with this vote. as we do, let's come back to this for a minute. later on in the program i want to talk about the president's warning yesterday, the president's effort to incite fear. this is mr. johnson, ron johnson of wisconsin. we've watched the party loyalty play out here. come back to the moment and what this -- this is about betsy devos and whether they runs the education department but it's about more. >> it is. and we'll hear from jeff sessions who wasn't going to be a senator anymore. he was going to be attorney general. his vote has not happened yet as well. his vote is critical. they need every single person. what i'll be watching for in this is how much blowback there is for some republicans in blue states. we talk so much about the ten democrats in trump states. there are republicans in blue states and a dean heller from

nevada is one of them. >> and this is jeff sessions last vote so he can be attorney general. when the president has a travel ban tied up in the courts, most likely to go to the supreme court, when the president is trying to build a border wall and do other things, would you think he wants his attorney general on the job but was told by leader mcconnell, you have to leave him right here until we get through the votes because they didn't know how fast bentley would go. >> i believe he's abstained from the others so far but he needs it. the math needs him. >> right. >> manu raju is on capitol hill watching this play out. join the conversation. we were talking about other things as we went through this vote keeping it on the screen. what did we miss? >> reporter: well, right now it's 50-50. so at any moment, we expect mike pence to come in and cast that divisive vote. even though it's very, very close -- >> there is he.

mike pence -- excuse me for interrupting, but mike pence for the first time taking this seat in the senate to cast a big vote. let's listen in. >> on this vote, the yeas are 50, the nays are 50. the vice president votes in the affirmative and the nomination is confirmed. ma jord majority leader? >> i'd move to reconsider. a table to reconsider. >> question is on the motion to table. all in favor say aye. >> all opposed?

the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it and the notion is agreed to. >> roll call be waived? >> without objection. >> manu raju standing by for us. we saw the vice president of the united states cast his first tiebreaking vote to get the key cabinet and then you had parliamentary moves at the end of it and putting aside any efforts to reconsider the nomination. betsy devos will be sworn in later today, we assume, as the next secretary of education. give us a little flavor. >> yeah. even though there was a lot of drama heading up to this, the republican leadership behind the scenes really worked a lot down the votes. they made sure that there were not going to be any defections. i've been talking to talk republicans throughout the last several days. they felt very confident heading into this vote because they got

assurances from all their members, from some of those blue states, swing state republicans that you were talking about, dean heller from nevada or pat toomey, that they were thought going to flip and they were going to support betsy devos no matter how much pressure was coming from the left flank of the democratic caucus. that was one reason they moved up for consideration of her nomination to have that before jeff sessions' vote to make sure he was there to help break that 50-50 tie and help it to get to a 50-51 situation. and now this vote that is happening at this moment to break a filibuster to block jeff sessions from getting the job, jeff sessions expected to overcome that filibuster and watch for the republicans to push through the rest of donald trump's cabinet nominees at a very slow pace, much slower than a lot of new presidents but eventually they are going to get their jobs. democrats doing what they can to frus strays the agenda but not having success so far.

>> not having success so far but help me with this question. if you need the vice president of the united states to help break the cabinet picks to get his team in place, what does that tell us about the environment going forward? the president says he wants fast action. they are already frustrated with the pace of congress but if you have to have the vice president break a tie to get you an education secretary, what does it look like as we head into the contentious policy debates about funding a border wall, replacing obamacare, potentially the whole terror ban issue spilling up on capitol hill, tax reform? >> it's going to be incredibly difficult. this is supposed to be the easy part even though they are getting their nominees, overcoming the democratic pop poe significance, they have the votes to overcome a filibuster. there are 52 republican senators. so we expected this to happen all along. it's happening slower than they've wanted but it's still happening. but this is the part that they expected to get done. now, what about when you start getting into the really heavy part of the legislative

calendar? getting into the nitty gritty of health care reform of tax reform. it's going to be incredibly difficult not just to keep republicans united but to get democratic support on key issues overcoming that 60-vote threshold which you'll needs to pass massive legislation and getting those eight democrats to join with 52 republicans if the republicans can stay united and, john, it's going to frustrate house republicans who want fast action on a lot of issues, including obamacare but given how slow the senate is moving as we've seen with these cabinet nominees, it's going to be very difficult to move quickly on major elements of the agenda so it could spark some infighting which we'll watch for. >> manu raju on capitol hill, we'll check back in. a big victory for the president but needed his vice president to break the tie to get it. let's come back into the room. it's a win for the president. it looks like he's going to get his entire cabinet. also a win for the majority leader mitch mcconnell who is

keeping the senate republicans in line early on. but we're still in this getting to know you phase, not just about the president and to the conversation we were just having, don't necessarily pay attention to what he says. pay attention to what his team does. i find that extra ordinariordin. it dawned on me when manu was speaking, he's going to go up there in a couple of weeks and give a joint address to the american people and to the joint session of congress. he has not done much early on to reach out to the other side. nor have they done much to reach out to him. does anyone ever break this ice or is this the way we're going to live for the next four years? >> this is the world we're going to live in except perhaps on specific issues. if they do actually do something on infrastructure where they need democrats and bring them in. but this is not what democrats had planned for. i think they were not planning on all of these protests and not planning on their activists leading them as much but now they have to stand up to this

president much more than i think they thought they would have to in the moment here and that's going to halt all types of progress there but i think another interesting thing, in terms of outreach, the white house is not fully staffed in terms of legislative outreach and republicans are baffled by sort of what is happening here. all of this going on now, as manu said, this should be the easy stuff. >> democratic schumer just broke the vote. here's what he tweeted out. "this cabinet nominee is so unqualified that vice president mike pence had to cast his vote." to this point, you know, chuck schumer getting into the mix there and trying to prove to the democratic base, we tried, but to the point we're talking about throughout this, the pressure on the democrats, their base is pushing them along here.

and i think betsy devos would be -- >> on betsy devos, you're right. but he's about to sit down with judge gorsuch. >> that's going to be a tougher one, especially for democrats who have made the argument in the past that you should look at this person qualified for the court and not look at their ideology which is the argument when the shoe is on the other foot. but i do think -- i don't think you should underestimate, it's not that the anger at donald trump and not just in the face. i think that the members of congress, democrats in congress feel it, too. and he is not -- his policies are so -- he's taking them to such an extreme on so many different fronts all at the same time without any effort to bring anybody in that i don't think anyone should be real surprised. >> and if they keep just coming up short, what happens there in america? do we get from democratic activists what we got from the tea party, a revolt trying, just coming up short is not good

enough? >> it all comes down to elections, right? right now, democrats don't have a lot of power because they've lost a bunch of elections. we're already seeing republican members getting a lot of pressure. if that continues and they continue that momentum, perhaps they will see a change. they can only complain so much because this is what -- >> the question is how do they mobilize. >> right. >> this energy that they have right now. are they going to focus on winning back the u.s. senate in 2018 the map is terrible for democrats. it's eight republicans up and dean heller is one of the few republicans in bad shape, maybe jeff flake. we're reaching here for seats to win back. do they try to win for the house? jere jere gerrymandering has made that an impossibility. there are huge number of

governorships up in 2018. if they win back those seats and then seats in the statehouses around the country, they are going to have a foot in the door in the redistricting process. that's a lot of thinking out to do about a process that's two, four, six years down the line. i'm not sure that the people protesting outside chuck schumer's apartment in new york city are going to be thinking that far ahead. >> it is a reminder for those of us who live in washington, pay attention to what is happening out of the states, not just here in washington. up next, president trump says he wants to keep america safe from terror. the media is covering up attacks.

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danger. >> you've seen what happens in paris and nice, all over europe it's happening. it's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported and, in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn't report on it. >> from the administration that gave us alternative facts, i want to say respectfully, that's a parallel universe. that's a parallel universe. they did put out a list of 78 terror attacks, the white house, which it claims are underreported or unreported. i work at the network with the most global reach in television and i have a lot of colleague who is risk their lives every day covering these stories and so, mr. president, i'm sorry, that's wrong. and we have lost people and we've lost, including iraqi translators, people who have come to work for us to cover these stories who have died out there. mr. president, you're wrong. why? we talked about this earlier. this is a trademark for the

president. he has every right and campaigned on and let's make the vetting process tougher, stronger, better. he campaigned on it. let's make border security more of a priority. when he tries to sell these things, he says they are flooding across the border. his own homeland security secretary said the numbers are down and most of the people are not murderers and rapists. they are fleeing crime and poverty in their own countries. why does he do this? >> if he's ever challenged, the answer isn't that he inflated it or that he overstated it or that the ban may have gone too far or even, let me give you a calm explanation, it's, you're wrong, you're ignoring this. you're lying. it's sort of a signature in your face move. and in this case, if obviously there are all of these unreported attacks, all these massacres that we just purposely choose to ignore, well, then this travel ban is fairly necessary to protect us from

these unknown things. but, in fact, those things, as you said, were all reported. >> and it's an effort for him, i believe, to take back the microphone a little bit in the hours leading up to this ruling hearing. for him to explain why he is sort of doing this. as jackie said earlier, there haven't been any new attacks, thank god. he's trying to revive some of the old ones. but i think that this is just him, again, trying to project strength he needs an opponent. >> you can project strength with facts. you can say, i'm a republican. i don't think they were strong enough. we're going to look at this. >> he also said i alone can fix this and this, by making everyone else liars, by making all dissent not true, he is the arbitrar of fact and doesn't give it to anyone else and it really is building a reliance.

>> i'm going to say it again, i say this a lot, if you're a trump supporter and you think we're having one of these fake news conversations, you can do this yourself. go online. it's all archived. these things were covered. we're not perfect in our business but do we cover this issue extensively, both online and on television and in the newspapers represented here, yes, we do. >> two of the incidents that they included on that list of 78 was the nightclub attack in orlando and the shootings in san bernardino. i happen to remember watching cnn and seeing it nonstop. i just don't understand this notion of, revisionist history doesn't -- >> and the day of the orlando attacks, the show was canceled because of that. >> you're exactly right. i want to get back to capitol hill. a very important meeting a couple of minutes ago.

here he is with judge neil gorsuch. most people think it will get through. this is where those trump state democrats will come into play if they have to get to 60 votes. the republican leader mitch mcconnell has said, if necessary, he's prepared to go to the majority because he's ready to do it. among those with a stake in this is ruth bader ginsburg. she's often asked how long she can hang in there along with democrats who don't want to replace her. this is last night. >> who do you want to eat more kale in washington? >> who? justice kennedy. [ applause ]

there are three of us on the current court who are well beyond what the french call a certain age. so it's justice breyer and kennedy and me. a very important part of my life is my personal trainer who's been with me since 1999 and now also trains justice kagan and most recently justice breyer. >> the question is who do you want to eat more kale in washington, most obviously somebody from the left perspective saying who do you want to stay healthy so the supreme court doesn't get another pick. we've got to leave it there. next, getting you out ahead of the big political news around the corner, including gearing up for yet another immigration battle in washington. your insurance company

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let's head around the inside politics table get you out ahead of big political news. laura? >> if all of this immigration policy isn't enough for you, there may be more around the corner. getting less attention is the fact that donald trump also views legal immigrants as a threat to american workers and something that he thinks should be controlled. there's a draft executive order circulating that would try to make major changes to a variety of programs, including high-skilled foreign workers which silicon valley firms depend on as well as many others. of course, right now they are in a battle with trump over the travel ban. they just filed a brief to the court saying why they thought it was ill-advised. the big tech companies, apple, google, microsoft, there's more to come. >> more to come.

>> there is still a huge help wanted sign hanging out over this town. the number two, three, four positions across agencies in washington, unfilled. does it matter as government who is oversized already? not sure. the reality is, the empty hallways and empty suites is an issue here at the state department not a single press briefing has been held yet at this point eight years ago 11 press briefings had been held. so after the confirmation votes happen, the next thing is filling these positions inside that are also still unfilled remarkably here as we enter a month into the presidency. >> critical. a lot of those people are on the day to day operations of the agencies. >> they do. >> outside of washington, d.c., one of the most overlooked story happening is a push by republicans in state legislatures to move forward on issues they haven't been able to move forward on. after november's elections, we've seen right to work bills

passed in kentucky and new hampshire and labor unions are being undercut in iowa. and abortion rights in a number of states, more than a dozen states are going to take up gun rights legislation. all across the country, republicans won big in state legislatures and they are using those wins to advance a pretty significant and aggressive agenda. >> jackie? >> there were 14 deaths in cuyahoga county due to opiate overdoses. now, how he's going to deter this is still a question. but he spoke about it during the election. tom price says there should be access to these things however if the aca is eliminated, we don't know how that will work

out. it's still an open question and the problem is not going away. >> good luck in addressing that issue. as we go to break, just a quick glimpse, one more time. new england patriots celebrating the super bowl victory. mr. brady there. some in new england call him a different term. hambone! sally! 22! hut hut! tiki barber running a barber shop? yes!!! surprising. yes!!! what's not surprising? how much money david saved by switching to geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. who's next?

hello. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. thanks for joining us. we're following breaking news. live pictures coming in from the white house briefing room. shortly, we'll be seeing the press secretary sean spicer at the lectern at this hour to take questions from reporters. spicer will likely have to explain further the government's defense of the travel ban, a ban president trump says is, quote, commonsense. we're going to go to the briefing live as soon as it gets started. stand by. also, a first on the u.s. senate floor. moments