card and in five years they'll be able to apply for citizenship. the grandfather is retired, was an accountant in syria. the grandmother owned a clothing store and wants to do something. they need to learn english. the child there learned spanish and english and hopes to teach her grandparents as well. up next, startling findings from a year-long cnn investigation. how one country could actually be selling passports to the highest bidder in the middle east. you'll want to see this. next. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

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on the judicial branch of the government. and the president also was talking about the urgent threat of terrorism. he says he's been in office two weeks and knows things that other people do not. he was casting all of this as a reason why his executive order must be upheld. and this is what he said directly to those judges. >> i think it's sad. i think it's a sad day. i think our security is at risk today. and i was a good student. i understand things. i skprcomprehend very well, oka? better than, i think almost anybody. and i want to tell you, i listened to a bunch of stuff last night on television that was disgraceful. it was disgraceful. but courts seem to be so political, and it would be so great for our justice system if they would be able to read a statement and do what's right.

>> reporter: now anderson, so interestingly, last night at this time, the white house said the president was not likely to talk about this before the ruling came out. well, of course that did not happen this morning in that speech. but it's cheer he is trying to litigate this in the court of public opinion as well, before that ruling comes out. >> it was also surprising, president trump taking a different position on the rollout of his travel ban saying he didn't actually want to roll it out right away, but that's not exactly what he said before, is it? >> reporter: he did. he was talking to those haw enforcement officials here in washington and said look, i wanted to wait a week, even a month to roll this out, but the information he was receiving from law enforcement agencies was that he needed to do this right away because of evil seeping in across the border. that simply does not square with anything, a, he was saying at the time and b, his advisers were doing that week. the first week of his presidency, he wanted to sign something on that first friday evening, and he said there was an urgent need to do so.

and our reporting shows people in the government were not briefed on this. his cabinet wasn't even sworn in at homeland security and the pentagon. the first time he said this morning that he wanted to hold on a little bit, we've not heard that before, and most people do not believe that's actually true. >> yeah, it would be interesting to hear who he actually allegedly said this to. in this speech today, he said law enforcement types. he didn't say agency. i think types was the word he used. but it would be interesting to know who actually said that, because that whole notion has been discounted by a number of reporters. thanks jeff zeleny as we wait for the ninth court of appeals on whether to lift a block on the ban. our investigations have uncovered the alleged selling of passports under the eyes of one country that is not part of the ban, but there's also alleged connections to iraq and syria, two countries that are part of the ban. the allegation center around

venezuela's embassy in baghdad. you might ask why that matters, because venezuelan passports can be used without a visa to enter countries, including some in the european union. also venezuela is a hotbed of violations. in the end, passports got into the hands of people who shouldn't be getting them. the u.s. has known about it, too. here is our drew griffin with passports in the shadows. take a look. >> reporter: there is good reason this venezuelaen strolling the streets of spain instead of venezuela. lopez is frightened, because he says he told the truth about venezuela, possible terrorists and corruption that will have

him forever looking over his shoulder. >> i'm concerned about my safety and my family's safety. everywhere i go or where they are. >> reporter: if what this former official for the venezuelan government in iraq says is true, criminals and potential terrorists could be freely moving about the world undetected with authentic venezuelan passports that were sold at a profit to anyone who was buying. passports good to enter more than 130 countries, without a visa, not including the united states. lopez was the legal adviser for the venezuelan embassy in baghdad, starting in july 2013. a former police officer and an attorney, he provided cnn with documents that he says show an employee at the venezuelan embassy in iraq sold passports and visas for a profit. and, a cnn investigation found serious irregularities in

venezuelan passports and visas. on his first day in baghdad, lopez says venezuela's ambassador, jonathan velasco entrusted him with a very special envelope. >> full of visas and passports. he told me, get this. this is one million u.s. dollar. i pocket thought it was like a . and he told me, no. here people pay a lot of money to get a visa or passport to leave this country. >> reporter: you said you thought it was a joke. >> of course. the first moment, yeah. that's his meaning, but i take it like that. it was the first day, so. >> reporter: but about a month later, lopez learned the ambassador's joke foreshadowed a frightening discovery. lopez says an iraqi employ eve the embassy seen here in a video he recorded told him venezuela's passports and visas were being sold. she had made thousands of dollars. cash. and lopez could too.

>> good money. you can make lot of money with that. they pay $10,000 u.s. for a visa. then i got really, really mad. and i told her, how could you think i going to be selling visas or passport, and who was the person that was supposedly going to get the document? >> an arab guy. >> reporter: with no connections to venezuela? >> no. no connection at all. >> reporter: it was only the beginning. over the next several months he says he was approached again and again by the same my eye asking him to participate in the scheme. lopez says she once offered to sell to a group of syrians and give him a cut. >> she told me, i have syrians who want to pay $18,000 u.s. each for a visa. >> reporter: $130,000. >> i suspect that might be

terrorist. that's why i reject, of course, immediately. >> reporter: lopez decided to investigate further. he searched the iraqi employee's desk and took these pictures of what he found. the embassy's official stamp, used to authenticate visas, still wet with ink. along with sheets of paper printed with the venezuelan seal. she was an interpreter, wasn't authorized to have any of these items. he eventually fired the employee. lopez didn't have any other documents that would confirm the allegations. you think venezuela is offering pretravel passes to potential terrorists. >> i have found link to laundering money, trafficking drugs and terrorism. >> reporter: and it was this document, he says, he found inside the embassy that alarmed him most. it is a list of 21 arabic names

and corresponding venezuelan passport numbers. curiously, many of the passport numbers are consecutive. same with the official government i.d. numbers, which are like social security numbers. a venezuelan immigration official tells cnn, these passports are valid and match the names. we checked with a venezuelan database and found for example atif has identity of jose. people with hispanic names. not the arabic names listed on the passports. >> so these are fake people with real passports? >> no, it's not fake people. it's different people. >> reporter: lopez says he even found this man, who has an iraqi national i.d. but a venezuelan passport that says he was born in venezuela. >> so this guy, it's like he has

two motheres, hs, and he was bo two places. >> reporter: lopez documented everything, including the offer to profit. and september an official report to the venezuelan ambassador jonathan velasco. and there's no doubt in your mind that the ambassador knew this was happening. >> how could he, being there for so long, couldn't notice that. >> reporter: and you wentpresen that information to him, and he did nothing. >> sometimes he used to say, caracas do not need to know anything about that. >> reporter: lopez says the ambassador threatened his job, so he took his allegations all the way to the foreign minister of venezuela, reporting his suspicion of the fraudulent issuing of visas, birth certificates and venezuelan documents. he said he heard nothing.

finally, frustrated and fearing the implications, lopez contacted the fbi at the u.s. embassy in madrid. law enforcement source tells cnn a fbi official did meet with lopez at this restaurant aclose the street from the embassy and september his information to washington. the fbi told us it could not discuss anything about what happened next. by the end of 2015, low pedestria -- lopez was removed from his position by the venezuelan government. for months we repeatedly tried to get comments from the venezuelan government. caracas, the government threatened cnn and its crew for expulsion. at a press event, foreign minister ignored our question. months later, during the u.n. general assembly in new york, rodriguez ignored us again.

until finally, we tracked down the foreign minister on the sidewalk outside the u.n. as she walked into the u.n., rodriguez refused to answer any more questions. >> is there anything you'd like to say? >> reporter: and ambassador velasco, in an e-mail to cnn wrote that he has nothing to hide or fear, and the embassy, don't never and everybody sell foreign nationalities.

as for the foreign national in iraq who was allegedly selling passports did not respond to our e-mails. he says he knows what he saw. he lost his job and even his country. he's under official police investigation for revealing confidential matters or secrets. but he says he could not stay silent. >> you cannot be cop and thief at the same time. i decide to be a cop and do the right thing. >> drew griffin joins us. that's the fastest-walking venezuelan official i've ever seen. do we know if the venezuelan government investigated the claims or did any checks to see if their own documents were being sold? >> reporter: anderson, surprisingly, the only investigation we're aware of at this point is the one that involves the whistle blower, lopez. he brought his charges to the foreign minister that you saw

running along the sidewalk. they ignored his investigative work that he compiled on duty and instead turned attention to him. >> the implication is that terrorists could be, worst-case scenarios with, terrorists could be buying these passports and flying to other countries, not the united states, but into the european union. >> reporter: correct, as we pointed out, the u.s. requires an additional step of visa for anyone with a venezuelan passport. but this is a global security problem. and the problem with passport control when you're dealing with questionable countries like venezuela is real. terror networks are involved. it has become a concern especially in europe. because this venezuelan passport gets you into those countries. >> it's not just this former venezuelaen embassy official, the u.s. government has been discussing it for years. >> reporter: the united states government has known about this problem for years, but there's a congressional report showing concern that venezuela is providing identity documents that could be useful to radical

islamic groups, and anderson, as we're going to be reporting in part two this week, the people reportedly involved in this in venezuela reached the very highest levels of that country's golf. -- government. the senate affirms jeff sessions, and senator warren sent out a blistering series of fweets about that. we'll talk about that. anything meant to stand needs a stable foundation. a body without proper foot support can mean pain. the dr. scholl's kiosk maps your feet and recommends

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silent. jeff zeleny is back with the late ea latest on that. >> reporter: senator sessions will be sworn in tomorrow. but it is senator warren sending out a flurry of messages in the last several minutes. let's take a look at some of these. this is coming after the confirmation of jeff sessions. she says there is no rule 19 to silence me from talking about jeff sessions anymore. so let me say loudly and clearly, this is just the beginning. she goes on to say, a few moments later, if jeff sessions turns a blind eye while donald trump violates the constitution or breaks the law, he'll hear from all of us. and she continues, if jeff sessions makes even the tiniest attempt to bring his racism, and bigotry into the justice system we'll hear from all of us. then she says this, pointed words here, and you better believe every senator who voted to put jeff sessions radical

hatred into the justice department will hear from all of us too. that is a direct shot and message to the republicans who voted to confirm senator sessions at attorney general here. this is one of the most blistering confirmation hearings, and this is unusual in one respect. he's a fellow senator. usually senators are treated slightly different with more decorum. but all sense of decor um has broken down here. and the implication that rule 19 has elevated elizabeth warren to platforms she has not even been on yet. >> kiersten, radical bigotry, i think, racism, sexism, these are incredibly strong attacks. >> yeah, well, and i think it's interesting, buzz feed has a story up i just read that a lot of people know mitch mcconnell is a very savvy person and contrary to what a lot of people are saying that he made a mistake here that he intentionally did this, because he wants to elevate elizabeth

warren even more to harm red state democrats. because there are quite a few up right now and are in bad position. >> this raised her profile. >> a lot of people were thinking, who is this good for, it's good for elizabeth warren. it's not necessarily good for democrats, but good for elizabeth warren. >> she was on "the view" as well. when was the last time she was on "the view." >> there's sort of a perfect parallel. in 2001, george w. bush named a very conservative senator to be attorney general, john ashcroft. there there was some controversy over ashcroft, but nothing like this, and i think it illustrates how much more poisonous our politics have become. >> it's interesting, senator graham who's not an apologyist for donald trump said it was long twroefr due for the senate to take action against senator warren saying she's just posturing for a 2020 run. >> it would be more credible, senator graham, if he had stood

up when tom cotton, conservative republican senator from arkansas attacked harry reid personally, attacked his cancerous leadership. or when ted cruz called mcconnell a liar. they did not shut him up. >> how much of this is about angling for a run in 2020? >> that may well be. i would caution mitch mcconnell. he wants to promote who he thinks is the easiest to beat. i made an ass of myself last year going on television saying bring me donald trump, we'll kill, you know what happened? he's the stinkin' president. watch what you ask for. >> it's clear that elizabeth warren like cory booker are now putting themselves out there r

2020. elizabeth warren earned $20 million. now look at all the free publicity she's gotten. she's sent out fund raising letters capitalizing on this. so it is clear that elizabeth warren's going to use all this free media as much as she can. now whether mitch mcconnell's decision to do this was purposeful or not remains to be seen in whether that pays off politically or not. there are nine senate democrats i believe that are up for reelection in states that trump won, so perhaps. but he has to remember that trump didn't win by all that much in certain places. so we need to be careful with this. >> attorney general cuccinelli, was it a mistake for republicans to shut senator warren off? >> we always celebrate when nancy pelosi gets elected as the democratic leader in the house. this is the equivalent. when you ban a book, the sales go through the roof. they had to know this was going

to happen, though i believe you give mitch mcconnell a little too much credit. you've got to balance that against the fact that these guys really believe this is the house of lords and they get all sniffety and uppity. this was libel. he's not a racist. he's not a sexist. he's not a bigot. if he wanted to sue her for defamation, he'd win the case. this is pathetic. it's sad. it's, this is what the politics on the left, and i'm not going to ascribe it to all democrats, but certainly, the vast base is driving the democrat party to this kind of name-calling. look at cory booker. last year jeff sessions was his good friend and pal and look. even if i'm doing something with a partner, if i think they're a racist, i'm not going to stand anywhere ever and say this is my good friend. cory booker did all that. and now he's coming in and pulling stunts like elizabeth

warren. it's really pathetic. >> for all the time, you know, the left, my leftist colleagues spend critiquing donald trump for what they see as mistruth the and mischaracterizing him, i think it's time to expose the mistruths of elizabeth warren. was he prosecuting hate when he prosecuted the hid of the kkk in alabama and advocated for the death penalty? was he advocating hate when he signed ten pleadings against segregation? attorney general cuccinelli could not be more correct. this is libel, and elizabeth warren should be exposed. and i hope she is the democratic nominee, because it will ensure donald trump another four years. >> it's totally absurd. for one thing, a racist, those are statements of opinion. and in the united states, the first amendment protects the opinion. so there could never be a libel suit based on this. plus -- >> that's not true. >> there is truth as a defense. jeff sessions was denied an

appeals, a federal judgeship because of anti-civil rights activity in alabama. i don't think jeff sessions wants to have a trial about whether he's a racist. >> people who spoke against him recan'ted testimony. that was highly of questionable. i agree request a.g. cuccinelli. it was absurd. >> the defendants in that case, the one who, there's only one who's still alive, i've interviewed those people. they did not recant their testimony. >> the son of one of the defendants came out and defended jeff sessions and said he wasn't a racist. and to kay lleigh's point. there was, i can't think of his name, but he did go back and say maybe it wasn't him. the guy had a history of making statements that weren't necessarily true. and people took that and ran with it in '86.

>> those are all old charges. you know, kay ley points to a more recent record of jeff sessions, so is it really fair for senator warren -- >> what she was doing was reading a letter from coretta scott king, who herself is the recipient of the congressional gold medal. one of the highest medals yes, sir -- congress can award. this is an icon who's no longer here. she wrote a letter strongly opposing sessions for the judgeship that jeffrey was talking about, and that's what elizabeth warren was reading when somehow senator mcconnell got the vapors and shut her up. she's not obeying her boss, boss mcconnell. >> decor um is important. i encourage everybody to watch marco rubio's speech on decency. i didn't vote for him. i get it. >> look, cnn's got a file, an in-kind donation to elizabeth

warren's 2020 campaign and be done with it. she's going to raise money off it. the first native-american candidate with 3% native-american. talk about a racialist. that's what we get request elizabeth warren. >> that's why mcconnell shouldn't have done what he did. the president says what he has learned in the past two weeks the threat of terrorism is far greater than what the people of the united states have been led to believe. is it fear mongering? or is he accurate? we'll get into that next. e open. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine. the north and the south are mine.

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as he defends his travel ban, president trump's critics believe he may be trying to ramp up the fear of terrorism. without cite being any specifics, the president said this today. >> we will work with you on the front lines to keep america safe from terrorism. which is what i began this with. terrorism. a tremendous threat. far greater than people in our

country understand. believe me. i've learned a lot in the last two weeks. and terrorism is a far greater threat than the people of our country understand. >> joining me now, former intelligence officer, and cnn senior political analyst, david gergen. we're hearing a lot from the white house in the last couple days about concerns about terrorism. there's certainly always been terrorism threats against the united states. the president gets a lot of information, obviously, the public will never get to see. david gergen, what do you make of what the president's doing here? >> well, first of ail,ll, i do think in fairness to him. that people who come within the top echelons of the white house

are quite stunned about how much information is coming in about how many people are planning things. and it can have a frightening quality to it. in this case, the president and his team have justified the haste with which this executive order on travel was executed. they've justified the sort of going after these seven countries that, when in fact there's no, no one since 2011 has ever killed, from one of those seven countries has been charged with a terrorist murder of any sort. and so i think given all that, anderson, and then especially given the fact that he so often exaggerates the threats, just as he did yesterday when he said the murder rate was down 45% over the last several years when it's not. i mean, it's gone up 45%. it's gone down. in slight of all that, his credibility being in question, i think it's really incumbent on

the president and his people to tell us, okay, who urged, who among his advisers actually briefed him and urged him to get this out. who knows a lot about intelligent and the threats themselves and came in and talked to him. it's not clear that anybody d and give us, the united states government ought to provide more information so we know how to judge this properly. >> david, the president essentially saying law enforcement types that he talked to told him he kacan't wait a week, can't wait a month. the idea that bad guys are going to run into the country in that week or in that month, it does take a long time to get a visa, no? >> yeah, it's surprising to me that this is even an issue, because of course he's going to see things in the president's daily brief that other people aren't seeing. of course he's going to see things about threats that are based on classified information. that's not any surprise. his predecessors did this, not only them but the whole range of

counter terrorism intelligence and professionals have been looking at this kind of threat for many years, and that's why there are extensive vetting procedures for immigrants, for people applying for visas and refugees. that's already there. one of the things that he's said hasn't got much attention and is much more interestle. he says i've learned a lot in the last two weeks. that's not something the intelligence community expected to hear from him based on his rhetoric during the campaign, if he's admitted that he's learning something, he's getting to the point where barack obama was a few years ago when he said about his president's daily brief, every morning i get a thick book full of depth. that's what this is. it tems you what all the threats are out there. and of course it widens your view once you incorporate all that information. >> david gergen, it is, you know, i mean, to david prince's, we have heard from presidents in the past that it is an eye-opening experience to get all that information, and to

suddenly sort of see the world in a different way. >> yeah, it is. >> it is eye opening. but the urgency with which they're acting as if people are pouring across our borders is just not borne out by any information that we have. it's just not true that these seven countries are flooding the borders and pouring in here. and given all that. >> and then to go to the courts and insist this be done right away and go back through the appeals process and get into a fight with the judiciary and then leave yourself sort of wide open. if you're so concerned about this, what about this odd thing today that the president's daily public schedule called for him to have a briefing, his national security briefing at a certain hour, and 20 minutes into that so-called briefing, he was tweeting about ivanka. there's something peculiar about all this that doesn't add up. and i sthi gives people a lot of pause of whether this is being done for political reasons, and frankly, the three judges that we heard last night, there's

skepticism among those three. certainly with two of them. about whether, you know, whether the government had justified the urgency and the, what's being done to people's lives by these orders. >> just very briefly t is also worth mentioning. people are, i believe, the last time i looked at the statistics are less likely to die a violent death than anytime in human history wars are shorter. fewer people are dying. all of us are less likely to die a violent death than generations past. >> the trend line is positive. there's no doubt about that, but the daily intelligence is not there to tell the president about all the things that have gone well. its job is to highlight the threats so that they can be addressed. now we're not seeing what's in that daily book. we're not seeing those threats, but it would surprise me if it's markedly different suddenly on january 21st of this year than it had been during the transition and then it had been in previous years when it comes to the fact that yes, terrorists

are coming to america. how they're doing that, probably has not changed significantly, just because we have a new flez office. >> right, just ahead, the father of a little girl will meet her for the first time on friday when he finally reaches the u.s. after years in a refugee camp unless the travel ban is reinstated. do you know how your laxative works? you might be surprised. stimulant laxatives make your body go by forcefully stimulating the nerves in your colon. miralax is different. it works with the water in your body to hydrate and soften, unblocking your system naturally. miralax. and now we unleash it onwerful your taxes.pecies has created. hello my name is watson.

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as the ninth circuit court of appeals decides whether uphold or overturn the travel ban, refugees who have been cleared to come to the u.s. are trying to get here before the border possibly closes again. including one father in africa

who's never met his daughter who lives here in the united states. >> reporter: nimohashi is a broken wife without her husband, the mother of a toddler without her father. but on government papers, she's a somali refugee, her husband trapped in africa in a legal tug-of-war over the travel ban. what is this back and forth in the courts like? >> translator: i went from being happy to confused and angry, she says. you don't know what's real or not. >> reporter: are you worried he won't be coming? >> translator: until i see him at the salt lake city airport, she says, i won't believe it. >> reporter: the last time hashi saw her husband was in a refugee camp in ethiopia. both had fled the bloody civil war in somalia. you were pregnant at the time e >> yeah. >> reporter: she was brought to

salt lake city three years ago. just this year her husband was finally cleared. but president trump's executive order slammed the door shut, halting all refugee entries for 120 days. hashi's husband stuck in ethiopia. >> actually, when the executive order came out, all the cases were canceled. >> reporter: aden once a refugee himself said they had entries canceled into utah, many of them children. >> you're telling somebody their loved one is not coming. i don't know if our president understands how that would be if he was told his wife is not coming or his daughter was not coming. how would he feel? i want him to think of that. >> reporter: but then a 180. a federal judge suspended the ban, and gave new hope to hashi.

her husband's trip to the u.s. was back on. refugees began to trickle back into utah days ago, greeted by hundreds of cheering residents. even as their arrival was straem instagramed. how is it working for your state? >> very well. >> reporter: the republican governor breaks ranks with fellow republicans on the executive order. he supports the president's right to review immigration policy, but from the governor's standpoint? >> refugees, as i look at it, are people running away from bad circumstances. we've had some of that in our own culture. maybe that makes us a little more sensitive to that issue, maybe a little more empathetic because of our history in use out. >> american airline. >> reporter: written in erasable ink, the name of hashi's husband. he's now scheduled to arrive on friday, when he will meet his daughter for the very first time

in person e -- do you believe it's going do happen? by the will of god, she says. >> what's happening now in this refugee's case, given the back and forth in the courts? >> reporter: well, because the current stance is that the ban has been suspended. the ninth circuit court has yet to rule, the ticket has been issued. we understand it is in his hands. he is prepared to come here, and so far, everything is going according to plan, but here is the catch. he doesn't land here until friday. the refugee agency that is helping him says that they are just holding their breath. they're waiting to see what the decision from the court is going to be. and so is his wife. she says she simply won't believe he is here until he is here. if there's any blessing in this, anderson, it's that his daughter who is just it 2 years old, even though it impacts her so much, she's too young to understand. up next, president trump

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more breaking news tonight. apprehensions at southern border down by 7% in january, trump supporters may see it as validating his tough rhetoric. it's in line with seasonal

trends. sticking with getting a wall built. gathering of county sheriffs in the white house. >> the wall is getting designed right now. lot of people say oh, trump was only kidding with the wall. i wasn't kidding. i don't kid. we will have a wall, will be a great wall and do a lot of -- be a big help. >> details on the design from someone who knows the president well and asked to help on the project. rene marsh. >> one month after won the presidency turned to billionaire builder jorge perez for help building a wall on the border. shaped skylines worldwide, in december perez received e-mail attachment with message penned by trump. >> handwriting was his with the attachments. >> the e-mail which cnn saw under the condition it not be

shown was sent from the trump organization and signed by trump. images resemble the ones in the e-mail. >> inside was the wall, 2,000 mile 30 foot wall with sketches. said would love to get you involved in this, please give me a call. >> patrol road separate the wall for secondary barrier. another attachment showing extending from california to west texas. although the images he received unlikely the final plan, it's look at trump's early vision for the wall. >> that ceiling is much lower than my wall. >> spoken in general terms about the wall and details have changed. including the 2,000 mile length. >> you have a lot of natural barriers and things, it's 1,000 miles. >> former customs and border patrol agent worked southern border in 28-year career.

>> when the president talks about the wall it's often times in the terms of it would be a concrete wall, similar to this. you say bad idea. why? >> it's bad idea primarily for officer safety, you can't see on the other side to determine what may be additional threats. >> adams does see benefits of having two barriers in urban areas. >> so somebody breeches the first barrier and gets across the roadway, in urban environment might want a secondary fence to slow them down until a response vehicle shows up. >> white house didn't deny that trump reached out to perez for help with the wall. said quote we're not aware of conversations between the two. tells cnn trump has been looking

at various blueprints with adviser. perez a democrat turned it down. >> insult to all hispanics and maybe all immigrants in this country and also because i don't think it's going to achieve his purposes. >> this e-mail lay out guarantees for payment if business partner accepted the job? >> the e-mail asked perez to get involved in the project but did not offer a contract to build it for a specified amount of money. that would not be the a to go about this, federal government infrastructure projects like building a wall, there is a process in place, bidding process. can't give preference to a friend who happens to be a builder. >> thanks. we'll be right back.

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that's all the time we have. thanks for watching. time to hand over to don lemon for "cnn tonight." see you tomorrow. president trump's supreme court nominee breaking with the president. this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. neil gorsuch telling senators he finds trump's attacks on the judiciary demoralizing and depressing. but president not letting up criticism of the judges who will