hello. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us. up first, new developments in the russia investigation. the aftermath of the stunning health care defeat and where the trump administration goes from here. those are just some of the likely topics at today's white house press briefing set to begin this hour. look at the live pictures coming in from inside the white house briefing room. the white house press secretary sean spicer will be taking questions from reporters shortly. we'll have live coverage for you. that's coming up this hour. we're also following a new development stemming from russia's meddling in the u.s. presidential election. president trump's son-in-law jared kushner will meet with the senate intelligence committee as part of its russia investigation. sources say the committee chaired by republican senator

sought the meeting. white house spokesman tells cnn, and i'm quoting, throughout the campaign and transition jared kushner served as the official and primary point of contact with foreign government and officials. given this role he has volunteered to speak with the committee but has not yet received confirmation. let's bring in our senior white house correspondent. jim, what does the panel want to know from jared kushner? >> wolf, i think they want to obviously ask jared kushner who is yet another name to surface in all of this investigation going on into potential links between the president, his societies and the russians during the 2016 campaign. so obviously that senate legs committee would like to hear from the president's son-in-law about some of the meetings he's had with russian officials. he did meet with the russian ambassador kislyak during the transition period. it appears he met with the head of a russian bank that was under

sanctions that the u.s. had imposed after the russian intervention in crimea and ukraine. so obviously as a new name surfaces, wolf, those intelligence committee members are going to want to get to the bottom of it, because obviously if you take jared kushner's name and add to t to michael flynn, the attorney general jeff sessions and other officials who had have meetings with some of these russian officials, obviously questions are going to be raised. >> we don't know when this hearing will take place and we don't know if it will be an open session or behind closed doors, right? >> that's right. we don't know when it's going to take place. if it's going to be behind closed doors. but it is sort of another one of those drips that just seems to be happening with the russia story over here at the white house. it's almost every day or at least every week that there's a new development. so obviously the president's son-in-law by the way is going to be announced over here at the white house as taking on a key

role and trying to provide innovation to government bureaucracy here in washington, so the president tapping his son-in-law for a pretty important critical government role. so that obviously raises the level of interest among congressional investigators who want to get to the bottom of what did jared kushner did when he was meeting with these officials. >> the he's a top, top advisor to the president. speaking of drips, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, congress devin nunes now facing more questions about a visit to the white house grounds and if that's connected to his sources. tell us a little bit about this late breaking development. >> jake tapper had this story earlier this morning that the day before he revealed to reporters and the white house and then by the way the democratic members of the intelligence committee last week that some of the president's and his aides conversations may have been swept up incidentally by

the intelligence community over at trump tower in new york, that the day before he presented that information to the public the chairman of the house intelligence committee, devin nunes, for some reason was over here on the grounds of the white house according to an aide to devin nunes meeting with the source of that information. we should point out the white house has just put out a statement to reporters about all of this saying we've been made aware through public that chair unanimo man nunes confirmed he was on the white house grounds on today and any questions should be directed to the chairman. that is obviously a bit of a dodge coming from the white house not wanting to address the issue. so i think it's pretty clear when sean surpriser, the white house press secretary comes out in a few minutes here, the next half hour or so to talk to reporters, he is going to be peppered with questions about this. as you know from being a white house correspondent, the grounds are quite large. so what does that mean? was he inside the white house?

was he inside the west wing? was here at the eeob which is considered part of the white house grounds? who was he meeting with and how were they able to put together a secure communication area where the chairman could receive this information? obviously that kind of information isn't somehow intercepted by other foreign intelligence operatives that potentially could be trying to listen in here and washington. these are the kinds of precautions that they take when they have these sort of conversations. but the white house at this point just really not trying to talk about this and putting those questions over to the chairman's office. >> jim acosta at the white house. devin nunes will be my guest later today in "it is situation room." let's get some perspective from health care reform. bill cassidy from louisiana, he's a physician. he's a key member of the senate finance committee. senator, thanks for joining us.

>> thank you for having me. >> i want to talk about the future of health care. first i want to get your reaction to the latest news involving the russia meddling in the u.s. investigation election, specifically that president trump son-in-law, key advisor jared kushner will meet with your colleagues on the senate intelligence committee to discuss this. what do you make of that development? >> clearly there's concern about what russia did. again t may be as your reporter said t may be a drip, drip, drip, but nothing significant. but there is a drip, drip, drip, drip. i think senator burr in the senate intelligence committee and tranking democratic leader jack reed will do a good job coming to the head of this. the american people need to know it is an important issue. i'd like to think it will amount to nothing but it will have to be explored. >> senator mark warner is the ranking democrat on that committee. jack reed obviously an important player as well. do you see greater cooperation

in the senate intelligence committee between the democratic chairman -- excuse me, the republican chairman and the democratic ranking member than we're seeing in the house of representatives and the intelligence committee there? >> i won't comment on the house but i do see cooperation on the senate side. he gave a good well-reasoned speech regarding what is taking place. there does seem to be a mutual goal to find out what happened. again, i would like to think it turns out merely to be a drip, drip, but it's more important for the american people that we get to the bottom of it. >> let's talk about the future of health care. republicans have been promising as you well know for seven years to repeal and replace obamacare. they finally got a big chance on friday. they couldn't even get to a vote n. short, what went so horribly wrong from the republican's respect. >> he said he wanted everyone

covered for pre-existing conditions without mandates and -- that bill did not achieve what president trump pledged. i think we need to fill that pledge in a responsible way and lower premiums. that bill did not do so. the only folk that were for it were probably republican leadership on the house side. i'm not saying there weren't things there having to operate with. they did. but still i think president trump's original pledge is where we need to be. that way he'll be full throat the behind it and i think the american people will buy it. they bought it in the last election. it's clearly what they want. >> do you think there's a possibility, and you're a physician, that republicans and democrats, moderate democrats, moderate republicans led by the president if he wants to do it and his team can actually get together and find some bipartisan cooperation to improve helgt ca improve health care in the united states? >> i will say that susan collins

and i have put forward a bill to do that. you don't have to be a moderate. you can be a conservative or liberal. we return power to states f. you're a blue state, you do a blue things. god bless you. if you're a red state, do the red thing. we allow the state to have control, not the federal government. we think it's a path forward t. can attract -- >> so your answer is yes, you think there can be cooperation. i want you to listen to what the white house budget director talked about when he was asked about lessons learned from the health care defeat. listen to this. >> we haven't been able to change washington in the first 65 days. i think if there's anything disappointing and sort of an educational process to the trump administration was that this place was a lot more rotten than we thought it was. i thought it was. because i've been here for six years. i know the freedom caucus. i helped found t. i never

thought it would come to this. >> do you agree that washington is rotten? >> well, there's certainly rottenness in washington, but i won't blame the failure based upon on rotten ness in wash. there was a tweet that said we need to come to consensus, not have it dictated for us. i agree with that. allow members and different ste stake holders to come up with a product that works for all americans. one thing we know, anything that is a major sweeping social change needs to be bipartisan in origin. and so i'm not sure the failure was due to rottenness. i think the failure was due to the lack of inclusiveness of those that would be necessary to pass the bill. >> senator bill cassidy, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >> wee got some live pictures

coming in from the white house briefing room. reporters haven't been told to go in there, but they will be fairly soon. sean spicer expected to take to the lectern very soon. plus a raging battle in iraq. gunshots on the ground, bombs falling from the sky. how the operation to push isis out of mosul is taking a devastating toll on civilians. t. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. and if you have more than one liberty mutual policy, you qualify for a multi-policy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. cte

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fairly soon. start answering reporters questions. lots of news happening today. we're going to bring you live coverage. after suffering a singy defeat to health care president trump lashed out at democrats blaming them for the loss. the white house chief of staff reince priebus is feeling more c. >> -- at the end of the day i think that democrats can come to the table as well. >> let me bring in senator of hawaii. she's a dremocrat. senator, thanks for joining us. is this a welcome signal from the trump administration, what you just heard from reince priebus? >> first of all, it was a triumph for the people of our country who showed up at town hall meetings by the thousands

expressing their displeasure with trumpcare and so if the president wants to come forward and talk about improving the affordable care act, then that's a good sign. but if it's just to redo trumpcare which kept getting worse by the way by the minute as they tried to corral republican votes, that's not going to be much. >> you think there's a group of bipartisan representatives and senators, democrats and republicans who can work with the president in improving health care in america? is that wishful thinking? >> if there are efforts to improve the affordable care act which all of the democrats have said is not perfect, then i'm there. but that's the place i would like to go. >> has any republican -- senator, has any republican from the white house or from the senate reached out to you and say on health care let's work

together? >> so far not. but the day is young. >> let me talk about another important issue. you're a member of the judiciary committee. in the last hour the committee delayed its vote for a week on neil gorsuch, the judge to be a united states supreme court associate justice. chuck schumer, has vowed a fi--o you support a filibuster? >> i want you to know that after four hours of hearings i have concluded i would not be supporting neil gorsuch for this opening. i support a threshold for somebody who's going to be on the highest court in the land who will make decisions for all of us for decades to come and neil gorsuch is not the justice that i would seek to represent all americans, not just the conservative forces that have spent millions of dollars on his

behalf. >> have you taken a look at your democratic colleague? to get to 60 eight democrats would need to join s. that realistic from the head county presumably you've done? >> chuck schumer and, i join chuck in encouraging my colleagues to not support neil gorsuch for this opening, so we shall see. i don't think that the republicans have 60 votes and i definitely think that someone who's going to go to the highest court of the land should have a higher threshold requirement so that we can be assured that this person is representing all americans and not just some americans. >> well, you know that what mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader, he can do what harry reed do years ago. he can change the rules, do that so-called nuclear option so only 51 votes are needed to confirm a united states nominee for the supreme court. that is potentially very likely. >> i hope not.

i hope that mitch mcconnell will think twice before doing something as short cited as that. i think we should all keep in mind that the supreme court is the highest court in the land and that person should have a 60 vote minimum requirement. as i said as opposed to bare minimum of senators who will be voting. that is not representative of what we should be doing for the supreme court nominee. >> senator hirono, thank for joining us. >> thank you. >> we're all following important developments into the investigation into civilian deaths in iraq. both u.s. and iraqi officials are looking into allegations that more than 100 civilians have been killed in recent air strikes and in mosul. one -- in iraq not very far away from mosul.

bar barbara starr is at the pentagon. what's the latest. >> they are looking they say at every piece of data they can. in fact, a short time ago they briefed reporters and said they are looking at 700 videos from aircraft overhead during this whole period of several days, but especially on march 17th in this area of west mosul to try and help them determine what happened. 700 videos to go through. the iraqis are saying that one of the targets was a suicide truck bomber. the u.s. saying that also that some houses were struck in this yash hoo neighborhood. there is a lot of effort by the pentagon to make clear that the rules of the road have not changed, that they will continue to do everything they can to protect civilians, something they say isis does not so. james mattis spoke about this a short time ago. >> there is no military force in

the world that has proven more sensitive to civilian casualties. we are keenly aware that every battle field where an enemy hides behind women and children is also a humanitarian field and we go out of our way to always do everything humanly possible to reduce the loss of life or injury among innocent people. the same cannot be said for our adversaries and that's up you to sort out. >> speaking to reporters standing at the side of the room there. but it should be taken quite seriously that mattis decided to speak about this on camera because he rarely speaks on com ra at this point so early into being secretary of defense. it underscores how seriously the pentagon is taking this, how much it knows that it owes the world answers about what happened in west mosul. wolf? >> let me go, you're not very

far away from mosul, the second large largest city in iraq. isis has been in control mof sell now for more than two years. what's been the reaction to this latest incident? >> there's a lot of anger, wolf, because even though people did, yes, want to to be liberated from isis, many of them hardly thought they were going to be paying this kind of a price. especially when it comes to those who manage to survive these strikes what those who lost loved ones. we spoke to a man who lives a few houses down from where the strike took place. he said as he and his family were running away they could hear the screams saying please save us, we've still alive. rescue workers, it took them days to get to the scene because of a security situation. according to a senior health ministry official, so far from this one sight alone, they've managed to extract 112 bodies,

but many more are still believed to be buried underneath the rubble. there is a sense among the population that we've been talking to as we were standing on theo outskirts overlooking te battle that these airstrikes should not be employed so frequently. there is a sense that perhaps there are other alternatives. to that effect, yes, iraqis are saying they have begun to change their tactics, trying to move in more on foot, use their own sniper teams, drones, precision art till ry. at the end of the day, almost every single house has a family in it. in some cases they have more than one family because people tend to gather together in buildings they are going to be the sturdiest. whether because of air strikes or because of sue sigh car bombs, the civilians, they have no way to ensure they or their

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wall street may be getting jittery about the future of president trump agenda following the major defeat on health care. the dow fell more than 125 point in early trading. right now the dow is down about 50 points, 48 points to be specific. if the loss dos hold today, it would be an eighth straight down day. that hasn't happened since 2011. investigators are beginning to worry that the president's plans for major tax reform, massive infrastructure spending may be in jeopardy. we're going to keep an eye on the markets throughout the day. take a look at. this we've got some live pictures coming from inside the white house briefing room. the press secretary sean spicer expected to come out

momentarily. take reporters questions. he'll likely be asked about new information we're learning concern the house and senate intelligence committee. russia meddling in the u.s. election investigation. we're going to bring that to you live. stand by. i also want to bripg ng in our panel, david, kirsten, cnn nechf political analyst and david. up on capital hill manu raju is joining us. we know more about the whereabouts of devin nunes before his strofcontroversial announcement that the communications may have been swept up in foreign nationals. nunes was on white house grounds the day before. that raises lots of new questions. what was he doing? >> that's right. he actually was getting his information from a source on white house grounds.

this according to a spokesman who put out a statement saying that chairman nunes met with a source at the white house grounds in order to have proximity to a secure location where he could view the information provided by the source. the chairman is extremely concerned by the possible improper upmasking of names of u.s. citizens and the statement goes on to say he had been looking into this issue even before president trump tweeted that he had been spied on by president obama under the orders of president obama. this is significant for several reasons, but one is because of this investigation that's ongoing in the house intelligence committee between trump campaign and any contacts and coordination that may have existed with russian officials. democrats were alarmed by mr. nunes's decision to brief president trump about this intelligence information that he had received from a secret source even before the democrats themselves had learned it. we had not known where mr. nunes had gotten this information. last week on multiple occasions

i tried to press chairman nunes to explain whether or not this came from the white house. he would not say. he said i can't go anywhere. i will not rule people in or out. but now he's suggesting the information did come at least on white house grounds. now, just in the last hour mr. nunes facing more question bs whether there was a white house source involved. told a bloomberg -- still we also don't know what was actually in the information that he revealed publicly, the committee itself has not seen that, not even the ranking democrat adam schiff and it raises more questions as devin nunes canceled a tuesday public hearing on the issue of russia. he wanted to have a private briefing with james comey and mike rogers, the head. nsa, but we've just learned that private briefing has been canceled as well. so a lot of questions going forward about how what happens

with this committee and whether it can produce a credible by pa partisan report. >> the white house put out a statement. we have been made aware chairman -- any questions concerning his meeting should be directed to the chairman. there you see the statement. the lots of questions for the chairman. i'll be speaking live with him later today, 5:00 p.m. eastern. we'll ask him those questions. manu raju doing excellent reporting for us as usual. gloria, i want to remind our viewers the exchange he had with devin nunes last thursday. >> did this come from the white house. >> we have to keep this private. i've told the public several

times we want people to come to us and bring us information if they have it. over the course of this investigation we've had many sources who have come to this committee. as you can imagine, many don't want you to know. they don't want anyone to know who they are. i think you guys in the press understand this. >> that was the exchange he had on thursday, but a lot more questions are being raised. >> sure. more questions are being raised because of the sort of cloak and dagger part of this. he's goes to the white house grounds. he goes to eye private room there to obviously look at this information. he briefs the president. he doesn't brief democrats. he doesn't even brief his own republicans. he comes out and says what he's really concerned about is the so-called unmasking of names, which is a real concern because american citizens, if there's kind of surveillance and they're just sort of isn't bystanders, their names are generally masked. but don't forget. we have to look at this and

consider the context. the context is going back to the president's initial, you know, series of tweets that saturday morning, what is it, three weeks ago now? that saturday morning -- >> hold on, gloria. sa sean spicer's briefing is beginning. >> i'd like to have the attorney general come up to the podium to make an announcement regarding immigration. when he's done speaking we'll have time for a couple questions and then i'll continue with the briefing briefing. if your question sent germane to sanctuary cities, keep your hand down. come on up. >> thank you, sean. the department of justice has a duty to enforce our nation's laws including our immigration

laws. those laws require us to promptly remove aliens when they are convicted or detained of certain crimes. the vast majority of american people support this common sense requirement. according to one recent poll, 80% of americans believe that cities that make arrests -- that arrest ill egal immigrants shoud be required to turn them over to immigration authorities. unfortunately some states and cities have a doped policies designed to frustrate this enforcement of immigration laws. this includes refuses to detain known felons under federal detainer requests or otherwise failing to comply with these laws. for example the department of homeland security recently issued a report showing in a single week there were more than 200 200 instances of jurisdictions

refusing to honor i.c.e. requests. the charges and convictions against these aliens include drug trafficking, hit and run, rape, sex offenses against a child, and even murder. such policies cannot continue. they make our nation less safe by putting dangerous criminals back on the streets. we all remember the case of the 32-year-old woman who was shot and killed in san francisco as she walked along the peer with her father. the shooter was an illegal immigrant who had already been deported five times and had seven felony convictions. just 11 weeks before the shooting, san francisco had released sanchez from its custody even though immigrations and customs enforcement officers had filed a detainer requesting that he be held in custody until

immigration authorities could pick him up for removal. even worse, sanchez admitted the only reason he came to san francisco was because it was a sanctuary city. a similar story unfolded just last week when valez, an illegal immigrant and mexican national was charged with murder and robbery at a rail station. he was released from a denver jail in late december despite the fact that i.c.e. had lodged a detainer for his removal. the american people are not happy with these results. they wknow when cities and stats refuse to help enforce immigration laws, our nation is less safe. failure to deport aliens who are convicted of criminal offenses puts communities at risk, especially communities in the very sanctuary jurisdictions

that seek to protect the perpetrators. duis, assaults, drug crimes, gang rapes, crimes against children and murderers, countless americans would be alive today and countless loved ones would not be grieving today if these policies of sanctuary cities were ended. not only do these policies endanger lives of every american, just last may the department of justice inspector general found that these policies also violate federal law. the president has rightly said disregard for law must end. in his executive order he stated that it is the policy of the executive branch to ensure that states and cities comply with all federal laws including all immigration laws. today i'm urging states and local jurisdictions to comply with these federal laws

including eight usc -- to certify compliance with 1373 as a condition of receiving those awards. this policy is entirely consistent with the department of justice's office of justice program that was issued just last summer under the previous administration. this guidance requires state and local jurisdictions to comply and certify compliance with section 1373 in order to be eligible for ojp grants. it also made clear failure to remedy violations could result in withholding grants, termination of grants, and disb disbarment o ineligibility.

will also take all lawful steps to claw back any funds awarded to a jurisdiction that willfully violates 1373. in the fiscal year the office of justice programs and community oriented policing services anticipates awarding more than $4.1 billion in grants. i strongly urge our nation's states and cities and counties to consider carefully the harm they are doing to their citizens by refusing to enforce immigration laws and to rethink these policies. such policies make their cities and states less safe. public safety as well as national security are at stake. and put them at risk of losing federal dollars. the american people want and deserve a lot system of immigration that keeps us safe and one that serves the national interest. this expectation is reasonable,

just, and our government has the duty to meet it and we will meet it. thank you. >> montgomery county right up the road, there was a rape in maryland. has anyone from the department of justice had any conversation with anyone in montgomery count as they describe themselves as sanctuary county and city and there's also a boatload of federal government in montgomery county. >> maryland is talking about a state law to make the state a sanctuary state. the governor is opposed to that i'm glad to hear. that would be such a mistake. i would please with the people of maryland to understand that this makes the state of maryland more at risk for violence and crime. that it's not good policy. and as a former prosecutor for many years in state and federal

law, i just know the historic relationship different federal agencies have with regard to honoring detainers. it's just a fundamental principle of law enforcement that if you have a personal arrested and another jurisdiction has a charge, they file a detainer whchlt you fini. when you finish with the prisoner, you turn them over for their adjudication. that is what should be done. >> mr. attorney general, listening to you carefully, it sounds like you're implying the standards and the policy that the obama administration put forward on compliance with underlying justice department rules. are you taking any additional steps? have you asked the president to maybe talk about other federal funds that are not necessarily under your control as a way to pun i punish sanctuary cities or states? >> that's a good question.

what i'm saying today is essentially the policies of the obama administration that were issued last july made clear that you should not be receiving certain federal funds if you're not in compliance with 1373. we believe that grunants in the future be in compliance. usually every grant has a requirement that if you qualify for this you need to meet certain requirements. we'll be looking at that in the future. we intend to use all the lawful authority we have to make sure that our state and local officials who are so important to law enforcement are in sync with the federal government. >> some of the officials down sat the bigger cities have said despite the lack of federal funding, they don't care if they're losing money.

what resource do they have in those cities to say we don't care, we're going to continue to implement this policy? >> that's very disheart niening but i hope their cities will communicate with them and as we continue a dialogue and discussion and as we continue to ensure that moneys that go for law enforcement only go to cities who are participating in an effective cooperative way with the federal government. that that would also send a message. we have simply got to end this policy. thank you all. >> what about the eric garner case and the white -- >> are you ready to continue? good. before i get to the day's schedule. i know there's been some interest in the state department's statement regarding the arrest of peace full protestors in occurred in

russia. the statement says, quote, the united states strongly condemns the detention of helpeds of protesters throughout russia on sunday. it is an affront to essential democratic values. we are troubled to hear of the arrest of the opposition leader. upon arrival at the demonstration as well as the police raids on the anti-corruption. the united states will monitor the situation and we call on the government of russia to immediately release all peace full protestors. the russian people like people everywhere deserve a government that's -- open marketplace of idea, trains parnsparent, actab equal rights under the law w. respect to events for the day, this morning after receiving his daily intelligence briefing the president participated in a round table with women's small business owners. the president is hosting a group of women business owners as part of the white house's full

calendar of women's history month events. at the round table this morning vice president pence, sba administrator mcmahon joined with other officials to hear from these female business leaders about their successes and challenges. empowers and promoting women is in business and -- i know how crucial women are as leaders all throughout our communities. the women in attendance this morning have incredible stories including many that have started businesses from scratch with very limited resources. through hard work and determination turned their dreams into reality. between them they provide hundreds of jobs to americans across the country. the president is dedicated to continuing to remove the barriers that women face in our km economy. this administration will

continue to advocate for policies to support working family including an initiative to promote women business leaders and entrepreneurs. in honor of women's history month the white house has been hosting events all throughout march. a round table held with women and health care which the president attended. the first lady held a women's empowerment lunch. karen pence joined women from all five military branches and last week hosted military women at the vice president's residence to thank them for their service. following the round table the president had lunch with the vice president and second of state tillerson. at 3:00 the president will sign house joint resolutions 37, 44, 57, and 58. all of which use the powers of congressional review act to roll

back job killing rules. before this administration only one time in the nation's history had a president ever signed a bill that used a congressional review act to cancel a federal regulation. in just his first 60 days as president, he will have signed six resolutions to eliminate unnecessary and burdensome rules. house joint resolution 37 rolls back the -- one of the most significant threats to the growing american -- to growing american businesses and do high are more american workers. the rule made it too easy for trial lawyers to go after american companies and american workers who contact with the american government. the president saw that taxpayers and businesses were the ones who suffered under this rule and he's glad to be signing legislation to eliminate. 47, 57 and 58 cancel power

grabs. the president firmly believes that washington's not aullways solution to these problems and these bills return the power to the people. house joint resolution 44 removes a bureau of land federal and land management in washington diluting the concerns of citizens who have a a right to be involved in this decision making process. 57 and 58 regulate staut's flexibility in how they assess the performance of schools and teacher preparation and programs. the president will continue to work with congress and the rest of the federal government until every unnecessary regulation that stands in the way of success for american business

and american people is taken off the books. additionally, the president spoke with chancellor merkel and the indian prime minister today to congratulate them on their party's success in recent elections. we'll have read outs ob those calls later for you both. they have a mentality to a wide number of governments and services enhancing the quality of life for all americans. the office will have a particular focus on data hearing back from leaders in the industry. as some of its first priorities, the office will focus on modernizing the technology of every federal department identifying transformational projects and reimagining the va system to better serve our nation's heroes. the effort will be led by assistant to the president and senior adviser jared kushner. they will sign an order to

strengthen energy security by reducing unnecessary regulatory obstacles that we restrict the use of domestic energy resources. this order will help keep energy and electricity affordable, reliable and clean in order to boost economic growth and job creation. finally before i came out today, senate democrats continued thinker obstruction to the president's nomination of judge neil gorsuch to the supreme court with the judiciary committee seeking a one-week postponement with its decision. chuck schumer defended his decision to mount a a filibuster against the president's qualified nominee. it it's a success against the supreme court nominee in american history. he argued, quote, that the senate has required a 60-vote threshold of every supreme court nominee. that's simply not true.

and as i have said before, only three support justices have faced a filibuster in the last half of the century. senator schumer cited four justices confirmed under president bush and obama, but in fact, among those four, only one faced an attempted filibuster that was justice alito and president obama who as a senator voted to filibuster justice alito and later publicly expressed his regret for that. the fact is an attempted filibuster of a supreme court nominee is rare and to do so in this context was such a qualify ed ask brilliant judge is nothing short of obstructionism. that's why senator leahy, the former chairman, said he is, quote, not inclined to fill b bust, even if he may not vote to confirm the judge. the former chairman of the ju dish area e committee exposes the efforts is obstructionism than undermines senate tradit n

tradition. the four days of hearings judge gorsuch demonstrated his judicial philosophy, academic credentials and brilliant legal mind. he deserves a fair up or down vote. with that, i'm glad to take a few of your questions. >> starting friday afternoon through late yesterday, had received a number of calls as well as other members of the senior staff that have been working on had health care. from members of both sides saying that they would like to work together, offer up ideas and had had suggestions about how to come to resolution on this and get to a house vote on this. >> but wouldn't this require -- >> jonathan is asking a question. >> a serious correction from the white house? the president's branded chuck

schumer a a clown. worked tirely with republicans on this bill. wouldn't this require a serious change of course from the president? >> to some degree, shower. i think we learned a lot through this process. the president is is willing to listen. if they can come to resolution on a way forward, we're willing to listen. but there are a lot of folks that came forward with these ideas. with all due respect, i don't think it's a one-way street in some of the comments that have been made. some of the democrats who now say they weren't involved early on in the process said there would be nothing to do with this process. there was no way they would

engage in any discussion to repeal. i think it's a a two-way street. . we have been willing to listen to folks and their ideas and the president's advice if we can come up with resolution on a way to move forward, we'll entertain that. >> where does the buck stop for this failure? >> just so we're clear. we're at the beginning of a process. i don't think we have seen the end of health care. the obama administration from beginning to end took about 17 months and went through a series of fits and starts. it wasn't until scott brown was elected denying them the 60th vote in the senate they jammed something through. a lot of the reason that the secretary of health and human services had some of the powers they do is because they had to jam it through. there were several failures when obamacare went through during the process. ultimately they tried to go through a single payer process.

so we're not saying it's the end of health care, but we are looking to look for a way forward. i think that a lot of the members on beth sides of the aisle have reached out to members of the team willing to share some ideas that will make the bill stronger, but ultimately the goal is to get to 216 and 218 depending on special elections. we'll look to see where we'll get the votes. we're going to continue to pursue that. >> the last congress only took about five years. after the failure of the health care on an issue whether it was brought a consensus, what makes the president think he could pass it this year. >> i think it's been 30 years. i think people we have a series of an economy that's evolved.

especially in the technology area that's made a lot of things change. i think our tax code is outdated. on the business side, we're uncompetitive. there's a reason that companies are leaving america to go to other places because same reason sometimes companies move from state u to state. our corporate and regulatory system is unattractive for a lot of companies that want to either manufacture here, grow here or begin here. or want the to return jobs here. the president recognized that. business leaders from around the country is not a partisan issue. you go out to the tech sector in silicon valley and there's a lot of companies that weren't with the president during the election or continue not to be. and i think recognize we are not as competitive as we can be when you consider the l tax and regulatory climate of other countries around the world. we need to be more competitive. you look at the individual side of the house and i think when

you talk to middle income americans, especially in the context of health proposal yums skyrocketing up, they recognize they need some relief. we have to do what we can to address that. >> since health care is many presidents forward. certainly when hillary clinton came to washington, she went to the hill and thought she could get it done. i'm sure there are many lessons you could learn from previous presidents and perhaps previous first ladieladies. has the president thought of ever reaching out to hillary and how she maneuvered and some of the best practices. >> he's met with doctors and others. it's not been a -- he's reached out to several people throughout this process.

about strategically how to handle this as well as the members that we thought we would have with us. and we're re-examining that on a number of of basis. . any idea of questions that the media should be referred to -- i want theed to ask a slightly different question. does the white house know what can happen? we have issues that someone from the branch shared information from the white house grounds. or someone on the white house staff to provide the information.