"strange inheritance." i guess sometimes you can take it with you. resident ready to sign this. i think it will happen. charles: here is lou. [♪] lou: good evening. a busy day for president trump who after all went to washington to drain the swamp. unfortunately the president is finding the swamp is deep and there seems to be an endsless number of critters in it. just waiting for an opportunity to fight him at every turn. in a string of treats saturday president trump trying to expose some of the deep state subject version accusing former president trump of tapping of his phones sat trump tower the month before the election. the president tweeted this. how low has president obama gone

to tap my phones during the very sacred election process. this is nixon watergate. bad or sick guy. president obama respond saying quote a cardinal rule of the obama administration was no white house official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the department of justice. as part of that practice, neither president obama nor any if white house official ordered surveillance on any u.s. citizen. any suggestion otherwise is false. but mr. obama's statement says neither he north white house ordered the wiretapping. not that in trump's organization wasn't tapped. the other big story of the day. president trump issuing an extreme vetting executive order. iraq lists in the previous order

a was removed this time because of improved screening and reporting by the iraqis. green card current visa holders exclude from the president's new order. jeff sessions ann and john kelly described the order as critical to our national security. >> we cannot compromise our nation's security by allowing visitors entry when their own governments are unable or unwilling to provide the information we need to vet them responsibly. >> we are not immune to terrorist threats and our enemies often use our phone freedoms and generosity against us. today's executive order will make america more secure and address long overdue concerns about the security of our immigration system. lou: president trump has revoked

the original executive order that is mired in the courts facing 40-some lawsuits. that's over now. our next guest says the president can order the nsa to install any wiretap of anyone any time an does in the require a warrant. joining us, judge andrew napolitano. that statement has just cleared away it seems like an endless amount of underbrush surrounding this story. >> i'm sorry for the misunderstanding there is around this story. this statute creates the fisa court. and that statute says notwithstanding anything in this statute, the president may order the surveillance of any person in the united states of america upon the filing of a certification by the attorney general that it re-late to national security. a filing that nobody can read,

not even the judges with home it is filed. so i don't know if this happened. but the notion that president trump would have had tov have asked the f.b.i. to get a search warrant is out of the question. the f.b.i. has nothing to do with this. the idea he would go to taffiesa court to do this is out of the question. why would he go to a fisa court to get a warrant to do something he has the authority to do. every phone call and every mobile device and land line, every keypad touch and every mobile device and desktop, every piece of digital information that flows into or through the united states in fiberoptics captured in real-time by the nsa. the nsa is in the pentagon. it works for the pentagon it's a military entity. he says i want a transcript of what donald trump said to lou dobbs -- i'm making this up

hypothetically -- the transcript shows up on his desk. lou: i watched three days of reporting on this and they didn't hear any major news organization point that out. they also did not hear any representative of president obama at corically -- categorically say there is no way we would have permitted the president of the united states to wiretap, to surveil, to read the emails of a candidate for president. >> the way the intelligence community is selectively concealing and revealing to manipulate donald trump and infuriate him and embarrass him, it wouldn't surprise me if there were people on the intelligence community that might do the same to the former president if he throws them under the bus. the statement that you just read from his spokesperson said the president didn't interfere in

any department of justice investigation. this would have been the president -- politically motivated curiosity to what donald trump was saying to steve bannon back in october. lou: it's hardy a coincidence that there was a fisa * request by the administration in june followed in october by the granting of one -- the initial was unsuccessful. but in october. which just happens to be the same as the second debate, october 10, in which he said he would be putting -- he being the prospective president. he said he would put hillary clinton in jail. it looks like there could have been and reaction within the administration that led to the tapping of his phones, the reading of his computers whether it contained email or whatever

date you used a phrase in our introduction that said entered our parlance in the past month or so. it has been around since 1947. the deep state. the part of the government that never changes. no matter which party controls congress and which party is in the white house. we are talking about the intelligence community deep state. people in the intelligence community that have access to so much information about everyone, they can manipulate the president of the united states. and if they don't like the president of the united states they can embarrass him. donald trump has fallen victim to that, and he knows it, and he knows he has to stop it. lou: this is his way of stopping it by directly engaging on the issue by saying what is inferentially provable. the reporting of the "new york times," the national review.

hardly -- >> his suggestion for a congressional investigation of the intelligence community is the last thing is enemies in the intelligence community want. because if the american public learns that they have access to everything we type and everything we say, they will be repulsed by the power that this deep state group has, that congress gave them, congress enacted three pieces of legislation at which with perverse interpretations before a secret court lets them gather everything we say in real-time. >> is there any doubt in anyone's mind? have we got a list of the number of instances in which the obama administration has gone beyond the pale in surveilling and tapping phones and reading computer data and messaging? we do not have that.

journalists of the associated press, and people forget this. dianne feinstein, the chairman of the senate intelligence committee in 2014, they are still looking at the reality the cia went in and surveilled the computers of the senate and intelligence. >> you had spies spying on each other. lou: yes, but what you had was the executive branch and the cia spying on the senate of the united states which is beyond any kind of acceptance. if anybody thinks if you will surveil journalists, if you will spy on u.s. setors, why would they hesitate to spy -- the obama administration -- on a presidential candidate. >> great argument. throw in generals in the pentagon and justices in the supreme court. one of the fisa warrants i saw,

for every customer of verizon in the united states. that's 100 million people in the united states including people in the federal government. lou: less so i think these days because we are seeing example after example. going back to the judge's reference to the deep state. we are look at the deep state that goes well beyond intelligence community and also has in prospect the active leadership of the immediate predecessor of the oval office, barack obama who is bringing his leadership and that of many of his administration and the organization for action with an estimated more than 30,000 activists. >> the deep state has a wide and shrewd adversary, the in the oval office. for the first time in the modern

era the man in the oval office has been an adversary of the deep state rather than a tool of it. lou: thanks so much. we are coming right back. there is so much more for you to process tonight. of course, we have had no problem doing that throughout the day. we are exhausted with our news gathering efforts. but we are just three short minutes going to be absolutely resilient, refreshed and ready to take you the rest of the way. stay with us. growing threats from iran and north korea. we'll have a full report on their provocations and the trump administration's response coming up here next. and violent attacks upon free speech. left-wing activists go punk and thug. we'll have all deet tails on that and much more straight ahead. this is the silverado special edition. this is one gorgeous truck.

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live-streat the airport.e sport binge dvr'd shows while painting your toes. on demand laughs during long bubble baths. tv everywhere is awesome. the all-new xfinity stream app. xfinity. the future of awesome. lou: iran and north korea provoking the trump administration. both nations begin testing ballistic missiles that could

potentially be used to attack american cities or our troops. jennifer griffin with our report. reporter: the pentagon says the north korean launch invo old missiles, most them asked yous. it's north korea's intent to master long-range missiles that has washington worried. >> they have an icbm that could reach the united states. what they haven't done is test it. reporter: what stands out about this test is how north korea is testing missile units to see how they would perform in an actual war. that according to jeffrey rules at the monterey institute. >> they are giving nuclear weapons to their missile unit. they are practicing to use those nuclear weapons early on in the conflict.

reporter: the administration's response was muted amidst a report from the new york times that obama administration engaged in cyber ask war against their abirths. they test fired a missile in mid-january. today prime minister abe looked visibly concerned when he addressed japan's parliament. >> japan will collect information on this issue of. the ballistic missile shows clearly north korea has become a new kind of threat. reporter: they destroyed a barge in the gulf of oman.

a u.s. surveillance ship had to change course while moving through the the strait of more muts after iranian fast boats approached. the incident occurred when iran was testing the anti-ship ballistic missiles. and president trump and present abe discussed the issue in a phone call today. lou: chuck grassley is investigating allegations that the f.b.i. offered to hire the author of the opposition research dossier on donald trump that contained information meant to disparage the presidential candidate. senator grassley asking for records pertaining to any agreement that the f.b.i. may have had with british spy christopher steele.

grassley says it raises questions about the f.b.i.'s indiana even from politics as well as the obama administration intelligence agencies for political purposes. the left's intolerance on display in berkeley, california and its propensity for violence. that's where mass. protesters attacked supporters. a total of 10 people were arrested, five of them for battery, and as you watch this video, you can see that a number of people would have been subject to those charges, attackinold per americans. these young thugs and punks absolutely without restraint. it's an appalling statement about the left and their so-called activists. one of the arrests was for possession of a deadly weapon

and another for fighting arrest. seven people were injured. none hospitalized. the fights broke out at the martin luther king, jr. civic park. violent protesters seem to be getting their marching orders from top of democrats. listen to former attorney general loretta lynch calling on people to take to the streets. >> individuals who have bands together, ordinary people who simply saw what needed to be done and came together and supported those ideals, who have made the difference. they hard, necessity bled, yes, some of them have died. this is hard. every good thing is. lou: ignorance in the leadership of the leftist activists and to what purpose? isn't it interesting the former attorney general didn't even mention what the purpose was or the goal.

be sure to vote in our poll tonight, given president trump's history of spying on congress and journalists. would you, would you be at all surprised to learn that he would urge or condone spying on president trump? cast your vote on twitter at lou dobbs. follow me on twitter @loudobbs. follow me on instagram @loudobbs tonight. the dow jones industrials down 51 points. the nasdaq down 22. the savants saying today's weakness primarily in response to the ballistic miss isle launches of iran and north korea. despite modest loss, markets still posting 2.9 billion in paper gains.

you have next, former southern general michael mukasey says president trump is likely right about a wiretap at trump tower. >> this is the difference between being correct and being right. i think the president was not correct in saying president trump ordered a tap on a server in trump tower. however, i think he's right in that there was surveillance and that it was con ducted at the behest of the justice department through the fisa court. lou: michael mukasey joins me next.

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effort to target now president trump. first reported last year on november 7, fbi was granted a fisa warrant covering trump's campaign tie to russia. strong evidence, would you say? the guard ye guardian reporting that fbi -- fisa warrant. again, fairly straight forward, and an open source to all. and in. fbi and 5 other agencies probe possible covert kremlin aid to president trump, and reporting one of its sources said a fisa ar war a warranted of granted last year. and "new york times" ignoring that previous reporting, this

month after just a month after reporting obama white house rushed to reserve -- wow. our next guest said that president trump is likely right. that there was surveillance on trump tower for intelligence purposes. whose purposes? woe don't yet know, joining us, michael mukasey, former u.s. attorney general in bush administration, former chie district judge, great to have you withs. >> great to be with us. lou: let's start with this -- in the clear. these are statements reports, and also by "new york times" when was basically trying to knock down president trump's claims that he was being wiretapped, but their own reporting declaring just that. >> their own reporting speaks about broadly about electronic surveillance.

i don't know that it is wiretapping in conventional sense of phones or tapping into e-mails or other documents. but their report clearly says in summer they applied from foreign intelligence surveillance court, they not get it they came back in october, and applied again, this time they did. and october, of course, was the campaign. lou: fisa court, its role in this, in june, denying a fisa warrant to surveil donald trump with -- again with this nonsense about russia, i say nonsense it has been 10 months and fbi declaring there is nothing to this. various agencies. >> nothing to collusion. lou: trump collusion. >> with russia. lou: right, thank you for

clarifying it is preprofit without comment, i am upset right now, with the republican party, its leaders whether on capitol hill or within the party. this is a time when a president is being attacked. this is a brutal attack from all quarters against this president. presumpresumably by deep state that many represent in their attack. >> i think that the intelligence committees of both houses have jurisdiction over the intelligence gathering entities, the cia, and fbi. and the nsa should take a good deep look. i don't mean a public look, a good deep look at what has

gone on with regard to their activities and investigating, and with regard to the leaking of information. which has been persistent and ongoing. lou: and president trump has been the victim, obviously of that? >> so it would seem, i would like too know what it is, who did what actually, not hypothetically, but actually. lou: another thing with president trump access fisa warrants and learn reason those who requested them, does he have that authority? that ability? >> i think he does. he is, as the president, he is what is referred to by folks who do this, as the ultimate consumer. he is the guy for whom supposedly this since tended. he could -- is intended, he could take a look. perhaps should. lou: and what would be the reasoning if you could speculate on james comey, director of the fbi, asking

somebody to knock down the president's complaints. >> i can't speak to, that but, i could tell you that it is questionable of what it is he is asking to knock down. if he is asking to knock down the claim of president obama directing tapping of telephones, the question is what is it? lou: and james clapert who has famously lied when asked about spying and metadata, the john brennan, head of the cia,

spying on the senate intelligence committee. let'lookt me of thes instances, if i may, mike do we have these? could we show a few of these. our james rosen, his computer, his e-mails, searched associated press. their journalists, spied upon, senate intel committee, spied upon by cia, irs, conservative targets, nsa wiretapping, it goes on, this is not a reach to think that president trump is right in these charge. >> i think that someone should look. lou: okay, i think that is precisely what is going to happen, we know from one committee, this is nunez's house intelligence.

>> i'm not talking about a so-called special council, i am talking about politic responsive entities, two committees. >> michael mukasey. >> good to be with you. >> good to be with you. lou: we're coming right back afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. 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. all seems beautiful to me.

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lou: republican leaders in the house tonight, unveiling their plan to repeal and replace obamacare.

it now heads to energy and commerce. i have seen the executive summary, and ways and means committee for markup and calls to repeal obamacare taxes also with individual and employer insurance mandates, that will repeal subsidies. in a way. replacing them with tax credits up to $14,000 a year for americans whoen t don't receive insurance through their employer, conservative republicans have previously called that tax credit an entitlement. house leaders plan for this bill to hit house floor the week after next. they are now making it available on-line, and on capitol hill. joining me tonight, one of leading experts on obamacare, and healthcare. and government, betsy mccoy, with "new york post," your reaction? are you surprised? dismayed? >> i am pleasantly surprised

because i i see the two side, conservatives and paul ryan wing of the house coming together, they must pass a repeal bill, what is most important about this bill it repeals employer mandate, and individual mandate and associated penalties, which is a release for 200 million people. number two it keeps the president's promise no one who currently has insurance will lose it it grandfathers whoever is covered under obamacare. right now everyone is protected. and similarly people who have these obamacare plans. lou: so. president trump has in in legislation, at-this-point, gotten just about everything he could reasonably have asked for, in which he declirred on thdeclared on the campaign trail. >> yes, and a big improvement in this version, over the previous version they were

toying with us, they dropped plans to tax rich insurance plans that union workers largely get on the job. that would have been a poison pill, we see this budding relationship between organized labor and trump republicans, who would want to put the kibosh on that? lou: right, who would like it to begin with? >> right, the key is, will speaker ryan have the power to actually drive this through both houses of congress. you know, they will have to give up some side agreements for example, defunding planned parenthood. >> the noise and static around this. >> saying we're not going to vote for it, they need those votes, this is where the rubber hits the road. lou: if the president stands tall and says we need this. >> right, i think they could drive it through. lou: yep. all right. that great to have you here. >> thank you.

lou: i am vla i glad you are pleasantly surprised. talking about health care legislation. >> i smile when i see lou dobbs. lou: there is the trodd off, thank you. >> thank you. lou: up next, trump administration calling to congress to investigate whether the obama administration aabused its powers and violated the constitution, william benny will join me here next. we'll have the latest for you. stay with us, we're coming it's our little differences, that can make a world of difference. expedia, everything in one place, so you can travel the world better.

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u: former director of national intelligence james clapper denies allegation that trump tower communications were wiretapped or surveilled during the election, also denying scope of national securitiancy's -- agency mass surveillance of american people several years ago, listen to this from 2013. >> does the nsa collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of americans? >> no, sir. >> it does not? >> not wittingly, they could

perhaps collect but not wi waitingly. lou: we have learned better done we, welcome back. what do you make of these changes on part of the president we heard two distinguished jurists, judge napolitano and former attorney general judge mukasey. saying, they believe that president trump is right in his accusations again president obama, his administration was surveilling, donald trump as a candidate and in the white house. your ho thoughts? >> i think that president is absolutely right. his phone calls, ever everything he did

electronically was being monitored, as we all are, a bulk collection of all u.s. citizens that nsa is collecting data and storing it. then if they want to go after somebody they could go to that data and pull data off that particular person out. as i think what happened here, evidence of the conversations between the president of the u.s., president trump, and the president of australia, and president of mexico. releasing those conver conversation, collecttion picked up by the nsa, that is where they have tap points all over the country collecting data off fiber optic network and telephone network, all data is stored by nsa, the question is -- all done under executive order, one. two, triple three with n no warrants. lou: idea of warrantless

wiretaps, something people i think many people, have the impression that is not happening at all in the cup country. in fact it i is -- principle source of surveillance is it not. >> it is. showing that government is being overseen by senate and house intelligence committee and the court, that is not the main collection program for nsa. they don't take warrants they collect everything. lou: i think that many people are surpried to learn tonight that president of the united states has access to all fisa warrantses and collection of those who would sought them in disposition of them. i want to turn to something else that is happening contemporaryiously.

the rising if you will, animation of the deep state here, and its relationship to the intelligence community and our political leadership, our constitutional government. >> yeah. that is what really bothers me, that is why i had to leave nsa, i could not be a part of what they were doing. it is becoming when i think of as the intelligence community is the pretorrean gourd, determining who will be emperor and what will emperor will or will not do. i think they are trying to influence him, president trump, and trying to get him to do what they want him to do. now i particularly think that when president trump said that intelligence community neede be vamped and redone, i agree totally, i wish him luck in that process. lou: and if -- >> if i could help him in anyway, i would. lou: i think he would

appreciate that support and help. would be my guess. the other part is, suggestion that the dni itself, the director of national intelligence is now become a very negative force in the inte intelligence community, obstructing more often than facilitating too often, guiding separate purposes rather than leading for the president in policy. your thoughts as we wrap up. >> well, i just think that intelligence community has to review and reflect on what their purpose in life is. start to do and function as they are supposed to the contusionathe constitutional form of government. lou: well said william benny, please comeback soon, my guess and we'll have a lot more questions for you as this unfoldeds. >> thank you, lou. lou: up next, president trump working to make this country safe. to make america great, today

issuing a new order on extreme vetting. >> it is the president's solemn duty to protect the american people, with this order president trump is exercising his writ rightful authority to keep our people safe. lou: joining me next, political analyst and attorney gayle trotter.

lou: in own online poll we asked, do you trust the house leadership at all. 73% said you do not. that's a pretty good number given the record of house leadership. take a look at this ability that both enjoy. former president obama has 85 people follow -- 26 twitter. million follow@realdonaldtrump. the what is not conveyed there is the intensity of engagement and there has never been anyone

on twitter who enjoyed as much as does president trump. troubling statistics about the foreign intelligence surveillance court. fisa has rejected only 12 of 38,169 requests over the period from 1979 and 2015. that means 99.7% of warrant requests have been approved since fisa has been sanctioned. that's because it's the conservative nature of the court and the f.b.i. and nsa who are primarily going in. they do not want to be rejected and work with the judge to make

sure that everything is in absolute perfect order. that make a lot of sense. joining me now, attorney, political analyst, gayle trotter. let's start with his incredible story that broke over the weekend that we covered this entire hour. this is a country that rely on spying sobs, and even the president of the united states is not immune from those who abuse power and say to hell with the constitution and spy on president trump. >> the mainstream media and the "new york times" reported months ago this surveillance was happening. they reported it as fact. now they changed their story and say there is no evidence supporting trump's allegations. general michael flynn was run out of d.c. on a rail based on

the surveillance transcripts which nobody has seen. lou: but apparently none of us have seen. but a lot of people have seen. whether it's "the guardian," the "new york times" or the "national review." you go through all of these outlets it's a clear statement that the obama administration made a habit and practice of abusing its power and spying on everyone from the senate -- the list goes on. the american people, whomever. and he g comment from the national left evening media because they want to assure president trump had a complicit partner in the media and it did for 8 years. >> the left complains conservatives don't respect the constitution.

this is another example that big government will cause problems for citizens. when you have this type of surveillance on american citizens it's put to evil use. and we see if the media's complicit with it. >> and the deep state as it is called working against the interests of the people our government, our elected officials. this is a troubling time. and the good news is judge michael mukasey certainly tonight calling for both intelligence committees of the senate and the house, the house is has already taken it up, an investigation of the charges that president trump, his administration was responsible for surveillance as president of the united states. so those are all encouraging developments. gayle trotter, good to have you with us. lou: that's it for us gap.

-- that's it for us tonight. thanks for being with us tonight. good night from new york.residet ready to sign this. i think it will happen. charles: here is lou. [♪] lou: good evening. a busy day for president trump who after all went to washington to drain the swamp. unfortunately the president is finding the swamp is deep and there seems to be an endsless number of critters in it. just waiting for an opportunity to fight him at every turn. in a string of treats saturday president trump trying to expose some of the deep state subject version accusing former president trump of tapping of his phones sat trump tower the month before the election. the president tweeted this. how low has president obama gone