that is it for tonight's "special report." fair, balanced, unafraid. relax, who we will be back tomorrow night, 6:00 p.m., then, a special at 11:00 p.m. eastern. "the first 100 days" with martha maccallum starts right now. >> martha: breaking tonight, a busy start to week two of the trump administration, as the new president prepares to make perhaps his most important decision to date and faces at some serious backlash to one of his chief campaign promises. welcome to "the first 100 days," everybody. i am martha maccallum. reporting tonight from our nation's capital, where he met with the white house, at the white house, with several new team members of the administration. over the past 48 hours, we have witnessed a series of protests concerning president trump's executive order that temporarily bans immigration from seven countries that are hotbeds of terror. it comes just a day before the president is expected to officially name for supreme court nominee. it is rumored to short list

includes judge william pryor, judge neil gorsuch, and judge thomas hardiman. but not ami would replace the late conservative justice antonin scalia. those are just two of the big stories that we have for you tonight from washington, as well as some big name guests this evening. among them, kellyanne conway, counselor to the president. we will ask her about the supreme court back tomorrow night. also, we'll discuss new efforts to derail education secretary nominee betsy devos. first, with the american federation of teachers president randi weingarten on one side, then, with formal education secretary bill bennett on the other. then, tucker carlson joins us to discuss my white house interviews and the administration's latest moves. but we begin with the first 100 days exclusive on day ten, as k.t. mcfarland grants us her very first interview since being appointed president trump's deputy national security advisor and discusses both the travel ban and the controversial reorganization of the national security council. ♪

>> martha: k.t. mcfarland, thank you so much for being with us to be dumb i care today. >> it a pleasure and an honor. >> martha: give everyone a sense of what the role is at the nic and with the national security council is all about i. >> it is good that you ask that. people think about foreign policy and they think there is the state department, the defense department. the intelligence community, there is somebody that brings them altogether. that is with a national security council does. it acts as the honest broker between all of these different agencies, understanding that american foreign policy is not just a diplomatic issue or a military issue or an intelligence issue or an economic issue. it is all of those. so, the national security council, and my role within it, is to take advice from all of these different parts of government and presented to the president for his own decision. >> martha: so, the nsc was in the news quite a bit over the course of the weekend. it was primarily about the

principles council, which is the inner circle of the national security council. and the news was that steve bannon, chief strategist for their president, would be in all of those meetings. the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, who are typically in those meetings, would be in those meetings "they shall attend pc meetings for issues pertaining to the responsibilities and expertise are to be discussed." that raised a lot of eyebrows. people thought, why wouldn't they be there all the time, they have always been there all the time. >> this is much ado about nothing. normally, every president gets to choose how he wants to structure his national security team. the one thing is, the national security council, that is by law, the national security act of 1947, says that is comprised of the president, vice president, secretary of state, defense, et cetera, like a mini cabinet. one thing that general flynn and i did prior to taking office was we interviewed a lot of the former national security advisors. we started with henry kissinger, my old boss, who set up a

national security council iteration system and we talk to other people who had had the roles for other administrations, including the obama administration. several things that came up, one, there were too many meetings. the agendas would often blur one to the other. it often decisions weren't made. what it was doing to people who are participants of it, the cabinet officers, in some cases, the deputy cabinet officers, they were running their own agencies come up with their primary responsibility. we did a little bit of streamlining. the streamlining was to say, if they are going to be some meetings that the chairman of the joint chief of staff doesn't need to come to, you don't have to come to it. on the other hand, there will be other people, steve bannon, as you mentioned, he has a policy role of this administration. he is not just a politician. he was a former military officer, a businessman, a media executive, and he is one of donald trump's closest policy advisors.

he should be there and in fact, and previous administrations, people who had a lesser role, less of a policy role, often sat in on those meetings. it really was just to formalize it. there is nothing new there. i think that people who are reading the tea leaves and thinking, there is something revelation, there isn't. >> martha: >> martha: was it pro them and that way beforehand? we have reporting this morning from some of the joint chiefs saying that they were caught unaware of this and that i did catch them somewhat off guard. then, robert gates and michael payton waited in and they said it was "very unusual" for steve bannon to be at every one of those meetings. >> i don't think so. first of all, and previous administrations, david axelrod attended those meetings. i would say, that is really just a recognition, the role, sitting in of those meetings, particularly, the case of bannon, who is a much bigger policy background, it makes a lot of sense. >> martha: in terms of, let's take a little bit of a trip

around the world here. let's start with those who were trying to get into the country over the course of the weekend and this travel ban on the refugees. there was so much outcry and outrage on the part of some people at the way this implemented, even some republicans as it was russian over the weekend at the border agencies didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. what is your take? >> i think there was a prize in washington was that donald trump is actually doing what he said he would do on the campaign trail. he said, we have to take a look at our visa and immigration system. and he's had the very good example of looking at what our friends and allies in europe are dealing with. they are system is such that they now have had terrorist attacks in all of the major cities of europe and the threat is continuing. it's increasing. with president trump on the campaign trail, then, with a new executive order, saying, we want to take a look at our system. we know that some of the attacks in the country and to some of the foreign attacks were from people who may have been in this country legally, illegally, what

is the system. we haven't banned anything, he said, let's just take a pause, let's step back, figure out what is going on, then, report back with recommendations in 90 days. i look at that and say, why would we not want to protect the people of this country? is an issue of who is in this country, do they present any threat to the united states, the security of the country, and we have a responsibility, he doesn't have a responsibility for all of the people who want to come in, it's a responsibility for the american citizens. he is executing that responsibility extremely, well, it is prudent for him to do that, and responsible thing for him to do. >> martha: was there a need for it to happen, and semi, suddenly? >> i think it is a long overdue thing. you look at visa and immigration -- for example come about two years ago. i went back to look at some of those forms myself and said, what is our system, how are we looking at people come into this quick country. one form i looked at that said, a legitimate question they were

asking, "are you a terrace." if you are a terrorist, what is your answer to that going to be? maybe we need to have a deep look, a step back, look at the procedures, who comes into this country, where they coming from, what kind of information can we get to determine whether they are going to be a threat to the nation. to me, the key to the responsible thing. >> martha: this morning, fox exclusively learned that iran had conducted a ballistic missile launch on sunday, an apparent violation of the u.n. resolution that bars them from such activities. the president spoke over the weekend with the leader in saudi arabia and they discussed their concerns about destabilizing regional activities. would you classify what a rounded over the weekend as a destabilizing regional activity? >> whether it is iran or any of these countries come particularly with regard to nuclear weapons and the nuclear proliferation issue, donald trump set on the campaign trail, this is one of the majorw

president is going to face. nuclear weapons proliferation. he has also said, many times, he thought the iran nuclear deal was a bad deal. the united states paid upfront and didn't leave behind the leverage that we would have had for enforcement. that being said, we are taking, this administration is going to study these, we are going to look carefully, talk to our allies. one thing we are not going to do is look the other way on violations. >> martha: what would our response be? >> we have to determine what happened, under what terms are to happen, what are the enforcement mechanisms, where they in violation, were they not in violation. that is what we are looking at. again, in conjunction with our allies. >> martha: with liberals and to some media outlets raging about the travel ban, we reached out the widow of american sniper chris kyle, and the iraqi interpreter will have their take on president trump's order next, along with the former state

department spokesperson, marie hartz. plus, "the first 100 days" goes one on one with kellyanne conway. she will join us with the president's big supreme court announcement tomorrow. plus, she talks about her new life inside the white house straight ahead. ♪ >> do you support, if senator mcconnell wants to push forward the nuclear option, is that something the white house supports? ♪

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>> martha: breaking tonight, fox news is confirming that the justice department will not support president trump in his travel ban, since the agency is being run by an obama holdover at this point. the controversy side of the president's executive order temporarily banning refugee travel from the united states from seven countries of concern known for providing safe haven to terrorists. the order met with immediate outcries from liberals and from a number of media outlets come up with protesters heading to airports over the weekend to express their anger. but today, we are hearing from an unlikely source, an iraqi muslim, and why he says president trump is doing exactly why the right thing. johnny walker accompanied american sniper chris kyle on his missions in iraq, as kyle's interpreter. tonight, mr. walker joins us alongside the widow of american

sniper chris kyle, taya kyle. great to have you here tonight. johnny, let me start with you, if i may. what was your initial reaction when you heard about this travel ban? >> i feel more safe. >> martha: explain. >> so, when my kids, they will go to their school in their morning, i don't need to worry, to act like i have to have my gun and stand by with my kids, when they get out from the school, i called him crazy, hey, what's going on, what's up. i don't want to have the feeling about any one of my kids. >> martha: you know that feeling firsthand and all too well. what do you say to those who say that this is unreasonable, that the people who are being prevented from entering this country are not the people that we have to worry about? >> i'm just going to say, just be american. if you love america more than

anything else, you will understand, this is for your own benefit. you know what, if you disagree with trump, and you love your country, go back to your country. nobody is going to stop you. i have my friend, he will pay your ticket. >> martha: i know, johnny, that you said you wanted an exemption for interpreters like yourself and people who have stood and worked and fought alongside american military to fight for the causes that you believe in. you believe that you are going to get that from what you heard today? >> can you repeat your question? >> martha: in terms of interpreters and people like yourself who have worked alongside american military, do you believe that they will be exempt and protected? >> yeah. i know most of the refugees right now are turkish and some

of them in egypt and safer places. other people who sars since thea refugee, until now, nothing happened to them, i guarantee. nothing can happen to them within another 90 days. i think the problem is not with three months and the refugees. i think the problem is with politics. if you look today, iran testing ballistic missiles, if you look to the history, not long time ago, like in 2015, obama banned iraqi refugees for six months just because they were suspicious. >> martha: johnny, thank you. i want to get to some thoughts from taya. your reaction to this ban?

>> johnny is a perfect person to talk to because he understands the threats that are overseas. we know the navy seals, the al qaeda in yemen, we know that president obama identified these countries as a problem. it is not all muslim majority countries. it is a very small percentage of these countries. it is not anything to do with religion. anyway, i try to simplify in my mind and cut through the clutter. a look at my own home and i think, if i'd was newly in charge of my home, like president trump is newly in charge of the united states come out look of the security advisors, the threat against me, and say, let me get an understanding before i keep everything open. i think the refugees have a place to go. canada will welcome them. that is not like anybody is going to die on our watch, while we try to figure out who we are letting on. we do need to figure out -- and my home, if i figured out, anybody can come in all the time and i will feed and clothe everybody, i would love to do that, but i have children to protect. it won't do that unless i have i.d. or i know, do you work for

the utility company, even though you say you do. these are basic safety concerns that anyone would do for their personal home. we need to give the same respect to the country. >> martha: taya kyle, thank you for your family sacrificed to this country. it is good to see you again, taya. john johnny walker, thank you for your sacrifice and commitment that you have made to keeping america safe. it is great to have both of you with us tonight. joining me now with more, form or an obama administration official and fox news contributor of marie harr. >> good to be with you in washington. >> martha: you listen to those arguments, very valid, heartfelt, about why we need to put the safety and security of this country before anything else. your reaction? >> first, we do know who is coming in as refugees. these people provide a lot of biographical information, fingerprints, three-year background checks that refugees go through to come to the united states. it is not like what they have in europe where refugees can go there and then they get better. we know who is coming here.

we put in place, and the obama administration, pretty significant vetting to make sure we knew that. i would say that these policies aren't consequence free. we are alienating people we need to help us fight isis by doing this. we are probably creating more enemies in the process. i think that seeing republicans like my cadence because today, when he said, he is a republican who was head of the cia, pretty conservative. he said, this will create more enemies. i don't think we can discount what those republican national security leaders are saying about this. >> martha: a lot of people listen to that argument and say, the people that were worried about, they hate us already. nothing like this is going to exacerbate the hatred that they feel, people who are a jihadists who want to commit terror attacks against this country. in terms of the people that you described, they are going to get in any way under this policy. they already did. look at the people who were held back and vetted. yes, they were delayed in their travels.

i believe this point, all of them were released and put through. it just makes it more of a process, it isn't convenient. if it stops one person from getting into the country, isn't it worth it? >> i don't think it is just an inconvenience. i don't know this year and refugees will ever be let into this country under president trump. the syrian refugee ban is an indefinite and pause. actually, some of them might die because they don't have a place to go. >> martha: whenever i hear this argument, i heat think, where was that compassion for the syrian refugees when they we in their villages and their hometown, as president obama said come up that red line was crossed, we were going to do something about it. there would be consequences. it never happened. you look at john mccain and lindsey graham who have been screaming from the mountaintop that we needed to help these people and be compassionate while they were in their country. so, now that it is too late for all of that, perhaps, we are now supposed to be more compassionate than we were than about anybody in? >> i would say those are two separate things. first of all, what we did in the obama administration was get the

chemical weapons out of syria so they couldn't be used against innocent sale of civilians. >> martha: hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed under the obama administration in syria. >> nobody thinks that syria is where renee wanted it to be. i would say, no syrian refugee to the united states has ever committed an act of terrorism. they have never killed an american. we need to be honest with ourselves about what this threat is. is it these kids that are syrian refugees or is it something else? we need to be very careful when we are talking about the threat. a lot of countries weren't included in this ban. a lot of countries that have produced terrorist, have killed americans, i think we are not being very clear about what the threat actually is. >> martha: marie, thank you. good to have you here tonight. a conversation we will have for many months to come. >> for sure. >> martha: again, a big story breaking moments ago, fox news confirming that the justice department will not support president trump on this travel ban. the agency is being run

continuously by a holdover from the obama administration, tucker carlson will be here life with his reaction to that and moments. stick around for more from tucker carlson. plus, we go behind the scenes with kellyanne conway to get a take on the controversy of the first two weeks and what is to come. >> president obama spoke out today for the first time, really, since he left office and he spoke out about the travel ban. he believes that american values are at stake in this decision. what do you think about him speaking out so early on and in the way that he did? 100% of our food is 100% clean. no artificial preservatives, sweeteners, flavors, or colors. panera. food as it should be. but with my back pain i couldn't sleep or get up in time. then i found aleve pm. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. and now. i'm back! aleve pm for a better am.

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>> martha: in november, kellyanne conway made history. she became the first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign. today, she is a top advisor to the president in the white house. in an office that has quite a bit of history with regard to its former inhabitants. earlier, i got a chance to talk to her about that and much more. take a look. >> martha, welcome. >> martha: thank you. it is great to be here with you. you can tell us a little bit about the history of your office for starters. >> the white house historical association provide that all of us with a packet were removed and telling us the history of our office. i thought that was really fascinating. the recent history of this office, does it tell you my

immediate predecessors, probably the close advisor to president obama, who also served him all eight years, as she told me when i came here to have lunch with her last month, she arrived on day one and left with him on the very final day. particularly for someone at that senior level. before she had this office, it was occupied by fox news' karl rove, often referred to as president george w. bush is -- before that, this one is really fascinating, first lady hillary rodham clinton occupied this white house. first ladies have their offices in the east wing. but she, hillary clinton, as first lady, wanted to be immediately and deeply involved in policy, so, she had an office in the west wing. the good omen of all of that is that each of those people, valerie jarrett, karl rove, and hillary clinton, served a two term president. >> martha: karma. in terms of the women who aren't in leadership roles in the trump administration, you look back on the march that we saw the day

after the president was inaugurated, and very anti-trump come in the course of that protest, talk to us about what it's like to be a woman in the trump administration, and the trump white house. >> in some ways, it feels like just being one of the men as being one of the women, meaning, we are all treated the same by president trump. but there is a special responsibility. i do feel like i have a vaunted platform, if you will come a special responsibility to americans. particularly, those who write to me, email me, text me, taught me stop me on the streets, just to say, thank you so much for standing up for women and standing up to other women, other people who are trying to diminish the president of the united states. i feel like we are the ones who extend the olive branch quite a bit. then, you have democrats saying they will "block any supreme court nominee that donald trump gives up." they don't even know the person's name yet. they haven't even met him or her and they have already commended themselves to obstructing and

blocking and filibustering that person. so, donald trump has promised to be the president of all americans, he is making good on that already, even those who are protesting him will benefit from his job creation, his energy and infrastructure message. at the same time, it is good for people to get out of this business of permanent protesting and try to find a way to work together. >> martha: you bring up the supreme court domination, which we expect tomorrow evening. democrats could easily say, in fact, they have, we are taking this action because that is exactly what mitch mcconnell due to the president's nomination of merrick garland. >> that was different. that was knowing that the president only had less than a year left on his term. that was not unprecedented in terms of letting the next president, who they all thought would be hillary clinton, and fairness, the next president put his or her supreme court nominee. the fact is, when there were vacancies for president that had more time in their remaining

administrations, martha, they were not filibustered. the one do you support, if senator mcconnell wants to push forward the nuclear optione white house supports? >> we should take a look at of all of our options. i think harry reid probably now retired, but regrets the day that he went to the nuclear option. now, his party is no longer in power in the united states senate, obviously. senator mcconnell, leader mcconnell, has been very public in expressing his confidence that president trump's supreme court nominee will be confirmed. the leader mcconnell did a great job, frankly, in keeping fantasy to think end. >> martha: you see the resistance that is out there that you just spoke of. in terms of the nomination would harry reid put it through, he did it excluding the supreme court, for other things, but not for the supreme court. so, mcconnell what had to add this supreme court to that. will that what he do? >> that is up to leader mcconnell.

speak to mike i am supportive or and full process. president obama spoke out today for the first time, really, since he left office and he spoke out about the travel ban that was enacted over the course of the weekend. and the president fundamental disagrees with the notion of this grimacing against individuals based on their faith or religion and he agrees that american values are at stake in this decision. what do you think about him speaking out so early on and in the way that he did? >> he is welcome to see what he wants. it's a free country, including for ex-presidents. let's back it up a second. president trump agrees with exactly what you just said. the first part. we don't believe anybody should be discriminated according to their religion or whatever he said, in addition to what he said. that is not where this is. this is temporary. it is 90 days and it is very narrowly restricted to seven countries that none other than president obama's administration identified as high risk. >> martha: is he being

hypocritical and criticizing it? >> he is welcome to see what he wants. i think everybody she should be reminded, when you are as powerl as an ex-president, or a current sitting senator, and you say or do anything that could possibly mislead people into believing that something has an impact that it clearly does not, it is a dangerous game. >> martha: in terms of the nsc meetings, we just saw sean spicer come out earlier and clarify a few points. he said that steve bannon will not be at all of those meetings. in the directive, it said that he would be attending all of those meetings. no? >> i spoke directly with the president about this today. sean, who is doing an amazing job, said, this is very similar to 2001, 2017, 2009. when you had the three lasting presidents, if you will, george w. bush, barack obama, donald trump, basically, those outside the same thing, with respect to the nsc. someone like steve bannon, faria

cantor david axelrod for president obama, martha, he will come out and into the meetings. president trump took it and other stuff today. he restored or initiated putting his cia director, mike pompeo, into this meeting, as well. i believe when president bush was president, we did not have a dni director. that is a seminew office, former senator dan coats. he will be involved in that. we talk about the nsc, will people think of steve bannon being in those meetings, here and there, it would be like with david axelrod, his role. he was not there as a matter of course, but he was there. the joint chiefs of staff will be represented, as well. >> martha: thank you so much. >> stop by. i will have pictures on the wall. >> martha: still had tonight, tucker carlson will join us on the breaking news that the justice department is not goingp on his travel ban. plus, less than one day until the senate votes on the nomination for betsy devos for

education secretary. here is a massive 11th hour after that is underway to block the confirmation. we have a reaction from randi weingarten, president of the american federation of teachers. then, bill bennett, former education secretary under president reagan. >> she does not have any understanding of public schools and she is the could happen to our children. my fellow teachers, and the profession as a whole.

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and i finally found our big idaho potato truck. it's been touring the country telling folks about our heart healthy idaho potatoes, america's favorite potatoes, and donating to local charities along the way. but now it's finally back home where it belongs. aw man. hey, wait up. where you goin'? here we go again. >> martha: breaking tonight, we are less than 24 hours away from a senate committee that will be set to vote on the nomination for betsy devos as secretary of education. progressives from around the country are in her midst of a last ditch effort to block the confirmation. i am joined now by one of devos' outspoken critics. randy weingarten. great to have you here.

many believe that she has been an outspoken proponent of giving children a lot more options in terms of private schools, charter schools, parochial schools, however they want to spend those tax dollars that are devoted to that student, they should be able to spend it and their parents should be able to make a decision. what is wrong with that? >> what has happened in michigan as betsy devos got exactly what you just said. she has lots of different options for kids. these are the things that happened. number one, the option that was not available for kids, and places like detroit, was many times, detroit public schools, because they were defunded by these other options. number two, probably equally important, to parents all across america, is that the options, the for-profit options, did a horrible job for children. michigan's schools, before betsy devos started doing this work in michigan, before 2002, which he and her husband put a

voucher initiative on the ballot, that failed by 2-1 by michigan voters. from 2003-2017, michigan's schools in 2003 were 28 and reading scores. by 2015, they tumbled to 41. on that same trajectory, they would be 48 and five more years from now. >> martha: in the 20s, the 40s, we all know that our inner cities have failed. the public schools have failed the inner cities. is that true? >> that is not true. some schools fail, some schools -- speed when i have been involved with inner-city schools in newark and new york city. i have seen what the charter schools have done in so many of these children's, in many instances, chicks saving their lives and their futures. >> i think you are right. some charters, like the charter i run myself, a blue ribbon award. 100% graduation rate.

i also want schools like clara barton high school, that i taught at, to be a great option for kids. i want several of the other schools in the public school system? >> martha: at the grade level they need to be at, there is no reason for that schools who close. >> what i'm saying, you can't actually take the funding, which is what devos did in detroit, from the public schools, to use for other schools and then, on top of it, those other schools acted miserably. what she did was push for options that would let a for-profit operator close a school after he pocketed the money, leaving parents scrambling. in fact, in this past summer, when we fought for charter and public accountability in detroit, she fought against us. >> martha: charter schools are public schools. they are mostly funded by public dollars. >> actually not. the charter schools in michigan, 80% are for-profit. so, they may be funded by public

dollars but the charter operators get to pocket the money and 80% of those schools -- >> martha: they are not making money off of those kids. >> what i am saying, and michigan, i'd want you to just look at what happened in michigan. the superintendent, the former superintendent of schools in michigan, who is a charter supporter, said that the charter operators were pocketing the money while kids suffered. >> martha: if that is true, -- >> what i'm saying, that is her record, that is why we are against her. >> martha: randi, thank you very much. to randi weingarten joining us tonight. let's bring in our next guest, who also knows a bit about what it takes to fix the education in our country. he served as a secretary for three years under president reagan. joining me now is bill bennett, chairman of conservative leaders for education. good to hear if have you here this evening. welcome. >> thank you. >> martha: you just heard my

conversation with randi weingarten. what is your reaction? >> a couple things. there is hardly a state in the union that has more union control than the state of michigan. you want to look at the detroit public schools, who do you think is in charge of the detroit public schools? teachers unions have more than their face they are saying and how those schools are run. as is true in urban schools all over the country. by the way, if you pull people in those urban schools and centers and ask them what they think of school choice of charter schools, which are public schools, by the way, you will find out a 75% are latino citizens, 75% of black citizens want more school choice. >> martha: that despite charter schools have these long wait schools -- long wait to get into them. what about what randi just said about betsy devos and the fact that she was not interested in saving good public schools? that was her contention.

>> she has no problem with good public schools. she likes good public schools, as do i. the point is, the education of the public. we do have some public schools, which are not educating students, i remember when i was secretary of education, there was a school in baltimore, that called itself a school, not one child was reading at grade level. that is not a school, that is a warehouse. when you have that kind of performance year after year after year, you have got to let the people go. let the people be free. let parents choose the school, another school for their children. the dollars should follow the public. the child, wherever that child goes. i am offer great public schools. i visited 85 of them when i was secretary of education. i know betsy well, too. betsy devos has dedicated her life to improving the education of our children and all sorts of schools. >> martha: there is a big effort against her and randi weingarten says there is a bit been a big effort and a lot of

money spent against her. how is this going to go for her? >> i think it will go fine. republicans have the numbers. it reminds you of the power of the unions, at least traditionally, the democratic party. the democrats go to the convention, 20% of the members are members of the teachers union are married up to members of the teacher union. it is still one of the most powerful parts of the democratic unit, they may be losing out to the sierra club these days. donald trump is moving away some other unions right now. it is very powerful. they spent a ton of money and that is what you are saying going out tonight. i think betsy will make it. you change deserves to make it. >> martha: bill, thank you. great to see you. so, now that fox has confirmed that top lawyers at the doj will not defend the president's travel ban in court, will mr. trump be forced to fire those attorneys or what action will he take?

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>> martha: breaking news tonight is from the justice department, where the acting attorney general, sally yates, because we don't have sessions

in place yet, has said that she will not defend president trump's executive order banning emigrants from a handful of countries who want to provide a safe haven to terrorists. here now is tucker carlson, host of "tucker carlson tonight." it is so nice to be on the site with you. there are so many things that i want to talk to you about. what is your reaction to the story tonight? >> it is kind of a big deal. this is what happens when you have an attorney general in place. this provides every incentive, obviously, for senate democrats to keep it, and effect, to hold sessions from becoming ag. the problem is, two fold. one, sally yates is the only person at the address justice department who is the only person who can sign off on warrants who are used frequently. the second problem is, the macro problem, the executive branch basically in conflict with itself. the attorney general, acting, not supporting the president's executive orders. i don't know when the last time that happen. not in my adult lifetime for

sure. it is very weird. it is kind of hard to know where it goes. >> martha: do you think democrats will continue to drag their feet? on sessions confirmation and tried to keep her in as long as they can? >> why wouldn't they? she basically said, i am not going to enforce this because i think it is immoral. by the way, it is probably illegal. but her first line of explanation was, this violates some nonspecified moral code. really interesting thing for an acting attorney general to say. it may be right, who knows. it's a little strange. >> martha: i want to ask about this other big story that was floating around today about steve bannon being at the table for this national security council meeting. the original language made it look as if the d and i and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff would be invited when the discussion pertained to them. what he think about that? >> it is both weird and not so weird. the not so weird part is that the president would want his

closest advisor and the nsc meetings. i don't think that's weird, actually. especially, when there is evidence that the executive branch, the employees, are hostile to him and his policies. it is defend and the guy and why is he the guy? he is only work for the president since august. he doesn't have any national security experience. that is the debate as far as i'm concerned. the right person to be in that position. the idea that the guy in that position would be sitting in on those meetings and strange. >> martha: do you think there is a power play going on? do you think he wants his name ? reince priebus' name is on that list and everybody is vying for that position. >> that may be right. all white houses are rife with internal conflict. i think there is a public, you can't just invade countries without public support. politics is part of it, for sure. it's a balance.

so, i don't know. i do know that it would probably be helpful, i think, if steve bannon were to introduce himself more to the public. >> martha: that brings me to this tweet that brit hume put out today. i know you don't tweet, you may not have seen it. he basically said, there is this character in every administration, valerie jarrett, carl road -- karl rove. however, that is a label that has been put on steve bannon. >> there is no doubt that steve bannon has a clear worldview, a political perspective, very different, it is populist. i think it does form the basis of terms governing philosophy. it is good to have someone like that around. as the national security piece that has people wondering. i don't know if those concerns are legitimate or not. >> martha: tucker has got a show coming up tonight at 9:00. we won't give away anything, nothing that we just talked about will be repeated. we like surprises. good to see you. >> thank you, martha. >> martha: nice to be with

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but you'll be glad to see it here. fidelity -- where smarter investors will always be. >> martha: coming this week, we will share with you what the women of the trump white house essay about how they are treated in this administration, including sarah huckabee sanders, whom we also spoke with today. you will hear from her. they're up in plenty of women, as you have seen, who have protested the new president. what about the women who actually work with him every day? what do they have to say about president trump? we thought we would leave you with this quote for the night from valerie jarrett, who went the distance, as kellyanne conway told me today, eight full years of the obama white house, and the office where she worked today. she wants at this. "i think having a critical mass makes a difference. it is fair to say there is a lot of testosterone flowing in those early days. now, we have a little more estrogen that provides a counterbalance." that is what she said of the second obama term, which posted

a roughly 50-50 split of men and women in the west wing after being vastly outnumbered during the first four years. on that note, we thank you for being here tonight with me, everybody. martha maccallum, good night from washington, d.c., tonight. we will see you tomorrow in new york. ♪ >> bill: "the o'reilly factor" is on tonight. >> loud and clear! >> bill: massive controversy over president trump stopping some muslims from coming to the usa. but what is the real story here? "talking points" will lay it out. >> they are not properly vetted, you have extreme bedding proposal. as a result, the implementation, we have seen some problems. problems. >> bill: even some republicans are critical of mr. trump for not explaining the anti-terror problem clearly. >> bill o'reilly wants to know how you think this country is doing right now. >> also, ahead, we are in california this evening, where jesse