>> well, join us tomorrow. we'll have reaction to whoever the president picks to be his supreme court justice. >> after the show we talk about life in the ukraine. >> bill: good morning, everybody. we're only hours away from one of the most important decisions donald trump will make as president. who will he nominate to fill a nearly year old vac -- vacancy on the u.s. supreme court? i'm bill hemmer, shannon, good morning in washington >> shannon: i'm shannon bream live today from the u.s. supreme court. at 8:00 p.m. eastern president trump will announce his choice to sit on the high court after the death of justin antonin scalia. president trump is getting his chance 12 days in. we'll have more on the frontrunners in just a moment, bill. >> bill: first president trump

removing the acting attorney general only hours before a senate committee votes on jeff sessions who is president trump's choice for the job. sally yates dismissed after sending a letter ordering federal attorneys not to defend the president's executive order on immigration and travel. the vote for jeff sessions set for the bottom of the hour 30 minutes from now. as we await that, kristin fisher starts our coverage live at the white house. good morning, there. the president took to twitter already. what is he saying this morning, kristin? >> president trump is furious with democrats for what he sees as their delaying the confirmation process for his nominee for attorney general senator jeff sessions. he tweeted out when will the democrats give us our attorney general and the rest of their cabinet? they should be ashamed of themselves. no wonder d.c. doesn't work. it comes hours after the announcement that president trump fired the person that was the acting attorney general

sally yates. an obama administration appointee and yesterday she infuriated the president by publicing questioning his executive order on extreme vetting and refusing to defend it in court. the white house said yates has betrayed the department of justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the united states. this firing really serves as a warning to other administration officials that president trump is prepared to fire anyone who is not willing to carry out his orders. listen to what his press secretary sean spicer said yesterday. >> the president has a very clear vision. he has been clear on it since the campaign. he has been clear on it since taking office. he will put the safety of this country first. he is going to implement things that are in the best interest of protecting this country. and if somebody has a problem with that agenda, then they should -- then that does call into question whether or not they should continue in that

post. >> president trump is angry with democrats for continuing to protest his immigration order. it prompted another tweet this morning. nancy pelosi and fake tears chuck schumer held a rally at the steps of the supreme court and mic didn't work. a mess just like the democratic party. pelosi said the mic may not have worked but she is sure that the thin skinned president would still be able to hear the voices of the hundreds of people that turned out for that protest. bill. >> bill: we're waiting on an announcement later tonight. what are you learning kristin about how this announcement will be made? >> this is going to be a made for tv prime time spectacle in the east room of the white house. as we know, the top two contenders are believed to be neil gorsuch and thomas hardiman, two conservative judgment. there is a great deal of speculation about how they'll get their nominee, whoever it is, here to the white house

without being seen and without blowing the surprise, bill. this is shaping up to be the biggest day so far of president trump's administration. >> bill: 11 hours away. kristin fisher, thanks. go back to the u.s. supreme court. shannon is on the steps there. chilly morning. what are you hearing. who could it be, shannon? >> shannon: we've been given guidance we're down to two federal judges. we have neil gorsuch and thomas hardiman. the interesting thing is people were sure of one or the other. we have had more chatter that leads toward gorsuch. i had one voice said they've been given talking points on gorsuch. but we really don't know at this point. there is still the idea that possibly a third contender could be in the mix as well. let's talk about judge neil gorsuch practicing on the 10th circuit. he is from denver, colorado,

graduated from columbia, harvard law and a doctor from oxford. he co-founded a paper called the fed. apparently aimed at rebutting what he considered to be the dominant liberal philosophy on campus. he clerked at the supreme court for two judges. the first time if he is selected and confirmed and the clerk and a justice he clerked for would sit on the been much together. worked at the department of justice. he was confirmed, no real objection to him. he talked about originalism and you are supposed to stick to the text of the law, not anything that you think or your feelings or topics. an article back in 2005 he wrote this. american liberals have become addicted to the courtroom relying on judges and lawyers rather than elected leaders and ballot boxes. they have to make their case to the people. now he is considered a favorite

but there is also judge hardiman. he has interesting connections to trump. he sits on the third circuit with president trump's sister, judge rosemary trump barry. she has got a little bit of an influence there, i think. they have that personal connection. he has a different story. he went to notre dame. the first person in his family to graduate from college. helped pay his way through school by driving a taxi. he has a different -- little more of a blue collar touch to his story. and then pryor. he would have a much tougher time getting confirmed. >> bill: there could always be a surprise. >> shannon: always with this president, sure. >> bill: thank you, shannon. this expected to lead to a major showdown on the hill. the headline. progressives ready all-out assault an trump's supreme court pick. this will be a fight.

senator rand paul out of kentucky my guest. good morning to you. can democrats stop this nominee whoever it is? >> you're right. it will be one heck of a fight. in the end, no. i think this nominee will win, whoever the nominee is. one of the amazing things is how qualified all the ones that have been put forward are and also what many conservatives like, they believe in what the founding fathers believed in. the constitution limited significantly the power of the federal government and that's what we've needed on the court for a long time. >> bill: topic number two. did you have a problem with president trump firing sally yates? >> i think she doesn't understand the constitution or her role in the administration. and so no, i think it was the right thing to do. the constitution doesn't apply to people who live in other countries. it frankly has no application to them. the immigration laws can be modified in our national interest and the president's clearly given this authority under all the statutes

concerning immigration. people when they say not letting people in from a certain country is unconstitutional they may not like it, it may offend their sensibilities, but it is not related to the constitution or prohibited by the constitution. >> bill: did they roll this out properly do you think? >> i think the biggest snafu was the idea that some were interpreting it to be if you're permanently here with a green card that you're affected. they quickly made sure that people understood it wasn't meant to be those permanently here. many people -- i know people, i have friends and family members who know people who have been her permanently for years and years. it wasn't meant to disrupt them or their travel and so -- i think we have to understand there is a problem. the problem is that 40% of those who do visit our country on a visa overstay them. 9/11 two of the hijackers were overstaying their visa and traveling back and forth on a visa and no one is paying

attention. in bowling green two iraqi refugees came, one's finishing -- fingerprints. he wanted to buy stinger missiles to attack us while living in my hometown. we aren't doing enough to understand who is coming and whether they're obeying our immigration laws and going back home when their visa expires. >> bill: republicans in congress, there was a tweet yesterday. republicans kept repealing obamacare while o was in offense knowing it would go nowhere, nothing. congress hanging the donald out to dry. despicable, no tax cuts or obamacare repeal, nothing. you have put forward a replacement idea. when will this move forward, senator? >> i'm absolutely for both. for repeal as a physician i think obamacare is a terrible system and it really has caused insurance rates to go up and many people are still struggling to get healthcare. i would get rid of obamacare,

repeal the whole thing and replace it with market reforms. more freedom to buy any insurance you want including inexpensive insurance. i would expand health savings account. save tax-free to buy your insurance, pay your premiums and detectible and let individuals join together in associations across state lines to try to get into a big enough group that you lower your price and also protect yourself against the insurance company dropping you or raising your rates if you get sick. >> bill: are the republicans who voted for a rerepublican congress going to be satisfied in the end or not? yes or no? >> i think my replacement is a consensus bill and all republicans can vote for my bill. some of the other things will divide us. i think my bill unites us. on repeal we'll be united. it is a complicated bill that took three years to roll out and take us a month to get our head around all the details and get it done. we are going to repeal and replace same day. >> bill: rand paul, thank you.

we're waiting for more on that. the republican from kentucky. want to get back to the supreme court and shannon where there was some action last night. i imagine you probably see some action there throughout the day today, shannon. >> shannon: you know what? while we're waiting for the pick that will sit at the supreme court behind me, across the street is the capitol. there are a number of important committee votes on a lot of cabinet nominees. a very busy day across the board, bill. we have a lot more to talk about live from the supreme court. what are the big decisions? the issues up for debate? the there is a term going on. more on president trump's controversial immigration order. it restricts travel to the u.s. for people from seven specific countries. coming up we'll talk with a man who acted as ambassador to many of those countries. former ambassador ryan crocker why he says this decision has left him speechless. also president obama breaking his silence just days after leaving the white house. president george w. bush was

very careful not to criticize president obama back in 2009. will president trump get the same treatment? president bush's former press secretary, ari fleischer joins us live now. >> they're terrified and under siege and don't know what to do. they were so sure they were going to win that they are just totally disoriented and he street part of that general movement. the truth is that president obama is part of the left. ♪

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>> bill: we're two weeks into his presidency. donald trump waiting for his cabinet to be confirm. senate judiciary commity set to vote on jeff sessions. barack obama takes aim at president trump's immigration order saying he is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities across the country. citizens exercising their constitutional right to assembly, organize and have voices heard by officials is what we expect to see what american values are at stake. ari fleischer my guest here. hello to you. "wall street journal." 11 days are over, laos t. mr. obama couldn't wait until he finished his post inaugural vacation. he is in the caribbean.

you represented a guy who kept his mouth shut for years. >> president bush's point of view. not to have one president criticize the successor president's job, don't weigh in. what you have to ask here when president obama was at the peak of his power, an election on the line. hillary clinton running to succeed him he did everything he could and spoke on behalf of hillary and it didn't do enough good. why does he think now when his star is fading when he is out of office and doesn't have power it will do any good now? >> bill: that's the equation involved in this. when you are an ex-president you can order, you can conclude that you are relevant or you can conclude that you are irrelevant and figuring out where that line is, a very difficult thing, i believe. >> you get the sense barack obama is looking at donald trump saying be careful now, i might weigh in.

i think it's perfectly clear to say so what? you tried it before, it didn't work. it will work less now. the risk for president obama is the more he weighs in and it doesn't make a difference and donald trump gets what he wants, president obama will actually become one of many pieces of noise in the environment, just another tweet or cable talking head. that's not good for a former president. >> bill: you are saying to what effect does your voice influence? >> that's correct. >> bill: or change. >> president obama speaks as if i'm holding myself back. if you go too far, pity on you because i'll make the difference in the world. well, he didn't make the difference when it mattered when the american people elected donald trump. >> bill: the leader of the democrat party still until another person steps up is barack obama. would you disagree with that? >> he won't be seen as the former president of the united states but the current leader of the democratic party. is that the position a former president wants to be?

>> bill: trump versus obama in washington, d.c.? do you disagree with that? >> not yet. it is trump making his way in washington, d.c. with a lot of voices who are trying to be heard in this debate. potentially including barack obama. >> bill: why do you think your boss said i'm just going to cheer loud and you run the country, you were elected, we will pursue the policies that you choose and i'll be quiet here in texas? >> simple, respect for the office of the presidency. he will treat donald trump the same way he treated barack obama, respect for the office. >> bill: does it suggest that president obama has less respect? >> i wouldn't put it that way. bush defines it his way and obama will define it in a more political way. >> bill: you said the press keeps missing what donald trump is about. >> there was a forum with a group of reporters talking about how trump and the press get along.

i was making the point if you keep comparing him to the traditions of washington all the things his predecessors did you're missing the change he is trying to bring to washington judge him on the basis of a country where 75% of the american people wanted things to be different in washington don't compare him to traditional way. you're missing story of donald trump if you do that. >> bill: you were in the west wing for quite some time. you have 12 days now to think about how they're doing and figuring things out as they go. what do you think from afar? >> on balance its the plus. he has gone there to change things. i don't mind it. i wish on some issues, particularly the refugee issue which i disagree with him on, i wish they would have slowed down and had a more inclusive process that included the secretary of homeland security and other agencies to weigh in and make it better. this could have been a big win for american security and the president politically. i think they went too fast and

did it too internally. >> bill: what makes sense as to why they went the route they did. >> the impatience of the president. he wants to get things done. the ceo mentality. sometimes that helps, but other times you need to enact interagency review. >> bill: great to see you again. ari fleischer with us here in new york. thanks. back to washington and shannon. >> shannon: bill, president trump already on the job more than a week but three of his key nominees have still yet to be confirmed. this morning some senate committees are preparing to vote. more on that. we'll keep you updated. president trump has to fire his acting attorney general. we'll talk to a former justice department official about the role of the attorney general and what comes next. that as the president prepares to reveal his supreme court pick just hours from now. your insurance company

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>> shannon: right now we're waiting a key vote on capitol hill. the senate judiciary committee is set to vote on attorney general nominee, jeff sessions, minutes from now and we're awaiting big news from president trump, who he will choose to fill a year-old vacancy on the supreme court. right now it appears his list is narrowed to two people. gorsuch and hardiman. good to have you with us. let's talk about these two judges. i talked a lot about judge gorsuch who you know personally. he has a stellar resume by any standard, the left or right would have to admit that.

great educational background and reliably conservative. >> he would be a home run. he is super smart, committed conservative. he has fidelity to the rule of law and to our constitution and he is a nice guy to boot. if trump goes to judge gorsuch it's fantastic. >> shannon: looking back over his -- he is nearly a perfect lineup with justice scalia on big issues and the right one to step into the seat. >> he would be. he would faithfully discharge the scalia legacy. there are all these studies that try to match up potential candidates. everyone who looks at this can't go wrong with gorsuch. he is pretty good. >> shannon: the other finalist we believe is judge hardiman, a federal appellant judge in pittsburgh and a great personal story, the first person in his family to go to college in notre dame. drove a taxi to help pay for

school. he has an interesting story that will connect with the president and he may think it's something fresh for the court, a non-ivy leaguer on the bench. >> he would add diversity. you look on the folks of the court they're harvard, yale. he is a fantastic judge. i'm a big fan of judge hardiman, too. he is a committed conservative and abide by the rule of law. frankly, if the president choose en one of those two he can't go wrong. >> shannon: both have gotten easily through the senate. senators will say it's different. for the current post there was no opposition and a lot of democratic senators who voted for them then are sitting in the senate and have to vote on them again. >> there will be a hard core that will oppose any nominee from this president. i'm optimistic if we see hardiman or gorsuch nominated there will be democrats who recognize the brilliance of these judges, qualifications and vote to confirm at the end of the day. >> shannon: a former doj official and what went down

last night. the acting attorney general is out. the nominated attorney general is winding his way through capitol hill. we have someone who has stepped in now and been appointed to serve that role temporarily but there has been a lot of debate about whether it was a saturday night massacre where there was a firing here. and it is interesting because these people are political appointees. you understand how that works having been inside the department. >> look. we live in exciting times. what i would say is that the attorney general has to uphold the rule of law. last night she felt she couldn't do that faithfully and communicated that to the president and he was fully within his rights to fire her. i've heard a lot of comparisons to the saturday night massacre under richard nixon. that's different. the acting attorney general last night was an obama holdover. this wasn't someone president trump put in himself. i think those comparisons may not quite be on point a little bit of apples to oranges but at the end of the day the president is entitled to have people he wants in office to

execute his policies. >> shannon: we have a little bit of senator sessions questioning her when she was then in the confirmation process. we'll play a little bit of that. >> do you think the attorney general has the responsibility to say no to the president if he asks for something that's improper? >> i believe that the attorney general or deputy attorney general has an obligation to follow the law and the constitution and to give their independent legal advice to the president. >> shannon: the man who was hoping to now be the attorney general saying it's important you have the independence to say nowhere you think something is wrong. >> you have to stand up to the president if you think he is doing something wrong and it underscores the need for the president to get his nominees through and confirmed so everybody is on the same page. >> shannon: always good to see you. bill, back to you in new york. >> bill: thank you, shannon. president trump blasting lawmakers over the delay in confirming his cabinet picks. some senate committees are getting ready to vote on three cabinet nominees. we're watching all of that at this hour plus new reaction on

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>> bill: there are some big moves on the hill. we expect on capitol hill now. the senate judiciary committee to vote on jeff session's bid to become attorney general.stri the past 12 hours. sally yates was fired by president trump when she said she would not order the department of justice to enforce the immigration order that was given out over the weekend. in return, as she went out of office dana boente, age 62, u.s. attorney eastern district

of virginia was sworn in on monday night as the acting attorney general. all that is happening as senator chuck grassley the republican of iowa the chairman of the committee starts to begin this hearing. when there is a vote we'll bring that to you. so jeff sessions on deck next ag. we'll wait for headlines and developments from that next in a moment here. >> this has been blown way out of proportion and exaggerated. you talk about in a 24-hour period 325,000 people from other countries flew in through our airports and we're talking 109 people. the president would rather not place a call to someone who was killed who was let into the country -- coming to america is a privilege, not a right. it is our duty and the president's goal to make sure that everybody who comes into this country to the best of our ability is here because they want to enjoy this country and come in peacefully.

>> shannon: the white house is defending its ban on travel and immigration from seven muslim majority countries but now the man who has served as ambassador to several nations on that list is raising his concerns that it could unsettle our allies and embolden our enemies. ryan crocker is a former u.s. ambassador to six nations including iraq, afghanistan and syria. welcome. i know you have great concerns that we have u.s. and iraqi forces working together a number of organizations working to save lives in that country and move forward you. you worry about the message this sends to some of those countries and the complication it could be for those relationships as well. >> absolutely. these are seven very different countries. iraq in particular stands out. this is not an adversary government. this is a government we are alied with and are fighting with now to expel islamic state from the city of mosul.

so i just don't think it is a good step to cast into doubt that strategic relationship. they have a double whammy against them. the president a few days ago spoke about his regret we hadn't taken iraq's oil back in 2003 and said that maybe there will be another chance. and then, of course, we ban all travel by iraqis into the u.s. so they are asking themselves in iraq, are we an ally or are we not? that's not where you want to be on the eve of a major push into western mosul. >> shannon: let's talk about the fact these seven countries outlined in the executive order are ones that weren't of the choosing of the trump administration. they were initially set aside by the dhs under the obama administration. does that soften this at all? was the obama administration

wrong to single out these specific seven countries? >> shannon, i honestly don't know where the obama administration stood on all that. but it is today. it is no longer the obama administration, it's the trump administration, and i think we need to get this right. >> shannon: can you speak to the fact that president obama back in 2011 put a six-month hold on iraqi refugees coming into the u.s. any lingering impacts from that and how that was received in that region when it happened five or six years ago? >> as i recall, i think i was in afghanistan at the time, focused on other issues, there was not a great deal of commotion over that and, of course, i've seen the conflicting statements as to what exactly happened at that time. you know, i can't sort it out and i'm not sure it is particularly important to have it sorted out. again, we are where we are today.

it's the steps we take today in going forward that count. if i could, there is one special sub group in all of this. those are the iraqis and afghans who served us, who were our interpreters, who were our support network as we went into combat. these guys went into combat with us. iraqis are now who performed that interpreter role are now blocked. the pentagon is making a huge effort to identify all of them and then present that to the president and request an exemption. but we've got an obligation to these people. they risked their lives for us and i would like to see us meet that obligation sooner than later. >> shannon: yes, i know that folks across the street from here on capitol hill are working to help that group as well and make sure they get singled out for the extra help and protection. thank you so much for your time, sir. >> thank you, shannon.

>> shannon: bill. >> bill: shannon, while you were talking just a couple hundred yards from your location the supreme court we're listening in on this hearing. so chuck grassley has begun the hearing and we expect a vote to get underway at any moment. let's go ahead and drop in and see where we are in the status of jeff sessions at 9:39 in washington, d.c. >> is not a normal political office and anyone who holds this must have total fidelity to the laws and the constitution of the united states, end of quote. and everyone on this committee, be they republican or democrat, knows senator sessions to be a man of integrity and a man of his word. because we know him to be a man of his word, we know that he will uphold and enforce all

laws equally without regard to person, just as he pledged. i'll take a second and address a few questions concerning executive orders issued by the president. some on the other side have raised concerns about senator session, whether he was involved in drafting or reviewing the executive orders. it's not clear to me why it would be a problem even if he had been involved. but the fact of the matter is, he was not involved. in his written responses to senator leahy, he stated for the record quote, neither i nor any of my current staff end of quote, had a role in formulating or drafting the executive orders. ranking member feinstein also asked about the department's

role more specifically, the office of legal counsel. of course, as we all know, senator sessions is not yet attorney general. he isn't yet running the department because now roughly three weeks and over 700 written questions after his hearing this committee is still debating his nomination. to me this underscores that we shouldn't needlessly delay this vote any further. the department needs strong leadership and needs it in place as soon as possible. i would also like to take a moment to address a criticism i've heard lodged against senator session that i believe is particularly unfair. as i've said, it's fine to ask senator sessions questions on legislation but to imply that because he had a principled objection to a provision in a

particular bill that he therefore didn't support the underlying purpose of that legislation, and that sort of an approach is unfair. >> bill: we're 12 days into the trump administration and this is something that president trump wants to get done and that is make jeff sessions the next attorney general. so as we await on that, though, we want to take you now to what's called a tape play-out from the white house. it has been this way for just about every day this week and the president meeting with pharmaceutical drug company executives there. let's go ahead and drop in and see what he is saying just a few moments ago at the white house. >> i think you know most of my team and you folks have done a terrific job over the years, but we have to get prices down for a lot of reasons. we have no choice. medicare, medicaid we have to

get the prices down and we need to streamline a process. get a drug approved instead of waiting for many, many years. the u.s. drug companies have produced extraordinary results for our country but the pricing has been astronomical for our country. we need to do better. new drugs have led to longer, healthier lives, we all know that but we have to do better accelerating cures, we've been focused on accelerating fda approvals. we'll get the approval process much faster. one thing that disturbed me they come up with a new drug for a patient who is terminal and the fda says we can't have this drug used on the patient. but they say but the patient within four weeks will be dead. they say well, we still can't approve the drug. we don't know if the drug works or if it doesn't work but we can't approve the drug because

we don't want to hurt the patient. but the patient is not going to live more than four weeks. so we'll be changing a lot of the rules. we're going to be ending global free loading. reduce the resources of american drug companies to finance drug and r & d innovation. i think you know that very well. our trade policy with prioritize that foreign countries pay their fair share for u.s.-manufactured drugs so our drug companies have greater financial resources to accelerate the development of new cures. and i think it's so important. but right now it's very unfair what other countries are doing to us. one thing i really want you to do, i have seen this over the years, a lot of the companies have moved out and don't make the drugs in our country anymore. a lot of that has to do with regulation and the fact that other countries take advantage of us with their money and

their money supply and de-valuation. we know nothing about de-valuation. you look at what china is doing, you look at what japan has done over the years, they play the money market and the de-valuation market and we sit there like a bunch of dummies. so you have to get your companies back here. you have to make products back. we'll get rid of a tremendous number of regulations. you have some problems where you can't even think about opening up new plants. you can't get approval for the plant and then you can't get approval to make the drug. other than that you are doing fantastic. [laughter] so we'll get that taken care of and we'll be cutting regulations at a level that nobody has ever seen before. we're going to have tremendous protection for the people, maybe more protection for the people. instead of being 9,000 pages it can be 100 pages.

and you don't have to double-up and hire -- we have companies where they have more people working on regulations than they have working in the company. so it's very unfair. we have to lower the drug prices. competition, the key to lower drug prices. we have competition but a lot of time the competition dissipates. i'll oppose anything that makes it harder for smaller, younger companies to take the risk of bringing their product to a vibrantly competitive market. that includes price fixing by the biggest dog in the market. medicare. that's what's happening. we can increase competition and bidding wars, big-time we have to get into that program. the numbers we pay -- we have cases where if i go to a drugstore and buy aspirin the aspirin costs me less than what the united states pay for it. the united states is the biggest purchaser of drugs anywhere in the world by far. so i can buy it at a drugstore

the aspirin for less money, right? and so we'll talk about that after these wonderful people that i like so much but we have to do something about that. we will have national security priorities, very important. and we are going to basically work on innovation. we are going to work on price. we can save tens of millions of dollars. and you people will do great. what i want we have to get lower prices, we have to get even better innovation, and i want you to move your companies back to the united states. and i want you to manufacture in the united states. you will be lowering taxes big league. we'll get rid of regulations that are unnecessary big league. somebody said the other day what's the percentage of regulation? i said maybe 75%. it could be up to 80% which is what you need. you can't even function. other countries have no regulation. and you go there for that

reason. you produce good product. you want to proper good product also. we'll produce great product. streamline the fda. we have a fantastic person that i think i will be naming very soon who is going to streamline the fda and you'll get your products either approved or not approved but it will be a quick process and not take 15 years. and we are going to do -- i think we'll make a tremendous difference to you. i read where it costs $2 1/2 billion on average actually to come up with a new product. is that a correct statement? 15 years, 2 1/2 billion to come up with a product where there isn't even a safety problem. so it's crazy. we need to get them to move faster. that's why we're here today, right? that's why we're here today. with that, i would love to go around the table and introduce

ourselves and let's see and then we'll start a little meeting and we'll ask the press to leave. so just two seconds you can stay for a couple minutes longer. >> former chair of pharma. we operate all across the country and 60 countries around the world. when i joined the company two years ago we were ranked one of the top ten companies in the country to go bankrupt but today we've provided a lot of cancer treatments for patients so we're great to be here and engaged in discussion. thank you very much. >> i'm glad to be here. share with you a desire to advance innovation that can help to alleviate or eradicate some of the serious diseases you talked about. we're confident about the outlook for innovation in this country and proud to say we'll add 1600 jobs this year. competence in the outlook of

innovation as a company and for the industry. and we look forward to continuing to advance medicines for those who are seriously ill. >> i heard you'll add a substantial number of jobs, thank you very much. that's really good. >> i chair the energy and commerce committee and look forward to working with the administration on these initiatives. we need to work to get better. >> you've worked on it long and hard and now we'll get your labors, they will have paid off, okay? thank you very much. >> i'm the ceo of eli lilly. we've been in indianapolis for 45 years. that's where we make a lot of our products. we're hiring manufacturing jobs as i speak, good news for people in indiana but also some of the policies you've come out and suggested i think have helped us do more. i'm looking forward to the meeting ahead and tax, deregulation, those are things that could really help us expand operations. >> thank you.

>> our vice president. >> i'm the current chair of an association representing a company that employs 50,000 people in the u.s. and one of the largest investments. >> johnson and johnson, good company. >> we have about $3 billion in research and development. our global headquarters is near boston. we have 13 manufacturing sites in the u.s. and employ 20,000. we are looking at -- >> expanding in the united states? the rest i'm not interested in. >> one of the things that can help us is a lower tax rate. that would be a massive help. >> we'll get it. >> mr. president. ceo of pharma. on of the whole industry we employ 4 1/2 million americans directly and indirectly. the industries invests $70 billion in r & d in the united

states. more than any other industry and we're delighted to be here this morning to talk about reducing regulation, lowering taxes. we think stronger trade deals, those things will lead to lower cost for american patients and for the taxpayer. >> thank you, steven. >> i'm kent frazier, ceo of merck. we've been in this country 125 years. we employ 23,000 american employees, we invest 7 1/2 billion dollars a year in r & d, almost all in the united states of america and we have tremendous numbers of high-paying, high-skilled jobs including manufacturing jobs in the united states and we're bringing manufacturing back for our cancer drug, you may have heard we have an immunooncology drug to kill different cancels and bringing those jobs here, mr. president. >> very good. thank you very much, fellows.

>> bill: two major headlines. boost u.s. production is the message from president trump to the leaders of the pharmaceutical industry and lower the prices. big ceos in this meeting. while that is happening, on capitol hill we now have senate committee approval. now committee approval now a montana -- to serve as interior secretary and senate approval in committee of texas governor rick perry to serve as energy secretary in the trump administration. while that's happening we're getting word that secretary kelly will hold a 12 noon eastern time press conference to flush out more details on the immigration order from over the weekend and also at this time jeff sessions, that committee continues. chuck grassley and dianne feinstein speaking, the democratic senator from california. we would expect to get a vote on jeff sessions in a moment here. waiting in the wings robert wolf former economic advisor to

president obama is in studio and rich lowry. it is truncated. you came in to talk about the immigration order today. rich, what should secretary kelly say at 12 noon to either put this behind or clear it up even further? >> it should be part of the process of putting this policy on a more stable footing. there is a rocky roll-out over the weekend and a lot of people weren't fully read in including secretary kelly himself. i think he needs to give people a sense that all the important questions like whether it applies to green card holders, what will happen with iraqi translators, all those are answered and the administration is on the same page and all that. there will be awkward questions about what he knew and when he knew it about this policy. >> bill: will anything satisfy you? >> once again rich and i agree this time. listen, senator portman said the right thing.

the vetting wasn't really vetted. secretary kelly and secretary mattis should have been involved from friday. good he is having a press conference today. i'm surprised like senator corker wasn't aware of it at all. so this is nothing to do with democrat or republican. i'm listening to paul wry ko*f of the iraq and afghanistan veterans for america said who is the military is not supportive of this of all the people he is talking to. i think when you hear senator mccain and senator graham and flake and all these republicans not supportive of it, i think it is time to make sure we get both defense and homeland security engaged and coordinated. >> bill: quick turn to tonight in prime time. rich, who will be the nominee for the u.s. supreme court? >> my bet is gorsuch. this is an enormous event which will eclipse in importance

everything that has happened to this point. it feels like huge things are happening every single day but this will be the big thermonuclear fight and may change the nature of the senate going forward because i think it's very likely to result in republicans invoking the nuclear option and eliminating the filibuster for these sort of nominations and this is the reason that the base of the republican party supported donald trump even those republicans who had doubts about him is exactly this. the court is so important. they wanted a conservative nominee and it looks like they'll get one from donald trump. >> bill: do you think that democrats can stop this, robert? >> i think that without the nuclear option it would be stopped and certainly they feel that garland should have been the supreme court nominee and been passed. it has been a one-year battle. my feeling, like rich said, this battle will continue. this will be the fight of all fights. i actually think the president will get almost all, if not all of his cabinet members through and i think this is where the

rubber is going to meet the road. it will highly likely be the nuclear option. >> bill: you do. rich, in a word, can democrats stop it? >> no. they'll do everything they can. they'll filibuster but it will end. mitch mcconnell is reluctant to do that. a lot of republicans in the senate are. the pressure will be unstoppable and have to do it. >> bill: you made a great point. you think about the flurry of activity that we have watched over the past four or five days alone. you know, a visit by the prime minister from england would have been enough for a couple of days. a phone call with vladimir putin on saturday would have been enough for a few days. but all of that has now been washed out by a tsunami of news that continues to flow from the commander-in-chief. >> do you remember russian interference in the election? that has been blown away by

everything that has happened since trump has taken office. i think the pace will continue and it will begin to include congress where really important things happy. most executive orders are symbolic. major things will happen legislatively. >> bill: my feeling to both of you and i need a quick answer. the faster you move, the more difficult you make it for the other side to react, right? it's tough for democrats. >> he is acting like a ceo. he has a good people around him and he should use them. >> bill: robert, thank you. rich, thanks to you as well. gentlemen, thanks for hanging out with us. we're watching dianne feinstein continue. we should get a vote out of jeff sessions in the committee and we mentioned rick perry and ryan zinke. there is a big deal doing on the supreme court. we go back to shannon bream on the steps of the supreme court

in washington good morning again. >> shannon: good morning. we want to bring in sarah isgur flores. sarah, as you watch and wait and you listen, what do you make of this situation now where we've had the acting attorney general dismissed last night and we wait to see if the senate will move forward on senator sessions. >> i hope democrats see the problem in what they've been doing. if you obstruct these cabinet members, go back to 2009 when obama would have had over a dozen cabinet members confirmed by this point and it becomes important. you have obama holdover members of his administration who are then causing problems within the administration. not respecting the will of voters and the outcome of the election. 2018 democrats up for reelection have a huge problem as well by obstructing jeff sessions and we'll see what w the supreme court nominee. they'll have a problem at home

with voters saying i voted for donald trump. i wanted change. i wanted him in the white house and make the supreme court picks and pick his attorney general, respect my vote. >> shannon: on this dismissal last night of the acting attorney general democrats have rallied, have said that basically they are calling her a hero. here is a little bit of what chuck schumer had to say as this all went down last night. >> sally yates was a profile in courage. profile in courage. maybe some of her courage, her insight, her wisdom would rub off on the people in the white house. >> shannon: this is a bit of what the white house had to say about that dismissal last night saying the acting attorney general sally yates has betrayed the department of justice by refusing to carry out an order of the. it was approved by the department of justice office of

legal counsel. she is weak on borders and immigration. there was no expectation she would continue in the role but it gives the democrats another reason to beat up on this administration. >> well, i think it actually hurts the democrats pretty badly. there has been not one argument i've seen that says this order was unlawful. on the other hand sally yates was at the department of justice when barack obama had his unlawful recess appointments that the supreme court rejected unanimously and she had nothing to say then. she certainly didn't hold a press conference about it saying that she wouldn't enforce the president's appointments. so it just proves how political it has become. the democrats will do everything to delegitimize this presidency and it won't happen. they'll have to confirm his attorney general and confirm his supreme court appointments. >> shannon: as we await that vote on senator sessions to make it through, we believe he

will, the senate jude -- judiciary committee. beating up people. do you worry they'll limp into cabinet positions having been tarred and feathered in battles getting to the nomination when the democrats know they don't have the numbers ultimately to stop these people from proceeding. >> no. i think we've seen the american people reject that. democrats tried name calling and fear mongering this election and they elected donald trump. when you look at the supreme court nominees, the choices left at this point you have two incredibly well-qualified people who passed without opposition when they were put up for circuit court nomination. it will be hard for democrats to say they're unqualified or that they somehow are not mainstream candidates at this point. instead they'll have to do the same name calling and fear mongering we've seen before that hasn't worked. >> shannon: do you think these nominees. you know senator sessions well. he is very tough but any of

these nominees who are now thrust into the national spotlight, judges gorsuch and hardiman, we believe. they and their families get dragged through a nasty situation once these confirmation battles start. do you think it's part of the consideration that some of these nominees wish they had made or some did make and not allowing their names to be put forward for these positions? >> of course. at this point our politics have become so broken and vicious after this election, again, i think in part because democrats refuse to accept the legitimacy of donald trump as our president. you look at gorsuch and hardiman. they are wonderful people with wonderful families and their families will support them through this and it will be tough but with their records the aba has said they're well qualified. i think democrats will have a tough time and will look particularly vicious and unfair if they attack these two men. >> shannon: now we'll await to see whether the republicans are

forced to go the nuclear option route taking the voting threshold from 60 to require them to get democrats on board down to 51. great to see you as we await this important vote. thank you for your time. >> bill: i don't know what else is going on. here we go. are you ready? coming at you like a big old hose in the garden. dianne feinstein. we await the vote on jeff sessions in committee. at the same time we're waiting on how republican leadership. should see paul ryan in a matter of moments. when that happens we'll take you there live. also happening now tom price, steve mnuchin in the senate finance committee. they should get a vote possibly this morning to be the next health and human services secretary and secretary of the treasury respectively. also john kelly, the new department of homeland security, the general will hold a briefing at noon eastern time and we'll cover that live for you as well. we expect more fallout in explanation for the immigration

order that was passed last friday evening. so while we await activity developments and highlights and all that we're getting word that president trump has always signed an executive order when it comes to cybersecurity. when we get more details on that apparently it's a reference back to the obama administration had been pushing. an effort to modernize a lot of equipment in agencies in washington, d.c. and protect in this age of technology. peter doocy stands by live now on capitol hill watching all these hearings and give us a sense of the resistance, peter. maybe we start there. do you think there will be a vote any moment now on jeff sessions to move out of committee? >> there should be a vote to move him out of committee any minute now, bill. you talk about the resistance. this morning democrats are trying to make the case that senator jeff sessions is the polar opposite of the acting attorney general who was fired for not enforcing president trump's executive order against

refugees, sally yates. if he is the exact opposite of yates republicans would say it's a good thing. democrats don't think so. the minority leader chuck schumer says this, the firing of sally yates underscores how important it is to have an attorney general who will stand up to the white house when they are violating the law. many people have doubts about whether jeff sessions can be that person. president trump, though, whose cabinet room down the street remains mostly empty, is saying enough is enough. he tweeted this this morning. when will the democrats give us our attorney general and rest of cabinet? they should be ashamed of themselves. no wonder d.c. doesn't work. and the reason that today's committee votes are so important is because they could advance some of the critical officials that president trump needs to make some of his biggest campaign promises come true. he needs to have an hhs secretary if he wants to repeal obamacare. he needs the treasury secretary to back him up if they do tax reform and he needs an attorney

general to back him up and enforce new laws of the land. something that became a problem for him last night with part of the old guard. >> bill: don't mean to put you on the spot. 12 days in, is this normal or is it slow? >> we were talking about morning about how it seems like more stuff has happened here, bill, in the last 12 days than has happened in the last couple of years in washington so if you want to talk about the pace of news and how hard it can be to keep up if you just put your phone down for 20 minutes to go to the gym and then you look at it, it certainly seems like things are moving a lot faster. >> bill: i agree. what about the confirmation process, though, on these individuals? how does it stack up to eight years ago? >> well, at this point eight years ago they had double digits of obama officials confirmed. there were 12 by this date 12 days in confirmed whereas right

now there are only three cabinet secretaries for cabinet level positions that have been confirmed for president trump. things have been going slower. the democrats are drawing it up that way. president trump is protesting saying he needs some help down there down the street. he wants his cabinet. that's what he is saying this morning. he needs these people to come help him. it is a symptom of d.c. not working. the thing that he got elected on to come in and clean things up and fix it. he is having a hard time doing that if the democrats, who do not control any part of the government, it's the one thing they can do is slow president trump down, they'll do that. we're seeing that and it is taking a really long time to get his nominees through. that is not normal in terms of the way a lot of these confirmation hearings go. >> bill: wait until you get to the gym today. peter, thank you, live from the hill. want to drop in here. this is senator orrin hatch. the republican from utah now. the committee that is set to

vote on jeff sessions, attorney general. >> he writes, quote, i have served an interacted with senator sessions for over 25 years and have always been greatly impressed with his commitment to the rule of law, his fair and balanced prosecutorial judgment and personal dedication to protecting civil rights. i believe that jeff will be an outstanding attorney general for the nation, unquote. another example comes from our former colleague the late senator ar lan specter. he served for many years on this committee including as chairman. he was one of my friends. more than 20 years after he voted against jeff's 1986 nomination to the u.s. district court, senator specter said this was the one vote out of more than 10,000 that he regretted. what changed his mind? it's simple. he served with jeff sessions,

he got to know him, and he saw action. the confirmation process for this nomination has been very revealing. senator sessions critics appear to believe that an attorney general at least a republican attorney general cannot fairly enforce the law that he personally opposes or may have voted against. i reject that notion and am confident they would think differently if a senator from their side of the aisle were one day nominated to this position. >> bill: we still expect a vote today. don't mean to pull away and pop around but there is a lot moving now. we're trying to keep our viewers up to speed and up to date as quickly and efficiently as we can. rick perry has been confirmed out of committee for energy secretary and ryan zinke, the republican from montana, has been approved for interior secretary. things are moving now and things are moving for you also at the supreme court. it will be a very interesting

evening. prime time 8:00 at the white house, shannon. >> shannon: it has that feel of a big production. we'll wait to see how it is rolled out tonight. we continue to watch for committee votes on the education nomination and hhs. a deadly attack in the red sea. rebels cheering the explosion. [shouting] >> shannon: details about the military patrol ship and its fate. that's next. also former president obama putting in his two cents on the immigration order. what he is saying. and what he is encouraging people to do about it. and one state wasting zero time challenging the ban saying it's illegal. we'll ask someone who helped to write the order about that. the governor of the state at the center of all of this. >> its intent is to open the

gates to christian refugees and to slam the gates closed on those who follow the religion of islam. this is unamerican. it is wrong.

>> this regulatory budget is something we actually proposed in our agenda we ran on last year and we're very excited to see it off and running. this is about smart regulations, jobs, entrepreneur, and small businesses and manufacturers. we want to wave the way for real growth, higher wages and success for workers in small businesses at the heart of our economy. >> bill: regulatory reform has been a primary focus of this house since week one. we've been engaged in a

two-step process. the first step was changing the structure of washington, putting the power back to the people, that's where you saw the passage of the raines act and regulatory accountability act. now we're starting on part two, the congressional review act. i won't go through the full list but i will highlight two. the stream buffer rule could affect more than 64% of the county's coal reserve. we're talking roughly somewhere between 40 to 78,000 jobs are threatened. talk about bringing america's energy back, all the above jobs and a whole part of america that has lost work this regulatory reform bill will see a fundamental change. secondly we are going to bring up on friday bureau of land

management methane rule. i'll have mr. tipton talk more about that. what you're finding with the congressional review act, you will see for the next two weeks looking at those rules finding common sense ways that we can keep the environment safe and still bring jobs back to america. that's the focus of this house, the focus of this congress and we'll get the work done. >> the house will bring jobs back to america by rolling back some of the radical regulations put in place by unelected bureau congratulations in washington it is exciting to see we're continuing to focus on creating jobs and getting our economy moving again and rebuilding the middle class that a lot of barack obama's policy helped erode. in the last week it has been significant for those of us who stand up in defense of innocent life. last week before we left for

philadelphia, we passed historic legislation making permanent the hyde amendment, a bill that was very bipartisan, a bill that most americans support the idea that taxpayer money should not go towards financing and funding abortion. then we saw hundreds of thousands of people come to washington for the march for life and i applaud the thousands of people from louisiana and the hundreds of thousands of young people who came to washington to stand up for innocent life and then later today president trump will announce his supreme court pick to replace justice scalia. looking forward to a spirited debate about the foundation of our democracy, the way the constitution is supposed to be carried out by the judicial branch. it is important to note you already have senate democrats saying that they will oppose president trump's pick for the supreme court before they even know who it is. that's an incredible level of

irresponsibility of senate democrats who should be looking to carry out their role of advice and consent instead of pre-judging somebody. i hope the senate does their job and democrats trying to block president trump's agenda allow him to carry out his job and look at his picks for cabinet secretaries. at this point in barack obama's tenure as president in his first term, just in his first week he had 11 of his 15 cabinet secretaries already confirmed and working for the american people. today donald trump only has two of his 15 cabinet secretaries approved by the senate. it is time for senate democrats to stop blocking the work the american people elected president trump to do and let's get the economy going again like we're taking action in the house to do. >> our unified republican government is an opportunity for positive disruption from the status quo that we've seen

the last few years under president obama. the status quo that puts bureaucrats before people. we're taking action on the explosion of regulations that we've seen hurting families and costing jobs across the country and why we wanted representative tipton to join us. he street helping to roll back some of the most damaging regulations of the last eight years. colleges and universities bound by mandates. tech companies and start-ups trying to deal with the overtime rules. families and small business owners that are trying to get by. but even with all this happening, we're focusing our efforts to repeal obamacare and replace it with people first healthcare that is going to work for everybody. this week at energy and commerce we're holding hearings on the next steps for replacing

obamacare. republicans are working to make sure pre-existing conditions are covered. the insurance market is stabilized and medicaid is strengthened and prioritize for those who need it most. president trump has made clear that he is a man of action and we are ready. >> good morning, everyone. i'm scott tipton. the house will take important action this week to undo some of the most harmful attacks previous administration perpetrated on hard working americans across the country during his final months. i'm a firm believer when done right, regulations play an important role in keeping our communities safe and secure. but what we saw out of the obama administration during its final months went far beyond safety and security. our concerns about the stream buffer rule, vetting employee

rule and the 2.0 rule and many others fell on deaf ears during the obama administration's final days. what we saw was an outgoing administration more concerned about approval ratings than about the livelihoods of american families. we lost 68,000 coal mining jobs during the obama administration. standing here in washington it may be hard to imagine the impact of losing those jobs. but for families, families that i visit with every time that i'm home, it means falling behind on your mortgage, struggling to be able to put food on table for your children, and picking which bills will have to go unpaid this month. in the twilight hours of the obama administration, the department of interior finalized a rule that applied to every coal mine in every state in the country. when it was originally only supposed to apply to the surface mines in six appear latchian states. the rule amends over 400

existing regulations including some that are normally in the jurisdiction of other agencies. the complex requirements in the rule could lead to a 60% reduction in coal production in a state like colorado. there is no clearer example of a federal agency implementing a redundant one size fits all mandate than this last-ditch effort to regulate the coal industry out of business. another example is the bom vetting rule. the authority to regulate air quality and the clean air act resides with the environmental protection agency and state agencies and the epa finalized its own rule on methane emissions. the bom vetting rule was largely based on a law passed by state of colorado to limit

methane emissions. the epa's own data shows from 1990 emissions fell by over 5.5%. not only did it overstep its authority, it did so in states and private industry have already taken successful steps to improve efficiency in the energy sector. whoo the stream buffer rule and the methane employing rules are harmful examples in many districts like mine, all the congressional review actress laoutions we're considering this week will provide relief for americans in diverse communities across the country. the house is responding to the signals that americans sent on november 8th. we're saying no to overly burdensome one size fits all federal regulation. there is a better way to regulate and the house has already taken the first steps to help us get there. earlier this month we passed the midnight rules relief act and raines act.

it sets the stage for implementing the regulatory reform plan included in the better way agenda. using the congressional review act this week to roll back the obama administration's last-minute regulatory overreach puts us on the path to advance the policies we need to create jobs. to keep people earning more of their hard-earned money in their own pocket and to restore confidence in america that unfortunately has been missing in many of our communities these past eight years. >> anybody have any questions? [inaudible question] >> so first off i had a long talk with secretary kelly yesterday and i'm pleased and confident that he is on a going forward basis the make sure things are done correctly. look, the president has a

responsibility to the security of this country. go back, remember when we had the paris shooting and when we heard about credible intelligence that isis was trying to infiltrate refugee populations? we passed the safe act with 289 votes to pause the immigration program. it went through the house but went nowhere in the senate. this is something we support. we need to pause and make sure that the vetting standards are up to snuff so we can guarantee the safety and security of our country. that's when this does. we want that goal to be achieved. i support the refugee resettlement program. we're a generous country. it is important. but we can be generous and watch our national security at the same time. that's why i'm confident that secretary kelly along with other cabinet members will make sure we have the proper vetting to get the program up and running with safeguards. i think it's regrettable there was confusion on the roll-out of this. no one wanted to see people

with green cards or special immigrant visas like translators get caught up in this. the roll-out was confusing but on a go-forward basis i'm confident that secretary kelly will make sure this is done correctly. they get a good review and that we're going to make sure we get this program up and running with the kind of vetting standards we all want to see. there is always a role for congress. we oversee these things all the time. this is clearly in keeping with the president's authority. look at the immigration law and the way the refugee laws work. it is similar to what we passed a year ago after the paris shooting. we want to make sure it's clear and people understand what is it and isn't and that it's implemented so we can have both, we can have a good refugee and resettlement program while making sure we don't have people trying to infill rate the refugee program and take advantage of us.

[inaudible question] >> you have a lot of military and intelligence experts warning this could serve as a recruiting tool for isis, are you sure -- >> i think the rhetoric surrounding this could be used as a recruiting tool and that's dangerous. these countries were named by the obama administration. these countries were named in legislation that we talked about last year. these countries were named by the obama administration and there is an issue with respect to terrorists trying to infiltrate refugee populations. we aren't here to debate. there is nothing wrong with taking a pause and making sure we have the proper vetting standards in place so that we do not have a problem like france had with paris. [inaudible question] >> congressional staffers help administration all the time.

as you know, we weren't involved in this. chairman goodlett walked our members through how it worked and i'll refer you to him. [inaudible question] pretty much at the time it was being issued. i don't know specifically. we were briefed on it the contents of it as it was being rolled out. and then i had a very good conversation with secretary kelly to make sure that we separate fact from myth. that we make sure the confusion gets cleared up quickly. clearly none of us want to see people with green cards get implicated in this. that's not the goal. we want to make sure that's cleared up on a go-forward basis. what the president has asked us to focus on and something that

we completely agree on and ran on, we have to secure our border. we have a border security problem. that's what the physical barrier on the border is all about. we have security concerns given this age of terrorism, given the fact we have drugs coming across our border, an our focus is on border security. >> bill: the last question there about the immigration order which there will be a news conference in about 90 minutes, by the way, secretary john kelly, department of homeland security, will hold a news conference to talk more about the immigration issue there. also in a lot of that you had obamacare off the top, energy, regulations, talk about jobs. and kathy mcmorris rogers had perhaps the quote of the moment there. she said president trump is a man of action and we are ready. and shannon, based on what we're seeing on capitol hill

today things are moving quickly at least for this hour. shannon? >> shannon: president trump is getting ready to announce his picks for the u.s. supreme court and we'll hear that today and next we'll talk to our guest about how both sides are getting ready for a tough confirmation fight.

>> bill: we expect committee votes on a number of nominees including jeff sessions for attorney general. we have confirmation that ryan zinke and -- democrats will not participate in the committee vote today on tom price or steve mnuchin. health and human services and treasury secretary. you have to have one member of the opposite party to participate. democrats will not do that. that's what we're getting from the reuters news agency from capitol hill now.

hang on. we'll work through this together and when we know it, you will know it as well. all right. so that's live from the hill. waiting on jeff sessions and more from there. meanwhile, president obama breaking his silence offering his two cents on president trump's immigration ban only 11 days after leaving office. his spokesman released a statement saying in part the president fund mentally disagrees with the motion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or their religion. with me now former massachusetts senator scott brown a republican. dennis kucinich, a democrat. gentlemen, good day to both of you. okay. took 11 days. senator, how is this relationship going to go with both men living in washington when you are an ex-president you have a certain level of relevance and certain level of irrelevant. it's up to you to figure out what works and what doesn't.

let's start there. >> first of all, good to be on with dennis and good to be on with you. bottom line is five other presidents have done similar actions the what president trump is doing. the fact that president obama couldn't wait a couple of weeks. he had to talk and speak about what this president is doing, he already ran for a third term through hillary clinton. people rejected it and we'll hear more and more and more of him rallying the outsiders, the protestors instead of telling them to get behind the president and let him do his job and give him that ability to have not only his cabinet secretaries appointed, unlike what the democrats are doing now. give him a chance to have these plans be executed. i know these people are coming not to build a house with a white picket fence but to hurt us and change our way of life. i'm all in favor of it. >> bill: dennis kucinich. how much do you want to hear from president obama or how much do you want to see him go the way of bush 43? >> all new rules. he is able to speak out if he

wants to. i agree with him that the constitution don't allow for religious test but let's face something here. donald trump didn't create these wars. wars create refugees and president obama both in syria and in lebanon has backed conflicts which have created refugees. that is something that if he is involved in the debate he should have to answer that. >> bill: ari fleischer said this on our program last hour. watch. >> i think what you have to ask here when president obama was at the peak of his power rising personal popularity, election on the line. hillary clinton running to succeed him he did everything he could and spoke as often as he could on behalf of hillary. it didn't do any good. when he is out of power -- >> bill: the issue of relevancy. when you interject, where you interject. where you pick your moments.

wall street journal said this. takes a special kind of gal for mr. obama and his advisors like susan rice to lecture anyone about american values and refugees from chaos in the middle east. what do you think about that, senator? >> well, i agree with dennis. he hit it right on the head. president obama's actions with syria drawing that red line and doing nothing, libya where you overthrew a dictator but somebody that created some stability has created this mess and they'll now lecture us? he will cry wolf so many times and people will shut him down and turn him off. with respect the president trump has an affirmative obligation to make sure that he keeps us safe and to throw back and say this is about religion, it is not. it's war-torn countries that president obama identified and presidents have done similar things back to jimmy carter it is disingenuous. >> bill: i have to go, dennis,

what is your advice to a former president this early on? >> if you engage in a debate after you leave the presidency you have to be prepared to defend your policies and the obama policies of interventionism will be difficult to defend when you look at the results. so i would say yes, we shouldn't have a religious test for entry into the country, but no, mr. obama, president obama, this direction you took us in in libya and in syria, there is a lot of questions about that. >> bill: in part for the daughter and her to finish her education is to stay in washington he will have a choice whether you are for or against it. dennis kucinich, thank you, scott brown, thanks to you as well. 22 minutes before the hour. back to the hill and shannon. >> shannon: we're getting word that a democrat says she will boycott the vote on the nominations of representative tom price to head up health and

human services and steve mnuchin to head up treasury. we're hearing it may be the line of a number of democrats they'll hold up the votes. a number of nominees have been delayed again and again and now the boycott talk about. no word on how it could slow that down. whether the votes proceed without them or where we go from here and awaiting president trump's supreme court nominee announcement coming tonight. congress are gearing up. sounds like it will be an all-out war over filling this empty seat. more on that coming up. tomorrow's the day we'll play something besides video games. every day is a gift. especially for people with heart failure. but today there's entresto... a breakthrough medicine that can help make more tomorrows possible. tomorrow, i want to see teddy bait his first hook. in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto was proven to help more people stay alive

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>> bill: senator patrick leahy doing the talking in the jeff sessions room today. contentious a moment ago because of the immigration order. they went back and forth. now there is orrin hatch doing his talking as well. some of these votes apparently have have been suspended in

other committees. trying to get to the bottom of that. the kansas attorney general who helped write part of the immigration order over the weekend. sir, how are you, good morning and welcome. i want to get to the bottom of really the order is. do you believe this is on solid legal footing. based on your input or the input of others, what was important about drafting it to make sure that it's legal? >> well, the legal footing is absolutely unquestionable. title 8 section 1182s of the u.s. code says the president, whenever he believes it's in the interest of the united states, can suspend the entry of any alien or class of aliens and there is another section of the legal code that gives him the authority to set refugee levels. the legal question is not a close one. one of the things we saw on the transition team and speaker ryan mentioned this, too, the refugee program has been abused for many decades. just since the 90s, bill, there

have been 18 major terrorists who have come in claiming to be refugees when they're terrorists. the boston marathon bombers originally came in as refugees. >> bill: does this order prevent that now? >> what the order does, it has a number of components. one of them is a four-month suspension of our refugee program so that we can figure out how to better vet these guys. right now the federal government under the obama administration had been believing their story. i fear persecution and want to be a refugee. taking the alien's word for it without having any proof. that will change and it is so important that this executive order does what it did. four-month suspension we figure this out. >> bill: there will be legal challenges. that's what i'm anticipating. bob ferguson the a.g. in the state of washington and he seems to be ready for a fight when he said this.

>> this lawsuit is different and broader in scope. it seeks to have key provisions of that executive order declared illegal and unconstitutional. in other words, if successful this would have the effect of invalidating the president's unlawful action nationwide. >> bill: you heard it different and broader in scope. is it? >> what his law -- it is broader in scope. his lawsuit -- i think he recognizes the federal statute gives the authority to the president. he is trying to make a constitutional argument trying to say that aliens from some parts of the world have an equal protection claim to say i should have the same opportunity to get into the united states as that alien from that country. problem is, the u.s. constitution does not apply to aliens in foreign countries seeking to come to the united states. we've always treated different parts of the world differently. during the cold war we wanted soviet refugees to have an easy

path to come in and cuban refugees an easier path than other countries. his lawsuit is a loser. he is grasping at a constitutional way to get around the legal and statutory authority the president has but his lawsuit is going nowhere. >> bill: secretary kelly will hold a press conference in an hour now. the new head of homeland security. can he say anything to quiet these critics? >> unfortunately, bill. i don't think so. the critics have decided they have a message and promote the false message that this executive order -- >> bill: can he clarify the order? can you make up for perhaps some of the criticism of the past 72 hours? >> perhaps he can. he can give some greater details. that's what an executive department will always do. the president gives a general order and the final details can be given by the department. he may do that but i don't think the critics will shut up any time soon. >> bill: what happens at the end of 90 days?

>> at the end of 90 days the president and secretary of homeland security could start allowing people in from these seven countries, hot beds of terrorism or say no, we still think there is too much risk for american citizens to start allowing people back in. they could extend it another 90 days or say only certain aliens from these countries can enter the united states. all the options are on the table. >> bill: could it be a new screening process? a different questionnaire, a different interview to poke and prod and find out more information than you have on a piece of paper? >> absolutely. one of the big problems we've had over the past couple decades is the screeners. the federal employees who look at these applications for asylum have been under time pressure and rubber stamp them. we need a new process to slow it down. call the country of origin and find out if he has a criminal

or terrorist background. look into the facts behind what he is claiming as far as his refugee application. we need to change the process. >> bill: kris kobach from kansas. thank you for your time. part of the team that drafted that order. we'll see what secretary kelly says at noon eastern time. thank you again, sir, for being here today. 12 minutes before the hour. back to shannon where all the action will be in about 10 hours. shannon. >> shannon: yeah, bill. president trump set to announce his pick for the supreme court tonight. how much of a battle are we looking at just ahead? because as you know now, democrats again slowing things down on capitol hill when it comes to cabinet picks. boycotting votes and gumming up the works. the war coming up over this supreme court confirmation. it could get ugly. that's next.

>> stocks down again blamed on concerns over president trump's travel ban. so how long will the sell-off continue? plus an arrest in a deadly terror attack. what authorities cite as the motive for a shooting rampage that left six people dead. the heartwarming story of a nanny and her charge, the risky move by that 22-year-old caretaker that could save a child's life, top of the hour. >> thanks, see you in eight minutes. the hearing on jeff sessions screen right. the hearing on tom price and steve mnuchin. democrats in the senate finance committee screen right now are set to boycott the picks of price for health and human services and mnuchin for treasury demanding more information from the witnesses. we thought we could get votes on all of it today. that will not happen. however, the big one at the moment back to screen left is sessions. so stand by for that. we do expect a vote to proceed

in that committee. eight minutes now before the hour. >> shannon: both democrats and republicans say they're gearing up for an all-out war over president trump's supreme court nominee. we'll find out this evening who it is. likely the finalists will judge neil gorsuch, judge hardiman and judge pryor. all right. whichever name we get is going to be on -- >> we're buzz, no confirmations yet. >> shannon: i want to read you something we heard from democrats. here is what barkley says from oregon. he says it's a stolen seat and the first time a senate majority seat has stolen a seat. we'll use everything in our power to stop it. for democrats it doesn't matter which name they get. they say we're shutting it down. >> right. first of all it is not a stolen seat.

there was historical precedent for not confirming a president's nomination in his lame duck final year during an election. a number of times that has happened. plus republicans cited the words of then vice president joe biden echoed by harry reid and chuck schumer during the bush years talking about doing the same thing to president bush. this is hyperbole from the democrats. currently their base is extremely fired up and they have their hair aflame over everything and i think the base is going to demand and all-out fight over nominee. that's why you have a lot of democrats on the left flank of the party proimsing a filibuster before they know the name of the nominee, which is -- that is a sort of knee jerk obstructionism. >> shannon: you can say i have a particular nominee or problems with some of the decisions they made, statements they've made but if you don't even get to that point and clearly you are signaling we want to put the brakes on anything you'll do.

>> we'll see lots of quotes dredged up from not too long ago. there were a whole bunch of demonstrations and speeches on the senate floor with giant billboards saying we need nine and do your job and now all of a sudden the role is reversed. it tends to do that in washington from time to time. there is a lot of hypocrisy on both sides when it comes to judicial confirmation and nomination fights. the one thing that i think republicans have in the back of their mind is this is a rarity but they'll thank harry reid. he got the ball rolling and escalated the blowing up of the filibuster and that's a card if necessary mitch mcconnell has in his back pocket. there are a lot of senate democrats who want to talk a tough game on this nomination but already feeling regret for the last time they undermined the filibuster. do they want to accelerate that process again? >> they pulled the trigger, a lot of lower court federal judges, important bench seats, those were filled up and

changed the lower courts forever for generations because of those appointments. so whether the republicans want to take that next step of lowering the threshold from 60 to 51 we'll know. either way it will get heated. the rhetoric is up. we won't have the name for a few hours. we're working our sources furiously. >> we both have the same names from separate sources but we need a second one. call me. >> shannon: yes, call us. >> bill: pretty remarkable thing if they give away the secret, right? it doesn't happen that way. no secrets in these hearing rooms now. we do expect a vote on jeff sessions. it hasn't happened yet. we will not get a vote on treasury or health and human services. and that is tom price and steve mnuchin. tom price a doctor, he is going to remake obamacare if approved. we're waiting on this as we move forward. a busy day, would you say? back in a moment with more from the supreme court.

>> we are live at the supreme court as wheel rate as we await just hours from now, present a trouble and i was picked to fill the open seat. we will be here live all day through our special tonight at 11:00 p.m. >> a long day, see you tomorrow, shannon. and we will see if they can give it a secret. >> jon: a fox news alert, as president trump fires the nation's acting attorney general amid the uproar over his travel orders and at any moment now, the senate judiciary committee could vote on a permanent attorney general, the president's nominee is jeff sessions, the senator from alabama. good morning, welcome to "happening now" on a very busy tuesday, , on jon scott. >> jenna: it is certainly bid busy, i'm heather childers and for jenna lee. a lot happening. >> jon: there is also on capitol hill, we are watching two hearings, and both are on your screen right now. considering the president's pick for secretary of health and human services on the