they, that we in a deal that president obama made were expected to take. we will cover the news as it happens, and stay with us online, guy benson is going to wear a hat, he lost a bet, >> jon: fox news alert, we are awaiting new comments this hour from president donald trump as he meets from harley-davidson executives at the white house white house. >> jenna: daily briefing just wrapping up, trade deals, foreign relations, we are covering all of the newest "happening now." >> believe me when you hear about the tough phone because i am having, don't worry about it. just don't worry about it. >> jenna: contentious phone call with a trusted ally. >> australians know me very well. i stand up for australia in every form. >> jenna: the u.s. and australia at odds. could it put this longtime alliance on the rocks? plus... >> instead of being think what to the united states in these

agreements, iran is now feeling emboldened. as of today, we are officially putting iran on notice. >> jenna: the pentagon weighing in on the cryptic warning as president trump doubles down on twitter. and this... riots forced a major university to cancel a speech by a conservative commentator. what that figure is now saying about free speech. it is all "happening now" ." >> jon: we begin with a day of pitched battles over president trump's leadership team, two cabinet nominees approved by senate committees with democrats walking out of 1 of those events. welcome to the second hour of "happening now," i'm jon scott. >> jenna: everything is going swimmingly on capitol hill as always. i am jenna lee and press secretary sean spicer wrapping up his daily white house briefing moments ago where he addressed in a wide variety of issues including the president's extreme vetting order as well as religious liberty. this money, president trump spoke at the national prayer breakfast, right now we are

awaiting details on his meeting with harley-davidson executives set for this hour at the white house. after their meeting in wisconsin was canceled because of protests. in the meantime, senate committee has approved two of the presidents cabinet nominees, scott pruitt, a vote that democrats boycotted over his longtime opposition to the epa vision and with peter doocy on capitol hill, we will pick that up. >> we are seeing now a big part of the democratic strategy to slow trump cabinet nominations down is to stop showing up for other nominations. the democrats did it again today, they boycotted the committee vote on epa secretary nominees scott pruitt rules of e required to members of the minority party to be in the room to vote, there were zero members of the minority party there to vote. republicans just suspended the rule in advanced scott pruitt by themselves to the full senate floor. we spoke to a few republicans

who showed up for work today and they were expressing feelings of inconvenience, but that is about it. >> i'm disappointed in them, but it is not a problem at all. we checked with the parliamentarian, and she clearly said under the senate rules that we can proceed in this fashion. we did. the nomination will be reported and no point of order will live. it took us an extra day, and i wish our colleagues on the other side had not done so. >> democrats did actually show up for a vote on another trump picks, mick mulvaney to become the office of management and budget director. that one went on straight party lines, 12 senators approved, 11 did not. senator bernie sanders today argued against mulvaney before the approval and thinks this app to let a congressman's views about entitlements like medicare and medicaid are in contrast with president trump's. president trump campaign on a platform that involved leaving

those entitlements untouched. and despite all of the problems between republicans and democrats the last few days, we are hearing from republicans involved in the process that they are hopeful once the dust settles after the cabinet has been filled that they will be able to work with the other sid side. >> jenna: we will pick up after that, thank you very much. >> jon: also on the hill today, the presidents supreme court nominee making the rounds to speak with lawmakers even as democrats line up for a fight to prevent judge neil gorsuch's confirmation for geo-congressional correspondent mike emanuel's life from capitol hill where he is following the judge around. >> good afternoon. judge neil gorsuch is continuing to make the rounds on capitol hill, trying to firm up support for his nomination. first off this morning was with west virginia republican senator and while we were in the room with cameras rolling, they talked about skiing with judge gorsuch being from colorado. after the meeting, i asked the senator what she would say to

hurt colleagues about considering this judge. >> i would say give him a fair shake. he is one of america's best. i think he is not only highly recommended by folks in the legal community, i think that his clarity of thought is something that really struck me. >> than it was onto a meeting with tennessee republican senator bob corker, he noted while we were in the room that it felt a lot like a recent evening he had with quarterback peyton manning which also attracted a lot of media attention. republicans sound impressed by judge gorsuch, but a leading liberal blasted him on the senate floor. >> let's not mince words read the nomination of judge gorsuch is a huge gift to the giant corporations and wealthy individuals who have stolen a supreme court seat in order to make sure that the justice system works for them. >> i would take that as a no

vote, but it is believe the number of democrats that are willing to consider judge gorsuch and perhaps support him for a seat on the high court. >> jon: mike emanuel, very busy they are on capitol hill this morning. thank you. >> jenna: after boycotting hearings for president trump's cabinet nominees, democrats will soon face judge gorsuch at his confirmation hearings, and they are promising, as you can see, to fight tooth and nail for the seat they insist was president obama's to fill. what consequences wilt that decision bring? david is joining us, chairman of the republican political action committee, and capri is executive in residence in the school of business affairs and former democratic minority leader in the ohio state senate. big headline, everyone is getting along. [laughs] washington, d.c., but i am curious about the consequences, what do you think the consequences are for democrats not attending committee hearings, trying to boycott these votes, now saying they are really going to draw a line when it comes to this up in court

nominee? >> i think with the democrats are trying to do is utilize that strategy as one to present a unified message of democratic values to the american public. obviously, there is very little they can do to stop the process. let me say one thing about the supreme court nomination. while the filibuster is a very valuable tool of dissent for the minority party, i think that we are missing the fact that it is actually that democrats fault that we are even talking about the supreme court picked to begin with. here's why. democrats never show up in numbers in midterm elections. we lost the senate in 2014. had we not left the united states senate, mitch mcconnell would not have been able to stonewall for ten months, leaving this vacancy and giving president trump the opportunity to appoint a new supreme court justice. we did this to ourselves, and if we don't get our act together in 2018, we are going to can continue to lose seats. i think we need to look at this in a bigger picture and understand that democrats need

to perform, and we need to do that by connecting with the voter. >> jenna: a lot of follow-up questions, by david, i'm curious what you think about that assessment. >> that is quite an assessment. maybe we ought to get capri to change your registration to republican. >> i'm just calling the facts. >> here is the most important. we are talking about process, but the most important thing every one of the democrats will face is how they are actually going to vote. the senator to watch is actually angus king of maine. he is an independent who traditionally votes with democrats, but not always. in fact, he voted for a number of president trump's nominees for the cabinet. because even if you take all of the democrats who should vote for the nominee, if they want to be in line with their states, joe donnelly, all of the easy democrats, that was still only gets you to 57. so you have to have angus king of maine, then you have to find

two or three democrats in swing states, whether that is bill nelson and florida, claire mccaskill in missouri, even sherrod brown, -- >> he is out. >> you're not going to get him, but you have to have angus king. he is the one to watch to see, can democrats be successful in filibustering judge gorsuch, who has highly qualified, to be the nominee or to be the next supreme court justice. >> jenna: interesting, great to have a couple names to focus on because quite frankly the speed of how this is all moving in the different personalities it is tough to get your head around it. capri, i want to go back to the bigger point you're making which is you feel that democrats are trying to show what democratic values are, they have united front, we are not going to show up to these hearings and participate, find, this is what our plan is. what are democratic values? what are they trying to represent by their actions?

>> i think what they are trying to show is the fact that many of these nominees, for example if you're looking at dr. tom price with hhs or steven mnuchin for treasury, they have potential conflicts of interest that they are on the wrong side of democratic values being that they are pro-wall street and not main street, are utilizing their powers for their own self gain in the context -- >> jenna: sorry to interrupt, but these are themes they tried to use during the election cycle, and they lost. are they making adjustments? >> i think that democrats, we are not there yet. one of the biggest challenges we have, and i believe we are on the right side of history with many of our values when it comes to issues of the economy and fairness and equality and pay equity, you name it, but that being said, some of the problems we have our our ability to articulate the message, connect that with the middle american voter folks that i represented for ten years in ohio, and i think we have an issue with the

messenger as well. if any of you saw, for example, leader nancy pelosi the other night on another network that will remain nameless, and her town hall, she really did not come off as someone that can connect with middle america. >> jenna: interesting you say that because nancy pelosi had a press briefing today, and in it again she is criticizing donald trump as an illusionist. she's calling one of his key advisors a white supremacist. these are things we'vebefore bun on these themes. david, i wonder if the question for republicans is this, in the past we have seen what happens when a party moves ahead without reaching out to the other side. there are a few examples of that, obamacare is one. what lessons can republican take them democrats and what they have seen during the obama initiation to not repeat the same mistakes and perhaps present a different way of washington working in 2017? >> usa what many of the cabinet nominees that they are getting democrat votes for president

trump's nominees. they have consulted democrats, democrats were considered for the cabinet, they are being considered in policy discussion discussions. >> i don't know what policy discussions. >> jenna, let's not forget for a second there is a reason why democrats are in the position they are in. let's go through the roster again peered we have the white house, u.s. senate, u.s. house, 33 republican governors, 68 of 99th state legislatures, and why do we do that? because unless the democrats can get exactly what they want, they walk out, they don't show up, in americans aren't going to vote for that. take judge gorsuch for a second. the standard for a supreme court justice is are they qualified, are they competent to do the job? that has been throughout our history the reason why you vote yes or no if you believe they are competent and you believe they could do the job, you vote for them. the democrats are now going to

set a new standard which is unless you are up philosophically with us, as you heard from elizabeth warren just talking, she talked about philosophically why she could not be for him, not whether he was qualified or not. that is going to be the standard for democrats, capri is going to have a very tough time come 2018 keeping democrats in any office. >> jenna: apparently, you're going to offer her a job, so that's okay. >> i will respectfully decline. >> jenna: [laughs] great to have you as always, thank you so much. >> jon: president trump weighs in. after violent protests at uc berkeley forced the cancellation of a scheduled speaker. what the president has to say about that coming up. plus, and mason, a delaware prison had a deadly takeover but they held delete mike used to hold hostages for nearly 24 hours. >> we took all the resources we have to bear to get our employees out.

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>> jenna: welcome back, everyone peered we're learning more about a deadly seat at a delaware prison, they say inmates used sharp instruments to take over the james t vaughn correctional center in smyrna yesterday. three prison guards and a counselor were taken hostage. two guards later release,, and authorities ended the hostage situation early this morning using a backhoe to get inside the building where the hostages were held. correctional officer sergeant steven floyd, 16 year veteran died during the takeover. second prison worker was rescued and taken to the hospital. >> jon: president trump suggesting he could cut federal funding to uc berkeley, this after 1500 people protested a speech thereby breitbart news editor milo yiannopoulos. that event canceled after demonstrators threw molotov cocktails and set fire outside. life in the university campus in

berkeley, california, right now. claudia? >> crews worked through the night to board up shattered windows and clean up the mess here at the plaza, they are still at it, off-campus as well where vandals spray-painted anti-trump graffiti and even looted a starbucks peered what began as a peaceful student protest turned into a riot when a group of anarchists from oakland attacked the building where breitbart editor milo yiannopoulos was getting ready to speak. they threw bricks in molotov cocktails at police, torched a gas powered floodlight, so that was a terror of flames, and used a metal barricade as a battering ram to get inside. one trump supporter was pepper sprayed, others were beaten and overwhelmed police canceled at the whole event even though they knew protests followed this controversial speaker wherever he goes. speaking later on fox news, milo highlighted the hypocrisy of being shut out by the far left. at a campus that calls itself the birthplace of the free speech movement.

>> they are terrified of anyone they think must be persuadable or interesting or might take people with them. i am not scary, far right neo-nazi as some of the posters claimed, they do that to legitimize their own violence against me and my supporters. >> president trump appears just the matthias and tweeted this: "if u.c. berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - no federal funds?" amazingly, there was just one arrest. while the chancellor has issued an apology, there is going to be a lot of soul-searching here today as administrators really look to see what went wrong last night and try to repair the damage to uc berkeley's reputation as well as to its property. back to you. >> jon: the police did not seem to do much there last night. thank you very much. claudia cowan at uc berkeley. >> jenna: court action today in the case of a security guard

who was killed in denver. what we are learning about the suspect. plus, the president had some tough words for one of our allies apparently, australia. the phone call with the prime minister, mr. trump's tweet and the fallout. we are going to go in depth next. >> i don't think australia should be worried about their relation with our country or our new president, i've met your leaders continuously over a number of years, so no, australia is a very important essential ally and it is going to continue tore be. ...only allstate sends you a bonus check for every six months you're accident free. silence. it's good to be in, good hands.

>> jon: right now, president trump seems to be making waves among foreign leaders like the prime minister of australia. our commander-in-chief calling their conversation "aggravating," at issue, a deal australia reach with the obama administration on refugees. mr. trump does not like it,

tweeting: "do you believe it? the obama administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from australia. why? i will study this dumb deal!" joining us now, james, fellow with the foreign policy initiative and author of the forthcoming book "the end of europe." james, we are going to stand you by for just a moment, we are getting some new tape and from the white house and want to play that for our viewers. we understand the president has been meeting with some executives from harley-davidson as well as union representative representatives, of course. here is his meeting in the roosevelt room earlier. here we go. sometimes tapes play forward, sometimes they play backward. i thought the meeting we saw earlier except earlier when he was in the roosevelt room with wilbur ross, ross was on his left, now he is on his right. i do believe this is the new

tape, and i believe that the folks who play this stuff out for us, which are not necessarily fox employees, this is part of what we call a pool when one network will be the representative who shoots the video then plays it back for the various networks to use, and we understand that is about to happen. once again, president trump meeting with harley-davidson executives and union representatives. >> great to have harley-davidson. what a great, great group of people, fantastic job you did come in thank you for all the votes you gave me in wisconsin. some people thought that was an upset, i thought we were going to when i get the beginning. harley-davidson is a true american icon, one of the greats. your motorcycles have carried american service members in the war, and the wars, they take care of our police officers and i see it so often wherever i go, whenever there is a motorcycle group, often times it is a harley.

the sound of the harley is a little different, it is really good, so thank you harley-davidson for building things in america. i think you're going to even expand. i know your business is now doing very well, and there is a lot of spirit right now and the country that you are not having so much in the last number of months that you have right now. you see what is happening. i am especially honored to welcome the steelworkers and machinists to the white house appeared he was a steelworker here? you're all steelworkers essentially. you folks have been terrific to me. sometimes you are tough people where the top people did not support me, but the steelworkers did, they were all coming around, we are getting them. but the workers supported us vaguely, we want to make it easier for businesses to create more jobs and make jobs in the united states come you are a grs we have to make america the best country on earth to do business and that is what we are in the process of doing.

we are redoing nafta, a lot of our other trade deals and we negotiating properly with countries, even countries that are allies. a lot of people taking advantage of us. a lot of countries taking advantage of us really terribly taking advantage of us. we had one instance in australia come have a lot of respect for australia, love australia as a country, but we had a problem where for whatever reason, president obama said they were going to take probably well over a thousand illegal immigrants who were in prisons. they were going to bring them and take them into this country, and i just said why? i just wanted to ask a question. i can ask that question of you, why? 1,250, could be 2,000, could be more than that. i said why are we doing this? what is the purpose? so we will see what happens. the previous administration does something, you have to respect that, but you can also say why are we doing this? that is why we are in the jambs

we are in. you guys especially that steelworkers understand what i am saying, right? we have some wonderful allies, and we are going to keep it that way, but we have to be treated fairly also. we have to be treated fairly. this administration, our allegiance will be to the american workers and two american businesses like harley-davidson. we are very strong, 1980s, i remember this, you were victims of trading abuse, big trading abuse where they were dumping all sorts of competitors all over the place, and ronald reagan stepped in, and he put out a large tariff, and you would not be talking about harley-davidson probably right now if he did not do that. we are going to help you, too. we are going to make it really great for business, not just you, but for everybody. we are going to be competitive with anybody in the world. we are going to be doing taxing policies very soon, it's going to be coming out.

i know healthcare is a big problem for every company -- every company is now suffering because of the tremendous cost, and that is one of the things we are working on hard, that and tax policy and tariffs and trad trade. so i think you will be very happy. it's an honor to have you at lunch. i really appreciate your support. you've given me center rightist support, your workers in particular have given me to vent his support. i want to thank the people of wisconsin in particular, it's been amazing what has happened there. it was a big shocker that evening, wow, i will never forget. wisconsin just went for trump. then all of these people,ally t. [laughs] then they said, what is going on? wisconsin just went for trump, then michigan went for trump than pennsylvania. they were great, just great people pay these are amazing people. they get it. so again, to all of you at the table today, thank you very much, we appreciate it.

we really appreciate it greatly, thank you. >> reporter: as military action off the table and iran? >> nothing is off the table. i have not eased anything. i have not eased anything. >> jon: president trump with wilbur ross come his commerce secretary nominee sitting on his right there meeting with executives and union members from harley-davidson. obviously the motorcycle company founded in america, both in wisconsin. the president wants to highlight the work that they do in the jobs that they provide. you also heard him mention australia, a bit of a tiff with the australian pie minister. we will get into that with james after a very short break [vo] quickbooks introduces rodney.

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>> jon: you might have hurt in the earlier introduction, president trump is having something of a beef with australia or perhaps with the previous administration, which made a deal to take something like 1250 illegal immigrants from australia and bring them into this country. you just heard the president say it might be as many as 2,000. he doesn't like that deal, and he has been compelling about it, tweeting about it this morning. we will talk about it with jame james, foreign policy initiative and author of the forthcoming book "the end of europe:

dictators, demagogues in the coming dark age because while pure to australia before we get to europe. a lot of people had not even heard of this deal the obama administration made, do you know anything more about what is in it? is the united states going to get to need to abide by the terms? >> the first thing i would note as i believe these are refugees, not illegal immigrants. that is an important distinction. these are people fleeing war and chaos and whatnot. >> jon: i was quoting the president when i called them illegal immigrants. speak i think he is wrong about that, they are not illegal immigrants. that said, this was a deal made by the obama administration, if president trump has problems with it, he certainly has a right to do, you should probably take it up with ex-president obama. i don't see why he should be yelling and screaming at the prime minister of australia, which is our most important ally in asia, alienating them and that way. president trump talks a lot about china and the threat that china poses, and he wants to contain china, and i think that

is a proper strategy, but it is really difficult to do that when you alienate your allies. australia is our longest and most important ally and asia, they fought everywhere with the united states in the last century in this century as well. >> jon: australia obviously a country that could turn its attentions more to china if it so chooses. >> absolutely. the more we alienate a country like australia -- believe me, there are voices and austria that would love to make a deal with china and get closer to china. it is not a very strategic move on president trump's part to embolden those voices in australia. >> jon: you suggest that the pronouncements that this white house has made thus far are destabilizing europe? >> i do. i think the president's remarks on nato being obsolete at a time when nato has not been more important since the cold war in resisting russian aggression. i think the president's remarks about the eu, he is completely

oblivious to whether or not the eu breaks up, as he said a couple weeks ago in an interview. it has been a consistent american foreign policy since the end of world war ii to support europe whole free and at peace. presidents of both political parties, republicans and democrats have committed themselves to that. here we have a president who is basically very close with extreme leaders who are nationalist, populist opposed to european unity and integration, and i do not think that is very helpful. i do not think that is serving the interests of the united states. at the same time, to be proposing this kind of diplomatic entente with moscow with the russians is really going to endanger european democracy, which is really under threat. >> jon: it is a young administration obviously, we have many months to go and will will continue to keep an eye on all these dealings. james, thank you for coming out and sharing your thoughts.

>> jenna: on that vein, our next secretary, new secretary of state rex tillerson speaking to his employees today. he was on the scene at the department on the day after his swearing in. the secretary addressing the uncertain times and tensions now brewing under a trump administration, we have more from the state department, rich? >> good afternoon. the. the secretary of state rex tillerson walks into the state department this morning to the applause of hundreds of employees here to address the workers that he will be overseeing. some think the new secretary of state usually does on their incoming day. he took to the podium and introduced himself and said, hi, i am the new guy. well, the new guy is also the top guy here as he is overseeing employees, many of whom have recently objected to eight trump administration policy through an official channel known as the dissent channel or dissent to memo, criticizing the executive order halting immigration right now from several countries. tillerson avoided speaking on that topic specifically, though he did note that there are

probably state department employees who are not be with that november election results. >> i know this was a hotly contested election, and we do not all feel the same way about the outcome. each of us is entitled to the expression of our political beliefs. but we cannot let our personal convictions overwhelm our ability to work as one team. >> tillerson also noted the dangerous situation state department employees find themselves in and around the world, the sacrifices they have made. it sounded a lot, also, like an address that a ceo would give his employees peered he was the ceo of exxonmobil, worked in the private sector for more than 40 years at that company. he said essentially he wants workers here to embrace accountability, wants them to do their jobs, be honest, treat each other with respect and also promised to seek to make this department run more efficiently. secretary tillerson takes over and ambitious profile here with an iranian missile launch just happening, issues ongoing throughout the world,

relationships between mexico and australia and the questions that have come from that with the white house recently, and then all things ongoing in the middle east, israel, asia, china. he does have an awful lot of work to do. he begins that pretty much right now, actually come his schedule says he's meeting right now with the jordanian king abdullah come in this afternoon, the german foreign minister will be meeting with the secretary of state here at the state department. >> jenna: busy first day, thank you. >> jon: the president says nothing is off the table when it comes to iran. will he take military action? plus come his new comments about sanctions on russia when we come back. no matter who you are, a heart attack can happen without warning. a bayer aspirin regimen can help prevent another heart attack. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. bayer aspirin.

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study ever, entresto was proven to help more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, don't take entresto. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. tomorrow, i'm gonna step out with my favorite girl. ask your doctor about entresto. and help make the gift of tomorrow possible. >> jon: speak of the obama administration failed to respond adequately to tehran's actions including weapons transfer, support for terrorism and other violations of international norms. as of today, we are officially putting iran on notice.

>> jenna: iran and responding today to the comment from the white house national security advisor saying that it does not need permission from any country to defend itself. the back and forth clearly catching some momentum and attention as well at the white house press briefing. >> flynn was really clear yesterday that iran has violated the joint resolution, that iran's additional hostile actions that it took against our navy vessel are ones we are very clear and not going to sit by and take. >> jenna: fox news national security and formant analyst, after the white house press briefing, there was another comment from president trump. we just got that into our newsroom, so i want to play that as well for our viewers. >> nothing is off the table. i haven't eased anything. i have not eased anything. >> jenna: he was responded to a question about what is off the table. that is what has been the conversation over the last 24 hours or so, what does it

mean to put iran on notice, and what are we really talking about or willing to do? how are you reading what transpired over the last 24 hours, what is your take? >> first of all, general flynn's statement was crucial for the trump administration to signal there is a change in policy. it was not really u.s. posture, it was the iranians widening activity not just against us with what they've done in yemen, their militia throwing a missile against our own navy, but also the behavior in iraq, syria, so on and so forth, in addition to the fact they are breaching international agreements with the development of these continental missiles. all of that is a bag of things the iranian regime has used for five or six years of the obama and administration to develop peered what flynn has done basically was to tell them this is it. we are back to a policy that is going to be checking you. and we are going to be back to be confrontational to help our

allies in the region, that is the beginning of it. >> jenna: looking at it, a lot of iranian leaders are active on twitter. when donald trump says something, it makes international news, i'm just checking to see if there is any reaction, there is not so far. how do you think they are hearing the statement from president trump that nothing is off the table? >> look, i have followed the construct of iranian political strategies for the last 26, 27 years. when a message like this goes to them, they take it very, very seriously. they know that they were expanding because we were not there. now with the trump administration, the appointments the president has made, statements being made, some of the signals happening in yemen. remember, we are conducting these operations in yemen, they realize something new has changed in washington, d.c. it is not going to be there statements on twitter or public statements made by the grand ayatollah. it's going to be after an assessment of what is it they

can do. i'm going to be pretty sure they will be consulting with the russians at this point in time. >> jenna: why do you think that? >> they know. if they have in front of them the entire gulf, of course turkey is not their ally, they have israel, so it is one thing but 24 hours ago, even the european union, which does not see eye to eye with us with the administration at least, told them do not do these tests. so they feel there is a vast isolation of iran. they jumped to russia jesse of russia can protect them if we go to the security council. now they are in the proration for the second phase, what is it they can do to preempt the change in the region. >> jenna: i want to go to some of their public statements, one is from the foreign minister that was part of a negotiation over the nuclear deal, and here's what he said on the day that the order was announced by president trump. a look at the muslim ban will be recorded in history as a great

gift to extremists and their supporters. collective discrimination aids terrorist recruitment by deepening fault lines, exploited by extremist demagogues to swell their ranks" peer he went on and on, seven different tweets. it's interesting to see the foreign policy experts here at home pick up off that and carry that to say this is what our enemies are going to take from this. what do you make of those public comments? >> i remember when a u.s. senator said talking points coming to the united states from tehran. yes, there is a circulation of these talking points for those who are very firmly to them in the united states, also brussels and other european countries where they said if iran is telling us that if we do this, this executive order is going to create chaos in the muslim world and tension, guess what? the uae and egypt to a certain degree, surly saudi arabia, indonesia, bring the dish these large, gigantic doesn't countries have said other way

peer they do not concur with irn that this executive order is going to create the xenophobia. they said this is an active sovereignty but at the same time, they want the united states to change its policy and make sure isis is destroyed. >> jenna: interesting comment coming from the number one state sponsor of terror which is iran talking about terrorism as well. in portraiture point that out. you were advising donald trump, am i correct, during the campaign, but no longer? >> i was foreign policy advisor through the campaign. i support the initiation, but i am in the private sector. >> jenna: am curious about this, their complaints coming from the foreign policy circle of "experts close what that these messengers should not be coming from the president, they should come from the secretary of state and he should not have said anything. he should have gone to our european allies and collect in a coalition and not be there for himself. what do you think? >> that was the old style, this is a new style and that is direct medication with the highest office of the land which is the president and the

american public, why? over the past eight years, ten or even more, those who were doing the strategic communications for the president failed. that is why we have this issue with the american public. having direct access and being in the media a longer time that the present sector is a good thing. now what we need from the experts is to let us understand how to effect the public opinion in the arab and muslim world, why the expertise community was not able to tell us they would be an air of spring, isis was going to rise but i think there problem is they are, not the white house. >> jenna: interesting. change can be difficult for some people. [laughs] we will see where it goes from here, we appreciate your insight as always, thank you very much. >> jon: super bowl sunday is this weekend. just days before the big game, houston police have their hands full. an inside look at what authorities are doing to keep an estimated 1 million people safe.

>> i am sandra smith, senate decrats opting to no-show at some hearings for the president's cabinet picks. why don't they just vote against them? plus republicans also working to get the president's supreme court pick through confirmation. it is there the chance they would consider changing the rules if they are struggling? and the white house giving details on our military operation in yemen just a few moments ago. more on that at the top of the hour on "america's newsroom hq"" >> jon: it is estimated 1 million people are expected in houston for the super bowl this weekend. now federal and local authorities are teaming up to keep everyone safe for the big game. rick leventhal live from the convention center in houston with more. >> super bowl li is considered a tier one national security event

which basic immense local state and federal authorities can pull out all the stops to develop maximum resources to secure and protect not just thinking about all the venues attached to it including the nfl live super bowl experience here at discovery green and downtown houston, security as you might imagine, extreme he tight with airport style medical tickers, lots of road closures and thousands of officers and agents visible and undercover along with canine teams in more and authorities on alert for protests and demonstrations too. we spoke to the special agent in charge of the houston office of the fbi about that. >> we expect to have protesters, and our goal is to work with them to allow them their opportunity to protest their cause, but at the unit of the day, it is all about keeping the american public saving and making sure that we have an enjoyable event. >> houston pd is the lead agency on super bowl security, they are on the lookout for things you may not have considered including friendly flash mobs surrounding celebrities, high-end malls and unsanctioned pop-up super bowl parties.

>> we are going to keep an eye on what we consider unsanctioned events, so another words, some of the larger celebrity parties in places where they rent out a warehouse. we have to worry about traffic, parking, the number of people that will show up. >> lots of boots on the ground working hard so the fans can relax and enjoy the game. >> jon: let's hope they all do, rick leventhal, thank you. >> jenna: it is groundhog day, civil spring come early or not? so when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day? aleve, live whole not part. painter: you want this color over the whole house?

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sunsweet amaz!n prunes, the feel good fruit. ai'm begging you... take gas-x. beneath the duvet, your tossing and turning isn't restlessness , it's gas. gas-x relieves pressure,bloating and discomfort in minutes !! so we can all sleep easier tonight. >> time for our final 30. it's ground hog day again. this morning punxatawney phil emerged from his burrow in pennsylvania to make his annual prediction for spring. bad news. phil saw his shadow. that means six more weeks of winter. >> what about chuck? not senator chuck shumer. this is staten island chuck new

york's finest. she did not see her shadow, which means an early spring. so depends on who you want to go with. new york state or pennsylvania. >> i'll go with chuck. thank you for joining us. "america's news hq" starts now. >> sandra: president trump's cabinet is filling out with two more committee votes happening today. and democrats are gearing up for the next big showdown. hello everyone i'm sandra smith. democrats once again trying to slow down the process by boycotting the vote for scott pruitt forcing republicans to change the rules and approve pruitt as epa director without them. president trump's pick for white house budget chief mike mulvaney also getting the nod. joining us peter ducey who has been following the votes. what kind of strategy are republicans using to get around this democratic obstruction? >> reporter: we've seen, again this morning, sandra, what