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 happens when democrats don't

show up to their committee meetings two days in a row. republicans who are running these things just suspend the rules. it happened yesterday we saw when democrats didn't show up to back to back votes to advance mnuchin and price to be treasury and hhs secretaries. it happened again today the environment and public works committee. scott pruitt could be advancing. now the republicans who are taking thaoe emergency measures are saying democrats maybe having some regrets about the way they wrote things up while they were in charge. >> when harry reid changed the rules of the senate to allow nominees to be confirmed for cabinet positions and judges and other positions with 51 votes, i think the democrats are now looking back saying, boy, that was a mistake. but they've done it. >> reporter: the senator later said he still thinks, despite all the drama this week, that democrats will work with republicans on big ticket items like infrastructure in the next

couple months. sandra? >> sandra: how hard was it for republicans to advance the president's pick to run the office of management and budget mike mulvaney? >> reporter: it wasn't as hard because they didn't have to suspend any rules. mulvaney did advance and now he's one step closer to a senate floor vote to become the director of the office of management and budget. but he did not advance before he took a beating from some of the democratic senators who were in that room. >> we have a nominee whose ideology is in direct contrast to what president trump ran on. trump told working people and seniors he would not cut social security, medicare and medicade. congressman mulvaney is on record as wanting to cut social security, medicare and medicade. >> reporter: as you can see, things work differently when republicans and the democrats actually show up, and now that these two cabinet -- these two trump nominees have advanced

closer to full senate vote, the big fight, the next fight is expect to see betsy devos to become education secretary. republican senator told me this morning he does expect vice president pence to come down -- come up to the capitol to be a tie breaking vote because they do think it will be that close when she is up. sandra? >> sandra: all right, peter, thank you very much for joining us. good to see you. >> i will deploy the tall len and resources of the state department in the most efficient ways possible. that may entail making some changes to how things are traditionally done in this department. change for the sake of change can be counter productive and that will never be my approach. >> sandra: as secretary of state rex tillerson making his first appearance at the state department a day after his confirmation. secretary tillerson praising america's diplomatic core and calling for teamwork as seeks to

reshape american policy. rich, so a business-like address from the new secretary of state. the former ceo of exxon mobil. i guess we shouldn't be surprised. >> reporter: exactly. good afternoon. it very much was. and this is rex tillerson's first job in government. in fact, it's his first job outside exxon mobil in more than 40 years. he arrived here to applause his first full day of secretary of state. tillerson asked workers to embrace accountability, do their job, be honest, treat each other with respect, and he promised the make the department work more efficiently. then a sports reference, as business leaders do. >> every member of a team has a job to do. i know nobody will always be perfect and that certainly includes me, but i ask that everyone strive for excellence and assume responsibility for their actions and their decisions. the new england patriots have signs posted all over their team

facilities that simply say "do your job." it is a brief message, but one with profound importance. >> reporter: and he's asking a number of the employees here, many of whom have officially objected through whose known as a dissent channel or memo to the trump administration's policy issuing a moratorium on immigration from several countries. to that he didn't specifically address that dissent but he did say that each of us is entitled to an expression of beliefs, but we cannot let our personal convictions overwhelm the ability to work together. tillerson must also confront a number of international issues relationships with allies, given some of the conversations the white house has had when it comes to mexico, australia and then of course all going on in the world in the middle east with iran's ballistic missile test and the problems in asia where the secretary of defense is right now. so, first day starts for secretary of state rex tillerson meeting with the german foreign

minister. sandra, back to you. >> sandra: rex tillerson hitting the ground running. thank you. president trump wants to make supreme court nominee judge neil gorsuch wins approval and has already reached out to senate majority leader mitch mcconnell encouraging him to, as we know, go nuclear if democrats don't play along. that means reducing the required number of votes from 60 to a simple majority of 51. it's something that has never been done for a supreme court nominee. something shannon bream knows a lot about. lucky to have you on set. been so great. what kind of opposition is he facing here? what does the road look like ahead? >> there are multiple fronts. there's the capitol hill gauntlet that he's got to run. he's on this charm offensive as the nominees do. they go visit all the different senators and try to win them over. there are already those who said we're going to do everything we can to try to block him. chuck shumer has said this. we have oregon senator won waoeu

kwrat said we'll use every tool in our boxes. but there are all groups that immediately flooded my inbox saying elect pro choice groups and women's rights groups, they think he will be tough for them on the issue of abortion. he does not have a paper trail, but people point to the book he wrote on assisted suicide where he talks about the value of every life. they see that as code for something that they are not going to like. >> sandra: he's got to know at this point especially with everything that we've been talking about, he knows what he's walking into, right? >> of course. it's an honor to get this call from the president. but at the same time you know you and you know your family will be dragged into this gauntlet. when i was researching him, we knew he was on the short list. he wrote this article back in 2005 where he talks about the confirmation process. he said it's become like political warfare. i have a quote. he said the judiciary diminishing claim to neutrality is exemplified by recent shifts

in the senate confirmation process where nominees were once routinely confirmed on voice vote, they are routinely subjected to litmus test, filibusters and vicious interest group attacks. he wrote that 12 years ago. lot of people would say it is even worse now. he's gotta know. >> sandra: does he have an issue of being an activist judge? >> he doesn't. that's the thing conservatives love about him and the right loves about him. he said, listen, you never look at what you want the result to be. you don't think about politics. you apply the law as written. he said if, as a judge, you don't dislike some of the results you get, you're not doing a good job. you can't always come to a result you personally would be happy with. >> sandra: this confirmation process is setting up to be quite the battle. i mean, you've got donald trump, the president, urging republicans, use the nuclear option if you have to. where do you see this going? you heard from the vice president today. he said he's confidence that once everybody meets him on the left and the right they're going

to come around and like him. >> you know they have to get reliable democrats to vote for him to get past that 60 vote flesh hold without having to go to the nuclear option. people i talked to on the hill do not want that nuclear option to be used because then that changes the precedent for every other supreme court nominee coming forward. the left though, as we talked about with this philosophy, they don't like the way that he sees the law. something else he wrote in that 2005 article talked about that. he said american liberals have become addicted to the court room relying on judges and lawyers rather than elected lawyers as a primary means of affecting their social agenda. this was 12 years ago. he did talk about the fact that there were those who would use the court room to get to things like same sex marriage or to change any type of social structure that he says you should be doing this legislatively. a judge should never legislate from the bench. that's what the left, in his words, has chosen to do. >> sandra: when you look back

and think, okay, he knows what he's getting himself into. the announcement when he accepted donald trump's nomination, he said i look forward to the process. donald trump says, i hope it's a dignified one. you are setting it up for us. >> i think he used the word elegant. >> sandra: i don't know anything about this confirmation process will be elegant. both sides seem to agree one way or the other you can get to the bench. >> sandra: shannon, thank you for being here. all right. breaking developments on a mounting dispute between the white house and the windy city. chicago's mayor, what he is saying about the president's tough talk about crime. plus fox news getting an exclusive interview with the first member of president trump's cabinet. home land security secretary john kelly weighing in on the wall and the core issue behind mr. trump's executive orders on immigration. >> very, very brave president,

very brave police and judges and attorney general. but we've got to help those countries. most of their problems are directly attributable to our drug demand. your insurance company won't replace

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the guy says, "you picked the wrong insurance plan." no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car plus depreciation. liberty mutual insurance. >> sandra: a fox news alert. on the very first interview with president trump's homeland security secretary john kelly, as he speaks exclusively with fox about controversial executive orders on immigration and the border wall. chief intelligence correspondent katherine herige is live on the mexico border in mission texas. katherine? >> reporter: welsh thank you, sandra. we are reporting from one of the byiest sections of the southwest border. on any given day border patrol agents pick up at least 600 people who cross into the u.s. illegally.

they call this the rgb sector or the rio grand valley sector. fox news traveled to homeland security secretary john kelly to see the challenges agents face first-hand. kelly said security on the border will take a multilayered approach. there will be the physical wall and then parts you can actually see through because they'll rely on sensors and other technology. kelly also said an ambitious timeline. >> i think it will be built where it's needed most first and then filled in. that's how i'm looking at it. i really hope to have it done within the next two years. >> reporter: kelly also said he felt the administration had the authority to build the wall and that they were hrr working with congress for the funding, which he said he fell would come quite easily, sandra. >> sandra: secretary kelly's plan goes beyond the wall, right? >> reporter: what he explained to us at fox news is there are three components. there's the physical walsh

despite all the political rhetoric, he wants to have a strong relationship with mexico and other countries south of the border so they can pwhrupb these smuggling op raeu operations wi drug. then resources so they can expedite the process of getting rid of people who come to the u.s. illegally. he said he does support bringing immigration borders for short tours so they can do the processing on the spot and deal with people in just a couple of weeks versus ab two years which is what the waiting period is right now. >> if we could surge the court proceedings, immigration court proceedings on the border and within the law do it very rapidly and do a rapid turn, then i think that alone would act as a huge deterrent for people who are considering making the trip up.

>> reporter: that was one of the most surprising things in the interview, is that secretary kelly said the fact that it can take two years for someone to get their first court appearance with an immigration judge is really a powerful incentive to take the risk and cross illegally into the u.s. sandra. >> sandra: an aggressive time frame. thank you for your reporting on that. >> reporter: you're welcome. >> sandra: chicago's mayor said he will accept federal assistance to address violent crime in his city. this comes after the white house said he had not accepted the president's offer to help. the mayor's response this week, just send them. he's calling for more fbi, dea and atf agents and says it's time to stop talking about it and do something about it. police reported 234 shootings last month alone. well, new fallout from the president's policies on immigration reform. more states are picking sides in the battle over sanctuary cities. and new developments on a judge's challenge to the president's travel ban.

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>> sandra: a man accused of murdering a denver transit officer is set to appear in court as police seek a motive for the attack they say was unprovoked. scott van lanken was shot execution style while helping two women who were asking about train schedules. joshua cummings was arrested shortly after tuesday night's shooting. investigators describe him as a radical muslim saying he was

captured with jihadist materials in his backpack. victim's wife remembering him as a wonderful husband. >> i just know that i was married to the most forgiving husband. he was the most wonderful man. i know what he would tell me if he was with us right now. he would say forgive him. >> sandra: a memorial fund to help support his wife and two children has been set up through the rocky mountain law enforcement credit union. call the number on your screen for more information. battle lines are being drawn on immigration reform. states lined up on different sides of president trump's promise to crack down on sanctuary cities. fox business network jeff flock is following the money and is live in chicago for us. hey, jeff. >> reporter: one of those communities you know it well, little village neighborhood in chicago, a hispanic neighborhood. this is one that is not cheered by news that the states are

beginning to get involved in this battle. knew comes from texas that texas governor greg abbott is threatening to with hold between 1 million and $2 million in state funds from travis county texas. that's where austin is located. city of austin having sanctuary policies. also in alabama, the governor there, robert bentley, said he is going to with hold money from the county home to birmingham, alabama, which also hassan chew wear policies. the state of idaho all considering legislation that would strip state funding from cities that have sanctuary policies. all comes after president trump's executive order attempting to bar federal funds from these communities. it turns out though, according to a report from standard and poor's that the president may have less authority than he thinks there. the report from standard and poor's points out that the executive branch really has little authority to stop funds to communities that have already been appropriated.

also, the report points out, and i quote from s&p now, that courts have ruled that the threat of with holding funding may not be used to coerce states. so the federal government may have a problem in holding money back, but it now appears that state governments might get involved in on the act and that could have the same impact of stripping these communities from definitely need to operate. >> sandra: i know the people in the city of chicago have some very strong feelings on what is happening there. jeff, thanks for bringing that story to us. >> reporter: thanks. >> sandra: all right. new developments surrounding president trump's temporary travel ban. a status conference in federal court in the case of a judge who blocked part of that executive order. judge ruled authorities could not remove travellers from seven muslim majority countries from u.s. airports. we are live outside u.s. district court in brooklyn. hey, brian. >> reporter: hey, sandra. minutes from now we're expecting

judge baggily from the eastern district here in new york to set a hearing date for the lawsuit that is filed against president trump's travel ban. this suit filed by the aclu and the national immigrant law center among others claims that really the defendants -- claims that detaining visa holders and those with green cards under president trump's executive order is discriminatory against muslims and it's against their fifth amendment constitution of due process. now, one of the two men named in the suit is an iraqi man. father of three detained for about 24 hours at jfk despite holding a special immigrant visa awarded tpo him for helping the u.s. military for a decade as an interpreter, engineer and contractor. on saturday night a judge here in new york issued an emergency stay which temporarily stopped the deportation of all those who had already arrived at airports nationwide here after the ban.

this was only a temporary ban. now the real trial begins. also happening is that the new york state has filed a motion to join in this lawsuit. now, if granted, that means that new york will join washington state, massachusetts and virginia who have all filed suits claiming all of trump's travel ban is unconstitutional. now, in a statement, new york's attorney general eric snyderman said, quote, president trump's intent to discriminate against muslims is clear. we will continue to use every tool at our disposal to fight this discriminatory ban and protect all those caught in the cross fe of its chaotic implementation. sandra, activists claim that customs border patrol have ignored a lot of emergency stays that were put in order in the last coming days. they all say that those are stuck in airports in other

foreign countries and have been unable to get back into the united states. now, the trump administration said they are not holding anyone and that 1100 people, more than 1100 people, have been vetted and have been ultimately released from these seven banned countries. sandra? >> sandra: brian, live for us in brooklyn new york. thank you. democrats trying for a second day now to slow down the cabinet confirmation process by boycotting yet another committee vote. just a day after michael flynn put iran on notice, the president giving more insights on what happens next with the islamic republic. >> nothing is off the table. i haven't eased anything. i haven't eased anything. what makes me smile?

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what do you want to do, sir? listen carefully... if we all switch to geico we could save 15% or more on car insurance. i like the sound of that. geico. because saving fifteen percent or more on car insurance is always a great answer. >> sandra: all right. well, some conflicting messages coming out of the white house today. the trump administration easing certain sanctions on russia. the treasury department announcing it will now allow certain transactions with russia's federal security service. but in today's white house briefing, press secretary sean spicer denied that there had been any shift in policy toward moscow. john roberts joins us live from the white house. john, these do appear to be conflicting messages, to say the least. what are you hearing? >> reporter: yes. this is kind of a case of do not

as i say, do as i do. spicer insisting that this is not any kind of an easing of sanctions. but at the same time, the treasury department put out a memorandum today rolling back the restriction of sales of some items to russia. you'll remember back in the waning days of the obama administration, they slapped tough sanctions on russia after the intelligence agencies found out that russia was behind the hack of the democratic national committee servers. initially president trump was skeptical of russia's involvement, but eventually came around after a briefing by the head of the intelligence agency that it likely was russia that was behind it. still, what this rolling back restriction, if you will, will do, is allow american companies to apply to the fsb, that's russia's version of the cia, which oversees information technology sales for special permits licenses to allow those

companies to sell i.t. goods in russia. again, both the president and the press secretary say this is not an easing of sanctions. listen. >> i haven't eased anything. >> it's a fairly common practice for the treasury department after sanctions are put in place to go back and look at whether or not there needs to be specific carve outs for different, you know, either industries or products and services that need to be going back and forth. >> reporter: some trade experts believe, sandra, that what happened here, the obama administration was an unintended consequence of the sanctions and that it's a prudent move to let u.s. sell i.t. products to russia. >> sandra: what are they saying ab the phone call over a refugee deal carved out by the previous administration? >> reporter: we're getting varying degrees. sean spicer said it was cordial. behind the scenes a white house official told me it was a frank

conversation between the australian prime minister and the president of the united states. at the center of this issue is a deal that was crafted back in november. again, waning days of the obama administration, for the united states to take some 1250 refugees that australia has been detaining in off shore refugee camps. president trump said to be deeply disappointed upon learning about this deal and was kind of getting into a serve back and forth with the australian prime minister about whrorpb we should take these people or leave them with australia. this morning at the national prayer breakfast, president trump said to people there, don't sweat the idea that i'm having some tough conversations with world leaders including some of our closest allies. here's what the president said. >> believe me, when you hear about the tough phone calls i'm having, don't worry about it. just don't worry about it. they're tough. we have to be tough.

it's time we be a little tough. we're taken advantage of by every nation in the world virtually. it's not gonna happen. >> reporter: he said don't worry if we're tough. but it's my understanding that he is not going to cancel that deal. the deal is that those people who come to the united states will be subject to the same extreme vetting measures that the people in the seven named countries covered by the extreme vetting executive order will. so, all of this yet to be all worked out, but it looks like relations between the united states and australia are still on a good footing. sandra? >> sandra: all right, john roberts, thank you. well, more on this. we've got guy benson at town hall.com and kevin walling a democratic strategist and director at ds political. guy, i'll go to you first. let's first go to this conflicting message on russia coming from the white house. treasury said it is going to allow certain transactions with

the russian federal security service and sean spicer at the briefing said that's not the case. so what -- it's tough to decipher what is it? >> that's i think the subject, or ought to be the subject of more questions. because i think given what we've seen from the russians and their conduct over the last year in particular and their attempts to meddle in our election, this is not the time to be loosening anything when it comes to restrictions especially on the fsb. the administration says no change in policy, no real loosening. treasuries, memo seems to tell a different story. i think this is absolutely grounds for more questions from the press corps and i hope the white house can shed more light on this and explain and try to reconcile these two apparently opposing viewpoints. >> sandra: kevin, your thoughts on what you heard? >> i absolutely agree with guy. this is a dangerous thing we're seeing. either they're totally not on the same page with their treasury department or they're

going at it alone. so there's a lot of concerns, senator graham of south carolina was discussing this earlier, that he still has concerns about russia's meddling in this election. the fact that we don't have though answers but we're releasing or loosening some of these sanctions is a very dangerous play by the white house. >> sandra: i know, guy, you've got some strong thoughts on what you just heard ab the phone conversation that took place with the australian prime minister. there were lots of questions surrounding that, too. john roberts said it was described as a frank conversation by the white house. donald trump, as you said, said himself he's having tough calls with these world leaders. specifically this one, allowing the refugee deal with extreme vetting. your thoughts? >> i'm sure that he is frustrated. try to put yourself in trump's shoes. you come into office. one of the big issue involves refugees. tough national security quandary. you have this conversation with a big ally, australians have

been terrific allies for many decades to the american people. and you find out in the very last few days of his administration, the previous president, who has a very different view of things and whose party lost, did a last minute deal on the side that now you have to abide by. i can see why that would be frustrating. and again, when it comes to how hot this conversation really was, there are once again conflicting accounts of that. it seems like sometimes the worst things that are reported about trump after we find out more details and get more context, people walk back those reports. so i'm keeping an open mind on this one. i should say that we ought to be diplomatic especially when dealing with some of our closest allies, including the australians, but i can understand why trump would want to talk tough an voice his displeasure about something he had no control over. >> sandra: as we heard at the national prayer breakfast this morning the president saying, don't worry about it. he's having these tough phone

calls with world leader. something he said he has to do. senate republicans suspending committee rules to bypass another boycott by democrats and approve scott pruitt's nomination to head the epa. listen to this. >> mr. gardner. >> aye. >> mr. kennedy. >> aye. >> mr. chairman? >> aye. >> mr. sanders? >> no. >> mrs. murray? >> no. >> sandra: nomination passing on a roll call vote with no democrats present, now advancing to the full senate. democrats boycotting votes for nominees of the epat treasury and health and human services. kevin, why not show up? >> i think th is a dangerous precedent that the republicans and the senate are setting. scott pruitt, who is appointee

for the epa has sued the epa20 times. when asked if he supports any provision on clean ener skwreurbg on clean air, he said he doesn't support anything the epa has been doing. so this is a dangerous, dangerous nominee to head the epa. i fully support tom harper from delaware taking the committee members out of that in full p - prote protest. >> sandra: i go back to the question. why not show up? >> show up and vote no. you don't like the picks. you lost the election. phoeubg your voice heard. i love this idea that it's so dangerous to ruffle senate precedent by changing the rules. can we get harry reid on the line? this is the guy who pioneered a lot of this stuff. democrats escalate and go crazy when the same tactics are used against them. it's fair game. >> sandra: kevin, guy, thanks to both of you for being here. good to see you. breaking details ability a deadly hostage stand off at a preuzen in delaware. the latest from the scene.

and how ofteners gained the upper hand after the 18-hour siege. plus, supreme court nominee neil gorsuch spending a second day on capitol hill, trying to win over support from key lawmakers. but what does he bring to the table? >> the man is totally honest. he's very brilliant. he has all the capen'ts that a justice should have. they ought to put him through as quickly as they can.

>> president trump firing back at iran after an adviser to the supreme leader called the american president inexperienced and promised iran would keep testing missiles. president trump's response and the rest on an extraordinary day. that's coming up top of the hour on shepherd smith reporting. see you then. >> sandra: we're learning more about a deadly hostage situation at a prison in delaware.

police storming the james t. vaughn correction center near dover early this morning following an 18-hour siege. four prison workers were captured in all including a woman identified as a counselor who was rescued unharmed. two other guards escaped wednesday night. officials announcing the death of another guard sergeant steven floyd, a 16-year veteran. investigators say they're considering all 120 inmates in the building as suspects. supreme court nominee neil gorsuch spending a second day making rounds on capitol hill, meeting with tennessee senator bob corker and other top lawmakers. and with democrats promising a full on fight, one moderate democrat is urging his party not to replicate how republicans treated former president obama's last nominee judge garland. >> the 60 rule is something which we should work hard to protect. we should all look openly at president trump's nominee. now the democrats, my democratic

colleagues, lot of my constituents feel very strongly that, wait a minute. you had a most respected person in merritt garland. he couldn't even get the courtesy of a meeting, let alone a vote. i thought that was wrong, also. but two wrongs don't make a right. >> sandra: all right. let's bring in senator mike lee a member of the judiciary committee. he's also argued before judge gorsuch on the 10th circuit. senator, i want to bring up, i believe we have some live pictures right now of judge gorsuch on capitol hill. meet and greet with senator ted cruz. we'll bring those pictures to you live when we have them. but senator, if you could, tell us your thoughts first on the president's nomination of judge gorsuch. obviously having worked with him. >> this is a phenomenal choice. this is an extraordinary judge. in arguing before judge gorsuch

i have seen what litigants have seen. this is a judge who's always prepared. he reads the briefs and reads the cases, statutes cited in the briefs. he decides each case based on what the law says rather than based on the result that he or someone else wants. that's what we need on the supreme court. that's exactly the kind of judge we need to carry on the legacy of judge scalia. >> sandra: what sort of opposition is he facing here? >> first of all there's some reflective opposition on the part of some democrats who just don't want to confirm a republican nominee to the supreme court. there are others who are still holding a grudge over what happened with merritt garland. there are others still like joe mansion, who i commend, who said he is willing to have a look at this judge based on his merits rather than based on something else. >> sandra: as the president urges republicans to use the nuclear option, change the rules

if necessary, what are your thoughts on that? could that back fire for republicans? >> well, let's be clear about one thing. we're not sure whether there's going to even be a need for that. assuming democrats filibuster. only takes one to raise an filibuster but takes 60 to break an filibuster. if we get 60 votes, that's all the republicans plus eight democrats, there's no need to even worry about a nuclear option. even if we get to that point, i'm confident that we can an we will confirm judge gorsuch. that doesn't necessarily mean that we'll have to invoke the nuclear option. there are other options at our disposal including rule 19 which allows us to get to a 51 vote standard, so long as we have the same legislative day and every senator has exhausted his or her right to speak twice. >> sandra: as we heard the judge accept this nomination the other night in the white house by the

president, he said he looks forward to the confirmation process. he looks forward to speaking with democrats. as i just mentioned, he's going to be meeting with them. this battle is setting up to be a fierce one. if you could just let us know what does that look like? you're pretty confident that democrats are going to come around and that the nuclear option's not going to be needed. >> i'm not certain of that. i'm confident that it's ady stint possibility. i think that's going to be true especially in light of the fact that when they meet with them, they'll see the kind of judge he is. he's a different sort of jurist. he's there not to make policy. he's not there to achieve any particular outcome. he's there to interpret the law based on what it says. that's really refreshing. one of the things he said at the white house shortly after his announcement that i liked. paraphrasing justice scalia. he said show me a judge who likes the outcome in every case he's indicted.

that will be a not very good judge. that is exactly right. >> sandra: fair enough. all right. senator mike lee, thank you for joining us this afternoon. >> thank you. >> sandra: we are just days away now from super bowl li. a major security presence is already being felt in the city of houston. rick levinthal is there in the middle of it all, as he always is. rick, what are you seeing so far? >> reporter: sandra, there are thousands of officers and agents on the ground and in the skies keeping an eye on things so fans can react and enjoy the game. more on that, and lady gaga news coming up after the break.

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around the country stock up on party gear to celebrate. houston is making sure fans stay safe during the event. let's go to rick leventhal who is in houston where security prep is well young way. i imagine it is a huge task. >> reporter: bit of a zoo, sandra. houston pd getting lots of help from the feds including the department of homeland security and the fbi. in fact, 41 federal agencies are joining state and local police pulling out all the stops, diverting thousands of personnel, swat teams, canine team, monitoring threats, patrolling the skies and working with the authorities to secure not just the nrg stadium which is protected by a three mile security perimeter, but also safe guarding every sanctioned super bowl venue. they've been planning this for years. assistant chief of houston pd tell me they are motivated and ready for anything, including

political demonstrations. >> even before the current protests and demonstrations popped up, we had a plan. we didn't know what the message was going to be or the issue was going to be. part of our super bowl planning throughout the last year we did have a component, what if protests and demonstrations take place? it's really nothing new for us. >> reporter: meanwhile, we just heard from lady gaga who will perform a 13-minute concert during halftime sunday. she was asked if she'd get political on stage. >> the only statements they will be making during the halftime show are the ones that i have been consistently making throughout my career. i believe and have passion for inclusion. i believe in the spirit of equality. and the spirit of this country. one of love and compassion and kindness. >> reporter: sandra, she would not reveal what songs she'll be singing or who she's picking to win the game. >> sandra: we will be waiting with baited breath.

rick leventhal, thank you. >> reporter: my pleasure. >> sandra: one teacher has a special way to show his students he cares. how he is getting his students excited about school and using nba superstar lebron james as inspiration. my belly pain and constipation? i've heard it all. eat more fiber. flax seeds. yogurt. get moving. keep moving. i know! try laxatives. been there, done that. my chronic constipation keeps coming back. i know. tell me something i don't know. vo: linzess works differently from laxatives. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. it can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements that are easier to pass. do not give linzess to children under six and it should not be given to children six to seventeen. it may harm them.

don't take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea sometimes severe. if it's severe stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach-area pain and swelling. talk to your doctor about managing your symptoms proactively with linzess.

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so when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day? you want the whole thing? yes, yes! live whole. not part. aleve. my insurance rates are but dad, you've got... ...allstate. with accident forgiveness they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. indeed. it's good to be in, good hands. >> sandra: an ice storm in new brunswick, canada, leaving behind a local landscape. one local resident filmed his walk through the woods. you can see the icicles hangs from every tree branch. the storm killing two and leaving tens of thousands of homes without power. thousands still waiting for their power to be restored. forget about hello, how are you doing! one teacher is taking how to greet his class to the next

level. barry white jr. teaches fifth grade in charlotte, he greets every student with a personalized handshake. it got his class excited about school. we thank all of our inspiring teachers out there. here's shep. >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast. 3:00 p.m. on the east coast. president trump acknowledging he had a tough phone call with the australian prime minister and the president of mexico. those leaders are telling detailed stories. what really happened? the president doubling down on the warning to iran after that nation's military fired a ballistic missile. ahead, the possiblebehind the r. and were the iranians testing a missile or testing us? also, did the white house just cut vladimir putin a break? th