commercial break. thank you again, will be back on monday. happening now starts right now. >> jon: a push to repeal and replace obamacare. were covering all the news happening now. >> lawmakers gear up for a coule an eye-opening public hearing on russia as the fbi director brief the congressional leadership on leadership. plus, u.s. troops in syria helping to close in on the isa stronghold, why the battle ahead will be fierce. in a sex scandal rocking the marine corps. it's all happening now.

♪ we begin with news on the battle to replace obamacare as we await the white house daily briefing which is always a highlight. the president meeting today with community chairs to really support for republican health care bill. welcome to the second hour of happening now, i'm jon scott. >> melissa: i melissa francis. the american health care act has been approached by two committees, but the state remains unclear on the house and the senate. vice president pence says that her by administration is open to suggestions to strengthen the g.o.p. bill. >> what president trump has said to our whole team is to continue to engage members, this is the bill, but if there are ways to improve that bill and to give people greater confidence that will all arrive at the same place, when obamacare is done and we replaced it with the kind of health care reforms that will lower the cost of health

insurance by expanding people's choices, that's where were heading. we're very confident. it because of president trump's leadership and support here in the congress, i'm very confident will repeal and replace obamacare and it will be done by the spring. >> jon: mike emanuel is live on capitol hill. busy place right now. >> no question about it, president trump praised the two g.o.p. committee chairs for advancing that health care package. the president and vice president of the chairs of five committees, the budget committee, as a means, energy and commerce, education and workforce, and judiciary, all within the past few minutes. the president made the case for acting to save americans from an imploding obamacare. >> as repeal and replace plans ends, it eliminates the obamacare mandate that forces americans to buy government

approved plans, we all know that one. it provides states with flexibility over how medicaid dollars are spent. >> conservatives would like to cut the mandate sooner, they are floating changing senate rules to rip out all of obamacare in one step. others are alarmed that this package proposes cutting $1 billion from the center for disease control, which the agency's acting director called money for a poor activity. leaving democrats to suggest the development the package lacks transparency. >> they have been baying at the moon for seven years about how they didn't like this bill and they couldn't come up with any public discussion about what they would do with this, except in the moonlight, coming up with something the other day without a cbo report. >> cbo report refers to the congressional buffet office.

you can expect both sides to argue about whether or not it is an accurate assessment. >> jon: mike emanuel on capitol hill. thank you. >> melissa: fbi director james comey delivers a class nine briefing to the congressional leadership, telling keylock key lawmakers when he knows about the wiretap claims. catherine herridge as live in washington with more. what's the latest russian mark >> the house and senate leadership left their briefings last night without speaking to reporters and another indicators that the issue is politically charged, prior to the briefing, democrats accused director comey of withholding evidence, a charge not made by senior republicans. the chairman of the house intelligence committee, told us what he could this morning. >> thinking of eight meetings

unfortunately are classified meeting that that leaked out, it's something that happens around washington because people see going people going into different meeting rooms. it's not something we can do. we can't talk about it is the problem. >> the house minority leader just went a bit further. >> theoretically, do i think that a director of the fbi who knows for a fact that something is mythology, but misleading to the american people? yes, i do think you should say that publicly. >> the house intelligence committee has a public hearing now on the calendar for march 20th, including fbi director comey, nsa director mike rogers, he was the one who has firsthand knowledge of these surveillance orders. former cia agent, john brennan,

james clapper, as well as former acting attorney general sally yates, who is fired by president trump over her refusal to enforce the first travel ban. this is really going to be the first time the public can hear these witnesses and they have firsthand knowledge of the russia investigations. it may be even more significantly, they have the best insight into where the leaks came from originally. the committee has not ruled out issuing subpoenas if they refuse to come voluntarily. >> melissa: it will certainly be great to know where those leaks came from. thank you. a spoon as captain just reported, the fbi director briefed congressional leaders and what he knows about the wiretaps. meanwhile, there is growing intrigue on another front, report that federal and messy gators are looking at a possible computer link between the trump

organization and a russian bank. lawmakers are also demanding answers with senator lindsey graham saying he is ready order subpoenas to get information on the presidents wiretapping accusations. jordan fabian is white house correspondent for the hill, james freeman as assistant editor for the editorial page at "the wall street journal" . james, let's start with you. where is all is headed? >> where it should be headed is towards the intelligence committee talking about what happened as far as our political system, as well as if anyone's rights were violated by the government is a look into this matter. i don't think we need lindsey graham, for example, or others starting an investigation on the hill. the intel committee can handle it. >> jon: graham, as you know jordan, has already written a letter to the head of the fbi asking for any information about

any wiretapping, could it go beyond that? could there be a serious congressional investigation? >> the panels on the hill have said they're going to look at president trump's allegations as part of the overall investigation into russian interference. this is one way that president trump's accusations has backfired to an extent. it's in bold and members of congress to ask for proof or evidence of what his allegations were. if he had imbibed them up in the first place, we would be talking about this. this whole situation has accelerated in part because of what the president tweeted over the weekend. >> jon: some of what is happening, jordan, is that there are democrats saying let's subpoena president trump's tax returns, for instance. >> right, so the requests have gotten sprawled and sprawled.

there is little indication that there will be able to obtain those tax returns. this investigation isn't going away. that there are questions about russia and potential conflicts of interest are going to keep coming up, even as president trump tries to push forward on things like health care and tax reform. this bill timing on all of this is so interesting, james, because the attorney general, jeff sessions had just had to recuse himself from any involvement in russia allegations, because his testimony in front of us confirmation panel, all of a sudden, the president puts out those tweets about russian -- i'm sorry, about surveillance of him at trump tower from the obama administration. he still has yet to offer any proof or any corroboration. >> this goes to the other question, sing this story is

going on for a while, i think at some point, you need some evidence. there's really no evidence we've seen in the public domain that there was collusion between the trump campaign and russian government, and likewise, the president did not present evidence for the wiretapping. i think it is interesting that a lot of media outlets that have enjoyed reporting on all of the investigation of the trump campaign and all of the intelligence assets that were apparently used seemed totally uninterested in whether president obama had a role in any of this and whether any of it was justified, whether the people targeted these investigations have their civil liberties protected. >> jon: now, there are new questions about lieutenant general mike flynn, his lobbying on behalf of the turkish government while apparently, he was also working on behalf of the trump campaign. >> that's right. lieutenant general flynn is now

defunct public relations firm has now taken several thousand dollars was linked to a turkish businessman. this poses conflict of interest questions. general flynn was not taking money from the trump campaign, but as you know, he was a close surrogate, he became a national security advisor, was advice he was going the trump campaign on areas like turkey to fight against isis, influencing any way by his connections with this firm and the work you're doing on behalf of it? this is another question that was raised about flynn's background and it's something that vice president pence set on the air last night that president trump's decision to dismiss him. >> jon: again, this whole backed up, wikileaks leaking this information about the cia hacking techniques and so forth, which a lot of people have said could have come from the russian government.

wikileaks have been accused of being an outlet of the russian government. it's all mind-boggling. >> a lot of it, -- it's probably good that general flynn's public relations firms is debunked, because he doesn't have public relations. there's a lot of reason to question his connections, his background, his judgment, i don't know why he was at the dinner with the russian propaganda arm, but having said that, russia is a still piling on this guy after driving him out based on phone calls of his before he was a government official that he was eavesdropped on by our government. this seems like a real question, what was our government doing listening to mike flynn's phone calls? or were they just not careful when they were listening to the

people -- the russian ambassador on the other end? i don't know why this is a more of a concern to people when you look at what happened to flynn. i'm not defending him, i don't agree with him on a lot of stuf stuff. this really shouldn't happen. >> jon: was there surveillance of trump tower or the trump campaign? >> a lot of questions. not much evidence to this point, so i think let the intel committee do their work and eventually, they'll tell us what the russians were doing and what our government was doing. >> jon: james freeman for "the wall street journal," jordan fabian from the hill. thank you. >> melissa: help wanted signs are back with a vengeance, the end implement rate falling with more than ever. the fight to dislodge isis from the capital.

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>> jon: iran is coming clean about a recent ballistic missile test, admitting it lodged a medium range missile. our fox news pentagon team broke the story last week reporting that iran successfully destroyed a barge 155 miles away. u.s. officials telling fox the missiles were a modified version of an older one with the capacity to destroy ships. the launch ramped up tensions between tehran and the trump administration. >> melissa: where u.s. firepower added to the fight against isis in syria, arriving near the syrian and turkish border this week, u.s. officials say they will not be on the front lines but will support local forces as they try to retake raqqa from isis control. joining me now is retired army

lieutenant, he is a former special forces officer who served in iraq and afghanistan. sir, thank you for joining us. what do you make of this development? >> it is a relaxing of a previous rule of engagement that we have seen. actually the commanders on the ground receiving the support that they know they need to continue to take the fight to isis. it's actually a good sign. >> melissa: they say their intent is to provide all weather fire support, artillery fires to support as they continue to isolate raqqa. do you think that is the most effective way for the u.s. to support those forces on the ground right now? >> right now, yes, because there are hundred figure five -- 155 sized can shoot at a certain amount of speed, so they're not in direct conflict with isis, but u.s. forces on the ground with the syrian defense forces will be calling

those artillery strikes and it's a great application of u.s. firepower that does not require jets in the air or drones. all weather means that stuff can fire at night, in the dark, during clouds, dust storms, rainstorms, everything. >> melissa: there has been back and forth dialogue from the beginning about whether we would put "boots on the ground" in syria. many have argued they were already there in terms of support, but this seems to be truly boots on the ground, no? >> it is. boots on the ground is kind of an inaccurate euphemism for nonspecial operations, nontrainers and advisors. but these marines from the 11th marine unit from camp pendleton, they were already in the middle east. their commander just directed them with white house approval to move up into syria. we have boots on the ground, now numbering 1,000 in syria and over 5,000 in iraq. >> melissa: could this signal an end to the conflict in this region?

would they be able to push it to a finish line or does it signal a deepening of our commitment and that there are more troops falling into syria behind them, what is your best bet? >> recent reports show there are 1,000 troops in kuwait on standby if needed in syria. the general has been speaking publicly about the possibility of sending conventional groups in, so it is a possibility but the enemy always gets a vote, it we cannot predict how the battle is going to go in syria. the best-case scenario is our special operations advisors and local syrian defense forces with the combat enablers as we called them, the artillery in the air will be able to finish the job and take the capital of raqqa away from the islamic state. >> melissa: how would you characterize that the people at home who do not know that much about battles? how much support is this really come as a 188 step forward, is it a big deal? >> it is kind of moderate because these are guys with new uniforms, new boots and small

arms rifles trained by american advisors, special forces guys, but they are going to be facing car bombs, snipers, suicide bombers, armed drones from isis and the ability to weaken isis with our artillery and own air strikes is going to be very important. probably at the same time protecting civilians. >> melissa: lieutenant, thank you so much for your appointment, we appreciate your time. >> jon: a sex scandal involving the year they would like u.s. marine corps now spreading to other branches of military service. we will have more on the ongoing investigation hello, i'm an idaho potato farmer and i finally found our big idaho potato truck. it's been touring the country telling folks about our heart healthy idaho potatoes, america's favorite potatoes, and donating to local charities along the way. but now it's finally back home where it belongs. aw man.

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with photos from every military branch were posted to a message board dedicated to military personnel. this as more than two dozen female marines and civilians come forward, claiming they are the victims. national security correspondent jennifer griffin joins us live from the pentagon with the latest on this investigation. >> the marine commandant will hold a press conference to address the growing scandal moments from now here in the pentagon briefing room. start with a facebook page called "marines united" a group chat space used by about 30,000 active-duty and former marines, the site was being used for predatory behavior to share nude photos, some of them purely thought it would not pornographic a female marines. the marines targeted young women, marines and encourage anyone who knew them to share photos or hack their instagram accounts. they stuck to these women on social media and egg to each other on to find and share photos, some taken and locker rooms and showers when the women were not aware.

others shared by former boyfriends. now we have learned of another site, anon-ib, the same that shared new photos of hollywood stars like jennifer lawrence. it has a military chart room in which members of other services have been doing the same thing. so the scandal has now extended to all of the service branches, marine general issued a stern rebuke in a video to his troops. >> when i hear allegations of marines denigrating their fellow marines, i don't think such behavior is that of true warriors or war fighters. right now, we all need to be focused on getting better, not hiding on social media and participating in or being aware of actions that are disrespectful and harmful to other marines. >> a former marine radio operator, nude photos of her richard on the site in question, she said she was disgusted when she found out and encourages others to speak out. >> we will not be silenced.

as a rape survivor, i can tell tell you this behavior leads to the normalization of sexual harassment and sexual violence. >> national criminal of us to get of service has opened a criminal investigation. spicer what a story, stated 2 stay on it for us, think you. >> melissa: with the number of americans in the workforce reaching an all-time high, the latest jobs report and what it all means, plus president trump's push on infrastructure. a huge majority of americans support updating our roads, bridges and airports, but will congress pay the bill? our panel still ahead. and with safelite's exclusive "on my way text" she knew exactly when i'd be there,

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>> jon: the february jobs numbers are out. it is the last big economic report before the fed's next policy meeting which could bring an interest rate hike. labor participation hitting a record high last month, 235,000 jobs added and the unemployment rate fell to 4.7%. taking a look at the big board right now, it is down about three points basically. peter barnes life for us now in washington. >> that is right, job growth was pretty strong for february, first full month of the trump

administration, 235,000 jobs, much better than expected, employment rate taking down to 4.7% as you said. with a fed policy meeting next week, one fed watcher, economist richard moody of the regions bank told clients this morning "it was said this report, this jobs report was the last hurdle between the fed and eight march funds rate hike. it is safe to assume that hurdle has been cleared and quite easily so." look for another quarter-point rate hike and short-term rates from the fed next week which means slightly higher rates for some credit cards, some mortgages, car loans, business loans, and another positive in the jobs report, more than 300,000 people entered the workforce last month, and economists consider that a good sign because that means people are more optimistic about their job prospects, and that push is one of the key indicators we look at in the multi-report of the labor force participation rate back up to 63%, highest level in a year. the admission believes that its policy proposals with them come economic growth could get

stronger. >> what we white house and what we are going to do with our tax plan and what we're doing with hiring and what we're doing with corporations and getting them to move jobs back to america, i think it will be easy to get to 3% growth in the fort quarter this year. >> another bright spot in the report, wage growth continues to accelerate, hourly wages up 0.2% last month, now up 2.8% year-over-year, closing in on the 3% rate that any economists consider healthy. >> jon: peter barnes in washington, thank you. >> melissa: another big item on president trump's agenda come his plan to upgrade america's infrastructure. a cnn orp poll finds the overwhelming majority of americans approve of modernizing our infrastructure as any report in the american society of civil engineers shows around $4.6 trillion is what it will

cost. joining us now is conservative commentator lawrence jones, radio host of the lawrence jones show and contributor on blaze tv, also ethan bearman, radio talk show host based out of l.a. thank you to both of you for joining us. lawrence, let me start with you. 84% are in favor of reducing middle-class taxes, 79% approve of spending more on infrastructure, so they want tax cuts and more spending. that is america for you appeared what do you think? >> i am for cutting this as it relates to taxes because it is our money, we should be keeping our money. as it relates to the infrastructure, that seems a little bit more of what progressives have wanted for years. i am not too in favor of it, looks like another stimulus package. i don't understand the democrats that are not coming on board with this. this ascending they advocated for eight years under president barack obama, they should be happy. >> melissa: ethan comey he hasn't said $ 1 trillion, the latest report said we need abou.

he proposed to be a combination of public and private fding, we see a lot of that in virginia and other places as a way to get private money into the mix rather than just relying on you and me and our whole audience. what do you think of that? >> my concern with one is that $1 trillion, that is a starting point as we talked about, $4.6 trillion is how much we actually need because we need functioning bridges and roads and airports. >> melissa: brady got the money from? >> that is the big question. they are something to be set for public-private partnership, the concern i have in all of this anytime you talk about trillions of dollars of spending is cronyism, fraud, and waste. what is the president going to do to address it? >> that is what you guys advocated for under president barack obama. it was the republicans against this. this is something you should be applauding. >> i actually just said it was a good starting point, lawrence. >> melissa: hut on, one at a time. >> corruption is something you have to be worried about anytime

you start talking about trillion dollars, we saw that with president obama, there was cronyism and waste and fraud that happened in his recovery act. i want things to be better, lawrence, if we are going to do that, we need to begin somewhere. that doesn't mean we take our eye off the ball and don't hold people accountable. >> melissa: hang on, lawrence. if you go with the public-private partnership and get people actually invested in it closer to the project, people looking for a return, isn't that a way to get last waste, fraud, and abuse in government if the person standing at the door is actually spending their own money? >> that is what i am advocating for, a private relationship. i don't think there needs to be public-private relationship, just let the private sector do this. what we are seeing a lot of status when they have these partnerships, what ends up happening is the government uses eminent domain which taxpayers are definitely against, then they charge people for toll roads breed that is not what the public wants. i am sure once they lay out what is actually going to happen, you will see a lot of pushback from

taxpayers. >> melissa: ethan, at the same time, this is something that president trump has a lot on his plate right now, trying to deal with healthcare, the tax situation, he promises that is next and a lot of people are champing at the bit to see the reform of that code, in the meantime, this appeal is mack appears to be on the back burner. what do you think? >> i think if a structure is sub critical, we have to get moving on it, bridges feeling and collapsing around america, this is problematic for commerce, interested in making money in this country, we need to have a functioning infrastructure. it should be a priority. when you're talking about spending a lot of money, a chilean dollars on infrastructure and cutting taxes, we have been down this path before appeared ronald reagan did that, it massively increased our debt and deficits here in the united states. you cannot have it both ways. i am from california -- >> melissa: go ahead, ethan. >> they do want it both ways, california is the evidence, we have a terrible budget problem

because of this. >> melissa: this is exactly where we started it, americans want it both ways, tax cuts and government spending. how do you balance those things? >> i think the people that elected donald trump want him to cut the spending but also cut their taxes as well. i disagree with him when he says somehow the taxpayers are going to support this plan. i think they are supporting the government giving them their money back instead of the spending so much. i just don't think that the taxpayers are going to go along with this plan. i do not think, they have more faith in the president then the actual policies themselves. >> melissa: ethan, last word come how much faith do you have in the president, if nothing else, has done a lot of building projects, have him look down the road at what we need in terms of infrastructure seems like it would make sense. >> i agree that we need to address it. i don't have a lot of faith and president trump on much of anything, but at least when it comes to info structure, he gets

that as a businessperson we have to have a functioning infrastructure for business to work in this country. anyone who says it is just been private is actually funny that lawrence does not remember what texas did, building all toll roads because they went all toll roads. >> guess what, texas paid it. >> exactly. >> melissa: we can leave it there because you guys are agreeing, happy friday. thank you. >> jon: opposition to the president's revised travel ban that is supposed to go into effect next week. more states are going to court to try to stop it. do they have a case? are legal panel weighs in. and what happens when you have a life camera and some curious kids? the interview interruption you just have to see. it's the best time of the year.

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>> melissa: live television does not always go as planned, in fact it seldom goes as planned for this was really the case for a professor in a debate

on south korea with a bbc broadcaster. you can see over his shoulder that that man's toddler wanders into the room and starts to dance, followed by -- look at that right there. like if one is not enough, the other piles on. where has she been christmas she's trying to retrieve the kids, initiate originally bounced them up to get them out of the room, the professor and broadcaster somehow finished with a few laughs. the segment, they had three faces when they came back to them on camera, the broadcaster admitted it was pretty hard to do that. you saw him crack up. you can see the kids, the serious face back when the camera came back. >> jon: hard to laugh and you are talking about kim jong-un, isn't it? >> melissa: one of the other piles on. he was coming next? that was great. [laughs] >> jon: rate left to get you started for the weekend. washington filing a lawsuit over president trump's executive order, the revised one as a federal judge in hawaii agrees

to hear the first legal challenge just hours before the order goes into effect next thursday. what might the courts do this time? do these states have grounds? joining us now, fred, former federal prosecutor, also eric, criminal defense attorney. so the states are saying that this is essentially -- they call it muslim ban 2.0, that this is just a watered down version of what the president tried to do before. how do you see it? >> i don't see it like that -- >> jon: i hate to say it, sorry. the white house briefing is underway. here is sean spicer. >> press secretary spicer: little attribution to rahm emanuel for that one. as many of you know, today is day 50 of president trump's administration. a lot to talk about, a lot has gotten done. also want to acknowledge that today is also brian's birthday. happy birthday to brian. i will let you guys celebrate amongst yourselves afterwards.

in just these first 50 days, the president has taken many key steps toward delivering on the pledges he made to the american people as a candidate. he has jump started job creation not only because of his executive action but through the surge of economic confidence and optimism that has been inspired since his election. president trump knows exec he would businesses need to thrive and grow, therefore adding well-paying and steady jobs to the market. ivc, we are very pleased to see the jobs report that came out this morning. it is great news for american workers. during the first full month of the trump presidency, the economy added 235,000 new jobs and the an appointment rate ticked down to 4.7%. notably, we also saw significant growth in the construction, manufacturing, and mining sectors. the unemployment rate ticked down in labor force participation rate kicked up, showing that even as more people are reentering the job market due to the economic optimism i spoke about, businesses are continuing to grow and create

new jobs. the president looks forward to continuing his work with the private sector to clear roadblocks to key infrastructure projects which draw from job killing trade deals like the trans-pacific partnership and slash the bureaucratic red tape that makes hiring difficult for our american businesses. he has taken action to ensure the safety and security of the united states homeland, its borders and its people. he has proposed great rebutting of our nation's military, following a full review of our military readiness and supported by $54 billion budget increase. he has unlimited new protections to prevent people from coming into our country who seek to do us harm. as a result of the present a memorandum he signed onto anyway 28th, the president has received a plan to defeat isis designed by the secretary of defense and the national security team. just as he has promised during the campaign, he has made enforcing our nation's immigration laws a top priority, signing an executive order that

starts work on a southern border wall that enhances the public safety of americans through ordering the strong enforcement of immigration laws that are already on the books, halting funding to jurisdictions in the united states that do not comply with federal immigration rules, and directing the department of homeland security to hire a combined 15,000 new officers and agents to support the system and protect the nation. he has outlined an aggressive web site of an agenda that includes tax reform, that brings relief to small business and limited 3 middle-class, massive commitment and for structure investment that will generate jobs and rebuild our nation and repealing and replacing obamacare. in fact, just this week him he began working with congress directly on repealing the worst parts of obamacare and replacing it with the american healthcare act. this particular legislation is just one prong in the president's comprehensive approach to reforming our healthcare system. the administration has also taken additional steps to stabilize health insurance

markets and start bringing down costs for the millions of americans that have been affected by obamacare such as stabilizing insurance markets and regulatory reform, including the ability to purchase insurance across state lines, providing individuals and families with lower access with access to lower cost options by loosening the restrictions on the financial structure of plans offered through the obamacare exchanges and finally, the president is committed to working with congress on additional legislation that won't be subject to the budget reconciliation process, that will allow the purchase of health insurance across state lines, that will streamline the process of the fda to bring down the cost of critical medicine, to allow for the expansion of health savings accounts, to allow more americans to use their funds for more healthcare costs, and so much more. there is a one-page fact sheet that lays out the three prongs of the president's plan to repeal and replace all americans can see that one pager that is available at whitehouse.gov, repeal and replace.

feel free to download it and share it this weekend. this administration has already looked forward to all of the things we've been planning to a commish in the days and weeks ahead. you should have a document outlining and each of your email boxes of the president's major actions during this first 50 days. we painted available to the public as well at whitehouse.gov. in terms of the schedule for his 50th day in office, the president will be having a series of meetings and calls moving even further along on some of the most significant campaign promises that he made to the american people. after receiving his daily intelligence briefing this morning, the resident led a healthcare discussion with key house committee chairs. the president thanked and congratulated the chairs on successfully ushering to have american healthcare act were the first phase of the legislative process. he noticed he was pleased to see the bill passed through both committees, energy and commerce and the ways in means committee with unanimous republican support. they discussed working together

on additional legislation to further work toward treating healthcare into a system that works for every individual and family and business, together the president and republicans in congress will act decisively to keep their promise to the american people. in attendance at the meeting including the vice president, congresswoman laks, chair of the house budget committee, congressman brady, chairman of the ways and means committee, chair of energy and commerce, congresswoman fox, chairman of the house education and workforce committee, and chairman of the judiciary committee. in addition to this, senior officials at the health and human services department have met with the american medical association to discuss the bill it will be meeting with additional stakeholders in the coming days. the president is committed to make this is done better, and that includes making sure his team gets feedback from all interested groups in pursuit of a more affordable and accessible healthcare. this afternoon, the president had a call with the president of the palestinian authority, the

president had lunch with secretary of state rex tillerson and this afternoon, he will meet with the secretary of housing and urban development dr. ben carson. he looks forward to discussing the hud mission to create strong, sustainable and inclusive communities with quality affordable housing, especially the ways in which we can partner with the private sector to come up with innovative solutions to turn our around and empower our struggling communities. looking ahead to the weekend, the president will spend his weekend here at the white house in a series of meetings with his team. the vice president's office has already announced the details of his trip to louisville, kentucky, where he will participate in listening sessions with small businesses and job creators throughout the community and then joined by governor bevan will hear from local small businesses. the vice president will discuss the president's economic agenda, especially the repeal and replacement aspects of obamacare and how it will reduce the burden on small businesses. he will then conclude with formal remarks at the train parts and its relation center. also coming up, judge neil

gorsuch confirmation hearings will begin on march 20th. yesterday, the american bar association reported their committee was -- determined by unanimous vote that judge neil gorsuch's was given a "well-qualified" mark for the supreme court. the president looks forward to seeing the judge received a speedy and fair hearing and it up and down vote on the senate floor. finally, the president's weekly address is ouch. it discusses women's history month and his plans to repeal and replace obamacare. it aired this money on facebook live and is now available to watch on youtube and whitehouse.gov. obviously, i encourage everyone to go check it out. with that, i will take your questions. john roberts always helping with the fashion. i appreciate that. thank you. there is no promo. now onto your question.

thank you. >> reporter: our involvement of sending rangers and marines into syria marks a dramatic change in our presence on the ground there. i'm wondering how much autonomy is the president giving general james mattis to involve u.s. forces on the ground in syria? >> press secretary spicer: u.s. marine artillery unit intime arrangers have recently been positioned in syria to provide combined joint task force operations, the commander the agility to expedite the disruption of isis and raqqa in particular. the exact numbers and locations of the forces are still sensitive in order to protect the location of the forces, but there will be approximately an additional 400 enabling forces deployed under existing authority for a temporary period to enable rce and partner to accelerate the defeat of isis specifically and raqqa. as i've mentioned before, one of the things the president has insured is that the commanders have the flexibility to do what

they need to fulfill the mission. the president is obviously as commander-in-chief made aware and signs off on all of those missions, but at the end of the day, it's going to be up to the generals to execute their mission to make sure that we continue to defeat isis and protect the nation. >> reporter: our involvement there really complicates the whole picture because we were aligned with the kurds than the same time nato ally turkey sees them as an enemy. then there is what happens with russia and its involvement with the syrian government. the big problem with iraq was we never planned for the day after. so what are the plans for the day after here went raqqa falls, who occupies it? >> press secretary spicer: one of the things i mentioned in the script that is part of what the president has done during his first 50 days is issue an executive order on january 28th for the secretary of defense to submit a comp or has a plan with the joint chiefs and other members of the national security

team to defeat isis. that is part of that plan. i think you are seeing a comprehensive approach to not only how we are going to engage in syria, but the total defeat and elimination of isis. that is part of an ongoing process that the secretary of defense, chairman of joint chiefs and others have been involved in. >> reporter: does the president have an idea of who should occupy it? will american forces stay there? >> press secretary spicer: i think as we evolve that plan, i'll have mark do not more on that pure you've already killed one question friday, so we're going to get back to it. >> reporter: the chair and making member of the house intelligence committee have asked the justice department to turn over any information that they have that there was any wiretapping of president-elect, candidate trump at trump tower. if there is no evidence that any wiretapping took place, will the president apologize to president obama for making such a serious charge?

>> press secretary spicer: let's not get ahead of ourselves. i think it is important to see where that goes. i don't want to prejudge their work at this time. >> reporter: if there is no evidence of -- >> press secretary spicer: you are asking what if there is evidence. i'm not going to get into a series of hypotheticals prejudging the outcome of a report or investigation that has not occurred yet. i think once that is done, we will respond appropriately. >> reporter: thank you. senator cory gardner was reported by "politico" yesterday to have said he doesn't believe that a $14 billion while along the mexican border is the best way to provide border security. does the white house see support for the border while weakening in congress? >> press secretary spicer: no, the president was very clear. that was on the he campaigned on and promised the american people as an effort to protect both our national security and economic security. he is going to fulfill that pledge pure he has already sorted to rick with the department of homeland security on both the plans and funding mechanism and bidding and rfp

process, and shortly, that is a pledge he intends to maintain. >> reporter: a lot of action with healthcare lately, but april 28 is right around the corner, government funding expires. given that during the transition period, you guys asked for a short-term site you could run, what is the white house taking about a possible shutdown? i spoke to sources that cannot point specifically to it. >> press secretary spicer: director mick mulvaney is going to release his budget on the 16th. that is the first step in working with them to get the budget under control. we are approaching $20 trillion of our debt. i think we need to get spending under control. part of funding the government goes hand-in-hand with keeping track of what we are spending and how we are spending, what our priorities are.

we've become and begun that process internally with the executive branch, the director has had several conversations with members of the hill on both sides. under the vice president has been actively engaged as well. to your question, that is part of the process. we need to release a budget first of what our priorities are for the coming fiscal year. then make sure we do what we can going forward. this goes hand-in-hand with tha that. reporter mike but in order to finish out the current system -- >> press secretary spicer: that is year '17, but they go hand-in-hand. you have to close out this fy and then see where the budget goes for fy '18, and once we have a handle on it, we can start to backfill 2017. i am not going to -- i appreciate. we are not having that discussion here. >> reporter: thank you. relying on the one question friday. the president has said in the past that he welcomes compromise

and is very open to compromise on immigration legislation that is coming up. this morning, when she spoke at the christian science monitor, press preface, minority nancy pelosi said that she would like to see a conference of immigration package that passed the senate that was stopped in the house and brought back, and that was her version of a compromise on immigration. what is the administration's position on what former speaker minority leader said. >> press secretary spicer: you are referring to "gang of eight?" i think the president has been very clear that it is not a bill he supports. he looks forward to engaging with members to find a way forward to fix our broken immigration system. that bill in particular is a nonstarter, it was a nonstarter when it came out the first time. it continues to be a nonstarter, but the president recognizes the system is broken. he wants to work with congress to fix it.

>> reporter: thank you. does the white house believe there is such a thing as the "deep state" actively working to undermine the president? >> press secretary spicer: there is no question when you have eight years of one-party in office that there are people who stay in government who are affiliated with and continue to espouse the agenda of the previous administration. i don't there are people that came into government over the last administration and, you know, may have believed in that agenda and want to continue to speak it. i don't think that should come as a surprise. >> will the director of the cia have a presidential mandate to seek these people out and purge them? >> the cia, that's not part of the cia's mandate under any circumstance. no on that one. blame? >> saying president obama who deserves the