is about to resurface, the whole part of the reagan administration, which might be handy given how the epa is being handled by our president. "first look" is up next. here was the moment of truth as president trump shows america's next top supreme court justice. >> he's totally messed up, fellas, but you have to admit, he's just a different kind of guy. this is really bothering you, isn't it? >> yes, sir. >> you know what, meatloaf? then i'm going to make you very happy. gary, you're fired. luzan, you're fired. meatloaf, you're fired. judge neil gorsuch, you're very talented, you're very unique. you're an amazing guy, you're hired. >> you have to love kimmel.

president trump picked his supreme court nominee, but this morning the battle is fierce as democrats ntinue to put up a fight. and the battle over donald trump's immigration order as he says it's not a travel ban. and betsy devos is up for what some are saying character assassination. good morning, everyone. it is wednesday, february 1st. i'm alex witt alongside louis burgdorf. last night prmesident trump announced his pick for the supreme court who sits on the court of appeals. he was approved unanimously by a voice vote in 2006. his highest profile ruling siding with groups that claimed obamacare violated their

religious liberty including the hobby lobby case. he's considered a strong write we are a philosophy and mold in justice antonin scalia whose death has left the ninth seat empty for 354 days. last night donald trump kept his campaign promise and gorsuch described his cautious approach. >> months ago as a candidate, i publicly presented a list of brilliant and accomplished people to the american electorate and pledged to make my choice from among that list. millions of voters said this was the single most important issue to them when they voted for me for president. i am a man of my word. i will do as i say, something that the american people have been asking for from washington for a very, ver long time.

>> a in our legal order, is for congress to write the new laws. it's the role of judges to apply, not alter the role of the people's representatives. a judge who likes every outcome he reaches is very likely a bad judge. stretching for results he prefers rather than those the law demands. >> well, the fight is brewing on capitol hill where ideological and partisan battle lines are being drawn, where bitterness persists after no hearings were held for president obama's nomination for merrick garland that expired in january. senate judiciary chairman charles grassley said gorsuch is respected across the ideological spectrum as a mainstream judge. meantime, protest erupted outside chuck schumer's home in brooklyn, new york, where approximately 3,000 demanded a no-vote on all of trump's nominations. last night schumer knocked gorsuch's approach to workers' rights, calling them hostile to women's right and skeptical that he can be a strong independent

justice. he also said a procedural fight must insist upon 60 votes for the supreme court nominee. a bar that was met by each of president obama's nominees. that would mean senate republicans need eight democratic votes to overcome the filibuster unless they vote the nuclear option of a near majority. some senate republicans including leadership were in last night's audience at the white house. lindsey graham could not rule out the prospect of going nuclear. >> it would be sad to me if we have to go a route with a man like this, but he's going to get confirmed. you know, i took a lot of crap voting for obama's judges and thought they were qualified. i have tried to be fair to everybody as best i know how to be. i didn't think garland should have been picked in the last year of obama's term after we started the primary process. this president won. he deserves the right to pick qualified people. and this is one of the most qualified people i have ever met. >> judge neil gorsuch is about

toecome a household name, but he was not included on the first list of 11 potential court nominees released back in may. it was added to a subsequent list in september. and at 49 years old, gorsuch is the youngest nominee for the court in 25 years with 11 years on the federal bench. he has a sterling legal credential with degrees from columbia university and harvard law school where he was a classmate of president obama's. he also holds a doctorate from oxford university. he cleared two supreme court justices, byron white and anthony kennedy. he worked as an assistant in george w. bush's justice department. gorsuch's late mother ann was the head of the environmental protection agency under president ronald reagan back in the 1980s. he lives on a ranch in boulder, colorado, with two horses and a cat. and a friend recently told "the denver post" gorsuch has a lot of winston churchill quotes.

joining me from capitol hill, bob kusach, let's get a look at how contentious this is going to be that president obama's pick to fill antonin scalia's seat was never given a hearing. >> it's going to get contentious as they can force the republican hand on going nuclear as lindsey graham was talking about, but that would require 41 of 48 senators and democratic caucus to block gorsuch. gorsuch republicans said he was approved by a voice vote the last time he was up for his current courtship under george w. bush. however, this is because of the garland opposition that republicans did not schedul any type of vote or hearing on that without a doubt. there are going to be democrats

and we have already seen democrats who indicated opposition. so it's going to be a very partisan, nasty battle. >> so gorsuch joins the supreme court, bob, it's 5-4 conservative makeup in recent years, that's not going to change, but two liberals, one conservative in their 80s or just nearly there. and the trump administration could set the tone of the supreme court for generations. >> yep, that's right. hillary clinton said this is the most important election in 50 years. and because of the supreme court nominations that could happen, and even though hardiman did not win out last night, he could be the next one or perhaps bill pryor of alabama who would be very controversial probably would have forced republicans to go nuclear. but yes, trump has the ability to probably reshape the court for many decades to come. >> you know, bob, what is interesting, if you look at gorsuch and his rulings and written opinions, he's

demonstrated skepticism of the executive branch yielding decisive power. look, we know given the first few days that president trump is quite comfortable using executive authority to influence the law. do you think there's the potential that gorsuch could become a thorn in trump's side? >> you never know with these picks. it is interesting, gorsuch has said the court should basically have more power, that the agencies are given too much power as far as regulations and the things they put out. but that is the problem, is that with -- when george w. bush nominated chief justice roberts, all the conservatives loved him. but then, of course, we had the two big obamacare decisions that robert sided with obama. so you just never know. honestly, these nominees are going to be pressed, what do you think of this? what do you think of that? and their best answer is to dodge the question. >> okay, bob kusach, we'll see if they do so.

thank you so much. and to the other big story in the ongoing fury over the president's travel ban on seven majority muslim nations. and now the white house is saying it's not a ban at all. nbc white house correspondent kristen welker explains. >> reporter: days after president trump's immigration order, the white house still under fire. house speaker paul ryan criticizing how it was handled. >> i think it's regrettable that there was confusion on the rollout of this. >> reporter: moments later the homeland security secretary coming out to respond to critics, denying reports he had not been notified about the order ahead of time. >> i had an opportunity to look at at least two as i recollect drafts. >> reporter: secretary john kelly saying the move which temporarily us is spends travel from seven majority muslim nations is not targeting a religion but instead aimed at countries he says are not providing critical security information about travelers. >> this is not, i repeat, not a ban on muslims. >> reporter: and the white house insisting it's not a travel ban at all. >> it's not a travel ban.

>> reporter: despite president trump calling it a ban over the weekend. >> we're going to have a very, very strict ban. >> reporter: and again on twitter -- the president himself called it a ban. >> i understand. >> reporter: is he confused or are you confused? >> no, i'm not confused. i think the words that he used is derived from what the media is calling this. he says it is extreme vetting. democrats on the senate finance committee boycotted votes on the nominees for both health and treasury departments once again delaying the confirmation process. democrats are accusing steve mnuchin and tom price of misleading congress. ranking member senator ron widen cited the wall street journal article claiming congressman price received stock at a discount contrary to his testimony. as far as treasury nomin steve mnuchin, democrats cited a "columbus dispatch" article of him lying against robo signings

on foreclosures. >> we're just say, we're not going to this committee today because we want the committee to regroup, get the information, have these two nominees come back in front of the committee, clarify what they lied about and apologized for that. it will give us the information that we all need for our states. >> committee chair orin hatch insisted news cameras get footage of the empty chairs on the panel mincing no words when rebuking democratic colleagues. >> it's unbelievable. they are going to vote no. they have made that very clear in their multiple press releases and press conferences. so i think they aught to stop posturing and acting like idiots. this is the most pathetic thing i have seen in my whole time in the united states senate. i think my colleagues, once they

really think it through, may very well say, yeah, that was stupid of us. because it really is stupid. amazingly stupid. >> republicans made a similar move against the epa administrator back in 2013, louis. and now the confirmation for jeff sessions as attorney general was also delayed yesterday. democrats used procedural moves to stall the hearing by giving lengthy speeches, democrats triggered a rule that doesn't allow committee members meetings to be in session more than two hours past the opening of the senate. senators like dianne feinstein questions sessions to be objective after accusing him of being staunchly partisan. john cornan dismissed this from his colleagues. >> he has attended 25 trump campaign events. he wore the hat and spoke at large rallies smiling while

crowds chanted lock her up. it is very difficult to reconcile for me the independence and objectivity necessary for the position of attorney general. >> our democratic colleagues decided that resistance is their chosen response. yes, hillary clinton won the popular election, but that doesn't make a beans worth of difference. i hope at some point our democratic colleagues will get past their anger and come to accept the verdict of the american people and work with us. >> now a new hearing to vote on sessions' nomination will take place this morning at 10:30. >> we'll watch that carefully. still ahead, president trump outlines his plan to beef up government-wide cyber security. plus, the gloves come off and it is one war of words between cavaliers star lebron james and nba commentator charles barkley.

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president trump has postponed plans to sign an executive order launching a revamp of the federal government's cyber security systems. the white house announced the delay on the order yesterday but did not give a reason for the move. the decision followed the president's meeting in the afternoon on cyber security where he discussed the threats facing the government's systems. mr. trump cited the cyber attacks on the democratic national committee as an example while also taking shots at the group. >> despite having spent hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, more money than we did, the democratic national committee was hacked successfully, very successfully.

and terribly, frankly. and the republican national committee was not hacked, meaning it was hacked but they failed. and it was reported, i believe, by reince and other people that it was hacked, but we had a very strong defense system against hacking. so despite spending a lot less money than the democrats, and in all fairness winning, people don't say that, we spent a lot less money and we won. >> a report now from former u.s. intelligence officials released last month that president trump and former president obama revealed that russian hackers attacked republican-affiliated organizations but chose not to make any of the stolen data public. that report made no specific reference to the rnc. several days after that report was issued, fbi director james comey testify in the senate hearing that the russian hackers had breached the rnc's computer records but called it a limited penetration of an old computer system that was no longer in use. officials previously said that

while both parties were targeted as part of the month's long operation, the democrats were the focus of more sustained and determined breaches. let's get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, snow exiting the northeast, but if you live in the south, the weather is nice. >> yeah, what a january. we just got finished with that and we continue into the 70s for arizona and florida. everyone is enjoying spring-like weather. but not the case in new england, we had snow yesterday afternoon and into the evening. a little bit overnight with still some snow showers leftover, so if you have to dust the car off in massachusetts and near harper and the boston area, only an additional one to two inches at most in northern new england. not expecting a lot of additional snowfall. where the is the snow? this is the snow depth map. this winter was the story of all the snow in the west. we have done pretty well up in north dakota and our northern portions of maine, but you notice a lack of snow. we haven't had a lot of snow in the ohio valley, especially around kansas city, st. louis,

chicago has only had 18 inches. typically 20 by this time. st. louis is one inch of snow this winter. typically you have ten. we have not had much snow around the nation's capital. cleveland has been okay, a little below average. same with indianapolis. and washington, d.c., i was mentioning, they have only received an inch and a half this winter. typically eight inches in philadelphia. and new york city hasn't had much either. there's no snow on the way in the next five to ten days. and a very mild day out there, 73 in dallas. 70 in atlanta. certainly doesn't look like the beginning of february. >> all i know is it's been epic in this year in nevada. i mean -- >> some areas have gotten winter of all time, but it hasn't been shared across the country. >> no. they got hit hard and now the drought is looking much better. thank you, bill. still ahead, the billionaire throws the oakland raiders for a loss in las vegas. sports is next. constipated?

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time now for sports as they announce a stadium in las vegas. one day after billionaire casino magnet sheldon adelson said the lease agreement presented to the stadium authority.

goldman sachs says they will partner up for the raiders stadiu and now to the nba with a rough start to the new year for the cleveland cavaliers and lebron james with a 104-97 loss to the mavericks monday night. frustrated with the team's recent performance, james called out the front office which garnered criticism from current tnt analyst charles barkley. james who perceived barkley's comments as disrespect to my legacy, responded after monday's loss calling barkley a hater. james told espn, quote, i'm not the one who threw somebody through a window. i never spit on a kid. i never had unpaid debt in las vegas. i never said, i'm not a role model. i never showed up to an all-star weekend on a sunday because i was in vegas all weekend partying. all i've done for my entire year

is represent the nba the right way. 14 years, never got into trouble. respect the game, print that. barkley responded to james' rant in a radio interview yesterday. >> for one, i have no problem with what lebron said. some of it was true. i did pay my debt, that's not true. i was never late to the all-star game. so that is not true. but i don't overreact, i'm not going to say anything bad about him or get personal. some of the things he said about me are correct. that does not make my message incorrect. i thought he was really whiny and complaining and just thought, dude, you just won the championship. it's the middle of the season and you're backing your teammates. i think that wasn't right. >> barkley not fighting back as hard as i thought he would there. in other nba headlines, an estimated $300,000 worth of jewelry was burglarized from the california home of head coach

derek fisher from the knicks on monday night. among the stolen goods are reportedly all five of fisher's championship rings, one during his time with the lakers. >> i think there's a new threat online, print that! >> lebron not happy. still ahead, homeland security secretary john kelly tries to set straight the immigration order. and betsy devos clears one hurdle but now facing plagiarism allegations. those stories when we come back. then she came to louisiana as a slave. i became curious where in africa she was from. so i took the ancestry dna test to find out more about my african roots. the ancestry dna results were really specific. they told me all of these places in west africa. i feel really proud of my lineage, and i feel really proud of my ancestry. ancestry has many paths to discovering your story,

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welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt alongside louis burgdorf we are approaching the bottom of the hour and are starting out with the top stories. three of donald trump's cabinet nominees are one step closer to nomination. governor rick perry advances to the energy department. and ryan zinke's nomination is also moving forward. and linda mcmahon has been approved to run the business administration. and the battle over the dakota access pipeline is heating up. the active secretary of the army instructed the army corps of engineers to issue the final permit. the standing tribe has protested the