and building bridges. a new secretary of state creating thousands of chairing state department employees an hour ago and reaching out to his new team. >> well, my first day is here. i'm on the job. hi, i'm the new guy. plus, pass/fail a critical test for the proposed education secretary as her nomination now hang in the balance. now two republicans senators are breaking ranks pledging to vote against her. we'll talk to one of them in a moment. good day, everyone i'm andrea mitchell in washington where white house press secretary sean spicer is going to be tackling a laundry list of critical issues facing president trump right now. joining me now, white house correspondent kristen welker. first of all we saw the

president at the national prayer breakfast talking about these phone calls. first the phone call with the australian prime minister, one of our closest allies, someone who represents a country who haas more troops deployed as part of our coalition begins against isis in iraq than any other country. they have lost 42 i think troops in afghanistan. a war not theirs except this they are doing what allies do. and they have been with us in every war since world war i. how do you explain that. >> reporter: well it's striking andrea. what we are seeing i think is a president trump really following through with some of the heated rhetoric that we heard on the campaign trail. in this instance, the unlying reason for that heated phone call with the prime minister of australia was the revelation that with the obama administration they had struck a deal for the united states to welcome in more than 1200 refugees who would go through the normal vetting process that refugees go through, a two-year

vetting process. and president trump taking exception to that, infuriated by that. in fact saying that it could ultimately lead to exporting the next boston bomber. so some really heated talk there in that conversation. now white house officials down playing it saying, look, this is all a part of the typical diplomatic discussions that go back and forth between world leaders. but the reality is, andrea, what you point out and what you have underscored, that this is one of the united states' closest allies particularly in the fight against terrorism, the fight against isis. so how might this impact or royal the australians. the prime minister really trying to down play this as well. what we do know is that the call lasted 25 minutes. it was shorter than expected. and the white house is acknowledging that it was blunt. sean spicer hopefully will have more details because we will undoubtedly press him on the

details of the call and the potential fallout. >> and do you believe it, the obama administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants, i will study this dumb deal. first of all it's 1200 refugees. not illegal immigrants. this from prime minister trum bull reporting. >> the call ended courteousy. as far as the nature of the discussion it was very frank and forth right. i stand up for australia's interests, i make australia's case as powerfully and persuasively as i can wherever i am. >> clear, when he says frank and forthright, that means it was blunt. that's what the white house was saying. but the white house spin was, well, that australia needs the u.s. more than the u.s. needs australia. i think we need our allies, our

military allies all around the world. >> that was a point that former president obama stressed, andrea. in 2011 he traveled to australia why to tout an expanded military agreement with australia. so the previous administration had a very different view in terms of that type of relationship between allies. but as you point out, this administration is taking the stance that australia needs the united states more. the australian prime minister, though, digging in his heels, choosing his words carefully, andrea, but digging in his heels saying i will stand up for australia as well. the tweet by president trump is significant, i think, beuse you do have a disparit betwn what the australian prime minister is saying. he is saying that president trump said that he would follow through with the agreement to take those refugees. but if you read president trump's tweet, it indicates that he is reconsidering the

agreement. so that's something that we are going to need to press sean spicer on and get an answer to. is he in fact reconsidering the terms of that deal. >> kristen welker thank you so much. william cohen is a republican senator from maine who served as secretary of defense as to former president bill clinton and joins me now. as secretary of defense a number of thing would be facing jim mattis today. he arrived this morning in south korea. neighboring of course is north korea with its threats of a long range missile that could reach the couldn'tmental united states. we don't know if that is brag organ empty threat or not. here you have got the national security adviser 24 hours ago really dialing up the rhetoric against iran. iran has been provocative against the saudis, against our ships in that area, in yemen, in the straits as well as of course the missile test. but in the past the obama administration did not take such forceful rhetorical action

against iran after missile tests. was it appropriate? >> well i think it's appropriate to send a signal to iran that if you continue to engage in conduct which threatens the safety of the united states or our allies will there will be consequences. about you to simply utter a threat which is undefined or ill defined which is a appropriate without having a plan in terms of exactly what you will do if they continue this action i think creates a problem. so maybe they do have a contingency plan, which they call conops which if iran continues to do something they maintain is illal. >> the u.n. says it has not decided whether that missile test vie lights a u.n. res loougs. >> they maintain it is perfectly legal under international law. that's to be decided. i think we have to be careful with the words we use. igs i was thinking about the exchange between the president and the prime minister of

australia. there is a persian poet who said enhance your words, lower your voice. it's rain that makes the flowers bloom, not thunder. i think those are good words to live by in terms of let's be careful with the words we use. don't just increase the voice or shout. make sure that we speak clearly, carefully, and understand what we are trying to produce, how we are trying to make things flower. and i think with australia they are one of our closest allies. we need them. and to say that they need us more than we need them, that's just putting a finger in the eye of the australians. so i think that we need to take care, take care how we treat south korea, which is in a period of turmoil right now politically. >> presidential impeachment. >> yeah, the impeachment. you have the head of samsung that's under investigation. and now you are telling them you are not paying enough. maybe you should go nuclear. or japan, you should go nuclear.

this is bound to upset some of our closest allies in terms of their relyians upon us. so i think we -- i think the president needs to do what he said he was going to do when he campaigned. he said once elected, i can be very eggs were. well, he's president. he's not yet presidential. i need to see him become more presidential in how he treats our allies. he has accused virtually all of our allies, all except u.s. are. this is the mazing thingbout it. you can criticize the germ nance, the australians, the mexicans, everyone across the world, japan, south korea, but not russia? a phone call with putin, we got the readout from the white house said that certainly there was never any mention of the hacking allegations of the election. no mention of trouble in ukraine. we have got a shooting war going on right now in ukraine, increased violence. >> right. >> and russia's very much a part of that. and at the same time going after

iran, which is the ally of russia and syria. if we are going to rely on russia to solve the syrian problem how are we going to deal with russia's ally propping up assad, iran. >> or russia propping up iran. yes, that's a key issue. if you start to lay down a threat and you are thinking in terms of military threat, then the likelihood is you will find russia spending some time in the region. >> what are some of the potential unintended consequences? you have got mike flynn coming out and putting iran on notice, not explaining really what that means. we've got a lot of ships in that area, in the area around yemen. they have got ships. they have got missiles 678 you could have something happen accidentally or on purpose. that could lead to a shooting war. >> if it does, the world economying ises going to be affected by night cratered. >> any time that you have an interruption of the flow of energy coming out of the middle east then the world economy can

go into a dive, deep one. we have to take care to make sure we have lines of communication, where we are, where they are, what's acceptable or not. the way to do it is through diplomacy. it shouldn't be conducted by a bull horn. it needs to be conducted with an amount of discreteness, behind close doors with an agenda that has been fully vetted by your team. namely state department, defense department, your cia, et cetera. all the players of the team have to be involved on theame page. we found from those executive orders that were signed by the president homeland security wasn't even advised what the contents were. i think this question of process -- it also may be a tactic. it's almost to me as if it's a football game and you are playing a no huddle offense. so that you go up to the line, execute this plan, try to confuse the defense, keep them

on their heels so they can't really defend against you. that seems to be the game plan, no huddle offense, keep them on the defense. tire them out so they can't complain about anything. >> perfect kegway, rex tillerson, an oil executive. he comes into the room today, i was in the room. he hits all the right notes. conclusion, this has been a contested election, whatever our personal views we have the same mission. i have your backs i want to make you safe, your families safe, we have to think about the mission, there will be some change, we are not going to do thing the old way. but what people want to hear is does he have a seat at the table? we have had plenty of experiences, you have seen it yourself, where secretaries of state are not listened to in the white house. and now you have got a team in the white house a social, a chief strategist and others who are at the table already. will rex tillerson be heard?

will jim mattis be heard? >> i think they will, or they will have to leave. i think it is a sign onto the president's team. that's a commitment. mr. president i'm going to serve. there may come a time when i find that i am not able to do my job effectively that i can no longer carry out those responsibilities. i'm not sure that will happen in the up front. they will wait to see what kind of role they are playing and if theyind themselves marginalized or diminished or in any way cut out of the process at that point their pride align would say i can no longer serve you mr. president and i must resign. >> rex tillerson, with his knowledge of russia and the middle east, does he bring something from the business world. does he have a skill set that might be able to perhaps moderate the view about the islamic world that we seem to be hearing from the white house

both during the campaign and now. >> rex tillerson is a serious man. he is a man with great gravitas. when he walks into the room you know you are dealing with a man of substance. so i will hope that president trump having picked him and selected him you turn to him and say this is my man, this is the person i look to to help formulate policy, and consistent my own views but to formulate it in a way that it's effective. i believe that rex tillerson has that capability and will serve him well. if he's allowed to do his job and not be undermined by others in the inner circle. >> william cohen, as always, thank you so much. good to see you. now the confirmation of president trump's controversial choice for education secretary has hit a surprising roadblock as two republican senators say they will vote against betsy devos giving democrats two of at least three republican votes they would need to block that appointment. republican alaska senator mcikowski joins me bra capitol

hill. senator, thank you very much. good to see you the reasons for you to break ranks with your party and the republican leaders and oppose the president on this nomination? >> believe me, it's not easy as you try to@siqx through a pick of nominees. i have historically given deference to the president as he names people to his cabinet, whether it be president bush, president obama or now president trump. i have spent long hours not only meeting personally with mrs. devos but reviewing her testimony, her comments that she gave back to me, her testimony within the committee. i recognize that i represent a state for whom a strong public education system is an absolute must. so many of alaska's communities will never have an opportunity

for school choice because they are too small. they are too remote. we struggle gaining teachers. and trying to convey the unique aspects of alaska, how our children true deserve a strong robust education but making sure that that strong publ edation stem ithere, i didn't have the confidence i needed to provide my support for mrs. devos. >> right now our own whip count probably yours as well is that it's 50/50. this could be the first time the vice president mike pence is going to have to break that tie and cast the decisive vote to confirm her if this holds and if there are no further developments. >> keep in mind what i have done again historically throughout my time here in the senate is to provide an opportunity for the president's nominees to move through the committee process, to move through the floor

process, to get to the floor so he or she can be considered by the full united states senate. and so i have allowed that process to go forward. i have stated my intentions. and i hope that other colleagues will make clear their positions and mrs. devos will either move forward with the support from the advice and consent process or -- or she will not. >> speaking of the advice and consent process, i want to ask you something that i have been noticing. and i don't know whether this is legal precedent or whether this is just practice and deference to the senate in the confirmation process. but i've noticed at the cabinet table in the roosevelt room in meetings a number of nominees sitting in meetings with the president and outside visitors substantive meetings where they are discussing cyber security, where today they are discussing trade and they have not yet been

confirmed. i have never seen that before. i have never seen nominees who have not yet gone through the process and gotten confirmed and sworn in participating in the work of government. >> well, i do think that the effort to ensure that a president has his full cabinet, has that compliment, has his am in place as quickly as possible is important to just the day to day operation and functioning of what has to happen. if you will look at the rate within which the nominees have been delayed by the democrats to this point in time -- when you go back to obama's first term and how we allowed for the process to work to move these nominees -- yesterday was a situation where in order to get rex tillerson to the floor the series of procedural votes that we had to go through just to get to that place -- again, what this does is it delays the

confirmation. it delays the president the opportunity to assemble his team, to have those men and women on whom he is going to be relying for these very important decisions. >> let me just suggest to you that in many cases these were nominees who did not send their ethics reports up. who did not go through that fbi clearance process. so there was a delay in getting these nominations done and getting their paperwork to the senate. so it's hard to ask for them to schedule a hearing. in some cases i agree with you, there were obstructions. >> i think it is important to recognize that making sure that that paperwork is there and complete. but, again, whether it is -- whether it is mr. tillerson or anyone else, just making sure that now that they have made it through the committee process that they be allowed to proceed quickly through the floor. and that's where we are seeing the hold up right now. >> let me just ask you a quick question about some breaking news. we are going to get a report from peter alexander momentarily

that the treasury department is now asking to ease the sanctions on russia's fsb, which is the successor intelligence agency to the kgb and was one of the intelligence agencies that was sanctioned by the obama administration as a result of the russian hacking. do y have a quick response to that, the easing of the sanctions before a full investigation and report to the american people? >> i think -- i think that's something that we need to look at very critically, very carefully. i have been supportive of the sanctions that have been put in place. and so, again, i'm going to want to take a very hard look at this. >> thank you very much senator. thank you for your indulgence on all this -- a lot of breaking news these days. >> yeah. >> and we will be following that confirmation process. now peter alexander on the phone, our national correspondent who has been covering the white house and has the latest on this. peter? >> we are getting new details on exactly what is happening here. but here's theest about of our

understanding having spoken to people very familiar with the relationship between the united states and russia. they say based on what was just published on the treasury's website, this is the treasury department saying that it's going to allow companies to do some transactions with russia's security service, fsb, as you said, which is important because that is the successor to the kgb, the most coercive agency in the russian state as it was described to me by this expert moments ago excite the sanctions that had been put in place by former president obama. u.s. intelligence agencies accused the fsb of being involved in the hacking the interfering in the 2016 presidential election here as well. they specifically say they are going to allow some companies to do some transactions with the fsb. we are trying to get the

language more specifically but this is breaking as we speak to you right now. >> thank you peter alexander. bill cohen is still with us. bill, it does seem this is the fit step towards easing sanctions on vladimir putin's intelligence service? >> what we have to think about is russia conducted an attack upon the heart of our democratic system, which prompted the imposition of sanction. for the president to now send the signal that he is going to weaken those sanctions will undermine all of our allies who have followed our lead and will be the reward president putin for not only having annexed crimea, destabilized the rest of ukraine, but attacked the united states through a cyber attack trying to alter our election. so this is another example -- did the secretary of state -- did mr. tillerson get a briefing

before this decision? did the treasury department solely make this decision. this is not working in the fashion that needs to work. but if it's going to be ad hoc, we are going to have another rabbit hole we are running down. we are running down this rabbit hole from yesterday's -- he is going to keep everybody guessing, on their feet and not being really able to focus on the key issues. that is focus on what needs to be done to preserve this cup. i think we have a real problem for news well, there is a principles committee. and there is a deputies committee. there are numerous committees that are very important working groups that are subsets of the nsc. right now you don't have the principles committee, don't have the deputies committee. you don't have deputies in any of the these departments, to say nothing of cabinet secretaries. and you don't have anyone other than the people immediately

around the president, steve bannon, who is on the principles committee by the way by memo from the white hse a seat at the table. not like david axelrod sitting in the back. but sitting at the table helping to develop the presidents that are then present fahd the president. but we have not had a single meeting of the nsc or any of the other groups. it seems very ad hoc. >> it reminds me of back during the nixon era when president nixon offered transcripts of the tapes that were recording conversations. and many of those transcripts had material not relevant deleted. i'm thinking here there is a comparability here because he is saying we'll let the chairman of the joint kmeefs and we will let senator dan coates in on issues which involve their interests. who determines that? you are cutting the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff? he ought to be in every meeting unless he united states not to come. not to have the white house

decide the chairman of the joint chiefs really doesn't need to be here. why not? let me point out you were a freshman house member in the impeachment of richard nixon. you had to deal with this in real time and had to deal with the challenge of the impeachment of your own president. >> i did. i am hoping president trump issing go to be successful. i don't want to see him fail. i know he's carrying out promises that he made. but i think he has to carry them out in a way that respects the process whereby you can have a formulation of a comprehensive policy so you don't treat every issue as a transaction. if you treat every issue as a transaction as you do in business then you have no theme you have no overall comprehensive strategy. so if you take an action in one place it may in fact disrupt a policy in another. i would like to see a comprehensive strategy one that is formulated by the entire team. >> what you are seeing at the

white house speaking of strategy is a photo tune with harley. you have got the harleys there on the driveway. the president and the vice president shaking hands. he was originally thought to be going to the harley manufacturing center, but they came to him. we don't know if the president is going to speak but there is clearly one of those moments. we had him at the prayer breakfast today saying some serious things, important things, talking about the controversy over his phone calls, saying sometimes you have to make these tough phone calls. i don't know why you would make them to allies. but that will be explained and praumly answered at the white house briefing. but he also talked about the ratings for the celebrity apprentice and got into an exchange with his successor, around schwarzenegger about trading jobs. i think the president may be taking the microphone. while we sit here and watch this, i wanted to bring in senator jeff merkley from the

hill who seed on t senate foreign relations comittee. as we are watching is on the white house lawn what about the report that they are easing or lifting the sanctions that were imposed on russian intelligence for the hacking into a u.s. election? >> andrea, i'm really shocked about this. because the behavior of russia in invading and annexing crimea and their activities in eastern ukraine certainly merited sanked and we helped lead the world in applying those sanctions. certainly to condone such conduct throws huge waves into our alliances, into our sense of purpose, into the clarity in regards to the principles at stake. and for this to come on top of russia having been involved in hacking the u.s. election and amplifying false news stories is really a terrible development.

>> at this stage also we see that there are cabinet secretaries participating in meetings, in working sessions at the white house who have not yet been confirmed. now the allegation is that the democrats slow walked these confirmations. is this press deputy that cabinet nominees should not do any work until they are confirmed? is there any legal statute? >> i can't speak to the precedent. when somebody is in en route to being confirmed lots of conversations are taking place with the incoming administration. i think there has been no consultation with the foreign relations committee here in the senate. you don't have the teams in place to thoroughly analyze the impact on our alliances. there probably wasn't a cohesive set of options laid out with input from the career members of our state department. we can't just handle foreign affairs as something like you

wake up and just today i'm going to do x, y, or z. and you throw in the additional conversations the president has been having with foreign leaders that seem completely off message and insulting in some cases. i just hope we are not going to stumble into a war in the process. but a lot of concern about the shoot from the hip foreign policy we've seen over the last few days. >> the conversation with the australian prime minister and the president's tweet last night saying that he's going to revisit this agreement on taking what he called illegal immigrants, which thousands of illegal imfrantz in his words which are in fact 1200 refugees who have been vetted in the agreement that president obama made with the australians. is this a bad deal that needs to be revisited? >> well, the refugees are the most vetted individuals to come to our country. if you are concerned about

security, you should be concern about business visas and student visas. we are all concerned about security. but refugees go through extensive, extensive vetting and so to target this particular agreement seems like completely misplaced energy in terms of national security. meanwhile, the ban on muslims is also greatly endangering our national security because it feeds right into isis's recruiting strategy who say that america is against islam, is -- doesn't respect it and is conducting a war against it. and so there has been several actions in the last few days that really damage our national security and our leadership in the world. >> what about putting iran on notice as the national security adviser did? iran has been aggressive, has fired missile tests, has gone after saudi ships and u.s. war ships. >> absolutely. and so the administration needs to carefully think about where

it draws the line. the challenge with what michael flynn did is it's not clear what line he was drawing or what it means, custom is a -- therefore may make it ineffective or lead to a misunderstanding that could make the situation worse. >> senator mccain spoke to the australian ambassador here in washington and spoke afterwards and i wanted to play some of that for you. >> in the last 99 years we have had a close and best relationship with australia. they fought alongside us in wars, including losing over 500 behave australians in the vietnam war, which some of us remember. and this, in my view, was an unnecessary and, frankly, harmful, open dispute over an issue which is not nearly important as united states/australian cooperation

and working together, including training of our marines in australia and other areas of military cooperation and intelligence. >> the president says don't worry about some of these tense calls with allies because it's just the u.s. reasserting itself. >> i don't have any comment. i just know what -- the importance of the relationship between the united states and australia is of the most and greatest importance. and i'm concerned about the effect of this difference and issue on the australian people. >> senator merkley, former senator bill cohen is with me at the table. bill, you served many years with john mccain. i saw you kind of flinch and smile when you watched his response. he have biting his tongue. >>yes, i [ expletive ] completely agree with senator

mccain on this. we have such a close alliance with australia. they have been with us in many moments when very few in the world have been with us. and they deserve every respectful dialogue. and this phone call certainly was a jarring diversion from the way the relationship should be conducted. >> and senator bill cohen, former secretary bill cohen, your take on what john mccain had to say? >> i agree completely with john. john and i have been friends for a long time. i was the best man at john's wedding. he and i traveled the world many times. i have respect for hip and i consider him to be a hero of the united states. i want to come back to the issue about the issue of presumption of confirmation. when i was being vetted for secretary of defense, under no circumstances could i go near the pentagon or in any way

presume that i was going to be confirmed. and that has been true of general mattis, who is now secretary mattis and other individuals. you cannot presume confirmation and should not. and to have those individuals in the room assuming that they are part of the administration before they have either completed all of the requirements or the vetting and before a vote is really not acceptable. >> bill cohen. senator jeff merkley thank you investment we are going to cut to the white house previous wing and sean spicer. >> you saw b the roll, the folks from harley rolling in literally so i'm going to keep this quick. the president signed a proclamation ushering in black history. he looks forward to the months of event honoring the enormous contributions that african-americans made throughoutur history. last night the president was honored to host the swearing in of the next secretary of state rex tillerson in the oval office of. as the president said last night

rex is a man who is already respected around the world for the tremendous life he has led and now will bring the his experience to making our country more prosperous and more secure. he will strengthen our alliances form new ones and enhance america's interests throughout the world. speaking of the president's excellent nominees, praise is pouring in from around the country for his pick for security. the detroit news said judge gorsuch is a quote legal super star. an outstanding choice says the new hampshire union leader. the initial dispatch says the initial reaction was to cheer. the sun sentinel touted his quote national qualifications. yesterday judge gorsuch had his first meeting on the hill. from everything we heard, the judge knocked it out of the park on the senate as well. the president looks forward to a fair and speedy confirmation

process for this exceedingly qualified nominee and jurist. in my last briefing i read out a list of the senators judge gorsuch has met with. in addition to mcconnell, cornan, grassley and hatch and gardener, the judge also met with manchin. reernl senator manchin expressed his belief the judge could hit 60 votes. i agree with the senator there. we have to have a few trump state democrats who want to win re-election. as i pointed out yesterday the so-called 60 vote standard is simply not accurate. democrats are grasping at straws to block the confirmation of an unquestionly qualified nominee. i'll repeat neither of the two security justices that president obama put target were subject to the 60 vote threshold. i agree with senator manchin that judge gorsuch will get enough democrats to get to 60 it's not ever been a

requirement. on to the events of today. the president started the day by taepting the national prayer breakfast. it is a traditional that goes back over six decades. the president thank people for the thanks and prayers noting that the five words he heard more than any others as he traveled throughout the country are i'm praying for you. he spoke at length of the isis genocide against christians and the peace loving muslims and the threats of extinction against the jewish people and made it clear the united states has a moral obligation to speak out against such violence. he encouraged the united states to became a environment where all fait can be safe. he has taken action to ensure that the united states will not allow a beachhead of intolerance to spread throughout our nation. in the coming days we will develop a system to help ensure that's admitted into our country

fully embrace our values of personal and religious liberty and reject oppression or discrimination. the president also committed to getting rid of the johnson amendment. in a particular poignant moment the president recalled yesterday his visit to dover air force base to join the family of chief ryan owens 'as america's fallen hero was returned home. as an honor for giving his life, he president john 15:13. greater love have a man than this than a man who laid down his life to protect. after that, he had a meeting in the oval office with his team -- outreach is underway on capitol hill and we look forward to the judge receiving a swift and fair

hearing. pruitt was voted out of the committee. the democrats again boycotted the hearing requiring a success essential of the rules in order to advance his nomination. following the strategy session, the president met with senators hatch, widen, and brady and neil. this meeting was an opportunity to meet with the chairmen and ranking members of the senate finance committee and the house weighs and means committee to help u.s. trade policy. the president put together an all-star trade team that will work closely to craft new trade deals. the president expressed his concern time andin with nafta which he believes is an outof date agreement. the ultimate goal is to ensure that the best and fairest treatment of u.s. workers and businesses and the president believes those interests are best secured by bilateral rather than multilateral trade deals. he looks forwards to working closely with the u.s. tr and

congress on the issue of trade. it is no supplies this afternoon that the president will host a meeting and listening session with harley scutt rifs and individuals. harley davidson has been an american success story since 1901 when william s. harley at age 21 completed the blueprint drawing of an engine designed to fit into a bicycle. in 1923 he began building motorcycles in the united states. they have 6,000 employees and $6 billion in revenue. their headquarters are located in milwaukee wisconsin. today the president will welcome to the white house the latest generation of harley davidson executives to discuss how to make it easier for businesses to create more jobs and factories in the united states. beyond the company scuttives resepect tiffs from the machinist and steelworkers union will be in attendance. their motorcycle carry our

service members in war. police officers, secret service as they protect our presidents and bring joy to millions of millions of americans and others throughout the world. the president is looking forward to hosting these leaders from one of america's great entrepreneurial success stories. the president is focused on restoring a government that puts their interested first. mike flynn announced additions to the nsc senior sufficient. kapler will be a deputy assistant. john eisenberg. kevin herrington, deputy assistant to the president for strategic planning. and kenneth jester, deputy assistant to the president for international economic affairs. lastly we had a great reduction to your skype introduction seats. i know we have had a tremendous amount of questions coming in from around the country. contact the press conference if you know of anyone who has an

interesting in joining us in the future. tomorrow, the president will host a strategic and follow policy forum, will have lunch with general flynn before departing to mara lago later in the day. with that i'll take some questions. katie pavlich. >> today president trump talked about christian genocide at the national prayer breakfast. and last year president obama officially declared genocide. now that rex tillerson has been sworn in what is the administration planning to do to comply with the legal obligations to protect these groups of the 1948. >> that's a great question. mr. tillerson is learning his way. i think there will be further guidance right now his job is to

get in, get settled talk to the employees. back to the issue, offers leap it's important to the president, during and through the campaign, it's something he addressed this morning and it's something he is committed to, talked about in terms of the executive orders and allowing christian minorities in key countries to seek asylum in the united states. he recognizes that in so many nations these are the oppressed groups in accordance with how the u.n. defines refugees. i think you will see further guidance for that. jennifer wyssen. >> two questions today. today the president renewed his promise to protect religious liberty. some see that as kpoed for discrimination. >> right. >> can you give us a sense of how the president view this is tension. >> it is an interesting question because i do -- i -- you know, this is something that comes up quite a bit. i think there is a line. people should -- we have freedom of religion in this country. and i think people should be able to practice their religion, express their religion, express areas of their faith without

reprisal. and i think that pendulum sometimes swings the other way in the name of political correctness. and i think the president and the vice president both understand that one of the things that makes our country and this democracy so great is our ability to express our religion, to believe in faith, to express it, and to live by it. and that's where i think the important part is. whether it is a small business owner or an employee, he wants to have some degree of expression of faith at the company. too often those voices get pushed out in the name of political correctness. he is going to continue to make sure that we not only speak up for it but find ways in which we can keep that line a little less blurred and make sure that the pendulum doesn't swing against people. we shouldn't impose a religion on anybody. we are free to express our religion or be, you know, not have one. that's obviously under our in our country, an equally valid way of living your life. but at the same time, i think

people who want to express their faith shouldn't be ostracized because they want to live that. major? >> if you could give us an example, of you couldings of a pendulum swing flag the direction of political correctness. and how is that going to inform the president with a executive orders. a draft is circulating around town. many wondered if that is going to be a way to either silence those on the left or be a threat to the lgbt community. lk us through both those. >> i think if you look back to the little sisters case. if you look back to other businesses that were under -- >> hobby lobby in that category? >> i would. i think there is several businesses several institutions catholic institutions and others that have been mandated or apparently attempted to mandate certain things they may or may not do or how they have to treat their employs employees. those are examples of the

pendulum the either way. where you are not allowing businesses to conduct themselves according to their faith or moral compass. there is clearly a lot of evidence in the last couple of years of the government coming in with regulations and policies that frankly denied people the ability to live according to their faith. >> from the president's point of view that's discriminatory in itself. >> i think where the president is you don't penalize someone for wanting to express their faith. and to the extent we can keep that line less blurred and make sure that people are equally comfortable in the workplace. but we shouldn't penalize people or mandate them to abide by policies or regulations which are in direct tricks to their faith. >> what about the executive order? >> there is right now no executive orders that are official or able to read out. we maintain that. there is nothing new on that front. until we have -- >> religion freedom laws.

>> there are a lot of ideas being floated out. i mentioned this the last couple of days. but that doesn't mean -- part of it, as the president does all the time, he asks for input and asks for ideas. on a variety of subjects. there are staffing procedures that go on where people have a thought or on idea and it goes through the process. until the president makes up his mind and gives feedback decides that's final there is nothing else. >> in light of the tgedy that happened in quebec city last week which president trudeau is calling an act of terrorism, what initiatives is the president taking to make sure that kind of homegrown terrorism or violence doesn't happen in our country? >> a number of things of he is looking at it from every angle. the first thing is to look at our borders. you have got to protect your own people first, then look at the cyber threats. there is a holistic approach

between immigration and nexus between immigration and national security and personal security. that he has to look at. it is a multitiered step. you look at the borders, who we are letting in. then you look at what we are doing internally with the intelligence agencies with the fbi up to make sure we are looking at whether it's the cyber threats that we face or other terrorist activities but making sure we are working with the nsa and the fbi to be ahead of the curve, if you will. >> if i may, oklahoma city was an american kid. >> sure. that's what i'm saying. part of it is looking at -- using the assets that we have here, the nsa, the fbi, looking at and using the different agencies to see if we can get ahead of the curve and see thing. a lot of times that's been a very big issue is getting ahead of the curve for when they are tell tale signs, having reporting systems up, working with the various agencies. but it is a multieffort process, if you will. kristen. >> sean, thank you. why is the administration eases

sanctions against -- >> we are not easing sanctions. the treasury department, from what i understand it is a fairly common practice for the treasury department after sanctions are put in place to go back and to look at whether or not there needs to be specifi carve outs for different you know either industries or products and services that need to be going back and forth. but i would refer you back to the treasury department on that one. >> hold on sean, the language on the treasury department website suggests that you are in fact easing sanctions and authorizing certain transactions with the federal security service. does that not suggest a shift from -- >> no, it doesn't. it is what i was explaining regular course of action the treasury does quite often when there are sanctions imposed. i would refer you back to the treasury department. >> could i ask you to describe the tone of the call over the weekend between the australian

prime minister and the president and also outline the president's concerns about the refugee dealing question. and could you clarify whether the deal is on or not, because the president tweeted last night i will study this dumb deal, implying that he is still considering night the president had a cordial conversation with prime minister trum bull where they went through an extensive discussion of this deal. the president is unbelievably disappointed in the previous administration's deal that was made. and how poorly it was crafted. and the threat to national security it put the united states under. he has tremendous respect for the prime minister and for the australian people and has agreed to review that deal and to ensure that as part of the deal, which was always part of it, that we would go through a very, very extreme vetting process to ensure that every single person that is being offered up is coming here with peaceful

intentions and poses no threat to the united states. so he has ensured that while he has respect for the australian people and respect for prime minister trum bull that we do not pose a threat to the united states of america, in a the deal at he was -- was cut by the last administration is something that he is extremely, extremely upset with. he does not like it. but out of respect for him, he is going to allow that process, continue to study it and allow it to form under the conditions that had been set that there will be extreme vetting on every single one of those individuals. >> just for clarity, the deal it self is still under review so it is a not certain to proceed? >> yeah, part of the deal was that -- the deal allows for the united states to vet the individuals that are being offered up to be processed. the president's goal is to make sure that every single one of those people in accordance with the deal and as discussed in the

telephone conversation with the prime minister is subject to extreme vetting. but he thought it was a horrible deal offered up by the previous administration. >> the president and national security adviser wants to put iran on notice but haven't specified what that is. what options are on the table? are there any options like military action that might be off the table at this point? >> i think general flynn was really clear yesterday that iran has violated the joint resolution, that iran's additional hostile actions that it took against our navy vessel are ones that we are very clear are not going to sit by and take. i think that we will have further updates on those additional actions. but clearly wanted to make sure that iran understood this they are on notice this is not going unresponded to. john? >> thank you very much. >> saudi vessel.

>> saudi vessel, yes. >> they thought it was american but it was saudi. >> yes. john? >> at the retreat in philadelphia vice president pence had a closed door meeting with republicans where some of them brought up the case of irs commissioner john kossinin. there was an attempt to impeach him which some in the house felt was unfair to the commissioner. and they felt compelled to tell the president given his entire record he should fire him or ask for his resignation soon. my sources said the vice president said, i can hear you. is there any pending action on the fate of the commissioner? >> i have nothing to update you on. halle? >> on yemen, it was initially described, the raid over the weekend, as a successful raid by the administration. there are some questions now that there is the possibility of additional civilian casualties. a couple of questions on this

one. would you still stand by your description that the raid was successful? was the president given multiple options about this raid or just one? >> thank you i'd like to walk through that. i appreciate you bringing this up. there is -- let's go through the tick to be on that raid. on november 7th, centcom presented the plan to d.o.d. clearly that was under the last administration. legal teams were involved immediately when it was submitted to d.o.d. on the 19th the plan was approved by the department of defense and recommended it be moved ahead. it was sent then to the national security council stiff here at the white house. under the previous administration. on january 69:there was an interagency deputies meeting the deputies recommended at that time they go on. it was easily approved and sent straight up. the conclusion was to hold for what they call a moonless night which by calendar wouldn't occur

until then president-elect trump was president trump. on january 24th shortly after taking office secretary of defense then mattis read the memo resent it back up to the white house conveying his support. on the 25th of january the president was briefed by general flynn on secretary mattis's recommendation and the status of the potential operation. the president asked to see secretary mattis and joint chiefs of staff doesn'tford. he then on that evening had a dinner meeting which included the president, the vice president, general -- secretary mattis, chairman doesn'tford chief of staff priebus, kushner, bannon, flynn, and pompeo where the operation was laid out in great extent. the indication at that time was to go ahead on friday the 26th. in the morning the deputies committee met again. it was not a necessary step because they had previously recommended and also reaffirmed

their support for that. anuary 26th the president signed the memo authorizing the action. it was a very -- not only was it a very, very thought out process by this administration. it had had start back on november 7th in terms of -- clearly well before that but it was moved forward by centcom on november 7th. this was a very, very well thought out and executed sneefrt where was the president the night of the raid? how did he learn about chief owen's death. how was he -- >> he was here in the white house. he was kept up to date. he was kept apprised of the situation throughout the evening. and again i think i would go back to what i said yesterday. it's hard to ever call something a complete success when you have the loss of life. or people injured. but i think when you look at the

totality of what was gained to prevent the future loss of life here in america and against our people and our institutions and probably throughout the world in terms of what some of these individuals could have done, i think it is -- it is a successful operation by all standards. it is -- again, i want to reiterate it is tough to ever use the word "success" when you know that somebody has lost their life. but when you go back and look at an individual that dedicated their life to serving this country and went over and over and over again knowing that this was not only the risk that he took but wanted to do it because he knew the threat that these kind of individuals pose to our country and to our people, you know, that's -- while not a success that you lost him, you know that he sacrificed and died to save others here in our country. >> i saw criticism to the

president's remarks at the prayer breakfast. can you shed any light on why he chose that venue to mock the celebrity apprentice. >> he meant it as a lighthearted moment. the producer was there. i think if you look at the totality of his remarks they were absolutely beautiful. i think to hone in on that, it was a lighthearted moment he was trying to have with a big supporter of the national prayer breakfast and a personal friend. guys i will be out tomorrow. i want to make sure we all get to see the president now. thank you guys. >> as sean spicer leaves the podium, there haven't been answers about australia. certainly there have been answers about a lot of other things. he deflected the question kristin welker asked about the potential easing of tressy sanctions. we have preliminarily spoken to

former obama officials who say this is what they would call a technical correction and not what they believed from first blush as an easing of those sanctions. that may fix some of those issues by those who first saw the publishing on the treasury website. kristin welker may still number the. room i'm not sure she can hear me. we can summarize what sean spicer sachld they were leaving for an each with the harley davidson visitors. you saw there was also questions about a sort of jocular moment or two at the prayer breakfast. and spicer's response of any criticism of the president's remarks at the prayer breakfast which encompassed a lot o different subjects, nom serious me not so serious.

which was that he referred to celebrity apprentice because he was introduced by the producer of the show mark burnett which helped donald trump into celebrity prominence with 13 nears years on reality tv. and he was pointing out that around schwarzenegger's ratings were not as good as his were. follow the show on line at mitchell reports. craig melvin is next here on msnbc. >> good afternoon. craig melvin here in new york. if you are just joining us the white house wrapping up another briefing just a few moments ago. two major topics that controversial phone call between president trump and australia's prime minister. and another major development, potentially major development we are actually trying to sift through some of the details here -- trump finally addressing those russian sanctions a bit.

nbc's kristin welker inside the briefing room. news broke a short time ago, kristin, before that briefing started, about the possible easing of those russian sanctions. that was your question to mr. spicer. what was his response? do we have any new information on what all of this could mean? >> reporter: well if you look at the language on the treasury department's wet, crabsite it indicates that the administration has eased sanctions against the russian intelligence agency fsb, however, sean spicer disputing that characterization and saying this is not in effect an easing of sanctions but rather a fix to some language that was already in place under the obama administration. what we are going to have to do now is drill down on that and fact check those assertions againhe headline is that he sisted this is not in fact an easing of sanctions. of course there has been a lot of scrutiny of thissed a straying gi