good day, i'm andrea mitchell with breaking news here in washington. the details on the new round of sanctions imposed on iran by the trump administration. the sanctions are focused on 12 individuals and 13 entities. the treasury department announcing the action reflects the united states commitment to enforcing sanctions on iran with respect to its ballistic missile program and destabilizing activities. in a conference call moments ago officials tell us the missile test was the triger that provoked sanctions and more steps are being considered. this will not affect that nuclear deal. despite president trump's strong criticism of it throughout the campaign nor does it affect boeing sale to airplanes to iran. we'll get more from sean spicer later this hour. first we begin with kristen welker. big steps on iran and the promise of more to come. >> reporter: that's right, andrea, and look, these

sanctions are similar to sanctions that were enacted under president obama. this is president trump taking a firm stance with iran in the wake of what they call provocations that ballistic missile tests that you mentioned which they say effectively was in defiance of a u.n. resolution even though the united nations security council has not determined that yet. but as you have been reporting on, then candidate trump took a very hard line on iran, on the campaign trail. he said he was going to rip up the iran nuclear deal. of course this is a completely separate matter than the iran nuclear deal, but again it echoes some of the tough talk that we saw from candidate trump on the campaign trail. he's now putting that into action. the question is, what could spark or prompt new sanctions? we are hearing a strong reaction from iranian officials who say that effectively they have not been in defiance of the united

nations resolution. of course, not surprising that iranian officials would take that perspective on this but again this is sort of a ratcheting up potentially of tensions between the united states and iran, just as the new administration is getting under way, andrea. >> and the tweet this morning around 6:24 this morning eastern time the president tweeting "iran is playing with fire, they don't appreciate how kind president obama was to them. not me." in fact, the executive orders today mirror obama administration orders when there were similar ballistic missile tests in the past. >> reporter: that's right, very similar. you effectively have sanctions against a dozen, 13 individuals and then a dozen different companies, a number of those individuals are listed as a part of the iranian revolutionary nuclear guard corps. let me read you some of the language from the treasury department, andrea, "as a result of this action, meaning that

ballistic missile test, all property and interests in property of those designated today, those individuals and the business entities subject to u.s. jurisdiction are blocked and u.s. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them." so very clear language there, and again, it does echo some of the sanctions that we saw put in place under president obama, so this is certainly not a particularly new tactic, but again, it is making it very clear that they are going to have a firm reaction to ballistic missile tests even though iran denies that the ballistic missile test is in any way in defiance of that resolution. >> joining me to take a deeper dive is "washington post" foreign affairs columnist, david ignatius, john finer, former chief of staff for john kerry, and has dealt with other issues and ron zarotti, assistant sec

stare of the treasury who is also an nbc/msnbc senior national security analyst and expert on sanctions. first to you, john feiner, since you most recently had working knowledge of the sanctions in the past, what is your reaction to the steps taken today and how similar are they to what president obama and john kerry did? >> thanks, i have nothing to amend to what you and kristen welker said. the steps are consistent not only with steps of the obama administration took with our tenure and the serious concern warranted about iran's missile program. this is a potential threat not just to some of our partners and allies in the region but if it gets advanced enough to the united states as well. so they're right to be concerned about it. the concern i have the steps they're taking are coming in a context of confusion and vagueness what exactly is the policy approach to iran and some misinformation and i'm talking specifically about the statement that the national security

adviser put out the other day in which he put iran on notice without describing what exactly that meant and what they were on notice for and some statements made since then, including by the president, who tweeted that iran got $150 billion back in the nuclear deal, the actual number is not close to that, a small fraction of that amount and then senator corker on this network i believe earlier said that iran would legally be able to obtain a nuclear weapon under the deal after seven or eight years. that's also unfortunately totally false. in this climate of disinformation and vagueness there's a misunderstanding of what they're trying to do. >> at the same time, juan zarotti, when you look at the sanctions t is aimed at those supporting ballistic missile production and the revolutionary guard, the quds force linked to terror networks to hezbollah and others and now they're saying as well to the hutis in yemen and

they'd consider actions by the hutis in yemen and firing on warships as well as a provocation that iran should be able to be held responsible for. we could get into a shooting war. >> potentially. i think what you see is a different direction, different messaging from the trump administration certainly within the bounds of the nuclear deal but to say there are other sanctions, there are other activities that we're worried about, that the international community has made it very clear in terms of support to terrorist groups, the houthis, human rights abuses all subject to u.n., eu and u.s. sanctions, this is an application of it and the sanctions act as a signaling mechanism and also represent individuals and companies that are part of this network will be held to account and exposed. it begins a chilling effect on the marketplace. i think there was a perception true or not the obama

administration was less willing to use the tools to not upset the deal and not to upset the iranians who at the end of the day want to make the argument the deal was really about their reintegration into the international marketplace, into the financial and commercial system. these sanctions don't allow that to happen, and i think it's a signaling mechanism that's pretty clear from the trump administration that they're going to enforce these other types of sanctions that are still in place. >> do these have bite? >> they absolutely do. financial institutions have to take them into account, companies have to now note who these individuals and companies are. under these regulations you now have to know who owns and controls all of these entities so this makes it very hard to do business in or through iran, even if there are allowances on the nuclear side so it is part of a tempering of the market to say look, it's dangerous to do business with iran and i think what we're likely to see is further designations of the irgc and the quds force, the mechanism iran uses to support

the houthis, hezbollah and terrorist groups so say we'll go after their business interest because they control a lot of the economy, they do a lot of dangerous things and we've been a little bit meek in terms of exposing it and trying to shut it down. i think that's where we're headed. >> david ignatius in terms of the region, the quds force, its connection to hezbollah, the fact that seven of these entities are based in lebanon, you've got regional implications, something that will be welcomed by the saudis, the rivals of iran but there are others nerve bus a shooting war especially in this area of the waters around yemen and the straits of hormuz. we've seen how easily things can trigger. >> there already is a shooting war in the waters around yemen, the houthis attacked a saudi naval vessel in recent days. my sense is the trump administration, although it's had many missteps in the last two weeks, got this one about right, going after iranian

destabilizing actions in the region and going after the iranian missile program is an appropriate target. it will have strong support from u.s. allies who have been waiting for a tougher u.s. stance toward iran. it's very interesting the president for all of his talk about tearing up the deal has quite specifically not done that, and the reason that's interesting to me is, he's squeezing iran and almost daring them to walk away from the deal. if they do that, they will trigger a process of very dangerous action response, if they walk from the deal the u.s. will regard that as a breach threatening security of the region, then we're really in a period of confrontation, but i'd say on this set of measures, the administration got it about right. >> well jon finer, let me ask you as someone who is so importantly involved in the last administration, there's of course the lead story in the "new york times" today by many

people you know, very experienced veteran correspondents saying that on russia, nikki haley at the u.n. went off russia on ukraine just yesterday. on the settlements they put out a statement for the first time chiding israel, not saying so as strongly of course as the previous administrations, but saying that it's not helpful to the peace process for israel to keep building settlements. what's going on here? >> well i think it's honestly too early to tell. i mentioned before, and when you asked me about iran this context of vagueness and confusion what the policy actually it. i think it applies to the two areas you just raised. start with russia, a president who made some statements about a type of relationship he wants with the russian government and various political appointees in their confirmation hearings saying things potentially at odds with those views of the present, and as you said ambassador haley coming out with

a strong statement for the need of maintenance of sanctions related to crimea until russia gives that area back. now, you've not heard yet, not specifically from secretary tillerson on this question. i think his views of russia are in many ways the least well-known and the most questions raised about his relationship with the russians in advance of him becoming secretary of state. until there's clarification who speaks for the administration on the question of russia. i wouldn't want to draw conclusions. israel, not only is this potentially chiding statement that returns the trump administration to where we were in the obamaed administration b harkens back to the bush administration. my view is the bush administration approach to settlements, they supported a u.n. resolution that would have frozen all settlements including natural growth was consistent with where the obama administration was. the trump statement that came out yesterday said three ings.

settlements are not an impediment to peace is their view but potentially not helpful, but then it said there's no official position by the administration yet. it's hard to draw conclusions based on a statement that has these internal contradictions. >> and juan, on the subject of iran, boeing's deal with tehran is not involved so companies are warned not to be engaged with those who are sanctioned and can't have a financial relationship, but the quds force, the revolutionary guard, is not really going to be constrained, is it, and iran's government will have the benefit of these mega deals that have now become possible. >> that's a bit of the challenge of the current construct. i think david's right. i think what the trump administration is doing is trying to work around the nuclear deal and to pressure iran where it can, and the interesting thing here, andrea, goes back to the bush administration strategy, the obama strategy and now the trump strategy. can you press the revolutionary guard for all the other issues?

can you chill the marketplace because you're worried what they own and control and how they use the resources of the state. you may have an airbus or boeing deal in the construct of the nuclear deal that's allowed, there are many other things that you can do to constrain what iran can do in the marketplace, and in commerce. i think that's what you've begun to see here, and again in all fairness to the prior administration i think there was a sense we're holding our fire a bit, because we did not want to upset the balance with the nuclear deal, and that the iranians had as part of their expectation of that bargain that we wouldn't do things to unplug them from that international system. with these sanctions there's a signal, we're going to start pressuring. we may start unplugging and it's for other reasons outside of the nuclear deal. completely legitimate, completely consistent with what the obama administration said. the trump administration appears more willing to act on that policy. >> david ignatius at the same time we're at the end of two

weeks which featured the halting of people from seven countries. there is a report that as many as 100,000 legitimate visas have been canceled now, we're checking on that, just moved on the wire, as part of "extreme vetting." iran has canceled visas for american members of, american wrestlers to come to the world cup competitions in iran so that team will not be able to travel. there is a rolling impact of the immigration executive order. >> the immigration order i think, continue to think it was unwise, it was hastily prepared. it was confusing, and it ended up, i think hurting our friends and helping our adversaries more than it should have. i think the point i would make in light of that hasty rule out and the problems that came from it, we've embarked on a more serious policy of confrontation with iran and it's really

important that this new administration understand the ways in which u.s. forces in iraq and in the gulf generally are vulnerable to iranian reprisals. before you get into a ladder of escalation with iran, which we're now beginning, it's crucial that the force protection issues, the security of u.s. troops, their vulnerability to what could be a mass casualty attack by iranian shia, i was disturbed at the time of wednesday's announcement by national security adviser mike flynn. centcom had not been involved in coordination of the actions. i'm sure coordination has begun now but you have to be careful understanding the consequences of the process that we're beginning. >> well, speaking of about process for a moment, you also had the president tweeting this morning about iran and saying

iran is playing with fire, they don't appreciate how kind president obama was to them, not me. you've got the twitter foreign policy at the same time and we have the fallout from the tragedy in yemen, where according to our own reporting by nbc news, the so-called process didn't really work. they are blaming the obama administration for having turned over to them this special forces operation, but the obamaed officials say they never got to that stage. there were a number of proposals that were on the table but nothing had been signed off on and in this case there were meetings with the president, meetings with the joint chiefs chairman, meetings with general mattis but no other questions were involved other than people fromhe white house, and from the pentagon. david? >> well t i think there's been too much finger pointing from the new trump administration backwards in time.

they own these policies now. the decision to go into yemen was the decision they made whatever, and accedance it has, jon finer and juan zarate who served in the previous administration could comment better than i. i think they own this now and the idea of saying well we weren't well prepared, that ability to make those arguments really has ended i think. >> thanks so very much, david ignatius, jon finer and juan zarate right now. we're expecting more details shortly on the executive orders president trump is about to sign this hour. we bring in msnbc's stephanie ruhle. you looked at the executive orders and talked to ceos. how important is it to accomplish what the president said this morning and will accomplish which is bring back jobs. >> bring back jobs and wall street regulation or reforming it are sort of two different things. you have to break it down. gary kohn is donald trump's

white house economic adviser was on the lawn and he said "we have the most highly capitalized best banks in the world and we should use that to our competitive advantage but on the flipside we also have the most regulated overburdened banks in the world." break that down for a minute. when he says we have the most highly capitalized banks in the world, the reason those banks are capitalized, the reason they have all that money in reserves is because of regulation. before the financial crisis it was a lack of regulation, it was the fact that banks continued to lend at will and they were borrowing, they were trading exotic securities, they were selling securities to investors who shouldn't necessarily be in those asset classes, so the regulation was put in place to protect people. now, many two argue that dodd-frank overreached and the regulation had been onerous, so this is the chance for actual bipartisanship. over the last eight years people were so burned by the financial crisis, anything that looked or

smelled or sounded like a bank they wanted to hold it at arm's length, so maybe if it's simply not dodd-frank repeal, maybe it's reform, it could be a positive. but to say our banks are suffering and they're shackled, give me a break. >> and to say that all regulations are bad because it was exactly as you point out, the regulations reclassify the fwoonkz protect consumers, to protect the government from taking the hit if they collapse. >> absolutely. think about when the collapse took place, you had banks completely overreaching. there was no one advising what should be done. so now here we are with the new president who criticized hillary clinton for her wall street relationships, for those goldman sachs speeches and there you have president trump flanked by goldman sachs bankers, his treasury secretary appointment steve mnuchin became extraordinarily rich through the sib prime crisis. are these people going to take that expertise and use it for

the american people? regulation is not a black and whitish u. it's people need to work together. >> stephanie ruhle, thank you very much. as you talk about that, you have steve schwartzman on one side and the head of gm from pepsico. jack welch, retired ge. he's got a star-studded cast but one quick question, you don't have uber, because he decided not to go. correct? >> it's a really interesting fact he decided not to go from uber. dan brought up earlier what a mistake it is because you have a chance to sit with the president and elon musk along with other tech ceos who are feeling the pressu to push back on the ban, the travel ban, given who their employees are, elon musk came out and said i have a chance to have the president's ear. i'm going to get to discuss with him the issues that matter most, and travis from uber's position was, i never met the guy before. i don't know that this is going to be a policy forum where we'll

go back and forth. let's be honest, donald trump's had a whole lot of meetings. they look in large part like photo opportunities. last monday when he met with the manufacturing ceos the cameras were only in the room for a short portion of it. i spoke to people in the room when they left the roosevelt room and went to the oval office they were not having a hard detailed conversation. they continued to talked about winston churchill and crowd sizes. when will this go from a photo opportunity to a real meeting. the jobs number 227,000 is a great number. 4.8% unemployment is a great number. so why are there so many unhappy people in america? it's underemployment. it's people who aren't looking for jobs anymore or wages. they might have one or two jobs and still can't make ends meet. the fact donald trump is sitting in a room with influencers and employers, the question is how do ceos today make more money than their average employee than

ever and he is sitting next to steve schwartzman, one of the richest guys in america and mary barra who had two meetings in the last week with president trump. when will this go from a photo-op to an action meeting. >> will anyone say they're not happy about the immigration orders, to be continued. >> to be continued. >> great having you, thank you. we're following all of the developments on this busy friday at the trump white house. we expect to heamore at the press briefing this hour. stay with us, we'll be right back. (jessica) i love

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causing political furor in the uk, after his first foreign visitor came home, british prime minister theresa may. joining me is michael grisham and michael steele, former republican national chairman and msnbc political analyst. gentlemen, what a two weeks it's been. first of all, the protests against the immigration orders, is it a ban, is itot a ban, the messy rollout, a lot of stuff has happened, a lot of it the white house would argue has been a very positive nature, there have been a lot of calls to world leaders, but there's still a gripping fear and resentment in europe, we're seeing some extraordinary magazine covers we're not able to put up there today of europe saying who is this guy and is he going to take off on my foreign leader. >> and you know what? this is exactly how they want it to be.

>> the disruptor. >> they like the disruption, they like the chaos that's created. it's keeping people a little bit off of their heels a little bit. it's the water hose, you have the fire hose coming at you. the problem is they have fire hoses inside the west wing as well so they're going at each other on a number of things so there's not a real clear voice that comes out and lays out the policy or lays down why we're going to do this or take this next step, let alone having the other cabinet secretaries and agencies be in on the joke, you know, say okay, this is what we're going to do, but this is what donald trump likes. he likes it when he looks around and sees these pieces all moving in different directions at the same time. for him that's how he controls it. >> and when you talk about the disruptor, we're talking about part of the white house almost at war with the other part. i mean, there are divisions. you have the more establishitarian reince priebus, one of your successors at the

republican national committee. >> yes. >> and sean spicer from the rnc who understands the way these things work, but michael, then you have steve bannon and steve miller writing speeches and basically saying do more, egging him on. >> steve bannon and his allies in the white house have been the ones with a visn in this couple of weeks. >> helped him get elected. >> it did help him get elected but it was also the most vivid kind of mythology of the administration. it was in the augural address, it is in a lot of these actions, steve bannon has captured the imagination of the president. he has had the most vivid vision, and has had the most influence, so i don't think it's been a fair fight. i think the consistent message of this administration has been right wing populist ethnonationalist in common cause with those forces in europe. that will upset global policy in ways that we're just beginning

to see. >> on iran you've got endorsements of his iran policy from democrats, excuse me, as well as republicans in terms of the senate, house members, but they are also nervous, the republican leaders, about some of the other things that he is suggesting. >> they are and they should be. it's not very clear exactly what are the next steps. so you want to lay down some sanctions, you want to do these things, you want to be a little bit more belicose. people appreciate the more stoic approach taken by the previous administration. this idea you'll challenge iran particularly they're out there launching ballistic missiles to say that's not going to happen on this watch, but for people on capitol hill, they want to know that there is a policy that has evolved all around this and there is a there to get to in not just our relationship with iran and what that may look like but the middle east as a whole and then of course you look at

phone calls to our friends that don't seem to go that well, you understand why a lot of the world leaders right now are sitting back a little bit on their heels not really sure exactly what the next phone call or the next effort will be. >> and it is amazinghe role that twitter is playing now in american foreign poli this is extraordinary, a major change. he tweeted about iran at 6:30 a.m. this morning. normally when a president makes a statement in any white house there's a staffing process. it actually goes through the senior staff, they mark it up. >> maybe the secretary of state would know about it. >> and other departments are informed and their advice is gotten. twitter completely short circuits the entire staffing and vetting process of the white house, which has been there you know since harry truman, and that i think we are just beginning to see that as well. that is influence beyond control. >> and when you say it short circuits the whole staffing

process, the bottom line is the reason for the staffing process is not bureaucracy for bureaucracy's sake. it's for someone to say excuse me, if you say this, the reaction will be this. if you want to do that, that's fine, the saudis will applaud, the europeans will be upset. this is the implication of 140 characters at it was 6:24 because i had to update my "today" show report. >> a speech has thought and craft and goes through a process. tweet does not, it has neither. i don't know how effective a tool of foreign policy this will be. >> it's potentially a dangerous tool in the end, because words in 140 characters as we all have experienced in sort of fun moments can be taken the wrong way. how i interrupt what you just tweeted out may be very different from what you intended, and that's something that particularly in foreign policy you got to be very careful. >> let me just say in defense of

this administration, this is not the first time this has happened. it's happened in oth ways. e axis of evil phrase in the state of the union by george w. bush the state department thought that phrase had been taken out and then it was put back in, and of course the impact of that on a lot of things, on iran in particular, who had offered to help us after 9/11 and then all of a sudden heard themselves described as part of the axis of evil before the world. >> right, words mean things. >> words mean things. thank you both, michael gerson, michael steele, the michaels, and we expect the white house briefing at any moment. we'll bring it to you live. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. there are over 47 million ford vehicles out here. that has everything to do with the people in here. their training is developed by the same company who designed, engineered, and built the cars. they've got the parts, tools, and know-how to help keep

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signing so executive orders delivering some much needed regulatory relief to lenders and borrowers in the next few minutes. we're finishing up the second week really strong. yesterday was another great deal reached with lockheed martin for the purchase of a new lot of f-35s through the president's intervention a total of 90 planes for a lot of 90 planes. 55 were purchased for u.s. military that added up to a total of $455 million for u.s. taxpayers from the previous slot with an average cost of 7.5%, another big win the president has delivered on for u.s. taxpayers. speaking of good numbers, let's turn to the jobs report, the economy added more than 227,000 new jobs, significantly more than the 175,000 that had been expected. today's report reflects the consumer confidence that the trump presidency has inspired. according to a recent gallop

pistol economic confidence is at a new high and adp showed strong private sector hiring. the markets knew trump would deliver on the promise, the president's already taken significant steps to turn our economy around and he's looking forward to ensuring that every american who wants a job has the opportunity to find one. the president's definitely pleased that the job growth far surpassed expectations and that the labor force participation is rising he also recognizes that there's a lot more work to be done. the president has a big and bold agenda to grow the u.s. economy and to create jobs. in just his first two weeks in office, he's met with more than 50 business leaders across a vast range of industries. this morning, the president participated in a strategic and policy forum with business leaders from some of our countries most succeful companies. the president understands the importance of an open dialogue, fellow business leaders on how to make the economy, the nation's economy stronger.

his firsthand experience as a successful businessman helps to guide his decisions as president and he'll continue to seek opinions of other job creators while crafting an economic agenda. all meetings are focused on one goal, providing new and improved employment opportunities for all americans, a full range of policy measures to achieve that goal, regulatory relief, tax and trade reform, empowering women in the workplace, rebuilding america's crumbling infrastructure and improving our education system. also today the president will be signing two executive actions as part of his plan to overhaul our financial and regulatory system. i expect that to happen closer to the 1:00 hour. the first executive order proposing guideline principles that sets the table for a regulatory system that mitigates risk, encourages growth and more importantly protects consumers. the dodd-frank act is a disastrous policy that's hindering our markets, reducing the availability of credit and crippling our economy's ability

to grow and create jobs. it imposed hundreds of new regulations on financial institutions while establishing unaccountable and unconstitutional new agency that does not adequately protect consumers. perhaps worst of all, despite all of its overreaching dodd-frank did not address the cause of the financial crisis, something we all know must be done. it did not solve the too big to fail and we must determine conclusively that the failure of a large bank will never again leave taxpayers on the hook. the presidential memorandum addresses the burdensome regulations in the department of labor's fiduciary rule. there are better ways to protect investors and the trump administration is taking action to do so. we're directing the department of labor to review this rule. the rule's intent may be to have provid retirees and others with better financial adve but in reality, it's a fact to limit to financial the services that are available to them. president trump does not intend

to put unnecessary limits on economic opportunity. the department of labor exceeded its authority with this rule and this is exactly the kind of government regulatory overreach the president was put in office to stop. we desperately need to overhaul how we approach financial regulation. the president is taking action to protect american taxpayers and get people back to work. moving on, we announced earlier this week we'd take steps to address iran's recent actions. today the u.s. sanctioned 25 individuals and entities that provide support to iran's ballistic missile program and the islamic revolutionary quds force. these designations are in response to iran's ballistic missile program including its test january 29th, 2017 as well as iran's continued support for terrorism. we've taken these actions today after careful consideration and will continue to respond with appropriate action. these designations mark yet another stop in our continued effort to aggressively target

iran's ballistic missile program and terrorism related activities. over at the tent of defense, secretary mattis is on a final day of a two-day trip for asia, he visited korea yesterday. secretary mattis' visit emphasizes the priority president trump places on the pacific. in the senate the president has 1 cabinets awaiting full senate vote on their confirmations. we look forward to welcoming these individuals into the administration. the president will debut his second weekly facebook live event this evening at 5:00. expect him torecap another week of action on what have of the american people and also comment on his selection of judge neil gorsuch to be the next supreme court judge and recognizing black history month discussion his vision to live with more opportunity and safety for the african-american community.

one more note the lead-in to the president's remark on facebook live will feature incredible artwork throughout the white house created by african-american artists, you don't want to miss this. as i mentioned previously this weekend the president will be shifting the operation of the white house down to the winter white house at mar-a-lago. he'll hold meetings and calls with advisers and staff to plan for another big week of action on behalf of the american people. by our count as of this morning the administration already wracked up more than 60 significant actions, 21 executive, 16 meetings with foreign leaders and ten stake holder meetings to name a few. we're looking at another productive week next week. monday the president will visit central command and air force command at mcdill air force base. he'll have briefings and lunch with the troops and all hands addressed to personnel. general dunford and flynn will

be president for the meetings and the president will return to washington this evening. first question from skype jackie nespral. >> on behalf of the sue viviewe florida, miami as you know is home to the largest cuban-american community in the country and during the campaign president trump talked. his discontent with the warming of u.s./cuban relations. thousands are cubans are in limbo. a, has there been any contact between your administration and the cuban government and b, are there any plans to change the current policy right now? >> thanks, jackie. we are in the midst of full review of all u.s. policy towards cuba. the president committed to an agenda of ensuring human rights

for all citizens throughout the world and as we review the policies in cuba that will be forefront in their policy discussions. there's nothing we have on that front at this points. francesca chambers? >> with the new sanctions of the united states on iran, previously the president said they were playing with fire. you said appropriate action continued to be taken. is this the full extent of the punishing actions we're seeing right now and are military options still on the table in response to the administration saying all options are on the table? >> thanks for the question. i think one of the things that the president has said throughout the campaign during the transition and since becoming president he doesn't like to telegraph his options. that's how he believes that you can have a much greater successful option. i'm not going into the fuller extent and i think today's sanctions really represent a very, very strong stand against the actions that iran has been taking and make it very clear that the deal that they struck

previously was not in the best interests of this country, and that president trump is going to do everything he can to make sure that iran is stayed in check. >> it is possible there are more actions coming, though in. >> i would never rule anything off the table. the president's made it clear throughout his time that's what's going to happen. >> i wanted to ask about one of the members that has been announced as being part of, is gina haskell. senator ron widen has written to the president saying her background makes her unsuitable to be the cia deputy director, and what he s specifically referencing was her role in the enhanced interrogation program that the cia had during the course of the bush administration. do you believe that this background is a disqualifier for that position? >> i think she has had an unbelievably distinguished career as a covert operative. she basically gave up that to

come out and serve in this role at the request of director pompeo, and i think she has been a very, very distinguished servant to the american people, and is highly qualified for that position. next to jack mckellan from wmur in new hampshire. josh? >> thanks for taking the question. i know you're looking forward to the patriots coming down in a couple of months. lot of folks up here hoping this happens as well. for more than two years the number one public health threat facing the state is the opioid and heroin crisis. stopping the flow of drugs coming across the border, increasingly the problem lies in sin theynthetic fentanyl cooked labs in the northeast and secondly with the understanding it is a state issue, new hampshire is poised to become a right-to-work state but the voting expected to be close, given the administration's

favorable view is it actively engaged in that effort and if not what is the general message from the white house? >> thanks josh. first on the opioid crisis that is a major problem not just for new hampshire but so many states across the country. one of the things beyond the health issue is to make sure that we're looking at border issues and the flow of heroin through our southern border is something that the president obviouy takes, that's part o his whole strong immigration stance on border security, having that wall built, having additional assets on the southern border will go a long way to stem the flow of illegal drugs into the country from our southern border up through the states. it was obviously as you mentioned a big issue that he made in new hampshire throughout the primary. it continues on in the campaign. as soon as tom price and others are confirmed throughout the department, this has got a health component to it, a border issue to it, there is a multigovernment approach that needs to be taken to the opioid

crisis. with respect to right-to-work, i think you accurately portrayed it, the president believes in right-to-work. he wants to give workers and companies the flexibility to do what's in the best interests for job creators. obviously the vice president has been a champion of this as well, something that is a big deal in indiana and something that he has championed as well. blake? >> i want to ask you about dodd-frank. beyond the executive order that's going to be signed here momentarily, is the administration planning on or working with congress to overturn certain portions of the law itself, with an executive order and if so, what might that be, what might that time line be and can you say a full repeal of dodd-frank is actually being considered or not? >> i think there's two aspects of this, there's the administrative piece which he's starting to address through executive action and there's the legislative piece i think we'll work with congress on. i think i'd go back to what i

said earlier that dodd-frank has been both a disaster in terms of the impact that it's had but also it hasn't achieved the goal and i think there's no question that the president talked about this extensively, the impact that he's had and it's not an either/or. it's frankly just not doing what it set out to do and so i think we'll continue not just to act through administrative action but through working with congress and figuring out the legislative effects. major garrett? >> sean, meeting yesterday with the ambassador between priebus and bannon, can you describe what the meeting was about and did the administration make a commitment which we heard from the state department yesterday that in factobama administration agreement are still possible refugee resettlers just with extreme vetting or some sort of process? what was communicated? and on the iran sanctions, adam zubin was in charge of sanctions

at the treasury department before. oftentimes these are a long time in develop the. were these sanctions something on his desk or had been identified and that's what made them so not easy, available to enact so rapidly? >> i think you correctly pointed out, i mean he served in the st administration these kind of sanctions don't happen quickly, but i think the timing of them was clearly in reaction to what we've seen over the last couple days. we knew we had these options available to us because they had been worked through the process, but we acted swiftly and decisively today because the timing was right. they were in the pipeline. they had been staffed and approved and the president made the decision now is the time to do it based on recent action and chief of staff priebus and chief strategist bannon met with the prime minister yesterday. i think they had a productive -- ambassador, thank you, appreciate the correction. they had a productive and candid

conversation. we have tremendous respect for the people of australia and the prime minister, it was a follow-up on the call but we'll continue to work through this. we'll honor the commitments we've made in some way meaning that we are going to vet these people in accordance with the agreement that happened and we'll continue to have further updates as we do. john roberts? >> last night on settlements of israel, has there been a shift in u.s. policy? you said you didn't think they were helpful to achieving peace and also didn't think they were an impediment to peace which would represent a departure from obama and bush. there was no reaffirmation of a two-state solution in that statement. so where are you on that? >> the president's committed to peace. that's his goal, and i think when the president and prime minister netanyahu meet here on the 15th that will obviously the be the topic on that. at the end of the day, the goal is peace and i think that's what you have to keep in mind, that

will be a subject they discuss when they meet on the 15th and that's as far as i want to go on that. >> back to the settlement, what is your position on settlements in terms of whether or not they, i mean you said they were not an impediment to peace but you didn't want them building new ones. >> i think the statement is very clear about that. we don't believe the existence of current settlements is an impediment to peace but i think the construction or expansion of existing settlements beyond the current borders is not helpful moving forward. >> 17 members of congress reque requested the president intends does the president intend to comply? how many of the 227,000 jobs added into january does the president attribute to his administration versus the obamaed ain? >> i think when you look at the confidence indexes, i'm not going to get into --

unfortunately we don't have that kind of a breakcounsel, i think that you've seen the action that he's taken whether it's carrier or some of the other companies, sprint, softbank, clearly there's a desire for companies to want to come and be part of the trump agenda and build and manufacture and create jobs, bring jobs back but i'm not at liberty to parsing the reports as far as where that comes down but look, his team led by gary cohen was really pleased with the numbers this morning. obviously we're pleased that we're 227,000 jobs is a great kickoff. we hope they get better. we know there's a lot more work to do and that's why the president continues to meet with business lead everyerleaders, u to figure out how we can grow the company. >> over 100,000 visas have been revoked as part of the president's travel ban. does that include visa holders already in the united states and will the government begin finding them and trying deport them? >> i'll have to get back to you on that. i don't have all the details on

that right now. >> six hours ago the president tweeted professional anarchists and protesters are proving the point of millions who voted to make america great again. >> i don't know we need to do an investigation. you think we know who they. >> has the president seen the letter sent from senator mccain yesterday and if so is he looking to arming the ukrainians? >> i don't know. i'd have to get back to you. charlie? >> ambassador kninickkki haley out with a strong statement on russia yesterday. does the administration have plans to keep the sanctions against russia in place or do they have any intention of adding more sanctions in. >> so there's two things. one i think i commented the other day on the sanctions that treasury put out, they are a routine clarification that occu occurs. with respect to the sanctions am

bass for haley made it concern with russia's occupation of crimea. so i think she spoke forcefully and clearly on at. if ian i'd like to go to the thirdkype question, christopher seine from abc 15 in arizona. >> sean, thank you for doing this, hello from sunny and beautiful phoenix. with the likely confirmation on the horizon with the new veteran affairs secretary, there's discussion about ties in with the va and wait times, overall care and some reports regarding the suicide rate. what is the reform that the administration is seeking here. also, will the administration protect whistleblowers? second part of the question, we've seen protests here in phoenix, as in nationwide as well. when you ta you can about unity, what is the administration doing to bring more unity to the nation, and even more transparency, as here in phoenix we saw that secret meeting on the tarmac, we talked about how is the administration repairing all of this? >> thanks, chris.

first, i think the president mostly through deed continues to show he wants to bring people together in this country, figure out how to move the country forward economically, job wise. i think that's something that continues to show a desire for. he talked about it at his inaugural address in the prayer breakfast, so i think he's going to continue to go through word and deed his desire to move the country forward. can you go back to the first part? >> that's all right. the confirmation, likely confirmation. >> first and foremost on va reform, the number one thing is to get confirmation and so many of these as i brought up in the past couple of days it's hard to talk how we'll enact an agenda when senate democrats continue to slow walk some of the folks, that's a big problem. dr. shoken is the right individual to reform the va, understanding whether it's lending or medical ca, the problems and challenges we face

in the va. these are people who served our nation and deserve the best care they can get, the mortgage lending, health care or the variety of other stuff that the va serves or provides to our veterans and i think what the president has done is talked to dr. coby cosgrove and other business leaders to providing a better approach to serving the needs of our veterans. wait times are unacceptable, care that's unacceptable. we have to address that. david jackson? >> sean, during the campaign, candidate trump repeatedly said he was going to void the iranian nuclear deal. >> i think today's action speaks for itself in terms of the sanctions. he's made it very, very clear, david, that the deal that was struck was a bad deal, that we gave iran too much, and we got too little for it, and i think that he is going to continue to be tough on iran in a way that wasn't done the last eight years. i think today's actions and the way we expedited those sanctions are another example of how he'll

stay tough. the fourth skype, dale jackson from wvnn talk radio in huntsville, alabama. >> sean, thank you very much for taking questions from outside the elite media bubble in d.c. my question is about immigration. donald trump made this the forefront of his campaign, the foundation of it. yet the daca and dapa programs still exist and i learned from a member of congress yesterday that the trump administration is still issuing work permits for the individuals in question. one are these programs going to be ended, and question two, when will they stop issuing work permits to these individuals? >> thanks, dale. i think as you know secretary kelly just assumed office, we are reviewing these programs. we've made it very clear we'll have further updates on immigration with reference to daca and dapa, the president made significant progress addressing the pledge he made to the american people regarding immigration problems that we face and we'll see more action

on that in the next few weeks. yes, sir? >> the president described nafta as a catastrophe, we've heard about his concerns with mexico but i wonder if you can outline some of the irritants he finds along the canadian border and if there's any talk of a meeting with prime minister trudeau? >> he has spoke on it prime minister trudeau. they're looking at setting up a time to come down. i think that will be a meeting set up shortly. >> russia's foreign minister has asked the administration for further details on the president's plans to establish a safe zone in syria. the president is set to discuss this yesterday with king abdullah. when can we expect further details on that plan? >> that's a good question. as you noticed in the readouts from last weekend that's a subject that has come up with all of the middle east leaders that he's taungd abolked about, he feels strongly about. as he continues to have

follow-up conversations we can expect further details. something that secretary tillerson got sworn into office that there will be further follow-up on that. >> president trump will be meeting with japanese prime minister abe next week. will the tell prime minister abe ja. should pay more and pick up all the expense to maintain the military base in japan? >> i think as we get closer to the meetingle a have further information. there's an economic and national security aspect in terms of this. >> a poll came out today cbs says the president is at 40% approval rating. we've seen the approval rating drop during transition period. he talked about polls a great deal during the campaign. a, what do you think that says about the way the american people are looking at the actions he's taking and b, what