colleague ali velshi. >> and you're good on that snapchat. we'll catch you later this afternoon. right now president trump's travel ban faces a legal showdown today, as more people rush into the country while they have a chance. developing now, senate democrats are in the final hour of an all-night session, protesting the education secretary betsy devos. and there is word a third republican senator may vote no and block her nomination. but if that doesn't happen, vice president mike pence would be forced to cast an historic tiebreaking vote. and happening now, the new england patriots are celebrating their historic super bowl win in boston. but a major mystery remains this morning, where is tom brady's missing jersey? good morning, i'm ali velshi

coming to you live. we're watching rapid fire events unfolding. a federal appeals court could decide later today whether to reinstate president trump's travel ban. the president is said to be holding a listening session right now on veterans affairs after already meeting with county sheriffs from across the country. kristen welker was able to ask the president how far he would take the fight to get his travel ban restored. >> we're going to take it through the system. it's very important for the country regardless of me or whoever succeeds at a later date, we have to have security in our country. we have to have the ability, when you take a place like syria, you take all of the different people -- if you remember, isis said we are going to infiltrate the united states and other countries through the migration. and then we're not allowed to be tough on the people coming in?

explain that one. so we'll see what happens. we have a big court case, we're well represented, and we're going to see what happens. >> and nbc news correspondent kristen welcomes joins us. tell us more about what the president had to say there. >> reporter: i also pressed him on whether he thought it was going to go to the supreme court. he said it could but expressed his optimism that it won't. he said this is not necessarily a matter of the law but a matter of common sense, as you heard him make the argument that we've been hearing from this administration, which is that this is a matter of national security. now, opponents would disagree with that. they would point to the fact that the countries that are blocked have not yielded any deaths from terror attacks here in the united states. but i think if you take a look at what he was saying and read between the lines, the bottom line is he is not changing his strategy on this. he's not thinking about scrapping the executive order and going through congress, he's

not thinking about changing the language of the executive order at this point in time. instead this administration staying the course and they are prepared to take this to the supreme court if necessary, ali. >> the trump administration is escalating its feud with the media claiming that news agencies are downplaying terrorist attacks here and around the world. let's remind viewers what president trump said about this yesterday. >> you've seen what happened in paris and nice, all over europe it's happening. it's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported. and in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to report it. they have their reasons and you understand that. >> the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to report it, they have their reasons and you understand that. obviously, kristen, the white house was pressed to clarify

what it was that wasn't reported. what did they say? >> reporter: they provided a list of 78 terrorist attacks in europe. and if you look into it, the vast majority of them were reported by big media outlets, including by nbc news, more than 50 of them. but take a listen to what press secretary sean spicer had to say yesterday on air force i. >> he felt as though members of the media doesn't discover though events as much as others will. a protest will get blown out of water yet an attack doesn't get coverage. >> the facts don't bear that out. it is also true that some of the attacks that haven't claimed, say, more than eight, ten lives haven't necessarily gotten the same amount of coverage. the president was pressed on this in the roosevelt room as well and he reiterated what he

said yesterday, that the media is dishonest. not a big surprise. this is something he said over and over again on the campaign trail. this is one of his big talking points. it underscores, he's in his third week in the white house and he's sticking to that, ali. >> right now the homeland secretary john kelly is testifying since the president's order on immigration was signed. he is defending that order. >> the president's executive order to suspend entry from seven countries we believe is lawful and constitutional and a review ordered by the president is necessary. >> that executive order on immigration is at the center of a high stakes hearing set for 6 p.m. eastern time. a three-judge panel on the federal court of appeals in san francisco will be hearing arguments on whether to lift the

hold on that order. pete williams has been all over this thing. let's start with logistics, pete. this is going to be oral arguments made by phone. >> right. the lawyers and judges will all be in different places. this is not in the courtroom. this is typical for one of the emergency motions that goes befo before. this is what we have here. the government saying please turn off the government's order that prevents us from enforces the president's order. >> who is presenting the arguments? you heard president trump saying we've got good reputation. who presents the arguments today? >> the justice department lawyer, perhaps it will be the highest ranking person in the solicitor general's office and i assume robert ferguson, the attorney general from washington state who was really the guiding force behind the lawsuit that led to this order from the judge

last friday. i should say one other thing about john kelly's testimony in congress. he was pressed by the democrats why these seven countries, why not others? the point he made and the point the president has been making is they're concentrating on the countries where they think it's hardest to get background information on people who want visas to come to the u.s. and especially refugees. in some countries he says they're virtually failed states and it's not possible to get good background information. it's not like going to the department of motor vehicles. >> and that was part of why those were the countries made by the obama administration for the exemption program. people traveled to one of those countries and it became harder to figure out what they were up to there. >> exactly. >> the court is hearing the

arguments at 6 p.m. eastern today. when are they likely to rule? >> hard to say. it depends on how much they want to engage on whether this is constitutional or legal or how much they'll stay on the question that a temporary restraining order is deviled into let are. it sort of depends on how the court considers the judge's ban, how whether there are any dissents. in theory we could get a very short order later tonight, could be tomorrow. depends on how long it takes them to write. there's no deadline here, no routine answer to that question. >> as you and i discussed yesterday, there is probably a road to the supreme court regardless of what the court does today. >> that road goes from san francisco to washington. whoever doesn't get what they want from this appeals court you can be certain will try again before the supreme court. >> pete, thank you so much for your reporting on this.

>> right now we're waiting for vice president mike pence to arrive on capitol hill where he could make history in the next hour casting the deciding vote to decide betsy devos as education secretary. it would be the first time in the nation's history that a vice president has had to break a 50/50 tie in the senate to confirm a cabinet nominee. that vote is set for noon eastern time. until then, senate democrats will ten this, a rare 24-hour talk-a-thon against devos went went all night long in an effort to persuade one more republican. >> betsy devos a completely unqualified to serve as secretary of state of education. >> this is not a job for amateurs. >> if you cannot be a champion of public schools, you should

not be secretary of education. >> i'm joined by the president of the national education association. she's also an elementary teacher from utah and was a hillary clinton supporter. thank you so much for being with us. your association is opposed to betsy devos's nomination. let me just know our viewers know what you said in a statement. "betsy devos, who has spent decades working to dismantle public education and privatize public schools is dangerously unqualified and lacks the experience we should all demand in america's secretary of education. if confirmed, she would be the first secretary of education without experience in public schools." you know public schools allow magnate schools and vouchers. they argue it gives people more choices on how to educate their

kids. >> what betsy devos did in michigan was to take those underfunded public schools instead of saying how do we make it as great as our best public schools, she made it worse. she turned public school dollars over to for-profit businesses that make money off of school children. worse than that with no accountability, no transparency how those public dollars were spent and what was delivered, what was promised to those parents and what was delivered. so for us when you take a look at the michigan voucher and charter for-profit businesses that she helped create, you have to be appalled. it's why so many advocates for better choices amongst public schools for kids said but not like her ideas. her ideas have failed the children in michigan miserably. >> let me ask you this. you mention michigan.

in most states this is is an issue that is dealt with at the state and municipal level with public schools and teachers. what difference does it make to your effort to the secretary of education is on a federal level? >> i taught wonderful kids in urban utah, i taught in homeless shelter. i taught kids depending on the federal dollars, like special education, english language learners. we feel she will do to the united states exactly what she did in michigan. it's why we sent out an alert and an alarm. we got over a million people coming up to nea.org and clicking on her picture and saying i want to know more, i want to talk to my senator. can you still do that, by the way, because the end today, this

vote today, is historic. because of those millions of people, parents of children with disabilities, civil rights groups, educators, all of us who might have differing opinions on a lot of things, agree that she would be a disaster as our secretary of education. and there's a whole lot of senators now who understand that a whole lot of people are watching. >> we're going to see how this plays out in the course of the next hour. thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt joins us outside from the senator of north dakota, a democrat who is planning on voting against betsy devos. kasie, good to see you. busy day for you. i guess they're all busy days for you. to block devos's nomination,

they need three republican senators and we're told the democrats might have a third republican senator willing to vote no. >> we may in fact have an additional third republican senator voting no, which would stop her tomorrow. >> who is she referring to? >> reporter: our understanding from aides is that she was not referring to somebody specific. frankly, our reporting has that count at 50/50, which means that mike pence would come up here to break an historic tie in the senate. he of course is the tiebreaking vote. it's never happened before on a cabinet vote. that's what we've been told by the historian. so we've come up here and we were inside talking to some of the receptionists and listening

to their conversations and calls are coming in regularly, many of them, most of them, they're saying 90% of the calls they've received have been focused on devos so there is a lot of genuine public interest here. it's in a different category than a lot of these other cabinet nominees. this is a post that a lot of people feel touched by. for a state like north dakota, it's a rural state, schools are far apart. there is no such thing as school choice in an area like that because you only have one school available to you. at this point it doesn't seem as though that pressure is going to convince any one of these republicans who have come out and said they're going to vote yes and that that count still does stand at 50. senator hyde ccamp, they have o democratic and one republican senator. i spoke to him earlier this week and he still says he's going to

vote yes on devos. >> it going to be a pretty busy hour. we'll stay with you on this, kasie, and see how this all goes down. joining me for reaction to all of this is democratic congresswoman maxine waters from california. she's the top democrat on the house financial services committee. i hope we get some time to talk about that. congresswoman, thank you for joining us. i want to jump backward to the immigration fight, the hearing going on tonight, pete williams talking about the fact that one way or the other this goes to the supreme court, whoever is not happy with the outcome takes it to the supreme court. how do you see it playing out? >> i see it playing out precisely that way. i think that those judges in the state that put a temporary stop to the initiative that was handed to us by the president have a good argument. and basically what they're saying is that states -- their states are being harmed, that the universities and the

businesses, et cetera, are all talking about how they're upsetting their lives and how they are interfering with their businesses and education, et cetera, et cetera. i think they make a very good case for that. on the other hand, i don't think the president or this administration can make a good case because the seven countries that they have targeted have not shown any tendencies for terrorism in our country, no one who has come from that country have caused any terrorism in our country and so i think the states have the better case. if they are going to prevail, there will be a 4-4 vote, i do believe. >> which then allows the

appellate court vote to stand. >> that's right. >> we're watching the senate floor as the democrats protest the nomination of betsy devos as education secretary. you probably just heard my conversation with kasie. right now two republicans senators say they'll oppose her. there are rumblings of a third. we can't get confirmation on that. there have been a number of phone calls, letters, e-mails pouring into senate offices in the last week. what do you think is going to happen? >> i don't know but i do know that she certainly did not conduct herself very well. she obviously is not qualified. she has no experience. she's not served in the classroom, she's not been on a school board, her kids didn't go to a public school. and so she was not able to really truly convince certainly all of the democrats that she's qualified for this position and i think there are a lot of republicans who are not happy, some of them don't want to cross the president but they know that she's not qualified. and the way that she answered

the questions, the way that she responded to senator warren just lets us know that this is a poor nominee to head education in this country. and so i don't know what's going to happen. i know it appears that there's a tie right now, but i am hoping they can find one more republican, three republicans would do the job, keep her out and would give this president an opportunity to come back with a credible person. our teachers, our education systems, our families are really relying on leadership from this government to try and improve education and improve the drop-outs in country and get our kids educated. they deserve better than betsy devos. >> you have brought up the word impeachment a lot in the last week. you tweeted on friday. let's talk about the tweet and said your greatest desire was to lead donald trump right into

impeachment. i think you since said he might do it himself. in response to your statements, a white house official told nbc news "minority leader pelosi has already dismissed this extreme rhetoric. when san francisco leftist representative nancy pelosi is the one trying to rein you in, you know you are out of touch. the democrats have completely lost control and perspective. the majority of americans are behind the president's efforts to drain the swamp and bring major change to washington, end quote. congresswoman, what's your response to that? >> my response is they have created a response that is not credible. this is the most outrageous and ridiculous president that this country has ever had. he cannot be depended on for anything that he says. for them to try and pretend that somehow what i'm saying is outrageous and i've been reined

in and all of that, there's no truth to that. as a matter of fact, all that pelosi said was that she was not ready to talk about impeachment. i'm ready to talk about it because i do believe that he has shown us enough and defined himself in ways that we have to be suspicious and concerned about him and we've got to dig deeper. i'm wondering was there any collusion between him and putin and the kremlin as they hacked into the dnc, into the d triple c and into congress. >> if you're suspicious of it, who goes and figures this out? >> well we shall have two committees, one on the house side, one on the senate side, who are supposed to be doing these investigations. so the people have to make sure they do real investigations, that they're not whitewash investigations, they have to make sure the voices are heard. if that means continuing to have the protests, continuing together, continuing to put heat on the elected officials, we do

that so that we can get credible investigations to find out what was the involvement of this president, who loves putin so well, thinks he's such a great leader and is prepared to say that we're just as much killers as he is, we got to know more about what his involvement has been, how long he's been planning this, who did he work with and i believe that he's leading himself right to impeachment. >> congresswoman, we're out of time. you and i will have to talk about financial matters another time. hopefully you'll come back and we can have that conversation. >> love to talk about dodd-frank. >> congresswoman maxine waters of california. >> coming up next, an nbc news exclusive. we're learning the target of a secret raid in yemen was one of the world's most wanted terrorist but the mission didn't succeed and now that terrorist is taunting trump. >> want to be a legitimate

president, sir? then act like one. >> that's a new ad from a veteran's group. why the group says they're putting the president, quote, on notice. at clorox 2 we've turned removing stains into a science. now pre-treat with clorox 2! watch stains disappear right before your eyes. remove 4 times more stains than detergent alone.

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there he is, mike pence, moments ago arriving at capitol hill. this is in the event of a tie vote of a tie vote of betsy

devos as education secretary. it will make it the first time in history that the vice president has had to break a nomination vote for a cabinet secretary. there are some saying there is another republican prepared to vote against betsy devos. we've not been able to confirm that. we're going to watch it in realtime when it happens. >> nbc news has learned exclusively who u.s. commandos were targeting during the raid in yemen last week, one of the most wanted terrorists in the world. that man got away and is now taunting president trump in an audio message. cynthia mcfadden is here with your reporting. this could have been the biggie. if they had nailed this man they were looking for, this could have been a blow to terrorism. >> reporter: it was the first

clandestine strike of president trump's presidency. this morning multiple military and intelligence officials tell nbc news a top secret target was the real reason for the u.s. military operation last week in yemen. his name, qassim al-rimi, considered the third most dangerous terrorist in the world. the mission -- capture or kill him. >> it is a successful operation by all standards. >> reporter: today we know the high-stakes plan was not a success. he is alive according to multiple officials, who also confirmed, al-rimi released a recording taunting president trump on sunday. "the fool of the white house got slapped on the road to his land." >> i think it would be unfair to criticize the new administration in part because this is counterterrorism activity, it's

well oiled, well worn and certainly well planned. >> reporter: all of the leaders in the military chain of command agreed that the prospect of taking out al-rimi was worth the mission's risk. officials tell nbc news, mr. trump's secretary of defense called the potential capture of al-rimi a game changer. they told president trump they doubted the president obama administration would have been bold enough to try it. the operation was larger than any counterterrorism strike since the killing of osama bin laden. a dozen commandos from the united arab emirates, and a half dozen yemenies soldiers. ryan owens was killed during the raid when forces were faced with fierce resistance. also killed, 14 al qaeda militant and several civilians. >> the reality is the fruits of

this kind of an operation, the disruption of al qaeda leadership, the knowledge that u.s. is willing to reach deep into the heart of al qaeda territory and the capture of key intelligence may not bear fruit for some time. >> short of capturing or killing al-rimi, the u.s. hoped to grab intelligence that would lead them to him. it's not known how valuable the information gathered at the scene will turn out to be, nor is it clear whether al-rimi was at the location the other night or whether he was tipped off. >> thank you. vote vets is the largest group of veterans in the united states with more than half a million supporters. in a new tv ad, they're taking on the commander in chief and some of his executive orders. >> president trump, i hear you watch the morning shows. here what's what i do every morning.

you lost the popular vote, having trouble drawing a crowd and your approval rating is sinking, kicking thousands of us off of health insurance by killing the affordable care act and banning muslims won't help. you want to be a legitimate citizen? then act like one. >> what's the point of that ad? >> the point of the ad is we all know donald trump. donald trump cares mainly about one thing and it's donald trump. he loves to exploit veterans when it serves him, use veterans as back drops for photo-ops and publicity stunts. our message is very clear. if you want to be treated like a legitimate president, start acting like one. the ad aired first on monday on "morning joe" and a few minutes later donald trump tweeted this,

"any negative polls are fake news, just like the cnn, abc, nbc polls in the election. sorry, people want extreme vetting. >> he doesn't have the attention span to sit for his daily briefing. he seems to be obsessed with television. he shut off the white house common line, he promised to start a veterans hot line, which we've yet to see. we figure to reach him, we'll go through cable news. >> you say if you want to be a legitimate president, then act like one. provocative. is that the best way to engage the president? >> doing the right thing doesn't get his attention. the chaos and incompetence of his first two weeks as president with these executive orders, he's likes to talk tough and talk about torture. guys like trump love to use

things like torture and banning muslims because it makes them feel tough but it makes it harder four or intelligence community to do our jobs. it's the wrong way to lead our country. >> the press has nominated vulcan for the head of veterans affair. >> we're not going to get there with a federal hiring freeze. that's an executive order that has slipped through the cracks. who is the federal workforce? 31% is made up of veterans. when you freeze hiring on the federal level, you're hurting veterans. >> there is supposed to be -- he held a listening session this morning on veterans affairs. we haven't heard yet what was discussed. what do you think the president needs to hear about veterans and from veterans?

>> he need to hear that things like talking about a muslim ban, talking about attacking people who have helped us is the wrong direction. everyone that i talked to who served in iraq and afghanistan will tell you the most extraordinary stories about translators and people on the ground who helped us. when the president of the united states say those sacrifices are meaningless, it makes it harder for us to do our jobs. >> peter, thank you for joining us. >> up next, we're going to go to boston where thousands are celebrating the historic win of the patriots in the super bowl and the search for tom brady's missing jersey. befi was active.gia, i was energetic. then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. my doctor said moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain.

he also prescribed lyrica. fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. for some, lyrica can significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain and improve function, so i feel better. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions >> peter, thank you for joining tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. with less pain, i can be more active. ask your doctor about lyrica.

all right. happening now in boston, you are looking at celebrations under

way for mvp tom brady and the rest of the new england patriots after their historic super bowl win. a live look at the parade with some of the team's packed on to boston's iconic duck boats. if the camera were to pull out, you would see they're on duck boats. there is some wet and heavy snow, though, coming down. blake mccoy joins me. first let's talk about the parade. we're hearing that tom brady, though i'm not sure he's got power to do so, declared today a citiwide holiday in boston. >> up to a million people expected to turn out today. they are not deterred from this awful weather. temperatures are in the 30s. it's this gross wet mix.

>> let's talk about his jersey. what's going on with it? tom brady's jersey is missing. >> jerseygate. we have new video from yahoo! sports, the moment that brady realized that jersey was missing. after that game on sunday, he said he put it into his bag and went back to his locker and couldn't find it. there is an investigation under way right now but the nfl to see who had access to the locker room, what kind of surveillance video may exist. the lieutenant governor of texas has ordered the texas rangers to assist police to look into this. he said "in texas we place a very high value on hospitality and football. tom brady's jersey is great historical value." the lieutenant governor says they don't want something like this to mar the really great reception in houston for the

super bowl. >> thank you. this morning iran's supreme leader dismissed trump's warning to stop missile tests and he said the president had shown the, quote, real face of american corruption. no sir, no sir, some nincompoop stole all my wool sweaters, smart tv and gaming system. luckily, the geico insurance agency recently helped baa baa with renters insurance. everything stolen was replaced. and the hooligan who lives down the lane was caught selling the stolen goods online. visit geico.com and see how easy it is to switch and save on renters insurance. trust number one doctor recommended dulcolax constipated? use dulcolax tablets for gentle overnight relief suppositories for relief in minutes and stool softeners for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax, designed for dependable relief

nosy neighbor with a glad bag, full of trash. what happens next? nothing. only glad has febreze to neutralize odors for 5 days. guaranteed. even the most perceptive noses won't notice the trash. be happy. it's glad. iran is responding to trump's comments that their country is playing with fire with regard to recent ballistic missile tests.

speaking in tehran today, the country as supreme leader said iran will respond to the president's threat on friday, the anniversary of the 1979 revolution. they went on to say, we thank him, president trump, because it made it easier to reveal the real face of the united states. ali azouri is following the story for us from tehran. >> reporter: i believe they're the first comments on president trump from the supreme leader. he sarcastically thanked the president saying he showed the real face of america. after that he confirmed what iran had been saying for 30 years about the commit caeconom political -- as you know ayatollah khomeini is the most

powerful leader when he took over from the revolution of the father ayatollah khomeini, who heralded in almost 40 years of animosity and bad blood between iran and america, including the shooting down of a civilian iranian plane, killing all 290 people on board. now, the supreme leader has the final say on all major state decisions, he's in charge of the armed forces, the nuclear program and the buck stops with him. by his standards, there has been a fairly measured response. he's staunchly anti-america but, as you said, this friday is the anniversary of the revolution and he said we can expect a big response to america and all these hostilities. >> thank you for the good reminder of how this has all played out over the four

decades. we'll be staying in contact with you to see how this playing out in iran. >> let's bring in joaquin castro, who serves on the house committee on public affairs. donald trump, first of all, we don't know what iran is going to do on friday but what, if anything, should the u.s. be thinking about? >> well, the united states and the white house, they're right to be concerned about iran and also to be watching to see whether they comply with the iran agreement. i think that's a fair thing to be concerned about. at the same time, it doesn't help when the president tends to do his foreign policy and diplomacy by twitter and by angry phone calls, even to allies like mexico and australia. we can't say what will happen on friday. quite frankly for the last few decade, beating up on the united states has been a sport for iran as leaders, so that's nothing new, but we need to be careful

because there was something constructive that happened with the iran agreement and we want to make sure they're complying. we know that they have significantly reduced their material to produce nuclear weapons, which is a good thing. we want to make sure that keeps moving along. >> so it's interesting because the president is not particularly diplomatic when dealing with iran. he seems to be overly diplomatic when dealing with russia. now he got himself in a pickle. the president responded from a report from reuters that the kremlin doesn't agree that iran is a top terrorist state. "i don't know putin, have no deals in russia, and the haters are going crazy yet obama can make a deal with run, number one in terror, no problem." >> that's a reminder that especially in the region there, the interests of the united states and russia are often fundamentally different. we saw that with what happened in syria where instead of going after the bad guy, so to speak,

they were essentially taking out some of the people that we were helping. this should be a stark reminder to the president that russia is often times not only not our best friend but not an ally on our fight against terrorism. >> particularly in syria, in iran, places like that, they're on the other side of the equation. right now, congressman, the house committee on homeland security is holding a hearing with the brand new secretary of homeland security john kelly on president trump's border wall and immigration executive order. here's what kelly had to say about it. >> in retrospect, i should have, this is all on me, by the way, i should have delayed it just a bit so that i could talk to members of congress, particularly the leadership of committees like this to prepare them for what was coming. >> lay people don't necessarily know who has to consult with who on those things but what you saw play out was the administration came out with an order and even republicans weren't on side

because they didn't know it was all about. now that the order is being blocked in the federal court system, what do you think is likely to happen next notwithstanding the fact that this is being heard at 6:00 tonight in california? >> well, a few things. first, congress should actually have a role in this policy making. the president has issued somewhere between eight and 12 significant executive orders. both paul ryan and mitch mcconnell have been missing in action in terms of speaking up for the constitutional role of congress in deciding on some of these policy. with respect to the muslim travel ban, i believe that the courts will strike it down. i think the ninth circuit today or this week will do that and ultimately i believe the supreme court will also. we should not be banning people from this country based on their legislate religion or the color of their skin. >> congressman joaquin castro, thanks so much for your time today. we'll talk to you again.

>> and then you. >> and senate democrats are in the final minutes of their all-night speaking section opposing the pick for education secretary betsy devos. the

all right. we are back with our daily briefing on politics. joining me now is nbc news senior political editor mark murray. lots of things going on right now, including this talk-a-thon

on the floor of the senate until the nomination of betsy devos comes to a vote, which we believe is going to be a 50-50 vote that we believe vice president pence is going to have to break. let's start with the state of what's going on in the white house. >> 2 1/2 weeks in you still have an administration having a hard time getting off the ground. if betsy devos is confirmed, and we think she will be by the narrowest margin, that will be the seventh member of donald trump's team confirmed by the senate. at this exact same point in time in 2009 as barack obama was taking office, he had 23 members of his team that were confirmed by the senate. now, part of this is due to the fact that democrats are dragging their heels just a little bit to slow down the process. the other part is the trump team didn't do all the ethics vetting early on and getting the forms in to really expedite the process. they have also sent a smaller

number of confirmable appointees to the senate than we saw from barack obama at this same time in 2009. so, kind of a slow start getting the government started. >> that would stand to reason when you're bringing in people like betsy devos who do not have any government experience, they wouldn't have filled these forms out before. >> well, that and also, do not forget the situation where chris christie, the new jersey governor, was leading the donald trump transition team, and then they decided to change horses. a lot of that stuff, a lot of the preparations were thrown right out the window and made all of this, i think, a little bit more difficult. >> marks, we're keeping a close eye on what's going on on the left-hand side of the screen so we will do that and we be right back. we're watching the u.s. senate and upcoming vote on betsy devos. xpress open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order

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watching this hour of "msnbc live." i'm ali velshi. you can follow me on twitt twitter @alivelshi. now "andrea mitchell reports." >> right now on "andrea mitchell report," a showdown in the senate after democrats pull an all-night talk-a-thon against trump's controversial education nominee, betsy devos. so far only 50 senators say they're voting against her. unless opponents get one more republican to defect, vice president mike pence, whom you see arriving there, will get to

break the tie. the first time a sitting vice president decides the confirmation of a cabinet nominee. we'll bring that vote to you live. appeals court compromise. the white house signaling a possible fallback position in its brief to the appeals court on that travel ban. only hours before the three-judge panel hears arguments from both sides, pete williams will have details. just now the president arguing what's at stake. >> if you remember, isis said, we are going to infiltrate the united states and other countries through the migration. and then we're not allowed to be tough on the people coming in? explain that one. so, we'll see what happens. we have a big court case. we're well represented and we'll see what happens. >> is it going to go to the supreme court, you think? >> it could. we'll see. it's common sense. you know, sop things are law, and i'm all in favor of that, and some things are common sense. this is common sense.