at any moment. jeff sessions will be starting his new job after a bitter debate. and disheartening and demoralizing, trump's own supreme court nominee, judge neil gorsuch reportedly criticized his talk about the judges ruling on the travel ban. developing now, fast and furious. a major nor'easter intensifies this morning, set to dump up to 18 inches of snow in some places. schools are closed, thousands of flights are grounded. we're live across the region with the very latest. i'm ali velshi coming to you live from our msnbc headquarters in new york. we begin at the white house where senator jeff sessions is set to be sworn in as attorney general, after winning senate

confirmation. joe manchin voting for sessions following a buiitter and racial charged battle over his nomination. and -- >> he certainly expressed to me that he is disheartened by the demoralizing and abhorrent comments made by president trump about the judiciary. >> president trump tweeting this morning senator richard blumenthal, who never fought in vietnam when he said for years he had, major lie, now misrepresents what judge gorsuch told him. but an aide to judge gorsuch confirmed to nbc news the judge's comments to senator blumenthal. and republican senator kelly ayotte who has been shepherding judge gorsuch around capitol hill also issued a statement this morning saying in part,

quote, while judge gorsuch made clear he was not referring to any specific case, he said he find any criticism of a judge's independence and integrity demoralizing. first of all, there's all this nonsense about did he or didn't he. it seems right after senator blumenthal said this what he said, gorsuch's office confirmed that he did say that the comments were disheartening and demoralizing. that doesn't actually seem to be in dispute. >> reporter: you're right. not only did yesterday an associate tell us that, yes, that is the language what he used but today as you noted, kelly ayotte, the sherpa as they describe her on capitol hill with judge gorsuch said effectively the same thing. nonetheless, this is the pushback we've been getting this morning from the white house, specifically kellyanne conway attacking the public statement by richard blumenthal a short

time ago. listen to what she said. >> he's saying that the judge was misrepresented and also you don't reveal a private conversation, even if it means can you be on cable tv 24/7. this is a way of revaealing tha senator blumenthal has a public problem of his own. >> judge gorsuch said you can feel free to talk publicly about i said. >> did you ask for permission or did he say that? >> he unbid said feel free to talk about what i said. >> democrats have been lashing out saying this is a white house

ruse. they say "this is clearly a meaningless white house orchestrated attempt to help judge gorsuch pretend he won't be a rubber stamp. >> peter, let me interrupt you for a second. donald trump is now talking about jeff sessions. let's go live to donald trump. >> and it is well behind schedule. >> the people of the united states and that is exactly what he will do and do better than anybody else can. he's trained better for it than anybody else. the level of respect that he has throughout this country as a former prosecutor, not even to mention being a long-time u.s. senator is absolutely incredible. he will be a great protector of the people. i'm signing three executive actions today designed to

restore safety in america. these executive actives continue to deliver on my campaign promises. first, i'm directing department of justice and homeland security to undertake all necessary and lawful action to break the back of the criminal cartels that have spread across our nation and are destroying the blood of our youth and other people, many other people. second, i'm directing department of justice to form a task force on reducing violent crime in america. and, thirdly, i'm directing department of justice to implement a plan to stop crime and crimes of violence against law enforcement officers. it's a shame what's been happening to our great, truly great law enforcement officers. that's going to stop as of today. today's ceremony should be seen

as a clear message to the gang members and drug dealers terrorizing innocent people, your day is over. a new era of justice begins and it begins right now. i want to again thank and congratulate mary and our new attorney general jeff sessions. i wish you god's wisdom and blessings in your journey. mr. vice president, would you please conduct the swearing in. thank you. thank you very much for being here, everybody. [ applause ] >> it's my great privilege on behalf of the president of the united states to administer you the oath. please raise your right hand and repeat after me. i jeff sessions do solemnly

swear. >> i jeff session does solemnly swear. >> that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states. >> that i will support and defend the constitution of the united states. >> against all enemies foreign and domestic. >> against all enemies foreign and domestic. >> that i will bare truth faith and allegiance to the same. >> that i will bare truth faith and allegiance to the same. >> that i take this obligation freely. >> that i take this obligation freely. >> without any mental reservation. >> without any mental reservati reservation. >> that i will well and faithfully perform the duties of the office of which i'm about to enter.

>> of the office of which i'm about to enter. >> so help me god. >> so help me god. [ applause ] >> mr. president, your reaction to judge gorsuch's comments about you, sir? >> bring that down a little bit. mr. president, thank you for this great honor. it's something i never expected would happen in my life, but i do love the department of justice. i care about its traditions and its heritage. i had 15 years in that great

department and the honor to lead it now is something that i do not have words to express effectively. there are a lot of things we need to do. first we need to value and support and encourage the fabulous people who work there. i've worked with them over the years. i know how good they are and their talents need to be directed at this nation's benefit in a lot of different ways. we have a crime problem. i wish the blip, the rise that we're seeing in crime in america today were some sort of aberration or a blip. my best judgment having been involved in criminal law enforcement for many years is that this is a dangerous permanent trend that places the health and safety of the american people at risk. we will deploy the talents and

abilities of the department of justice in the most effective way possible to confront this rise in crime and to protect the people of our country. we have an increased threat since i was united states attorney from terrorism, mr. president. you've spoken firmly on that. you've led this nation to say we're going to respond effectively to the threat of terrorism and you can count on your department of justice to do so in an effective way. and you've said something that i believe and i think the american people believe, that we need a lawful system of immigration, one that serves the interests of the people of the united states. that's not wrong, that's not immoral, that's not indecent. we admit a million people a year plus lawfully. we need to end this lawlessness that threatens the public safety, pulls down wages of working americans. it is an honor beyond words to serve under you and your

leadership. you're putting together a great cabinet, which is just a thrill for me to have the opportunity to join, and i look forward to making sure that every ounce of strength i have and that the people at the department of justice have is going to be focused on preserving and protecting the constitution and the safety of this country. we will defend the laws of this country as passed by congress. we'll defend the lawful orders of the president of the united states with vigor and determination. thank you all for being here. i see a lot of good friend and may god bless all our efforts. thank you. [ applause ]

>> with the force of the federal law with respect to the transnational criminal organization presenting [ inaudible ]. thank you. >> task force on crime reduction and public safety.

>> preventing violence against federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement officials. very important. thank you all very much. you'll do a fantastic job. good luck. [ applause ] let's go back to peter alexander, who's live at the white house, who was listening

into that with me. there has been some controversy, particularly with the president's speech to the sheriffs, who supported him, in which he seems to apply the country has one of the highest crime rates going since you can remember, when in fact the truth is the crime rate is actually very low but there's been an increase in the trend. so crime rates have been going up from a very low base. you heard senator jeff sessions talking about that again. so they seem to be basing this on the idea that crime's out of control, again fear is used as a governing tool here, and it's a bit of a misrepresentation. >> reporter: that's definitely been themeattic. you heard a similar theme when he said "a new era of justice begins right now." he said the murder rate was at a

45, 47-year high. while it has gone up over the course of the past two years with a little bit of a spike, it's still just barely above historic lows. what's notable here is these executive orders that president trump signed we shall got some indication these would be happening a little earlier today, the first one targeting criminal cartels, drug cartels, responsible for spilling the blood of young americans in the language of donald trump. and separately those two task forces that he indicated would be set up as well, one focusing on violent crime in this country, the second one focusing on trying to crack down on violence specifically targeted against law enforcement officials. what's notable is that jeff sessions who has been a lightning rod, immigrants have been targeting, civil rights groups have been targeting,

schumer said he is of the 100 senators, he is the most anti-immigration of them all, he said, in his words it made his stomach term to see him get that passing vote yesterday. >> great reporting. i'm sorry to have interrupting you for that. i guess that's what it's going to be like for the next four years at least. some more now on judge neil gorsuch who is back on capitol hill meeting with six senators. he's meeting now with senator susan collins of maine who said she'll carefully evaluate his qualifications before deciding whether to support his none nation or not. kasie hunt joins us live from outside senator colin's office. you made contact with neil gorsuch today for clarity on something we didn't think we

needed clarity on because sources say he did tell senator blumenthal that he did make the comments about being disheartened of what donald trump said. this is now getting fuzzy again. >> reporter: i wanted to find out -- we know from senator blumenthal this morning that he was told essentially to, please, go out in public and talk about what judge gorsuch had said about an independent judiciary. now, judge gorsuch has not answered any questions from reporters, none of president trump's nominees have. no surprise he didn't answer any questions along those lines, didn't say anything publicly aboutle leshis views about an independent judiciary or about

the comments president trump made about the judges involved in the executive order. he's also set to meet with some democrats today as well. so that continues their push to try to find eight democrats who are going to be willing to join with republicans to pass this nomination through the senate without having to invoke the so-called nuclear option, breaking the rules in a way that would be incredibly divisive. so that's what we're keeping an eye on right now. senator collins may be out here in a minute. >> let me just ask you something. what are you making of comments coming from some people this was an orchestrated effort by the trump administration to make judge gorsuch seem like his own man independent of the president, not influenced by the president's talk or thinking about the judiciary? >> reporter: well, it's pretty clear that the team around judge gorsuch had a pretty -- a strategy in place here to kind of roll this out. the fact that blumenthal came out and said they told me to say this in public, we have a

written statement from senator ayotte saying, yes, he did make these comments. that tells you what they're trying to do here. behind the scenes the challenge is to give the democrats some space to support him. the main question is can he be independent of trump? senator chuck schumer is a deal maker. he's wants to be able to protect his senators that are in red states who might want to vote for neil gorsuch. he needs to give them a little while also appeasing his activist democratic base. >> thank you, kasie hunt, at capitol hill. right now house democrats are gathered in baltimore for their annual issues group. congresswoman, thank you so much for being with us.

as we await a decision in the federal appeals court in san francisco, they sort of implied it would happen this week, on whether to reinstate the president's travel ban, want to get your reactions to those comments he's made about those judges and the federal judge who put the ban on hold last friday. you'll recall the president called him a "so-called judge," he implied a bad high school student would be able to come to the same conclusion he's come to on this. this is unprecedented in presidential history. >> it is unprecedented and frankly for those of us who nurture the constitution as a senior member on the judiciary committee along with my colleagues, republicans and democrats, we know how sacred the constitution is and the representation of the fact of three independent branches of government. this has stood well for america for centuries, and the very fact that this administration, who i believe -- which i believe is frankly off its wheels, it is an

attack and insult leadership, there's no governance here, has a president who wants to interfere with an ongoing case. certainly all of us have the right to approve or speak about a decision that's already been made that we've disagreed with. i'm sure many of us have done that. but, frankly, to interfere in the process of governance and the process of justice, these jurors are now deciding a case based upon the arguments that were made and the briefs that were submitted, as a lawyer i know that is a very sacred process. for this president to remove himself from the solemnity of his office and beginning to the man on the street that just wants to talk about these judges is unheard of, insulting and unconstitutional from the perspective of the leadership of the president of the united states. >> i'm not a lawyer and i wasn't a particularly good high school students and i didn't understand the argument all that well. i want to ask you the same question that i asked kasie hunt

a moment ago, this business of judge gorsuch telling richard blumenthal and others, apparently, he's disheartened and demoralized about the changes made by the president, is that him being his own man? is it a ruse or is it true? >> first of all, let me just say your understanding of the arguments, i have no angst against that. a president interfering while a decision is being made is simply unheard of. but let me just say this and it goes for both the supreme court nominee, as well as now attorney general sessions. his attempt to smell like a rose while he's visiting with the individuals who have the responsibility of advice and consent as it has been stated by attorney general sessions that he's a nice southern gentleman have nothing to do with their role that they're being asked to serve. we need to look at his record as a nominee for the supreme court.

his complete alliance to the gun lobby as it relates to issues dealing with gun safety, how would he look at that to restrain the violence, you have to stop the proliferation of guns. and if a law came to his attention to the supreme court, where would he stand? you have to ask him a question about stated law such as roe v. wade. where would he stand on that? i'm more concerned about the supreme court's nominee record and how he will skew the rights of americans as i am about senator sessions, who according to coretta scott king, well documented that he uses awesome power to intimidate elderly black voters. i'm not worried about how well he speaks now. he is as senator schumer indicated and i have noted, no immigration reform bill has he ever accepted, this is senator session, now attorney general, did not support the violence against women act and certainly has been a strong opponent against voting rights. so for both of them who are now before the american public, one

that has now been voted on and is the attorney general, one to be voted on, any suggestion that they may be their own person in the interests of the supreme court justice as he is now visiting with senators has no value to americans or to me. it is a question of how their record will reflect upon american values and being adherent to the gun lobby and not being able to look at laws to see how they protect us, how they bring down crime rates and, by the way, our crime rates are down. there is violence but there's violence because there's a proliferation of guns, which the gun lobby will not allow universal background checks. >> statistically there has been an increase in violence in the last -- >> in gun violence but it is attributable somewhat to the lack of republicans in the gun lobby to look at sensible gun safety laws. >> representative sheila jackson lee, graeeat to talk to you.

>> developing now, a monstrous snowstorm coming down. it is threatening to cripple parts of the northeast. right now roughly 50 million people are under some kind of winter weather alert, expected to be the snowstorm of the season. it is coming down so fast that our meteorologist is coming it a nightmare. at least three tractor trailers have gone off the road. state police are reporting getting hundreds of callers. more than 2,700 flights have been cancelled, though most of those were done ahead of time. we've just gotten word that all four runways at j.f.k. international airport are now closed for snow removal. meantime, check this out. thunder snow.

[ sound of thunder ] >> i'm not sure that had the desired effect. but that is video that just came in from hartford, connecticut. lots of people have been reporting thunder snow in that area. cal perry appears to be driving. he's on the passenger side. he's on the way to boston, which could get a foot and a half of snow. cal, what are the road like where you are? >> they're terrible and people should stay off the road, do as i say, not as i do. let me show you the road conditions now. 95 north has been fairly empty. you showed some of those tractor trailers that had gone off the road. we saw that in new york. the backup goes for two or three miles, ali, where it has the domino effect.

commuters, the snowstorm coming so fast, you're getting three, four inches in an hour. it doesn't matter what you're driving, that can stop your car. they cancelled school, they cancelled flights, nonessential employees should stay home, connecticut, massachusetts, new hampshire, vermont, rhode island, we're talking about road restrictions. stay off the roads, allow the emergency officials to get out and ba and get to the people who need to receive attention, ali. >> cal perry on the road to boston. blake mccoy is in boston, copley square. what's it like there? >> the snow is coming down. this is just beginning for boston. up to 18 inches of snow possible. let's show you what we have here right now. it's just starting to stick. we're at the very beginning of the storm for boston. they are trying to plow sidewalks and salt the sidewalks ahead of the storm. school has been cancelled here,

most government offices are closed, many businesses also warning their people just stay home today, it's not worth coming out. we can tell you 2,700 flights have been cancelled from new york, philadelphia, all the way up into boston and maine. and it's a good thing they're cancelled because even the ones that aren't cancelled probably are not taking off. jfk, for example, has all four of its runways closed right now. this is just the beginning for boston. you can see maybe an inch of snow on the ground right now. the worst is yet to come and the snow, we're expecting it to fall very quickly. in new york you guys hit a record high in temperature yesterday. >> yeah, it was nuts. >> now it's a blizzard. emergency officials were worried that people wouldn't take is seriously because of that. when you have record highs almost 70 degrees, yesterday -- >> i told the cab driver on the way home at midnight this do not look like a place that is going to get a whole lot of snow.

what do i know. let's go to bill karins. you and i were talking yesterday afternoon. it was an unusually hot day -- >> t-shirt weather. >> and then this. i wish we could just show people right outside here. it is coming down like i haven't seen it in years. >> you can make the case that the record highs -- back-to-back is rare, it's only happened once or twice in history that we know of. that's a shot from 30 rock there. that's also the story, now that it's becoming a more mature nor'easter, the winds are picking it up. philly, you're done, baltimore, d.c. long done, new york city another hour or two and you're done. we showed you the thunder snow, these are the lightning strikes over connecticut and rhode island. everyone is talking about the thunder they've bin hearing.

additional snowfall from a new york about finished. areas in hartford and the cape another 6 to 12 inches. that's where we could see the snow totals 12 to 18 inches. that's connecticut to rhode island. 41 in d.c., you didn't get the snow but it windy and cold. boston is gusting to 39. some of the runways at j.f.k. are closed. if you're having a bad day today, a lot of people are having a worse day. this is our delta flight that took off from atlanta this morning, flight 2350. notice the green line, that loop? for whatever reason they thought it was okay to leave atlanta this morning at 8:30, trying to get into j.f.k. at the heart of our nor'easter. they made it to the delaware/maryland border, turned around and they're about to land back in atlanta. you want to talk about some angry people on a flight that want some explanation, they're landing now on hart field.

>> i'm not sure why they thought they would want to get on that flight. >> delta has some explaining to do. >> you remember valentine's day a few years ago, jetblue kept people waiting on the plane -- >> i don't know why that flight took off but those people are avoid. >> bill, good to talk to you. i'll talk to you later. >> still to come, protests erupt as an undocumented mother convicted of a felony in 2008 is arrested and now faces deportation. it happens after president trump broadened the definition of illegal alien. it happened years ago. why is she being deported now? or fill a big order

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happening now republican senator susan collins speaking after having met supreme court nominee neil gorsuch. >> which we've seen grow in recent years regardless of which party has been in power. and, third, i asked him outright whether anyone at the white house had asked him for a commitment to rule a certain way on any case. he assured me that no one at the white house has sought any such commitment from him.

so it was a good meeting. we covered a lot of issues during that hour and i was left very impressed with him and looking forward to his hearing before the judiciary committee. >> reporter: senator, did the judge convey to you any concerns about the president's attacks on the judiciary? >> the judge clearly outlined his respect for the judiciary, his willingness to be a check the executive branch. i did not ask him about his comments and his conversations with the other senators because he's already put out a statement that makes very clear that he feels it is a mistake for anyone to attack an individual judge's integrity. >>. >> reporter: are you comfortable what president trump has said about an independent judiciary? do you think after this meeting

that judge gorsuch could be an independent judge? >> i am confident judge gorsuch will be an independent judge. he already is an independent judge as i have come to understand by reviewing several of his rulings. >> reporter: how do you feel about president trump's comments? >> on? >> reporter: on the independent judiciary, what he's had to say in the last 24 hours? >> i disagreed with them. i disagreed with president trump last year when he criticized the indiana-born judge and said that he could not rule fairly in the case involving trump university because of his mexican heritage. i think it's inappropriate for any president to go after an independent judge. that is inappropriate. now, i do think it's fair game for the president to criticize the decision made by a judge but

not the judge himself or herself. ted. >> reporter: can i just ask you so he had called those comments demoralizing and disheartening but he didn't actually condemn the remarks and urge the president not to say that anymore. did he address that at all with you? >> i didn't go into that issue at all. personally i think his statement is a strong statement and it's clear that he fully understands and would safeguard the independence of our judiciary. >> reporter: can i just ask you on the puzder nomination, have you reached a conclusion and what is your thinking now on that nomination whether you can support him. >> i have not reached a decision. i almost always wait until there's a hearing, unless i know the individual well. i've had two conversations with

mr. puzder. i think there are questions outstanding that will be i'm sure delved into at his hearing. >> do you think the senator should have made judge gorsuch's comments public? >> i was not part of the conversation. i don't know whether he asked permission to make it public. >> reporter: are you inclined to vote to confirm judge gorsuch for supreme court? >> i am certainly impressed with judge gorsuch, but i'm going to wait until his hearing. what i've learned over the years is that sometimes new information comes up at hearings, but i am very impressed with his thoughtful approach to the role of being a judge. it's clear that he thoroughly understands the role of the

judge in our constitutional system. he is a fierce defender of our independent judiciary and he is a very thoughtful individual with a brilliant mind. so i'm very favorably impressed with him. he has sterling academic and legal credentials, but i will of course withhold my final decision till after the hearing or the hearings on his nomination. thank you, everybody. >> senator susan collins of maine having just met with judge neil gorsuch saying she's favorably impressed and finds him thoughtful but she will withhold her decision to support him until after the hearings. >> seven people under arrest in arizona after trying to block an

undocumented woman from being deported. see this man? she wedged himself into the wheel well, his hands and legs, so that van couldn't move. that move could be quite dangerous. he tried to block the van which was holding guadalupe. tell us what led up to this. why she was allowed to stay in the country until now and why they decided suddenly to deport her. >> well, ali, the family of guadalupe is saying this is a direct result of president trump's executive order, they say she was allowed to stay in the united states for seven years after a felony conviction because she would come and check into this field office. they say she did that yesterday, she came here, was taken into

custody and her family watched as their mother faced deportation. take a look. overnight, a tense standoff over the deportation of an immigrant who has been living in the u.s. for 22 years. she was conflicted of felony identity theft because she's she had false papers. the married mother of two continued living in arizona checking in with immigration agents every six months. but during her meeting on tuesday, she was arrested. field office blocking the van by standing in front of it, her children looking at her mother

through the window. >> she's in the a bad person. year after year she always checked in. >> here is where i met my wife, where we had our kids, where we grew our family. we're american citizens. this is our country. >> she was arrested just days after the trump administration brought in the definition of criminal alien, which could easily apply to a majority of undocumented aliens in the united states. garcia's husband said she had a message for the president. >> if i had the president in front of me, i would say like to be more compassionate. >> an i.c.e. spokesperson told us a while ago that this stems from a 2013 deportation order under president barack obama and

not president trump. we we asked him to specify why that was being enforced today. they would not specify. >> gadi, she was convicted of a felony some years ago. i believe the nefelony is that e was working in the country illegally, not that she robbed a bank or anything, right? >> it stemmed from her using a fictitious social security number as she applied for a job about 2008, 2009. they say she was detained for about six months and then she was released and allowed to come check in with i.c.e. every six months or so. >> thanks for your great reporting on this, gadi. >> one of president trump's

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this all began last week. nordstrom announced quietly it would not be reordering from the ivanka trump line. ivanka gave up the leadership of the brand after her father won the election to avoid conflicts of interest. nordstrom said all along we make buying decisions based on performance. based on the brand's performance, we decided not to buy it for this season. yesterday president trump, while it seemed he should have been in his security briefing, responded by his personal twitter account, "my daughter ivanka has been treated so unfairly by in ordn m nordstrom, she's a great person, always pushing me to do the right thing! terrible! >> this is less about the family business and is more about his father. i think for people to take out their concern about his actions

or executive orders on members of his family, he has every right to stand up for his family and applaud their business activities. >> what's more is that was then tweeted out by the official potus, more that was then tweeted out by the fish potus president of the united states twitter account. not long ago kellyanne conway was in an interview where she said tweet by ivanka trump good. >> using her who has been a champion for women in power, women in the workplace to get to him. i think people can see through that. go buy ivanka's stuff. i hate shopping but i'm going to get some myself. >> they seem ill advised those comments. but there are some saying it may have been illegal based on the code of federal regulations.

what's your thought. >> i agree with the people saying that. what president trump did yesterday tweeting out, essex emt from, there are many laws that exempt the president and the vice president. due to the fact that it was tweeted out within the presidential twitter account and many people in the what's and now you have kellyanne conway discussing it that violates a regulation that talks about the misuse of a public position. you are not allowed to give an endorsement for products or services even from family or friends. you are not allowed to use your official government position to handle personal matters. that's all government time and government resources and equipment that's being used. that is a violation of regulations, which have the effect of law. >> let me give you the regulation, an employee -- she is an employee, she is an employee, employee does not use his public office for his own private gain for the enboresment

of service or product in. and it goes on and on and on. it seems clear. why are they pushing this fact, why are they doing it sean spicer said it was an attack on trump policy. donald trump said they are being mean to her. nordstrom has to be one of the nicest companies in the world. it was a neutral, non-political statement that they were shifting this out of the inventory that they buy. >> that's what we are afraid of. with this president we have seen numerous interests where he has floutded that the conflict of interest don't apply to him and he is going to continue to do what he needs to do. there are certain laws and regulations that don't apply to the president. some do. there are a lot of ethics regulations that apply to executive branch officials. the president to be should be leading from the top not discussing business. he pledged that he would isolate

himself from the family business. he hasn't done that. i think he needs to honor that pledge and probably go through a lib of ethics training. >> done junior also tweted. he said, citing a breitbart article where women are cutting up their nordstrom cards and planning protests. now with every member of the family involved, exactly -- at what point, where did they cross the lines? >> yesterday as far as maybe what is appropriate. but then they crossed them today. it's what's in law. that is a problem. nordstrom may even have a civil im remedy. they may be able to sue for torturous interference with their business relationships. long story short the trump presidency has blurred the lines between what is public service and what is private business that they are still conducting. it is a problem of it is a conflict of interest. he should have divested him from all of his businesses when he came into the white house. certainly he is not honoring his pledge to stay out of personal

and business matters when he sends out tweets promoting his daughter's fashion line. >> the issue is we know that part. the problem is, anyone who would have standing to bring these lawsuits would have to prove some harm from them, right? or had he you breach the statutes do not have to have somebody who proves harm? >> certainly. there are other remedies. there is going to be a letter sent to the department of justice asking them to investigate the tweets and the actions of certain people within the executive branch. but this is also public education. the office of government ethics is an entity that's supposed to advice executive branch officials how to be appropriate and how not to violate ethics laws. i think there need to be studies and reviews done and i have the feeling the white house will see a little bit of ethics training as we move on. which is a good thing. >> thank you for joining us. >> thank you, sir. we are following a lot of things right now.

several developments out of washington, d.c. it's been a busy day. already president trump is due to have lunch soon with five red state democratic senators and a few republicans senators as well. one of the main topics is expected to be supreme court nominee neil gorsuch. joining me is congressman tim ryan of ohio. he is a member of the house appropriations committee. you will remember that he challenged nancy pelosi for her house democratic leadership post. congressman, good to see you. thank you for being with us. how are things over there by the way? you did this outside challenge to a sitting leader. didn't win. any bad blood? >> no, not at all. i think a lot of the things that i talked about during the election for leadership were starting to really hammer home now, the issue of jobs, getting back to focusing on growing the economy. opportunity for everybody. how we are going to rebuild the country and really think about that in a really big way.

i think we helped change the discussion within the democratic ranks. we are not anywhere close to where we need to be but i think it was helpful and everybody has been nice. >> to elizabeth warren's point yesterday. you are not only anywhere close you are farther than you have been in a very long time. you kind of control nothing. the math doesn't add up for you. it's interesting the talk-a-thons that go on in the senate but no one is thely going to be able to overturn any of the nominees. the new issue of "time" magazine feature senator minority leader chuck schumer on the cover and it asks the question, do democrats matter. what's your answer to that? >> well of course we do. i mean, the democracy runs on an opposition party. unfortunately that's where we are. wayne gretzky the hockey player said don't skate to where the puck is, skate to where the puck is going to be. the democrats need to skate to

where the puck is going to be. president trump is distracted from what he promised the american people. he said he was going to focus on jobs. today on the front of the wreath journal jobs are still going the mexico. he is hammering nordstrom's. that's going to taj damage lot of people's livelihoods. he is distracted. we have got to talk about jobs smoo but the democrats didn't do any of the stuff about mexico either. there are a lot of people who voted for donald trump who say he is doing it. at least he is trying, moving in that direction. you can see why people would be frustrated in your own home state, right? >> well, he is not trying. he is so distracted. sending tweets out about his daughter's company. that's ridiculous. you need to focus on the people in ohio and wisconsin and michigan that voted for him that expect him to spend every single day focusings on bringing jobs to the united states increasing wages.

he is not doing it. he is busy getting in spats, causing chaos. you have to bring people together, you cannot have a chaotic environment if you want to create jobs in the united states. democrats need to stay solely focused how we have a plan, broadband in every corner of the country. coal country, mining country, all over the country. >> congressan ma, i hear you when you you had a democratic president for eight years and congressional control of the democrats for a couple of years it didn't happen. so what's the argument that somehow you are going to be in better shape to do it now when you hold no authority in either house or the white house? >> i wouldn't totally concede the point. we did see substantial job growth from the clans collapse in 2009. having said that we have further to go. we haven't talked about it as

much in campaign. we haven't talked about it as much. we have had improvements but not the wage growth that we need. we have got to get back and focus on it. we've repaired the economy from a complete collapse. but if we are going the thrive in the next ten years, give opportunity to those 50-year-old people who are losing their jobs and change the trajectory of the country so that young people have opportunity in the united states, we've got to have a new plan. and the democrats are shaping a new plan while the republicans are putting someone who is in charge of the department of labor whose against workers. i mean these are the kinds of things we have got to highlight. that's why i said maybe it won't come on line today.you have got skate to where the puck's going to be. in a couple of years, from all accounts, trump is so i distracted he is not going to make the kind of investments in american jobs that he promised our people. so democrats better be there, ready, saying here's our plan, here's how we are going to be able to help. >> congressman, good to talk to you. i appreciate it. enjoy the rhett of your retreat. thank you for watching this

hour of msnbc live. you can mind me anywhere, on twitter, instagram, facebook. right now on msnbc, andrea mitchell reports. right now on andrea mitchell reports, law and order. president trump throwing down the gauntlet on immigration as the nation gets a new attorney general. >> today's ceremony should be seen as a clear message to the gang members and drug dealers terrorizing innocent people. your day is over. a new era of justice begins. and it begins right now. >> as republicans once again overwhelm the democratic opposition. >> when jeff sessions was passed, it turned my stomach. he doesn't belong there. and i think a lot of republicans know it. >> his own man, the president's supreme court nominee, claims he is independent. but is it just for effect. >> is the president aware? >> yeah, remarks byhe