the president expressed hope that they will give judge gorsuch a fair vote. with over 100 federal judicial nominations potentially happening during this administration, it's critical for us to have have an open dialogue and work toward bipartisan agreement so our justice system returns to work on behalf of the american people. later today he'll speak with the prime minister of iraq. we'll provide readout of those calls. we anticipate the senate will hold a vote to confirm price this evening or into the early hours of friday to be the next secretary of health and human services. president was glad to see the army corps of engineers announced last night the final easement for the dakota access

pipeline. the president worked to reduce further unnecessary delays. this infrastructure project can finally continue to move forward. the construction of the dakota access pipe liline was one of t president's campaign promises. the administration is pleased that americans will go to work building this pipeline and building it with american steel whenever possible. now, looking to the upcoming schedule, tomorrow the president will welcome prime minister abe of japan. the president and prime minister will hold a press conference at 1:00 p.m. and will depart for mar-a-lago where the president is honored to the host the prime minister at the winter white house. as we recently announced just earlier today, prime minister trudeau of canada will visit the white house on monday. the president looks forward to strengthening the deep relationship that exists between the united states and canada.

president will host benjamin netanyahu next wednesday. one last thing before i take your questions, amid surging levels of ceo confidence and in the wake of incredible job announcement made by the white house yesterday by intel, there's new numbers released by the department of labor showing that unemployment claims are at near historic lows. the president knows better than anyone what business needs to create jobs and the market is responding to his policy improvements. this administration will continue to rollback burdensome regulations and lower the tax burden on americans so they can hire even more people and create even more innovative projects. with that, i'll take your questions. >> reporter: hundreds of bureaucrats make more than members of congress. 40 make more than vice president mike pence. does the president have plans to revamp this agency and if so, does he feel he should be able to fire the head of the agency

at his will? >> we have no updates right now on the head. if we do, i'll let you know. with respect to the first part of that question, i think one of the things that you're going to continue to see from this president is a respect for taxpayers dollars. the money they spend and how they're spent. we'll continue to review all aspects of government. i think you'll see further announcements as far as how he's going to look at how he's going to approach and innovate and update government. the bottom line is that we should be paying people a fair wage for their service to this country. but that we should do it in the most effective and efficient manner. that's what the president has already shown towards his commitment toward helping reduce the cost of several programs through the government and bringing back jobs. there's going to be respect for taxpayers in this administration so that whether it's salaries or actual positions or programs, he's going to have a very, very tough look at how we're operating government, how many positions they're in, what people are getting paid, but the president understands that most

americans are at their work night and day trying to get by and that washington truly needs to respect the money that they spend. and that we should be doing it in a way that shows what they're paid and what programs we're looking at and it's not just about one department or one agency. it's really about looking at how government as a whole operates. john? >> questions have been raised after kellyanne conway did an interview with fox news this morning where she appeared from the confines of the brady briefing room promote the products of ivanka trump. do you believe she crossed an ethical line here? >> kellyanne has been counseled. that's all we're going to go with. she's been counseled on that subject. that's it. >> reuters has a story out that includes a partial transcript of the president's call with vladimir putin in which he appears to express doubts about

the new start treaty. does he indeed have doubts about the new start treaty? >> the president's conversation with president putin is a private call between the two of them and i'm going to leave it at that. we put a readout on the call and have nothing further beyond that. john? >> thank you, sean. one question today. on february 2nd, a well known filmmaker in russia and was a close associate of the late dissident found himself in critical condition. his wife has since said she believes this is poisoning. very much like the conditions that almost took his life two years ago. does the administration have any comment about that or the frustration of the opponent of

president putin to get on the ballot as a candidate? >> i think our state department is aware of the situation. we're monitoring it. i'll leave it at that. >> the president said today in the airline representative meeting that he hopes to have an announcement within the next two to three weeks about lowering the burden of taxes for businesses. at the super bowl interview, he was asked can americans expect a tax break in 2017, and he said i think so, yes. i would like to say yes. sounds like he's more confident for the businesses than individual tax breaks for americans. is the business component at this point ahead of the individual component? >> thanks for asking. we're looking at in the next few weeks rolling out the outline of comprehensive tax plan that we'll be working with congress on that will address both the business side of the tax ledger and individual rates. it's going to be a comprehensive plan. something we haven't seen since

1986. we have two opportunities for reconciliation this year. one is using the fy17 budget to get obamacare repeal and replace done and then fy18 to utilize the second opportunity. since 1986 something like this of this scale magnitude has happened. the president recognizes that middle class americans need tax relief and that's going to be part of that. we also recognize and you saw in all of these business meetings whether inversions or other means in which people are shipping jobs overseas or reestablishing themselves or the profits that are kept over there, we need fundamental comprehensive tax reform that addresses both sides of that income stream. >> is this going to be a mix between what he put out on the campaign and what house republicans have put out before because there are some similarities but clearly differences as well. >> you'll have to wait a couple

weeks until we put out that outline. i can tell you it's something that will spur economic growth and recognize the need to give so many working americans the relief they need. part of the issue we continue to see over and over again with businesses is we face competition from abroad because of our tax code. it favors companies from not wanting to stay and the president recognizes that. what he wants to do is create a tax climate that not only keeps jobs here but makes it incentivizes companies to bring products back here. i think -- i don't want to get any further ahead of it i will tell you that it is going to be the first time this nation has seen a full comprehensive tax reform in a long, long time. >> the president this morning tweeted that our country is bogged down in conflict all over the place. where are we bogged down? what does he mean by that? >> look at isis in particular

and hot spots around the country and a lot of places throughout the middle east in particular middle africa, where we have to deal with and monitor because of the threat of islamic terrorism. there's no question the spread of it has gone -- proliferated. this isn't a traditional war where we look at the other enemy with a uniform saying here's the country we're fighting. the proliferation of isis throughout this country has made it so that we have to focus a lot more in a lot more places and expend a lot more resources because it's more of a desperate approach that we have to employee employ as one country that you have to face at one time. >> bog down -- >> i just answered the question. i understand. >> thank you. >> regarding the very nice letter that president trump sent

last night, i'm curious about the timing and also president trump saying that he's looking forward to develop constructive relationship with china. the importance of this bilateral relationship to the u.s.? >> it's obviously important to us. the president understands that. he's spoken fairly often about china, and he understands both the national and economic interests that we have. the desire for our companies to access chinese market. but also the national security interest that we have. so he obviously wants to do what he can to have a fruitful and constructive relationship with china. he looks forward to developing that as we go forward. sarah? >> the commander in afghanistan said today that they could use a few thousand more troops in

afghanistan to help the coalition efforts there. going off mike's question of we're trying to get out of conflicts like that does the administration plan to send those additional forces? >> i think the president will heed the advice of the generals and secretary mattis. that conversation has yet to happen. if we have any further announcements -- i think that's right now a department of defense issue that you should touch base on. >> i want to get immigration. first, on the comments from judge gorsuch reported out. does the president still stand by his nomination? >> absolutely. >> given where gorsuch stands -- >> that's number one. >> given judge gorsuch's position on the president's attitude toward the judiciary and that the president has praised neil gorsuch for his integrity, does he have regrets about comments he made about federal judges?

>> he has no regrets. he's proud of the selection he made. he has no regrets. thank you. >> on immigration , i know the white house is following the situation. i want to know does the president believe she should have been deported and what message does he have? >> i'll refer you back to i.c.e. on that. that's an i.c.e. matter. the issue is developing in arizona right now. i would refer you back to i.c.e. >> in that lunch meeting, the president said that, you know, he basically said senator blumenthal's comments were taken out of context. >> judge gorsuch's comments were. >> however, senator ayotte who is working with the white house

to help shepherd judge gorsuch through the hill released a statement confirming those same remarks disheartening and demoralizing. >> this is what senator ayotte said. judge gorsuch made it clear in discussions with senators including senator blumenthal that he could not comment on specific cases and that judicial ethics prevented him from commenting on political matters. he emphasized the importance of an independent judiciary and while he made clear he was not referencing any specific case, he said that he finds any criticism of a judge's integrity and independence disheartening and demoralizing. there's a difference between commenting on comments made in the tweet and his general philosophy about the judiciary and respect for fellow judges. i think the senator's comments were very clear about how those are two distinct issues. >> the judges comments relayed throughe erer erers -- others w

also talked about there. was the president aware of that because senator ayotte was across from him when he said those comments were accurately reported. >> the way that senator blo blumenthal characterized him, he was disheartened. that's not what the judge said. two different arguments about how he views comments he should not comment on a political matter or on specific things. as a whole, he doesn't like attacks in general on the judiciary. it was a very distinct argument he was making. i think that's where we have to be clear. that's what senator ayotte said this morning. very, very different. >> is he taking that an board? he doesn't regret his past attacks on the judiciary but now you have these confirmed remarks, which you were saying was exactly what the judge was talking about. >> hold on. again, i think it's important to

understand that the judge was very clear that he was not commenting on any specific matter. he was asking about his general philosophy. so you can't then take that equate it back to the specific. he literally went out of his way to say i'm not commenting on a specific instance. so to take what he said about a generalization and apply it to a specific is what he was not intending to do. >> the president will continue to speak like this? >> the president will speak his mind. goes back to thomas jefferson that presidents commented on judicial nominees. the idea of one branch talking about or commenting on another branch is as old as our republic. i don't know why -- i find it interesting when president obama criticized the supreme court for citizens united comments in the state of the union there wasn't a similar concern about that. the idea that this -- >> so-called judge portion is a personal attack. >> at some point it seems like there's clearly a double

standard when this is how it's applied. when president obama did it, there was no concern from this briefing room. when he does it, it's a ton of outrage. i just with all due respect, i think the president made clear that he was concerned about how that executive order in particular was applied. we addressed it from this briefing room over and over and over again that the u.s. code gives the president very clear authority to make this happen. >> i want to make sure i understand what you're saying. are you saying that demoralizing and disheartening was not specifically about the president's comments and what he said and if so, how does the president -- >> the judge literally made it clear in his comments -- senator ayotte who was there made it very clear that he was commenting in general about attacks on the judiciary. that was it. plain and simple. i can tell you with senator ayotte with him on every single thing was very clear about that. there's no -- i understand that.

and that is -- she's made it very clear over and over again. >> sean, your answer about the context doesn't make sense when you think about what senator ben sasse said today and this morning on tv. he said that he asked judge gorsuch specifically about the president's so-called judge tweet and in response -- >> this is the fourth time i asked and answered. >> this is a different context. >> i understand that. >> this is directly about -- >> i have said what senator ayotte said about it. i understand. thank you. >> sean, i'm going to continue on this line despite what is happening there. why isn't the white house -- why isn't the president concerned about the influence or the appearance of the influence on the independent judiciary? >> why isn't he -- he is free to speak his mind. where has this outrage been for the last 100 years? >> i'm talking about this president. >> part of the reason the

president got elected is because he speaks his mind. he doesn't hold it back. he's authentic. he's not going to sit back when he feels very passionately about something as much as the executive order. he was doing it to make sure americans were safe. the order -- the u.s. code is crystal clear on this. i think i've read it three days in a row. and it can't be any clearer how much authority it gives the president to do what he can to keep us safe. he's concerned that he's doing what he can to keep this country safe and there's been a lot of activity to stand in the way. so i'm not sure how many more times i can read the code to you. >> it's not how the judicial process works. >> thank you. you asked the question eight times. >> one more. i would like to ask you about -- >> thank you. go ahead. >> a different set of comments that have been made also from kellyanne conway earlier this week. >> let him go. >> earlier this week you say this is in context of the nordstrom and not about what she was counseled about but something she said to cnn

earlier this week is that the president doesn't comment on everything. so i want to contrast the president's repeated statements about nordstrom with the lack of comments about some other things including, for example, the attack on quebec mosque and other similar environments. why is the president when he chooses to -- >> you just brought that up. i stood at this podium and opened a briefing a couple days ago about the president expressing his condolences. i opened the briefing about it. so for you to sit there and say -- why are you asking why he didn't do it when i stood here and did it? >> the president's statement -- >> i don't understand what you're asking. >> the president doesn't have time to tweet about everything. he's tweeting about this. he's not tweeting about something else. >> i came out here and actually spoke about it and said the president -- >> the president's time. >> what are you -- you're equating me addressing the nation here in a tweet? that's the silliest thing i ever heard.

okay. this is silly. next. thank you. you've asked your question. thank you. >> does that not diminish the language that you're using. >> one of the criticisms leveled at president trump's predecessor, president obama, by republicans is excessive use of executive orders. the president signed three more executive orders today. why isn't that criticism applicable to president trump in the same manner? >> when you look at the context of what -- what those executive orders did and there's things that are within the bounds of trying to protect this country. nothing that even democrats would complain with the exception we've had conversations on. most have been widely praised by both parties to keep this country safe and get job creation back. president obama stretched the

executive order. the stuff that the president is doing is almost entirely highly applauded by both sides of the aisle. a difference in the context of which they operated. >> in addition to that is president obama in using those eos wasn't working with congress. does the president plan to use congress in a legislative manner? >> i mentioned tax reform and repealing and replacing obamacare and immigration. so many areas where the president -- he literally just -- we held up this briefing a little so that eight united states senators could walk out and talk. that meeting focused on the judiciary they talked about infrastructure and other priorities that they have. he has shown a commitment to work across the aisle to bring folks in and listen and hear their thoughts and get ideas on a legislative agenda that they can move together with. i think there's a big difference between the last administration

sort of shunned congress' role and this administration where the president is actively seeking their input and ideas and helping them craft an agenda to move the country forward. >> follow up on the tax question. because there are revenue elements of the affordable care act if it is repealed and replaced, there's been discussion on the hill about what would be the appropriate track to get that into tax legislation or treat that in tax legislation. the president is interested in unveiling a tax package that's as comprehensive as you just described. would the revenue elements of the affordable care act be on a separate track or talking about folding them into one reconciliation package? >> right now as i mentioned at the outset, we're primarily looking at two reconciliation tracks. one utilizing the 2017 budget so you can put your obamacare repeal and replace in the 2017 reconciliation package and then you can potentially do tax

reform comprehensive tax reform in the 2018 budget. i also want to say -- just so we're clear, these aren't prescriptive. we continue to work toward congress on a range of options and ideas to accomplish both of those and other goals. those seem primarily the two most opportune ways to get these things done. i don't want to rule anything in or out. ben? >> you talked about the president's tax reform plan in the coming weeks. is that something he's talked about with leaders in both houses of congress and are they prepared for this? >> absolutely. as i mentioned, he just wrapped up a meeting with republican and democratic senators. this is something that the legislative affairs team and the president himself have engaged with members of congress to talk about this privately and in bigger groups. there's a very large

conversation going on to achieve bipartisan support for a package of this nature. jonathan? >> does the president believe it's possible to balance the budget without reform and how so -- >> i think one of the things the president has looked at is not just the cutting side but the revenue stream. one area in particular. natural resources. regulation and tax reform and how we can grow the economy and bring in additional revenues to the government on the revenue side. there is balance to how the president is looking at bringing down the deficit. i think before i get -- we'll have a budget out, you know, in a few weeks. i think that will answer a lot. again, when it comes to deficit reduction, which is something that he is very interested in, it's not a one side ledger option. a lot of what he's trying to talk about in these meetings and with business executives is how we can expand the economy and that expanded economy, that job

creation, those explorations of natural resources and additional new jobs also bring additional tax revenue in. there's a way to do this. if we start bringing businesses back and creating more things and more jobs, that creates a revenue stream that has a significant impact on the deficit and being able to drive down the deficit and balancing the budget. i think it's not something i want to get in too much detail but i will tell you the president has been very, very keen on making sure we look at the revenue side as much as we look at the spending side. on the spending side, again you look at a whole of government approach at how we look at every department, every agency, every job, the hiring freeze being one of them. how do we make sure we're looking at are these positions necessary and are we using taxpayer money in the best possible way? it isn't a single look at those particular programs to figure out what we can do. looking at everything pick figu

out if we can make it more efficient. >> monday the house oversight committee is going to mark up the bill to strike down the district of columbia's death with dignity act, assisted suicide law. it could soon come to the white house. has the president articulated any thoughts on that or the other bills to strike down d.c.'s gun laws, marijuana, funding for abortions in the district. any thoughts on all of these things coming your way? >> as they come our way and they get passed by both houses and come this way, we'll issue statements of administration policy. at this time they're not at that position. thank you, guys, very much. we'll see you tomorrow with the prime minister. take care. >> there you have it. another testy white house press briefing with sean spicer. reporters really going after him on a number of issues. there is a lot going on today. there is snow in the east coast. there's also a lot of tweets from president donald trump.

he also signed three executive orders and sean spicer is back out. let's listen. i guess he left. sorry about that. we got a tape mix up going on here. donald trump also met with bipartisan senators today to try to convince them to vote yes on his supreme court nominee. that is neil gorsuch. they also spoke a few other things in that meeting. joe manchin left that meeting say he was bothered by donald trump's tweets about the judiciary and also we're told that they talked about an infrastructure program that is obviously something that democrats could potentially support donald trump on going forward. the democrats obviously have long been touting a big infrastructure bill. something that senator schumer said they could potentially work together on. let's break down that press briefing. we've got a whole team of reporters and panelists that are ready to get to it with you.

the first three big points that we do have right now, number one, there was a question about neil gorsuch and donald trump's tweets. he went after senator richard blumenthal today saying he mischaracterized his meeting with neil gorsuch when he said he was demoralized by donald trump tweeting at the judiciary saying that he was a so-called judge. ben sasse, senator ben sasse of nebraska also spoke to neil gorsuch. said he said the same thing. sean spicer was asked whether donald trump was rethinking the way that he would go about criticizing the judiciary. here's what he said. >> given judge gorsuch's position on the president's attitude toward the judiciary and given that the president has praised neil gorsuch for his intellect and his integrity, buzz the president have any regrets about comments he's made about federal judges?

>> i think the president's comments speak -- he has no regrets. he's proud of the selection he made. he'll great a additional to the court. he has no regrets. while he made clear that he was not referencing any specific case, he said that he finds any criticism of a judge's integrity and independence disheartening and demoralizing. there's a difference on commenting on specific comments made in the tweet and his general philosophy about the judiciary and his respect for his fellow judges. i think the senator's comments were very clear about how those are two distinct issues. >> let's go right to my friend hallie jackson. a former road warrior now in the white house press briefing room. thanks so much for getting quickly miked up and joining us on this. reporters really went after him, you included, about his comments on the judge in seattle calling him a so-called judge. he's been criticized left and right on this issue. neil gorsuch, donald trump's

supreme court pick, saying that he's disheartened and demoralized by this. but sean spicer seemed to be talking in circles when the reporters kept asking him whether or not he would stop going after the judiciary. can you make sense for us of what spicer said? >> reporter: he appears to be trying to draw a distinction between the tweet that president trump sent out calling judge jam robart a so-called judge. trying to draw the line between the president's overall attitude saying it's separate from the tweet and judge neil gorsuch was responding to a broader more general perspective on what might happen if there were disrespect toward the judiciary. the problem with that is that

senator ban sasse was on this network this morning on "morning joe" talking about specifically this tweet and saying that judge gorsuch responded in a very passionate and emotional way about it. we did not get much clarity from the white house at this point as to how the white house would respond to that. i think it's worth noting that the president absolutely in sean spicer's words stands by the nomination of judge gorsuch despite everything that's developed now over the last 24 hours. >> i was talking to somebody close to donald trump a long time confidant of his and asked this person whether or not they think this was a coordinated effort by the white house to get neil gorsuch to go out there and tell the senators what they wanted to hear. he would remain independent. after all, we're not see him do that publicly. the source pushed back on that and said, listen, if they did do it, they weren't looping in donald trump on this. donald trump cannot take criticism or a slight. this has to be irking him right

now. i also want to mention to our viewers and i hope you're still there that we just saw neil gorsuch walking the halls of the capitol today. he's meeting with senators. if you are still there, i want to get your reporting on one other topic because you also were able to ask sean spicer about this ivanka tweet. donald trump yesterday going after nordstrom saying how dare they drop my daughter's line. this is political. kellyanne conway this morning going on fox news and then saying i'm going to give a free commercial. go out and buy ivanka's clothing. it's great. it's online. jason chaffetz saying that's clearly over the line. you were able to ask sean spicer about that. i want to play your exchange right now. >> questions have been raised after kellyanne conway did an interview, i believe, with fox news this morning where she appeared to from the confines of the brady briefing room promote the products of ivanka trump. do you believe that she crossed

an ethical line here? >> kellyanne has been counseled and that's all we're going to go with. she's been counseled on that subject. and that's it. >> and by you i mean john roberts of fox news because i often get you guys totally confused. i'm sorry about that. this seems like a pretty big deal. we haven't seen them say anything remotely, i guess, looking back within themselves something that is self-retrospective. introspective about their own conduct. this seems like a move in a very different direction for them. >> reporter: what this does is open up far more questions for the white house here given kellyanne conway's statements this morning you heard john roberts asking about. i would note we've reached out obviously to the office of governmental ethics which could have oversight on this. it appears as though it might be up to, for example, the white house to discipline conway if,

in fact, they feel that's necessary. you heard spicer's response. i will tell you this. nbc news just spoke with congressman jason chaffetz by phone and said what conway said was wrong, wrong, wrong calling it wholly unacceptable no ifs, ands or buts about it. the ranking member of the house oversight committee will send a letter to the white house and house of government ethics for a referral regarding conway's remarks. this is notable. this is republicans holding the white house's feet to the fire when it comes to a matter of ethical concern. this is certainly a story that will develop throughout the day. our colleague peter alexander is here working on that. >> first time republicans in the house have gone after donald trump in terms of a separation between his business interests or anyone in the white house for that matter and what's going on

in the white house. i know you have to file for "nightly news." thank you for joining us today. let's talk about this more with our panel. we have former governor of pennsylvania. thank you for joining me. what does it mean when he says she's been counseled? when sean spicer says kellyanne conway has been canceled. what does that mean? >> the white house counsel spoke to kellyanne conway about what she said and told her -- i would assume that it was inappropriate. other than that, we really don't know. the problem with the ethics rules the way they are, it's largely self-policing. it's really incumbent on the white house. there are ethical standards they set for their employees. w i was in the bush white house and was petrified of accepting a gift that was over $20 because

we had someone who has been vocal on the ethics issues that took it so seriously. it's incumbent on the white house to have lawyers who are trying to keep them out of trouble and not try to allow them to break rules. that's what remains to be seen are these lawyers who are trying to think of ways for them to manipulate the rules or are they just trying to keep them out of trouble by enforcing these ethical boundaries. >> what sort of team is in place and do they have a specific white house ethics lawyer in place? that's a question that i don't have off the top of my head. let's go over to governor ed rendell to get your take on this. donald trump's conflicts of interest weren't a problem for him during the campaign. they so far have not been much of a problem. there's been a very blurry line between where his business interests lie and his interest for the american public lie and a lot have come out and criticized this. do you think that this is a line that is finally been crossed for

this administration or is this just a one out of anomaly really? >> well, first of all, kellyanne conway is a train wreck. starts out her job by talking about alternative facts and caught in a massive lie and here she clearly violates federal law by urging people to buy a product that is associated with the president. but, again, it starts from the top. the president attacked nordstrom's. kellyanne conway takes her lead from the tone that's set by the president. look, this is an administration that doesn't believe the president himself said that he's not con strant by any conflicts laws. that permeates through the entire administration. >> let's give the viewers that law. it's u.s. code. it says an employee shall not use his public office for his own private gain for endorsement of product, service or enterprise. so that's what it says. we are seeing at least the

beginning os of oversight over this administration. let's go over to pete williams and talk a little bit about neil gorsuch. a lot of controversy right now about whether or not neil gorsuch has the obligation to go out in front of the american people and say, listen, i am independent. i am going to prove to you that i'm independent by saying, yes, i was disheartened. i was demoralized by donald trump's comments instead of saying it privately to senators. is there any chance that we see him do that? >> none whatsoever. there's no obligation to do it. he will follow the iron rule of supreme court numbominees. once they're nominated and make that speech thanking the president, they don't say anything in public until their confirmation hearings. when there are those photo-ops in senator's offices, they stand there and smile at the cameras and they don't say anything. not even good morning or good afternoon. so that's just not going to

happen that he's going to say anything publicly. let me put it this way. it would be surprising if he said anything publicly. the supreme court nominees are pretty careful about sticking to that rule. >> we saw our own kasie hunt trying to chase him down the halls to get him to say anything. you're right. he just was completely silent. how unusual is it to hear a readout of these meetings from senators? >> that's also very common. that's part of it as well. i've talked to current supreme court justices who have said that they have been in these one-on-one private meetings with senators and then they are sometimes astonished to hear the way the senators describe what went on thinking that it had very little to do with what actually was said but in this case, we have not only a couple of senators saying that judge gorsuch made these comments but perhaps equally tellingly, the people helping judge gorsuch for the administration through the process confirm that he did make those remarks. >> pete williams, thank you.

our final coppic that came out of that white house press briefing, a reuters report that in a conversation between donald trump and the russian president, vladimir putin, donald trump basically expressed that he would reconsider the new star treaty. what is the new star treaty? an agreement between the u.s. and russia to cap off nuclear weapons to a certain degree. this is an agreement in place for decades. it was reupped in 2010 by a bipartisan vote in the senate. they ratified it. let's go over to our pentagon correspondent hans nichols. talk to me about what you're hearing in the pentagon about the potential for this treaty to be at least rethought or for donald trump not to have his full support behind it. >> the only thing more difficult than getting a pending supreme court nominee to talk to you on camera is getting someone at the pentagon to talk to you about nuclear posture. this is a very closely held secret.

we do know a little bit. that namely is secretary mattis has broad purview to conduct what's called a nuclear posture review. now, typically when they do that, the pentagon, they put more emphasis on deterrence and more emphasis on modernization. speaking in general about treaties, the pentagon likes treaties like new star because it provides certainty and road map and they know what to follow. i'll switch topics here. that's my transition for you. one other bit of news that came out of that is sean spicer is strongly indicating the president is going to accept recommendations from ground forces. we had one in afghanistan testifying on capitol hill today for a few thousand more troops, american troops, in afghanistan. spicer didn't say entirely that trump would accept that but he was inclined to listen to his generals. his generals are asking for more troops and we could have a mini

surge in afghanistan. >> always happy to have our team of correspondents and analysts to break down the breaking news that comes out of the white house press briefings. coming up after the break, we'll speak to a senator from north dakota, a republican. we'll ask him a little bit more about neil gorsuch and how he feels about donald trump's tweets. also about how he feels about neil gorsuch's characterizing them as disheartening and demoralizing. stay with us. for over 100 years like kraft has, you learn a lot about people's tastes. honey, what do you want for dinner tonight? oh, whatever you're making. cheesy chipotle pork quesadillas? mmmm... ravioli lasagna bake? yeah, i don't know... grilled white chicken... grab something rich, sharp and creamy. triple cheddar stuffed sliders. sold! we aim to cheese! kraft natural cheese: we make cheese for how you love cheese. hi!

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>> the president will continue to speak like this? >> of course he will. the president will speak his mind. the idea of one branch commenting on another branch is as old as our republic. >> sean spicer talking about the tweet that called the seattle judge a so-called judge. we'll go to john hoeven now who joins us now from capitol hill. senator, thank you for being here. let's get right into it. i know this is not what is traditionally done. neil gorsuch or supreme court nominees don't get in front of the public and speak their mind. eseil gorsuch have an obliti in this circumstance? this extraordinary circumstance to not just speak to senators behind closed doors and ask them

to relay his message but to come out in front of the american public and say, hey, listen, i promise you i can be and remain independent from the man who nominated me. >> first, think neil gorsuch is just an outstanding choice. tremendous track record. i think he'll get very good support in the senate. i think he's going to follow the procedure that all of the nominees follow and that is to not make public statements until he's confirmed. but i think if anything, his comment to senator blumenthal showed his independence. i think he's a very impressive guy that's going to do very well. >> do you think the republican leadership should break their silence on donald trump's tweeting? we heard sean spicer say he's not going to stop. many believe this is an attack on the separation of powers in this country. do you not as a party have a

responsibility to pushback publicly? >> i certainly understand and appreciate your question. i think republican leaders have commented on some of the tweets and will continue to comment on some of the tweets. i mean, president trump is going to say what he's going to say. here in the senate, we'll work to do our job on behalf of the american people and get the work done that will really help benefit the country and try to focus on the substantive things that will move the country forward. and we're doing that every day, and we're going to continue to do that. >> what about the americans out there tired of seeing donald trump tweet? a number of donald trump supporters who say he needs to stop. what do you say to them when the president just continues to do so? >> well, the american people will continue to express their opinion. it's up to the president to decide how to respond to that. i expect the president and the white house will respond based on what they feel should be done and in line with the feedback they get from the american people. ultimately we all work for the

american people and have to do the very best job we can. like i said, to get substantive work done for our country. >> john hoeven, thank you for sticking around with us on this very busy day. now, let's go over to the other side of the aisle and a "time" magazine cover that asked the question, do the democrats matter? let's go over to representative maxine waters of california. she's at the democratic retreat over in baltimore. so congresswoman, thank you for being here, number one. >> welcome. >> i would pose that question to you. do the democrats matter? >> absolutely we matter. as a matter of fact, we may matter more than ever. despite the fact we're not in the majority in the house or the senate and they have the white house but this president is so outrageous, so ridiculous until i think we have a responsibility to help educate and communicate the public and dissect what he's doing, what he's saying, and

it's going to catch up with him and for those republicans who don't have the courage to stand up and denounce some of those tweets and the way that he's handling conflict of interest, they're going to get caught up in this. it's not going to last very long. >> congresswoman, you have strong words for the president and there's a good portion of the democratic party that doesn't want to see any democrat work with republicans or work with president trump in any way. 56% of them saying that they oppose this president. are we in for another four years of complete stalemate in congress? >> i don't think so because he's not going to be there for four years. he has disregarded constitutional questions. we're still digging into his conflicts of interest. his relationship to putin and the kremlin. i think there's a lot there. i don't intend to work with him or try to work with him, but i certainly don't intend for him to be around for four years.

a lot of people don't want to hear this. they say you're saying it and talking about a president who has only been in office for a short period of time. but i do believe that he is vulnerable to impeachment. >> you believe he's vulnerable to impeachment but the democrats do not control the house or the senate. this would have to be something that republicans signed on to. why are you so sure the republicans would get onboard with that? nch >> well, i think he's going embarrass his party. they can't keep defending him and standing up for him but in addition to that, this congress no matter where we divide, we're basically very patriotic. many of those senators are getting very nervous about his relationship to putin and his defense of putin constantly, and so i think that if, in fact, they find that there's been collusion between this president and putin and the kremlin that they're going to back off of him

and there is an opportunity there for all of us to get together in the interest, the best interest, of this country, and i do think that impeachment certainly may be possible. >> california democratic congresswoman maxine waters, thank you for being here with us. coming up next, from d.c. to maine some 50 million people are feeling old man winter. wicked snowfall grounded thousands of flights so who has seen the worst of this winter whopper so far? we've got al roker coming up here next to tell us. 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 your ford running strong. 35,000 specialists all across america. no one knows your ford better than ford. and ford service. right now, get the works! a synthetic blend oil change,

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there is a monster storm kicking up i-95 right now and we have cameras all over this. philadelphia, new york, new jersey, long island, hartford and boston. they are all blanketed in the white stuff. if you're going to get on the roads, don't get on the roads. new york state police responding to several tractor-trailer wipe outs. why are tractor-trailers on the road? >> people have to get stuff to other people. >> you hear al rocker. we'll come to him in a minute. also caught on camera in connecticut. thundersnow. listen to this. you know the thundersnow is cool

but not the same unless you have jim cantore standing there screaming about it. >> any moment he is literally going to self-combust. >> thunder know snow is not tha unusual. low pressure develops. in this case, we have intensifying low pressure and that really drives drift. okay. the uplift. when you see that uplift, you get the thunderstorms. normally during a thunderstorm you'll see weak updrafts and low level clouds but with storms like this, you get a strong updraft, rising clouds and thunder clouds forming and in between the updrafts you get electrical charges developing and that's what brings in the lightning, the thunder and very intense snowfall. snow rates of up to 4 inches per hour. we saw that in albany, new york. this thing is now pulling out. you can see the western edge of it just by albany. kingston, new york city, we're

still getting light snow. you can also see the lightning flashes here where we're seeing and hearing lightning and thunder. snowfall amounts central park, 9 inches. albany almost 10 inches. we get out to boston, they only picked up about three inches but there's more on the way. east rprovidence about 8 inches. 9 million people under a blizzard warning. strong gusty winds will bring the visibilities down from long island up to cape cod. could see 1 to 3-inch snowfall rates into this evening as the storm pulls away. boston still in it. you can see new york city, philly, washington, all out. with the winds still blowing, airports are going to be a real mess. totals for this evening one to two in new york.

new england we're talking about maybe all told a foot in boston providence. schools closed in boston today. they will be closed again tomorrow. there you go. it's one of those things where we've gotten this stuff. it's been a light winter. we don't have much to kick about. >> schools are closed. where's the best sledding? >> central park cedar hill is where i'm going to go with my son. >> are you staying here? >> i'll be here through "nightly news." i'll be in central park so we can go sledding. >> "today" show meteorologist al roker. thank you for being here. that wraps things up for me this hour. follow me on facebook and twitter. kate snow -- >> i see what did you there. >> guys, i've never heard that joke before. not once, al.

thanks so much. good afternoon. i'm kate snow. top stories this hour. for president trump and senate democrats today, an olive branch and a sword just as president trump held a friendly meeting with some senate democrats, he went on attack after richard blumenthal who said that gorsuch told him in a private meeting that the president's recent criticisms of judges was disheartening and demoralizing. what president trump is saying back coming up. also, white house press seetary sean spicer saying kellyanne conway has been "counseled" regarding her comments made about ivanka trump's product line. also today, a big focus on the border. president trump signing an executive order taking on drug cartels. that while the department of homeland security secretary john kelly visits the border this afternoon and a deadly snowstorm making its way through new york