hello everyone. i'm stephanie gosk. the 2:00 here in new york and mar-a-lago, where president trump is spending the weekend with japanese prime minister shinzo abe. importance both leaders place on the u.s. between the u.s. and

japan. the president is contemplating his next move after his temporary immigration ban should remain suspended. meanwhile, russia may be prepared to hand over edward snowden to president trump as a gift, but what strings might be attached? and as president trump begins to ramp up immigration enforcement, fears are escalating among undocumented immigrants around the country. first, the trump administration is weighing its options deciding how to move forward with its em beatbattledr on immigration. the president says no matter what happens, his priority is keeping americans safe. >> my administration is kmichted to -- committed to your security. why we will continue to fight to take all necessary and legal action to keep terrorists, radical and dangerous extremists from ever entering our country. >> this morning the president tweeted about one of his other

immigration promises, the wall. challenges reports that the cost is going up. tweeting "i am reading that the great border wall will cost more than the government originally thought." saying in another tweet, the price of the wall will "come way down." nbc's kelly o'donnell joins me now from west palm beach, florida, where president trump is hosting japan's prime minister this weekend. kelly, when should we expect an announcement on the legal battle over immigration? >> reporter: well, the president hinted, stephanie, as early as monday there could be a new phase of this, and he suggested in talking with reporters on air force one that there might be a rewriting of the executive order. sort of a do-over, if you will, starting a different track and evaluated on its own terms. at same time we're told by senior advisers the white house wants to keep all options open in pursuing this through the courts with the existing order. so we're getting some hints, but not a hard date on what they want to do. the president also said during

his news conference with shinzo abe at the white house that he wants to have new steps to demonstrate there is this extra vetting he has talked about, as early as next week. so it appears they're poised to take a next step. given us some guidance, but haven't outlined it specifically. one of the issues, the president cited, in changing to a new revised order would be the acknowledgement that the court process is lengthy, and it is his view that this needs to happen more quickly. so it seems to be a two-prong strategy. may be committed to working on the court side of it and may be able to come up with a new product, if you will, that would deal with these issues that would have the benefit of the lessons learned in these initial weeks of the rollout, with some of the problems identified, and a chance to bring in some of the top officials, like the secretary of homeland security and that sort of thing. that's where we are today. you saw, the president is multitasking a bit, sending out tweets on issues that are

important to him, at the same time he is playing host to an important partner to the united states, the japanese prime minister and his wife. today they are at a golf club that bears the trump name. we have seen from reports and from some pictures that members of the general public have taken pick commerce and that sort of thing, that they were out on the links. the press pool that travels with the president was not given access to shoot pictures at the golf club on the inside to see them playing, but the trump white house has put out some images. in addition to that we did have full coverage of the first lady doing her first solo event today. that was with mrs. abe. very traditional for the two spouses to do something together while the president and his counterpart are having meetings or doing this sort of outing today. mrs. trump went along with mrs. abe to a japanese garden here in florida. they spent part of the morning there making a number of stops and are having a lunch together.

for a first lady who continues to reside in new york, the first time we've seen her doing something in her role as first lady separate from the president. stephanie? >> looks like a lovely day for some golf down there. of course, a lot of work to do. >> reporter: yes. >> kelly o'donnell, thank you. if the trump administration decides not to draft a new executive order, who are some of the legal options. the white house could take the case to the u.s. supreme court. or the administration could ask the 9th circuit court of appeals to reconsider the ruling and finally take the case back to the courts. joining me to discuss, legal analyst and attorney, lisa green. first off, do you think president trump needs to rewrite this executive order? >> if he decides to rewrite the executive order as kelly alluded to, a bit of a blueprint from that harsh decision the 9th secretary rendered on thursday pointing out no due process. if someone is barred entry into the united states, they deserve under the constitution the court

said the right to some sort of appeal, and they also took issue with some of the religious exemptions that seemed to violate the first amendment. so a do-over would have the she chew of simplicity. i assure you, no end to lawsuits even if they try again. >> that would be my next question. if you rewrite the executive order, and you still have all of these actions in court on the first executive order, don't you just have potentially a doubling of activity in our federal court system? >> because this issue is raised constitutional concerns and immigration advocates watching keenly what the administration does, i think it is a fair bet that the new order would draw scrutiny and it's not clear that the old order litigation would be over. if anyone was seeking damages from what happened at airports that weekend, that part of the lawsuit would still live. we're up to about 20 different lawsuits across the country at this point according to the "wall street journal." >> and don't you at some point, when talking about just the bandwidth of the department of

justice, at what point are they just maxed out just dealing with this one issue? >> running out of lawyers to run to the courts. should be well staffed for it. make no mistake, the decision to render the executive order unleashed a series of court rulings, some temporary, an eye towards being permanent. courts in different states coming up with different approaches. attorneys general in different states. if you try to map it out on a piece of paper, you'd have a crowded piece of paper right away. almost impossible to keep track. >> a look at how this progressed. the 9th circuit took a lot of criticism from a lot of different corners on their indecision, not to mention from the president himself, and that has come under criticism. what kind of environment are we dealing with here? >> a high-pressure environment. the 9th secretary decision is so controversial that a judge on the circuit who wasn't involved has now asked the entire circuit to take a look at the decision and think about it again. >> i didn't even know they could

do that. >> they can. a seldom used rule and either party could have asked for that review. the fancy term, enbunk review. the three on the panel said, let's all get together and look. take a majority vote to decide. if that happens. that's one piece of a very big puzzle. >> wow. gets more and more complicated. lisa green, thank you very much for your help sorting it all out. happening now, keeping an eye on town halls around the country where constituents are confronting their congressmen. here's republican congressman gus ville roraucous responding a town hall today. >> we do have something for tax credits -- talking -- i know, i know. refundable tax credits. >> these forums back home are a

mainstay for members of congress but don't usually look like this. throughout the week protestors barnstormed town halls. a strategy some say looks a lot like how tea party activists went after obama's policies in 2009. tammy leutner joins us from inside congressman's town hall. tammy, lat week the congressman faced 200 angry constituents upset over the possible repeal of obamacare. constituents turned out again for today's town hall. what was the message this time? >> reporter: the message was the same thing. we had several hundred people here again today who are angry and afraid of what will happen if a/kk aca is repealed. we heard from a lot of people today. old, young, elderly, all types. a lot of them shared their personal stories about what their worried about. one woman talked how her daughter has a genetic disease and before aca, insurance for

them was $10,000 for one year and an elderly woman said her payments were more than her house payments. and one man in his 20s works three jobs, none offering medical insurance. he relies on aca. a matter of life or death for them, stephanie. >> what's the tone inside the town halls? you have people that have opposing viewpoints and we've seen so much anger on the streets. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: i have to tell you, it was hostile in there today. there was a lot of people that would not let other people finish their thoughts. the congressman, he sat there and he listened to what everybody had to say, tried to respond. a lot of times they didn't want to hear hi response. the people there today don't want to see aca go away. if it does, they want to know what it's replaced with. both things the congressman was not able to answer today. >> thank you, tammy. nbc's tammy leutner in new port

richey, florida. thank you. a new development this afternoon on president trump's national security team. national security adviser mike flynn's top aide denied critical security clearance to the national security council. according to a former government official familiar with the situation, this move by the cia to deny clearance to senior director foreafrica robin townley essentially ends the deputy's time on the national security council. this comes as general flynn faces fallout for revelations he discussed sanctions against russia with its ambassador before president trump too office, despite flynn denying that. joining me now, nbc news intelligence and national security reporter ken dilanian. whach ken, what's the latest? >> a rough couple of days for mike flynn, the president's national security adviser. he's lost his african director

on the national security council. we're not exactly sure why. what reason was cited for denying rob townsley, a former marine special operator a clearance but he's had to leave his job. more pressingly for fliynn, though, he is under fire over revelations he did discuss russian-related sanctions with the russian ambassador on the day the obama administration announced them back in december. after he told people including the president of the united states he didn't discuss those sanctions. yo have democrats accusing flynn having lied and calling for his removal. the only person whose opinion matters whether flith continues in his job is trump. trump was asked about this on air force one last night and commented. take a listen to that. >> i don't know about it. i haven't seen it. what report is that? >> [ inaudible ]. >> i haven't seen it. >> reporting he talked to the ambassador of russia before you were inaugurated about sanctions --

>> i still haven't seen that. i'll look at that. >> reporter: stephanie, you can imagine, a lot of eye rolling in newsrooms across washington at that comment, because donald trump is a president who pays very close attention to controversies about his administration, about people who work for him. it's hard to imagine he wasn't tracking this huge story, but it remains to be seen how he'll treat it going forward. >> ken, talk about the timing of all this. presumably the transcripts, these phone calls that took place almost two months ago have been around a while and suddenly these leaks. do these unnamed intelligence officials have it in for the national security adviser? >> reporter: hard to know the motivations of sources but i'm reluctant to call stories like this leaks. you have national security reporters running around -- i'm one of them, running around washington trying to big out information that is secret and classified and trying to get people to talk about these very sensitive matters, and you know, there are people who are

concerned about flynn's conversations, and they're concerned about the larger issue of whether the trump administration will lift the sanctions on russia and want the public to know that's under consideration, particularly if denied. that explains why the story came out, stephanie. >> the pressure is building. ken dilanian in washington. thank. for more on the controversy joined by ambassador james jeffrey, former national deputy security adviser for president george w. bush. thank you for being with us. the ranking member of the house foreign affairs committee wants the president to replace flynn immediately. does flynn need to resign? >> not at all. what he has to do is to fix this and fix this quickly and very, very clearly. this is not a violation of law. the logan act or anything else. it's normal for people like flynn before coming into office and in a change of administration to talk to people like the russians. president obama's guy, michael

mcfaul, said he did think as well. it wouldn't have been normally abnormal to mention something like the sanctions that the russians were considering imposing, and because it's in america's interests to say, hey, think twice before you do that to hurt us. what is at play here is, under the extraordinary circumstances of russia's involvement in the american election, obviously anything related to russia was radioactive. if that conversation took place there should have been somebody monitoring the conversation taking verbatim notes and releasing the notes nap didn't happen. then all of this confusion about what flynn knew, what he said, contradictory, and it appears the vice president was misinformed on this thing and went out in the public. this is a public relations disaster, and it's exactly what we have a national security adviser there to coordinate and ensure it doesn't happen anywhere in the bureaucracy, starting with him. that's the problem. how he's doing his job. >> ambassador to that point fshs

it is actually normal for someone in this position to have that kind of conversation, even to talk about the sanctions on the day that they were placed, why not just come out and say, yes, we had that conversation. it's well within our right to do so. didn't break any laws and are allowed to talk about our policy moving forward? >> a good question. i think the trump administration is very nervous about the russian connection. they're very nervous about the accusations that the russians tried to throw the election or tilt the election towards the trump presidency. and it's not a question of culpability but a question of wanting the story to go away. so they made a big mistake. it happens often with a new team, of trying to ignore or to play down something that happened rather than just saying, yeah, we did it. who wouldn't want the russians not to impose savgnctions on us. why couldn't we ask for that? >> and could have further

implications. now a senator is calling for a senate investigation into the u.s. ties with russia and congressman eliot engel calling for trump to fire flynn. what do you think will happen next? >> if you want to get flynn out of that job, the last thing to do is have my friends, congressman engle ask for that to happen. that will just make president trump resist ever more. what has to happen is, this investigation is going to happen. it's not just democrats. it's the american public and it's many, many republicans in congress who want to get to the bottom what russia is up to. they don't think it's up to good things and that's what we have a constitutional system for and the trump administration simply has to adjust to that. in the case of flynn, the president isn't going to fire him. the question is, will we see more things like this, that's what worries me because flynn has to deal with very, very powerful, very self-confident cabinet members and foreign

dignitaries who will take him at his word and need to deal with him at a very, very confidential and intimate level. and thus it's very, very important that things go well with him, because he's a critically important member of the trump team. >> former ambassador james jeffrey, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. when we come back, we'll go live just a few miles from here. site of several duelling weekend demonstrations. later -- big skins and politics. the growing protest over the super bowl new england patriots eventual trip to the white house.

happening now, protestors filling the streets this hour in cities across the country. in minnesota sashgs porters for funding planned parenthood hitting the pavement today to

counteract demonstrations against funding. waum all this is happening more protests against president trump the immigration policies continue into the afternoon. look at this. protestors marching in raleigh in the 11th annual moral march to advocate for voting rights. go to nbc's morgan radford in new york city. what's happening where you are? >> reporter: stephanie, good afternoon. this is the site where that abortion rights rally was held to support planned parenthood. it ended about 1:00 p.m. today. we saw about 1,000 people in the washington square in new york holding signs that said my body, my choice. saying it was their right and their right alone what happened to their body and didn't want the government trying to meddle and certainly not defund planned parenthood. error at 10:00 a.m., a short blocks away, there were anti-abortion activists outside with their signs that said, no, we do not support any money, any

federal money, certainly, going to planned parenthood and talked to both sides of the aisle. take a listen. >> many, many reasons this rally was important to show we have a collective voice a collective power in representing those who are marginalized. planned parenthood is more than abortions, it's sexual education, cancer screenings, and recognizing we have a choice. >> elected representatives at national, state and the local level that we are here. we want to defund plan the parenthood. we stand for women's rights and women's health care. we want the funds allocated to be redirected to other health qualified centers. >> reporter: it's interesting, stephanie. i've been covering these series of issues a number of weeks now. these protests today were interestingly more personal. one story at the apportion

rights podium said she had an abortion at 16 and allowed her to have a different style of living and when she had the procedure, someone told her she had a choice of being a mother or murderer. those type of personal stories you heard on the podium today. at this rally, this is more than just about abostiartion. lowering health care and for trans people, people of color and people with low incomes. >> emotional issue no matter where you fall in the debate. thank you very much from new york. more ahead this hour. a look at the toll to crack down on undocumented immigrants is having on families caught in the middle.

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i'm stephanie gosk. here's what we're watching this hour. protests continuing across the country from here in new york to st. paul, minnesota, to raleigh,

north carolina. focused on a number of issues from funding for planned barrenhobarren hood parenthood and voting rights. and meanwhile, michael flynn's top aide, robin townley, ends his time on the national security council. and days after a storm delivered one to two feet snow, more snow ahead. and i.c.e. denying its crackdown across the country is anything new. between those raids and isolated deportations of undocumented immigrants, families are feeling the fallout after being split up. a firsthand view from the u.s./mexico border. >> reporter: across the country, word of immigration and customs race sending panic through

millions of undocumented immigrants. >> there's a heightened level of a fear because of everything that's happening. >> reporter: i.c.e. saying raids in l.a., atlanta and texas were routine, targeting criminals. activists saying some swept up don't pose a threat. >> we're destroying families. >> reporter: i.c.e. raids are nothing new. the obama administration deporting more undocumented immigrants than any president in history. the new secretary of homeland security defended enforcement efforts during a visit to the border near san diego. >> if the laws on the books relative to immigration need to be changed, please, please, please change them. >> reporter: president trump's tough talk on immigration and a new executive order expanding discretion who could be targeted has families on edge. immigration advocates saying the word criminal includes mothers like gaud lupe, convicted of using a false social security number eight years ago so she could work.

she had previously didn't allowed to stay with her two american-born children as long as she checked in with i.c.e. during this checkup she was deported to mexico. >> it's really heartbreaks, because i was hoping i would go home with my mom. >> reporter: this 8-year-old was born in the united states, but her parents are undocumented. she was so terrified when immigration officials knocked on her door, her mother said she was hospitalized. and at the mention of her father currently in i.c.e. detention, she can't stop crying. her mother among those living in fear that their families may soon be torn apart. nbc's reporter from arizona and from the border, just outside mexico city. march ya marc we're seeing two things here.

what are they telling us? >> reporter: the mexican government warned of a "new reality" for its citizens in the u.s. and advising they take the "necessary precautions." they're also trying to make a new effort to welcome these deportees. president enrique pinn nieto we welcome the deportees under president trump telling them -- [ speaking in foreign language ] this is your home. also an ongoing discussion in the mexican senate how to make it easier for mexicans who studied in the u.s. to be able to revalidate that kind of course work here i mexico, because right now it is a very complicated and expensive process. i spoke with president nieto's spokeswoman who pointed out under the obama administration you had more than 2 million deportations but there came a point they had a conversation with the obama administration and told them, listen, this can't happen in the form of raids in the middle of the

night. parents yanked from homes in front of their children. this needs to happen in an orderly fashion and our people's human rights need to be protected. she told me they are hoping, the nieto administration, to have that kind of conversation and cooperation with the trump administration regarding these deportations. stephanie? >> nbc's reporter outside mexico city. thank you. up next, reaction from edward snowden and the kremlin to nbc news reporting that russia may return snowden to the u.s. as a gift to president trump. just like the people who own them, every business is different. but every one of those businesses will need legal help as they age and grow. whether it be with customer contracts, agreements to lease a space or protecting your work. legalzoom's network of attorneys can help you, every step of the way. so you can focus on what you do and we'll handle the legal stuff that comes up along the way.

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nbc has learned russian officials are now discussing the idea of turning ex nsa contractor edward snowden over to the u.s. snowden was granted refuge in russia after exposing secrets about america's most sensitive surveillance programs. the justice department says it welcomes snowden's return, but the question, what would russia

get in return for bringing back snowden? a man some suspected may have been a russian spy all along. nbc's cynthia mcfadden has our exclusive report. >> reporter: nbc news learned that the russian government is considering offering fugitive edward snowden as a gift to president trump. this, according to a senior official, who has analyzed a series of highly sensitive intelligence reports detailing russian conversations and deliberations. a second source in the intelligence community confirms the intelligence, and notes it has been received since the inauguration. the sources say lauch been formulating various ploys to curry favor with the new president. during the campaign, pmr. trump made it clear what he wants to see happen. >> i think he's a total traitor and would deal with him harshly, and if i were president, putin would give him over.

>> reporter: he faces at least 30 years in prison, and intel tells nbc news the snowden gift would be part of an ongoing campaign to disrupt the american system, as they did during the election. >> one of the things that putin, or the russians, may see is that they could appear to be offering a gift as a part of a warming of relations, but at the end of the day it creates complication for the new administration. >> reporter: complications that might arise during a snowden trial, like reopening the debate about american surveillance and civil liberties. good for the russians. last year mike pompeo, now cia director, said, prison was not enough for snowden. >> i think the proper outcome could be that he would be given the death sentence. >> reporter: we asked mr. snowden's lawyer about his possible return. team snowden received no nudge signals and has no new reason for concern. in december mr. snowden himself said he wasn't worried. >> there's got to be some kind

of deal where trump says, hey, look you know, give this guy to me, as some kind of present, and am i worried about it? not really. i know i did the right thing. >> this is one of those rare cases where the stakes are so high, the diplomatic implications so deep, that anything can happen. i think at the end of the day, moscow holds the cards here. >> that's nbc's cynthia mcfadden. snowden himself reacted to our report tweeting finally. irrefutable evidence that i never cooperated with russian intel. no country trades away spies as the rest would fear they're next. the kremlin calls the report nonsense and the white house had no comment. and today a lawyer for snowden said all this talk is just ordinary speculation. someone is indulging in wishful thinking. when we come back, we'll be joined by former labor secretary tom perez, who served in president obama's cabinet and now says the former president

could have done more to help his party in last year's election. we'll ask him about those comments and why he thinks he should be the next dnc chair, after this break. and jacob sober roffe with you next hour joined by another candidate for dnc chair. this is the silverado special edition. this is one gorgeous truck. oh, did i say there's only one special edition? because, actually there's 5. aaaahh!! ooohh!! uh! holy mackerel. wow. nice. strength and style.

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we have an obligation to gish back and make our nation stronger, even when the things that we want to do are opposed. this is a guy, said he was against executive orders. the guy writing executive odors in crayon right now. >> alert. somebody get the pences pens t white house. seriously, democrats after losing the white house to president trump, the retreat titled "the future forum" focuses on democrats move forward and who should lead the democratic national committee during this time of change. joining me one of those vying for the role of the chair, tom

perez, former labor secretary. you were a part of the obama administration. >> good to be with you. >> thank you. you've received support from extensive democrats but this is a unique political moment. does that kind of establishment support and experience help or hurt your chances? >> well, i've got support from the united farm workers, the leader of the farm workers is the son-in-law of cecily chavez. support from the united food and commercial rou workers union and from folks across the spectrum of the party and i'm proud of that support. i've been a fighter my whole career. wall street, took on police reform issues. settled the two fair housing acts of those screwed in the foreclosure crisis. those the fights of my life. what i've been doing my entire life and we need someone who can take the fight to donald trump. who can make sure we're

communicating our message, opportunity and optimism, to the entire partiened a that we can, someone who can change the culture of the democratic party, and that's what i've done in my previous jobs. taking organizations that have a critical mission but haven't been firing on all cylinders and turning them around. that's what we have to do at the dnc. when we put values ahead of us, democratic values of opportunity, inclusion, turns into votes. i'm confident we can turn this party around and take the fight to donald trump. >> secretary, yesterday you spoke with my colleague andrea mitchell about president obama, his involvement with the democratic party. take a quick listen to what you had to say. >> was president obama -- did president obama pay enough attention to party maintenance, party building? >> with hindsight, the answer to that is, no. >> reporter: do you believe obama shares some blame for a trump presidenty? sounded like that. >> well, no. you know, the ofa is what we were talking about, the

organizing for america operation for president obama and that helped him win the two elections, but one of the impacts of that was, it was a parallel structure to the party. so that hurt the party as result. so what we've got to do is learn from that, and go to school on that. i think what we have to do is get back to basics. we need to organize, organize, organize, build that organizing capacity within the democratic party, working side by side with the 50 states. we need to make sure we're providing the training that we need for candidates. we need to make sure we're providing that basic support so that we can have 57 strong state parties. the 50 states and the territories and the district of columbia and when we're organizing we win. we lost in 2016 in no small part because we didn't make enough house calls ignored whole swaths of america. we stopped doing what is critical in any campaign. persuasion, and when we're doing that 12 months a year, talking

to people whether it's in the city of milwaukee or whether it's in the northwest corner of wisconsin, when we're doing that talking and when we're communicating our message of opportunity inclusion, hope, and optimism, that's whe we win, and we fell short onthat, and that's why we have to redouble our investments in organizing. >> tom perez, former labor secretary and current candidate for dnc chair, thank you for joining us. >> it's always a pleasure to be with you. >> thank you. this is the cover of this weekend's edition of the "washington post" magazine. kellyanne conway, they never saw this coming. conway, also the focus of a "new yorker" article on newsstands. a lot of attention for one of the presidential most important cou counselors. is that a good thing? we'll ask our political panel, after this break. when played backwards at 1/8th speed you can clearly hear...

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today counselor to the president kellyanne conway appears on the cove of the "washington post" magazine.

and the subject of a separate piece for the "new yorker" titled "kellyanne conways battle forfavor" after days of criticism over ivanka trump's brand prompting looks on the oversight committee. one of many top aides visible to the public and occasionally make high-profile missteps. joining me, politics eder at "the root" and emily tisch, director at the center for american progress, and sue haile khan, chairman of the inclusion. kellyanne conway or "washington post" magazine. is all of this visibility for these counselors for trump a good idea? >> so about 20 years ago, bill clinton was quoted saying he was sick and tired of seeing all of

his campaign staff on the damn newspapers and in television. you know, this is not new. right? oftentimes presidents don't want to see their staff members, their p.r. flags and subordinates getting more attention and introspection and pub and press than they do. it's different. i think president trump loves the idea of kellyanne conway, sean spicer and others dominating the headlines. not the criticism but the attention is probable that makes this administration happy. >> emily, turning to you, kellyanne conway has really been probably the most consistent and the most successful defender of president trump since the inauguration. how do you think he takes what has transpired over the last week in terms of her? >> i don't think you can call it successful. it's a different measure of success. she's certainly a loyal defender of the president but rule number one as a p.r., do not get ahead

of your principle. do not make news. not only do they have profiles of themselves, they're actually making news. the fact that kellyanne conway would be promoting ivanka's line from the podium, making a ton of news herself, it doesn't say very good things how they're running their operation. i think there's good reason to question how they run their operation in general. they've not been able to fill the director of communications slot. so sean spicer is working in that role as well. but the fact that she, sean spicer, is getting a huge profile on "snl," which really seems to be one of the things that needles trump the most, the fact he now has a profile himself, it just really does not say good things for controlling a message. you want the message to be coming from your principal, not your p.r. flex making news. >> and no indication conway is in trouble for this snafu over nordstrom's. is there? >> they are looking into and opening an investigation.

there is bipartisan question looking into it, and it does seem very -- very serious conflicts of interest. we know those are happening right and left in trying to separate the trump presidency from the trump barand. the fact they're coming into a gray area and keep perpetuating questions is really not good for the president. >> turning now to the immigration ban. does running a new executive order suggest trump is adapting his style to the job in a positive way? even if some may see it add admitting defeat? >> i think the administration is recognizing the pressure that is coming both from capitol hill and, of course, the decision by the 9th circuit and trying to balance concerns for security with those of the constitutional questions and the rights of those that are seeking to enter our country legally. and then, of course, you have practical considerations of those that have valid green cards, student visas and others

that should rightfully continue to have the right to continue to come to our country. those various concerns will be balanced going forward. i think the administration is making those adjustments as they should. >> jason, if the white house does decide to release a new executive order, a kind of tacit admission the first one didn't work, do you think anyone will take the fall for the original one? >> that's likely to happen. look, there's probably going to be a firing. you know swresh, we have to thi donald trump went through three campaign managers last year. does anyone think their job is safe in the white house? they shouldn't. the fact it was botched horribly from the beginning is a reflection people were be held accountable for their decisions. an even bigger issue, the fact you have the muslim ban to begin with, driven by a white supremacist racist notion brown and tan people from other countries and muslims are

somehow less fit or incapable are more likely to cause crime and care original in the country than white supremacists in america is a problem. i don't care how many differ ways they want to shine up this turd it is unconstitutional no matter who writes it. >> some disagree and believe it can be rewritten to fit into more constitutional mold, if you will. does the aclu and attorney general fighting, and attorneys general fighting the ban want the white house to take this to the supreme court? >> the supreme court is split right now. i think two issues here. one, the ban itself. i couldn't agree with jason anymore. a horrible policy and just another example of something that trump came up with on the campaign trail to be inflammatory and is now trying to follow through as, in policy. when they really are not prepared to do so. but the second problem that it creates for this add mirch strags is filling that ninth seat on the supreme court scalia

vacated. they don't want to draw attention to the seat filled by gorsuch who they nominated is going to have to hold trump accountable. we're seeing in every poll, across the country, is that voters want their electeds to hold the president accountable and are looking to the judiciary to make, to keep that check and balance. trump in trying to push gorsuch through, no daylight between us. he's onboard. onboard with my plan, but to see this very clear overreach in an executive order that went out so quickly that is so fundamentally against core principles of the constitution and has now been struck down three times very quickly, if they keep pushing it to the supreme court and keep the issue live it is only going to keep that issue of a separate judiciary live in the minds 69 public and they're going to make sure they want someone filling that seat that really have a very independent voice. >> all right. jason johnson, emily tisch, and

sahall khan, thank you for joining us. that's all for me this hour. i'm stephanie gosk, back with you as 5:00 p.m. eastern time. my colleague picks up kcoverage from here. and will president trump sign a new executive order, appeal to the supreme court and what will be the fallout from either of those moves?

hi, everyone. i'm david soboroff coming to you live from the news center in los angeles. top stories we are watching right now. teeing off, president trump spending the gay goday golfing japanese prime minister shinzo abe, not before hitting twitter this morning slamming the executive order. how he plans to proceed. also, growing fears. immigration advocates are sounding the alarm after