i want to bring in rick santorum and hillary rosen. with us now. senator, weigh in on that. and also this idea -- we certainly heard adam schiff raising the question of impartiality on the part of kong republicans and on the part of the fbi. he even pointed out when it came down to what we have seen, chairman burr and chairman nunes do talking to the media, he was saying look confirming or denying reports about this topic whether there was communications with the trump campaign and russian officials, he was saying that was revealing classified information? >> i don't think that's revealing classified information. let me make a couple of points. i disagree with jim in this respect. what representativeship schiff did was not contradict devin nunes. that wasn't the opposite of what devin said. devin said there is no there there, that's true. he said there is nothing there. schiff didn't say there is a there there. that would be a contradiction. what he said is we don't know. >> and we want to find out more. and we need more information. but he didn't say that there was any etch

let's discuss now, jennifer grahn holme the former governor of michigan, rick santorum, former senator candidate. >> good to see both of you. this was a disturbing story for many, rick. milo barred from speaking there at cpac. attending to defend pedophilia. how important is it to reject him like this? >> i think it was a mistake to invite him in the first place, this is a problem that i've been battling in the conservative movement for quite some time. which is this -- particularly among young people, more edgy conservatism. now you hear the term alt-right, getting away from the bore iing issues. we see it now with some of this alt-right. this to me, we have moral traditions, economic traditions. >> you're a traditional conservative, i understand where you're going with this why would they -- you say they shouldn't have invited him any way. why would they invite him. do you think they did their homework? >> the things you just read i said how do they not know this, how do they not know this guy who's gotten so much publicity for many controversial statements he's made, and doing his c

first and foremost, rick santorum in the senate at one point, i just cover the senate, guys. senator santorum will be able to describe this better than most. what we've seen over the course of not just the last couple of hours but the last couple of days, this chamber, this body descend to a place that we haven't seen much recently. you saw the impassioned speech by al franken, senator sheldon whitehouse had one before him, democrats giving lengthy, repeated speeches attacking jeff sessions' record, attacking how he would act as attorney general. tom price, the health and human services nominee, steve mnuchin, the treasury secretary nominee, democrats boycotted their confirmations and the republican senators suspended the rules to confirm them. democrats boycotted pruitt's nomination as well. a lot of rancor here, not something we're used to seeing. had a this really underscores, guys, first and foremost, democrats say we've got a problem with these nominees, we don't feel like the process has given us the opportunity to properly examine these nominees, they want more time, bu

do we have rick santorum on the line now? rick, what's your response? >> well, i think it was appropriate. i mean, they -- the fact of the situation where he misled the vice president and obviously that to me when i read that, that seemed to me just a matter of time before that hammer came down, that's just something you don't do. i know mike flynn, he's a good man, he obviously made a mistake, and he owned up to it, but that's not enough. this is a serious position, the vice president's a very key person to this administration, and you -- on such serious matters again, on the justice department, where you can compromised by saying one thing to the vice president and another thing being true. the russians know that's true, that's not a good position to be in. and so this had had to be done, it's unfortunate, again, mike flynn is a great soldier, a great patriot, made a mistake, and -- >> is it -- >> in offices like this, you pay for it. >> to mark preston's point, rick. is this a wakeup call and maybe a reset for this white house, that they need to chan

governor granholm and rick santorum.ation reversing federal guidelines for public schools allowing transgender students to use bathrooms matching their gender. they only backed down when they were summoned to the white house. what do you think? >> well, if that's true about her, i am a little bit surprised because her family has had a lift of championing anti-lgbt causes. however, let me say that this issue about who we are as a nation is really embedded in this particular act by the trump administration. these are children. there's a very small percentage of children who have a biologic issue. this is not a choice. this is an issue of gender identity, but it's a biologic issue, and these children are disproportionately bullied and made unsafe and have suicide rates. 40% of them have attempted suicide. this is a really serious issue. i have a daughter who is gay. and she certainly didn't choose that. and i love her with all my heart, and if a school enabled her to feel in some way bullied, if she felt unsafe, then i woul

. >>> back with me now, rick santorum. we're also seeing "not my president's day "rallies.eaction? >> you know, it's great. i mean the left is obviously activated. they're putting a lot of pressure on people in washington d.c. i think from the president's standpoint, he ignored it. >> who are you and what did you do with rick santorum? >> no. i think it's great. hopefully he's watching. i want the president to realize what he did today actually worked. for most of the news, they've been talking about the new national security advisor, mcmaster and they haven't been talking about trump tweeting things that are offensive. he could have attacked them but he didn't. and the news cycle is better. just a suggestion. make sure that you don't step on your stories. and he's a lot of good news that could be out there that has been stepped on because of what this president has tweeted or said. >> sounds like you're talking to the president -- are you talking to the president through the television? >> hello donald, yes, i am. >> we know he watches. >> hello, mr. president. >> i love i

we have a former republican senator of pennsylvania, rick santorum, and christine quinn, the new york city council speaker and president of women in need. rick santorum, if the president of the united states does not like something i say in this segment, there's a better than 50% chance he will tweet about it and say it is wrong and fake, but nothing about this increase in violence and threats towards the jewish community, why? >> i don't know why he has not tweeted. i wish he would. it's a legitimate thing to tweet about. let's look at the president's record and compare it with what we have seen in the last eight years. number one the president has stood by israel in ways that president obama has not and stood solidly with the state of israel, and his daughter, who is jewish, she has been clear about these things, and that's an important thing coming out of the white house. this is why you hear about, quote, fake news, and for eight years the obama administration sat by and said nothing about the increasing anti-semitism coming out of colleges, and president obama said and did nothin

rick santorum, who has known thomas hardiman. and mark preston is back with me. has talked many times about what he wants in a supreme court nominee. he has been very clear. this is going to be -- all the way in debates he used this. this is where i'm a conservative, trust me. because i'll do the right thing by the court. got ted cruz on board because of that. we know what kind of person this is going to be. >> they're very similar. they're strict constitutionalists. both have tremendous records. no matter what he decides he's making a good choice. i think a lot of folks believe there's a second choice and so the fact he sort of highlighted to might give the impression that whoever he doesn't pick is going to be someone that you can look to the future as maybe someone who could replace potentially a ginsburg or kennedy or someone who's older on the court who may retire. >> which is the decision that could switch the balance. >> i'll be honest, i know what you're reporting but you can make arguments either way. we'll talk once we know the decision, but they're mak

let's discuss this with our panel, cnn political commentator rick santorum is here, former senator and former republican presidential candidate. larry sabato is here director of the center for politics at the university of virginia. laura coates, cnn legal analyst and former federal prosecutor and maria cardona. larry, let's play this extended portion of the mcconnell-warren exchange on the senate floor last night. >> this is what it said, they are mothers, daughters, sisters, fathers, sons and brothers -- >> president trump, president trump. >> majority leader. >> senator has impugned the motives and conduct of our colleague from alabama as warned by the chair. senator warren, quote, said senator sessions has used the awesome power of his office to chill the free exercise of the vote by black citizens. i call the senator to order under the provisions of rule 19. >> president trump -- >> senator from massachusetts. >> president trump, i'm surprised that the words of coretta scott king are not suitable for debate in the united states senate. i ask leave of the senate to continue my rema

that he is not distancing himself from the far, far right, and this is a great way to do it. >> rick santorumeve israel, guys, thanks very much for joining us. once again, take a look at the live pictures coming in from the white house briefing room. minutes from now the press secretary sean spicer will field questions from reporters, likely to discuss the president's upcoming executive orders, recent threats to jewish community centers across the country. presumably also his new national security advisor. we're going to take that news conference with the press secretary live as soon as it begins. if you have medicare parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what? you could apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan whenever you want. no enrollment window. no waiting to apply. that means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. medicare doesn't cover everything. and like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. so don't wait. call now to

--on york: obviously that they elected rick santorum and mike huckabee, the last two caucuses, but what they were telling me was that they felt they were under attack in the larger culture lawsuits, cake making, all of this stuff. they felt they were under attack . they fell donald trump could protect them and their interests. matt schlapp: susan, let me ask you a question. thatof us believe democratic process was not as open as it should have been, shall we say here he you think the democrats actually armed themselves by what they did, donald trump -- with bernie sanders? when he had been a federal -- a better nominee? democrats agree the system should have been more open. there were younger upcoming democrats who say, i should have run, someone other than martin o'malley could have done a better job at challenging. i think it is hard, hard to rerun an election, but with everything we know now, if you knew trump was going to be the republican nominee, i think bernie sanders a better counterpart. they have some overlap appeal. i can't believe how many people i talked to were trying to d

. >> obviously, they had elected rick santorum and mike huckabee and the last two caucuses. but what they were telling me was that they felt they were under attack in the larger cake-baking,its, all of this. they felt donald trump could support them and protect them and their efforts. >> let me ask you a question. the of us believe that democratic process was not as open as it should be. do you think the democrats actually harmed themselves by whatever they did, donald trump rigging it, would bernie sanders had been a better candidate? democratic nominee? susan page: i think all of the democrats not aligned with hillary clinton should agree that the system should have been more open. there were younger upcoming democrats who say, i should have run, maybe somebody other than martin o'malley could have done a better job in challenging people there. i think it is hard, hard to rerun an election, but with everything we know now, if you knew trump was going to be the republican nominee, i think bernie sanders is a better counterpart. because he -- they have some overlap appeal. i

up next, rick santorum, the correspondent for the daily beast who has interviewed general mcmaster and our senior political analyst. let me start with you. you know lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster. what do you think? >> i think he is a stabilizing pick. as he smart guy. strategic. he is forward thinking. i think the big issue for him will be whether he can wrap his arms around an extraordinarily dysfunctional process. as barbara alluded to, whether he can establish a degree of trust with the president himself and push back against some of the crazy and chaos coming out of this white house. of interest, h.r. mcmaster's book really talks a lot about how the white house at the time of the vietnam war was too insular. >> you've interviewed general mcmasters. general flynn was trump's close adviser. trump trusted him. he had a lot of influence. do you think mcmaster will have the power that flynn did or not? >> well, mcmaster has the military experience that trump respects. he's fought on the fwro kungrou. he tackled corruption in afghanistan. he's been political enough that he's made to i

. >> i want to bring in rick santorum, former senator, also a cnn political commentator. he's going through all these contortions, you know ron bonn gy respected here in washington. >> the specific doesn't contradict the general. the specific case what you're talking about what trump said is in line with the general criticism of the judiciary, if trump was not saying that you could say the general had nothing to do with the specific, but the specific is consistent with the general, so of course he's commenting on that because he's commenting on all comments in that regard and that one fits, so you can't firdifferente anything that you can't differentiate on. he's now stood up, said what he believes, he took the heat, he's continue tod continued to say it. i think he will continue to say it and that he's going to be an independent judge. >> to go through these contortions and try to defend the president under these extraordinary circumstances? >> i think we're going to see extraordinary circumstances become ordinary circumstances. i think we're seeing that. look, donald tr

actually, rick santorum was surprised saying, this is good, stay on message, this is a good day for the white house and the president. it's interesting, you said, douglas, this is general flynn, was a birther, tweeted some controversial things. it appears this particular lieutenant general has none of that. >> that's right, and time magazine in 2014 picked him as one of the 100 most influential people going out there. why would they pick him? he's rethinking the army, trying to bring it into the 21st's century, someone who's not afraid to speak truth to power. we saw that in dereliction of duty, when he was able to go after the problems the u.s. army had during the vietnam war about this is a solid pick for donald trump. >> what -- big challenges. what are the biggest challenges for mcmaster that he faces in this new post. >> i would say the first thing that h.r. needs to do, he needs to sit down with the president and say, mr. president, let's determine what are the top three things the united states must accomplish over the course of your term in office, let's start with the three tho

let's discuss this with rick santorum. and good timing for today. great to have you. >> great to be here. >> in your time as senator did you ever see something like that happen? what happened to warren last night? >> as a matter of fact i did and i would say on one or two occasions and i was up on the floor and you can't refer to a senator directly by their name you have to refer to them as a gentle lady or gentleman from another state. the whole reason for the rules is to keep the temperature down and keep decorum and make it a deliberate body so you don't have personal attacks and you're not directly addressing the senator accusing them of something and all of this has been in place for hundreds of years. >> what did you say that made you have to take a seat. >> look sometimes you get a little heated when you get up on the floor and you directly address a senator. you call them out directly and they say, you know, you can't do that and then you back off and in the case of elizabeth warren she didn't back off. she made those comments. she said that

rick santorum won saturday's prostitution charge dismissed and has returned to the streets. >> the neighborhoodm from, the armpit of using, and she wanted to use so i didn't talk too much about getting clean. >> not surprisingly, o'reilly received distressing news about her friend. >> we heard she o.d.'d. so it left me really upset. i haven't cried since i been here. that was the first time i cried. nobody knew anything further than that. they just knew that she o.d.'d somewhere the day she got out. then i got the letter from her a couple days later. like it was such a relief to read that it was written after the fact. like she obviously was still alive. it says krystle, what's up chickie? mean, nothing too good at all. wednesday shot dope and died. so i haven't been with the dope too hard. but that fear isn't as strong as it was because truth be told, i don't give a [ bleep ] about anything. it's actually quite disturbing. but oh, well, all bets are off about anything. don't get too comfortable not seeing me because it won't get too long. as we both know, [ bleep ] happens. so whatever. [ blee

. >> bring in rick santorum -- a guide for vote rz, and jeffrey toobin via skype. senator you're pleased with the pick because you think it reassures republicans who are concerned about the rocky first couple of days and maybe brought him breathing room. >> scalia is icon among republicans and conservatives and this was big issue in the campaign for all conservatives. when donald trump called me in june after ted cruz got out, asked if i would endorse him, i said would vote for you, you're the nominee but i need assurances on the supreme court. and he said i'm working on a list. i said great. when that list comes out and you say you'll pick from it, i'll endorse you. he did within a few days publish that list and that became the issue for every conservative. fact that he picked from that list -- not the original but expanded list also properly vetted is hugely important for the base who turned out for a guy -- >> your guy wasn't picked. hardiman is your guy? >> he's a good friend of mine and things you're saying about neil gorsuch you could say about tom, but the f

rick santorum and christine quinn. so christine, put at your feet is the argument of hypocrisy.ve through 8 years of saying the republicans are the worst people in the world in opposing for opposition sake and now you seem to be putting yourselves in the same position. true? >> no not at all. look, people are talking about this nominee and about wanting to have hearings to explore his record. >> very different than judge garland who never even got a hearing. there's a difference between opposing and saying we won't talk and saying i have concerns. this nominee has a record i disagree with significantly on lgbt issues, abortion issues, corporate regulations, the environment and gun control and the senator is saying we need to passionately but in a dig any identified way have those conversations. i think there's a difference between standing by your views and values and opposing for the sake of opposition and as it relates to no, ma'am niece. >> let's talk about that. >> they are definitely going to have hearings. they are going to have meetings. let's be honest. this is an incred

rick santorum joins us now, former democratic governor granholm. thanks one and all for being here.tart with you, you were a supporter of tom perez, as you know, there are ellison supporters, sanders supporters and that there was a smear campaign against ellison. >> there was definitely no smear campaign. but what tom did in his first act, which was to say essentially bring ellison up by acclimation, make him the deputy chair was a great expression of unity, a great expression of generosity on tom's personal part, but i think it wasn't hard for them because they are good friends, so now it's up to both of them to make the case to the sanders supporters that we are better uniters. we don't have the luxury of walking out of that room in atlanta being divided. >> you heard senator sanders this morning and he didn't exactly deny that tom perez is not the same-old, same-old. he's going to back the progressive candidates he wants to. it still seems like there's going to be something of a rift. >> i think we need to -- tom perez is really bringing in the labor aspect of the democratic part

. >> i'm here with gloria borger, rick santorum, christine quinn and david chalian. senator, a voice of opposition from senator ron widen of oregon who is opposed to gorsuch or expressing disapproval of the pick because he has written extensively against assisted suicide. >> pro-life people should be happy with neil gorsuch. he is sclal in maalia in many r. he's an easier pick to fill in for scalia than he is to fill a swing seat on the court. hard mapp has little paper trail. pro-life phone afolks attacked because he doesn't have a paper trail. the trump administration gets criticism for being neanderthals playing marbles. this was a great chess move. they're getting a great justice and maybe usher the way for kennedy to step down and fill in with someone who is a little more of a stealth candidate. >> christine, the idea gorsuch as a former clerk for kennedy might be able to persuade him to come to the conservative side perhaps even an issue like abortion and abortion rights that must be of concern to democrats. >> every member of the supreme court is an amazing mi

. >> yeah, but the fact that he's sort of pushing it back to the states, i heard rick santorum say, listen people in different states have different values and different morals, so in his mind it makes sense for this to go back and be adopted by each state by statement do you think that is, in fact what is going to happen? >> yes. heather, you put your finger on the exact point here. donald trump, president trump, a supporter of states' rights. so he's saying, hey, i don't think we want to make this policy in washington, d.c. it's not just this. it's a number of things. we want the states around education, example, we want the states to figure out what is best for their state. that's the classic argument about whether you want to rely on washington to deliver everything, or you want your own state to do it. >> so we're sort of that big government/small government argue. >> absolutely. >> brian sobel, thank you so much. >> very welcome. >>> protests across the country against the trump administration's stance regarding transgenders. i will speak with an expert. that interview is coming up i

the panel, senator rick santorum and former michigan governor jennifer granholm.dent george w. bush was on the "today" show talking about the president's travel ban. >> a bed-rock of our freedom is a right to worship freely. >> for or against the ban? >> i am for an immigration policy that's welcoming and upholds the law. >> obviously a big division between george w. bush and donald trump on this issue. senator. >> look, there is a difference between me and george w. bush on this. he was for immigration reform, that wing of the party that has shrunk dramatically over the past few years. look, as far as the travel ban is concerned to me it's simple. i think the trump administration played it out badly. there is absolutely sufficient reason to suggest that, in the countries that they put forward, you can't do proper vetting because there is no nation-state to get the proper vetting done. and that, to hold and suspend immigration from those countries until we have the resources to be able to do proper vet something a very practical approach. >> interesting. so these

we have former republican presidential candidate rick santorum, nina turner.he's former democratic state senator. amanda carpenter and jason kander, president of latin america vote and a u.s. army veteran. a bit of an oprah moment on stage. do you have any concern as he does these rallies and i'm sure this is one of a series that he's not focused more on the legislation, more on the public imaging and not on the legislation back here. >> certainly part of his legislative success is to keep his base rallies. the other side is hyped up. putting a lot of pressure on congress. he needs to create the counterbalance and one of the ways he can do that is to rally his folks, get them excited and rally republicans to move himself forward. >> he puts on a show. the problem he's having right now is that people watched t apr "the apprentice" not for donald trump but for drama. that's why they watch reality television. and we're kinding out you can't run a country on drama, and when you do it's bad for the country. >> i think that was a magical moment that was good for tru

we have former republican presidential candidate rick santorum, nina turner, former senator from ohioeran. senator santorum, a bit of an oprah moment right there on stage. do you have any concern, as he does these rallies, and i'm sure that this is one of a series that he's not focused more on the legislation, more on the public imaging and not on the legislation back here at home. >> certainly part of his legislative success is going to keep his base rallied. the other side is pretty hyped up, and putting a lot of pressure on congress. he needs to create that counterbalance and one of the ways to do that is go out there and rally his folks, get them excited and get them putting pressure on the other side on republicans to stand by him and move his plan forward. >> makes sense to you, jason? >> this is what he does well. he puts on a show, and the problem he's having right now is that people watch "the apprentice" not for donald trump but watch did for drama and why people watch reality television and day by day you can't run a country on drama, when you do it's pretty bad for the cou

i mean, rick santorum said it on cnn and said, hey, why not? >> exactly. look what she did. i mean, it was like pinprick precision that she went about this strategy after it happened. she went out. she did live stream. she just said it. she went on facebook. she got the hash tag. a lot could happen organically, but she coaxed it along. >> i think mitch mcconnell did it because he didn't like to be userped in his own chamber. i think a lot of this stuff gets down to the personal stuff that we assumed was going to go out the window when harry reed left. >> i think the idea in the senate is maybe dying. maybe this is just the new washington. we've seen obviously the house move in that direction. we've seen congress move more broadly in this direction with people not spending as much time on washington and certainly not spending as much time fraternizing with each other. >> that was the perfect tease for the next segment, which is there some comedy or at least discussion debate in washington that matters. coming up, what's going to happen with obama care, repeal and replace? wil

let me bring in cnn's senior political commentator, former republican senator from pennsylvania, rick santorumrmer press secretary under pretty obama, bill burton. guys, great to see you. senator, you served for years on armed services. you've served for years with john mccain and lindsey graham. i want to get your take, where do you land on this? the president kind of reigniting his attacks, on again/off again, with senator john mccain, for saying that -- mccain saying he wouldn't describe the yemen raid as a success. the president says he shouldn't be evaluating the operation at all. what do you make of this? >> i actually found myself agreeing with lindsey here. john mccain wants more raids. john mccain and lindsey graham have both been pushing harder for us to go after radical islamist terrorists. the fact that he would criticize a raid, obviously there's reason for criticism, obviously in the sense that we lost a soldier and civilians were killed. that's a very tragic thing. but the bottom line is lindsey's right, if you want more of these types of activities, don't pick a fight with the

let's discuss right now with senior political commentator, rick santorum, also democratic strategist's start here. senator, was it the cover-up or the crime here when it comes to michael flynn, in your opinion? >> i'm not sure there is a crime. from what i've -- >> in a matter of speaking. >> i think there's really no crime from what i've heard, but the fact of the matter is there is obviously some problem with communication with general flynn and the vice president and that's a violation and breach of trust and that's the problem here. and general flynn played a very big price for that. >> that's for sure. we're looking at the story, paul, the justice department briefed the white house three weeks ago. what was the last straw then? >> that should have been the last straw. apparently this is all according to news reports. apparently three weeks ago, the white house was briefed that the national security adviser in the opinion of the justice department and the intelligence community, was subject to blackmail. so for three weeks, this man who they believe is subject to blackmail was in

others had a better evangelical base than them, rick santorum, mike huckabee.publican nomination fight, which is what i find more baffling. i understand why they supported him against hillary clinton. i find it less comprehensible against the other republicans. >> they don't always want somebody like them. look, they went for ronald reagan over jimmy carter, which was one of their own. what they did want in this election is a fighter, somebody who would stand-up for them because they felt so scorned by the left and many in the establishment of their party. >> a different topic you are reporting on, the supreme court nominee, judge gorsuch. there may be a way for republicans to get him through without going nuclear, how do they do it? >> i don't know democrats are going to force the nuclear issue. senate democratic leadership is not settled on that as their path here, willie. i think there are two camps. the leadership view that i think chuck schumer is sympathetic to. t an all-out bonkers opposition at all cost recitizen tense. maybe a few democratic senators i