before i give you my brief remarks, if you weren't up between 3:00 and 5:00 this morning, sheldon whitehouse was. he may have made senate history. he, i think, performed the first ocean acidification experiment on the senate floor. so check it out. i haven't seen it yet. [laughter] senator whitehouse: i got unanimous consent for it, though. senator schatz: i think the parliamentarian was tired. the majority leader is putting the republicans in an awful spot. i mean, maybe there's nothing in these emails to be worried about. i hope for the country and for the planet in these 3,000 emails that the attorney general of oklahoma spent 750 days refusing to release, that there is nothing improper or worrysome or concerning -- worrisome or concern but we'll about to find out on tuesday. if i were a member of the republican caucus, i would be extremely worried about taking a vote at 12:30 today without seeing those emails. they are being put in an absolutely untenable position because they will now own whatever comes out on tuesday and in subsequent releases of those emails. so we are not suggesting

democratic senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island is joining us. at least four but maybe as many as a dozen republicans now have serious concerns about the labor secretary nominee and they are urging him either to withdraw, the president to withdraw. what are you hearing from your colleagues? i assume you're against the confirmation? >> the number that i have heard is that there are six republican senators who are gravely concerned about this nomination and are considering voting against it. i think that if puzder were to withdraw, it would save a lot of people a lot of heartache, particularly his own family, given some of the allegations that have been made and that i think we have some level of responsibility to inquire into at a committee hearing. so i hope that these reports are true and i hope that president trump decides to go with a labor nominee who was less of an enemy to the working person and less of a voice for big corporate entrance. >> i know you're opposed to his confirmation. are there any democrats at all that you think might vote

the pressure being brought to bear isn't limited to republicans when senator sheldon whitehouse heldown hall meeting, more than a thousand protesters showed up outside and the senator addressed why he voted for him. >> obstruct! obruct! >> why did i vote for pompeo? >> no appeasement. >> i believe it was in our national security interest to get people who are not trump people. >> i want to talk about gorsuch and nominees but i want to ask you about that moment. have you ever had that experience? have you ever had that many people showing up and asking about a single vote? >> it was a little bit like the tea party rallies the summer of the affordable care act. this was a bigger crowd. it wasn't about a single vote. it was a crowd that gathered in reaction to the refugee ban and it was a lot of people i knew and worked with for years, people who care about progressive causes and they had -- a lot of them had gone to the women's march and i was actually thrilled that a group could gather so quickly just after the women's march had happened to show this is not a flash in the pan. we are

there's a provision that can ensure you could be removed. >> joining me now, democrat sheldon whitehouse who has a new book called "captured the, corporate infiltration of american democracy." i want to talk about that with regards to immigration. how are you making sense of what they are doing with these executive orders and memos? what is going on here? >> it's hard to tell. to a certain extent this might be theatrics for a base that expects them to do stuff and so this could be him doing stuff. when push comes to shove, i've served as our state's united states attorney, i've served as our state's attorney general. if the federal immigration folks want to get a warrant for somebody, we will arrest them. we honor a federal warrant. >> of course. >> and so when sean spicer talks about people who are either guilty or suspected of criminal offenses or a threat to public safety, all they need to do is to get a warrant for them and then people can go out and arrest them. >> right -- >> so you don't need to get into the business of deputizing. >> but they're clearly laying the ground work to

whitehou >>> we're talking with senator sheldon whitehouse. we're going to get back to you, senator, in just a moment. first president trump is telling senate republicans to go, quote, nuclear if necessary to push through the new pick for the u.s. supreme court. our senior congressional reporter manu raju is up on capitol hill. what's the very latest up there, manu? >> wolf, tonight democrats are splitting along idea logical lines over how hard to fight the gorsuch nomination. liberals are pushing very hard to fight tooth and nail and to filibuster this nomination, while moderates are reserving their judgment right now and they are hoping to pickup eight democrats to break a likely democratic filibuster. as president donald trump's choice for supreme court made the rounds on capitol hill, senate democrats were struggling with this key question. how hard should they fight the selection of judge neil gorsuch to serve on the high court? trump warning his party may try to cut out democrats all together if they filibuster his nominee, urging senate

sheldon whitehouse joins us after the break. you've earned your medicare. it was a deal that was made long ago, and aarp believes it should be honored. thankfully, president trump does too. "i am going to protect and save your social security and your medicare. you made a deal a long time ago." now, it's congress' turn. tell them to protect medicare. just like the people 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. legalzoom. legal help is here. >> the president wanted to take the shackles off individuals in these agencies and say you have a mission, there are laws that need to be followed, you should do your mission and follow the law. >> the president made clear on day one of his campaign in the first paragraph of his first campaign addressed w

because this isn't al franken speaking, this isn't sheldon whitehouse. this is the left. this is the hard-core left demanding a pound of flesh. and they're pushing their senators to go out there and ignore protocol, ignore tradition, ignore everything and just go after these people viciously. and that's what's happening here. and if this is what to expect, this is going to be a brutal year for everybody in washington, dc. >> simone sanders, i imagine you don't see it quite like that. >> well, what i see is, i think senator santorum and the rest of the republicans totally forgot about the last eight years and the way they acted in congress and the way they treated president obama. so please spare me about your "i can't believe this obstruction" bs. the fact of the matter is these senators work for the people. the people are demanding that we stand up for our rights. a vote for senator sessions is a vote for the muslim ban. that's just what it is. and the democratic senators on that committee today made their voices heard. they voted no. and now it's going to go to the floo

sheldon whitehouse and others held another all-nighter last night.lding the floor all night long, trying to stop or in this case, slow down the confirmation vote on the new head of the epa. and while they were at it, while setor white house was showing off his mad beaker skills, right on, well, done, senator, while that was happening, a not insignificant number of epa employees were also hard at work, all night, calling up the u.s. capitol, begging senators to please vote against scott pruitt to head the epa today, which is a remarkable thing for current employees of an agency to do, but they did that to try to stop scott pruitt. democrats have opposed the pruitt nomination for epa since day one. but yesterday it suddenly became a race against the clock, because a federal judge late in the day ordered scott pruitt to start turning over a whole bunch of documents. a federal judge in oklahoma ordered scott pruitt to start turning over thousands of pages of correspondents between his office and oil and gas companies from the time when he's been attorney

senator sheldon whitehouse, democrat rhode island is speaking. have conflicts of interest that impede the fair exercise of her judgment? well, one place that we need to look for conflict of interest is when we have nominees who have run political dark money operations. is this a new things for us. not too long ago we swore in a new president, president barack obama, and when we did we had ethics rules, government ethics offices, filing requirements, and all of that in place. that was in twaeut. then -- 2008. then came the united decision, and it opened up the floodgates of dark money. well, this nominee is a practitioner of the dark arts of dark money. and we know nothing about what she has done, but the conflicts of interest ought to be pretty obvious. if you raised millions of dollars from people in your dark money operation, then there is an indebtedness there that somebody might think could be an appearance of impropriety or conflict. we should know so that evaluation could be made. or if are you spent money in -- spent dark money in support

an interesting moment where mike rounds, republican senator from south dakota, was asked by sheldon whitehouse, a democratic senator from rhode island, if you were speaking the truth about a fellow senator, even if it was impugning that senator's integrity, could you say that? senator rounds said no, you can't. that's the interesting part of rule 19 about the senate rules. it doesn't matter what the circumstances are. it comes down to the eye of the beholder. generally the senate has given leeway when it comes to impugning the integrity of other senato senators. in 2015, ted cruze called mitch mcconnell a liar. nobody called him out on it. and you remember orrin hatch, being the most senior body on the majority said, he said we need to cool off here. he did the same thing last night. senator hatch did. he said if we don't get into this, we'll be in a jungle phase in the united states senate. >> neil: and beauty can be in the eyes of the beholder to your point. i remember when senator cotton said of harry reid that his leadership was cancerous. so democrats shot back, you guys have done worse.

lindsey graham and sheldon whitehouse will lead the probe, they say their aim is to shine a light on russian activities under democracy. out in force tonight, and why you, the cofounder of vice media -- invited to attend a seminar, protesters arrived, police made a number of arrests. now, back to "hannity" ." >> sean: welcome back to "hannity." the trump administration is working hard to make all the campaign promises and checking them off the list. it has been a very busy week for the white house. earlier today, i traveled to d.c. to speak with the vice president, mike pence. here's the first part of the interview. how are you, sir? >> vice president pence: welcome to the vice president's office. good to see you. >> sean: this has been fast-moving, this administration. you seem to be involved in every aspect of what has been happening. how close is the relationship now? >> vice president pence: i'm just very humbled. to be a small part of an administration and a president who from the first hours of this administration has been keeping their promises to the american people. right af

. >>> democratic senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island is joining me now. he sits on the judiciary committee. you heard what president trump said there. what happens if mitch mcconnell does in fact go nuclear on judge gorsuch? >> well, we'll have to see how many of his colleagues will stay with him on that. you will remember the expressions of outrage when we opened up the nuclear option for the executive appointees and there was an understanding at the time that the supreme court would be different and it's going to take a lot of republicans having to eat a lot of crow and reversing a lot of statements to go along with mitch mcconnell jamming a supreme court appointee through on the nuclear option. >> you'll be involved in the confirmation hearings on the supreme court. do you believe that the judge deserves an up or down vote or do you support the idea of a filibuster being used? >> i think the 60-vote rule, i'm sure that the majority leader will go to and the key question is, does he go along with the other four appointees and rebuild the gang of five th

rhode island senator sheldon whitehouse shares his thoughts on how private businesses are influencinge assistant ronald reagan, recounts his residential life and the president will see you now. another bookbeing released this week , pulitzer prize winning journalist ben franklin reports on the climate that mark the

rhode island democratic senator sheldon whitehouse and new mexixico democratic senator tom udall said -- "this is america's foreign policy, not this week's episode of "saturday night live." we urge our republican colleagues to start taking this administration's rash and unprofessional conduct seriously before there are consequences we all regret." on monday, the u.n. security council condemned north korea for the missile test, which is a viololation of u.n. security council resolutions. on capitol hill, the senate has voted 53-47 to confirm steven mnuchin to be the treasury secretary. mnuchin is a f former goldman sachs execututive who has faced widespread criticism about his bank, onewest, which has been called a foreclosure machine. under mnuchin's ownership, the bank foreclosed on 36,000 families, particularly elderly residents trapped in reverse mortgages. it was also accused of racially discriminatory lending practices. on monday, oregon democrcratic sesenator ron wyden crititicized mnmnuchin's role in the housing crisis. >> a lot of people in those communities cast their votes i

. >> senator, is lindsey graham and sheldon whitehouse said they will investigate russia's influencethe u.s. election. you're the vice chair of the senate intelligence committee so you know a lot of things the rest of us don't. in terms of things you can tell us about what do you still want to know about the role russia played? >> i want the american people to know how extensive this intervention was, how there was flankly a thousand internet trolls in russia trying to manipulate our news. there was a number of weeks ago if you googled odni director of national intelligence, you come up with five or six russia sites first. fake news, rt, use of these trolls, i want folks to understand with more detail. and i think there is more information to come out about the selective hacking and then the leaking of this information. the fact that the first john podesta e-mail was leaked two hours after the so-called access hollywood tapes came out was more than coincidence. and i think we all deserve to know whether there was contacts between any campaign organization and the russians prior to th

>> i think an independent counsel would be terrific but i know that lindsey graham and sheldon whitehouse in judiciary are doing -- did doing hearings and investigation. i trust those guys. there's something going on in intelligence and that's so apick. we need something transparent and we need an investigation because we don't know what he owes russia. we don't know how many russian oligarchs have invested in his business. he has saddled up to putin to putin in so many ways. what he's doing in syria is great. >> yeah. >> he didn't, you know, an excrimea and going after nato. there's something -- he's got a bit of a putin crush, and there's -- i want to know how much of that is tied to maybe financial strings? >> let's turn to the president's travel ban. according to the department of justice, isis recruitment efforts have targeted the somali community in your home state of minnesota. if we know isis is targeting the refugee population or immigrant population in the twin cities, does it make sense to put in some kind of new and more thorough vetting system, even if you don't agree with th

with me is democratic senator sheldon whitehouse of rhode island. good morning. >> good morning. >> president trump will speak at the national prayer breakfast at any moment now. what do you expect to hear from him? >> i have no idea. this has been the most rash, reckless gong show of a new presidency that anybody has ever seen. he could go anywhere and do anything and offend anyone. >> sir, the president is speaking right now. i hope you'll stand by. let's listen. >> thank you, mark. so nice. thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much. it's a great honor to be here this morning and so many faith leaders, very, very important people to me, from across our magnificent nation, and so many leaders from all across the globe. the day we continue a tradition begun by president eisenhower some 64 years ago. this gathering is a testament to the power of faith and is one of the grat great customs of our n. i hope to be here seven more times with you. i want to thank co-chair, senator bozeman and senator coops and all the congressional leadership. th

joining us for more on all this rhode island democratic senator sheld sheldon whitehouse from capitolill. you heard it, a collection of what the president had to say about the subject of leaks. leaks the subject of the story that led to the resignation of michael flynn as national security adviser. suggesting maybe there was contact between the trump campaign, people in trump's orbit and russian intelligence during the campaign. what's your reaction to what the president had to say there? >> a lot of people have been looking at the russia/trump connection for a long time. many in the private sector and the cyber security private sector. i think the likelihood that the leaks came out of the intelligence community, the national security establishment is not strong when you consider how much leaking and back-stabbing there has been in this shakespearean white house. so it's an effort to redirect the story, i think. the real story here is did russia have a deal with trump that led to or might lead to pulling down the sanctions. and in order to get that done, did they help him get elected.

thousands of people showed up in rhode island, to protest sheldon whitehouse town hall because he voted nominees. they know the base is demanding they go aggressively after these nominees and whether they succeed or not is almost beside the point. they know if they couldn't take down betsy devos, it's hard to see how they take down anyone else. that's not really what this is about. >> calls were flooding into congress to oppose betsy devos. no similar thing for andy puzder. the one thing that people are taking, at least note of, is that there will be a hearing next week in st. louis county court to debate over his -- unsealing his divorce records. that could lead to some embarrassments as we get closer to an actual record. but there's no ground swell to oppose him like there was betsy devos. there is just a ground swell to oppose trump nominees. >> quickly on that point. his now ex-wife had accused him of domestic abuse. she's since publicly said that she pulled some of that back. people want to see the files to see the specifics on that. he also acknowledged in his back and forth with

wellspring that is frankly scaring democratic party leaders because you know as you've said, sheldon whitehouse had a confront a proud. chuck schumer outside his brooklyn home. he likes to think of himself as a liberal and the people's friend. so i think this is something nobody totally understands, but i really appreciated brendan saying that it's dangerous to call it astroturf, because it probably isn't. >> to joan's point, who's at risk then in 2018? is it republicans whose constituents, at least, a lot of them voted for donald trump or is it the democrats who are seen working with the trump administration and any way, is it someone like sheld whon voted yes to pick cia director mike pompeo? >> i think democrats are certainly disincentivized to work with donald trump especially as she's seen as increasingly incompetent. that's what it's going to come down with trump voters who wavered and went with trump how the competency of this west wing looking at this executive order on immigration and what an utter disaster it was. donald trump, the white house just doesn't seem to have it's act togeth

diane feinstein is somebody whose not scheduled any town halls, sheldon whitehouse had an angry crowd. some democrats are getting an earful, but yeah mostly republicans. >> the energy, if nothing -- if nothing else in terms of exactly how it's directed, the energy certainly seems -- >> in a constitutional republic when people have to pay attention, somebody's going to get fired. >> okay, on that note, rick tyler and joan walsh, thank you fortune joining us. >>> piece of news here before we go to break. learning this, nbc news can confirm that arizona senator john mccain paid a visit last week to syria. mccain's office says the senate armed services chairman travelled to northern syria. he visited with u.s. forces deployed there. mccain also talked about efforts to combat isis and to retake land from isis. another issue getting a lot of attention. >>> meanwhile at the republican town hall meetings is russia. >> i would like an investigation -- >> with the hat on. >> i second that. russia. >> russia. >> but cld members of the republican party actually be warming to that idea? a fascinat

john hugh is saying that -- not sheldon whitehouse, not the aclu, john hugh from george w.bush's administration. if that is what john hugh is saying, we should be worried. think of what the president might do with a an attorney general in place who shares his philosophy on immigrants, minority communities, gay americans, voting rights, and women's rights. the naacp put together a list of facts that further flushes out this will philosophy and it is deeply concerning. in july of 2015 during the confirmation hearing of district court nominee for maryland, sessions made the nominee answer for her career as a public defender and civil rights lawyer and invoked teddy gray, the teenager unlawfully arrested and killed by the baltimore police in 2015 as a client inappropriate for a lawyer nominated to the bench. can you assure that the police officers and all over maryland that might be brought before the court that your history would not impact your decision making, he asked. i raised that particularly, he says, because i see your firm is representing mr. freddie gray, in that cas

dear senator sheldon, whitehouse, my name is are danesha and i'm in tenth grade at a public charter school. i live in central falls, rhode island. i'm writing today because i'm concerned about kids being able to afford college, regardless of background. i care about this because i have plenty of family members and friends who go to public schools and they either want or are trying go to college. i know they will need help for paying for college because they don't come from a very wealthy background. fair and equal education is so important to me because i think everybody should be treated fairly regardless of how they look because we are humans. i am concerned about betsy devos being nominated for secretary of education because she doesn't have any experience with classrooms, also because she basically doesn't like public schools since she is trying to make public school private and trialing to take resources away from public schools. with that being said, i hope you do everything you can to help kids in public school to get as much fair education as private schools do. please read my e-ma

remainder of my time on this nomination to my colleague senator shell done whitehouse of -- senator sheldon whitehouseof rhode island. with that, mr. president -- the presiding officer: that will take unanimous consent. mr. reed: i would request unanimous consent that i be allowed to yield the remainder of my time to the gentleman from rhode island, senator whitehouse. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. with that, i would yield the floor. mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator are washington. mrs. murray: i come to the intoer to urge my colleagues to vote no on the nomination of scott pruitt to lead the environmental protection agency, a nomination that marks yet another broken promise from the new president to put the needs of american families first over the wishes of big corporations and special interests. the and just like we have seen with betsy devos at the department of education or steven mnuchin at treasury, we have yet another trump nominee whose record demonstrates a direct conflict with the mission of the agency they wish t

i also asked, also asked by sheldon whitehouse, was access to what the folks had been asking for for the center of -- from the center for media and democracy for two years and going back and forth with the fossil fuel industry, oil, natural gas, coal, and a variety of others. we said we would like to have access to those e-mails. when mr. pruitt was before our committee for his hearing on january 18, he was asked a question -- do you promise to provide information reasonably requested by committees here in the united states senate, including in electronic form. he said yes. but he didn't do it. in fact for two years the a.g.'s office fought off efforts to try to gain access to that information -- electronic media. it took a judge's calling an emergency meeting yesterday in oklahoma to say that -- to say to the attorney general's office, you have to turn this information over. normally you know how long a request in oklahoma takes to get results like this? we're told two months. this was over two years. and finally we will have access to those e-mails. there may be a reason why they a

rhode island senator sheldon whitehouse shares his thoughts on how private businesses are influencing government and castor, former executive assistant ronald reagan, recounts his residential life and the president will see you now. another bookbeing released this week , pulitzer prize winning journalist ben franklin reports on the climate that mark the of the film cartoon, winner of five academy awards and high noon, hollywood blacklist in the making of an american classic. former special assistant to president bill clinton and jane. award-winning offer adrian miller provides a history of african americans in the food system at the white house. in the president's kitchen cabinet. also being published this week new york university law professor barry friedman offers a critical analysis of how new technology has allowed law enforcement agencies to operate in secret in unwarranted. and best-selling author yvonne miller ferrari follows up on his 20 with his thoughts on the next step in human evolution in homo deus. book tvs titles in bookstores this coming week and watch for many of the

senator sheldon whitehouse, democrat rhode island is speaking. have conflicts of interest that impede the fair exercise of her judgment? well, one place that we need to look for conflict of interest is when we have nominees who have run political dark money operations. is this a new things for us. not too long ago we swore in a new president, president barack obama, and when we did we had ethics rules, government ethics offices, filing requirements, and all of that in place. that was in twaeut. then -- 2008. then came the united decision, and it opened up the floodgates of dark money. well, this nominee is a practitioner of the dark arts of dark money. and we know nothing about what she has done, but the conflicts of interest ought to be pretty obvious. if you raised millions of dollars from people in your dark money operation, then there is an indebtedness there that somebody might think could be an appearance of impropriety or conflict. we should know so that evaluation could be made. or if are you spent money in -- spent dark money in support