mr. friedman is not that man. mr. friedman's past conduct demonstrates take he lacks the tools -- that he lacks the tools one needs to be a good diplomat. for starters, diplomacy is about choosing your words carefully. it's about reasoning with those with whom you disagree. diplomacy means not resorting to insults and to name calling when you have a disagreement, which is something that mr. friedman has done time and time and time and time again. in an op ed for th for a newspa, mr. friedman called supporters of the american jewish organization jay street, quote, far worse than kapos. unquote. now, for those who share the history, i grew up -- i was born in 1951. i grew up with the holocaust and the stories of the holocaust pounded into my head. and i know what kapos are. it's the term that refers to jews who collaborated with the nazis with the gaz ta gaz strape with the guards at the concentration camps during the holocaust. when asked to repudiate his statement on j street, mr. friedman refused and in fact doubled d

mr. friedman's oepg take a break and get on. and so today, i want to welcome david friedman in his nomination as the ambassador to israeli. the united states and israeli have en i joyed a close and meaningful relationship. this alliance has been a pillar of the foreign policy and beneficial to both nations. israeli serves as the greatest model of democracy in the u middle east, and the most important ally in the region. american support for israeli is a widespread bipartisan effort, and it should remain so. congress has are repeatedly pushed for increased military aid and security cooperation between two countries, and i believe that we have taken necessary steps to ensure that israeli will have every tool and resource needed to defend itself in an increasingly destabilize region. yet, even as we in cob have done the things needed to strengthen the bond with israeli, we have to acknowledge that the relationship between our two great nations has been strained in recent years. it is clear that action taken by the u.n. security coun

mr. friedman. when we were in israel with senator cardin's delegation, we were there visiting an iron dome missile battery. and as the celebration was taking place, you could hear the voices participating in that holiday right behind the iron dome facility. i think the mention of daylight between our two nations is important, and that we have to spend time, the united states and israel assuring and restating there is no daylight between our two nations and i look forward to working with you to make that happen. >> thank you, senator menendez. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. friedman, congratulations on the nomination and welcome to your family. you're a lawyer. and as a lawyer, you have obligations to clients. could you describe, what's your obligation to any given client? >> zealous advocacy, loyalty, confidentiality. >> faith and fidelity. >> absolutely. >> who's your client if you ultimately achieve and are confirmed to your position. >> i would pledge to support and defend the constitution of t

mr. friedman has written. we've heard the outrageous, unfounded verbal attacks he's launched against those who disagree with him. he's written falsely that president obama and secretary kerry engaged in, quote, blatant antisemitism, closed quote. the liberal jews are, quote, far worse than -- closed quote. and they, quote, suffer a cognitive disconnect in identifying good and evil, closed quote. at the state department's 400-year history of antisemitism, closed quote. so the state department under both republicans and democrats has a history of antisemitism according to mr. friedman. and why does he say this? he said because diplomats appointed by both republican presidents and democratic presidents have not always seen eye to eye on every issue of israel's leaders. and israel's policy of, quote, criticizing disloyal arab citizens while simultaneously bestowing upon them the benefits of citizenship, closed quote. now, these comments alone in which he has said in effect if those diplomats appointed by both repu

mr. friedman, i run a company. and our company makes nuts and bolts you have one of them in your hands. >> classes are cancelled their labor is his for the next five hours. you're going to take the nut, put it on the bolt, you're going to take it and put it on the bolt continuously. i do not want you to talk to anyone else. don't want you to even make eye contact with me. >> the minutes roll by, the students look confused and ra e angry. >> stand over here and do it faster. time is money. come on. faster. faster. >> give her -- right here. just because. don't drop the bolt. give her detention. >> the teenager struggled. the process is painfully slow. and then mr. friedman reveals his true intentions. >> this was a simulation. it was to give you an opportunity to experience what it's like for short period of time to lose control of your life. >> to help them understand what it's like for the millions dropped in forced labor. >> when i was doing it, my heart started sweating, i was sweating. so i can't basically imag

mr. friedman's strong relationships in israel will be a tremendous asset to the president in furthering that mission. finally i want to speak about judge gorsuch and the blatantly political obstruction of his nomination to the supreme court by senate democrats. yesterday, the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said next friday the senate will vote to confirm neil gorsuch to the supreme court. unfortunately, senate democrats began justifying their opposition by claiming a 60-vote standard for his confirmation. that standard doesn't exist and these claims continue to be false. a party line filibuster by the senate minority is not a fair up or down vote. you don't have to look further than the voices of many of these same democrats to see why in 2013 senator tom udall said and i quote in full, some of us may disagree with justice scalia on philosophy, you he is a qualified nominee. he receives up an or down vote and he was confirmed. likewise ruth ginsburg was considered a liberal. many of the other side may have disagreed with her views but she was confirmed by a vote of 96-3. he added a m

mr. friedman, that look, you've got to do x, y, or z, he's going to do it because he works inside the russian system and stands a lot to lose if he doesn't do it. that's important to remember as well, exactly what the nature of the communication is and what's actually going on, i think has yet to be determined. there's a lot more stuff that needs to be dug up first. >> when you said alpha bank is essentially vladimir putin, i looked at matthew to see, explain that, is he right about that? >> you know, i'm not totally sure that if vladimir putin -- so first of all, we have to see what the evidenceuprts in the end, and that requires an investigation. at's kind of where we are on almost all of these contacts at this point. we can't prejudge until we know exactly what the evidence is going to support. second, i would say if vladimir putin was mounting any kind of attempt to covertly communicate with trump or the trump organization or the trump campaign, you know, the russians have plenty of assets that don't have a giant russian name on the front of them and billions of dollars of russian assets

mr. friedman. [applause] we have so much to talk about but i'm going to just begin with the headlines of today which is the administration announced a new executive order involving changing immigration priorities to increase the deportation of illegal immigrants in a way that may require the hiring of new officers and extension of new monies. some states declared themselves to be sanctuary cities and some municipalities signaled they don't want to carry out these new orders. i gather the same thing happened under president obama and the attorney general to cut off the federal funds from the so-called sanctuary cities. give us a sense of the relationship between federal immigration officers and local police and what the constitution or the legal debate involves. >> it is a great question and a very un- easy relationship between thease the relationshipl government in terms of policing. as you know probably better than anyone, the federal government can require state or local law enforcement to do any

mr. friedman's strong relationships in israel will be a tremendous asset to the president in furthering that mission. finally i want to speak about judge gorsuch and the blatantly political obstruction of his nomination to the supreme court by senate democrats. yesterday, the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said next friday the senate will vote to confirm neil gorsuch to the supreme court. unfortunately, senate democrats began justifying their opposition by claiming a 60-vote standard for his confirmation. that standard doesn't exist and these claims continue to be false. a party line filibuster by the senate minority is not a fair up or down vote. you don't have to look further than the voices of many of these same democrats to see why in 2013 senator tom udall said and i quote in full, some of us may disagree with justice scalia on philosophy, you he is a qualified nominee. he receives up an or down vote and he was confirmed. likewise ruth ginsburg was considered a liberal. many of the other side may have disagreed with her views but she was confirmed by a vote of 96-3. he added a m

mr. friedman gave a remarkable performance for the foreign relations committee upon which he effectivelyecanted it. almost every strong statements he has made castigating those of us who support israel without parroting the statement of the current israeli government. and though it seems more than a little coincidental that this epiphany happened to occur at the exact moment of his confirmation, i will be telling the truth. i truly hope you regret these words. because our nation's support for israel cannot be questioned. we do have to ask some questions about what it means to say that you support israel. in this legal writings, homestake is to consider all opinion. not to be so closed minded to shutter debate are refusing to see all sides. into the civil war was just cause, but the inability to see the other side's first active doomed the war to last too long, taking countless unnecessary lives. jay street demands this go to the pro-israel, passionately pro-israel, to understand if you are for israel you don't have the blind to the cause of the palestinian spirit to understand where for

mr. friedman gave a remarkable performance before the foreign relations committee upon which i sit.e effectively recanted almost every strong statement that he has made cascadin casting thoseo support israel, without perfectly. the position of the statement of the current israeli government. and though it seems more than a little bit coincidental that this epiphany about the artfulness of his words happen to record the exact moment of his confirmation, i hope he is telling the truth. i truly hope that he regrets these words. because while our nation's support for israel cannot be questioned, we do not ask some questions about what it means to say that you support israel. his legal writings, holmes begged us to consider all opinions, not to be so close minded as to shut debate, refusing to see all sides. he knew that the civil war was a just cause, but the inability to see the other sites perspective due to the war to last too long, taking countless unnecessary lies. j street demand the space to expand the scope of what it means to be pro-israel, to be passionately, vigorously pro-is

mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 20, david friedman to be ambassador to israel. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say no. ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of state, david friedman of new york to be ambassador extraordinary plenipotentiary of the united states of america to israel. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in cord nantz with rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of david friedman to be ambassador extraordinary plenipotentiary of the united states of america to israel signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the mandatory quorum call with respec

mr. ambassador, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >>> still to come, "the new york times" thomas friedman, the man who gave us "the world is flat" has a new book about the age of acceleration in which we live. it's an important explanation as to the rise of populist politicians around the globe, and he is here. during the lexus command performance sales event, experience our most elevated suvs ever. including the lx, gx, rx and nx. experience amazing. across new york state, from long island to buffalo, from rochester to the hudson valley, from albany to utica, creative business incentives, infrastructure investment, university partnerships, and the lowest taxes in decades are creating a stronger economy and the right environment in new york state for business to thrive. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today at esd.ny.gov i wanti did my ancestrydna and where i came from. and i couldn't wait to get my pie chart. the most shocking result was that i'm 26% native american. i had no idea. just to know this is what i'm made of, this is where my ancestors came from. and i absolutely want to know more about my native

mr. ambassador, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >>> still to come, "the new york times" thomas friedman, the man who gave us "the world new book about the age of acceleration in which we live. it's an important explanation as to the rise of populist pop tigss around the globe, and he is here. ♪ ♪ everyone deserves attention, whether you've saved a lot or just a little. at pnc investments, we believe you're more than just a number. so we provide personal financial advice for every retirement investor. take one of those pillows they smell really fresh. what if we told you we washed these sheets 7 days ago. really no way downy? downy fabric conditioner. give us a week, and we'll change your bed forever. want more freshness? add new downy fresh protect. this is not a screensaver.game. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. and today can save your life. ♪ ♪ are made with smarttrack®igners material to precisely move your teeth to your best smile. see how invisalign® treatment can shape your smile up to 50% faster today at invisalign.com so th

mr. trump is very concerned about the apparent breach. we're covering owl all of that and much more with our guests includi including elijah cummings. he spent the afternoon in the white house and thomas friedman and our correspondents and analysts they're also standing by. let's go to cnn's jessica schneider. investigations are heating up even as the white house says the president is not a target. what's the latest. >> several congressional committees are ramping up the search fort truth. the members going straight to the source, the fbi or the cia, and even digging through the evidence themselves. >> reporter: members of the senate intelligence committee taking their search for the evidence in the russian election hacking probe directly to cia headquarters. >> in many ways, we've got even more questions now. we've got more information we've got to get access to. >> reporter: democratic warner vice chair of the committee says he won't see any evidence but says he did see details today, a russian interference. >> a lot of what we saw today was the evidence of juunderlyin how russians manipulated and john podesta against one candidate. >> reporter: suzanne collins will examine the evidence next

friedman to be ambassador to israel. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. if no one yields time, the time will be charged equally. mr. leahy: i suggest the absence of a quorum and ask consent the time be divided equally. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

friedman for israel. the presiding officer: senator schatz. mr. schatz: achievements, the iran nuclear deal. and that opposition came in the face of consensus among national security experts across the a littlpolitical -- speck -- polil spectrum. it politicized our foreign policy in the middle east with whoo have been a bipartisan -- with what would have been a bipartisan vote will now be confirmed along party lines. people look at this confirmation and say u.s. support for israel now exists on a partisan basis. leets be clear. -- let's be clear, it does not. i think it's critical that the country continues its military edge in the area, and i take a backseat to no one for the u.s. ambassadorred offer and that's why i cannot support david friedman. he has made a wide ran