nomination out of hand until he gets a commitment that a special prosecutor would be appointed by rob rosen stein, the selection to be deputy attorney general. as we've seenl over the last couple months, republicans don't need democrats to move the nominations along. if you look at the fallout of what happened on friday with attorney general sessions, it goes deeper than just amended testimony. other nominees have to deal with this going forward, specifically on the special prosecutor issue. >> phil mattingly on the hill. thank you for that. also this morning, the state department condemning a new round of north korean missile tests saying the u.s. is ready to defend its allies. >> north korea fired four ballistic missiles overnight, three landed in japanese waters. cnn national correspondent will ripley is live in tokyo. needless to say, the japanese very on edge from what they're seeing from north korea. >> reporter: they certainly are, john. three missiles landed less than 200 miles from the japanese coast. it's not just japan, it's also south korea and the united states saying this perhaps ma