lawmakers will continue working on the nomination of jeffrey rosen to be deputy transportation secretary. mitch mcconnell announce announcing a confirmation is expected at 5:15 p.m. [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] [background sounds] >> this is the scene outside the white house on this tuesday afternoon. the president is expecting the arrival of the turkish president in just a couple of minutes. we will watch his entourage drive up in just a moment. the president and the turkish president do have a scheduled news conference that will take place in about 20 minutes around 1:00 p.m. we are planning live coverage. we will have that on c-span2. later in the week, the full senate is expected to attend a secure briefing talking about the recent firing of fbi director james comey. that is expected to take place thursday. if there are any remarks "after words" we plan to bring them to you on the c-span network. hr mcmaster held a briefing this morning and answered questions about trump's m

the senate gaveling in in about 15 minutes. 2:15 eastern considering the nomination this week of jeffrey rosen to be deputy transportation secretary. following the senate on c-span2. and now live to the house floor here on c-span. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain, dr. bruce hargrave, bruce hargrave ministries and charities, rowlett, texas. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, we thank you this day for the bountiful blessings you have poured out upon the peoples of the united states of america. and to the men and women elected and assembled here today to serve the we the people. grant us, o god, your grace, knowledge and wisdom in the affairs that we will deliberate, debate and vote upon. may the outcome of our endeavors be for the great benefit of the american people. help these members as representatives of their various congressional districts be more than an elected representative. help each of them to be servant leaders, guiding all of us to greater heights and achievements, for all of the american people. i ask all o

eastern this afternoon to continue work on the nomination of jeffrey rosen to be the next deputy transportation secretary. earlier today majority leader mitch mcconnell announcing confirmation vote expected to happen about 5:15 p.m. eastern. reminder that thursday deputy attorney general rod rosenstein will be briefing senators on the firing of fbi director james comey. that would be a closed-door briefing. also turkish president erdogan met with president trump earlier today at the white house and before a lunch together the issued statement in the roosevelt room to reporters. spiri[background sounds] >> this is a lot of press. a lot of press. i'm shocked. it is a great pleasure to welcome president erdogan for his first visit to the white house in years. the american and turkish peoples have been friends and allies for many, many decades. turkey was a pillar in the cold war against communism. it was a bastion against soviet expansion, and turkish courage in war is legendary. that is so true. turkish soldiers fought bravely alongside american soldiers in the korean war, and we haven't forgotte

eastern this afternoon to continue work on the nomination of jeffrey rosen to be the next deputy transportation secretary. earlier today majority leader mitch mcconnell announcing confirmation vote expected to happen about 5:15 p.m. eastern. reminder that thursday deputy attorney general rod rosenstein will be briefing senators on the firing of fbi director james comey. that would be

i would like to conclude my remarks today by expressing my opposition to the nomination of jeffrey rosen to be deputy secretary of transportation. mr. rosen has a long history both in government and in the private sector of defending private industry against regulation designed to protect the american public. when he first worked for the department of transportation, he touted the fact that he was involved in ending or withdrawing 180 potential transporataion department rule makings. he has also been hostile to environmental regulations designed to protect our air and water, he has opposed to greenhouse gas emission regulations in his role at the office of management and budget and he attempted to undermine climate change science in order to fend off potential regulations. he had an alliance with automobile manufacturers against rules to increase nonpolluting vehicles. i will vote no on mr. rosen's nomination because our clean energy future is just too important and i urge my colleagues to join me. thank you and i yield back, mr. president. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding office

i want to bring in jeffrey rosen, president and ceo and professor at george washington university's lawimpeachment is a serious thing. i hate to jump and get ahead of ourselves. can you please tell us about the legal burden here and how the comey memo cosmetic even begin to advance to that conversation? >> the constitutional standard for impeachment is a high crime or a misdemeanor. but impeachment as a former president gerald ford famously said is whatever congress says it is. so if the house decides that the comey memos are kind of obstruction of justice that constitute a high crime, they can vote for articles of impeachment. if they're not convinced, they won't. the legal standard, an intent to obstruct or impede an official investigation, requires a specific intent that the president would have to be trying to shut down the russia investigation, rather than just protect a friend like mike flynn, who he didn't think was guilty of anything serious. but the house doesn't have to be bound by those legal technicalities. could it decide if the political heat is so great, that they want to

mcconnell: yesterday, the senate voted to confirm jeffrey rosen as the deputy secretary of transportation. now in just a couple of hours, we'll take a cloture vote to advance another well-qualified nominee, rachel brand, to serve as the associate attorney general. rachel brand's impressive background includes experience clerking for supreme court justice anthony kennedy, and she has already been confirmed by the senate twice before. she is extraordinarily talented, as chairman grassley noted at her hearing, and dedicated to the full and evenhanded enforcement of our laws. ms. brand also has the support of a bipartisan group of former senior officials at the justice department, including jamie gorlich and seth waxman, who in a recent letter on her behalf cited her stellar reputation for integrity, legal skills and respect for the law. as they pointed out, ms. brand's extensive private and public sector experience would serve her well as the associate attorney general, and they also noted she would be a trusted leader in the department. i look forward to advancing her nomination later this

senate is about to gavel in to continue work on the nomination of jeffrey rosen to be deputy transportation secretary, a confirmation vote is possible later today. live senate coverage here on c-span2. lead the senate in pra. the chaplain: let us pray. savior, lead us as a shepherd guides his or her sheep. we find consolation in the knowledge that you have gone before us in order to bring us to your desired destination.

taking a look at congress this week, the senate returns at 3:00 eastern where they'll consider jeffrey rosen to be deputy transportation secretary, and rachel brand to be associate attorney general. procedural votes to advance their nominations are set for 5:30 p.m. eastern. the house returns tomorrow for le legislative business to coincide with national police week, they'll take up bills involving law enforcement, including legislation making the murder or attempted murder of police an aggravating factor in determining death penalty sentences. also on the agenda, new sanctions on the syrian government and individuals who do business with them. watch the house live on c-span and the senate on c-span2. >>> and donald trump is getting ready to travel. the president leaves this friday, may 19th, and will head to saudi arabia, israel, and rome where he'll visit the vatican before going to brussels for a nato meeting. he'll end his trip in sicily, italy, for the g7 summit. >>> tonight, on "the communicators," a look at small town and rural broadbandley blo. miss bloomfield talks about her organiz

president, last week we confirmed two well-qualified nominees -- jeffrey rosen as deputy secretary of transportation, and rachel brand as associate attorney general. and today we'll have an opportunity to confirm another excellent nominee, governor terry branstad, to be u.s. ambassador to china. while i'm pleased that the senate is working to fill these important positions, it's been disappointing to see so much pointless obstruction by our friends across the aisle. they continuously forced procedural hurdles on nominees for no other reason than to stall confirmations, launching more filibusters against this president's cabinet than any other in history. and they've done so not to change the result, but simply to eat up floor time that could be used for legislation to help our constituents. take the cloture vote they forced last week on the branstad nomination. the senate voted overwhelmingly 86-12 object that motion proving once again that our democratic colleagues' tactics really have little to do with the nominees themselves. they are just delaying for delay's sake. it's really pas

rod rosen stine and a.j. jeffrey sessions. the president telling lester holt just moments ago that he planned to fire comey regardless of the recommendations that he got from those two individuals in those letters. >> well, yeah. there is a little bit of maybe each are talking past one another here, but the president was declarative, as you point out, in seeing that he had made up his mind to fire director comey before they -- he met with mr. rosen steen and attorney general sessions on monday night before he received their written endorsements of the firing of mr. comey. so obviously there's a little bit of untidiness or message squaring that will need to happen over the next few days. obviously, as i said, at the start, scott, and i think you would probably agree, not a lot of questions -- this will spawn as many questions as it provided answers. >> yeah. remember, this was just a small part of that interview between lester holt and the president, which you'll see more of on nightly tonight. i know the issue that you guys wi

chief washington correspondent james rosen was in the courtroom in richmond. >> acting solicitor general jeffrey wall argued president trump's campaign statements about muslims in the meeting of his executive orders on immigration carry less legal weight than his near total authority over immigration policy and the purportedly neutral text of the second order. speak with the president clarified over time that what he's talking about for countries and territories that have no lis to groups like isis and al qaeda. >> pamela harris said an obama appointee challenged wall when all of the targeted countries are majority muslim. >> what do you mean by neutral? >> the judge openly scoffed at the idea that president trump's statements, especially wandering the signing of the first executive order, saying "we all know what that means" reflected no animus towards muslims. >> don't we get to consider what was said here? >> representing the american civil liberties unit and, argued that mr. trump's statements should be considered. he was forced to admit it's the president entrusted with national security de

rosen stein called it a, quote, textbook example of what federal agents and prosecutors are taught not to do. as jeffrey toobin pointed out, trump saw fit to fire comey for the very things he praised him for in 2016. >> it took guts for director comey to make the move he made in light of the kind of opposition he had where they're trying to protect her from criminal prosecution. you know that. >> i respect the fact that director comey was able to come back after what he did. >> what he did, he brought back his reputation. he's got to hang tough because there's a lot of people want him to do the wrong thing. >> he's become more famous than me. >> in his letter rosenstein made no mention of anything having to do with the current investigation into russian contacts with trump associates -- >> the president took care of that himself. >> president trump made that mention himself, including a glaring paragraph in his own letter to comey. it reads in part, quote, while i greatly appreciate you for informing me on three separate occasions that i am not under investigation, i nevertheless concur with the judgmen

jeffrey rosen was that person. i recruited him to serve as senior policy advisor at o.m.b.ment in this role, he was always available ant about the use of taxpayer clarks a guy that understands that hard-earned dollars need to be stewarded properly. he was someone who focused on management of the agencies and departments, understood the need for us to ensure that taxpayers are getting the best bang for their buck, and finally, maybe most importantly, he gave me good advice. he was insight but also honest. and i think that kind of candid advice is exactly what every department secretary or leader would want and that's what he will provide elaine chao, should he become deputy counsel. he is well-record in the legal community in town and somebody who understands how the department of transportation works and what is needed to ensure that can be successful. one thing that jeff and i i have in common is we married way over our heads. kathleen is from my home state of ohio owe. he has that ohio common sense that makes jef

the senate gaveling in in about 15 minutes. 2:15 eastern considering the nomination this week of jeffrey rosen to be deputy transportation secretary. following the senate on c-span2. and now live to the house floor here on c-span.

each of the senate, in the second to take up the nomination of jeffrey rosen to be deputy transportation secretary. we will have that live at three when the gambling pick in the meantime a briefing from the state department from earlier today looking at syria. >> good morning everyone. great to see. thanks for assembling here so quickly today. welcome to the state department. we ask you here to provide you with some new information on the six-year crisis in syria. unjointed about acting assistant secretary for the bureau of near eastern affairs. he was returned from the talks in astonishment will give us an update and also provide you with newly declassified information on syria today. last week secretar secretary tin met with russian foreign minister sergey lavrov for more than an hour in washington. you've read the readout from that meeting but i would like to provide you with some additional context and details coming out of that meeting today. secretary tillerson was firm and clear with minister lavrov. russia holds tremendous influence over charlotte al-assad. a key point that took

jeffrey a. rosen of virginia to be deputy secretary. 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 accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of jeffrey a. rosen to be deputy secretary of transportation signed by 17 senators. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent the reading of the names be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum call with respect to the cloture motion be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. those opposed nay. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 35, rachel l. brand to be a

the senate today confirming jeffrey rosen as deputy transportation secretary. tomorrow's and midori mitch mcconnell says expect to vote for vance nomination of rachel brand to the associate attorney general. later in the week deputy attorney general rod rosenstein gives and all senators reading on the firing of fbi james coney is scheduled for thursday afternoon on 2:30 p.m. james coney was shut down to federate into tom's formal national security adviser michael flynn in an oval office meeting in february. that according to a memo esther comey wrote shortly after the meeting. i hope you can let this go, the president pulled mr. comey according to the memo. the existence of this is the clearest evidence that the president has to try to directly influence the justice department and fbi investigation into links between mr. trump's associates and russia. now it will show you majority leader, mitch mcconnell, speaking to the gop party lunch today. speaking of.