our question for you today on foreign policy and national security -- the national security team underresident trump to ease into his new let's go to- huntington, west virginia, welcome. believegood morning, i the fellow who said this is the best show on tv. we have had drama, adventure and the first few days. i gave up on the democrats, too many things i disagree with. can't outdo james bond with his pistol pen. my apologies to inspector clouseau. when i grew up in the 70's, there was a song by new riders of the purple sage called panama red about a mythical guy that mary jane panama red from down south. i wrote a parity of -- folks all know when trumps in town he will swagger and bluster and pander all around you better watch your woman, his passions have no bounds he might just try to grab her donald j. trump is back in town. he is the perfect definition of a chomp donald j. trump, on his white horse and albino he comes breezing into town thanks, i have enjoyed the show so far and i will get often listen to the rest of it. have a great day. int: let's hear from mari, bonita springs,

drugged this out and made it impossible for the department of justice to work part of our national security team and made it about a leader is completely inexcusable. the last thing i would say is they know how the story ends. they know we're going to be successful. those stunts like staying up all night making speeches, not sure who they're trying to impress other than their base. by stopping and slowing down these confirmations which will be successful eventually. >> just one additional data point, we go back to the eisenhower administration at this point. every president had all or most of their cabinet level people through so it is for driving on a historic level. and again, for no apparent purpose since they are all going to be confirmed. >> just a quick comment on john for such. he is a terrific, great pick for the supreme court, somebody who is a mainstream tourist, who is well-qualified. exceptional on every level and

drugged this out and made it impossible for the department of justice to work part of our national security team and made it about a leader is completely inexcusable. the last thing i would say is they know how the story ends. they know we're going to be successful. those stunts like staying up all night making speeches, not sure who they're trying to impress other than their base. by stopping and slowing down these confirmations which will be successful eventually. >> just one additional data point, we go back to the eisenhower administration at this point. every president had all or most of their cabinet level people through so it is for driving on a historic level. and again, for no apparent purpose since they are all going to be confirmed. >> just a quick comment on john for such. he is a terrific, great pick for the supreme court, somebody who is a mainstream tourist, who is well-qualified. exceptional on every level and as that has been pointed out by the editorial, all across the country, denver of course is a brilliant legal line, kansas city star. and so this is somebody who ought to be

one wauz growing unease against the national security team. l welcome the choice and have the opportunity to build something. >> we have much more ahead about h.r. mcmaster as reports come with unease. can he bring a culture change? s plus, senator tom cotton will inform top advisers to put the general on the administrations radar. he joins us just ahead. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ why do so many businesses rely on the u.s. postal service? because when they ship with us, their business becomes our business. ♪ that's why we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. ♪ here, there, everywhere. united states postal service priority : you youthat's why you drink ensure. sidelined. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. may not always be clear. but at t. rowe price, we can help guide your retirement savings. so wherever your retirement journey takes you, we can help you reach your goal

the administration is filling out key positions in the national security team and foreign policy team. the recent moves that the administration made are strong and appointing general mcmasters, national security advisor and points to something new and that the approach to putin might be different than we anticipated given the rhetoric on the campaign trail. >> jenna: we don't know much about general mcmaster. given that his experience is in the middle east. how will he might deal with russia? >> for starters, general mcmasters is one of the smartest generals in the army and a student of history and studied exactly how a president's national security team should provide the president with the best possible information so that the president can make the best possible choices. there are few people i can think of that are positioned by training than general mcmasters for the job. he's a state shooter and understands that russia should not be trusted and allies matter. and allies help to make america strong. they are important messages to present to the president. >> jenna: we sort of glos

stake here, for national security, for national policy with you know, president or rather prime minister netanyahu arriving tonight and uncertainty throughout the national security team? >> well i think you've really hit the nail on the head when you enthusiastic about incoherence and problem of a functioning national security team but we shouldn't forget the substantive impact of general flynn's departure. he was the ideological driving force between two related issues. one was the war on radical islamic extremism as he referred to it and the other issue was iran and the need to confront iran in the region. don't forget, he was the one who put iran on notice on day two of the trump administration. so that with prime minister netanyahu coming to town and wanting to focus his discussion with the president on iran, he has lost his wing man for that effort. >> in terms of russia, what about u.s./russia policy? russia so far has certainly succeeded if what vladimir putin wanted to do was shake up confidence in the national security posture of the united states. >> well, yes, i think that you've got similar situation there, where clearly flynn was part of trump's outreach

made area first of caseit is not at all the that a political advisor is typically on the national security team. there are occasions where advises to the president have for to be at permanent member is not practice. and the removal of the joint -- that is aff departure from the joint chiefs of staff being a permanent and regular member of the national security team, which i think is the right approach. during president told us the campaign he would enact a muslim ban. those were his words. that is what he did. he also said he would give priority to christians, again anathema to our country. most importantly, this does not make us safer. whatever you call it, it it does not make us safer. it makes us less safe. it compromises our ability to make relationships with our allies, collect intelligence, do everything we need to do to keep ourselves safe. former mayor of providence rhode island, our guest is congressman david cicilline. we hear from orlando on our democrat line. mark, good morning. caller: good morning. two things. has anyone discussed why australia does not want those immigrants to co

he then receives everyday a security update from his national security team.t is more of a -- analysis of that data and intelligence and recommendation on policies he might want to consider when he sits down for the pbd the intel responsibility and goal is to provide raw data and let the nfc team and the president-elect make their -- draw their own conclusions and analysis from that data. >> when they remember that it's called a pdb. and i think maybe he was still saying pbd there. i don't know. the white house has been trotting out this line, whether or not they know what they're talking about in terms of the acronym, they've been trotting out this line basically that the presidential daily brief is not that important because it's sort of just stuff that doesn't make sense. it's just raw data. it's just numbers and letters. that's not true about the presidential daily brief. we looked into this question specifically. we talked to david priess, a pdb expert, he wrote a book on the presidential daily brief, he used to write personally the component articles tha

he went with his national security team. they briefed him on the issue with north korea. subsequently they had a dinner attended slufl by u.s. and japanese delegation members. at that time apparently there was a photo taken which everyone jumped to nefarious rumors about what was discussed. i'm not sure why people jumped to conclusions. it was used on two occasions to advise the president and the national security team the situation in north korea and then he stood shoulder to shoulder with the japanese prime minister to make sure that our commitment was fully made aware. >> can you clarify. i got turned around. did president trump or president-elect trump at the time know of general flynn's discussion of the sanctions while he was nsa designate? if not, when did he dooinl finally learn about them? why was he okay with that. no, he was not aware. as he is not back briefed on every conversation that his national security team has or other staffers. they were performing their duties as other people were in terms of getting up to speed, conveying with counter-parts and previ

the president has made clear to him, as i said, he's got full authority to structure the national security team the way he wants. the recommendation and take that under serious consideration. >> joining us now, david corn still with us. david, i heard two answers there from sean spicer, says the president has made it clear that he has full authority to structure the national security team the way he wants. and the president and serious consideration. but even with the double answer, it's not a good day for steve bannon when you get a competent professional person into that job to take the place of flynn who was more than happy to have steve bannon in the room. >> shortly after the national security team was sworn in for the first time, i had lunch with a long time veteran of u.s. intelligence and defense matters. and who was actually present. he was somebody who had begun as a trump supporter. the council had a strong smell of iran conflict about it. what he meant was a lack of process, a lot of freelancing and failure of people on the security council understand what it's for. the national sec

a sign, jim, that as week five begins of the trump presidency, he has that keyhole in the national security team filled. so many controversies left, including that immigration order that we speculator this week. >> thank you. joining me now with more on president trump's pick for national security advisor, cnn pentagon correspondent barbara starr. beyond being a comcommander, a l success in counter insurgency in the iraq war as well. stellar reputation, would you say? >> indeed, very well-known in pentagon circles. as you pointed out, a veteran of iraq and afghanistan. multiple tours of duty. knows germany, knows europe. one of the things he may have to come up to speed on is north korea, and the pacific, not a lot of field experience out there. but a guy with very capable management skills. expected to bring some calm to the process. >> this has been a difficult post for the white house to fill. we know that vice admiral harward turned it down for personal reasons. concerns he had about chaos in the white house. how do you expect mcmaster to work alongside this president. >> he's a currently-se

i look forward to joining the national security team and doing everything i can to advance and protect the interest of the american people. >> reporter: but now he wades into white house politics and a national security counsel in term oil since the firing of michael flynn for not telling vice president mike pence the truth about his contacts with russia. mcmaster is known to be very plain spoken. people who know him say don't expect him to change. >> if general mcmaster not only understands his role and accepts it as it lead to the national security counsel staff and serves as the lead policy maker for the white house and the administration, then he will have a chance to succeed. >> reporter: still he made find his biggest challenge is dealing with stephen bannon, the political advisor who has a seat on the national security counsel. >> if steve bannon understands his role as being the political advisor and nothing more than that, then it has a chance to succeed as well. if mr. bannon goes beyond that, then it could very well not only interfere with the innerworkings of the security c

we have a very serious national security team. ave a national security adviser who is the director of the defense intelligence agency who almost single handily revolutionized the way we exploit intelligence in the battlefield. we have a set of principles such as general kelly, general mattis who are now in civilian suits running the agencies that protect america and today we sent a very clear message. abby: let's keep talking about this. what message do you think iran warning sends to enemies? heather: liberals unhinged, college students destroying their own campus to block free speech that they don't agree with. abby: fox news radio host and author of the deplorables guide to making america great again with hi one-minute commentary and message to liberals. >> good morning, ladies, what happened at the university of california berkeley last night should enrage the nation. hundreds of liberals rioted on campus burning stores, smashing windows, clashing with police, the rampage even forced the university to shut down a speech by cons

i have great confidence in the national security team of this administration going forward. the combination of our -- of secretary mattis, of director pompeo at the cia, of secretary kelly at homeland security, i think gives the american people great confidence that the team in this administration is providing the leadership and the direction to those agencies and also to the president of the united states to advance the security of our people. >> our collective defense clause, our collective defense commitment is unconditional. it's absolute. and it's the core of the nato alliance. i welcome the strong commitment of the united states to this trans-atlantic bond and to this collective defense clause. at the same time, i fully support what has been underlined by president trump and by vice president pence today, the importance of burden sharing. and i think we have to remember that this is not only something that the u.s. is asking for. it's actually something that 28 allies agreed, leaders from 28 nato allied countries sat around the same table in 2014 and agreed to stop the

trump great credit for this decision as well as his national security cabinet choices, i could not imagine a better more capable national security team than the one we have right now. is this pick enough to reassure some of trump's critics like john mccain who said they were worried about america's national security? >> it goes a long ways to do that, because general mcmaster is top notch, the fact of the matter is, i mean, we've been talking about him as a thought leader, but he's somebody who did his ph.d. at the university of north carolina. he's a great writer, he also knows what it's like to be on the battlefield. he's won a silver star, two bronze stars. he won the army distinguished service medal on and on. he could not be a better pick, it's the contrast to general flynn who was half cocked, making people very nervous about his proximity to donald trump. the fact that we have a man as solid as mcmaster is reassuring to everybody as you've heard your other two cnn analysts say, we're all in agreement. >> i haven't heard anyone come on so far, maybe there are voices who don't like him, i have not heard one. actually, rick santo

and that's why you saw bipartisan praise for him and why he would be an asset to the national security team. and he had the best choice and that will benefit not only the nation. >> reporter: any senior people, can we expect he may replace. >> press secretary spicer: i think we have an amazing team and he is impressed with him. the president told them they would lead the team and he would have the discretion to adjust. >> reporter: you said he has the full authority to staff his office. after he lookses at everything. if he advises the president not to have a chief strategist as part of the committee. >> press secretary spicer: the president said he has full authority to structure the national security team. he would make that recommendation. and the president would take that in krfrgz. i will not go with that or this person. but the president made it clear they had 100 percent control over the national security committee. thank you, guys, i will see you tomorrow. he will stay on active duty. >> reporter: is that information? >> press secretary spicer: that was the case with powell and othe

incomplete information on other matters of national security in addition to the phone calls with russia? >> press secretary spicer: when you look at that teamit is not one person in isolation, it is several. general kelly on homeland security, general mattis on doj, you have it the entire national security staff and apparatus that briefs him, director mike pompeo of the cia and others from the dni office that briefed on a whole host of issues. it is not a single position. regardless of whether it is a single situation, it is not as though there is one person briefing him. the president synthesizes a lot of information both written and stuff that is briefed to him and it is he who makes the decision based on what he already knows, what he is presented with, so the president gets information from a lot of people, generals, admirals, people in the military community, ambassadors, state department, an exhaustive team at the national security council inmates and ultimate decision based on that and what he artie knows to be the case. >> reporter: even asked a couple times about the transcript of the calls. will the white house declassify those an

i look forward to janie joining national security team. very much. >> you will do a great job. >> reporter: trump's pick came just a week after he fired his first adviser michael flynn for misleading vice president mike pence about conversations with the russian ambassador. i'm told by the senior official that president trump respected his combat duty and drive. president trump will turn the page and focus on other matters today. he expected to visit the african-american history museum. >>> thank you. the fbi is investigating a new series of bomb threats directed at jewish centers across the country. the jcc reported 11 bomb threats on monday alone bringing the total to 69 threats in 27 states just over the last six weeks. most of them on just four dates. fortunately so far, no bombs have been found. also yesterday, more than 100 headstones found vandalized in the cemetery in missouri. this is not clear if this is a link to the bomb threats. >> the white house is condemning the bomb threats after president trump twice last week danced arou

i'm grateful to you for that opportunity and i look forward to joining the national security team and i can to advance and protect the interest of the american people. >> respect for mcmaster is widespread. he's receiving praise from congressional democrats like new york congressman steve israel who tweets, i worked with general mcmaster on how we educate our troops, he's a brilliant leader who understand understands, good pick, he also got president obama's national security adviser susan rice tweeting, congrats to lieutenant general mcmaster, i wish you every success as national security adviser. mcmaster will join the president at a security briefing later today at the white house. guys. heather: thank you, griff. president trump will be speaking at the conservative political action conference on friday. he's become a regular attend' of the high-profile maryland conference in recent years. mr. trump is joining an already full list of white house speakers including vice president mike pence, chief of staff reince priebus and chief strategist steve bannon. clayton: vice president sen

national security matters, foreign policy matters. he's going to be a great asset to the president's national security team.ultimately, the president's always been the decider whether it's russia or any other issue, and i think you're right. he has made it very clear that if he can get a deal with russia, something that the last several administrations have tried to do, then he's going to do it. and if he can't, he won't. but he is going to try, and i think his success as a businessman and negotiator should be seen as a positive sign for him to be able to do that. but he understands that if he can find common ground on defeating isis and combating terrorism, growing the economy where we can find areas of economic interest, then we're going to do it. but that's, you know, that's where we're going to continue to work with russia. if we can. he'll get a deal if he can, and he won't if he won't. but he's going to try. and i think where others have failed, you know, he's going to make sure he does everything possible to make sure if it's in the interests of the united states, he will get a deal. vivian. >> i hav

he is not backed briefed on every conversation his national security team has. they were performing their duties as other people were getting up to speed. said, when he was made aware of it when the white house counsel briefed him. what he believed at the time was confirmed by white house counsel. there was no legal issue here. discussing the issue did not violate anything. it was the normal course of action to discuss that. he immediately asked white house counsel to confirm what is in states were at the time. thank you guys. we are ready for a bill signing. i'll let you get the follow-up. reporter: is the ministration taking any effort cabinet wide or inside the shop to make sure that everyone comes forward with information about this? >> there is no other information. as far as we are aware, it was an isolated incident that occurred. there were discussions. there is nothing wrong or inappropriate about the discussions. it came down to a matter of trust. that is it. thank you guys. happy valentine's day. announcer: while the white house asserted that the forme

i'm looking forward to joining the national security team. thank you very much. president trump: you are going to do a great job. mr. president, thank you for the opportunity to continue to serve. i'm very honored by it. i'm honored to serve alongside h.r. mcmaster as well. he's a great statesman. thank you. president trump: thank you. this is a great team. honored.ry, very our country is lucky to have two people like this. frankly, after having met so many of the people in the military, we are lucky to have all of them. thank you all very much. i will see you back in washington. we are leaving now. >> that announcement from the mar-a-lago resort in palm

. >> the president has been kept aware through his national security council and snagsal security team as a whole what's been going on in ukraine. >> reporter: former cia director david petraeus warned members of congress that the u.s.'s global alliance are under unprecedented threat. >> americans should not take the current international order for granted. it did not will itself into existence. we created it. likewise, it is not naturally self-sustaining. we have sustained it. if we stop doing so, it will fray and eventually collapse. this is precisely what some of our adversaries seek to encourage. >> reporter: here at the state department and keep in mind secretary of state rex tillerson was just confirmed today, but they're not being so definitive and calling this missile launch a violation of the u.n. resolution. they're using language like, it was in defiance, or inconsistent with it. that it's a provocation, and they're also not completely clear at this point what exactly are these actions or options in response that the white house is talking about. wolf? >> michelle kosinski o

bolton will be working in some capacity along with the national security team.s like the way the president described it, to see more about the man selected, he graduated from westpoint, got a ph.d. at the university of north carolina chapel hill and wrote a book called "derrelection of duty." interesting note, he will now be heading up the advice, the strategy that this president looks into as he has to make decisions about hot spots all over the world. the president closed the group to a number of generals along with ambassador john bolton. he seems to favor that have served and are serving in the military. after a bit of controversy with michael flynn, he's chosen the next man that will sit there in the meeting with the top strategists as they make decisions about isis, the middle east, north korea, the south china sea. they have a lot of hot spots to talk to, a lot of decisions to be made and now we know who the man will be alongside the president. we got a tweet a short time ago that the president said he was enjoying meeting with several generals at mar-a-l

withholding information in not providing the best possible intelligence to the president and his national security team is not true. nicole: president trump hacking away from a two state solution. the president had a meeting benjamin netanyahu yesterday. the urban has the details. reporter: president trump and benjamin met yahoo! have known each other for decades but have their first face-to-face meeting wednesday at the white house. it has been the policy of the administration has to call for a truce a solution in the attempt to navigate the miast peace process is standing next to benjamin netanyahu, the president. open to other possibilities. >> looking ahead to stay than one state and i like the one above party site. i'm very happy with the one both parties like he effectively with either one. i thought for a while but to save looks like you may be the easier of the two. honestly, if the palestinians that israel and the palestinians are happy, i'm happy with the one they like the best. >> telling the prime minister israel should be flexible when it comes to the issue of settlement holding. the touch

we don't have a national security team made out of 28-year-old grad school students who have degrees n fictional writing. we have a very serious national security team. we have a national security advisor who was the director of defense intelligence agency who almost single-handedly revolutionized the way we exploit intelligence in the battlefield. we have a set of principles such as general general kelly, genel mattis, who are now in civilian suits running the agencies to protect america. today we sent a very clear message, iran is not just another country, it is not belgium. it is not trinidad anti-boggle, it is a state sponsor of terrorism that is destabilizing the region and for the liberals, they are actually in flagrant contravention of united nations security council resolution on ballistic missile missiles. >> sean: if i were iran, i would listen to donald trump and we see how donald trump is. his defense team, of which you are a big part of. i'd interpret that to mean if they do this one more time, then i would expect the united states -- probably partnering with countries li

like to say what a privilege it is to continue to serve our nation and look forward to the national security team and protect the interests of the american people. >> two of the other finalists also got job offers today. lieutenant general keith kellogg who had been serving as the acting national security advisor. he was offered as chief of staff of the national security council. john bolton, the former ambassador to the u.n., he will be offered a job in some capacity. we don't know what that is. president trump didn't say today. he's also likely going to have a job on the security council as well. we don't know what exactly. now, president trump will be leaving mar-a-largo in about an hour, heading back to washington with his new national security advisor. once he gets there, the other big thing we'll look at from the trump administration has to do with immigration. they're putting together right now a new version of his immigration order that was struck down by the courts. that is expected to come sometime likely later in the week but earlier in the week, perhaps today. the other thing happenin

i'm grateful to you for that opportunity and i look forward to joining the national security team in doing everything i can to advance and protect the interests of the american people. >> shannon: lieutenant colonel ralph peters is a strategic analyst for fox news. we know he is very experienced. the president has great respect for him on many levels. but i know you point out one of the things that he hasn't spent a lot of time doing is navigating washington which can be a different kind of battlefield. >> indeed. this is a man of great character. the strong character, a man of physical courage and moral courage with extensive wartime experience in the middle east. it's a different battlefield in washington as you know very well, shannon. when he was fighting the tank battle in 73 in the first gulf war he knew who the enemy was. he could see them. even in iraq fighting counter insurgency he knew who the enemy was. in washington you never know who your friends are. a guy like this with great character and because of his military background you assume you can trust people around you. in

president trump fills a gaping hole if his national security team naming respected arm lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster as his new national security adviser. mcmaster taking over the job after michael flynn was fired and another top contender turned the president down. for the first time vice-president paengs pence is acknowledging that michael flynn misled him. pence revealing his disappointment during a news conference with the head of nato. the vice-president in brussels trying to reassure allies of president trump's commitment to nato and europe. top officials in sweden are expressing anger and dismay with president trump for spreading inaccurate information. speaking in florida the president referenced, quote, what happened last night in sweden, the president says he was referring to a fox news report about immigration and crime in sweden. >>> also this hour, we're learning about the trump administration's plan to carry out the president's executive order. cnn attains a new guideline that could lead to a huge increase of undocumented immigrant order. i'll talk with a democratic on th

it's critical, we havise issues bubbling over and need a national security team in place to deal with issues, the sooner the better. >> indeed we do. and the president's news conference didn't change that, right? in fact it may have exacerbated the problem if the problem was the turmoil withined administration may have presented that face. kimberly, to you, what does this look like from abroad, what do you thirveg think they are saying in moscow or beijing or brussels about the news conference? >> diplomats are saying -- shaking their head with each day with some of the tweets that come out of the white house and now this press conference. to them, this is not how a world leader operates. a lot of them are also trying to figure out what's the truth of the matter in terms of u.s. policy and their countries. is it what they hear from the u.n. representative? is it what they hear from general mattis or is it the next thing that comes from trump behind the podium? and i've had at least one diplomat tell me that they are -- they are baffled and just going to sit and wait and see how this s

i look forward to joining the national security team and doing everything i can to advance and protect the interests of the american people. thank you very much, sir. >> reporter: but now, he wades into white house politics and a national security council in turmoil, since the firing of michael flynn for not telling vice president mike pence the truth about his contacts with russia. mcmaster is known to be very plain-spoken. people who know him say don't expect him to change. >> if general mcmaster not only understands his role but accepts his role as the lead to the national security council staff, and he also serves as the lead policy maker in essence for the white house and the administration, then he will have a chance to succeed. >> reporter: still, he may find his biggest challenge is dealing with steve bannon, the president's close political adviser who now has a seat on the national security council. >> if steve bannon understands his role as basically being the political adviser to the national security council and nothing more than that, then it has a chance to succeed as wel

he has close to -- the key figures there in his national security team, but he doesn't have the whole team together. does that make a difference to you watching this or no? >> absolutely it does. we finally have a secretary of state. the delay was for no good reason. look, if you have the votes to vote a guy down, do it. they didn't have the votes to do that and they just delayed for the sake of delay as if that was accomplishing something. so i do think that this has not been a good way to stand up an administration and i think the democrats in the senate are playing games for no good reason with this. i have a lot of sympathy for the trump administration over this. >> neil: thanks, congressman. we know you've had a crazy day. we know that the president has arrived at dover air force base to be there for the arrival remains of a u.s. commando killed on sunday in yemen during a raid on al-quaida in the arabian peninsula. william ryan owens' family was okay with the president going there. this will be a nonmedia event. it becomes a media event when the president of the united states th

national security advisor. >> i look forward to joining the national security team and doing everything i can to advance and protect the interests of the american people. >> the atlantic's molly ball, cnn jeff zellaney and molly hemingway of "the federalist." we're standing by for scott pruitt to address the employees at the environmental protection agency. we'll take you there live when he starts to speak. meanwhile, today's other top stories, the jewish community center association says 48 senators in 26 states and one province received just shy of 60 bomb threats last month. you might recall president trump got testy last week when he was asked about an increase in anti-semitism, but this morning after a tour of the smithsonian african-american history museum, the president spoke out. >> this too is a meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all of its very ugly forms. the anti-semitic threats targeting our jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful, and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to rout out hate and prejudice and evil.

already seen, while this government is in transition, and we are trying to put in place the national security teamproblems of the world do not wait for that. problems come to 1600 pennsylvania avenue regardless of what is going on. certainly, he is going to be a very key actor in formulating our national security strategy and foreign policy. listening to his testimony carefully, while i didn't know him at all, i truly think he is up to the task. i have great confidence in secretary gates and rice who made strong recommendations on his behalf, as well. >> martha: one of the conversations that has been going around in recent days is how much these cabinet members will be listened to. what is your sense for where the security policy for the country is coming from and the white house and do you believe they will have an opening to rex tillerson? >> i believe that. in my own discussions, i have out a couple of discussions with president trump when he was president-elect trump, and he has an open mind and he has great confidence in the people that he is electing to be on his national security team. i am

he has talked about general mattis, kelly, the entire national security team, the best national security team that has ever been assembled. and when you look at that holistically and the price that they have given the president a relates to a travel ban or having better vetting. he is very open to listening to what the experts say. and whether reading a plan that the american people are safe and secure in their homeland. if that is extreme vetting, if it means remaking the way that they issue visas, then you have to do that. it is crystal clear, the constitution is crystal clear. the presidential prerogative to stop anybody he wants from coming into the country by suspending visas with no question about it. >> chris: less than a minute to left, i want to ask you one more thing. a top republican, house republican sterilizer came out and over the weekend he said that there should be a special prosecutor to investigate the question of leaks, the links between the trump campaign and russian intelligence. he says that he does not think that the justice department and attorney general sessions

he had the chance to fully assemble his team and what he plan dose. >> the president has been kept aware of it through his national council and national security team as a whole. what has been going on in ukraine and we have further updates as we go on. >> during the campaign last january donald trump promised to get rid of gun free zones in schools and military basis. when do we expect action on that? >> i think you have seen that president has been very active in terms of getting executive orders out and following up on the campaign pledges that he made to the american people last night and being another example through that. we will continue to move through the process and further updates on where we are with respect to the process. with that, to my third skype se seat. lars larson on the lars larson show. >> thanks for the opportunity. i have a broad question. the federal government is the biggest landlord in america. owning two thirds after billion acres of america. i don't think the founders envisioned it that way. does president trump want to start returning the people's land to the people. and can he tell the sforest forester is v fore

and i look forward to joining the national security team and doing everything i can to advance and protect the interests of the american people. >> you'll do a great job. >> thank you very much. >> senator tom cotton was reportedly central to the selection. the senator once served under general mcmaster and suggested into the white house. politico says mcmaster wasn't on the radar until the senator reached out to steve bannon, jared kushner and ryan priebus. even so, this selection drew widespread praise including from many top democrats. >> he's known for a top military strategist and began early on in iraq. for more, we have more to give us a sense on the general's career from cal perry. cal? >> reporter: general mcmaster is known on capitol hill for two reasons, for what he's done on the battlefield. he has an impressive combat record. he was awarded the silver captain for what he did in the first gulf war. in the second gulf war, he commanded troops. at the time he was a surcolonel. that helped him then become on the advisory council for general petraeus, again, specifically looking at

advising the president on national security matters is the white house concerned that he briefed the vice president elect on other matters of national security? >> when you look at the team it's not one in isolation, you have several. he's got an entire national security staff and apparatus that briefs him director pompeo at the cia and others from the dni's office who brief him on a whole host of issues, so it's not a single incident. regardless of whether it's a single situation, there's not one person briefing him. and he emphasizes a lot both written and he based a lot on what he already knows and presented with so the president ge gets information from a lot of people. ambassadors, people at the state department. an exhaustive team at the national security council and based on that what he knows to be the case. >> sean, you have been asked a couple times about these transcripts and calls, will the white house declassify those and release them? >> look, it is inappropriate for me to comment on those at this time. right now the focus is on some of the evolving issues that are going around the globe as you know -- let me answer the question, it is not an issue that's c

national security community, reaching out to state, cia and defense. so it really will come down to how the president wants this office to work. >> as a former member of trump's national security team, can you describe kind of the vetting process, having gotten to know donald trump? what will he be looking for as he interviews these candidates? >> well, being part of the transition team, we didn't really become involved in enter viewing people for that role. as you know, general flynn was one of the first people announced in terms of his appointment to the new trump administration, so it was a very different situation than state and defense that came much later. but in my sense of mr. trump is that he responds well to strong people with strong arguments. i believe that whoever is the strongest in terms of making a substantive case about the threats facing the united states will make a deep impression on him this weekend as he interviews people. but also the nsc advisor, when you think about it, fred, is really someone who will spend more time with the president than almost any other member of the president's team. when a crisis happens in the middle of the night, the national secur

that i think is probably what's plaguing them. >> you have said you like the president's national security teamdoes that includes what you have seen out of the national securi securi security council? >> i worry about the membership. and mr. ban non's roll as both political advisor and member of the national security council, i am very worried about. former secretary of defense yates said he is deeply concerned, so has many others who view the national security council as a-political and should not be influenced by any political influences. >> it is interesting you bring up mr. ban non. he calls himself an economic nationalist. when you hear that -- how about this. when europeans hear that, what do they hear? >> they feel uncertain about our trade relationships. they saw that we abandoned the tpp. they're facing the brexit problem right now. all this business with vladimir putin is very disturbing to all of us. to equate vladimir putin and the united states of america, as he was asked, you know, i guess it was bill to riley said putin is a killer and he said so are we. that is a contradiction o

. >> pelley: but four weeks into his administration, there are still holes in his national security team. >> this administration is in disarray, and they've got a lot of work to do. >> pelley: also tonight, the president's supporters. >> he's actually keeping his promises, and the media just doesn't like to report that because they don't really like wh he stands for. i think everybody's got to really get on board the trump train. >> pelley: the west coast is battered by a new round of storms. and steve hartman with one tough cookie. >> we tried dunking it in tea. we tried dunking it in hot chocolate. it was just gross.

soledad: president trump's national security team has put iran on warning. has put iran on warning, his teamhas put iran on warning, threatening sanctions in response to recent ballistic missile tests. iran's defense minister confirmed the tests, but insisted the country did not violate iran's nuclear deal. back in may of 2016, the u.s. pledged to protect nato allies from iran's missiles. president trump has questioned whether the u.s. should continue to offer security guarantees for countries that were not supporting the alliance at the level expected. kurt volker, former u.s. ambassador to nato weighs in. kurt: nato has been talking about for years about needing to transform and to deal modern threats and challenges, not just ground war in europe, cyber security, terrorism, missile defense. so this has been a consistent thing that nato needs to adapt and reform. donald trump is turning up the volume, saying we really need this. because it is not sustainable, as gates said, for the u.s. to carry more of the burden than europeans are willing to bear. >> comi

national security side. are you hearing any whispers about reaction as the former national security team watches what is unfolding? >> i think the members of the former national security team under president obama and then state department under obama and again i would defer to andrea on this as well, but i think they were greatly encouraged by the hiring of general mcmaster, as they are greatly encouraged by the presence of generals mattis and kelly. and i had one person formally in the obama administration tell me that the employment of general mattis as secretary of defense was greatly encouraging because this person viewed it as general mattis accepting the job in order to quote save the american military from donald j. trump, unquote. >> wow. >> i think there is a general sense of relief that flynn is gone. there was as much anxiety about flynn as there was about everyone else combined. that was born out in what took place in the first 30 days. so the departure has been a tonic, i think, for those who have been watching this. >> to protect the american military, not to save the american military. >> protect.