tv CNN Newsroom With Poppy Harlow and John Berman CNN February 13, 2017 6:00am-7:01am PST
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all right. any other questions? >> yeah, just mentally, though, are you okay? >> are you kidding me? >> i can watch melissa mccarthy pretty much do anything all day long. >> she's funny. who is going to play berman? we're giving the show over to them. what do you think, collin yost? >> george clooney. >> george clooney plays me. it's in my contract. >> the rock, dwayne johnson? >> clooney is the only one. >> it's clear who the diva is on this program. >> oh, yeah. >> we see it. >> tell him to stop sitting on that pillow. >> lou fur rig know, alisyn, thanks very much. "newsroom" starts right now. good morning. i'm john berman. >> i'm poppy harlow. we have a lot of news to get to, namely a senior white house
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official telling cnn the knives are out, talking about president trump's embattled national security adviser michael flynn who would counsel the president is accused of betraying the trust of the president. white house officials no longer believing flin's claim he did not discuss sanctions with russia before the administration took over. the denials repeated by a trusting mike pence on cbs last month. whether flynn says or goes may not be his decision alone. >> one place you might want a national security adviser whoever one trusts, when a rogue nation with an unpredictable dictator stages a missile launch to taunt you. that's what happened with north korea. that is on the president's plate, too. let's begin at the white house with cnn's joe johns. that white house, joe, looking like a sive over the weekend. >> reporter: i think you can say that, john. what we are told is michael flynn has no plans to resign, no
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expectation he'll be fired. but it's pretty clear he also remains on thin ice. when you look at the situation in its totality, the fact of the matter is, the president has to have complete and total trust and confident in his national security adviser or there could be problems. we got some sense of the state of play here at the white house over the weekend when the white house senior policy adviser appeared on some of the sunday morning shows. listen to how he talked about flynn. >> the white house did not give you anything to say other -- >> they did not give me anything to say. >> so you cannot say -- >> asked and answered, chuck. >> -- the president still has confidence in his national security adviser. >> that's a question for the president and a question for our chief of staff. asked and answered, chuck. >> so kind of a non-answer on flynn there.
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that would appear to be exactly the message the president and this administration wanted to send, because the president also tweeted out later that he was congratulating steechk miller for his performance on the sunday morning shows, adding great job. we haven't heard so much from the president today. uncharacteristically he hasn't tweeted this morning. what we do know is later today he's going to hold something of an africa day on the telephone, speaking to the leaders of both nigeria as well as south africa. after that meeting here at the white house with the canadian prime minister. >> joe johns, thank you very much while michael flynn is no longer denies the claims that he talked about whether or not the trump administration would soften those sanctions of russia in that phone call with the ambassador, just this morning, the kremlin is repeating no, there was no talk of sanctions on the phone before the trump administration took over. very different stories from some
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in the bhous and from russia. our matthew chance is in moscow with more. >> reporter: the kremlin appears to have gone off script a little bit in the sense that it's sticking to the line it's been adopting all the time in the sense that it's been acknowledging that these conversations took place between the russian ambassador to washington in december and mike flynn, the trump national security adviserment they're categorically saying the issue of sanctions did not come up in any of the conversations that were had between these two men. they're also rejecting the idea, and this has been an allegation leveled at the kremlin, that vladimir putin's response or lack of response to the expulsion by president obama of 35 russian diplomats, as well as other sanctions against russia, over allegations of russian hacking. that non-response by vladimir putin came out of the
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conversations between michael flynn and the russian ambassador to washington as well. the kremlin categorically denying that. if there are transcripts of these conversations and if they are released, we'll get a better picture, obviously a very clear picture of what was actually discussed and whether the kremlin is telling the truth or not on this issue. >> matthew chance in moscow. there seems to be understanding that sanctions were at a minimum discussed. thank you for that, matthew. joining us now, mafia tall lib, jim walsh and paul singer. martha, i have to seyed on the sunday shows when stephen miller went out and with deafening silence refused to defend michael flynn, i haven't seen that level of silence anywhere. why cut him off at the knees like that? >> during what you consider a traditional administration,
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everyone would read that as a sign that the person in question lost the president's confidence. the difference is this administration in its early weeks, sometimes it's just a lack of planning or preparation leading the the thing that in another administration would seem like a really big deal or a clear signal. what's not entirely clear is whether stephen miller said what he said because he didn't expect the question and wasn't sure how to answer it, or whether he said what he said because that's what he was told to say. there are a couple of clues that undercut the idea that stephen miller was trying to send a clear sill nall. one is that michael flynn was on air force one and in florida for the entire weekend with president trump in mar-a-lago. the other is general flynn is slated to be a full participant in both trudeau's meeting, the canadian leader's meeting and netanyahu's meeting later this week with the president. hill republicans have been gone, are coming back. we know a lot of democrats want
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to investigate general flynn or perhaps have him step aside. we haven't heard that clamoring yet from republicans in congress. and that to some extent may play a role. right now it does seem that prpt himself is standing by his national security adviser. that's an important factor on which to judge this. >> although, i think that tweet is very telling, lauding the performance of stephen miller. paul, we're four weeks or so in now, and you have white house officials telling our jim acosta the knives are out. you have the chief white house ethics lawyer under george w. bush tweeting this this morning, lack of candor about conversations with the russians. he would be gone by now if it were under the bush white house. how much time do you think flynn has? >> part of the problem for this administration is they have never been big fans of protocol and process. this is the whole thing during the campaign, the same thing. they like to upend the apple cart.
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in this case, protocol and process is you don't talk about sanctions with your opponent, that is, your adversary country when you're not the president of the united states. and this is what mr. flynn may have done. also, mr. flynn has been long time sort of a font of c conspiracy theories. now going back to bite him. he said all kinds of things, that he wanted to be investigated amongst the democrats and hillary clinton. now the conspiracy involves him. this is coming back to haunt this administration. this is why we have process and protocol, to keep you out of these kind of problems. >> you say they don't mind upsetting the apple cart, right now they are the apple cart. >> jim walsh, to you, on the issue of national security here and the effect this has, "the new york times" has an interesting sentence in its report. three weeks into the trump administration, national security council staff members get up in the morning, read president trump's twitter post and struggle to make policy to fit them.
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it seems even beyond whether or not people trust michael flynn, there are deeper issues here. >> i agree, john. that's why i think something is going to happen. mr. flynn may be attending these meetings, obliged to attend these meetings, but when you step back there are two big storms brewing. one is the rocky rollout of the trump administration in these early weeks, things that they themselves said they wish they had done differently, and a lack of coordination with their own party and foreign leaders. so problems in the basic administration of the white house and you have this ongoing, quiet but bubbling story about russia. cnn report exclusively that dossier by that private investigator, parts of it had been confirmed by the intelligence agency. so there's still questions, an ongoing story about what is the russian trump relationship and is this the gang that can't
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shoot straight? you put those together and i think change is going to come. whether it's the chief of staff or the national security adviser or someone, it's an adjustment that presidents make when they try to get back in the game and make the process run more smoothly. >> on your point of chief of staff, rooens priebus, a lot of people questioned whether or not he would be the pick and get the job. otherwise, the baby splitting the baby between the establishment, many wanted reince priebus. also has steve bannon as a top adviser. here is the what the ceo of news max media said on "reliable sources" on this network. some context, this is somebody very close with the president. here is what he said about reince priebus. >> i think there's a lot of weakness coming out of the chief of staff. reince priebus clearly doesn't know how the federal agencies work. i do think the president is not getting the backup he needs in the operation of the white
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house, and sometimes the pushback he needs which you would have with a stronger white house counsel -- white house chief of staff. >> margaret, this is someone that doesn't talk to the president. this is someone who knows the president. he didn't say where he's getting that or if that's his own opinion. what do you make of it and what does it mean for reince going forward? >> it reflects there are multiple channels of influence into the white house and there is a column of power and networking that doesn't want reince priebus to be the chief of staff. strategic cli reince priebus reflects establishment and order and relationships with congressional republicans, and those are all three very important levers for president trump as he seeks to do some of these other things outside the box, to be able to keep that sort of friendly line of communication with the establishment and with congressional republicans. so this is a question of a real
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chess move, as is the situation with general flynn at the national security council, if he were to go, who would step in? the notion that there would be nobody ready to step in is almost unimaginable. among the other factors under consideration is that very basic question on both of those fronts. many of the situations where chaos has been attributed to the white house have been not the doing of reince priebus so much as the doing around reince priebus and when priebus stepped in, there's been an attempt to dial that back and come up with a pecking order. i do know this reflects the fact that there are folks who don't want to see mr. priebus as chief of staff. it may not reflect precisely what's going on. >> stephen miller is in the middle of all this, whether there's a discussion about the executive orders, he's in the middle of it. yesterday mixing it up on the issue of alleged voter fraud,
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unsubstantiated claims without evidence. he made more of them. let's listen. >> president trump again suggested in a meeting with senators that thousands of illegal voters were bused from massachusetts to new hampshire. do you have that evidence? >> i actually have worked before on a campaign in new hampshire, i can tell you this issue of busing voters into new hampshire is widely known by anyone who has worked in new hampshire politics. it's very real, very serious. this morning, on this show is not the venue to lay out the evidence. i can tell you this, voter fraud is the serious issue in this country. >> just for the record, you have provided absolutely no evidence. >> there's no evidence of this. i've covered new hampshire a lot, never seen evidence of it myself. let's leave that aside. the question is why does he keep saying it? what use does this serve for the white house? >> they're not unsubstantiated claims. they're fake claims. there's nothing to it. i don't know what it serves for
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the white house. two possibilities. ron brownstein was on your air a little while ago talking about the possibility that they are trying to lay the basis for states to advance voter id bills, a further restriction of voter rights using this as an argument. the other possibility is they prefer talking about this rather than talking about general flynn, rather than talking about contact with russia, this is a coppic they know reporters engage in and they can get into a back-and-forth over and we find fascinating. the fact of the matter is, michigan did a review of the kbal lots and found 31 people voted twice, voted absentee, 31. >> he said on the issue of people being registered, some of the president's closest advisers also registered in both states. it's not the same thing. >> and perhaps children as well. it happens.
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>> not the same thing. thank you very much, margaret, jim and paul. still to come, the president's foreign policy is squarely in focus this morning as north korea claims a successful missile launch over the weekend. two high profile foreign leaders are headed to the white house. >> a huge evacuation in california. nearly 200,000 people on the move this morning, due to fears about the integrity of the nation's tallest dam. i was out here smoking instead of being there for my son's winning shot.
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i've never met my father, it's all like right here. i've never gotten really this far. discover your family history with myheritage.com sign up for free today. this morning north korea is clearly testing president trump, claiming it, quote, successfully launched a medium-range ballistic missile over the weekend. this happened as the president was meeting with the japanese prime minister. the president pledged to stand beside japan but didn't say much else. it seemed a deliberately limited response. >> this is ahead of two high profile visits to foreign leaders. today prime minister justin
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trudeau will meet on wednesday, prime minister of israel will be there. david wilkins is with us, former u.s. ambassador to canada, and christopher hill, former ambassador to south korea. let me begin with ambassador hill. to you, when you look at the response or lack of response, the 23 words the president spoke over the weekend about north korea, just saying we're staying behind japan responding to this missile launch, what do you make of it? it is uncharacteristic of the president to say the least because back in january he tweeted, north korea says it's in the final stages of working on a weapon capable of reaching the u.s. it won't happen. he spoke out then, not now. why? >> i think we're in a better place than we were a short time ago. we have the visit of secretary of defense mattis to south korea and to japan.
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i think that was reassuring to allies all over the world. i think the visit with donald trump that abe made was also very reassuring. the question is why was it so terse. the problem is they didn't have time to analyze what they wanted to say so they said what was essential, that we stand behind japan 100% that is an ally. i wish they had added something about south korea. be that as it may, i think it was the right thing to say. gone is the stuff about japan not paying enough for its defense or these ideas about giving everyone nuclear weapons. i think we're in to reality. was it a crisis? i think north korea is a crisis, but maybe not just over the weekend. think of it as a dress rehearsal for a crisis surely to come. >> if it was a dress rehearsal, it's designed to send messages to different audiences. one of them is north korea, kim jung un. another is china. what did those audiences take from the president's response? >> i think it was very important that president trump reached out
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to president xi jinping the day before the abe visit to assure the one china policy. the idea you could play around with that or put it on the table is not going to work. it was very important that he walk that back. we near a better place with china. it has to be followed up with serious diplomacy. one worry we have a home alone crowd right now, not enough nominees in place yet. i think they've got to go to china. they've got to really try to work that deal with china, because ultimately, we cannot outsource this problem to china, nor can we solve it on our own or solve it against china's interests. there needs to be a much more serious china dimension to this overall strategy. let's hope they get going on that. i think in terms of japan, he did the right thing. >> ambassador wilkins, we'll get to you in a moment on canada. to follow up with you, ambassador hill, on china. how much more can china do?
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a lot of critics say china hasn't done a lot, they can do more when it comes to pressuring korea. what should this administration expect from xi jinping? >> i think there's very legitimate criticism of china, and i think you put your finger on it. part of it is this financial issue. there are a lot of trade flows, energy flows that need to be interdicted and a tightening of u.s. sanctions. they'll have a discussion in nrk today on sanctions and whether more can be done. i think in that way china can work more with us. it's very important we need to have a deep dive with the chinese, what their interests are and make sure we can over come this, let me call it, that teamingic mistrust we've had with china. china has not been an easy customer to deal with. we're having problems with china. i think we need to set priorities, i would put north korea right at the top. >> ambassador wilkins, let's
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move on to canada. prime minister justin trudeau coming to the united states to meet with president trump. they had a little bromance, gushed over each other. trudeau has been somewhat critical when it comes to president trump about his immigration policies and whatnot. they're very different generations, very different world views. what should prime minister trudeau expect? >> first off, good morning to you. i think this meeting today is critically important. but i think it also will be very productive and positive. we have so many successes to build on, the largest trade relationship the world has ever known. no iran which is the best defense pact in history. i think the emphasis will be on job creation, something our president has talked about time and time again.
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trade is the key ingredient between our two countries. i think trade and job creation will be what the main emphasis will be on. i think it will be very professional, very productive meeting. >> ambassador wilkins, ambassador hill, we ran out of time. please come back and let's build on that trade issue that was just mentioned because christine romans is here. when you look at what a big trading partner of the united states, canada is, it's huge. it's the second biggest trading partner. >> $545 billion a year. >> the countries need each other. trudeau has been very clear about his destain for things like the travel ban. >> very careful to criticize donald trump. he has to work with this president. there are so many differences between these two world leaders, quite frankly. ideological, you're right. listen to the common ground that justin trudeau was trying to
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highlight when he talked about this. >> we both got elected on commitments to strengthen the middle class and supporting those. and that's what we'll be focused on in these meetings, making sure the millions of good middle class jobs on both side of our borders, dependent on the smooth flow of goods and services and people back and forth across our border. >> so the future of nafta here. also maybe they'll talk about this border adjustment tax. it's something that's been hotly debated and contested in the u.s. among business groups about how that's going to work with corporate tax reform. it's so interesting how different these two people are. >> markets, how are we looking before the opening bell? >> maybe records again all across the board. >> i don't want maybe. why? the trump rally seemed to stall. last week he talked about a two
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to three-week time frame for time reform. investors love that. rolling back regulations. many of the people he's picking for cash net secretaries, they look like people who will help him roll back regulations and pretty fiercely. >> christine romans, thanks for being here. appreciate it. still to come, thousands of people ordered to evacuate their homes in northern california as officials try to stop a catastrophe from happening at the tallest dam in the country. >> hundreds arrested in a new round of immigration enforcement raids. officials say they're targeting criminals, but critics say perhaps they're going too far. this is my retirement. retiring retired tires. and i never get tired of it. are you entirely prepared to retire? plan your never tiring retiring retired tires retirement
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good morning. i'm poppy harlow. >> i'm john berman. great to see you this morning. this morning a huge evacuation under way in california. we're talking nearly 200,000 people ordered to move to safer ground. there are fears this morning about the integrity of the tallest dam in the country. >> the water right now is racing down the dam's spillway at twice the normal rate. this is all happening in oroville, california, 75 miles north of sacramento. our paul vercammen is there. what does this mean for all the folks, 200,000 people potentially impacted by this? where are they trying to get the water level to so everyone is safe? >> reporter: poppy and john, as the water level rose and began to spill over both the first spillway and a backup spillway,
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th they're trying to get it down ability 50 feet. heavy rains and snowmelt putting pressure on the dam. there's a breach in the backup spillway. you can see behind me heavy lifting with heavy equipment. they're breaking up rocks, putting them in bags and they'll go into the breach. the big fear, of course, that somehow, some way, we would have a major breach here and we would have catastrophic flooding along the feather river, and that's why these cities, oroville, yuba city, maryville, there were no soles out there, some gas stations running out of gas. some officers on the ground describing this as chaotic and frantic as these people underwent mandatory evacuations. now engineers believe they'll get a better sense of things when the sun comes up here, and they can look at the progress being made or not made on this
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backup spillway. they say they're cautiously optimistic right now, but they know that possibly their hopes could be dashed. poppy, john? >> paul, we're talking 200,000 people. do they have somewhere to go? that's a lot of folks. >> reporter: that's why they described it as chaos and frantic. that we could see, they were gone. these cities were evacuated. there was some confusion, stragglers who weren't sure it was mandatory for them. most of them i believe either towards sacramento or up towards chico, california. >> all right, paul vercammen for us near that dam in california. we will watch that carefully as the sun comes up and get a better look at exactly how much damage there is. >> blizzard-like conditions hitting the east coast this morning. tough driving in cambridge, massachusetts. probably good idea not to try to drive. about 12.5 million people are
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under winter storm warnings, the second time in less than a week up there. schools closed today again in boston. you just don't go to school anymore in boston. they could get ten inches there. in maine they're a foot of fresh powder, nice i suppose at sugarloaf. still to come, hundreds arrested, dozens deported, undocumented immigrants reportedly targeted in raids across the country. ♪
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it's an important question you ask, but one i think with a simple answer. we have this need, you and i. from the time we were little. to peek over our neighbor's fence. and once we do, we see there is wonder waiting on the other side. every step you take, brings the world one step closer. you'll narrow the influence of narrow minds. you'll bridge continents, puncture prejudice, and keep peace. you may not always know it at the time, but one day you will look back and see that you've made this world a better place. so, the question you asked me. what is the key?
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it's you. for millions of baby boomers there's a virus out there. a virus that's serious, like hiv, but it hasn't been talked about much. a virus that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. that's because hep c can hide in your body silently for years, even decades, without symptoms and it's not tested for in routine blood work. if left untreated, hep c can cause liver damage, even liver cancer. but there's important information for us: the cdc recommends all baby boomers get tested for hep c. all it takes is a simple one-time blood test. and if you have hep c, it can be cured. be sure to ask your doctor to get tested for hep c.
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for us it's time to get tested. it's the only way to know for sure. hundreds are arrested in raids targeting undocumented immigrants. this morning we're expecting new numbers from i.c.e. on how many people were arrested over the weekend. immigration and customs enforcement stepping up action nationwide conducting these raids in at least 12 states. >> secretary of homeland security john kelly says they were not rounding people up. he says they were focusing on criminals. still some democrats and activists are raising concerns. want to talk about this with
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alfonso aguillar, former chief of citizenship. you've had a roller coaster relationship with president trump. you were supportive of him, pulled your support after the immigration speech. i want to talk about these raids right now. i think there's broad agreement on both sides of the aisle that targeting violent criminals in the country illegally, that's good. president obama did that. republicans an democrats support that. if these raids are going after people who aren't violent criminals, who perhaps have no criminal record other than being in the united states illegally. are you okay with that? >> no. i think these raids are the same type of raids being conducted under the obama administration. the evidence we have so far is that the majority of the people detained were people with serious criminal records. in southern california, for example, about 161 people
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detained, only ten had no criminal record. and it happens because when you do these type of trades, sometimes you end up detaining a few people who have no criminal record and pose no threat to the security of the community. bru these were not indiscriminate raids, they were very well planned, focusing, targeting people with criminal records. i'm a little baffled by the left now trying to make this -- trying to say that this is the beginning of some sort of massive deportation. this is exactly what happened under the obama administration. and i understand that people have fear. it's understandable. when these surges happen, they happen from time to time. i think the fear is being exacerbated by the left and democrats who are using this issue for political gain, basically spreading false rumor that there are checkpoints, that they're going house to house.
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that's all a lie. enough with using immigration for political purposes. >> if you look at just the numbers, under president obama, far more people were departed from this country than under his predecess predecessor. he was named deporter in chief. some people, activists including are pointing to guadalupe garcia de rayos, he was arrested in 2008, convicted for using a fake social security number but had these check-ins since 2008, was told to self-deport. as one of the people who was targeted in this raid, are you saying some of those things are going to happen and it's acceptable to a certain extent? >> sadly, because we have a dysfunctional immigration system, this is going to happen. this situation with guadalupe garcia, it is sad and it shouldn't happen. again, there were instances like
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that during the obama administration. i would be concerned if this were to happen every day, but it's not happening every day. however, i'm concerned that some in the media are really taking it out of context and trying to give the impression that this is happening every day. again, there's a political narrative behind this, and the sad thing is that the victims are folks in the immigrant community, the hispanic community who are really fearful because of what they're hearing from democrats and hearing from some in spanish language media and some media outlets. >> we're not saying it's happening every day. there's only 23 days of the administration. you do agree the executive order that the president signed early on did indicate that he may broaden the scope of people intentionally who would be affected in these types of operations. >> yes, but very specifically to those who committed fraud or
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impersonat impersonated, using a false identity. look, the majority -- >> then, sir, just to be clear, then guadalupe garcia de rayos would fall under that category because she used a fake social security card. >> sadly, she had been convicted. i don't think we can say committing fraud, using a fake social security number is something we want to encourage. yes, many undocumented immigrants use false documents, fraudulent documents, but they haven't been convicted for it. in her case, sadly, she had been convicted and that's what happens. we have a dysfunctional system. we don't want to encourage people using other people's social security numbers or just using fake documents. that's illegal, the majority of people that are using those documents haven't been convicted. >> can we get you on one last
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thing. dhs is estimating the cost of the border mall with mexico is $21 billion. do you think it's worth it? >> yes, if it's in strategic areas. that's what mr. trump has said. it dissuades people from entering illegally. in that way, it saves lives. people make that journey which is very dangerous. >> so what about all the tunnels that our own ed lavandera reported and took us in, being built underneath it. worries you? >> yes. that happens. i've toured the border several times. we started fencing during the clinton administration. we did fences in san diego. that's disrupted criminal activity and drug trafficking. they moved to arizona. we built fencing there. now it's in texas where we don't have fences. >> alfonso aguilera, thanks.
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there are more mexican immigrants leaving the u.s. now net-net than coming in. still to come for us here, "saturday night live" hits a ratings high. some say it went too low this some say it went too low this weekend. if somethioesn't seem right, so everyone comes home safely. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better.
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[ laughter ] >> you know what that was? that was me blowing away hardware dishonest. >> just mentally, are you okay? >> are you kidding me? >> you know what my husband said at that point, kudos to the engineer who made that podium move around the room. the ratings are higher than last week's. but are they going too far? what do you say, my friend? >> i thought he's getting a little ragged around the edges a little bit. they' it was a great show, they've had a great season. alec and president trump have kind of made "snl" great again. people are tuning in in droves. >> what i liked was leslie jones doing her thing where they was
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trying to be the next donald trump. so many female cast members playing men from the administration. i think we have some clips of that. can we play that? >> donald? donald, is that you? >> melania? i mean, yes, darling, it's me. >> what are you doing out there in the cold? get in. ♪ [ laughter ] >> this seemed to be a response because allegedly sean spicer didn't like the fact that he was played by a woman. so what do they do? have women play everybody. >> kate mckinnon is pretty much playing everyone in washington, dc. she's playing sessions, she played kellyanne conway, which is better than her hillary clinton, in my opinion. then she came on and did elizabeth warren. she's hitting all of these different spectrums. >> when you look at what's going to happen, they get a break now, two weeks. >> two weeks. >> you say they're getting
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tired, it seems, of these political skits. i fast forward through everything that's not the politics. look at the ratings. how do you make that argument? >> the point is a lot of people are tuning in because it is a political show now, it is must-watch television. 7.2 was the overnight rating on saturday, that's the biggest in six years, also bigger than donald trump when he hosted, when got a 6.6 just 15 months ago. >> how many people is that? >> it's math. >> it's math, i feel like chevy chase. donald trump brought in about 10 million viewers. it's a good amount of people for a saturday night. >> is it too much donald trump, too much trump administration all the time? is there equal opportunity impersonation? when will they go after democrats as much or as hard? >> they did on saturday night, they went after elizabeth warren with kate mckinnon, who kind of like a killjoy a little bit, one
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of her best impressions i've ever seen. they'll eventually have to mix it up a little bit. two weeks is a good amount of time to reset and kind of take a breath and see where they can go from here. >> they may get some new material. you never know. >> if you are a writer on the show, what are they missing there? what are you jonesing to see? >> it's not so much that they're missing anything, but when you get to the point where you can't tell the reality from what's going on at "snl," it seems they're bombarded. >> someone called alec baldwin the president? >> they had a photo of him as president trump. reality and fantasy are intermixing.
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good morning, everyone. top of the hour. i'm poppy harlow. >> i'm john berman. thanks so much for joining us this morning. national security and job security, as in, does the national security adviser have job security? a senior administration official says the knives are out for mike flynn. white house officials apparently no longer believe flynn's claims that he did not discuss sanctions with russia, this before the president was sworn in. a top aide this weekend very publicly refused to say that flynn's job is safe. >> the white house did not give you anything to say other than that on general flynn? >> did not give me anything to say. it's asked and answered, chuck. >> -- whether or not the president still has confidence in his national security
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adviser? >> it's not for me to tell you what the president has in his mind. asked and answered, chuck. >> this as the trump administration faces its first foreign policy test from north korea which officially launched a missile over the weekend. the president uncharacteristically quiet in his response. why the change of of course? let's begin with our joe johns at the white house. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, poppy. what we're told about michael flynn is that he has no plans to resign and no expectation that he will be fired, nonetheless he remains on thin ice. the issue here really is about a conversation with the vice president, apparently telling the vice president of the united states that he had not had discussions with the russian ambassador about sanctions that had been imposed by the obama administration, and then it turns out, it is learned later, i should say, that he did have such a discussion.
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