harry reid, thank you for attorney general jeff sessions. [applause] and also, we should be thanking harry reid for epa administrator scott pruitt. for education secretary betsy de vos and very soon i look forward to thanking harry reid for supreme courtjustice gorsuch . [applause] quest should we thank keith ellison two? who is likely to be the next chairman of the dnc? and i'm sure the vast majority of americans given his background will be very excited about that. should we get behind in at cpac, what do you say? [applause] >> listen, i will commend the democrats for one thing. if they named keith ellison as head of the dnc, i will commend them or truth in advertising. >> let me ask you this question. there is a battle somewhat for gorsuch. but there's another vacancy. how much can they get because the next vacancy, they're going to say belongs to them. so you know, we can only have so many people on the court who actually are faithful to the constitution. so what steps might they take ? >> listen, this vacancy right now, we are replacing

cruz: because harry reid employed the so-called nuclear option. broke the senate rules to change the senate rules, lowered the threshold from confirmation from votes -- two one vote and it is a direct result of harry reid that we now have the most conservative cabinet in decades. [applause] sen. cruz: and so if i could be a little presumptuous mark, let me on behalf of cpac thank harry reid -- harry reid, thank you for attorney general jeff sessions. [applause] sen. cruz: and also, we should for epa harry reid administrator scott pruitt. [applause] sen. cruz: for education secretary betsy devos -- [applause] sen. cruz: and very soon i look forward to thanking harry reid for supreme court justice gorsuch. [applause] mr. levine: should we thank keith ellison too? who is likely to be the next chairman of the dnc? and i'm sure the vast majority of americans given his background with farrakhan will be very excited about that. should we get behind him at cpac, what do you say? [applause] senator cruz: listen, i will commend the democrats for one thing.

we ought to erect a statue to harry reid somewhere now. for mitch mcconnell -- >> bret: did not say supreme court nominees. >> here is the point. once harry reid close to the floor of the senate, with a simple majority vote, overturns 40 years of precedent, but he has said is, there are no rules. this place is run by the majority and we will decide. that is but he declared. the reason it's important is because mcconnell is a traditionalist, and it would have been very hard for him to have been the one to trigger the nuclear option had it not been done by harry reid. >> bret: but there are many traditionalists up on the hill who say, if you do this, despite what democrats have done in the past, then the senate becomes the house, and it is no longer the deliberative body that it was meant to be by the founders, which judge gorsuch relies on in his interpretation of the law. >> that might very well be true. i also think it might not get to that point. it is hard to get people to sign onto a filibuster. democrats tried to filibuster alito. alr

we ought to erect a statue to harry reid somewhere now. for mitch mcconnell -- >> bret: did not say supreme court nominees. >> here is the point. once harry reid close to the floor of the senate, with a simple majority vote, overturns 40 years of precedent, but he has said is, there are no rules. this place is run by the majority and we will decide. that is but he declared. the reason it's important is because mcconnell is a traditionalist, and it would have been very hard for him to have been the one to trigger the nuclear option had it not been done by harry reid. >> bret: but there are many traditionalists up on the hill who say, if you do this, despite what democrats have done in the past, then the senate becomes the house, and it is no longer the deliberative body that it was meant to be by the founders, which judge gorsuch relies on in his interpretation of the law. >> that might very well be true. i also think it might not get to that point. it is hard to get people to sign onto a filibuster. democrats tried to filibuster alito. alr

we ought to erect a statue to harry reid somewhere now. for mitch mcconnell -- >> bret: did not say supreme court nominees. >> here is the point. once harry reid close to the floor of the senate, with a simple majority vote, overturns 40 years of precedent, but he has said is, there are no rules. this place is run by the majority and we will decide. that is but he declared. the reason it's important is because mcconnell is a traditionalist, and it would have been very hard for him to have been the one to trigger the nuclear option had it not been done by harry reid. >> bret: but there are many traditionalists up on the hill who say, if you do this, despite what democrats have done in the past, then the senate becomes the house, and it is no longer the deliberative body that it was meant to be by the founders, which judge gorsuch relies on in his interpretation of the law. >> that might very well be true. i also think it might not get to that point. it is hard to get people to sign onto a filibuster. democrats tried to filibuster alito. alr

the 60 vote threshold remained in harry reid's order. it remained for supreme court confirmations. since then, 89 federal district court judges, that is trial court judges were confirmed by thsete after harry reid created that 51-vote threshold for confirmation. those are all judges appointed by president obama. and last night in los angeles, one of those judges, andre signed a restraining order blocking the government from enforcing president trump's executive order that denied entry of anyone from seven predominantly muslim countries. coming up, michael grunwald has written that president obama has transformed federal courts. and that is what we are seeing now in this federal judge resistance to donald trump's executive order. michael grunwald joins us next. yet some cards limit where you earn bonus cash back to a few places. and then, change those places every few months. enough with that! (echo) with quicksilver from capital one you've always earned unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. welcome to unlimited. what's in your wallet? why pause a spontaneous momen

the 60 vote threshold remained in harry reid's order. it remained for supreme court confirmations. since then, 89 federal district court judges, that is trial court judges were confirmed by the senate after harry reid created that 51-vote threshold for confirmation. those are all judges appointed by president obama. and last night in los angeles, one of those judges, andre birotte signed a restraining order blocking the government from enforcing president trump's executive order that denied entry of anyone from seven predominantly muslim countries. coming up, michael grunwald has written that president obama has transformed federal courts. and that is what we are seeing now in this federal judge resistance to donald trump's executive order. michael grunwald joins us next. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. you may know what it's like t

>> harry reid. only harry reid would have delivered the most conservative cabinet in 30 years only take as simple majority to get these folks through. thank you, harry reid for tom price. >> chris: we should note for all the talk of nuclear option harry reid did it in 20. speaker: for cabinet week. >> stressful week all animal winners and losers. winner of the week sunny the red panda who escaped from the nor ford virginia zoo and living in freedom two and a half weeks. the loser and i say this with sadness is ollie the bobcat who escaped from the national zoo in d.c. and showed up two and a half days later looking rather sheep oirn. >> chris: a warm and fuzzy winner and loser? >> turned herself in. >> chris: that's it for special report tonight. i'm chris wallace in juanita. join me for "fox news sunday" when i will sit down with steven miller to discuss the president's agenda. i will also talk with a top democrat on the senate foreign relations committee, ben card continue. al >> sean: welcome to

when harry reid changed the rules in 2013 invoking the nuclear option and warn republicans, i don't think that they should invoke the nuclear operation recording president trump's supreme court nominee. i think they should look to pull in the democrat votes. if the democratic party chooses to filibuster the party nominee, the second time in recent history that the democrats did that, in 2006 as well. eric: we've got to leave it here. as long as i've been alive i've never seen so many partisanship. and on the senator floor. an illegal immigrant was detained and deported should they be protesting officials for ♪ some said a diploma would only be a dream. ♪ watch me. ♪ some said walking wouldn't last long. watch me. i had resigned myself to the fact that perhaps marriage wouldn't be in my cards. i said, "watch me." ♪ some said independence might be impossible. i said, "watch me." ♪ for now i'll send you back to cashin' in. eric: protests erupting at an immigration and customs office in phoenix after an illegal immigrant was detained. the woman who had a prior conviction for crimina

if there is a filibuster, there is the so-called harry reid nuclear option. harry reid's the one who started it back when president obama was in power. that would allow, even if there's a filibuster, the filibuster to be cut with a simple majority. do you think that will happen? that's what trump wants. >> he only wants it if the filibuster is going to succeed. filibusters have been mounted in the past against justices. david: do you think that the democrats will try to organize one? >> they'll organize one to appease their base. they want to preserve the filibuster, the democrats, if you get a justice on the liberal side who is replaced, they don't want a conservative coming on. they're going to be careful on this. in terms of gorsuch, since he's so good, i think you can peel off eight or nine democrats if necessary, to override a filibuster, but if in the past, up to 25 senators tried to mount a filibuster and it didn't work. i don't think you need to use the so-called nuclear option, but if they do, they will. and the democrats will rue the day they did it

>> harry reid. only harry reid would have delivered the most conservative cabinet in 30 years only take as simple majority to get these folks through. thank you, harry reid for tom price. >> chris: we should note for all the talk of nuclear option harry reid did it in 20. speaker: for cabinet week. >> stressful week all animal winners and losers. winner of the week sunny the red panda who escaped from the nor ford virginia zoo and living in freedom two and a half weeks. the loser and i say this with sadness is ollie the bobcat who escaped from the national zoo in d.c. and showed up two and a half days later looking rather sheep oirn. >> chris: a warm and fuzzy winner and loser? >> turned herself in. >> chris: that's it for special report tonight. i'm chris wallace in juanita. join me for "fox news sunday" when i will sit down with steven miller to discuss the president's agenda. i will also talk with a top democrat on the senate foreign relations committee, ben card continue. alcontinue -- cardin: f

when harry reid changed the rules in 2013 invoking the nuclear option and warn republicans, i don't think that they should invoke the nuclear operation recording president trump's supreme court nominee. i think they should look to pull in the democrat votes. if the democratic party chooses to filibuster the party nominee, the second time in recent history that the democrats did that, in 2006 as well. eric: we've got to leave it here. as long as i've been alive i've never seen so many partisanship. and on the senator floor. an illegal immigrant was detained and deported should they be protesting officials for upholding the law? y282ty ywty (vo) when it comes to helzberg diamonds knows bigger isn't always better. our beautiful diamond heart pendant is just $299.99. that's $200 off! helzberg diamonds. here's to love. >> coming up, a group of protesters taking to the streets outside of the immigration office. i repeat they're protesting law enforcement for enforcing the >> this is a fox news alertment i'm elizabeth prann. good saturday morning. first lady melania trump making her debut in the

when harry reid changed the rules in 2013 invoking the nuclear option and warn republicans, i don't think that they should invoke the nuclear operation recording president trump's supreme court nominee. i think they should look to pull in the democrat votes. if the democratic party chooses to filibuster the party nominee, the second time in recent history that the democrats did that, in 2006 as well. eric: we've got to leave it here. as long as i've been alive i've never seen so many partisanship. and on the senator floor. an illegal immigrant was detained and deported should they be protesting officials for leland vittert. for now i'll send you back to cashin' in. eric: protests erupting at an immigration and customs office in phoenix after an illegal immigrant was detained. the woman who had a prior conviction for criminal impersonation was deported to mexico. they were enforcing the law, so why protest? >> right op shame on them for making the police officer's jobs more difficult than it is. i would offer to you the lesson the media has made it much more difficult for police officers t

this was harry reid's argument at the time, followed by mitch mcconnell's warning. watch. >> the senates is a living thin thing. to survive, it must change, as it have. over the history of this great country. to the average american, adapting the rules to make us on at work again is just common sense. >> if you want to play games, set yet another president, that he will no doubt come to regret, i will say to my friends on the other side of the aisle, you will regret this, and you may regret it a lot sooner than you will think. >> it is sooner than democrats thought. in fact, in october, when democrats expected to win both the senate and the white house, he reread again threatened to use the nuclear option, ending filibusters for supreme court nominees. martha. >> martha: wow. joining me now, marc thiessen, former chief speechwriter for george w. bush. he said mr. trump should go nuclear on his supreme court pick. the president of the alliance for justice, a progressive group who will fight president trump's nomination to the supreme court. welcome to both of you, as

. >> many times since january 20th, i have raised a glassed and toasted harry reid because harry reid employed the so-called nuclear option, broke the senate rules to change the senate rules, lowered threshold from confirmation from 60 votes to 51 and a direct result to harry reid that we now have the most conservative cabinet in decades. [cheers and applause] >> i'm sure mr. reid enjoyed that. reid changed rules to help democrats and backfiring for liberals. allows executive office to pass confirmation by a simple majority instead of 60 votes, 51 now. cruz went onto paining a bold prediction about america's top court. >> i think we will have another supreme court vacancy this summer. that happens as much as the left is crazy now, they will go full armagedon meltdown. >> niel gorsuch to fill vacancy are set to begin next month. heather: president trump top government officials making amends with mÉxico. rex tillerson and john kelly working smooth over differences on immigration. >> we agree that our two countries should seize the opportunity to modernize and strengthen our trade and

is this in the long term interest of the republicans to follow up and used the harry reid will? >> yes, it is. the central chapter in the fourth way is about using the reed role to make sure that good originalist judges will apply the constitution that was written i think they wish it was written or put onto the bench and large numbers. there are 103 vacancies on the book right now. judge gorsuch had the most important battle, we have some right below the supreme court. we will have to jam through them. we won't get any support from the democrats. we don't need any. i think they are destroying themselves in this fight. they are going to lose in 2018 because the american people want a judiciary that umpires again and it doesn't decide the game. >> sean: thank you all for being with us and congrats to you on the book. next, right here on "hannity." >> instead of being thankful to the united states and these agreements, he is now feeling emboldened. as of today, we are officially putting iran on notice. >> sean: that's right, national security advisor michael flynn puts iran on not

harry reid. >> i raise the glass and toasted harry reid. because he employed the nuclear option. and broke the senate rules to change the senate and lowered the threshold from 60 to 51 vote and it is a direct result of harry reid we have the most conservative cabinet in decades. >> reporter: mr. trump will speak here tomorrow morning at 10:30. and vice-president pence tonight. but the highlight was reince priebus and steve bannon. it was a rare opportunity for steve bannon to open his mouth and describe the workings of the white house and very different than the picture we read in the media. >> thank you. >> sandra: we expect the daily white house briefing. the foreign minister of mexico had stern words to the trump administration today. we will take that when it happens, live. the future of business in new york state is already in motion. companies across the state are growing the economy, with the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and world-class innovations. like in pl

it's harry reid's legacy, it's a mess. it's a completely uncivil place that i don't know mitch mcconnell can repair even if he wants to.o. i'm not sure we want to repair it until after gorsuch is confirmed. >> tucker: it's an uncivil country out all of a sudden. you wrote a book on the fourth way, what's the fourth way? >> the fourth way is a succession to big government, ronald reagan's attempt to roll it back, tony blair and bill clinton's two rebranded, the fourth way is to merge it with what donald trump wants to do infrastructure, a 350 ship navy which i think he should get, the wall which i think you should get, regulatory reform. and reagan republicanism. paul ryan republicanism, we need entitlement reform. "the fourth way" is a merger of the two brands of republicanism out there. president trump one, he should get what he wants. paul ryan is actually the soul is our ideology and big reforms on the entitlement side and that's the way to do it, merge them. >> tucker: if those groups can live together, that would be f

it's harry reid's legacy, it's a mess. it's a completely uncivil place that i don't know mitch mcconnell can repair even if he wants to. i'm not sure we want to repair it until after gorsuch is confirmed. >> tucker: it's an uncivil country out all of a sudden. you wrote a book on the fourth way, what's the fourth way? >> the fourth way is a succession to big government, ronald reagan's attempt to roll it back, tony blair and bill clinton's two rebranded, the fourth way is to merge it with what donald trump wants to do infrastructure, a 350 ship navy which i think he should get, the wall which i think you should get, regulatory reform. and reagan republicanism. paul ryan republicanism, we need entitlement reform. "the fourth way" is a merger of the two brands of republicanism out there. of president trump one, he should get what he wants. paul ryan is actually the soul is our ideology and big reforms on the entitlement side and that's the way to do it, merge them. >> tucker: if those groups can live together, that would be

harry reid goes on the senate house will be in order. pursuant to clause 8 of rule >> we are leaving here going live to the u.s. house for debate on veterans' bills. record votes on postponed questions will be taken later. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? mr. roe: thank you, mr. speaker. i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 609. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r.

reid and the democrats to go nuclear on cabinet nominees, was that a major blunder? >> i don't think so. i think that it was something that loosened up the move of cabinet nominees. we could not have anticipated that this president would get elected and appoint such a cabinet of people who are riddled with conflicts of interest and failures of disclosure and divestment. i mean, the problems that we see and that we're trying to resolve are ones that result from the cabinet selection of this president. >> senator sheldon whitehouse, thanks very much for joining us. >> my pleasure. thank you, wolf. >> thank you. coming up, a fresh fighting between ukrainian forces and rebelled backed by vladimir putin. how will president trump now respond to what could be his first major test by the russian leader? ocks broke into a house owned by three bears. she ate some porridge, broke the baby bear's chair, and stole some jewelry, a flat-screen tv, and a laptop. luckily the geico insurance agency had helped the bears with homeowners insurance. they were able to replace all their ite

the reason why harry reid did that is because harry reid said the republicans were obstructionist, so we are going around in a circle here, and because you have so much experience as a governor and a senator and of course has attorney general, i'm wondering just what are your observations about how this is working, and what would be the right leadership here? >> in this particular case, it is very, very difficult to explain obstructionism, because this is not an individual who has never appeared before the senate, who hasn't served in public life before. he was confirmed by a unanimous vote ten years ago, and all the people who appear to be making objections have been silent for ten years, literally by their silence have endorsed the excellent character of his service to the country. so this becomes a clear statement, of political obstructionism. and yes, that's been a vice on both sides of the aisle, but those people who -left-curly-bracket obstructionism is a way of life are going to pay a price from the american people. so it may well done on some of the democrats, particularly tho

neil: isn't this harry reid's making then? shouldn't they go back to complain to harry reid? he laid this down? >> absolutely. this is one of those things they should have considered at the time. the fact is they nuked what we call the executive calendar. they exercised "the nuclear option" on executive calendar. they set in motion what led to this. what led to our ability to confirm these cabinet level nominees. and at at 51-vote threshold. so you know, at the time, they should have considered that. perhaps some of them did but apparently not enough to cause them to vote against it. neil: if that whole threshold thing goes away, that you don't need 60 votes anymore in the senate, for anything with cabinet appointments to even supreme court justices, to any legislation, even changing marginal tax rates, which would typically require a 60-vote majority, how would you feel about that? >> there is some real risks associated with that. the senate has been known, whether rightly or not, the world's greatest directive, legislative body. i would like it to continue to be that. there

when senator cotton said that harry was a -- harry reid was cancerous on the senate, no one invoked rule 19. in fact last week two senators accused me of having false tears. i didn't run to invoke section 19. so the question is why? there are a whole lot of different explanations, people can draw their own conclusions but i will tell you this. i think a lot is because these republicans know that somebody like senator sessions doesn't belong as attorney general, they're feeling the pressure. they're feeling the heat, some of them may have some consciences they're feeling so it results in these absurd actions which backfire on them. >> you actually think they didn't mean for it to unfoldhe way they did? it was an outburst bornen of guilt? >> i don't know if it's brought on by guilt but i know it was not planned. i talked to a number of high-up republicans and they told me that. they lost their cool. why did they lose their cool? why was elizabeth warren the one they singled out? . why was it coretta scott king's letter that seemed to raise their hackles the most? these are good questions w

harry reid changed the senate rules and invoked the nuclear option. on judicial nominees in executive nominees. it doesn't matter. [indiscernible] >> is treated in that way. now they get religion on their side. it's laughable. if they open up that door and change the rules and that's what it will be from then on. and on the then the republicans well not be the majority in the congress. and reluctant to do that. as a minority leader. who will offer an olive branch. taking provocative actions on many fronts it's hard then to say to the democrats step back for functional national government. the markets have been reacting lately that there has been a lot of chaos out there. we have a functional stable government. let the other side just to run there. i don't see them as stalling tactics. i think they said we had questions. we can go to the very top. we can get trumps tax returns if you're interested. it's twice as twice as long as public health and human services. with the pharmaceuticals and other medical device companies. there's a lot of times trading

. >> jon: adam, you well know it was harry reid who changed the rules of the senate. it used to take 60 votes to agree on just about anything in the u.s. senate, then harry reid changed the rules and lesser nominees, federal judges, appalachia just and that sort of thing can be approved with 51 votes. now all of a sudden, chuck schumer says it's very important we maintain that 60 vote threshold, what is going o on? >> when the rules were changed during the last time, it preserved for 60 vote threshold for members of the supreme court. senator schumer is absolutely right. we should have a nominee to the supreme court who gets broad bipartisan support. quite frankly, i think what has been disappointing for a lot of democrats is the pick trump put forward does not meet that test, and i think that is why we really need to understand whether judge gorsuch will be the type of jurors to looks out for all americans, not just the wealthy and powerful. >> jon: we just heard lindsey graham from south carolina, he is ideologically opposite of sonia sotomayor and elena kagan but h

. >> guest: thank you, harry reid. my hat is off to you. in 19, and 2005 bill frist then republican lead a distant threat to detonate the nuclear option. i was all for it because the filibuster was extraconstitutional. the city can make up its own rules and emit a visceral about filibusters a long. it got abused by the democrats under senator reed and patrick leahy. there were blocking john roberts and blocking the greatest miscarriage of justice not getting on the d.c. circuit. there were blocking david pryor from making on the way out of the appeals court. bill frist said will change the rules of the senate with a simple majority vote. everyone, a bunch republicans screwed around, they get seven democrats gang of eight, four and four. that gang of eight came out and they said were going to save the filibuster and approve this list of judges and so frist did not detonate the nuclear option. flash forward 2013 from democrats are frustrated because republicans had adopted the tactics and minority. they're not approving any judges to d.c. cir

once harry reid blew up the fill bester it is hanging on by one vote. to have both parties play by same rules i am afraid it is going to have to go. either this time or democrats donor decide to -- don't filibuster all the way they don't want that nuclear option used, fine, but i think it is dead on arrival. lou: it is to me, astounding. almost as if the establishment republicans, particularly in leadership of both houses, i will end it with this, they don't understand democrats, the left, they are on without question, they are on war footing, they are carrying the battle to the republicans every day and everyone is trying to smile and to be 134 somewhat if you will polite. but this is a scorched earth policy as they declare, and senator schumer is living up to what he promised. >> there has to be a point where you recognize this is political guerrilla warfare, and you treat it like such, you don't stand in lines, you don't play by queeny marbury rules, you take the fight to them. >> all right, randy thank you, and carrie thank you, i hope you both get

remember, the so-called nuclear option was used by then democratic leader harry reid to jam through obama officials but both sides says it'll take 60 votes for supreme court nominees. now you see niel gorsuch make his way in capitol hill. democrats are worried that the conservative solid pick is likely to sail through unless they launch a filibuster. so that's why president trump is suggesting go further now, this so-called thermal nuclear option where you would only need 51 votes, simple majority for even supreme court picks, changing decades of senate precedent. this occurred after democratic leader chuck schumer suggested they are going to filibuster the president fired right back. >> if this nominee cannot meet the same standard that republicans insisted upon from president obama's supreme court nominees, 60 votes in the senate, then the problem lies not with the senate but with the nominee. >> if we end up with the same gridlock that they've had in washington for the last -- longer than eight years, if we end up with the gridlock, i will say, mitch, go nuclear because that would be a

thanks to harry reid, they can use the nuclear option. i mentioned this yesterday. i think what they should do, forget waiting for a filibuster and then using the harry option, do a real -- will change. whether it is ruth bader ginsburg or justice kennedy. then do it again. >> kimberly: what about eight or 9 out of 10 democrats for reelection signal they are going to support. big problems for you, bob. >> bob: could have been a lot worse. there's a lot of right-wing kooks out there. judges paired he's not one of them. if we have to take one, let's take him. >> lisa: the base of the democratic party doesn't matter. the matter is the states in which trump won. west virginia, trump won by 42 points but a lot of the same people we just showed actually unanimously supported him to the tenth circuit in 2006, including chuck schumer as well as feinstein, both were speaking in opposition. i have some reading material for you that i recommend. an editorial from the wall street journal that talks about the myth of the stolen seat for talks about that it's actually vice presid

but harry reid changed the rules to 51 as a threshold. but it did not apply to a supreme court appointment. joining me not you to discuss, tammy bruce, and carrie sorvino. how unprecedented would it be and what would the rm fay cases be? >> it's not unprecedented. harry reid let the genie out of the bottle when he decided to change the you'lls in 2011 for judicial branch nominees. the 60 vote threshold to change to 51 votes is not very meaningful. if the democrats had the votes to filibuster, this thing is gone. charles: the democrats will argue, maybe this is out of the realm of what the framers thought about with respect to a government where the minority had some form of a vote. this would totally nullify that. is that a legitimate argument? >> there is nothing in the constitution. so i sat down with mitch mcconnell last week. he doesn't want to change the filibuster. but failure is not an option. gorsuch must be approved. i think he's going to be approved with democratic support or at least a lot of democrats will not support the fili

harry reid basically says we are not doing this. we are changing the rules. the nuclear option will use it, pull the trigger for all these nominees with the exception of the supreme court. we will go there for the supreme court. this is after sÃo tomÉ or was confirmed. i believe was after president obama. so when he did that, this mitch mcconnell, minority leader looking like it was not clear they would win the white house the white house. they had a tough election ahead of the mid-2014-26 intake that the senate. if you do this, you're going to regret it. we are eventually going to be in power. >> i was an understatement look at what's happened now. while there's a lot going on this week, we have you back because there is inherent to sleep. it is the cabinet was seen in a long time so there's a lot of pressure to get these then. >> absolutely. we will see what happens with the other outstanding confirmation battles. >> thank you so much. we appreciate it. >> thank you. i see now, hours away from super bowl 51 from the kickoff as you know. houston has been p

. >> would you be okay with a majority or -- >> i thought harry reid was absolutely wrong when he told me about the nuclear option. we can't build bipartisanship in this country, we're in trouble. i think it's wrong not to have a 60-vote process. if you find a person with high character and high quality, that person should -- politics shouldn't intervene with that. we should have 60 votes. that's what i really truly believe and feel strongly about that. my predecessor would have rolled over in his grave. so that being seen, i still would like to see a 60-vote threshold. >> do you think barrett was treated fairly by the senate? >> let me speak to that. it wouldn't be fair for him. absolutely not. it was a horrendous situation to where my colleagues basically not even had the decency and courtesy to sit down and have meetings or give him a vote. my republican friends had enough votes to stop him if that's what they desired to do. he should have had a vote. i would not partake in treating judge virtual that way or anody's way. comes to my office. it's what the people of west virginia expe

i remember when senator cotton said of harry reid that his leadership was cancerous. so democrats shot back, you guys have done worse. i don't know what the litmus test is to enact this. but do you think it would have changed things either way as far as the vote that is coming up later on or moved a single one of those senators as to whether they'll support jeff sessions for attorney general? >> not really, this is on a glide path. the democrats are going through these macinations every 30 hours. they can make a lot of noise but it doesn't matter. then we're on to the next nominations. immediately after jeff sessions, we'll have a procedural vote to break the democratic filibuster on tom price, the republican from georgia who is up to be the hhs secretary and democrats are afforded under the rules 30 hours after that vote, they plan to keep the senate in session all night again for the third night in a row and all day tomorrow and probably have a confirmation on tom price as they get important to repealing and replacing obama care probably 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. friday. so

we warned harry reid about thiss years ago, they didn't listen. should republicans be concernedr about this two years, four years from now if this happens thisis way. >> they should.sh jack and iou don't agree on muc, but i i degree that the damage that has been done to the senate is very tragic. the senate has been designed toe be the greatest describetive body. we have seen the destruction ofu the institution.ti are there enough democrats tomo play ball on this nominee and id some other cases as well in terms of getting some of these confirmations done? >> look, if i'm on the other side i'm going to focus who is in cycle in h 2018, i think probably yes. from mitchell mcconnell's yes, there are some they can pick off. you won't get to 60.. north da coat, they're moderatet they'll be forced inhe on this. we won't get to 60. we might get to 56 in a miracle scenario. alternately we use the same standard or rice to the same level of accord and con sensee just that we achieved withth justice ginsberg and justice kennedy. justice kennedy was unanimousl

the republicans thanks to harry reid have the numbers. there is no way you can stop a cabinet member unless republicans are doing it inte internally. it does not excuse the fact that the other 12 members that are secretaries are not up there right now. >> let me change the discussion a little bit. i want to talk about what happened at uc berkeley, want to get into it later in the show. there's a air if you support donald trump, you are racist, xenophobic, everything under the sun, if you get someone who speaks pro-trump, you see what happened at berkeley overnight. there's a tremendous aggression out there. i thought the liberals were the friendly ones? >> well, i think there is disquiet in the country, no doubt about that, and certainly we can't -- this was a -- two events where students who were not students hijacked the event last night. look, there's going to be intense and spirited debate, and i hope, my hope is that where democrats stand our ground is making sure we protect our democracy, we ask for rule of law and democratic norms

now, we do remember however when harry reid eliminated the filibuster rule, the democrats who have 48 seats, they could ty to filibuster that, but work on the high watermark of public approval. now is the time to nominee name them and get them to go through. >> obamacare -- >> let me add something here. it's not just supreme court justices. equally important are the lower court judges in the district court and the appellate courts. we've had clinton and obama rule for 16 to 24 years. we have judges in the courts who are highly potivcized far left. it's a grace that documents had to be released >> we don't exactly the democras say it's the russians. who knows? >> we do know somebody died. >> we do know somebody died. >> and why didn't the lower cout judges -- i had a number of freedom information act cases in front of lower court judges here in washington, so did any former group judicial watch, so did the associated press and others. very few documents were release, because these judges, primarily clinton and rolled them. >> we need judges who actually interpret the constitution and t

it was harry reid and nancy pelosi and barack obama who shut the government down. they said if you don't fund this failed health care law we will shut everything down. that was irresponsible. one prominent paper did an editorial calling it a -- in 2014, cruise single-handedly is going to keep harry reid as majority leader." the prediction didn't come true. it was widely disproven. we won historic victories. we won nine senate seats. a big part of the reason for that is the fight over obamacare the people were energized. the fight over obamacare is also a major reason president trump defeated hillary clinton. obamacare isn't working in the american people are fed up with this disastrous law. >> bret: bottom line, you would say to the trump administration, get something for the debt ceiling increase. >> that's the principle going forward, that we should be fixing the problem. >> bret: i heard you today say there could be a supreme court vacancy by the summer. do you know something we don't? >> no inside information. most of my professional career has been as a suprem

harry reid first used it on nominees for the cabinet -- >> he's gone. he's gone. >> he's there -- >> mitch mcconnell is there now and believes in fighting it. will he fight it this time? will he fight it this time? will he fight it? >> it's going to be in senator mcconnell's court to decide. and he certainly is an institutionalist. i think he would love to see this be a process where we get 60 votes. but if the democrats are going to be petulant about it and insist on fighting a good man -- >> petulant? that's the kind of word -- >> it's petulance. >> -- that starts fights. petulant. i want to say this to you. we had merrick garland nominated a year ago, more than a year -- a year ago. and he never got a conversation with a republican for a whole year. he was a center left, close to center, just like your guy people shay is a center right. why was one centrist not given a conversation and your version of a center right person demanding to be confirmed? what's the difference here? what is this deal you got here? no democratic president can pick a candida

add in top of that, you have harry reid getting rid of the filibuster. democrats of the highest levels of hypocrisy between the biden rule, chuck schumer's comments. it would be laughable, we have come to accept it as acceptable. >> there is a difference between obstruction and resistance. what we see right now are democrats who are saying, you know what, i am going to resist what i see our own constitutional moves, which are cabinet nominees that shouldn't be moving forth. the attorney general, ed is the people's word. to speak of the people are an important part of this. >> martha: a political poll shows the majority of democrats agree with what michele is saying. they want resist, obstruction of necessary, they want their folks and assented to resist. that is what we are seeing. >> i am sure they do. i'm sure the democrats will keep playing this losing hand. for the last eight years, they've lost over 1,000 seats. every chance that the american people have gotten to vote recently, they voted for republicans. it's why you have a republican white house,

harry reid did in pulling the nuclear -- the nuclear option basically was wrong. i was againstt. i begged him not to dot. i said it's wrong. don't do it. i. >> reporter: on the house side the speaker said that congress will take on health care reform and then tax reform in the frequent. >> you can't do them at the same time because the way the budget system works so its refall and preplace obama care so we can save and repair the health care system in this country and then it's tax reform which gets its growth. >> reporter: in another timeline homeland security said that he wants the wall with mexico done in two years. in washington. >>> house minority leader took aim at the president's chief strategist saying she can't  believe that a weight supremacist homeds such a high position in the white house. >> what's making america less safe is to have a white supremacist named to the national security council as a permanent member while the chairman of the joint chiefs and the director of national intelligence are told don't call us we will call you. you are no longer permanent memb

can we get harry reid on the line? this is the guy who pioneered a lot of this stuff. democrats escalate and go crazy when the same tactics are used against them. it's fair game. >> sandra: kevin, guy, thanks to both of you for being here. good to see you. breaking details ability a deadly hostage stand off at a preuzen in delaware. the latest from the scene. and how ofteners gained the upper hand after the 18-hour siege. plus, supreme court nominee neil gorsuch spending a second day on capitol hill, trying to win over support from key lawmakers. but what does he bring to the table? >> the man is totally honest. he's very brilliant. he has all the capen'ts that a justice should have. they ought to put him through as quickly as they can. >> president trump firing back at iran after an adviser to the supreme leader called the american president inexperienced and promised iran would keep testing missiles. president trump's response and the rest on an extraordinary day. that's coming up top of the hour on shepherd smith reporting. see you then. >> sandra: we're learning mo

reid pulling the nuclear option when he did. i think it is wrong. we got to where we got because of what harry did and his inappropriate stance on doing this. he did not do the supreme court which i was very pleased about that and now understanding that republicans want to do it, i think it should be a 60-vote rule. my reason for saying that, if you think about who who my predecessor was, robert bird, he'd be rolling over in his grave. that's not right. it should be a bipartisan. and i believe that we should give all of the consideration, sit down in a very civil manner, talk to justice gorsuch, judge gorsuch, find out more about him and go over his findings and his past dealings and past rulings. also, we know that he comes from an extremely good background, a great resume, impeccable resume. he deserves that. my democrat colleagues are saying, wait a minute, republicans treated our nominee horrible. that doesn't make any excuse. two wrongs don't make it right. what mitch mcconnell did was absolutely wrong. it was an embarrassm

i thought harry reid was dead wrong when he did it. i voted against that. my dear beloved senator, prior to my coming here, was robert c. byrd and he would be rolling over in his grave knowing what we have done and what we continue to do and how we really act out. so with that being said, i think it should be a bipartisan vote. i think it should be 60 votes for our supreme court. i think at the highest court of the land it should be what we are coming together as americans and not to continue to divide us. with that being said, let's give the man a chance. talk to him. my goodness. don't shut it down before we even get started. two wrongs don't make a right. >> mark halpern? >> senator, are you impervious to pressure from national groups who will join a filibuster? >> let me make sure, mark, we define filibuster. as you know, we call it a cloacher vote if we don't get unanimous consent. nobody is getting that about anything any more so basically everything goes through a filibuster or a cloacher vote. john kerry said he voted for it before he was against it

if the republicans stick together, they could, as the democrats did under harry reid in 2013, exercise what's called the nuclear option which the democrats left only for supreme court seats. i think both sides are reluctant to commit on that because mitch mcconnell isn't sure he can get all of his members together. but i don't think schumer is convinced he can uphold the filibuster or either. paul: and, kim, what do you think about the democrats? it sounded to me like schumer really doesn't want to do the filibuster if he doesn't have to, and there are about ten democrats who got elected, who are running in 2018 in states trump won, and they're going to have a hard decision to make. >> yeah. five of them in particular in states that trump just ran away with the election in their states, and that would be places like montana, north dakota, west virginia, indiana. but another five from swing states where trump won. if the democrats lose eight people who decide that they want to go ahead with ap up and down -- an up and down vote, that's all the republicans need to go forward, and there i

please don't tell me harry reid. [laughter] prof. ferling: well, i don't want to dodge your question, but it really tough to take somebody from the 18th world, which was so different from our world. one of my favorite lines comes from a novel by l.p. hartley that you might have read called the go-between, and in that novel, his opening sentence is the past is a foreign country. they do things differently there. they really did things differently back in jefferson's and hamilton's time, so it makes it very difficult to see how they would react. but jefferson obviously favored a small government and more power for the states and so forth, even flirted with nullification, which seems to be kind of a variant of what's going on now with the shutdown of the national government. and hamilton favored obviously a much stronger government, so the power of government is essential for liberty hamilton says in the first federalist. so that's about as close as i can come to putting them in a contemporary context. >> is there a contemporary point w