This is a rush transcript from "The First 100 Days," February 13, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: Breaking tonight, President Trump making good on his promise to remove illegal aliens. And that is firing up the resistance tonight. But who departed more illegals? This administration or the prior one? We're going to show you the numbers on a day full of palace intrigue at the White House. Lots going on.
I'm Martha MacCallum. It is day 25 now of "The First 100."
So, first, President Trump cracked down on who can and cannot be in this country in two ways, really. He is doing extreme vetting, which as you know, has now tied up in the courts. We have some breaking news on that tonight as well as a cracked on by ICE, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrest nearly 700 illegal immigrants, 75 percent of whom homeland security says have committed violent crimes, the others a repeat immigration law offenders. So, is this business as usual for ICE? Or is this something more?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We have really done a great job. We are actually taking people that are criminals, very, very harden criminals in some cases, with a tremendous track record of abuse and problems and we are getting them out. And that's what I said I would do.
I'm just doing what I said I would do. I said we would get the criminals out, the drug lords, the gang members, we are getting them out. General Kelly, who is sitting right here is doing a fantastic job. And I said at the beginning, we are going to get the bad ones, the really bad ones. We are getting them out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: On the President Trump side, the David Wohl and against the former mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa in a moment. But, first, let's go to Judge Andrew Napolitano, who is here with the breaking news on the next steps in the president's legal fight over his extreme vetting plan.
But, first, we go to Trace Gallagher on our West Coast. He's got the latest details on these new deportation raids.
Hello, Trace.
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Martha. We are not saying President Trump isn't living up to his campaign promises because over the last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE arrested nearly 700 criminal aliens. Or as homeland Security Secretary John Kelly says people who are illegal and then some including those convicted of murder, rape, sexual assault on children, drug trafficking, DUI and weapons charges. So, yes, ICE is busy.
But there is zero evidence showing that immigration agents are doing more under the Trump administration than during the Obama administration. In fact, the numbers show they are not doing nearly as much. Consider that last week, the nationwide ICE operation targeting convicted criminal aliens netted 680 arrests in March of 2015 under President Obama. A nationwide five-day operation netted more than 2,000 criminal aliens.
Under the eight years of George W. Bush, more than 2 million illegal aliens were departed. Under President Obama, it was well over 3 million.
Experts say the difference now is fear mongering, like false social media reports of people being arrested on their way to church, or about raids and sweeps that never happened.
Secretary Kelly says nobody is going into Walmart to check papers. He said agents know exactly who they are looking for. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. JOHN KELLY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: ICE is executing the law. And I would tell you, I've been around a lot of pretty darn good men and women in the Armed Forces. And what I saw today, the professionalism that I personally observed in a very potentially dangerous environment, gave me great, gave me great pride.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: But one immigration advocate told The New York Times, quote, "It really doesn't matter if it's business as usual from ICE's perspective. At some point, we know they will start to ramp up enforcement activity." But so far, immigration enforcement under President Trump is pretty routine.
Martha?
MACCALLUM: Thanks, Trace. Here now, David Wohl, an attorney, and Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles and a candidate for governor of California. Welcome to both of you.
ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, FORMER MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES: Hi, Martha.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: Hi, there. You know, I want to start with last week, we played a sound bite from President Clinton, which sounded really not that dissimilar from what we have heard from President Trump in many ways. And here is President Obama talking about illegal immigration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THEN-PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: But those who enter the country illegally and those who employ them disrespect the rule of law and they are showing disregard for those who are following the law. We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently, and lawfully, to become immigrants in this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Let's go to the mayor first on this. So what's the difference, Mayor? Why is there so much hysteria over the Trump action?
VILLARAIGOSA: First of all, I will defend President Obama when it's warranted. I am not going to defend his deportation policy. I didn't agree with it. And I don't agree with what's going on here.
If it's true that upwards of 75 percent of the 700 plus people who have been deported are serious criminals, why won't they respond to the Congress who has asked for that specific information, detailed information on exactly who has been deported and what they have done?
We hear, I've heard from lawyers who represent the rapid response network of lawyers that are representing these deportees saying that a number of the people, a good number, I don't have exact numbers, but a good number of them, have not committed serious violent crimes.
In fact, there have been some checkpoints in Texas specifically we've been told.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: That they include. And 75 percent, according to the document by homeland security says that these people were criminal violators, right? The other 25 percent they say are people who have been either kicked out a couple of times or have been told they have to leave by a certain date and still have not left.
David Wohl --
(CROSSTALK)
VILLARAIGOSA: Or used.
MACCALLUM: Go ahead, Mayor.
VILLARAIGOSA: Or have used fake documents. That's what I'm saying. Why don't they show us the evidence of that?
Now remember, too, you are taking statements that have come from three different people, but we are not putting them in a context. The context here is that President Trump has talked about, for a year and a half, deporting 11 million people. That is a number that we have never seen anywhere.
MACCALLUM: All right, David, it's your turn to respond. Go ahead, David.
(CROSSTALK)
DAVID WOHL, ATTORNEY: Martha, let me tell you, I have seen the statistics. For example, last week in L.A., 160 people were arrested. 150 of those 160 had serious felony convictions like child molestation, sexual assault, serious violent felonies.
And, Martha, I have represented people for many years. And when someone is convicted either by a jury trial or they enter a plea to a felony case, a judge reads them an admonishment saying that if you are not a citizen of the United States, not you may, you could, but you will be deported.
So this is no surprise to these people. The surprises they detrimentally relied on the last eight years when Barack Obama did not go after people in these type of criminal raids for deportation purposes.
So, yes, their families have expanded. Their children never liked the fact that these people would still be in America. But I saw -- when I saw Mr. Trump at a rally last summer in Costa Mesa, I asked him about some of his promises including immigration stuff and I will never forget.
He looked me in the eye when we met and he said, "you just watch" when it comes to whether or not he's going to follow through on this stuff, whether he was serious about the wall, this man means business. He wants to protect America. And that includes the Latinos in Southern California who are law-abiding citizens who want protection themselves. This is, you know -- this is across the board important.
VILLARAIGOSA: First of all, Martha, nobody, nobody is suggesting that if somebody is a serial rapist, has hurt children, has committed serious, violent crimes, they shouldn't be deported --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: I think we're on the same page on that, Mayor, so let me ask you this, though, what if someone has repeatedly been kicked out of the country, and allowed to come back in like Kate Steinle's killer for example?
What if they have no prior violent record, but they have been told by a judge, you have to leave by December 2013 and then, it is discovered by ICE, you know what, you are still here, several years later in 2017.
Why, and that's against the law, mayor. I mean, if you have been told you have to leave, and given time to do so, then that's the law. I mean, how do you -- how do you get around that?
(CROSSTALK)
VILLARAIGOSA: Look, the law is broken, Martha. The law is broken. We both know Democrats and Republicans, that immigration system is broken. Why not spend our time fixing it? Instead of terrorizing communities, coming into those communities in the way that they are doing, dividing children from their parents and the way that we have seen in a number of these cases.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: But if the numbers were higher, if the numbers were higher under President Obama, why is there so much fear and anxiety now when he --
(CROSSTALK)
VILLARAIGOSA: I already said to you -- I am not defending President Obama. I'm not defending President Obama on his immigration policy.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: But the point is that --
(CROSSTALK)
WOHL: Martha, Martha, the point is --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: Go ahead, David.
(CROSSTALK)
WOHL: Martha, the point is that the media, the media is outraged when Trump does it as opposed to when Obama does it. Why? Because Mr. Trump is Mr. Trump. But the reality is, Martha, you know, when you re-enter the country as you were just talking about and you've got a criminal record, there are federal penalties for that. They should be filed in federal courts and there are federal prison requirements for someone who repeatedly does that, like the man in San Francisco who killed Kate Steinle.
And I think the mayor would agree. Mayor could well be the governor of California, and I hope he is to be honest with you because anything would be better than what we have now. And I bet you the mayor will work President Trump on this issue.
MACCALLUM: All right.
WOHL: There are multiple levels of the issue that we dealt with. When it comes to someone who is going to violate felony record and they re-enter the United States time after time, look, you've got to take appropriate action.
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: I think on that one everybody is on the same page. Gentleman, we've got to go. Thank you so much.
Mr. Mayor, thank you.
VILLARAIGOSA: Thank you, Martha.
MACCALLUM: David Wohl, thanks to you as well.
So also breaking tonight, a district court judge in Washington State rejected the arguments from the White House moving forward with a trial threatening to deliver another blow to the president's executive orders on extreme vetting.
Judge Andrew Napolitano is Fox News senior judicial analyst. Judge, always good to see you.
ANDREW NAPOLITANO, FOX NEWS SENIOR JUDICIAL ANALYST: Likewise.
MACCALLUM: So what's new? What happened?
NAPOLITANO: All right, so here's what happened. On Thursday, when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a panel of three judges, ruled against the president, keeping in place the nationwide restraining order put in place by a trial judge, after that, over the weekend, one member of the court, not one of those three, there are 29 judges on this court, said I think the whole court should hear the case.
When the Trump administration learned that this judge made this request, they said to the trial judge, we think you should not do anything in the trial court level until the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, all 29, decide whether or not as a group they want to hear it. In fact, they don't sit as a group. It's too large and unwieldy. They said in a group of 10 or 11.
Just 5 minutes before you came on air, the trial judge in Seattle, Judge Robart, the one who issued the order two weeks ago, that was the subject of the appeal, said I'm not going to stop the trial. We are going to go forward.
And if the president of the United States expects his executive order to be enforced, he is going to have to demonstrate the evidence to support that executive order.
So we have a federal trial judge in Seattle basically saying to the president of United States, why did you decide to stop immigration from these nine countries? Come in this courtroom and prove your case.
MACCALLUM: All right. So the White House, doesn't want that process to go through the Ninth Circuit, right? But they also have the option as you have pointed out to rewrite the executive order in a way that might work better.
NAPOLITANO: Yes. I have been arguing all day that the president, for legal, constitutional, political reasons, should tear up the executive order of the 29th of January, write a new one. If he does that, this case goes away. So do the 48 other cases that have been filed against him and he knows what the deficiencies are in that order. So he knows how to correct them.
MACCALLUM: Do over?
NAPOLITANO: Yes.
MACCALLUM: All right. Judge, we'll see. Thank you very much.
NAPOLITANO: OK. I'm monitoring it for you.
MACCALLUM: Good to see you. Thank you.
So also breaking tonight, National Security Advisor Michael Flynn in hot water after a controversy erupted over a conversation he held last December with a Russian ambassador.
And, tonight, there are conflicting reports out of the White House about his status. Marc Thiessen and Matt Bennett here on that breaking news just ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Basic question here, does the national security advisor right now enjoy the full confidence of President Trump?
KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: Yes, General Flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We welcome you. I just want to say a couple of words.
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: Welcome. And I'm -- I am honored to be here, and I'm really looking forward to hearing from each of you.
TRUMP: I think I might want a handshake.
Our two nations share much more than a border. We share the same values.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Canadians and Americans alike share a common history, as well as people to people ties that make us completely and totally integrated.
TRUMP: We have a very outstanding trade relationship with Canada. We'll be tweaking it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Tweaking it. Breaking tonight, we are going to continue to see the dramatic headlines out of the White House this hour, even after the hectic day that you have seen unfold here.
Well, President Trump's day 25 included a women in the workplace meeting, that involved his daughter, Ivanka, and a visit with the Canadian prime minister, looming over all of that were two big stories.
First, how to react to the missile test, staged by North Korea on Friday. And second, new questions about the fate of his national security advisor Michael Flynn.
For the latest on that, we go to the White House with chief correspondent John Roberts.
John, good evening to you.
JOHN ROBERTS, CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: All right, good evening to you, Martha. You know, there's an old adage in play at the White House, that when the president says he has, quote, "Full confidence in you, start looking for a job."
It has happened many, many times in the past. We don't know yet if it's going to happen with Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, the national security advisor. But, certainly, he seems to be on a little bit rockier ground than he was 24 hours ago.
Of course, what' going on here is that Flynn had several phone conversations with the U.S. -- with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak.
They said that it was talking just about general things, setting up a phone call between the president and Vladimir Putin of Russia. But some intercepts in an FBI investigation that had been made public suggest that Flynn may have talked about sanctions with Kislyak.
Last week, Flynn said we never talked sanctions. And the day after that, he said, well, we might. I'm not sure. But he did definitively tell the vice president that he hadn't talked sanctions. And that's why the vice president went out on one of those Sunday morning shows and said that Flynn never talk in Kislyak about sanctions.
Well, now, we learned today through sources that Michael Flynn apologized to the vice president for telling him that he had no conversations about sanctions when in fact he might have. That led to a whole flurry of speculation about whether Flynn was wrong for the White House or if he might be heading out the door.
Earlier today, Kellyanne Conway said that the president has full confidence in Lieutenant General Flynn. And then, a short time later, Sean Spicer came out from a meeting with the president, right after the president and said this. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN SPICER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president is evaluating the situation. He is speaking to the vice president -- to Vice President Pence relative to the conversation the vice president had with General Flynn. And also speaking to various other people about what he considers the single most important subject there is our national security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: So we don't really know too much about this evaluation. We don't know if it's going to end with General Flynn's firing. But I can tell you something about body language, though.
When the president came out, he was asked about Flynn, he said, "We are about to put out a statement." When he was asked again about Flynn, he said, "we are about to put out a statement." And then when he was asked about Ryan Priebus, is he doing a good job, he said, no, he's not doing a good job; he's doing a great job.
So you had praise for Reince Priebus and "we're going to put out a statement" about Flynn. The body language, at least, for now, Martha, does not look good.
MACCALLUM: Wow. John, thank you.
All right. So let's do this with Marc Thiessen, an American Enterprise Institute fellow and "Fox News" contributor and Matt Bennett, former deputy assistant to President Bill Clinton.
You have both been around these situations. Matt, let me start with you. Read the tea leaves here for us.
MATT BENNETT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: As a senior Democratic senator, when he mangles these metaphors and say, "you can stick a fork on these toasts." There is no way you survive lying to the vice president and having him go out on national television and lie on your behalf. It just can't be done.
The national security advisor is often described as the honest broker, the person who is supposed to negotiate between the Defense Department, State Department and Intelligence Community and others. You can't be an honest broker if you have lied.
MACCALLUM: You know, this is an office and a person who has been very close to President Trump, Marc, throughout this entire process. I mean, he was on the campaign trail with him. They did town hall things together. They clearly have a good relationship. I would imagine that this would be a very tough decision for President Trump.
MARC THIESSEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I'm sure it was. And, you know, quite frankly --
(CROSSTALK)
MACCALLUM: You say was like it's that bad?
THIESSEN: I mean, it is or is.
MACCALLUM: You think it's over? OK.
THIESSEN: Well, he said he is putting out a statement. So it sounds like they have a decision. But, you know, I think the problem is always -- the cover up is almost always worse than the crime. So if he hasn't lied to Vice President Pence, I think he would be perfectly fine, because quite frankly, he did nothing illegal.
Having that conversation with the Russian ambassador is not against the law. However, there were war crimes committed against him. It is, for example, against the United States law to spy in on an American citizen. If you were listening in to the Russian ambassador and you get a conversation with American, there are steps that have to be taken to mitigate that. So the fact that he was in an intelligence support, number one, is problematic.
And, number two, it's illegal to leak signals intelligence to the press. So there are apparently nine people in the Trump administration who leaked this classified document, this classified information to the press. That is a crime. Those people should be fired. Those people should be prosecuted for doing that.
So, Flynn would be on fine ground if he hadn't lied to Vice President Pence. It's just -- people never learn in Washington that it's always the cover-up is worse than the crime.
MACCALLUM: Yes. Well, maybe there are biding time on this. You know, we've gotten a lot of mixed signals about it and we will see where it goes.
I want to put up a statement on North Korea that came out just a little while ago from Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador.
She said "we call on members" and this obviously is with regards to the missile test that happen over the weekend. It was not an ICBM, but a ballistic missile launch. "We call on members of the security council to use every available resource to make it clear to the North Korean regime and its enablers that these launches are unacceptable. It is time to hold North Korea accountable, not with our words, but with our actions."
Marc, back to you and then to Matt. What do you make of it?
THIESSEN: I think that is a very encouraging statement, because I think you do need to have actions. I mean, it's very simple what the action ought to be.
We are to put either a land-based or sea-based missile defenses in Korea or in the Sea of Japan. And the next time they take a shot, they try to fire a missile, shoot it down. That will send a clear signal to North Korea and it will put them on their heels. So I think action is needed. Absolutely, 100 percent.
MACCALLUM: Matt, what do you think about that statement?
BENNETT: Look, I think it's fine as long as it's backed up by reality. What you see often in the Trump administration as young as it is, is kind of bluster without any back up. If there is chaos in the national security ranks of this administration, this can be very difficult for them to follow through on any of the threats that Ambassador Haley is making.
MACCALLUM: Marc, is that fair? Three weeks in.
THIESSEN: Well, so far, it's been three weeks and he hasn't drawn a red line that he hasn't enforced. So I guess it's kind of hard to take that criticism seriously.
(CROSSTALK)
I think he has handled it very well. He huddled with the Prime Minister of Japan. He put out a statement saying we stand 100 percent with the people of Japan. And he has promised through his U.N. ambassador to take action to counter this. I think that's a lot better than saying to the Syrians, we're going to bomb you if you cross this redline and then not doing it.
MACCALLUM: We got to leave it there. Thank you very much, Matt and Marc. Good to see you both.
BENNETT: Thanks, Martha.
MACCALLUM: So it's not just Michael Flynn who has come under some increased pressure tonight as one of President Trump's closest confidantes took a shot at White House Chief-of-Staff Reince Priebus over the weekend.
Carl Higbie and Robert Zimmerman here on whether we can expect a shake-up at the White House?
Plus, Judge Neil Gorsuch making the rounds on Capitol Hill again today to try to lock down his Supreme Court nomination. Former Senator Kelly Ayotte, who was helping Mr. Gorsuch get through that process joins us on that.
Then, eventual politics, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: Breaking tonight, as we told you moments ago, new reports suggesting cabinet level shake ups are possible as the White House reveals President Trump is, quote, "Evaluating the situation when it comes to national security advisor Michael Flynn."
We're going to bring you that news as it happens. We know the president said they would be releasing or working on some kind of statement.
Well, that means we don't know yet so we'll show you as soon as it comes out. In the meantime, a lot of questions this evening about another member of the White House staff, as a close confidant to the president declared his own major concerns about Chief-of-Staff Reince Priebus.
Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there is a lot of weakness coming out of the chief-of-staff. I think Reince Priebus, good guy, well-intentioned, but he 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 House and sometimes, the pushback that he needs, which you wouldn't have with a stronger White House counsel, (INAUDIBLE) chief-of-staff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: OK. Joining me now, Carl Higbie is a veteran Navy SEAL and supporter of President Trump. Robert Zimmerman is Democratic strategist and DNC committee member. Welcome to both of you.
On Reince and on Michael Flynn, you know, there's a lot of speculation out there tonight.
CARL HIGBIE, VETERAN NAVY SEAL: Yes, a lot of speculation. And I can only speak -- I don't know much more than the media, but look, General Flynn has been to me, always a very trustworthy, very straightforward guy. A remarkable character. So I can't speak to what's going on behind the scenes but I can say that he has just outstanding character as far as I'm concern so we'll see.
ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Carl, isn't this where you shout "Live from New York, it's Saturday night."
HIGBIE: Yes.
ZIMMERMAN: I mean, let's be serious about this. He is acknowledged lying to the vice president. And the bigger question though is why were these phone calls, made to the Russian ambassador by the President-Elect National Security Advisor the same day that President Obama announced severe sanctions against Russia. It is time now for an independent special prosecutor to begin to evaluate not just why these phone calls were made by the National Security Advisor but also, to further examine the connections between the Trump campaign and Russia, and in fact the hacking that our intelligence community confirmed.
HIGBIE: I'm all for transparency. Get it out there. Let's figure out what actually happen.
MACCALLUM: You know, what do you think in terms of what has been seen as some chaos surrounding the situation. I mean, I get so much attention. We just want to remember the accomplishments that happen over the course of last week. Unfortunately, for the Trump administration, you know they have had good meetings of Japan, good meetings of Canada today, a lot going on. Then, this bluster gets a lot of attention. And then there is some speculation about you that you might want to get involved in the communications department. Is that real?
HIGBIE: I got the call Friday night and said I heard you were going into Sean Spicer's position. I said news to me.
MACCALLUM: Who said this?
HIGBIE: This is a reporter who called me on Friday night. I had no idea. I have been involved in loose talks with the administration about me and potentially DOD or Stated Department in Communications or Spokesperson, so I am not - I did not interview for Sean Spicer's job. Well, I served the president since day one as a powerful surrogate. I fully believe in his message and I believe in his presidency. I would be happy and honored to serve any way possible, but I'm not here to take Sean Spicer's job.
MACCALLUM: Ok. Let's go to this. Some sound from Al Franken, the senator, talking about President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it true that Republican colleagues of yours expressed concerned about President Trump's mental health?
SEN. AL FRANKEN, D-MINNESOTA: A few.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really?
FRANKEN: Yeah. That's the majority of them, it's a few.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In what way?
FRANKEN: In the way that we all have this suspicion that he lies a lot. He says things that aren't true. That is the same as lying, I guess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MACCALLUM: Robert.
ZIMMERMAN: Let's be clear, it is not just the Democrats who are saying the president lied. You got Republican leaders in congress calling him out for lying about illegal voting for example. I think it is important - for also lying about his crowd sizes of the inauguration. You know you can talk about Reince Priebus, General Flynn, but after you change the textures in Titanic, it doesn't matter until you change the direction of the ship. Ultimately, what you are seeing, in terms of the crisis of confidence from the Republicans in congress, backing away from the president of the Mexican wall, and now opposing him on the Muslim ban, standing up too many initiatives, it is because they don't trust his confidence.
MACCALLUM: You know, it is highly possible that the reason that these discussions even take place, and all of this other fluff and chaos around the White House is because this is an incredibly aggressive agenda that is played out over 25 days. I have seen several presidencies. I have never seen this kind of activity. I am sure Al Franken would much rather talk about the fact that he thinks there is wacko going on. But there is stuff that is real that is going on at the White House that is much more important. Is it not, whether you like it or not.
HIGBIE: Absolutely and the issue here is, look, President Trump does not have a small cabinet and place and there is enormous amount of infighting. I don't have inside information about this, Martha. That is showing publicly, you have the Trump loyalist. The people who have been there for the beginning and then you have the politicos. And they are fighting back and forth. As soon as they can drop their egos and get of the same page as President Trump and actually execute his agenda as he wants to see it, things will be a lot smoother.
MACCALLUM: Do you expect that stuff to straighten out soon?
ZIMMERMAN: Not only do I not seeing it straightening out, I think the much bigger problem is, the president cannot hold the Republicans in congress together with him for his agenda. And ultimately when you get done with all the tweets and SoundBits, and that is for real. You can't govern unless you can unite the country. That is the president's challenge.
MACCALLUM: Thanks, you guys. Good to see you both. Let us know if you have any new jobs to talk, tell us about, Carl. We want to know, do you really care about the internal strife at the White House? Is it the tone of attention? But is it really matters to you? Tweet me your answer @marthamaccallum using the hashtag #first100 and we will read some of those answers later on the show. We want to know if you are screaming at your TV right now. With the president's team involved in a high-stakes court fight, there is new attention on Neil Gorsuch. Here is a sensitive topic for you Donald Trump's pick to be the next Supreme Court justice. Former Senator Kelly Ayotte is in charge of his confirmation process, getting him around to meet everybody, she joins us next. Plus, the music world last night decided to share some new thoughts on our new president. And those results are straight ahead, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER LOPEZ, SINGER-ACTRESS: At this particular point in history, our voices are need more than ever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: Breaking News. Just moments ago, Steve Mnuchin has just been confirmed by the senate as a new Treasury Secretary. It was a 53-47 vote, a very close vote for a cabinet member for the president. Ed Henry is going to join us a little bit more on that. Also, tonight, day 25 of the Trump presidency marked exactly one year since Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia passed away, just days after taking office, President Trump named Judge Neil Gorsuch as his pick to replace Scalia. Gorsuch spent much of the day on Capitol Hill, once again meeting with lawmakers, shepherded through the process by former New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte and she joins us now. Good to have you with us.
KELLY AYOTTE, COUNSEL TO THE SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: Good to be with you, Martha, thank you.
MACCALLUM: How is it going? Do you think you will get 60 votes or do you think the nuclear option will be employed here?
AYOTTE: Well he has met with close to 40 senators on both sides of the aisle at this point. We are meeting with many more, five Democrats tomorrow. I think that it is impeccable education qualifications, and obviously served on the tenth circuit for ten years, he should be getting well over 60 votes. I have to say, we are getting a good reception in the offices. He is a man of great integrity and obviously, today, on the one year anniversary of Justice Scalia, certainly, someone who would be an excellent choice on the Supreme Court.
MACCALLUM: In terms of potentially eight Democrats, do you think you have them yet? How close do you think you are in that number?
AYOTTE: You know Martha, I think a number of the Democrats we have met with have expressed openness to his confirmation. So I am optimistic and I think that the meetings the judge has had answering their questions and they see his incredible background, you know not only his impeccable qualifications, but how he conducts himself, with integrity. He is very humble and answering their questions. And I think that will bode very well and this confirmation process.
MACCALLUM: Because these things will matter, even though you got Chuck Schumer and everybody else is saying there is no way.
AYOTTE: You will have some people who unfortunately are going to dig in their heels for partisan reasons. But there is no question that Judge Gorsuch is so qualified to be on the Supreme Court, an excellent choice by the president. And you see that in many of the meetings that he is having across the aisle, really having very real interactions with members of the senate, and answering their questions. They're getting to know him.
MACCALLUM: We will see what it is like when we actually get to the hearings. I want to talk politics with you. Apparently over the weekend, the president basically said, you know if you have been on the train, you know we all remember the Trump train during the campaign, to you, former Senator Ayotte, you wouldn't have lost. It was such a close election, New Hampshire, what you think about that?
AYOTTE: Well, you know the president was kidding around with me about the election. I have to say, I am really honored to help the president with Judge Gorsuch's nomination. This is a time when we hope that obviously, this really qualified nominee will get confirmed by the senate and I am very glad to help him with this important project.
MACCALLUM: The president and Stephen Miller both suggested that if you understand New Hampshire politics, which obviously you do, you know that thousands of people are bused in illegally to vote. Is that true?
AYOTTE: Well again, I don't think we should be really talking about the election. And I think this is right now, about making sure that the president's nomination of this excellent judge, Judge Gorsuch, gets confirmed to the court. And certainly, as you look at where we are, and even of the cabinet nominations that have been made, this is an important time for the nation and especially, with this important nomination to the highest courts.
MACCALLUM: So you haven't seen thousands of people being bused in illegally to vote New Hampshire?
AYOTTE: Well, you know, I've obviously had a very close election. I am really focusing right now on getting the Supreme Court justice confirmed.
MACCALLUM: All right. Kelly Ayotte, thank you so much. Good to have you here tonight. We'll see you through this whole process of the most forward.
AYOTTE: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: So tonight, live from Capitol Hill, what can we expect from the White House tomorrow on day 26? Ed Henry joins us with the very latest. Plus, the music world versus the president, when Kat Timpf and Richard Fowler take on the Grammys from last night, what a show, right? Did you catch it? We will be right back.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Resist! Resist! Resist!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: That is a singer Joy Villa, who caused quite a stir last night of the support of President Trump on the red carpet for the Grammys. The rest of this year's music ceremony, of course, it was full of politically charged speeches and performances on the opposite side of that. Trace Gallagher here to take it all through - for us from the Grammys last night from our west coast Newsroom. Hey, Trace.
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey Martha, the producer of the Grammys said that he had no problem with performers using the show as a political platform and they took him up on this offer, beginning with host to James Gordon, who took a swing at Trump during his opening rap. And from there, Jennifer Lopez declares this is no time for despair, it was time for action. Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris, called for opposition to the Dakota access pipeline. Then came a tribe called quest, listen.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to thank president Agent Orange for perpetuating all of the evil that you are perpetuating throughout the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Resist! Resist!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: As you alluded to singer Joy Villa didn't have to say anything, her support was crystal clear. Later, she got pilloried by the performers as well as the social media world. At the end of the week, it really wasn't the singers who got the biggest digs. Again, it was the comedians. Including Melissa McCarthy returning to Saturday Night Live as a seething Sean Spicer. Watch.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mentally, though, are you ok?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you kidding me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: Funny but many liberals found "SNL's" Kellyanne Conway's get to be a bit out of bounce in Kate McKinnon as Conway, breaks into CNN anchor Jake Tapper's house with a knife and a negligee, pleading to be booked on his show. The New Yorker called the fatal attraction inspired skipped "sexist, unfunny, and a gift to the White House," others say (ph) it was pretty funny. Martha.
MACCALLUM: Ok. So there is that. Thank you, Trace. Here with more, Kat Timpf is "The Greg Gutfeld Show" correspondent and Richard Fowler, National Syndicate Radio Talk show host and a Fox News contributor. Kat, you know the "fatal attraction" thing is stomach churning, I thought.
KAT TIMPF, "THE GREG GUTFELD SHOW" CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. It sounds like a trite talking point to say, what if someone on the right have done it to someone on the left. In this case, it is true. You can't deny that it is true. They are suggesting the only way she got anywhere is being sexual and violently sexual. It seems right now that on the other side of things, having trouble sticking to their own rules, with what they said was it and what is not acceptable to treat another person. No jokes bother me ever, but it is just a little hypocritical.
MACCALLUM: Yes. It is just not funny.
TIMPF: Yes, I didn't laugh at all.
MACCALLUM: Some it very funny. And I think everybody, Richard appreciate, you know you can poke on the president, you can poke on the White House, we have been watching out for generations, it sort of part of the American culture to an extent. But when it is sort of vindictive and the Agent Orange stuff, have been perpetuating all the evil in the world, it might be over the line, no?
RICHARD FOWLER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR AND SENIOR FELLOW FOR THE NEW LEADERS COUNSEL: I think the Kellyanne Conway piece of "Saturday Night Live" was over the line. Here's the thing about the Grammys, over and over again, Martha we have seen musicians use their platforms to push forward or uplift what they deem to be horrific or oppression or different things. We saw Billie Holiday in 1955 release a song called "Strange Fruit" to protest Lyn Chin in the south. We saw Sam Cooke write "Change is going to come" in 1963, to also protest Jim Crow. So I think that is what musicians do. They use their platform to sort of speak to their audiences. I think Busta Rhymes and tribe called quest are speaking to their audiences specifically. J-Lo was speaking to her audience. I think the "Saturday Night Live" missed their mark. But only the Grammys, I think it is wrong at the Grammys, I think it is the job of the musicians to be some kind of political.
MACCALLUM: May be it is time perspective that is difficult. The two examples you gave, are genuinely moving and powerful. And sometimes, it feels like some of this stuff is, you know shallow and not necessarily based on real facts. I mean we did the immigration story earlier tonight. Kat, we talked about the fact that they were more people being thrown out of the country under President Obama then there are under President Trump. I don't remember them marching up people of all different backgrounds onto the stage and pointing at them and saying that you will be kicked out of the country, you will be kicked out of the country. That is what I saw last night.
TIMPF: Yes, absolutely. And the truth is a lot of this is self-serving. Meryl Streep has still been bragging. She gave a speech to the human rights campaign, still bragging about how she spoke out against Trump and how she has a target on her back. The only people targeting her are Trump supporter. Which are pretty clear to her, she doesn't care what they think. Everybody out there is acting like a hero. I didn't see any heroes of the Grammys last night except of course for Rihanna with that diamond flask. That is a hero.
(LAUGHTER)
FOWLER: You don't think Beyonce's performance was heroic?
TIMPF: I don't know what that was.
FOWLER: I thought it was beautiful.
TIMPF: It was like a worship thing.
FOWLER: I thought it was definitely beautiful.
MACCALLUM: Bruno Mars is 10 times better, but anyway. That is for me. Thanks, you guys. Good to see you all. Thank you. So earlier, we asked if you, the viewers really cared about the internal struggles of the White House. Your answers on that are quite interesting. Those are coming up next. Plus, Fox News Correspondent Ed Henry joins us with his late breaking news on Capitol Hill tonight. A look ahead at what you can expect this week.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MACCALLUM: A packed 25th day in office for President Trump draws to a close. The Senate is still open for business. More President Trump's nominees just got two confirmations. It has been slow but steady process, for those results on what to expect from day 26, chief national correspondent Ed Henry, up for this evening, hello Ed.
ED HENRY, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, Martha. You know, a busy night in the Senate as you say and we finally found a Trump nominee, that Democrats can actually vote for. And that is the new VA secretary, 1 of 2 people confirm tonight, Dr. David Shulkin. You can see him there on the right. Significant, why are Democrats voting for him? He served under President Obama as the undersecretary for the VA. Steve Mnuchin, as well, finally confirmed as Treasury Secretary. In fact we are told the president at any moment now, will be taking part of the swearing in of Mnuchin at the White House. Why is that significant, they have been concerned about market reaction with the concern about no treasury secretary in there for business, now, they finally have one.
Big thing coming Wednesday, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu coming for his first official visit to the White House with President Trump here. A much different relationship expected in the way he was treated in the Obama years, for sure. But look at Jared Kushner there, the presidential son-in-law, who has been tasked with, no big deal, and come up with Mideast peace. That is a daunting task. These meetings with the - between the President and Prime Minister will be the first big test for Jared Kushner.
And then finally, tomorrow something big on the schedule, a lunch between the president and Governor Chris Christie, remember, he was the transition chief initially, and then was kind of pushed aside. Never wound up with a job. He said he was offered all kinds of things, he didn't think any of them are big enough or anything that would fit what he wanted to do so he ended up not getting in the administration job, but think about this, Martha, he is having lunch with the president, someone like Christie, who doesn't hold back with advice. As all this speculation is swirling about General Flynn and Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus and who is on thin ice, and who is not on thin ice, that lunch tomorrow could be a big deal.
MACCALLUM: Yes. Ed, thank you very much.
HENRY: Thank you.
MACCALLUM: So earlier, we ask, do you really care about the internal strife that is getting so much attention of the White House? Here are some of the responses using the hashtag #First100. Cassandra writes, still Martha care less. There are people they are conflict especially if they are high achievers. Teresa tells us, Martha, we all care what is going on, we just want our president and have the support that other president have enjoyed. And Carol says this. Martha, do not care about reports of internal strife in terms of the administration. It is all spin by the media, so far, amazing, #First100.
So tonight, we leave you with this. Justice Scalia died on this day, one year ago. It was a shock to the nation. And today we understand that the president spoke with Mrs. Scalia. Scalia was a master of words. So, who better to leave you with a quote tonight? He said this.
"Bear in mind that brains and learning, like muscles and physical skills, are articles of commerce. They are bought and sold. You can hire them by the hour. The only thing in the world not for sale is character." Well said, Justice Scalia.
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