he also doubled down, of course, on trump's decision to fire ms. yates. i want you to see this, because it's really quitcontentious. watchim here with one new york times reporter and an nbc reporter. >> your network was one of the people that just hours ago told people that general kelly was unaware of what's going on, and then moments later he gets on air saying here's how many time i was briefed. with all due respect, i think you have been part of the confusion. the secretary of homeland security just stood up and said you're calling him a liar? >> [inaudible] >> jonathan, i'm talking to -- >> i'm saying -- >> you said that the reporter from "the new york times" said that he was unaware of the ban. it is odd to me that we're having a discussion about somebody whose job it is to execute lawful orders who chose not to do it -- hold on -- who chose not to do it, and then we're questioning whether or not we were right to remove her. trish: we should mention as well that there are a number of reports you see he singled out "the new york times," and he single

the white house put out a statement saying sally yates has betrayed the department of justice. ms. yates is an obama administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on immigration. in her place, the u.s. attorney who prosecuted bob mceaux. he oversees the eastern district whichhand immigration and international terror cases. he has signaled ellen force the immigration order which yates defiantly refused to do saying she doubted it was even lawful. something like the had has not happened since 1973 when president nixon fired his a.g. for refusing to dismiss the watergate prosecutor. president trump is standing by his order saying it will keep america safe. >> at some point look at the familiar lies lose someone in an attack or a bombing and say could we have done more to save them? could another event be prevented? >> and he will be as the attorney general until the confirmation. there will be a vote tomorrow morning on jeff sessions' nomination. >> thank you, chris. >> new at 11:00, the boy scouts of america is reaching out to families with transgender children. the o

ms. yates failed to enforce a legal order approved by the department of justice's office of legal counsel in design to protect the citizens of the united states. calling for tough vetting from individuals travellers from seven nations is not extreme. it is reasonable and necessary to protect our country. the president signed an affidavit last night of nomination for mr. vuente as one of his first official actions as his new post as acting attorney general he signed a memorandum rescinding sally yates' guidance regarding the president ace executive order to insure its full implementation. last night the president also announced the appointment of thomas homan as acting assistant secretary of homeland security and director offer of ice. he has a long career at ice. most recently serving as the executive associate director for enforcement and removal operations. having a professional in place like this to serve as the acting director is critical to insuring the efficient administration of th

ms yates was appointed as deputy attorney—general under president obama but was asked by donald trump to temporarily take over while a long—term replacement was found. just days after leaving the white house, barack obama has also intervened in the row — warning that american values are at stake. in a statement his spokesman says... and in the past couple of hours senior democrat politicians have gathered at a rally outside the supreme court. house minority leader nancy pelosi and senate leader chuck schumer called the order un—american. all of us take an oath of office to protect and defend the constitution of the united states. what the president has done is not in the interests of security. it is reckless. it is reckless and rash. america for its history has been a shining beacon and it has said we welcome you if you are pressed because of your religion, because of your political beliefs, because of who you are. the lady in the harbour in the city in which our leave holds a wonderful torch, that torch has stood for the greatness of america, to all americans and to the citizen

here's the press statement dismissing ms yates. you can read it online, very easy to find. in it the white house says, "she has betrayed the department ofjustice" and that she is "an obama administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration." just to remind ourselves, this immigration ban, the restrictions affect seven african and middle eastern countries. there's the white house statement — this is a letter written by sally yates in which she says she's not convinced the executive order by the president is lawful. again, you can find that online if you want to see it. also is an article by anthony zurcher, trying to sift through this and find out if the immigration order is legal. he is with us now, is it safe to say you didn't reach an answer? no, there are answers on both sides, thatis there are answers on both sides, that is what the judges are for. they make a determination, and i think from looking at the constitutional issues, the statutory reasons why this may or may not be illegal, i think the judge could find a compelling argumen

moments ago the white house weighed in. >> ms yates failed to enforce a legal order appved by the department of justice's office of legal counsel calling for

he also doubled down, of course, on trump's decision to fire ms. yates. i want you to see this, because it's really quitcontentious. watchim here with one new york times reporter and an nbc reporter. >> your network was one of the

i know sally yates as a person of integrity. despite the president's strong interest to implement a muslim ban, ms. yates determined that the executive order was not defensible. that was not a surprising conclusion. the executive order discriminates by design. it's wrong, i believe it is illegal. several federal courts have already found president trump's executive order is indefensible. understand what's happening here. i've been here with numerous administrations, republican and democratic. i think one of my first role call vot -- roll call votes was for republican attorney general smith. i then declared i would vote for attorney general barr and we had a voice vote. but these are people i thought would defend the independence of the justice department. as a young law student, i and two or three others picked by the attorney general from different law schools were interviewed by the then attorney general. we asked him similar questions about how independent the attorney general could be. could they be independent if it's in th

ms. yates is an obama administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration, close quote. the new acting attorney general is dana bente who was serving as u.s. attorney for the eastern district of virginia. and just tonight, another development. we know not what to make of it, involving the head of immigration and customs enforcement. as you saw briefly, our panel is here ready to weigh in on our breaking news. but first we start with nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker who joins us by telephone. kristen, what more have you been able to add to the record tonight? >> well, brian, fast moving developments tonight. you're right, this replacement of sally yates came after a really bitter back and forth. she said that she directed d.o.j. not to uphold the president's travel ban, saying that she wasn't clear that it was going to be lawful. and then the news came that president trump was, in fact, replacing her with dana bente. and we really have fire

ms. yates is an obama administration appointee weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration. for more we're joined in los angeles by california talk radio host ethan berman, national committee man sean steel, and political analyst ron brownstein. ron, first up, that was a blistering statement put out by the white house. >> it is. look, it is not shocking that a president would dismiss an acting attorney general from the previous administration who refuses to support one of his initiatives in court. it is surprising to see the kind of language that was applied here. the word betrayal is an extraordinary word from the white house about a -- a public official in the government. and it is indicative of the way that the lines are deepening so quickly around this administration on the same day that the president can -- attacked john mccain and lindsey graham and chuck schumer. we are seeing very sharp lines being drawn in every possible direction around this administration. only eight o

ms yates had been appointed by president obama. mr trump said his opponents in the democratic party were trying to obstruct him. meanwhile, a former head of the foreign office has accused theresa may of putting the queen in "a very difficult position" by inviting president trump to make a state visit to the uk. lord ricketts said it should be downgraded to an official visit to spare the queen more controversy. thousands of people joined anti—trump protests in london and around the uk yesterday. a petition calling for his trip to be cancelled has gathered more than 1.5 million signatures. a french—canadian student has appeared in court in quebec, charged with the murder of six muslim worshippers who were shot dead at a mosque on sunday. alexandre bissonnette, who's 27, did not speak during his court appearance. he faces six counts of murder and five of attempted murder. vigils have been held across canada in memory of those killed and injured. mps will today hold their first debate on the government's bill to trigger the formal

the white house proceeds to go on to say -- i assume president trump -- ms. yates is an obama administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration of which i don't know proof of such but what i will say she was doing her civic and patriotic duty by remaining there as a senior member who is the only person there that could sign subpoenas. she was doing america a favor. so i will say in the backdrop of that, were you at the airport as i was at the bush intercontinental airport when iraqi citizen came in, a legal permanent resident with a green card, and was detained for five hours while his employee and lawyers were gathering and hovering outside and c.b.p., to my understanding, how frightened they were, they did not know what was going on, did not allow them to be able to speak. or did you listen last night when an iraqi woman indicated that her husband was murdered and she hid for 12 years in iraq until she was able to bring her children here? did you hear that refugees are being denied to come in for 120 days on friday, mr. sp

it went on to say -- "ms. yates is an obama administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration. it is time to get serious about protecting our country." president trump had asked yates to serve as acting attorney general until the senate concern -- confirmed jeff sessions, a close ally of trump. chuck schumer of new york praised sally yates for speaking out. >> so, mr. president, we've had a large number of eloquent speeches about the president's executive order. and while they were going on, of course, we had a monday night massacre. sally yates, a person of great integrity who follows the law, was fired by the president. she was fired because she would not enact, pursue the executive order on the belief that it was illegal. perhaps unconstitutional. it was her profile encourage. a brave act. in a right act. i hope the president and his people who are in the white house learn something from this. how can you run a country like this? ,ow can you take a major order major doing

ms. how do you think that's going to play out with this ban which by the president's own words was a muslim ban in its inception? >> well, it's not a muslim ban. i mean, he's going after terrorists is basically what he's doing, and i have to tell you, chris, i mean people here in this part of pennsylvania at least and pennsylvania voted for him, get it. they understand it. they are concerned. they are concerned for safety, and it's as basic as that. there was a great piece on cnn last night where randy kay went into a pennsylvania diner and talked to folks. these are the kind of folks that i talk to all the time, and it's a pretty basic thing with them. they are not anti immigrant. i mean the whole country is filled with 100% deextended from immigrants. they want something done. they understand at a basic level, he's trying to protect them. >> alex, what are you hearing? >> when you talk to washington on both sides of the aisle, folks in the state who are not representing the core trump c

okay, the way that donald trump fired ms. yates, right, it's very clear to me that mr. trump will fire anybody who disagrees with him in a most public way. they could have sent a line to them saying you're public. he publicly accused her of betraying the justice department and being weak and jeopardizing american safety. is that an intimidation factor, or am i just kind of making too much of it? >> well, there is a distinction within the executive branch that's going to be really important going forward. the people who are defying president trump and being punished for it, are they political appointees or career civil servants? and sally yates was a political appointee. she had to know she was going to get fired and made this decision to make a loud and broad statement anyway. and the president really did have every authority to fire her and we know donald trump is going to do it with a big splash and get the most headlines he can. what is more troubling is something that sean spicer said from the podium yesterday. if anybody at the state department, any career civil se

ms. >> juan: it wasn't even like slow news tonight. >> harris: let's get to the news, president trump moved swiftly after acting attorney general sally yates, and obama administration holdover, said publicly she would not enforce as immigration order. in announcing her replace him, the white house stated that the acting attorney general has the betrayed the deferment of justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the united states. ms. yates is an obama admits ration appointee who is weak on border and very weak on illegal immigration, it is time to get serious about protecting our country. all right, as i'm saying this, the news is breaking, let's get the homeland security secretary, john kelly, on this very topic. watch. >> i'd like to clarify that the most-recent executive order what it does and does not mean. this is not a travel ban, this is a temporary clause that allows us to better review the existing refugee and visa vetting system. over the n

. >> ms yates failed to enforce a legal order appved by the department of justice's office of legal counsel calling for vetting of travelers from seven nation is not extreme. it's reasonable and necessary to protect our country. i think it's regrettable there was some confusion on the rollout of this. no one wanted to see people with green cards or special immigrant visas like translators get caught up in all of this. >> we didn't know the eo was coming. people were involved in the general drafting of it. >> the president reveals his supreme court pick later tonight. we have a team of reporters. let's start with hallee jackson right outside the white house on the north lawn. i was struck by a question you asked in the briefing. you are talking a vow, a campaign idea donald trump had while he was campaigning talking about he thinks that the families of terrorists should be targeted. this is news again today because of that strike in yemen and news that an 8-year-old girl was also killed in the attack, a family member of a terrorist or an alleged terrorist at the very least. you asked sean sp

i have a great deal of respect for ms. yates. wonderful career, recognized as a true career prosecutor. and that's why it surprises me a bit abut this. she hasn't explained why she thinks it is unlawful. at best i think the law is unclear. there is arguments on both sides. if anything, i think, the administration has the stronger argument based on past cases. also, she cites statements made before the executive order was signed. presumably, statements by mr., by president trump during the campaign, and by rudy giuliani. the justice department has routinely opposed those types of statements from being considered in litigation. i have been in litigation against the justice department where they insist motivations behind legislation and other policies are not relevant. so it is very surprising to see that in the letter. it departs from the long standing principles of the justice department. i mean this is the department that defended the torture program and many of us were saying that enhanced interrogation was in fact torture. they

. >> the president is within his rights to release ms. yates and put someone in her place someone who is going to carry out executive orders and advise the president. this is common practice. a president brings in cabinet, they bring in their team, that is why you have three separate equal branches of government. we seem to have a group of democrats who just can't get over the fact that they lost, they do not want this president to have his team around him, they need to realize donald trump is the president of the united states. maria: yeah. >> if they want to see a change, at doj and stop politicizing at doj, why don't they confirm his nominee to be the attorney general? maria: yeah. in the analysis of twitter and sort of people understanding what's happening, it's a very different moment in time. the people get it. >> yes, they do. maria: blowing off the law from not enforcing executive order to telling the world that sanctuary cities will continue to the democrats deciding that they want to stall the confirmation process. it's just ext

ms. i don't know why people are protesting and so angry with trump. immigrants came to assimilate in the country before, not to blow us up. all the president is trying to do is keep us safe. i'm pleased that trump is doing what he said he would do, which is a first for an elected official. i'm quoting these. these are verbates. i'm pleased that trump is putting into action what he said he would do. he is executing well. the president is spot on. in washington he is doing what they sent him to do. here is another. i'm pleased that the shake-up that is being caused by the trump add manage is loud, because it sends a message that action is happening, process is happening. i'm going to continue this. by the way, all these people watch the show and know how disappointed i've been in the first week. so it's not like they are trying to make me feel better. the protests are just a ploy by dnc -- this was a running thing. protests a ploy by dnc and media who are all about dividing and disrupting t

finally, i just want to make a few points about ms. yates' firing last night, since that's the only thing that's changed since the senator from new york and i were on the floor yesterday. mrs. yates in her letter about the president's order did not cite any provision of the constitution, any federal law that suggested the president's order was unlawful or unconstitutional, nor could she because her own office of legal counsel, which provides legal guidance for the executive branch, had already reviewed the order before it was issued for its form and its legality and had signed off on it. her decision was a policy decision, which is not the decision of the attorney general, certainly a holdover acting attorney general, to make. she was grandstanding. she should have been relieved. i am glad the president relieved her. the american people deserve to have a politically accountable attorney general to make these decisions, which we would have yet again, i say, if the democrats would simply do their job and process these nominees in an orde