| | | | Trump nominates Gorsuch for Supreme Court | | After an "Apprentice"-style live prime-time appearance, President Donald Trump tonight nominated Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. CNN's Ariane de Vogue has everything you need to know.
The snap bio: Gorsuch, a 49-year-old appellate judge in Colorado and originally a George W. Bush nominee, is the youngest nominee in 25 years. He clerked for Supreme Court justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy and graduated from Harvard Law School.
Gorsuch's Capitol Hill sherpa will be former New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, per CNN's Dana Bash.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Tune into CNN now for immediate reaction from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California. She's participating in a CNN town hall that starts at 9 p.m. ET.
Now, about what comes next...
The real question is what Senate Democrats are going to do. The left is demanding an all-out war against Trump's nominee -- but many Senate Democrats are wary and prefer to pick their battles. All that's certain right now: They want to look like they're carefully considering Trump's pick -- unlike Republicans, who refused to even give Obama nominee Merrick Garland a hearing.
What's scaring Democrats: The possibility that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could invoke the "nuclear option" -- eliminating the Senate's 60-vote threshold on Supreme Court nominees and making it easier for Trump to push a more conservative future nominee through the chamber who would change the court's balance of power. Then there's the contingency of moderate Democrats up for re-election in deep red states in 2018 -- West Virginia's Joe Manchin, Indiana's Joe Donnelly, Missouri's Claire McCaskill, North Dakota's Heidi Heitkamp and Montana's Jon Tester -- who are worried about being painted as Trump obstructionists.
If Democrats don't try to block Trump's pick ... the retribution from the left could be swift. "I sense that Senate Democrats are quickly realizing that not only are they well positioned to act as a vocal, and unrelenting, opposition to Trump -- but in fact the American people are demanding it of them," Matt McDermott, a senior analyst for Whitman Insight Strategies, told Eric. "Progressives are looking for a fight and want to know that Democrats in Washington are geared up for that fight."
Giving the left hope: Today, Democrats stalled committee confirmation votes on three Trump picks -- Steve Mnuchin, the treasury secretary nominee; Rep. Tom Price, Trump's Health and Human Services secretary choice; and Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump's nominee for attorney general. | | "How about we put a vote for Betsy DeVos on the line?" -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, to Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia, jokingly discussing a wager on her home state's New England Patriots vs. Isakson's Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl. | | | | A "ban" by any other name: Don't miss this two-minute fact-check from CNN's Jake Tapper on White House press secretary Sean Spicer insisting today that President Donald Trump's ban on travel to the United States from seven nations is not a "ban" -- even though Spicer and Trump himself have frequently called it just that. | | Did Kelly briefing soothe GOP tensions over travel ban? | | CNN's Tom LoBianco emails: At least one Republican -- Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker -- left a much-hyped briefing with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly unenthused and under the impression the White House is standing firm on its travel ban.
Specifically, Corker said Kelly told lawmakers that no changes would be made to the immigration ban. "I think they feel like from their perspective they have it where they want it to be and are not expecting additional iterations right now," Corker told reporters afterward.
How much did Corker learn? He dryly called the briefing "somewhat insightful -- somewhat." He said it wasn't a "negative meeting" and added: "I'll leave here with a little bit greater insight into what they were doing. I'll just leave it at that." | | | Ollie the Bobcat is still missing -- and Twitter is having some fun with it. | | 3 things you might have missed today | | 1. Chao is in: The Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve Elaine Chao -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's wife and widely regarded as one of Trump's best-qualified nominees -- as secretary of transportation. The vote was 93 to 6, with top Democrat Chuck Schumer among the "no" contingency.
2. Bannon bashed Islam in 2010: Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon once dismissed the notion that Islam is a religion of peace, describing it in a 2010 radio interview as "a religion of submission." More from CNN KFILE's Andrew Kaczynski.
3. To visit or not to visit: Members of the UK Parliament are to hold a debate on President Donald Trump's controversial state visit, CNN's James Masters reports. | | President Donald Trump won't be visiting Milwaukee this week as Harley-Davidson frets about plans for massive protests, an administration official told CNN. ... A bipartisan group of federal prosecutors is supporting Sally Yates' move last night to block Trump's travel ban -- which promptly got her fired by the White House.
And finally... Just a bad break for Rep. Tom Price, Trump's pick for Health and Human Services secretary: | | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Check out Five Things for Your New Day, CNN's morning newsletter. Give us five minutes, and we'll brief you on all the news and buzz people will be talking about. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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