| | | | Travel ban hearing: Fiery judges put lawyers on their heels | | Tonight's big news, from CNN's Ariane de Vogue and Laura Jarrett: Three federal judges grilled lawyers from the Justice Department and Washington state tonight as they determine whether to lift a nationwide halt against President Donald Trump's travel ban against citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries. The hearing, conducted by telephone, contained moments of high drama, as one of Trump's signature policies is challenged by two states and numerous advocacy groups.
The Trump White House's argument: "This is a traditional national security judgment that is assigned to the political branches and the President," said August Flentje, special counsel to the assistant attorney general at the Justice Department.
And the travel ban's opponents' case: "It has always been the judicial branch's role to say what the law is and serve as a check," said Washington state Solicitor General Noah Purcell, representing his state and Minnesota, which are challenging the Trump executive order. If the court were to lift the injunction it would throw the country back into "chaos," he said.
The day before her naturalization ceremony, an ACLU lawyer says she was stopped and questioned at an airport over her work for the group that is fighting Trump's travel ban in court. | | Bernie Sanders vs. Ted Cruz on health care | | Tune in to CNN now for a hot debate: Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will defend Obamacare (or perhaps argue for his Medicare-for-all approach) and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will make the case for the GOP to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Hovering above it all: The political reality that Republicans have not yet figured out what to replace it with.
Meanwhile ... what conservatives are watching: Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are developing their own legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare and plan to unveil it as early as next week. Rep. Mark Meadows, R-North Carolina, told reporters the proposal being drafted takes much of the language from a 2015 GOP measure to dismantle the health care law that Congress passed but was vetoed by then-President Barack Obama. "It echoes a repeal and a replacement at the same time." | | White House watch: Trump disappointed in Spicer | | The White House is ramping up its search for a communications director -- to allow press secretary Sean Spicer to stop playing both roles -- reports CNN's Jim Acosta.
The juicy tidbits: "A source familiar with internal communications said President Donald Trump is disappointed in Spicer's performance during the first two weeks of the administration. ... Spicer is a close ally of White House chief of staff Reince Priebus. According to the source close to the hiring process, Trump is upset with Priebus over the selection of Spicer. ... The President 'regrets it every day and blames Priebus,' the source added." | | "Do you want to give his name? We'll destroy his career." -- President Donald Trump, during a White House meeting with sheriffs, to a Texas sheriff about a state senator who'd irked the sheriff. | | | Top White House adviser Kellyanne Conway appeared on CNN's "The Lead" in a 25-minute, must-see interview with Jake Tapper where they discussed President Donald Trump's falsehoods and the administration's treatment of the press.
The line everyone is buzzing about: "I don't think CNN is 'fake news.' I think there are some reports everywhere, in print, on TV, on radio, in conversation, that are not well-researched and are sometimes based on falsehoods." | | Confirmation votes: DeVos confirmed, Sessions up next | | The record-breaking round of phone calls from teachers' unions and "Just one more!" pleas from Democrats didn't work: Vice President Mike Pence cast the first-ever tiebreaking vote for a Cabinet nominee and Betsy DeVos was confirmed 51-50 as President Donald Trump's education secretary today.
On to the next one.
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions looks poised to be confirmed as Trump's attorney general on Wednesday after a 52-47-1 vote to move him toward a final vote. The abstention was Sessions, and the lone Democrat to join Republicans in backing Sessions was West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin. CNN's Ted Barrett has more. | | | That #IslandLife: Before returning to Washington, former President Barack Obama dived into an aquatic and athletic challenge with his friend, Virgin Group founder and billionaire Richard Branson, while vacationing on the British Virgin Islands. "We decided to set up a friendly challenge: Could Barack learn to kitesurf before I learned to foilboard? We agreed to have a final day battle to see who could stay up the longest," Branson wrote in a post on Virgin.com. | | 4 things you might have missed today | | Trump is wrong about the murder rate: President Donald Trump said during a meeting with US sheriffs at the White House that the US murder rate "is the highest it's been in 47 years." But the US murder rate isn't even close to such record highs. More from CNN's Jeremy Diamond.
Dakota pipeline advances after Trump order: The US Army Corps of Engineers will grant an easement in North Dakota for the Dakota Access Pipeline, allowing the project to move toward completion despite the protests of Native Americans and environmentalists, per CNN's Steve Almasy.
GOP senators seek to cut legal immigration: Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia propose a bill that will roll back legal immigration in a three-pronged approach that aims to cut the number of immigrants by half, to 500,000 annually. More from CNN's Ashley Killough.
Rahm's frustration with Democrats: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel didn't hold back today at Stanford, the Chicago Tribune's Kim Janssen reports. "Winning's everything," he said. "If you don't win, you can't make the public policy. I say that because it is hard for people in our party to accept that principle. Sometimes, you've just got to win, OK? Our party likes to be right, even if they lose." | | | Rep. Sean Duffy says on CNN "there is a difference" between terror acts by white people and those committed by Muslims. ... Karen Pence has made her first official hire as second lady, appointing Kristan King Nevins as her chief of staff, the office of the vice president announced today. ... Longtime Emily's List communications director Marcy Stech is departing the group. | | | 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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