His assertions as he continues to push substantiated claims of voter fraud with no evidence to support it. Tonight stories with all of those categories starting with chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto at the pentagon where President Trump welcomed his defense secretary to the job and signed that executive action on refugees that is getting a lot of attention tonight, jim. Lets talk about that executive action and what the president says institutes extreme vetting of immigrants. What exactly does that mean . Reporter john, key measure of this extreme vetting, hard to call it anything else but a religious test. The majority muslim countries, one of the exceptions in this executive order talks about minority religions in those majority muslim countries, which by definition means not muslim. Theres that. But theres also the question as to what data justifies this. When you look at these countries, iran, iraq, syria, smael ya, libya, certainly countries that have terror problems but no clear definition of the data that shows that people from those countries, whether theyre students or family members, et cetera, have a higher incidence of being terrorists, right, which is what the president describes this as, as a measure to prevent terrorists from entering the u. S. And ill just note this finally, john, he mentioned the executive order repeatedly 9 11 but be clear, the four countries that the 9 11 hinls were from including saudi arabia, egypt, you nighted Arab Emirates and lebanon, none of those four countries are on this list. Certainly causing great upset from the people affected by it but the aclu, democrats, some republicans as well. The president also signed an executive order calling for a more aggressive, you know, military action against isis. What exactly does that mean . Reporter i spoke to a defense official tonight who described the meeting twine the president , the defense secretary, the joint chief of staffs. He would not specify specific actions but we had on background earlier in the day some of the things on the table are things like arming rebels inside syria. Thats a step the Obama Administration considered but did not take. They were worried about those weapons getting into the wrong hands. But also more aggressive steps, more american boots on the ground in syria, the deployment of attack helicopters, u. S. Artillery, all things that would certainly increase firepower against isis but also put u. S. Troops at greater risk. Jim sciutto obviously not at the pentagon tonight. Thanks so much. Great to see you no matter where you are. More now on refugees. To expand on what jim mentioned the executive action prioritizes claims made by people on the basis of religiousbased persecution as long as the person applying for Refugee Status is a minority religion in the countrys nationality. President trump hinted at this with a conversation with the Christian Networks david brodie. Persecuted christians. Weve talked about this overseas. The Refugee Program that or the refugee changes youre looking to make as it relates to persecuted christians, do you see them as a priority here . Yes. You do. Theyve been horribly treated. Do you know if you were a christian in syria, it was impossible, very, very at least very, very tough to get into the United States. If you were a muslim, you could come in. The reason that that was so unfair is everybody was persecuted in all fairness, but they were chopping off the heads of everybody. But more so the christians. And i thought it was very, very unfair. So we are going to help them. Trump focusing his attention on persecution christians face especially in places where isis holds sway. But as a group facing entry here, thats questionable. 44 of the refugees entering the country this year are christian, 46 muslim, pretty even even though the Top Countries are entirely muslim. Lets wring in panel. Carl bernstein, kirsten powers, kayleigh mcenany, hilary rosen and matt lewis. Kaylei kayleigh, interesting, today International Holocaust remembrance day. The white house it put out a memo and the last line was together we will make love and tolerance prevalent throughout the world. Some people have noted the irony when youre talking about love and tolerance throughout the world the same day youre iss issuing bans on certain people entering the country. Is that consistent . It is consistent. Because what donald trump sees as he looks around the world and sees that there have been problems with the Refugee Program, weve seen it in germany, seen this mass flood of immigration and seen terrorist attacks waged on german soil and elsewhere, some of which were conducted by refugees. Its a small minority, yes. Nevertheless one that has to be looked at and considered. I have to say this talk about christians being prioritized, im not certain why this is at all controversial because first of all when you look at the definition of what it mean s to be a refugee, it means youre persecuted on the basis of religion. We know the house passed a resolution 3930 recognizing the genocide against christians and religious minorities across the middle east. The fact we would prioritize the most marginalized discriminated against in the middle east in a Refugee Program is not a subject of controversy. Those persecuted because of religion yes are prioritized. Its being discussed because the president mentioned christians but did not mention yazidis, for instance. Kirsten powers, you right a lot about religious persecution throughout the world and youve talked to people inside the administration. Does this protection and prior toization that the president is talking about extend to yazidis or sunnis in syria or shiites . I havent talked to anyone in the organization but the human rights lawyers ive talked to said what the draft executive order says would apply to the yazidis. I dont know what other groups. There are small muslim sects that are horribly tis krim nadi against. But christians are one of the primary groups that have been persecuted in the middle east by isis and that is why as kayleigh said it was the Obama Administration designated it as a genocide. It would make sense they would be put at the top of the list. To defend donald trump in in case, he was asked a specific question about christian persecution. He was just answering the question. I dont think i think if you look if the text is the same as the draft, its clear it doesnt just apply to christians. But hilary rosen, while christians are being persecuted no question inside syria a lot of to the victims of the assad regime, of isis are muslim. Right. I dont have a problem with the point that kirsten just said but i have a problem with donald trump somehow suggesting he actually said it, that christians havent been allowed into our country and muslims have. When we saw the facts at the opening that said that actually theres been a pretty equal pamt of christians coming in and muslims coming in, and so its just factually not true and its unnecessarily inflammatory for him to say that theres no that christians have had trouble coming in and that the United States somehow the implication is that the Obama Administration, thats his implication, the Obama AdministrationSyrian Refugees he was talking about the program as of 2016 a study was done. 11,000 were let in. 56 were christian of the 11,000. The fact presented wasnt relevant at all to Donald Trumps point. He didnt say that. What he said was christians are having trouble getting into the country. I think what he was talking about he probably heard it, i dont even if he would know this for sure what some of the human rights people would say, the christians are having trouble on the u. N. Side, the u. N. Camps basically that are processing them. I agree. I should say i dont agree with this ban of not letting the refugees come in pip just think this issue, i think we should be clear, hes talking about once the program is restarted, when presumably other muslims will be let in as well, that there would be a priority of critics often say this gets to the character of america, what is america. Is this country a place that is welcome and to refugee or for the next 120 days clearly it is not. Thats the real question. Im not sure in this atmosphere if my grandparents came here that they would be admitted to this country the way that they were. The Bigger Picture is donald trump is addressing his base politically, fuel for the fire, instead of doing a carefully planned and considered factualbased program. Has he sat down with the Homeland Security people . Has he talked to the experts . Has there been real planning for this . I know of no evidence of this. This is more symbolism and rhetoric than it is rooted in fact from what we can see so far. Also, we have been protected by the measures we have had to a remarkable degree since 9 11. Our system has worked much better than europe ice has. We have not had the attacks that europe has. Now, if there is a real existing problem that can be identified and theres some way to more carefully vet people without a lot of rhetoric and playing to the base, that ice another thing. But i dont see it here. Matt lewis, in the exact executive order i do not believe there is the language listing which countries people would be that was floated in the draft. Im not sure the final version listed those countries but when they were being discussed none included the 9 11 hijacker countries, pakistan, afghanistan. Belgium. France wasnt in there. We know terrorists are active right now. Are you preventing what youre saying youre trying to . I dont know if it makes sense what the countries that he picked. Maybe saudi arabia should be on there. I dont know. But i think it proves this is not a religious test because there are countries predominantly muslim allowed to come here. This is high risk countries. It is for 120 days. We dont know they say theyre going to pick the countries. We dont know which theyll pick. I guess my point here is that i think that this is a big deal but i dont want to overblow it. Its for 120 days. And, look, i think the bottom line is americans want to be welcome and generous. But we live in an incredibly dangerous world and when we see things that are happening in other countries, thankfully not hasnt happened as badly in america. This is what donald trump got elected to do. In fact, you could argue that this is a moderate position compared to what the American Public elected him to do. This is less than the muslim ban he first introduced. He won an election i think at least partly because of that position. All right, guys. Stick around. A lot more to discuss tonight including my conversation with the man President Trump is citing to back up his claim that millions of americans cast ballots illegally depriving him of a victory in popular votes. This is your chance to hear what he has to say and decide for yourself whether any of it amounts to evidence. Later, republican lawmakers who campaigned on replacing obamacare now more than a little worried about having to keep that promise. I wanti did my ancestrydna and where i came from. And i couldnt wait to get my pie chart. The most shocking result was that im 26 native american. I had no idea. Just to know this is what im made of, this is where my ancestors came from. And i absolutely want to know more about my native american heritage. Its opened up a whole new world for me. Discover the story only your dna can tell. Order your kit now at ancestrydna. Com. These numbers are off the charts. This . Sir whats the status . Theres a meteor hurtling towards earth. 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Translated into 35 languages, personalized oh and shared across the 7 continents. other languages spoken look abbot, i got it. Its a miracle. No shortage of breaking news. We are learning that Vice President pence seems on board with the president s stated belief that millions voted illegally. According to the Washington Post, heres what the Vice President said behind closed doors at this weeks republican strategy retreat in philadelphia. He said what i can tell you is what i would anticipate that the administration is going to initiate a full evaluation of voting rolls in the country, the overall integrity of our Voting System in the wake of this past election. This morning the president tweeted look forward to seeing final results of votes stand. Greg phillips and crew say at least 3 million votes were illegal. We must do better. His referring to the individual who claimed to have evidence of massive voter fraud that said hed publish proof within days. He did not. But President Trump is giving national credence. We spoke to Greg Phillips shortly before air time. Thanks for coming in. Its been about 12 hours since you were on cnn this morning, you said you would not release your evidence that at least 3 Million People voted illegally. Will you give us that evidence now . I said i wouldnt release it now and its still now. So, now, were not prepared to release it. Weve had a lot of verification and validation of our own methods and research and well get it out as quick as we can. What does this evidence look like . We talking about a list of at least 3 million names . Yeah. I mean, we we started with a list of 180someodd million registered voters in the country. That list has been built over a number of years. We amended that list, enhanced the list, built the list up, and we have spent a great deal of time building analytics around the list so that we could understand patterns, we could understand whats happening, we could understand whos voting where and when. And its a very sophisticated operation and were very proud of it. Help us understand what types of names are on this list. Will this list include names like steve bannon or Jared Kushner or the treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin who are registered in two states . Will nose names be on it . No, thats ridiculous. Those are a symptom of a broken process where the United States cant quite understand that we need to have a national or American Voter i. D. That travels with the person much like your Social Security number. So your list is 3 Million People you say are noncitizens. Correct. So we were checking the u. S. Census earlier today and the u. S. Census for 2010 said there are about 22 Million People in the United States who are noncitizens. 22 million noncitizens. That includes people by the way who are younger than 18 so not eligible to vote. Of that 22 million you say a minimum of 3 million voted . Thats a huge percentage. Thats about 15 . You think 15 of the people who are not citizens in this country voted in this last election . Well, i would dispute the 22 million. I think both the census numbers and others discount the number of illegal aliens say there are 11 million undocumented, then there are 33 million. Its still a huge percentage. We dont think so. We think that the way the system is set up its institutionalized the fraud and has not only allowed it to cur but has facilitated and fostered the means through which it occurred. We dont think so. Do you know so . You know that upwards of 15 , maybe 20 , because you say the number may be more than 3 million, you know that that many people who are in the United States and arent citizens voted in this last election . Well, we believe we do, and thats what were going back and doublechecking and confirming and validating and when were complete and satisfied that weve teased out all of the false positives and challenges that we might face in the execution of it, then well expose the list to the public. We spoke to justin levitt, a law professor at loyola, whos been studying voter fraud issues for years and he said he hasnt come across one person whos gone in and intentionally checked the wrong box. You say youre not here to prove intent. What are you here to prove . Our hope is to create an environment where we can develop a data set. If im wrong, im wrong and im going to man up and say im wrong. Look, the ship has shaled on that, if im wrong, im wrong. You came out six days after the election saying 3 Million People voted illegally and now the president of the United States is citing your comments and your efforts to say that theres been mass voter fraud in this country. I think that moment has passed for you. Obviously you just want to fight and not listen. So hears the deal. When we complete this analysis, were going the lay it out to the public. Were going to lay out our methodologies, our hypotheses, our outputs, the