Appointees as his administration continues to try to fill positions. And he reinstated the socalled mexico city policy. Thats a policy under which nongovernmental organizations operating overseas that get federal funds are not allowed to perfom or promote abortions. The president has another busy schedule today starting off with another breakfast and listening session this time with Auto Industry leaders. Later on hell be signing more executive orders and meeting with senate leaders. One thing not on his public schedule, the president ial daily briefing. Thats the intelligence briefing thats getting a lot of attention in recent months. Absolutely. Athena, thank you. Vice president mike pence swearing in mike pompeo as the new cia director last night after he was confirmed by the senate. Rex tillerson advances to a full vote next week. We have a full slate of hearings today. Sunlen serfaty has more from capitol hill. Good morning to you. The senate is inching along here. Mike pompeo becoming the third cabinet official in place, sworn in overnight very swiftly by Vice President pence. And things are now lining up for trumps fourth cabinet official to potentially be in place very soon. Rex tillerson, trumps controversial secretary of state nominee, approved by the Senate ForeignRelations Committee yesterday with some lastminute support from senator marco rubio. Tillerson now heads to the full senate and hes all but guaranteed to pass through easily. But that vote will likely not happen immediately. Democrats up here on the hill have already indicated that they likely will filibuster this nomination pushing tillersons final vote into next week. Today on capitol hill, another slew of potentially contentious confirmation hearings, including for tom price who is facing his second round of questioning. Mick mulvaney. Democrats on that committee have already indicated they will delay that vote, pushing sessions into next week and right now senator sessions is at least facing, at the earliest, a final confirmation in early february. Back to you guys. Lets discuss with republican senator rob portman of ohio. Senator, always good to have you on the show. Its a lot of politics in the air about these confirmation hearings. I wanted to talk to you about something of substance with nominee tom price. In one of the hearings, the issue of the obamacare provision that allows or mandates Mental Health coverage addiction Care Coverage be offered. The nominee vacillated on that. When asked whether it was a good thing because hes passed legislation in the past that would have gotten rid on that mandate to cover Addiction Treatment, he didnt reply directly. He said whats good to do is make sure were providing the options and choices for patients to address their clinical and medical needs. Thats a nonanswer. Are you worried the next head of the hhs may take away Addiction Treatment when we have a scourge of opioids going across this country that you have been fighting aggressively for your own state . Chris, i would be concerned and specifically with regard to medicaid expansion. What weve seen in ohio is many people who need that treatment are now being covered by that expansion. Im for the medicaid reforms governor kasich and others have talked about to provide the states more flexibility to better cover the medicaid population. But i do think its important we keep that Addiction Services in place. Because, look, we are facing an epidemuc, not just in ohio where we happen to be facing it, you know, more intently than other states, but all around the country. And i believe from the data were getting, its getting worse, not better. More people are falling into that addiction trap. So its opioids, prescription drugs, fentanyl. Is it a dealbreaker if the incoming hhs secretary wont go to the matt for people suffering from a scourge going across this country, will that influence your vote . Well talk to him about it. I think he was talking more about the exchanges and what should the mandates be. Theres a lot of honest debate about whether the Affordable Care act put so many mandates in place that its driven costs up. But senator youve seen if you dont make Insurance Companies cover Addiction Treatment, they dont cover it. So if you remove that and he vacillated on it, at best and hes passed bills in the past that took it away in the main, will that matter enough to you to compromise your vote . Im going to have the discussion with him as well as some other issues. I believe we ought to have a transition that is smooth and thoughtful in terms of the Affordable Care act and take our time and get it right. Theres a lot of discussion to be had. We have a hearing today with him in the finance committee. So well have a chance to talk about those and other issues. So the president makes a bold move. Takes the United States out of the tpp, the Transpacific Partnership. A lot of cheers but they are coming from the wrong side of the aisle. A lot of democrats are very happy about this. But, you know, whether or not its ryan or mccain or your head for the house ways and means committee, they didnt like this. The gop liked the partnership. Likes the idea of expansive free trade. Whats going on with our new president and his party . Well, Hillary Clinton and donald trump both came out against the trade deal with the pacific countries the tpp, Transpacific Partnership. I, too, thought it was not a god agreement and, frankly, there were three specific issues that i think were weak. One was with regard to autos, actually because theres a rules of origin that would allow autos to come in from japan with a lot of parts coming from other countries, including china that are not part of the agreement. That didnt seem fair and we made that point repeatedly. I think it can be approved. Even republicans who support the concept of it because of the importance of having that agreement. They have concerns about some of the specifics. The first thing that happened, once you withdraw, youre out. China immediately stepped in to fill the vacuum. Do you think its a coincidence the next thing they did was make a comment about the South China Sea and said the United States is not a party to this matter, which sounds more like a trade term than a geopolitical military operative term. Do you see that they filled the void and the mistake has been made . Theyve been filling whatever voids that they can find and during the Obama Administration, as weve talked about before, we did withdraw in terms of our american presence around the world to the point that both russia, china and other actors have stepped in. And whats happens in the South China Sea is an example. The other countries in the region are very nervous about that. I think the United States needs to continue to play a key role in asia. Theres been discussion about bilateral trade agreements with some of these individual countries like japan, which is, by far, the biggest economy involved in the tpp. I understand they are interested if that. That could be very helpful. Sometimes our Bilateral Agreements tend to be better than our multilaterals but you can reduce the barriers to trade further when you have an agreement just between two parties. So im hopeful we will not pull back from that region and, in farkts restore americas leadership. We have on the screen as part of your description that youre on the finance committee. But youre on a lot economists. One is the foreign relations. Do you have any concern for the president forgoing the daily intel brief. Many have said its the cumulative understanding of this conversation about the issues as presented that give the president and the people around him the best feel for security conditions. I think the daily brief is important because its raw intelligence. Its also important to have analysis from the people around you. I know hes put together a Good NationalSecurity Team around him, including general mattis and general kelly who have been confirmed, and Rex Tillerson is on his way. I think hell be confirmed in the next week or so. The raw intelligence is important. If you were to talk to previous president s, they would say that they found that to be helpful in terms of understanding not just cumulatively what the narrative is around the world but, you know, deeper dive into some of the specific National Security concerns around the world. You said you expect tillerson to be confirmed next week. You just said that you are concerned about russia and china filling the void in places around the world. I assume youve gotten over any concerns about rex fill tillers relationship with russia and what it means for putting america first. Hes got good relationships with World Leaders n that can be a positive or negative. And the hearings, i questioned him about that. I talked to him specifically about nato, article 5, which is an incredibly important part of our mutual defense with these countries. Also talked to him about ukraine and the Obama Administration has not supported providing defensive lethal weapons to ukraine. He said hed be in favor of reversing that policy. Being tougher relative to Vladimir Putin and the russians and their intervention in ukraine. I did get some good comments from him about that and that assured me to be able to vote for hum last night. Sarenator, thank you. We know youll keep your eyes on the addiction prevention measures coming out of our government. Thank you for your continue ed coverage of that and raising the awareness which is going to raise lives. And as we continue to fight this scourge. Few things are as universal as addiction. Be well, senator. Talk to you soon. Such an important topic. Phone calls between President Trumps National Security adviser and a Russian Ambassador now under scrutiny. These calls raising concerns with counterintelligence investigators. Evan perez is live from washington with more. What have you learned . The calls between mike flynn, President Trumps National Security adviser, and russias ampass dor to the United States are being scrutinized as part of a broader intelligence investigation of russian activities here in this country. Law enforcement and intelligence Officials Say the calls were captured by routine u. S. Eavesdropping targeting the Russian Diplomats but the Officials Say some of the content of the conversation drew enough potential concerns that investigators are still looking into the discussions. The officials also stress that so far theres been no determination of wrongdoing. We know that the fbi and intelligence officials briefed the Obama White House about the phone discussions before president obama left office. One of the calls came on the same day the Obama Administration announced sanctions on russia and expelled 5 diplomats. The white house has said it has no knowledge any of investigation or even the basis for such an investigation. Sean spice, the white house spokesman told reporters there were two calls. And that the men discussed four subjects. That includes setting up a conference on isis and a phone call between President Trump and russian president Vladimir Putin. Thank you very much. Keep us up to date on that story. President trump moving quickly to start repealing several of president obamas policies. More executive actions expected this morning. How are democrats responding . Well hear from one of them, next. Be the you who doesnt cover your moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Be the you who shows up in that dress. Who hugs a friend. Who is done with treatments that dont give you clearer skin. Be the you who controls your psoriasis with stelara® just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. Stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. Some serious infections require hospitalization. Before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. 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For drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. And if you do have an accident, our claims centers are available to assist you 24 7. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Ridiculous trade deals that are taking everybody out of our country and taking companies out of our country. And its going to be reversed. I think youll have a lot of Companies Come back to our country. Companies that left are going to come back to our country. And theyre going to hire a lot of people. President trump beginning his first week in office with a flurry of executive orders, including withdrawing from the Transpacific Partnership trade deal. The move fulfilling a promise mr. Trump made during the campaign. Joining us now to discuss it, democratic congressman Keith Ellison of minnesota, a candidate for the dnc chair. Good morning, congressman. Good morning. So you didnt like tpp. Are you pleased with how swiftly mr. Trump moved on it . Im pleased that the American People over the course of years raised up the problems with tpp and im glad that their voices got heard, even if it was by somebody who manipulated the issue for their own political advantage. At the end of the day, we need a new trade model that ends deferral which is a tax provision that allows companies to keep profits offshore and not bring them back into the country. We need a trade policy that invests in american jobs and put American Workers first. So thats really where we have to go from here. But these are the things that President Trump is saying. Why dont you give him credit for ending tpp . You know, i give him credit for being a reader of the political tea leaves. But look what else he did. He also reestablished the global gag rule which is something very bad. One of the leading causes of poverty for women around the world is the inability to space their children. The inability to plan their families and he got rid of that, which is very damaging. But also the federal hiring freeze. Another bad thing, too. I do want to ask you about those. But just one second. Where you find points of agreement, why not give him credit for those things . Because i think because the people who raise their voices over the course of years that brought us about brought about this policy. I want to give the people credit. Thats what i believe. I understand. As you know, the way it works, the president , who is in office at the time that it happens gets the credit. Well, i dont necessarily agree with that. In a democraerks its the people who get the credit and the people drove this policy change to the point where they now well not have to deal with the Transpacific Partnership. What are we going to have to deal with next . Well still have to have some kind of a policy and this is as a business person brought in ties, suits and a whole bunch of other stuff by using foreign lowwage labor. So i guess thats one of the reasons im not fully persuaded this is a cause for rejoicing. Mr. Trump does have a history of exploiting lowcost foreign labor in order to sell his goods and also, you know, you brought Foreign Workers into the United States to run his resort. So you dont believe him when he says hes for American Workers as he said during the campaign and has reiterated since taking off, you dont believe that . I believe the workers in Atlantic City who were mistreated by him, i believe them. I believe the workers in las vegas who say they were not treated properly by donald trump. Those are the thats who i believe. This president , given his background, needs to do a little more proving before you make a believer out of me. If youll not give him credit for withdrawing from tpp, then how can you criticize him for then his executive order on the socalled mexico city