Up to donald trump against torture. We have a very clear position on torture. We do not sanction torture. We do not get involved with that and will continue to be our position. And moments ago the Mexican President announcing that his meeting planned for next week with President Trump has been canceled. We are on the same page with the white house. How surprised are you every time there is a new tweet from the president . This is going to be an unconventional presidency, i think you know this by now casy. And i think we are going to see unconventional activities like tweets and thats just something we are all going to have to get used to. Good derek everyone. A busy day. Im Andrea MitchellIn Washington. President trump just arriving in philadelphia. You see Air Force One there. We are expecting his remarks to house and Senate Republicans later in this houn. He will go its about a 20 minute ride from that airport in South Philadelphia back into center city, where he is going to be meeting with the republicans, where they are in their retreat a. Lot to talk about. He disimbarked from marine one earlier for the first time at Andrews Air Force base and boards Air Force One. Its his first ride on the blue and white plane now that he is of course commander in chief. Joining me, Casey Hunt In Philadelphia where the republicans are awaiting him. First of all, kristen, the president tweeted earlier today, this was a precursor, all of this watching this sens sensed there was a likely cancellation from mexico. You have got a Mexican President at record low popularity under great pressure at home to stand up to donald trump. President Trump Tweeting today the u. S. Has a 60 billion trade deficit with mexico. It has been a one side deal from
coming through mexico. Reporter yeah. But in rene years and recent months more mexicans have been leaving mexican people who migrated to the u. S. Have been going back the other way because under economy has been getting stronger. Reporter well, andrea, this was part of a rather uncomfortable discussion this morning with House Speaker paul ryan and majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. They were pressed on this very question about what this at that point of course we were talking about just the border wall proposal. We didnt yet have this news about the official cancel igs of this visit. But they were asked what does this do to our relationship with meksio . Are you comfortable with this . And they sort of pushed those questions aside just like they did on other topic related to this. They were repeatedly asked, for example, if the border wall, if building the wall that has sparked this confrontation with mexicos president , would add to the u. S. Definite simpson. They have come out and said at this retreat that there likely
david muir on abc that he believes Torture Works but he would defer Secretaries Mattis and director of dci pompeo and their strong view to follow and law as long as it is the law against torture but that might revisit that. That is the message. That sends a signal to our allied Intelligence Services on whom we depend. Certainly to the terrorists abroad who can use that tape and repopulate it of the president of the United States saying Torture Works. Its not something that you have heard before from a president. Reporter thats right. And even when we were having this debate during the bush presidency and after president obama pushed to make changes and have congress ultimately pass a law that restricted the Intelligence Community to using the techniques provided in the Army Field Manual and outlawing
those enhanced Interrogation Techniques that were used nobody said that toes enhanced Interrogation Techniques from torture. The controversy was over the Justice Department kind of bending over backwards as know very well to try to say these techniques were not torture. So the way that the president is approaching this is pretty unprecedented. Frank lights been the issue that has probably put the congressional leaders most on the spot over the last couple of days. They have essentially said look this is settled law. We have dealt with this law. Paul ryan was very blunt today saying how oftentimes lawmakers will try to talk around a question, ryan was short and to the point. He said look this is settled law. We dont think it should be changed. Torture is illegal. I think you know this is something where there are very definitive breaks between the president and the way hes talking about this as well as the policy he is espousing and other republicans in his own
party . In fact, you brought up a point i noticed that when you were asking questions and Mitch Mcconnell said i think the director of the cia has made it clear he is going to follow the law and i think all of my members are comfortable with that state of the law right now. Ryan leaned in and said torture is illegal and we agree with it noting legal. He could not be more definitive. He said its illegal three times. Kristen, there is a lot of discomfort as casey has point out among the Republican Leaders with the tweeting with the kind of language, with sort of the way things are rolling out. They have to deal with it. They have to smooth things over. What is happening hyped the scenes in the white house as they are trying to get up to speed . We now have reports that the entire top level at the State Department of president ial appoint appointees, but of Career Foreign Service people have cleared out, have resigned as of
today. Reporter and white house Pris Press Secretary shawn spicer was just asked about that during his gaggle with reporters aboard Air Force One. He said he hadnt been briefed on that yet. We are waiting for their official reaction. Now kristen we see the president. Reporter yes. The president is coming out of Air Force One. This is goio become the image of the next four years of the president coming down the steps of Air Force One for the first time in philadelphia. His first trip. Kristen, you were saying that shawn spicer was asked about this mass departure from the seventh floor of the State Department. Rex tillerson was there for the first time that he know of yesterday. Once it was clear that he was going to have the votes for confirmation. Reporter to your broader point, i think there was some concern about the way in which this transition was unraveling in the sense that white house officials of the Obama Administration were saying that
they wanted more engage men from the trump transition. So i think there is some catching up that is happening. And then the typical sort of getting your sea legs that happens whenever you enter the white house. So i think both of those things are happening at the same time. Going back to what you were discussing though with casey in terms of this conversation about torture this is now an issue that is overshadowing this white house. We are peppering them with questions about the remarks that President Trump made last night during that interview. And of course it sets the backdrop for that meeting that he is going to have with british Prime Minister theresa may tomorrow. You think about the relationship with the United States and mexico, the fact that that meeting has now been canceled. The fact that that relationship has now been complicated to such a large extent by the building of this wall or at least the greenlighting of the construction of the wall. And this discussion of torture i think is going to create a very
complicated backdrop as well, Thorny Backdrop as President Trump prepares to meet with Prime Minister theresa may who has been insistent that they are not going to engage in enhanced Interrogation Methods like Water Boarding. I think there are going to be some tough questions and we are expecting to get some questions to both of these leadest tomorrow when they meet. The president is inside the limo. The beast, and about to proceed to Center City Philadelphia from South Philadelphia as i say it is a about a 20 minute ride in a motorcade. They obviously dont have to stop for traffic or any other impediment as they proceed down to the hotel where they will be meeting with the Republican Leaders. The speech from the president is going to precede another speech later from Vice President pence and then a third speech today to the gathering, and this from the british Prime Minister who will then be In Washington tomorrow for her first meeting at the white house. We are told they will have a joint Press Conference. Shawn spicer on the tarmac has just told reporters on Air Force One there will be an attempt to reschedule the meeting with the Mexican President and keep lines of communication open. They are trying to smooth this over. There was a travel pool. There had been nervousness among the White House Press corps about what the traditions would be taken up by this new president and his team. But they did travel with him on Air Force One. The Press Secretary did speak to reporters. All of that is proceeding at pace. Thanks to casey hunt and kristen welker. Casey will be there of course when the president arrives. Joining me now is the maryland congressman elijah cummings. Thanks for your patients, we wanted to watch the president arrive and find out what had happened on Air Force One. What is your initial reaction to the cancellation by the mexican
press anged by the tweet from President Trump earlier today that that meeting is not going to take place . Andrea, let me express my condolences with the passing your father. Oh, thank you kong man. With regard to this, andrea im not surprised. You cannot bully your way around the world. Clearly, there was signals were there that mexico is not going to pay for the wall and that President Trump is trying to force them to. And i think and when you think about the fact that the poll numbers for the Mexican President are at 12 , he probably had no choice but to cancel and so im not surprised. Also we know there is going to be an Executive Action later today by President Trump on an investigation into the socalled voter fraud claims which we know have been discredited by every fact finder and research group. What are you thinking of that . Chairman chafee said he sees no reason for a congressional investigation. And if the president wants to do it on his own he has a Justice Department. Where do we stand . Andrea, lets be clear. There is no voter fraud to speak of. And the thing that is so insulting to me and to so many others. We have seen over and over again where is that we have seen over and over where republican legislators and governors have been denying people the right to vote. In 2014, in texas, a court found that 600,000 peo were denied the right to voteecause of all these restrictive laws and voter i. D. Laws. And i had said to my colleagues if they want to do an investigation do an investigation to make sure that every person has a right to vote. And that is my concern. This is a smoke screen. This is its like chasing a
rabbit that doesnt exist that the voter fraud. But the fact that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people are today not able to vote because of these restrictive laws, thats a major problem. Thats what we should be looking at. And im hoping that the republicans will bring legislation to the floor of the house whereby we can restore the Voting Rights act because as you know the Supreme Court pretty much gutted it. Now you have got American People and others who are being denied the right to vote. Thats the bigger question. So if they are going to do an investigation, they need to do that investigation. The Justice Department has already signaled that its not going to ask for a continuance. Its not going to to go to that hearing that was supposed to be this week on the voter i. D. Law in texas. And you are also getting signals from the Justice Department potentially about the Consent Decrees with chicago and baltimoron the police department. Yeah, yeah. How are you going to deal with that. Baltimore, thats your turf. You were out in the he streets, you know better than anyone whats going on there. We are hoping that the Justice Department they delayed the Court Hearing on it. We expect that to be in front of a judge. I think once its being ruled over by a judge it will be well probably be able to make some headway. But the problem is, andrea, this was a consend decree in baltimore where everybody came together, the police, the community, the religious community and elected officials, and gave a lot of testimony, came up with a plan whereby the police and the citizens could Work Together to make things better. And im hoping that sessions and i do expect Senator Sessions to be affirmed im hoping that he will not just yank the rug from under these decrees because they play such an Important Role particularly in a time when there is so much tension between police and our communities. As the ranking democrat on
oversight you might be concerned whats going on at the State Department. What we are hearing is mass departure of the professional levels of top people on the seventh floor. Clearly they would submit their resignations as is standard for the new president but for them all to leave just as this new Secretary Of State not yet confirmed but on track to be confirmed is coming in it signals a real vacuum there at the State Department of professional leaders. No doubt bichlt our State Department people, i know many of them, worked with many of them, they give their blood, sweat and tears for our country. Andrea, there is something happening here. What we are finding is that more and more peep are looking at some of the appointments that are being made by President Trump. They are lookingt the policies that hes putting out. As a matter of fact just recently we got four different documents where we see that there has been put a gag order
on federal employees. And so i think federal employees feel like they are under a gun. And they feel like they cannot do the job they need to do. So it doesnt surprise me. I think you are going to see even more of that. I think you are going to see something else. I think you are going to see more and more people going into the streets. In some countries, the people are afraid of the government. And i think people are trying to make sure that the government becomes afraid of the people. And i i anticipate that you are going to see more and more republican congressmen with members of their community knocking on their doris and complaining because a lot of people are scared. They dont know where were going. They see their country changing literally by the minute. And things like torture and things of that nature, and gag orders, these are this is not the america and not the democracy that they want. As you are talking, actually, we are looking at some protests. There are protesters in philadelphia in Center City Philadelphia awaiting the arrival not that close but a few blocks away of President Trump. Thank you so much elijah cummings. We are following up on the issue of the gag orders because we are hearing from scientists at e. P. A. And usda and also where that they have been told not to use twitter, not to send out my scientific guidance to their constituencies and there have been halts in the past. We are trying to compare it to other admin