Leader. British Prime Minister theresa may, but his latest diplomatic shakeup stealing the spotlights from previewing his call tomorrow with russia president sclooun, also the latest in his border wall battle with mexico. We will bring you those details too. Also on our agenda. Another march in washington. This administration. Will work with the congress to end tax payerfunding of abortion and abortion providers. And we will devote those resources to Health Care Services for women across america. Today the first time a sitting Vice President has spoken at the annual march for life and antiabortion rally. Obviously a devisive issue in politics for a long time, but where do americans fall right now on the clash over the issue of abortion rights . Thats our most important number of the day. And it might surprise you, but we begin with our top story. President trumps first visit to the state department excuse me, the Defense Department as commander in chief. A live picture here from the pentagon, donald trump there for the intering in of james mattis as his defense secretary. Now mattis was confirmed by the senate last friday. He was officially sworn in that evening. He has been on the job since then. This is the most ceremonial swearing in. Cameras, speeches, pomp, circumstance, that sort of thing. We are also expecting though that on this visit to the pentagon, trump will announce new executive orders. Dealing potentially with refugees, with military readiness, and with National Security. More on that in just a second. But to the matter at hand right now. The swearing in of james mattis, this is taking on new significance in light of several comments from trump this week that have caused quite a stir with the president insisting several times that he believes torture is effective. That is a declaration that has set off all kinds of alarm bells. Trump also repeatedly saying that he will defer on the subject to mattis. To his defense secretary. This came up again a few hours ago. And this is what the president s saying. We have a great general who has just been appointed secretary of defense, general james mattis. And he has stated publicly that he does not necessarily believe in torture. Or waterboarding, or however you want to define it, enhanced sborgs i guess would be a wort that a lot of people would like to use. I dont necessarily agree, but i would tell you that he will override because im giving him that power. A lot going on right now. Joining us right now, hans nichols at the pentagon, Kristin Welker at the white house. Hans, lets start with you. At the pentagon, so, this statement we just played from donald trump about james mattis, about deferring to his defense secretary on torture saying hey, ting works, but im not going to do it, im giving him that power. A very unusual arrangement hes talking about here in terms of a president and the power of a cabinet secretary. Well, and its also by nature a temporary arrangement. Any time donald trump wants to revoke this arrangement, he can. Heres what mattis has said inside the building. And that is hes given his opinion and hes given his word against torture. His opinion is simply that torture doesnt work, its not effective, hes been on record several times, but hes given his word both to congress, foreign leaders, and around the building. You know, mattis has a lot of friends here. A lot of the conversations hes been having here through Video Conference or in person, they start with good to see you. Again. Is the man that knows this building. Has a lot of institutional support, and will really try preserve the institutional strength of the pentagon. But ive got to say today, theres a lot of symbolism and theres also some substance. The symbolism is clear, not that common for a president to cross the potomac and come to the pentagon. They were in the tank earlier, thats the secure room where the joint chiefs meet, and substance, we could have major changes to how quickly the fight against isis is going. That has implications not just for america, but for allies, how quickly this will go and what the next steps are. We need more clarity from the president , what he signs in these orders, but we do know that theres a wish list that upon officials or ground commanders actually have. And that is directly arming the kurds, apache helicopters and artillery in syria. Kristin welker on the subject of executive orders. Expecting to hear something this hour. Can you tell us all sorts of signals throughout about what this potentially might be. What are you hearing . Reporter this is what we think is likely. It is never finalized until the president actually signs it. What we are hearing at this hour is that one of the executive orders will deal with vetting. Blocking refugees from certain countries. Countries including syria, iran, iraq, yemen, obviously predominantly muslim countries. Critics say this is effectively a muslim ban. And say that no, this is just banning people who come from countries that have high rates of terrorism, but again, we dont know if thats specifically what this vetting executive order is going to look like. Also going to have an order that deals with military readiness, effectively giving more supplies and resources to the military. And then one that deals with the National Security council, again, important to stress the details are murky at this hour, steve, but those are the three buckets that we think theyre going to fall under. And the broader theme, of course, of National Security, this comes on the heels of that press conference with theresa may. They covered a whole range of topics, including russia, the president saying its too early to say whether hes considering reversing sanctions against russia. He is set to have a phone conversation with Vladimir Putin on saturday, but he also addressed the issue of mexico and of course the president of mexico cancelling a planned meeting with President Trump on the heels of President Trump signing that executive order to get the ball rolling on building a wall and insisting that mexicos going to pay for it. Listen to what the president had to say about his conversation with the president of mexico. The president and i and we had a talk that lasted for about an hour this morning. And we are going to be working on a fair relationship and a new relationship, but the United States cannot continue to lose vast amounts of business, vast amounts of companies, and millions and millions of people losing their jobs. That wont happen with me. Were no longer going to be the country that doesnt know what its doing. And so we are going to renegotiate our trade deals and we are going to renegotiate other aspects of our relationship with mexico. And in the end, i think itll be good for both countries. But it was a very, very friendly call. Reporter steve, of course this all comes as the administration is floating a possible 20 tax on imports from mexico, a lot of consumers saying thats just going to cause u. S. Taxpayers to ultimately pay for that border wall. It has been a frenzy first week here at the white house. And tomorrow, President Trump preparing for another busy day, not only poised to speak with russias president Vladimir Putin, but also the leaders of france and germany, steve. All right. Kristin welker at the white house. Thanks for that. Hans nichols over at the pentagon. Appreciate your reporting as well. And as kristin was just detailing, President Trump facing the international muse media today. This his first joint News Conference with a foreign leader. British Prime Minister theresa may. Trump and may offering short remarks on the special relationship between the United States and great britain. They also took several questions from the press overall this was a fairly brief press conference as these things go. The focuses and shifts in Foreign Policy trump ignited in just his first week in office. Including coming this week that trump may consider dropping sanctions against russia. Trump also as kristin just reported gearing up for a call with Vladimir Putin tomorrow. Heres what he had to say about that. Well, i hear a call was set up, steve, and well see what happens. As far as the sanctions, very early to be talking about that. But we look to have a great relationship with all countries. Ideally, that wont necessarily happen. Unfortunately probably wont happen with many countries. But if we could have a great relationship with russia and with china and with all countries, im all for that. That would be a tremendous asset. No guarantees, but if we can, that would be a positive, not a negative. Okay. I want to bring in nbcs kiir simmons, based in london here today on set in new york. Politics reporter in the east and correspondent for politico. Kiir, let me start with you, this angle, the british Prime Minister comes to the United States, obviously theres been political turmoil over in britain with the brexit. Plenty of political turmoil over here. How does this look . How does donald trump look . How does todays press Conference Look . How does theresa may engaging with donald trump look to folks back in britain . The british will be breathing a sigh of relief. Notoriously tough. They will be saying, you know, the british Prime Minister appears to have got this kind of right. They will be picking out that moment where because remember, her two key priorities here were to get the new president to agree to a trade negotiation that would help britain over brexit and to ensure the new president was committed to nato. Which he suggested in the past he wouldnt be. Now the british media wilbe looking at that moment when she turns to him and she say us, you do 100 and they will be saying, is there an example of where she is weak . Where shes trying to make her point. Where shes nervous. Is he going to change his mind . Or is that a mgy moment, Margaret Thatcher where hes telling the president what it is she should be doing. But the british will be walking away from this and saying, you know, this isnt too bad. We had a president that we didnt know. We didnt really have relations with, now we have a president who has is prepared to listen to the Prime Minister and thats what they would have wanted. You mentioned that feisty British Press corps, the first question was a very pointed one to donald trump telling him basically folks in britain are worried about you. Trump looked at theresa may and say you picked this one, good job. He clearly was not necessarily expecting that. Also, this subject of Vladimir Putin coming up at the press conference today. Getting some reaction already from john mccain on the possibility that donald trump would lift sanctions against russia. Again that phone call tomorrow. Heres what mccain is saying this afternoon. Im sorry, i thought this was sound, but this is what mccain is saying. President Donald Trumps call is widespread speculation the white house is considering lifting sanctions against russia. Goesen to say for the sake of americas National Security and that of our allies, i hope President Trump will put an end to the speculation and reject such a reckless course. Betsy woodruff, im curious, donald trump with one foreign leader at a press conference today, a call tomorrow with Vladimir Putin. He did sound today open to lifting these sanctions in some form, didnt he . Right. Exactly. He did the opposite of putting an end to the speculation as senator mccain would have wanted him to. Without a doubt, trump campaigned on having the United States have a warmer, more friendly, more open relationship with russia. And in a lot of ways, this is him pushing back against the final legacy of the obama presidency. Remember the Obama White House was seen as sort of daring trump in his first 100 days to make a statement about russia whether he would reve those sanctions that obamamplented during the trump transition process or keep themn place. This is a really important moment for trump. Do these sanctions survive the first 100 days of the Trump Presidency . Of course if he reverses them, thats going to be a strong indicator that hes doing making very quick rapid moves to throw the u. S. s relationship with russia, of course whatever he says about that phone call with putin tomorrow is going to be extremely interesting. And this is something where its really hard to game out what exactly the next move will be. Eli, this was the first glimpse americans got of donald trump as president is in a setting like this. A formal press event with a foreign leader. The only thing comparable at all was during the campaign for that one day with the mexican president. What did you make of the sight and the conduct for donald trump in an event like this . I think the optics werent bad for him. Werent bad in mexico either. That is guy though who communicates in very sort of superficial mediums. He loves television, he loves twitter, he loves the photo op. Weve seen a lot this week as he signs kpaektive orders, hes really giving the image of a president who is getting right to work and following through on the campaign promises, but there are a the love questions, more questions than there were a week ago about whether he can handle the complexity of this job, especially when it comes to Foreign Policy. I find it ironic that he said in one of his answers at the press conference today, were no longer a country that doesnt look like it doesnt know what its doing. Look at the white house and the amount of mixed messages back and forth this morning, we havent even talked about his attempt to deescalate tensions with mexico. Hour long phone call with the mexican president , puts out a joint statement saying were going to work together. Trying to tone it down, but just moments before, hes got his advisor Kellyanne Conway on tv sort of trashing the mexicans, again. Hes tweeting just moments before that call took place about, you know, how mexico is taking advantage of us. Hes really sort of zigging and zagging in a way weve never seen from a white house before. Betsy, to put another metaphor, there are so many balls in the air right now just again, this is the first full week. Another one. We were talking about this a minugo with hans nichols, it was the subject of torture. With donald trump, several interviews this week. Again at the press conference today. Explicitly saying, hey look, i think it works. I believe it works, but then, in the next breath saying look, my secretary of defense doesnt, and i am going to defer to my secretary of defense. He makes the call. Im looking at this and saying, is there a political strategy here of trying to reassure his base that hes still the tough guy he campaigned on. Believe me, i think this is right, but meanwhile, looking for a way to sort of pivot to not doing this . Is it too much to read this as sort of a political calculation . I think whether trump is making this made that comment based on political calculations or not, regardless of that, its obviously it was a moment that i think is going to be helpful for him. Because it kind of gives him a chance to try have it both ways. He gets to say i might not believe mattis, i still think that torture is effective, he and sean hannity were talking about it last night in a way that was cavalier, but at the same time, trump can sort of reassure the International Community by saying im not going to force american Intelligence Officers to move forward with torture. Now remember, of course, this is actually a question from mike pompeo who said he wont be responsible for any cia torture, mattis is responsible for the pentagon. So, the fact that trump would say hes deferring to mattis instead of pompeo on this question is itself a little bit curious, but that said, this is trumwere talking abou when it comes to orders of command and whos responsible for which decisions, it shouldnt necessarily surprise us that hes deferring to the person whose been most vocal, that of course is mattis, fond of referring to with his mad dog nick anymore. In the lower right hand corner of your screen there, thats the shot from the pentagon. We are awaiting the start of that ceremony there. James mattis will be sworn in ceremonially as the secretary of defense technically he already is the secretary. He was confirmed last week. He was sworn in that night. Behind the scenes. This was last friday, this was the night donald trump was inaugurated. Obviously the mattis swearing in did not get much attention that night. Again the president is there for that swearing in. And we also believe we may be getting some new executive orders from donald trump, again, you heard from Kristin Welker a few minutes ago in terms of reporting. Its still unclear exactly what will be included in those. It could be on this issue of vetting. Donald trump has promised extreme vetting of a folks coming into the United States, particularly when it comes to the question of Syrian Refugees. We may have something there on Syrian Refugees. We may have something on immigration specifically from muslim majority countries. Lots of different signals out there right now. We dont yet know what that will entail. We will bring that as soon as we find out in the meantime. Kiir, we hear about the special relationship the United States and britain and both coun