Transcripts For WRC Today 20170130 : vimarsana.com

WRC Today January 30, 2017

Could come as soon as today. And crippling outage, computer problems force delta to ground all domestic flights overnight. Theyre back flying but scrambling to make up hundreds of cancellations today, monday, january 30th, 2017. From nbc news, this is today. With matt lauer and savannah guthrie. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. And good morning everyone. Welcome to today on a monday morning. Hoda filling in for savanna this week. Great to be here. What a busy weekend it was. Were starting off with a busy week. Lets get right to that breaking news overnight. There has been a deadly shooting at a canadian mosque during evening prayers, it is being labeled a terrorist attack. We are at the scene in kweb beck city. Reporter this morning two suspects are in gunfire erupted at the Islamic Center here in kweb beck city. It is an act the canadian Prime Minister is calling a terrorist attack. Its left six dead, eight others injured. Fear and confusion after gunfire interrupts prayers. Paramedics rushing to the mosque filled with more than 50 worshippers when the shots started ringing out. In a statement overnight Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling the shooting a terrorist act on muslims. Adding it is heart wrenching to see such senseless violence. This morning Quebec City Police confirming two suspects were arrested shortly after the shooting. Investigators say the motive of the attack remains unknown. It comes just days after President Trumps controversial immigration ban sparked international outrage. The president s executive order prompting Prime Minister trudeau to tweet, to those fleeing persecution, terror and war, canadians will welcome you diversity is our strength. The premiere of quebec echoing trudeaus message. We should work together, strive to build together a society which will be even more open. Reporter the quebec city mosque has been a target of hate before. Last june someone left a pigs head at the front door during ramadan, but this latest incident has authorities in the state beefing up security. Overnight new york Police Stepping up patrols at mosques throughout the city. Were told demonstrators will gather in front of the mosque tonight in support with the Muslim Community here. Back to you, matt. Thank you very much. And now to more on that growing outrage over President Trumps controversial immigration order. Demonstrations were held coast to coast last night, but the white house is showing no sign of backing down. We have complete coverage from the white house to the airports and were going to talk to Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer but let us begin with nbcs peter the criticism has been fierce. This morning the white house is claiming the implementation of President Trumps travel ban is, quote unquote, a massive success story, but the swift reaction from around the country shows a very different reality. Overnight another surge of protests against President Trumps controversial executive order. Demonstrators at san franciscos airport met by riot police, capping off a weekend of massive demonstrations. Including many at airports across the country. And the streets around the white house. Hillary clinton offering her support to demonstrators, tweeting, this is not who we are. In the face of those protests this assessment from team trump. What youre seeing is a small reaction from a small number of people. Reporter amid the chaos President Trump is defending his actions. The statement reading, to be clear, this is not a muslim ban as the media is falsely reporting. This is not about el our country safe. But trumps argument is seemingly contradicted by one of his advisors. Rudy guiliani telling fox news trump consulted him and others. When he first announced it he said muslim ban, he called me up he said put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally. Reporter while trumps order bans refugees, migrants and foreign nationals from seven mostly muslim countries the president points out that 40 different majority muslim Countries Worldwide are not affected. Its working out very nicely, you see it at the airports, you see it all over. Reporter a growing chorus of critics disagree. This executive order was mean spirited and unamerican. Reporter even some republicans are urging caution. We have an extreme vetting proposal that didnt get the vetting it should have had. I think we need to be careful. Reporter senators john mccain and Lindsey Graham slamming the move as a self inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism. Trump accusing looking to start world war iii. The reaction worldwide was swift. Canadas Prime Minister tweeting this photo welcoming a refugee said his country would take those banned by the u. S. And irans foreign minister attacked trumps order blasting it as a great gift to extremists and their supporters. Late sunday the new head of Homeland Security john kelly tried to clear up confusion, insisting green cardholders will not be blocked from returning to the u. S. Saying its in the national interest. White house officials backed up their boss, comparing trumps order to action taken by president obama in 2011 restricting visas to iraqi refugees after a threat. I cant imagine too many people out there watching this right now think its unreasonable to ask a few more questions from someone traveling in and out of libya and yemen before being let loose in the united states. I think in terms of the upside being greater protection of our borders of our people, its a small price to pa fierce backlash, trumps reshuffling of his National Security Council Making steve bannon a regular member while top ranking intelligence and military officials will attend only while discussing issues, quote, pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise. Having the chief strategist for the president in those meetings who has a significant military background to help guide what the president s final analysis is going to be is crucial. Reporter to be clear, bannons addition to the National Security council is unusual, advisors from the political side of the white house are generally not included in the meetings, certainly not on a permanent basis. President obamas former National Security adviser called President Trumps move stone cold crazy after a week of crazy. The white house is also trying to tamp down another controversy after it failed to mention jews or the Jewish Community by name on its statement on National Holocaust Remembrance Day saturday. Aids sahe all who suffered including the jewish people. Peter, thank you. Mel ber is the chief legal correspondent. He has the fact check on all of this. You hear about terminology, people roughing to this as a muslim ban. Are muslims even mentioned in the executive order . That is the controversy, matt. This executive order does not mention muslims or islam by name. It uses countries, but experts say that in its effect it will ban muslims from those selected countries and still allow in likely more christians. When youre talking about the refugees, arie, trump seems to be wondering what all this fuss is about, the demonstrations and court orders and we did talk about it in peters piece that president obama had done something similar back in 2011 when it came to iraqi refugees. Is there a difference here . There is a difference. This is all about basically donald trump saying, look, barack obama did this. All about, though, was slowing the vetting and the entries for iraqis because it was a war torn country based on a specific threat. It was never a complete ban and it didnt involve those other countries. President trump says this is about protecting us from terror brought in from overseas. If you look at the last 15 years and the terror attacks that have taken place on u. S. Soil and you compare the sources of those attacks with the countries on those lists, is there overlap . This is the most important point and probably the largest legal problem for the administration. The travel ban list is these seven countries. It is true that they have been cited in prior laws. It is not true that they were cited by the congress as a source of immigrant exported terror. That is very important and to your question, matt, you can look at some of the largest attacks we have had on the home front in 9 11, 15 of the 19 from saudi arabia, two from uae, egypt and lebanon, other attacks tel immigrants on basically a basis of being a family member, as well as that terrible orlando nightclub shooting, that was an american there born to afghan immigrants. Even when you look up the chain in the family, what we find here [000 10 13;00] distinction is none of these seven countries have actually sent people who have been involved in these deadly attacks. They were named for a different reason, matt. They were named as a plate that were basically dangerous to visit when europeans on the visa killers. Thank you very much. Joined now by senator Chuck Schumer. Senator, nice to see you. Good morning. Glad to be here. Everybody knew this was coming, democrats knew it was coming, republicans knew. Anyone who paid attention to the campaign for the last year knew that donald trump was going to do this in some form. You got very upset about this. Is it the breadth of the order, the implementation of it, the message, what . Yes, all of them. First, it was done in such a sloppy and patrol, customs didnt even know about it. There were major holes in how it was done. It almost seems like back of the envelope. Even for those who might be for this, i am certainly opposed, the slap dash way it was done was appalling and created the chaos. Much more importantly this will make us less safe. John mccain is exactly right, it will encourage lone wolves here in america, they have created most of the terrorism. The biggest problems we have had with terrorism are not from these countries. In fact, theres something called the Visa Waiver Program which allows people from france or belgium, places where there are known terrorists to come in no questions asked. I dont even get what they were getting at because they not stopping terror, theyre instead doing what is in effect as Rudy Guiliani said a muslim ban. That is against what america is all about. We sat together on the day of the inauguration in washington a little more than a week ago you said you thought it was crucial for democrats against some of the things donald trump wants to do. What do you intend to do about it . What power do you have . This evening i will ask for a vote on the floor of the senate to repeal this. Senator feinstein has carefully thought out legislation to repeal this. I hope Mitch Mcconnell allows that vote. Already 11 republicans, not just the ones you have shown, have spoken out against it. We should repeal this and then we should sit down in a careful thoughtful way, figure out ways we need to tighten up things against terrorism. Speaking out against it on the republican side is very different from then taking the next step. Lets hope they will do it because this is what america is all about. Yesterday i sat with two families, one a brave man from iraq who had served as a translator and his life was threatened pause he was translating for our soldiers. He came in january 5th. Had the order been january 1st he would have been dead. Another family whose parents, grandparents, were americans. Suicide bombl their religious affiliation. They, too, could have been dead. This is a blanket ban, it hurts innocent people and doesnt stop terrorism. Its just appalling. All of this happening as many of Donald Trumps nominees for cabinet positions, key cabinet positions, are still waiting action. I think only two of 15 have actually been approved. Are you willing to connect the dots . Yes. Tonight is another thing i will do is ask that they delay the nomination, the vote, on mr. Tillerson for secretary of state because when he was questioned in committee and asked about a future muslim ban because we didnt know that it was occurring he was very mealy mouth. Im going to ask for a delay, whether mcconnell grants it, they run the senate, is one thing. How about the other cabinet nominees. I think we will ask about it for every one. You are going to be accused of taking political hostages. This is so important to america. Arent the American People entitled to know the positions of these cabinet people before tho there is word that President Trumps pick for the Supreme Court could be announced as early as today or tomorrow. Yes. Given what happened with Merrick Garland last year with the republicans howessy is this going . Were not looking for pay back but were looking for two things number one and above all a candidate who will be in the mainstream. The last four nominees to the Supreme Court, two democrats, two two by a democratic president , two by a republican president got bipartisan support. Will the. President nominate someone who is mainstream enough to get bipartisan support. Has the white house reached out across the aisle . Theyve asked in general our views with nothing specific. I told them we wanted a mainstream judge. Lets hope and pray he listens. Senator, nice to have you here this morning. Thank you very much. Why dont we bring in nicolle wall lash and jerry bash, he served as the chief of staff at the Defense Department and cia. Good morning to both of you guys. Nicolle, lets start with you. Donald trump said he was going to do these things in the and lo and behold in all the chaos he did do these things, right . So were you surprised by what happened over the weekend . Well, i think that matt hit the nail on the head. It was the implementation that destabilized sort of the political mood which was already very, very shaky after Donald Trumps rather i think steve described it as the political shot to the system. Even if you are a wild enthusiastic supporter of a ban of immigrants from these seven countries, but even if you support it it was implemented in a manner that is far less methodical. Less than 36 hours after implementing it they had to roll back key elements of it so it seems like they werent prepared for the fallout. For all the people whose hair is on fire and i have used that term before about donald trump but it does aptly describe whats going on on capitol hill the checks on Donald Trumps impulses seem to be appointees like general kelly and general mattis. General suggested letting in green cardholders. That will begin to calm the political water. What does that tell you about all the people around him . He made these executive orders without consulting a lot of those people. It throws into the spotlight something i know kept jeremy up last night which is the addition of steve bannon to the Security Council and intermingling of Campaign Staff in the deadly Serious Business of this countrys National Security. That move to put steve bannon at the National Security enable, how unusual, how troubling is it . Its a strong break from precedent, matt. In the Obama Administration the director of National Intelligence and the chairman of the joints chief of staff had a regular standing invitation to that Principals Committee level meeting which tease up all Big Decisions to the president. Now theyve said that someone who is the editor of breitbart, a website, can be there but the chairman of the joints chief of staff has to get an invitation. Going back to the executive order, jeremy, there obviously are going to make us safer, donald trump among them. Youve heard from key republicans and senator schumer, he thinks this will be used as a powerful tool by the very people were trying to diminish. Counterterrorism requires focus, it requires following leads, penetrating plots. If you put an entire civilian populous under suspicion you are not going to go after the true threats. The president has handed isis a major propaganda victory. Theyve been on social media all weekend basically inspiring, inciting people to attack americans. This is not going to make us safer at all. Jeremy bash, nicolle wallace, thank you very much. I appreciate that. Lets head over to mr. Roker for our very first check of the weather. Nice stretch. We are looking for a little bit of a clipper coming off the midatlantic coast bringing some snow into parts of new jersey. This next one comes in, we will look at that coming up in the next half hour. Plenty of sunshine from the southwest into southern california. Were going to get to your local forecast coming up in the good morning. Im meteorologist chuck bell. First wave of snow moving out, still a little burst of snowshowers and snow flurries, thatsoi to come up the i95 corridor over the next hour or so, not expecting a lot of additional accumulations with that, but snow continuing to fall on top of snow already down on the ground. Temperatures at or below freezing in most neighborhoods, everything is stick to go untreated surfaces, the main roads are fine. Afternoon temperatures will be trouble should be confined early this morning and that will be it. And thats your latest weather. Matt. All right, al, thank

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