Protest into political action. Can Congressional Democrats offer a roadmap . And unset tlunsettled. Israel announces a major expansion of settlements days after a call between President Trump and Prime Minister netanyahu. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Were following breaking news. A stunning and unsubstantiated claim by President Trump, the white house says he believes 3 million to 5 Million People voted ivote ed illegally in the president ial election robbing him of a victory in the popular vote, despite his win, impressive win, in the Electoral College. The white house offered no proof or evidence of widespread voter fraud. The press secretary, sean spicer, referred to an old study on Voter Registration whose authors have since said could be incorrect. Ill talk to the Political Science professor who coordinated data for that study. Were also following confirmation battles for trumps nominees including congressman tom price, the president s pick to head the health and Human Services department. Democrats are grilling price whos also an orthopedic surgeon, on how republicans plan to replace obamacare and how closely hes working on it with President Trump. Price deflected those questions. Were covering that. Much more this hour with our guests, including congressman will herd of texas, a former cia clandestine officer and member of the intelligence committee. And our correspondents and expert analysts, they are standing by. Lets begin with our senior White House Correspondent, jeff zeleny. Jeff, the president is leveling a very serious and unsubstantiated claim. Reporter wolf, it is a claim that goes directly at the heart of our democracy here, thats free and fair elections. Donald trump still making the claim that even though he won the white house, he said he was still robbed in november. The white house is standing by president Donald Trumps unsubstantiated claim that millions of people voted ille l illegally in the november election. The president does believe that. Hes stated that before. I think he stated his concerns of voter fraud and people voting illegally during the campaign. And he continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence that people have presented to him. Reporter press Secretary Sean Spicer doubling down on the president s claim. But repeatedly unable to point to etch dense that backs up the charge that has been debunked by republicans and democrats alike. Said the president believes that there was voter fraud. I wonder if you believe that. You were at the Republican National committee at the time, the chief of staff Reince Priebus was the chairman of the rnc at the time. Do you believe there was widespread my job is not look how can he be comfortable with his win hes very comfortable with his win. 3 million votes, maybe he didnt win no, hes very comfortable with his win, its an electoralbased system. 306 electoral votes. 33 of 50 states voted for him. Jeff, i asked and answered this question twice, e believes what he believes based on the information hooe bees been pro. What does that mean for democracy . Maam . What does that mean for democracy . It means i answered your question. Have you . Reporter the allegations of voter fraud surfaced again after the president repeated that claim monday night while meeting with congressional leaders at the white house. I think he won very handily. Hes very comfortable with his win. Reporter he doesnt sound like it. He won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million. He charged 3 million to 5 Million People voted illegally, a claim unsubstantiated as when he first made it after the election but now it carries the weight of the presidency. To back up the allegations, his advisers have pointed to a 2012 study by the pew center. It found nearly 3 Million People have voted registrations in more than one state. And nearly 2 Million People are listed as dead. But the study made no finding of voter fraud which Election Officials from both sides have dismi dismissed. Republican senator Lindsey Graham said if trump believes it, he should disclose his proof and ask for an investigation. Telling cnns manu raju such allegations erode the president s credibility. I would urge the president to knock this off. This is the greatest democracy on earth. Youre the leader of the free world. And people are going to start doubting you as a person. Reporter from the white house podium, spicer left open the door to launching an investigation. Repeatedly brushed aside questions from reporters. There is no investigation. Its a ive said it was possible. Anything is possible. It was a hypothetical question. My point to you is that to ask us on day two, he made a comment last night on something he has believed and said for a long, long time. Reporter even as he gets to work laying out his agenda, trump is still on a quest to prove his legitimacy. The exchange came on the fourth full day of trumps presidency, overshadowing his executive actions to revive the Keystone Pipeline and clear the way for the Dakota Access pipeline. Two more reverses of the obama administration. The president said today he is closing in on his First Supreme Court nomination to replace the year long vacant seat of former justice antonin scalia. Sometime next week ill be making my decision. Well pick a truly great Supreme Court justice. Reporter President Trump met tonight with four top Senate Leaders about that Supreme Court pick. Wolf, i am told he has narrowed it down to three top choices here. Theres no word if the discussion of the election was mentioned with the Senate Leaders but republicans on capitol hill and elsewhere, wolf, hope donald trump stops talking about this. They say it simply not only questions his legitimacy but theirs as well. They were on the ballot as well last november, so any questions about that certainly raises all kinds of questions here. The white house trying to get back on message. They are going to sign more executive orders, wolf, tomorrow. Senior White House Correspondent jeff zeleny reporting. Thank you. Lets bring in our senior congressional reporter, manu raju, up on capitol hill for us. Manu, youve been monitoring the confirmation hearings. Talk about how the trump administrati administrations handling of the facts is playing into what youre seeing today. Reporter yeah, wolf. Kellyanne conway, Donald Trumps top adviser, comments over the weekend about believing in, quote, alternative facts, when discussing the inauguration crowd sizes have given democrats fodder in hearings with congressmcongres congressman rick mullaney. Democrats brought up the issues of alternative facts and whether or not mr. Mullaney believes in the actual facts or actual black and white facts, something jeff merkley, the democrat from oregon brought up and used visual images to reinforce his point. I have behind me two pictures that were taken in about the same time of day in 2009 and 2017. Which crowd is larger, the 2009 crowd or the 2017 crowd . Senator, if you allow me to give the disclaimer that im not really sure how this i would be happy to answer your question which was from that picture, it does appear that the crowd on the lefthand side is bigger than the crowd on the righthand side. Thank you. The president disagreed about this in his news report. He said its a lie. We caught them. We caught them in a beauty. Referring to the press reporting. Says it looked like a million, a million and a half people. The reason im raising this is because budget often contain buried deceptions. You and i talked in my office about the magic asterisk. This is an example of where the president s team on something very simple and straightforward wants to embrace a fantasy rather than a reality. Reporter now, mulvaneys nomination running into resistance from some republicans as well. John mccain, the arizona republican, launched into mulvaney at the confirmation hearings earlier this afternoon, questioning his commitment to increasing defense spending. Actually, because, pointing to mulvaneys report supporting i defense cuts in the past and support of withdrawing groups from afghanistan at the confirmation hearing mccain saying, quote, hes deeply concerned, and mulvaney showed lack of support of our military. I talked to john mccain asking him will you support Mick Mulvaneys nomination . He said, i havent decided yet. Did he alleviate any of your concern . He said, quote, not many. I talked to one of the committees, saying if he doesnt have the votes to get out of the committee, Republican Leaders will try to advance it to the floor, anyway, to ensure donald trump gets his budget director in office. Wolf . All right. Manu raju reporting for us, senior congressional reporter. Lets get more on all of this, republican congressman will herd of texas is joining us, a former cia clandestine officer. You took congressman mike pompeos seat, hes now the cia director. Congratulations. Thank you very much. I want to get to intelligencerelated issues in a moment, but i want to get your reaction to this uproar that has developed last night, president met with congressional leaders and said he would have won the popular vote, but 3 million to 5 million illegal votes occurred. The white house is defending that assertion today. Theres no basis in fact to that. Whats your reaction . I havent seen any evidence to suggest that there was that number of illegal voting. The integrity of our voting process is tantamount and important. And i would suggest that the white house looks in their windshield and not the rearview mirror. They did something that nobody thought they can do and they should be proud on that and not let this be a distraction on some of the other important issues Like Fighting isis, making sure the pentagon is funded and National Security funding is where it needs to be. Because its become a distraction, whether, if there were millions of illegal voters, or the size of the crowd, there are clearly a lot more important issues that these guys have to focus on. Youre absolutely right, and the fact that its seeping into the hearings in the senate on confirmation of our officials, i want to know what some of their policies are going to be Going Forward rather than showing p k pictupick pictures on whats big, whats not. You risked your life overseas for the United States. I want to play a little clip. This is the president on saturday when he made that first visit to cia headquarters in langley, virginia, and was at that Memorial Wall honoring the 117 cia officers who died serving this country. I can only say that i am with you 1,000 and the reason youre my first stop is that as you know, i have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth. I get up this morning, i turn on one of the networks and they show an empty field. I said, wait a minute. I made a speech. I looked out, the field was it looked like a million, million and a half people. They showed a field where there were practically nobody standing. What was your reaction . Im sure you watched that speech on television. It wasnt shakespeare, but the fact that he was there was important. The fact that his First Official stop was to the cia, and he told the men and women of the cia that he loved them and they were important and mike pompeo was probably his most important selection for the cabinet was an Important Message to deliver to the men and women in the cia. And the reason is because of grizzle steppe, the hacking by the russians of the dccc and the dnc. That was a successful covert action operation because it drove a wedge, whether real or perceived, between the white house, the intelligence community, and the American People. And this was an attempt to say, there is not a wedge, you are important, youre vital to the global war on terrorism. I think that was an important step. I think it was an important step, too, to go visit cia headquarters, friday hes going to go to the pentagon, another important step. These are men and women who risk their lives for u. S. National security. But then he was rambling and talking about all sorts of other issues in front of that wall. I dont know if you know any of the 117 men and women who died i know several. On behalf of the cia. Leon panetta, former cia director, was talking to me 24 hours ago and he said this. I just got the impression when he was speaking there that somehow he forgot that he was president of the United States and was speaking to the Intelligence Officers that spend their lives trying to serve this country. That was not the appropriate place to start whining about what was happening in terms of numbers at the inauguration and what have you. Because he said that was really hallowed ground. Your reaction. It is. When anybody that comes into the cia headquarters, the first stop is always there in order to talk about the 117 men and women that gave their lives. So this really is hallowed ground. But that environment, the folks that were there, it felt like a little bit of a campaign rally, and the reality, when the cia is not always depicted positively within the press, either. They dont have a press shop. They dont fight back. And i think this is something that people recognize sometimes in agreement with the president on sometime the disdain for the media. I will correct you, they do have a Public Affairs office, ive worked with them, reporters work with them. So they do speak to the news media, but usually on what we call background, not for attribution. But they do have a public aff r affairs office. Yeah, but theyre not coming on shows like this, theyre not talking about what they did or why they didnt do this. That is something that you do not see officials spokesmen and women from the cia happening. Mike pompeo whos now the new cia director, he was confirmed last night, he did during his confirmation hearing curious to get your reaction leave open the possibility of maybe reinstating waterboarding, enhanced interrogation by cia officers as happened after 9 11. Others have said that is illegal, inappropriate, not even worthwhile. Whats your reaction to that . I think pompeo was very clear that he believed that was not a tactic that is valuable in gathering intelligence. And that you can get more with honey. And i think he made that clear, i think in some of the forms that he filled out leading up to that, there was some ambiguity. In his hearings, he made it clear this was not something that he was interested in pursuing and would actually, if told to do it, would say no. Because general mattis, new defense secretary, himself, has said its not appropriate and he seems to have had an impact on President Trump, himself, whos walked back that whole waterboarding issue. Hold on for a moment. We have a lot more coming up. Were also getting word that the senate just confirmed governor nikki haley to become the next United States ambassador to the united nations. Well have details on that right after this. Bleep stole all my wool sweaters, smart tv and gaming system. Luckily, the Geico Insurance agency recently helped baa baa with renters insurance. Everything stolen was replaced. And the hooligan who lives down the lane was caught selling the stolen goods online. Visit geico. Com and see how easy it is to switch and save on renters insurance. 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. 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Most people using stelara® saw 75 clearer skin and the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. Be the you who talks to your dermatologist about stelara®. We have breaking news. A first 100 days alert. The u. S. Senate just voted to confirm South Carolina governor nickki haley as the next u. S. A ba ambassador to the united nations, final vote bipartisan and overwhelming. Look at this. 96 in favor, 4 opposed. Haley was elected in 2010 as South Carolinas first female and indianamerican governor. Parents from india. Tonights confirmation likely will be the last time this week the full senate votes on one of President Trumps cabinet nominees. Theyre going into recess as of tomorrow. Were back with republican congressman will hurd of texas, former cia clandestine officer, now a member of the house intelligence committee. Want to talk to him about some pointed questioning for President Trumps nominee to lead the department of health and Human Services. Democrats pressed georgia congressman tom price on the republican plan to repeal and replace obamacare. Under the executive order, will you commit that no one will be worse off . What i commit to senator, is working with you and every Single Member of congress to make certain we have the highest Quality Health care and every single american has access to affordable coverage. That is not what i asked. I asked will you commit that no one will be worse off under the executive order . You ducked the question. Will you guarantee that no one will lose coverage under the executive order . I guarantee you that the individuals that lost coverage under the Affordable Care act, we will commit to making certain they dont lose coverage under whatever replacement plan comes forward. Thats the commitment i provide to you. So, congressman, when will the American People know the specifics of whats happening to their health care . Well, a lot of the details are already out there now. We have five plans that are pieces of legislation were working to pull together. Weve made it very clear that theres no interest in pulling the rug out from under people. We have to remember that obamacare is a failed law. In texas, my home state, the premiums this year are increasing 36 on average. Theres likely to be another premium increase in march. I represent a long part of the border, 820 miles. Im in border towns, people come up to me and say, whats a deductible, why is it 10,000 . If you have a 10,000 deductible, you basically dont have health care. And so, so we have to remember that were trying to fix something that is flawed. And were going to make sure that people that have a preexisting condition, that theyre not disenfranchised from getting health care. That is an important tenet of our health care plan. The when tom price gets confirmed, tom price as the secretary of hhs has a lot of ability to do things as the secretary of hhs. For example, the bronze plans. These are he can widen the number of plans that actually are approved by bronze. What does that do . That increases competition and thats one of the problems that were having. Let me get back to the question, when is this plan, and you guys have been opposed to obamacare for six, seven years. Youve had a lot of time to work on it. When will the specifics be ready for a vote in the house of representatives . Well, many of those key pieces will be coming up during the reconciliation process. We went through the first step which is a budget vehicle. That directs the Ways Means Committee and energy and Commerce Committee to come back and save 1 trillion, excuse me, each, so those will be coming to us in about 60 days. Thats going to have a lot of the things we will repeal. Some of the new things we want to add in will be included in that piece of legislation then when tom price is confirmed as secretary of hhs, hell be announcing a lot of a lot of new priorities for the department. So were going to be seeing this unveiled piece by piece over the next couple months. Let me get back to our top story. The breaking news weve been following. President trumps assertion that 3 million to 5 Million People voted illegally in the last president ial election. If hes right, shouldnt there be a federal investigation . At least a congressional investigation . I see none of that on the horizon. Well, we havent seen any indication that that was in case the fact. He misspoke . He just doesnt believe he says he believes 3 million to 5 Million People voted illegally, thats why he lost the popular vote. Well, if thats what he believes, i havent seen any evidence to the contrary. And, again, i think it would be valuable for them to focus on the future, rather than what happened in the past because he accomplished something that nobody thought he could accomplish. And he should cherish that. So you believe the president i dont want to use the word, lied, but the president doesnt know what hes talking about . Is that what youre saying . I havent seen the information the president may be referring to. I havent been given anything contrary, the secretary of state of california hasnt provided any such detail. You havent seen a challenge in the courts when it comes to this issue. Someone whos come out your district in texas, have you seen widespread voter fraud in your Congressional District . I havent and i won by i won by a narrow margin and this is something that we follow. We havent seen that type of you would like to see his evidence, whatever it might be . Of course. If there is evidence, lets look at it. Lets investigate it. Lets make sure that we protect our voting system. This is important. I chair a subcommittee on information technology. We had a hearing on how do we make sure that our voting systems are protected from hackers, from folks that are trying to do bad things to our election cycle . And so protecting this is of the utmost importance and if theres not evidence, lets move on to other things, you know, the business of the people. Thats keeping them safe, making sure were fighting isis, things like that. Congressman will hurd, thanks for coming in. Always a pleasure. Thanks for your service to the country as well. Good luck on the intelligence committee. Thank you very much. More breaking news tonight. Donald trump may believe there was voter fraud. Do the authors believe its correct . Huge turnout for womens marches around the country, indeed around the world. Is a new movement in the works and if so, whats next . E market. At t. Rowe price. Our disciplined approach remains. Global markets may be uncertain. But you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. Call us or your advisor. T. Rowe price. Invest with confidence. Tadirectv now. Stream all your entertainment anywhere anytime can we lose the all. Theres no cbs and we dont have a ton of sports. Anywhere, any. Lets lose the anywhere, anytime too. You cant download onthego, theres no dvr, yada yada yada. Stream some stuff somewhere sometimes you totally nailed that buddy. Simple. Dont let directv now limit your entertainment. Only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. More now on the breaking news. The white house is saying that President Trump believes 3 million to 5 Million People voted illegally in the president ial election. Lets get some more with brian shafter, a Political Science professor and coordinator of the study, the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was apparently referring to when asked about proof that the president has in making this assertion. Professor shafter, thanks very much for joining us. Thanks for having me on. You were involved in collecting the data used in one of the studies President Trump has cited to back up his false claim that millions voted illegally. That 2014 study found 14 of noncitizens said they were eligible to vote. Why do you think that studys conclusion, based on your data, is not reliable . Well, what the office did was essentially use a question on our survey that asked people whether or not they were a citizen. What we did was actually go back and ask those people again whether or not they were a citizen and a lot of people had just basically erroneously clicked on the wrong button and the people who we could confirm were actually noncitizens, they were basically no voters among that group. What youre saying, that no noncitizens voted as far as your study, your data was concern . In those elections . Thats right. We could find of the people who we were sure were noncitizens, we could not find any who had actually cast a vote. So when the president says in the most recent election 3 million to 5 million illegal voters actually participated, thats why he lost the popular vote, when you hear that, and the suggestion is its based on some of your data, whats your reaction . Well, its very frustrating, as im sure you can imagine. The data certainly do not show that. We published a study basically showing that the study that the data that uses our data to say that is wrong. That study widely cited by News Networks to basically say what the administration is saying is false and the notion that millions of people could vote illegally and no one would have any data to be able to show this is the case is just absurd. Its absurd that millions of people, millions of noncitizens, would have voted in 2016. Its just not even plausible. Do you have an estimate of how many illegal votes were cast in 2016 . Or a sense of, on average, what percentage of the votes cast were illegal . I mean, our data, our best data would suggest that nobody who was a noncitizen voted in 2016. Now, its possible that theres a handful of people nationwide out there that, you know, were missing, but that theres anything systemic or anything that would have swung an election is just not plausible. Theres no evidence for that whatsoever. Youve done a lot of Academic Research in this area. If President Trump is watching right now, whats your message to him on this very important and sensitive issue . My message is that this is very dangerous thing. You are calling into question the validity of american elections using data thats clearly false. That its dangerous to dangerous message to send to the American People. I think, you know, the member of congress you had on just before me, you know, said it quite right, that this is not the kind of thing we want to do, we dont want to be using false data to basically make people question how valid our elections are. Its just its totally baseless and its very dangerous. Professor brian schaffner, thanks very much for joining us. Thank you very much, wolf. Lets talk a little bit about what we just heard with our correspondents, analysts and commentators. David swerdlick, lets start this conversation with you because this is a really sensitive and important issue right now. The assertion by the president of the United States of such widespread illegal voting. Yeah, and as the professor said and others have said today, right, this has been widely debunked. The whole broader notion of voter fraud has been debunked, of widespread voter fraud has been debunked in study after study, by the brennan center, by the advancement project. Arguably liberal groups, but still theres not this evidence of widespread voter fraud and yet President Trump persists with it. I think theres two possible reasons, neither of them are good, wolf. One is is that he wants to keep alive this issue of voter fraud because there will be elections down the road. The other is maybe just as simple as this is the first time hes run for office, and unlike a career politician who just takes the win and moves on, he sort of deflated by the idea that he didnt win the popular vote. Jim sciutto, whats your sense of what were seeing right now . Because this is enormously important. No question. Listen, you know, i think we could dispense with the unsubstantiated claim and call it straightout, its a false claim, theres no evidence, the president , himself, would present no evidence and when pushed, the evidence that sean spicer says the president is citing, we just had the author of that evidence on the air who said he couldnt find a single noncitizen who voted, let alone 3 million to 5 million. You know, he held out the possibility that maybe a handful that they didnt detect, but, listen, you know, the reality that is being presented by the president and the press secretary here is just galaxies away from actual fact. And i think, you know, thats something thats worrisome. Youre heard a lot of senators, Lindsey Graham today talking about the danger that is to confidence in our democratic system. Just one point i would add, it is ammunition to Foreign Countries who love to poke holes in americas democracy, russia among them, but china as well. They like to say, look over there, because this is part of american soft power, right, we got a democratic system, they dont. They will say, look at america, look at that, even their presidency says the system is rigged. Thats ammunition to those countries. Youre going to be hearing from them. Its going to be in their newspapers. Shouldnt underestimate the damage it does not just at home but abroad as well. Abby, how much damage is being done by the president by his own words . First of all, hes calling into question the legitimacy of an election he already won, so the whole thing is very perpl perplexing especially to republicans on the hill who on a separate issue have been trying to get the president to acknowledge that there was foreign meddling in the election that may not have affected the outcome. He wont even acknowledge that and yet a separate what it amounts to a Conspiracy Theory about fraudulent voters is getting this kind of attention. You know, trump is, you know, a very perilous place right now. This is the first week of office. He spent the weekend consumed over the crowds at his inauguration. His first few days struggling to stay on track. Last night he had an opportunity to continue a little bit of momentum and failed to do that. The longer that this goes on, the more its going to solidify in the minds of americans that there is something wrong, that he doesnt have the temperament for this office. And thats what thats the worry that some on the hill have, that hes demonstrating the fears that have been brought up throughout the campaign by his political opponents now that he actually has the job. What does it say to you, jackie, the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer came out today and was very strong in defending the president s remarks . You know, we talked about alternativefacts this week. Sean spicer seems to be bent on creating an alternate reality when you walk into that pressroom because hes not there to hes there to justify what trump says. Hes not there to provide a good explanation because he was citing a study. I think it was like the second or third time the question was asked he actually put that study forth. He kept saying thats what the president believes, full stop. Well, you know, hes you could see the frustration build. Well, got to get used to that if your boss is saying things that plain dont make sense. You know, phil mudd, i want you to listen to what senator Lindsey Graham said today about this. Listen to this. If the president of the United States is claiming that 3 million to 3. 5 Million People voted illegally, that shakes competence in our democracy. He needs to disclose why he believes that. I dont believe that. It is the most inappropriate thing for the president to say without proof. Should more republicans, phil, be pushing back on President Trump on this issue . I think they should, wolf, but i think weve got to be careful to pick our spots. Even in the past four days it feels like were on mr. Toads wild ride here. Within 24 hours of the inauguration, an insult to the cia, a fourth graders obsession with how many people showed up at his inauguration and now we have a Magical Mystery Tour about how many people voted in the election. Thats in four days, wolf. In the election preceding that, we had a president who commented negatively about the appearance of one of his opponents, he commented publicly in a debate about his own genitalia. We have to think about china, about iran nuclear deal, about what we do with russia on hacking, how we get out of syria. I think the challenge i agree with senator graham. What im saying is the challenge to all this noise that weve seen through the campaign, and now in the past four days is going to be how do we prioritize the things that are important . Because i fear were entering an era, theres going to be so much noise that were going to lose our eye on the ball. Good points. I want everybody to stand by. Just ahead, President Trump says hell make a decision on a u. S. Supreme Court Nominee next week. And democrats, they are already digging in for a fight. Youre smart. You already knew that. But its also great for finding the perfect used car. Youll see what a fair price is, and you can connect with a truecar certified dealer. Now youre even smarter. This is truecar. And theyre absolutely right. They say that its hot. When really, its scorching. And while some may say the desert is desolate. We prefer secluded. What is the desert . Its absolutely what you need right now. Absolutely scottsdale. Were following the breaking news. President trump continuing to claim millions of people voted illegally in the recent president ial election. On saturday, the president spent part of his visit over at the cia headquarters in langley, virginia, complaining about media reports about the size of the crowd at his inauguration. He made his complaints while standing in front of the wall containing stars representing cia officers who died in the line of duty. Phil mudd, you worked at the cia. Youre a former cia officer. What was your reaction to his speech over at cia headquarters . Well, you almost want to cry, wolf. I mean, theres a sense of outrage, but a sense of sadness. Those arent stars. Those are people. Those arent people from decades ago. Those are people from today. That is one star Jennifer Matthews who lost her life to an al qaeda suicide bomber in afghanistan and whose children were still growing up and we have a president who has to talk about how many times hes been on the Time Magazine cover in comparison to a football player. Hes got to talk about how many people showed up at his inauguration, got to talk about how many people in the cia enjoyed his speech. Thats what we get to honor the people who lost their lives and also to talk about what the future of American Security is in front of hundreds of cia officers who want the story, again, for what life is for people who want to live on the city on a hill. Thats america. The shining city on the hill. And what do we get . How many times hes been on the Time Magazine cover. Its disgusting, wolf. I mean, i dont know what else to say. You cant do that if youre the president. Did you know any of those 117 cia officers who were killed in the line of duty . Yes, i did know. I mentioned Jennifer Matthews because i knew her. That was the double agent from al qaeda who came into a base in afghanistan, a cia base who was supposed to be a cia agent who was actually working for al qae qaeda. He detonated himself when he was being accepted into a meeting on that base. Among them was Jennifer Matthews. Unbelievable you have to sit there and talk about yourself instead of honoring those who did more than you did. Jim sciutto, i know that youve spoken to a lot of cia officers who are totally upset by what the president did. Absolutely. Echoing phils point there, because its personal for them. These are real people. Keep in mind, cia work has gotten more dangerous in the last 10, 15, 20 years. The number of stars on that wall have jumped because of where cia agents are working. He mentioned Jennifer Matthews. There were several cia agents killed in that suicide blast in eastern afghanistan. The two cia agents who were killed on the benghazi consulate. The First American killed in afghanistan during u. S. Military operations there after 9 11. As the u. S. Fights the two longest wars in its history, there are many soldiers there as we know deployed but there are also intelligence agents on the front lines of these battles at war in other countries. They face real risks and dangers and theyre facing those kinds of risks every day. Thats what i heard in text messages, emails and phone calls as that speech was being made. It was an enormous disrespect, but i also think i heard a lot of sadness as well. Let me get phil to weigh in. How does he repair this relationship . I know hes visiting the pentagon, phil, on friday. Presumably hell have a more prepared statement, if you will, that one at cia headquarters was rambling. What does he need to do now . Believe it or not, im a cia officer but im an eternal optimist. I have tenness and nephews and believe they will have a safer future than ours. It will be led by the director, not by the president. They dont interact daily with the president of the United States. If the president of the United States gets off twitter, stops insulting the cia, if mike pompeo comes in as a serious individual who interacts daily with cia officers, whos interested not om in whats going on in syria but in the wives, the children, the husbands of the cia officer who is serve him, i think we can move beyond this and i think most cia officers would reflect that view. What happened saturday cant be forg can be forgotten but cant be repeated. More breaking news after this. I checked, everythings there. Wait a minute. Hey. Hold on, i can explain. You better have a good answer. Switch to geico and you could save a ton of money on your Car Insurance. Why didnt you say so in the first place . I thought yous was wearing a wire. Haha, what . Why would i wear a wire . Geico. Because saving fifteen percent or more on Car Insurance is always a great answer. Effects of the Trump Administration are being felt in the middle east. Israel has announced a major new expansion of settlements in the west bank. Were talking about 2,500 new homes . Thats right, wolf. One of the largest expansions since 2013. Just days after President Trump took office and a sign after eight years of fighting with the u. S. Over settlements Prime Minister netanyahu is taking early advantage of President Trumps israel friendly new government. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moving forward with one of the largest settlement expansions in years. 2,500 new homes in the west bank. Just two days after his phone call to President Trump and promising, quote, no daylight between the u. S. And israel. We are building, he tweeted tuesday, and we will continue to build. Sunday netanyahu lifted off restrictions on settlement construction in a contested part of East Jerusalem and announced 500 new settlement homes there telling his cabinet it was just the beginning. Translator on the issue of settlement, we will continue to look out for iz wisely and responsible for the benefit of the settlement enterprise and the state of israel. Reporter the new settlement built in areas that israelis claim will always remain part of israel were a blow to the palestinians who rejected the move and promised consequences. We will continue to use whatever available means available to us, diplomatic, nonviolent, political to defend the rights of our people against these israeli policy. Reporter in 2003 trump donated 10,000 to the settlement, one of the same sites as the planned expansion, in honor of his friend david freedman, trumps hard line pick as ambassador to israel. Freedman supports legalizing settlements, an exing the west bank and promising to back the captain for israels government in whatever policy it chooses. Israel is a friend. The Trump Administration will be loyal to its friends, trust its friends. Reporter a welcome sentiment for netanyahu after eight years of sparring with president obama. Israel to me is very important. Reporter President Trump has promised to have israels back and recently lobbied to head off a controversial u. N. Vote criticizing israeli settlements. The obama administrations decision not to veto the measure allowed it to pass. The Peace Process is dead. You have an Outgoing Administration thats been hypercritical, an Incoming Administration that has a very strong proisraeli sensibility. Its a perfect storm and i think Prime Minister netanyahu sees it to his advantage to move now. Reporter do these new announcements reflect a new policy by the Trump Administration giving israel a green light on settlements . The white house would not say. Press Secretary Sean Spicer said today that President Trump wants to grow closer to israel and the settlement issue will be on the agenda when he welcomes Prime Minister netanyahu to the white house early next month. Looks like on the sensitive issue of moving the u. S. Embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem, which donald trump promised would happen if he were president , thats on hold for now. I think theyll slow it down. I think initially the ambassador, david freedman, will live and work in israel. Jerusalem. Jerusalem, sorry, and i think they will continue to have discussions with the allies and with the government and with the government of israel, but i think thats a way off, the white house saying theyre in the beginning stages of those discussions. Elise, thank you very much. Thats it for me. Thanks very much. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. Erin burnett out front starts right now. The White House Press secretary battles with reporters over President Trumps false claims that millions voted illegal illegally. Its not true. Why does trump keep pushing it . And trying to embarrass trump during a confirmation hearing. And trump tells the ceos of detroits big three hes bringing back auto jobs bigly, or did he say big league . Finally the answer to this question. Lets go out front. Good evening. Im burn