Sources: Lawyers Working on Possible New Travel Ban Order
BLITZER: We're following the breaking news out of the White House. An hour or so ago Kellyanne Conway, the counselor to the president, goes on television, speaks with reporters and says President Trump has, quote, "full confidence" in the national security adviser, Michael Flynn. Now, within the last few minutes, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, puts out a separate statement, very, very different, saying this, quote, "The president is evaluating the situation. He's speaking to the vice president relative to the conversation the vice president had with General Flynn and also speaking to various other people about what he considers the single most important subject there is, our national security." So all of a sudden, two top officials at the White House go from full confidence to evaluating the situation. We're going to find out what happened in the past hour. We're going to do some serious reporting on this and update you. In the meantime, we're back with Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. He's the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Mr. Chairman, we want to talk a little bit about the president's travel ban, now frozen by that federal appeals court. But first I want to bring in our justice correspondent, Pamela Brown. She's got some new developments to share with our viewers. What are you learning, Pamela?</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Today the federal government filed a brief with Judge Robart, the judge in Washington state, asking for a delay in the proceedings, because it wants to let things play out in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals with the possibility of a larger panel looking at the case. The government did not provide any new information on what it plans to do next; but this is yet another signal that the administration will not seek an immediate stay with the Supreme Court as you reported last Friday. And sources are telling myself and my colleague, Ariane de Vogue, that top lawyers at the Department of Justice and the administration, Wolf, are huddling right now to figure out the next step forward after that stinging loss last week that keeps the travel ban on hold. Right now officials are crafting language for a potential new executive order that would make clear legal permanent residents and visa holders have due process rights. There was even a possibility of more than one order being issued, so that if one is challenged, the others could remain in effect. At this point, we're told the administration wants to continue to fight the lower court opinion but add new language that could clarify their position. As one source told me today, there is a lot of lawyering going on right now to figure out how to make all of this work -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: I assume there is. All right. Thanks very much. Let's bring back Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. Senator, the president told reporters he will, quote, "win the battle," talking about the travel ban executive order. Then said they were looking at all sorts of options, including a brand-new order. But if there is such an imminent threat right now that, in his words, bad dudes are rushing into the United States, should he just rewrite it and get on with it?</s>JOHNSON: Well, first of all, I think the travel ban was a reasonable precaution. And, you know, the president has vast powers when it comes to refugees. For example, President Obama decide decided to let in 10,000 Syrian refugees just by consulting with the Congress. He made the decision, consults with Congress. Nobody challenged him. We might have said whether we thought it was wise or not, but we thought he had the legal authority to do so. Presidents are certainly charged with the legal authority to keep the nation safe. So I think we have to run this process up. We have to establish it's very important or any president has this power and authority. And so I'm a little concerned about what's happening right now through the legal system. But that's why I would certainly support a better crafted executive order, probably better implemented, because we have to establish, really, the president has to have this authority.</s>BLITZER: Let me follow up. Because as you know, the president, he cites what he calls tremendous threats to the country right now. He said -- and I'm quoting him -- "We need speed for reasons of security." You are the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. Is he citing new specific threats?</s>JOHNSON: I know of no specific threat. But let's face it, Wolf, the threat of Islamic terror is real; it's growing. It's metastasizing and evolving. The fact of the matter is the Senate immigration studies did show that there are more than 70 people involved and certainly charged with, some of them convicted of basically fomenting terrorist activity here in the United States from those seven countries. So yes, this is a danger. We certainly need to continue reviewing our vetting process in terms of refugees, visa waiver program. But from my standpoint, if I'm concerned about ISIS operatives coming into America, I'm still concerned primarily about them coming through our very poor southern border, which also needs to be secured.</s>BLITZER: What about the northern border with Canada? There's a -- what, a 3,000-mile frontier between the U.S. and Canada.</s>JOHNSON: Well, it's certainly of the reasons we held a hearing on Prime Minister Trudeau's acceptance under very rough circumstances for exactly the same reason. But our primary concern is our very southern -- porous southern border.</s>BLITZER: President Trump described these latest ICE raids. In his word, he called it a crackdown, saying today -- he said today at the news conference -- he said, "We will get the bad ones," but Democrats are concerned, as you know. California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein put out this statement: "These reports show the serious consequences of the president's executive order, which allows all undocumented immigrants to be categorized as criminals and requires increased enforcement in communities, rather than prioritizing dangerous criminals." Is that the case? Are all undocumented immigrants right now being categorizing as criminals and could be picked up and deported?</s>JOHNSON: No, I believe the Trump administration, under the leadership of Secretary Kelly now is, again, still prioritizing gang members, drug dealers, human traffickers, criminals. They are still prioritizing that. But they're just stepping up enforcement activity. I don't think the Obama administration did adequate enforced our immigration laws. This administration will.</s>BLITZER: Senator Johnson, thanks very much for joining us.</s>JOHNSON: Have a great day.</s>BLITZER: Coming up, members of President Trump's team make new claims of voter fraud, but do they have any proof? We're checking the facts.