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DOJ Formally Challenging Federal Judge Decision on Travel Ban; Protesters on Palm Beach Near President's Mar-a-Lago Resort; One-Third of Dearborn, Michigan is Arab-American; President Trump Tells FOX News He Respects Vladimir Putin. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired February 4, 2017 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[20:00:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: The department of justice now formally challenging a federal judge's decision to block President Trump's travel ban. The motion filed just last hour at the same time protesters are taking to the streets across America. A large number of them tonight in Palm Beach, Florida, right near at the president's Mar-a-Lago resort where he is spending the weekend.

CNN is covering this major legal battle from every angle tonight our Sara Sidner is outside the ninth circuit court of appeals where the motion has just been filed. Our justice correspondent Laura Jarrett is live for us tonight in Capitol Hill -- on Capitol Hill. And we have CNN legal analyst Danny Cevallos with us as well.

But we begin our coverage with CNN's Jessica Schneider.

I believe we are beginning with Jessica, a lot of moving parts tonight. Jessica, what can you tell us?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Poppy. You know, we talked about these protesters who would be outside Mar-a-Lago. Well, now, they are materializing. You can see them just behind me. Not really too many out here right outside Mar-a-Lago. Police have been really flexible with them. They have allowed them to come up to this bridge, the bridge just maybe a few hundred feet from Mar-a-Lago, itself. This has been largely peaceful. These people have marched a few miles to get here.

We understand that there were several thousand of them but now the protest, itself, has somewhat dissipated and many of the people out here are pro-Trump supporters, are supporters of the president.

Initially police were a little bit nervous about a potential clash between the pro-Trump people and some of these protesters, but it has been very peaceful out here. Just moving through with signs, no clashes, no violence. A few flare-ups but nothing major. Of course, the president right now getting ready to make an appearance at this international Red Cross ball. It is an annual gala at Mar-a-Lago just across the way here. The protesters like I said, they are being kept back from Mar-a-Lago, itself. Mar-a-Lago is in sight, but may won't be getting near it where there's a tight and secure secret service presence.

So Poppy, protesters have materialized here in Palm Beach, but nothing violent, all fairly calm out here - Poppy.

HARLOW: Jessica, thank you very much for the reporting.

Now, let's go to our Sara Sidner.

Sara, you are outside of the court there. This is one of three courts where the justices could move on this. Help us understand exactly what happens now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So you have what will likely be the coming together in one form or another, whether electronically or in person, three judges who are every month decided who is going to be on the motions part of this hearing.

What you Are going to hear, or see, is that they Are basically going to have to decide whether or not to either agree with the DOJ and stop, reverse what the judge did in Washington, or they are going to agree or let stay what the judge decided in Washington. In other words, keep allowing people to come in and stop the travel ban and then the department of justice is going it have to decide what they do next.

Let me go ahead and bring in Rory Little who is law professor at UC Hastings. He is here. He has been in this court and you have been in the appellate process, you've fought as an attorney, correct?

RORY LITTLE, PROFESSOR, UC HASTINGS COLLEGE OF THE LAW: Yes. I have done emergency appeals before. And you know, it is kind of a routine drill once you get used to it. But it is unpredictable how quickly it will happen.

SIDNER: Let me ask you about this particular case. What do you expect to see now that there's been a notice of an appeal? And what happens after that?

LITTLE: Well, the notice of appeal generates a number so now it's got a case number and they are going to have to file motions if they want anything done. They are going to have to file a motion either to stay or motion to reverse or writ of mandamus to take the judge's authority away in some sense. And those papers will be filed and then the judges, the motion judges, probably will order the other side to file responsive papers in whatever amount of time it takes. They can do this very quickly, 24 hours or less. And then they can take as long as they want to make the decision. If they are persuaded they need to make a decision fast. They will make a decision fast. Otherwise they could wait until Monday or Tuesday.

SIDNER: Is it likely they will convene? Because the three judges who are on call, so to speak, for this, are in Hawaii, here, and in Arizona. Is that correct?

LITTLE: Right. Well, there's no telling where they are. That's where they are based. And they could be anywhere in the world. But no, they won't convene. They won't physically get together. They will do this by electronics. They will do this by email. And they are confer. They may have a conference call and talk it over. But presumably one of the judges will take the lead. Wouldn't surprise me, actually, if it's Michelle Freedland who takes the lead because she is the active judge. The other two judges have senior status. And then they will make a decision and then it will be referred to the whole court. Meanwhile, the Trump administration may go directly to justice Kennedy.

SIDNER: The Supreme Court.

[20:05:00] LITTLE: Yes, he's the circuit justice for the ninth circuit. So he will get any motion that they file at the Supreme Court and then he has the authority to refer that to the entire court. Or he has the authority, actually, to decide it himself if he wants to.

SIDNER: All right. Rory Little giving you the information you need to know on how these procedures work and obviously with court systems. There is a very set out procedure. We should mention this also, the ninth circuit court just put up a website because they know there were so much public interest. And you can go on their Web site and you can find out what happens with this case as they make their decision -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Well, of course, Sara, because it affects people's lives moment by moment especially people in the air, on the way to this country, or people that just landing depending on when and how this is decided.

Sara Sidner, great reporting as always. Thank you so much.

After the judge temporarily halted the travel ban last night, airlines were told to operate as normal, that means previously banned travelers are now being allowed to get onto these flights, board the flights from all those seven countries to the United States. What is in store for them now? That is a big question. How is this all going to play out legally?

I want to bring in CNN justice reporter Laura Jarrett. She joins us as well as CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Danny Cevallos.

Laura, it is just a few pages long, the White House's appeal to all this. What are you looking at most now as this legal battle plays out?

LAURA JARRETT, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: So the next step will be for the justice department to file its brief, right? That's where we are going to see its real position in the ninth circuit. And there's two different ways they could go here. And if we're judging by how they did it in the Seattle district court, we will see two different avenues.

One will be procedural. They will say the state attorney general in Washington doesn't have standing to come into court and sue. They haven't been harmed. They're not one of those visa holders whose visas was canceled so they haven't been harmed. They can't come into court. Another track might be more of merits-based and that might say, look,

Donald Trump has sweeping power in the immigration context. He can do this. So that's a substantive argument.

And like I said, I think we might see them make both arguments but we have to wait and see their brief that's filed in the ninth circuit.

HARLOW: So Danny, on that, do you have an assessment? Because Laura brings up a very important point and that is the fact that understanding law, U.S. presidents do have really broad and sweeping power when it comes to issues of immigration, especially if they can deem it an emergency situation as the president has here. Do you have any opinion as to which argument is going to hold more weight? The federal judge in Washington State, or the White House in this one.

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, that would handicap it. This is exactly the argument that the White House administration made, the DOJ made. And it was unavailing at least in district court in Washington. So we can safely say that that argument at least to one judge has not worked.

But, you know, on the plaintiffs in this case made several constitutional and statutory arguments, equal protection, establishment cause, and the main clause of the White House, the department of justice's argument was exactly the statute that you just cited, 1182. And that does gives the president broad power in this area as you described.

However, the plaintiff argues that, yes, that statute does exist but since then, additional law including the INA, the immigration nationality act, have been amended, added to, such that that over- section simply doesn't have teeth anymore. It's been, in a way, overrun by more modern law which says more clearly that you cannot discriminate against people based on things like race, religion, national origin.

HARLOW: Right.

CEVALLOS: So that was the Trump administration's argument and it was unavailing.

HARLOW: So the -- guys, I think it's so important to get to the practical implications of this, Laura, because, you know, depending on when the ninth circuit makes a decision, likely not in the next few minutes or hours, but, you know, possibly in the next few days. This could impact people as they are in the air on their way to this country. I mean, what are they supposed to do at this point in time? Because the minute that this is decided, they could be in the exact same situation as they were last Friday and Saturday when they were landing in this country and then being detained.

JARRETT: Well, that's right. I think a lot of people are expressing a lot of anxiety, shall we say, about that very situation. What happens to the visa holder who showed up at the airport today, boarded a flight this afternoon, let's say, is in the air, and then let's play this out, for whatever reason the Seattle judge's ruling gets halted or reversed in some way, then what happens?

But we have to remember what happened in New York around this time last week, right? The New York court said, look, if somebody comes here, you cannot deport them back to their home country. And that ruling is still in place until February 21st. They got an extension earlier this week.

[20:10:15] HARLOW: But did that, Laura, only apply to New York?

JARRETT: No, it's nationwide.

HARLOW: It's nationwide. OK.

JARRETT: Yes. So, we have to remember, New York still is out there. People have forgotten about it because so much has happened since then. But that case is still there out there. And so, there's an arguable grounds. And I talked to some ACLU lawyers who are thinking this way this afternoon, that if anybody comes in, let's say, tonight or tomorrow, and something happened to that Seattle court ruling, they could run into court and go to the New York court and say, hey, remember that order? This is still in place.

HARLOW: Right.

JARRETT: You can't deport them.

HARLOW: Before I let you guys go, Danny, I just want you to weigh in on another thing that the president tweeted, having to do with another federal judge's ruling in Boston. He tweeted, why aren't the lawyers looking at and using the federal court decision in Boston which is at conflict with the ridiculous lift ban decision?

CEVALLOS: It's not a crazy argument really, because you have one court in Washington, a federal district court, that says that nationwide, the ban is stayed. The argument is if you have another district court and all district courts are sort of created equal, if you have another district court saying the opposite, can't the president just choose which one he wants to follow? Or is it that one court saying you can't do something is somehow more powerful than another court saying you can?

In many ways, these are sort of cases of first impression. At least on this level. There's going to be a circuit split and it's going to have to be resolved by the Supreme Court which as we remember right now has eight members and a real potential for a 4-4 split.

HARLOW: OK. I do want to note for our viewers, just something that is important here, and Laura, you can weigh in on this, the actual appeal has not been filed. It is the notice to appeal that has been filed to notify the court that they are planning to appeal. What's the difference here, Laura?

JARRETT: That's right. It's just a formality. You have to put, you know, a stake in the sand and say, we are going to file this appeal, district court. We are putting you on notice.

HARLOW: Yes.

JARRETT: But it's coming. It says, hereby appeal. So we know it is coming. It is just a matter of time.

But just back to the Boston case really quickly, if I could. The important thing to recognize there, that was not a nationwide ruling. It was limited to the district court in Massachusetts. And the other thing about that case is that it was a temporary restraining order that the judge said should not be extended beyond this weekend. But the judge in that case did not reach the merits of the plaintiff's case. It just you have your temporary restraining order until it this weekend and then that's it.

HARLOW: Laura Jarrett, Danny Cevallos, guys, thank you so much. I'm really glad you are with us a part through all of this tonight.

Straight ahead, we have a lot of news to get you. We continue to follow this breaking news, obviously. Also brand new comment from the president about Russian president Vladimir Putin seeming to put the U.S. and Putin's Russia on equal footing. That's next.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM:

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:17:00] HARLOW: President Trump telling FOX News in a brand new interview, he respects Russian president Vladimir Putin. That's not new. Here's what is new. The president acknowledges Putin may be a killer but adds "we've got a lot of killers." listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: Do you respect Putin?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do respect him.

O'REILLY: Do you? Why?

TRUMP: Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with them. He is a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight of Islamic terrorism all over the world, that's a good thing. Will I get along with him, I have no idea.

O'REILLY: He is a killer, though. Putin's a killer?

TRUMP: A lot of killers. A lot of killers. What, you think our country's so innocent?

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: With me on the phone, our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto. Also with us, CNN former Moscow bureau chief, Jill Dougherty.

Jim Sciutto, where do I begin? This is seemingly the president of the United States standing up for Vladimir Putin. How do you read this?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on the phone): Listen, you know, the word, unprecedented, has been overused, right, including CNN.

Look, this is unprecedented by U.S. president speaking about his own country, that kind of moral relativism with not just a U.S. adversary but an authoritarian state that is well known, documented, for enormous examples of mistreatment of its own people at home and abroad. You can certainly say un-presidential. At least if you're talking about being president of the United States to describe your country in that way.

And let's -- listen, I have traveled a lot in countries like Russia, China, elsewhere, that will often use this moral relativism as a propaganda talking point that, well, the U.S. has done just as bad as we have.

Listen, you and I know, Poppy, Jill knows, the U.S. has made many mistakes. But the question is, putting it on a par with a historic authoritarian state such as Russia is, one, just not factually true. And two, just a remarkable thing for American president to say, and just -- let's just throw out a couple current examples, OK?

Russia deliberately bombed civilians in Syria. Yes, U.S. air strikes have killed civilians. U.S. military takes enormous steps to avoid civilian casualties. Russian deliberately bombed civilians. Russia has annexed land in Europe. Annexed Crimea. Violation of multiple international treaties and international law. That's something the U.S. doesn't do. Russia supplied weapons to separatists in eastern Ukraine that shot down a civilian airliner over Europe and killed nearly 300 people. Russia poisoned with the radioactive substance a dissident on the streets of London. I covered that story several years ago. And has killed, murdered journalists, critics of the dissidents of the state. That's just at the top of the list. These are things Jill knows better than any.

HARLOW: Right.

SCIUTTO: Of the way this government acts. So it equate the two is, one, wrong. And two, just remarkable to hear out of the mouth of an American president.

[20:20:08] HARLOW: And Jill, to build on Jim's point, you know, case in point, one of the biggest and most vocal opponents and critics of Vladimir Putin, Borris Niemsov.

JILL DOHERTY, GLOBAL FELLOW, WOODROW WILSON CENTER (on the phone): Yes, and there others. I mean, right now we have (INAUDIBLE) who was poisoned, it's believed, a while ago, and he is back in the hospital. Now, no one is saying that necessarily Vladimir Putin did that. But I think the important thing is why is President Trump saying this? And this is not the first time he said it. He said it in December of 2015 in an interview with MSNBC when he said our country does plenty of killing, too. This apparently is thing he actually believes. Now, it reminds me, Jim is talking about kind of, you know, the old soviet way. Well, you know, there's a phrase that's called what Aboutism. And what Aboutism is you say you do something really terrible and you turn around, you answer, you say you do, too, you do worse things. And this is kind of -- it smacks of that.

I don't know whether President Trump ever heard about what Aboutism, but that is a propaganda technique that was used in the soviet days. And he is making a moral equivalent that really, I think, Jim nailed it, is not correct.

You can say -- you can say that back in the cold war, in the '60s, et cetera, the United States actually did assassinate other leaders, but that was outlawed in 1976. So I think the question that people should be asking President Trump is, give examples, what are you saying, what killing do you have in mind that the United States is doing that would be equivalent to what, let's say, the Russian system, the Russian government, is doing right now?

SCIUTTO: Jim, to you, twofold question here. Well, just a point, as Jill says, this isn't the first time that Donald Trump has said this. However, it's the first time as a sitting president that he has said this and makes it different this time than in 2015. A, do you think this just gives cover to Vladimir Putin. And b, how will his fellow Republicans on both sides of the aisle, do you believe, react, many of them who are calling for tougher sanctions against Russia in response to the hacking of the election, now this?

SCIUTTO: First question first. Listen, this is enormous ammunition to a Russia, but not just Russia, to other countries who seek to undermine U.S. soft power, just as Donald Trump's claim of three to five million false voters, right, again, factually untrue, but you have an American president giving ammunition to folks who will say the U.S. democratic system is not what it's cracked up to be. So this has become a pattern from a President Trump. So that's one.

You know, from the Republican side, I have been spending the last hour reaching out to a number of Republicans for their reactions. I don't have on-the-record reactions yet. If it fits previous patterns when the president has said things like this, you will have many Republicans who will say nothing, you may have a handful who will stand up and maybe a McCain, maybe a Graham, who have been particularly vocal, one willing to criticize the president, particularly vocal on Russia.

And, again, you know, this is not a view that is held by Democrats or Republicans that Russia is not so bad, that Putin's a great leader to be admired, well, what they do is not much worse than what we do. It's not a view you hear from Americans, right? So, so it's -- it will be interesting to see who is willing to go On the Record criticizing the president's comments.

HARLOW: Jill Dougherty, what should we expect from President Trump and president Putin going forward, given the fact that the first time it's believed that the two men even spoke was just last week?

DOUGHERTY: You know, I think it's very hard to predict exactly what will happen because if you examine what the president said today to Bill O'Reilly, he was kind of on autopilot I think. He said the same thing, President Trump said the same thing he always says, I respect Putin, doesn't mean we are going to get along, but if Russia helps fight terrorism, that's a good thing.

I mean, he said that a million times. And yet, at the very moment that he said that, or day before, his representative to the United Nations is slamming Russia for its actions in Ukraine and calling for an end to the occupation of Crimea. So already you have a very disorganized and unclear approach to Russia.

I mean, this is -- this is loose thinking and it is loose talk. Really what I think the president has to do is buckle down, get a policy and not make these kind of -- I would call them kind of pandering remarks meant to kind of say, well, I understand, this is how the world works.

When you're the president of the United States, you cannot do that. It's not, you don't speak loosely about something like murder and assassination. You simply don't. So until we can actually see a real policy by President Trump, then I think, you know, it's fair to criticize to say show us what you really are going to do.

HARLOW: As you know, this is a president who has said I don't want to show my cards.

Jim Sciutto, Jill Dougherty, we will leave it there. I appreciate all your analysis tonight.

Stay with me because straight ahead my political panel weighs in.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:29:57] HARLOW: All right. Back to our breaking news this hour.

President Trump telling FOX News in a brand new interview, he respects Russian president Vladimir Putin and acknowledges Putin may be a killing but also adds that a lot of people are killers. Here is the president in his own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[20:30:11] BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: Do you respect Putin?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do respect him.

O'REILLY: Do you? Why?

TRUMP: Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn't mean I'm going to get along with them. He is a leader of his country. I say it's better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight of Islamic terrorism all over the world, that's a good thing. Will I get along with him, I have no idea.

O'REILLY: He is a killer, though. Putin's a killer?

TRUMP: A lot of killers. A lot of killers. What, you think our country's so innocent?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Let's debate it. Robert Jones is with us, the CEO and founder of public religion research institute. Betsy Woodruff is a politics reporter for the "Daily Beast."

Nice to have you both here.

All right. We just heard the analysis from our Jim Sciutto and also Jill Dougherty in Moscow. Betsy, the question becomes how are U.S. allies supposed to read this, especially on a day that President Trump just had a call with the president of Ukraine?

BETSY WOODRUFF, POLITICAL REPORTER, THE DAILY BEAST: That's a very good question for U.S. allies. Of course, we know that many of these foreign governments are really scrambling to figure out how to make sense of the things Donald Trump says and does. And I think Jill made a really important point in that last block about the fact there seems to be significant dissidence between what Trump's team at the U.N. are doing when it comes to Russian incursions into the Ukraine. But what Trump, himself, is saying in these interviews. It's just -- it's a massive gap even within the Trump administration, itself. And that's deeply confusing.

HARLOW: I think that's really important point because Nikki Haley, the ambassador to the United Nations, in her confirmation hearing and again in her comments about Russia at the United Nations took a much more aggressive approach when it comes to how the U.S. should respond and how wary the U.S. should be of Russia. Rex Tillerson just confirmed as secretary of state, along the same lines as well as general Mattis.

Robert, how should our allies read this, the divide that Betsy points out, seemingly between the president and his team?

ROBERT JONES, CEO/FOUNDER, PUBLIC RELIGION RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Well, it's confusing. You know, I think that Donald Trump continues in many ways to be his own enemy here by giving these conflicting statements. And I think most importantly here, it is without really any reason, really lowering the moral bar and really dispensing with American ideals here. I mean, one of the great, you know, things he talked about if "make America great again," he referred to his inaugural address, a city set on a hill. That is kind of a biblical illusion. That's always been about moral power and leading by moral example. And he is just sort of, like, thrown that under the bus with this -- with this latest comment.

HARLOW: Let's also listen to another excerpt that we just got. This is from the big interview that the president did with Bill O'Reilly that will air during the super bowl tomorrow. Here is where O'Reilly pushed him on facts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Is there any validity to the criticism of you that you say things you can't back up factually? And as the president, if you say, for example, that there are three million illegal aliens who voted, and then you don't have the data to back it up, some people are going to say that's irresponsible for a president to say that. Is there any validity to that?

TRUMP: Well, many people have come out and said I'm right. You know that.

O'REILLY: I know. But you have to have data to back that up.

TRUMP: When you see illegals, people who are not citizens and they are on the registration rolls. Look, Bill, we can be babies. But you take a look at the registration, you have illegals, you have dead people, you have this. It's really a bad situation. It's really bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Betsy to you. I mean, he actually didn't answer O'Reilly's question there.

WOODRUFF: No. Not at all. And the fact is that Trump and his team are really factually challenged. Just earlier this week, I obtained emails from customs and border protection that showed that hundreds of people were immediately directly impacted by the travel ban. That e- mail was sent out at 6:30 a.m. on Monday. Several hours later when Sean Spicer, Trump's press secretary, had a media availability, had a daily press briefing. He told reporters that only 109 people were slowed down by the travel ban. And, of course, we learned in last day or two, that in fact, tens of thousands of people had their visas revoked because of the travel ban.

Despite that, the entire Trump administration, not just Trump, himself, have worked overtime to just distract people from the reality, from the facts of the situation. And as reporters, it's really hard because it means that you can't take any statement at face value from Trump and his team. There's just a massive trust deficit. And that's a huge, interesting challenge for covering this administration.

HARLOW: Robert, you made an interesting point just sort of a bigger picture point about what this does to the future of the GOP and what you called generational divides. Explain.

JONES: Well, you know, I think one of the real questions to ask is what impact is this administration going to have on younger Americans. And we have some recent data even from -- recent CNN poll that, you know, shows there may be a real future shock here in for the Republican Party. Two-thirds of millennials saying they disapprove of the job performance of President Trump. We have two-thirds who oppose this travel ban. We have eight in ten who oppose the building of a wall. Staunchly lined up against the key things the Trump administration is pushing very, very hard in the early administration. One of the things we know from the political science literature is

that each generation tends to set its political preferences in their teens and 20s and that stays with them throughout their life. It's hard to move people off the mark that they set in their early adulthood. And we could be looking at the most anti-Republican generation. And it could be a completely self-inflicted wound by the Republican Party.

HARLOW: What do you expect, Betsy, from Republicans in Congress? Obviously there have been some who have been more outspoken against the president like John McCain, like Senator John McCain, like Senator Lindsey Graham. But do you expect, especially given these Putin and Russia comments, putting the U.S. on a moral equivalency with Russia in that interview? Do you expect more outcry from some Republicans in Congress?

WOODRUFF: Keep an eye on Paul Ryan. I would expect him to have some sort of comment either pointedly or obliquely pushing back against the president because of this. Remember about a month ago when President Obama rolled out new station against Russia, Paul Ryan really praised for that. He said he thought it was a good decision. That was a long overdue.

So he's definitely not in the camp of let's all get along with Russia and Putin's a great guy. That's not the way Paul Ryan thinks ant the world. There's going to be a lot of focus on him particularly from rank and file and members of the house Republican conference to sort of get a sense of what tone the party as a whole is going to take on this issue especially given the president almost for all practical purposes appearing to draw an equivalency between the U.S. and Russia when it comes to human rights issues. So I think Paul Ryan is probably the most important voice here on how the Republican Party as a whole is going to respond.

HARLOW: All right. Robert Jones, Betsy Woodruff, nice to have you both on. Thank you.

JONES: Thank you.

HARLOW: Coming up next, more on those protests especially in Florida right near Mar-a-Lago tonight. We hear from President Trump support who are behind the travel ban. Remember, 47 percent of America tells us in our recent polling they support this ban. Their message to protesters, get over it.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:41:07] HARLOW: Welcome back.

We are continuing to monitor events in south Florida tonight. Protesters are taking to the streets in Palm Beach right near the president's Mar-a-Lago resort. That is where he is tonight spending a weekend.

Our correspondent Jessica Schneider joins me now.

It looks like the protests have grown substantially.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, Poppy. You know, we have seen this protest progress and ebb and flow in terms of emotions and action over the past two hours. So to give you a look at what's happening now, they have all gathered here. This is as far as they are able to get in terms of proximity to Mar-a-Lago. We are just across the causeway from south ocean drive where Mar-a-Lago actually is.

Now, what you are seeing is actually a convergence of President Trump's supporters and those protesters out here. Those protesters started around 6:00 tonight. They began over at the Trump hotel over in West Palm Beach. They made their way a few miles here to this site.

You know, there was a brief clash that we actually just saw over the past few minutes. Nothing substantial, but it was a tussle between two people. One being a President Trump supporter, one being a protester out here. That's about all the violence that we have seen out here. Very, very minor.

However, we are seeing this huge gathering. As Poppy, you mentioned, this is pretty much the biggest gathering we have seen close to Mar-a- Lago tonight. We have heard people singing "the star spangled banner." You can hear them now chanting "USA." But for the most part, it is peaceful. They have the right to protest. They have been monitored by police. They have been watched by police.

Initially we weren't sure how close to Mar-a-Lago they would get. We weren't sure they would even make it this far. But Police have allowed them to come down here. They are stopping them at the causeway right before you enter the area that leads into Mar-a-Lago.

But this is sort of protests that we have seen all over the country for the past two weeks of President Trump's presidency, the third straight weekend. Now, we have seen these protests, this one a smaller scale than we have seen over the past few weeks. But the same message by the protesters out here. They are chanting now this is what democracy looks like. One of their chants they do chant in these protests.

So, you know, they are trying to get their message out there. They are not happy with the Trump presidency. And of course, in this democracy that we live in, they are allowed to get their message out, actually very close -- very close proximity to the president, himself - Poppy.

HARLOW: Jessica Schneider, great reporting all night tonight. It's been a long day. Thank you for that.

Protests, as you just saw, certainly have a way of drawing cameras. But those lashing out at President Trump's policies reflect only one side of the national mood. Many Americans are 100 percent behind the president and his travel ban.

CNN's Jason Carroll found some of them in Wisconsin, a state as you know that was key to the president's victory on election night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Try to bring business back to the United States.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you look at the reason why Donald Trump unexpectedly flipped the state of Wisconsin, look no further than this bar right outside of Milwaukee. It caters to a lot of Harley Davidson employees who come from the plant just a few miles away. The patrons have plenty of praise for the president and find little tolerance for those protesting against him.

KIM GAMROTH, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Get over it. He's in. He's in. And just stop it. Stop it.

CARROLL: Kim Gamroth owns this bar and says her feelings mirror those of many in the community. A community that voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton by nearly 2-1. Donnie Balusik is a Trump supporter. Balusik says he worked at Harley Davidson for more than 40 years before he retired and was also a small business owner.

DONNIE BALUSIK, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Cost me a good business I have like a bar like this, you know, certain people move in the area and the white people move out.

[20:45:03] CARROLL: You mean certain people, people who look like me?

BALUSIK: Well, the neighborhood changed, like 90 percent within two years. White people won't come in and I had to sell it.

CARROLL: I wonder going forward does it leave you with an unfavorable view of black people, Mexican people.

BALUSIK: Yes, it does. I'll be honest with you. I'm very prejudice. And a lot of people know that.

CARROLL: Balusik says his point of view is unedited. One that he says few people like him share publicly.

Do you believe that a lot of other people who feel the way you do also voted for Trump because they feel the way you do?

BALUSIK: They do. Trust me.

CARROLL: Jennifer Murray and Kim Gamroth say they don't share Balusik's views and that they welcome all who come to the bar no matter their race but they support Trump and are happy with what they have seen so far.

JENNIFER MURRAY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: He is backing up what he had said. You know, he's finally standing up for America. For the citizens of America. For small businesses. For everybody who voted for him that he said what he was going to do and he is doing it.

CARROLL: They also hope the president will keep pressuring U.S. companies to make more products in the United States. Harley Davidson, for example, assembles bikes in the United States but makes many parts overseas in countries like Mexico.

Ross Winkibauer, the head of the local steelworkers union, is encouraged by Trump pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership which he says was not good for U.S. workers. But he is personally troubled by the administration's immigration ban.

ROSS WINKIBAUER, LOCAL DIRECTOR OF UNITED STATES WORKERS: The green lady, statue of liberty, you know, welcome. And I just believe that's the way it should be.

CARROLL: Patrons such as Donnie Balusik are on board with what Trump has done so far and hope he continues to fulfill his promises.

BALUSIK: I hope he gets another four years after this one. Got to be better than Democrats.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Jason Carroll, thank you very much for that reporting.

Coming up, we are going to take you to Dearborn, Michigan, where a third of the population is Arab-American. How are business owners there responding to the president's travel ban? And their message directly to him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:51:14] HARLOW: We are continuing to monitor this growing protest in south Florida. Protesters taking to the streets there in Palm Beach. That is very close to the president's Mar-a-Lago resort, where he is spending the weekend. We have a live report coming up straight from there.

Meantime I want to take you to Dearborn, Michigan. It is called by some the heart of Arab-America. It is home to immigrant business owners who have told us they have been living the American dream. A third of the population of Dearborn is Arab-American. But after President Trump's travel ban some of them tell us they don't feel welcome anymore.

CNN Money's Logan Whiteside and (INAUDIBLE) filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA SHATILA, SHATILA BAKERY: This is Shatila bakery.

ISMAEL ALJAHMI, SHEEBA RESTAURANTS: I'm part of a family that owns authentic Yemeni restaurants.

HUSSEIN SAAD, PRINCE'S BAKERY: We own bakeries, Middle Eastern. It's been open for 30 years.

SHATILA: We began in 1979. The founder was my father. He emigrated here from Lebanon due to the war in 1976 and he came and began his own American dream.

ALJAHMI: My family is from Yemen. My father immigrated to the U.S. in 1973, I believe.

SAAD: My father moved here in 1995.

SHATILA: We have about 200 employees total.

SAAD: We have 10 to 15 employees.

ALJAHMI: Total of probably 20 to 25 in this location.

SHATILA: Many of our employees, they do have in common that they are fleeing a difficult situation whether it be Lebanon, whether it be Iraq or Syria. Almost everyone here has found the American dream in Dearborn, and they have grown from that.

ALJAHMI: We are a big community in Dearborn. We are here to support our families. We are here to make a better living. We are here to, you know, have our kids educated. We are here to get better chances in living like anybody else.

SHATILA: Above all else I would say that we feel misrepresented at times.

ALJAHMI: You know, since the ban, Mr. Trump came up with -- It's pretty -- it's pretty hard. I mean, people are very devastated, sad, shocked.

SHATILA: People feel like they have almost a loss of security and they feel misunderstood.

ALJAHMI: It's even hard for to us explain to our kids. What are we going to tell them? That my president made a ban against us, against our people? It's horrible.

SAAD: I mean, I'm an American citizen. But I still feel less welcome. People look at you differently after that. He changes the -- he changed the point of view of Arabs, everybody. And Muslims around the world. He changed how people look at us.

ALJAHMI: Even business. Everybody knows Sheeba is Yemeni. But OK, it's so you're considered one of the terrorists, basically. To be that person that's been targeted from, you know, the world leader, Mr. Trump, you know. It's not easy to deal with.

SAAD: He should come to Dearborn and have a meal. That's all I can tell him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: All right. I want to end this hour with this.

At a time of so much division in this country there are also some pretty beautiful moments of unity all around us, and we want to make sure you see those on the show as well.

So tonight in our America, a story that shows what can happen when we all come together. A fire destroyed a mosque in south Texas last weekend. But in a moment of so much loss an act of compassion. The leaders of a local Jewish congregation handed over their keys to their synagogue so the mosque could continue their services.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR RACHID, VICTORIA ISLAMIC CENTER: It's very important for us to have a presence. It's very important for us to have an identity. And you know, a place of worship that kind of gives you a sense of belonging. The amount of support. It restores our hope, and it also restores our sense of belonging.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:55:10] HARLOW: That man, Omar Rachid, set up an online fund- raiser to help rebuild the mosque. So far has raised more than $1.1 million.

Thank you so much for being with us tonight. Our live coverage continues on this breaking news. I'm going to hand it over right after this break to Boris Sanchez.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:59:19] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is the top of the hour. I'm Boris Sanchez in Atlanta, and this is a special live edition of CNN NEWSROOM. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world.

We start with breaking news. You are lacking at live pictures from Palm Beach, Florida where protesters are taking to the streets near President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, where he is spending the weekend. Most are carrying signs and props to protest his controversial travel ban affecting refugees and citizens in seven dim-majority countries.

You see the police presence is already there. The justice department formally charged a federal judge's decision to temporarily block that ban. People who support the president have also had a presence there in the crowds gathered in Palm Beach. They were yelling at each other, a standoff just a few moments ago.

We will go live to South Florida in just a moment.