News Wrap: Trump vows to keep fighting in court for travel ban

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• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  The day's top story — a federal appeals court hears arguments over President Trump's executive order on refugees and immigration. The panel will have to decide whether to override a lower court that blocked enforcement nationwide. We will examine this in detail right after the news summary.

  The White House says it is confident of ultimate victory in the court fight. And the president made clear today he is willing to go to the mat.

  John Yang reports.

• JOHN YANG:

  President Trump has vowed to fight for his executive order all the way to the Supreme Court, if he has to.

• PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP:

  We're going to take it through the system. It's very important. It's very important to the country, regardless of me or whoever succeeds at a later date. I mean, we have to have security in our country.

  We have to have the ability when you take some place like Syria, you take all of the different people pouring all — and, if you remember, ISIS said, we are going to infiltrate the United States and other countries through the migration. And then we're not allowed to be tough on the people coming in? Explain that one.

• JOHN YANG:

  The order temporarily stopped citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, and barred the admission of refugees.

  Friday, a federal judge in Seattle blocked enforcement.

  On Twitter, the president warned: "The threat from radical Islamic terrorism is very real. Just look at what is happening in Europe and the Middle East. Courts must act fast."

  On Capitol Hill, Representative Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, pressed Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on whether any terrorists have entered the country.

• JOHN KELLY, Homeland Security Secretary:

  But it's entirely possible that someone that's coming in, whether it's during this stay, during the court action or previous to this period, intend to do us harm.

• REP. BENNIE THOMPSON, D-Miss.:

  But you don't have any proof at this point.

• JOHN KELLY:

  Not until the boom.

• REP. BENNIE THOMPSON:

  Not until what?

• JOHN KELLY:

  Not until they act and blow something up or go into a mall and kill people. So we won't know until then.

• JOHN YANG:

  Kelly said Mr. Trump's order was not a Muslim ban. He said it made an awful lot of sense, but acknowledged problems with the rollout:

• JOHN KELLY:

  In retrospect, I should have, this is all on me, by the way, I should have delayed it just a bit so that I could talk to members of Congress, particularly the leadership of the committees like this, to prepare them for what was coming.

• JOHN YANG:

  Kelly also told lawmakers the administration is not contemplating adding other countries for now.

• JOHN KELLY:

  This travel pause is all about countries that are not cooperative, or can't be cooperative because of the conditions within the country, to provide us, to provide the president, to provide me now a confidence that the people that we're dealing with are the people who, you know — who they say they are.

• JOHN YANG:

  Related to all of this, the president's assertion that the new media has ignored some acts of terrorism. The White House released a list of 78 incidents. It said most of them were terrorist attacks that didn't get enough news coverage.

• White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer:

• SEAN SPICER, White House Press Secretary:

  Part of this is to make sure that the American people are reminded how prevalent some of these attacks are, and how much time and attention they have or have not gotten, but, more importantly, to make sure that they understand the unwavering commitment that the president has and the actions that he will take to keep the country safe.

• JOHN YANG:

  Spicer said the list was assembled after the president's statement.

  For the PBS NewsHour, I'm John Yang at the White House.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  The president also repeated a claim he's made before, that the nation's murder rate is the highest in 47 years. In fact, FBI figures show it is the lowest in decades.

• AUDIE CORNISH:

  In the day's other news, the Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos to be secretary of education by the slimmest of margins, 51-50. Vice President Mike Pence had to step in to cast the tie-breaking vote, part of his duties as president of the Senate, but it's the first time that's happened on a Cabinet nomination. We will take a closer look at DeVos and the battle over her nomination later in the program.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  The president's choice to head the Veterans Affairs department, David Shulkin, sailed through committee today, and headed to the full Senate.

  And, overnight, the labor secretary nominee, Andrew Puzder, acknowledged that he once had an undocumented immigrant as a housekeeper. In a statement, he said — quote — "When I learned of her status, we immediately ended her employment."

• AUDIE CORNISH:

  House Speaker Paul Ryan now says Congress will finish the work of repealing and replacing Obamacare before the year is out, and he delivered a rough timeline today, this after President Trump said over the weekend that the process might take until next year.

  REP. PAUL RYAN, R-Wis., Speaker of the House: So the question about how long it takes to effectuate the change, how long it takes to put these things in place, that's a question that the HHS can answer. But far as legislating is concerned, we're going to do our legislating this year.

• AUDIE CORNISH:

  Republicans voted last month to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, but they have missed their target date of January 27 to start drafting the legislation to make that happen.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleared the way today for completion of the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline. The Corps notified Congress that it is granting the final easement in North Dakota. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe says the pipeline's route threatens its cultural sites and water supply, and it promised a new legal fight.

• AUDIE CORNISH:

  The governor of Louisiana has declared a state of emergency after tornadoes in and near New Orleans today. The storms damaged a number of homes and businesses, and knocked out power to thousands. There were no reports of deaths and most of the injuries were minor.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  In Afghanistan, a suicide bomber attacked an entrance to the country's Supreme Court, killing at least 19 people. Officials say the attacker, on foot, targeted a side door as court employees were leaving the building in downtown Kabul; 41 people were wounded, including 10 critically.

• AUDIE CORNISH:

  Israel's Parliament has touched off a new confrontation over Jewish settlements in the West Bank, but it may end up being largely symbolic. Last night, the Knesset voted retroactively to legalize thousands of homes built illegally on Palestinian land. It drew praise and condemnation alike.

• TOMER REHOVI, Israeli Settler (through interpreter):

  Both sides benefit, actually. The side who owns the land receives a respectable amount of money and can build somewhere else, and the side who already lives there won't have to dismantle his life achievement.

• MAHMOUD ABBAS, Palestinian Authority President (through interpreter):

  The Israeli government passed a bill yesterday in the Knesset that legalizes stealing Palestinian private land in favor of settlers. This legislation is contrary to international law, and we will continue our efforts with international courts in order to protect our existence and land.

• AUDIE CORNISH:

  A number of Israeli legal experts predicted the nation's Supreme Court will strike down the law.

  In Washington, the Trump White House said it will wait for the courts to rule before taking a stance.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Back in this country, first lady Melania Trump has reached a settlement over a libel lawsuit she filed against a blogger. He had claimed falsely that she worked as an escort in New York in the 1990s. Attorneys for both sides say the settlement included his apology and a — quote — "substantial sum of money."

• AUDIE CORNISH:

  Wall Street had another relatively quiet day. The Dow Jones industrial average gained nearly 38 points to close at 20090. The Nasdaq rose 10 points, and the S&P 500 added half-a-point.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  In Boston today, they turned out by the hundreds of thousands, as the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots paraded through the streets. With trophies in hand, players and fans braved snow, rain and wind to celebrate. New England beat the Atlanta Falcons Sunday for its fifth NFL title overall.

• AUDIE CORNISH:

  And another winner, the word of the year for 2016 is "surreal." The Merriam-Webster dictionary people define it as unbelievable or fantastic. They say online searches for surreal spiked after last year's terror attacks. The most popular day for that search term, though? The day after the presidential election.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  What do you know?