Axios

The order to block Trump's travel ban will stay in place. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against reinstating it.

[W]e hold that the Government has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits of its appeal, nor has it shown that failure to enter a stay would cause irreparable injury, and we therefore deny its emergency motion for a stay.

The Trump administration had asked the court to keep the order in effect while legal battles continued.

Trump's response, delivered by Twitter: "SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!"

What's next: The order will continue to wind its way through the courts, likely all the way to a divided 8-member Supreme Court — a move Trump has said he would make.

Stay tuned: the Ninth Circuit's decision is expected before the end of the business day in California (8 PM Eastern / 5 PM Pacific).

During a discussion with Senate and House members at the White House today, Donald Trump reportedly expressed interest in immigration reform — specifically, the 2013 "Gang of 8" bill that died in the House, per the AP.

The White House's take: Sean Spicer said that the president used the meeting to express his opposition to the past Gang of 8 bill, believing it amounted to "amnesty," but expressed a desire for the Gang of 8 to work together again.

Gang of 8's take: Sen. Joe Manchin: "And I said, 'Sir, I don't think you're going to find this amnesty at all.' He is open to reviewing the piece of legislation. He says, 'Well, you've got to start working on it again.' And I says, 'Absolutely we will.' And that was encouraging."

A source close to Sheldon Adelson confirmed the GOP megadonor will dine tonight with President Trump at the White House. The news was first reported by the Washington Post.

The source tells us that Adelson will raise with Trump the subject of the two-state solution and specifically why it will not work. They'll also discuss Trump's promise to move the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem (a move Adelson supports.)

Adelson and his wife Miriam gave more than $20 million to support Trump's cause during the campaign, according to WaPo's analysis of Federal Election Commission records.

Tech leaders with any proximity to politics or Washington are increasingly being floated in the media as possible candidates for public office, and you can now add Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to that list. But that's not a career path he says he's interested in. Billboard got this answer when it asked him if he harbored political dreams:

"No. I love my life. I love being an inventor."

Asked a follow-up question about whether there might one day be a "President Bezos," he responded with "Oh, no. I don't think so."

The context: Bezos has become more of a figure in Washington thanks to his ownership of the city's newspaper. He recently bought a home there, as Billboard notes, and Amazon has been growing its lobbying operation. Bezos has also occasionally tangled with Donald Trump — and attended the meeting the then president-elect convened with tech leaders. But plenty of tech execs with no obvious interest in running for office are still involved in politics.

The Trump White House is considering a bold new push for privatization to revitalize the space industry, according to internal documents obtained by Politico.

The plan: Pit "Old Space" (NASA, Boeing, Lockheed) versus "New Space" (SpaceX, Blue Origin).

The vision for 2020: From the administration's action plan: "Private American astronauts, on private space ships, circling the Moon…private lunar landers staking out de facto 'property rights' for Americans on the Moon."

Old Space's turf: Deep space exploration (think: a manned mission to Mars or the Voyager program) would become the government's key mission.

New Space's turf: Low-Earth orbit, where more "mature" technologies, like space tourism or privatized space stations, could be leveraged. The administration's action plan calls it "the biggest and most public privatization effort America has ever conducted."

Of course, the road to Mars is paved with good intentions…

The Economist takes a deeper look into the immigration model in Asia, which it describes as being "highly restrictive" and dedicated to curbing migration, rather than managing it. It also explains how permanent settlement is strongly discouraged, and they make it extremely difficult to obtain citizenship. Some statistics:

• Asia is home to half of the world's population, but only 34% emigrate outside of Asia, and only 17% of the world's immigrants live in the region.
• About 33% of Asians who have left their country have made a home somewhere else in Asia, while 67% of intra-Asian migrants remain in their own part of the country.
• Southern Asians migrate to other Southern Asian countries, East Asians stick to East Asia, and so on.

However, this may be changing: Countries like China, where they have satisfied labor demand by bringing people from the countryside to work in cities, are starting to see their working population age. The Economist notes that over the next 30 years, China's working-age population will shrink by 180 million.

The creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is arguably the Obama administration's biggest achievement next to Obamacare, and the Republican Party has a plan to take it down.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the Republican Financial Services Committee Chair, writes in the Wall Street Journal Thursday morning that Congress and the president could defund the CFPB through budget reconciliation— eliminating the ability of the Federal Reserve to fund the agency over the heads of Congress — and crippling the agency without having to overcome a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.

Why it matters: The Trump Administration wants to reform financial regulation, but has offered few specifics on the CFPB, which says it has returned $11.7 billion in ill-gotten gains to 27 million consumers from financial services companies since its inception in 2011. Picking such a public fight with an agency that fights for consumers against banks may not be wise politics, so another strategy would be to replace the current head Richard Cordray with a less zealous regulator. Republicans have called on Trump to fire Cordray now before the expiration of his appointment in 2018, though whether the president has the authority to do so is up for debate.

Ben Sasse is backing up Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal against Donald Trump. Sasse said this morning that he heard a similar story from SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorsuch on Trump's tweets criticizing U.S. judges.

The quote, per Sasse: Gorsuch said that "any attack on any brothers or sisters of the robe is an attack on all judges."

Bloomberg reports that drug companies aren't so keen on Vice President Mike Pence's idea for a federal "right-to-try" law, which would allow dying patients to receive experimental drugs that have not yet been fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Their reasoning: Right-to-try bypasses the FDA, which is a big worry for the pharmaceutical companies. Unapproved drugs may harm or even kill patients when their side effects haven't been widely tested. And if the treatment is still being researched, this might lead to the shutdown of more tightly-controlled clinical trials that could have allowed for wider adoption.

Why it matters: It's shaping up as another conflict between the Trump administration and the drug industry — and if the drug companies fight hard enough, getting it through Congress will be difficult.

Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone Group and the leader of Trump's economic advisory council, has been receiving notes from his students at his new college in Beijing — a part of Tsinghua University — expressing their discontent with his new position, per Bloomberg.

There are 110 Schwarzman's Scholars, who come from all over — Romania, Mongolia, Zimbabwe and, of course, China and America — to study the geopolitical landscape of the 21st Century, with a heavy emphasis on understanding China's role in global trends. They also have a strong background in politics, public policy and international business, which is why they feel so strongly about Schwarzman's White House role.

In response to his students' criticism, Schwarzman sent an email to his students explaining why counseling Trump is so important:

• Trump asked him to chair the President's Strategic and Policy Forum along with some of "the most capable business people" in the U.S. to give him "candid feedback." Schwarzman agreed as he believes the forum will be good for the country.
• Schwarzman said he is "pleased" that the Forum, which has 18 members, is diverse and bi-partisan.
• As for last week's controversial meeting, Schwarzman encouraged each member to bring 5 personal suggestions of policies and regulations that could be modified or eliminated.
• In the last 3 weeks he's had "face-to-face conversations" with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Davos, U.K Prime Minister Theresa May, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the entire Canadian cabinet.
• Concluded with stating he's shared this information so that his students can take on similar types of roles in their lives, as "having influence and providing sound advice is a good thing, even if it attracts criticism or requires some sacrifice."

Shares in Twitter dropped 9% pre-market after the company reported 4Q earnings this morning. Revenue came in at $717 million versus Reuters estimates of $740.1 million, showing a decrease in 5% year over year, per CNBC. 4Q earnings per share came in at 16 cents, beating analysts' 12 cents estimate.

The company also adjusted its guidance for the first quarter in the range of $75 million to $95 million. Wall Street expected an estimate of $191.3 million.

User growth: Twitter's monthly active users grew to 319 million, up from 317 million in the prior quarter, and its daily active users jumped 11% year-over-year.

Trump bump? Not yet. Although the president has thrust the social media network into the center of U.S. politics, Twitter's 4Q earnings show that his influence has yet to significantly impact company growth.

The presidential response has arrived to Neil Gorsuch, Trump's SCOTUS nominee, telling Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal that he found Trump's "so-called judge" tweet "disheartening" and "demoralizing."

Sen.Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie),now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him? — @realdonaldtrump

Checking these two claims: 1) The first part of Trump's tweet refers to 2010, when Blumenthal admitted his claims about serving in Vietnam were not truthful. Like Trump, the Democratic Senator obtained five draft deferments during the war, and Blumenthal entered the Marine Reserve in 1970, ensuring he wouldn't go to Vietnam. 2) But Trump's claim that Blumenthal misrepresented Gorsuch's claim doesn't make much sense. Ron Bonjean, the Republican communicator who is representing Gorsuch, confirmed the story yesterday to CNN.

The WSJ takes a deeper look at U.S. companies ignoring pressure from Trump to keep their plants in the U.S. Trump wants to keep factories in the U.S. to prevent jobs from leaving the country — and he's warned he will implement new policy to make the moves less attractive. But:

• Milwaukee-based Rexnord Corp. is planning to close its industrial-bearings factory, which employs about 350 people, and expects to save $30 million annually.
• Illinois-based Caterpillar, which manufactures heavy equipment, will be moving jobs to Monterrey, Mexico. "We're just going to have to wait and see how this plays," said CFO brad Halverson.
• Charlotte, NC-based Nucor is moving forward with Japan's JFE Steel to build a new plant for car makers. Nucor CEO John Ferriola said these plans could change if Trump creates policies that penalize companies for moving.
• Sellersburg, IN-based Mantiowoc Foodservice laid off 80 employees after the election and is continuing plans to move.
• Elkhart IN-based CTS Corp plans to shift production to China, Mexico and Taiwan.
• Detroit-based Ford has ditched plans to build a new Mexican facility, but is still moving production of its Focus small car from Michigan to its existing factory in Mexico.
• Detroit-based General Motors is moving despite criticism from Trump, but has also committed to adding more U.S. jobs.

Why this matters: The economic benefits of investing abroad has continued to undermine Trump's plans, even if he uses the carrot of tax cuts and deregulations and the stick of potential tarriffs.