tv Early Start with Christine Romans and Dave Briggs CNN December 4, 2017 1:00am-2:00am PST
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president trump directs his wrath at the fib after michael flynn pleads guilty lying in the russia probe. now charges to hinge on a tweet that raise questions why the president fired james comey. >> the tweeting comment regarding an on going investigation at your own peril, i'd be carol ifeful if i were y mr. president. >> a bruising battle over taxes moves on to the next phase.
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the house and senate start to reconcile the two bills. we'll tell you where the gop has big gaps to close. and looks like billy bush is ready to come out of the shadows in a scathing op-ed. what will bush say on the late show tonight? >> a year in the wilderness. billy bush is making an entry to society. good morning, everybody. >> interesting to see him back in the discussion. we'll talk more about this op-ed ahead in "the new york times." it's 4:00 a.m. in the east. we start this morning with the president returning to an old playbook following the newest criminal charges in the russia probe. he's lashing out at the intelligence community. this comes after former national security adviser michael flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his discussions with the russian ambassador during the transition. >> in a series of tweets, the president tacked the fbi and its
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former director james comey. in one he writes, "i never asked comey to stop investigating flynn. just more fake news. covering comey live." that puts the president directly at odds with what comey told congress in june. >> i understood him to be saying is he wanted me to drop any investigation connected to flynn's account of his conversations with the russians. >> president trump's most notable tweet on flynn turning states evidence came saturday. i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. he has plead guilty to those lies. >> critics quickly pounced saying if he fired comey knowing the fbi was investigating flynn, that on its own may constitute obstruction of justice. the president's personal lawyer john dowd now claims he drafted the president's tweet. but top democrats in congress say obstruction is very much a part of the wider investigation.
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>> the judiciary committee has an investigation going as well. and it involves obstruction of justice. and i think what we're beginning to see is the putting together of case of obstruction of justice. >> president trump now looking to shift the focus seizing the news that a member of special counsel robert mueller's team was removed over anti-trump sentiments he expressed. let's bring in jeremy diamond at the white house. >> good morning. the president spent part of his weekend on social media attacking the fbi after special counsel robert mule easteeller first charges against michael flynn, the former national security advisors who pleaded got lying to the fbi. and the president picking up on a different story this weekend to go after the fbi's reputation
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saying that it is in tatters. this is regarding an fbi agent that is detailed to robert mueller's team. he sent text messages to another fbi agent that could be interpreted as anti-trump or pro clinton. these were text messages sent during the 2016 election. the president in a series of tweets said tainted, no, very dishonest. fbi agent's role in clinton probe under review led clinton e-mail probe. this agent is one of the lead investigators on the clinton investigation. the justice department's inspector general is now ve investigating the handling of that investigation. the president's tweets this weekend appearing to hit at the fbi's reputation. it was in tattered. and that led to former fbi director jam director james comey who feuded with the president in the past. the president fired comey. comey took to twitter to defend the fbi. here was his tweet. i want the american people to know the truth. the fbi is honest.
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the fbi is strong. the fbi is and always will be independent. christine and dave? back to you. >> thank you. fbi agents association joining comey in defending the men and women of the bureau in a twitter statement. the group's president said every day the fbi special agents put their lives on the line to protect the american public from national security and criminal threats. this is why the fbi continues to be the perferemier law enforcem agency in the world. agents are dedicated to their mission. suggesti suggesting otherwise is simply false. >> no not letting this go. the fbi's reputation is not in tatters. it's composed of the same dedicated men and women who have always worked and did a great job. you'll find integrity and honesty at fbi headquarters and not at 1600 pennsylvania avenue right now. >> jeff sessions is dealing with inconsistent cz inconsistencies of his own.
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michael flynn's plea deal raises a host of questions. why did the former national security adviser feel he had to lie to the fbi about contacts with the russians? e-mails obtained by "the new york times" show flynn and others on the transition team strategizing about how to reassure the russian ambassador after the obama administration imposed the sanctions for russia's attempts to meddle in the election. >> they portray him as act ago lone. trump supporters pushed the notion it is not unusual for incoming administration officials to speak with foreign governments. >> another big question, why did first son-in-law jared kushner, a top white house adviser, direct mike flynn to contact russian officials? democrats on both the house and senate intel committee say they want kushner who already appeared before both panels to return and answer new questions. revelations about kushner have been dribbling out for months now, forcing kushner and other trump aides who had denied or down played them to backtrack
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repeatedly. >> the actions of another key player then transition adviser k.t. mcfarland also raising questions. "the new york times" reports she wrote an e-mail saying that new russia sanctions were an obama administration ploy to box trump in diplomatically. she added russia has just thrown the u.s. election to him. >> unclear whether she meant the election had in fact been thrown to trump by moscow or only that democrats were painting it that way. also still unclear, what the trump team would have gotten for lifting sanctions. the house of representatives returning a day early to cast votes starting to reconcile differences between the house and senate tax reform bills. republicans hoping to get a bill to the president's desk by christmas. the 490-page bill passed early saturday morning unveiled hours before the vote and even included a hand scribbled final
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edit. >> that was a bit unusual. first reaction to the vote that has republicans cheering and democrats seething. >> we followed the regular order. there were multiple hearings. democrats were there. days of hearings. days of amendments. the democrats offered amendments in committee ad nauseam. the process on the floor, the reconciliation process is regular order. that's how they passed obama care. >> if that was regular order, i'd hate to see something else. there were no hearings. there were general hearings about tax reform. there was zero hearings on the bill. and even the bill that was reported out by the finance committee was different than what we were handed that we had to vote on a few hours later. >> friday was my single worst day as a u.s. senator. >> on his way to new york for three funneled raisers, the president told reporters he could accept raising the corporate tax rate from 20% to 22% despite his long insifltist
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on 20%. not sure why they might move it. >> they may have to move it to pay for it. both the house and senate bill promising big corporate tax cuts with no guarantee it will add jobs or raise wages. but they also differ on some key points. what does that mean for your tax return? first off, there's no set length for individual tax cuts central promise of the bill. the house bill, the tax cuts are permanent but they expire by 2025 under the senate version. the individual tax rates, the house slims down to four tax brackets. the senate has seven tax brackets. but lowers most rates including it lowers rates for top earners. the senate version also keeps popular tax breaks that the house gets rid of like deductions for mortgages, medical xpengs expenses and student loans. one thing both versions agree on, permanent corporate tax cuts, the gop argues that will mean higher wages for you.
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there is no guarantee. let me repeat that. there is no guarantee, in fact the current tax plan will likely raise taxes for some people right away for those earning less than $30,000 a year. by 2027, all low income and most middle class americans end up paying more if you look at the analysis from the cbo and the joint committee on taxation. looks like billy bush is done laying low in the wake of that notorious access hollywood tape which got him fired from nbc. the former he could hoco-host sh a tweet to president trump. yes, donald trump, you sid that. bush says he was prompted to speak out by news reports suggesting the president is questioning the authenticity of the tape. bush says the reports of trump casting doubt on the tape hit a raw nerve. >> he writes, every single one of us assumed we were listening to a crass standup act he was performing. surely we thought none of this was real. we now know better. i can only imagine how it has
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reopened the wounds of the women that came forward with their stories about him and did not receive enough attention. this country is currently trying to reconcile itself to years of pow area bus and sexual misconduct. the leader is wantonly poking the bear. >> his voice is missing from the conversation. i think we've been waiting to see when he would weigh in on this. i think in particular what he said in this piece when he went on to say that billy once poked the president about you're lying about your ratings and the president said, you can say whatever you want. you just tell them, keep telling them and they'll believe it. so that was insightful. ahead, president trump expected to name jerusalem as israel's capital this week. but there are strong objections in the middle east and safety concerns for american personnel abroad. we're live in jerusalem. the real gift isn't what's inside the box. it's what's inside the person who opens it. give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions.
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its capital. the decision could come tomorrow and overturn 70 years of international consensus. they're planning for violent protests at u.s. embassies and consulates. what is the reaction there, ian? >> dave, there's a reason presidents both democrats and republicans didn't move the u.s. embassy because of the possible ramifications of declaring jerusalem israel's capital without a peace agreement. first, you have regional allies who could be alienen ated. you also have the arab league who condemned this. you had egypt's foreign minister say that any potential move could cultivate or could bring hostilities. jordan's foreign minister warned of dangerous consequences as
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well as it could damage the peace process. the palestinian liberation organization's secretary-general who has been in d.c. talking with administration officials said that if the united states makes this announcement it would disqualify the u.s. from any role in the peace process. on the other side, israeli officials have been noticeably quiet and that's unusual because in the past they've enthusiastically advocated for this move. yesterday we heard from jared kushner. he was speaking at the brookings forum. he said the president has yet to make up his mind. he still mulling over the options. but we are also watching u.s. diplomatic missions. they have increased security ahead of any potential announcement. dave? >> yeah. that announcement could make kushner's job quite a bit harder. mike pompeo weighing in on his boss' twitter habit saying far from making his job harder,
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it actually yields valuable intelligence. the president heavily criticized last week for retweeting a trio of anti-muslim videos posted by a right-wing extremist group. but at a defense forum on saturday, pompeo said this -- >> i have seen things the president has put on his twitter account actually have a real world impact on our capacity to understand what's going on in other places of the world. that is our adversaries responded to those tweets and n. ways that were helpful to us, to understand command and control issues, who is listening to what messages, how the messages are resonating around the world. >> one of pompeo's predecessors agreed with him, leon panetta said when you tweet something like that out there you don't know what the consequences are going to be. and the consequences could be lives. all right. 18 minutes past the hour. a mega deal that could transform
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prescriptions. for aetna, it creates new growth. that's been critical to offset the huge losses under obamacare. the deal is also a response to soaring health care costs customers want cheaper access to care. cvs and aetna say joining force was help on. that they plan to transform cvs' 10,000 locations into community health centers promising lower cost medical care and a place to purchase coverage. that is if the deal is approved, especially after the justice department sued to block another so-called vertical merger. at&t's purchase of time warner, the parent kplp company of cnn, are not direct competitors. the open rashgs the met, suspending famed music director james lavine pending an internal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. "the new york times" reporting three men have come forward accusing levine of sexually abusing them decades ago. >> the met issuing a statement
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saying they hired investigators to determine if the accusations are true and adding while we await the results of the investigation based on these new news reports, the met made the decision to act now. >> levine stepped down as the met's music director due to health problems. he was scheduled to lead a new production starting new year's eve. cnn tried to reach levine and the manager but lhas not yet heard back. >> explosives couldn't do it but detroit's famed silver dome is still standing, even after an attempted implosion. the contractor says some explosives failed to detonate because of facilitiy wiring. twitter naturally enjoyed this moment. some even created a twitter account for the dome with the first tweet, hell no, you can't bring me down. and there's this one. once again the silver dome is sending home fans disappointed only to have them scramble the tv's later when it sounds like a comeback is happening.
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i love you, droolius caesar, but sometimes you stink. febreze car vent clip cleans away odors for up to 30 days. because the things you love can stink. president trump directs his wrath at the fbi after michael flynn pleads guilty to lying in the russia probe. now obstruction charges could hinge on a tweet. raises questions about why the president fired james comey. >> tweeting a comment regarding
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an an going investigation at your own peril, i'd be carol if i careful if i are were you, mr. president. >> house and senate start to reconcile their two pretty different bills. we'll tell you where the gop has big gaps to close. >> and billy bush is back out of the shadows in a scathing op-ed. he makes clear the president did say exactly what you hear on that "access hollywood" tape. what else will billy bush have to say on "the late show" tonight should be intriguing. >> quite a 13 months for him. >> it sure has. welcome back to "the early show." >> nice to see you on this monday morning, 31 minutes past the hour. let's begin with the president. president trump returning to an old playbook following the newest criminal charges in the russia probe. he is lashing out at the intelligence community, this after a former national security adviser michael flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about l his discussions with the russian ambassador.
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>> the president tacked the fbi and its former director in tweets over the weekend. in one, he writes, i never asked comey to stop investigating flynn. that puts the president directly at odds with what comey told congress in june. >> i understood him to be saying that what he wanted me to do is drop any investigation connected to flynn's account of his conversations with the russians. president trump's most notable tweet on flynn turning states evidence came saturday, i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. he has plead guilty to those lies. >> critics pounced saying if he fired comey knowing the fbi was investigating flynn, that on its own may constitute obstruction of justice. mr. trump's personal lawyer john dowd said he drafted the president's tweets, something we haven't heard first ten months
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in office. top democrats in congress say obstruction is very much a part of the wider investigation. >> the judiciary committee has an investigation going as well. and it involves obstruction of justice. and i think what we're beginning to see is the putting together of case of obstruction of justice. >> president trump now looking to shift the focus, seizing on the news that a member of special counsel robert mueller's team was removed over anti-trump sentiments he expressed. for for on that, let's bring in jeremy diamond at the white house. >> good morning. the president spent part of his weekend on social media attacking the fbi after special counsel robert mueller, his investigation filing its first charges against the trump administration official. of course, that is michael flynn, the former national security adviser who on friday pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and the president picking up
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on a different story this weekend to go after the fbi's reputation saying that it is in tatters. this is regarding an fbi agent detailed to special counsel to robert mueller's team. he sent text messages to another fbi agent that could be interpreted as anti-trump or pro clinton. these were text messages sent during the 2016 election. the president dn n. one of a series of tweets, here's what he said. tanlted, no, very dishonest. fbi agents role in clinton probe under review led clinton e-mail probe. that's because this agent is one of the lead investigators on the clinton investigation. the justice department's inspector general is now investigating the handling of that investigation. but the president's tweets this weekend appearing to hit at the fbi's reputation as he said it was in tatters. and that led to james comey who feuded in the past with the president, the president actually fired comey. comey took to twitter to defend
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the fbi. here was his tweet. i want the american people to know the truth. the fbi is honest. the fbi is strong. and the fbi is and always will be independent. christine and dave, back to you. >> jeremy diamond. thanks. fbi agent's association joining comey in defending the men and women of the bureau. in a twitter statement, the group's president said every day the fbi special agents put their lives on the line to protect the american people from national security and criminal threats. this is why the fbi continues to be the premier law enforcement agency in the world. fbi agents are dedicated to their mission suggesting otherwise is simply false. former attorney general eric holder also weighing in. nope, not letting this go. the fbi's reputation is not in tatters. it's exposed of the same dedicated men and women who always work there and do a great job, a great apolitical job. you'll find integrity and honesty at fbi headquarters and not at 1600 pennsylvania avenue
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right now. >> not commenting thus far, current attorney general jeff sessions. who is dealing with inconsistent czys of h cys of his own. michael flynn's plea deal raises a host of questions. why did the former national security adviser feel he had to lie to the fbi about contacts with the russians? e-mails obtained by "the new york times" show flynn and others on the transition team strategizing about how to reassure the russian ambassador after the obama administration imposed sanctioned for russian russia's attempts to meddle in the election. democrats on the house and senate intel committees say they
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wand jarrett kushner to return and answer new questions. revelations about kushner have been dribbling out for months forcing kushner and other trump aides who denied or down played them to backtrack repeatedly. the acts of another key player, k.t. mcfarland. she became deputy national security adviser under mike flynn. "the new york times" reports she wrote in an e-mail saying that new russia sanctions were an obama administration ploy to "box trump in diplomatically." yaush laz thrown the election to him. >> it is unclear whether they meant the election was thrown no trump by moscow or just painting that it that way. also unclear, what the trump team would have received for lifting sanctions. >> the house of representatives returning a day early to reconcile differences between the house and senate tax reform bills. republicans hoping to get a bill to the president's desk by
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christmas. the vote and even included, there you can see them, hand scribbled final notes. >> it's a beast. we'll get to what's in it in main. first reaction to the vote. >> democrats offered amendments in committee awed nauseam. the reconciliation process is regular order. that's how they passed regular order. >> if that is regular order, i'd hate to see something else. there were no hearings.
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>> friday was my single worst >> on his way to new york for three funneled raisers, the president told reporters he could accept raising the corporate tax rate from 20% to 22% despite his long insisting on 20%. not sure why they might move it. it is 35% now so it's still a big tax cut. they both promise big corporate tax cuts. it raises the deficit with no guarantee it will raise jobs or wages. there are differences though on key points. there will be changes about what this looks like. this is what we think of your -- this is going to look like. first off, personal tax cuts in the house version are permanent. the house bill, the tax cuts are permanent but they expire by 2025 under the senate version. the individual tax rates, the house slims down to four tax brackets. the senate has seven tax brackets. but lowers most rates including it lowers rates for top earners.
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38.5% is the top bracket in the senate. the senate version also keeps popular tax breaks that the house gets rid of like deductions for mortgages, medical expenses and student loans. one thing both versions agree on, permanent corporate tax cuts, the gop argues that will mean higher wages for you. there is no guarantee. the gop argues that will mean higher wages for you. there is no guarantee. it will raise taxes for some people right away for those earning less than $30,000 a year. by 2027, all low income and most middle class americans end up paying more if you look at the analysis from the cbo and the joint committee on taxation. do they keep that, do they justify that? >> is that the biggest obstacle you think? >> i thought the biggest obstacle is going to be the 20% corporate rate. now the president said he would accept 22%. that's out of the way. i think health care is the hard part here. >> something is getting through. looks like billy bush is done laying low in the wake of that notorious access hollywood tape which got him fired from
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nbc. the former co-host starting with a tweet to president trump. it was in the form of an op-ed in "the new york times." the headline -- yes, donald trump, you sid that. bush says he was prompted to speak out by news reports suggesting the president is questioning the authenticity of the tape. bush says the reports of trump casting doubt on the tape hit a raw nerve. >> he writes, every single one of us assumed we were listening to a crass standup act he was performing. surely we thought none of this was real. we now know better. i can only imagine how it has reopened the wounds of the women that came forward with their stories about him and did not receive enough attention. this country is currently trying to reconcile itself to years of power abuse and sexual misconduct. the leader is wantonly poking the bear. bush is set to appear on "the late show" tonight. tune in for that. we'll have the highlights. >> it has been interesting. you have more than a dozen women who said no one listeneded to us in the wake of this reckonning
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and all industries these women just feel ignored through all this. ahead, president trump expected to name jerusalem as israel's capital this week. but there are strong objections in the middle east. also safety concerns for american personnel abroad. we're live in jerusalem ahead. cedric, i couldn't even bowl with my grandkids 'cause of the burning, shooting pain in my feet. i hear you, sam. cedric, i couldn't sleep at night because of my diabetic nerve pain. i hear you, claire, because my dad struggled with this pain. folks, don't wait. step on up and talk to your doctor. because the one thing i keep hearing is... i'm glad i stepped on up. me too, buddy. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, step on up and talk to your doctor today.
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>> jared kushner says no final decision has been made but cnn is told the president is expected to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital. the decision could come tomorrow and overturn 70 years of international consensus. they're planning for violent protests at u.s. embassies and consulates. walk us through how important that would be. >> there's a reason presidents both democrats and republicans didn't move the u.s. embassy because of the possible ramifications of declaring jerusalem israel's capital without a peace agreement. first, you have regional allies president trump is trying to cultivate good relations with regional leaders and to some success. but we heard yesterday from the arab league who condemned any
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potential move. egypt did as well. jordan's foreign minister warned of dangerous consequences as well as it could damage the peace process. the palestinian liberation organization's secretary-general who has been in d.c. talking with administration officials said that if the united states makes this announcement it would disqualify the u.s. from any role in the peace process. noticeably, israeli officials have been noticeably quiet and that's unusual because in the past they've enthusiastically advocated for this move. yesterday we heard from jared kushner. his job would be a lot more difficult in the ultimate deal if this move is made. we're also watching u.s. diplomatic missions that increased security ahead of any announcement. >> you'll be following it for us. thank you. mike pompeo weighing in on
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his boss' twitter habit saying far from making his job harder, it actually yields valuable intelligence. the president heavily criticized last week for retweeting a trio of anti-muslim videos posted by a right-wing extremist group. but at a defense forum on saturday, pompeo said this -- >> i have seen things the president has put on his twitter account actually have a real world impact on our capacity to understand what's going on in other places of the world. that is our adversaries responded to those tweets and n. ways that were helpful to us, to understand command and control issues, who is listening to what messages, how the messages are resonating around the world. >> one of pompeo's predecessors agreed with him, leon panetta said when you tweet something like that out there you don't know what the consequences are going to be. and the consequences could be lives. president obama taking a shot at his successor's record
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on climate change. mr. obama was speaking saturday at an invitation only event in paris. reuters reports obama drew laughs with this comment, i grant you that at the moment we have a temporary absence of american leadership on the issue of climate change. >> mr. obama did say the u.s. is still on track to meet its targeted thanks to the work of some cities, states, and businesses. he did not mention trump by name. in june, president trump announced withdraw from the paris climate accords. >> all right. a wild ride on wall street. michael flynn's guilty plea and tax cuts rocking the markets. that's next. hi, i'm mike ditka.
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the news about michael flynn's guilty plea broke just in time for "saturday night live." the ghost of flynn visited trump in the oval office as in other spirits billy bush, putin and one other. >> steve bannon. you're here to save the day with your magic. who are you? >> dubai, hillary rodham clinton. you, donald, have given me the greatest christmas gift of all, sexual gratification in the form of your slow demise. you have no idea how long i've wanted to say this. lock him up!
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>> no! >> former national security adviser michael flynn plead guilty to charges that he lied to the fbi during their investigation of trump's ties to russia or as fox news reported it, did hillary clinton secretly join isis? i heard flynn was in trouble i was like, walt, only lied to the fbi? he didn't also whip it out during a meeting? solid guy. president trump knew he had a show tonight so he was kind enough to go on at which time eastern do half of our job for us. he said i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. oh, thanks, man, i got it from here. so you knew flynn lied and then asked comey to stop his investigation. that's obstruction. who is your lawyer? all right. the oatmeal guy. what else does the fbi need? they have a 95% conviction rate, a high ranking snitch and a
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confession on twitter. so if president trump isn't in prison next year, then damnit, i want the oatmeal guy as my lawyer too. >> not the oatmeal guy but john dowd said he wrote that tweet. >> another attorney for the president said he wrote that tweet. it made me wonder, you know, what is the tweeting process going on there in the white house? you know, is the president just firing things off or do people in the staff sending in suggestions? >> who has access to that account? >> it's something we haven't heard from the white house in ten months, in the year since elected all the unhingeded tweets we have not heard that defense until now. >> we haven't heard "i didn't really say that." >> this is a new one. >> another high powered man facing accusations of sexual assault. this morning sexual misconduct, rather. "the new york times" reporting three men are accusing james levine who say he xaully abused them decades ago.
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the met suspending will he vile pending an investigation. while we await the results of the investigation, the met made the decision to act now. levine stepped down as the mets director 2016 due to health problems. he was scheduled to lead a new production starting new year's eve. all right. cvs is a huge drugstore chain and a prescription drug provider. aetna is one of the nation's largest health insurers. if the $69 billion deal is approved, it will help both companies. cvs gains a huge number of members for the prescription business as they face a new threat from amazon. that's right, amazon. that's right, amazon in prescriptions. for aetna, it creates new growth. that's been critical to offset the huge losses under obamacare. the deal is also a response to soaring health care costs customers want cheaper access to care.
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cvs and aetna say joining forces will help that. that they plan to transform cvs' 10,000 locations into community health centers promising lower cost medical care and a place to purchase coverage. that is if the deal is approved, especially after the justice department sued to block another so-called vertical merger. at&t's purchase of time warner, the parent company of cnn, they are not direct competitors. >> global stocks higher today f after a crazy day on wall street. michael flynn's guilty plea slammed stocks and then the markets were rescued. it plunged 350 points after they reported that flynn would testify. and then they there enough votes to pass the tax bill and then they risk the president's economic agenda especially corporate tax cuts. that's what wall street wants. hope for tax reform has launched stocks to record highs. companies are already making huge profits, lower taxes means they can give even more money to
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their shareholders in dividends and stock buy backs. very good for wall street what is happening in congress. so wall street watching for more movement on taxes this week. also we have a november jobs report on friday. bad news for auto sales. 2017 likely mark the first full year decline since the great recession. after years of record highs, car sales are slowing. and while november's sales were mixed for major automakers, total industry sales are down 1.5% this year. a u.s. sales are on track for 17.1 million vehicles in 2017, that's below last year's record of 17.6 million cars. early start continues right now. president trump directs his wrath at the fib after michael flynn pleads guilty lying in the russia probe. now charges to hinge on a tweet that raise q
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