trump admitted that he knew mr. flynn had committed a federal crime at the time he fired mr. comey for refusing to stop investigating him. to most people with a functioning prefrontal cortex, it sure sounds like mr. trump is admitting to interfering or endeavoring to interfere with the conduct of investigations. he can impede and interfere with investigations. he can stop and start investigations. >> that's right. >> he can remove the head of the fbi. it's why. alan dershowitz does support this proposition, you can't look at why he does it. he either has the power to remove people or he doesn't. the alternative legal theory is what? >> well, i would disagree with dershowitz. >> i know you will. >> the president can't remove someone on the basis of race or religion. that would still be illegal. he cannot simply act on whatever motives he wants. there are going to be limits and they're going to look at what his motives r actually, this is part of what was motivating the travel ban litigation. the president has brought authority to determine who comes in and out of this country.

the wrong mrs may but still set the agenda his agenda this week donald trump promised to quote handle north korea and he eventually told the real mrs may the u.k. prime minister to you and me to in effect do something to protect the u.k. even after he had retreated fake news and as the white house does now they are repeating a central foreign policy idea moving one of their embassies and we shouldn't forget he began the week by claiming wrongly but time magazine was probably going to name him a person of the they wouldn't all of this heat no lights can be boiled down into what the russians say about u.s. foreign policy and they're not pulling any punches. but. one gets the impression that everything has been done on purpose to make him shone through nap and carry out further inadvisable actions it is regrettable the americans should explain to us what they're after she says well there have been constant mixed messages during these first ten months of the trumpet ministration the president and his secretary of state rex tillerson frequently broadcast seemingly contradictory policy posi

mr. trump travels to utah to drastically reduce the size of two huge federal monuments. cnn is on the scene for the biggest rollback of federally protected land in u.s. history. >>> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> breaking news tonight. new information on when president trump knew that michael flynn hadn't come clean to the fbi, information that could be crucial to the special counsel's investigation of possible obstruction of justice. cnn has learned that the white house chief lawyer told mr. trump back in january that he believed flynn had misled the bureau and should be fired as national security advisor. that was before the president's february meeting with then fbi direct james comey when comey said he was pressured to back off of his investigation of flynn. tonight, as more questions arise about mr. trump's legal risks, his personal lawyer is arguing that the president is immune to being charged with obstruction, reminiscent of richard nixon's claim after watergate. >>>

yesterday mr. trump gave no indication that the reports have anything to do with mr. tillerson about to lose his job. they've drafted and are circulating a plan forcing mr. tillerson's exit replacing him with mike pompeo. press secretary sarah sanders when also pressed on it refused to g av answer. >> when they no longer are able to serve, they will no longer serve on the capacity they're in. >> reporter: the news follows months of tension between mr. tillerson and the president. soon after mr. tillerson announced they're in diplomatic contact with pyongyang, mr. trump tweeted, quote, he's wasting his time. there's also a report in july mr. tillerson called the president a moron in front of a group. still he's continuing with business as usual. >> he kind of brushed this off today. he's heard these kind os stories before. >> john kelly's chief of staff called tillerson's chief of staff thursday and told her, quote, the rumors are not true though resources say tillerson has signed off on tillerson exit plan. anne-marie, if this shuffling does happen, that would leave t

but mr. trump was elected president. what does that tell us? and what will be the likely impact of bush going public with this? because now he is going to be talking to all the late night comedians. >> yeah, absolutely. it's embarrassing for the president. obviously it's great if the american people had the information about this tape before the election. donald trump was elected president nonetheless. i'm not convinced doubting the authenticity of the tape now is anything but distraction from the mueller investigation. it's a way of drudging up something that had been litigated before the american public. and we know what the outcome of that was. whether or not he is attacking or trying to reframe the truth around the fbi, around the "access hollywood" tape, it's simply a method of detracting really from what's going on. you had billy bush demonstrating or testifying or commenting publicly that the tape was real. but once again, the american public knew this. so it seems nothing more than just a simple act of distraction. and i can't say that

that signals intent by mr trump to obstruct justice flynn. that signals intent by mr trump to obstructjustice and this could put him in a precarious position moving forward. just explain what michael flynn is accused of all what pleaded guilty to doing because he has done at deal, hasn't he, whereby he is going to get a lesser sentence. explain it for us. it is complicated but a sickly michael flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his conversations with rock the russians. he told the fbi he had not discussed the issue with russians when in fact he had. the question is why did he feel the need to lie about this conversations at all? many people said it may have been perfectly acceptable with the incoming security adviser to discuss sanctions with essentially his counterpart about major foreign policy change that had just happened three weeks before the trump white house was due to come in. the question is why michael flynn felt the need to lie and who directed him to speak to the russian ambassador about the issue of sanctions because

margaret to you. >> mr. trump made it clear many times he would look to improve russian-american relations. but till now, i couldn't say that our relations become more better. >> the ambassador told us the russia investigation severely complicates his work. many u.s. officials even refuse to meet him. how do you possibly get past the mistrust around the 2016 election? >> that is very difficult to try to find a black cat in darkroom where it is not any cat at all? >> no story there? >> there is not any proof. regarding russian interference into your election. >> hours before the interview. former trump national security adviser michael flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his contacts with the predecessor. >> i don't understand why any officials has not any right to speak to russian ambassador. >> what do you make of that? >> it seems to me -- >> serious charges involving your previous ambassador. >> yes, he is a talented. >> complicates things. >> smart, talented diplomat. very much surprised that

embassy to jerusalem essentially recognizing that city as the capital of israel mr trump is expected to make the announcement either on tuesday or weapons day arab leaders have been very vocal about their opposition to such a move some have even accused mr trump of quote playing with fire others say it will fuel extremism palestinian president mahmoud abbas has previously warned the white house against moving the embassy not. that i'm not the man we say to mr trump that we hope he will not move the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem because drew slim from the israeli point of view if united and this is not correct and is illegal moving the embassy anywhere will be a step ahead of anything that may happen in the future and will damage the peace process while speaking in washington this weekend the former israeli prime minister ehud barak welcomed this possible move. i like the idea very much we grew it if you didn't happen ten twenty or sixty five years ago i think that all embassies of all nations should be i don't think that this is a consequential event especially if it would be th

if mr trump doesn't see these what has come you tell him everything is open and clear. through he's open to everybody. so by this decision. it is. the next station of land and building. in israel in palestinian land for israelis to settle further and further into palestinian territory this is this is not acceptable and. but mr trump given such kind of support which is not acceptable and it is not right to say i did this and it is all fine this does not like this. but the world is not to made up of you only. united nations membership there are one hundred ninety six conti's. and. and i am sure that one hundred ninety six counties off the un and also one hundred ninety six countries of the world object the decision. united states is that strong. they may have a lot of power around the world they may have a lot of arms you might have. planes small planes and tanks and everything yes but that does not mean. you can bully the rest of the world. if you are right in must you are doing everybody would support you but if you are not the right in what you are being and the polici

mr trump asked him to let the investigation go. to let michael flynn go. james comey has tweeted and has been incognito on twitter for some time, finally using his own twitter handle. you said, like justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever flowing frame. not hiding the fact he is pleased. very quickly, we have still not heard anything on this subject from mrtrump not heard anything on this subject from mr trump but there has been talk of a bit of deflection going on. he has tweeted today but what about rex tillerson. yesterday, we we re about rex tillerson. yesterday, we were wondering if rex tillerson could survive. whether his future was extremely uncertain. there have been tensions between the two for several months. in donald trump's tweet, he describes reports rex tillerson was to be pushed out the door as fake news. he says rex tillerson is here to stay and admitted that they had differences but they are working on it. it looks like, for the moment at least, the secretary of state will keep his job. 0k, th

it's written by mr. trump's one time campaign manager corey lewandowski and david bossie. both of them join me now. gentlemen, welcome. >> thanks for having us. >> i want to start with an omission that we thought was interesting in the book. you might not be surprised. we were -- looked for some mike flynn references in your book. there are exactly two. it seems to me, did you scrub them out? this was a man who made 22 introductions for the president. you probably travelled with him on trump force one dozens of times. how is it if you're writing about the campaign you didn't have any flynn anecdotes? >> this book and what we talk about is the trump campaign and the trump rise and what the president saw, what the candidate saw, what the reaction was of the american people. what we don't talk about, chuck, look, this isn't a book about corey lewandowski or dave bossie, this is about what the president tapped into so all the ancillary players aren't mentioned. the person who was the most important factor in the presidential election is the president of the united states and t

it's written by mr. trump's one time campaign manager corey lewandowski and deputy campaign director, david bossie. both of them join me now. gentlemen, welcome. >> thanks for having us. >> i want to start with an omission that we thought was interesting in the book. you might not be surprised. we were -- looked for some mike flynn references in your book. there are exactly two. it seems to me, did you scrub them out? this was a man who made 22 introductions for the president. you probably travelled with him on trump force one dozens of times. how is it if you're writing about the campaign you didn't have any flynn anecdotes? >> this book and what we talk about in the book is about the trump campaign and the trump rise and what the president saw. what the candidate saw. and what the reaction was of the american people. what we don't talk about, chuck, look, this isn't a book about corey lewandowski or dave bossie, this is about what the president tapped into so all the ancillary players aren't mentioned,

including jared krishna, mr. trumps advisor. our contact with america will continue in the mark coming days and weeks. israelis and the palestinians also know where we stand. this makes us predictable and indispensable partners for them. this comes as no surprise that our meeting yesterday with netanyahu was open and frank. we do not hide our disagreement because this will good friends and partners as we are, should always do. we made it clear that will continue to respect international consensus on jerusalem as europeans including location of our embassies. until the final stages of jerusalem are settled. we want to see the concerns properly addressed. i took the opportunity of the visit, the first one after more than 20 years to condemn in the strongest possible way all attacks against jews everywhere in the world. including in europe and israeli citizens. at the same time we believe is best security is best served by having stable, viable, independent palestinian state. living in peace and security at the site of the israeli

mr. trump's lawyers, mr. trump's lawyers, rather, jeff, will meet with mueller's team later this week for a status update on the russia investigation. >> glor: major garrett, thank you very much from the white house. the president could be signing the tax cut bill by mid-week. today his vice president put off a trip to the middle east in case he's needed to break a tie in the senate. here is chief congressional correspondent nancy cordes. >> most maine households will see their taxes go down. >> reporter: there are now few obstacles standing between the .46 trillion tax plan and final passage. a pair of g.o.p. hold-outs declared their support today and the first major independent analysis found the bill could drive up taxes for only 5% of taxpayers next year, an improvement from previous versions. the tax policy center determined that taxpayers making between $50,000 and $90,000 a year would save, on average, $900 or 1.6% of their after-tax income. the very top earners would see a larger savings of 3.4%. on a

embassy to jerusalem essentially recognizing that city as the capital of israel mr trump is expected to make the announcement either on tuesday or weapons day arab leaders have been very vocal about their opposition to such a move some have even accused mr trump of quote playing with fire others say it will fuel extremism palestinian president mahmoud abbas has previously warned the white house against moving the embassy not. that i'm not the man we say to mr trump that we hope he will not move the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem because drew slim from the israeli point of view if united and this is not correct and is illegal moving the embassy anywhere will be a step ahead of anything that may happen in the future and will damage the peace process while speaking in washington this weekend the former israeli prime minister ehud barak welcomed this possible move. i like the idea very much we grew it it didn't happen ten twenty or sixty five years ago i think that all embassies of all nations should be i don't think that this is a consequential event especially if it would be the ot

twitter bravado is a constant it's been a week of tough talk and miscommunication mr trump first tag the wrong mrs may but still set the agenda his agenda this week donald trump promised to quote handle north korea and he eventually told the real mrs may the u.k. prime minister to you and me to in effect do something to protect the u.k. even after he had retreated fake news and as the white house does now they are repeating a central foreign policy idea moving one of their embassies and we shouldn't forget he began the week by claiming wrongly that time magazine was probably going to name him person of the year they weren't all of this heat no light can be boiled down into what the russians say about u.s. foreign policy and they're not pulling any punches. one good thing impression that everything has been done on purpose to make shown through nap and carry out further inadvisable actions you do through credible the americans should explain to us what they're after it's well there have been constant mixed messages during these first ten months of the trumpet ministration the presiden

trump or any sort of diplomatic initiative to go with this decision by mr. trump? >> is for the palestinians, it was pretty clear. they were not going to negotiate with the united states. at least this is what they say after the decision was made. they say the americans have to take a back seat, that they showed their true colors, that they've always sided with the united states. and we heard this from palestinian official after palestinian official. it seems very difficult now to find any way to revive any sort of peace process. you know, there is anger toward the united states, towards israel. the one thing also that was interesting was hearing the anger towards other arab leaders on the streets because they say, yes, you can come out with your strong words against the united states, but we want to see action. if you really want to show solidarity with us and condemn the united states, then we want to see action. and so for the palestinians, a lot of them, when you talk to them, they feel like they're on their own when it comes to their protests or protest moveme

more than a dozen women accused mr. trump of sexual misconduct. the president denies all of the accusations. then last month "the new york times" reported that not long after his win, president elect trump told the republican senator that he wanted to investigate the recording. adding, we don't think that was my voils. according to the times, mr. trump continued to suggest that the tape was not actually him. that struck a nerve with bush who says he believes the women who accused the president of wrongdoing. >> you are them too. >> bush wrote an op-ed, titled, yes, donald trump you said that. in it he says there were seven giefs on the bums guys on the bus. every one of us thought we were listening to a crass stand-up act. we thought none of this was real. >> if i thought there was a man detailing a sexual assault strategy to me i would have called the fbi not just reported it to my executive producer. >> bush says in 2005 when the tape was made, mr. trump was a big star on the nbc's the apprentice and "everybody had to kiss the ring a little bit

there has been no collusion, but i think he is going to be fair, mr. trump said of mr. mueller. he tried to put distance between himself and his former chairman paul manafort indicted for his work in the pro russian government, a charge he denies. he said paul only worked for me for a few weeks. paul worked for ronald reagan & bob dole for far longer than he worked for me. you are talking what paul was many years ago before i heard of him. he worked for me for what was it, 3 1/2 months? >> the washington correspondent and msnbc contributor. thanks for calling in. this was an imp promptu sit down. what sort of mood was the president? >> thanks for having me. i think the president is his best spokesman so he wants to pick the arguments about why things are going well and why they are not. he was eager to talk about taxes and that accomplishment and the interesting thing to me was the tone he struck that bob mueller would be fair to him. that is sort of in contrast to what republicans are saying today. republicans say love mueller is an unfair person who is completely out of contro

the trump transition team e-mails. the transition team and mr. trump's lawyers say they were obtained by robert mueller in an unauthorized way. mueller says it is is totally lawful. which is it? >> these are government e-mails. the mueller team obtained them from the general services administration. >> they are.gov addresses? >> pttp.gov. they are part of the government. i think all of us understand that e-mails that, you know, are turner e-mails, they are not under the individual's control. they ever under the control of the entity that created the e-mail address. and this is just not even a close call. >> can any be privileged? >> no, i don't think so. because, remember, there are not -- the attorney/client privilege does not apply in the government in the way it does in a private setting. there is no issue of executive privilege because trump was not president yet. there is no presidency. >> the reason i bring that up -- this is a common frustration for you because you are a legal expert and journalist. sometimes when the media reports on lega

it was after the release of this tape, where mr trump can be heard bragging about groping women, that more than a dozen accusers came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct. all i can say it is totally fake news, it is fake, it is made—up stuff and it is disgraceful what happens — but that happens in the world of politics, john. but the women say they are telling the truth. apprentice contestant summer zervos says mr trump forcibly kissed her on several occasions a decade ago. she wants to sue him for defamation after he called her a liar. if the judge in new york decides the case should go ahead, her lawyer could call the president to testify. no man is above the law, including the president of the united states. in the past week alone, three members of congress have been forced to resign over accusations of sexual misconduct. in this current climate, many are asking why the same pressure hasn't been applied at the gates of the white house. but many voters simply aren't concerned. remember, donald trump won last year's election in spite is president of the united states. i

mr trump, you are wrong. israel is, wa nt mr trump, you are wrong. israel is, want all ofjerusalem, are delighted by president trump's recognition of their capital. he said, we asked ed fast here, internally, since ancient times. this city was given tojews thousands of years ago and the us has recognised that. but the golden dome behind him is part of the third holiest place in the world for muslims, and a few hundred yards away, several thousand palestinians we re away, several thousand palestinians were going home after the noon prayer. the reality of this city is that many palestinians live here. life for them can be hard. this home has been demolished twice this year by order of the israeli authorities. like many palestinians, he built without a permit. israel gives palestinians very few construction permits, while building thousands of homes forjews. i born in this land, and my father and my grandfather. i will die and my father and my grandfather. i willdie in and my father and my grandfather. i will die in this place. palestinian areas ofjerus

. >> reporter: mr. trump in brief scripted remarks remembering martin luther king jr. and medgar evers. >> mr. evers was assassinated by a member of the kkk. >> reporter: but not mentioning congressman john lewilewis, who boycotted the event, criticizing the visit as an insult to those being commemorated. a crowd of protesters and local leaders speaking out. >> we don't need you to tell us in mississippi what a civil rights movement is about. >> reporter: president trump has struggled to win over african-american support. before becoming a candidate champion birtherism against barack obama and reignites divisions after the violence in charlottesville. president trump is become at miss mar-a-lago estate. and the president spent about 40 minutes at the civil rights museum and left before the official ribbon cutting ceremony. >> peter alexander, thank you. let's bring in chief washington correspondent from bloomberg tv and julia manchester from the hill. thank you both for joining me. kevin, what are you hearing about president trump's remarks and list calculation for att

mr. trump said in a tweet that was one of the reasons he fired flynn. critics say that could be evidence of possible obstruction of justice by the president when he allegedly asked the fbi director at the time james comey to stop investigating flynn. we're back with democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. he's a member of the judiciary and armed serves committees. very interesting today at the white house briefing sarah sanders, the press secretary, was asked if the president is going to be releasing now finally his tax returns. she suggested the answer is no. but your committee, you're looking into some of the financial information that may be related to this entire investigation. what are you looking for? >> there's a credible case of obstruction of justice against donald trump. and his acknowledgement in a tweet over the weekend that he knew that michael flynn had lied when he fired jim comey, when he asked comey to go lightly on flynn, when he fired sally yates, when he reached out to dan coats and asked the intelligence community to i

. >> reporter: three women face the cameras to talk about their encounters with donald trump. >> mr. trumpz repeatedly kissed my cheeks and ultimately my lips in an encounter that has since influenced by life. >> reporter: she met the future president 12 years old. samantha holvey was a beauty con tes tent. >> these dreams never included a man lining us all over to line us up like we were pieces of meat. >> reporter: they've told their stories before but now they're calling on congress to open an investigation into the now president's behavior. >> what is your hope in speaking out again as a group of women? >> i guess our hope is that this issue does not get swept under the rug and we go on from here. >> reporter: jessica leeds sat next to mr. trump on an airplane more than 30 years ago. >> when he started to put his hand up my skirt i managed to wrestle myself out of the seat and stood up, grabbed my purse, and went to the back of the airplane. >> reporter: hours before the news conference began the white house released a statement saying the women's claims were addressed during the

trump to go ahead with it now a lot of people are questioning now why would mr trump well have such a recognition it is such a contentious issue and there is an international consensus to say that to the status of jerusalem should be part of a negotiation and they would get a deal and also for the palestinians of course they want to see. east jerusalem as the capital of the futurist state and that would all preempt such a negotiations trying to tell us just briefly if trump does move ahead with this recognition of jerusalem as the capital of israel what are the potential consequences. well i mean it really hurt it already i mean there's a lot of serious concern being voiced to rent the palestinians have said you know it would make any peace a push for peace totally avoid the don't jordanians are very concerned about it they have a stake in toulouse and the custodians of the whole he sided gyptian to have warned about it ahead of the arab league has warned that it might disturb allies the region so all of this together will make people here look very. you know they will look at all t

which said it would bring peace to the middle east even mr trump said he had a good shot at bringing peace to the middle east who fills that void what's the next step. i don't see any any any any steps in the coming future. neither diplomatically or elsewhere the palestinians as i say they are so isolated so lonely ones who should say look the very pay lip service the american the arab states are paying until now. really almost except of some kind of verbal proteus nobody of the arab states is going to take any measures so by the end of the day they are really left to their own destiny and this means the patient can continue without any interruption for maybe many years and generally israeli thoughts about mr trump america's being such a long term ally of israel but also there were those huge overtures on his middle east tour only a few weeks back where the ordinary israelis place him. they place him as someone who is unexpected and therefore everyone is nervous about him i think that even the israeli prime minister. does not sleep very well at night for many reasons but one of the r

the controversy comes after mr trump secured what's being seen as the first big legislative achievement of his presidency — a tax reform bill. our washington correspondent, laura bicker reports. donald trump's started the day on a bullish note. he is on course for a much—needed win on tax reform, he brushed aside questions about his former national security adviser lying to the fbi over his meetings with russians. what has been shown is no collusion, no collusion, there has been absolutely no collusion, so we are very happy. but then he issued another controversial tweet, one that could cause him a real headache. he said he had fired michael flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. it's a shame, he said, because his actions during the transition were lawful, there was nothing to hide. many people are asking why michael flynn, a former three star general, did not tell the truth to the fbi about his meetings with the russian ambassador, as the president said, his actions were not against the law, but mr trump's tweet leads to a bigger question, did you know michael fly

embassy to jerusalem essentially recognizing that city as the capital of israel mr trump is expected to make the announcement either on tuesday or weapons day arab leaders have been very vocal about their opposition to such a move some have even accused mr trump of quote playing with fire others say it will fuel extremism palestinian president mahmoud abbas has previously warned the white house against moving the embassy not. that i'm not the man we say to mr trump that we hope he will not move the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem because drew slim from the israeli point of view if united and this is not correct and is illegal moving the embassy anywhere will be a step ahead of anything that may happen in the future and will damage the peace process well speaking in washington this weekend the former israeli prime minister ehud barak welcomes this possible move. i like the idea very much we grew it it didn't happen ten twenty or sixty five years ago i think that all embassies of all nations should be. i don't think that this is a consequential event especially if it would be the ot

the wrong mrs may but still set the agenda his agenda this week donald trump promised to quote handle north korea and he eventually told the real mrs may the u.k. prime minister to you and me to in effect do something to protect the u.k. even after he had retreated fake news and as the white house does now they are repeating a central foreign policy idea moving one of their embassies and we shouldn't forget he began the week by claiming wrongly that time magazine was probably going to name him a person of the they wouldn't all of this heat no lights can be boiled down into what the russians say about u.s. foreign policy and they're not pulling any punches. it's one good thing impression that everything has been done on purpose to make shown snap and carry out further inadvisable actions youth regrettable the americans should explain to us what they're after. well there have been constant mixed messages during these first ten months of the trumpet ministration the president and his secretary of state rex tillerson frequently broadcast seemingly contradictory policy positions the white

she said mr. trump forcibly kissed her in 2005 and more. we'll talk to her. >>> and senate republicans have passed their sweeping tax bill in the senate. but we will see something they rarely see. can they actually bang out a deal and a huge win for the president by christmas? timing is everything. we discuss next. [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours. so gistarting at $40 a line why wea gfor four lines.goodure. as the network it's on. circuits? so the neathat's why more people is insideacount on ihere you go. the toothpaste that helps prevent bleeding gums. if you spit blood when you brush or floss you may have gum problems and could be on the journey to much worse. help stop the journey of gum disease. try parodontax toothpaste. ♪ ♪ ♪ohhhhhh, ou! guess what i just got? uh! ♪i used to be spellbound hello again. ♪i used to be spellbound hi. ♪i used to be spellbound that's a big phone.

in the past hour mr trump says he's made the decision to move the us embassy tojerusalem in an attempt to advance the peace process. it is time, to officially recognise jerusalem as the capital of israel. the plan sparks protests — and palestinians, who also claim jerusalem as theirs, are seething. leaders the world over criticise mr trump's announcement— the pope callsjerusalem a city sacred to jews, christians and muslims. also on the programme. what is the big picture for brexit?

trump was eager to talk. and a few moments later, mr. trump with a bounce in his step. >> merry christmas! >> reporter: even though president obama and other presidents have long celebrated christmas, mr. trump has taken credit for signing a new spotlight on the holiday with one of the super pac launching this ad. that has long been one of the big applause lines in trump campaign rallies when mr. rump was running and since becoming president. he's promised to bring back christmas again that of course it's always proper to say merry christmas. but he will be at mar-a-lago for the next ten days celebrating the christmas holiday with a break from washington. jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. >> for those who celebrate christmas, it's always been normal to say merry christmas. we discuss with the professor of international politics at siti university. we start with the situation of tax reform, the new tax law, a major accomplishment for the president for sure. it was a campaign promise delivered his first year in office. put this into conte

all of these liars... >> reporter: while mr. trump has called the women liars, this was his u.n. ambassador nikki haley on "face the nation" yesterday. >> reporter: how do you think people should assess the accusers of the president. >> women who accuse anyone should be heard. they should be heard and they should be dealt with. >> reporter: mr. president trump's press secretary trumped off the women today. >> the american people knew this and voted for the president. >> reporter: but samantha holvey, another trump accuser, says they're not going away. >> i just want us as a country to say this is not acceptable behavior period. >> reporter: not from... >> not from anybody. >> reporter: including the president. >> including the president. especially the president. >> reporter: democratic senators kristen gillibrand and ron wyden echoed calls for an investigation today, and gillibrand took it a step further, calling on the president to resign. jeff? >> glor: jim axelrod, thank you very much. as we continue tonight from paris, innings how these kids got game. aleve direct therapy. t

trump's health ridiculous. they have come with the territory of serving in the oval office and during the campaign, mr. trump repeatedly questioned hillary clinton's stamina to serve as president on another front wolf, we should also point out the white house is responding to congressman and civil rights icon john lewis who was skipping the opening of a civil rights museum in mississippi this weekend. that is a snub to the president and the white house says it is disappointed. wolf. >> jim acosta at the white house with the late, breaking developments. thank you very much. let's get some more on all of this. democratic congressman jim heinz of connecticut is joining us. he's a member of the house intelligence committee. thanks for joining us. >> hi wolf. >> let me get your reaction to the late-breaking developments in the russia probe. you heard jim sciutto's report, do these new revelations raise new questions about donald trump jr.'s controversy to the trump tower meeting in new york city? >> reporter: yeah w

i think he's going to be fair mr. trump said of mr. mueller and the president also tried to put some distance between himself and his former campaign chairman paul manafort who was indited for money laundering and conspiracy for his alleged work for a pro russian government, a charge he denies. he told "the times," quote, paul only worked for me for a few months. he worked for ronald reagan, john mccain, bob dole, worked for many republicans far longer than for me and you eke talkn't about paul was before i heard about him. he worked for me, what was it? three and a half months? joining us now on the phone is the aforementioned michael schmidt, washington correspondent and a msnbc contributor. michael, welcome. thanks for calling in. this was an impromptu sit-down earlier today. what sort of mood was the president in? >> thanks for having me. he was -- look. i think the president -- best spokesman and wants to make the arguments about why things are going well and why things are not going -- you know, why he's been -- about certain thi

the president, trump's lawyers, mr. trump's lawyers, will meet with mueller's team later this week for a status update on the russia investigation. >> major investigate, thank you very much from the white house. the president could be signing the tax cut bill by midweek. today his vice president put off a trip to the middle east in case he is needed to barack a tie in the senate. here is chief congressional correspondent, nancy cordes. >> most main households will see their taxes go down. >> there are now few obstacles standing between trillion tax plan and final passage. a pair of gop holdouts declared their support today. and the first major independent an am s analysis showed the bill would drive up taxes for 5% of taxpayers an improvement. the tax policy center determined taxpayers making between $50,000 and $90,000 a year would save on average $900. or 1.6% of thereafter tax income. the very top earners, would see a larger savings of $3.4%. on average of $51,000. >> still the case that, over time, the tax cuts will

trump during our first introduction. mr. trump repeatedly kissed my cheeks and ultimately my lips in an encounter that has its impact in my life well belonged in national occurrence -- well beyond the initial occurrence. unfortunately, given mr. trump's notoriety and the fact he was a partner of my employers, not to mention the owner of the building, i felt there was nothing i could do. hostile work environment, my only solution at the time was to simply avoid additional encounters with him. i do realize that in the grand scheme of t things,s, there a ar worse cacaseof s sexual harassmt , misconduct, and assault. there's no mistake, acceptable level of such behavior. that simon think they can use their power, position, or notoriety to demean an attack women speaks to their character, noouours. lesson me, is a touough lef learnened. ira ththe story ofof one that nd my own and i i finally f felt absolved o of the guilt i i is somehow projected an image thatt made me e an easy tatarget. this was serial misconduct and perversion

. >> mr. president, you do not live under a different set of rules. >> democratic women's working group today sent alert signed by 59 lawmakers asking that the investigation be opened. president trump has been accused of sexual harassment or assault by more than a dozen women. he has denied all the allegations. and tonight there are questions about one of the being a xus stations made against the president. former miss north carolina says in 2006 mr. trump acted in-proechltslyin- in-proechtsly during the miss usa pageant. >> looking me over like i was a piece of meat, i didn't have a brain or personality, i was there for his pleasure. >> but other congress test tantuld be test tants have different accounts and one was jessica boynton was who was miss usa and she for spo about the three times mr. trump enter acted with the contestants. >> he walked in and they had asked us to stand up. and in a line. and he went down and individually said hello to all of us. it didn't feel uncomfortable. it was

trump enter the white house is also advising in alabama what to steve bannon been saying . well steve bannan is still on a crusade to change the political landscape of the united states for good and he's fighting not only the democrats but also the republican establishment and what he calls the mainstream media we actually caught up with him at one of the rallies for roy moore another bomber here's what he had to say about us journalists information today is part of political warfare just cut and we can answer that i'm not a politician that means you're not the political process you all the mainstream media are part of the opposition party ok that has become a familiar message is anybody listening or absolutely at least among the core supporters of donald trump that they don't trust what they call the mainstream media i would say media not necessarily reflect the views of these people but they don't trust the media they don't trust the political class in general from both parties democrats and republicans there is a certain amount of anger still here in this country an ange

trump never she claims being branded a liar by mr. trump has harmed her and her business. the president's attorney argued that mr. trump is immune to lawsuits in state courts while he is in office, in part because he, too, is busy and important. >>> we're getting a first look at the cost of special counsel robert mueller's investigation so far. according the a report obtained from the associated press, mueller's office has spent $3.2 million investigating russian election interference and possible coordination with the associations of mr. trump. mueller's office says in the report about, 1.7 million was for salary and benefits. >>> austria is the latest european country to legalize same sex marriage. the constitutional court said that same sex couples will be able to marry in 2019 unless the government decides to make the change even sooner. it is already legal in fence other western european countries. >>> a case that pits religious freedom against discrimination took the center stage today at the u.s. supreme court. justices heard arguments of a colorado bake here cited

mr. trump is ready for moore to concede that race. >> i think he should. he tried. i want to support -- always i want to support the person running. we need the seat. we would like to have the seat. i think we're doing very well on the tax law, see what happens. >> while he was criticizing the fbi, the president had kind words for russian president vladimir putin. one day after the two spoke, trump thanked putin for praising trump on the u.s. economy. >> in the meantime, republican lawmakers believe they have the votes to get a major tax reform bill to the president by the end of next week. >> it would be the first significant overhaul of the u.s. tax code since the reagan era and the first legislative victory for mr. trump saying taking office. cnn's phil mattingly explains what's in it. 503 page, $1.5 trillion tax plan is out. the key provisions, we've known a lot of them. the corporate rate dropping from 35% to 21%. the child tax credit boosted from $1,000 to $2,000. individual rates acrass the brackets. they say this is going to help middle class families. this

all of these liars... >> reporter: while mr. trump has called the women "liars," this was his u.n. ambassador nikki haley on "face the nation" yesterday. >> how do you think people should assess the accusers of the president? >> women who accuse anyone should be heard. they should be heard and they should be dealt with. >> reporter: mr. trump's press secretary trumped off the women today. >> the american people knew this and voted for the president. >> reporter: but samantha holvey, another trump accuser, says they're not going away. >> i just want us as a country to say this is not acceptable behavior, period. >> reporter: not from... >> not from anybody. >> reporter: including the president. >> including the president. especially the president. >> reporter: democratic senators kristen gillibrand and ron wyden echoed calls for an investigation today, and gillibrand took it a step further, calling on the president to resign. jeff. >> glor: jim axelrod, thank you very much. as we continue tonight from paris, up next, how these kids got game. lower back pain has met its match aleve d

putin calling to thank mr. trump for intel for a terrorist attack. we know the president has been critical about intelligence and trusted it to share it with russia to say look out for this planned attack. what do you think about the contradiction? >> trump is still trying to reconcile with russia and trying to get over the opposition in congress. he is trying to tell the rest of the world we could work on terrorism. in trump's case if we could only have better relgdss, we could do more with terrorism. >> what do you think i guess is

it's written by mr. trump's one time campaign manager corey lewandowski and david bossie. both of them join me now. gentlemen, welcome. >> thanks for having us. >> i want to start with an omission that we thought was interesting in the book. you might not be surprised. we were -- looked for some mike flynn references in your book. there are exactly two. it seems to me, did you scrub them out? this was a man who made 22 introductions for the president. you probably travelled with him on trump force one dozens of times. how is it if you're writing about the campaign you didn't have any flynn anecdotes? >> this book and what we talk about is the trump campaign and the trump rise and what the president saw, what the candidate saw, what the reaction was of the american people. what we don't talk about, chuck, look, this isn't a book abo bossie, this is about what the president tapped into so all the ancillary players aren't mentioned. the person who was the most important factor in the presidential election is the president of the united states and that's what we write about. >

s calling on the government to criticize mr trump for doing so and in fact that is what downing street and the prime minister did in a statement through one of their spokespeople it's run for the president to have done this british people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far right which is the antithesis of the values that this country represents decency tolerance and respect president trump criticizing to resume a actually and saying that the focus should be more on militants and terrorist groups who are attacking the u.k. and not on what he is tweeting but of course this. special relationship between the two sides goes back many years the relationship between america and britain will be strong our relationship is very special special relationship that exists between our two nations our people forge friendships together. that is what makes this relationship special i hope to have a good relationship with them has over the years been a special relationship but it would appear that the special relationship is under the thumb strain with mr trump mrs may looking decid

but mr. trump also zeroed in on news that the f.b.i.'s top agent on the russia probe was removed this summer for texts he had sent disparaging then-candidate trump. by this morning, he was branding the special counsel's investigation a "witch hunt." i say he an a --an colleague drafted a 3-7b piece to get its house arrest lifted t was never published. for the pbs newshour. >> o'brien: we take a closer at what we know now with: carol leonnig, an investigative reporter for the washington post. and stephanie douglas, a 23-year veteran of the f.b.i., where she worked on national security and counterintelligence issues. she now works in private practice. carol, over the weekend you spoke to john dowd. what was his explanation of the tweet and what exactly the president knew about mr. flynn and when did he know it? >> so john dowd is the president's personal lawyer. and on seatd at the poses we reported based on two sources that dowd had actually drafted and written that tweet. on sunday morning mr. dowd let me know that that was true. he had

more than a dozen women accused mr. trump of sexual misconduct. the president denies all of the accusations. then last month "the new york times" reported that not long after his win, president elect trump told the republican senator that he wanted to investigate the recording. adding, we don't think that was my voils. according to the times, mr. trump continued to suggest that the tape was not actually him. that struck a nerve with bush who says he believes the women who accused the president of wrongdoing. >> you are reopening wounds on them too. >> bush wrote an op-ed, titled, yes, donald trump you said that. in it he says there were seven giefs on the bums guys on the bus. every one of us thought we were listening to a crass stand-up act. we thought none of this was real. >> if i thought there was a man detailing a sexual assault strategy to me i would have called the fbi not just reported it to my executive producer. >> bush says in 2005 when the tape was made, mr. trump was a big star on the nbc's the apprentice and "everybody had to kiss th

who do you think president trump and mr. zinke are? >> two of the best people i've been able to associate myself with. >> reporter: this man says the federal government has overreached and residents should have more control. what about the native americans say this is their land and it's sacred ground? >> i applaud the fact they want that protection. i just simply think that that protection exists. >> reporter: but for navajo elder willie grayeyes, stripping away protection would leave a deep scar. >> not only within myself but my nation and probably all the native americans. >> reporter: this is grand staircase escalante. former president clinton declared this a monument more than two decades ago. just like bears ears, it took years to get that status. now native tribes and environmental groups say it could be years of a legal fight before it is resolved. jeff? >> glor: jamie, thank you very much. up next, time's short list for person of the year, and last person of the year, and last area's winner is on it. reyo it's protection for g