welcome to "inside politics." the chairman of the house intelligence committee devin knew th newnan is announcing a new program. >> thank you for the short delay. we are waiting for mr. doughty because this announcement involves both the house intelligence committee and the government committee. mr. doughty can't get pulled away from the meeting he's currently in. with me today i have mr. keane from new york who chairs our subcommittee on emerging threats and then mr. desantos from florida who chairs the subcommittee on national security. so what we're here today to announce is an inquiry into russia's involvement into the iranian deal that was done several years ago. this is just the beginning of this probe. we are -- we're not going to jump to any conclusions at this

time, but one of the things, as you know, that we're concerned about is whether or not there was an fbi investigation. was there a d.o.j. investigation and if so, why was congress not informed of this matter. so that would be the start of the probe. it will be a joint -- two different committees who will be looking into this and we will keep you posted with further details. let me go to mr. desantos who's filling in for mr. doughty today. >> thank you, mr. chairman. we do have a witness who was a confidential informant who wants to talk about his role in this, and we're in contact with the justice department to release him from a nondisclosure agreement. if that doesn't work out in timely fashion, then we obviously would be able to subpoena him. on the oversight committee, particularly my subcommittee, will be focusing on how the interagency process worked in this. we don't -- we don't think that it worked out very well so we have jurisdiction over the

various national security agencies and we want to get as much information as we can so we can see what happened. >> so next we'll go to mr. king. mr. king is of particular relevance not only because he chairs the subcommittee that overzs fbi and d.o.j. and treasury from our committee, but also because he was a chairman back at the time and sent a letter in opposition questioning the sale of this company, he sent that letter to secretary geithner at the time, the treasury secretary. so we are happy that he's still here and will be the point person from our committee on this investigation. mr. king? >> thank you, chairman. october 2010 i was the ranking member in homeland security and myself and three other ranking members sent a letter to the treasury department raising very, very real concerns about why we would allow a russian owned company to get access to 20% of america's uranium supply. any number of reasons, objections we raised, questions we raised and it was brought to

the highest levels. i got a letter in response from treasury secretary geithner who was on the sifius committee saying this was getting full scrutiny. so this was brought to the highest levels of the obama administration, including the treasury secretary. so it's important that we find out why that deal went through and certainly in new recent allegations or recent questions have been raised. it's essential that this investigation, this inquiry move forward. it will be done in full coordination with government oversight. there won't be any conflict here. we're going to go forward together in a cooperative way and specifically the emerging threats subcommittee has jurisdiction over the fbi's counter intelligence efforts, also the treasury department. it fits in uniquely here. again, in view of the fact that soechb years ago, in fact, seven years ago this month i raised these objections with the treasury secretary who said they were being fully investigated and obviously we want to see

what happened with that inquiry, what they knew then, why they acted or didn't act and put it in context with what's come out since then. again, this will go forward and we look forward to working with ron desantos who is an outstanding member of congress. >> thank you. with that we'll take a couple of questions. >> we'll drop out of that event. the chairman devin nunes announcing investigations into one particular case, the uranium deal back in the obama administration. this has been a focus of president trump as well. he tweeted the other day, why isn't congress looking into this? it involves hillary clinton, the state department, bill clinton took a big money for a speaking fee. they want to know how that works out. with me cnn's dana bash, bloomberg, michael warren of the weekly standard and janet johnson of the washington post. big drama going on in town. the republicans surprised us with this. they have every right to have aggressive oversight of things that happened in any

administration. correct me if i'm wrong, there was a republican house during this part of the obama administration. if this was a big deal that needs to be investigated, why are we starting it late in 2017? why didn't we start it several years ago? >> it's a great question. you heard the beginning of his remarks, devin nunes suggest that congress wasn't informed about a potential fbi investigation. we just don't know the answer. that's a really good question. we don't know the answer to it. what we do know is the president tweeted about it a couple of days ago, 19th of october, shawn han nate at this, fox news, the conservative news, they have been aggressively pushing this story saying that the mainstream media is ignoring it, that this is an example of how the russians funneled money into american politics they claim. whether or not that's true, we don't know, to try to help the clintons. it's sort of the shoe is on both feet. we don't know, but obviously the fact that all the republicans,

not the democrats but just the republicans on the house intel committee gathered to announce that they're investigating this, you know, means that there is -- that there is -- that they're listening to their base. >> there were indications, maybe not of an fbi investigation, but two years ago this is something that peter schweitzer wrote a book about called "clinton cash" exploring this. "the new york times" took his book findings and explored about it further. wrote about it back in 2013. this was something that we did know about, that members of congress knew about, the public knew about. in fact, i would say it's certainly worthy of exploring more if there's any kind of tit-for-tat here, pay for play. but a lot of this -- these issues were dealt with during the presidential election. it was in fact one of the big reasons why i think many americans viewed hillary clinton as suspect. there was this long trail, this long history with the clintons of maybe not outright corruption

but really shady money situation, particularly with clinton global initiative and the clinton foundation. politically this has been made out. this is difficult. thinking they're going to do that. >> the president speaking at a minority outreach event. >> we've been here for many years. nobody understood it. they didn't know what was going on. and there are certain trade deals and restarted the process for others. it's actually a long process as you probably know. you have statutory requirements and lots of other things, but the bottom line is step by step and we're getting it done and we're way ahead of schedule i would say. >> yes, we are. >> we started with nafta. we'll see how that turns out. may not turn out. if it doesn't turn out, we'll have to do a new nafta or a new

deal, but we'll see how it turns out. thank you. i'm honored and thrilled to be with you this morning. the white house and the oval office is a very special place. i assume every one of you have been in the oval office many times, right? well, it's an honor to have you now, i can tell you that. i want to congratulate every one of the business men and women in this room and all that you have achieved. incredible stories. each of you has just a remarkable past and i think an even more remarkable future. i feel that. does everybody feel that, by the way? i think so. especially with trump as your president. each of you represent a critical american industry from construction to technology to manufacturing, but you all share in a common will and drive to succeed, and i salute you for that. you need that drive to be successful.

minority owned businesses employ 8 million people and generate more than $1 trillion in annual economic output. the work you do and the products and services you bring into this world generate new prosperity across america. for that, we are in your debt. you inspire our children to develop their talents and to always chase their dreams. you carry on our nation's proud legacy of innovation and you breathe new life into the american spirit. a recent department of labor report showed the fewest jobless claims since 1973. think of that, 1973. we just had a report. we have the fewest jobless claims. my administration -- i don't think the press -- i tell that because the only way i'll get the word out there is if i say it because they'll never say it. my administration is deeply committed to empowering minority

owners. we're working to thrive, prosper and grow. the stock market is the highest it's ever been in history by far. we've created about $5.4 trillion only in stock market value. $5.4 trillion, and we're very happy about it. got a lot of jobs. we have the lowest job numbers since i believe 16 to 17 years, right? lowest unemployment. low -- it's -- we're doing really well. we're doing well, which makes it better for you. as a candidate for president i pledged to fight to deliver opportunity for every community in america. all-american children from the rust belt to our inner cities deserve great schools, safe neighborhoods and access to high paying jobs, and i talked a lot about the inner cities on the campaign and this tremendous potential in the inner city and we're working on that very, very hard.

critical to creating those futures is crreforming our tax code. we must bring back our jobs and rebuild america's cities and towns, which is what we're doing. it's time to take care of our country and fight for our families. at the center of our america first agenda is our commitment to ensure every child in america has a future of security and a future of hope. we are one of the highest taxed nations in the world, anywhere in the world, one of the highest taxed costing us millions of jobs and trillions and trillions of dollars. our tax cuts will restore america's competitive edge and lower the crushing tax burden on the american people. it's also going to bring back when we get this passed, which i really believe we will, i think we have to as a country, it's going to bring back, i would say, $4 trillion back into this country which right now cannot

come back. it's being spent in other countries. money that wants to come back into the united states cannot come back, but under our plan that money will flow back in. it will be very quick and it will be very easy. it's a lot of money. nobody enos the amount. it was $2.5 trillion a few years ago, so i would say now it's got to be close to 4 trillion or maybe above that number. we'll find out soon because it's going to come back very, very rapidly. under our plan, more than 30 million americans who own small businesses will get a 40% cut to their top marginal tax rate. this will be the lowest rate in more than 80 years. so this will be the lowest rate you have in more than 80 years. that's 1931. that's the last time there was a rate as low. they're going to america and higher right here.

our plan can be summarized. jobs, jobs, jobs. the award winning. they represent the best of america and our determination. their potential which they have tremendous potential. live out the american dream. it's a tremendous achievement. thank you. god bless you. god bless america. >> president of the united states at the white house. a busy top of the hour here. first an investigation announced on capitol hill. they were looking at obama

administration dealings and the president, minority entrepreneur event. promoting his economic record saying things are going great. very upbeat about the economy. take a quick break. "inside politics" family meal or family feud. supposed to have lunch with republicans on tax reform, but he's fighting with them again. they're fighting back. is this a phone?

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welcome back. the big meal this hour for america's most dysfunctional family, the republican party. president trump is the guest of honor. in just a few minutes he'll make the short trek from the white house to capitol hill with the goal of talking tax reform. that's the gop's last hope to deliver on a big promise this year. the republican lawmakers believe failure could cost them both their house and senate

majorities. yet, that urgency not enough to quiet the intensive gop family feud. senator bob corker spent the morning appearing on any network news show, any cable show keeping both policy and personal score on the president urging him to leave the tax reform debate to, quote, the professionals. the president, of course, fired up his phone to respond. from the commander in chief on twitter 8:13 a.m., bob corker who helped president o give us the bad iran deal is fighting tax cuts. corker dropped out of the race in tennessee when i refused to endorse him. now is only negative on anything trump. look at his record. now those presidential tweets flunk the fact check. he added his new favorite take on the trump white house #adult day daycarecenter. a wow bhoemt cnn's manu raju.

>> do you think he's a role model to children in the united states? >> no. >> no? >> no, absolutely not. the things that are happening right now that are harmful to our nation, whether it's the breaking down of we're going to be doing some hearings on some of the things that he purposefully is breaking down relationships we have around the world that have been useful to our nation, but i think at the end of the day when his term is over, i think the basing of our nation, the constant nontruth telling, the -- just the name-calling, the things that -- i think the basement of our nation will be what he'll be remembered most for. and that's regretful. >> manu raju joins us on capitol hill. you know senator corker well. he knows the president is coming up to talk tax reform. he decided to book himself on all three network shows and to pick this fight. why?

>> reporter: that's right. the reason initially for doing the interviews this morning was to try to raein him in on tax reform. he initially planned to discuss, but some of his sharp edged set the pressure a little. he is not going to hold back particularly since he's retiring this year and next year he really has no -- nothing to lose by voicing his concern. what is particularly incensing corker, john, is the president continually saying that he refused to endorse him and that he's not running for re-election because the president refused to endorse him. according to corker and other people i've spoken to, that is just flatly not true. the president did on multiple occasions say he would endorse him. corker thinks that this is really just one of many examples of the president frankly not speaking the truth and he would not say liar but he essentially called the president of the united states a liar.

also said that he would not -- wouldn't say if he trusted the president with the nuclear codes in addition to saying he's not a role model to children. a rather remarkable moment, one that few republican senators can say publicly but one he can because he's retiring, john. >> you have an interesting few hours ahead up there as the president makes his way to capitol hill. keep wandering the halls. let's come back in the room. we make light of this because there's great theater and great drama in the personal relationships and personal dysfunction. make light of it. this is the president of the united states and chairman of the senate foreign relations committee and he was known until this feud erupted as a pretty serious guy in washington, d.c. not a guy who books himself on cable tv, not wanting to get into every show. he's debased the nation, it's an adult day care center, why? >> because that's the way he feels and as manu got to with

senator corker when they talked, he is not running for re-election. he admitted that he has more independence and feels that he has more precome to because he is leaving the political sphere to say what he really thinks. and so that is already putting a lot of pressure on people who are not done with politics who do need the trump base if and when they run as a republican in their home states to say these kind of -- the question is whether they are willing to say these kinds of things. probably not. the thing about bob corker just isn't the fact that he isn't the guy to book himself on tv, he's the foreign relations chairman and the job of the foreign relations chairman is to have oversight of the executive branch on national security issues. when you hear him talking about the fact that he's glad that he's -- that the president has people around him since he has access to the nuclear codes, when you hear him saying world leaders don't believe the president when he says

something, i mean, that is earth shattering. you can almost feel the ground shake here in washington when bob corker said that. >> so you -- >> exactly. >> we get so used to it we don't stop a take a breath, let alone do a service to our viewers. yes, everything about this presidency is highly unusual. this is taking it to a new level. again, we all talk to people privately in this town. senators say similar things. there are some who say he's taking this too far. they have concerns about the president's behavior. they don't think he's going to start world war iii. president trump, since he launched a hostile takeover of the republican party, that continues. it will play out in 2018. it may play out in 2020. what about today and tomorrow? and the president is out there trying to talk tax reform, do these personal disagreements, the lack of trust, do they impact their ability to pass tax reform? i guess they did their ability

to come together on health care. >> here we are talking about everything but tax reform. i also think it's very interesting that very few republicans have been jumping at the opportunity to defend the president on this. he's done very little to build relationships with republicans on the hill, and in a lot of cases he's burned them on things. you know, he makes this broad promise to repeal and replace obamacare. they come up with a plan, he calls it mean. he says that he's going to get rid of the health care subsidies that go to insurance companies. they come up with a bipartisan plan to get around that. he seems to agree with it, but then he doesn't agree with it. in thing after thing he doesn't always seem to be fully communicating with them what he wants and what he'll publicly support, and sometimes he'll support something and totally turn around and change his mind and that's really frustrating a lot of people on the hill who really want to get things done. it also doesn't help that he's

blaming them for the fact that there's been so little that has hashed happened on the hill. asked his position on the hcs, i am with the president. throwing his hands in the air. >> this past weekend. all of this day to day combat on twitter. >> do you worry that it will get in the way of your agenda? >> no. sometimes it helps. i think in the end sometimes that helps. sometimes it gets people to do what they're supposed to be doing. and, you know, that's the way it is. i just want what's right and i think for the most part they want what's right, too. >> where's the moment that it helps? if republicans are not going to

do anything, that could lead them to be propping up obamacare without cover from president trump. his voice is extremely important. he's been all over the place. it's giving republicans pause even though they realize that keeping these cost sharing subsidies out, not making payments is the rare example of losing on policy. you spend more money, the deficit goes up, premiums go up and you insure fewer people. the president does matter on the issue of taxes. relationships matter a lot when you're trying to get from 48, 49, 50 votes. we saw that with health care. poor relationships did not help him twist arms and gabe the final votes. i don't think senator corker is going to vote yes or no based on his relationship with president trump. he has serious misgiving with the 1.5 trillion deficit number they've put on the table. if that isn't dealt with he's talking about raising $4 trillion in new revenues. republicans aren't opposed to that. it's facing a lobbyig blitz.

real estate industry doesn't want be that, charities don't want it. long way to go. >> i think if you look back at what bob corker said today, what he said recently, what is the base? it's about character? it's about his fitness for office. it's not about any sort of policy issues. he criticizes sort of the tax reform push. we don't know what tax reform will actually look like. these were things that conservatives in the party were saying back in january, february, march 2016 when it actually mattered, when a senior senator coming out and saying something like this, that this president or -- excuse me, this candidate is not fit for office. instead, what was bob corker saying at the time? bob corker was saying we've got to listen to this voice of the people. i don't like these people coming out saying we shouldn't support trump because of his character. i think a lot of republicans hear this from bob corker and think, why now? the other thing i'll say about this in the practical political

situation, republicans need to pass tax reform. they believe it's extremely important for them to go into the 2018 elections with some kind of legislative win. with bob corker throwing that in flux with this, they're looking at what he's doing and they're saying, it's not just that you're not running for re-election so you're sort of standing out and saying what you want, you're throwing the rest of us who want to run for re-election under the bus. >> you know, i think you're right about bob corker changing. he argues that he was hoping that after the president got him the job that he would -- he would rise to the occasion and in his view he hasn't. >> right. >> i think it is important to separate bob corker from the republicans who are up for re-election and trying to run the senate and house and try to figure out how to get things done. it's not just john corn nin who was throwing his hands up at things like fixing the health care subsidies.

i interviewed mitch mcconnell on sunday, he also explicitly said, i'm not going to talk about putting this on the floor until the president decides what he wants to do. what we've seen, after nine months these republican leaders finally kind of understanding the way that they have to shift their approach and fit it into trump's world. this is your problem, dude. figure out what you want and we'll act. >> he has 75 to 80% approval among republicans. higher than virtually any of them. a lot of them share what senator corker has said. >> don't want to stand on a rug. everybody sit tight as the president makes his way up to capitol hill. plus, an important event and the chief of staff trying to give the answers he can at this point on the dead liam bush in niger.

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whether you're on medicare now or turning 65 soon, it's a good time to get your ducks in a row. duck: quack! call to request your free decision guide now. because the time to think about tomorrow is today. the reason why we're in west africa is because of al qaeda. the reason we're operating in libya is because there is a threat of isis attacks from libya. the reason they're in east africa is because there's an al qaeda and a smaller isis presence there. >> that's general joseph dunford at the pentagon. he's briefing them on the ambush in niger that left four service men dead and in the process offering a small reminder. 16 years after 9/11, the war on terror or whatever you call it

is hardly limited to afghanistan and iraq. look at here, a dozen countries where u.s. service men are on the ground fighting isis, al qaeda, affiliated terrorist groups. boko haram. we don't spend enough time on this until there are tragedies. in all, 165 countries around the world where u.s. service members are stationed in at least 165 countries. general dunford did offer this. just as they were about to return to base on a reconnaissance mission. he says that team waited an hour before they requested additional support. they arrived minutes later but it took an additional hour before french mirage jets arrived. he made clear it would take a long time before many of the questions are very legitimate and be answered. we don't mow it definitively. >> there are a lot of mirages

and they didn't drop bombs. i don't know if they're on the ground and they asked them to do that. i don't know personally how these soldiers, if they were wearing body armor. >> it's interesting just that that event happened. we have had in recent days the president in a twitter and other war with the gold star wife widow, who just buried her husband. credibility questions with the chief of staff. four star marine general who happens to be general dunford's best friend. there were questions about credibility, questions about why is the president whether he's right or wrong in this back and forth with the gold star widow and then up top he couldn't answer many of the questions but what a steady, reassuring presence to say we're going to get to the bottom of this. >> and the twitter war, the back and forth with the president and first the congresswoman but even more very surprising, the widow.

and the president was asked at several events before general dunford came out by reporters screaming questions about the gold star widow and he wouldn't answer which is not a typical thing for the president. if he's angry or upset or just worked up, he's not shy about saying so and he didn't. it was clearly a direct attempt to shut it down and put the focus where it should be on the fact that four american soldiers were killed and they were killed in a mission that has a lot of unanswered questions in terms of what happened. that's where everybody should be, you know, focused, including the president. and the people who worked for him. not on a week long back and forth. now in his defense the whole thing started bubbling up when a democratic congresswoman went all over television saying that the way that she heard him talk to this widow was terrible and it was disrespectful.

that was a point of contention in terms of interpretation, but the fact that it continued was really remarkable. that was dunford saying enough. >> dunford saying enough. it's the fault of our business, too. it takes an ambush like this, it takes a tragedy, it takes having to bury four american heroes to remind ourselves that, yes, there are americans in libya, niger who as we speak here are going to put their lives at risk. we don't spend enough time reminding american people. if they're not your sons and daughters, your neighbors, somebody you went to high school with, it's happening everywhere. we were talking about how senator bob corker is picking fights with the president. there have been some members of congress who after this ambush were like we have troops in niger, what were they doing there? they should know. if they don't know where american troops are, they're simply not doing their job. senator corker. >> i received a congressional notification, i think it was in june. they likely did, too, and just

maybe somehow didn't see that or notice it. i was aware and i think at the time they notified us we had 6 to 700 troops that were there. and as time goes on you know these things expand but yes, i was aware we had troops there. >> if you heard general dunford yesterday, he was asked about this. why did members of congress say they didn't know about this. i thought it was an interesting moment, a teachable moment for the president. the fact is that most of them or maybe all of them were notified but what did general dunford say. he said, if that's the case, then i need to redouble my efforts to communicate. if you listen to people in the military community, national security community, what they say are two things. one, not enough americans know that we are in all of these places and why we're in these places. something to go on in the last eight or nine or ten years and that the military needs to do a better job of communicating. >> they're about to have one

hearing on capitol hill. the administration can explain why. it would be nice if the congressman did his job and hold hearings and talk about these things. our business needs to focus on these things not just when there's tragedy. quick break. when we come back, president trump in the motorcade about to arrive on capitol hill. on the menu for lunch, tax reform and tension.

welcome back. we should see the president arrive soon. the goal is to talk tax reform and to plot a strategy that keeps lawmakers and the white house on the same page. follow politics, you know tax reform has been a key priority for the republican party. there are already some complications. the president tweeting he won't touch a 401 k. his voters probably loved that. it was a constrained where

they're trying to strain policies. it failed in part some republicans say because the president repeatedly jumpeds into the policy fights and changed his mind. they understand they better pass tax reform before they go before the voters in 2018. >> come back to tax reform. >> yes. >> i don't know how you as a party continue to run in 2018 unless you get them both done. >> by the way, i agree with that 100%. that's the reason i came back here. if we're not going to do those things, there's no point in being here. >> if we're not going to do those things, there's no point in being there. i mean, is that the biggest momentum for tax reform right now? it's not about cutting corporate taxes, not about trying to come up with a plan to help the middle class. it's we promised we would repeal and replace obamacare. we didn't. if you had the president's promise for infrastructure, it won't.

we've had republicans in washington and when it comes to big legislative victories, they have zero. >> republicans say in the next months or two they want to rewrite the tax code. we don't even know basic details like where the tax brackets will be. we know they're trillions of dollars short in revenue. they've taken things off the table. they don't want to repeal mortgage interest. they want to keep charitable giving. it's a huge challenge for them. that is when things get difficult. this is the easy part. passing a budget vehicle that's nonbinding. president trump is there. he has a huge role to play in this. let's see what he has to say. >> republicans want a victory. the other thing they need to keep in mind is they need to do something that makes the lives of their voters better. you know, some sort of tax cut that they actually see more money in their household.

we're heading into open enrollment season for those who have insurance plans through healthcare.gov. some people in some states don't know what insurance companies might be on those exchanges. there's all of the money for advertising, a lot of that has been cut. people aren't sure where to go. they're not seeing those premiums go down like president trump had promised them that they would. they want to see their lives change and in the next 12 months they need a little bit of something. >> go ahead. >> if the mid terms were presidential election and this were trump running for re-election, he might actually have something to run on here, at least the economy is doing pretty well. he's done a couple of things on national security. he's gotten neil gorsuch passed. the problem is it's congress that's up for re-election. while you have all of these positive things republicans could talk about, what they need to have is some kind of legislative win to say, look, we can't just talk about the

economy in general strokes. we need to say, we passed these tax reforms and look how it's improved your life. >> but is there any evidence before us that the lessons of obamacare, the debacle, is that, a, republicans on capitol hill will learn to compromise on policy which they could not do on obamacare and, b, the president will learn to moderate his behavior in terms of saying negotiations are now open when the speaker tells you this is the best deal i can get. don't open the door to negotiations. or to celebrate a health care bill and call it mean. they couldn't compromise. very strongly held. you'll have some issues. >> they're going to be there.

>> if it's done in ways that many of them are there. . they can say, you know what, i worked with in a bipartisan way to make your lives better, to give you more money in your pocket. the question is whether the president can take that ball and run with it. he met last week with some of those democrats and the way they tell it, he promised them the moon and the stars and everything that goes along with it. he made it sound like he was willing to make sure that there's a middle class tax cut and do other things that don't appear to be in what is beginning to move through the senate republican led committees. the question is whether the president can actually bring them together. it is possible. >> hold this thought one second. we'll sneak in a quick break. when he gets there, ela he walk in. we'll get great drama. the president is up there. big policy initiative and as we've been discussing, key personal feuds as well.

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he's brought us to the obstructed justice at the fbi. and in direct violation of the constitution, he's taken money from foreign governments and threatened to shut down news organizations that report the truth. if that isn't a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president, then what has our government become? i'm tom steyer and, like you, i'm a citizen who knows it's up to us to do something. it's why i'm funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. a republican congress once impeached a president for far less. yet, today, people in congress and his own administration know this president is a clear and present danger who is mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. and they do nothing. join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing what's political and start doing what's right. our country depends on it.

all right. live pictures at the united states capitol waiting for the president of the united states to arrive. he's having lunch with republicans. there's a great deal of anticipation here because of the past failures in the past few months. even senators have a sense of humor about these things. republican senator tom till lis -- here comes the president. we'll watch the president's motorcade arrive on capitol hill. like to show you tom tillis, these are long motorcades, welcome to washington, d.c., tom tillis about to head up to this meeting filling up a bag of

popcorn. asking if he's bringing the popcorn up for the corker/trump fight, he said, yes. waiting on anticipation of these. you're going to wait a long time. presidential motorcades in washington, d.c., go a long way. we're fascinated to show the d.c. police department. here's the motorcade coming into the white house. we're making light of this because of the personal feud but, again, we are about ten months into the trump presidency. they have zero big legislative wins. jeff zeleny says the president wants to press them to move more quickly. the president is late to nominate a lot of these people and the democrats have taken every advantage they can to then slow the pace down when it gets up there. the president will push not just for tax reform, perhaps suggesting the senate stay in on the weekends. jeff zeleny is reporting i can can kicking the can. b., the tax reform and the

subset of the relationship. it was not where it needed to be to get obamacare done. the question is can they get there. the president will be in this room. he's fighting with bob corker. fighting in recent days. it goes back a while. history with senator john mccain. moderate susan collins, lisa murkowski. disagreed with the president and how he went about the debate. ben sass, senator from nebraska tweeting that the president miss behaves too often, doesn't speak in a way that he finds to be civic minded. it only takes two republicans to take the train off the tracks because they have a 52/48 majority. is there any expectation that the president tries to make things better or does the senators, the most i talk to say the president is not going to change, therefore, how do we navigate this? >> they have tried to dlachange. the senators are trying to change. he's probably going from the first floor to the second floor as we speak to go into the mansfield room right off the

senate chamber where they have these lunches. he is known to charm people. that's what he does. this is a very unusual time. it is very tense because it is coming off of several hours of, you know, rhetorical combat with the senate foreign relations chair who's going to be in that room. i'm wondering how many food tasters are going to be there before they actually take bites of their lunch. there you see him -- the president coming around. but i think that it's going to be hard to imagine that it will get as tense mano-a-mano as it has been on television. >> it's a great opportunity to see the united states senate. it's a cool thing to go through. a history lesson whether the president is there or not. it happens at a time we haven't mentioned this when the president has said he understands his friend steve bannon saying he's going to target these senate incumbents. he doesn't agree on the particular races. i assume one of the things you're going to ask. there's the president coming down the hall of the united

states senate. are you going to speak out publicly? are you going to have our back? the man who has the most interesting job, senator mitch mcconnell. he's no fan of the president. he deserves more credit. playing the flattery game which works with the president. >> remember, when the president said that about he's not sure about steve bannon, that was after a meeting with mitch mcconnell at the white house. they came out last week. that was last week, right? gave that press conference. this is something mcconnell has sort of realized. i'm going to have to play ball with him if we want to save this 2018 -- this majority in 2018. the problem with all of this is that individual senators are sort of -- >> showing you the scrum on capitol hill. a lot of reporters up there anyway. the president makes a rare visit it's a little more interesting, shall we say. >> they're the ones that are up for re-election, the senators, not the president. the senator is on the bubble with taxes.

mccain, susan collins, rand paul, bob corker. they're not going to be charmed by the president. what he needs to do is shape the bill in a way that doesn't tank the provisions that gets their votes. for instance, his tweet about 401 ks, if that ends up being tweeted by him on a separate provision that is needed to get their votes, that could scuttle things down the road. as i point out, there is a bit of a bifurcated argument he's making with regards to the economy. he's saying things are going terrific. we're doing great with the jobs. the market is going very well. he's saying the economy is shackled by our high taxes. there is a truth in the nuance which is one of the reasons the market has done so well this year is in anticipation of these tax cuts you can have a perfect storm brewing where if congress fails to deliver that expectation goes away. the markets could tank. they could tank and that would be a disaster for them.

>> in previous administrations, he would walk into meetings like this with a clear list. with president trump, who knows where this conversation is going. who knows who's going to catch his eye or what one question is going to spurn him to say something. who knows. >> by the way, that's an excellent point. the president's own senior staff doesn't know. they made promises to capitol hill. the president watches something on capitol hill and starts tweeting about it. that's one of the big things, they want him to say, talk broadly about tax reform. don't get into the details. let us do that part but they have no confidence that the president will listen to them when they say that. >> no, not at all. >> i got an e-mail before -- about an hour ago from someone at the white house. what's on the agenda with this meeting? aggressive push for tax reform. not even a period at the end of the sentence.

it is about as vague as possible because nobody knows. >> high drama on capitol hill. a rare luncheon at a time of great tension both on the form of tax reform and a feud with senator bob corker. we'll take a very quick break. wolf blitzer will continue to cover this live on capitol hill in just a moment.

hello, i'm wolf blitzer. 1:00 p.m. here in washington. wherever you're watching, thanks very much for joining us. >> this is cnn breaking news. following breaking news, president trump arriving up on capitol hill to meet with republican senators. he's there to sell his massive tax plan but the escalating tension with some fierce republican critics has just turned up a dramatic notch. the president's feud with senator bob corker erupting once again today. the president tweeting out several times against the top republican lawmaker on the foreign