the overwhelming thing was the energy on the democratic side. >> republicans should look at the elections and it should be a giant stop sign for their tax bill. >> we have a promise to keep. this puts more pressure on making sure we follow through. >> together we have in our power to finally liberate this region

from this nuclear menace. >> my hope is the president will now try to find a way of driving north korea to the negotiating table. >> flynn is concerned about the potential legal exposure of his son. >> translator: fact that a father and son are both under investigation gives the potential for a lot of leverage. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning and welcome to your "new day". a year after donald trump's historic election, new cnn poll numbers do not paint a pretty picture. a majority of americans say they are less confident in president trump than when he took office. 4 in 10 say he has kept his promises. that means 6 in 10 say he does not. is he bringing the kind of change the country needs.

>> i like the is suspense. they are wrestling with a tough decision to he rebuke the handling of the issues. republicans say they are focused on their tax plan. but is it adding up to what they promised. president trump does an about-face against china in beijing. we have it all covered for you. let's begin with suzanne malveaux live on capitol hill. >> reporter: good morning, alisyn. these are damning new numbers for republicans when they take a look at one year into the trump presidency, less confidence in this president even within his own party. at the same time, the blame game definitely taking place here on capitol hill as they look at those tuesday results. they are openly asking themselves the question whether or not aligning with president trump will cost them the majorities next year.

the republican party in damage control after a sweep of democratic victories across the country. some downplaying the results. >> this is typical cycle. >> most of the elections are decided by local circumstances. >> virginia, because of northern virginia, is really not a purple state. it's a blue state. >> reporter: others pointing the finger directly at president trump. >> i do think we do better with a more inclusive message. >> i think the overwhelming thing that was going on was the energy on the democratic side. and that's definitely a referendum on the president. >> reporter: a new cnn poll shows that 64% of americans say their confidence in the president has decreased since he took office. 1 in 4 feel less confidence about their leader. president trump divisive rhetoric taking a big toll on his ability to unite the country. only 30% of americans say they think the president can unite rather than divide the nation. a 16-point drop among voters in his own party.

the percentage of republicans who think the president can bring needed change down 10 points since last november. house speaker paul ryan acknowledging that tuesday's losses show that congress needs to deliver on tax reform. >> we have a promise to keep. if anything, this puts more pressure on making sure we follow through. >> reporter: a new report from the nonpartisan congressional office. the republican tax plan would add $1.7 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade, higher than initially projected. multiple sources tell cnn that president trump personally lobbied senate democrats on a phone call tuesday attempting to garner support saying he would be a big loser if the gop plan is signed into law. despite a report that shows that the largest cuts would accrue to higher-income households. >> donald trump says this doesn't help the wealthy. obviously, it does. so all the claims they have made

for this bill are belied by the bill itself. >> reporter: nick mulvaney insisting it will help the middleclass. >> at the end of the day if we believe this is a middleclass tax increase, he's not going to sign it. >> reporter: but most americans disapprove how the president is handling taxes. exit polls in virginia shows taxes were not the issue that mattered most to voters. 39% of virginia voters said health care was their number one issue when voting for governor. the republican party's failure to repeal and replace obamacare clearly srpb an euhad an effect voting boothe. outspoken republican senator john mccain calling for the party to get his act together. the house is marking up that tax reform bill. we'll see just how far they can push it and where it goes. alisyn and chris?

thank you, suzanne, for breaking all that down. let's get after it. john avlon and gregory. the polls, nothing good in there from the straight numerical situation. you have 55/40. >> can the president bring change? >> 56/40. gregory, these are not strong numbers. >> honest and trustworthy. this is an important one. 64% say, no, not hoefpbt and trustworthy. >> his numbers have always been bad. the base has always been locked in. we see a widening gap, an erosion. what's your takeaway? >> look, i think president trump is now caught up in the washington muck, in the -- exactly what people dislike about washington, big institutions in their lives. washington is not getting

anything done. i think it's important what you say about the personal characteristics. he's always been under water. whether he's truthful, whether he has the temperament for the job. numbers have always been south for him on that. >> now he's like an ear-popping depth under water with it. >> this is a slash and burn. the way he goes after the party, any opponents. the only sliver of good he has done is when he was working with democrats. so he is caught up in all of that. that is what is dragging him down. there is democratic energy. republicans splitting away from him who were probably never for him, the jeff flakes of the world, they have to go somewhere. in a midterm race, a special

election like we saw in virginia, they're going to move away from the republican candidate if there's anything close to trump iism in that. americans don't like america to be unpopular abroad. >> john, how do you see it? >> the best case scenario argument for trump and his supporters is he was going to be beyond politics, going to be a businessman who could make a deal. maybe all that toxic rhetoric was just that. when he came into office, he would be able to blow things up, get big deals done. his supporters are having to reconcile themselves with the fact that that hasn't happened. instead, all the worst fears of how he campaigned extended into the presidency and the art of the deal persona hasn't materialized. that is a drift downward among

republicans and crucially independents. if you want to look at where the real swing is, independents and moderates. the approval on his job as commander in chief is down to 24% on moderates. that ends up being decisive translating to the virginia governor's race. moderates went for the democrat by a two to one margin. >> all we know is the constant in politics has changed. these numbers can change if he gets something done. they are putting all their money, no pun intended, on taxes. even here we have an inconsistency. >> the job approve numbers whether you think the president is handling the tax issue disapprove. 51%. only 35% of respondents say they approve. but people are feeling good about the economy and the economic conditions. 68% say, yes, good economic conditions today in the country. i don't know. is that a paradox? >> look, that first question is strange to me.

it is more of a process question. how is he doing handling taxes? it's kind of a mess. we're in markup for a big tax reform bill. i don't know that anybody comes out well in the middle of that process. but it is evident that you have to get something done if you're a party and control particularly on an issue that you campaigned on. health care is more popular. there is a larger point here. the supporters of the president, i'm not just talking about the base but the moveable of the middle of the elect rat. something has to be done. you may not like him. you may not approve everything that he is doing. but he is still trying to get something done. i don't want to discount the possibility that people are going to reward president trump for being in there and slugging

it out. >> no question people wanted a fighter. they wanted him to be disruptive. they will see the metaphor as a virus to the system as a positive. but we just saw what happened in the election and the divisive rhetoric hit them. it was a punishment election down there. you hear it even from republicans. that's why i want to bring up paul ryan. paul ryan is saying this only increased the pressure for us to pass taxes. this is a man who came to power. 63/33. that number can change as a function of what happens going forward. but ryan came to power because of his moral agents. when he was e with obama he would say things like we won't play the village. we must stay united. we must show that we have better ideas. that he, obama, was degrading the presidency.

he has become mute on those issues. is getting taxes enough? >> getting taxes is essentially because they need to show they can deliver on a core or area that unites the constituency. you're right. he was the ideas guy in the republican party. as republicans look to 2018, do they try to create a separation? let's face it, there is deep separation between the governing class and president trump and the white house. can paul ryan reignite and start standing up for the ideas that brought him to power. if he becomes an accommodationist who tries to explain away in public everything he does that violates those principles, he loses the

moral authority that elevated him to the speakership. >> most people signed on for the wild ride as long as the republicans could get something big done. that's what people are going to be watching. >>. okay. gregory, john avlon, thank you very much. as we all know, president trump is in china this morning. he's had a big change in his rhetoric. instead of calling them a rapist he said he doesn't plame them at all. why the about-face? jeff zeleny live in beijing with more. he is in china. he has to change. >> reporter: chris, good morning. incidents was definitely a day of pomp and pageantry here as president trump tries to soften his stance in hopes of enlisting president xi jinping. but after two days the open question is, will there be a new

policy from this chinese president? president trump receiving a regal welcome in china with new signs the flattery from president xi jinping may be working. mr. trump dramatically softening his once stern message to china on trade. >> i don't blame china. after all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens. i give china great credit. >> reporter: those words a far cry from his rhetoric on the campaign trail. >> china is taking our jobs, our money, our base, our manufacturing. >> we can't continue to allow china to rape our country. >> reporter: on the edge of tiananmen square inside the great hall of the people today, president trump didn't fault china for its business practices. instead, pointing a finger at his predecessors. >> i do blame past

administrations for allowing this out-of-control trade deficit to take place and to grow. >> reporter: the two leaders met for hours during the president's two-day visit to beijing. mr. trump called for a vibrant yet fair trading relationship and announced pledges of $250 billion in american business agreements here. yet north korea's nuclear ambitions dominated the talks on the most consequential stops of the 13-day asia tour. >> together we have in our power to finally liberate this region and the world from this very serious nuclear menace. >> reporter: president xi said they were dedicated to denuclearizing the korean peninsula. but stopped short of saying what he might do to squeeze kim jong-un economically. secretary of state rex tillerson said president trump did discuss

human rights with his chinese counterpart. >> the president also committed to promote exchanges and understanding between our peoples and had a frank change of views on human rights issues. >> reporter: his visit was filled with personal touches. he brought along this video of his 6-year-old granddaughter speaking mandarin. the president gave her skills an a-plus. that video was played again tonight at another state dinner here. the president already looking forward to his next stop on this asian tour. that's in vietnam, where there is a meeting anticipated with the russian president putin. the russians are saying it could happen friday. the u.s. side saying it could as well if they can agree to a

framework. syria and the middle east will be on the agenda before they agree to a meeting. i asked the secretary of state just a short time ago if russian meddling would also be on the agenda. he said that stays on the list. chris, if a meeting happens on friday, fascinating once again to see the two presidents side by side what conversation about russian meddling will come up. of course this still hangs over this white house back in washington. >> no question. big opportunity for the president to put american interests first. will he? we'll see. jeff zeleny, thank you very much. president trump telling democrats he will be a big loser under the gop's tax plan. true? our economic experts break it down next. you can whip up a dessert.ball. just use pam baking spray. (sfx: spraying) made with real flour. plus, the superior non-stick you love. (sfx: mixing) check you out... it looks like a christmas card in here.

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a finance committee on the senate side is expected to reveal details about its tax bill today. remember, you're going to have a senate bill and a house bill. will they be in con tkpwraous? well see. the house bill is going to add $1.7 trillion to the nation's

already soaring deficit. joining us now is economic analyst stephen moore and global economic analyst rana tpa roux haar. this tax plan is called middleclass, but it helps the top tier more. for real conservatives like you, it balloons the deficit in a way that should be in your defense. >> it is related to this. the most important poll number that was released in that poll was astounding actually. 65% of americans today think the economy is good or great? i haven't seen a poll result like that. >> it is actually 68%. just to help your point.

>> 65% saying good or great economy. the economy has already picked up 3% to 3.5% growth in trump's first year in office. nine months ago, trump is lying. it is impossible to get that growth. it's here. it's amazing the jobs and the economy didn't show up for the first time in a decade as one of the top issues for americans because the economy is doing so well. >> why do you need a tax cut? if the economy is so robust. that's the whole point. why need one? >> we want the economy to grow faster, even more jobs. we think we can get this to grow 3.5%, 4%. that's relevant to this whole issue about the deficit, chris. because if we get the economy growing at 3.5%, you're talking about hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars of additional revenue when you take

people off unemployment. you keep quoting the tax policy center. you never call them liberal. i've never heard you call them a liberal group. >> i don't think that's a fair appraisal. that's what you think. that's what you think they are. >> hold on. you have a group called the tax foundation, which is on the right. it's the right counterpart to the left wing tax policy. and they say this job -- this bill will create a million jobs, will increase revenues due to growth. >> let's bring in rana. who are we using as a point of appraisal? >> i actually don't agree on that. i would say a broad group agree with the fact that tax cuts at this stage in our development will create tons of jobs. the last time that happened was under reagan. if you look, things were really different back then. women were come to get workforce

in large numbers. growth is easy. >> deficit exploded. >> we will get to that in a moment. people and productivity. neither are growing right now. there were tax cuts but not spending cuts. which means you had to reign that back in in 19s 86. it's not like this is some magic plan that is just going to create jobs without leaving us without a deficit problem. >> now bring it down to my intellectual level. you guys are very intelligent and we need you to bring it to the show. you are calling this a middle class tax cut. by most appraisals, at least initially, the middleclass does get a cut. there is speculation down the line of it turning into a loss for them. we will have to see more meet on the bones. it is true that the top tier does better than the

middleclass. so here's the problem. you're giving the middleclass a tax cut but not as much as you were giving the top tier. you are trying to say it was designed for the middleclass. it seems you are setting yourself up for failure. >> well, a couple of things. first of all, we believe, as you know, chris, i worked with donald trump a year and a half ago helping put this thing together. the idea has always been very simple. american companies are overtaxed relative to the situation in china, korea, ireland, mexico and these countries and that we believe by cutting tax rates we can bring more jobs, more capital back to the united states. you are saying, gee, we have 3% growth. isn't that the best we can do. >> no, i never said that. i'm just saying that doesn't directly help the middle class if you want to directly help them. no. it would help them indirectly. you're assuming everybody has jobs that they have money. companies are holding cash like they never have before.

they're not exploding their labor roles or wages. >> whether you are talking about big companies like fedex or smaller, middle-size said companies that when they have more money, they're going to hire more workers and expand their operations. that leads to more jobs. it's simple. >> it happens, but it doesn't always happen. >> it didn't happen the last 20 years. it didn't happen in 2001. it didn't happen with obama. it didn't happen in the last 20 years. what we need really is to grow wages. we have a 70% consumer economy. if you don't have demand, more money in people's pockets, you're not going to get more job growth. i don't believe cutting taxes on big corporations that have more on their balance sheets. apple computer, $300 billion on the balance sheet. mostly in off-shore tax havens for the reason stephen is saying.

they are already paying a lower rate because of all the deductions which are not going to get closed on this plan. >> make an argument that he will get killed on this. amt was a huge gift to him. >> the amt is the alternative minimum tax, something that wealthy people pay. if you look at the minimal amount of information we have, $31 million of the $38 million he payed on billions of dollars of income was that a.m.t. all right. he's looking at getting rid of a tax point a that is really benefiting him. which undermines the fact that this is for the middleclass. >> you hopped right to corporate tax cuts. all i'm saying is this. thank god i'm in the top tier. thank you cnn. i will benefit from what you're proposing right now. i'm saying you're pitching it as a middleclass tax cut. it is not engineered by the

gop's own reckoning to overweight benefit to the middleclass. i don't get what you're trying to do. it seems like a bait and switch. this is for you, middleclass, but i'm helping the rich more than you. >> you just cited the congressional budget office. and the congressional budget office, which i believe -- >> left-leaning organization as well. >> a month ago, lieu this up, they did a report on what is the effect of cutting the corporate tax rut. the congressional budget office says 60% to 65% of the benefits of cutting business tax rates go to workers. because workers have more jobs. businesses can pay them more. look, ask a businesswoman. >> i'm asking about the top tier individual rates. why won't you address what i'm asking you. i know your listening skills are par excellence. why are you helping people like me more than people are making $75,000, $80,000 a year.

this is the third swing at this. >> i agree with you on something, which is i think the fault of this bill is you guys just mentioned loopholes. i don't think this bill closes enough of the loopholes. i wou put a cap on the deductions and let that -- make them pay their fair share. >> go ahead and do it. that would then wind up helping raise your revenues so that you would then remove the burden out of the middleclass. you didn't do that. i'll tell you what you did do. you are slipping punches like floyd mayweather. your head movement, shoulder movement, my shourlts hurt. he finished with a smile. rana, stephen is, thank you very much. okay, guys. cnn has learned that fired national security adviser michael flynn is concerned that his son may face legal exposure

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multiple sources testimony cnn fired national security adviser michael flynn is worried about his son's legal exposure as the russia investigation intensifies. joining us is democratic senator member of the house intel committee conducting its own investigation into russia's role in the election. good morning, congressman. >> good morning, alisyn. thanks for having me back. >> good to have you. you say michael flynn should be worried about his son and about himself. why? what's your evidence that the investigation is closing in on them. >> for one, his prior conduct of going to moscow in 2015, sitting next to vladimir putin, having it paid by rt, connected to russia's intelligence service, and not telling anybody who he was supposed to tell at the pentagon. that's a problem. talking to sergei kids lee yak.

telling them not to worry about sanctions. that also looks like a problem. and the work he did for turkey and the flynn intel group. his son was a part of that. if you read the george papadopoulos plea, you see fbi agents determined to go to mr. papadopoulos in 2017. they were told a b.s. story. they went back and were told the same story about mr. papadopoulos and the russians. then they had enough evidence to contradict his story, and he finally came around. that showed determination to get to the bottom of just what happened. and i think mr. flynn and his son will have it put to them as well. >> you haven't exactly connected the dots between michael flynn and his son and any of those things. anything that you spelled out, we don't know if there was something untoward particularly happening. >> we have testimony of sally

yates, james comey and others about what michael flynn did with russia and the russian ambassador. that conduct itself was improper. and put in the context of eight other officials on the trump team or the trump campaign who failed to disclose campaign contacts with russia. the picture is coming into focus here. >> you had an idea for legislation that you thought would help in the future, at least alert lawmakers to russian meddling if it were to happen. you considered this a no-brainer. then what happened. >> one takeaway from our investigation so fares that been because donald trump claimed during the election that the election was going to be rigged, the obama administration was hesitant to acknowledge to congress and the american people that russians were interfering. yesterday on the judiciary committee, as we were legislating on the section 702, which is foreign surveillance, i put in there legislation that

would require congress to be told if we learned foreign interference was occurring in our election. it didn't talk about the trump administration at all. it say we should take away the political decision making and make it a requirement. every one of my republican colleagues voted against it. i think that is very sad. that is missing one of the big lessons that we learned was that the government response was not adequate when russia was attacking us. >> so what does that tell you? that they don't want to know if there is russian meddling or when the democrat proposes legislation the republicans won't get on board? >> i'm frayed they still see any discussion of what russia did as a delegitimizing of donald trump. they're not looking at it in the context we should be focused on, which is the next election. russia has not left. we're not going to stop russia from doing this. we can batten down the hatches and strengthen our schilds to make sure we at home are more aware and more protected.

>> i know they didn't go for legislation. we can't get them on board with that. that is doing the -- that is strengthening the russian ability to go at us again. that is unfortunate. i don't speculate to the motive. but i know that it makes us less able to protect in the next election. >> are you expressing that same reluctance from your fellow members on the house intel committee? >> yes. yes, of course. you see that playing out with a recused chairman who continues i think in a misguided way to try and look at the fusion gps funders rather than what was alleged in the steele dossier and other efforts that have, i thought gone to obstruct the committee.

as chairman worked well with ranking member schiff and made tremendous progress on those we interviewed. >> chairman nunez doesn't seem to recused. >> in name only. his subpoena pen has a lot of ink. >> congressman, thank you very much for giving us your take on all of this. >> my pleasure. the first case against a biker involved in a deadly bar brawl heads to the jury today. remember this story? remember this wild video of this scene of the sons of anarchy. we have a live report from texas next. etter than a leading whitening... ...toothpaste. hey, nice smile! thanks, i crushed the tissue test. yeah you did! crest whitestrips. healthy, beautiful smiles for life. 'tis the season to buy one get one free. the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains.

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the tsa is promising to improve airport screening procedures and with good reason. most recent round of the inspector general's covert tests show in 2015 the agency failed on 95% of its undercover tests for explosives and weapons. officials are not releasing the exact results of the latest round of testing. the tsa says it will implement recommendations is and improve security at airport checkpoints. >> the first trial for a biker involving the waco, texas bar brawl is set to go to the jury today. you'll remember this video from 2015. nine people were killed in this gun battle between biker gangs. now the president of bandidos faces a live sentence. what's the latest, ed?

>> reporter: good morning, alis alisyn. this is a fascinating trial that has been going on five weeks. the first biker on trial, if you have been following this story closely; a man that cnn viewers know well. >> get your hands up! >> it sounded like a gun fight at the ok corral. bang, bang, bang, one right after the other >> reporter: two and a half years of the deadly gun battle in kay co, texas, the case against the first biker put on trial, jake care swral is just now heading to a jury. he faces up to life in prison. nearly 180 bikers were arrested in may of 2015 after the violent shoot-out that killed nine people. this mug shot soup was an unprecedented roundup. 154 bikers indicted on organized

activity. it was a simmering battle between rival bicycle clubs. the bandidos, self-described out lose and the cossacks. care swral spoke for the documentary biker brawl inside the texas shoot-out. he was one of the first to roll into the "twin peaks" parking lot waiting on patio were dozens of cossacks which was seen on the footage first obtained by cnn. as he parked his motorcycle, the cossacks moved in. punches turned to gunfire and all-out mayhem. >> we were ambushed in a war zone. i've never been that scared in my life. >> reporter: they say they were there to make peace. the bandidos said they showed up at a biker meeting to surprise

them and start a violent fight. >> it seemed like just seconds later i started hearing gunshots go off. i had guys all over me, cossacks all over me. >> reporter: he is in an all-out brawl on the ground. he said he acted in self-defense that day. surveillance shows another biker walk up to him and take aim. you actually see four plumes of smoke come from him. he's pointed right at you. >> oh, yeah, yeah. >> reporter: boom, boom, boom, you fall to the ground. you didn't get hit? >> no. it looks like a cop may have taken him out. >> reporter: he dropped after firing four times. >> yeah. wow. >> reporter: prosecutors say carazol instructed his crew to bring tools, slang for firearms. and the bandidos came to result revenge. >> the evidence will take you to

a subculture that exists in our society known as the one percent-er. the one percent-er biker group, one percent-er biker club. there is no regard for the laws of society. >> reporter: jake testified over two days at the end of this first biker trial. the exchanges with prosecutors were off tense. >> no good that you will do will ever correct what happened here in waco, texas. >> i know you're blaming us for this event. i don't blame us. i don't blame the cops for it. >> who is responsible? >> the club that surrounded us that day is. that had no business being there. >> now, this is a case with far-reaching implications. there are still more than 150 other bikers awaiting trial here in waco. there is a federal indictment against several of the top leaders of the bandidos.

how this jury rules could have far-reaching implications. >> wow, what a story. ed, you have kept us ahead of it from jump. thank you very much for this latest chapter. we'll be following the trial. ed lavandara from texas. here's a big question so many of you are wrelsing with. collusion versus conspiracy. what is the legal standard? why do we keep using one but not the other. we will bring in two great legal experts. you do all this research

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mueller's investigation, is fueling questions about collusion and conspiracy. is collusion a crime? here's a hint. no. let's discuss this with jeffrey toobin and lawrence tribe. boy, oh, boy, this is a battle of the big brains this morning. let's start with one general conception/misconception that collusion is what bob mueller is looking for and collusion is a crime we are going to hear about. jeffrey, let's start with you? >> he may be looking for c collusion, and even if there was some sort of coordination between the trump campaign and russia, the question of whether there was a crime is not answered by finding out whether there was some sort of

collusion. only crimes defined in the united states code are crimes and collusion is not one of them. conspiracy is, but collusion is not. >> are you following at home? let's put up general definitions. collusion. what you were just hearing jeffrey talking about. secret agreement, acting in collusion with the enemy is what you have been hearing. conspiracy is a federal crime and it's a complicated crime. you have an agreement, to violate a criminal law, and sometimes you don't need an overt act. professor, how do you see it? is there a meaningful distinction or are we parsing it 250 close as attorneys? >> my former student and friend, jeff tubin, is as good as anybody at doing it but i wanted

to look at what the u.s. supreme court said about this, and there are only a few places i can find when it talks about collusion and conspiracy, one court said it's a testimony pest in a teapot. agreeing with somebody and then doing something to advance the agreement in order to subvert american democracy or an american election or in order to refuse to enforce the act of sanctions against russia, that can be described as collusion or conspiracy, of course, if robert mueller is smart enough in the

indictment to use the word conspiracy and not kcollusion. when it comes to high crimes and misdemeanors, there's no difference in the sense that if the evidence shows -- and it's premature to say, if the evidence shows donald trump in order to gain power made an implicit deal with putin and his thugs, that if they would help him win the election he would help them by changing the plank of the party in terms of ukraine and more importantly by doing all he could to pull down the sanctions, that would be a high crime and misdemeanor whether you call it collusion or conspiracy. >> jeffrey, there are different standards between what robert mueller is looking for, and high

crimes and misdemeanors, and that's not a legal standard. madison made it up to thicken out what it seemed like for a standard so it wouldn't be au arbitrary when doing something in the name of impeachment. do you agree in terms of impeachment, it winds up being interchangeable. >> impeachment is a political act, not a legal act. high crimes and misdemeanors can be defined each time the house of representatives considered that issue. i am talking more specifically about the criminal law. about the criminal law, the question that i think a lot of people need to address and the hard question is, if there was some sort of untoward relationship between the trump campaign and russia, what specific criminal law was it violating? a conspiracy is an agreement to violate the law. what law?

were they violating the campaign finance laws? were they violating the anti-hacking laws? some sort of money laundering laws? i don't think we have a clear answer for that yet. what law was the conspiracy to violate if there was a violation of the law in this relationship? >> we certainly don't have proof of it by definition in the indictments we have seen thus far, but where is your level of confidence coming from, professor? >> i completely agree with jeff tubin. we don't know yet. i think pretending to know is kind of silly, but the laws that he mentions are the criminal laws that i think may well have been violated in an agreement implicit or explicit to violate them would be all the worst. i think that's what we have got here. we have to be patient. i know that is hard when we have a president like this, but i think we are getting close.

>> answer this one quickly before i let you go. the pushback from the uninitiated, just regular folks and not lawyers who are watching this, if there's a basis for what you are saying, why haven't we seen an indictment on that basis yet? >> because we wouldn't expect to. >> why not? it has been a long time, people say. it has been a long time. >> it has not nearly as long as it takes to investigate something this complicated. this is an enormously complex case. way more complex than the watergate burglary where we did not have indictments of a serious kind until much later, and the smoking gun that led to the resignation of richard nixon did not come until the very end. i have a book i am working on that will be out next year, to end the presidency, the power of impeachment. i will examine the whole history of the impeachment process.

for now i think we should be glad that we have mueller onboard and he's working systematically rather than jumping the gun. >> that has become controversial. here's one thing for sure, you two guys helped us out this morning and made us better on this topic. thank you to both of you. >> thank you, chris. there's a lot of news. let's get after it. there was a referendum on trump and trump and the republicans lost. >> you can't fake the trump agenda. you have to go all in. >> people want results. we have to deliver results or we will have more results like that. >> mr. trump dramatically softening his once stern message to china on trade. >> we can't continue to allow china to rape our country. i don't blame china. i give china great