>> welcome to inside politics. president trump called the key ally from a consumer watch dog office. democrats call it a power grab that will help big banks.

>> nothing could be more contradictory for donald trump to be friends with the middle guy than trying to undermine the consumer than we have ever had. >> the key house democrat steps aside with the important committee post ending the sexual harassment investigation. a senator accused of groping women returns to work. >> the ethics committee is looking into all this and i will cooperate fully with it. listen, i know i have a lot of work to do to regain the trust of people i let down. >> alabama picks a new senator two weeks from tomorrow. republicans are disgusted with their candidate and furious with their president. >> i don't know what winning looks like with roy moore. the moral of the story is don't nominate someone like this who could lose a seat that any other republican could win. >> we begin the hour with crunch time and urgent week as

president trump and the republican congress try to keep one of their big 2017 promises. the top of the docket is tax reform. the least enviable person in washington is mitch mcconnell. he planned a senate vote this week and still doesn't have the votes. they have back up on the way. at least they hope so. president trump meeting this hour with members of the senate finance committee and he rallies senate republicans. mr. trump fired off this gut check pleading in part it's coming along very well. great support. remember the president promised over and over tax cuts will be done by christmas. as republican senator lindsey graham said, the future of the republican party is on the line. >> failure is not an option with taxes to every republican senator the fate of the party is in our hands as well as in the

economy. >> with us to share the reporting and insights, politico and cnn and the daily beast. it's not just tax cuts. congress is back from a thanksgiving break and they have a short stretched keep the government open and go through other potential issues. with tax cuts first and foremost, the imperative is we must do something to get one thing done. orn obamacare repeal will not happy. >> it's an open question and you get tax reform through both chambers and reconcile it. the difference is in the house and the senate version. there is substantial differences between the two like state and local debt for one and how to deal with the repeal of an individual mandate and the senate and the house bill. they are the key differences between the two chambers. the first big test is trying to

get it out of the senate as soon as this week. there are a handful of members that are concerned about the deficit projections like bob corker and jeff flake. susan collins is almost certainly a no. there is a good chance of getting a senate version done because of the fact that at the end of the day, this is a one chance to do something significant and there is an opportunity to get it done. >> that's not all. there are more than a dozen senators whether it's state and local tax detukzs or corporations and it's a similar issue similar to the obamacare debate. unless you have been hiding over the past 10 months, 52 which meanings they can lose two. you had great reporting over the weekend about how the

president's meeting with finance meeting, he is the leader of the republican party. as we learn in the obamacare debate, there is trepidation with his team. >> one of the problems for this administration is the salesmanship with big pieces of legislation. we saw the president call the house bill mean and had similar problems selling the tax reform bill. the main pitch is two multimillionaires. those aren't exactly the faces that they want. they are trying to convince voters will help middle class americans. the president said unexpected things and is somewhat unknown. the question is an interesting one and the administration is going to have to do a hard sales

job to convince those senators who are undecided whether or not it helps middle class americans. it cuts the corporate tax rate so much. where is the sales job? there is an inside washington effort over the next couple of days, but where is the big effort to sell? a couple of months ago and trips that the president made to sort of -- democratic places who think maybe we will bring democrats along and that fizzled and there hasn't been much of that. think back to the previous tax reform or tax change efforts that really where you had the republican president succeeding in drawing 8, 10, 12 democrats across the line. this is not happening. the president has a trip this week, but there is an anemic effort to say this is what i top

the do. >> you remember president obama barn storming the country. >> he has trouble selling something and even that is in his best interest. had he gets in front of the rallies, he doesn't stay on task. he can give a speech, but when it comes to go out in the country, what has been the campaign rallies for all intents and purposes that have been effective for him. for all of the talk about the president's business or what a deal maker he is, he hasn't shown on any of the top line issues that he can seal the deal. >> that's the big challenge. having lunch with finance committee members and the weekly republican lunches. zero indication any democrats are coming over.

nothing in washington has gone the way it does. some of those senators on the bench. some of those. >> what's the best gift susan collins can give this holiday season? the gift of tax relief. it could mean an extra $2,511 in the pockets of montana families, but first it to become law. call senator johnson and ask him to support the tax cuts and jobs act. the time for reform is now. >> they do not have the traditional coordination with the shop in capitol hill. they are booking the sunday shows. do you have interested parties. the chamber of commerce with the corporate members benefit if this bill passes.

will the traditional approach work? >> it's interesting though. he is squeamish and he had concerns that can be alleviated. ron johnson. i would be shocked still if he came out and voted no at the end of the day. a lot of his concerns could be alleviated by then. even though some of these outside groups are supporting, the lack of opposition from the other side on air. going after the members and has not been a consorted effort. they have poor numbers in the eyes of voters. 20 some odd percent. the extent of the health care to the left.

>> i do think to that point that the democrats are assuming two things. that there is a slim margin and republicans have shown great ability to get in their own way and the trump administration will fumble even though there are so many things working in their favor on tax reform. the democrats are assuming they don't have to do much. republicans have shown a great ability to administer self inflicted wounds. >> part of that is the president himself. will he help or hurt for the senate republicans. the president celebrated it and called it mean. the new budget analysis and the senate tax plan is not good for republicans in the sense that it said if you make less than $30,000 a year, you will pay more in taxes.

if you are under $70,000, you will pay more in taxes. the deficit will go up. we don't know what you are negotiating behind closed doors right now, but it will not be the final bill. it will be two weeks before they vote on it. the pr strategy is nice. >> it is true. also when you take the corporate tax rate ngsz to that and the other things coming out about the bill a week or two ago, it does undermine the message and this is a tax cut for middle class americans. >> we need to do something in 2017. get it to the senate and the conference committee. that's washington speak. don't forget it. you want to know more about the bill. the cnn town hall debate tomorrow night here on cnn. two democrats and two

republicans. the tax bill is tomorrow night on cnn. at least he brought the donuts. a fight over who is running a key protection office here in washington.

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>> welcome back. talk about an awkward day at the office. this morning the two people who said they should be in charge of the consumer financial protection bureau both showed up to work here in washington. the president's pick to lead the consumer watch dog is in the office right there. donuts. good way to make a first impression. he took the reigns with cooperation from agency staff. it's an open legal question as to whether he is the new boss. late last night they hand picked the successor from taking over.

introducing themselves as the new director. the lawsuit sparked a big fight over agencies. they see the watch dog topping the big banks and taking the money out of their wallet. they view it as a classic example of overreach and overregulation. including this guy. >> it's a wonderful example of how a bureaucracy will function if it has no accountability to anybody. it turns up being a joke. that's what they has been in a sick, sat kind of way. they are run by a dictator who believes he can't be fired by the president but for cause, we created perhaps the very worst kind of government entity. >> the president is put in charge a man who you said was budget director as a conservative congressman. we don't want this agency.

is it fair to say the white house goal is to put mick mulvaney there to if not dismannedle the agency, remove its teeth. >> scott garrett is his nominee to run the xm banks that he said shouldn't exist. this is part of a playbook. based on the evidence that, seems like what they want to hear. >> and dodd frank was the legislation enacted by a democratic senate and house and the overwhelming majority. no republican support that i think scott brown in the senate voted for it. susan collins of maine. this was a bill that most -- part of the consumer financial protection was one thing that republicans despised the most. no question about mick mulvaney coming in is an agency to undermine the agency. part of it is a pattern

throughout the administration to go after what they thought was overreach by the obama administration and to gut what the administration did through regulation. we are seeing hhs as well. >> this is not funny, but it's humorous. it shows the agency website. that's what you get if you go to the director. this was a classic fight in washington. this was a big elizabeth warren and you need a watch dog agency. don't trust them to stand up to the banks. they have what wells fargo will pay a fine after staffers found bank accounts to generate business. for citibank $700 million for credit card companies. bank of america, $727 million for misleading customers and $11.7 billion in relief to

consumers. if you say this helps the middle guy and the president who said he would be their voice is being put in charge. >> the other good example of this administration putting into place people who are there to sort of undermine what the previous administration had done. epa is another good example. there is a bigger issue at stake here. that is the question of independent agencies. there were many set up earing by democratic congresses. to keep them from the kinds of pressure that better than could exert. the out come legally and there was an out come of the fight between what are essentially dueling pieces of law in place, does the president have the ability to put a new director in and does the director come from

the agency and has ramifications beyond the financial implications and issues we are talking about. how did they operate? >> behind the drama are two things. the first is the trump administration's broader roll back. not necessarily to the point you are making. the critique of what they have done and the constitutional of an agency not subject to the appropriations process and where there is a lack of clarity about who the agency is accountable to. if they are not having an agent, they want it accountable to congress or the president.

they want clarity there. they must prevail against the existence. this agency was created in the previous democratic administration. why don't they a bol irk it or amend it to their liking. is this a more coward leeway of doing it or a power play to do it? >> they don't have the votes to get rid of it. you need 60 votes in the senate and eight democrats. that's not going to happen. with republicans too. as the legislation in the house and believe they passed the house where in the senate.

this is one thing when trump is going to take the voters in 2018 and 2020. they may not get the big legislation and they have done things to change the way washington works or undermine the previous administration. they said please disregard any instruction from her presumed capacity from this acting director. any form related in any way to the function of her actual or presumed duties, please inform the general counsel. house of cards. >> i see it as defaming the protection bureau and as part of the trump administration's larger efforts to roll back regulations. i think it's an under cover story of the administration.

>> it's a lot happening behind the curtain. we will have a new good judge for the first ruling. if not today, by tomorrow. to weather sexual harassment and the ethics investigations, that is coming up. when you have a co, pain from chest congestion can make this... ...feel like this. all-in-one cold symptom relief from tylenol®, the #1 doctor recommended pain relief brand. tylenol®.

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ethics investigations for alleged misconduct. senator franken spoke for the first time since two women accused him of groping and said he is ashamed and will try to regain the public's trust. >> i'm just going to do my job and go forward. i'm going to take responsibility and be held accountable. i'm going to try to be productive in the way i speak about this. >> congressman conyers under pressure announced he would step aside as the ranking democrat, a ranking member of the house judiciary committee for allegations of harassment and workplace abuse, which he denies. they said it's unfair that the congressman can tell his side and her client can't because she signed a confidentiality agreement. >> she's a democrat. i'm a democrat. this is not a partisan issue. congressman conyers, please

release her to tell her side of the story. she has a powerful story to tell. >> let's start with the congressman in the sense that he was under pressure from colleagues and did step aside. that are are they came out last week. i want to play a little bit of nancy pelosi here on "meet the press." she seemed unprepared and she had to know this. >> we are strengthened by due process. just because someone is accused and was it one accusations or two? john conyers is an icon in our country. he's done a great deal to protect women. people do the right thing in terms of what he knows about his situation that he's entitled to due process, but women are entitled to due process as well.

>> after this interview that the congressman issued his statement saying i'm going to step, aside. one would have thought they would have coordinated that to make it less messy. >> pelosi put on a statement later as well to clean up that disastrous interview. the thing is, there is a lot to do with internal house democratic politics in a lot of ways. the congressional black caucus in which john conyers helped with the founding, she needs support from various factions within the democratic caucus to maintain her position on top of her party. the cbc for a long time, there a lot of members who felt they were unfairly targeted and trying to push back and due

process and the like. she was acknowledging that. that's why she responded in a clumsy manner when she was asked about the allegations. it was not a particularly good moment for her. one that a lot of democrats and others are saying she could have handled. >> a lot of people outside of washington. innocent until proven guilty. she deserves every opportunity and said it's not true. the women also deserve an appropriate and respectful forum to come forward and make their case. the process. we will get to the ethics committee from private, we don't know much about them and some of them drag on forever. sensitive and financial issues and the like. is there any conversations about even if you have to use the vehicle for the ethics committee, doing something to make people more confident. >> for starters, what pelosi

said about conyers in the clip they showed, she said that we need to give conyers a little bit of a break because he has been a great advocate for women. the same things about bill clinton. his policy positions exonerate behavior towards women, but she went on to say because he's an icon in our country -- you can say the same about donald trump or roy moore. there has been no proof. what we know based on reporting from capitol hill is that the investigation process, the whole process in terms of investigating claims is broken. for her to say we need to trust the process is fraudulent and we saw her being political in the way of handling. copping to political reasons because of pressure which is precisely the way we saw democrats behavior in the political years.

some republicans due to roy moore and what both parties are trying to grapple with and expel from their ranks. >> to your point, the process that they didn't know about when they came to giving settlements from this fund that no one was aware of. that also discredits her argument. >> in a lot of ways, the ethics committee is a punt. the ethics committee is largely a toothless committee in the house and the senate and they don't do a lot but slap members on the wrist and say we have been admonished and rarely are you expelled from the senate. that's an extreme situation. or the house. we will see if it gets to that point. the committees do the investigation in a lot of ways. >> will the leadership make necessary changes if necessary? to say you better get this one right and you have to respect everyone's privacy.

as we continue the conversation, he tried to clean this up. he said that he does not believe that. >> you have ever placed a hand on a woman's butt? >> i can't say that hasn't happened. i take thousands and thousands of pictures. sometimes we are in crowded and chaotic situations. i can't say i haven't done that. and i am very sorry. >> i mean look, one of the things these episodes are showing is that the swell of people coming forward doesn't discriminate on this. the democrats are fining out that efforts to try to capitalize politically using the roy moore case and maybe to gain

advantage in the 2018 mid-terms and to capitalize on allegations that have been long out there about donald trump. the efforts to make those political are going to be really difficult. we are in a moment when allegations and accusations and revelations are coming out against both democrats and republicans across the board and across industries. and that it's going to be very messy and it's not a clean thing where you can make a political calculation and know that's going to help you politically down the road and that's probably a good thing. if this issue is going to be dealt with in a good way for the parties, politics should dropout of it. >> if they can prepoliticize it. and respect to your point about bipartisan. the senate battle, the president said electing a democrat would be a disaster.

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welcome back. breaking news. you see the live picture at the senate office building. senator al franken's office from minnesota facing allegations that he groped women during photo opportunities and he will make a statement at the top of the hour. senator franken is back in minnesota and this will be his first public statement since returning to work for the u.s. senate. cnn coverage at the top of the hour. senate republicans say president

trump is making a big mistake supporting roy moore that could hurt the party beyond the election two weeks from tomorrow. they said they believe the women who came forward and said moore pursued them when they were in their teens and he was in his 30s in alabama. the president said democrat doug jones is weak on crime and the border and schumer-pelosi puppet and he would be a disaster. >> the president to the degree that he wants to use his influence in the race could i think help everybody out by doing what he can to get roy moore to step aside. >> yes or no, is the president making a mistake? >> that's up to him. i'm not going down the road he is going. that's up to the president. >> you have a fashion nating dind dynamic. you have a fascinating break

between the president of the united states who is the leader of the republican party and just about every other republican senator in washington, d.c. >> i think there are two dynamics at work. republicans in washington don't like roy moore and don't want him as a colleague. the other is we are having a sexual harassment moment and republicans don't want to advocate the moral authority on the issue. we are seeing democrats do it a bit. potentially with al franken and republicans see the president because of the allegations levelled against him and because of his stance he is taking to d towards roy moore advocating the moral authority with regard to the sexual harassment issue and they have seen it by democrats as the clinton's stance has come back to bite them. >> and the president is choosing politics over morality clearly.

no republican in washington other than the president is defending him and saying vote for roy moore. and the national committee had abandoned an effort to work for roy moore. what will he be like as a senator as he gets here? will he support the trump agenda and will the senate ethics committee try to move and try to expel him by going through the past allegations and interestingly that can set a precedent as they decide past behavior is for expulsion. >> she sold as a reliable republican vote. he can make ted cruz look like go along get along. when he was doing his filibuster. this could politically speaking politically come back to bite republicans in terms of votes. >> mitch mcconnell said i don't care. eliana is right.

there are other issues. he is not viewed as an establishment republican, but mcconnell said i will lose the seat over this. on the president's mind set over this, it was fascinating. it said this. he sees this as a version of the response to the now famous "access hollywood" tape in which he boasted about grabbing women's genetalia. he suggested to a senator earlier this year that it was not authentic and repeated that to an adviser more recently. we are not going to play the tape again, that was the president's voice with billy bush. after that came out in october of the election year, candidate trump said this. >> i never said i'm a perfect person nor pretended to be someone i'm not. i have said and done things i regret and the words released are more than a decade old and that is one of them.

anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who i am. i said it. i was wrong and i apologize. >> i said it, i was wrong, and i apologize and he suggested to a senator that it was not authentic. >> he called it locker room talk and said that it was him that was dismissing it. i think that the question about picking politics over morality. in a sense that's right. he is not even picking politics. it's not clear that they favor him or his party either in terms of getting legislation passed and in a reliable vote or in terms of what it might do to the republican party in 2018. it is just a personal reaction. it is a he feels like roy moore and the situation that is happening to roy moore is an analogous to his own situation.

if he were to come out against roy moore, it is analogous to a further admission that the accusations that are similar to his are something that people should be concerned about. he has always rejected that idea. this is really donald trump versus everybody else because he reacted so personally. >> what's the one thing that he didn't like. how is that? >> we think it would be what would happen. al franken, the democrat from minnesota after facing allegations that he inappropriately groped women. when we come back, michael flynn flip and he stopped talking to flip and he stopped talking to president trump's legal team.

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top of the hour, al franken is the democrat from minnesota and is here in washington dealing with allegations that he groped women during photo opportunities. we will bring you live coverage of that at the top of the hour. call it a deadline to defer, the senate judiciary committee is cooperating and what had been an ultimatum. lawyers are they are say are scheduled to produce a mass number of files the committee is looking for. they have the security clearance at the white house and e-mails with clinton and wiki leaks and

putin and the campaign communications. there is word of the thanksgiving break that attorneys for fired adviser michael flynn stopped sharing information with the president's legal team. the investigations were let by republicans. the president refuses to acknowledge the facts. since the first day i took office, so a reprieve for jared kushner. there had been tensions there. the president's tweet was interesting to me in the sense that the president is in mar a lag for thanksgiving and he seesing this that his friend and adviser and now estranged adviser's attorneys have stopped sharing information with the trump attorney which is a common practice. one of the hints is that he may be cooperating or northing a plea deal.

>> it could mean that charges could be coming soon. michael flynn could be problematic for the president. his inner circle both on capitol hill and mueller's team could move forward with the investigation. donald trump jr. to finally meet with the committees about what happened in the june 26th meeting with the russians. the president recognizes the white house's pressure is intensifying. >> he can't separate from manafort. he is only on the campaign for a short amount of time. that is a issue trickier issue. >> jared kushner or ivanka trump is part of the drama in washington and with their roles and how influential they are.

is he working behind the scenes now? including this to the paus"the washington post". i was more like a generalist. i was more like the hedge hock where it's more taking issues you care deeply about than devoting the time, energy, and resources. the issues. >> what he is trying to say is when reince priebus was chief of staff. and kushner working on a discreet set of issues. she still has an important role in the white house. he now reports to somebody and i think he was at the time saying about kushner, he works for me. that was not the case under the priebus regime. >> got it. the hedge hogs are more fenced

in; appreciate you coming am back here tomorrow this time. we are waiting for al franken to speak and wolf blitzer will lead the breaking news coverage after a quick break. if yor crohn's symptoms are holding you back, and your current treatment hasn't worked well enough, it may be time for a change. ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious.

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wolf blitzer in washington, we want to welcome our viewers here from around the world. we begin with breaking news. senator al franken is set to address the washington news media for the first time since returning to capitol hill as women come forward accusing him of sexual harassment and groping. we will bring you senator franken's news conference live. we expect him to make a statement that answer questions. he clearly said he is embarrassed and ashamed by the allegations, but also said he is not considering resigning from the u.s. senate.