politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. nbc news fires matt lauer after he's accused of inappropriate sexual behavior. pressure mounts on the longest serving member of congress who faces multiple sexual harassment allegations. >> sexual harassment has no place in any workplace. let alone in the united states congress. >> i believe the women that have come out. and once that is analyzed by the ethics committee, if those are

found to be true, he definitely should resign. >> plus, two days after insulting native americans, the president of the united states from the white house retweets anti-muslim videos posted by a far right british nationalist. >> i find it very disturbing. i have no way of explaining what on earth motivated it. >> and the senate republican tax plan clears a key committee vote, but there's still not enough votes for final passage. >> as it is with any major legislative undertaking like this, it's been a bumpy ride. we have till friday to stick the landing. >> we begin the hour with this, another man every american knows disgraced this morning. nbc news firing matt lauer late last night after a woman came forward and accused him of sexual assault. at 7:00 a.m. eastern time, savannah guthrie broke the news. >> you know, for the moment all we can say is that we are heart

broken. i'm heart broken for matt. he is my dear, dear friend and my partner and beloved by many people here. i'm heart broken for the brave colleague who came forward to tell her story and any other women who have their own stories to tell. >> cnn is live with the latest on this story. >> reporter: this news broke early this morning. it first came out with the memo from andy lack, the head of nbc alerting to his colleagues they received a complaint from an nbc colleague about matt lauer. we've learned that complaint came monday night and by tuesday night, matt was fired and that the co-hosts were only alerted within the last 24 hours. this has been a stunning fall from grace for matt lauer. he's been at the "today" show for more than two decades and the face of this huge morning show that brings in hundreds of millions of dollars for the network. if you think this is just one week after another big morning show cbs this morning" also lost

a major co on chore. there are several news organizations including "the new york times" and hollywood reporter who who were working on stories about his behavior and then this woman came forward to nbc news human resources. that's where we saw the action take place. we're learning more what exactly was happening with the circumstance that caused this woman to come forward. and we're expecting some of these stories to drop from these outlets anytime soon. >> hadas gold with the latest on that. thank you very much. capitol hill tool also wrangling with the reckoning. the longest serving in congress, john conyers facing pressure to resign today after several women accused him of sexual harassment. these accusations a symptom of what many acknowledge is a major problem quietly hidden for years on capitol hill. a short time ago, paul ryan told reporters he knows what he would do if he were accused of harassment himself and he says

there's no place for that behavior anywhere. >> the fact that some people end up walking these halls are subjected to a threatening or hostile work environment when they came here to serve their country to serve their ideals, that's wrong. that's a disgrace. we cannot and we will not tolerate that kind of behavior. >> with us on this day to share reporting and insights dana bash, jonathan martin "the new york times," "wall street journal"'s michael bender, cnn's nia malik cag hill and mj. a house vote still expected later today on a new policy. what is the mood up there as they continue to deal not just with the conyers allegations but the broader question? >> that's right. sometime this afternoon we expect the house to take up this new resolution that would require lawmakers in the house, staffers in the house to get mandatory sexual harassment training. just to be clear, this is a resolution, not a law. but it is still mandatory for

everyone in this building seemingly to get this kind of training. this is the kind of action that we saw in the senate recently, as well. clearly a line that lawmakers are realizing this is a serious issue they have to take steps on. i would note that this kind of resolution is really far from some of the broader changes and reforms that lawmakers are calling for. calling for more transpatiency, changes to how the office of compliance does sexual harassment investigations. so all of those changes we don't know if they are necessary coming in the form of bills. at least the house is planning to take action to pass this resolution. on the conyers point, obviously we have seen sort of a little bit of a turning point over the last 24 hours. we know that some of his colleagues, particularly several members in the congressional black caucus have been counseling him privately about the idea of resigning. they know that this is an incredibly sensitive issue. obviously, you know, ha has to

be handled with a lot of sensitivity. part of their thinking we are told is that they want to be careful andencetive about protecting his legacy. you know, john, he is, of course, the longest serving member of the house. he was a very towering big figure in the civil rights movement. i think as colleagues look back on the years he served in the house and on capitol hill they want to know is there a way for him to grace flit exit and preserve part of his legacy. that could be difficult. there are multiple allegations that have now surfaced. and a key point is that these women are now named. they are not anonymous faces or nonls names. i think once you get to a point where there are faces, there are names to these women, the narrative changes and it becoming more difficult for conures to sort of beat all of these allegations back. >> mj, stay with us. please jump into the conversation. it's hard to do sometimes when you're remote. feel free to jump in. the congressman left town last night. he went home to detroit.

he faces pressure from some of his colleagues in the democratic conference and within the black caucus. his closest friends in the congress to step down. he has said this did not happen. he denies this and he says he wants to have the due process. will the pressure essentially outweigh the process? >> you know, we don't know. right in the you have seen in the past where you have had leaders privately be able to counsel people to leave and to step down. john conures is very different. he's 88 years old, in the congress since the '60s. kind of a legendary figure in some ways in the civil rights movement, founding member of the cbc, rosa parks used to work in his office. they're trying to give him some pace po bow out gracefully but you know, i mean that's the problem with a lot of these figures who are accused and they're in office. there is no mechanism to force them to step down other than kind of private you know, kind of pressure. you know, they can stay ultimately if they want. they can go through an ethics

investigation. it might be shameful for him to go through that. i'm sure that's the way they're phrasing it to him but ultimately, it's still up to him. >> the thing that is so tough about, well, many, there are many things very tough about this, but just in covering congress and knowing how in many different arenas, they hold themselves to different standards than anybody else in this country. you know, everything now we know about sexual harassment. there are other osha laws. there are so many things that people don't realize that is different when you're a member of congress. this should not be one of them. the fact that we are just now finding out about the allegations and we have to remember with john conyers it's not just an allegation. it was a settlement. he denied it. even during the settlement. >> he signed it. >> but he signed it and there was some outside arbiter that said clearly said that the woman

who accused him was telling the truth because otherwise, taxpayers dollars would be the have been spent for the settlement. >> take this on from a raw political perspective going into the 201 midterms. we saw in the elections a few weeks ago how central the role of women's votes are to the democratic coalition. and i think that's going to certainly the case in next year's midterm elections. that is a huge part of their coalition. a lot of women want to show up and vote against donald trump. and whether it's for governor or house member or senator, that's a key motivation. the democrats are not going to want to have dirty hands going into next year's election on this issue. they want to be pure on the issue because again. >> too late. >> this is going to be a central issue of men's sexual misconduct with the biggest example they're going to hold up being the fellow in the white house who is facing as we know a lot of allegations about his own

conduct with women. why would the democrat party want to ced ke ability to hold that high ground to let the republicans to borrow a different metaphor muddy those waters politically whether it's conyers or franken which is different, i think the democrats next year want to be very careful about this sniper so does the conversation among the leadership. nancy pelosi did a televised issue on sunday that did not go well. she issue aid different statement after that. do i respect the process, respect the stature of john conures and let the process play out out or do i believe the woman and say hold on. she's been juggling with that. this is james clyburn, number three in the house leadership, a good friend of john conyers of many years was asked a bit earlier today about this. >> other men in other industries have faced similar accusations and gotten out of the way,

resigned, stepped down, far faster than he has. right? >> you would have to give me some examples. >> harvey weinstein, charlie rose, matt lauer. >> i don't think -- who elected them? >> who elected them was congressman clyburn's answer. in fairness to congressman clyburn, he's trying to get to somewhere in capitol hill. reporters have free rights to wander the halls there and every right to ask members of the leadership, there was the chairman of the black caucus cedric richmond and congressman clyburn have every right to ask the question, who elected them. is that the right answer? >> no, it's not. there is still time for democrats to fix this. but there is some frustration already building up. i talked to some democrats in battleground states yesterday who say this is going to add to the calls for nancy pelosi to step down. clyburn has been around for decades. conyers has been around for

decades. this is one of the main arguments against pelosi, the need nor fresh leadership. this is adding another talking point to democrats. >> and yet, she's the highest ranking woman in american politics, accomplished, best fund-raiser for the democrats. mj, one of the complaints you touched on thissyer, i'll readed you from kathleen rice from new york, the accuser who attempted to seek help through a deeply flawed system should not continue to be silenced by the institution that failed to protect her in the first place referring to the fact if you file a complaint under the current system, before you can proceed you must sign a nondisclosure agreement. some victims may not want to committee to the public sphere. how likely is it they'll figure out some way proactively, maybe not retroactively to deal with the process problem? >> you know, i think your question gets to the point of lawmakers here on capitol hill having to face and confront a couple of really big ironies here on how this process, would

on capitol hill, right? the issue that some of these women so far have been anonymous, that they have not been named. they are not named in most of the cases because they were forced to sign ndas that prevent them after the fact from speaking out and sharing details. that, of course, is now something that members are rallying behind to change. they would like to change that through legislation but again, we don't know if that is going to happen. and i think the other irony is that you know, members have been talking about sexual harassment, talking about this issue for a long time. but it is sort of an open secret that i think still sort of prevents members from talking about it in an open way because of the rules and the regulations that are put in place. you know, the house ethics committee, for example, is something that members appointed to as a way of saying look, at least the process is playing out in the way it is supposed to play out.

you know what's impossible task on capitol hill right now is to find a member, to find an aide who will praise the ethics committee process. no one will say yes, that is a good process and thank goodness that the committee is now going to look into this. this is something we're seeing on the senate side, too. it is possible the senate ethics committee will look into the allegations against senator al franken but i think some of the grumbling you're hearing there too is what will come of that investigation? it is not as though there's a good track record of these kinds of investigations resulting in something. >> on capitol hill, everybody here will continue this conversation. on to something else. the president dealing with a big tax cut fire, dealing with a north korea missile launch. instead takes time to retweet inflamtory videos from a right wing politician from britain viewed over there as a hate monger.

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welcome back. we touch now to one of the most

astonishing system would say troubling aspects of this president's behavior, something for the whole world to see and try to interpret. with all that's happening globally, allal unchecked items on his agenda, he took on twitter this morning to retweet three anti-muslim messages put out by a well-known extremist in great britain accompanied by video clips that may not reflect real events. islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death. muslim destroys a statue of have i gin mary and muslim migrant beats up boy on crutches. again, president trump from the white house retweeted all three clips which originally appeared on the page of a blish ultranationalist, her name is jada fransen. she's elle relishing this attention she's getting from the president of the united states. let's start with the phil black in london with more who she is.

>> reporter: she is jada fransen is, is the leader of britain first whose members will tell you they are british patriots, christians, people defending the british people and its values from being overrun by immigrants and in particular muslims. they campaign on this and take part in political elections. but also they go on to the streets and confront muslims often in a very aggressive provocative way and take part in so-called mosque invasions. one of the people who have done this is the deputy leader jada fransen whose tweets have been retweeted by the american president. she responded with something gloes close to glee. this appeared on her twitter feed. it says this, the president of the united states donald trump has retweeted three of deputy leader jada fransen'ser videos. donald trump has around 44 million followers. god bless you, trump. glad you bless america. a lot of happiness from this

controversial organization. across the british political spectrum a celebrate deal of condemnation towards the american president for giving this group publicity. there has been criticism. just a short time ago from the british prime minister theresa may who says donald trump was wrong to forward these videos to his followers. and she makes the point that britain overwhelmingly rejects the politics of the far right because it stands against all the values that this country holds so dear. john? >> phil black for us in london. appreciate the reporting. simply stunning. you can -- the white house will say the president's trying to make a point about safety, trying to make a point about immigration, trying to make a point about tough borders or the travel ban or whatever. you can make those points by making that point. make your case. you don't have to make your case by retweeting hate. >> that's right. and the white house is responding there and acknowledging that trump is ignoring this other piece of it.

i talked to a white house official today 0 who said trump was controlling through, didn't see the source and hit the retweet button. that was his way to explain away what happened. but it also acknowledges that he's not giving any thought to the other piece of this. you know, our -- i think this raises some pressure on john kelly. he talked to a few reporters out in vietnam, are i was on that trip with them. and that was right when trump tweeted about the short and fat kim jong-un and asked him about those tweets. he said well, believe it or not, i don't pay attention to the tweets. i tell our staff that our policy is not going to be influenced by the tweets. but now we see. >> which is extraordinary. >> it is. and just sort of ignores the facts here, right? the transgender ban was a policy created on twitter days before kelly starred. you know, it's influencing the policy debate, schumer and pelosi skipped a white house meeting ahead of the potential

government shutdown yesterday because of a trump tweet. >> and in this case, again, you know, people say you're normalizing trump. he's the president of the united states and lives at 1600 pennsylvania avenue view bid as leader of the free world and tweeting racist, hateful -- i can't find the word for it. his staff has to go out and try to clean it up, try to explain it away. this is your tax dollars that pay sara huckabee sanders who says pay no attention. >> whether it's a real video, the threat is real. and that is what the president is talking about. that's what the president is focused on is dealing with those real threats. and those are real no matter how you look at it. >> i'm not talking about the nature of the video. you're focusing on the wrong thing. the threat is real. that's what the president is talking about. >> well, she has no answer here john, because it's indefensible

type of situation where if you're a staffer trying to explain away something that you can't. i am perplexed by this approach that john kelly also others have employed that somehow the tweets don't matter. this is like saying about fdr i don't listen to the radio broadcasts. guess what, that is the medium he used. this is this president's primary method of communication. one last thought real fast. you always hear this from trump supporters. they'll sing his praises to the heavens but they'll add, i don't like the tweets. i wish he would tweet less. today reminds me of those comments that i hear all the time. i'm sure you do, too. what they're actually saying is, just act more presidential. that's what they're actually say. it's a euphemism. i think his conduct today sort of gets at why even the people who like him who are sympathetic to him don't understand why he does this. >> i'm not going to read the entire tweet.

i want to show it. makes you really proud as an american when david duke is praising your president as a truth teller. i'm not even going to read it. that's what's happening. the british prime minister says he's wrong just about every anti-discrimination civil rights group in the united states issued a statement saying is dear god, get a grip. and david duke says great. >> the only people who are supporting what the president did are racists and fascists and bigots. and that is so hard to swallow. i mean physically it gives you a stomach ache to think about it. it's both in terms of the content of the videos, and the source of the videos. it matters. it is not okay to just say as they are saying at the white house, well, he was just hit retweet and didn't look. you've got to look. >> maybe the 300 pound guy in the basement can get away with that. >> not the guy who lives at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. >> exactly. this woman who initiated the

videos was convicted for assaulting a woman, a muslim woman, was just kind of walking down the street with her four kids. >>. >> hate crime. >> it's sad. >> just imagine. just replace muslim with christian. or jewish. >> or jews or black people. >> yeah. >> imagine. >> we really almost don't have to imagine. we've seen the way that inciting fear of the other leads to people dying. and leads to problems and leads to attacks, leads to entire black towns being burned down because someone told a lie. >> and leads to people talking about the human behavior which is reprehensible. he's the president of the united states. we in a town consumed by politics and he is the republican president of the united states. trump supporters will say he was already a critic. listen to senator jeff flake here who happens to have republican next to his name too

and with this president, doesn't like it. >> flummoxed. >> why? >> it gets very inappropriate. i mean, why? i don't know what that gets us. >> yeah. i spoke to senator flake last night about a story we have in the paper today about this president's i guess obsession is the word that you can use with conspiracy theories whether it's president obama not being born in america or the claim now that he is vee vibing that the "access hollywood" tape does not have his voice on it. and senator flake in sort of a similar pained type response he gave manu there senator flake. >> not senator flake. >> but he said that he is going to start giving a series of speeches on the floor of the senate to address this issue of what he said is his central concern. and that is the lack of shared

facts in this country and the threat that the that poses to american democracy. >> we're going to come back to that conversation and the story in the newspaper later. up next, that's okay. the art of the segue. the showdown looms here in washington over tax reform. before we go to break, what just happened at our table be? the phone rang. a confirmation hearing. this is president trump's pick for health and human services secretary. pat roberts has a little problem with his cell phone. >> again. >> services as well as the confidence you've shown by the senate. sometimes we have to do a multitask here. i apologize for that. just a moment. i beg your pardon. will you turn that off? thank you. we know life can be hectic.

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welcome back. republicans are enjoying a break-through moment today after the senate tax plan cleared 9 budget committee yesterday by a single vote. the next hurdle is the full senate where republicans are still wooing several colleagues who have doubts. majority leader mitch mcconnell said the vote to proceed will happen later today. president trump is a big part of the sales pitch. he heads to missouri this hour for a late afternoon rally. the tax bill isn't the only year end challenge facing the president and congress. they need to pass a spending plan to keep the government open. at the moment, they're in a partisan divide. a big bipartisan meeting planned for yesterday fell apart after the president sent an attack tweet criticize stag nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. they decided it wasn't worth going to the white house.

>> so they decided not to show up. they've been all talk and they've been no action. and now it's even worse. now it's not even talk. so they're not showing up for the meeting. >> for all the horrible staging at the white house in recent days, a little clever play there. they moved into the roosevelt room so they could have the empty placards of the nonguests there. that's about the spending bill. mitch mcconnell says they'll bring the tax cut bill to the floor, start the debate. that tells you he's reasonably confident he's going to get there. will he? >> i spent a lot of time on capitol hill yesterday and was surprised when well, i shouldn't say i was surprised. i think there was a big sigh of relief when ron johnson of wisconsin and bob corker of tennessee walked into the budget committee room saying yes, they were going to vote yes. it did come after they had a meeting with president trump. and i think that is noteworthy for all of the things we've been

talking about, for all of the frankly failures that he had at deal making that he promised he would be so good at and we're talking about within the republican sphere. you have to remember that. we're not talking about across the aisle. we're talking about hurting his own cast. he seemed to do a pretty good job in trying to get the senators at least to continue with the process. which in this atmosphere is no small feat. >> susan collins. >> continue with the process. you get it out of committee. don't let it get derailed about now they're having a conversation about getting the 50 votes plus mike pence and bob corker is worried about the deficit and does not believe the projections. he believes the deficit will explode. he wants to include a trigger essentially. if the deficit starts to go up, the government has to bring in more revenue and take some of the cuts away to bring revenue back. "wall street journal" says this about the trigger. it's a bad idea on the policy merits.

no one knows when there might be another recession. a trigger could then be a tax hike on americans the a tough economic time. i don't know, what do you call it? is it an out, a failsafe, gimmick? what is it. >> senator corker told me about this trigger idea. another senator just as an example senator kennedy said if you ever see me voting for that, it is such a gimmick, you'll know i'm absolutely drunk. gives you a sense where other senators are. >> it was mostly good noises coming from susan collins and corker and round johnson today. >> president trump deserves a little bit of credit even though all the television last night, all the clips yesterday were of empty seats which i thought another metaphor was mcconnell and ryan so far away from trump. but let's see if the president can string a couple of these together. he's going to missouri today. he has a speech. ostensibly about taxes.

but we know he's going to talk about the economic accomplishments which actually i think is kind of counter intuitive to the need for -- the economy is doing great and we need the tax plan to make everyone feel better here. i'm told he wants to in this speech get back on some of the cultural wars on christmas and talking about. >> making everybody say merry christmas. >> right. so at the very least there could be dual messaging here today if not overshadow what a little bit of momentum finally for the party here in washington. >> look, i talked to senators including collins from maine who are let's be honest not the biggest trump fans in the world. high marks for his performance there yesterday. they thought that he really improved his performance. look, are they sort of offering the low bar, the soft bigotry of low expectations, i'll borrow from george w. bush. perhaps. i thought it was striking they were praising him. it does appear like they're going to pass this bill.

but my goodness, it's an illustration of his lack of clout that he won all of these states where democratic senators with up for re-election next year, red america. >> including missouri. >> and apparently from what i'm told not one of the democrats is going to vote for this bill in states that he won overwhelmingly. >> it didn't help they put the individual mandate. >> which makes it almost impossible for them to support. >> if you read the top lines on this on paper, it does seem like a corporate giveaway. right? that's where all of the benefits are going even when the white house talks about it, they kind of lead with this idea that corporations are going to benefit and some sort of trickle down effect to voters and in terms of wage growth. have you had, you talk about the corker amendment. you have had some democrats try to say should there be some sort of amendment if they don't see the kind of wage growth, do you claw back this tax breaks for

corporations. >> another trigger. the tax debate will be with us. up next, president trump condemns what is believed to be the most powerful missile launch by north korea yet. but does he have any good options? and want more coverage, guess what? you could apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan whenever you want. no enrollment window. no waiting to apply. that means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. medicare doesn't cover everything. and like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. so don't wait. call now to request your free decision guide. it could help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that works for you. these types of plans have no networks, so you get to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. rates are competitive, and they're the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. remember - these plans let you apply

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held a phone conversation with president xi jinping of china underscoring his hope that china will do more to help de-escalate tensions as the united nations prepares to hold an emergency security council meeting later this afternoon. our diplomatic analyst retired rear admiral john kirby joins me now, keep occur pentagon hat on for me first. what's different today now that they have seen this latest test, now that their greatest fears are realized, the escalation, improvement in the north korean missile and rocket tool has been dramatic, much faster than anybody thought would happen. what's different today at the pentagon? is there a viable option military option? >> i think from a pentagon perspective, things aren't all that different. certainly this new missile increases the sins of urgency. obviously it contributes to their better capabilities now to target as mattis said yesterday anywhere in the world. i don't think that the pentagon wasn't aware this was sort of where things were going. what it will do in the pentagon

is force them to revisit some of their deterrents and containment strategies. they'll be discussing with their south korean allies as well as the japanese to determine what, if anything, needs to changing in terms of a pot tour, a footprint. i don't expect this is going to lead to any specific dramatic steps right now the. >> so you have an emergency security council session today. you have calls for more sanctions. that has happened before again and again and again. listen to secretary tillerson. he's the diplomat. you worked at the state department, as well trying to say we're not done with diplomacy just yet we hope. >> long list of additional sanctions some of which involve financial institutions and treasury department will be announcing those when they're ready. >> how much more time are you willing to give the president? >> diplomat we keep working on it every day. >> i say this with zero disrespect. we should impose every last

sanction we can. but is there any evidence in this is the most sanctioned country in the world just in the ten months of the trump administration, sanctions have been added and added again. the president asked the world to do more. is there any evidence that north korea reacts to sanctions? >> not in the positive way. not in the way we want them to. clearly have proven impervious to sanctions in the past and continue to advance this program. as will ripley rightly reported out of pyongyang, the more we sangsz them is, the comor committed they seem to be to develop this capability. it re-frenchs their view that the united states is an existential threat. that said, that doesn't mean sanctions should be ignored. it's right for the administration to continue to look at additional ways to put pressure not just on pyongyang but people that do business with pyongyang such ascertain chinese financial institutions and russian institutions. the sanctions can still work. they take time. what i'm really heartened to hear both from the president and mr. tillerson is they are

continuing to explore diplomatic options. i have to assume, i don't know that there are some behind the scenes quiet diplomatic measures being pursued. hopefully that will lead to confidence building measures that will allow us to get to the table with kim jong-un at some point. >> you hear people like lindsey graham saying the american people should be prepared. he believes war is a possibility higher because the tensions keep escalating. >> certainly, i don't think you can ever take military options off the table. that would be foolish particularly with a regime like that in pyongyang. that said, i don't find the senator's comments necessarily helpful to the situation right now. what we need is to des escalate the rhetoric, the tensions and finding a way again through confidence building measures to try to get to a negotiating position with pyongyang even if it's indirectly. yes, the military has to be ready and secretary mattis has made sure they are. but that kind of rhetoric is not helpful. kim jong-un is not going to be

bullied by that rhetoric. if they think they'll force him to change his behavior, i think they're absolutely wronging. > pretty long history that supports your opinion. appreciate your insights today. next president trump boarding marine one and air force one, off to missouri to sell the republican tax reform plan and facing another distraction after resurrecting yes, the obama birther conspiracy.

which egg has better taste and nutrition, and is the only egg i'll serve my family? only eggland's best. better taste, better nutrition, better eggs. . one way to score the president's first year in office is legislative achievements of which there are few. another is to look at judicial appointments, executive actions to roll back regulations, conservatives see a lot to cheer

there. a third more of a character question than a policy scorecard. two constants in this first year are the president's casual relationship with the truth and his craving for conspiracy theories. those who thought the gravity of the job might change this troubling behavior have given up hope. just recently, reports the president tells some visitors that wasn't his voice on the "access hollywood" tape and this from a detailed account in today's "new york times." in recent months, mr. trump has used closed door conversations to question the authenticity of president barack obama's birth certificate. he has also repeatedly claimed he lost the popular vote last year because of widespread voter fraud according to advisers and lawmakers. mr. jonathan martin, you reported this fascinating well reported detailed story. why? >> he's a reporter, not a therapist. >> i wish maggie was here, our friend maggie haberman who i wrote it with who knows trump better than anybody.

our sense is that he creates a reality that is preferable than the one all of us live in where facts that are embarrassing or inconvenient he kind of shades. and he creates new facts. this isn't new for him. he's done this for decades and wrote about it in the first book called the "art of the deal." he's been doing this for a very long time. it's just that i think there is an expectation, perhaps a hope that when he crossed that threshold and became the president of the united states that he would, in fact, change his conduct. by the way, during the campaign last year, he said this all the time. he said i can be so presidential. he promised. and the fact that he. >> they'll be bored i'll be so presidential. >> he isn't changing. > are you bored? >> with what's striking is that one senator told me that trump knows there are certain conspiracy theories that are so out there he can't say in public. so the he can't let them go. what he does is brings them up

in private conversations. while he will muse about mass voter fraud last year on twitter or in public and people kind of roll their eyes about that, he won't go there in public on "access hollywood" being fake or on still not believing that the president obama was born in america. he does have some kind of internal restraint to stop him from going there it publicly. the fact he's still talking about this stuff well into the presidency tells you he has not changed from the person he's always been. >> please, someone else -- that's not a healthy person. >> for now he hasn't gone public with them. but remember, there is also this is belief. >> hours to go. >> there's hours to go and this voting commission looking into his conspiracy theories what happened in 2016. >> listen, how many 70-year-old people do you know who have the internal constitution to change? now, we don't know a lot of

70-year-olds who go from billionaire tv reality star to president. but it's not possible. i don't think that anybody who thought he would be able to do that was living in the real trump world. >> it's only a matter of time before that becomes public. we talk to his friends what he's talking about. >> thanks in part to mr. trump's efforts they printed versions of barack obama's birth certificate like souvenirs. he was born in hawaii. thanks for i don't think us. wolf blitzer is in the chair after a quick break. have a good day. , captain! i've never been in one of these before, ji don't think us. wolf blitzer is in the chair after a quick break. have a good day. oi don't think . wolf blitzer is in the chair after a quick break. have a good day. i don't think u. wolf blitzer is in the chair after a quick break. have a good day. ni don't think . wolf blitzer is in the chair after a quick break. have a good day. i don't think us. wolf blitzer is in the chair after a quick break. have a good day. wolf blitzer is after a quick break. have a good day. litary for over 75 years? is that what you wanted to say? mhmmm. i have to say, you seemed a lot chattier on tv. geico. proudly serving the military for over 75 years. you ok back there, buddy?

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hello. i'm wolf blitzer in washington. from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> president trump about to be wheels up right now going to the midwest to difficult his message on the republican tax reform plan. but instead of trumpeting the tax plan and the success at rallying republicans in the senate or talking at length