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mueller's investigators are encroaching on president trump else inner circle. jared kushner met with mueller's team. >> it certainly indicates that michael flynn could be in trouble. >> i don't know what that gets us. >> by the president retweeting these videos, it gave validation to anyone who wanted to push messages of hate against muslims. >> our relationships around the globe are much stronger than any twitter feed from the president. stunning new details about matt lauer. new accusations of sexual misconduct. >> you can't stand up to him and you can't complain because he's matt lauer. >> i didn't get the sense that this was this kind of guy that women would be afraid of. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to your "new day". president trump condemned by a top international ally, british parliamentarians and the british parliament do not want him to come to the uk.

they want theresa may to disinvite him because he tweeted videos from a far right group in britain. special counsel's bob mueller's investigation is reaching into president trump's inner circle. how do we know? cnn was first to report that jared kushner spoke to mueller's investigators. their meeting, we are told, was focused on michael flynn. what does this mean about flynn and being close to negotiating a deal? we have it all covered. cnn's joe johns is live at the white house with our top story. joe? >> reporter: good morning, chris. the fallout continues. the president stepping on his own message, distracting from his own agenda, often straying into conspiracy zones. and this is habitual behavior for this president on display this week, especially the last 24 hours.

president trump in missouri touting what could be his first major legislative win. >> these massive tax cuts will be rocket fuel. >> reporter: but any traction is being overshadowed by wild insults, inflammatory tweets and long debunked conspiracy theories, raising questions about his competency. a source close says mr. trump is doubting his decision to acknowledge that president barack obama was born in the u.s. trump believing he would have done better if he continued to peddle his birther conspiracy. >> why doesn't he show his birth certificate. >> reporter: white house aides have given up trying to stop the president from tweeting president retweeted three inflammatory videos shows muslims committing acts of

violence. the leader of britain first who posted the videos, praising mr. trump, as did former kkk leader david duke. >> this is like the president retweeting the ku klux klan. this is not a mainstream organization. for the president of the united states, our greatest ally of the country to be retweeting, to be providing a microphone to those voices. >> reporter: world leaders condemning his retweets. a spokesperson for the british prime minister theresa may saying it's wrong for the president to have done this. refusing to let that go, the president firing back that theresa may should focus on combatting radical islamic terrorism in her country rather than focus on him. the white house discounting questions over the voracity of the videos. >> whether it's a real video, the threat is real. that is what the president is talking about. that is what the president is focused on, dealing with the real threats. those are real no matter how you look at it.

>> reporter: republican lawmakers on capitol hill put in a position to explain the president's tweets. >> this is not constructive. i'm not sure what the purpose of that was. >> why? it is inappropriate. i don't know what you gain by doing this. >> reporter: there's even more reaction to the president retweeting those controversial videos. this time from sadiq khan, the mayor of london. he said president trump used twitter to promote a vial extremist group that exists solely to sow hatred in our country. any trip to britain by the president would not be welcomed. >> let's discuss it with cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin and legal analyst david drucker. the president has a penchant, as we know, for retweeting, highly

inflammatory, offensive videos or messages. but off they are domestic issues. this one is international with a top u.s. ally. so what now? >> right. that's the big question. this is why it is a huge problem. i think in domestic politics we can argue whether or not the president is helping himself politically and satisfying his base. what is that going to mean for the tax bill and all sorts of things. sprpblly, when we have a brewing crisis in north korea, we have russia meddling in syria, iran rising, we are trying to combat so many different threats, a rising china, for the president to alien one of our most important allies, they are often with us militarily, unnecessarily is a huge problem. i don't think the president is in competent but this is not competent behavior on his part

and he is undermining his own ability to navigate international waters and put the u.s. in a good position with everything that we're dealing with. when the prime minister of the united kingdom is in a domestic political situation where she has to rebuke the president on of the united states because of something the president did not have to do, that is something that the white house really needs to rethink. >> look, let's just be clear with what the problem is on this. it is not the authenticity of the videos, per se. it is an indictment of an entire religion. president trump had been somewhat careful in trump ian terms. i love muslims. i do business with them. there is a problem with radical islamic terrorists. we remember that. that has changed, jeffrey. sarah sanders and the president both had an opportunity to say exactly that. it is not all muslims. it is this group of terrorists

and we have to fight them. they didn't say it. >> but, remember, this is still the man who when he was a presidential candidate who said he would ban all muslims from coming to the country. remember? that was during the campaign. >> he walked that back too. >> they walked it back. but those subtleties get lost in the sauce. he has defined his political persona as fighting back against muslims generally. and occasionally they limit it to radical islam. but, you know, donald trump is who he is. and he got elected president of the united states being that way. so people respond to incentives. he denounced muslims. he was bigoted in ways we have not seen in an american politician. and he got elected president of the united states. >> i do want to zero in on what sarah sanders said. i don't think she gets a pass

for whether it's a real video or not, the threat is real. facts be damned. >> you're right. you're right. it matters whether or not he is retweeting b.s. it's true. but there are two wrongs. one is you're right. it should be accurate. he's the president of the united states. >> he should know the source, the origin. >> that's true. >> alisyn is 100% correct here, though. there is a real threat of radical jihadism. the british face it and so does the united states. to retweet and quote professional information from a bigoted source undermines the issue. how severe is the threat if you have to rely on false information. and that's the issue that i took with sanders's comments. and i think that's the real problem with it. >> right. look, also, to alisyn's point, one step further, how did he get these videos? this is a man who has the advantage of the absolute best intelligence in the world.

>> yes. >> whether it's direct from u.s. sources or through allies, he can know everything that's happening anywhere in real-time. >> and so can we using the internet. it doesn't take that much vetting to figure out the source. >> true. but he likes what he hears on fox. i think this was through ann coulter's thread. he doesn't follow a lot of people on twitter. it is just what he chooses to ignore. this is his fault. for people to argue about his competence, his sanity, his mental wellness, he is forcing the speculation by doing things that seem so counterproductive and hurtful to his legitimacy. >> yes. but he has been doing that for years. and he got elected president of the united states. why should he stop? >> maggie haberman covers him every day. she said she has seen more in the past couple weeks. >> more is not different. >> it's the past couple days.

>> yeah, right. >> the past couple days. things have ratcheted up. >> the things about islam. the things he tweeted about matt lauer, talking about nbc, joe scarborough. just very crazy stuff. how there will be a fake news contest. we're not even addressing all of it. but i keep coming back to the fact, oh, he's got to change, he has to be pivot to be presidential. he's 71 years old and got elected president. >> i hear what this british m.p. is saying, stephen dowdy. he said this is the president of the united states sharing with millions untphrapl toinflammato divisive content by someone who represents a vial by sharing tweets. trump is either a racist, in competent, or unthinking. or all three. >> what was his response to this level of criticism?

worry about yourself. you guys are getting overrun by islamist terror. >> it was such a point that he wanted to make he tweeted with the wrong handle for theresa may. they retweeted the same thing with the right handle. he was committed to the fight. it's not something that he wants to drop. >> i'm just saying i'm slow to give an excuse of health or wellness to the behavior of the president. >> i don't think it's an excuse. i think an explanation is different than an excuse. sit a valid conversation. when so many people are starting to use words like in competent and unfit. >> i'm just saying i have known him over half my life. i am not surprised by anything i have heard him say the last couple of weeks. >> i'm just a guy on basic cable. >> you have a premium package and everybody knows it. >> i have to pay my own salary. >> thank you.

>> thanks, guys. now to russia. special counsel robert mueller investigation zeroing in on mr. trump's inner circle. senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner meeting with mueller's investigators this month. sources tell cnn that former national security adviser michael flynn was the prime topic of their conversation. cnn's evan perez is live with all of this reporting in washington. what have you learned, evan? >> alisyn, jared kushner sat down for an interview with robert mueller's office. we're told by sources that the questions that kushner answered average r so you have a lot of

moving of pieces in the multiple russia investigations. chris? it is good to be up to date on this. it does seem by all indications there are talks going on between the flynn team and the special counsel, where it will lead,

we'll see. you'll probably know first. thank you very much. so gop leaders, what are they going to do about what's on your screen right now? sarah sanders, the press secretary, says it doesn't matter if the president retweets fake news because there is something real to the threat. well, that's irresponsible. how are other republicans going to judge it? a republican congressman next on "new day". jewelry that tells her fshe's the best thing. that's ever happened to you. in a way that goes beyond words. it could be a piece jewelry designers created just for jared. or a piece we custom made just for you. because we're more than a store that sells beautiful jewelry. we are jewelers. the one, unique gift that tells her exactly how you feel. that's why he went to jared.

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liver problems can occur with entyvio. if your uc or crohn's medication isn't working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. entyvio. relief and remission within reach. the senate will debate today on the republican tax bill. but the president is once again overshadowing his own agenda. the president tweeting things just now. he just tweeted an attack at the "new york times" ironically calling out their social media guidelines after what he has been putting on social media. the white house is defending the president's most recent tweets which gave a platform to anti-muslim sentiment. here's the defense. >> 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. >> joining us now is republican congressman adam kinsinger. good to have you, as always. >> thank you. >> of course it matters if the president is putting out fake news. that's all sarah sanders has high ground on, or at least she thinks, to say fake news versus real news. now she says it doesn't matter if the videos are real? that's absurd. or do you disagree? >> no, of course it matters. i think the president is doing a job on executing the war on terror. we have isis on its heels and we are fighting forces of evil all over the world. it matters if you retweet a video that is not real or put out by an extremist in the uk, whoever this guy is. i don't know anything about him. it doesn't matter. the president of the united states. and tone has a big impact. so the actions of the president

and the war on terror in this fight are good. the thing we have to keep in mind, though, and i would caution the president and frankly anybody listen to go me today is we have to fight what i call the next generational war on terror. 7 and 8-year-olds. we don't fight them. but they are either going to be the enemies or the people that reject terrorism within their own territory. >> you have been on the ground. you have seen the effect of talk on people's perceptions and how it is used for propaganda by terrorists. the idea that all muslims are bad, that islam has a problem with the united states, do you agree? >> no. i mean, look, i met with the king of jordan yesterday, foreign affairs committee, we met with him, and the queen, his wife. he is actually going to be -- he's a muslim. he will be the solution in the middle east. it will be moderate muslims that will come together and say we reject extremist ideology.

to an extent it may work saying they're coming after us. but i don't think there's a single person in the united states that has any doubt that there is an extremist version of islam that wants to come kill us. we have seen terrorist attacks since 9/11. let's unite the forces in the middle east, the good forces of islam to reject this extremist version. we have to execute a war on terror where they exist. >> right. >> it is necessary. we all did it. but we have to understand to in a to win this war it will take them rejecting it from within. this can't be a christian versus islam or west versus east thing. >> congressman, sarah sanders and the president had ample opportunity yesterday to say what you just said. it is not all islam. there is a perversion of it. we are fighting it. we are fighting it on the battle field. we will need moderate muslims to help.

and they didn't. it spawns the question, why didn't they? is this part of us versus them? is it just clumsinesclumsiness? ohio do you explain it? >> i can't explain it. all i can say is i know what it takes to win this thing. which is joining forces -- >> does it help if the president has an us versus them mentality about muslims versus nonmuslims? >> i don't think it helps at all. to rally the people you can say, listen, we're fighting a real war on terror here. but to say it's basically all of islam, us versus them or to retweet this video is not helpful will in the least. i don't want to take away from the president's strategy in terms of executing the war on on terror. we are leaps and bounds he'd of where we have been. what people forget is military power alone is not going to win this. it is essential but it will not win the long-term fight that we're looking at.

just briefly, when you look at defeating the soviet union, it took two or three generations to overthrow the iron curtain and reject communism. that will happen in this war too. that's what needs to happen. >> you get into the proposition of are we doing better because of the president's strategy or despite it? his strategy, the word you used, just got a member of the british parliament to say he should be arrested for fullmenting religious hate. he has our number one ally in the world, their elected officials are questioning whether or not he should be allowed to visit. what does that tell you about the strategy? >> i'm not going to defend the tweet. i'm not going to defend that, of course, as i have done on here. when it comes to executing the war on terror, the military aspect of it, i do believe it has been way better than we have dealt with. >> i get you. i'm not asking you to endorse the tweets or not. i'm asking do you think they're wrong. >> sure. >> do you think the president

should not do these things. as we said before, many republicans side-step this stuff and say that's just who he is. >> no, no. i think a president needs to be bigger than a moment. a president needs to rally not just the united states but the world to an objective. when you do divisive things on twitter, it's not good. when you let your emotions take of on twitter, it's not good. even my own twitter as a congressman, i try to make it about bigger things than me, about bigger things in the partisan battles of the moment. i think that's the right thing to do on twitter. there is no doubt. you will not find a lot of people, with the exception of the white house, it's their job, to defend what is said on twitter. it could be a useful tool. there are mornings i wake up and i say i really wish the president wouldn't have tweeted that. >> adam kenzinger, you are defining what leadership is. the best to you and your family for the holidays. thank you for your service. >> you bet. take care.

the matt lauer story continues to develop. new allegations against the former "today" show host. we will speak to the "variety" reporter who spoke to the women making these allegations. remember how the economic crash

was supposed to be a wake up call for our government? people all across the country lost their savings, their pensions and their jobs. i'm tom steyer and it turned out that the system that had benefited people like me who are well off, was, in fact, stacked against everyone else. it's why i left my investment firm and resolved to use my savings for the public good. but here we are nine years later and this president and the republican congress are making a bad situation even worse. they won't tell you that their so called "tax reform" plan is really for the wealthy and big corporations, while hurting the middle class. it blows up the deficit and that means fewer investments in education, health care and job creation. it's up to all of us to stand up to this president. not just for impeachable offenses, but also to demand a country where everyone has a real chance to succeed.

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all right. the matt lauer story has moved. he just put out a statement as nbc confirms at least two new complaints of inappropriate sexual misconduct has come out against him. the "new york times" and "variety" detailing very is disturbing allegations from several current and former he female staffers at the "today" show. cnn senior media correspondent brian stelter joins us now with more. we were wondering if he would come out, would he stay whiet and see what happens. he came out with a statement. >> yes. he says he's truly sorry. he wanted to make this timed to 7:00 a.m., the start of the "today" show. he would express his emotions to his former viewers. here's part of what he said. >> good morning. >> the "today" show addressing

matt lauer's firing this morning. >> our top story is once again about our former colleague matt lauer. >> in fact, we moments ago received a statement from matt. and let me read it to you. there are no words to express my sorrow and regret for the pain i have caused others by words and actions. to the people i have hurt, i am truly sorry. as i am writing this, i realize the depth of the damage and disappointment i have left behind at home and at nbc. some of what is being said about me is untrue or characterized, but there is enough truth in these stories to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed. >> hrrpli >> alarming new allegations of sexual misconduct lodged against matt lauer. an employee saying in 2001 lauer summoned her to his office, locked the door, and sexually assaulted her. she said she never reported the incident because she felt ashamed and feared losing her job. "variety" magazine reporting accounts from three women who say lauer harass said them.

one said he gave her a sex toy and then detailed in a note how he wanted to use it on her. another employee says he exposed himself in an office and reprimanded her for not engage anything a sexual act. ten current and former employees saying lauer was fixated on women, especially their bodies and looks, and was known for making lewd comments verbally or other text messages. the big question, who knew what when. variety said they tried to alert executives about lauer's behavior. in response, nbc says we can say up equivocally that, prior to monday night, current nbc news management, was never made aware of any complaints about matt lauer's conduct. nbc has known that damaging stories were coming. in a staff memo, andy lack alluded to this saying on wednesday, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident. on monday night, a female nbc employee and her attorney met with nbc hr and detailed

egregious acts of misconduct. a source telling cnn, the behavior began in 2014 at the sochi olympics and continued after that assignment. that accuser is remaining anonymous, as are the women speaking to "variety" and the "new york times". for now the handling against lauer is getting praise from the accuser's attorney. our impression at this point is that nbc acted quickly and responsibly. it is our hope that nbc will continue to do what it can to repair the damage done to my client, their employee, and any other woman who may come forward. just two months ago, lauer grilled bill o'reilly, who was also fired when allegations surfaced against the former fox news host, allegations o'reilly denies. >> think about those five women and what they did. they came forward and filed complaints against the biggest star at the network they worked at. think of how intimidating that must have been and how nerve-racking that must have

been. doesn't that tell you how strongly they felt how they were treated by you. >> reporter: now the lauer flood gates may just be opening even as his former morning show family tries to move on. >> i'm still dealing with the news of a friend of 30 years. we were all trying to process it. >> we are grappling with a dilemma that so many has faced. how do you reconcile your love for someone with the revelation that they have behaved badly. >> a hard, hard moment for the co-hosts of the "today" show. hard questions for nbc about whether anybody had any inkling this may have been going on. alisyn. >> brian, thank you very much. joining us now is ramin, the new york bureau chief and one of the reporters who spoke to several of matt lauer's accusers and broke the story in "variety" yesterday. great to have you here. >> thank you. >> breaking news moments ago is matt lauer is speaking out for

the first time. he released his first public statement. brian just touched on it. here is the entire statement that matt lauer has put out. "there are no words to express my sorrow and regret for the pain i have caused others by words and actions. to the people i have hurt, i am truly sorry. as i am writing this i realize the depth of the damage and disappointment i have left behind at home and at nbc. some of what is being said about me is untrue or characterized, but there is enough truth in these stories to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed. i regret that my shame is now shared by the people i cherish daily. repairing the damage will take a lot of time and soul searching and i'm committed to beginning that effort. sit now my full time job. last two days have forced me to take a look at my own troubling flaws. it's been humbling. i am blessed to be surrounded by the people i love. i thank them for their patience and grace. having spoken to the women, what do you think of his statement? >> i think that the women, given the sentiments they expressed to

us in two months of reporting, i think the women feel there was a very different private matt lauer versus the public matt lauer that we saw on television. so i think that statement is a grappling of the two different matt lauers. is he actually sorry or sorry that he got caught. that's the question we're having is in all of these sexual harassment cases. when enough victims come forward that the man has to issue a statement and say i'm sorry. >> your reporting is so much different than any of the rumors or whispers we had ever heard. this isn't philandering. this is predatory deviant behavior, taking underlings, shutting the door with a remote control button basically and forcing himself and having wildly lewd things said to them and acts. tell me some of the things you learned in the reporting. >> we spoke to three women who considered themselves victims of

sexual harassment. we learned in one of the cases matt lauer gave a colleague the sex toy with a note about what he wanted to do with the sex toy. there was another story about how matt lauer had a colleague come into his office and took down his pants and exposed himself to the woman. >> and told her -- and expected a sex act when he did that. >> and reprimanded her when she resisted. and the question i think in going forward is what did nbc know, who was involved. in speaking to the victims, they say the network was aware of matt's behavior. >> meaning what? the women that you have spoken to, who did they tell? >> high-level executives at nbc were told about his behavior. >> meaning andy lack? >> i'm not going to name names. they were told about his behavior both current and prior. >> what was his response? >> they protected matt lauer because he was so valuable to

the "today" show. >> do you know what the incident was, what the event was that got them to fire him? >> the event that led to his firing was the woman who came forward on monday night and went to nbc's hr department with a very detailed complaint and evidence. >> do you know what that was, what she claims happened? >> i don't feel comfortable talking about that specific case? what we have revealed in our reporting the woman's complaint was so troubling that it led to nbc to act very quickly. >> so is this one of these things we now hear about with harvey weinstein. incident was sort of true at fox. it was called an open secret. where people at the "today" show and people in the building new matt lauer was doing things like this, be or did this come as a surprise the level of accusations. >> our sources say it wasn't considered a secret. it was known by many employees at the "today" show, including employees who have gone on television and said publicly we

have no idea. according to our reporting, some of the other permits and on-air personalities were aware of these allegations. >> so now what? now what? where does this go from here? >> i think this is a turning point in the conversation we're having about sexual harassment in the workplace. >> i get this is a national tipping point. i mean at nbc. if management knew this level of i mean really lewd, grossly inappropriate, some of these things in your reporting -- i mean, look, i'm not a lawyer. i don't know if you want to call them assault or being accosted. but it was clearly unwanted in many of these cases. so what's nbc going to do? >> i think they have a trust problem. how can they go forward and say we're cracking down on sexual harassment if people who work there knew there was knowledge of this situation and this behavior. >> did any of the women you spoke to allege rape or something that would rise to

prosecuting a criminal case? >> in the reporting that we published, no. >> but there's more to come. >> we have been in communication with more victims. and more women will be coming forward to tell their story. we're confident of that. >> your reporting continues? >> tkyes, it does. >> we have all been talking about the highly regrettable position that sa vanney guthrie, hoda kotb and charlie rose's co-hosts to come out before you know the facts and have to speak on a national level about this person you had a colleague relationship or personal relationship. do you have any reporting that suggested any of the co anchors knew? >> according to our sources the co anchors were aware. so they are having trouble with what was said and what was said yesterday. >> current or former anchors?

>> both. >> current and former anchors of matt lauer knew he was doing things that rose to the level of this kind of harassment and lewd behavior? not just extramarital affairs. >> not just extramarital affairs. colleagues were told -- in inability not only were aware, but they were spreading the stories among the staff. >> they were gossiping? >> yes. >> and so the women that you have talked to now feel what, betrayed? >> the women we talked to feel hopeful that this action was taken so quickly. but there are questions about what happens going forward. and there's a lack of trust in the current management and the current environment given this was allowed to go on for so long. >> no kidding. i mean, no kidding. if these women did go -- i get sometimes the "times" and your stories cross and they get confused. they told their husband. they told friends.

but if they told people in&in management and colleagues, of course there's a lack of trust. i mean something -- this is going to be bigger it seems like at nbc than just matt lauer. >> this isn't the end of the story, no. we believe that there will be more women coming forward and we believe there will be more evidence about who knew what when that will come out in the days to come. >> ramin, thank you for sharing your reporting. >> thank you for having me. another topic, the nfl extending an olive branch to players. who will the league be giving a big donation to next? ♪ i love you so much. we're going to be best friends forever. let out your inner child at the lexus december to remember sales event. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. i'm the one clocking in when you're clocking out.

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we that's why at xfinityic. we've been working hard to simplify your experiences with us. now with instant text and email updates you'll always be up to date. you can easily add premium channels so you don't miss your favorite show. and with just a single word, find all the answers you're looking for. because getting what you need should be simple, fast, and easy. download the xfinity my account app or go online today. the nfl is pledging nearly is $00 million to social justice causes that are important to its players. andy scholes has more in the bleacher report. this is a very interesting development. obviously this is some kind of

accommodation, cooperation. no news, though, about anything to do with the nature of protests before or during games. >> yeah, that's right, chris. we'll have to wait and see if this has any effect on the national anthem protests we have seen the past couple of seasons. but the did work with a group of players to partner on a plan to address social justice issues considered important to african-american communities. this bleacher report is brought to you by the new 2018 ford f 150. the agreement does not include language calling for the players to end their national anthem protests, but the league hopes thissest will help end the controversial movement. that's according to espn. the deal calls for the nfl to contribute $89 million over seven years to projects dealing with criminal justice reform, community relations and education. all right. all eyes on the sports world will be on the bahamas as tiger woods makes his latest comeback following a 10-month layoff due to his fourth back surgery since

2014. tiger is going to tee off in the hero world challenge at noon eastern. he hasn't made a cut in a tournament since 2015, alisyn. luckily for tiger there is no cut this weekend because there's only 18 golfers competing. >> that will be entertaining. andy, thank you very much. as we now know, congress secretly paid out $17 million in settlements with taxpayer dollars over the past two decades. who set up that system? well, we have the former lawmaker who helped create that program, next. that says your truck can only haul gravel. introducing the new 2018 ford f-150. with best-in-class towing... best-in-class payload... and best-in-class torque... the f-150 lineup has the capability to get big things to big places- bigtime. so bring out your atvs,

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more than $17 million in taxpayer money has been paid in secret settlements for sexual harassment and other issues since of 1990s from congress. jackie speier called this program known as the office of compliance, an enabler of sexual

harassment. >> it doesn't pay for the settlement himself and is never identified, so the office of compliance to which a victim must apply or complain is a place that has really been an enabler of sexual harassment. >> thank you, congressman, for being with us. >> thank you. >> there has been so many questions in the past few weeks about why this program works the way it does, why it seems to be shrouded in secret see. >> as a congressman said last week almost every woman has a story to tell, and there are probably very few men that have

not said or done something stupid. in terms of what should happen, there should be quarterly reports and they should break down how each abuse was, what type of abuse, an osha abuse or sexual harassment abuse, so they need to determine that and they have to make sure that the abuser pays, whether it's the chief of staff that did something with his or her staff -- >> why did you set it up so the taxpayers paid? >> let's get into it. i got elected in 1987, and i learned 30,000 employees in the legislature had no rights. they were not under any law, 40 years of democratic control, had exempted them from osha and workplace laws and sexual harassment and civil rights, and they were excepted from everything. the logic is for the bill, congress needs to abide by the

laws that the general public has, one because it's fair, and they will write better laws -- >> hold on. sorry to interrupt. i want to show how you set up the system. >> don't get carried away how we set it up or how the office of compliance has set it up. >> let me show how it's supposed to work. here's how when a victim or an accuser has a case, this is what generally she must do. they must report it within 180 days, and then the victim or the accuser has to go through 30 days of mandatory counseling. next, after that, there's 30 days of mediation. that is where the harasser, the accused, is assigned a lawyer, paid for with taxpayer money, during that mediation. okay. and the accuser is also assigned a lawyer paid for with taxpayer money. if nothing happens during mediation, it can't be revolved

then the accuser has to wait 30 to 90 days a mandatory cooling off waiting period. >> that all has to be changed. >> one last thing, then she, generally, must sign a confidentiality agreement. you now see that all of that lent itself to a sense of enabling for the accused. >> what happened before 1945, they had no right to make any complaint. what we did is we put congress under all the laws that had been exempted, and the one area that had been in negotiation with the powers that be, the leadership, was what you do with a sexual harassment case, and then that person's life was ruined after they made a complaint, so what we did is establish the office of the compliance like the eeoc to enforce the law. i would expect by now the

office, every quarter would have issued reports, and there was no restriction they wouldn't do that and i would have thought the office of compliance would have made noise continually that it needed to be changed. >> do you have regret on how it was set up? >> no. if we didn't set it up this way they would not have had any rights whatsoever, and i hope that's clear. >> it is. you are right. do you have now regret at how it has been used? >> i have no regrets about establishing a law. we put them under 12 laws that congress had not been under, all of them, under democratic rule. >> you made a good case of why it was necessary and now 20 years later when you see how it has been used with the secret payments and women being silenced, do you think -- >> i think it's outrageous. i have not been there for ten years, and i would hope by then

i would have been notified by the office of compliance how things were working. why did they stop issuing reports seven years ago? that's not something congress did. so the challenge is this, we need a strong office of compliance to do its job. they need to be outspoken and they need to be telling the folks that work here what their rights on and they need to tell folks what they can and can't do, and they need to be pro active. i realize it's difficult, -- >> should the accused pay out of their own pocket? >> i made that clear. the accused should pay. plain and simple. they should pay. >> should women have to sign confidentiality agreements? >> absolutely not. those things should change. you are right to point them out and that should have happened a number of years ago. it would be important to know of the millions that were spent, how much were spent on osha and so on. >> we would like to know that

and can't figure it out. we interviewed lawmakers that said i didn't even know about this. >> let me just tell you, you are just hitting the tip of the iceberg here, because one of the laws is they are supposed to be time and a half for their employees, and i put myself under it as if we had to abide by it. >> you don't know how many or how much has been paid out for sexual harassment, there is no way for you to know, right? >> that's true. that's just part of it. you have osha and civil rights laws and a whole bunch of things. one of the laws thing, we didn't have sprinklers in the system, and we have ramps for the disability act, and so many good things came from the law and now the office of compliance needs to do its job more forcefully. >> i hear you. i appreciate that. some good things came from the law and it's an outdated

system -- >> a lot of good things came from the law. >> we appreciate you telling us the history of this. that is valuable. thank you very much. >> thank you. we're following a lot of news this morning, so let's get to it. >> the president's tweet sparking an international incident. >> our allies in england are mad as hell. >> whether it's a real video, the threat is real. >> we have a president paying no attention to the responsibilities -- >> jared kushner is a crucial witness in every part of mueller's investigation. >> three women telling "variety" magazine they were harassed by lauer. >> there was a lot of fear among nbc. they were not sure how to react if they pursued