all. cla r thank you so much for the exclusive report. a really powerful report. excellent report iing for us. thanks very much for doing that. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, republicans slamming republicans for the stunning loss by roy moore. from bannon to mcconnell to trump, who's really to blame? plus, the deputy attorney general tells congress there is no reason to fire bob mueller. cowell trump do it any way? and drama at the white house. former apprentice star am rosa is out and the secret service is is weighing in it. let's go "outfront." good evening. i'm jim shuuto in for erin burnett and tonight, the blame game. republicans scram babble ining

wake f o roy moore's devastating defeat are now pointing fingers at each other. a top target, steve bannon. who campaigned relentlessly for moore and played a key role in convincing trump to back and accuse child molester for the senate. peter king today. >> this guy does not belong on the national stage. it looks like some dishevelled joint that wandered op to the political stage. >> but the bannon defenders have senate majority leader mitch mcconnell in their sights. sha sean hannity tweeting mcconnell deserves a lot of blame for alabama. brooks would have won by 20%. mcconnell interference hurt badly. inside the white house, sources say fincger pointing is rampant with some plaming the white house political director. sources close to the white house say that he wasn't the one to advise moore, but he failed the talk him out of the toxic endorsement.

no leadership, he doesn't have any juice, one source said. let's be clear though. the buck stops with the president. it was trump who went all in for moore in the last crucial weeks of the campaign. and despite the extremely troubling allegations against making sexual advances to gi teenage girls. here he is just days before the election rallying supporters near the alabama border. >> we cannot afford this country. the future of this country. cannot afford to lose a seat in the very, very close united states senate. we can't afford it, folks. we can't. so get out and vote for roy moore. >> and then in the hours before voters went to the polls, trump's robo call. >> hi, this is president donald trump and i need alabama to go vote for roy moore.

we're already making america great again. i'm going to make america safer and stronger and better than ever before. but we need that seat. we need roy voting for us. >> to be clear, there is no evidence that anyone forced president trump to hold that rally or record that robo call or tweet multiple messages of support for roy moore and yet despite a shattering loss for his party, one that a republican official calls a wake up call, the president is still insisting that he was right about moore. tweeting quote, the reason i originally endorsed luther strange and his numbers went up mightily, is that i said roy moore will not be able to win the general election. i was right. exclamation point. roy worked hard, but the deck was stacked against him. jeff zellny is "outfront" tonight at the white house. the blame game getting more vicious tonight. >> jim, no question the blame game is in full force. they're finger pointing all

around here. a circular firing squad if you will. if you simplify it, it's down to two people. we talked to many republicans today here. the reason that president trump got behind roy moore so you know, in a full throat ed matte really increasing his support over the last several weeks was steve bannon. he said steve bannon, he saw him go down. they had conversations about steve bapen thought moore could win. steve bannon was interesting in picking this fight with mitch mcconnell of course, so in a sense, he had a different objective than the president. there's tho doubt here the question tonight at the white house and on capitol hill, will the president listen to steve bannon in the future? what will his role be in 2018 and those midterm races? there are signs at least early signs tonight that steve bannon's wings will be clipped in some respect in terms of recruiting candidates. the president tweeted today strong candidates win elections. roy moore was not a strong candidate. but at the end of the day here, there's a sense of lemonade being made here. because the president reached

out to doug jones in a phone call this afternoon before the tax speech in the white house. he congratulated him for the victory. there's one reason for that. he invited him here to the white house. they need his vote. now it's a 51-49 split after the holiday. after the new year and suddenly, doug jones, the most conservative democrat in the senate or at least representing the most conservative state, he could be a vote for this white house. we'll see if that actually happens. he's invited him here to the white house. jim, that's what used to happen. i remember freshman senator barack obama from illinois being invited here to see president george w. bush. we'll see if bipartisanship happens. i wouldn't count on it. >> maybe not since they're trying to squeeze in the tax vote before they seat him. "outfront" tonight, gloria borg borger, mark preston and april ryan, white house correspondent for american radio networks. the president seems to be acting like he had nothing to do with

alabama. a little revisionist history. >> right. no fingerprints here. one of his early tweets was that moore had the deck stacked against him and of course, the president had a lot to do with it as jeff pointed out. he completely endorsed roy moore. he took the advice of steve bannon. and he may actually have helped this race tighten for roy moore. but don't forget, even in the state of alabama, which he won by a 1- 2-1 margin, the president's approval disapproval rating is about a tie under 50% or so. and you had a huge turnout in this state for this kind of election. 40% turnout. and while there was passion on both sides, the people who turned out are the people republicans and this president has to be concerned about and that is african-american voters, women, suburban women. >> no question. there was evidence of that same

phenomenon in the bluer state, virginia, as well. mark, regardless of the case, the president is making now, you might say it's a confusing case because he gave a lot of different excuses today via twitter and other statements. does the president own this, whether he likes it or not? >> no question. what's confounding is moving beyond the fact he was with mitch mcconnell when they backed luther strange in the republican primary. of course strange loses to moore. moore loses last night. is that when it got to the point of backing judge moore? judge moore, who had numerous allegations lodged against him from women who said that he dated them when they were teenagers or that they sexually assaulted them. donald trump chose to break from his republican establishment from the republican congressional leaders and endorse judge moore. i think that is very, very hurtful now for republicans heading into 2018. i can tell you this, jim. the only thing that happened

that was good for republicans in the last 24 hours is that judge moore lost. you imagine what, how they would be able to deal with an election in 2018 having him as somebody that the president endorsed and he won. >> no question. or being photographed with him in the senate chambers. april, when you look at trump's track record with who he's backed, just in the last couple of months, look at the list. he backed ed gillespie in virginia. that didn't work out so well. he backed luther strange first in the primary in alabama then roy moore lost on both accounts. ed gillespie said trump's support was a big factor in his loss. saying the president actually hurt him. can you argue the president is becoming more of a liability than an asset for gop candidates? >> yes. that's, the president is weak. he doesn't liable thety. he's weakened by the fact that ed gillespie, who was once in

the bush administration once the head of the rnc lost virginia. also, the two candidates that the president backed for alabama, a sitting president is supposed to have the momentum or in the past, has had the momentum to help at least bring at least a couple of the candidates to the finish line. for this president, he is now taking an assessment of how to move forward. you know, it does not help that steve bannon, who was thought to be a king maker, actually brought the president in on roy moore and roy moore was another loss. so this president has to really rethink how he is pushing forward his approval rating is down at 32%. and now he's got losses for candidates. he really has to go back and reassess and refigure how he can move forward if he's going to continue trying to back candidates. >> gloria, i wonder if some of this is somewhat predictable.

32%, approval rating. does the laws of gravity still apply that an unpopular and devd -- weigh down. >> if you look at a state like alabama. that's higher than the national level as you just said. so, you would have thought that in alabama, it might have had more weight. the problem in alabama also was the candidate. let's not forget. roy moore was a bad candidate with a bad history and the president supported him any way. taking his party down that road with him. i mean you know, republican national committee went along with it. and you know, i think now, the fight is going to be on in this republican party. over who's going to control the future. is it going to be steve bannon and donald trump?

who sided with him or is it going to be folks like mitch mcconnell and other republican leaders who say you've got to nominate people who can get elected. >> mark, i have to ask you, because it's not like the -- backing off here. you had steve bannon talking today about the fight is going to continue to be vicious here. can a divided, really more than divided, but an internally competitive and internally angry, combative republican party, can it win in 2018 and 2020? >> all depends where you think they can win. i think the house of representatives is very much in da danger of going republican. until last night, there was little talk that republicans could take back the united states senate, but there's a little sliver of hope now for democrats at this point. head iing into 2020, i can't imagine that president trump is not going to get a real primary right now. to your point, gloria's and april's point, the party is so divided at this point. 32% approval rating nationally

with republicans, he's probably still in the high 70s, but that's still going to tick down. i do think we'you're going to sa primary against president trump heading into 2020, but they have to deal with what's in front of them. that's 2018 and it doesn't look good right now for republicans. >> april, before we go tonight, there was some drama inside the white house tonight. the white house announcing today that om rosa was an aide to the president leading the administration. you have new reporting on this. >> yeah, we found out the trigger. the trigger was that general kelly saw omarosa last night and wanted to talk to her about her access to the president. she continued to call the president and it was causing a problem and then that was where everything blew up. appare apparently, she said if i don't have full access, meaning walk in privileges in the oval office to be able to go in and out of meetings at will or as she wants, there will be all hell

will break loose. he said okay, all hell is going to break loose. that's where it all startstarte. sources say it started at one of the two christmas parties at the white house last night and continued on. there's new reporting. the white house did reach out to me. the only thing they had a complaint about was the fact one of the sources said that omarosa's aide, her assistant, was fired. the assistant left allegedly three months ago. the other one is still there. then the secret service has come out saying they were not involved in escorting omarosa out of the white house. so who did and also, they said they did deal with the deactivation, they deactivated her hard pass to get in and out of the white house. so she's supposed to stay until january 20th. her hard pass has been deactivated. we'll see if she comes back. >> does not sound like a friendly departure. thanks very much for that. >> not at all.

>> "outfront" next, roy moore is still not conceding. while the rest of his party, rest of the country, rest of the state moves on. plus, robert mueller's boss says the special counsel has done nothing to warrant his dismissal, but could trump fire him any way? and republicans rushing to pass a tax plan before doug jones takes his senate seat. the deal make iing rich even richer. fargo? $107.00 at...doggie lovers warehouse? no. i would never. "doggie lovers"? please! you know me. i don't even know where that is! look, i'm replying deny. see? oh, come on! [phone rings] hello? wells fargo. i did not make that purchase. i didn't do it! i'm so glad you caught that. uh huh.

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with maximum strength alka seltzer plus liquid gels. new tonight, roy moore refusing to concede despite his stunning loss in a special election against doug jones. moore not ready to congratulate jones on his win even though he lost by nearly 21,000 votes. that is nearly 1.5 percentage points and jones tonight with this message. >> do the right thing, roy. it's time we heal. you know, it's time that we get together. >> "outfront," margaret hoover, former george w. bush staff, veteran of two presidential campaigns and amy cramer, co-chair for women for trump and she endorsed roy moore. amy, roy moore showing again no sign tonight he is ready to pack it in. on what basis is he holding out? >> you know, jim, i honestly have no idea. i haven't talked to him or anyone with the campaign and earlier today, we called on him to concede the race. we think it's time to put this

behind us and move on. i think that everyone else has and the people of alabama, the rest of the country are ready to do so. so we do think he should concede. >> margaret, i want to go to the broader implications of this race. the allegations against moore certainly hurt moore when it came to women. look at some of these numbers. women with children made up one in five voters in alabama and jones had 66% of their vote to moore's 32%. that's 2-1. when you look at how black women vote d, overwhelming. just 2% voted for moore. fact this, beyond this race, if you look at virginia, the numbers and suburban women voters for the democrat over the republican there, in your view as a republican party led by president trump, damaged when it comes to women voters? >> you raise a r very, very good question that i seriously hope republican leaders, really the elected leaders of this party in

washington are really taking very seriously tonight. certainly there has been an, a cascading effect after the women's march, after the loss of hillary clinton, but this seems to be reaching a new level because of the allegations of harvey weinstein. because of the sort of tipping point and awakening and awareness that people across the country have with respect to sexual harassment, sexual assault and these issues as they've catapulted. certainly this election was not a referendum on any of those issues related specifically to women, but it played a significant factor in the con fluns of issues that put the first democrat in 25 years over the top in alabama. >> amy, i wonder what your answer is to that. this is the reddest of red states. it has to be a danger sign for republicans writ large, but particularly when it comes to women voters. >> what i would say to that is it's kind of like scott brown in 2009, 2010. this seat is only going to be

held up through 2020, then i think a republican will come in and take the seat. look, there was a lot more, i'm not saying that the allegations didn't play into it. i think they probably did. but this was a flawed candidate and there was no campaign. i am not aware of any get out and vote effort and we know with election, t the science of addition and when you are only looking at your base and not trying to reach anybody else. when you are leaving town thursday, friday, and saturday before election day to go to an army navy game, there's a serious problem there. >> you endorsed moore for the senate. >> we originally endorsed mo brooks. we got behind mo brooks early on. but i want to say this. >> but before election day, you put your stamp of approval on roy moore. >> we did. we endorsed him when he was in the run off with luther strange. we did. but i want to say this. that the republicans still

control the white house, the senate, and the house and we still control the majority of governorships across the nation. so while everything may seem doom and gloom, we have won five special collections in the house. we've lost one senate race. it's very reminiscent of the -- let me finish. >> state house went almost flip ed from a 2-1 advantage. gl this is reminiscent of when the tea party movement r started. i'm not surprised they have momentum and energy on their side. you know it's to be expected. but the important thing here is that the gop takes this and learns from it. that's what's important going forward. >> i know you want to pipe in. what's your response? >> the question i think amy and i would probably suggest there are fundamentally different lessons to learn from this experience. and i think the lesson that needs, the most b obvious oobvie to all of us is this is a major

reputeuation. this just isn't about women, jim. this is about women voters. ta that's a part of it. this is a repudiation of bannon, trump, this play to the base. the way roy moore ran, he was running for decency, common ground, getting things done in washington. this republican president was as amy pointed out, hasn't gotten anything done and the tax bill that they're about to get done fundamentally undermines everything republicans have stood for for the last 25, 30 years. this is a repudiation of bannon. of this idea that you can take over the republican party with white nationalism, with you know, veiled racism and it should give mitch mcconnell, paul ryan, people whoc have stod for different things, cause. they should find moral courage and decency and should not check their political expediency or what they think is short-term political expediency, their

values because they need to offer something to republicans that we can be proud of moving forward and that was not this. >> margaret. >> quick thought before we go. >> i was just going to say, i completely disagree with you. we controlled the senate and the house. because president trump, he won that election overwhelmingly and the reason he hasn't gotten a lot of his agenda done is not because he hasn't trieded, but because of lack of leadership. especially in the united states senate. and let's remind everybody, mitch mcconnell had his choice, marco rubio, pat toomey, would not be in the united states senate. >> we'll have to leave it there. "outfront" next, should robert mueller be fired from the russia probe? his boss says absolutely not. >> very difficult, congressman, to find somebody better qualified for this job. >> and the republicans reach a deal on tax reform.

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we that's why at xfinityic. i mean, why would i replace this? 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. breaking news. donald trump jr. exiting a marathon session with the senate intelligence committee just moments ago. trump jr. ignoring shouted questions about whether he refused to answer questions. inside, the president's eldest son back on capitol hill one week after he met with the house

intelligence committee. all this about his controversial trump tower meeting gurg the campaign with a russian lawyer who was offering damaging information on hillary clinton as well as about his contacts with wikileaks. mark warner, the top democrat on the xwhe, telling cnn he wants trump jr. to come back again. saying quote, i still have more questions. when we're talking about the principles, the members are going to want to hear from him directly. also tonight, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein making it clear he sees no good cause to fire special counsel robert mueller. in the face of a concerted republican effort to discredit mueller. laura jarrett is "outfront" tonight. >> tonight, a top justice department official coming to the des of the special counsel he appointed to lead the russia investigation amid claims muell mueller's team is biased. >> i think it would be very difficult, congressman, to find somebody better qualified.

director mueller has throughout his lifetime, been a dedicated and respected and heroic public servant. based upon his reputation, his service, his patriotism and his experience with the department and with the fbi, i believe he was an ideal choice for this task. >> while president trump has call ed the investigation a with hunt, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein told house lawmakers today that no one has asked him to fire mueller. >> i am not going to be discussing my communications with the president, but i can tell you that nobody has communicated with me a desire to remove mueller. >> rosenstein batted away claims it is stacked against the president as republican lawmakers pointed to donations mueller's team members made to republicans over the years. >> how with the straight face, can you saw this group of democrat partisans are unbiased and will give president trump a fair shake? >> and to newly disclosed text messages between two top

officials at the fbi. >> this is unbelievable. i'm here to tell you, i think the public trust in this thing is gone. >> the messaging show an fbi lawyer and count intelligence agent trash iing trump througho the 2016 campaign. page texting in 2016, this man cannot be president. saying in another, god, hillary should win 100 million to zero. struck led the investigation into hillary clinton's e serve which was later part of the fbi's investigation into contacts between russian operatives and trump campaign associates. >> he's openly pulling for the candidate he had a role in clearing and he's openly investigating a candidate that he has bias against. >> when we have evidence of any appropriate conduct, bewe're gog to take action on it. that's what mr. mueller did. here as soon as he learned about this issue, he took action. >> rosenstein went on to later distinguish between a legitimate

political affiliation on the one hand and pure bias on the other, saying that he and mueller recognize that they haven't -- with political viewpoints and it's their responsibility to make sure those opinions don't influence their actions. jim. >> "outfront" now, congressman jerry nadler of new york. the ranking democrat on the house judiciary committee which held the hearing with the deputy attorney general. thanks for join iing us tonight. >> thank you. it's a pleasure. >> you heard those words there in the room. ros rosenstein saying there are no grounds for firing mueller. i wonder if you read that to some degree as a message to the president? >> well, i think what mueller said was completely correct. republicans, really a conspiracy led by fox news, the republicans on the judiciary committee, many others in the white house, have been carrying on a concerted campaign to discredit this special prosecutor. so discredit the fbi, the justice department and anybody

threatening the president or getting in his way. and i think that today's hearing was part of that and mueller, very correctly said that nothing they were talking about is any grounds for firing council mueller or and that there's no evidence that he or anybody with him has done anything improper whatsoever. >> you mentioned those comments from your republican colleagues about mueller. here are some of them so our viewers can hear. >> how with the straight face can you say that this group of democrat partisans are unbiased and will give president trump a fair shake? >> this is unbelievable. and i'm here to tell you, i think the public trust in this whole thing is gone. >> what do you have to see in terms of the actions of people, with demonstrated bias against the president of the united states before you will appoint a special counsel to investigate the clear bias that has infected this investigation. >> republican members there on point. are you concern ed that they're

lag the political groundwork for the president to fire mueller? >> oh, i'm very concerned about that. i think they are trying to do exactly that with completely bogus facts and reasoning. the fact that someone is of personal political opinion is is irrelevant. the fact that an fbi agent may have contributed to a democrat or republican in the past is irreleva irrelevant. i think it was director ray of the fbi and mueller himself had given thousands of dollars in contributions to republicans. and some of their subordinates to democrats, all of which is irrelevant. as long as you have an unbiased investigation. personal political opinions, everybody has them. political opinions expressed by agent struck. they were talking about, are opinions this were shared by probably the majority of the american people. >> we should note that mueller himself, a lifelong republicans, he's at the top of the investigation. now you mentioned those anti trump text messages, which

are the basis of this criticism there and it caused mueller to in effect fire this agent. rosenstein explained in his testimony, i suppose the point you were trying to make here, that political opinion does not equal bias. >> we recognize we have employees with political opinions, but it's our responsibility to make sure those opinions do not influence their actions. pardon me. and so i believe that director mueller understands that and he is running that office appropriately. >> and trouble is making a argument in the current environment when it's so polarized, you heard your colleagues there today, is that argument going to fly? >> well, that argument is going to fly. because it's a true argument. people have opinions. police officers have opinions. fbi agents have opinions. and if they express it in private e-mails to their girlfriends or wives or friends, that's ir el vant. if you want to say that the investigation is biased, you

have to show some bias. and what we really see here is a concerted effort to discredit the fbi. to discredit the special investigator, the press. all in the service of eliminating a threat to the president as he feels the wall is closing in on him. >> congressman, thanks very much for taking the time. z >> thank you. >> next, fast track for the gop tax plan. now there's an apparent deal, president trump's big rush to make it law. >> we want to give you the american people a giant tax cut for christmas. >> new allegations against an embattled member of congress tonight. this time, a male exstaffer making the damning claims. can can he continue to hold his job? 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. join us. your voice matters. just serve classy snacks and bew a gracious host,iday party. no matter who shows up. do you like nuts?

new tonight, republicans make a deal. gop lawmakers in the house and senate reaching a tentative compromise on the sweeping tax reform plan, now racing to pass

it before democrat doug jones is seated. the plan will low eer the corporate tax rate dramatically to 21% from 35%. it also lowers the top rate for individuals so 37% from 39.6%. translation, big break for the wealthy. still, president trump today insisted the plan will give the average american family a massive tax break. fulfilling a major campaign promise. >> we're just days away, i hope, i hope, you know what that means, right? from keeping that promise and delivering a truly aasia amazing victory for american families. we want to give you a giant tax cut for christmas. and when i say giant, i mean giant. >> now former senior economic adviser to the trump campaign, steven moore, an informal adviser to the white house now on tax policy. and former labor secretary under

president clinton, robert reich, his new movie is on netflix now. secretary, if i could begin with you. he says this deal, big gift for christmas. you say? >> no. there won't be anything under the tree for the average working family will see nothing in its stocking. maybe even a little tiny lump of coal, jim, and by 2025, according to almost every study that has looked at this, that little lump of coal for the average family, the average working family in the middle is going to be much, much larger. the big beneficiaries are people at the top and also large corporations. and people at the top because they own most of large corporations are going to get a double break. >> steve, i want to give you a chance to push back. it's confuse iing for people to understand this. this is from the joint committee on taxation. by 2019, you have one-third of the country with little or no change in their taxes. 2021. you see it rising there.

by 2027, two-thirds of americans really aren't getting much at all. so how do you argue, how do you support the president's argument that this is a big gift to middle class families? >> well, people are really going to feel it right away. in fact, one of the announcements that donald trump made in that press conference you just playeded a clip from was he said they're going to change the with holding tables right away so by february of this year, people are going to start to feel the effect of this. now my friend robert reich said -- >> you need a tax cut, you know, going to be paying less taxes. >> this is my point. robert reich says these are little lumps of coal. no, actually, the average family, if you make two earners and make between 60 and $100,000, you're going to see about 2500 to $3,000 after your taxes. maybe that's not a lot for robert reich, but for a loft families struggling to pay their bills, that's a lot. >> on those numbers because the

numbers, people at home, they're hearing numbers coming from both sides. one side says a few thousand, another side says a few hundred. is it krek that steven moore says that a family in that is going to get 250 because i've seen estimates that show it's just a few hundred dollars. >> you're right and they're all over the place. you have to trust at least the congressional budget committee, the joint tax committee, you know, the tax policy group. they're rep tabl groups that have looked at this carefully and nobody has found a big tax cut for the average, working, middle class family. the most they found, maybe a couple of hundred bucks. don't go into attacks on how much money i or you're going to save. the question is how is this going to help the country. the way you build an economy is investing in education and health care and also the

productivity of average people and an infrastructure. you make people more productive. now instead of trickle down economics, it's rising up economics and that's -- we know this from history. >> just to tee it up, at the end of the day, if i'm sitting home and watching this, corporations get a cut from 35 to 21%. that's a big cut. right? that's not a $000. we're talking hundreds and hurrican hundreds and millions. for americans at home, how is that going to benefit them directly? >> this was always the center piece of the plan was rying to help american businesses be more come ppetitive. every american company is competing on a global marketplace. we have the highest statutory tax in the world. the rest of the world is is closer to 20%. >> just called it a corporate tax cut rather than a cut for middle class. >> that's a good question. we want to help businesses.

by the way, robert, what's wrong with helping american businesses become competitive in whether it's microsoft or apple or federal express or any of these great companies so they can hire more workers? >> they're healthy companies to have good jobs. >> one other thing. >> if they were going to hire -- let me just say one thing. they're 26.5 million small businesses in this country. and as you know, you're the labor secretary, 60% of americans are hired by small businesses. we provide a big tax cut, too. >> just say, we have now in this country, most big corporations, they are make iing more money t ever before. i they don't know what to do with. they are buying their own shares of stock. they are buying other companies. they are inflating executive pay. if you give them more tax cuts,

they're just going to be more involved in buying back their shares of stock and most of that is going to go to executives. >> robert, why is it every other country in the world -- >> we got to -- >> come on. >> i got to leave it here. >> of the united states is just as come ppetitive. why do you say american companies -- >> mr. secretary, unfortunately -- >> they are more competitive. >> we have to leave it there. thanks to both of you as always. "outfront" next, breaking news. new allegations tonight against congressman blake farenthold. he is accused of abused sexist behavior by a male ex staffer and more on omarosa, the woman viewers love to hate, all of a sudden leaving her white house job. why? this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain

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we should warn you, this story is graphic and has many graphic details. m.j. lee is outside with an "outfront" exclusive. what exactly is he alleging? >> we're hearing a new damning account from a former senior capitol hill aide who describes a hostile environment inside farenthold's office. he tells me that farenthold was verbally abusing, made sexually demeaning comments and regularly berated his staff. here's one especially edge greej jo egregio egregious comment that was made. farenthold used a crude term telling him, quote, better have your fiancee do that before she walks down the aisle. it will be the last time. he then joked about whether

ricolla's now wife could wear white on her wedding day, a clear reference to whether she had premarital sex. another says that she was there and remembers the comments. in another disturbing detail, jim, ricolla says congressm farenthold referred to aides as f-tards. every time he didn't like something, he would call me an f-tard or idiot and slam his wrist down in anger and was flying off the handle. he said he did regularly call his aides farenthold and that it was used in gist and not in anger and in hindsight i admit it wasn't appropriate. rekola describes the nine months

as the darkest period of his life and because of the intense stress at one point he says he had chronic stomach pains and was vomiting daily. i should also note that he have interviewed rekola's wife and colleagues and have reviewed correspondents and notes in his own journal that support this story. >> farenthold is already under an ethics investigation. >> that's right. they are investigating the congressman and whether or not he harassed lauren green. what is significant here is rekola has volunteered to help with the ongoing investigation but because the committee does not comment on ongoing investigations, it did not comment.

rekola's decision from a rare male staffer to come against a member of congress because most of the people who have come forward to say, me, too, so far have been women even though aides say capitol hill can be a hostile workplace for both women and men. rekola hopes this sheds light on some one that can be the topic of sexual harassment. he wants staffers on capitol hill to know that they are not alone. >> m.j. lee, thank you for that reporting. "outfront," next, omarosa is out and the secret service is weighing in. cannot live without it.

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twitter to say they did not physically remove her from the white house. tom foreman is "outfront." ♪ >> reporter: on the president's former tv show, she was the player people loved to hate. confrontational, controversial and finally canned. >> omarosa, go out and sell paintings or whatever the hell you're doing. you're fired. >> reporter: now it's happened again. just months after she married and led her 39-person wedding party on the tour of the white house described as disruptive at best, she's resigning from the administration. at least that's the official story and cnn has found nothing to disapprove it. but various other media outlets say she was flatly fired and escorted off the grounds amid profanities. >> he has to defend his wife just as long as he will defend this nation. >> reporter: it's a big come down for a woman who fiercely fought all critics of donald

trump on his way up and as president, too. >> i know it's got to be really, really hard after, you know, the last year and a half of all the things you said about donald to see him sitting in the oval office. >> every critic, every detractor will have to bow down to president trump. it is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe. >> look at my african-american over here. look at him. >> reporter: part of omarosa's role was to answer the bitter accusations that he was too cozy with racists and too distant from minorities. [ applause ] >> reporter: but her vigorous defense often tilted into shouting, as it did during this convention from black journalists. she never backed down. >> i now work for this country and i take my job very seriously. >> reporter: maybe so, but others did not. especially after chief of staff john kell took over. that, according to a former

administration official who told cnn, people have long been unsure what she did at the white house, what values she brought. many of her colleagues are elated at news of her departure. this business of leaving after a year in office is not really that strange, but sources say she had very little contact with the president even as her season was being canceled. jim? >> tom foreman, thank you. i'm jim sciutto. "ac 360" starts right now. good evening. we begin tonight keeping them honest with the president offering a number of excuses for why roy moore lost in alabama, none of them assigning to the president's endorsement of him. the loss is a significant one, of course, for the first time in 25 years alabama, among the reddest of the red states, has elected a democrat, doug jones, the united states senate. alabama overwhelmingly voted for president trump last year. roy moore has not conceded the election, w