welcome to inside politics. i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. 36 hours and counting. republicans move from a big tax cut celebration to a scramble to keep the government open. the white house insists again there are no plans to fire the special counsel once congress leaves town. why do some democrats not buy it. the united nations considers this hour condemning the president's decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. >> america will put our embassy in jerusalem. that is what the american people want us to do and it is the right thing to do. no vote in the united nations will make any difference on that. >> let's begin with that dramatic showdown at the united nations. the general assembly preparing to vote that condemns president trump's decision to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital.

first in the security counsel and now in the full general assembly, critics accuse the white house in taking sides in a dispute that has been central to the conflict. nikki haley insists that's not the case, but also said this is bigger than that. she said believe votes with the clear goal of whacking the united states, whatever the issue will have consequences. >> the united states will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the general assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation. we will remember it when we were called upon to once again make the world's largest contribution to the united nations and we will remember when so many countries come calling on us as they so often do to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit. >> ambassador haley's remarks come a day after president trump suggested nations could lose their foreign aid for the vote.

>> we are watching those votes. let them vote against us. we will save a lot. we don't care. this isn't like it used to be where they can vote against you and you pay them hundreds of millions of dollars and no one know what is they are doing. >> michelle, this is a big confrontation at the united nations. tough talk from the president and ambassador haley. where does it get us? >> we were not sure if nikki haley would speak. we heard her very strong words on monday when the u.s. was standing absolutely alone in the un security counsel. the u.s. has a few more friends today, but nikki haley did speak and didn't pull any punches. she wanted to start right out of the gate by shaming the un. shaming other countries. that is the word she used. she said to its shame, the un has been a hostile for israel and rebuked the un for its stance on israel and ended her

speech by saying that this is something that the u.s. will remember. when i say that the u.s. is here in the un general assembly among a few more friends, her words were very much aligned with israel's. israel spoke after her, talking about this vote being shameful and a vote that should not be happening. the u.s. reiterated that it doesn't really change the final status of jerusalem so there is no need to go to this length. we do expect hungary and the czech republic and canada and australia. not to vote against this resolution that rebukes the united states, but to abstain. other u.s. allies including the uk we are hearing are still deciding how exactly to vote, john. >> michelle kosinski, we will keep an eye on this as the general assembly continues.

thank you for sharing your reporting and your insights. perry bacon of 538 and cnn's lauren fox. two ways to look at this. domestic politics and the united states and israel standing up against the world. president trump said it plays well with his base and he thinks beyond his base. the other way to look at this is what will the international impact be? is the trump white house ready to cutoff aid or reduce dues from the united nations or is this fluster? >> it has been interesting to see the international community adjust to this kind of rhetoric from this administration. it's an extension of the idea that the united states shouldn't pay money into institutions that do not benefit it and putting aside the soft power that has been in place for many, many decades. that's what you are seeing. it's like a grievance based

foreign policy where the united states is saying we will hold a grudge against you if you do this. it's different. we just need to put it in a different category and say let's see how people respond. we saw with the other foreign institutions that we have been a part of that we said okay, we will not pay any more money into this if you don't pay more. they adjusted it and said okay, we will pay a little bit more so you guys can have a win and everybody can be happy. it may very well be that this rhetoric has a reaction to it that is positive even if it doesn't result in the united states suddenly pulling out of the united nations. >> do you see six months or a year from that when we look at this that president trump will say he cut aid to egypt and he scales back, is that going to happen or is this a giant political show?

>> that's a good show, but if you listen to the rhetoric from the administration, there was a shift. he was clearly referring to cutting aid to concern countries. that would mean cuts to egypt and afghanistan and jordan and places where the united states doesn't want to destabilize the situation further. that was unlikely and more likely they would go to the dues route. it's getting a lot of attention because this was a completely nothing vote. non-binding and everyone expects a vote against the united states. it would get a couple of lines in the newspaper. now it's credibility on the national scene. that's not great for the trump administration except this is a shining moment of moral clarity. it's a conventional approach to the united nations. this is much more in line with john bolton under george w. bush. republicans tend to be much more skeptical if not hostile. this falls into a continuum of american policy. >> it would be more than three

lines and a smaller story if the president and his united nations ambassador said let's have a showdown and a stare down at the united nations at the hall of the general assembly. the president obviously thinks this helps him at home. >> these guys have said it fits into the nikki haley campaign. it fits both of their politics pretty well and lines up domestically with where things are going. it's mostly symbolic and i'm skeptical that we are going to cutoff aid or not pay un dues. >> the threats are not as effective as they used to be. countries recognize there is unlikely to be a reaction despite the rhetoric and they roll with the punches. >> let's listen more. haley is making the point that the united nations is here in the united states. that's where it's based and they paid the bigger share. we want more influence and we

want to be the shining light. she is essentially saying our dues are contingent on you agreeing with us. >> when we make generous contributions to the un, we also have a legitimate expectation that our good will is recognized and respected. when a nation is singled out for attack in this organization, that nation is disrespected. what's more, that nation is asked to pay for the privilege of being disrespected. in the case of the united states, we are asked to pay more than anyone else for that dubious privilege. >> let's look as we continue the investigation. we will see what happens and if the united states pulls or reduces payments to the united states. you see the united states pays 22%ed iffed by japan, china, germany, france, and the uk. that's a whopping difference.

japan just under 10%. this administration decided to escalate this fight. this is turkey and yemen i believe putting the resolution forward in the general assembly. they could have tried to downplay it and they decided to raise it. >> this is clearly america first policy. what trump said on the campaign was that america is not getting a fair shake in the world and we are doing all these things and not being appreciated by the allies and countries we are trying to protect. that's why they decided to make this a big show rather than just sort of letting the vote happen and moving on quickly. >> to the point perry made, it's hard not to notice this is the day after a cabinet meeting where the president spoke to him and the secretary of state did not say a word or acknowledge him at all and praised on nikki haley. >> thank you, that was the right message and you and i agreed on that yesterday. i had a lot of good comment on

it. people are tired of the united states and the people that live here are great citizens and love this country. they are tired of this country being taken advantage of and we are not going to be taken advantage of any longer. >> it's an interesting personnel moment, if you would. the secretary of state as you know for months has a frosty relationship at best with the president. the president doesn't say a word about him. >> the secretary of state who has a frosty relationship with nikki haley sits there as his nemesis is being praised by the president. it's all a reality show drama. what it reflects is that the president feels like nikki haley is representing him accurately on the world stage which is something he doesn't always feel tillerson does. tillerson sometimes free lances and goes further than he wants him to go and is running parallel policy objectives. nikki haley from the verbal

perspective says the word disrespect disrespected, that is a trump word. he does not want this country disrespected on the world stage. the fact that she said this is coming right out of the president's brain and out of her mouth. >> we will keep an eye on the vote. the u.s. will be rebuked and what's the margin of the vote? we will bring you the result if it happens this hour. the president tries to keep the government open, but to avert a crisis doesn't mean we will have a messy dibait. things come in t. like t-mobile and netflix. right now when you get an unlimited family plan, netflix is included. wow t-mobile covers your netflix subscription, so you can catch the hottest new movies and shows all year long on us. amazing and it's your last chance to buy any of these hot new samsung galaxy phones and get a 2nd one free. that's one samsung for you and one to gift. just in time to finish off your list. t-mobile...holiday twogether.

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>> welcome back and we move on to a count down and a reminder, not that you needed one, disfunction in abundant supply in washington, d.c. 36 hours until the government runs oust money and they don't have a firm plan. house republicans promised more details and the president is giving them a big nudge. he tweeted house democrats want to shut down for the holidays to

distract from the popular just passed tax cuts. the president went on to say house republicans, don't let this happen. pass the cr to keep our government open. that means continuing resolution. that keeps the government open instead of passing a budget. it would be cosmic if a government shut down happens. don't mistake it as an bipart saj wish of how to do that. across the aisle between democrats and republicans and the conference. just a few of the unresolved issues, they want to shore up obamacare after the president said he just broke its back. are they willing to blow a bigger hole in the deficit for the disaster relief. if they want the so-called dreamers to stay, give them amnesty. will they come up with more money for chip? all need to be answer and most probably won't be by this time tomorrow. that is the big question. how much did they decide they

can do because there are quick sanded hand grenades in the issues we are dealing with. how much did they decide they can do and how much did they say skip it, we can push it off until the middle of january. >> they will be skipping a lot. they said they will push the health care debate which is a big one for the senator like susan colins in maine. they are also going to push off immigration and they are going to perhaps have to push off even really a big debate about the spy program with the fisa program. that is a big question of how much they are going to be able to get done. it's going to look like the bear minimum and they are not sure how much to do that. >> just to let viewers know, if the united states criticizes any government that takes side ogs the jerusalem question, they will get past the united nations. we will bring that back to you as we continue the conversation.

to lauren's point, they promised they would pass budgets like they used to. they haven't passed a budget like it's supposed to work since bill clinton was president. that will care over to 2018. a deficit question and obamacare fixes question. in a year in which republicans are trying to protect the majorities and you see the beginnings of a democratic wave because of the president's unpopularity. huh? >> it says that donald trump is right on the politics. a shut down will be terrible. it would be the npr. the smartest thing to do is pass in a short-term and push everything to next year. the core of it is there is a big part of their caucus. the rand pauls and the freedom caucus that cuts a lot of spending. a lot of the republicans don't like it either. the constant cr almost shut down, we keep going to this same

cycle about how much spending to cut and how. >> a shut down would be disastrous for everybody because most of america doesn't like this town and still thinks and town would mess up a free lunch. the republicans, i get it. it has been hard for them. why didn't they deal with one or two of them. >> they cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. that's the truth. they can only deal with one big thing at a time. politically this makes a lot of sense. they needed to do taxes and deliver something before the end of the year so they can say they have actually been working for their paycheck. at the same time they have tougher decisions to make. those decisions are even tougher now because they didn't pay for their tax bill. they are facing the prospect of having to deal with other issues or negotiate with democrats on other issues. they just don't have a lot of political capital to do that kind of thing and as the point,

they are pushing it off into a period of time that will make it more difficult because fewer and fewer republicans are going to want to take hard votes on some of this stuff next year. >> i want to stop the conversation for a second. i mentioned moments ago, a resolution passed critical of the united states. it doesn't mention the united states by name and criticizes president trump's decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. they said the united states is going beyond the bounds. putting its thumb on the scale on an issue that is suppose to be left to final status negotiations between the israelis or the palestinians. 128 nations voted in favor and nine voted against it. 35 abstained. our cnn contributor john kirby is with us. what does this mean? >> this is a big rebuke to the trump administration and the decision to announce jerusalem as the capital and the fact that they will move their embassy there. it's not unexpected. i think you can tell that the trump administration knew the vote was going to go

resoundingly against them by the way they reacted and threatened yesterday. here importantly it's symbolic, but tangible realistic practical out come here. one, it will make it very, very difficult for the peace process to move forward in any meaningful way. this gives life to the palestinians's clant that the system has been rigged against them. they are not going to give incentive to move forward on this. number two, it further isolates the united states from the international community. they talk about america first and this is actually america alone. it is another foreign policy issue where the united states stand apart from the rest of the world. that's not good for our influence overseas. >> how likely do you think it is that the president actually will retaliate and the words we heard from ambassador haley whether as the president suggested direct foreign aid to countries who

spearheaded this or saying fine, we won't pay 20% anymore and we are picking a lower number. >> it's rather unlikely. i can't say he won't do something. he will feel he has to because the vote was resoundingly against him, but hopefully cooler heads will prevail and they won't cutoff their nose to spite their face. it's not clear whether he is talking about foreign military sales or aid through usaid. that helps us influence overseas and promote stability there and keep problems from coming home to us. it gives us a vote at the table as these countries move forward on reform and programs. the last thing you want to do is pull back out of spite and leave a vacuum for countries like china which would only too gladly fill that with their own contributions to our detriment. >> appreciate your insights.

you have been at this a long time. it makes a rational case that you end up hurting yourself and your prestige around the world. that creates a place for the u.s. to step in and be the lead partner. that's a logical rational case. will the trump administration follow it? >> that's a good question. there are questions of other countries pulling back is a real one. it's a real thing. the only problem i have is no one thought that the peace process was in great shape. no one thought that he was the president. we were on the cusp of a major breakthrough even though the white house will release the peace plan sometime in the next month or so. >> it's interesting to watch. he delays the trip in case he was needed for the tax vote. what kind of reception does he get? which nine voted against this and who were the 35 who

abstained? that's important because the final result was not that much of a prize. everyone knew it was heading towards a major majority. >> the president always said when he gets punched he counter punches. i can get you against the list. these are the votes against abstention and includes traditional ally who is agree, but did not want to publicly cast a vote condemning it. we will keep an eye on that debate. selling the tax plan, the house nancy pelosi already has her know one-liner ready. >> anybody who is familiar with frankenstein knows the creation, the monster was created. you know the ending of the story. the monster comes back to destroy. . today's senior living communities have never been better,

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welcome back to the biggest legislative accomplishment and he calls the greatest christmas present to the american people is on his way to the desk. he officially enrolled down to the president and expected the signing itself over the holidays. the republicans's next challenge? convincing skeptical americans that this is good news. they blame elitist commentators for minimizing the benefits to the middle class. >> the average family of four in

wisconsin will get in excess of a $2,000 tax cut. that's real swallow real people living paycheck to paycheck. this is going to give the american economy the jolt of energy it needs to give people the opportunity they deserve. >> they make the case that they are correct, but the republicans are celebrating by a handful of major companies that they will distribute some tax savings to employees. higher bonuses or higher wages. part of a big move for the administration to say see, we told you so. anything they can do and where do we go from here? this is a win for the president and a win for speaker ryan and a win for leader connell and proof that after months of dysfunction, the republicans can stay and pass something big. the american people are skeptical. they will be skeptical of

anything done by congress. can they by october of next year convince the american people this is actually good? >> i think i really think taxes will almost by osmosis become more popular. people will get more money next year. i think the american people are evaluating a broader set of issues. if it were the economy, we would see congress and the president's approval ratings in a different place. congress needs to do other things that are harder than just giving people more money and spending $1.5 trillion without necessarily paying for it. that's where the real test will be about whether or not they can move their agenda forward. frankly despite what the president said about rolling back obamacare, that's not what happened. there is going to be a real challenge of stabilizing the insurance situation for americans. that's harder than saying we

repealed it which he did not do. i think it's going to be a broader question of the agenda. where do they go from here? it's going to be much harder. much harder. >> here's the competition. mid-term elections are almost always about the president. almost always. in 2017, good hints that 2018 will be a traditional mid-term election season. if you are the president, you think i'm not getting enough credit. unemployment at a 17-year low. growth hit a big high of 3.2%. the president wants those numbers to win. but despite those numbers, this is the nab drives mid-term elections. do you approve of the president's performance? 35% say yes and 59% say no. that is the number. if the president's disa previously? when we get to the last week, there is going to be a wave. >> republicans are very

confident they can sell this tax bill. that's what majority leader mcconnell said if we can't sell this, we better get different jobs. what they are worried about is whether or not the president continues to govern like he has. whether this behavior continues. they can't control that. they can only control the a judge enda they have on capitol hill. tax cuts will likely get more popular. they say this was a windfall for corporations and not normal americans. a lot of them feel burden about $500 or $1,000 in their pocket. >> the big challenge is in the 30 this to 35 to 40 house districts that will decide for his replacement or for nancy pelosi that will decide who controls the senate. we will have these conversations. if the president stays at 59% disapproval, none of that matters. >> this is an amazing number and how good they are. look at the approval ratings and

hor horrible they are. he is the most unpopular first year president. hard to imagine they start doing that. until he suspends the erratic behavior and until his behavior changes, i think it's going to be a real problem. the only thing the bill could do is for democrats and independents, it could help stir up the numbers with republicans. if they want to see something done and you need your base with elections. his base was not there in al bam a. >> with the republican-leaning districts where they could get wiped out and could get republicans to come out. that's the key question. they talked to the white house. they say the president loves this win and he's happy and goes into the new year encouraged and he will be on the road all of 2018. if you are in a competitive

district or state, you say no, no, no. >> writing in the "wall street journal" today. if mr. trump barn storms, his unpopularity will rub off. if he tries to recreate last year's campaign by holding one will ray after another. if the president wants to help his party, he should lower his profile. the odds on that are negative. >> that last bit about lowering his political is that he is in people's faces and on twitter and everything about this president permeates people's homes and lives. it's not just the barn storming, but the fact that he is constantly creating news and drama. that's part of the political profile that a lot of republicans want him to turn down in addition to the fact that many of them don't want him in. >> we have seen what the president wants.

this is the big one whether you oppose or favor it. after months and months of frustration. what he likes after big wins is this. >> i know i speak on behalf of the cabinet and millions of americans when i say congratulations and thank you. >> this has been a year of extraordinary accomplishment for the trump administration. >> thank you for seeing through the course of this year the agenda that is restoring this country. >> you are living up to everything i thought you would. you are one heck of a leader. >> i am deeply humbled as your vice president to be able to be here. >> something this big and generational and this profound could not have been done without exquisite presidential leadership. mr. president, thank you. >> thank you, mr. president. >> that praise when the speaker calls back and said remember how

much i praised you? please don't travel. not going to happen? the presidential amount will stay out of the way while the tax writer is in the bill. that was an interesting message. probably correct. please recede from the frontlines a little bit. how many americans remember that obama's stimulus was like 35% tax cuts. how did that serve them in the mid-terms? he is not going to recede. republicans would love for him to step off twitter. get out of his own way and become more orthodox in his hailing of politics. they have been going on since he announce and it's never happened. >> it is a wasted resolution if that's your new year's resolution. pick something else. >> up next, senator mark warner

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a quick update on a story we talked about earlier. the house and the senate need to keep the government up and running. the house is scheduled to vote on a continuing resolution that keeps the government running, funded through the middle of january. separately vote on an $81 billion disaster relief bill. those votes scheduled in the house and they go over to the senate where they passed what the house sent over or it could

get messy. the process begins at 4:30 this afternoon in the house. back to other stories, the president getting a clear warning. mark warner said he will sleep with one eye open over the holiday recess because he is worried the president may try to fire robert mueller. >> any attempt by this president to remove special counsellor mueller or to pardon key witnesses in an effort to shield them from accountability or shut down the investigation would be a gross abuse of power. these truly are red lines and simply cannot allow them to be crossed. >> after that speech, he told cnn he is concerned the president will move to fire mueller or undermine the investigation while congress is away for the holidays. the white house said he is sure

this is partisan nonsense and if the media is going to continue to ask for this, the white house has stated there is no consideration of firing the special couple and the white house willingly affirms as they have every day this week, there is no consideration being given for determination. that's the question in town. does mark warner know something we don't know or is he the reckless partisan trying to spread this up? >> at least we know to me that statement was maybe the strongest worded statement the white house put out on the issue thus far. it leaves very little wiggle room. we will see up until this point there has been no indication that that's going to happen. what warner was responding to was this clamoring from the outside among the president's friends on people that he listens to on fox news who said fire mueller and fire him now. i'm not sure that ty cobb can

control what the president does with the input of people on the outside. that's been the problem for white house aides. >> you wrote a great piece about this whole different pieces of what is clearly from allies of the president, some people and a lot of republicans in congress and whether it's fox news or other conservative media, efforts to undermine the integrity and raise doubts about bob mueller. >> the firing could happen and i would not rule anything out with trump. from fox news, the republicans in the hill and the strategy to undermine. the question is judgment and to raise doubt and make it clear to mueller that if you indict jared kushner. it's more like questioning and raising doubt with republicans. the polls show right now about half the republicans view mueller as running an unfair investigation. it they get the to 90s or 80s,

that's different. we are seeing an effort to make the special prosecutor a figure who the base hates. >> do you think that bob mueller is conducting a fair investigation. 58% said yes. among republicans 48% say it's not fair. let's listen. if you turn on and follow debates in congress when key witnesses are call, you hear a lot of questions saying is bob mueller doing this right? >> a special counsel's investigation is damaged at least in his reputation when we found out it was filled with democratic partisans. >> i would think he would want to eliminate challenges to the integrity of his investigation. >> when you look at what they did with respect to the hillary clinton investigation it was rigged. >> the mueller investigation has been proven to be biased and it's time for bob mueller to put up or shut up if there is

evidence of collusion, let's see it. if not, let's move on as a country. >> it's effective in the sense that the pro trump echo chamber says this is not right. he is overstepping his bounds and it's partisan and tainted. i would argue that's a good political argument, but if there are more plea deals and charges, you move from the court of public continue into the court of law, that goes away. >> republican voters just seem not to be caring as much about what is actually happening in the investigation and more about that echo chamber. when you are listening to that over and over, it becomes clear that perhaps depending on whatever mueller finds, it could be delegitimized. whatever the out come is, there is a question of what happened. >> if you are the vice president of the united states, if you go on fox news, you have to answer this.

>> have you been interviewed by the mueller team? >> we have not. we are fully cooperating with the special counsel and will continue to. i have to tell you, it's just not been a focus of mine or of this president. >> of this president part, you can look at twitter or go back -- again, to your point there. you have a very clear, increasingly clear statement that said we are not considering this. is there any scenario that even people close to the president said he will get to mar a lago and not have the senior staff around. is there any scenario where he changes the state of play or does he have to suck it up and see where it gos? >> i think people have given up on predicting what trump will do. at this very moment, he accepts the theory which is being promulgated by his attorneys. the investigation is coming to a

close sooner rather than later and they have not found any collusion and so just let it be and run its course and we will be done with this in a few weeks or months. so far that's what they have got. it's also worth noting with all of this chatter, the president cited hillary clinton and the handling of the investigation when he fired comey. he said comey mishandled it by putting out that statement on the eve of the election that a lot of democrats say cost hillary clinton the election. to come back now months later and say hillary clinton should have been indicted is really contradicting everything this administration said. that's a separate problem, but worth mentioning every time this comes up. >> having covered the white house is another one of these a long, long time ago. it depends on your definition of sooner. senator al franken's farewell speech on the senate floor and a

parting shot at the president. ♪ ♪ give a little bit ♪ ♪ give a little bit... -hello. ♪ give a little bit... ♪ ... of your love to me oh, haha. ♪ there's so much that we need to share ♪ ♪ so send a smile and show that you care ♪ ♪ i'll give a little bit of my love to you ♪

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represents a slap in the face to those forgotten men and women. i guess the president forgot about that. >> he will be forgotten soon. he said he is not going to leave public life. he packs up and gets out. >> this is an example of how much democrats struggled with this discussion. you saw it after roy moore lost the race in alabama and democrats were saying maybe we should have done an investigation rather than coming out and supporting him resigning and there is a lot of heartburn on the democratic side. he was going to stay a little longer. he announced more recently he was leaving. >> if you are going to go, go. >> it's important to know that this is one small example of a bigger problem that is the dealing with all the allegations. there has to be a process put in

place and broad base reforms and everything time something like this comes up, it's a partisan push and pull. in this case al franken ended up on the other end and others were just -- the rest of that conversation will continue for what's left this year and carry over to next year as well. wolf blitzer in the chair after a quick break. have a good day. he's a nascar champion who's she's a world-class swimmer who's stared down the best in her sport. but for both of them, the most challenging opponent was...

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hello, i'm wolf blitzer and it's 1:00 p.m. in washington. wherever you are watching for around the world, thanks very much for joining us. ambassador nikki haley issuing a direct threat to countries as more than 100 countries speak out against the president to move the em bass tow jerusalem and recognize that city as israel's capital. a growing battle