>> welcome to inside politics. i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. off to mar a lago for christmas. the president said it's his big resolution and he predicts there will be bipartisan dealing. plus, friend or foe. the president's united nations ambassador said she is making a list and checking the votes. it's official, the president signed the tax cut plan today and it also repeals the obamacare coverage mandate adding this 2018 election year challenge for the president's party. >> obamacare essentially it ultimately leads to the end of obamacare. i think obamacare is over because of that. we will come up with something that will be very good. many people thought it should have been overturned in the supreme court. didn't quite make it, but almost. now we are overturning the individual mandate.

the most unpopular thing in obamacare. >> the big year end achievement. tax reform is done. signing into law without the hoopla for what republicans consider the crown jewel. the president had an explanation. >> i watched the news this morning and they were all saying will he keep his promise? will he sign it by christmas. but will he sign it by christmas. i called downstairs and i said get it ready, we have sign it now. we were going to wait until january seventh or 8th, but every one of the net works were saying will he keep his promise and will he sign it before christmas? i immediately called and said let's get it ready. >> the president happy there to paint himself as a man of action after a curiously quiet morning from the white house about how it would play out. 15 minutes before he was scheduled to fly off for the christmas holiday.

now the normal trappings of a big signing ceremony leaving paul ryan and senator mcconnell behind him. he saluted what he said is this bill's greatness. >> this is the bill right here. we are very proud of it. it's going to be a tremendous thing for the american people. it will be fantastic for the economy. i consider this very much a bill for the middle class and a bill for jobs. and jobs are produced through companies and corporations. suey that happening. corporations are literally going wild over this. even beyond my expectation. >> in the oval office there and a bit earlier, the president making clear he doesn't think he is getting enough credit for what he views as a pretty big first year in office. >> the country is doing very well. we tremendously cut regulation. legislative approvals for which i'm given no credit in the mainstream media. we have i believe it's 88 which

is number one in the history of our country. second now is harry truman. harry truman had more legislative approvals than any other president. a record long held. we beat him on legislative approvals for which i get no credit. we have more legislative victories than any other president. not including this, but this is the capper. this is again the biggest tax cut, biggest reform of all time. >> it's a big day. with us to share their reporting, sarah murray. cnn's manu. let's start with that moment and expand out to what it means for the big effort moment. the president spending his holiday. why did they do it this way? why not a big signing ceremony. he could have scheduled it differently. >> it was funny and normally you would be with leader mcconnell. you would be signing the bill

and offering them pens. he offers the pens to members of the media who were in the room and he didn't have his partners in this legislating process with him. it was a bizarre way to do this, but the president wanted to get this done before he left for florida and it seemed like an opportunity to be honest and dodge questions from the press. whether he would do a press conference along with the signing of this legislation. by doing it in a quieter way and inviting the small pool of reporter, he had this broader scene with the press conference which was what they were toying with doing. >> from the beginning to the end of the year, the president will have an active week i'm sure. while he is in mar a lago. he could have had a big signing ceremony at the white house and gone out to a small business somewhere in the country and tried to make the case that this is good for america. >> it seems so typical of this president. the impulsiveness and

spontaneity and short-term thinking and being extremely reactive to what he just saw on tv. he is being extremely honest with us and the american tv. i saw something on tv and it bugged me and we will do it now. it also meant he did it alone. he didn't share credit with anybody. to the extent that republican leaders felt this was their achievement too and they did all the heavy lifting and they don't get to stand there with the president while he signs the legislation as a result of hard work, there may be grumbling about that. >> they made a key point about how to sell this. that will be the challenge come 2018. they will have to sell this and explain why this major legislative victory means a lot and it can help voters. their vehicle in the majority in a lot of ways will be the one thing that they are campaigning on. they got this done. they have to convince a skeptical american public that this is good for them and

convince them to keep them in power right now. things are not looking good for them come 2018. this is what they have to sell. the one way is going into the country and selling it. >> i'm going out on a and saying the president not only needs to sell it to the country, but members of his own party on the hill who are already losing this euphoria they were feeling on wednesday. i was speaking yesterday to tom roone when they passed this short-term bill for three weeks a day after this ceremony at the white house on the tax bill. he was fuming and saying this is the epitome of a government that does not work. we are here cheering a three-week government funding bill. how is this an achievement? they didn't pass disaster and didn't do a spending deal. i think the president has to be talking to his own party and reminding them to talk about this instead of other things. >> you hear the president's frustration and if you are a trump supporter, you blame us for some of this and maybe something else. if you are a critic, he is full

of hyperbole. i'm sorry, mr. president, your record does not match harry truman. a lot of them were big victories. you have one achievement and that's the tax cut plan unless you consider the russia sanctions, but the president does not like that bill. what about the moment? he thinks they have done a lot. he did get a supreme court justice and did get a record with lower federal court judges. he goes to mar a lago as the least popular first term president in the history of polling. >> this is one of the things that is extremely frustrating to him and the notion that he doesn't get credit for what he achieved so far. also the notion that he ran on a guy who had improved opportunities. he looks at the campaign for talking about immigration and economic opportunity for americans. when he looks at the jobs numbers and gdp and where the stock market is at and looks at passing tax reform and reducing

regulation, he said i had an extremely successful year on that part of the promises i made. why am i not getting credit in the media and washington and why don't people love sidney the reality is people have been unable to set aside their visceral feelings about the president and his style and the way he behaves and the things he said about people to embrace the economic accomplishments and they are good economic numbers in the way we would expect from a traditional president. traditionally if a president is looking at jobs numbers like this they are sitting well. that's not true of trump. >> that's the flip side of what we went through in the sense a lot of the proposals were not popular, but the president was popular. people liked him and his numbers stayed up. with president trump, they don't like him. anything with his name on it polls poorly. one of the smartest people in the business wrote this in a year end memo. he is the democrat and the

democratic republican partnership and they did a ton of focus 2k3wr50u7s with voters. donald trump lost the support and respect of a majority of americans in his first year as president. in 2017 americans hoped the trump era would be about changing washington and the old established order, but they did not sign on. 2017 found americans feeling they are living constantly on edge instead of being a unified force or a stable leader, he has been an unnerving presence. that's a harsh look. she giving the data and giving a straight forward assessment there. ouch. >> that's what i hear talking to people around the country and that's what you see in a lot of polls that despite the economic stability, people really feel the sense of uncertainty. there is a huge number of american who is feel the country is on the wrong track and that number increased since the election. it hasn't gone down. a huge majority feel the president is dividing the country rather than bringing the country together.

we see trump support softening as the opposition to him hardens. that strong disapproval number in some polls over 50%. that's remarkable. people are not able to ignore the ways that the president behaves. given that the president is the one in charge of his behavior, i'm not sure why he would expect them to. >> he hasn't done much to bring them together. they have gone after opponents in stark terms. in the achievements that occurred are ones his base loves and the reason why they have been happy with him. he is 30 to 36% of hard core supporters. judicial nominees is loved by the base and getting to the supreme court and loved by the conservative base. the bill is something that the core constituency appreciates as well. what he accomplished as done well for the supporters, but to the middle of the country or the folks in the middle who are not democrats and independent voters

are they are not sold yet. >> as he goes off for christmas and he goes off to the holidays to reflect, assuming he does reflect, are lessons learned? he thought he learned a lesson that he stayed out of the minutia. they sent things off the rails by getting involved when the leaders didn't want to get involved or in a way they didn't want to get involved? how to be a better deal maker and legislator and all these accounts today about this contentious meeting with the political team about how to handle it going into 2018. what should the strategy be and how much should the president travel and they are having a lot of back stabbing and infighting. >> from the hill standpoint, i heard republicans give him compliments in lessons learned on the tax bill in particular. he tried to take a more aggressive approach in terms of campaigning and talking about the tax bill around the country and didn't do a lot of attacking when he heard people were not

going to vote for the bill. he tried to get them to come around. senator torquer came around and the way he worked with susan collins was interesting. a moderate who had problems with the repeal bill. he was not attacks her, but instead the white house said if you vote for this, we will back the idea of propping up the obamacare subsidies next year. that was more of a cooperation approach. he thinks he will be valuable and dean helder in nevada who needs trump to get out of the primary, but trump could be a liability in a general election. how do you balance that? that will be a remarkable thing on how to deploy trump. >> the president timeouts what he got done in 2017, but congress has a lot on their plate early next year. republicans want to get an early start with the president over the holidays.

>> do you have plans to visit mar a lago over the holidays. >> no. no. i'm going to a bowl game in jacksonville. rus out there that's been almost forgotten. it's hepatitis c. one in 30 boomers has hep c, yet most don't even know it. because it can hide in your body for years without symptoms, and it's not tested for in routine blood work. the cdc recommends all baby boomers get tested. if you have hep c, it can be cured. for us it's time to get tested. ask your healthcare provider for the simple blood test. it's the only way to know for sure.

(laughter on tv) when it's finally sunday and you've got no plans but with your comfy pants... (alert chime on phone) keep it simple with marie callender's roasted turkey & stuffing. tender turkey with stuffing, creamy mashed potatoes, and made from scratch gravy. spoiler alert, things are about to get good. (click, laughter on tv) because me time calls for marie callender's.

>> welcome back. congressional republicans said celebrate now, suffer later. by choosing to keep the government open, they gave themselves a christmas present, a prolonged victory lap on tax reform and set the stage for a rude return to washington. a long laundry list of unresolved issues of cracking the veneer. more spending issues and immigration and government surveillance. republicans know they are walking straight into quick sand. mark meadows sounds somber and told this to the "wall street journal." i'm not optimistic. there will be a lot of conservative wins in the month of january. that was a conscious decision. let's get the bill and celebrate and do as you just did, the

three or four week keep the government spending open. that's not exactly your government at work. when they walk back, the republican party is going to have to deal with immigration. spending and deficits and funding. the president saying we have to come back and fix obamacare. not exactly what they want to do any time let alone on election year. they saw where every republican was hanging out at the white house praising the president. the party will be divided. they will be divided over a fixed deal with daca and the huge issue among conservative voters in particular. they will come back and deal with a lot of things and this is going to distract from the victory they have given the mess they will have to deal with.

a government shut down can be worse. >> can i say that quote from mark meadows is interesting to me. in a way the best case scenario for the house republicans is that the freedom caucus is resigned to not winning a lot of these battles. if they are signalling that they are willing to play ball and not put up a fight and the conservative wing is willing to go along with the majority of the house caucus and the moderate and liberal republican members, that makes things a lot easier for paul ryan. the problem is if the conservatives put up a big fuss as they did when a democrat was in the white house. less so with a republican in the white house. on the spending things and immigration, it can be do they put up a big fight or not. >> to 2018, we will have the conversations and some of them are useless. where are the contested races and if you are a suburban

republican and you watched what happens in new jersey and alabama, you are saying let's do daca and funding and let's move towards the center, if you will. if you air southern republican or conservative rural republican, the daca fix is amnesty. that's the challenge they will have. some and does it turn back into the republican party? >> yes. where the conference is divided. the majority do want to tackle the issues or take a hard line on daca. do not raise spending without offsets. if they do this, they will rally the base and say we stuck it to democrats. there are a lot of swing state republicans in the house and a bunch of senators who say this is not realistic.

i don't see how they do anything like entitlement reform. they'll say and remember these house members, most of them come from safe and a lot of them will be on the ballot. 500,000 people and the lines are drawn by favorable legislation. paul ryan said we will do entitlements and he said uh-uh. >> the only observation about entitlement reform. i have been here a while. the only time we have been able to do that is on a bipartisan basis. it was a long time ago. we are going to talk about this in a couple of weeks and we will have more to say.

i'm not making them cast a vote. i will have to run in a place like nevada. a lot of this in the house and maybe this is snarky, but theater. if you are a house number, you want to say i voted for it. you want to say i voted for this thing. there is nothing wrong with having the vote. with democrats, they have no inclination to participate in something like that, it's a pipe dream. that's a great thing to fight for. we know it's one of his own personal passions and maybe a reason for him to stick around as house speaker longer than he would otherwise. but come on.

they thought they were going to get a deal this year and democrats promised it to their base, but -- >> i intend that we will not leave here without the dream act passing. with a daca fix. i made that very clear. >> insisting that the daca issue get addressed this year. >> this is the last year -- that they kick the can down into january. it's this year extended. that's what it is. >> she is just trying to wave it off, but the progressive base is furious and they want results like republicans. they want results quickly in the new year. >> pelosi and the democratic caucus did not vote for the short-term spending bill because they wanted daca included in the bill that kept the government open. senate democrats were split on that particularly those who wanted to not be tagged by

opposing the spending bill. this will be a real issue for them especially to get a deal in the senate. you could presume that's not going to satisfy a lot of these progressives in the house. it's going to require consensus and there has been no consensus. >> one of the question, what does the president want? what do democrats have to give to get? up next for us, a past am bombshell in the russia investigation gets new attention. chaos out here! gale force winds, accumulations up to 8 inches... ...don't know if you can hear me, but [monica] what's he doing? [lance] can we get a shot of this cold front, right here. winter has arrived. whooo! hahaha [vo] progress is an unstoppable force. brace yourself for the season of audi sales event. audi will cover your first month's lease payment on select models during the season of audi sales event.

>> welcome back. the former fbi director getting an early christmas gift from the halls of capitol hill.

the deputy director told congressional investigators that comey did inform him of conversations he had soon after the conversations happened. over the course of 16 hours, mccabe's testimony said he could corroborate comey's claim that he asked for a pledge of loyalty. president trump disputed that which is central to the question they are exploring. whether the decision to fire comey was part of an effort to obstruct justice. speak of the house investigations, nancy pelosi is worried about the state of those probes sending this letter to paul ryan. democrats are deeply concerned about the majority's efforts to curtail the investigation and the overall failure to address russia's meddling. we expect you will take urgent action to ensure this can continue and justice can pursue unhindered. let's start your part of the

reporting on deputy mccabe. it was contentious and republicans want to get at him and think he was biased. let's get to that in a minute. in terms of backing up comey. >> it could be very significant in this investigation. the mueller probe goes forward and he will see what comey said to other people in the conversations. the president disputed having these conversations with comey and even suggesting according to comb's's public testimony that he urged him to back off the michael flynn investigation and he asked for a pledge of loyalty which the president disputed on several occasions. here is andrew mccabe under oath to the house intelligence committee earlier this week asked specifically about this and said that yes, comey did tell me that soon after it occurred. comey gave his contemporaneous account to mccape. we do also know that comey said

publicly there have been multiple people he informed about this. other people could back up comey's account. there could be more than one person saying what comey said at least was accurate at that time. we will see if the president agrees to say the same thing under oath. >> if we get to a point where the president is interviewed, he said it didn't happen. you have comey, mccabe and several others with years of experience. comey took notes and briefed people right away and gnaw what he was doing. so that it was on the official record. let's move on to the other issue. i was watching another network that i refer to as state tv here. they were not touching that part of the story because of who it involves, but they were saying that mccabe is one of the people who they view as tainted. they are working behind closed doors. if the republicans have a case, if they have a case that whether it's deputy director mccabe or other people not sending a few

foolish text melszages, but they are working with bias. will they have a public hearing or behind closed door meetings? >> public hearings for sure, doi believe. devin nunez with the house intelligence chairman and a trump loyalist. we reported out this week he started this sort of secret investigation beyond only his committee's investigation. it's an investigation specifically aimed at looking at criminal actions in the fbi. now, there are a lot of republicans who are very uncomfortable with this. it created this divide in the house about whether or not trying to discredit this investigation is going to bar a questioning and making people question a law enforcement agency that is one of the most respected in the country. nunez is a dog with a bone right now and they are trying to discredit these folks in order to protect trump. >> just saying you are

investigating undermines their confidence and my point is if they have something, bring it out. we should see it. if they are trying to change the subject, that's reckless. >> that's really the question. is this an attempt to muddy the waters and create confusion? you see as you mentioned the echo chamber of right wing media really presenting this one-sided portrait and that is much more about persuading the public rather than coming up with a matter that congress could investigate and do something about. it is about convincing the public there is nothing to see. >> to a point, it works. speaker pelosi writes that she wants the investigation to continue. the senate investigation and the intelligence committee needs more credibility in town among people of all parties. the investigation that counts is robert mueller who is operating in the court system. the russia investigation is a serious matter or an effort to

discredit trump. 93% said it's a serious matter. 78% of republicans say it's an effort to discredit trump. this attacking the institutions and the investigators and the prosecutors works. >> it absolutely works during the clinton era too. you saw how effective that is. i think that's that it's easy for republicans to follow the same playbook. there are broader concerns about ma what it does to the fabric of society. to under mine the institution of the nbi. that is a broader concern about what nunez is doing and even among republicans. you are right. the house could continue and close their investigation early and they could reach their own conclusion and what matters ultimately is what mueller finds. it will still be difficult for republicans in town to completely dismiss that and even

if their base believes this is all just a joke. >> expect next year house republicans in particular to focus on the clinton e-mail investigation which was why mccabe was behind closed doors with the two joint committees yesterday asked about how they handled it. they believe it was not handled properly and what he gave was fuel to the concerns that she was treated favorably a& probaby shame the narrative. >> watch the open house in the senate and senator burr potentially the prosecutor himself. if these figures start to and i don't think you see those types of members doing anything like that. right now the dynamics will be

interesting. >> it's a great point and it will be an even numbered year and election year. sometimes that influences behavior. up next, why the former ci achieve said some of the president's remarks mirror those of a nars sichtic vengeful autocrat. she's nationally recognized for her compassion and care. he spent decades fighting to give families a second chance. but to help others, they first had to protect themselves. i have afib.

even for a nurse, it's complicated... and it puts me at higher risk of stroke. that would be devastating. i had to learn all i could to help protect myself. once i got the facts, my doctor and i chose xarelto®. xarelto®... to help keep me protected. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner... ...significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. it has similar effectiveness to warfarin. xarelto® works differently. warfarin interferes with at least 6 blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor interacting with less of your body's natural blood-clotting function. for afib patients well-managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase risk of stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. get help right away for unexpected bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. if you've had spinal anesthesia, watch for back pain

or any nerve or muscle-related signs or symptoms. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures... ...and before starting xarelto®-about any conditions, such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. it's important to learn all you can... ...to help protect yourself from a stroke. talk to your doctor about xarelto®. there's more to know™.

other stories on the political radar, doug jones of alabama, a democrat moves on and not from the issues that colored

it. i think the people of alabama voted for me to put me up there to try to talk about health care and the issues. that doesn't mean that the women are not important. they are. >> a little clean up from the senator-elect. roy moore still has not conceded. president trump aboard air force 1 headed to to florida, mar a lago. today will be the 106th day the president spent at a trump property. across his resorts in florida, new jersey and virginia. the russian president vladimir putin describing the newly laid out national skruecurity with o word. aggressive. >> the surksusa has presented t

new strategy and diplomatically speaking if i can put it into words, it is an attacking nature and if we use military terms, it's no doubt aggressive. we need to take that into account in our practical work. >> president putin talking about what he calls violations of cold war era. he said they are a new thread to russia. the countries see things the other way around. nikki haley following through on her promise to take names after they voted overwhelmingly to condemn president trump's decision to recognize the capital of israel. she went an invitation to the friendship reception. among the list of those invited nine names including honduras and israel who voted with the united states. nations that abstained or didn't cast a vote were also invited. the president suggested a vote

against the united states could mean losing foreign aid. interesting week for ambassador haley. what do we make of it? >> this is one of the interesting -- it goes beyond nikki haley, but watching the reverberations gets that this administration laid down in the first year. there is a lot of destabilizing gestures made. they haven't had an effect yet because the ripples take a while to reach the edge of the pond to extend a weird metaphor. in the middle east there is continuing reaction. what effects does it have in 2018. the president's strategy is very aggressive towards russia and china. what do they do to respond to it? the moves he made that had the nato countries beefing up their defenses because they don't think they can rely on the u.s. all of this and of course the rhetoric with regard to north korea. in 2018 we will see does the

u.s. follow-through on the threats it made? does the president start that trade war he keeps wanting? what are the concrete effects of all of these policies that the administration put in motion in the first year? >> words do have consequence. if you look at the jerusalem decision, you had the vote at the united nations. 128 countries voting in favor that the united states was not named. it was a slap. 128 in favor and 95 abstentions. he said he won't talk to the trump administration because the president has made this decision that for years jerusalem has been part of final status. let it be settled between the israelis and the palestinians. the palestinians are mad and say they won't entertain conferrings about a peace plan right now. netanyahu said president trump might be starting a trend. >> we are not talking to several countries who are seriously considering now saying exactly

the same thing as the united states and moving the embassies to jerusalem. >> what countries? >> i can tell you, but i won't. i want it to succeed and there is a good chance it will. >> it's interesting because many people who worked on this issue for a long time essentially predicted number one, they were not getting anywhere with the peace process anyway. abbas is not strong enough and netanyahu is not interested enough at times. the president trump administration said that's the policy. >> i don't think that politics are cut and dry domestically. people in both parties that support what the president did. democrats are divided about this. i think that if netanyahu is right and it leads to a trend that suggests that there are more people in the united states side than what we saw at the un, the president will have something to talk about. this will take time to play out and it's not clear exactly how this will impact the political

debate here at home. they felt like they had nothing to lose and they have seen presidents make this promise over and over again. they failed to move the embassy because they don't want to disrupt the process, but it doesn't go anywhere anyway. while behind the scenes, you may have heard rumblings that things are going great and they are making progress and trump acknowledged we have not moved forward anyway. we will see how it impacts it. they were at a stalemate anyway. why not fulfill a campaign promise? >> my colleague did a really amazing story after this about how jared kushner made a calculation that he had a knew jerk reaction that people would be aghast and protesting in the middle east. what he thought was in a couple

of weeks and people would get over it and move on and came back to the table for the peace negotiations. that has absolutely not happened. i don't think it's going to happen. people are really ticked. >> for the last 50 year, he is not old enough to ask that question. people are going protest a week or three. that is someone who doesn't read the newspaper or history books. up next, steve bannon calls himself an ally of the president. read and listen to what he says. friend or foe. ♪when you've got...♪ ♪...nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!♪ ♪nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!♪ here's pepto bismol! ah. ♪nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea!♪ this is charlie. and this is charlie not coughing because he took delsym 12-hour. this is charlie not coughing while trying his hardest not to wake zeus.

this is charlie not coughing while sitting ververy still. easy, walter. and this is charlie not coughing while getting a little too into nana's party. because he took delsym... the #1 12-hour cough medicine. nothing lasts longer for powerful cough relief. delsym. the joy of not coughing. guess what i just got? ♪ ♪ hello again. hi. ♪ ♪ get up to $400 towards a galaxy note8 or s8 with qualifying trade-in. only on samsung.com essential for vinyl, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once daily pill

for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. needles. a must for vinyl. but for you, one pill a day may provide symptom relief. ask your doctor about xeljanz xr. an "unjection™". they cahow many of 'em?e, sir! we don't know. dozens. all right! let's teach these freaks some manners! good luck out there, captain! thanks! but i don't need luck, i have skills...

i don't have my keys. (on intercom) all hands. we are looking for the captain's keys again. they are on a silver carabiner. oh, this is bad. as long as people misplace their keys, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

i use herpecin l.re, it penetrates deep to treat. it soothes, moisturizes, and creates an spf 30 barrier, to protect against flare-ups caused by the sun. herpecin l.

>> welcome back for you guys not keeping count at home. it has been four months since steve bannon never left. he is still the president's wingman and he is increasingly harsh in his assessments of both the former boss still in the west wing in the circle. bannon has remarked on the toll the office has taken on trump. he lost a step. he is like an 11-year-old child. bannon joked to a friend in november. bannon scoring for jared kushner is not a secret. this take on his campaign with the meeting with russians is scathing. he is take meetings to get additional stuff. this tells you everything about jared. they were looking for the picture taking the bag of cash from putin. that's his maturity level. great theater. bannon-kushner relationship, but

let's come back to the bann bannon-trump relationship. he lost a step and he is like an 11-year-old child. if i said that about you, would you think i was your wingman? >> everybody knows that bannon is a trash talker. this is not the first time there has been public conflict. trump dissed him on the way out the door. there are white house officials and talking trash right back at bannon. saying that he is sort of a bitter disgruntled employee and they were originally on opposite sides of the alabama senate race in the primary working at cross purposes and in this competition between trump and bannon. bannon won. they are competing for the mantle of the leader of what bannon sees as his transnational populous nationalist movement. whatever that means. i still think that this is what bannon does. he likes to stir things up and knows he can create controversy

and get himself in the headlines and create more chaos. that's ultimately his agenda. >> perhaps the anti-bannon forces and the republican party in washington can see this as an opportunity to exploit the trump-bannon decisions. this is what mitch mcconnell said. the political genius on display throwing a seenate seat in the reddest seat in america is hard to ignore. that is referring to alabama. trying to send a message to the president, don't listen to this guy when it comes to senate races. >> let's listen. that's an interesting point. you are at the end of this year. you lost this red state. if you are mitch mcconnell, you are saying mr. president, please listen to us or people we like, but he still listens to him sometimes. >> do you blame steve bannon for doug jones being elected in alabama? >> let me say this.

the political genius on display throwing away a seat in the reddest state in america is hard to ignore. >> one big happy republican family. >> there are allies too of the president's inside the white house who agree with mitch mcconnell and made their concerns about steve bannon evident that they feel like his political advice at this point is not worth much and he is trying to become sort of the voice that trump was. he is trying to take credit for the president's achievements and populist appeal. there are a lot of loyalists that that is not sitting well with. >> you have to wonder if he participated in this profile and this short of changed narratives. steve bannon was the reason they lost alabama and he was terrible

for the republican party and this profile floats the idea that he would run for president which we were just talking about and probably never happen. it gets people talk. >> from my favorite football coach, we are on to 2018. thank you for joining us. see you back here sunday morning. christmas eve. come join us. wolf blitzer in the chair after a quick break. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline. ♪ ♪ 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 ♪

oh, it's actually...s your sfx: (short balloon squeal) it's ver... sfx: (balloon squeals) ok can we... sfx: (balloon squeals) i'm being so serious right now... i really want to know how your coffee is. it's... sfx: (balloon squeals) hahahaha, i had a 2nd balloon goodbye! oof, that milk in your coffee was messing with you, wasn't it? yeah. happens to more people than you think. try lactaid, it's real milk, without that annoying lactose. mmm. good right? yeah. lactaid. it's the milk that doesn't mess with you.

tand, our adulte children are here. so, we save by using tide. which means we use less. three generations of clothes cleaned in one wash. those are moms. anybody seen my pants? nothing cleans better. put those on dad! it's got to be tide. a trip back to the dthe doctor's office, mean just for a shot. but why go back there, when you can stay home, with neulasta onpro? strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection, which could lead to hospitalizations. in a key study, neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17% to 1%, a 94% decrease. applied the day of chemo, neulasta onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the next day, so you can stay home. neulasta is for certain cancer patients receiving strong chemotherapy. do not take neulasta if you're allergic to neulasta or neupogen (filgrastim). ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries, and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. report abdominal or shoulder tip pain,

trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. in patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. the most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. so why go back there? if you'd rather be home, ask your doctor about neulasta onpro. >> hello, i'm wolf blitzer. it's 8:00 p.m. in jerusalem. wherever you are watching, thanks very much for joining us. president donald trump is on the way to mar a lago, the florida resort getting ready for his christmas vacation. before jetting off and leaving washington, he formally signed the reform bill into law. the oval office signing ceremony was not a typical end of year press conference like many past presidents have held, but president trump did take a few questions from reporters and at