it is 1:00 here in washington and 8:00 in moscow. from wherever you are watching, thank you very much for joining us. president trump gets back to work and back to tweeting from his florida resort. what he says about the future of

health care and his latest tirade against the fbi. the president is blasting the russia dossier on twitter and his lawyer predicts that president trump will be cleared in the russia investigation. is that just wishful think something and russia is offering a helping hand. moscow is ready to act as mediator. the escalating standoff made them one of the biggest international stories of 2017. and president trump getting back to work and back to criticizing the fbi and putting his own spin on the health care debate. sar a the president started the day tweeting about health care. what's he saying? >> it's interesting because that is not one of the top legislative items the gop was hoping to tackle in january. they have a spending bill to

deal with and infrastructure and the fix for the dreamers, but that's not where the president's head was at. he tweeted based on the fact that the unfair and unpopular individual mandate has been terminated as part of the tax cut biel that repeals overtime obamacare, the democrats and republicans will come and develop a great new plan. there is little if any tight for the democrats to come tol. as for the hard work he said he was going to get it, that's later. last he was spotted was on the golf course. >> one of the other tweets he took aim at the fbi and the russia dossier. fact that that for us. >> that's right. we know the president has been size tracked by the russia investigation time and time again and that's the case today.

he was watching table news as they were discussing the russia investigation as well as this dossier that documented contacts between trump and russian officials. much of that is uncorroborate and he said the dossier is a pile of garbage and the fbi used this pile of garbage as the basis of going after the trump campaign. a couple of things we have to note. the dossier is not the basis of robert mueller, the special counsel's investigation into collusion between the trump campaign and russian officials. they corroborated some aspects and not the most salacious ones, but some of the contacts. >> pyou mentioned the president is on the golf course today. what do we know about that? >> we know he headed this morning to one of his properties

to do golfing. cnn spotted him on the course. he has a couple of days. someone wo is focused on immigration on the hill that. remains to be seen. maybe they will cast this as a working round on the golf course today. >> sarah murray near mar a lago. i top the get more from jessica snyder. you heard sarah movie with the president blasting the dossier. >> he said the dossier is bogus. that's not entirely true. it's true that the most salacious allegations have not been verified, but the broad assertion in the dossier that russia waged a campaign to interfere in the election is tep accepted as fact by the u.s. intelligence and it's penitentiary to note that law enforcement and officials did their own work separate from the dossier to support the findings

that russia tried to meddle in favor of trump. plus it was cnn who reported other aspect like russian officials and other russians mentioned in the memos. they did take place. the fbi last year used the dossier as part of the justification to win approve to monitor for the associate. carter page said the dossier was cited in the application to monitor the page. the president calls it bogus, but claims have been verified. >> he seems to be on the campaign to delegitimize what the counsel was doing. he was saying that it was the entire basis for why he is being looked at for possible collusion. what is that really about? >> that as well is not entirely true. it is not the basis of the investigation. the fbi and special counsel have

used the dossier as part of the investigation, it again is not the entire basis for muller's inquiry. his team has their own investigation. in the four people charged so far, in those indictments there has been no reference to the dossier or its findings. mueller's team did meet this past summer with the author and former british spy, christopher steel. it is possible that the information they got from steel could help investigators determine whether contacts associated with the campaign and the suspected russian operatives and whether or not they broke any laws. they want to keep the research out and this this continues to be a republican talking point. members of congress seize on this saying it's false as well.

parts have been corroborates and other parts haven't been. this investigation continues and mueller and his team have not based it entirely on the doss r dossier. >> president trump's lawyer is predicting the part of the russia investigation involving the president is soon going to be over. the attorney is standing by that assertion despite recent indictments and guilty pleas. he told the "wall street journal" i know we collectively are looking forward to an expeditious wrapping up of this matter. jackie spear is a member of the intelligence and armed services committee. you heard jay saying that the expectation of his personal legal team is that this part of the investigation is going to wrap up soon.

what is your anticipation and is there anything coming from the special counsel about whether it will wrap up? >> that's caulk that any lawyer would say when they are uncomfortable about what is happening. their anticipation i don't think is founded in reality. i don't think the mueller investigation is anywhere near being completed. we will just wait and see. as for the house intelligence committee, there is a very significant effort under way by the majority to shut it down. i'm sure you noticed his tweets and one of the others that he fired off attacking the fbi and he targeted multiple times the deputy director. what is your take on the

criticism of mccabe and the agency? >> he came and spoke to us and answered every question we asked. i was very impressed by his responses. he was very forthright. i think that the president has always used the same tactic. when he is being attacked and scrutinized, he takes aim at someone else. that's what he is doing right here. let's be really clear. this president does not respect the rule of law nor does he respect the various agencies that are charged with responsibility of protecting us in terms of law enforcement, in terms of the cia, the fbi and the judiciary. if you see the pattern and think about the pattern over the last year, he is constantly putting

down the various institutions to keep us free. >> do you worry about that before we get the findings and within congress? >> i'm worried about anyone in the position that the president is in trying to take down the very institutions we hold dear and are precisely what keeps us from falling like many others do to dictatorshipdictatorships. >> he has been criticized by his praise of vladimir putin and having a lack of criticism of russia. those actions sld new sanctions and the decision to give ukraine anti-tank weapons in the fight

against moscowo-backed positions. do you think the administration is making progress against putin? >> i would love to say that he is, but let's be clear. the sanctions that have been imposed he coulded to and the reason he signed the legislation is it was supported by the house and senate, republicans and democrats alike. the sanctions have not been imposed and he has until fob follow-through on that. if he is not condition siftent in following the law, we will look at that as well. >> the anti-tank weapons to ukraine which is clearly a message or a way of reinforcing an ally of the united states against russian aggression. is that something that you

commend? >> i do, but i want to clarify that the sanctions and his actions on ukraine, we should apply. >> why do you think that is so important and something that democrats are becoming when it comes to russia? >> russia took provocative action in ukraine and crimea. they have done very damaging things to the eastern part of ukraine and the efforts to try to bring it under the sphere of influence. i don't think that they are as interested in overtaking, but wants to control it as part of a sphere of influence. he wants to recreate the ussr without all the responsibilities associated with it and have them

within his sphere in terms of regaining the international acclaim that the ussr had and russia does not. >> i want to talk about the status of sexual harassment in the house and the plan to unveil was delayed and you are a lawmaker working on this bill. tell us why there is a delay and what you think the fate of the legislation will be. >> it is being developed very quickly. it was ambitious to think it would be before the holiday recess. they are taking most of the me too and creating a bill that has all of those elements. we will be pleased when the bill

is introduced and it's going to enjoy bipartisan support as well. >> do you feel this is something that will make it through congress? >> i feel very confidently. it must. we didn't allow congress to operate in a manner that protects the harasser and not the victim. this will change all of that. >> we learned along with many members of congress how outdated and really not up to the traffic of meeting the challenge. we will be watching that with you. thank you. >> thank you, are partons still on the table? we will discuss that and republican senator orrin hatch gets burned by his only state paper and russia makes a push

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and blasting the russia dossier on twitter. cnn's analyst is cnn politics senior writer. what's your reaction to this as you look at the tweets that we have seen in the last few days. this is supposed to be a christmas break. there has been a lot of criticism as we have seen. >> he is latching on to the reports about fbi officials and the doszler and what he likes to bring up when he is discrediting or seizing on the news of the moment. he was talking to investigators and a focus on whether there was a political bias that looked at the i mail probe. the president is not really

taking a break for the holidays for bringing this up and trying to shake out of it what he can in terms of sympathy and connecting dots that investigators are not yet, but the president is fixated on as proof that the russia probe is unwarranted. >> he is getting back up from members of his party. you have texas congressman who has been attacking and continues to attack special counsel robert mueller. >> do you have faith in mueller? >> no, i have no faith in mueller. i haven't from day one. in fact back i don't know if you can see that, but that was taken in june by somebody else. i was telling the president you have got to appoint a special counsel to investigate mueller, comey, mccabe, lynch.

>> i want to address that. that seemed fun tow me. you look at louie and other republican who is want to jump on the bandwagon with president trump taking aim. this could have a big impact on how the findings of seen in the end. he has been the out liar of the conference and at the same time you are hearing more members voice concerns. maybe not going as far as what louie is saying saying he doesn't have faith, but they need to clean house and the republican side. the one thing i would like on the for is the joint investigation. the republican-led house panels looking into concerns of potential fbi bias and decision making in the 2016 campaign. if you start to hear revelations

that from that probe expect republicans to seize on that and under cut mueller's investigation. they are not going to let up for now. >> one of the people in the president's personal legal team and he is sticking to this predhakz this is going to be wrapped up rather soon. we don't understand where that's coming from, but he said we collectively, the lawyers are looking forward to an expeditious wrapping up of this matter. this is not based in any sort of fact, right? that this is wrapping up. >> that's right. what we know about investigation of of this time is they are thorough and very, very lengthy. it's not coming to an end soon.

it makes sense that the lawyer would say this. this is a president who doesn't like what is going on and meat negative claims about the investigation who had his allies who disparages the investigators. it doesn't surprise me that they would say that about his client and there are no faxes to back that up. i wonder when you look at the russia investigation. we asked you to prep a we we have. what is the question you have about the russia investigation as we move into this new year. >> the question is whether or not the president planned any of this investigation where you have seen many around the president who had this relentless string of attacks against this investigation.

my question is if the investigation does continue for a long time, then what happens? how will that be received? >> what do you think? >> i'm looking at the senate intelligence committee and 1ering whether or not he can continue on a bipartisan basis. the chairman and the democratic chairman have projected a sense of bipartisanships and going down and working in unison. you are hearing about bringing back sentences and something mark warper wants to do. it's much different than what's happening in the house. expect the two sides to issue competing reports and have opposite conclusions and eventually break down.

right now they are not going to wrap up that quickly. >> is it an open question? >> my sense of it because it's knowing the kmugz and it probably will on the issue of collusion because they are seeing the evidence in an opposite manner. >> those are all new questions and i have a new question based on what we were talking about a minute ago. his team is assured that this is all going to go away and there is nothing to see here. if they are right, that's great for the and giving it to him straight or in the right as far as his own and as muller decides

to look at president trump, what does it mean? do they lash out at him? everyone that is looking at the president and the advisers right now. and these allegations of potential collusion and contacts with russian officials. when you are talking about the congestiressional and mueller probes, this is all in a serious of negotiations for interviews. if the predictions are wrong and it get closer to the president than he thinks it will, that could have a ripple effect, that's an open question with how they are saying there is nothing to see here when this suggests this is not stopping any time soon. >> that's a good question. the final question to do with

the sexual ha haszment investigation in the new year. jackie spear is convinced this is going to change what is a quite lacking process for reporting and prosecuting sexual harassment that occurs. is that what you think? >> for someone who covers the house, most are things that republicans and democrats on top of which is the taxpayer money should not be used to settle harassment. that's the most recent reckoning and including congresswoman spear and the there is a good chance that makes it through the house. whether it can get to the

president's desk for a signature. >> coming up, good and bad news for the retailers. the holiday season boosted year end sales, but it was a record year for store closings. which is why you didn't grab just any cheese. you picked up kraft mozzarella with a touch of philadelphia for lasanyeah! kraft. family greatly.

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volatility. stock we are watching closely is apple. analysts are predicting fewer iphone 10 sales than previously. if look at it now, the stock market has been on a tier. best year since 2013. the key question is why. the big rearn is strong fundamentals and a strong economy and low unemployment. low interest rates. when you have a low interest rate environment, it means few er are vehicling for people to park in. investors have been waiting to get the tax reform bill through.

we are not quite there. retailers have been tallying up for the sales. >> retail sales, this particular holiday season turned out relatively well. one of the big winners as i think is expected was amazon. doing phenomenally and they had their best year yet when it comes to holiday shopping. on top of that, a record number of amazon prime members coming on board as well. again, it's down to the fundamentals. consumer confidence up for the past 17 years and also unemployment at a 17-year low. those two factors driving towards the stores. there is a word of caution and that is when you look at 2017 for retailers, it is not a good year. that is because you are seeing

more and more retailers closing down stores and also bankruptcy as well. toys 'r us and a number of others filing for bankruptcy. >> there are so many when you flip through it. thank you so much for that. thanks to the passage of that sweeping tax overhaul bill that we were talking about, republicans are ending 2017 with a bang. we will show you what mid-term races they need to win to keep 2018 from being a bust. the international stories that defined the last year. >> officially declaring the terrorist groups have been totally liberated. >> now syrian and kurdish flags fly over the city, replacing the black flag of terror.

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>> the u.s. is putting more pressure on north korea. the treasury department said they are sanctioning two senior figures connected to north korea's ballistic missile program. the move is part of an effort to isolate the regime. the tightened tension is one of the dramatic stories of 2017.

>> it's our job to take to you foreign shores and frontlines. we at cnn go there and in 2017, that journey unveiled the unthinkable. ethnic cleansing. countries collapsing. human beings sold like commodities. these are the stories that changed the world. our first story,a cnn expose. >> the crew traveled into libya to track down a dark secret and they found it. >> fleeing their homes, some of the most desperate people on earth think they found a passage to safety, but instead they find themselves in the hands of predators. >> captured and sold like cattle. that's what we witnessed firsthand. >> 700. 700.

800. the numbers roll in. these men are sold for 1200 libyan pounds. $400 apiece. the cnn report sparks self reflection in europe and the u.s. about the west's own response to the migrant crisis. in saudi arabia, a powerful prince is shaking things up. bolstered by close relations with the trump white house. this 32-year-old, the crown prince better known as mbs embarking on a series of reforms. arresting many of his own cousins in a sweeping crack down on corruption. >> he swept away a generation of elderly and experienced minsters. >> while also taking on the kingdom's powerful clergy. >> there is only one country in the world where women can't drive and soon there will be none. >> as he tries to take on an

increasingly assertive iran, things get complicated. >> the defense minster he initiated air strikes on neighboring yemen. >> involved in a war that brought 8.4 million people to the brink of famine. >> it's not the bombs and the bullets killing the most people. it's the humanitarian crisis growing by the day as yemen edges closer to becoming a failed state. in venezuela, a perfect storm of economic and political crisis. >> the president finally admitted his government cannot affo afford to pay the bills. >> that's hours away from more violence and chaos. >> the party wins the election and the opposition and the u.s. claim fraud. >> meduro is a dictator who disregards the will of the ve venezuelan people.

>> people who spoke out were yanked out of their homes by authorities and the midnight raids. >> those under cover and is stunned by what they find. >> the food truck is breaking down for mere seconds before it was looted. basic food is scarce and virginia has been doing this for 18 months to feed her five kids. >> bombs bringing with them a war crime so sickening, it's difficult to put into words. for his ro roof top he seized no ordinary strife. the pictures you are about to see are graphic. >> we are following breaking news. reports of a gas or a chemical attack in syria killing dozens. >> all-around him, people are foaming at the mouth.

convulsions racking their bodies. the horrifying scenes shock the world. victims, some of them just children gasping for final breath. >> the syrian government dropped a bomb on their own people. >> that led to the first american military strikes against the regime of bashar al-assad. >> he remains defiant. in 2017, two words would shock the world. ethnic cleansing. >> armed government forces are attacking their own minority citizens. >> in southeast asia's myanmar, the fledge turned to democracy and the unthinkable was happening. >> they are beating us, shooting at us and hacking our people to death. >> 600,000 of them fled to

neighboring bangladesh. >> the crisis is raising questions about the de facto leader accused of doing nothing to stop the violence. >> growing criticism of the leader and her handling of human rights abuses against the muslims. >> coming in at number two, the fall of isis. three years after the terror group surged to infamy with staggering conquests across iraq and syria, the defeat came with a whimper and not a bang. >> the forces taking to the streets and especially raqqa has been totally liberated. >> the syrian flags replaces the black flag of terror. >> the historic syrian city where isis fighters were filmed destroying ancient artifacts reclaimed with the help of

russia. in iraq, isis desperately tries to hold its ground and the country's second largest city of mos mosul. >> the senior commanders take us in in the calm before the final storm. >> their ambitions to build a caliphate crumbling as small pockets of militants are flushed out. >> the iraqi prime minister is declaring full vikt resaying war torn city is liberated from brutality and terrorism. >> in 2017, isis loses all of its major strongholds, but beyond the borders of iraq and syria, lone wolf attacks in the game of isis ensure their global reign of terror is still far from over. july 4th. u.s. independence day.

north korea lights up the sky with its own frightening milestone. >> north korea releasing new video appearing to show the successful launch of its first intercontinental ballistic video. >> nuclear capable and not yet nuclear armed. by september, kim jong un's missile program reaches its final frontier. >> "the washington post" is now reporting that north korea produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its 34i68 missiles. >> the stage is set for war, but for now contained to a war of words. >> we can't have mad men out there shooting rockets all over the place. >> i will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged u.s. dotard with fire. >> miles away on his asian swing, president trump replaced the petty name calling with a

more diplomatic tone. >> the wen ones you are acquiring are not making you safer. >> continuing to push china to contain the north. >> the longer we wait, the greater the danger grows and the fewer the options become. >> as the nuclear standoff continues, the question remains. will the next missile trigger a war? >> still ahead, a major newspaper slams orrin hatch in his unquenchable thirst for power.

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republican senator orrin hatch is being attacked by his home state newspaper in utah and telling him it's time to retire. the editorial board of the tribune writes unkwequenchable thirst for power. they announce this. i'm sorry, that was a typo. joy is finding some joy is not

job. i want to bring in political director at the magic wall to explain. so david, senator hatch seat doesn't seem to be in danger of going to democrats. but what senate races should we be keeping an eye on for next year? >> yeah, even though he doesn't run for re-election, that won't be in play for the democrats. but we wanted to look at the balance of power. doug jones won the race in alabama is sworn in, it's a two seat majority for republicans, 51-49 putting the democrats just two seats away from winning back majority. let's take a look though at who is up for re-election in the senate. you have to remember 26, 24 democrats plus the two independents that caucus, 26 democrats up for re-election. democratic seats up for re-election. only eight republican seats up for re-election. so this is a map you look at and say democrats have to play a ton of defense and they do, especially these ten democrats, all from states that donald

trump won in 2016. in fact, that top row, those five senators, those democrats are from a states where donald trump won by double digits. so there is a lot of defense for democrats to play. >> and there are some playing offense? >> that is certainly true. namely in arizona jeff flake retiring, so democrats see potential optimistic outlook in that state. and senator heller the republican from nevada is the only republican running for re-election in a state that hillary clinton won. so he's clearly a target as well. and a couple of wild cards that popped on to the map. bob corker in tennessee announced retirement and democrats were able to recruit the former governor there which is giving them hopes of putting that state in play if not in win, perhaps at least republicans spend a ton of time

and money there. and of course al franken who resigned his seat from minnesota in allegations of inappropriate behavior. and this is the blue state that donald trump got rather close to beating hillary clinton in. only 1.5% victory for hillary clinton in minnesota. now appointed senator of the lieutenant governor will be there. that gives republicans hopes not entrenched incumbent that will perhaps be in play as well. >> and it would be a big order for them to flip it in congress? >> no doubt about it. they would have to run the table. let me show you this. every one of these democrats would have to win re-election. they have too hold all of theirs and still convert two seats. so maybe that arizona and nevada seat i showed you. but it would have to mean everything would have to go perfectly for democrats. uphill battle for them to regain control in the united states

senate. but not out of the question. when this cycle started a year ago, we were having this conversation, i would look at that map and donald trump victory and say they have no chance of winning. in fact, republicans will pad their majority. the fact we are now looking at a low approval rating for the president and at the seats put in play, the fact that the senate is even in play is a remarkable development for the democrats at this point in the cycle. >> all right. david chalian breaking it down for us. thank you, sir. that is it for me. i'll be back at 5 eastern situation room. and you can check out viewers in don lemon starts right after a quick break.

the cnn newsroom i'm don lemon in for brooke baldwin. i hope you had a great christmas. president said he is back to work. first order of business unleashing several attacks via twitter on fbi, on obamacare, and hillary clinton. then it was of course off to the golf course. cnn captured this video of president trump golfing with georgia senator and pro golfers and dana quigley. there is he there on the golf course. let's go to abby phillip said he was back at work.