>> that is individuals he is looking at. we don't have any announcements at this time. the president is taking that decision extremely seriously. he is being very thorough in the process. he will have announcement on it soon. reporter: sarah, are you concerned, is white house concerned at all these conflicts keep es can lating could impact the president's agenda? with senator corker, continues to, you know, lash out at him like this, that prompt him to -- [inaudible] >> i would hope that senator corker is more focused on getting things done in his final months and so, we hope that he will be very supportive of the tax cuts and tax reforms that the people in his state have demanded and frankly elected him to go to congress and help -- reporter: pick up on that. the president in two different tweets today said senator corker was fighting tax cuts. those were his words. will now fight tax cuts and is now fighting tax cuts.

there has been nothing public from senator corker that he might be against tax cuts. what exactly what the president was referring to there in those tweets? senator corker privately, that he told president or white house against tax cuts? >> i don't know he is against them but he certainly indicated his unwillingness at this point to really step forward to work with the administration on getting things done. we hope he will come around and vote for tax cuts as people in his state demanded, requested and pushed for him. francesca. reporter: flake, mccain, corker will eventually vote for tax cuts all three of them, because you need all three of them? >> i certainly hopes america wants them to. reporter: i asked you if president wanted senator corker to resign you didn't want to go there. if everything that happened since, has the white house changed his position? at the very least that senator

corker should step down as head of foreign relations committee especially since senator corker told cnn today, i quote, he wants to investigate some of the things he is purposely breaking down, he being president trump? >> that is decision for leader mcconnell in terms of who has those championships. that is -- chairmanships that is not something for the president. reporter: do you think he should step down or resign? >> i haven't spoken specifically with him about that, in terms of chairmanships that would be specifically for leader mcconnell. john. reporter: sarah, thank you. there is currently contested primary for senator corker's seat. congresswoman blackburn, facing former congressman fincher, it is almost inevitable there will be contested primary in arizona. dr. ward not going to be left to get the nomination. will the president take any role in the nomination process? >> as i have said many times before from the podium i will

not weigh into any political races, whether or not the president will engage. not appropriate for me to do from here. charlie? reporter: the other thing, sarah, in his penultimate malvo on twitter the president said, that senator corker asked him to be secretary of state and he refused the request. that is a pretty serious claim because no one really has been proven to asked for a job in modern times like that. did senator corker actually ask the president to be his secretary of state? >> that is my understanding but i don't know much beyond those initial comments. reporter: president confident that majority leader mitch mcconnell can hold the senate conference together? >> yes he is. he thinks we'll work together with republicans senators, particularly leader mcconnell to get tax cuts and tax reform done this year.

reporter: what is the white house and president specifically continue to say that senator bob corker helped president obama on the iran deal, when the facts clearly say that is not true? >> actually the facts do say it is true. it was senator corker who wrote the legislation that legitimatized iran nuclear deal, despite lacking votes to flawed iran deal as treaty in the senate, corker's bill rolled out the red carpet for the obama administration, gaining congressional without congressional votes. didn't vote for it but allowed it to make happen. >> he didn't vote for it. senator corker -- >> wash upon post as my source, jeff. you know better than that. reporter: when you look true, the white house clearly not telling the truth on this. why do you continue to say he helped president obama with it. that is not true. he voted against it. >> he voted against it. allowed it to happen. rolled out the red carpet.

made it possible to move forward. that is a fact and it is true. reporter: what do president trump's advisors advice him about the use of twitter? on separate unrelated issue, is the president seeking to kill a deal between boeing, boeing's deal to sell planes to iran air? >> on the first one i would say, in regards to twitter as i have stated several times before from here, it is always a benefit for the president to be able to speak directly to the american people without any filter, without any bias. i think that is positive thing. i think it is one of the reasons that the president is president is because he often goes directly to the american people, speaks directly to them. i think that is a plus. second question, i'm not aware of that, any detailed conversations. i couldn't weigh into that right now. reporter: sarah, on niger, i will not ask you to talk about the ongoing investigation, but i do want to say the commander of

forces africom said only quarter after reconnaissance flights needed to do his job. in fact that did impact search-and-rescue missions. is is the white house concerned that u.s. forces in africa do not have adequate resources and that could have contributed what happened in niger and has there been outreach by the white house to the anyone nigerian officials. >> we will wait for the until the investigation is completed. as general dunford said yesterday we make sure we get full and adequate answers not just for the american people but for the families of those that were lost. we'll continue to do that the administration fully supports the department of defense this that process. reporter: is there reach out from the white house to niger? >> i will have to find out about

that. reporter: the widow of the la david johnson says there she is concerned there are nothing no remains in the coffin. she only got dog tags as it relates to the? >> the family can request to see remains, through the department of defense and casualty office and refer you to the department of defense on that subject. reporter: one other, beyond personalities, beyond the president's personalities, beyond corker and mccain, at issue there is divide, be in the nation, be it in your own party. when is there an effort to unify? because you have people saying in their own party, in the president's party, that president is not helping pave the way, and path the president is taking is wrong? when is there an effort for this president to start unifying not just within the party but within

the country because there is some divides? >> every day there is an effort to unify. you sigh in the policy initiatives this president is pushing. tax cuts that affect everyone, particularly the middle class. i think that is something is everyone should be able to rally around whether you're democrat or republican. that should be something that brings everybody together. you look at the defeat of isis. you look at growth of the economy. you look at unemployment, these are all things that should bring our country together and certainly things this president is focused on and things the president will be focused on and moving forward. reporter: trump is likening tax cut after what reagan did. after 1981 cuts there was serious of tax increases including social security payroll tax increase which affected middle-class americans. today's social security situation is far more dire. what does the president have to say about his intentions when it comes to these entitlements once these tax cuts go through? >> well the president said he did not want to impact social security and wanted to

make sure that we protected that. the biggest thing he is focused on right now are those tax cuts, making sure that they're permanent tax cuts. that really impacted helped middle class. that is the biggest priority. reporter: changing? >> not at this time, no. reporter: three republican senators have hadn'ted the same theme, there is degradation of civility in american politics. we also heard that from three past presidents in recent days. so, does this white house agree with that sentiment, that there is a lack of civility in the conversation happening in this country right now from american politicians? and does this president bear any responsibility for that? >> look, i think we, as i have said before we can always do better and we're looking at ways every single day, as i just told april to bring the country together, to focus on policies that really help people, really empower people, do that for all americans. that is this president's, what he laid out on the campaign.

that is what he is focused on since he became president. reporter: thank you, sarah. i wanted to ask but the president's tweet in which he called pastor robert jeffress a wonderful man. given there are 70 million american catholics why would he say that about somebody who so viciously anti-catholic? >> i'm not aware of robert jeffress being anti-catholic. i know he engages with the catholics in his ol' state on regular basis to participate in events like the march for life. those are the only actions i have seen him participate in. so i couldn't comment any further on that. brian. reporter: sarah, thank you. one of the aspects of civil discourse is for people in the discussion to acknowledge when they have made misstatements and there is pattern in this white house and with the president, when they make misstatements those are not corrected. for example, the chief of staff came out here at this podium and mischaracterized a speech by a

congresswoman at fbi building dedication. why won't the chief of staff or you right now acknowledge that was a mischaracterization and correct the record? >> i don't believe that general kelly miscakized. he gave his account of what took place. general kelly and his family have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. i think he led with honor and integrity. i think he is doing a great job of chief of staff. i don't think he has anything to correct or apologize for. reporter: follow-up, even if president trump meant to console the widow of sergeant johnson why hasn't he or white house apologized for how she took his call as insensitive? >> the president making point the call was meant to be respectsful and it was to make a call for the nation. reporter: policy decisions how

history judges him. so far he has none that made it through the legislative process on capitol hill. he wants to get taxes done. >> not true. gorsuch went through the legislative process. i would say that is pretty big historical moment something with lasting legacy, probably far beyond most any other individual piece of legislation is how the courts can shape and determine a lot of different things. i think you will see that in justice gorsuch. reporter: finish the first question then, you talk about policy initiatives, speaking of health care or tax reform have not been completed, at least not yet on capitol hill. the lack of support from somebody like bob corker, might make that a lot more difficult. given that, does the president feel like he is winning? >> i think he feels like america is winning. i think if you look at some of the progress that is taken place in the first nine months despite the fact congress has done very little up until this point. the president has gotten rid of nearly 1000 regulations that have paved the way for massive

job creation and job growth in this country. we're looking at booming economy. i think those are things that people actually care about. we're looking at the defeat of isises something this president led on worked with our coalition forces to help do. he created better relationships with countries around the globe. he bolstered the relationship with nato and had other countries encouraged in the growth of amount of money other countries participating in that. historic moment we saw with the president on his first foreign trip when he in saudi arabia. and he spoke in front nearly 60 muslim majority countries. these are historic moments he has done without congress. imagine how incredible and how many good things we would be doing if people like senator would bob corker would do his job instead of grandstanding on tv? reporter: my second question, does president believe there

should be loyalty test for republican sanders? >> their loyalty should be to the to american people. reporter: they say that is where their loyalty lies. >> i hope we'll see that in their votes. i'm sorry, we have move on. reporter: chairman nunez announcement he will open an investigation into the obama administration deal to allow russian company to obtain u.s. uranium? >> i haven't spoken with him directly about that, but i certainly think it is a move in the right direction. and something that we've spoken about sell types here that if there was any collusion whatsoever, during the campaigns of any point, or any collusion, at any point with another country that they should look at the clintons. so i think that is the right thing. veronica. reporter: thank you, sarah. >> go ahead. reporter: sarah, thank you the president regularly highlights success of the stock market. only 50% of americans are

invested in the stock market. and you know earlier today, i spoke with grover norquist, a prominent conservative voice pushing morning tax reform. he says, economy itself still sucks. what is your reaction to that? for those people who aren't benefiting from the success of the market right now? >> i think there is also a lot of other things beyond just the stock market. the fact unemployment levels have dropped. that is big thing. the fact 1.7 million new jobs been created since donald trump was elected. there are positive things in the economy. we didn't say it was completely fixed. we're moving in the right direction. we have been more successful first nine months than obama was in eight years. reporter: sarah, we understand when the president gets hit he hits back but what is he trying to accomplish when he says bob corker couldn't win a race for dog catcher? what is he trying to accomplish? >> look i think that the

president is voicing the frustration that probably you see from a lot of people in the state of tennessee which is why senator corker's numbers are where they are. reporter: my second question, can you point to any votes senator corker that were against the president's agenda? >> i'm sorry? reporter: can you point to any votes that flake and corker were against the president's agenda. >> i have to look into their voting record. reporter: sarah, two questions. you said before, senator flake's and senator corker's comments were petty. what exactly of senator flake's speech you thought was petty? >> i thought his attacks, a lot of comments that he made, i don't have a readout in front of me, as i was watching it, i noticed a lot of language was befitting of the senate floor. reporter: nothing in particular? >> go ahead. reporter: asking about the fed

chair, interest of the vote that seemed to happen at the senate meeting where we saw, according to senator scott, john taylor got the most votes. is that going to influence the president decision on that. just follow-up, on -- >> let me answer your question first. as i said earlier, the president is taking the decision very seriously, going through very thoughtful and thorough review and interview process and when we have announcement we'll let you know. he is talking to a lot of relevant stakeholders and individuals about this and those that it has a great deal of impact, this decision, so again, he will take his time and make sure he makes the right one and not just a fast one. reporter: sarah thanks, follow up on question with others asked. how does fighting within his own party extend the president's agenda and stated goals for american people?

>> the president is fighting for an agenda. as i said if he gets hit, he gets hit back. people didn't elect him to be weak. they elected him to be strong. if he feels it is necessary to respond he is going to do that at the same time he can talk and chew gum at the same time. he is pushing forward on and agenda. takes 30 seconds to send out a tweet. he spends "bull" of his day working on pushing policy initiatives like tax reform, like tax cuts. that is what he is committed to doing. reporter: let me follow up very quickly. there is confusion around 401(k)s. some republicans saying that makes their job to get tax reform. can you say the republican tax proposal will not touch 401(k)s? >> that is the president's plan and what he would like to see congress to get on board with. he wants to make sure we're protecting american's futures and retirements. that is part of that process.

reporter: sarah on the opioid crisis we've seen the president organize a commission. he went to meetings. he used the word crippling, the words national emergency. we have seen the administration put more resources into law enforcement and seen him take on this message telling kid just not to start but advocates for those who are addicted to say, they feel like they haven't seen enough work towards helping people who are currently addicted. that there is a need for huge rush of money to get more people into treatment. what is the president's thinking right now? can they expect anything in the coming days when it comes to getting help to those addicted and need treatment? >> absolutely. this is obviously a growing epidemic that the president is very the president is committed to fighting against. he is working with his policy advisors and his team diligently

and relevant components and agencies. you will see more details on those efforts by the end of this week. and in the next couple of days, some specific announcements that the president said he would have. thanks so much. guys. we'll be around rest of the afternoon. have a good day. reporter: sarah, why hasn't the president implemented russian sanctions? david: sarah huckabee sanders at the white house previousing. usually comes earlier. there was so much news except for sarah to come after 4:00. i'm david asman. melissa: i'm melissa francis. so many times same question over and over again. how does this advance his agenda to be fighting. anyway. david: there was a lot of substance on a day of a lot of substance, particularly about taxes and the investigation into uranium one. all which we talk about next hour. melissa: all which involve your money. let's get straight to it. connell mcshane has latest.

connell. reporter: its been quite a day, to the point you're both making. tax reform is part of the big discussion we're happening up here. so is the late afternoon announcement from arizona senator jeff flake will not run for re-election. that is a big story as well, with some tough words from senator flake as long-time critic of the republican side of this republican president, president trump saying he won't be complicit or silent of the republican party is backward looking minority party. traditional conservative can not be successful. would have a tough path to victory. he is out. he is retiring that is a big story. so is tax reform. i will tell you optimism is building, talking to republicans in terms of getting a tax reform package passed. the president was up here this afternoon for a working lunch with republican senators, even as he openly feuds with one of those senators, as you have no doubt heard. we will talk about that, listen to this first. >> i'm very happy that the

president accepted our invitation to join us today for lunch. i thought it was a very productive meeting, active discussion focused on things we've been elected to do, which helps lower taxes of the american people. reporter: that get-together, it came after that the feud, for lack of a better term between president trump and senator corker really blew up, mostly on twitter, with the two of them going back forth at each other. so much so people wonder if they spoke at the working lunch. here is what senator corker told us about the discussion. >> how was the conversation then? >> i didn't partake in it. i normally don't. tax reform barely came up. reporter: that is interesting, that the tax reform barely came up. some republicans have not gone that for. other issues were addressed. president's opioid commission as an example. passing tax reform obviously is a priority for republicans.

leadership throughout the day here and other republicans are insisting they can get it done of the trump-corker feud will not stand in the way. talking about a key budget vote in the house by thursday of this week. a tax bill on the house floor possibly by thanksgiving. so the optimism certainly is building but, got to tell you never a dull moment from washington, d.c. the announcement from senator flake added to drama. back to you guys. melissa: no doubt, connell, thank you very much. david: seems like all the drama was on capitol hill. we figured who better to talk to than our senior capitol hill producer chad pergram who joins us. chad, we're looking at the market. the dow was up 167 points today. for all of the talk about how all of these feuds in the gop will prevent tax reform, the market doesn't buy that at all. is the market right? >> that is something that house speaker paul ryan alluded to this morning. he was asked about the conflagration between the president and senator corker. he says, oh, no, that will not

impact this. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said we're focused on this. there is a lot of unity. that is unifying issue despite the brickbats thrown on the bill. the question is what will be in the bill. the chairman brady head of ways and means committee, once the house approves final framework thursday, that is when we start to get details and we also learn about a budget a ways and means markup, where they go through the bill line by line and write it. david: chad, the surprise was senator flake announcing he will retire from the senate. then saying, well that means, that the president's going to have another less, another vote fewer than he had before in favor of tax reform. but there is no indication that flake would vote against tax reform, because he has some beef against the president, right? >> that's right. my experience covering capitol hill, even though people say okay, someone is retiring and that will give epthis the ability to maybe vote differently or vote against

their district or state, very rarely do you have members who once they announce their retirement deviate from their core principles. if jeff flak at end of the day think this is good for arizona and think it is something good for his state and something he can live with and meets core conservative values he spoke about so passionately on the senate floor he will probably vote for it. that is usually the track record of retiring lawmakers in washington, d.c. david: that would apply equally to senator corker, right? >> one would think so absolutely. corker has been more forthright, talking about deficits imposed by this $1.5 trillion they have thrown fiscal conservatism out the window. that is something jeff flake talked about over the years, not about this bill. david: right. >> that is something people will look at. again look at turning radius. they only had 51 votes in the senate for that budget last week, which is the framework. so you lose one more. that is a tie. you lose one more and you're toast. david: you talked about what

will be in the bill. you got the senate, you have got the white house, you have the house. how long is it going to take to coordinate their thoughts what should and shouldn't be in the tax bill? >> a lot is written by kevin brady chairman of ways and means committee behind closed doors. he is meeting and other leaders of house of representatives, kevin mccarthy, about salt, deductions for state and local taxes that is important for new jersey members, california members, new york. the margin is 22 house. if you have 13 california republicans and throw in new york and new jersey folks that is a problem. the only thing we know for sure besides talks going on to deal with the state and local deduction, kevin brady was asked about concrete things. there will be no special carveout for the houston astros. that is his team. they start in the world series tonight. only the second appearance.

he is a big houston astros fans. david: a sore spot for the us in new york with yankees lost in the series. what about the question of will there be a forth rate higher than it is now or equal to what it is now instead of everybody getting a tax reduction. what will it be there? >> kevin brady said they had not settled on brackets. there is no clarity. people will have to wait and see what this looks like. that is when everybody will say, oh, i don't know if i can work for that. there will be a lot of toking and fromming. people believe there is optimism that because health care failed so spectacularly. because. maybe republican would go for something less than a 100% product, that they really like, we got something done, before christmas, it's a good optic. the push of house of representatives to move it

before thanksgiving. house speaker paul ryan was talking about trying to get it done before deer hunting season. he is a big deer hunter. when the hunting season for bow and muzzle loader start in wisconsin. david: do it by end of the year and retroactive what we want. chad, thank you for explaining that. melissa: here is shelley moore capito, senator from west virginia, a senate appropriations member and was at the lunch meeting with president. i don't know if you heard not bob corker say that tax policy was barely discussed at hundred lunch. is that true. >> i would adisagree. we had a wide-ranging segment n question an answer session it was heavily covered. i thought we got a good feel where we are all are. melissa: what kind of details you learn that you didn't know before? >> i really didn't learn anything especially new from the

framework we've seen. the encouraging part is, that the president emphasized and our members who asked the questions to make sure the tax reformer tax cut is targeted to middle income earner. that is where we want to see the greatest tax relief. the president emphasized corporate relief to spur job growth. those are the two main take ways. other than that the president expressed flexibility and, as this process moves forward. melissa: flexibility on what? >> well, flexibility on some of the details. in other words where the income brackets might be. what the top rate might be. those kinds of things. melissa: so do you feel like, i mean we say when you go into a negotiation you know at the top what you might be willing to give away, what things are out there on the table? sounds like the tax bracket is on the table and first to go.

>> the upper level tax bracket, initial plans moved down to 35%. i think there is willingness to moving it back up. that is one of the flexible issues. where the income levels fall in the brackets is still undetermined depending where the revenues would be. but i think also, in terms of the corporate tax rate, i don't believe there is much flex there. i think we're all sort of settling on the 20 but there could be a little movement one way or the other. i led an amendment that said state and local, the state and local tax deduction should be kept into the mix as a deduction that favors the wealthy, and i think we ought to keep all of this on the table as a form of generating revenue. there is a lot moving and shaking here. melissa: you feel like the idea that state and local tax deduction, do you think that in the end it will be there, it won't be there? maybe, you know, i heard people talk about maybe you swap that for property tax and that phases out at certain income level?

>> you know, i think what we might see there is some, some ability for those folks in the, in maybe the lower or mid area that take that state and local tax deduction to give them some preference there. maybe as you move higher into the income level you remove that deduction. so i think my point was, let's keep it on the table as a negotiating item. melissa: yeah. i mean the way the plan is spelled out, regardless what the democrats say, it sounds like it is horrible for rich people. does that necessarily make sense at a time when we're trying to spur the economy? i understand the focus is on working, middle class people and without question, that makes sense but you don't want to give everyone at a break at time we're trying to raise the economy? >> i think everybody will see we'll raise the standard deduction which will give everybody some relief. i think that small businesses and people who do pass-throughs are going to see relief, which will help those that own the own

business but work for small businesses. on corporate tax side, many of the folks who are major owners or major yeah, owners of large corporations or shareholders or whatever will see some relief there, but also, folks who work there. i think studies show that you could see as much as 3 to $4,000 more in your wages. i think we need to look at it in an entire package and not say who this is going to hurt, who this is going to help. melissa: on a scale of one to 10 how confident do you think you will get something done this year for tax reform? 10, being blessed certitude? >> i tell you what i tend to be on the optimistic side but somebody asked me this very question half an hour ago and i gave it a an eight. melissa: i think that is pretty good. senator, come on and talk to you about this because our show is totally focused on tax reform. our audience really cares about it. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. david: looks like the market itself, the dow ending up 167

points right now, getting close to 23,500 on the dow, looks like they are believing for all the talk about rancor in the gop, that we are moving closer to tax cuts. melissa: i think eight is -- david: eight is pretty good. i would say that is where the market is. melissa: interesting. david: the house intel committee is looking how a russian based company was able to get access to 20% of u.s. uranium in a deal made under the obama administration and what role hillary clinton may have played in all of this when she was secretary of state. jordan sekulow from american center for law and justice will break it down for us. can't we just keep tax cuts simple? somebody for everybody. reagan economist art laffer, whether the tax-cutting plans are getting way too complicated. melissa: spend less! ♪ we all depend on trucks.

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melissa: white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders getting grilled with will have major legislation as senator jeff flake announced his retirement and president's rift with senator bob corker. here with reaction from the white house, our own blake burman. blake. reporter: hi, melissa. press secretary sarah sanders had to get through a full-court press after the scathing criticisms, twitter back and forth between the president and bob corker. as you're telling it about the speech on the senate floor by jeff flake. sanders defending the president by saying essentially, he was

elected by the american people in 2016 and in 2018, those two senators have some props. >> the voters of these individual senators states are speaking in pretty loud volumes i think. they were not likely to be reelected, and i think that shows that the support is more behind this president than it is those two individuals. reporter: now in his criticisms of corker specifically hear today, president trump tweeted out that corker is fighting tax cuts. however, publicly corker has not suggested at all at least up to this point that he is against the gop tax plan. so at the press briefing i asked sanders in those two tweets there, what exactly was the president referring to? >> he certainly indicated his unwillingness at this point to really step forward and work with the administration on getting things done. we hope that he will come around and certainly vote for tax cuts as the people in his state have

demanded and requested and pushed for him to do such a thing. reporter: sanders backed up the president's tweet yesterday, melissa, there will be no changes to the structure of 401(k)s, saying how 401(k)s work now, quote, that is the president's plan. bottom line in all of this, the message from sanders, the american people have had their say. these two senators are soon to be out the door. melissa: blake, thank you so much. we have breaking news. senator jeff flake is speaking outside of the capitol. >> is there anything -- >> sure. i worked with the president on some of the judge nominees. i worked, hopefully we'll be working with him on tax policy on daca. i am glad the president wants to protect those kids who came across the border. so there are things that we can work together on. i hope to be able to work certainly with my colleagues. we have a bipartisan aumf that tim kaine and i put forward hopefully we can get done. so there are a lot of things we can work together on. i have worked together with

democrat presidents, republican presidents. i disagreed with both. these days it seems that unless you're on, you know, every policy that the president has, then somehow you're not a conservative somehow or, it is just an odd time in politics. reporter: future for you in the republican party? >> you know, it is, i think that this spell or fever that we're in right now, that is more about your tone than your policies will abate and will change. so i do think that -- resentment is not a governing philosophy. at some point you have to got actually to have policies that work, not just rile up the base. and so, yeah, i do think the party will come back around. otherwise we'll be a minority party for a long time. reporter: [inaudible]

>> one more question, i'm sorry. reporter: what about those in the bannon wing in the party victory today? >> nothing at all, nothing at all. reporter: [inaudible] regret of discourse or regret of leadership. were you referring directly to the white house as far as leadership was concerned? >> yes. reporter: do you feel like your work is done, that it will be by the end of your term? >> no. david: senator jeff flake surprising folks in capitol hill announcing he will not run for another term in the u.s. senate. big question, how will he vote when it comes to taxes. will he be for the tax plan even if the president was for the tax plan? they don't like each other. that doesn't mean they might not enjoy tax cuts. let's bring in art laffer, laffer associates chairman and former reagan advisor. one of the problems i have with the tax plan as it is rolled out, we're getting snippets here and elsewhere, it is too

complicated. have across the board tax cut. it is getting muddied instead of new rates for richest. there is something foreign minimum mum tax we heard about the in "the washington post" for profits businesses makeover -- make overseas. >> i would love that. get the corporate rate from 35 to 15, have nothing else. there are a couple other things in the bill i really, really like. i like expensing. i like territorial, i like a lot of other stuff. i like the inheritance tax gotten rid of. just one thing, cut the corporate from 35 to 15, we'll have such a boom in the economy. revenues will pour in. it wail pay for itself by a lot over 10-year period. why not do that, after the boom started, then in the comfort of prosperity, we can sit and talk about all these other little

things. you and i, david, will sit there in gucci gulch like pack wood and moynihan did and solve all the world's problems. get rid of deduction, exclusion, lower rates, have flat tax and nirvana was here. david: i hate to disappoint you. i go for regular beer. >> i don't think that, by the way. david: here is the problem, the president seems, a lot of republican bought into the notion, we have to be using their words as progress sieve as the current tax code. progressivity is not a good thing. that led if my mind past several years to gross incomes disparity. >> you're right. david: the higher tax rates, less progressive we have come in terms of narrowing the income gap. in reagan years with across the board tax cuts, tax cuts for the rich as well as the poor. look what happened. the income actually increased. the poorest 20% did just as well as richest 20%.

you can put up the figures. >> that is very true. not only true did they do that with the numbers you show. the thing really amazing, there is huge bias against the lowest 20%, because they're looking average incomes. all these people get jobs they had no income before. adding them to the base. it is huge bias to the bottom 20%. despite of that the bottom 20% did almost as well as the top 20%. that is amazing phenomenon. we made the poor richer getting jobs for them. david: knocking down the rich, the main thing is bringing everybody up. as long as there is mobility. as long as poorest people are getting into the middle class, middle class getting into the rich, everybody is doing better when the economy grows. that is what should be our target, should it not? >> the other thing that really gripes me, david they want to cut taxes for everyone. that is silly. i want everyone to pay more in taxes because they make a lot

more. they have jobs where otherwise they wouldn't have. this is jobs bill. that is jobs bill, help the middle class enormously. wages to up. people who didn't have jobs now have jobs. it is enormous thing. why worry about all this other silly stuff? just get the corporate rate down. david: the question how much you get it down? the president first talked about 15%. he is talking about 20% before the negotiations. if it goes much higher than 20%, would that be enough to bring companies back from ireland where it is 12 1/2%? >> you know, there are gradations throughout, i don't want you to become a debbie downer. this will be a great bill. it is going to pass. it will start the prosperity. once the prosperity starts, david. you will see this machine starting to hum and roll. everyone will join the process. within the next seven years, we will have tremendous tax reform, tremendous growth. aca will be repealed. and i mean, trees will blossom.

the fruit will be born. animals will multiply. david: the trees will bless many. make it simple. >> james carville had a great line. he called it kiss. do you remember that one. carville said keep it simple, stupid. that is very true. everyone understands why the corporate rate needs to be lowered. we're highest in the world. lower it and get us competitive. get us jobs. we'll all be better. david: remember kiss. >> it's a great line. thank you, david. david: optimist as always. melissa: stocks ignoring drama in washington. the dow driving full steam ahead. closing at another record high. lori rothman on the floor of the new york stock exchange. lori, what was fueling the dow? >> earnings, baby, it was all about earnings. another record close for the dow. this is the 54th record for the industrials in 2017. largest gain in six weeks for the dow jones. as for the month of october, well the dow is on pace for its best month since november.

you know what happened in november, of course. president trump won the election, to the surprise of many. in any event, look what drove the dow. companies 3m and caterpillar before the bell reported solid earnings. what is key about that, a lot of companies and investors look, sorry, caterpillar and 3m as economic bellwethers. 135 points to the dow for 3m and caterpillar for the gains today. all-time highs posted by those companies. behind that you had some financials. american express, jpmorgan chase, then defense contractor rounding out top performers. boeing up 1 1/2%. this is really interesting story today. whirlpool after 100 years, announcing it will no longer sell appliances to sears. sears will not carry brands mike maytag, as well as some of the other brands whirlpool makes. after 100 years, whirlpool out with very disappointing earnings, lowering full-year profit outlook to boot.

shares of whirlpool down, painful, off 11%. not too much better for sears. of the more problems. the company off 9%. back to you. melissa: lori, thank you. david: house intel committee is looking how a russian-based company was able to get access to 20% of u.s. uranium in a deal made under the obama administration. jordan sekulow, american center law and justice sounding off coming next. hi, i'm the internet! you know what's difficult?

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david: the house intel committee opening up a 2010 sale of a mining company to a company that obtained 20% of u.s. uranium reserves. the house intel committee chairman discussed what his probe will focus on. take a listen.

>> one of the things we're concerned about, whether or not there was an fbi investigation. was there a doj investigation? and if so, why was congress not informed of this matter? david: here now is jordan sekulow, american center of for law an justice executive director. great to see you. we do have more evidence now, based on a confidential informant that will be interviewed by the committee, that the fbi knew that there was racketeering involved in the russian purchase of this company. did the obama white house know about the fbi's investigation? >> that is the big question for these committees. so now you have got the intelligence committee. oversight committee on the house, and now the senate judiciary committee will open up an investigation here. what did members of the committee on foreign investments in the united states, which hillary clinton was a member of at the time, that advised the president on deals like this, that ultimately approved this

deal say same month by the way this purchase was paid same month bill clinton got a check for $500,000 from a russian bank to give a speech, one speech, 500 grand. the day before he got the money, this deal was going forward, a russian spy ring was uncovered by fbi. we know the spy ring was uncovered. we know the fbi was investigating another russian company, david, tenex, had a u.s.-based affiliate. their ceo went to jail for four years. that is where the confidential informant comes in. now so far we don't know they can testify. the doj has got to waive his non-disclosure agreement. i'll calling today on attorney general sessions to get that done immediately. the obama administration, david, kept his non-disclosure agreement in place so he could not testify, he wanted to testify. guess what he wanted to testify? 2016 during the election season. he wasn't allowed to. david: interesting. jordan, i will ask you to

speculate a little, not much, but a little. >> yep. david: how could the white house approved of the deal if in fact they knew racketeering was a part of the deal? >> this is the great russian, this is the real russian scandal, i believe, david. if the white house knew that any of this was occurring or potentially occurring with these subsidiary companies, and still went ahead with the deal, makes you wonder why so many on the left today are making russia out to the be enemy, they were okay looking the other way during the russian spy scandal while people are going to jail. david: yeah. >> confidential informants not allowed to speak. this seems to me passes all the smell tests for an actual russian scandal in the united states affecting the obama administration. david: not only the house is looking into this. senator john barosso was on earlier on fox news channel with dana perino. he was asked about this. this is you who he responded. take a listen. >> looks like the fbi was doing investigations all the way back

to 2009. i want to know why the american people didn't know about the fbi investigations because that should have prevented this sale to russia and vladmir putin ever happening in the first place. david: jordan, the point is at that time the director of the fbi was none other than robert mueller, who is now leading the russian investigation. doesn't that compromise his ability to investigate this process? >> yeah, i don't think this process specifically should have anything to do with mueller. i think this has nothing to do with the 2016 campaign that he is supposed to investigating. the department of justice could do this on their own, leaving out mueller. jeff sessions can lead this. this is not have to do with the trump campaign. it has to do with confidential informant from a case the doj brought in the 2,000s, 2014. do it that way. leave mueller out. leave comey and his former allies ought as well. do investigations into them as well. david: jordan, we have breaking

news. >> this is ultimately the real russian scandal. david: jordan sekulow. good to talk to you. melissa. melissa: breaking news. chipotle shares down 8% after-hours following a miss on third quarter earnings. the company citing a smaller than expected of same-store sales at established restaurants hurt by mixed reviews of caso dip and norovirus that close ad virginia restaurant in july. we'll be right back. my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. don't worry - i know what a lug wrench is, dad. is this a lug wrench? maybe? you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance.

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melissa: senator corker there's there is a personal thing going on between you and senator mccain. do you worry if he gets his way? >> sometimes it helps to be honest with you. we'll see what happens in the end but to me on the sometimes it helps and sometimes he gets people to do what they are supposed to be doing. david: do you think the media believe back? melissa: i don't think they did

but i believe that. very strategic. you let people know the chinese dinner could come back. i think it's strategic but that's my opinion. david: it didn't work for health care but look at the market. melissa: "risk and reward" starts right now. deirdre:. >> i think we support the american people on this. i don't think the numbers are in favor of fever those two senators so i think this is probably the right thing. the people in this country didn't elect somebody to be weak. they elected somebody to be strong and when he gets hit he's going to hit back. i think senator corker knows that and if he is trying to get a headline or two on the way out the door. he wants people to be in the senate that are committed to actually moving the ball down the field and i don't think he is nri