we all share our night mares. >> jon: you have to fly with small children. >> jenna: a new arena. absolutely. i'm sure our viewers can appreciate that. have a great day everybody. "america's news hq" starts right now. >> melissa: white house press secretary sean spicer wrapping up today's briefing. hello, everyone, i'm melissa francis. spicer fielding a multitude of questions on former national security adviser michael flynn and whether the vetting process was sufficient enough. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel's on capitol hill, eric sprowling is standing by with analysis. let's start with john roberts, though. he's live with more. >> reporter: melissa, good afternoon. what the department of defense is investigating, the inspector general's office, is whether or not lieutenant general michael flynn, retired military officer, asked for permission to receive payments from foreign governments, foreign entities,

namely a speech he gave to a russian media conglomerate at a speech in which president putin conducted, that work was $530,000 for a dutch firm which represented turkish interest. jason chaffetz said that he has seen nothing to suggest in any of the documents that lieutenant general michael flynn ever asked for permission. back in 2014 the pentagon warned flynn against taking such payments. the ranking member of the house oversight government reform committee elijah cummings today said that warning from the pentagon could not have been clearer. here he is. >> this matter explicitly warned general flynn as he entered retirement that the constitution prohibited him from accepting any foreign government payments without advance permission.

the pentagon's warning to general flynn was bold, italicized and could not have been clearer. >> reporter: now, the reason they need to ask for permission is, even if you are a retired flag officer, you could be called back to active duty. this falls under the heading of what are called involumements. payments from foreign governments. donald trump ran into this problem when people were talking about whether foreign official stayed at his hotel here in washington, d.c. that would constitution that. elijah cummings asked the white house for documents. the white house referred cummings and jason chaffetz to other agencies which he believes that those documents. but he isn't buying that, accusing the white house at the very least of stone walling, at the most covering for flynn. jason chaffetz said he believes the white house is fully complied with the request for documents and that any suggestion that it's stone walling is bogus.

he is also suggesting the number and degree of documents being asked for are such that no white house would ever comply with such a request. >> melissa: i thought some of the most interesting exchange came around their explanation of the security clearance. talk to us about that. >> reporter: here's the thing. a lot of people are assuming that when lieutenant general michael flynn was named the national security adviser, that's when he applied for a security clearance and would have put all of this down on a standard form 86. but he received his security clearance years and years ago and, in fact, that security clearance was reinvestigated in 2016 during the obama administration after the incident involving russia today rt occurred which was in december of 2015. so basically sean spicer giving a lesson on security clearances today, saying he already had it. what would be the need for another security clearance investigation under the trump

administration? >> why would you rerun a background check on someone who was the head of the department of the defense intelligence agency that had and did maintain a high level security clearance? that's it. it doesn't -- there's no difference between administrations when you come in from one, they rerun it. the reason they grant them for five years is that it's a very extensive background where they check your contact, your places of residence, your employment. they go out into the field. they do a lot of that work. and then you are required to maintain updates to that clearance. >> reporter: so, again, to be very clear here, lieutenant general michael flynn did not require a new security clearance or a new investigation of his security clearance when he was named the national security adviser. melissa, this is something that he had. he had for years. it was reupped in the spring of 2016. so there was no need for the incoming trump administration to do it. >> melissa: it's an interesting point. john roberts, thank you very much. joining me now to talk about this now eric bowling. the analogy he used which i

think was interesting, he said what about all of you sitting out there in the white house press corps. you didn't get your background check renewed when we came into office. you got your clearance whenever you got it and it's still there. we didn't recheck everything you did just because we took over. it's a decent point. what do you think? >> and the crickets ensued waiting for a response. look, here's the way i read this. i think, yes, general flynn, he was vetted. he was clearly vetted when he was tapped. did he need that additional security clearance to re-evaluate his security clearance level? i would say i don't think he did either, as sean spicer points out. you don't have to revet that part of it. you still need to vet what the guy's been doing. if he did something wrong between the time that he went to work for the trump administration, whether candidacy or administration, then he needs to show what he's done and the inspector general is going to do that. if he did something wrong, he's on the hook. i don't think the trump administration did anything

wrong whatsoever. they turned over the documents they feel they need to. if there's an extensive amount of documents they're being asked to turn over, they'll get them. let the investigation go. don't let the press corp investigate. and one more step, whether the trump administration knew it. if the trump administration had thought or had suspected that there was some funny business going on between flynn and the russians, he never would have been tapped. >> melissa: let me push back on that once then we'll move along. if it is true that he was paid $535,000 by some turkish interest, that he did a speech for the rt and that when he left his post he signed a document saying that he was never gonna take money from a foreign government just in case he was called back into service. he violated those things. isn't that something that should have turned up when the trump administration was vetting him? that he took that money? >> well, if that's the case, then maybe the -- who ever said, hey -- he was warned in 2013 or

2014 not to do, this right? did they notify the trump administration? i don't know. i don't think we should be investigating or speculating on who knew what and when here. i'm sure they're going to get to the bottom of it. i'm positive the trump administration will come out clean saying, we didn't know that he was doing this. there are people in every single administration that do these types of things. when the information is brought to light for the administration, whether it's obama, bush or trump, you remove them. you do what you're supposed to do. >> melissa: which is what happened. meanwhile, it's taking way from these other huge items. taxes. one of the big slams is that it's a tax cut for the rich. not if you live in new york. people that live in high tax states, top earners will end up paying more. that point seems to be getting lost. what do you think of the tax policy as it appears? >> i think it's an amazing economic stimulus.

all right. so for the vast majority of people out there with the exception of the extremely high earners who live in high tax states like new york, new jersey, california, you may end up paying a little more in tax or you may not. depends what happens with the obama care. >> melissa: everybody el is happy. >> everyone else in the country is happy. it will probably be when the obamacare tax comes out that everyone will have a lower tax burden. vast majority of the country, vast majority of the economy, 70% of the economy is driven by the consumer. massive push behind the consumer is the middle class. they're going to have a much much lower tax burden. that's great stimulus. >> melissa: pro growth for the whole economy. >> not a little either. not a little. we're talking trillions of dollars of money in people's pockets and corporation pockets to go ahead and spend and hire and improve their businesses and lives. >> melissa: that's not opinion. let me ask you ab nafta. that's the other big one. sean spicer was asked ab nafta.

let's listen to that. >> president had the great deal of respect for these two countries and their leaders. he said he would hold on the determination while we negotiate a better and fair deal for america and its workers. but the president also made it clear if the parties are unavailable to agree on a deal that is fair for american workers and companies after renegotiation, giving renegotiation a good shot, he will move forward with termination. >> melissa: that's how you bring some leverage to negotiation. >> this is why for the past two years, from the day donald trump said i'm going to run for president. his deal is always better for the american people. i'm a free trade person. i think trade agreements are anti-free trade. i'm forced to do a deal with you. i may get a better deal over here. if you break these free trade agreements, free up your trade deals and do bi lateral trade agreements. i'm in favor of this. but what donald trump did here,

he said, i promise to leave nafta, but if canada and mexico give us a better deal, maybe we'll negotiate to stay in the nafta, but it's going to be a better deal for the united states. he's not hard core where he said i ran on breaking up nafta and i'm going to do it no matter but. but if we get a better deal, why not stay? this is so common sense, business sense, what a corporate ceo would do. this makes more sense for the american people than anything i have heard. >> melissa: he has the credibility that he's gonna stand up and walk away from the table if he doesn't like what's going on. classic negotiations. >> when these anti-trump tore liberals who can't stand what's going on with the gop and trump right now open up their 401k at the end of the year, or end of the quarter i'm sorry, or at the end of the month and say, wow, wow, this is kind of working for me. and they still go out and say the guy doesn't know what you're doing when your livelihood is better, you have more money in your pocket and you can take your family out to dinner more. >> melissa: you've got a big

show starting monday. anything you want to tell us about that? >> the only thing i can tell you at this point, this is big, donald trump, i'm gonna interview him live from dc monday morning. >> melissa: the president? >> the president. this is his first business day after the 100 day envelope has gone. it will be his first day. we'll bring you that interview for you at 5:00. i can't tell you anything else. >> melissa: on this new mystery secret program at 5:00 right here. >> it will be a good time right here. >> melissa: nice. you just broke that news that you're going to have the president. thanks for being here. i appreciate it. thank you, eric. the republican plan to replace obamacare is getting a big boost. the latest compromise winning support in the house from the conservative freedom caucus now moderates are in the hot seat as the white house pushes for a deal. mike emanuel is live on capitol hill. how is the effort to round up the final votes for health care going? >> reporter: it sounds like the

effort to go to each republican member and see if they're on board or if they need more convincing is quite time consuming. paul ryan was asked earlier today if he might be putting his moderate members at risk by pushing for a vote on this health care plan. ryan said it's about them keeping their word. the american health care system in the individual market is in peril right now. we have a moral obligation to prevent people from getting hurt to stop damage from being continued. and we promise that we would do this. if you violate your promise, if you commit the sin of hypocrisy in politics, that's the greater risk to a person's seat. >> reporter: ryan publicly is not showing signs of feeling pressure in terms of bringing this up for a vote. he is working his best, trying to get to that magic number, being able to pass it in the house. melissa. >> melissa: what are some moderates saying ab their concerns exactly? >> reporter: some come from districts or home states that aspect of obamacare are popular.

one moderate from new york talked tows and said he's worried about fixing one problem with this bill and accidentally creating another problem for consumers. >> my position has always been we have to help people who are harmed by the affordable care act. there are people who are paying astronomical premiums. we have to help those people harmed by the affordable care act but ne that were helped by it. many people were helped by the affordable care act. >> reporter: it is worth noting if or when they get the votes to pass this bill on the house that is not the end of the process. it would go to the senate where they could improve the bill. first thing first they need to get enough votes to pass it in the house. melissa. >> melissa: thank you. u.s. officials defending employment of a missile defense system to south korea. as tensions mount with the north. why the state department is calling it a speak softly and carry a big stick strategy. >> we're not seeking regime

change and our preference is to resolve this problem peacefully. we're not leaving anything, you know, off the table.

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>> melissa: top military leaders on capitol hill with dire warnings about north korea. it comes as the air force test fires an intercontinental ballistic missile. the type of weapon the pentagon says pyongyang wants to get his hands on to launch a nuclear attack on the u.s. the trump administration saying the strategy to deal with that threat is to rely heavily on china's economic leverage. >> they say they're serious. they say they understand it's urgent. the question will be how close can we bring our two visions of how much pressure we're willing to impose on the north korean

regime. is it tkpreuf the obama administration's policy? i think it is in the sense that it's the number one security challenge that we're facing right now, according to the administration, the president. and so we will be pursuing it in that vain. >> melissa: former cia senior north korea analyst managing director for bower group asia and was director for korea japan and oceanic affairs of the nsc under both president bush and president obama. thank you for bringing your expertise to us. you say that china is very afraid of putting too much pressure on and seeing regime collapse in north korea. is that right and why? >> welsh because china always wanted that buffer zone. china does not want unified korea, u.s. unified korea with american soldiers on its border. so it needs to keep north korea as a buffer. it doesn't want instability on the peninsula.

china always said no war, no incivil teus and no nukes, in that order. that's very important for china. >> melissa: is there a point at which the regime is too erratic and out of control that it becomes a liability or not really? >> well, thus far china's thinking has not changed. this is what the united states and south korea tried to do with china. to make china understand its own stra teamic interest is to giving a plank r blank check. this whole crisis is not in its best interest. >> melissa: the way to change china's mind, is it military or economic? >> i think it's economic and it is helping in that it doesn't want war either. economic in the sense that we have to hit chinese things and chinese entities that does business with north korea as well. we might get there. if china does not reign in north korea, we might have to go after secondary sanctions against

chinese things. >> melissa: there's a lot of leverage there in the sense that there's a lot we haven't done yet, right? we have a lot of room to ratchet it up. >> right. when you look at iran sanctions, that's sort of the model. lot of people think north korea sanctions are maxed out, but that is not true. sanctions have not been enforced. so there's a lot we can do on north korean entities by adding more north korean entities and people on the sanction list and by going after chinese banks. >> melissa: there are those who think the tpeuz recall danger to everyone else is growing. listen to this. >> i don't share your confidence that north korea is not going to attack either south korea or japan or the united states or our territories or our states or parts of the united states once they have the capability. >> melissa: what do you think? is hawaii in jeopardy? i mean, some have said that's a possibility. >> well, north korea -- the regime said if there's a war, if there's a conflict, it would

mean the end of state and the end of kim jong-un's personal life. if kim thinks that we are going after him and there is going to be a war anyway or if there's a regime change that's about to happen, then you cannot rule out that possibility. >> melissa: amazing. scary stuff. thank you for coming on. >> thank you for having me. >> melissa: the nra kicking off a historic win in georgia as the state gets ready for a pivotal run off election. we look at the role the second amendment could play. plus, the trump administration taking action at the va. what the white house is doing to ensure veterans get the care they deserve. >> the administration, not nearly enough was done to hold bureaucrats accountable, despite claims to clean things up. managing blood sugar is not a marathon. it's a series of smart choices. and when you replace one meal

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>> melissa: the nra kicking off its annual meeting today in georgia as the state gears up for a highly anticipated congressional runoff with the second amendment could play a pivotal role. jonathan tierry is live from roz well, georgia. what can you tell us? >> reporter: hi, melissa. well, here in georgia, gun owners and voters in general, for that matter, in the middle of two hotly con tested debates. one is over who best to represent georgia's sixth congressional district. the other is over whether the governor should sign legislation that would allow registered gun owners to carry firearms on public college campuses. we put the issue of campus carry to a cross section of six district voters. listen. >> i think the governor should sign the bill. it's not a matter of keeping guns off college campuses. they're already allowed on college campuses.

we're not really talking about students. for the most part we're talking about faculty and staff carrying on campuses. >> i think it would be a great idea for faculty that was interested in doing it to be trained and to be, you know tphrbg a situation where they could be a first responder in an emergency event. >> as far as guns on campus, i'm opposed to it. i think that only guns on campus should be law enforcement. >> reporter: and the sixth congressional district race is heading to a runoff between karen handle and democrat john osoff. president trump, who is scheduled to speak at the nra meeting tomorrow, afterwards will host a fund-raiser for karen handle, the republican in that race. melissa. >> melissa: jonathan, thank you. the new questions about former national security adviser michael flynn and his overseas contacts with the release of newly declassified documents. the president weighing in moments ago. we're gonna bring you that.

>> one of our most serious concerns has been with former national security adviser michael flynn. his ties to russia. the documents raise grave concerns and i urge all members to view them. i work overtime when i can get it. i need my blood sugar to stay in control. weekends are my time. i need an insulin that fits my schedule. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ (announcer) tresiba® is used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. don't use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. don't share needles or insulin pens. don't reuse needles. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headac.. check your blood sugar. low blood sugar can be serious and may be life-threatening. injection site reactions may occur. tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. taking tzds with insinins like tresiba® may cause serious side effects like heart failure. your insulin dose shouldn't be changed without asking your prescriber. get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing,

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military relies on. you look at our ships. i went to see some of the ships last week and so much is aluminum based. much of that aluminum comes from foreign countries which is absolutely insane. today we're extending another clear signal to the world, we will fight for american workers. american jobs and we will fight always for the american dream. we're bringing it back. we produced 600,000 jobs just in the short time i have been in office. that number is going very much higher over the next few months michigan. ford and others are building new plants, expanding old plants. they're no longer talking about running away from our country. we're talking about building their cars and other products by other companies right here in the usa. so we're going to have a lot of things happening. i think the media, when they report, some of you do report it

honestly. lot of great things are happening. people don't want to leave. they want to come back. they want to create jobs in the united states. with that, maybe i'll just have a few of the folks behind me introduce themselves and the name of their company. we can start with alcoa. >> my name is troy harvey. i'm chief executive officer of alcoa. we've been building aluminum in the united states for 130 years. we appreciate the support of the administration to try to make a level playing field. >> it's been very unlevel. >> it's been an incredibly difficult decade particularly. >> go ahead. yes. >> michelle o'neil. >> thank you, michelle. >> larry buchon. good to see you. >> thank you, larry. thank you for your support, too. >> thanks. >> doing a good job. >> mike kelly, pennsylvania. good to see you. >> come here, mike.

you're doing okay. right from the beginning. right, mike. >> you better believe it. >> heidi braun. we represent the value trade of the aluminum industry and 160,000 jobs in the united states. thank you, mr. president. >> lee mccarter ceo of jw aluminum. we've been in business since 1980. we've gotten hammered over the last 10, 15 years. >> we'll change that around. >> thank you. >> i promise you that. yes. >> margret sabantino. we manufacture highly engineered products for the aerospace defense and automotive industry. >> i'm chair of the aluminum association. we appreciate this action and we're with you. we support you. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> michael pwhrefpb. ceo of century aluminum. we own the plant that makes the high security aluminum that's critical to the national defense. with your leadership we'll be able to bring our employees back. >> will you bring them back

soon? bring them back soon, believe me. yes, ma'am. >> i'm the president of alumi source from monesson pennsylvania. we shot the first cannon ball over the blue wall. it was an aluminum cannon ball. >> that was a great visit. >> jason smith, congressman southeast missouri. we were one of those smelters that closed last year, losing 900 jobs. >> you're doing a great job. thank you. >> jackie norstry. we have a lot af aluminum in our district for the defense industry. thank you very much for what you're doing. appreciate it. >> thank you. thank you very much. wilbur everybody knows, right? thank you very much. thank you very much, everybody. appreciate it. thank you. we'll sign this. all right. who's going to get the pen? that's the big question, right. who's gonna get the pen.

maybe we'll give it to wilbur. do you think? maybe we should do it. >> my motto is never to leave the meeting with less than i came in with. okay. wilbur. >> thank you, sir. [ applause ] >> any regrets about michael flynn? >> thank you very much. thank you. >> melissa: okay. that was president trump signing a memorandum on aluminum imports and threats to national security. president trump also being asked whether he has any regrets on bringing former national security adviser michael flynn

to the team. as documents surface about his foreign ties. we now know that flynn received $45,000 to appear at a gal la with vladamir putin back in 2015. katherine herridge is live on capitol hill, staking out the intelligence meeting. we're learning that he was warned about accepting payments from foreign governments. what more do we know about that. >> reporter: that's correct. well, democrats on the house side released three sets of documents this morning to really bolster their case. they believe the former national security adviser deliberately hid his payments and contacts with the russian governments. if i'm gonna break it down, let's go one at a time. that first document you just referenced is from 2014. it was sent by the defense intelligence agency to mike flynn where he worked as he was retiring. it explicitly says if he's going to get foreign payments from other governments, he's got to get permission from the

department of the army and the secretary of state first and a senior government said that simply didn't happen. >> this new matter counters the suggestion made by general flynn's attorney on tuesday that general flynn followed the appropriate procedures when he accepted foreign funds for his trip to moscow in 2015. i don't care what his lawyer says. there is no such document saying that he requested permission to get money, to get the money, or a document saying that he received it. >> reporter: all of thaoe documents really relate to the image you see here which is mike flynn at a dinner celebrating the tenth anniversary of russia today which critics say is a propaganda arm of the russian government. he got 45,000 for a speech during this trip to moscow in 2015. and you can also see there the russian president vladamir putin. really this issue seems complicated on the surface, but i think it comes down to two

issues. did flynn declare the financial payments? flynn's lawyer said the defense intelligence agency knew before and after that trip in december 2015 what he was planning to do and what was involved. the other issue is whether flynn made these decision, whether it's bad judgment or whether there really was a deliberate effort to obfiscate the facts and whether it amounts to treason in this case. >> melissa: that's a lot. thanks for staying on top of it. the president giving the pentagon more flexibility on iraq and syria. defense secretary james mattis now has the authority to send more u.s. forces into syria to help local forces retake raqa from isis. ben collins is the u.s. army special forces veteran and green beret and served three tours in afghanistan. lieutenant colonel michael walsh former terrorism adviser to vice president cheney, a fox news

contributor and author. gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us. ben collins, let's start with you. what do you think about this? what do you think about the new latitude? what difference does it make? >> i think it does two things. they're both vital. first thing, it will give more tra transparency to the troop numbers. under the obama administration what the numbers they were telling us left out were two things. one, it was people who were considered only there on a temporary basis which means 180 days or less. two, it left out the numbers for the special operations personnel. so you can look at a number that was the official cap for syria under obama, about 503 and we probably have about over 1000. this is going to be more transparent, i believe. it's also going to start moving that decision chain away from the lawyers and put it back into the hands of the warriors. it lay -- it will allow for them to move troops much quicker

rather than getting a memo from obama himself to do anything. >> melissa: do you agree with that? and what does that mean going forward? >> well, i do agree with it. this is essentially the trump administration fixing what was a very flawed strategy process under the obama administration. under the obama administration, there was an overfocus on troop numbers and then we would try to kind of cram the strategy into that troop number. and the troop number focus is because they were focused on how these overseas interventions played domestically in terms of domestic politics. the other thing it reflected under the obama administration was an inherent distrust of the u.s. military. there was a belief in the white house at that time that the military would always want more, then they would default to the military option. secretary gates, seat pinetta all spoke about this. i think we're seeing a move toward what president trump has said. he trusts his military. he surrounded himself with great

leaders who know what they're doing, who are going to bring a whole of government approach, diplomatic information, military and diplomatic and he's going to let them do their job >> melissa: that is the fair that the military gets more entrenched. does it make it deeper and longer or shorter and more likely to come to a conclusion? what's the truth? >> i think the truth is we have to start. michael touched on it. we have to move away from, you know, the focus on the tactical which is what we always talk about in terms of troop numbers and say if we give them that latitude, will they get more entrenched. that's a civilian decision. this, by allowing this, however, it does become more incumbent on the civilian leadership to provide that strategy that the military actions will fit into. >> melissa: okay. >> and that i think we'll see, hopefully, in the next ensuing months coming out of the new

administration. >> melissa: colonel, i want to ask you about something before we run out of time. it is the new executive order that president trump signed to create a new accountability office and to create a task force. we hear about task force and accountability all the time. is this a meaningful step? >> it is. the other has been moving from, there's a big difference, we're moving from government managed health care, which is the va system with over 1,000 clinics, 130 hospitals that's a mess, and the government paid healthcare for our veterans, which is something akin to the military. it has a mix of military doctors, and then allowing military folks to go to the private sector to get the care they need and to rely on the va to pay for those services. i think it's a move in the right direction. the va secretary, a holdover from the obama administration. unanimously approved, has some legislation coming this fall

that is going to provide, called the veteran's choice program that will provide a more healthy mix. the va, if you're worried about government managed healthcare, look at the va system and look at what a disaster that is. i think it's a move in the right direction. >> melissa: that's a great point. we're going to end on that. thanks to both of you. the president unveiling his tax plan to mixed reviews. senator rand paul says, quote, real men and pull no punches women, cut taxes. i like that. he's gonna join us live to explain why. needles. essential for him, 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 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.

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whattwo servings of veggies? v8 or a powdered drink? ready, go. ahhhhhhhh! shake! shake! shake! shake! shake! done! you gotta shake it! i shake it! glad i had a v8. the original way to fuel your day. all umm...ed. you wouldn't want your painter to quit part way, i think you missed a spot. so when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day? aleve, live whole not part. you want this color over the whole house? >> melissa: president trump handing lawmakers a blue print for tax cuts. congress has to figure out how to make it work. house speaker paul ryan had this to say earlier today. >> it's all about interest rates, right, jonathan? i think under most models, you assume a normalization of interest rates will occur. the question is, do interest rates go above their normal rates or do they go higher because of debt and deficits on

crowding out investment? i do believe that we have to have fiscal discipline in addition to economic growth. >> melissa: joining me now senator rand paul. you wrote a great article. you wrote about something that drives me crazy. as someone who can do math and study economics you said let me translate a little bit of washington speak. revenue neutral tax cuts aren't really tax cuts. it's more like tax shifting. some will pay more, some will pay less, the net effect is the government collects the same amount of taxes. why is that? >> it's very important that we have this debate, because unfortunately too many republicans in washington want to do the tax shifting. ever since i have come up here and i met these folks they're like, we want to do revenue neutral tax reform. i'm like, why bother? if that's what we're for, i'm going home. i want to lower taxes to leave more money in the hands of those

who earned it, to stimulate the economy, but also to shrink the size of government. so i would not only cut taxes, i would cut spending as well. but the way they look at it is, oh, we'll cut taxes, but we'll raise somebody else's taxes so it doesn't do anything to the deficit. i'm like, no, no! let's cut spending. so it infuriates me, the debate as it exists in washington. >> melissa: it is. the politicians talk about being responsible. how are you going to pay is a question you always hear. is it true we want to hear them make up for the lack of revenue with more revenue somewhere el. do they ever mean they're going to cut the spending to match that cut in revenue? >> they completely ignore that side of the ledger. but the thing is that when we really cut taxes dramatically, when kennedy did it and then when reagan did it again, we got enormous growth. this country is a great country.

we're doing pretty well, but we could do so much better, millions of jobs could be created. when reagan cut taxes we had gdp growth of 7% one year. we could have that again. china grew like that for decades. we could do it again in our country and keep those jobs here, keep them from going oversays seas, but we need to cut our taxes. >> melissa: you said something important there. steve mnuchin talked about paying for these tax cuts by making it up in growth in the economy. that when more money stays in the hands of the people in our audience that are watching when you earn it you get to keep more of it. that it grows the economy. same with corporations. they'll hire more people. but that growth alone, does that make up for the loss of revenue in order to not grow the debt? or do we still, even with that growth, have to cut the size of government? >> in advance, you can't make exact predictions. everybody has their own projection and nobody knows. i can tell you though that when

reagan cut the top rate from 70 to 50 and from 50 to 28, revenue did increase. the debt went up, also, but because spending was never cut. so spending is part of the equation. i would say cut the tax rate, seek economic growth. if revenue is declining, cut spending. >> melissa: yeah. you made a really important point there. when they talk about what these tax cuts will cost, in terms of lost revenue, it's called static accounting. they're counting on no growth when they tell you what that number is. you said nobody really knows what the result will be. that's so true. i wanted to make that point. senator paul, i wish we had more time. great math. great points. i love it. >> thanks. >> melissa: the white house mulling another trade shake-up as the administration turns its attention from milk and lumber to aluminum. why it's being called a national security issue.

>> melissa: after speaking out on milk and lumber, the trump administration considering new regulation on importing aluminum. we go to jeff flock live at the jupiter aluminum mill in hammond, indiana. jeff, what is behind this latest move? >> reporter: it's about imports just like the other issues, the milk and the wood. by the way, this is an extraordinary live look for you at an operating aluminum facility. that is super hot aluminum being cooled by water. pull up the numbers on imports. they have just been drastically jumping, getting our aluminum from places other than the u.s. i have got the president of the company here with me as well. 18% up in 2016. aluminum now 55% of our market, melissa, comes from overseas.

and the u.s. still has the same need for aluminum. it's just the production that's shifted overseas because it's being subsidized by foreign governments and it's cheaper. >> melissa: so is china a target for the administration on this one as well? that scenery you have there, very interesting. >> reporter: i know, i'm mesmerized by it myself. china is, although we don't get most of our overseas aluminum from china. by the way, that's what it looks like. those big thick sheets. i'll show you what it looks like before it gets to that point. maybe we go around and get a shot of the molten. but the china piece, it's only about 6.2% of our imports. but that's up 183%. it's just growing. china has tremendous capacity and capability. that's molten aluminum that you're looking at right there.

you can't almost tell. but that is 1400 degrees fahrenheit. pretty incredible pictures here, you know? the president, again, trying to keep jobs in the u.s., bring jobs back. that's what it's all about. >> melissa: absolutely. all right. jeff flock, thank you very much. do you recognize either of those kids? the back story behind these two, ho popped up on very different screens later on. i joined the army in july of '98. our 18 year old was in an accident. when i call usaa it was that voice asking me, "is your daughter ok?" that's where i felt relief. we're the rivera family, and we will be with usaa for life. ykeep you sidelined.ng that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you.

>> melissa: oh, boy! that's my brand new book. "lessons from the prairie." i make fun of myself for a fund hundred pages. i promise i will make you laugh. great lessons i've learned along the way. i used to be cassandra cooper there on little house on the prairie. there's my father, michael land landon.

that's one of the pictures you'll see that's been in the middle of the book. i'll be at the villages tomorrow from 1:00 to 3:00 in floor. come see me. here's shep. >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast, 3:00 p.m. in washington. we now learned the pentagon warned michael flynn took money from sources. the white house did it anyway. the fallout for flynn coming up. show down on healthcare. republicans' plan picking up steam in the house. does it have any chance in the senate? the proposed changes and how it could affect your coverage. taking care of american veterans. a new push to help wounded vets get better care and to get rid of v.a. staffers that don't cut it. the shakeup that could change the way you use the internet forever.