paul: all right, thank you. that's it for this week's show. thanks to all of you for watching. i'm paul gigot. hope to see you right here next week. ♪ ♪ julie: president trump embarking on a five-nation trip to asia. the president leaving hawaii after visiting the pearl harbor memorial, and now he's on his way to japan. the first stop of what will be the longest presidential visit to the region since george h.w. bush. hello and welcome to a brand new hour inside america's news headquarters, i'm julie banderas. connell: and i'm connell mcshane. a busy weekend, certainly, for the president. he'll be arriving sun morning local time meeting with the japanese prime minister, a lunch meeting and a round of golf worked in. despite informal settings, north korea nuclear ambitions are

expected to still be a top priority. kevin corke ahead of the president live for us already in tokyo with more on this important trip. kevin? >> reporter: hey, guys, you're right about that. north korea and security cooperation clearly the headlines here, and as far as north korea is concerned, listen, the administration recognizes they would love to have consensus on what to do about the problem pyongyang, but i think a best case scenario at least according to white house officials is to just at least acknowledge the fact that we recognize there's a problem and the u.s. would agree not to act in a proactive or provocative manner toward pyongyang without at least considering the feelings, if nothing else, and certainly consultation with its partners here in the peninsula. the president is enroute here to asia, longest trip in about a quarter century for an american president on this continent. he left hawaii not terribly long ago, an important stop as he makes his way over this way. before heading this way, the president was actually briefed

by leadership from u.s. pacific command in hawaii. then, of course, joining the first lady for that visit over at pearl harbor. i have a photo i want to share with you, also visiting the memorial was white house chief of staff john kelly. his son was killed while serving in the marine corps in afghanistan, certainly a solemn reminder of the sacrifice so many have made on behalf of a grateful nation. and i want to share a little behind the curtains, if you will. this is actually a tweet from the u.s. secret service. the presidential vehicle's being loaded up for the trip here to asia including the beast as we like to call it, that's the main transport vehicle for the president and the first family. all right, so here's the map. first up, it's japan and south korea. then the president, in addition to looking for unity on this north korea question, will then head to beijing where he's expected to, again, have a very important bilateral with xi jinping and hopefully get the chinese president to get tough on pyongyang. the president will also make a couple of stops in vietnam, and then he's expected to extend his drip in the philippines by --

trip in the philippines by a day before making his way home. and trade is another major element of the discussions. as much as we love to talk about the trade imbalance between the u.s. and china, keep in mind japan and the u.s. have a pretty sizable trade deficit as well. we expect the president to talk about that, bringing its u.s. trade rep along in tow. how about this number? $51 billion, that's the u.s. trade deficit with japan just this year alone, and that's only through august. that's the latest figures that we have available. so the president's going to try to hammer out a more favorable trade environment for the u.s. and enhance a more equitable trade relationship not just between the u.s. and japan, but also with our other partners here in the region. you've pointed out something important. a working lunch and a little golf in the offing for the president as he makes his way here. he's very fond of shinzo abe, pretty plain to see, and i think this is an opportunity to further enhance that relationship and talk bigtime about north korea. guys, i'll be here for you.

for now, back to you. connell: no doubt. kevin corke live in what turns out to be an early sunday morning report there from tokyo. julie. julie: on monday the house ways and means committee will start a markup of the republican tax bill unveiled earlier this week, but some gop lawmakers are expressing concern about that plan especially when it comes to the elimination of some popular tax deductions. garrett tenney is live from washington with more on this. hi, garrett. >> reporter: hey, julie. the two changes that are receiving the most blowback deal with the mortgage interest deduction and deducting state and local taxes. under the plan unveiled this week, new home buyers will only be able to deduct up to $500,000 of their mortgage instead of the current cap of a million. the gop plan also offsets some of its tax cuts by eliminating deductions for state and local taxes, having a big impact on states with high taxes and high real estate prices such as new

york, new jersey and california among others which is why several republican lawmakers have said they will vote against their own party's plan if changes aren't made. >> there are some people who say that they're subsidizing from other states. they say that they're subsidizing new york. you look at tax and spending policy, and new york is a net contributor sending more to washington than we get back. >> reporter: house leadership has said they are open to making changes, but they also reiterate you're not going to please everyone, and at some point they'll need to move ahead. for now, they plan to try and do that without reaching out to democrats who used their weekly address to criticize the g to op plan as a slap in the face to the middle class. >> the taxpayer relief by president trump and congressional republicans is not real tax reform. instead, it cuts taxes for the wealthiest americans and raises taxes on middle class families. >> reporter: we've heard from a number of republican leaders the past few days though who

argue their plan does just the opposite of that and will be a boom for the middle class as well as for their families. that argument over how this plan affects the middle class will be a focal point of the debate in the days and weeks ahead. julie? julie: garrett tenney, thank you very much. connell: liza collins joins us, congressional reporter for "usa today," good to see you, a busy beat. >> it is. connell: is there enough opposition from people you talk to on the republican side to start with the point garrett made at the top of his report to really push back on this issue of the deductions? you know, the high-tax states, new york, new jersey and all the rest. they're upset about it, but do they have enough votes to actually defeat the plan because of that? >> i think it's going to be really close, but i don't think as of right now there is enough opposition. really the new york and new jersey republicans with a couple other republicans throughout are the ones sort of in lockstep against this. california republicans have seemed to be onboard, and the major thing here is that republicans need a win.

connell: right. >> they have not been able to get any major legislation across. while the house did pass an obamacare repeal, it failed in the senate, so republicans are pretty open about being willing to compromise on things they might not normally have had they had other pieces of legislation. so i think it's going to be really close. connell: yep. >> but right now unless there are more major changes, it looks like it can at least pass the house. connell: well, then the senate could be a different story. they're hearing, as you know, from all sides. all the special interests have come out whether it was yesterday and now into the weekend making their issues. so the republicans have a hot to deal with. here's -- a lot to deal with. here's one republican congressman talking out of the state of arizona about the pushback. listen. >> a lot of my friends on the left are terrified of the republicans having a pretty big victory of delivering these tax reductions and something that expands the economy. so there's a lot of push. there's the political side,

there's the business community where it's always trying to push each other. connell: and that last point, i think, is important because we all were wrapping up the week thinking that all american businesses would be onboard with this. but now i'm not so sure. some of the small business owners appear to have questions. what are you hearing about that? is it as popular as it seemed with the business community? >> well, i think overall just the fact that the rates go way down is making the business community happier, but to bring those rates way down there are popular dedicks that are maybe -- deductions that are, specifically the mortgage deduction. you're seeing real estate groups being upset about that. so to make, to kind of counteract for the big cuts, specific deductions are going to disappear, and so specific special interest groups are not going to be happy. whether that's enough to make a big change in the bill, we'll have to see. connell: whether the mortgage industries, other industries, housing, we're starting to hear from those. we'll have to the watch how this

plays out because you have the individual tax rates versus the business tax rates. is the argument you're hearing from republicans within their own caucus that we have to pass this for the good of the economy? is growth their biggest argument, or is it something else? >> i think growth is their biggest argument. they are definitely trying to play up the middle class tax ruts, but they're also well aware that they're going to be removing some of these popular deductions, and middle class families might get a small tax cut or not one at all. their argument is by bringing down those cuts for corporations, for small businesses, they'll be able to hire more people, boosting the economy, bringing more jobs and just that sort of overall growth is what they're really pitching. connell: let me go back to one of the first points you made a few minutes ago. you said this could get through the house, right? but once it does, then you have to deal with the senate. we all know what happened during the health care debate there. what's the -- i know it's early, but how are people handicapping what might happen if in a hypothetical this does get

through the house? how does the senate really look now? >> the house and the senate have this fascinating dynamic. the house has more republicans, so they have more padding. it's a lot easier to pass legislation through the house than the senate where they have a 52-48 majority. most legislation needs 60 votes, they have to compromise with democrats. tax reform they're going to do on reconciliation so they can have 51 votes. they can actually even bring that down to 50 with vice president pence, but that means they can only lose two republicans. and there's someone like senator susan collins who is super moderate and someone like senator bob corker who is super fiscally conservative and pretty mad at president trump right now. connell: or jeff flake or others that aren't thrilled with the president, right? >> exactly. connell: and john mccain's name always comes up. we've been through this before with other issues, right? >> right, the usual suspects and also just people who have concerns, special, like, fiscal hawks. the house bill is going -- has instructions that can add up to

$1.5 trillion to the deficit. if you're a fiscal hawk, you're not thrilled with that number. you might sort of plug your nose and vote for it, but they like to say the senators all are islands. one person can stop something, and they're not afraid to use that. connell: no, they're not. we're not there yet. a lot of twists and turns it seems like with this whole tax debate. eliza collins, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. connell: the house speaker, paul ryan, i do want to point out, of course, out touting this tax reform plan as a way to help the middle class. tomorrow he's on with chris wallace. you definitely do not want to miss that. and from the armed services committee, senator lindsey graham too will sit down with chris. that is an exclusive as well. both interviews, "fox news sunday," check your local listings for that, fox news channel and the fox broadcast network. and don't miss vice president mike pence appearing on sunday morning futures here on the fox news channel, 10 a.m. eastern

tomorrow morning. so a lot coming up. julie: former dnc chair donna brazile says she seriously considered replacing presidential nominee hillary clinton with vice president joe biden after clinton fainted while she had pneumonia on the campaign trail. these revelations coming in from brazile's explosive new memoir which also alleges clinton and the dnc rigged the 2016 primary against bernie sanders. an excerpt says the clinton campaign took control of the finances nearly a year before she won the nomination. ellison barber has more from washington. >> reporter: donna brazile, hillary clinton and the dnc, it's the story most of washington is talking about. as president trump headed towards marine one friday, he stopped and said this: -- >> you ought to look at hillary clinton, and you ought to look at the new book that was just put out by donna brazile where she basically bought the dnc, and she stole the election from

bernie. >> reporter: criticism is coming from both sides of the aisle as former interim dnc chairperson donna brazile published an excerpt of her new book in politico magazine accusing the clinton campaign and the dnc of entering into, in her words, an up unethical fundraising agreement before clinton won the nomination. the agreement in question was leaked to a number of media outlets, first nbc news. in exchange for helping the deeply in-debt, the nc raise money -- dnc raise money, staffing and budget and communications. the agreement said it applies to the general election and not the democratic primary. it also said the dnc could enter similar agreements with other candidates. some democrats say point-blank the dnc rigged the election and changes need to be made. >> very quickly, senator, do you agree with the notion that it was rigged? >> yes. >> we must bring about real campaign finance reform. we must get rid of the undemocratic system of

superdelegates. >> reporter: according to "the washington post," the dnc chair and deputy chair both pledged to reform the party in light of these allegations. tom perez, the dnc chair, also said that the joint fundraising committees for both campaigns have been shut down. julie? julie: ellison barber reporting from washington, thank you. connell: saudi arabian defense forces have intercepted a missile, state news channel reporting a missile of, quote, limited size was fired from yemen headed towards the international airport. i saudi forces bringing the missile down just north of that area. no reports coming in of casualties or damage. julie: president trump weighing in on the axises that hillary clinton -- accusations that hillary clinton rigged the democratic party or the primary and now calling on the justice department to investigate her. we're going to ask our political panel what they think about that. plus, all eyes on the president as he heads to asia amid escalating tensions with north korea. coming up, what message he might

send to our pacific allies. ♪ >> i think you're going to see the administration signal in a lot of their bilateral meetings with these other countries, hey, listen, we're on on the same page, we're all against north korea. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ connell: all right.

military officials say a u.s. service member has been killed in afghanistan. the member of the military's name has not been revealed, we just learned of this news earlier today, but we're told that the soldier died from wounds sustained during operations in logar province, afghanistan. more as we get it. julie: all right, connell. president trump and first lady melania trump now mid-flight to japan, the first of five stops on the marathon trip to asia, a first for the commander in chief. it's a presidential visit expected to focus heavily on the growing nuclear threat out of north korea. joining me now is arianna skylar mastro and u.s. air force reserve political military affairs strategic at pacific air force. and clearly an underachiever based on all of those titles. okay, first of all, let me ask you what does president trump need to do on this all-important trip to asia? >> well, first, thank you for having me, and because you did

introduce me based on all my background, i do have to say that what i have to say here is only in my personal, private civilian capacity. i think there's a big difference between what he has to and what he's going to do. so, for example, in south korea i expect him to make public speeches potentially at the national assembly that really highlights the credibility of the u.s. military threat. to say that the united states is unwilling to accept a nuclear north korea and that the united states is considering military options. however, what he needs to do is actually signal to our allies -- especially south korea and japan -- that the united states will not take any unilateral military action that is unnecessary and especially without their coordination. julie: absolutely. and that is the whole point of this, is to strategize with our allies. and now with aerial drills recently conducted over south korea by two u.s. strategic bombers, you know, the timing of all of this happening right as the president is about to make his first trip to asia, it's

raising tensions in recent days. when it comes to north korea, how much pressure will the president be putting on china? >> well, my understanding is that president trump believes that china's really the key to solving this issue and that he is willing to sacrifice some key strategic issue areas. i would say the south china sea, in order to leverage chinese support. i think this is a big mistake. the south china sea lies at the heart of power in the south pacific, and if the president does not bring it up as a key point of tension, the united states is going to be conceding massive ground in the region. but unfortunately, i think instead the president's going to focus on trying to get china's support in implementing current u.n. resolutions and putting even more pressure on north korea which the chinese believe are not really going to impact north korea's thinking even if they do follow through with u.s. wishes. julie: that's very interesting. you know, trade, obviously, is going to be factoring heavily during trump's trip, the president's trip as he tries to persuade asian allies to agree to more policies, more favorable

to the united states. i want you to listen to a political white house reporter with more on that and then your reaction. >> i think it's a bit of a stalemate situation. so you probably won't see significant progress, but a lot of it is symbolism and visibility to north korea you are really actually isolated here. trade is obviously an important component of the president's agenda. it's unclear whether he'll be able to do anything concrete on that front. julie: how should the president reassure our allies the u.s. is dedicated to upholding democratic principles? >> this is very hard primarily because of the policies he's promoted. i think he's going to make the right statements about upholding these principles of free trade. however, by withdrawing from tpp and not having anything in place and also the rumors that he is not a big fan of the free trade agreement with south korea, wants to negotiate that -- and, again, by not bringing up the south china sea where so much trade actually goes through that area where china's being

increasingly aggressive and assertive, i think it's going to be difficult to signal to our allies, partners and china that the united states is dedicated to retaining economic strength in the region. julie: a centerpiece is going to be the his-pacific summit -- asia-pacific summit. he's going to be delivering an all-important speech. what should we expect to hear from the president then? >> well, what i hope to hear is actually a broader vision of the role of free trade in the international system and how much the united states has historically promoted this free trade as the a cornerstone of u.s. leadership and power. what i'm afraid of is that to date the president has really prioritized some local interests basically hoping to appease his strong domestic base, and that has been more of a priority than really promoting this global leadership image. and china has been more than happy to step into place. xi jinping, the current leader

of china, just has consolidated power, and he has explicitly said that china's going to step in and play a global role in economics as the united states seems to be -- julie: right. you also have to think about military here, and our missile defense program or the t.h.a.d. missile defense program. trump will be making that visit to obey ginning to make the case to -- to beijing. how should we deal and protect our allies such as south korea when it comes to our missile defense program in. >> well, i think president trump has actually done a really good job of increasing the credibility of the military threat against north korea. regardless of what you think about that, i think the rhetoric, i think the military demonstrations and to a degree the unpredictability of the president has made the u.s. military threat real. the problem is that in order to actually get a country to do what you want, you need to also reassure them that if they do what you want, that you won't

hurt them, and i think that's where the real weakness of the policy is. china's primarily concerned about what an aftermath looks like. my sense is there's an opening the talk about korea contingencies, and i really hope that president trump and his team senses that opening and takes advantage of it so that we can insure the continued protection of our allies. julie: interesting. thank you so much, oriana. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. connell: we'll get back to the house republicans as they hope to get that tax plan passed through the congress. they unveiled it already. the proposal is now facing an uphill ballot as we've been telling you. you have both democratic and republican lawmakers showing some opposition. we have one of those lawmakers joining us just ahead. plus, president trump relishing the opportunity to fuel the democratic party divide after the bombshell allegations about hillary clinton and the dnc. what that means for the party moving forward. ♪ ♪ >> she tried to steal the election. now it's time for a reckoning on

the left, and they have to ask themselves how does somebody like hillary clinton get to the top of their ticket? ♪ ♪ i have no idea. more than i want to think about. choose wisely everyone. no cheating, no cheating. then we found out how many years that money would last them. nooooo! oh no. how did this happen? how long do you think we'll keep -- oooooohhh! you stopped! oh! you're gonna leave me back here at year 9? oh no-o-o. it turned out a lot of people fell short of even the average length of retirement. we have to think about not when we expect to live to, but when we could live to. we have to do something now to make sure we're set for then. let's plan for income

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the most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. so why go back there? if you'd rather be home, ask your doctor about neulasta onpro. julie: kentucky police have arrested ar assaulting senator rand paul at his home. the breaking details just coming in to folk, but police were responding to a call from paul's home at around 3:30 yesterday evening, apparently, where they arrested a 59-year-old suspect and charged him with assault. he is being held on $5,000 bond. there is no court date set as of yet. a spokeswoman for paul's office said in an e-mail the senator was expected to be okay. paul reportedly did suffer a minor injury. >> this is what we've been waiting for from, since november the 8th. i think the left is finally looking in the mirror. donna brazile's statement is a very clear one. hillary clinton stole the nomination inside the dnc.

connell: all right. sebastian gorka on "fox & friends" this morning, former deputy assistant to the president, talking about these new allegations that we all seem to be talking about, how hillary clinton is said to have rigged the democratic primary last year. president trump seizing on the claims as well saying mrs. clinton's actions should be investigated. let's bring our panel in. richard fowler, radio talk show host, joins us as does alexandra smith, executive director of america rising pac and also former chairman of the college republican national committee. alexandra, the president has seized on this. does that work politically for him, all this divisioning in the democratic party, do you think? >> i think it does, because if you think about donald trump's brand, it's one that's about shaking up the status quo. i think both parties early on in the 2016 cycle missed the anger, they missed the discontentment that was out there among americans. i think that donald trump and bernie sanders were actually people who got that anger, and

so i think what donald trump is doing right now is he's reminding americans, he's reminding particularly senate democrats they're on the hook for several pieces of big legislation coming up, you know, look, the status quo didn't work in 2016. you came from a broken system, a broken party. now's the time to join together and actually get things done. connell: one of the ways he's reminding people as we've come to expect, richard, is he's taken to twitter. this from yesterday: i always felt i would be running and winning against bernie sanders, not crooked h., as he says, without cheating. and he says he was right. there are wings, richard, as you know, to the democratic party as there are in the republican party. but in this case we're talking about the democrats. how about that sanders wing of the party right now? where do things stand? >> don't get me wrong, i think the democratic party has its growing to do, and i think there's going to be some moving and shifting. we saw it a couple weeks ago when the democratic party had its internal election. with that being said, trump weighing into the democratic

party politics only helps democrats unite, right? one thing that uniteds democrats is their not so, you know, loving relationship for the president of the united states. and now i think the other problem that is facing republicans, why they shouldn't be sort of weighing into the democratic party politic, is the fact that they can't get their own party together. remember, this president ran on repeal and replace obamacare. you couldn't get that done. he also ran on tax reform, and if you think about their deadline, they have 25 legislative days left in this year. they're trying to get this tax reform bill done by thanksgiving -- connell: right. >> -- which is a very, very tall order -- connell: it is, but for the purpose -- >> by so many groups of people. connell: for the purpose of our discussions, they do have the advantage of having a senate president which is very difficult to run against an incumbent. to that point, we have the former campaign manager for martin to o'malley talking about what the democrats are facing here, and this will be a big one not only in 2020, but at the

midterms. listen. >> we know that something that the dnc handled themselves inappropriately in 2016. that was addressed in the dnc chair race this year. and now it's important that we go ahead and focus on how we win in the elections on tuesday and the elections in 2018. we certainly need to internalize the lessons. connell: not a many -- virginia governor's race certainly would be one of the big ones, not as manien tuesday. to the midterms, richard i want to talk about 2020 in a moment as well, but what about the outlook for the midterm election given the division in both parties? >> well, look, i think in the 2018 midterms republicans up doubtedly start with an advantage. there are ten democratic senators up in states that donald trump won. in the coming battle for tax reform, i think that's going to be a lot more difficult for democrats to oppose than health care reform. i mean, it's going to be hard for a senator like joe manchin

or heidi heitkamp or joe donnelly to -- connell: well, they may oppose it, your point is they'll pay a price. >> absolutely, they're going to pay a price. connell: all right. >> well -- [laughter] i beg to differ on that. i beg to dir on that wholeheartedly, and i'll tell you why they're going to be able to go home to their constituents, it's because this tax bill repeals the student loan deduction. they're going to oppose it because the tax repeals the credit that teachers get for buying school supplies for their classroom. they can oppose it because the tax bill will basically allow for -- it repeals the estate tax while also repealing the tax for new home buyers -- connell: some of the opposition, i think, will depend on which state -- >> exactly, absolutely. , absolutely, but here's a larger problem that we have here. the reason this tax bill doesn't need a democratic vote, it needs republicans to come together, and this president for the past 11 months has not been able to bring his party together, and that is the problem -- exactly.

connell: i want to get back to -- >> and that brings us to the midterm elections. connell: well, i want to fast forward even further than that for what it's worth because, julie mentioned this earlier on our show that it's been reveal today, apparently, in this donna brazile book that there was talk at least about replacing hillary clinton on the ticket and replacing her with joe biden, a combination, they say, of joe biden and cory booker. the new jersey senator was talked about. a. sander, you first, then -- alexander, you first, then richard. what about in 2020, who's donald trump going to be running against assuming he runs for re-election? >> i think the 2020 democratic primary field exemplifies the divisions in the party right now. you have lines being drawn on extreme issues like single-payer, for example, and senators like elizabeth warren and kamala harris and cory booker tripping over themselves to see who can run the farthest to the left. connell: right. >> you already have senator -- or you have democratic politicians that are being pushed out for seeming to be too

moderate. so there's going to be a huge -- connell: the wings we were talking about -- right. >> yes, absolutely. donald donald which side of -- connell: which side of the party is favored? i know it's early, but who comes out ahead? >> i think the keyword is, you're right, it's way too early. you have to look at what's happening on the republican side of the aisle. you have a lot of republican retirements happening, the ability for there to be a republican primary, john kasich has signaled he might run. i think you have a pending russia investigation where there's been two indictments and one person pleading guilty. all these play into how the democratic primary will go because you can't look at the democratic primary in a vacuum without looking at what happens with this presidency. connell: will still need a candidate though. good discussion. >> thanks for having us. julie: with just days remaining in the campaign, a new poll shows a deadlocked battle for governor in virginia. the roanoke college poll shows

democratic nominee ralph northam is tied with republican ed gillespie at 47% support, but gillespie has more support when it comes to approval rating. 45 percent of virginians have a favorable view of him compared with 38% approval for northam. >> phil murphy has yet to explain to any of us how he's going to keep any of the promises he has made. how is he going to pay for free pre-k for everyone, how is he going to pay for the extra $9 billion he wants to put in the school funding formula? how is he going to pay for the free college education he has promised? connell: that's the other big governor's race as you look at the current i lieutenant governor in new jersey running to take the place of chris christie? it's really the only other state where governors will be choosing a governor, so we'll watch very closely on tuesday night. she's running against phil murphy, the democratic candidate, and most of the polls show he's leading by double

digits. senior correspondent eric shawn has more. >> reporter: as new jersey governor chris christie ends his troubled tenure, his legacy may be to hand his statehouse to a democrat. phil murphy has been leading christie's lieutenant governor, republican candidate kim guardino, by double digits in the polls despite guadagno's focus on high taxes. >> [inaudible] >> thank you very, very much. they're looking at me as the candidate who will lower their property taxes while the other guy has promised to raise their taxes. >> the choice couldn't be clearer. on the one hand, more of the same, another chris christie four years. failed politics, of failed politics for the middle class, hollowed out and ravaged. >> how's it going, new jersey? [cheers and applause] >> reporter: murphy brought out the big names to stump for him, but one of his proposals

has hit a nerve. >> mr. president, not in the state of new jersey. we will stand up to this president. if need be, we'll be a sanctuary not just city, but state. >> reporter: he wants to declare new jersey a so-called sanctuary state preventing undocumented immigrants from being deported. >> murphy will have the backs of deranged murderers -- >> reporter: and the ongoing corruption trial of democratic senator bob menendez adds another uncertainty if he is convicted and resigns after the inauguration, the new governor would appoint someone to fill his seat. >> the senate so evenly divided, the outcome of the new jersey gubernatorial election if senator menendez were to be convicted could determine the trump agenda and whether it would move forward with greater ease in the senate. >> reporter: fox news made repeated requests to try and interview murphy but without success. while he attacks guadagno, she tries to remind new jersey

voters that he's no longer on the ballot, but his shadow, say observers, could decide this race. i'm eric shawn, fox news. julie: eric, thank you. army deserter bowe bergdahl will not serve time in prison, a judge choosing to dishonorably discharge and demote him instead. how the president is responding to this ruling. plus, the republican tax bill is not going anywhere with democrats, and some members of the gop actually say that they also see some stumbling blocks. party leaders say they're open to negotiations, but there's to only so much wiggle room. >> this is more than dealing because we actually have constraints. the senate have given us such tight constraints with their rules and the amount of dollars. every time we move something, it cascades and blows up something else, so we're walking a very fine line here. risk of stroke due to afib, a type of irregular heartbeat not caused by a heart valve problem.

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♪ ♪ julie: so democrats are slamming

the republican tax reform proposal, but some gop lawmakers are also on the fence with state and local deductions on the chopping block, so joining me now is pennsylvania republican congressman patrick meehan, also a member of the house ways and means committee. thank you very much for talking to us. >> great to be with you, jules. thanks for having me. julie: you know for many of them, the devil is in the details, literally. many are saying they need more details before assessing the plan. what is the biggest sticking point for some republicans? >> i think you identified the concern that some have in the northeastern states about property taxes, some others are worried about the complexity of the pass-throughs for small businesses and how that will work. but for the most part, to be honest, the reaction has been really quite favorable from our conference, and i don't think anybody expected the opposition, the democrats to do anything but oppose it, so i'm actually

feeling pretty bullish about the way it's come out of the gates. julie: i want to talk more about that sticking point regarding mortgage tax deduction, because there are caps that are currently at a million dollars, and this would essentially take that cap down to $500,000 which seems like a lot of money unless you live in one of these high-tax states such as new york. now, as a new yorker, president trump might weigh in on this and maybe have an influence on this portion of the plan. how do you think the president will view this? >> yeah, i don't know what the president will do with regard to this, though a lot of work has gone in to try to allow the property tax deduction to still be part of this. that was not originally there, and that's going to cover the greatest percentage of people. so upstate new yorkers are going to be in a much better situation than those in manhattan, to be sure, even in long island. but i think, again, we're still talking about narrow

geographics, and for the most part when we see the most families will be able to deduct their property tax within that $10,000 and home values less than $500,000. julie: i want the talk about that $10,000, because you were among the republicans rallying behind the plan, and you predict that the net impact on average households will be positive and local property tax will actually be preserved up to $10,000. how big of a concession will that be for districts in which the average is actually less than that for most homeowners? >> that's a pretty big concession, and i think that's going to cover in my district, and we looked at it, the average property tax is somewhere around $7,000. it depends on the nature of the school district, it may be higher for others. so most of my taxpayers. but again, you have to look at this in its totality. overall, many of them -- in fact, the great estimator are still going to do well and some substantially better than before.

so that is one aspect of the overall calculation that i think taxpayers have to the make. julie: now, there are some republican congressmen that are a little bit wary on that. dan donovan says he doesn't know whether the proposed 10,000 cap on state and local property tax deductions would be enough for him or other gop members from high-tax states. what would you like to see with regard the state and property tax deductions? >> well, you know, myself if we could get a little bit more of that, even have the ceiling raised just a bit to include more so a dan donovan could be comfortable with it, i think i would like to see that in my district. whether it's going to happen or not, i don't know, because again, i go back to the totality of the circumstances. i think dan's going to have a lot of people who may end up doing better because the rate they're going to be paying is less. julie: congressman, thank you so much. look forward to seeing something happening here. >> thank you. connell: authorities are tightening up security around

this area. we're getting set for the new york city marathon tomorrow following the deadliest attack this city has had since 9/11, the terrorist attack. ahead, the methods they'll use to protect runners in the race. ♪ ♪ no sir, no sir, some nincompoop stole all my wool sweaters, smart tv and gaming system. luckily, the geico insurance agency recently helped baa baa with renters insurance. everything stolen was replaced. and the hooligan who lives down the lane was caught selling the stolen goods online. visit geico.com and see how easy it is to switch and save on renters insurance.

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♪ ♪ julie: authorities in new york city tightsenning security ahead of -- tightening security ahead of tomorrow' marathon just days after eight people were killed in the city's deadliest terror attack since 9/11. and now authorities are speaking out praising resilient new yorkers for their response. >> what happened on tuesday is something that everybody that sits up here at this table, this is something that we think about all the time. i knew at some point it would happen, and the way that the nypd and all new yorkers reacted to that event on tuesday is something that was quite, quite remarkable. julie: bryan llenas is live in lower manhattan with more on preparations and the investigation. hey, bryan. >> reporter: hi, julie. well, investigation aside and, obviously, security concerns aside, there are still mourning happening here and behind me is a memorial for those victims. we've seen bike riders on the bike path that was the sight of the attack on tuesday stopping here, volunteer chaplains offering grief counseling.

we've seen that all day. we had five argentineans here visiting on a 30-year high school reunion. they were on their bikes when they were mowed down as well as two americans were killed, darren drake, a program manager, he was killed on his bike during a lunch break, and now he had his wake today. earlier we spoke to bike riders as well as runners who just felt compelled to stop by earlier today. >> it's just sad and terrible. i, like so many people out here today, you know, run here every chance i get. i happen to run a little earlier that day. so i guess i got a little bit lucky which, you know, no one feels good about. >> i was going to ride north today but said, you know, why don't i do something symbolic at least and pay my respects. >> reporter: security, obviously, a big concern. and what they've done is add concrete barriers like this, some as big as 20 feet. this is the bike path intersection which the suspected terrorist came in through the truck, and there are those

barriers put in place up and down the west side of manhattan. this as there is the security concerns for tomorrow's new york city marathon. the marathon is going to be the tightest security they're ever seen there, more observation teams, more sniper teams than ever before, double or triple the amount of troopers they've had before, and that is the type of security we'll be seeing there tomorrow. julie? julie: bryan llenas, thank you very much. we appreciate that report. connell: all right. that does it for this, for us this hour. a busy saturday, but the news continues at the top of the hour. eric shawn and arthel neville are coming up. julie: by the way, great to have you here. a wonderful few hours to spend on a saturday, and i'll see you on the fox report. do you like nuts?

. . . . only to do another?

right now, congress is talking about tax cuts that will add trillions to our national debt and hurt our economy. it's time to tell congress... don't borrow more money from china. and leave more debt to our kids. keep your word. tax cuts shouldn't add to the national debt.

eric: fox news alert. the president right now on his way to japan. the first country he will visit on the 12-day, five-nation asia tour beginning, well, right now. hello everyone, welcome. i'm eric shawn. this is brand new hour of "america's news headquarters." arthel: i'm arthel neville. earlier today the president visited the memorial at pearl harbor before heading to japan. north korean nuclear threat will be the most press issue when he arrives in the region. kevin corke is live. reporter: you're right about that, clearly security cooperation and north korea will be major headlines as the president makes his way