grabbed him seconds before a train barrelled through. wyatt is looking to thank his guardian. he's returned to the spot saying please help me find him so i can thank him. here's rick leventhal for shep. >> the white house briefing set to begin in moments. we'll see what happens with the al franken controversy. president trump tweeting about that today but staying out of the alabama senate race. the republican candidate roy moore accused of sexual misconduct with teenagers. moore denies it. some women standing up to support moore and franken. we'll get into it with chris wallace. president trump blasting democrats for refusing to contribute to the tax plan. the house passing its bill. the senate making progress as well. what would it take to make at this time law of the land?

that's ahead in this hour of "shepard smith reporting." >> the white house briefing is set to begin any moments. we're expecting questions about the president's response to sexual assault accusations. president trump blasted al franken while keeping quiet on roy moore. where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 while she sleeps? the president referring to this shot. a radio host accusing franken of forcibly kissing her and released the photo of him groping her in a uso tour in 2006. senator franken apologized and agreed to an ethics

investigation. tweeden claims that franken kissed her during a rehearsal. this is from the actual show in 2006. the president has not condemned the alabama republican who is facing accusations of sexual misconduct with teenagers even though gop leaders in congress have. roy moore has denied the allegations and said reporters are on a witch hunt. john roberts is live in the briefing room. john, the white house has said that roy moore will step aside if the accusations are true. >> that's been repeated several times now. sarah huckabee sanders in the briefing room yesterday said it and the president said it between honolulu and japan at the beginning of his asia he said he believes if the allegations are true, that roy moore do the right thing and step aside. the president, who has had to respond during the campaign at least to allegations of sexual impropriety aimed at him is taking heat for talking about al

franken and his current problems but not talking about roy moore. kellyanne conway this morning on a fox news program is asked why the president is tweeting about franken but not doing the same thing about moore. moore do the right thing and listen to what she said. >> al franken is a new news story and the president weighed in as he does on the news of the day often enough. the roy moore story is eight days old. our press secretary spoke on behalf of the president saying he believes the people of alabama will sort out what to do with roy moore and that election. >> meanwhile, al franken getting some support from women that work with him currently or worked with him before saying the stories that they're hearing from the uso tour do not comport with what they know about him now. he said many spent time working in washington working for the senator. he treated us with the utmost

respect and valued our work and opinions and was a champion for women in the legislation he supported and in promoting women to leadership roles in ours offices. no question, rick, all of this will come up today in the briefing with sarah huckabee sanders who should be here in just a couple minutes now. >> we look forward to that, john. the woman that said that senator franken grope d will speak with him personally. she said that she got a note from senator franken asking to talk and he said she will accept. we're waiting to house on the tax plan. president trump blasting democrats or the not talking part in the process after house republicans passed the most sweeping changes to the tax code in three decades. not a single democrat voted in favor and 13 republicans voted against their own party's bill. the president tweeting if democrats were not such obstructionists and understand the power of lower taxes, we would be able to get many of

their ideas into the bill. democrats called the republican tax plan a scam that helps the rich and hurts the middle class. back to john roberts at the white house. john, more on this tax plan. >> yeah and now we move on to the senate. looks like the president will face the similar problems with tax reform as he did obamacare. six senators say they're no votes or sitting on the fence. among them, ron johnson who says he cannot support the bill in its current form. he does want to make fixes to it so he can support it. we're hearing from bob corker out of tennessee. john mccain and jeff flake from arizona say they have a problem that it looks like the tax reform proposal will add red ink to the deficit and the overall debt. then you have rand paul of kentucky said he will support tax reform but he's not sure it's the right thing to do in the current form.

we have susan collins of maine that is worried about the elimination of the tax deduction. there's concern that middle income people could pay more. steve mnuchin said it's not middle income earners paying more, it's higher income earners. you factor in the tax cut, people will be better people will be better around. let's listen to what secretary mnuchin said. >> the people's whose taxes will go up are the rich in the higher tax states. but it's a huge boon for the finance services industry. >> for states like new york and new jersey would be subsidizing tax cuts for the rest of the country. it's supposed to be a tax cut bill but it's going to be raising taxes on people in our communities and the new york state overall. >> despite the opposition

currently by republican senators, the white house is confident they will get tax reform passed. after being so snake bit on obamacare in the senate, if the president gets tax reform through the house but fails in the senate again, he's not going to be very happy about it. rick? >> john, thanks very much. we've been given a two-minute warning on the press briefing. meantime, let's bring in chris wallace. chris, lots to talk about today. let's start with that tax plan. a big victory apparently for the house. what happens next? >> well, it does go to the senate. as john just reported, one republican senator ron johnson of wisconsin has already said that he's going to oppose it unless there's changes. there's four or five or six other republican senators that are all going to hold up and demand something. sounds like obamacare. i better get my plug in quickly before sarah huckabee sanders comes on. we're going to have an exclusive

interview with the treasury secretary steve mnuchin. we'll talk to him about that and what they can do to shore up -- remember, they can only lose one more republican senator or else it goes down. they have a two-vote margin now. ron johnson is a no. they can afford to lose one more and have mike pence break the tie. >> and there's a lot of pressure from the white house to get a deal done before the end of the year. they don't have many days left to work on it. >> there's another problem in terms of pressure from the white house. look at the people that john mentioned. jeff flake, an open battle with donald trump. bob corker with an open battle with donald trump. john mccain, no love lost there. also, all three of them are people that are not going to be running for re-election. there's a limit to how much pressure the president and the white house and senate leadership among republicans can

put on those three members. we've seen susan collins of maine as a maverick that goes her own way as does rand paul. >> and ultimately their allegiance is to the proposal, not to the president. they have to get something done for their constituents. >> that's right. my point is that they're going to do something out of spite to the president. i don't think that they will do that. if they do have problems with the bill or the president and the white house says you have to do this for the team, i'm not sure they'll respond to that. >> here she comes. sarah huckabee sanders as promised. let's listen in. >> yesterday momentum continued to build to provide massive tax relief and job creation for the american people. the house passed the tax cuts and jobs act and the senate finance committee pass its companion tax reform bill. these are important moments as we move closer to a final vote.

in resent months, we've heard from entrepreneurs and families about every corner from the nation and how this plan will empower them. in pennsylvania, susie schulman said the plan be incredible for me and other retire rears because tax relief is targeted at the middle class. in ohio, christina port, a small business owner, a single mother while launching her mother said the increase in the child tax credit would help working mothers. she said simplifying a complex tax code would ease the burden on entrepreneurs and allow them to devote more time to growing their business rather than wrestling with taxes. in state after state, story after story, we've heard how our plan will profoundly improve the lives of americans. the optimism is coming back with this tax plan combined with the president's efforts to eliminate job-killing regulations, americans feel like their goals

is attainable. or people have always been able to visualize a future for themselves and their children and make it a reality. that's why it's called the american dream. this tax plan will make it more attainable for more of our people than ever before. but for this to happen, we need economic growth. so to get perspective on how our tax plan will the that, i've invited kevin hassett to join us in the briefing. kevin will answer questions and say a few words. as always, i'll come back up to take the rest of your questions after that which i'm sure will all be on tax reform. with that, it turn it over to kevin. >> thanks. a pleasure to be here to see so many familiar faces. last week i had the honor of chairing the economic policy committee meeting in paris. the economic policy committee is one of the oldest committees and

brings together people like the chairman of the economic council. at the meeting, they were going through the staff recommendations of the oacd for creating economic growth in countries around the world and the three main points of the staff recommendations were tax reform, infrastructure and deregulation. if the government pursues those things, then they can produce more economic growth. in fact, there was widespread acclaim for the president's approach towards corporate taxation in particular because the oecd has been calling for a reformed tax code for a decade. the idea that this corporate tax bill is close to the finish line, it's celebrated by the white house and the people around the world saying we have the highest corporate tax on earth, a worldwide system that rewards for locating elsewhere. it's bad for us and the u.s.

economy. with that, i'm pleased to see that the house ways and means committee and the house passed the bill and out of the house and over to the senate. i'll start in the front row and wok back. [laughter] i'm just an economist. >> you have at least six senators on the hill including ron johnson saying they can't support the bill in its current form or they have serious concerns. you can only afford to lose two. are you confident that you can get this passed or could the president run into another situation like he did with obamacare, that he wins the house and loses everything in the senate? >> you know, there's an old joke about economists. those that can count and those that can't. it takes awhile for that one to sink in. the president has supported

regular order because he doesn't think that we have to wait until it becomes law to learn in it. the right thing to do is to expose the bills to scrutiny and debate. senator johnson, i met with him in his office. he has some serious concerns. it's appropriate at this point in the legislative process to bring them forward. i'm hopeful that people can work it out and even democrats will want to vote for i'm. i'm not sure about the etiquette for follow up. i'll try to limit people to one. there's a lot of hands. >> what is it about trickle down economics will work this time and not before? >> trickle-down economics is something that i guess people that criticize the idea that taxes affect the economy uses characterized approaches like what we're doing. i don't think the idea is celebrated by the nonpartisan staff that if you have lower marginal rates you have more economic growth. it's not controversial at all. yeah, the fact is that countries

around the world have cut their corporate rates had had broad-based reforms like we did on the individual side and seen economic growth. i don't think there's anybody that will thinks you get negative growth. in every economic model i've seen, you get a lot of growth or if it's a closed economy model a little growth. but you get positive growth. the growth will benefit workers. let's talk about that. the way the it is firm avoids tax, they locate activities in a country like ireland instead of here. if you build a plant in ireland, you can sell the stuff back in the u.s. it increases the trade deficit and doesn't do anything for american workers. the president wants to cut the raise, build guardrails around the tax code so people can't transfer everything to ireland anymore. the people that benefit will be the workers here in the u.s. that have increased demand for their jobs. i said no follow up to help.

we'll go this way and switch sides. >> one of senator johnson's concerns is this bill doesn't do enough for medium size and small businesses. can you talk about what the bill does do for medium size and small businesses? >> sure. the fact is that i want to remind everybody that the president has really three main nonnegotiables for the bill, a 20% corporate tax rate, a bill mix class tax cut and the bill simplifies the tax code. we believe after analyzing the progress on the hill that both approaches satisfied the three main objectives. so the question then is moving forward, what do they do about pass through entities, what do they do about this or that. we don't want to get ahead of that process. the president supports regular order because that's how deals get made and how bills become law. it urgent that we get a 20% rate for america's workers and the middle class tax cut.

the details about exactly when the small business things kick in and out are what we working out on the hill. we encourage them to pursue regular order because they have to listen to everybody and get the votes they need to make this law. i'll go to the lady there. >> one of the the nontaxable tuition waivers. while they're trying to reconcile their differences on that tax reform bill what do you foresee that could move the tax burden to a lot of young americans? >> that's the kind of detail we're letting congress work out. the fact is that they're finding the coalitions they need to pass the bills in the house and senate and we support that process, we support regular order and the transparency that is leading to debates like this. >> one of your tv appearances yesterday, you said an average family when this is said and

done could accumulate a savings benefit of $4,000. >> uh-huh. >> that's a lot of money. >> a lot of money. >> can you walk us through that? >> sure. in the -- for those of you -- i see some nerdy looking people out there. we have two reports that go through this in gory detail. you can get to numbers like that four different ways. i won't do that now. the basic idea is that back when we increased the corporate tax rate to 34 to 35%, we were in the middle of the pact of oecd nations. subsequently what happened was, the countries around the world put the when they cut the corporate tax, their economic activity increases. for economists, that gives us an enormous amount of data to analyze. countries that change their rate and those that don't and you can

compare the experiences. a big peer review literature that looks at that. one is coming out in the american economic review. we say if this is true, what wage effect you get. most of the action is north of $4,000. that's where the number comes from. i'll go in the middle. >> one of the criticisms, kevin, of the tax reform proposal is that the corporate tax rate is cut permanently. the individual tax rate phases out after ten years. why is that such a good idea? >> so the president supports permanent tax cuts for the middle class and permanent tax cuts for corporations. that's the objective of the planners of this tax bill. but they're also senate budget rules and reconciliation rules that are required to allow this bill to move forward with 51 votes. the hope for everybody is that when the time comes for these things to expire that they get

extended as happens, i might add, even for the top rate when president obama came into office. so they extended most of the bush tax cuts. even the top rate at the beginning, which interestingly they must have done because they knew if you were to increase the top marginal tax rate in a recession, it would be harmful for the economy. so back then there was bipartisan support for the idea that you should not lift the top marginal rate. so there should be bipartisan commit of growth effects of bringing it down right now. i'll go back down to the middle. >> the fwo bills are different in that the house bill repeals are done away with the estate tax and the senate doesn't. i know that was a big point for the administration. do you think a bill will include a repeal of it? >> that's one of the things the senate and the house are working out. i know the president very strongly favors the elimination

of the death tax. if that is in the final bill, i'm sure that he will be happy about that. but he's lifted his nonnegotiables. and those are what i cited at the beginning. i'll go back to the far back. >> can you talk about this moment earlier in the week where gary cohn was on stage and the moderator asked a group of ceos if tax reform passes, who here will increase their investment? only a couple hands went up. gary cohn said why aren't there more hands going up? can you answer that question? why aren't there more hands? you'd assume the ceos would say yes, we are going to invest more. is the administration missing something there? >> that's a great question. i went on a little bit after gary cohn. when they asked that question, it was hard for me. i couldn't see how many hands there were. when i was there, it looked like half the hands went up. if you go back and look, it

could people had time to think about it. people surveyed tend to always answer no in surveys. if you look at the hard evidence, imagine if they didn't respond to taxes, they would be doing their fiduciary duty to maximize profits for shareholders. it would be totally irrational to do that. the hard evidence is people do respond. one of the first papers i wrote out of grad school is where we looked at the 1986 tax act, the changes that it made to the tax code and how it affected investment there were large effects. >> gene sperling who was in your position before said the tax plan could $1.5 trillion and it's a deficit hole.

he says basically paraphrasing, it doesn't justify that cost for 100 million households for a tax increase. >> i expect gene a great deal and disagree with him about that. i expect we'll have a chance to talk about that. here's the way i think about it and what i would say to gene if he was here. if you look at the joint tax committee score in the tenth year that they say that the tax bill cost about $170 billion. if you like at the gdp, it's $28 billion. so it's .6%. it doesn't take a lot of economic growth to cover that hole by the tenth year. so the idea that right now we have the highest corporate tax on earth generating almost no revenue because people move to ireland. if we fix that and repair it, that it will blow a hole in the

deficit, it's not rationale. i know the score says what it says and i respect the professionals, but the fact is the oecd that has a study that says that the u.s. and the corporate tax base is on the wrong side of the curve. we have such a high corporate tax rate that we're losing revenue. the idea that this blow as hole in the deficit is incorrect. >> i want to pick up where john left off. you're an economist. the answers that you gave were political. hopefully politicians solve it. you're an economist. can you not make an argument why it's good for people? >> it good for it to expire? >> why it's good for the country as it stands right now to expire within eight years. >> if you lower marginal tax

rates, lower rates, get the middle class a tax cut. if you cut the corporate rate, if you do any of those things they're positive for tax growth. if you have expanse, you look at u.s. history in recessions, they'll put in expensing to stimulate the economy. when expensing expires, it's short term. for the most part, permanent tax cut are far more impactful. if you look at the obama administration when they were here during the great recession, they extended the bush tax cuts because they understood this. >> i want to follow up on that. you made a value judgment to makes the tax cuts permanent and make the cuts expire even though you want all of them to be

permanent. whatever the rationale for having the corporations knowing the certainty while families have to worry about what politicians do six or seven years from now? >> sure. those are the things that are being worked out in congress to create a bill that can become l law. the nonnegotiables are in both bills. this is the choice that the senate has to make. >> do you value one way or the other if corporate -- >> i think tax cuts that are permanent will have larger positive effects. >> kevin, you melded politics and economics successfully. you talked about growth covering the joint tax base.

that is immeasurable over time. there's dynamic scoring or static scoring answers the questions. so it's on the mind of your undecided republican senators, is this administration willing to commit a review five years in to see if the growth models have held along your lines and the deficit implications aren't as large and if they aren't, to recess the tax cuts in order not to blow a hole in the deficit? >> i have not discussed with the president what we're willing to commit to what we do five years from now. let me talk about what we can be clear about today, which is that as the president came into office, you know, the president's opponents were saying 2% growth was inevitable. we're stuck in a stagnation. the president's policies couldn't deliver 3% growth and that it was a bad idea to assert it. we've had two quarters in a row of 3% growth. if you look at the fourth quarter data, it's suggesting at

the fed, they have gdp now, it's 3.2 as of yesterday. so we're growing at 3%. if we take that momentum to next year with a tax cut, we expect sustained growth after that level or above. with that, i have to hand it back to sarah. thanks so much. >> thank you, kevin. i have not spoken to the president about that. but i appreciate that you know the president will still be here in five years. i like that vote of confidence that you will know that we'll be here to take that review and be sure to raise that with him. >> thanks. i have one more question for you. can you say definitively -- i want to ask you about the lebanese prime minister. can you say he's not been held hostage by the saudis and does the president plan to speak to the prime minister at all?

>> i'm not aware of any anticipated conversations. something i have to check on. i don't have any further comment beyond that at this point. i'd refer you to the state department. >> the allegation made by franken's accuser. is it also fair to investigate this president and the allegations of sexual misconduct made by more than a dozen women? >> this was covered extensively during the campaign. we addressed it then. the american people spoke very loud and clear when they elected this president. >> how is it different? >> i think in one case specifically, senator franken has admitted wrong doing. the president hasn't. it a very clear distinction. major? >> i want to talk about something you discussed yesterday. one of the ways that alabama voters might be able to figure out if the allegations against roy moore are true is in the court of law. there's no criminal means by which that can happen.

are you suggesting that roy moore sue the accusers in order to hash this out in court? >> that would be something that i would refer to him to make that decision. it's not something that i would advise him on. >> when you talked about the court of law -- >> i said that's one option, one way to determine that process. that would be a decision she has to make. >> during the campaign as you remember, candidate trump said after the election he would sue all the women that accused him of sexual misconduct and you deemed all liars. he hasn't done that. why hasn't he done that? >> i haven't asked him that question. i'd have to ask him and let you know why he hasn't chosen to take that path. that's an option that roy moore has on the table. jeff? >> some critics have said it was hypocritical to the president to tweet about al franken -- >> he has weighed in on roy moore. he did it while he was on a foreign trip in asia. i did it repeatedly yesterday. in fact, i took about 15

questions on that topic. only one on al franken. so to suggest that this white house and specifically this president hasn't weighed in is just inaccurate and wrong. he weighed in. he said if the allegations are true, he should step aside. he also weighed in when he supported the rnc's decision to withdraw resources from the state of alabama. it's just simply inaccurate statements. >> can you tell us if the president believes the women against roy moore and if the governor of alabama would delay the election to intervene? >> the president finds the allegations extremely troubling. as i stated yesterday. he feels like it's up to the governor and the people in the state of alabama to make a determination on whether or not to delay that election or whether or not they support roy

moore. >> in light of the national discussion about the importance of taking these kinds of accusations seriously, i wanted to check. is it still the white house's position that all the women that accused the president of sexual misconduct are lying? >> the president has spoken about this mull time times and has denied all of those allegations. >> sarah, let me ask you about the pending potential at&t and time-warner merger. the president has said on the campaign trail in 2016, he said it was a deal we will not approve because it's too much concentration in the power of the hands of too few. does the president still feel that way? >> the president was asked about this a few days ago, maybe a week ago on air force one. i'd refer you to those comments. april? >> this is an uncomfortable conversation about the sexual allegations for this white house, be it al franken or roy moore? >> it's an uncomfortable

conversation for the country. this is something that is being discussed widely. we certainly think that it should be taken sear justly. it's one of the reasons i stand up here and answer your questions every day and will continue to do so and continue to address them. obviously it's something that should be looked at and looked at widespread, not just in the political atmosphere but in the business atmosphere and across the board in this country and something we take seriously. >> and more about the president's past. hillary clinton said look, i worry about everything from his past because it tells you how the president will behave now and in the future what do you say to that when it goes against these allegations? >> i think hillary clinton should have dealt with her own issues before addressing this president. alex? >> two questions. one on immigration. a recent poll says 61% of voters think the republican tax plan

will benefit the wealthy. the white house says it's a working class tax cut. why the disconnect? immigration -- >> let me answer that first question. look, we've argued that the tax plan benefits all americans. that's the point of it. specifically our priority is to target middle class americans and make sure that that is addressed first and that those people are prioritized in any piece of legislation for the house or the senate. at the same time, we want all americans to benefit by growing an economy and a tax system that works for our country versus one that personalizes people. we're going to keep moving. john? >> you have six republican senators either no or seriously on the fence here. can you win enough over in order to pass this? if the president gets snookered by the president, what will his reaction be? >> we're confident we'll get it passed and we would love to see some democrats come on board and

support this historic piece of legislation that we feel will be one of the great legacies of this presidency. >> the fact he department get any democrats in the house, how will that go for the senate? >> there's always hope. we hope that democrats want to put partisan politics aside and want the people of the country first. we're confident we'll get it done. >> safe to say the president won't be pleased if he gets snookered by the senate again? >> i think the american people are the ones that won't be pleased. they'll lose out the most if this doesn't go forward. >> disaster refounding request for $44 billion today. it's much less than what a number of different governors in the various impacted territories and states have requested. can you explain why the number is so low compared to what the local officials say they need?

>> i don't think $44 billion is a low amount. my guess is if you ask any average citizen across this country, they don't feel it's low either. at this point, texas has not put any state dollars in this process. we feel strongly they should step up and play a role and work with the federal government in this process. we did a thorough assessment and that was completed and this was the number that we put forward to congress today. >> will there be more requests specifically for puerto rico? >> absolutely. at this point, of the $44 billion primarily addresses texas and florida. they took place ahead of puerto rico. puerto rico's assessment hasn't been done yet. when that is done, we anticipate more requests.

>> [question inaudible] >> the president doesn't have an allegiance to steve bannon. he has an allegiance to the people of this country. >> has he spoken to steve bannon -- >> not that i'm aware of. >> how concerned is he of losing the the republican seat? >> the president is less concerned about the seat and more focused on the policy and the legislation that we're pushing through right now like tax reform. john? >> in regards to that question regarding the supplemental request that the president and the administration put forth, $44 billion. puerto rico has requested 94 billion. are they going to get somewhere along that order? half of the island is still without electricity. >> as i said, we'll wait until that assessment is complete and see what the best past forward is. >> has the president notified governor abbott --

>> i'm going to keep moving, john. i'm trying to be respectful. >> [inaudible] ambassador haley said russian could not be trusted going for for resolving the political situation in syria. does the president have any response to the veto first, when is the u.s.'s view going forward how chemical weapons will be investigated and dealt with in syria and is it the u.s.'s view that russia cannot be a partner in trying to solve or do a next-day political situation -- >> by the actions the president has taken with respect to chemical weapons, he's shown his position on that with striking syria earlier this year. in terms of russia's veto, it's

not one we support. we hope moving forward they want to get on board and work with us on this. at the same time, it's not something that we support their decision on. >> there's been some extraordinary push back on elephant trophies and hunting in africa. can you shed light on the decisions the administration has made? >> yeah. this is actually due to a review that started back in 2014 under the previous administration. done by career officials at the fish and wildlife service, this review established that zambia and zimbabwe had met new standards, strict international conversation standards that allows americans to resume hunting in those countries. a ban on importing elephant ivory is in place. this was based on a study conducted that started back to the previous administration and done by career officials.

darlene? >> the senate tax bill has a tax break for corporate jets. how does that help the middle class? >> as kevin stated before, this administration has laid out the priorities that we want to see reflected in this legislation. we're going to continue to fight for those priorities and let the legislative process work through. in terms of those specific pieces, that's something that i would refer you to member of the house and senate on that. our focus is on making sure these priorities are answered and met. we'll make this the last one. >> yesterday on jared kushner and the campaign. what is the white house's react to the undisclosed e-mails? >> i said they would put out a statement and they did. i would refer you back to that. thanks so much, guys. hope you have a happy friday and a good weekend. see you monday. >> as expected, sarah sanders taking a lot of questions about

allegations of misconduct by senator franken and also by candidate roy moore. one question regarding franken in the difference between al franken and the president, sarah sanders said well one admitted to wrong doing and the president has not. she also said in response to a question about why the president had not weighed in on the roy moore issue, she said in fact he has. he released a statement from asia and she's fielded at least 15 questions and one question on al franken. there were more today of course. john roberts, there's more questions about the tax bill in the senate. john, you wanted specifics on whether or not she can get the report from the republicans in the senate to get this bill done. your reaction to her answer to your question? >> first of all, when we look at the opposition in the senate, whether it's hard or soft, you have at least six republicans that are saying that they are against the bill, ron johnson of

wisconsin, sitting on the fence, that would include senator corker of tennessee, john mccain, jeff flake of arizona. susan collins and rand paul. you can't lose six people, rick. you can only lose two. you get mike pence to do the tiebreaker. the same number of people, maybe more that were opposed to obamacare in the senate. i asked sarah huckabee sanders is she confident that they can get enough senators. she seemed confident they could. maybe she said we can get some democrats as well. if you look at the vote in the house, every damage voted against it. it doesn't pretend well for picking up some democratic support in the senate. though you do have a couple of democrats. heidi heitkamp of north dakota and joe manchin that might be inclined to support the bill. i'm not sure, rick, that they have the votes right now to get it through. they still have some time. by the way, i want to point out

to you -- this is about to break. we have the exclusive on this. the white house is adding five names to the list of potential nominees for the next supreme court vacancy. it's widely believed that justice anthony kennedy will announce his retirement at some point, maybe after thanksgiving. we don't know. the white house has added to its list amy barrett, britt grant, she sits on the georgia supreme court, britt cavanaugh, a bush appoint appointee, kevin newsom, and patrick wyrick. he's a new appointee to oklahoma's supreme court. so that gives a list of 25 nominees to choose from. the federalists society is meeting in washington this week.

don mcgann is about to give a speech regarding this organization. amy barrett has large support from catholics, even though that was a point of contention. >> john, in the minute or so we have left, back to the tax issue. we've seen zero evidence that any democrats would in fact work with republicans. there has to be wrangling going on with these half a de-sen republicans who are on the >> there's no question. you're twisting arms of republicans as much as you are trying to cajole democrats. i mention heidi heitkamp and joe manchin that said there's some aspects of tax reform that they would like. heidi heitkamp appeared on the stage in north dakota. if you have to arm wrestle republicans, democrats are the least of your worries. rick? >> thanks, john.

we appreciate your time. we'll have much on the tax bill and the other news of the day coming up in a few moments here on "shepard smith reporting." stay with us. because i get a safe driving bonus check every six months i'm accident free. and i don't share it with mom! right, mom? righttt. safe driving bonus checks. only from allstate. switching to allstate is worth it.

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if her life and the lives of everybody she's none in the last 40 years. she said no matter what her husband has been accused of, she doesn't believe it and he's not getting out of the race. >> let me set the record straight. even after all the attacks against me, my family, against the foundation and now against my husband, he will not step down. >> we have not late eyes on judge moore. but he's tweeted trying to discredit the accuser. they want the year book to be seen by a third party forensic expert. i spoke to steve bannon who says

that they see this race as between moore and mcconnell, not between moore and the democrats. >> he's not waivered from his position since this broke. what are we hearing from his democratic opponent? >> he's just saying to say that kitchen table issues are all that matter. we heard from a crew at a met and greet in dothan, alabama and near focusing on empowering women. rick? >> thanks, peter. senators from both parties investigating russia's interference in our election giving the president's son-in-law a deadline to hand over more e-mails. now we're hearing from jared kushner's lawyer. details next. patrick woke up with a sore back. but he's got work to do. so he took aleve this morning.

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>> rick: jared kushner's lawyer is responding after the top republican and democrat on the senate judiciary committee said president trump's son-in-law and senior adviser didn't turn over e-mails about russia and wikileaks. robert mueller investigating russia's meddling in the 2016 election and whether the president's campaign colluded with the kremlin. catherine herridge is live in

washington. >> thank you, rick. in this state, kushner's lawyer said his client is cooperating. he said they will work with white house counsel for any documents after the inauguration. we've been in dialogue with the committee and will continue to do so as part of mr. kushner's voluntary giving of information. dianne feinstein said they want all e-mail traffic between kushner and mike flynn and the search include 20 key words. in a separate development, president trump is paying his own russia-related legal bills rather than charging them to the campaign or the rnc. he's putting a plan together to help current and former white house officials that are questioned on the matter. this was first reported by

bloomberg. >> rick: we're learning more about the subpoenas given to the trump campaign. >> yeah. our source said a subpoena was received mid october and covering several dozen names on the campaign. it was described as something that was not targeted by very broad. in an effort to pick up additional records that had not already been provided under an agreement or what was provided to congress was shared with a special counsel, rick. >> rick: thanks, catherine herridge in washington. breaking news here in new york city. you're looking live at a four-alarm fire in an apartment building. this is at 144th street in manhattan. a massive blaze there. just ripping through the top stories of that building no word on injuries, but there's fire officials on scene.

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with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brain-health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember. >> neil: all right. the battle for the tax cuts is in the senate. it's not looking like a slam dunk so far. things could change. as we've been reporting on this network and fox business, which if you don't get you should, we were the first to tell you there's problems with senators that say the numbers does add up. that could change and could get resulted as it limited the negative fall-out in the house when only 13 republicans voted against it and they were expecting 20. the white house is doing its part to keep the pressure on. a lot of people there are saying the pressure will work. that we