let us know what you think @howardkurtz on twitter. we'll be back next week with the latest buzz. [♪] arthel: washington focusing on the future of embattled alabama candidate roy moore. fresh calls for moore to end his campaign amid a slew of sexual misconduct allegations. welcome to "america's news headquarters." eric: much of the opposition is coming from fellow republicans on capitol hill. including south carolina senator tim scott. here is senator scott earlier. >> the allegations and the

denial, he should find something else to do, which is my way of suggesting he should not be in the race. eric: the alabama republican party issued a statement saying it's standing by him. with the special election set just weeks away. he's live in birmingham, alabama. what are alabama voters waking up to in the headlines this morning. >> they are waking up to a big bold headline above the masthead on the birmingham news and two other newspapers in the state says stand for decency, reject are you moore. the birmingham news decided to he course doug jones. they say do not make your voting decision based on who it will affect on the national stage.

vote based on who it will affect in your hopetown. many of -- in your hometown. this election is about them. so far no response from the moore campaign about the newspaper headline that right now is on the newsstands and front porches around the state. eric: that means all the potential voters will see the paper. do we know what the president is thinking about judge moore? reporter: we got new reaction from administration officials saying it's extremely unlikely we will see the president on the stump with roy moore. >> if he didn't believe the accusations were credible he would be on the stump doing that. but these accusations are 38 years old. reporter: but decade old

allegations of sexual misconduct seem to have a bigger impact on republicans. >> i thought the women's stories was more credible than his response. reporter: the last public comments from moore was a tweet yesterday where he tried to discredit a yearbook signature that one of the accusers says proves her story. arthel: the clock is ticking closer to that december 12 special election in alabama. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has mentioned a possible write-in campaign using jeff sessions, a seat he gave up to become attorney general. but are republicans running out of options to replace roy moore.

amidst all of this you have senator jeff flake of arizona. saying the gop is doomed if it goes in the way of trump and moore. does the senator have a point or does it depend on who you ask? >> it's too late for the party not to go in the direction of donald trump. but there is time to avoid electing roy moore. jeff flake has made comment like that numerous times. a lot of republicans who may harbor those sentiments may be afraid to speak out. donald trump, even though his national approval ratings are pretty low. he remains popular in republican districts. so republicans who are not retiring like jeff flake may not

feel that freedom to speak out. thearthel: if the gop is at a crossroads. where does the party end up? >> well, there is just a lot of uncertainty in the party because upon the one hand the road of the establishment isn't going so well. they haven't been able to pass legislation or arguments that hasn't worked out so well. and there is still a lot of simmering frustration in the base. they were told if they gave republicans control of the white house and the senate, that they would be able to repeal obamacare and get republican policies through. and none of them materialized. electing roy moore as a u.s. senator from alabama would cause a hung mess for republicans. they would be under pressure

democrats and half the party to expel roy moore. at the same time they received a credible argument on the other side. if roy moore is elected, then he won fair and square. so it would be a huge political headache for the party. so you have a lot of republicans hoping doug jones wins in the election. arthel: this is one of many headaches the republican party has been experiencing. if some in the republican party are going to blame president trump or roy moore, should they ask the question, the trump effect, the moore effect, if it cracks over a fissure that was already there in the party? >> there was a temporary ignoring those fissures when donald trump won. because there was a thought maybe the republican party was more unified than we thought. we mad the never trump movement

and the very trump movement. there was a hope the two could morning and come together that could allow the majority to be effective. that never happened. if anything a lot of those divisions have gotten worse. the trump side says the establishment is standing in our way of getting anything done. so both sides pointing the finger at each other. meanwhile nothing is actually getting done as we wrap up the first year of trump's presidency with tax reform hanging in the balance. and it doesn't look like it has enough support in the senate to go through. it would be bad for republicans if they head into 2018 without a legislative accomplishment. >> you have got jeff flake and bob corker saying in 018 why i'm

not going to run. let's fast forward to this time next year. what will be the state of the gop? >> even if you didn't have all this internal drama with different sections of republicans fighting each other. historically the party in power in the white house tends to lose seats in the first mid-term election. and republicans as they are right now were overextended. they are at historic high water mark in terms of all the seeds they hold around the country. they were set up to potentially lose some states -- lose some seats. they were positioned to face losses but had the potential antitrump wave. we saw a hint of that in the virginia-new jersey election. so certainly, a possibility that the republicans could be in trouble in 2018 and they are not helping themselves by fating so

much they may not be able to pass anything. arthel: sarah westwood, i can't wait to talk to you about all this in 2018. eric: the senate expected to bring its version of the tax bill to a vote after thanksgiving. lots of back and forth about what can be in that legislation. there are doubts that that bill can even pass the senate. garrett tenney is live in washington to break it down. you are at the white house. what is the administration saying about the status of tax reform today. reporter: the administration is confident you will be able to get a bill to the senate before the end of this week. as you mentioned it's expected to vote the week after thanksgiving.

already a number of senators are on the fence about the bill. they will be receiving a lot of pressure to vote against it from outside groups since the senate version includes a repeal of obamacare's individual mandate. it does make it more of a challenge to get it passed. mick mulvaney says the administration is open to leaving that provision out. >> i don't think anybody wonders what we stand on repealing and replacing obamacare. if it becomes an impediment to getting the best tax bill we can, then we are okay to taking it out. >> if they are doing any changes to this bill, as long as it still does 3 things. it brings the corporate thanks rate down to 20%. and simplifies the tax coat.

other man that they are open for just about anything. reporter: . what's the news on that today? reporter: the white house is expecting a number of the aids to be interviews the week after thanksgiving. ty coul couldy cobb says he's . not a lot going on the next few days in washington. we'll keep you updated. eric: the congress members will be calling in 20 minutes from now. arthel: a tampa community on edge with a manhunt under way for a possible serial killer. police believe this suspect,

suspected gunman is behind four different murders going back more than a month now. brian has more on the investigation. >> four murders in the same neighborhood of tampa. october 9 benjamin mitchell was shot to death. , and tuesday the latest victim was 60-year-old ronald felton. he was crossing the street just before 5:00 a.m. when someone came up behind him and shot him. he was on his way to church to volunteer. perhaps a break in this case. this surveillance video shows the suspect moments before he murdered felton.

police believe this man the video is the same man caught on surveillance video in the first murder. he's thought to be 6 foot. he's armed with a large black pistol. police believe the suspect is a resident of the neighborhood. >> look at the video and look how that person walks. it's clear to me that this person is able to flip a switch and go out there and murder someone. reporter: police have been canvassing the neighborhood all month trying to capture the killer. knock on doors and board up vacant homes. the first three victims were killed at night, ferks lton was killed in early morning. his sister says she warned him to be careful. >> you walk out your door and

somebody just chute for no reason? all he was doing was helping the homeless. he wasn't hurting nobody. he wasn't doing nothing to nobody. and they took his life. his life to me, to everybody else might not mean nothing. but to me that's my blood. reporter: they have limited evidence, those two surveillance videos are the best they have got thus far. this a $100,000 reward being offered. eric: will tweets may a role into the investigation of the unverified trump dossier. plus the russians veto another chemical weapons investigation at the u.n.

ambassador nikki haley is warning the administration could launch airstrikes in in syria again. >> russia will not agree to any mechanism that might shine a light on the use of chemical weapons by it ally, syria. 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. that's why feeling safe is priceless. with adt, you can feel safe with an adt starter kit professionally installed for only $49.00.

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arthel: the calendar says it looks like fall. but in parts of the country it's like winter. a developing blizzard across utah is causing major problems including road closures, extending into colorado. there are reports of snow blanketing up to a dozen states. the storm moving east could bring heavy rain, strong winds and travel delays to the northeast as early as this evening. >> regardless of what its russian protectors to do here in the security council. assad regime should be on notice that the united states does not accept syria's use of chemical

weapons. we'll defend the international standard against chemical use. eric: that was u.n. ambassador nikki haley. the regime they say is using cluster bombs and chlorine attacks. the u.n. the u.s. accusing bashar al-assad continuing to kill his own people on a scale that is unimaginable all with the blessing and help of vladimir putin and the russian government. former ambassador to the u.n. john bolton joins us. putin is really is block every move of the united nations and

every effort of the west to stop this. >> moscow has wanted to keep the regime in power since the arab spring started. and there are clear reasons why. russia has its only naval base outside the former soviet union and their only air base outside the former soviet union in syria. they want to prop up the regime and help the government they can couldn't on to advance russian interests. they are directly contrary to the interests of the united states. so vetoing a few security council resolutions just a days work for the russian prime minister. >> we are willing to sit down and shake hands with putin. 400,000 people said to be

trapped. assad using starvation. hundreds of thousands already killed. >> i'm afraid this is the first phase of taken ongoing gone applicant. one consequence related to it is the destruction of the isis caliphate in what used to be syria and iraq. iran is using the campaign against isis to build up a coalition involving the baghdad government controlled by shiia iraqis and dominated by tehran. the assad regime in syria to form an arc from iran all the way to the immediater rainian. in preparation for what could be the next fight against jordan and the oil-producing monarchies as well is threatening our close ally israel. despite the carnage and the

syrian civil war some of which is unquestionably caused by assad's use of chemical weapons. we can now well see the next stage in a conventional or even worse battle that does involve nuclear chemical weapons with iran and the arabs. eric: it's chilling considering what you say that it could potentially happen. the sir aian american counsel says it condemns russia's use of its veto before the united nations security council. they committed the worst crimes against their own civilians. russia cannot be considered a partner in the struggle for peace and democracy in syria.

there are calls for putin and assad to be put on trial for war crimes. what do you think are the chances of that to prey vent the type of scenario with iran that you just laid out? >> zero, basically. i thought the statement you just read made this point very clear. russia and the assad regime have been twins in this ever since the beginning. the notion you can separate the two of them has always been wrong. under barack obama and especially with john kerry, secretary of state, we heard time and time again that russia and the united states shared the same objective. they both wanted assad out of power. it was never true, not true today, wasn't true 7 years ago. assad is russia's man in syria and they will stick together as far as the eye can see. eric: peace talksw are set to

resume in geneva. what do you expect from that. >> i don't expect much it's an iranian-russian coalition is close to getting what they wanted much of it with our help unfortunately in arming and training shiia militia? the regular units of the iraqi army to now begin attacks against our friends the kurds in northern iraq. we need to be preparing for the next phase of this struggle. we obviously need to day on top of those. it's the next conflict in the middle east which could be in preparation. eric: with them building up their forced in lebanon and along the israeli bored as puff predict. arthel: president trump is doing a 180 on a decision to let

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train to importing from zombie -- zimbabwe and zambia. this after the original that dean sparked outrage by some at the fish and wildlife service say properly managed hunting programs could help conserve endangered species. will carr has been following this from los angeles. what prompted the president to put proposition on hold? reporter: at this point it's unclear, especially early in the day, white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders coming in from zambia and zimbabwe. friday night the president took to twitter saying put a decision

on hold until such a time as i review all conservation, understudy for years will update with secretary zinke. thank you or the process of importing olyphant druggies was banned in 2014 due to a lack of conservation data from zimbabwe. u.s. fish and wildlife service has been reviewing the ban and recommended the policy change, eric. eric: a type of reaction is between getting? elephant lovers are relieved. reporter: yeah, well, a lot of backlash when the original announcement was made. the humane society thing we applaud the decision of president donald jay trombino becker speaks with thank you they direct the department to maintain a strict ban on any import to african elephant and lion trophies, but the safari club scene on its website within hours of the announcement hysterical anti-hunters and news media outlets went into overdrive attacking everyone including the trump

administration, fbi and nra. efforts seem to have paid off after they were shrill negative comments cause president trying to delay the decision until a meeting with secretary zinke. the president's two sons are big game hunters and we'll have to wait and see ultimately what president trump decides to do. eric: thanks so much. arthel: now to a twist in the russian metal investigation. a federal judge will decide if president trump subtrees could force the government to reveal more information about efforts to verify information in the controversial unverified dossier. this after a political reporter filed a lawsuit in conjunction with the anti-secrecy group to james madison project atlas discussed this with former assistant federal prosecutor. let's start with this. >> good afternoon. arthel: good afternoon, good morning. what is at issue and what is your take?

>> this has to do with the information act. get a request for information like this and decide to classified information related to an investigation and they don't have to provide a response other than we are not going to tell you whether record exists. but when the government has said something that indicates the records do exist them and they have to either defend withholding them or turn them over. arthel: at the u.s. district judge ultimately orders the federal government to reveal intimate details on the origination and validity of the dossier, would this impact future federal investigations and if so how? >> occurred. the unique fact is the president spoke about it. just because the judge may order the department of justice to respond assuming you can release these records. they relate to an ongoing investigation or reveal classified sources or methods, they can still be prevented from being released. the question is whether president trump streets about the dossier means the department

of justice will have to do more than i want to do a talk about these records. arthel: this is stemming from one of the presidents we feared might this open the door to legal scrutiny of the president's twitter account and weather history should be documented as official white house statement and if it does, will the president's tweets have to be vetted and verified? >> that's the issue in multiple areas of the administration, legal disputes and there is an issue with the national archives talking about whether they are presidential records with past presidential historians further president saying these are presidential records that need to be treated as such. the issue comes because this is the first time you have a president speak in this unmediated way with the public and it raises issues in every aspect of the administration. got in trouble with different court cases were tweets were used as evidence, for example, in the refugee ban.

the presidential trades are, how thin will continue to be an issue. arthel: uncharted territory. we talk about as far as you can tell the legal protection the president has as well as his exposure. where might a lawsuit against the president? >> colossal work against him because he will consider an eight-week key issues on the presidential account to be his official statement or at least a statement of the president himself. what happened in this case, for example, the "politico" reporters during the freedom of information act will submit those to the court and say the president speaking about this, he must rely an official information because we know he has this to learn about investigation and waste to learn about intelligence. when he says something like this come is backed up by the power of the u.s. government. in this case the judge is taken into account to issue a decision on what he believes the affected the streets to be. eric: any idea how or when the judge will rule?

>> two weeks to six weeks i assume he knows there's a lot of scrutiny on this case and will act as fast as he can. arthel: thank you very much. we'll talk to you in the decision comes down. turning to the senate expected to vote on this tax reform after thanksgiving. after the house passed the bill last week, despite the 13 from these guys. they object to limiting the state and local tax reduction and study showed taxpayers than most date use that. new york congressman john sasso is here to explain. plus, history of new orleans. the great city a? its first female mayor. >> i will not let you down. i will not. i will be with you and i will truly be your voice, whether it is locally, nationally or globally. i will be that example.

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arthel: this new set of my hometown, new orleans, marking a historic collection and made landslide victory, city councilmember latoya cantrell elected as the city's first female mayor. last night the democrats claim 60% of the vote in a runoff with desiree chardonnay. she will proceed mitch landrieu and take office in may 2018. eric: how about that. not a tax reform. the house passed bill on thursday without a single democratic vote. with 13 no votes on the gop side, lawmakers in high tax states capability eliminate state and local tax deduction and now puts a big burden on the constituents, treasury secretary steve mnuchin saying the plan is designed to help middle-class americans by sparking growth down the road.

>> what i do know is we think this is going to create growth and we'll know by then whether this creates growth or not. if it does create growth we will have an incredible economy and an incredible tax system for businesses and creating huge amounts of jobs. if it doesn't, congress will deal with at the time. >> it turns out the taxpayers than most states do take the state and local tax deduction. john faso, republican of new york, one of those who voted against the bill. good to see it. >> thank you. nice to see you, too. this bill just affects the states like new york and california, but if you actually look at the fact that turns out not to be true. >> many people across the country take this deduction for 114 years it's been in the federal income tax system. on january 1, if this legislation passes the way the house passes, a lot of people come in many thousands of people in new york state will be hit

with large increases in federal taxes. i don't think that's good and i don't think it's a wise development. i'm not prepared to let my constituents become collateral damage in the effort to enact tax reform. the irony is i want to see tax reform. i believe we need to reform or corporate and individual tax system. the way this is done it will have a disproportionate impact on many new yorkers than many of my constituents. trade do what you say to critics who blame the city behind him say that spending is over the top, you've got the union back, taxpayers and soaked and it's tough luck, new york and other states. >> a lot of that is true. governor cuomo turns a blind eye to the tax and spending policies in our state. he inflicts numerous mandates on local governments and property tax payers. all of that being said, january 1 this will have a damaging impact upon many thousands of new yorkers and i

fear this will accelerate the trend of upper class and middle-class new yorkers leaving our state because they go to places with lower taxes. that's what albany does need to fix. washington should not hurt tax policy reversed 114 years of existing arrangements. people of already made their assumption based upon the existence of the state and local tax deduction and things like the medical expense reduction and now precipitously january when we would change it. at a minimum, these changes need phased in over a number of years. frankly, it's highly unlikely we will be able to get that unless people in washington we got to the fact they are going to inflict many thousands of dollars of tax increases on many thousand of new yorkers and people across the united states. i don't think that's the intention of tax reform to raise taxes on people. eric: clearly not just new york,

millions across the country. this comes from a study. 35 states, folks in 35 states use this, more than a third, 35% of the taxpayers used the state and tax reduction. 33% wisconsin. most of those folks don't realize that. they may not realize they're losing this. >> one factor by doubling the standard deduction, 24,000 will be their standard deduction. a lot of those that have to itemize will not itemize. in my district, 30% itemizes. you're than 10% of my demise, but that still leaves many come in many new yorkers and people across the country who pay a lot of state and local taxes in the situation where they are headed

with major increases in their federal tax bill. there's good things in this bill but in this bill but things are definitely need to be changed. eric: does this affect things like wealthy rich people? what level in your district, for example. this affects the middle-class, too. >> it affects the middle-class, but more wealthy taxpayers. the problem in new york state had those are the people who disproportionally pay estate taxes. because governor cuomo and others have recklessly raised taxes on high earners, what this has meant if they are the most people, the most likely people to leave our state. this is already happening in many middle-class new yorkers are leaving because the property income taxes and other states. this is something we have to address in a gray albany needs to address this, but we shouldn't inflict it on our state and taxpayers and make them the collateral damage in the fight between washington and high tax state capitals.

>> i want to point out to governor cuomo not here to defend himself. he would probably take an opposite view in some ways, this certainly would not be happy about this deduction. what you think about the lack of this? the financier in a tax reduction, the house passing $10,000. what's your prediction once this gets to reconciliation? >> i don't know. i think a lot of house republicans coming number of them made of those gas in anticipation of further changes would be made here. i think we need to look at the size of the corporate tax reduction. corporations will still be able to deduct their state and local taxes. individual taxpayers won't. the fundamental mistake here, the tax rate from 35% to 20 maybe a bit too far and in order to incentivize their companies to invest here and doing dollars home we shouldn't at the same

time make our taxpayers in new york and other high tax states in essence subsidized lowering the corporate tax rate. we need to go back to the drawing board. chairman brady and speaker ryan and others have done good work in terms of trying to the tax reform forward. they still need to correct this mistake the housemaid. >> still a lot of work to do. the senate to pass after thanksgiving and come back together to get it by the end of the year. republican of upstate new york comic thank you for joining us. >> thanks so much. eric: cooperstown baseball hall of fame. go visit there so many great other places like with that, i'd park where i live. eric: good to see you, congressman. arthel: at picture treasury secretary magician is that going viral showing the menu chins holding the first dollar bills to bear the signature.

some joking that the couple look like a pair of a pair of bond villains as secretary of a niche in having a reacted to this. listen. >> i've never put it best looking of villains from james bond. i guess i should take that as a compliment that i look like a villain and a successful bond movie. i was very excited having my signature on the money, obviously a great privilege and a great honor and something i'm very proud of being a secretary and look forward to helping the american people. arthel: mnuchin went to see the newly printed bills. eric: meanwhile, desperate one under our first-ever inc. on missing. dozens of crewmembers onboard. we will have the latest on this race again time and the progress coming out. >> winter but there must've been a serious problem with the

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eric: a desperate search now underway for an urgent and severing the delivered in the south atlantic on wednesday. 44 sailors on board.

u.s. navy sending a second reconnaissance plane to aid in the search. the navy says that detect a faint signals that it does believe is coming from the submarine's crew as the search continues. arthel: fox news alert, "the wall street journal" reporting robert mccartney has agreed to resign after an apparent coup last week that saw the military placing him under house arrest. , power is live with more. reporter: site to appear on state tv in zimbabwe in the next few hours. it is expected he will step down. this comes after his own political party booted him earlier today demanding he resign by noon kumar or face impeachment. this started when the military placed him under house arrest. it became apparent several days ago he was trying to pass power into his young wife of the military simply wasn't going to stand for that.

they led the fight from independence in the late 1970s initially under his rule, zimbabwe led massive improvements in health care and education and really was renowned across all of africa. but a brutal regime which was also plagued by rampant corruption in the last 15 years or so and once mugabe's rule kind of wrecked the economy there, there wasn't a lot of support outside of his own political party until the party decided today when the writing was on the wall. people across the country danced and cheered in parliament and people were thanking the military. there is a big question about who comes next. there will be some but it appears there will likely be a vice president for somebody connect it to the military. this is still very much a country ruled by the military. mugabe may be stepping down, but the regime is passing from one of his supporters.

it doesn't look like this is a broad sweeping change. the military still very much firmly controlled there. arthel: to be continued. thank you very much. eric: to pressure this time coming from the media in his own state. we'll have details on not plus the reaction from lawmakers in washington this morning. >> at righttt. safe driving bonus checks. only from allstate. switching to allstate is worth it. mom'#stuffynosecold #nosleep #mouthbreather just put on a breathe right strip it instantly opens your nose... up to 38% more than cold medicine alone go to breatheright.com today to request a free sample.

arthel: the things that happen on the commercial break. anyway, coming back at 4:00 and 6:00 eastern. we hope you can join us. eric: back at 6:00, too. see you later. leland: trump administration takes to the airwaves today in support of the gop tax reform including treasury secretary steve mnuchin. with the white house is doing to put pressure on. elizabeth: leaders from both sides that they are speaking out against democratic senator al franken candle. several female lawmakers are saying. leland: like alabama. church wrapping up in critics of embattled republican senate candidate roy moore are both claiming on moral high ground.