captioning sponsored by cbs >> pauley: today on "face the nation," the divisions between republicans on the hill and the president grow as washington braces for the opening of a sealed indictment stemming from special counsel robert mueller's russia investigation. love 'em or leave 'em is the choice for republican lawmakers as two senators questioned the president's competence and moral standing. arizona's jeff flake announced he would not seek re-election and challenged his republican cog lesion to stand up to the president. >> we must stop pretending that the politics and conduct some of in our executive branch are normal. they are not normal. >> dickerson: bob corker of tennessee is another republican critic leaving the senate he claims the president's volatile behavior and inability to tell the truth threatens america's national security. >> i don't know why he lowers

himself to such a low, low standard and basis our country, but he does. >> dickerson: we'll talk to him about it. after meeting with senate republicans the president said there are far more loving him than leaving him. >> i call it a love fest, almost a love fest, maybe it was a love fest. but we had standing ovations, there is great unity. >> dickerson: president will need that party unity to get his tax plan through congress. maine senator susan collins, she'll also join us. plus as the president moves to address the opioid epidemic, has he done enough? we'll talk to business point man, chris christie. plus analysis on all the news and special look at music and politics. with the late show with stephen colbert's band leader jon batiste. it's all ahead on "face the nation." good morning and welcome to "face the nation" i'm john dickerson. late friday the news broke that

special counsel robert mueller's investigation into russian attempts to influence our election has resulted in at least one sealed indictment. charges are unknown and so is the person or persons under indictment but that hasn't stopped the speculation about what mueller might have found. the suspense is probably only temporary as those charges could be made public as early as tomorrow. when a judge will likely unseal the indictment in order to make arrests. now to what we do know, one of the president's toughest critics, senator foreign relations bob cocker he joins froes chattanooga, tennessee. i want to start with the sealed indictments. things are volatile in washington these days what do you think this is going to do to get things done say on tax cuts and that kind of thing? >> well, john, i have no idea. i don't know the substance. i have no knowledge like you relating to what happens, but most of you focused on the

policies we have to deal with on behalf of the american people. right now, that's been a side show as something develops that's more serious but obviously it will take up some space. i just have no way of determining that. >> dickerson: given advice to the president, he has not often listened but given if this comes out on monday what is your guide in terms of trying to stick to the issues that your guidance for the president? >> we got a short window of time to deliver on tax reform. something that i want to see happen on behalf of the american people and at least those of us in congress, it's our job to write those bills and to pass those bills that's where our focus needs to stay. again, i don't know enough -- i know nothing about what's happening on the other front. >> dickerson: before we get to tax cuts while we're in the russia neighborhood, in august congress passed sanctions on rusha administration has not been doing what -- what they're supposed to, where do things

stand on that? >> actually, they did release the information towards the end of this last week. we had been inquiring, i think it was very good first step, i have to give them credit for that. we want to stay involved, congress on vote of 98-2 in the united states senate which is rare pushed for this. but i do think the initial steps they have taken have been very good. we want to follow through on but i have to say, it takes awhile. the department of treasury that deals with this has been overwhelmed with all of the sanctions issues they have underway. and again, i thought thursday of last week was very good day. >> dickerson: let's talk taxes. you said that there some are, quote, ridiculous things things in tax reform that don't do anything about -- to help economic growth. what are those things? >> you know, here is the deal. when you pass tax reform, i don't think, john, people understand what we're getting ready to do. in the senate we passed trillion

and a half deficit kind of thing. but really, it's different than what people think. 500 billion was just to sink up between current law and current policy so you have a trillion dollars that we can use for dynamics going in the event dynamic scoring shows that we can use that trillion dollars. four trillion in addition to that, thoughs through what is called tax reform or basically getting rid of credits, deductions. the kind of things that have been in our code for years which makes it so complex, if you will for people to fill out their income forms. but also things that really don't move our economy along. you are getting rid of those four trillion dollars and you're moving them over trying to do something that creates growth. that is going to be the biggest tax free right since 1986, complicated. people will come in around the country to protect those things

that they have. but in doing this, when you start writing the code you do do some things that in my opinion are not pro growth. i'm not criticizing that. i'm just saying that, look, i understand where we are. things that would really cause our economy to grow would be reducing corporate rates to 20%. dealing with the territorial issues those are the kind of things that grow our economy. having to do whole lot more to get buy in, but that's just the process we go through in washington. >> dickerson: you set the white house should step aside let congress, do you think that will happen? >> that was really in reference to taking things off the table on the front end. i sat down with our tax writers who i have tremendous respect for. they are having great difficulty getting to $3.6 trillion. they got to get the other 400 billion in place far any of this to work. by the way, john, when groups start rallying against things and they succeed, everything starts unraveling.

so, the point i was trying to make is, we've got tough decisions to make, let's leave everything, the whole cafeteria of the code out there so that let the tax writers do their job. if you start taking things off the table on the front end we're not going to get where we need to go. >> dickerson: let me move to north korea you've been critical of the president and his tweets on this. what is actually the president doing to get in the way of the diplomacy you think should be happening? >> yeah, so, let's face it. our greatest partner is china. we have a state department and a secretary of state whose job is to exercise full diplomacy. to keep our men and women in uniform out of harm's way. every military leader wants the state department and our secretary of state to be successful when they do that. when our secretary of state is sitting down with a partner that matters most, china, trying to negotiate something that would

resolve and keep froes going into military conflict with north corey which brings in south korea, japan, russia, and knee capped by the president, it hurts our nation. it hurts our efforts. it leads us more fully towards the conflict that most of us would like to see resolved in another way. the tweets that are sent out mocking a leader of another country, raises tensions in the region. and so people are sitting there, they know they have got an erratic leader in north korea, they lived with three erratic leaders, actually this is the third one then when we start exhibiting some of those same tendencies, it creates an air that leads again more fully towards conflict where what we need to be doing is supporting the efforts that secretary tillerson and secretary mattis who is involved in this diplomacy are carrying out. >> dickerson: you make a national security point here, your colleagues seem not to have heard you. they have said that this is a

family squabble, ted cruz compared it to high school quarterback. others said your hurting the republican party by making these critiquess it that they're not hearing what you're saying? >> well, look, john, each of us has an election certificate and we try to do the best job that we can. i care deeply about our country, that's why i ran for the senate i care more deeply having been there 11 years. i've been in the foreign relations area the entire time i've been there, i'm chairman, i have coffees with tillerson often. i talk with him, i talk with united folks not only here but around the world i have a good sense of what is happening. i'm just seeking to that, that's my job. i'll continue to do so. >> dickerson: all right, senator corker, thanks for being with us we turn now to another republican, susan collins sits on the senate intelligence committee, one of the committees investigating russian attempts. given that experience and interviews work done on that

committee how do you process this news about sealed indictments from the special counsel? >> from the very beginning, this investigation has run two tracks. one is the independent counsel's investigation to see if there is criminal wrongdoing. and looks like we're going to find out as early as tomorrow about some indictments in that area. the other has been the intelligence committee of the extent of russian meddling in the last election and try to align the independent counsel and whether or not there was any collusion between members of president trump campaign team and russians. we are having very interesting time looking at the use of social media to influence the elections and so the seeds of

desection in our country. >> dickerson: any sign of collusion after all this time? >> i have not yet seen any definitive evidence of collusi collusion. i've seen lots of evidence that the russians were very active in trying to influence the election. >> dickerson: let me ask you about so-called dossier which is information that was gathered of all kinds about candidate trump. the russian post said that the clinton campaign and democratic donated, paid for part of its creation. john podesta came before senate intelligence committee said, we don't know who paid for this. well, that was before this "washington post" report. sitting next to poe december that was the lawyer from the clinton campaign who paid for the report. so these guys need to come back sit down tell the committee what is up. >> they absolutely need to be recalled. it's difficult to imagine that a campaign chairman, that the head

of the dnc would not know of an expenditure of this magnitude and significance. but perhaps something more going on here. but certainly it's worth additional questioning of both two witnesses. >> dickerson: and what about the lawyer. >> absolutely. more than anyone. >> dickerson: let's go now to the criticisms from senator corker and senator flake this week. senator flake in particular sais republican colleagues he said, basically, don't be complicit. what did you make of that message? >> first let me say that jeff flake is one of my best friends in the senate. i have enormous respect for him. and i'm really sorry that he's not going to be running for re-election. the senate will be a lesser place without his being in it. having said that, i think we need to accept that donald trump

is our president. and my approach is to work with my fellow republicans, with democrats, with house members and also with this administration. that is the only way that we're going to get things done in the congress. it's the only way that we can assure the american people that they can have some trust in government. and that we're working to better their lives. >> dickerson: senator flake would say, that there is some responsibility, though, even while you're trying to get things done to call out those things that the president does that might get in the way of you getting things done. >> absolutely. and i have not hesitated to disagree with the president, whether it's with his comments after the incidents in charlottesville or on the very important health care issues. i'm going to continue to do that. i'll work with the president and support his policies when i think he's right. but i will not hesitate to

oppose him when i think that he is misguided. >> dickerson: the next big issue with which you have disagreement or total agreement with tax cuts, what are you looking for in this -- that concerns you that you'd like to make sure is in this package. >> three major principles will guide my evaluation of tax cuts, which i do think we need. first i want the tax code to be simpler, fairer and more pro-growth. that's really important. we can really lift standards of living for working families in this country, we can help small businesses create jobs. we can have a beneficial impact on the economy as a whole. if we do tax reform right. so far i'm encouraged by the discussions that i've had with the members of the senate finance committee and i'm hope half we can put together a package that will attract some democratic support, too. >> what about the deficit effects. you in the past have had

consider -- you've been against some tax cuts because of the affect on the deficit, in this case lot of people are calling alarms. >> that's why it's important that this tax reform package be pro growth. and if you look at the congressional budget office analysisf we have just four tenths of one percent increase in our gdp, which is entirely realistic it will cover the cost of the tax reform package. >> dickerson: final question i want to ask, congresswoman jackie spire came forward, she had been a house staffer and talked about the sexual assault that she experienced 40 years ago and she says that this kind of misconduct is still rampant on capitol hill. you were a staffer once, what was your reaction to this? >> i have not witnessed that. but that doesn't mean that it isn't occurring. i think we're seeing that there is sexual harassment and even

assault in virtually workplaces across the country. that's something that certainly all of us need to work on, but it's not something that i personally experienced. >> dickerson: senator collins, thanks for being with us. >> thank you, john. dickerson: we turn now to new jersey governor chris christie. governor we have a lot to get to but as a former federal prosecutor i want to start with this news about what robert mueller the special counsel may be up to. help us put in context the sealed indictment, is that a big deal? >> well, it's typical to do it that way in my experience. especially if you want to get certain things organized before you confront the potential defendant. i think one of the things to be concerned about here, john, is that there are strict laws against any of this type of leaking of grand jury activity and so the idea that we may know, in fact that there is been some activity done already

depending upon who leaked that information, that could be criminal violation as well. so, have to be very careful about this stuff. grand jury secrecy is very important to the effectiveness of an investigation. >> dickerson: about as pot cuter, the president said this is a witch hunt, questioned whether mr. mueller is compromised, how would you have reacted? >> i think that you're always going to be questioned as prosecutor, that's what you have to always be ready for. do your job honestly, forthrightly let the evidence lead to you conclusions not have conclusions beforehand and look for evidence that confirm it. what i would say important thing about today for the american people to know is, president is not under investigation, no one has told him that he is. he's been cooperating fully with special counsel's office and special counsel feels now along with the grand jury there is actions to take against some folks that is special counsel's job, although again i caution that this leaking is absolutely

against the law. >> dickerson: we'll switch to opioid issue. this week the president took action, he had previously said he wanted to spend whole lot of money on the opioid crisis. one of the criticisms of the actions he took this week, that there is not enough money. what is your response to that? >> totally misplaced criticism, john, let me tell you why. we recommended in our first commission report that he use either public health safety act or stafford act to be able to declare a national emergency. did he that under the public health safety act. now it is incumbent upon congress to be able to appropriate money into the public health emergency fund, only 57,000 dollars right now, nothing the president can do about. that congress appropriate. i believe from talking to bipartisan members of congress that this is not something that is going to take very long at all. they're going to react to this emergency like fund can puerto rico, funding texas, this is that type -- put it in context for you.

175 people are dying a day in america. if those people were dying at the hands of a terrorist organization, how much money would the united states congress be willing to spend to make it stop. and that's the type of emergency we're dealing with, i'm sure congress is going to approach witness that type of urgency in concert with the president. >> dickerson: the the didn't say what you said in september in new jersey when you were addressing this issue you said, i don't want to you worry about money. i want a wish list. why didn't the president say something like that? >> well, i think he laid out things that are going to cost real money, john, if you listen to what he said this week at the white house. he talked about waving certain medicaid rules that will open up literally thousands of treatment beds to poor folks across this country who need treatment who right now can't get access it to. he talks about increased training for physicians, he talked about increased regulation on physician. this week we'll bring final report with more recommendations hon how to deal with this prop. we have to stop our people from

dying and i know the president's committed to, this everyone who listens to him this week with the personal story that he told about his brother, understands it's not just a policy issue, this is personal. i'm proud of him. >> dickerson: one of the things the president said that in fact he said it was most important part of what him proposing is massive advertising campaign to get people, he said earl he especially children not no wouldn't to take drugs in the first place. you've worked on this issue a lot. is that really going to do it or i heard you tell stories about your mother's smoking habit and your friend who had died from addiction. would they have been stopped by being told, don't do it? >> listen, i think that's part of what we need to do. in new jersey we've done. that we spent $25 million in the last six months on advertising campaign in new york and philadelphia to eliminate the stigma around treatment and to encourage people to reach out and get help and we are now working on another $25 million campaign just in new jersey for

advertising to young people to talk to them about dangers of prescription drugs. why even if it's given to you by a doctor doesn't mean it's good four, doesn't mean it's safe. i think that's an important part of it. only part of it. but very important part of it because we need people to understand that this crisis started not on a street corner somewhere, this crisis started in the doctor's offices and the hospitals of america. we consume 85% john of the world's prescribed opioids. that's outrageous. our medical community and our pharmaceutical companies have lot to do with that all of our insurance companies, everybody has to pitch in to turn this around. >> dickerson: we'll take a short break we'll be back in a minute with more from governor christie. and an ice plant. but we brought power to the people- redefining what that meant from one era to the next. over 90 years later, we continue to build as america's 3rd largest investor in infrastructure. we don't just help power the american dream...

we're part of it. retail. under pressure like never before. and it's connected technology that's moving companies forward fast. e-commerce. real time inventory. virtual changing rooms. that's why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent network speed across multiple locations. every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. comcast business outmaneuver. >> dickerson: we're back with governor chris christie. today is the fifth anniversary of super storm sandy. damages were over $35 billion in the state of new jersey alone and dozens were killed. governor, given your experience with that hurricane, i wondered

if you would reflect on the response to puerto rico, you know about federal-state coordination. president gave himself ten out of ten in that response. do you think it deserves that grade? >> well, i gave him a grade of b plus. it's close, what i would say is the federal government has brought resources to bear on puerto rico that is needed to be brought to bear. the real problem, john, that unlike where new jersey was from infrastructure perspective back in 2012, puerto rico's infrastructure because of its bankruptcy was degraded significantly before the storm. so for instance i've heard stories we've sent more folks than any other state in america to puerto rico to help. 1100 national guardsmen and state police all who have said the experience. as they started to come back and rotate new folks in, what they have told me is the big problem is not how having enough supplies that's literally there are no roads that are passable outside san juan and many

regions. so they're having to airlift things there, it's delaying things significantly while they try to rebuild these roads and get infrastructure back up on power. but i've spoken to the homeland security advisor on number of occasions and governor on a number of occasions i think they both believe that all the resources that need to be brought to bear are being brought to bear. we're just going to have to work harder at puerto rico because of how bad a shape it was in from an infrastructure perspective before the storm hit. >> dickerson: governor chris christie, thanks for being with us. >> thank you, john. thanks for having me. >> dickerson: we'll be right back.

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>> dickerson: we'll be back with a lot more.

>> dickerson: welcome back. political analysis on very busy week in washington. julie pace is the washington bureau chief for the associated press. david nakamura covers the white house for the "washington post." we're also joined by "washington post" columnist and deputy editorial page editor ruth marcus founder and publisher of the publisher, ben domenech. the mueller news or not news into context. >> a good washington drama to start off your week. we're at point where there is much more that we don't know about what is going to be happening potentially monday with mueller and endowments. we don't know what charges will be brought forward works they may be focused on but i think what we can say pretty definitively is that the muller

investigation is not winding down which is what the white house wants people to think. they want people to believe that this is investigation that that is largely run its course, that there is no evidence of collusion and there for nothing to see there. mueller is taking the opposite approach, he is working through white house officials, other pepeople who have been close to the president doing interviews and i think it's important for people to remember also that when you do end up with these special counsel investigation and the first set of charges start come through tend to start at the bottom. start with the low hanging grout. i don't think anybody should expect that if we do see indictments this week that witness be the last or the final announcement from the special counsel. >> dickerson: what have you made of the white house reaction to this? they was a pre-reaction in a week in terms of white house focus on democrats then the president is speaking a little bit about this on twitter this morning. >> nothing animates this president more than lashing out trying to throw the blame back on to his platal opponents including hillary clinton, we've seen that again this morning

talking about dossier and democratic funding of it. and once again it just comes down now we're nine months in to this process, since he's been president where the president still does not talk about fundamentally how russia has affected the democracy, ultimately that continues to get lost in this as this investigation goes forward. exactly what russia did in this election, president not talked to george bush himself came out with the speech talking about russia meddling. he continues to say this is victim here is trump. >> dickerson: ruth, the victim is trump, he talk this morning, during the clinton years, pinned pendant counsel, the clinton team went after him. do you expect that here? does it work? is is that a trap? what is your sense of how this reaction to whatever news we get next week will play out? >> definitely seems to be a

reluck on not necessarily the white house but certainly alli allies. to start going after bob mueller, we saw it this week, wall street journal, she resign. i have to say, all of this, the dossier, the uranium, the attack on mueller seems to be just absolutely frantic effort to distract attention from what we do know which is -- as david pointed out intelligence community concluded that russia tried to meddle in the owel, that russia tried to meddle on donald trump's behalf. and donald trump never acknowledged that, he's constantly called eight hoax. responsible president would want to get to the bottom of this. and that is not what we're seeing. >> dickerson: ben, it is possible there could be both special counsel inquirely that is legitimate and the other questions that has been raised the dossier of information about

the president, a lot unconfirmeda lot of it very unconfirmed if that's a cot gore rethat it was funded in part by dnc. >> we know that the clinton campaign and dnc did pay for access to the dossier, how much of the dossier's creation. we have less of clear picture you have in part because of this deal that was cut on behalf of fusion gps with the house intel committee. authors of the dossier in this instance. i think that that dossier is concerning in part because the fbi was willing to engage with the creator of it and potentially was on path toward paying for it. that also potentially was dossier was used as justification to look into other people in donald trump's circle. we need clarification on this going forward. but as ruth indicated in so many different ways, this is one of those areas where everything

really remains very muddy. >> dickerson: let's move from muddy to slightly opaque. julie, this week you had two republicans speak out very strongly about the president but two senators on their way out to retirement or was it the start of something different than just kind of criticism of this president? >> public dynamic and private dynamic. what corker and what flake were reflect hang their colleagues say, they are reflecting a mood among a lot of republican senators where they feel like they would like this president to succeed on policy but they feel like he has put certain elements of our democracy at risk. senators that say things that are astounding about a president from their own party. publicly a much different story. flake issued a call to arms from his colleagues and no one lined up behind to follow him.

it's because they look at their own electoral process and donald trump is very popular among republican voters. >> this is pro than this they run in to. republican senators, many would like to have a different constituency than one they actually have but cannot dissolve the people and elect another. instead you face a situation where the fact is that jeff flake gave interview right after he gave his speak where he said, when i came here i wanted to talk about limited government and free trade and things like that. well that's fine. but he also said, i didn't want to talk about ditch voice safe issues like these culture war issues. the electorate wants to you talk about those issues, one of the reasons that donald trump has succeeded to the degree that did he in changing the republican party into one that is the party of trump is because he just wraps his around around all of these issues. flake described that as politics of resentment and grievance but the fact is that majority of republican voters across the

country do not believe that saying something like, nfl players should respect the flag and stand for it is act of grievance or resentment. that is the reason that trump has prevailed and people like flake are on the way out. >> what was remarkable about the comments wasn't simply that they made it about a president of their own party. hard to even remember senators of opposite parties speaking in that kind of language about the president. but as julie said the silence that succeeded it, the silence is telling on two grounds. first, that they almost all of them do priefly agree with that assessment more or less. and also that they are scared and reluctant to say it. that is -- jeff flake was leaving no one, to follow him. but watch two things. watch what happens with mueller and see how that affects things. but even more watch what happens with tax cuts, because what you hear from senators, when you

say, why is this sigh leapt? he was elected, which is totally legitimate point, but tax cuts. if they're unable to get these tax cuts done i think that really shatters the cohesion of the party. >> to extent there was cohesion. >> take a quick break now, we'll be back with more from our panel we'll talk about this a little more and tax cuts as well. (cheering)

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>> dickerson: we're back. david, i want to go to you on this, the president called it a love fest be the other republicans whether they love him or not they are behind him. flake and corker are off on -- >> he had a lunch with republican senators, all reports at that lunch which came on the same day as this flake speech was that there wasn't a whole lot of sparks or fireworks. that some of the republicans who support this president's agenda said he was very well versed in the facts and the details of tax reform and other legislation that they discussed at the lunch. even corker said they hadn't talked to each other at the lunch but there was no big outburst. but i think more importantly, it's the leadership. just couple of week ago we saw mitch mcconnell visit the white house whether he was knew ahead of time he'd be dragged boot rose garden as trump went on and on. it looked very uncomfortable for mcconnell, but he was a show of unity and we talked about the

tax cuts that's where they want to go, same with paul ryan. until these leaders start to put out more resistance i don't think you'll see whole lot of others follow. >> dickerson: as you mentioned, ben, the president wants unity to get tax cuts past but the president has lot of power because he has a relationship with those voters that you mentioned earlier. so, how does this play out politically, on the one hand you have steve bannon carrying the trump torch saying we have lots of people like president trump running for office, mcconnell wants different sort like incumbents, if you return to the senate how do you think that plays out between now and the election in '18? >> i think mitch mcconnell made a grave mistake by personalizing this situation, having his chief of staffer call steve bannon a white supremacist. in missouri, for instance, who is running for senate, it doesn't mat who are steve

bannons what matters is his plan and the fact that his plan lines up at this juncture in a way that it hasn't ever before with the interests of republican donors. major republican donors are more furious than they have ever been. and the level of frustration that they had directed toward the u.s. senate is palpable. may not agree with steve bannon with the priorities, like to see that add vans but do agree who the problem s. in this instance, it's mcconnell. it's the way that he's run the show. they blame him for the fact that they don't have a tax reform package already through and if bannon is sable to marshal those donors in a significant and organized way, it can dramatically change the make up of this conference. >> the elevation of steve bannon i think is a fascinating political dynamic right now. we're talking about donald trump, mitch mcconnell and steve bannon in the same breath. steve bannon has done excellent job. >> what do you think to go happen on tax cuts, there's unity among some but not much room for error because simple majority in the senate that way

not able to clear that bar for the affordable care act. >> i think senator corker did good job of laying out challenges that he faced, saw it on display with the discussion and wobbling about 401(k) and how you adjust their taxability 20 make the amount of money you're taking out of the treasury looks smaller. >> dickerson: the presidents doesn't want the house wants to -- >> as general matter cutting taxes is an easier thing to do than reforming health care. because it is giving things to people rather than potentially taking it away. but when you get into the weeds, any change in the tax code affects a lot of different people then you see all of the constituencies going to that, then you have these things called distribution tables which, it's very hard to cut taxes without helping very wealthy people. so the distribution tables are going to be a little bit of deja vu all over again to the impact

on health care and what would happen to premiums. because they're going -- they very well could end up looking like wealthy people get a huge tax break and there's going to be a bunch of middle income people depending what they do. who could end up suffering. so, it is going to be a hard lift but it is the absolute imperative for republicans to survive. >> dickerson: is that the difference between tax cuts and the replacement which s everybody knows that -- >> absolutely. you've seen trump i think differently than on affordable care act where he didn't have pro-active message, done more campaigning for this tax bill, the republican caucus maybe talk about it in a different way. he wound call it instead of tax reform, tax cuts, he's gone out to states where there's democratic senators and tried to put pressure on them, talked about maybe getting democratic votes that may be unlikely. you've seen the president certainly he understands i think

the station involved if this gets stopped his agenda is at risk. >> dickerson: does this look like a trump tax plan or republican one? >> looks like a regular old republican one. what donald trump said, perhaps even raise taxes on wealthy individuals, he promised tax cuts that would go to every american worker and something like. that but you don't see a payroll tax cut in this you see something that's much more along the lines of a typical republican tax plan. i actually think that has some potential to be problematic if this goes forward. we saw how donald trump referred to attempts to replace obamacare as being too mean in instances. that sort of thing. i think you can see something similar happen when it comes to taxes if he thinks that doesn't line up with his priorities directly then he may not be as strong of an advocate as republicans would like. that being said, republicans are always more comfortable talking about taxes than almost any other subject, this is the one area where they will run into

the spears of opposing opinion absolutely willingly because they think that it's their issue, they think they own it and i do think that this has a lot more likelihood of getting moved forward than anything else that's come to the floor. >> dickerson: we'll that have to wrap it there. i want to thank our panel. when we come back loot one of the big e challenges facing the commander in chief.

a bridge shut down over politics. their biggest triumph was a traffic jam. chris christie and kim guadagno's failures shortchanged our future. after 8 years- incomes are down, costs are up and our economy is crawling. we are better than this. i'm phil murphy together we'll build a stronger, fairer economy that works for every new jersey family. christie and guadagno left new jersey stuck. i'm serious about moving new jersey forward.

>> dickerson: president trump has reflected on the difficulty of consoling the families of fallen servicemen and women. it's a burden he shares with all presidents who have ordered americans into battle or to contemplate doing so. harry truman said that the decision to go to war with korea was the toughest decision he had to make as president. truman received a letter that proved just how tough, it was from william banning the father of george c. banning, one of the more than 36,000 americans who died during the korean war. and along with the letter mr. banning returned his son's purple heart. the letter read, mr. truman, as you have been directly responsible for the loss of our son's life in korea, you might just as well keep this emblem on

display in your trophy room as a memory of one of your historic deeds. our major regret at this time is that your daughter was not there to receive the same treatment as our son received in korea. truman, whose presidential desk had a sign "the buck stops here" kept the letter and medal close at hand for the last 19 years of his life. when he died, they were found in his desk drawer, a reminder that the toughest presidential decisions last long after a president's tenure is over. back in a moment.

after 8 years of chris christie, is kim guadagno the change new jersey really needs? guadagno is christie's hand-picked successor. says she's "proud to be part of the christie administration." guadagno was chris christie's right hand as our schools came under attack, critical services were underfunded, and our credit rating was downgraded...11 times. from the bridge to the beach, we've seen it all, and we've had enough. kim guadagno isn't the change we need. >> dickerson: we talk a lot about politics. we decided to look at the relationship between politics and music. jon batiste is the band leader for the late show with stephen colbert. we spoke about reinteroperation

of the battle him of the republica project for atlantic's podcast. >> this song has that thing that makes us have a sense of reference for it. and without even studying the history when you hear that mellody. ♪ for me i like to keep that essence and let myself -- free association with things that i'm listening at the time, something that i may have been working on several years back will come up and there's no intention other than just to follow that stream of consciousness. what came out is a blend of things which i think highly signifies the american experiment. you have the blend of african rhythms, you have this almost

chorale like habit going on in the music mixed with the gospel style. just blend of everything that i think if we at our best, ideal of american life at its best is everything coexisting and the great compromise of every element being here and living as one. that's what the piece represents. >> dickerson: is there a line that it speaks to you really strongly out of that piece? >> wow. >> his truth is marching on. it sounds the way that a march sounds. one foot after another. i like that. this victory is not just a victory of now. this is a victory of all

generations after us and eternal victory. there's so many layers in that one line. >> dickerson: we're in a moment now where truth maybe is up for grabs. >> absolutely. about the idea of developing your philosophy and world view that i approach this song with. truth being up for grabs, something that you think of i really think that comes from people not actually being in the same room enough. to say, okay, you just like me, we have maybe different things going on culturally or in our upbringing. we're all just here together. >> dickerson: you tried to use that more broadly. take it from this song and what you see music being able to do in your work or just in general, to create those bridges. right now we're in place where

people don't feel like there are bridges. >> music will also be a bridge depending on who is using it. i think music has the power to get people into the room together. that may not come into the room with one another if it wasn't for the musical experience and it's pretty hard to hate the person next to you when you are laughing and dancing next to each other. >> dickerson: do you have musical reactions to events? whether you see something on is the or whether it's an event in the news, does it -- do you react in music? >> i react when i see something on the news from a place of empathy. i try to practice empathy. empathy i think leads to music if that makes any sense. empathy is something that when you put it into practice your response becomes less verbal and less physical and it becomes

more emotional, because you have to sit back and reflect for awhile before you act. >> dickerson: let me ask about the idea of restraint. we in public don't have much restraint in a lot of the way people behave. but i think it was his notes to his band talked about, you don't have to play every note. >> whew, john, yes. restraint is the beauty we cannot see. when you listen to music and you hear someone's tone on the instrument or a beautiful voice or the sound of bass resonating with the sounds of the symbols, like the universe. then when there is space it allows you to appreciate what you just heard and to understand it and to process it then to

respond. so, space is important in that dialogue. i think we can learn a lot from jazz in our dialogue right now as a nation. we have a lot of sides going like this. and we have these two predominant sides really pushing like this. there's no space, it's only my perspective, no listening, no questions really, just constantly. to me that always leads to more conflict. and i'm not saying i don't have hope for our nation, i do feel like there's something that we can learn and sooner or later who will be forced to learn it. >> dickerson: if you want to see our full conversation with jon

batiste you can go to our website at thenation.com. we'll leave with you a listen and a look at john batiste's reimagined "battle him of the republic" we'll see you. ♪ ♪ ♪ captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ >> this is chevy sunday kick off, on cbs-3. >> happy sunday, fun day, it is gray, it is wet, it is soggy, and it is appropriate for football. six-one eagles on the field as they get set to take on win less san francisco 49ers. we are live, in south philadelphia. and while it is going to be a little dicey perhaps with a players on the field, eagles fans never miss an opportunity , always ready to bring a game even when, well, even when weather isn't extl