buddies. he said it's not like we were playing golf together because i don't think he wants that on his personal record. he had to be a bit surprised. two weeks ago it sounded like they were buddy. we got rid of harry reid. schumer coming in. i like him. until schumer crossed him. as soon as he did, he became a birthday clown. >> that does it for this hour. i'm steve kornacki. starting right now mtp daily special guest bernie sanders, now. it's thursday, the senate begins the search for answers over russian hacking. tonight, showdown, the u.s. intelligence community fights back against donald trump over russia. >> i think there is a difference between skepticism and disparagement. >> we'll talk to a republican senator who questioned those intelligence chiefs today. tom cotton of arkansas.

plus feeling the bern. again. does bernie sanders have the answer for demrats in the fight against president-elect trump? >> mr. trump right now has got to do one of two things. >> i sit down with bernie sanders coming up. this is "mtp daily," and it starts right now. good evening. i am chuck todd in washington, feeling a tad bit better. senator bernie sanders, who has become the spiritual leader of sorts of the progressive opposition to trump will join me later in the program to discuss the democratic party's counter-attack against trump's attempts to repeal obamacare and we'll dive into tough questions about the future of the democratic party in the age of trump. we begin tonight with an unprecedented rift involving president-elect trump, the u.s. intelligence community he is about to command, and the republican congress over a matter of national security.

today the full extent of those divisions were exposed, right on national television. the top u.s. intelligence chiefs from the state department, our top spy agency and the nsa all testified on capitol hill defending themselves against president-elect trump's charges that they are wrong about russia's interference in our election. republicans on the hill increasingly divided calling russia's actions anywhere from an act of war to a public service. today, just one day before he briefs trump personally on this issue, the director of national intelligence, james clapper, made it clear he is more certain than ever about who is responsible for the hacks and why they did it. clapper specifically referenced october's intelligence assessment that said this. the russian government directed the hacks and they were explicitly intended to interfere with the u.s. election process. here is more from clapper.

>> we stand actually more resolutely on the strength of that statement that we made on the 7th of october. >> clapper also went a step further saying russia's interference in our election involved more than just hacking. >> this was a multi-facetted campaign, so the hacking was only one part o it. and it also entailed classical propaganda, dysfunction, fake news. >> he also fired back at accusations that the intel community was politicalsizing its work saying, quote, i am apolitical. and when democratic senator claire mccaskill asked him about trump's, quote, trashing of the intelligence community which vice president-elect pence down played as healthy american skepticism, here is what clapper said. >> there is an important

distinction here between healthy skepticism, which policymakers, to include policy-maker number one should always have for intelligence, but i think there is a difference between skepticism and disparagement. >> and, with an assist from the committee's chairman, john mccain, clapper also took an apparent swipe at trump for citing wikileaks founder julian assange who has also rejected u.s. intelligence on russian hacking. >> director, how would you describe mr. assange? >> i don't think those of us in the intelligence community have a whole lot of respect for him. >> all of this comes as clapper along with other top intelligence officials meet with trump tomorrow in a highly publicized but supposedly secret briefing to lay out the intelligence committee's full report on russia's interference with our election. i am joined by senator tom cotton of arkansas. part of the armed services

committee and also a member of the senate's select committee on intelligen he is as well briefed as anybody on this issue. senator cotton, welcome back to washington. happy new year. great beard! >> thank you, chuck. happy new year to all of your viewers. i decided to grow a beard in honor of tony cornheiser. i'm going to make it orange and maybe he'll have me on the radio show. >> there you go. starting with this. seems to be a bit of a gulf inside the republican party. john mccain referring to what russia did as an act of war. donald trump says nobody knows. what do you say? >> well, i believe the october 7th intelligence assessment that russian intelligence services or their affiliates were behind the hacking of the dnc and john podesta's e-mail. we still need to wait for the report that will be released imminently to see about what they have to say about the motive for those decisions. i would also say this is just one small example of the pattern

of aggression that russia was committed against united states in our interests for many years, going back at least 15 years since vladimir putin took office. and what we need to do is to focus on drawing new boundaries on russia, not just about this small instance of russian aggression in u.s. interests, but so many others. running spy rings. beating our diplomats. giving weapons to people who can shoot aircraft out of sky. this is one part of a long pattern of russian aggression. >> everything you ticked down there, are you concerned that president-elect trump would basically be dismissive of what you just said? >> i am not concerned about it. i hope that he appreciates the nd o aggression that russia has undertaken especially in the last eight years. i will make a point to you and your viewers that i met at the armed services committee today. donald trump campaigned on increasing our defense budget,

on accelerating our nuclear modernization. expanding ballistic missile defense against adversarial nations and accelerating oil and gas production, which is harmful to russia's petro economy. all of these things fundamentally change the strategic calculation for russia as against the united states, so it's not clear to me why someone would think that donald trump would be the favorite candidate of russia. hillary clinton was opposed to all those things. i will be looking forward to seeing the declassified version of the report that comes out in the next few days. also, on the intelligence committee going forward with our very careful review of this entire matter. >> should motivation matter here? in some ways i feel like -- should that -- i think perhaps this is the problem, that even the president-elect gets caught up in this idea of, oh, it's an attempt to delegitimize the election. if russia was involved, that shouldn't matter, what should matter is what are we going to do about it, correct? >> chuck, the -- so you got the motives of vladimir putin and

his intelligence services. those are always hard to know. as i asked director clapper today and he confirmed, trying to learn the motives and intentions and plans of fortune leaders is hard to ask of our intelligence officials. people using the phrase hacked the election and hacked electoral process. that's creating the confusion amongst some that somehow vladimir putin and russian intelligence services if affected vote totals. there is no evidence of that. the facts at hand are that russian intelligence services hacked into the dnc and john podesta's e-mail. whatever the motive. they should pay a price for it. i think the price should be stiffer than what president obama imposed last week. that's a policy i have had four back four years in the congress of trying to draw a firmer line against russia's aggressions against the united states and its allies.

>> let me play an exchange your colleague lindsey graham had with clapper today. >> when it comes to interfering in our election, we better be ready to throw rocks. do you agree with that? >> that's a good metaphor. >> i think what obama did was throw a pebble. i am ready to throw a rock. is this going to stop until we make the cost higher? >> we have got to change the dynamic here because we are on the wrong end of the cost equation. >> yeah, you got that right. >> all right. what's the rock as far as you're concerned, senator cotton? >> lindsey may be willing to settle with rocks. i would move on to boulders, though. i have long advocated putting more pressure on russia. ukraine, syria, they may compartmentalize it. vladimir putin does not. because we face a cyberattack here doesn't mean we have to respond in kind. we may provide the defensive

weapons the ukrainian military has been asking for so forcefully for so long. we may crack down on the travel of russian spies here in the united ss who are not supposed to be leaving their embassy under existing rules but the obama administration has let them do so. there is a whole host of options we have for drawing a firmer line on russia. some are bilateral, but some are moving forward with donald trump's proposals, like building up our military, expanding missile defense or accelerating the export of oil and gas. >> to ukraine. you brought it up. what happens -- there has been some chatter that president-elect trump is perhaps willing to dial down the sanctions that were imposed to the illegal annexation of crimea. obviously europe has never been -- it's been hard to keep the european end of the sanctions in place. if there is any wavering by the

u.s. president, those things will fall apart. how concerned are you about that? >> well, i have been concerned about the sanctions that were imposed after the invasion of crimea for almost three years now because, as you say, the greatest source of wavers has been the urieuropean government and some recently have changed and expressed more skepticism. i think it's inadvisable to renew them, at least not getting substantial in return. i think it would be inadvisable. it's not the path i would take. >> one last question. are you comfortable with the idea of repealing obamacare before a replacement is ready to go? >> well, chuck, i think you have to distinguish, when you take about replacement, when it's enacted and when it takes effect. obamacare was enacted in march of 2010 but some of the measures

didn't take effect for another few years. we as republicans need to coalesce and impose solutions that obamacare made worse. that may not take effect until the open season of 2018 because you need to provide for an orderly transition. but i think it would not be the right path for us to repeal obamacare without laying out a path forward, even if the path say transitions gradually over the next year to two years. >> you are saying you are not comfortable voting on a repeal without something concrete in place that people can see. >> we need the solution in place moving forward. again, the solution may be implemented but i don't think we can repeal obamacare and say we'll get the answer two years from now. this is a complicated problem. health care is a complex issue. kicking the can down the road for a year or two years will not make it easier to solve. >> senator tom cotton, republican from arkansas, appreciate you coming on. nice talking about you.

>> thanks, chuck. let me bring in tonight's panel. nathan gonzalez, sara fagan, eugene robinson. welcome all. >> nathan, what did you make of today's hearing, and is it -- does it all sort of -- we all have to wait to see how donald trump digests it? >> it is a good example. democrats want to paint republicans with a broad brush that everybody agrees with donald trump. this is a good example that evernes not on the same page. where does it end up? it will depend on the reports that come out over the next few days. we have to remember coming out of the campaign that donald trump is being given more of the benefit of the doubt than what politicians or people viewed as government insiders. so when information comes out, even though it might seem logical, seem people will still side with donald trump because he is still perceived as this

outsider. >> good, tara. >> i think that's right. i think he gets more of a pass on misinformation or maybe strong statements, you know, to the contrary of what these republican senators who are farther to the right than president obama on what the reaction to russia issued be. >> right. they have been for years. basically everybody in the republican party. >> obama is the centrist. on one side you have senate republicans and on the other side you have trump. that's an odd place for the republican party to be. i agree with nathan. trump effectively uses the bully pulpit to say, this is media, this is about delegitimizing the election. some democrats have taken this too far. i don't think it's credible to say that hillary clinton lost because of this. >> it does seem as if it's a bit of a -- let me deny something that isn't being said that much or that people aren't saying that. >> more people are saying you didn't go to michigan.

>> the perception -- by voters. >> the right is fuming. trump is fueling it to create this perception. >> exactly. the perception is being made by trump. i don't hear people saying that, independent of what -- or despite what trump claims. i just don't hear that. i hear, yeah, donald trump won the election but the russians meddled in the election in a variety of ways. >> hmm? >> go ahead. >> no. i am not sure how this is playing out. >> the bigger problem for trump, i think, on this issue is not necessarily the back and forth on julian assange or this hacking issue. it's when you demoralize an agency which, they're claiming out of leaks that that's what's happening. i don't know if it's true or not. the intelligence community is saying they are demoralized over this. is attacking publicly the intelligence community and then, when we need to use the intelligence community because there is another issue in the world, we need to use it with a foreign leader, that to me is the challenge. it's one thing to get into the

politics of the democrats and republicans in the last election -- people are not going to remember that, likely, in a month or two. but six months down the road when you need your intelligence community and you can't use it. >> on that very point. president obama did an interview today with our affiliate in chicago. he was asked about this issue of president-elect trump not leaving the intel community. here is what he said. >> do you have full faith in the conclusions of the intelligence briefing that you got today? >> yes. my hope is that, when the president-elect receives hiswn briefings and is able to examine the intelligence, as his team is put together and they say how professional and effective these agencies are, that some of those current tensions will be reduced. >> i hear that from various republican senators. i have heard that from president obama. they're all expressing optimism

that, once he is in office, he'll -- his tune will change. >> well, look, one of the few things that donald trump has been absolutely consistent on is this softer view of russia. and i think that's really the big picture issue here, this sort of whiplash on russia policy. >> that's what tom cotton is bringing up. it's more than just this, it's ukraine. >> exactly. so the view of a u.s. government, for the last many years, has been that russia is a problematic actor on the international stage and, more than that, is violating international law by invading ukraine and annexing crimea, invading georgia, and destabilizing democracies. now we have a president-elect who says, um, gee, vladimir putin is really smart! we can have a new relationship with russia. we can cooperate with russia on all these various fronts. so where does that lead? >> i think, when -- when the crimea sanctions -- when that sort of comes up again, right,

when europe -- when it comes up later this year, that's going to be the next, i think, big moment in this issue for him, is it not? >> i keep coming back to that. the initial oval office meeting with president obama and donald trump when donald trump looked like the color had drained out of his face. obama had probably given him a taste of what was to come. is a 69-year-old man going to change the character of who he is? probably not. is he going to -- are things slightly going to change on january 20th and 21st because of new information -- but if you can't trust the people hired to do -- >> it's also the people hired to interpret the intelligence. some think mike flynn has an axe to grind because he didn't think he got the respect he deserved at dni. that true? >> you haveo have multiple voices coming in on these topics all the time. the thing about donald trump, though is he has historically

been somebody who has many people coming to him. >> on intel right now it feels like just one. >> he'll learn that as he gets there. to your earlier point. right now barack obama to some degree is the principal figure in government and in politics. that's about to change. that dynamic will change for donald trump and their addressing. >> i'll pause things thehere. thank you very much. coming up, later this week. senators mccain and graham together on "meet the press" this sunday. talking about russia. tomorrow senator amy klobuchar will join me. all three of the senators, by the way, travelled to eastern europe over the holiday break to look at what russia was doing there. still ahead tonight, we are talking to senator bernie sanders about the democrats' strategy to hold the line on obamacare and more. so keep it here. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose.

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polic . coming up, i'll talk to vermont senator bernie sanders, who has been extremely critical

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welcome back. the new year is just five days old and president-elect donald trump has used his twitter account to talk about three different car companies. in the cross-hairs today, toyota. trump tweeted toyota motor said will build a new plant in baja, mexico to build corolla cars for u.s. no way! build plant in u.s. or pay big border tax. toyota's new plant is actually not in baja, mexico. toyota stock was down today. trump had favorable things to say about ford earlier this week and harsh words for general motors. we'll see if your kia, nissan, bmw, watch out. we'll be right back. still ahead. what's next for democrats in the trump era.

here is susan li. dow sinking 42 points. s&p slipping one and nasdaq is today's winner climbing ten to a new record. employers added 153,000 jobs in the month of december according to payroll processer adp. that was below the 170,000 the economists were expecting. jobless claims 235,000, fewer than the 260,000 expected. both reports precede the government's closely-watched labor report due on friday morning. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. but then i realized there was. so, i finally broke the silence with my doctor about what i was experiencing. he said humira is for people like me who have tried other medications but still experience the symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease. in clinical studies, the majority of patients on humira saw significant symptom relief.

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s . welcome back to "mtp daily." joining me now, the independent senator from vermont and former democratic presidential candidate, senator bernie sanders. happy new year. welcome back, senator. >> thank you very much. >> starting with what's happening with health care. one of your colleagues, senator tom cotton, was on the show earlier. he put out a warning that was similar to what john kasich said earlier today. seemed to be, before repeal, that there has to be a plan -- some plan in place or at least a plan that is digestible for the public before repealing. that there seems to be a growing movement among some republicans that say, you can't just repeal before you have your replacement. do you see that as progress? >> i do. i mean, i think it is basically

insane to come up with a plan that throws 20 million americans off of health insurance, moves towards the privatization of medicare, raises prescription drug costs for seniors and does away with patient protection acts like preexisting conditions that are enormously important without any alternative. a rational approach would be to see how we can work together to improve the affordable care act, not junk it with no alternative in place. >> what is the plan of the democrats to deal with this? obviously republicans have control of the senate and there will be a republican in the white house. they've made this promise that they're going to scrap some form of obamacare, in some form, whatever they're going to do here. for six years when republicans talked about repeal democrats said, come up with a plan and then we'll talk. do you think that you and other democrats need to come up with an alternative fix to counter whatever the republicans are going to do here, or do you just

say -- step back and say, you're on your own? >> chuck, the united states of america is the only industrialized country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a right. we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs because of the greed of the pharmaceutical industry. everybody recognizes that the affordable care act is far from perfect. what a rational approach is, you sit people down together and you say, what are the problems? let's go forward and rectify it. make sure all the people have health care as a right, that we don't pay the highest prices in the world. go forward together. senator cotton is right. you can't simply throw something out without any alternative at all in place. >> i understand that. but do you believe the democratic party should come up with an alternative or work with the republicans on an

alternative? >> chuck, they are the ones who are repealing the existing legislation. their job is to come up with an alternative and our job is to work with them to make sure that it is a good alternative. and by the way, when you talk about a real alternative, you cannot include in that giving tens and tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the wealthiest 1%. >> this wk i have seen more democrats defend obamacare in ways that i did not see in the last three years politically. does that -- do you think if democrats in general had been more supportive of this and campaigned for it as hard as president obama did throughout the past three or four years that the law would be more popular with the public today? >> you know, despite all of the attacks on the affordable care act, and a lot of these attacks are just not honest attacks. every time that the cost of health care goes up, it is not necessarily the fault of the

affordable care act. despite all of that, the plan remains reasonably popular. i think about 50% of the american people still support it. >> it's about a one to one. >> that's with all of these attacks. some of them dishonest attacks. our job right now is to do what every other major country on earth does. number one, should we guarantee health care to all people as a right? i believe so. should we continue to be paying such high prices compared to the rest of the world? no, we should not. now, i think we have to have the guts to take on the private insurance companies and the drug companies who are ripping us off every single day. i think there are some republicans who may understand that. >> you know, it's interesting. when you went on the floor earlier this week, you brought out a trump tweet where he talked about not wanting to touch medicare and social security. are you -- do you believe him? are you skeptical? it sounded in your speech that you're both -- you want to believe him but you're skeptical. >> right.

here is the story. i think that one of the reasons that mr. trump won the election is he appealed to a lot of working-class people, a lot of elderly people. he said, listen, i am not paul ryan. i am not one of your run of the mill republicans. i am different. i am donald trump. i am not going to cut social security, medicare and i am not going to cut medicaid. one of two things was true. either he was basically lying and telling people something he kn would get him votes. or he was sincere. if he was sincere, now is the time for him to tell his republican colleagues, hey, stop the effort to cut medicare and medicaid and social security. i will veto any legislation that comes to my desk which has those cuts. i hope he has the integrity to do that. >> what do you make of his shaming of some companies on jobs the way he does on twitter? he has done it twice this week.

toyota today. general motors earlier this week. what do you make of all that? >> i don't use the word "shaming." i think, as president or president-elect, he has the right -- and i have done this for years -- to say that large corporations, many of whom have benefited from their being in the united states of america, you know what, we are tired of your throwing out american workers out on the street. we're tired of you moving to china and mexico and hiring people for a fraction of the wages you are paying the united states. i think -- i applaud the president-elect for trying to keep jobs in the united states, and i have voted against every one of these disastrous trade policies and i'll do my best to see the corporations reinvest in america, not in mexico or china. >> you think it's a good thing that he has got some correspondent boards a little nervous every morning to see who he is going to tweet against today? >> this is what i think, chuck.

you can't have policy by tweet, company by company. we need new trade policies that says to correspondent america, sorry, start investing in this country, not just low-wage countries around the world. you need a policy. you can't do it tweet by tweet. i hope mr. trump is prepared to work with some of us to develop fair trade policies. >> tell us what you want to see on january 15th, the day of resistance. explain that. >> i think it is important that the democratic party begins to get itself outside of capitol hill and gets back into the communities and the street corners of america. and i think it is terribly important that we begin to work with communities all over this country, working people, the unions, senior citizen groups, physicians groups, and make it clear that the american people will not accept horrific cuts to medicare, to medicaid, will not

allow seniors to pay more for prescription drugs. the goal on january 15th is in many communities around this country to bring people together, to say to the republican leadership, hey, we're going to fight you, you're not going to simply throw millions of people out of their health care insurance. >> i was intrigued when you referred to democrats and fellow democrats. any change of heart on you personally registering as a democrat? >> in vermont you cannot register as anything. you take a ballot on a primary day. i have always taken the democratic ballot. i am right now -- i won this seat as an independent and i will continue to stay on as an independent. >> if you run again, you would run as an independent, not as a democrat? >> we'll cross that bridge when it comes. >> oh. that's not a -- what part of that has not been decided? whether to run again. >> it's not really one of the most important issues facing the american people. right now we're trying to make sure that the american people continue to have the health insurance that they need.

>> to the dnc race. another new candidate. the mayor of south bend, indiana. you have endorsed keith ellison, a member of congress. tom pérez, the outgoing labor secretary, has throwing his hat in the ring. did you endorse too early? what do you think of the other two candidates? >> i don't know the mayor of south bend. i know tom pérez. he is a very decent guy. but what you need right now is a total transformation of the democratic party. i am trying to do that as part of the democratic leadership, and i know that's what keith ellison believes. look, we have lost the white house. we have lost the senate. we lost the house, two-thirds of governor's chairs are controlled by republicans. the status quo is not working. we have to open the doors of the democratic party to working people, to young people. we have got to get our financial resources from ordinary people, not just the wealthy and

powerful. keith ellison is the candidate of real change in the democratic party, and i strongly support him. >> are you concerned at all about some of the criticism he has received from adl and some jewish members of the party? >> absolutely not, no. >> concerned about his previous stance on israel? >> what i am concerned about is the kind of negativity that is being thrown at keith, unfair and unjust negativity. you know what, you can be critical of mr. netanyahu and not be an anti-semite. people who try to conflate those are doing something i think is unacceptable. >> do you imagine working with a president trump on anything outside of infrastructure? >> i think there are issues. i just mentioned one issue. trump campaigned very hard, very importan part of his campaign was the understanding that millions of people in this country have lost decent paying jobs because of disastrous trade agreements. we need new trade policies.

we need to tell correspondepora america. invest in the united states. i would be delighted to work with mr. trump on policies that create good policies in this country. you raised infrastructure. huge issue. our infrastructure is collapsing. we can create millions of jobs rebuilding our roads and water systems. if trump comes up with an idea which does not include massive levels of privatization and huge tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, we can work with him on that as well. >> senator bernie sanders, i'll leave it there. always interesting, sir, to hear from you. appreciate it and appreciate your time. >> thank you very much. >> you got it. coming up, we'll bring back the round-table. you want to stick around to find out how donald trump quietly made history today. keep it here. but there will still be pain. it comes when your insurance company says they'll only pay three-quarters of what it takes to replace it. what are you supposed to do? drive three-quarters of a car? now if you had liberty mutual new car replacement™, you'd get your whole car back.

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welcome back. john kerry gave his last press briefing as secretary of state today. highlighted accomplishments of the state department. but every department, including state, should think about how

the voters in 2016 publicly expressed their disappointment in government. and when nbc's andrea mitchell asked about trump's criticism of the intel community, secretary kerry stood behind the work of u.s. intelligence officers. >> they do not draw political conclusions. i don't think the president or this building could do the quality of job that we do without the input of the intelligence community. not all of which we accept every day on face value, believe me. so the combined expertise of all of that community, probed and reprobed and reprobed, probed, has come to a common assessment that the government of russia engaged in a concerted effort to influence and interfere with the integrity of our electoral process. >> kerry adds that the intel community not infallible but that they deserve respect in the way leaders question their conclusions. coming up, what's old is new

again. why i am obsessed with a revival of an old rule in congress that is nearly 150 years old. at godaddy, our goal is to make you look awesome online. let's chat in football terms. this is the goal post. the end zone. the goal of every team. we know you have goals. like getting exposure for your idea or business. with godaddy website builder, you can easily create an awesome mobile-friendly, get you more exposure website. we call that...a website builder touchdown. get your free trial of website builder now.

welcome back. tonight i am obsessed with something you just may have missed this week. something one democrat has called the armageddon rule. while republicans were busy trying to defang the office of congressional ethics, something

they backed away from the next day. they reinstated an old rule called the holman rule. this rule dates back to 1876. that's right. 1876. during the administration of ulis ez s. grant. allows lawmakers to cut the salary of any federal worker to $1. even some republicans are queasy. but kevin mccarthy, house majority leader, says it helps to hold federal agencies accountable. will it? you could have, say, a president, let's call him donald trump, who wants to make a point about cutting federal spending. maybe the president, this one that we're calling donald trump, could, if he chose, make a high-profile announcement that he got congress to vote to cut the pay of a handful of federal workers to $1, to send the message he's serious about cutting the deficit even if it doesn't do anything to cut the deficit. meanwhile, a bunch of people

would be out of a job. a full house and senate still have to pass this, but it's another example of how we're in a brand new era or a very old one. we'll be right back. but every one of those businesses will need legal help as they age and grow. whether it be with customer contracts, agreements to lease a space or protecting your work. legalzoom's network of attorneys can help you, every step of the way. so you can focus on what you do and we'll handle the legal stuff that comes up along the way. legalzoom. legal help is here.

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unforgettable, wherever you go the scents you can't forget... from herbal essences, blooming now! panel is back. sara fagen. and eugene robinson. sara, you heard tom cotton say can't repeal unless there is something concrete there. he said it can phase in, but you have to know what the plan is going to look like before you repeal. john kasich essentially saying the same thing. not with what mitch mcconnell seemed to say. where is this headed? >> the smart politics on this would be to have a plan in place. >> duh! i know. but? >> but people who elected donald trump are clamoring for this to be repealed. it's a big part of the reason in mid-terms that republicans also did well. there was so doubt, bernie sanders is right.

there is a large chunk of the country that supports this, but a large chunk of the country think it's disastrous policy and hurt a lot of people's pocketbooks the way it has been implemented. repealing and doing a good plan down the road we should assume that's politician as well. >> i think it's risky. >> two years ago he was going to be get repeal. they have to do something. the question is what. you have ran paul and group of republicans saying repeal and replace but not at the expense of the budget and increasing the deficit. because there's a all party doesn't mean there's a clear way for it. >> the ideas cannot necessarily be reconciled.

how would it replace it it. if you're going to replace it and you're not going to kick millions of people off of their insurance, you have to spend money. if you're not going to have an individual mandate which you can't because that's unpopular part of obamacare then you have to spend a bunch of money to do anything. i'm not convinced that the republican caucus in the house or the senate can agree to do that now or a year from now or three years from now. i'm not convinced. >> here is the -- mitch mcconnell is a good chess player. what you say is right. there's not a one pager on how to replace this. but republicans who have been elected have a credibility problem if they don't repeal this, or do it soon. >> if they do it in a rush or

sloppily, that's a problem. >> so you time to put something in place then you get into the politics of kicking it down the road long-term. >> i smell dock fish. >> repeal and extend for another two years. >> exactly. >> we want something on the president's desk, mid-february. one of the mistakes president obama made in 2009, handing it off to congress and letting them play with it for a year and and a half and it hung out to dry. >> there would have been more democrats supporting obamacare this week than the entire four years. it's a joke. the implementation was a -- >> repeal it in past principles

about how to fix it take the time to do it right, which was not done the first go around which is why we're in the mess we're in today. >> so the other way to deal with it is for president trump to write it to say we're going to do it this way. that's what president obama didn't do. you have t let congress work it. this is what congress worked out. so the other way is this way it's going to be. >> he has to sell it on the campaign trail to avoid midterm collapse for the republican party. >> the things that's intriging to me, but once the republicans have a plan then he seemed to open the door for, okay if you listen to my ideas, i'll work

with you. will mcconnell and that crowd work with him on it? >> it depends on where the debate is what people are proposing. if democrats are playing long ball this is going to be issue in the midterm. they can't be for obamacare which is -- assuming it's been repealed, that it failed. >> under the clinton campaign, opposing the president or obstructing the president where is that line, i think this aca is a good example of that. >> sanders rhetoric seems to lien for we have to work with him while we can. schumer's has, no. you would expect the other way around. >> i don't get trump attacking

him today on twitter calling him a clown. that's not a way to get bipartisan support. >> i don't get it either. you have to figure out a balance end. the press doesn't take all of these tweets seriously. when your on the other end that's personal. >> thank you, very much. we have more coming up something donald trump has been keeping quiet about. stay with us.

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in case you missed it dond trump made history today becoming first president-elect to be depossessed. stemming from a lawsuit trump filed after the chef back out of a plan open restaurant. the first president to be depossessed was president grant. a hundred years later president ford gave a video deposition in the trial of froem trying to assassinate ford. including over his family's peanut warehouse. another clinton when he denied

having sexual relationship with monica lewinsky. once he in the white house as well he would join that exclusive club but now the first president-elect to be depossessed. we'll be back tomorrow. awry picks things up now. good evening. brand-new comments on president obama to save obamacare and message to donald trump. brand-new tonight fbi director speaking out about clinton e-mail letters before the election. meeting on capitol hill and intel about russian election hacking.