lions of americans. as one of those workers, i'm proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. gillette - the best a man can get. hello, everybody. i'm david gura at msnbc headquarters. kasie hunt is off tonight. some major developments on three different fronts of the misconduct scandals that have rocked congress. breaking his silence. senator al franken gives his first interviews about the number of women who have come forward alleging groping or other actions on his behalf. >> i am someone who, you know, hugs people. and i've learned from these stories that some of -- in some of these encounters, i've crossed the line. >> john conyers giving up his spot as the ranking member of

the house judiciary committee. but he is staying put in congress, at least for now as a powerful ally comes to his defense. and tripling down. president trump continues to weigh in on the alabama senate race without mentioning republican candidate roy moore's name. new tweets that take aim once again at the democrat in the race. we begin with democratic senator al franken breaking his silence after mounting allegations of sexual misconduct. he spoke to cbs affiliate today. >> hasn't your credibility been undermined? >> i -- i would say, yes. and i have a long way back. i have a long way back to win back the trust of the people of minnesota. i have let the people down. i've let the people of minnesota down. i've let my friends and staff and supporters down. my family down. i have especially let down the people who have seen me as a champion for women.

>> and the senator continued his apology tour with an appearance on minnesota public radio. >> and i'm taking responsibility. i apologize to the women who have felt disrespected, and to everyone i've let down. that's a lot of people. >> did you put your hand on someone's rear end during a photo shoot? >> i do not know -- i do not remember these -- again, i take pictures with thousands of people. i would never intentionally do that. my intention isn't what is important. what is important is we have to listen to women and respect what they say. >> senator franen says he will be returning to work in washington tomorrow. this as another democrat, john conyers of michigan, has announced he's stepping down as ranking member of the house judiciary committee following allegations of sexual harassment against him. the 27-term congressman

continues to deny those allegations. house minority leader nancy pelosi issued a statement that read in part, we are at a watershed moment on this issue no matter how great an individual's legacy, it is not a license for harassment. i commend the brave women coming forward. that statement comes after she says this on nbc's "meet the press." >> we are strengthened by due process. just because someone is accused, and was it one accusation? is it two? john conyers is an icon in our country. >> do you believe john conyers' accusers? >> do you? they have not really come forward. >> roy moore faces sexual misconduct charges himself and president trump is tweeting his disapproval of moore's challenger, democrat doug jones. trump wrote the last thing we need in alabama and the u.s. senate is a schumer/pelosi pup whoet is weak on crime, weak on the border, bad for our military

and wants to raise taxes to the sky. jones would be a disaster. we get to all of this with leann caldwell and ann gerren, james pindel, chris and michael ste e steele. let me start with you here. we're learning about senator franken's strategy in light of what happened today. there's the apology followed by introspection and more apologies after a period of eight days of silence. what is his plan going forward here? he mentions he's going to be back in washington tomorrow. >> that's right. today he spoke just with local press. he hasn't done any national press interviews. tomorrow will be the first time we'll see him on capitol hill since these allegations were made more than a week ago. he has called for a senate ethics investigation to be opened into the situation concerning himself. we haven't gotten confirmation yet that ethics investigation will move forward. but if al franken is serious

about -- about these allegations and any sort of potential repercussions to come from them, then perhaps it will push for that ethics investigation to open. >> james, what does this week look like? it's a busy week in light of all the policy issues the congress faces here. leigh anne mentioning thing ethics investigation on the senate side. one on the house side as well. how likely there will be some normalcy when he gets back from minneapolis-st. paul into washington, d.c.? >> he's going to have a circus surrounding him. he'll have to answer more questions about it. but congress has a huge schedule on its plate and the senate alone will be taking up tax reform and trying to keep the government open, figure out the daca situation, figure out an nsa situation. they have a lot on their plate. al franken will be the one in the hot seat for much of this week. >> let me ask you about the efficacy of what he's done, about the apologies he made in

the star tribune on the affiliate on minnesota public radio. here's what he had to say about the initial case, his interaction with a radio host from california. let's take a listen. >> i can tell you that in the case of leeann, in terms of the kiss that we rehearsed in rehearsal, i have a different recollection of that than she does. i, you know, and again, i apologized to her, and she graciously accepted my apology. >> and "the washington post," i wonder if you can contrast what we're hearing from others who have been accused of similar misdeeds on capitol hill. how is he approaching this versus them? >> in the case of leeann tweeden, he had not only her allegations of the forceable kiss, but that photograph which he has said he's terribly embarrassed by and that he wasn't -- he said i don't know

what i was thinking when i took that photograph, and i apologize. and in the other cases what we heard today was slightly different than what we heard last week. but it is still more or less in the vain of, i didn't intend to make anyone feel bad, and i'm sorry if i made anyone feel bad. that is an apology, but it is also him saying he is not a groper and he never intention intentionally did anything to disrespect women. i think what will really be the test for him is whether there are further allegations and anything that is more specific and if any of the women involved say, forget it. i don't accept that apology and i think at that point he'll be in a tougher position than he is now. >> something to draw again from that interview on public radio. leaving the senate to give the governor of the state of minnesota the opportunity to appoint somebody in his place.

let's listen to what he had to say. >> but isn't resigning and allowing governor dayton who to appoint a woman to fill your seat a more powerful jesture? i mean, the woman the governor would appoint would vote as you would? and you could continue to work on behalf of women outside of congress? >> i'm committed to working as hard as i can here in the senate for the people of minnesota. >> chris, i want to get your reaction to the senator's response there. a brief one without much detail. what did you make of the case he was making there to that radio host to stay in the u.s. senate? >> he's clearly not going to resign. the question i think it's becoming to anne's point what happens next. there's a political part to this as well, unfortunately, which is, how do his colleagues on both sides of the aisle react to him coming back. he's going to be in a challenging spot. there's no question about that. i just think the question ends up becoming, what happens over the next couple of weeks, and if

anything else comes out. but the pressure on him, politically and otherwise, are going to be pretty intense. >> michael steel. nancy pelosi saying this was a watershed moment. did you see it building up to a dam when you were working on capitol hill? >> it's a huge issue and we're seeing the tip of the iceberg. the former speaker's comments were a reminder she's a quintessential creature of the swamp. she does it only when her back is against the wall. as you saw today on live national television, she was supportive of john conyers and walked that back in a statement later in the afternoon. >> let me ask you about what led to congressman conyers stepping aside from the house judiciary leadership role. what into them making that decision? >> as michael talked about, that was a really tough interview for nancy pelosi where she defended john conyers and also grew

extremely frustraited when chuc todd didn't get to any questions about the republican tax reform bill and she says there's more to talk about than john conyers. and not long after, the statement came out from john conyers saying he'd step aside from this powerful position at the top of the judiciary committee or top democrat on that committee, and i'm told from a senior democratic aid who is familiar with conversations that have been taking place that this was not a direct result of the interview pelosi had earlier on "meet the press," but pelosi working with the congressional black congress trying to determine the appropriate time for conyers to step aside from that committee position gracefully. so that -- those are -- that's what we're told happened over the past few days, but then we values to compare that with pelosi's very difficult interview today on "meet the press." >> let me ask about the process going forward. we talked about the ethics investigation.

some members of congress critical of letting that process play out within the confines of the congress. most notably kathleen rice of new york saying she doesn't think it should play out in this way. is that likely to spread? you think other lawmakers feel this should go outside the bounds of congress? >> what we're really talking about here is the fight in the public court of public opinion. these ethics -- these ethics investigations, particularly inside of the capitol hill last for years and some cases it's going to be full of he said/she said and we'll not get much determination on where we'll go from here. it's really about at this moimt can these particular politicians ride out the storm? can they react in a way that's conciliatory and implies they get it, that their colleagues will have their back or not? as i think you saw a lot from al franken today. he feels he can ride this storm for a little while, while obviously asking for a full ethics investigation knowing it's not going to be completed any time soon.

>> anne gearan, help us understand how the special election in alabama -- there were some tweets from the president. she mentioned the republican candidate and threw his support behind him. not directly. not naming him in those tweets. has the level of engagement changed? >> certainly the president is engaging via twitter several times over the last week in sort of in indirect support of roy moore. that's taking the form of criticizing moore's democratic challenger as liberal, soft on crime, as a variety of other soft on immigration, on border and at the same time, the president's aides are really on a defensive talking about how the democrat here would really help the other side in a couple of big upcoming fights. the tax cut issue probably not

affected but basically the entire legislative agenda they're looking to start in january could be affected if there's an additional democratic vote. so it's less about the merits of roy moore. they're trying to talk about those merits or lack thereof as little as possible. and more about what the balance of power means going forward for the white house. >> michael steel, let me ask you about the way the white house is doing that, the way the sprt doing that before he left for his thanksgiving holiday. approaching the helicophelicopt talked about the allegations made many decades against him. and i recall the allegations made against him in 2016. let's look at what he had to say back in october of last year. >> i have said and done things i regret, and the words released on this more than a decade old video is one of them. anyone who knows me knows these words don't reflect who i am. i said it. i was wrong, and i apologize.

>> he walked back some of that in conversations he's had with senators as reported by "the new york times." what do you make of his attack and the veracity of these claims? >> it's a terrible idea. i'm a conservative republican. i don't want a democrat to be a senator from alabama. that's a waste of a seat. at the same time, roy moore is not an acceptable alternative to be a united states senator. the other options that were available, supporting a write-in candidate, calling on moore to step down as the nominee, asking the governor to call a new special election, all of those were better options than continuing to back roy moore. and i do think the president's belief that he got a raw deal in 2016 is a big part of his motivation here. >> thanks to leigh anne caldwell and to the rest of you who are going to stay here. doug jones scheduled to speak at an event near tuscaloosa very soon. we're monitoring that to see what he has to say about roy moore. next, a report on hacking attempts by russia and how the

fbi allegedly failed to notify top government officials who were notified. we'll break down the report and what it means for the russia investigation. we'll be right back after this. liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. yeah, my dad says our insurance doesn't have that. what?! you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ but it might be hard to handle ♪ ♪ like the flame that burns the candle ♪ ♪ the candle feeds the flame ♪

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new details surfacing into russian hacking attempts made on u.s. officials that date back to 2015. according to an associated press report out today, the fbi failed to notify scores of top government personnel targeted by a kremlin linked cyberespionage campaign known as fancy bear. the operation attempted to break into personal gmail accounts of current and former government officials. included were in cybersecurity head of the air force and exdroerkt at the national security council and former head of the defense intelligence agency. the bureau only provided a heads-up in a couple of instances. some senior policymakers only found out after they were informed by the associated press. a senior fbi official indicated the bureau was simply overwhelmed by the number of

attempted hacks. joining us are former federal prosecutor john loroe, malcolm nantz and anne gearan is still with us. let me start with you, john, and get your reaction to this. a lot of people will be astounded to learn of this. what do you make of it? >> i'm shocked by it. i've been a federal prosecutor and defense lawyer. whenever somebody is under attack, the fbi goes to them and says, listen, you're in jeopardy. even if you are the target of an investigation. >> let me bring in a comment from that report. michael mcfall was asked to respond to the fact he was one of the targets of all this. he said our government needs to be taking greater responsibility to defend its citizens in the physical and cyberworlds. now before a cyberattack produces an even more catastrophic outcome than we've already experienced. malcolm nantz, let me ask you about that, the degree to which the government is taking this seriously. is this an issue of not taking it seriously or an issue of resources?

how do you see this? >> i think certainly prior to last year it was an issue of resources. it was also a failure of imagination on the part of the fbi. a lot of people are confused because they think that some of these cyberdefense issues are the spectrum of the department of defense. and they are. for the department of defense. each one of these agencies had their own area of responsibility and nsa and cybercommand were doing intelligence collection and offensive operations. but that doesn't impact individuals like mike mcfaul. the fbi who had responsibility in this instance in the physical united states should have notified these people, but they just didn't have the people in place to do that. so now we come to, after the post 2016 election it was very clear the united states mind-set was hacked by russia in a wide-ranging operation. we have a president who just doesn't believe any of this happened at all. therefore, nothing is going to get done unless it's mandated by congress itself and that the government starts a public/private partnership to

start warning of these things. >> malcolm, the president certainly invoked that on twitter, as well, referring to the phony russia investigation. let me just ask you -- since the first day i took office, all you hear is the phony democrat excuse for losing the election. russia, russia, russia. despite this, i have the economy booming and have possibly done more than any ten-month president. what can we extrapolate from the report from the ap about the government's capability to deal with attacks like these? >> as malcolm alluded to, there is sort of a larger question here, which is the failure of imagination. and it is really only now coming clear, and we may not yet know the full scope of it, how far the russians went to try to disrupt the 2016 election. what the ultimate goal was there. and essentially, how -- what

they were able to learn in the process of that that may still be of use to them. the fbi certainly is one of the many u.s. agencies charged with trying to get their hands around the scope of that problem. but they're not the only one. and i think their main defense in the case of this pretty amazing ap story is, look, we just had too many -- we had too much on our plate. too many people, the number of targets was too big. we had to triage in the words of one fbi official. and i think that kind of explanation simply isn't going to be good enough. certainly not good enough for congress. not good enough for democrats in congress. and president trump's kind of zero-sum game approach to this that any discussion of russian influence in the election somehow in his mind diminishes the fact that he won is really going to be on, you know, on

trial going forward. certainly from within congress there will be -- there are already five investigations. there may be more. >> john, let me have you react to something we learned over the thanksgiving dinner into friday morning. michael flynn is reported to move away from cooperating with president trump's attorneys on matters related to the russia investigation. plenty of caution laced in those reports as to what this could mean or not mean. what are we learning about the connection between the president's counsel and michael flynn's? >> you have a high-ranking official who has problems unrelated to the campaign who is in serious legal jeopardy, and it appears now what he wants to do is cooperate to lessen his criminal exposure. what he's done through counsel is told the president's counsel, i can't talk to you anymore. i'm cooperating or i'm attempting to cooperate with the special counsel. so it's a very significant development. we don't know where along in the process he is. has he proffered, gone in,

signed a deal? we just don't know yet. >> thank you very much for joining me here in new york. you are looking here at some live pictures of greensboro, alabama, near tuscaloosa in central, alabama, where we're awaiting remarks from doug jones. those come after president trump once again went after jones on twitter. we're going to take you there once those remarks begin, once he takes the posium. we'll be right back after this. but having his parents over was enlightening. ♪ you don't like my lasagna? no, it's good. -hmm. -oh. huh. [ both laugh ] here, blow. blow on it. you see it, right? is there a draft in here? i'm telling you, it's so easy to get home insurance on progressive.com. progressive can't save you from becoming your parents. but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto. progressive can't save you from becoming your parents. ♪ is this for me? [alarm beeps]

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right now you're looking at the scene in greensboro, alabama. democratic candidate doug jones is set to appear there any minute. the race between doug jones and roy moore has been tight but in a poll released just this past week, moore leads jones by approximately seven points despite multiple allegations of sexual assault that have plagued moore and made jones a more important opponent. there are questions whether president trump will campaign for moore. the last thing we need in alabama and the u.s. senate is a

schumer/pelosi pup whoets is weak on crime, weak on the border, bad for our military and our great vets. the president also tweeted i endorsed luther strange in the alabama primary. she he shot way up in the polls but it wasn't enough. can't let schumer/pelosi win this. let's bring in vaughn hillyard, anne gearan, james pindell, chris cafenas and michael steel. vaughn, you're there in alabama waiting for these remarks from doug jones. we've heard a bit from him. he was at the big game yesterday in auburn. we haven't heard from his opponent. what are folks expecting to hear there tonight? >> there's been only one campaign to cover in this race. ten days since we've seen roy moore appear on the campaign trail. the campaign does say we expect

to see him tomorrow. doug jones is here in hale county that went for hillary clinton and doug jones is entering. can't him for long. you're on the campaign trail. where do you stand right now? >> we've got the wind at our back. i've thought that for a long time. things have been going our way. people are responding to issues. that's the key thing. theshs of health care and jobs, economy and education. those are the issues people care about. the rest is a lot of political noise. we feel this race is exactly where we want it to be. >> we're 15 days out. you are on the campaign trail, your opponent is not. >> he hasn't been talking about the issues since he first got into this race. he talked about issues that divide us, not the issues people care about. it's the same m.o. he's had the whole race. >> last thing for you. donald trump tweeted out, comments about your opponent, seemingly backing him up but also calling you out for being pro-abortion and anti-second amendment. >> i talk about issues, and i continue to talk about issues. i think my record speaks for

itself. that's why we're on a trajectory to win this race. that's all we're thinking about and all we're talking about. >> perfect, they're waiting for you in there. appreciate it. david, this is a candidate you saw we were with yesterday over in auburn at the iron bowl. he's a candidate that has a lot of odds stacked up against him. when you're talking to voters, these are democratic voters he's meeting with he. he's going to have to turn out young people and the black vote. he's also got to be concerned about where this republican vote is going at this point. and it's tough to tell. polling in this state is unreliable. over the last three weeks we've been here when talking to republicans, there's still a large number that aren't even sure whether they'll be able to vote in this race. they're not so sure about voting for roy moore but when it comes to voting for a democrat in doug jones, they're not confident at this point they'll be able to do that. whether doug jones will be able to make that pitch, we'll have to see and time will tell. >> what about that poll gap, that seven-point margin between these two candidates.

it's been a one-candidate race thus far. reason to speed up to the northeast corner of the state when we hear from roy moore tomorrow when he goes to a mill town to speak to his supporters. the polls seem to be working in his favor. >> exactly. he's been absent from this campaign. and essentially he's going up to what used to be the sock capital of the world which is ft. pain. a town of about 14,000. used to have sock factories. and most of those jobs have gone overseas, and he's going to be essentially trying to pivot his campaign and to make the pitch on jobs, which you just heard the democrat saying that thing they need to focus on jobs and health care. his opponent has stuck to social,s and called him out on his stance to abortion. here in alabama, there hasn't been a competative race in years and for doug jones if he can continue to stick to talking about these sorts of issues, his opponent is either not talking about any issues or is focusing

on the social issues as you heard donald trump in that tweet that i think you've put up there when he's talking about his stance on abortion and on the second amendment orepealing obamacare. that's what something that doug jones' campaign is trying to push back on. >> vaughn, thanks for the reporting. we'll be monitoring the speech as well. i want to go to chris, a democratic strategist and ask what doug jones needs to do here. a lot of reporting about his inability thus far to galvanize and rally african-american voters to become engaged with this election and go to the polls in two weeks' time. what more does he need to do? >> one he can control, one he can't. he needs to go out there and just focus on the issue. make it about jobs, the economy, make the stark contrast as to why people should vote for him. the part that he can't control is whether republicans turn out for moore. this is the reality of alabama. it's a conservative state. it would have been a solid victory before all this

explosive news about moore had come out. and so the question is, do republicans in alabama want someone like moore representing them in the united states senate? and that, to be honest, i'm not sure that doug jones can control. and that is why this is going to be a really unstable race over the next couple weeks. and very difficult to poll. and i think even in that poll you showed, if i'm not mistaken, there was a significant number of undecided. you'll see that all the way through. a lot of potential movement one way or another. >> michael steel, there's been reporting from mitch mcconnell to try to sway the president not to know his support behind roy moore in this race in alabama that reportedly failed. what does that say about that relationship now between the white house and republican leadership on capitol hill, the fact that the president could be -- couldn't be swayed by somebody who has the font of experience that mitch mcconnell has in republican party politics? >> look, mitch mcconnell and his team are the best in the business in terms of electing

republicans to the senate. they know what they're doing. they know how to win. they've learned over cycle after cycle that weak candidates lead to bad results. i wish the president had listened to that counsel. he made a mistake. he's clearly informed by his personal experience with allegations in 2016. he also probably feels burned by his decision to endorse luther strange leading up to his loss in the primary. >> james, want to return to the tweets from the president which he talked about nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. using proxies to talk about the specific race in alabama. what do you make of that, nationalizing it in that way? >> and not mentioning roy moore. obviously making it just about the opponent. you have a lot of republicans now sort of kind of happy with the fact that the conversation has shifted almost to talk about al franken n john conyers so much that both parties are to blame. they say if roy moore wins, it's proof that no one cares. that's not true. if roy moore wins, it's proof that alabama has 2 to 1 margins

on republicans to democrats, and it means the republicans, they vote for moore, are going to vote for him despite his past. they'll vote for him to support the president and that's what they think is important and obviously vote for him on the issue of abortion. if you listen to voters in alabama, that's what they're saying. but a lot of republican voters, just not sure what they're going to do in 15 days. it's important for roy moore to go back on the trail and talk about those things. >> what's the reception likely to be? john thune not thrilled about roy moore's continued candidacy. what is the future going to be for a roy moore if he were to win. >> the first question will be whether there's an attempt to expel him. certainly the white house is not signing -- siding with that right now, but mitch mcconnell has raised it publicly were roy moore to win. and secondly, i think the question will be, you know, to what -- how useful can roy moore

be and how quickly because that's the crux of the republican argument here is just sort of hold your nose and think of supreme court justices. >> thanks to my panel. coming up -- tax reform. a big week ahead for republicans as their tax plan heads for a vote in the u.s. senate. along with that come major concerns about the long-term effect the plan could have on the middle class. next i'll be joined by a republican congressman robert pittinger. we'll dive into that and a few other concerns to tar heel taxpayers.

i'm david gura. republicans are approaching a moment of riskoning as the u.s. senateries. to vote on the tax plan. senate republicans are in talks to make three significant changes to that plan. one, expand the pass-through deduction that allows small businesses to deduct state and

local taxes from their federal tax bills. another would limit the ability of corporations to deduct state and local deductions and a third would allow for property tax deductions. president trump will meet with the policy committee on tuesday for its weekly luncheon where he's likely to make his own push for tax reform. and while the promised gop reform would bring big, fat, beautiful tax reforms to americans, those living in some states would pay more. for example, north carolina would pay $669 million more in federal taxes by 2027 and it would also favor tax cuts for the wealthy and hikes for the bottom 60%. top 1% of households would see their share increase from 30% in year one to 43% by 2027. the average tax cut for that group more than $55,000. the average tax cut would fall from $770 to $660 and the poorest 20% would see theirs cut

in half. my next guest represents a district that includes charlotte. that's robert pittinger. the analysis, this is going to cost north carolinians in excess of half a billion dollars more over the course of a decade. >> that's from stats that don't understand growth. growth will build this economy. frankly, the rest of the world is looking at what america is doing, and if we pass these tax cuts, and we will, they're going to go reduce their corporate taxes as well. ireland now set to reduce down to 8% because they understand competitive markets. north carolina, we reduce our corporate, our individual rates four years ago. it's had a dramatic effect. companies are coming back to north carolina. we were the highest taxed state in the southeast. now we're the lowest. and our growth has grown exponentially because we've become competitive. and that's what's so important

for this country and important for north carolina. frankly, the average north carolinian will have a $2100 rebate back because of these tax cuts. >> what do you -- is that by 2027, that stat you just said there? >> yes, an annual rebate of $2100. >> i think a lot of folks in lumberton, north carolina, may be wondering about the prospects for the kind of growth you described. there was an event at which gary cohn was speaking and asked how many of them in lift tax cut would be willing to hire more, invest more in their businesses, and he was surprised by how few hands went up. when you look at where unemployment is and the value of many companies, are you at all worried the economy is going to get a little too hot? >> no, sir. i have been out of my district. i've had eight count thies goin out east of charlotte. these are rural counties, poor counties. the businesses out there are

ready to expand. they're grateful to have this kind of tax cut because they'll have more capital to expand. these are very poor counties but they've got some businesses there that will be able to expand and hire more people because of what we're doing. so this is going to be a good thing for north carolina. >> i grew up in orange county. a few counties over from the county you represent. higher education is incredibly important to north carolina and you've had the presidents of many universities and colleges writing to you and other lawmakers say they're worried about what this will mean for their enrollment or ability to invest in infrastruct our higher education campuses. not just with folks going to college, the incentive to go to college but to drive that huge part of the north carolina economy. what do you say to them about their concerns here that this is going to hurt higher education in north carolina and other states? >> to the contrary. it's going to grow our economy. it's going to create more revenue. back to our state. and it's going to create jobs. that's what this is all about.

frankly, north carolina has the most cost effective education, higher education in the country. as well as our community college system. i was in india not too long ago, and the number of ceos said that they purposely put their plants in north carolina because the training that they received in the community college system. we have a great edgucational system and it will expand because of what happens with these tax cuts and the revenue that will come back to our own coffers. >> let me ask you about the news of your colleague from michigan, john conyers who is stepping aside as a member of the house judiciary committee. he's not stepping down from congress. has he gone far enough and how confident are you this is going to play out the way it should. >> yeah, i think it definitely needs to go through. mr. conyers has been around a long time. he can probably get re-elected to his district no matter what he did as long as he brings home the bacon to his district.

that's what they count on and what they want. he wants somebody who is just going to do whatever they want him to do. so unfortunately, that seems to be part of their job description. so i think mr. conyers has done the right thing in stepping down. i think the ethics committee will determine what further needs to be done, . >> you've been hearing from constituents about this particular issue? >> sure. i think people are concerned about it. they know that the body in washington, d.c., represents america and just pray for your congress. pray that we'll uphold and do the right thing all the time. you know, these are ordinary people. and they -- we need to be held to a very high standard, and i respect the commitments and concerns of all my constituents. >> benediction from the gentleman from the 9th district. thanks very much for the time. coming up -- president trump says we're really winning the fight against isis, but how are we winning, and what's the larger strategy to defeat the extremist group?

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egypt is in the middle of three days of mourning after an attack on friday on a mosque on the sinai peninsula. more than 300 people were killed when militants opened fire as people prayed. the associated press reports elders of the village were warned by islamic state operatives to stop collaborate with security forces. the latest warning came about a week ago. while isis has not claimed responsibility for that attack, president trump is taking credit in the u.s. in the fight against the militant group. he did that most recently in his thanksgiving message to troops stationed overseas. >> and major, to you and to all the marines doing this great work, in delivering defeat after defeat to isis, what you're doing with isis, again, being talked about.

we're being talked about again as an armed forces. we're really winning. we know how to win. but we have to let you win. we weren't letting you win before. they were letting you play even. we're letting you win. >> all right. what does that mean? i want to bring informer ambassador christopher hill for global engagement from the university of denver, retired jerry mccaffrey. has there been a shift here unable to win in recent months? >> well, very awkward formulation. i've been extremely critical, with good reason, of the trump administration for a variety of reasons. i think secretary mattis, the central command which runs the operations in the middle east and also special operations

command do have new latitude and aggressive techniques. i'm astonished at how well they have done inside syria with a tiny number of conventional and special operations forces. the real question is what next. are we really safe? is the war over? and the answer is dramatically no. there is dozens of terrorist organizations out there that represent a continuing threat to the europeans in particular and also to the u.s. >> malcolm nance, let me ask you about strategic shifts. the president talks about the ability to win over the size of the islamic state and says, "coalition air strikes have declined by more than 50% as u.s.-backed forces in iraq, syria have largely declined or fled. is enough attention being paid

to the geography? >> it was important that they be degraded and destroyed. this did not occur in a vacuum. this occurred over a three-year period. the phrase u.s.-backed iraqi forces is wrong. we should be saying iraqi forces with u.s. combat and air support. the iraqi forces kicked down the doors and routed isis out after being slaughtered three years ago. as general mccalf ree said along with u.s. special operations forces, they had to go door to door and they are going to be the forces left behind and will have to mop up with isis elsewhere. this is like stepping on a ball of mercury. as we're seeing in the s subsaharan africa, al qaeda, afghanistan, yemen and somalia.

none of this happened because donald trump just decided to attack in the last few months. this has been -- the ground was laid over three years and now we're seeing the results. >> ambassador hill, let me ask you about something. the terrorist groups operating there, first of all, sinai, if you look at a map, it's very big. from the point of view as to what the egyptian government has to do, it's not central to the problems that it has in places like cairo. this is a government or a houtha that is at a loss on how to deal with the economic problems and really with their whole political system. i think it's kind of dropped off their radar. and with some consequences. you know, the israelis a few years ago looked at it and decided to build an enormous wall and they have done that.

i want to make one comment about isis, which is that there's no question it is metastasizing. we're going to see this across north africa and elsewhere. the problem really goes to the heart of whether a sunni islam can pull itself out of it. we're seeing dramatic changes in saudi arabia and i think many people agree that saudi arabia is sort of a center of all of this -- of all this kind of radicalism and the question is whether this new saudi leadership under mbs is going to be able to deal with this. meanwhile, in iraq, it's important to understand that there are a lot of fathers in the success. there are shia militia groups, the iraqi army and kurds, all of whom are claiming that they should benefit from this as well and meanwhile, in syria, you don't see the u.s. present at

all. huge problems down the line here. >> general mcca fffrey, the president tweeted after it took place, "discussing the tragic terrorist attack with so much loss of life. we have to get smarter and tougher and we will. need the wall. need the ban." egypt is not on that list of countries that would have a wall. >> well, the egyptians basically have been very hand-fisted about the entire thing. this population out in sinai, the houthis in particular, viewed by the sunni muslims which is the centerpiece of egypt, the most important arab country in the world. so it's cause for concern on the part of the united states that his response is airstrikes instead of trying to bring the

population into the government support. so i don't think this is going well. the israelis are right to be extremely concerned and meanwhile, the president talking about the southern border, we have to fall on our knees and thank everyone that we're living next door to mexico and canada and not these people. >> general mccaffrey, thank you. appreciate the time. coming up in our next hour, much more on senator al franken speaking out for the first time publicly since being accused of sexual harassment. we'll talk to one of the reporters who interviewed the senator, next. plus, the latest on john conyers stepping down as ranking member of the house judiciary committee amid sexual harassment allegations that he continues to deny. all of that and much more when we come back. my dad's.

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welcome back. i'm david gura. kasie hunt is off tonight. we're following all of the

developments as the parties deal with rallegations of sexual misconduct. al franken spoke today. >> hasn't your credibility been undermined? >> i -- i would say yes. and i have a long way back. i have a long way back to win back the trust of the people of minnesota. i've let the people down. i've let the people of minnesota down, i've let my friends and staff and supporters down, my family down. i've especially letdown the people who have seen me as a champion for women. i'm taking responsibility. i apologized to the women who have felt disrespected and to everyone i've letdown. that's a lot of people. in some of these encounters, i've crossed a line for some women, and i know tha