massive tax cuts in reform. you know about that very well. you've covered it, for the most part, accurately, which is surprising for you folks, but that's okay. we're on the verge of a historical victory that cuts taxes for the middle class, for businesses, brings back probably in excess of $4 trillion. as you know, we've been saying $2.5 trillion for years. well, that number is greatly expanded. and we'll be bringing back in excess of $4 trillion. it will be put to work in our country. there will be a lot of jobs being brought back with that money. right now that money is being spent overseas. it's not going to be spent overseas anymore. the house and senator now negotiating the final bill, and i cannot wait to sign these giant tax cuts and reforms. i mentioned tax cuts, but it's also reforms. but i'm looking forward to signing it. it will be the largest tax cuts by far in the history of our

country. we'll be bringing the business tax from 35 all the way down to 20. at 35 it's the highest in the industrialized world. at 20 we're on the very low side. so we'll be very competitive. you look at china, it's 15%. other countries are 18%, some are 23, 24%. the average is actually, of the primary competitors, is actually 23%. so we'll be pretty much below the average, and we'll be able to compete. and despite all of that and despite -- before we even get this massive injection, we have a stock market that has hit record highs 81 times since our election victory, 81 times. it's at a new high right now. unemployment is at a 17-year low. very shortly it's going to be at a 19-year low. we think the numbers are going to continue to go down, and we're also getting into the pool of the 100 million people that

are not working. that pool is now coming back. as you know, that's not considered in the low employment numbers, which means we have a lot of people that want to get to work and that will be working. consumer confidence is at a 17-year high. we've created nearly 2 million jobs. think of that. 2 million jobs since election day. that's based on consumer confidence. that's based on enthusiasm. every enthusiasm poll, especially for business enthusiasm and job enthusiasm, is at an all-time high. that's why companies are coming back into our country. they're opening up new plants. most of you have written about toyota came back in. we have many car companies coming back in. they're going to michigan, they're going to ohio, they're going to the states where they want to be. they can go anywhere they want. south carolina, north carolina, but they're going all over our country. they're coming back in. we had many years where we had no new plants, we only had

closures. now we have openings and that means a lot of jobs. but to get it going the way i really want where we have gdp getting up to 4, 5 and even 6%, because i think that's possible, if you look back in your notes you'll see when i said 4%, people said that will be years. well, it turns out i'm right, because without the hurricanes this last quarter we would have had 4%. at 3.3%, which was adjusted previously, this is far beyond what anybody thought we would be at. so we're at 3.3% gdp. i see no reason why we don't go to 4, 5 and even 6%. i don't want to go beyond that because then i'll be criticized if we don't hit it. but every time we go up one point, just so you understand, one point means $2.5 trillion, means 10 million jobs. so one point in gdp is an

incredible statement. $2.5 trillion for each point, 10 million jobs for each point. and i think we're going to be going up a lot of points. so in order to really keep it going the way i want and the way we all want around this table, we have to get past our taxes. i call it the mixer. it's in conference right now, but i call it the mixer. i think when it comes out, it's going to be a beautiful mix. there are things that i like better in the senate bill, there are things i like better in the house bill. i think when they come out, we'll have some new additions and we'll have the best of each. i think we're going to have a fantastic tax bill. there are very, very few people that aren't benefiting by it, but there's that tiny little sliver, and we're going to try to take care of even that very small group of people that just through circumstances maybe don't get the full benefit of what we're doing. but the middle class gets a tremendous benefit and business,

which is jobs, gets a tremendous benefit. we'll be giving the cabinet today an update on national security and strategy. we'll also receive briefings on the latest developments in the tax cut negotiations, and administrator mcmann, who has done a fantastic job at small business administration -- where is linda? has done a really fantastic job, is helping small businesses in record numbers. they've needed help really because of the hurricane. hurricanes were devastating. as i said, gdp, if we didn't have the hurricanes, we would have hit just about four this last time. but as you probably know and probably everybody remembers, we had five really bad ones. and we have a lot of businesses that have been severely hurt, and linda mcmann has done an incredible job in helping those businesses out through the small business. thank you very much, linda. so we're in a great period in

this country, because jobs are coming back, unemployment is low, business has never been stronger, but we have a military that we have to build. i want to thank general mattis for doing such a great job with respect to isis. he's knocked the hell out of them. of course, i've made it possible with what i've let you do, i think. >> yes, sir. >> wouldn't you say? >> absolutely. >> but he's done a fantastic job. he and the military have done a fantastic job with isis. they're essentially knocked out of syria, knocked out of iraq. that's the good news. the bad news, they go all over the place. and i'll tell you where we don't want 'em, we don't want 'em here. we don't want 'em in our country. tell them to stay wherever the hell they are. we don't want them in our country. they do go to some countries. we don't want them coming to our country, so we'll watch that closely. i'd like to wish everyone a

great season. i'd like to wish everyone a merry christmas, happy new year. i will tell you that we have a big announcement coming up at 1:00. perhaps a couple of you will be there, maybe not. it's a big announcement. it's an announcement concerning israel and the palestinians in the middle east, and i think it's long overdue. many presidents have said they want to do something and they didn't do it, whether it's through courage or they changed their mind, i can't tell you. but a lot of people have said we have to do something and they didn't do it, so we'll be talking about that something at 1:00, and i look forward to seeing you then. thank y thank you all so much. thank you. we'll talk about it in a little while. thank you very much. >> are we going to have a shutdown? >> it could happen. the democrats are really looking at something that is very dangerous to our country. they are looking at shutting

down. they want to have illegal immigrants in many cases, people that we don't want in our country, they want to have illegal immigrants pouring into our country, bringing with them crime, tremendous amounts of crime. we don't want to have that. we want to have a great, beautiful, crime-free country. we want people coming into our country, but we want them to come on our basis, and that's why we're being so waufld with o them. that was a tremendous victory for this country. not a victory for me, it was a victory for our country. so the democrats maybe will want to shut down the country because they want people flowing into our country, and i want people coming into our country, but i want to vet those people, and i want to vet them very carefully.

because we don't want to have radical islamic terrorism in this country, and we don't want to have crime in this country. you look at what just happened in san francisco. that was a disgrace. as you know, the federal government just got involved and did a great thing, because they're going to take that at least to the next step. they did a great thing by getting involved. so thank you very much. i'll see you all at 1:00. >> thank you. good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington, listening to the president talking about the bill in washington. asked about the shutdown, saying if there is, it will be because of the democrats. talking about an announcement at the top of the next hour, he will be announcing he's breaking with decades of

american policy, recognizing jerusalem as the capital of israel despite warnings in the last hours from the pope, palestinians, nato and the european union. the pentagon has taken steps to facilitate steps in the union, forbidding people to travel there. also with us, ambassador martin, a former u.s. ambassador to israel, and ambassador dennis ross, top diplomat with over two decades of experience, working in the add administration with president obama's white house. welcome all. peter, let me go first to you, because the president's announcement is first going to recognize jerusalem, saying it is an historic reality. the fact, though, he's

disrupting american negotiations, israeli palestinian negotiations and the u.s. as an honest broker. why take this on now? is it just to satisfy a campaign promise? >> reporter: that's the question we've been raising to officials here at the white house. i spoke to a senior administration official in the last couple hours about that very topic, and they insisted to me that nothing will change because of the president's announcement today. as you noted, this is an announcement of reality right now. after the president speaks, the u.s. embassy will remain today in tel aviv because the president is signing that the parliament will remain in jerusalem. this is not making any decisions about east jerusalem, making the decision whether it could be a future power of the palestinians. more broadly right now, all of those remain up for negotiation as part of the final status negotiations going forward.

so the question i raised to this official was, then why now? why is the president doing this right now? they insist this is not exclusively about a campaign promise. in the words of this official, quote, it's time to move past, as they described it, the political fiction of the u.s. pretending it doesn't know where israel's capital is right now, andrea. the bottom line is they believe this could open up a new avenue where in effect the president takes this issue of jerusalem, at least being israel's capital, off the table and somehow enable new talks going forward with that as the predicate to them. but the bottom line obviously is this is such a volatile issue here, has been one of the key bargaining chips in negotiations in the past. it's believed by many analysts that this is bound to only cause more strife there. >> well, the criticism, of course, is that this is rewarding israel for something which is supposed to be the prize at the end of the game,

dividing jerusalem in some fashion. and, in fact, israel has taken more palestinian areas of east jerusalem and the west bank rather than showing flexibility on these issues. amon aldine, i want to get your reaction, but i want to play some of this. >> we recognize the importance of jerusalem and our position on that has not changed. >> ignoring the christian rights in jerusalem will only fuel extremism and undermine the war against terrorism. >> amon, the reaction today from your standpoint in jerusalem which is a city of both western jerusalem with the israeli capital so far, and east jerusalem which is mostly palestinian. >> reporter: yeah, i mean, this is being looked at from a few different perspectives, even

among palestinians. one, they're very anxious. the mood is very tense among palestinians, extremely disappointing. we're hearing from all palestinians condemning this reaction, condemning the status. they're concerned it would change the status quo here in the old city, particularly in the city, so there is that frustration. there are those that are pointing to this and saying palestinian has lost all authority. particularly this president, who at least has tried to abide by international agreements, reject violence, he has been criticized by several saying they're not able to produce a peace process. a lot of frustration among

palestinians. it's not clear that they're going to turn around in the end. tomorrow those security measures could restrict access to palestinians coming into the city, and that once again could create more tension, more dynamics on the ground, but no doubt the big concern right now is going to be how president trump fin essefinesses this sta. he said he could be more open saying jerusalem could be in power over the state.

so the situation does remain, this evening, tense, andrea. >> thanks to ayman, thanks to peter. >> i want to bring in our negotiator. your talks have been made with the palestinians. is there a fear that those talks will be said by the palestinians? >> iran, isis, will see this as an opportunity to champion jerusalem and try to weaken those moderate leaders like the palestinian leader hassan and king abdullah of johnson have twitter twittered.

i do think it would give them's saudi leadership, all of them, will have to take a very strong stand against all he trusts regardless of the nuances that age will try to inject into his position. >> after years of negotiating, it seems as though they have not set the table for this. in talking to diplomats throughout the city last night, alarm in all quarters, jordanian, european as well. they have not brought people along so that they are putting their backs up against a wall. >> i think as martin pointed out, this is an issue that all of the enemies at peace can seize upon, because they see it as an issue that mobilizes great passion. there might have been a way to do this, but you had to prepare the ground. six months ago when the first waiver was issued, had the administration gone first to each of our partners, including

the palestinians, saudis, et cetera, and said to them, look, we want to do this in a way that doesn't put you on the spot, that doesn't make you defensive, that doesn't expose you. let's talk about the kind of language we can use. let's talk about the kinds of things you may say before we do it so we prepare the ground and you're not put in an impossible situation. >> at this stage negotiations have not resumed, parties are not talking to each other. what does the u.s. gain by recognizing jerusalem and saying that down the road three or four years, according to the briefing we had last night, they will move the embassy. >> you don't gain much by doing this, unless this is part of a plan where, in a sense, you can demonstrate to the american public, look how this administration takes into account moods and words and

symbols. they would be able to call on the israelis to make some very complex decisions. >> dennis ross, we'll have to leave it there until the later news coming up end of this hour. breaking news now, the wildfire threat in sonoma county, calling for a critical shutdown on a stretch of highway 405. hoyt is used to navigate a commute each day. we're in bel air, california. >> reporter: the 405 is just beyond these houses. this house here is up in flames at the moment. we have engines out from san jose fire department. engine 71 is here responding to

this home in particular. let's walk up here and get a look from their vantage point. andrea, you know better than anyone, bel air was once the home of nancy and ronald reagan. this is an area of expensive, very large homes. on the other side of the highway is the gettys center, an important place to los angeles. out across los angeles' west side, looking south and west, you can see there is a haze over the entire western part of the city of los angeles today. this is one, andrea, of many wildfires that are burning in this region at the moment. the thompson fire up in ventura county as of this morning scorched 55,000 acres. this was a very, very fast-moving wildfire in los angeles. it's unusual to see a fire this big come so close to so many homes. as i said, the bel air community, the brentwood community on the other side of the 405 freeway has many large

homes with many, many people in this community, tens of thousands of people here directly in the city of los angeles. just one thing to note, it's been extraordinarily dry out here. i know it's december, you're thic thinking, shouldn't it be cooler in los angeles, shouldn't you see some rain. we've gone three months without a single drop of rain. themes these are providing the fuel for the wildif i we're seeing right now. >> jacob soberoff, thank you so much. breaking news from capitol hill today. growing calls led by women democratic senators about their colleague al franken, calling on him to resign. let's listen to senator kirsten gill gillenbrand in new york. >> i do not feel that he should continue to serve. everyone will make their own

judgment. i hope they do make their own judgment. >> you might want to stay there, kirsten. >> don't you you have your questions? >> most of the questions are going to be for you, i'm guessing. [ inaudible question ] >> senator franken is entitled to a senator ethics investigation. i don't think they're equipped, i don't think they have the tools to do the investigation the american people are searching for. >> we're having difficulty with our shot from the hill. let's talk about this change where you have democratic senators led by senator gillenbrand but joined by so many of her colleagues calling on senator al franken to resign. >> i suspect you'll be hearing more voices over the course of the day. look, public officials should be held to the highest standard when it comes, you know, to many

issues, but particularly this issue. they hold positions of public trust. and when you violate that trust, when you violate the law, there should be swift and certain consequences. and i think on the front lines of standing up for that principle, your own colleagues need to be accountable for coming forward and raising their voices. i see that it's all women who have come forward to speak on this issue so far, at least in terms of the last reporting that i saw, so i do wonder where are the men in terms of this issue. i think this is a real credibility issue for the entire congress. it's not a partisan issue. i think that this is an issue because it's a body that has not had a lot of credibility to date when you look at the kind of procedures that have been if congress that are arcane, unfairly tilted in many ways to protect those who are in office as opposed to those who are making the accusations.

and that becomes a credibility issue among constituents as well. when you have people who are making the laws who are actually breaking the laws, or people who should be leading who are lagging in policing their own conduct. so i think this is a really important moment with senator gillenbrand and other senators who are coming out to speak out on this issue in light of, i'm sure, the numerous allegations that have been made against senator franken, the seventh woman who has come forward this morning. >> there's also men now, i should point out, joining this course on the democratic side. senator bob casey. joining us now is senator rick tyler for 2016 campaign and

involving al franken. a democratic houseworker, i'm not sure of her exact id because she's anonymous, telling politico that he tried to kiss her in. this allegation is category not true. the idea that i would claim this as a right as an entertainer is preposterous. i look forward to fully cooperating with the ongoing ethics department. kirsten gillenbrand, although it seems like it was a coordinated effort from the women on the democratic side, looks like it has really taken off. we're seeing a fire storm on this. >> well.

it will be up to voters of alabama if they want to send roy moore or it will also be up to the governors of minnesota, the kwefl is, -- the question is, the individual either has to resign or the voters have to throw him out of office. what's troubling me is that the voters of alabama would send someone like roy moore to the u.s. senate, and that the voters of minnesota would reelect -- but that's the process that we're in. i don't know how to reconcile it any other way. neither one is a critical complaint. >> bannon in alabama and

attacking mitt romney as many would see as a way of taking tension off of roy moore. kasie hunt on capitol hill was in the news conference, which was the reason for the news conference being called, especially for senator franken. by legislation, partial legislation and by camera to promote. those are forced operation closets, and gretchen carlson of fox news, who spoke out in 2016 about her own experience with this clause in a contract, essentially they say if you want to be plod here, in the event and that arbitration and this bill a male senator, joining us

on this and calling out the product and say, you guys sl go essential recall gives an employer an advantage over employees and they're looking to change that. this bill is one of several that has popped up in the congress in relation to the me-too movement and new attempts to combat sexual harrassment and assault in the workplace, both broadly in corporate america and also here in congress itself. there is a bill that would address the office of compliance as well that senator guillil is a part of. gillenbrand saying senator franken should step down, and she was very animated in insisting at the end of the day

there should be higher restrictions for the congress, and we're still waiting for comments from senator franken himself. >> according to, we will have a statement tomorrow, if not sooner. i also want to bring this what happened in alabama. first of all, mitt romney tweeted about the alabama race. his tweet yesterday was, roy moore in the u.s. senate would be a stain on the gop and on the nation. corfman and others are courageous heroes.

>> all though insults you made about the president of the united states, no, judge moore has to run and you have to jump in here. while we're on the subject of vietnam and honor and integrity, you avoided service, brother, right? you hid behind your religion. you went to france to be a missionary while guys were dying in rice paddies if vietnam. you had five sons. not one day of service in afghanistan and iraq. judge roy moore has more honor and integrity in that pinkie finger than your entire family has in his whole dna. >> rick tyler, what has happened to the republican party? >> beats me. i'm trying to beat some sense into them. i always say everyone is so different, but i haven't changed, to quote joe walsh. he doesn't want mitt romney to

run for an empty senate seat if roy moore steps down, so i don't know if anyone was more effective, than maybe roy moore. one of the things the republican party could do is get on top of this with retro action. many of the women who had disclosure agreements shoulden be under them. at a minimum we should know what moneys were paid out on the behest of which offices. >> how does a conservative republican justify an attack on mitt romney based on his face. >> well, you would have to ask steve bannon, but remember, he's in a state that's full of evangelical voters, and i suppose there in the office.

>> as we said to rick tyler. we are told that frapgen's office had said he will be speak. >> donald trump jr. will face questions on capitol hill today, amid questions about the 2016 helicopter meeting with reporters. that's f ours. so our chevy employee discount is now available to everyone. this holiday season, you pay what we pay. and not a cent more. we're so happy to share this with you. hey, mom and dad deserve some toys too. it's our way of saying happy holidays. and welcome to the family. the chevy family. get the chevy employee discount for everyone today. get the chevy employee discount was supposed to be a wake reup call for our government?sh people all across the country lost their savings, their pensions and their jobs.

i'm tom steyer and it turned out that the system that had benefited people like me who are well off, was, in fact, stacked against everyone else. it's why i left my investment firm and resolved to use my savings for the public good. but here we are nine years later and this president and the republican congress are making a bad situation even worse. they won't tell you that their so called "tax reform" plan is really for the wealthy and big corporations, while hurting the middle class. it blows up the deficit and that means fewer investments in education, health care and job creation. it's up to all of us to stand up to this president. not just for impeachable offenses, but also to demand a country where everyone has a real chance to succeed. join us. your voice matters.

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. and also on capitol hill today, donald trump jr. being grilled meeting with the house intelligence committee behind closed doors. documents obtained exclusively by nbc news reveal donald trump meeting with the russian lawyer for dirt on the hillary clinton foundation. clint watts, former fbi special agent and security analyst. welcome both. clint, i want to ask you about that and i want to ask both of you what we know about the deutsche bank records, because from many sources confirming that robert mueller is going after the financial records of the president himself before he took office, this is the first direct connection with the investigation reaching into the president's pockets, as it were. ken? >> sure, andrea. first, on the russian lawyer, we have obtained her 51-page

statement, answers posed by the senate judiciary committee. in that statement she denies she had any russian ties to the government, wasn't giving anything to them. but she did say she got the impression the trump campaign thought she did have something because of the ron goldman setup of this meeting. one of the first things donald trump jr. asked her was whether she had any illegal contributions to the clinton foundation. when it was apparent she didn't have that evidence, she said the trump side lost interest and the meeting sort of petered out. don't forget, mattis and was in that meeting. he was believing he was getting critical information on his father's opponent from the russian government, andrea.

>> we know that will be among one of the questions he will be asked this hour on capitol hill. at the same time, clint, going into the bank records, there's been a confirmation from a number of sources to a number of news agencies, a denial of a subpoena -- maybe that's a term of art from the private lawyer, jay sekulow, for the president. but they would not necessarily be notified by deutsche bank if records were turned over. deutsche bank has said that they're cooperating with the appropriate law enforcement agencies. >> that's right. you know, they would receive a subpoena. we don't know whether the records are actually for someone in the orbit of the trump campaign or if it's actually trump himself and his direct colleagues or family members. what we also should remember about this, though, when you're doing an investigation, you may have a lead. one of the first things you do is subpoena information to confirm or deny whether that lead has any merit to it. we tend to hear subpoena and people jump to the conclusion that something wrong has been done, but oftentimes you're

doing subpoenas to even verify that maybe nothing has been done. so people are kind of jumping to conclusions on that. it's just an investigative step. >> i was watching chuck rosenberg, former fbi official, contributor to us on with brian williams last night, and he said it would be standard practice, and i've been told this by former fbi and intelligence officials who were involved in the investigation up until the point of the transition, who said that the fbi did have the president's income tax records for sure and also were getting bank records. because that would be the first step, just to either prove or disprove other contentions. >> there is a strong possibility they do. one of the things we should recognize is they're going to go through any publicly submitted record or privately submitted record to the government and any other transactions they can pick up on. when you're looking at influence, there is two components that we've seen consistently, information and money. you know, economic incentives. so you're trying to pin down, if

we're talking about russian meddling and influence, where is that really coming from and you're looking at transactions. >> and wnbc, our station here, has sat down with the deputy and said he is satisfied with robert mueller's investigation. >> he is overseeing this investigation in terms of budget and firing robert mueller, and he's saying he's satisfied, andrea. meanwhile, protests ramping up across capitol hill this hour. thousands of dreamers pushing congress for immediate action on daca legislation this month. but both in the house and senate say they don't need to go anything until march 2018 when asked if a solution will end up in the spending bill this month. he's one of 35 republicans

asking to protect daca now until the end of the year and joins me now from the capitol. i don't know if you saw at the top of the hour the president speaking to the cabinet and attacking democrats, congressman, saying they want illegal immigration and that they will be responsible if there is a government shutdown. so he is framing the daca argument in terms of illegal -- a flood of illegal immigrants, which seems inaccurate in the extreme. >> yeah, i mean, certainly we want to find a bipartisan solution and we definitely do not want to get into a debate about shutting the government down. i think this is an opportunity for both parties to come together. but this daca crisis, and it is a crisis, needs to get resolved immediately. >> and, congressman, do you think that you can -- do you have the leverage to get it into the continuing resolution of the must pass legislation now, or will the president and the republican leaders, frankly, hold sway and make sure that little not taken up until later

next year? >> i think it's got to happen now. one of the things that's different about this time period is we actually have more republicans signing on to either the letter that we just turned in to the speaker that had 34 signatures but also a number of bills that are co-authored are people are not just whipping yes, they would support it if it got to the floor, but actually saying, put me on as a co-author, put me on as a signator, i'm willing to talk about this in my district. i would love to see a standalone bill. i think it's important to have something that is a clean fix without any other issues, but certainly a must-pass bill is another option. >> let me also ask you about the tax bill, because there have been protests everywhere against the tax bill. one of the main concerns is from high tax states like california, new york, illinois, washington, d.c. >> sure. there is concern from high tax

states. i come from one of those high tax states and we pay too much in taxes. so i can certainly understand the standpoint from the governor, but you really have to look at the facts of this. a district like mine where you have about 28% of the filers that do the itemized deduction, once a standard deduction doubles, that goes to about 5%. and so those 5% that will still itemize also are getting rid of the alternative minimum tax. this is going to be a tax cut primarily for the middle class, but it's going to be a tax cut across the board. just some people are not going to get as big of a tax cut. i find it ironic, especially in a state like california, where my liberal colleagues are actually arguing for the richest on this one because there is no doubt about the middle class and how big of an impact this is going to be. people will see it in their paychecks in january. >> i just broefl waiefly want t you up to date now. 14 senators are calling for al franken to step down bipartisan.

what is your position on this? i know it's not your chamber, but you've had to deal with the conyers scandal. >> no, absolutely. there have been a number of scandals. certainly having 14 allegations is something that the senate must take very serious. i have not followed many of these allegations that have come up in the other body. but i do think that congress has an obligation to change its rules, take an internal look at these controversies and the victims that have happened in the process and really come up with a new policy and new plan. >> congressman denham, thank you so much for being with us. >> andrea, thanks for having me. in moments president trump will be entering the diplomatic room in the white house to announce that the united states will take an unprecedented step, recognizing jerusalem as the capital of israel. in doing so, he is breaking with decades of u.s. policy. critics say he is closing a resolution of competed claims in

the city that is at the heart of any peace resolution deal. joining necessary, chief correspondent richard engel is in jerusalem. i have to say that flies in the face of everything i am hearing from diplomatic sources as well as experts. >> reporter: it certainly flies in the face of not just what i'm hearing now but what the two of us have been covering for decades now. andrea, how many meetings have you covered? how many diplomatic sessions have you covered in which hours and weeks are spent in pa painstaking negotiations behind closed doors, in private sessions in order to try to keep the peace here. and now that process is being thrown out the window or is soon to be thrown out the window when

president trump in a short amount of time is expected to make this statement. both sides -- and this is the basic crux of the issue here -- both the israelis and the palestinians claim jerusalem to be their capital. both have historic claims. we could spend a lot of time, too, arguing why each side is right or why each side is somewhat wrong in its claim. but the u.s. position has always been it is going to be impartial. it is going to sit back and try to let the two sides hash it out peacefully and that at the end of the day, one of them will get most of what it wants or part of what it wants and a peaceful diplomatic resolution will entail. that has been the basis for middle east peace as long as i've been covering the middle east and i think as long as oou been covering the middle east. now president trump is basically going to come out and say, these israelis are right, they have the facts on the ground, they already control east jerusalem so we're just going to come out

and say they control all of jerusalem, it's their capital, and we'll see what happens from there. it is profoundly unsettling. it changes the rules of diplomacy in the middle east from night to day, really, and i think that's why you've seen such a universal expression of concern. here in the west bank, palestinian territory, they are deeply disheartened by this move. they think it takes their dream of a future capital away from them, but also where matt bradley is, cairo, very strong statements. turkey, very strong statements. russia, china, france, nato, all expressing concern. i would go so far as to say that under the trump administration, no single issue has brought such a diverse lineup of political leaders. the pope expressing concern about this together on this one issue. >> matt bradley in cairo, matt,

when i first started covering this, it was with the camp david accords in 1978, the signing of the accords in 1979 when we were on the lawn of the white house and we had the first peace deal with an arab country, and it was, of course, egypt, sadat and v vegan. there you are in cairo, and the people most in jeopardy are the people in egypt, sinai and the king of jordan who also signed a peace agreement with israel. matt? >> reporter: that's right, andrea. you know, when we talk about the arab street, which we've heard the last couple decades, the arab street really is talking about cairo. the cairo itself is the largest city by far. it is the oldest city of sunni learning and it has the arab

league which will be meeting on saturday in order to address this really long crisis. we haven't heard any planned events in action in terms of what the arab street are going to be doing, what the people are going to be doing. we've been talking leader to leader, diplomat to diplomat. and so far the arab street is quiet and it just goes to show how exhausted these people are six years after the dawn of arab spring which critical change in the neighborhood that your ordinary person it's just not necessarily going to resonate with. so while we haven't heard any planned events happening outside israel. we can really expect maybe something from jordan, maybe

there will be something in some of these capitals on friday when protests are traditionally held, but right now if we're talking about what the arab street thinks about trump's announcement in the next several minutes, well, the arab the ara is exhausted, andrea. >> back to you. and they're also waiting to hear exactly what the president has to say. "new york times" white house correspondent joining us and shannon, bloomberg news white house reporter. mark, you and i have covered diplomatic meetings around the world on this subject. how do you see this, if at all, advancing american interests in middle east peace talks. >> the president and president aides have made the case this is the president shaking up the status quo. we're moving a contentious issue from the table and that will clarify rather than muddy the waters. as your colleagues have point out, almost nobody in the reg n region, and for that matter, no diplomats who have been involved

over the past few decades think that's the case. they think, in fact, it creates more ambiguity rather than resolving it because there are a host of questions that will flow out of what the president says, recognizing jerusalem as a capital, does that mean the entire capital, meaning east jerusalem? does that mean the u.s. no longer recognizes any palestinian aspiration to have east jerusalem as the capital? does it have an effect on the contours of a palestinian state? all of these questions are arguably more complicated rather than clarified by what the president's doing today. so, i don't think most people who know this business well think this is going to be anything other than a new obstacle. >> and, shannon, from bloomberg news, when we look at the trajectory of donald trump's policy towards israel, even during the transition, some of those controversial moves where he was calling the egyptian leader, calling the russians or,

we know that mike flynn was calling the russians, those conversations had to do initially with that u.n. resolution. calling on foreign leaders to try to go around and counter mend obama policy, john kerry's policy, abstaining on the u.n. resolution on settlements. >> right. from day one, in the transition, day one. it was an issue of great interest to michael flynn. i suppose it's not a surprise that the middle east is a big topic of focus with any new administration. but, yes, and it fits also in with this bigger foreign policy doctrine, i guess, we're starting to see from the trump administration. that we're seeing in north korea. well, that didn't work, so let's try something completely different. and then the administration officials will even admit that, that their approach to this has been, well, yeah, you know what has been going on for the past 20 years and all the talks that you and richard and all the -- and mark have been involved in, well, that didn't work, so we're just going to try something

different now. >> and, richard engel, when we talk about taking the step, it's a risky step by any measure. given the fact that north korea is on a precipice that we have crises around the world and a national security cabinet in a state of flux, to say the least, is that undermined by taking the step at this time? >>. >> reporter: well, i think they're all connected. i think the north koreans watch what happens here and israelis watch what happened with north koreans. when you have an administration searching for a new approach, i think it's important to see what that new approach is. what we're seeing now is this administration, the trump administration, is extending a hand to israel. it is giving israel it has long wanted, which is recognition that jerusalem is its undivided eternal capital, the capital of the jewish people for 3,000 years and it is doing it even when so many people around the

world are telling them that this is risky, be careful. so, what kind of message does that send about north korea? does it send a message that the president will take risks, even when it involves blood shed in a far away countries, even when foreign countries are telling him not to do it but he will still pursue that policy? does it show a level of -- i don't want to the say cavalierness when it comes to foreign policy by this administration. >> thanks to richard and eamon, i want to bring you in. is there any indication, as you're there in jerusalem, that the israeli government will show more flexibility because they have been given this prize now by the president? >> reporter: there's no indication as of yet. now, obviously, that's still very premature. if we had to take a look at what this particular israeli government has been doing with the leadership of benjamin

netanyahu, a lot of palestinians will tell you that life has gotten considerably worse over the last several years. land confiscation has gone up, land appropriation for settlements has increased, settlement expansion continues. there are all kinds of complaints for palestinian daily lives here as a result of the ongoing israeli occupation. and certainly it hasn't gotten any better with this current israeli government that has over the course of the years shifted to the right. in fact, that was something that the israeli prime minister who barack recently warned of saying the expansion of the settlements have become an existential threat to the state of israel as it moves down this road. in terms of what palestinians here are capable of doing, there's not much. and that contributes to the frustration that they are feeling. on one hand, they look at the palestinian authority as being completely ineffective in delivering on the promises of the peace process and negotiations with the israelis. at the same time, you have the palestinian militant groups in gaza that have engaged in war

after war with israel, producing no tangible benefit for the people there. it is why there is a growing chorus of palestinians and in the international community that are supporting what is seen as a very controversial movement, the bds movement, the boycott divestment sanctions movement and trying to increase pressure on israel to keep settlement in east jerusalem and what have you. that in itself has been a source of controversy in the international community. as to whether or not they support that or not support that. but in terms of on the ground, a lot of palestinians wonder whether this embassy move will actually change anything. it is highly symbolic but it also could empower the israeli government currently in power to continue with their projects in the west bank, to continue with their projects here in east jerusalem and that would certainly derail if not completely outright obliterate the so-called peace process, which already a lot of people, andrea, in the region say is effectively dead for all intents and purposes.

>> and, shannon, as we look at the diplomatic reception room, which is decorated festively for christmas, in this holiday season, a moment that's really fraught as the president of the united states is coming into announce that he is giving israel this prize over the holy city, which has been a disputed territory among the major religions of the world for, you know, millenia, actually, and in 2000 ariel sharon set off the second inthat fad da. >> they know what a big speech this is. they said they did not reach this decision lightly. this is something they've been thinking about since the early days of the administration. it was a campaign says promise. but they do know this is a big

moment. i would point out that the people who have got to this moment are a lot of newcomers to washington. of course, general mattis and general kelly, you know, are well steeped in these issues rex tillerson, jared kushner, greenblat, trump's real estate lawyer, the president himself, those are the people who have been involved in making this decision. so, while it has been a thoughtful one, it's -- it will tell if they know exactly what they're moving towards. >> we should point out, tillerson and mattis, according to my reporting, our reporting here, were against the decision but it was supported by vice president pence and nikki haley. shannon, thank you very much. thanks to eamon and richard engel, of course, peter alexander and all the rest, matt bradley. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." craig melvin picks up our live coverage right now. >> thank you. good afternoon to you from msnbc headquarters here in new york. craig melvin here. two important stories we're following at this hour. the first will be happening right there, the diplomatic

reception room at the white house. any moment, president trump will enter that room. he will step behind that podium and he is expected to potentially up-end decades of u.s. policy in the middle east. all reports suggest the president is poised to declare jerusalem as the capital of israel as well as announce his inte intention to move the u.s. embassy from tel aviv. we do not know how far he will go in this new policy. only president trump knows that. however, the mere idea that he may break with democratic and republican press sesers, that has already sparked a backlash from allies. it is also expected it could spark protests in the region as well. we're following developing events regarding the future of senator al franken. a short time ago his staff said we should expect an announcement from franken tomorrow, this after a multitude of u.s. senators called for his resignation today. that includes nine female democratic senators, four of his

male colleagues, the head of the democratic party, tom perez, and republican susan collins as well. first, though, we start with the president's decision on jerusalem. we've got an all-star roster of reporters and analysts in new york, washington, the west bank. let's start with our white house correspondent, kristen welker. what do we know about what the president is going to say? >> this is a break of decades of policy. president trump set to announce that ultimately the add mrlgs plans to move the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. now, this is a process that will take several years. it's not going to be immediate. still, it puts the process in motion. in terms of the thinking, why now, craig. we spoke to a senior administration official who said, look, bottom line is this essent