well, this, i'm glad to say is a special edition of "hardball" join me tomorrow at 7:00 eastern, see you then. a stunning conclusion to alabama's special senate race. democrat doug jones is the apparent winner, though roy moore is refusing to concede. with gillibrand, the white house defending the suggestive tweet. and terror charges filed against a suspect accused of attempted pipe bomb attack in new york city. this morning, we're learning chilling new details about his plot. good morning, everyone. it's wednesday, december 13th, i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf. well in a state where donald trump crushed hillary clinton by

28 points just 13 months ago, democrat doug jones is the apparent winner in alabama. the first democrat to win a u.s. senate race in the yellow hammer state jones, 50% of the vote to 48% of judge roy moore who trails by 21,000 votes and 2%, nearly 23,000 voters opted for a write-in candidate. now, the result will give republicans the barest of majorities in the senate with 47 democrats and two independents on one side of the aisle. and 51 republicans on the other. doug jones thanked supporters last night, take a listen. >> this entire race has been about dignity. and respect. [ applause ] this -- this campaign, this campaign has been about the rule

of law. this campaign -- [ applause ] this campaign has been about common courtesy and decency. >> now, president trump congratulated doug jones on his win. tweeting congratulations doug jones on a hard fought victory. a write-in votes played a very big factor but a win is a win. the people of alabama are great and the republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. it never ends. meanwhile, roy moore called on supporters to have patience. >> and realize when the vote is this close, it's still not over. we still got to go by the rules with this recount. part of the problem with this campaign, we've been painted in an unfavorable and unfaithful light, we've been put in a hole,

if you will, and it reminds me of a passage of psalm 40. i waited patiently for the lord. that's what we've got to do is wait on god and let this process play out. >> and alabama spiked higher than other special elections. al.com reports it reached about 40s. exit poll indicates that doug jones was powered by 96% of black voters. 74% of moderates, 61% under the age of 45 and 57% of women. >> jones won 50% of white voters. jones tighten the gap with white college graduates. and coming within seven points of moore with white college graduates who are people maim. exit poll found the split, 48% approve, 48% disapprove.

trump won the state with over 62% last year. >> joining us from alabama, msnbc's vaughn hillyard, probably the happiest person in alabama that the race is finally over. >> and there will be something else in alabama in another month or so. >> let's talk about alabamians reacting to last night's historic victory. obviously both sides will have different interpretations, but give us a sense of how it played out. >> reporter: exactly, this comes down to the way these two campaigns operated. this comes down to voters. how alabamians are going to wake up this morning. well, a good portion of the state was willing to jump over from allegiance, that being the republican party and willing vote for a democrat. understanding the implications what that may mean for the u.s. senate and important to the republicans' constituency out

here. the question we have discussed over the last weeks is whether voters would be willing to jump over again, standing outside of the polls yesterday in pierre, montgomery, there were voters expressing hesitancy, still one month after additional allegations to voting for roy moore. doug jones ran a campaign that was hard-fought. he was out on the trail from city to city. they had people out phone banking and canvassing. he talked about kitchen table issues of health care, education. trying to run as a radical centrist in the race. >> vaughan, you were at the rally, what was the mood in the room? >> reporter: it became pretty dead pretty quickly, around 10:00 p.m. is when the race was called. this is a campaign that was overly confident. i talked two nights ago with a senior campaign official who

said they thought they had the republican votes baked in. they thought they were going to have 8.5% victory. this is a team that only appeared on the campaign trail seven times in the last month. the candidate had been missing the six days prior to election eve. the room was silent. this is a republican state. people in the state wanted to vote for a republican candidate. roy moore wasn't able to bring the voters over. >> i think it was roy moore's voters who were stunned. >> i think probably the entire republican establishment. vaughn hillyard, thank you. for now to the uproar over the tweet of kirsten gillibrand. the candidate would come to my office begging for votes. and pulled from a bipartisan bible study group and told by

aides what was happening. >> it was a sexist smear attempted to silence my voice. and i will not be silenced on this issue. neither will the women who stood up to the president yesterday. and neither will the millions of women who having marching with the women's march to stand up against policies they do not believe in. >> president said that senator gillibrand would do anything for campaign contributions. many see this as a sexual innuendo. what is the president suggesting? >> i think the president is obvious. this is the same sentiment that the president has expressed before when he's exposed the corruption of the entire political system. in fact, he's used the similar terminology many times talking about politicians of both parties, both men and women, in his campaign to drain the swamp. the system is clearly broken and clearly rigged for special interests and this is one of the

reasons that this president can't be bout and that's one one of the reasons he's in today. he's talking about the way the system functions as it is. that politics repeatedly beg for money. that's not something new. and that comment, frankly, isn't something new. if you look back at past comments that this president has made, he's used that same terminology many times in reference to men. there's no way that this is sexist at all. >> is senator gillibrand owed an apology for the misunderstanding of the president's tweet this morning, many think this is about sexual innuendos. >> if your mind is in the gutter would you have read it that way. he's obviously talking about political partisan games that people often play in the political system. >> senator gillibrand was not the only senator to call on

donald trump to resign against the sexual allegations which he's repeatedly denied but she was the only woman. senator herona has added her name to that list. >> democrats in the house and senate were quick to respond to trump's tweet attempt of senator gillibrand. here's some reaction. >> that tweet was nasty. unbecoming of a president. senator gillibrand is an outstanding member of the senate. the president needs to cut it out with the tweeting. he ought to stop tweeting and start leading. >> i think what the president asked was disgusting and disgraceful, and, obviously, obviously, not true but as i said the president's words were a rejection of his own behavior. and he figured that's how people operate because that's how he operates. >> let's be clear. the president -- he's a moral

vacuum with no shame. he's not going to resign. the kind of stuff he was doing by tweet today is just beneath the office but exhibit 3,000 of that. no one realistically believes this president who has demonstrated no shame is going to resign. >> senator elizabeth warren called out the president on twitter writing are you really trying to bully, intimidate and shame senator gillibrand? do you know who you're picking on. and then senator cummings tweeted out i call on you to issue an apology. and when asked about the tweet, ernst said, no, i'd rather not, thank you. >> joining us from washington, "the new york times" reporter.

eni enish, thank you for joining. sarah sanders is obviously spinning it in the way she wants but i think we can all agree on the fact that we know exactly what the president is referring there. do you think it's different for the president this time of around? >> it's different in that we're having this national conversation about sexual harassment and sexually inappropriate behavior. and for president trump who, of course, came into office amid his own allegations of being sexually inappropriate by multiple women. it feels as though he's in some ways not only going after his democratic senator but also thumbing his nose at the whole movement. the idea that he was endorsing roy moore who was accused of molesting teenagers while tweeting this kind of baffles this. it does not help the republican party which is really not trying to make up the party with conservatives and family values while also balancing the act of

having candidates like president trump and roy moore. >> and the #me too movement. i know you've been covering it. talk to us about how congress is dealing with sexual allegations against many of its own members. how many more claims and perhaps resignations could we possibly see going forward? >> i mean, the feeling on the hill is that this is going to be sort of a purge. there are more shoes dropping. it's hard to say how many members are going to face allegations i covered the sexual harassment hearing a couple weeks ago. and they said a lot of the complaints they get is actually staff on staff. there's a whole layer of chiefs of staffs, aides, interns that have been sexually harassed. i think members are taking this serious, i think paul ryan showed that if paul ryan hears of something that feels like someone is going to have to resign, he's moving decisively

or recommending them to resign. i think blake therrien is going to be under scrutiny. a story written about how his office has a culture of that behavior. >> and let's talk about the split here between republicans and democrats. the democrat took a hot second there but they are sort of leading the charge in congress. and the republicans not necessarily doing that. how do you think this is going to impact the midterms in 2018? could democrats use this to their advantage now? >> i think democrats have made the political calculation that they were going to try to use this to their political advantage. i think the ouster of al franken, the ouster of john conyers were women in the party, bucking the leadership in a sense, saying you know what, we want this to be different. we want our party to stand and say even if these could have been in the gray area, we're not

standing for it. a lot of people talking about al franken, people feeling bad about him having to resign. and then the women were asking chuck schumer to ask him to resign. >> thank you. still ahead, much more on last night's senate race including the new back and forth fight between allies for mitch mcconnell and steve bannon. plus, the very latest on the terror attack in sneaker. we're learning details about the post that the suspect reportedly wrote before the attack. those stories and, of course, a check of your weather, when we come back.

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welcome back, everybody. the man accused of trying to carry out a terror attack in new york city has been formally charged. as we learn about a message he posted directed at the blast at president trump.

ayed ullah. recovering from burns and wounds at an area hospital posted a message to president trump on his facebook page just before his failed attack. writing, trump, you failed to protect your nation. >> now, they say that ullah's radicalization began three years ago, living here in the u.s., they say he deliberately chose rush hour with a bomb in the name of isis. president trump is using this latest terror attack in new york as an argument for immigration reform but some tough republicans disagree on his stance on the matter. >> there have now been two terrorist attacks in new york city in recent weeks carried out by foreign nationals here on green cards. the first attacker came through the visa lottery. and the second, through chain migration. we're going to end both of them.

the lottery system and chain migration. we're going to end them, fast. congress must get involved immediately and they are involved immediately. >> we have to look at the chain migration bill. but i disagree with the president on this, chain migration is not the reason for terrorism. what you need is more vetting on it. whether or not chain migration or regular migration, the fact is that people come into the country and you have to vet them. the high percentage of terrorists that come through chain migration, they go through the same process as everyone else. this is in support of the president's executive order both for the eight countries involved, and all countries, terrorism, islamist terrorism is coming from all over the world. >> and law enforcement officials have said that ulllah had not

been on its radar. and bangladesh is not one of the countries on president trump's list and neither is the attack from uzbekistan. let's get a check of the weather by nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, i feel like it's the coldest day of the season so far? >> yeah, winds picked up last night. some got 7 to 10 inches of snow in new england. they're still digging out from frigid windchills. right behind it is another snowstorm. this is a mini snowstorm. today in michigan, the weather will quickly go downhill and snow will move into areas like pittsburgh and pennsylvania. here's the snowfall forecast, this pink, purple and pink, four to six inches. that's a little striepe here. detroit could get four inches of snow in this. a lot of people driving home in the snow.

cleveland, 3 to 4 inches for you, pittsburgh, 1 to 3, and then it weaks in sections. and the poconos, and a dusting to an inch tomorrow. windchill, 10 in new york, 11 in d.c. 9 in roquanoke. pittsburgh's at 3. you get the picture. it's full heavy winter this morning. and the picture, teens in most areas but still very cold. burlington, vermont going to be blowing and wind-driven snow all day. tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m., windchill of 5, new york, 15, and it will begin to warm up. i'll mention the rest of the country looks fantastic. a little cool in the southeast. nice afternoon. and everyone in the west is mild and dry. >> ayman came in a snowsuit. he's prepared. >> one like "the christmas story" that zips all the way up?

>> all the way up. it's a one-piece. thanks. from the garden to the twin cities, a night of overnight. and why fans in green bay just received a big christmas gift a little early. louis will them us next in sports.

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we don't just help power the american dream. we're part of it. welcome back time for sports. we start with two nail-biters in the nba. sixers to timberwolves in the fourth quarter. to jimmy butler, he knocks down

the three. 38 points on the night. sixers would force overtime burying the dagger. he finishes with 28 points. sixers win this 118 to 112. and to madison square garden, lonzo ball slams down the winner. the the three-point jumper forcing the game to overtime. and kristaps porzingis towards the basket. gets the layup to go. the knicks win this one 113-109. turning to the nfl and the season win with the profile injuries one star is making his way. green bay packers quarterback aaron rodgers is making his way back. rodgers broke his collarbone on october 15th. since the injury, packers have been 3-4 with the replacement

brent hundley at the helm. rodgers is scheduled to start against carolina this sunday. good news for the green bay packers fans, i think having aaron rodgers could really help them save the season. they've had a rocky middle part of the season. >> maybe you can start in center for the jets. >> maybe. interesting take there. all right, still ahead, a roy moore spokesman stunned into silence during an awkward interview. we're going to play that exchange. plus, republicans in alabama reacting to moore's apparent defeat in last night's special election. it offers rear seat reminder, built-in 4g lte wifi... apple car play compatibility... wow... ...and teen driver technology. that's crazy... now to get all of these features, you'd need all six of those crossovers. that's insane! yep, and you still wouldn't get everything that's in this equinox. wowww... six cars in one. use your employee discount for everyone to get forty -five hundred dollars below msrp on this 2018 chevy equinox. find new roads at your local chevy dealer.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. it's the bottom of the hour. we start with the morning's stop story. in a state where donald trump crushed hillary clinton 13 months ago, democrat doug jones is the apparent winner in alabama of the first democrat to win a u.s. senate race in a yellow hammer race in quarter of a century. jones won over jump roy moore who trailed by 21,000 votes with 2%, nearly 23,000 voters opting for a write-in candidate. as a result, that would give republicans the barest of majorities in the senate with 42 democrats and two independents on one side of the aisle and 51 republicans on the other. >> a super pac aligned with majority leader mitch mcconnell pointed the blame at none other than steve bannon. the senate leadership released a

state saying this is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running. not only did steve bannon cost us a critical senate seat in one of the most republican states in the country but he also dragged the president of the united states into his fiasco. bannon was seen leaving moore's headquarters. he did not respond to questions but an aide told nbc news last night, quote, after doing everything in their power to throw this election to a liberal democrat, the mcconnell establishments should expect the same america first movement that elected the president in 2016 to be out for their blood in 2018. no sign that steve bannon is going to be backing down. joining us now from alabama is msnbc's vaughn hillyard. vaughn, you've been in alabama for a little over a month talking to voters. i know hind sight is 20/20, was

there a sense that something was coming as well? >> reporter: when you talk about 2020, we were on the ground with jones, through selma, huntsville, montgomery. at the time, we tried to articulate the fact that there was this manager behind this campaign. you saw it in signs across yards. along highways across the state. you saw it in individuals who said they never volunteered in their lives to canvas and phone-bank for him. we talked to republicans on the ground who said they never voted for a democrat in their life but this was their chance. but there's still a level of skepticism, right? donald trump a year ago received 2 to 1 margin over hillary clinton. so there's skepticism, because you knew how much of a challenge it was going to be for doug jones in order to win. but he did. he pulled out 30% of the voting share was made up of

african-american voters even though blacks make up 25% of the actual population. he also brought in an overwhelming crossover of republicans over to his side. despite us hearing all of that on the ground, there's still that level of skepticism, just because you know how much it's going to take for him to actually pull it off. >> vaughn, i'm looking ahead to 2018 and 2020, is there at all a sense that bannon and trump being involved now in the moore campaign had a negative impact? >> reporter: i think steve bannon has no interest in leaving the political arena at this point. it may contend, as they did during the last couple of weeks here was the fact that they were in for the likes of mitch mcconnell and washington stability liberals, everybody works in cahoots against their candidate against a populist message that they'd be able to pull off a victory. yet, what we saw yesterday, however, was defeat. and the president now here in

alabama a place in the country where he couldn't find any more popular, they rejected him twice. two months ago, he backed luther strange, the other republican, and they voted by roy moore by 10%. so what did he do? he came in and backed roy moore this time around, he clearly didn't move the pendulum much or enough for a victory. >> i wonder if the president is having any doubts of appoints jeff sessions as the attorney general. he's expressed his concern with jeff sessions. vaughn hillyard live for us in alabama. thank you. roy moore has received pretty of criticism and his belief that muslims should not be allowed to serve in the united states congress. yesterday, before the results came in, one of the spokespeople was asked live. watch this. >> you have to swear on the bible to be an elected official in the united states of america. he alleges that a muslim cannot do that ethically, swearing on a

bible. >> you don't have to actually swear on a christian bible, you can swear on anything, i don't know if you do that, you can swear on a jewish bible? >> no, i've sworn on the bible three times. >> i'm sure you picked a bible. the law is not that you have to swear on a christian bible. that is not the law? you don't know that? all right. ted crocker -- >> i know that donald trump did it when we made him president. >> because he's christian and he picked it. >> wow. >> speechless. >> that's a drop the mike moment. >> notably, the sixth president of the united states, john quincy adams placed his hand up on a book of law, rather than a bible when taking the oath of office. and the backlash against president trump has been swift after what many believe to be a suggest tiff sexual attack on senator gillibrand yesterday in which the president said she would, quote, do anything for campaign contributions. nbc's white house correspondent

kristen welker reports. >> reporter: facing new accusations, president trump lashing out at senator gillibrand, the first female senator calling on him to resign. righting lightweight senator jill la brand, a total flunky for chuck schumer who would come to my office begging for campaign contributions and would do anything for them. firing back -- >> it's a sexest smear attempted to silence my voice. i will not be silenced neither will the women. >> reporter: and elizabeth warren accusing president trump of slut-shaming. >> he's obviously talking about political partisan games that people often play. >> reporter: there is increasing speculation, senator jill la brand is eyeing her own bid for the white house in 2020. she's become one of the most outspoken voices on sexual assault.

gillibrand was the first senator to call on al franken to resign last week. which he did a day later. >> i am leaving. >> reporter: and infuriated some in her own party, saying president clinton should have stepped down after the lewinsky scandal. gillibrand is now calling for accusations of misconduct against the current president with four women coming forward to revive their claims of sexual misconduct against mr. trump. and now speaking out -- >> i think it's important that we hold this man to the highest of standards. >> the president denying those allegations. our thanks to kristen welker for that report. the governor now set to announce his replacement of al franken. governor mark dayton will make that announcement from the state capital. dayton has declined to answer

questions about franken's term. but the governor is scombhekted expecting to take lieutenant governor tina smith. one top republican is questioning whether franken will actually resign from the office. >> to be clear, i can't call for senator franken to step down. it was 32 democrats who called for him to step down. >> you also said it was critical for democrats to call for it? >> no, i said i was amused watching democrats apply a double standard. >> how is it a double standard, they called for senator franken to step down and he stepped down. >> well, actually, he didn't step down. >> he said he will resign. >> well, people say all sorts of words. >> you're not taking him at his word to resign? >> i think it's curious. i don't know whether he will resign or not.

>> despite senator cruz's questions of whether senator franken plans to resign. franken's office confirmed that the senator is in fact going to step down but did not offer details on a date. switching gears to robert mueller's investigation on the 2016 election it has finished interviewing. that's attorney to the attorney ty cobb who confirmed to the l.a. times saying he hopes the special mrob comeprobe brings t investigation to a conclusion. and cobb repeated that the investigation would be wrapped up has been met with skepticism from some lawmakers. meanwhile, another member of the president's legal team, attorney sekulow would like to see a special report for investigators for d.o.j. and fbi.

and back with us, yaniche, good to see you again. let's turn back to the al all-encompassing questions, do you think the results last night were a referendum on president trump for 2020 or republicans in 2018? or are we reaching here, as a referendum for roy moore? >> i think it's a referendum on roy moore. 2020 is so far away there may be a million things happen between now and then. i'm not sure it's the end-all for democrats and republicans to tell us what happens. for roy moore, this is really in some ways, voters in their own base in one of the most conservative states in the country saying we're not just going to go along party lines. and we're not going to follow you blindnessly if you essentially ignore morals and back someone who is accused

molesting teenagers. and it also shows that president trump has limits when it comes to his voice. obviously, he was for luther strange and now roy moore. both failing, i think it's a stinging motel. >> with the governor's race, he's 0 for 3 right now. let me ask you about the lessons learned out of this. what do you think democrats have learned out of this for 2018? what have republicans learned out of the alabama senate race 2018 take-aways? >> i think for republicans, they have learned that steve bannon has his limits. while he was seen as someone in touch with the base and really understood what he was doing, mitch mcconnell has said for a long time that he believes steve bannon is not very good at picking candidates and actually understanding what it's going to take to vet someone properly. i think there's pause there. for the democrats, it says two things, one, you can essentially run on the fact that you're not

your conservative opponent. democrats were wanting to say they were trying to run a race that wasn't just on referendum on trump. i think this shows they can do that. the second thing, you have to have a candidate that have real connections with people. we have talked about african-americans and for doug jones, and he prosecuted those people who showed up and killed people in a church, it showed that he wasn't just for the state but for civil rights. >> watch her coming up on "morning joe." secretary of state rex tillerson offering a new option with the standoff with north korea. he says he's willing to drama to try to get pyongyang to the negotiation table. plus, frigid temperatures are pushing their way across the country. bill karins is back with us and will have details for how long the chill will last. keyboard clacking ]

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crisis with north korea. and secretary of state rex tillerson now saying that the united states is open to talking with pyongyang with no preconditions. take a listen. >> we're ready to talk anytime north korea would like to talk. and we're ready to have the first meeting without precondition. let's just meet. and let's -- we can talk about the weather if you want. we can talk about whether it's going to be a square table or round table, if that's what you're excited about. but can we at least sit down and see each other face-to-face? it's not realistic to say we're only going to talk if you come to the table ready to give up your program. we have too much invested in it. and the president is very realistic about that as well. if there was any condition at all to this, it's that, look, it's going to be tough to talk, that if the middle of our talks you decide to test another device. it's going to be difficult to

talk in the middle of our tox and you decide to fire another one off. >> that's secretary of state rex tillerson. as you can imagine in a statement released immediately after, white house press second sarah huckabee sanders said the president's views have not changed and north korea's reactions are not good for yin. it come as the ministry defense has arrived in pyongyang. and sergey lavrov told tillerson that north korea is ready for direct talks and that russia is ready to help broker them. let's talk about the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, you stepped outside today. it is cold, especially if you're in the northeast. >> yeah, big changes after a friday mild day yesterday. cold front went through yesterday, now it's a blustery day. hat, gloves, winter coat for everyone. windchill is 11 in d.c. not much more for buffalo and it's a light fluffy snow for

buffalo to syracuse. be careful driving on the new york thruway. it's an isolated blast in the northeast. 51 in atlanta today. chilly but not bad. 52 in denver. all. west continues dry. 80, and on interesting stat, it hasn't rained in 250 days in the areas seeing the fire, the thomas fire right now. there's no sign of any rain in sight either for southern california. so, all of the act weather's in the great lakes and heading into the northeast. the next snow event beginning now in areas of minnesota and wisconsin. winter storm warnings later today for lansing and detroit. and nice snowfall. perfect for the kids later after school. lansing will get 4 to 6 inches of snow. not fun to drive in, later to play in. a light powdery snow. that snow goes through areas of

pennsylvania. a clipper-type storm. >> time to get the slides out for bill karins and his kids. >> i did it twice last week. where were you? you're using the cardboard box? >> yeah, right. they think it's great. >> thanks, bill. all right. still ahead -- markets around the world keeping a close eye on the federal reserve today as polarmakersway a potential pay hike. >> we'll get a full preview of the central bank and what it may mean for you, when we come back. here's the story of green mountain coffee roasters sumatra reserve.

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. >> welcome back. let's turn to business. an interest rate hike is expected to be announced. bill morris joins us live. what should we expect coming out of the fed meeting today? >> hello, it's a few more weeks on the job, this week, they have pencilled in three rate hikes for next year. the debate will likely continue. if they hold off on some of those, you can maintain the momentum. you can see people currently looking for jobs. we have the unemployment number the argument against that is if we do delay too long, can you see the risk of inflation returning and asset bubbles developing. we have been following this deal between disney and 20th century

fox. they are getting ever closer to a deal. disney is sizing up fox's movie studio, fx, naat geo channel and crucially huh will you the streaming service, with disney might like to compete with the likes of amazon and netflix. >> twitter announced a tool for users to tweet tweets together. how will this have an impact on the platform? how will people use it? >> reporter: i had a look at your twitter earlier, you are fought a stweet storm. >> noxious i'm not. >> it will be easier, the company says adding this new tool will allow you to thread these tweets towing. it was last month they doubled the length to 280 characters. they say it's in response to the way users use their service. if you have a complex inciteful political commentary, you want to run out a public rant about

the deficiencies in the jet's defense against the broncos, this will be a lot more straight forward for you. >> make you can take over my twitter account. i'm not very good at it. >> can we get a straight shot of louis sault st. marie face when bill told him he was looking at his twitter account. how scared he looked. >> 23-0 against the broncos? pretty bad. >> the quarterback is out. it doesn't look good. >> okay. >> let's go. wrap this up. thanks for reminding me of all that. >> all right, coming up next on "morning joe," everybody, much more on the shocking rules and doug jones' apparent victory, becoming the first democrat to win a u.s. senate race in a quarter of a century the amifications this contest may have on the mid--term elections and president trump's agenda moving forward. we are sac u talk with senator chris van hollen and

representative seth moulton. "morning joe," everyone, just moments away. more people shop online for the holidays than ever before. (clapping) and the united states postal service delivers more of those purchases to homes than anyone else in the country. ( ♪ ) because we know, even the smallest things are sometimes the biggest.

even the smallest things here's the story of green mountain coffee roasters sumatra reserve. let's go to sumatra. the coffee here is amazing. because the volcanic soil is amazing. so we give farmers like win more plants. to grow more delicious coffee. which helps provide for win's family. all, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. green mountain coffee roasters.

welcome back, everybody, before we toss it over to "morning joe," let's get a check

on the stories you will be hearing about in the day ahead. >> we start at the white house with kristen welker. >> reporter: good morning. a good day here at the white house. president trump will deliver his closing argument for tax reform. he will make the case this tax reform legislation will help the middle class. it will slash corporate tax rates. it will simplify the tax code. the reality is there are some major differences between the house and senate version and performer lawmakers coming forward and expressing concerns about the fact that it will add to the deficit, including senator rand paul t. strategy to close those gaps still not intrierly certain. but congressional leaders, republicans saying they feel very confident heading into this final push. all of this will be at the forefront today when president trump makes his final push on tax reform. >> lots to watch for, thanks to kristen welker for that report.

>> deputy general rod rosenstein is set to testify in the robert mueller investigation. they have signaled their desire to question rosenstein, following tear reports that one of his people were removed after sending anti-trump text messages. he is expected to say he is satisfied with the special council's work. preparations in new york kick into high gear with the aviation rifle of number '18 after the big ball drop. this is a live look. the tall numbers will be placed for the celebration two first half weeks away. you reserved your spot? >> i will be right there. believe me, far away. >> thank you for joining us. "morning joe" starts right now. >> the last thing i want to do is be involved in a primary. we need each and every one of you to go out, get a family, a friends the whole family. bring them out to vote for big

luther strange. >> roy moore has won the republican nomination for senate, defeating the fbt the man donald trump campaigned for, senator luther strange. >> so get out and vote for roy moore. do it. do it. >> and nbc news is now calling doug jones the apparent winner in this special senate election in alabama. >> oh, yes. president trump handed his second big political defeat. >> you are wearing crimson. >> i am, it is sweet home alabama day on "morning joe". >> no, wearing a crimson tide. >> that wasn't intentional. >> well, you know what, joe. >> you know ronald reagan, the doctor. >> the american flag. >> remember when ronald reagan's doctor said, sir, today, we ar