the gop plan for tax reform is on shaky grounds this morning. senator marco rubio is threat angle no vote and other key republicans appear on the fence. plus paul ryan eyeing an exit in 2018. denies reports he may soon be leaving congress. fcc repeals the rules on net neutrality. the regulation that ensures equal access to the internet. we're going to explain what this means for your internet speed and choice. good morning, everyone. it's friday, december 15.

had i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside louis burgdorf. tax plan is facing uncertainty days before expected vote. senator marco rubio is threatening to oppose the bill. president trump said yesterday he believes rubio will eventually get to a yes vote. >> unless they figure out a way to increase the refundable part, higher than $1100. a way they figured out a way to give corporations an extra year of cuts. the way they figured out a way to lower the top rate for a family making a million. unless they can figure out a way to add to 1100 figure, i won't support the bill. >> i think he'll be there. he's been a great guy and supportive. i think senator rubio will be there. we have tremendous support. we have tremendous spirit. it will be the largest tax cut

in the history of our country. >> we're really proud of the work that we've done already up until this point with senator rubio already doubling the tax credit. taking it to $2,000 per child. continue working with the senator. we think we made great strides and frankly pretty historic movement in the terms of the child tax credit. we're proud of that work. going to keep working with them until we get the job done. we expect to happen before the end of the year. >> the senate bill that passed includes a $2,000 tax child credit. only maximum 1100 is refundable. making much of the credit inaccessible to lower and middle income families. meanwhile, republican senator mike lee who partnered with rubio on the tax child issue is currently undecided on the bill. republicans can only afford to lose two votes. senator bob corker previously voted no over deficit concerns. there is a complicating factor. john mccain and cochran have

missed votes this week. party leaders are counting on their votes next week. federal communications has voted to end obama era net neutrality. voted 3-2 to take away rules that prohibit internet providers from blocking competitors for charging for higher quality service. met with vocal opposition from a number of people in the tech industry, consumer advocacy groups and members of congress. advocates rallied outside the fcc building during the vote. facebook, amazon, netflix are among the tech companies that oppose the rule change. supporting the decision, broad band providers, including comcast who have said they do not plan to block or slow access to any legal websites. president trump celebrated the move as one of the many roll backs from previous administrations cutting symbolic strip of red tape in a ceremony at the white house.

brink of a landmark achievement. house speaker paul ryan is reportedly eyeing exit from congress. politico spoke to three dozen unnamed source who is know the wisconsin republican spanning from lobbyists to lawmakers. reports ryan has made it known to some of the closest con if i dans that this will in fact be final terms as speaker of the house. he would like to serve through 2018 and retire a ahead of the next congress. tie up things like social security, medicaid. something he spoke about at his weekly press conference. this as the white house reacted to the report he was leaving, take a listen. >> identify long said there are two things you need to do. reform the programs. auto pilot. grow the economy, people. this is going to be the new economic challenge for america. people. baby boomers are retiring.

i did my part. we need to have higher birthrates in this country. thank you everybody; appreciate it. >> the president did speak to the speaker, not too long ago. and made sure that the speaker knew very clearly and no uncertainty terms if that news was true, he was very happy with it. the speaker assured the president those were not accurate reports and look forward to working together for a long time to come. >> reporter behind that story will be joining us later on morning joe. you don't want to miss that. joining us from washington, politico daniel litman. co-author of the politico playbook. good to have you this morning. a lot to talk about and break down. first let's ask you are the most likely candidates to step into paul ryan's shoes if and when he does exit. >> so not surprisingly, majority leader kevin mccarthy from california is a top candidate.

if if he wants a job, he stumbled at his last go at trying to become speaker. and, you know, ryan took that job. the other person is steve scalice who recovered miraculously from the shooting. if mccarthy ones, scalice has a major decision to make, does he want to challenge his friend kevin mccarthy or maybe salaries should wait a couple of years. >> let's transition and talk about the tax bill. how heavy of a lift for the gop leadership to get these holdouts. we talked about marco rubio being a no. corker being a possible know. two senators with health issues that may actually make them absent from the vote on the senate floor. >> this is a big problem for republicans because rubio and trump don't have the best history. when trump was calling him little marco, that doesn't engender a lot of goodwill will

rubio world. rubio generally believes this bill does way too much for the rich and corporations and not enough for working class families. and so i think his concerns will probably get addressed. he's just going to play some hardball to get that child tax credit expanded, but the issue is, that would increase the bill's cost by a lot of money and you have to find revenue somewhere because this bill already cost about $1.5 trillion. >> when you think of the four names i mentioned, three of them have had personal beef with president trump at some point. mccain, bob corker, and marco rubio. >> no surprise there. let's talk about the possible shutdown. why are house republicans sending a bill to the senate they know will not pass. are they playing a game of chicken with democrats you think or what. >> i think house republicans, this small segment, the freedom caucus, they are driving the train on this. this is they're familiar gamut

of kind of holding own leadership hostage and forcing the senate to do something. i don't think we're going see a shutdown because it's in no one's interest to have the government shutdown during the holidays, but house republicans want to get their priorities in -- written into law and don't want democrats to get any wins at the end of this year. >> a lot of drama to close out the year between the tax bill and this. daniel litman, we'll talk a little later on in the program. thanks for that. yesterday, standing in front of a backdrop consists of ballistic missile and other military equipment. u.n. ambassador nicky haley accused iran of violating u.n. operations. >> in this warehouse is concrete evidence of illegal iranian weapons proliferation gathered from direct military attacks on our partners in the region. behind me is an example of one of these attacks. these are the recovered pieces

of a missile fired by militants from yemen into saudi arabia. the missile's intended target was a civilian airport. all of these weapons include parts made in iran. some by iran's government run defense industry. the evidence is undeniable. the weapons might as well have had made in iran stickers all over it. >> addressed some next steps without getting too far. repealing part of the step of declassifying the missile. >> the nuclear deal has done nothing to moderate the regime's conduct in other areas. where do we duofrgo from here? i think the president made the first start by decertificat dec iran deal.

yes, we have already started to talk to partners in the security counsel. >> in a statement, the iranian government says it, quote, categorically rejects the accusations as unfounded, irresponsible, provacative and destructive. adding this evidence is as fabricated as some presented on other occasions as part of an agenda. perhaps eluding to that, foreign minister also tweeted this out. when i was based at the united nations, i saw the show and what it had along with the picture of then secretary of state powell. turning now to another overseas crisis in the state department says is on the same page at the white house. any talks with north korea would have to be predicated on the goal of denuclearization. that appears to be in contrast to comments made by the man in charge of that agency. secretary of state rex tillerson who said earlier this week that the u.s. is open to talks with no preconditions saying they

could talk about the weather or the shape of the table as long as they sit down face-to-face and that it is not realistic to only talk in north korea agrees to end nuclear program. meanwhile, north korea says that should the u.s. enforce a naval blockade which has been alluded to, but not specifically proposed by the administration, the dprk would take assault measures against the violation of sovereignty in a quote, act of war. still ahead, new allegations of sexual misconduct against powerful men of entertainment in the media. later, what we are learning about reality television star turned trump aide omarosa's exit from the white house. bill karins is here for a check on weather when we come right back.

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welcome back. new allegations of some of the most powerful men in media. publically fighting back against the claims. new accusations surfaced against nbc matt lauer. kate snow has the very latest. >> on instagram, russell summons was defiant. today i begin to properly defend myself. nine more women accuse ed simmo of a wide range of misconduct. i shut my eyes and waited for it to end. tina baker told "new york times." adding simmons said don't fight me. two weeks ago, simmons stepped back from running business empire after two other women accused him of rape. simmons is denying the allegations. vowing to share evidence of his innocence. and to contrast the popular hashtag writing not me. it's clear this has gone too

far. i for one intend to fight back. >> travis smaly smiley on offe variety reports expressed concern their employment status was linked to the status of a sexual relationship with smiley. >> pbs launched so-called investigation of me without ever telling me about it. smiley added if having a consensual relationship with a colleague years ago is the stuff that leads to this kind of public humiliation and personal destruction, heaven help us. >> yes is now if there's too much blurring of the lines. we don't want to find the assaulters are somehow blurring into other guys. >> before she joined the army. worked at the "today" show. in july 2000, when she was about to leave nbc. she says lauer began sending her

flattering messages. then invited her to his dressing room. it was a consensual encounter, but she was 24. he was one of the most powerful men in the company. even though my situation was consensual. i ultimately felt like a victim because of the power dynamic. nbc news declined to comment on the story. matt lauer has been terminated for inappropriate behavior in the workplace. >> spokesman for matt lauer said he has no additional comment at this point. reviewing the allegations against russell simmons. new allegations against actor dustin hoffman. one woman accused exposing himself to her when she was a minor. did not share the story of 1980 encounter with hoffman until seven years after it occurred. two other women have accused the man of assault. representatives have called the accusations defamatory

falsehoods. let's get a check on weather. bill, a late coastal snowstorm for the northeast. >> glancing blow. catch a lot of people maybe surprise when they see the forecast. offshore a little more. little bit closer to areas like d.c., baltimore, philadelphia and new york. here's the scenario. it's very cold. plenty cold enough to get any snow to stick from the great lakes all the way through areas of new england. windchill 23 in d.c. zero in vermont right now. winter weather alerts. under winter weather advisories. washington, d.c., baltimore, dover. atlantic city and eastern portion of long island. cause winter weather headlines. 15 million people in the advisories. right now crystal clear in the region. no storm on the map whatsoever. later today we see it developing. 7:00 a.m., let's fast forward. blue shows you where the storm is. right over philadelphia. back to new york. 5:00 p.m. shifts to southern new england.

11:00 p.m. it's almost completely gone. very light snow. so cold, untreated surfaces will accumulate. if you're driving home from work and you're on secondary roads or untreated roads, it will be a little slippery. here's the updated snow cast snowfall. not a lot of snow. just the timing of it right during the late afternoon into the early evening that's going to make i-95 a little bit slick. lake effect enharness ehanced s. grand rapids possibly 1-2 inches of snow. no big headlines. flights and roads. won't have any cancellations. could have problems and slowdowns. today's forecast. the cold is mostly in the great lakes. look how nice it is today for mid december. oklahoma city, 52. dallas at 57. denver another great day. 60 degrees. even la. still warm in southern california and the fire flaring up overnight.

new evacuations for the fiarea. if you have a flight this afternoon, ayman, anyone we know has a flight. >> thanks for giving away my travel plans. >> we have 100 million people traveling in the next week or so ahead of christmas and the new years. a lot of people are going to be watching. >> the worst will be this afternoon. >> especially heading down south. >> yes, just for you. still ahead, all the highlights from thursday nights football. plus, new rumors about where king james may play in 2018. lakers fans, listen up. sports is next. and that's win's goat, adi. the coffee here is amazing. because the volcanic soil is amazing.

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his diving headfirst into the zone for the score. also throw 194 yards: two touchdowns, connecting with cody and jeff. looking like plays. took this one 54 yards for the score with the spark. the broncos come back to win this one, 25-13. let's switch now to nba to cavaliers lakers matchup. is lebron going to los angeles next year? who knows. seems to have a rapport with alonso ball. both showing what they do best on the court. ball would score 13, hitting several threes in areas which he struggled this season. lebron equals power. slams dunk got toms excited to play with the king there. get a triple double. ball, a double, double: cavs win this one. 121-112. post game conversation is now

sparking a lot of rumors. both montgomery on what was said there. i guess it's confirmed lebron to la. just kidding. going to have to wait and see on that one. turning to the olympics. russian president vladimir putin accused the government from manipulating evidence from the main whistleblower at 2014 sochi olympics. putin questioned the testimony of former chief whose testimony was utilized by the international olympic committee to ban russia from 2018 olympic games. saying because he is in the federal witness protection program in the u.s. that the anti-doping director is under the control of the american special services. fled the u.s. fearing own safety. for life including six women from the hockey team. >> that's a lot of drama there in la between the cavs and the lakers. a lot of excitement. a lot of people waiting to see

what going to happen with lebron james. you think he's going to make the move. >> you can tell, even that little conversation. >> creates a lot of buzz. >> the other thing is this. the lakers would have serious star power between the two of them. i wonder whose team it would be. it's still lebron james's team. >> definitely. i think wherever lebron goes, it's his team. >> i wonder if his father is excited about that move. >> wait and sure. i'm sure he won't be quiet long. a phone call between vladimir putin and russian president's end of year news conference. plus, much more on the republican party's race to pass tax reform before the end of the year. will it happen? we'll be right back. republicans are still working on tax bill. paul ryan even tweeted out own version of.

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welcome back, everyone.

ayman mohyeldin alongside louis burgdorf. let's start with top stories for you. white house says president trump spoke with vladimir putin by phone yesterday hours after putin once again sided with trump over the russia investigation. in his year end news conference, putin said the metaling investigation was invented by trump's opposition as a way to delegitimize trump's work. the white house thanked his counter part for acknowledging america's strong economic performance and the two discussed working together to solve the crisis with north korea. the chairman of the senate judiciary committee said he wants a special second counsel. not for the same reason as republican colleagues who is are trying to discredit robert mueller's investigation. senator chuck grassley has confidence in his ability to carry out the russia investigation, but advised the special counsel to be more transparent, adding, quote, when you have conflict of interest, there's going to be less embarrassment if you tell people right away. and new mandatory evacuations have been ordered in

the phil mother areafilmore are identified the firefighter killed in the line of duty yesterday as 32-year-old cory iverson. he and his team were battling a fire in the same area where the new evacuation orders have just been issued. this morning the republican plan for tax reform facing new uncertainty. party leaders are scrambling to lock down enough votes to pass the legislation before christmas, but, key senators are withholding support. nbc casey hunt has all the details. >> reporter: senator marco rubio now threatening to vote no, unless republican leaders agree to give american families a bigger child tax credit. >> unless they can figure out a way to add to 1100 figure. i won't support the bill. >> reporter: senator mike lee is also undecided because of the child tax credit and senator bob corker is still a no on the bill

because they can only lose two votes. that means republicans could be at risk of falling short of the 50 votes they need to pass the bill. the president confident rubio will come around. >> he's been a great guy. very supportive. i think senator rubio will be there. >> vice president mike pence who has already had to cast six tie breaking votes in the senate this year. the senate being equal divided. >> delaying a trip to the middle east. in case they need him this time. also cochran. and john mccain fights brain cancer. now hospitalized and absent from senate this week. >> all about timing and managing absences in the senate. >> reporter: with time runs out for the president and his party to make good on any major campaign promise before the year is out. >> thanks to nbc casey hunt for that report. back with us from washington is politico daniel litman co-author

of politico playbook. we heard at the end there, it's all about managing the absences in the senate. let's look at what's happening in the senate. doug jones, democratic coming in. heard the democrats say they want to delay is vote until he's seated. two senators, bob corker, rubio, possibly a no. then you have the health factor of two senators who may be absent when it comes to the vote. a lot of volatility here. >> kind of like a perfect storm. this is what happens when you leave legislative sausages making to the last minute to the holiday season. these types of things will happen. we all knew there was going to be a special election in alabama. and remember steve mnuchin and gary cohen talking about getting tax reform done in august or

october. deadlines kept being pushed back. republicans need a win. they're going to ram this through if need be. >> we keep hearing there are more stories about allegations of misconduct by members of congress. what are you hearing about these new developments and could we see a major turnover in congress as a result of some of these investigations because i think by my count, we've at least see three members of congress, john conyers, al franken and others dire affected by this directly. >> this is kind of the talk of the hill. everyone is swapping stories about which member or which chief of staff you know have had these allegations against them. sot this is going to probably prompt a cultural change on the hill where you havhave newer members who are millennials and

don't do any of this crazy stuff that some of the old white male members have done in terms of viewing going after young women or interns for their own desires. >> we're going to need a cultural revolution on capitol hill in that regard. let me ask you really quickly before you go, what do you have for us in playbook today. >> sure. we have a fun spot of ohio democratic congressman. tim ryan. rising star in the party. probably wants to be president or speaker one day. yesterday spotted having lunch at the national democratic club in d.c. having lunch with frank luntz. >> i think if we see a field like we did for the republicans in 2016, his name will probably be on that list of maybe a dozen or so democrats considering a run for the white house. >> 100%. >> thank you very much.

representative tim ryan will be on morning joe later today. hear from him directly. he's coming up in just a little bit. senate republicans set a new record confirming president trump's 12th circuit court judge. vote gives trump the record for most circuit court judges confirmed in office. outpacing john f. kennedy and nixon who previously shared the record. chuck grassley celebrated the vote proud to say the judiciary and senate made history confirming the 12th circuit judge this year. the most in the first year of any president in the 228 year history of our country. now, trump however has a long road ahead with 144 judicial vacancies left to be filled. let's turn to business. rolled back net neutrality rules on a party line vote. dismantling regulations to treat all site traffic and speeds equally. cnbc joins us live from london. what does this mean for the internet and how soon will the

impact of this decision be felt. >> morning, louis. despite a lot of resistance. they did in fact end up repealing the net neutrality rules. rules put there in the first place to bar the servicers from blocking or slowing down access to certain content from particular users on the internet. and dismantling the rules is a move that says essentially this could lead to more control to the telecom and web service providers themselves. obviously many people were against it. democrats and people from hollywood and companies themselves such as google and alphabet very much against dismantling the rules. surveying "washington post" over the weekend shows even 75% of republicans were against dismantling the fcc and net neutrality rules. let me bring you to a new story. disney has made an agreement to buy the film, television and international businesses from the 21st century fox sports for

a $52 billion in stock. merger give disney digital assets to help it better compete against streaming networks such as amazon and netflix. shares reacted well to the news and traded up on the announcement yesterday. this is the largest deal that disney has done. of course add to mr. iger's legacy given he has done so much in acquiring other legacies such as pixar. now a major drug manufacturer has announced widespread job cuts on a global scale. what can you tell us about that. >> yes, so tee have a is the israeli pharmaceutical company. best known for making multiple sclerosis drug.

also set to introduce a generic drug to combat multiple she row sis investors seemed to like it. the stock closed out 10% thursday. >> live from london. thanks so much. still ahead, new developments in the me too movement from the world of politics entertainment and news. we're going have the very latest allegations plus vincent velasquez being ousted from the white house. omarosa tries to extend moment in spotlight. former reality show villan cl m claims she has a profound story about her time in the white house. why won't she tell it now? we'll explain in a moment. after chief of staff fired omarosa, she apparently tried to barge into the private residence. secret service agent stopped her while others said, i want to see how this plays out. omarosa went on good morning america today to give her side of the story, but robin roberts had interesting parting words.

>> i don't know if she's ever going to have relations with him again. fourth time could be the charm. >> said she has a story to sell. i'm sure she'll be selling that story. >> we'll see. >> >> meanwhile, trump was like i thought her name was omarosa. is it fe lee sha? [ keyboard clacking ] [ click ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ]

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made sexually graphic jokes as well. earlier this month, nbc confirm n ed that the texas republican had used $84,000 taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment claim with a staffer. acknowledged creating an unprofessional workplace in a video posted last night. >> i allowed a workplace cult

yo -- cult your that was -- behavior that was less than professional. i allowed the personal stress of the job to manifest itself into angry outburst and too often a failure to treat people with respect that they deserved. >> in a briefing yesterday, house speaker paul ryan was asked if he should step down immediately instead of announcing he won't run for re-election. here's what he had to say. >> i had a couple of conversations yesterday. i think he's making the right decision to retire. there are new stories that are very disconcerting. unacceptable behavior has been alleged in those stories and i think he's made the right decision he's going to be leaving dwreleave leaving congress and that reflects some of the conversation we had. >> also reports new accusation against actor dustin hoffman. one woman accusing him of exposing himself to her in a hotel room when she was a minor. did not share the story of 1980

encounter until seven years after it occurred. two other women have come forward accusing hoffman of assault. called the allegations defamatory falsehoods. meanwhile the founder of deaf jams records, russell simmons has been accused of wide range sexual misconduct. "new york times" reports four more women have come forward accusing simmons of using vulgar language and assault. with three of the women alleging simmons raped them. according to the times. simmons denied the claims saying quote, these horrific accusations have shocked me to my core and all of my relationships have been consensual. new york police department now reviewing information regarding those allegations. and matt lauer is facing new sexual misconduct allegations after a former today show product assistant told variety she had a consensual sexual workplace relationship with him in july of 2000 when lauer -- when she was just 24 years old and lauer much older.

collins said lauer sent her flattering messages and invited her to his dressing room. nbc news declined to comment on the variety story. spokesperson for lauer said he has no further comment. he has been terminated by nbc for inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace. reality television star turned trump aide omarosa sat down for second interview last night. continued to dispute reports she was fired by chief of staff john kelly and yesterday white house backed up claim she resigned. here's omarosa in an interview that aired last night describing final conversation with john kelly. >> was it a tense conversation. >> absolutely. because i raised issues that i had concerns. i had some grave concerns. >> what kind of concerns. >> i talked to him about some concerns that i had about issues about one very urgent issue and pressing issue that would affect the president in a big way.

>> many people feel that the president at worst is a racist and at best is a sympathizers for white supremacist. is he. >> donald trump is racial. he's not a racist. yes, i will acknowledge many of the exchanges, particularly in the last six months have been racially charged. do we then just stop and label him as a racist? no. >> one correction, that interview aired on abc last night. former white house aide claims she has a profound story to tell, but can't share it until after her official last day which is january 20. when asked why omarosa would be on the payroll for another month, white house press secretary referred the questions to hr. let's get a check on the weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. a surprise snowstorm in the works in the northeast. >> minor event. enough to call a lot of people delays. one to two inches of snow in d.c. baltimore, philadelphia, new

york. isn't a big deal in the middle of winter, but when it's right at the time of evening rush hour. that's why we're paying attention to it. also last weekend in buffalo, huge snowstorm. been snowing on and off in buffalo all week long. have to get rid of the snow before the game. dolphins coming to town on sunday. hiring people to go in there. imagine trying to shovel out a whole stadium. $11 an hour. here's the perk. you get a free ticket to the game. good luck to them mpk. the event louis was talking about. white shows accumulating snow. that's new york, trenton, philadelphia, atlantic city. baltimore, d.c. very minor snow event. rhode island, connecticut. and massachusetts timing is late this afternoon. driving home in the snow in that area. also a little bit of snow. also off of lake michigan. the other thing that happened

overnight. stubborn thomas fire. largest ever in december flared up overnight. red flag warnings continued. still dry. still hasn't rained. wind are going to be 20-30-mile-per-hour today. all the way from central to southern california. this weekend, santa ana winds expected to kick up on sunday. no other real big travel concerns out there. bit of light rain in the northwest. wait to see what happens on sunday. santa ana winds could kick up 50-60-mile-per-hour winds. >> they are not getting a lucky break out there in california at all. >> no. >> are you heading straight to buffalo bills stadium afterwards. >> i've been there during a snowstorm. it's a fun place to be. >> irony is they are playing the dolphins. still ahead. senator lindsey graham says there's a 30% chance president trump attacks north korea. get a live update as the

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. inside north korea, one of kim jong-un's koreas is thought to be second if command has not been seen in public for at least two months. you can imagine that is causing speculation, he may have been executed. joining us from beijing, coin, news correspondent, janice, good

to have you with us. was this a part of a power struggle? if so, what does it say about the north korea politic, something we don't have a lot of access to. >> reporter: well, that's exactly it, aymon, trying to verify any disappearances inside, if is a difficult tack. it's also not unprecedented for there to be speculation about a high ranking official and his fate. only to have him show up at an event. but intelligence officials in south korea do monitor the regem very closely for any changes in behavior or in the make-up of the people around kim jong-un in order to get a read on the stability of the regime. it was back in november that these intelligence officials told the parliament if south korea that they believe that kim jong-un was auditing his general political bur ro. and that would be a first in 20 years in north korea. they think that vice marshall

wong, who is a top aide, who was accompanying kim jong-un to many of the recent weapons sites, may be among the officials who was published. he hasn't been seen if public since the 13th of okay. his name on the list of officials has dropped down below those of several others, in the art of decoding kim's move, that could mean something. so you add this speculation to what is already a confused situation and fixed signals coming out of walk and people are wondering how to connect the dots. ayman. >> certainly, a lot of intrigue there, thank you for that janice. and a nuclear threat facing the continental united nations has led one governor to issue a dire warning. the democratic governor of washington easily within reach of north korea's ballistic missiles. he fears president trump will quote ignore the constitution and start a preemptive war with north korea. representing a quote clear and

present danger to american democracy coming up next on "morning joe," one of the reporters who had all of washington wondering about paul ryan's future at house speaker, we will talk about the wisconsin republican's reported exit strategy. also, reporting, tim ryan and john delaney, we'll get their thoughts on the tax bill moving full speed ahead until hitting a few speed bumps to say the least yesterday. another packed morning of "morning joe," everyone, 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

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right. welcome back. before we toss it over to "morning joe," let's get a quick look at the stories we hear about ahead, we will talk to ed lee, who died suddenly of a heart attack t. mayor will lie in state today and a memorial service will be held on sunday president trump delivers remarks at the fbi national academy graduation, less than two weeks after claiming the bureau's reputation is the worst in history. >> the wait is finally over, "star wars" the last jedi is opened in theaters. last night it was expected to bring in a mere 45 million.

final numbers are expected this morning. >> what do you say we go to a 9:00 matinee? >> i already bought my tickets off fandango. >> "morning joe" starts right now. >> republicans are still working on their tax bill and paul ryan even tweeted out his own version of 'twas all the t fight before christmas and changed the words and trump heard ab it. ejust released his own version. take a look at this. >> 'twas the night before christmas in washington, d.c. and not a person was working, but especially not me. when all of a sudden there came a loud bing bing bong and i went to go outside to see what was wrong. and there was st. nicholas who started to say, merry christmas to all and god bless the united state states. >> all right. me