hey there, i'm alex witt in new york. it is 2:00 p.m. in the east and 11:00 a.m. in the west. we have breaking news, russian president, vladimir putin calling president trump a short time ago. new details coming in about what they talked about. bach shell accusation, president trump's transition team claiming the special counsel unlawfully obtained

thousands of private e-mails in the russian investigation. robert mueller's team is firing back. early christmas president? president trump staunching the gop tax bill. >> this is going to be a great gift for the middle income people that they have ever gotten for christmas. >> critics agree, it is a gift, for the rich. it's like a lump of coal for working class americans. let's go to jeff bennet standing by at the white house. good sunday to you, jeff. this is the second time that these two men, as we talk about our president's trump and putin, speaking in four days. what do we know about this call? >> reporter: that's right, alex, good afternoon. it was their second conversation since thursday. during that call, russian president, vladimir putin, mentioned the strength of the u.s. stock market as an example of one of president trump's successes. the white house said president trump thanked putin for the remarks.

flash forward to today. we learned putin called president trump, who is spending the weekend at camp david to thank him for a tip from the cia that thwarted a terrorist attack planned in st. petersburg. this account is according to the kremlin. the call, itself, was confirmed by white house spokeswoman sarah sanders, but we are awaiting the readout, the white house characterization of the phone call. putin told trump the information provided by the cia allowed them to track down and detain suspects planning to bomb a major cathedral in st. petersburg. the kremlin says putin asked trump to pass along his gratitude to the cia. that is what we are learning from the russian side. at this point, we have to urge caution about reading too much into it. we don't know the kremlin's motives for praising this kind of cooperation between the two

countries. we have yet to learn the details from the call coming. we hope to hear from them soon. >> i believe sarah sanders will provide readout soon. jeff, we'll stand by for that. thank you. joining me now is david jolly, the former congressman from florida. also, director of the law program at george mason university and michael mccal, the former ambassador to russia. it's good to see all of you. i want to go first to you, david. you tweeted today, ironic that russian president putin has the courtesy to thank trump for their good work while u.s. president trump undermines and slams their work. you want to elaborate on that? what do you want to make of this call? >> that is accepting the

kremlin's read. our own intelligence community, given the fact donald trump slams and undermines our intel community. it is ironic. it does speak to a broader issue here and the ambassador knows this well. diplomacy and intelligence sharing require as steady hand and consistency from the u.s. government. it is a lack of consistency we have seen from this government. we need to hold russia accountable. we can do that having some type of relationship in the intel world working with them on north korea, the middle east and others. trump's policy when it comes to international relations, particularly russia creates these ironic moments. >> is the ambassador's audio hooked up? we are having issues. >> we are now. >> i'm glad to have you here. how unusual is this for an

american president and the president of russia to discuss, at this level, about a potential terror plot. something comes out of the kremlin publicly before we hear anything out of the white house. >> well, that's the part that's unusual, right? most certainly, when i worked in moscow and the white house for three years on the national security council, responsible for russia, regarding terrorist attacks, we have mutual interests and coordination. at the highest levels, from time-to-time, we are in contact with each other. it's quite unusual for it to be in the public, however. that, i think, is quite different from previous administrations. >> okay. what would president putin get out of this? talk about political strategy, trying to influence in some way, he puts this out, saying thank you to these, well, the intelligence community, which we know is investigating collusion

with russia during the election. >> so, again, it's very unusual. i don't recall a time i was in government when he went out of the way to thank the intelligence communities. oftentimes, they are at odds with each other. i think, if you listen back to president putin's four-hour press conference, i confess, i didn't listen to the whole thing, i listened to the top line pieces. he has hope the united states and president trump can cooperate with russia. he blames what he calls the deep state and uses that phrase for getting in the way of that. one might theorize the united states and russia can work together, including those people in the deep state, the so-called deep state, i reject that category, but he uses it, are at odds with closer cooperation with russia. >> do you think this can happen while the u.s. remains

confiscated the two properties that belong to russia? they have yet to be returned. it was instigated at the end of the obama era last year. >> it's difficult. we are at a very difficult time with the u.s./russia relations. you have to go deep into the cold war to remember a time it was this confrontational. we had lots of confrontation. i think that's what putin is hoping for moving forward. >> thursday, during the annual press conference, putin praised trump's handling of the u.s. economy and president trump called to thank him. now, this phone call today. what do you make of the timing of the two calls? >> it's interesting. you almost feel a bromance going on between the two of them. this isn't the first time a u.s. president sought to help relations with russia.

you saw it during the obama administration where they reset or tried to engage a reset. it's not unusual. with all the other stuff going on, this close relationship you see developing is interesting. we'll see what comes of it. >> i'm curious where you come down on the two sides. some say president trump is too cozy or trying too hard to cozy up to putin. others say it's good if they work together going forward. where do you come down and why? >> we can always have pockets of cooperation with russia, but shouldn't deny the fact russians are engaged around the world, in the middle east or ukraine or other places or trying to influence our confidence here at home. russia is not an ally, doesn't mean we can't cooperate. to be sure, they are not a friend of the united states. >> what do you make of this mueller investigation? >> listen, i think what vladimir putin did today was simply a one

upsmanship by releasing the readout first. donald trump will declare success with this. this is something donald trump will say, listen, we should have a good working relationship and get past the fact he called our intelligence community hacks and liars. somehow he's brought reform. as you mentioned on the mueller investigation, all things lead back to the mueller investigation. what we are seeing in congress is a bit of a side show, questioning his credibility. mueller is dealing with the matters of law and fact, not politics. he will have the final say in this. >> ambassador, if you are able to speak because you just coughed, i'm curious about russia's intelligence agency. do you find it odd that they would not have known about this plot to bomb, let me look, a station there in st. petersburg, a cathedral. >> they are first class, most

certainly. we, in the past, have worked with them before. i was the u.s. ambassador during the sochi olympics. we had a lot of coordination with terrorist threats then. but we have incredible intelligence capabilities around the world, including in that part of the world. this is the right thing to do. i want to be clear about that. with respect to terrorism, if we can work together to thwart terrorist attacks, we should do so. that doesn't mean, however, that we have all the rest of the relationship in order. that doesn't mean we shouldn't be sanctioned in russia for intervening, an exing territory in ukraine and, you know, moving forward. we need to be sure we don't confuse one, you know, short term cooperation on terrorism for a signal that everything in the u.s./russia relationship is back on course in some way, it isn't. >> david, in something like this, we get this read out, but,

of course, they are going to be suspects or anybody, perhaps, in the spy community, if you will, look and think, can we take it on its face value? there's more than meets the eye here, in what we are hearing in what the kremlin told us? >> of course. i think anybody who has been in the arena understands this is a bit of a chess game going on, no question about it. russia acted contrary to the u.s. in the election and continues to do so on matters of national security in the middle east. i think what they are trying to figure out, what type of target is donald trump. can he be manipulated with flattery or by president putin saying congratulations on the economy. thank you for fixing the cia to assist us on this. that's the relationship we are seeing develop. whether or not it's a bromance, we will see. the relationship might undermine the security if donald trump

does not act with more responsibility. >> all right, gentlemen. guys, thank you so much, preernt it. >> thank you. a new bombshell accusation by the trump administration to discredit the russia investigation is next. helping or hurting? a new report says the president plans to spend much of next year campaigning for republicans in the midterms. will he turn voters out or away? our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. call us or your advisor... t. rowe price. invest with confidence. moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis was intense. my mom's pain from i wondered if she could do the stuff she does for us which is kinda, a lot. and if that pain could mean something worse. joint pain could mean joint damage. enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop further damage enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections,

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special counsel robert

mueller coming under fire. the trump transition team accusing him of illegally obtaining tens of thousands of private e-mails. the president's legal team sent a letter to congress, which was published by politico raising questions about attorney/client privilege and violating the fourth amendment and protects against unlawful search and see sure. the mueller team saying we have secured either the account owner's consent or appropriate criminal process. all this after republicans have been laying the groundwork to discredit the special counsel investigation. >> i think the public trust in this whole thing is gone. so, you have two things you can do. you are the guy in charge. you could disban the mueller prosecutor and do what we all called for, appoint a second special counsel to look into this. >> this is disgusting,

unaccountable bias. there's no way that could not affect a person's work. >> how, with a straight face, can you say this group of democrat partisans are unbiased? >> what do you have to see in terms of the actions of people with demonstrated bias against the president of the united states before you will appoint a special counsel to investigate the clear bias that has infected this investigation? >> i want to bring in a panel to break this down. richard painter, the former chief ethics lawyer and maya harris, political and legal contributor. with a welcome to you both, we'll go ladies first here, maya. the trump team is trying to delegitimize this? do they have valid points here? >> that is exactly what they are trying to do. this is another baseless attempt to cast a shadow over the investigation. when you look at what happened here, in particular the e-mails at issue.

they were residing on a government server. it's not a surprise that was the case because they all had .gov addresses. they indicated when the transition teams decided to use the infrastructure of the gsa, they were told and had to agree, that information could be turned over in the context of a law enforcement action. so, there really is no surprise here or any basis for thinking that in the context of the mueller investigation, that these e-mails would be with held and not turned over. certainly, what we know by all accounts about robert mueller is he is a by the book, straight shooting, very experienced, credible prosecutor. there's no reason to believe that there was any otherwise unlawful conduct here. according to the statement you just showed from his office, when they obtained e-mails in the past, they have done it one

of two ways to get the owner of the account's consent or to follow a proper criminal process, which could be a subpoena or other effort to legally obtain the e-mails. i don't think there's any reason to think there's anything unlawful that happened here. ultimately, this is about casting a shadow on the investigation. >> what do you think it's about, richard? the suggestion is it's more politics as opposed to legally. i had several people on the broadcast who said this letter they point out was sent to congress, not robert mueller's team. it didn't have a lot of legal discussion of charges that were going to be brought against mueller's team. as you look at this in totality, what is this all about? >> what's going on here is the members of congress want to carry president trump in

attacking robert mueller. it's not going to work. mueller is a republican. he was appointed by a republican deputy attorney general, rob ro rosen stein. he was appointed by president trump. an adversary in connection with the 2016 election. that's what's being investigated. members of congress continue to make this type of fuss are making themselves look vulnerable to this type of inquiry. there are serious questions about russian al garks. a second special counsel ougt to look into that. mueller doesn't have time to deal with the hundreds of congressional campaigns going on. these are very defensive about robert mueller. none of the claims have basis. those e-mails were already in the possession of the united

states government, transition teams. our tax dollars are used to fund the transition team. obviously, robert mueller didn't get hold of those. i have never seen such arguments with executive privilege or the rest of it. i want to emphasize, the members of congress are going to be in serious trouble in the 2018 election if they keep behaving this way. i have been a republican 30 years, but we could lose both houses of congress very quickly. right now, they look like they are fronting for vladimir putin and whoever collaborated with the russians. >> in terms of delegitimizing robert mueller and his future, i want to listen to what jackie spears said on friday. >> the rumor on the hill, when i left yesterday, was the president was going to make a significant speech at the end of next week. on december 22nd, when we are out of d.c., he was going to fire robert mueller.

>> that is certainly out there in the either, maya. you have white house special counsel, ty cobb telling us there is no consideration of replacing the special counsel and mark short speaking with chuck todd earlier. do you think the president will fire him before the end of the year? >> it's hard to say. the only thing that is predictable about donald trump is his unpredictability. i think there is cause for concern. it only takes one, you know, really negative headline for him to feel threatened or have his finances exposed for him to, you know, fly off the handle. as you have seen with representative speer and adam schiff, the ranking democrat on the house intelligence committee, this week, express concern of not only are the concerns expressed about finding mueller, he expressed concern that the house intelligence committee investigation may be shut down. i think that it is possible. i think that it is a concern.

i do not think it would be politically smart for him to fire mueller, particularly after indictments have started to come down, which would suggest there's an effort to obstruct justice and the effort to stop investigation that could be getting close to him or his family or inner circle. i do not think it would be politically smart. he would be at risk of public support. i think the question is, were he to do or take that step and actually fire mueller, what would republicans do. would they actually stand-up as some previously said in the past, if he were to take that step, there would be a huge outrage in congress given the actions we are seeing republicans taking now to be complicit in. the real question is, what would they do if he took the step to fire mueller. >> the question to ask you,

richard, what happens to the investigation? do we need to look no further than jim comey because that investigation continues. >> if he fires mueller on december 22nd, we have to have a house and senate judiciary committee meeting on the 23rd, christmas eve and christmas day. if we don't get mike pence in by new year's, we are going to have a disaster for the republican party. a constitutional crisis in this party. we are not going to take time off at christmas or new years. we are going to have to get him out of the white house. we cannot tolerate that from this president. this is not water gate. this is worse. this involves collaboration with a foreign adversary to disrupt our democracy. if he takes that step, he's going to have to be out of there licketty split. i hope he doesn't do that. >> that is a big if. we have others within the administration say it is not going to happen. we stay watching, that's for

sure. it's good to have you boast on for this discussion. thank you very much. president trump was not able to help roy moore win the special election in alabama. that's not stopping him from campaigning for other republicans. new plans on the midterms and what republicans think about it, next. for your heart... your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain health supplement in drug stores nationwide. prevagen. the name to remember.

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after the surprising upset in alabama that gave democrats a much needed political victory, the white house is planning a large scale campaign to back the gop candidates in the midterm election. the president told advisers he wants to travel extensively and hold rallies and is looking forward to spending much of 2018 campaigning. does the white house run the risk of polarizing down ballot races putting the president out there on the campaign trail? here is doug jones this morning on fox news sunday. >> health care, education, jobs, the economy, trying to get a living wage. that is what people responded to. whether it's democrats or republicans, i think people have to focus on those issues, not just depend on whether or not there's going to be a straight ticket voting. >> let's bring in the author of "the washington post" reporter,

josh and former u.s. attorney for alabama, joyce. it's good to have you both here. josh, i want to go first to you, relative to the report, which you mentioned white house aides are planning meetings with candidates from around the country, but you look at the president's low approval ratings, there's a certain amount of risk in this strategy, don't you think? >> sure. david axelrod said he was turbo charging the opposition and that nothing was bringing out democrats to the polls more than president trump. president trump's advisers say to us, listen, h he's very popular among republicans, particularly in gop primaries. in the alabama race, he brought out republican turnout. they think he can be a helpful tool. with the tax cut, he has a chance. the president has historically low approval ratings right now. it's a risky strategy, if you are a republican in a swing state or somewhere where you

need independent votes or to cross the aisle to bring president trump in. >> i just want to continue with what david axelrod told you, he torques up both sides but is the greatest organizing tool democrats could have. roy moore was a pro-trump candidate on the issues. can republicans continue to nominate controversial candidates in these general elections? that's the question, josh. >> it's hard to say. in a lot of places mitch mcconnell is calling for more modera moderate candidates to win. you have to get through the primary. you have steve bannon and forces on the right who want nationalists, more extreme candidates. the challenge for luther strange, who would have won the alabama election by all accounts over doug jones according to the polls and the numbers we have seen, he can win a general, but can he get through a primary?

that's the question. >> the president has not let anyone know he initially supported strange, not moore. joyce, i want to look at the results from today's nbc news/wall street journal poll, 50% on democratic controlled congress. 39% want a republican controlled congress. the last time this shows was september 2008. how do you interpret these numbers now? >> they indicate voters have had a change in mood. we see it in situations where one party is in control of the entire sweep of government. looking ahead to the 2018 elections, democrats should be very optimistic, particularly if they stick like doug jones did in alabama to kitchen table themes. jones made a very deliberate decision not to run against roy moore as much as he gave people something to vote for.

at the end of the day, it was that sort of affirmative vision that helped him carry moderate republican women, college-aged voters and other segments of the electorate he needed to turn out for his victory in alabama tuesday night. >> josh, i want to get to the part in the article where it talks about fund raising efforts. the senate republican fund raising committee hemorrhaging money, bringing in 2 milli$2 mi month but spending more. how important is it the president shares his donor base for this next year? >> it's quite important. the president is a good fund-raiser when he wants to be. he went to manhattan, $100,000 fund-raiser per person. it lasted 30 minutes. they have cultivated a valuable set of donors. the problem for republicans right now is they don't have a lot to show for the first year legislatively. officials and white house officials told us, you know, the

failure of health care cut into, you know, donations when they were not able to repeal the affordable care act like they promised. officials are hopeful if they pass the tax bill, sign it by the end of the year, the donors will come home and continue to give money. they are putting a lot of stock in what happens with this tax package and whether the donations will come back or not. >> can i ask you quickly, the intensity of "the wall street journal" poll, that's been measured. 59% of democrats are saying they are fired up, ready to go for the next midterms. gop voters, 49%. how much do you think that has to do with who is going to win come next november? >> the momentum on the democratic side is tremendous right now. there's a lot of observation going on that doug jones won in alabama with significant but low key help from outsiders. his fund raising from new york

and washington was substantial. if democrats continue that blue wave in other races across the country, then momentum can build on the national level, but influence state and local races. that would be tremendous for democrats, it's something they haven't had in past elections. tom perez seems well on the way to taking on this new phenomenon nationwide. >> josh, joyce, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> thank you. the attacks are escalating against special counsel robert mueller. trump's transition team is accusing him of unlawfully obtaining thousands of e-mails in the russia investigation. we are going to explain that next. let the real you shine through? maybe it's time for otezla (apremilast). otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,... ...with reduced redness,...

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i doubt an american presidential election history there has been as great a crime or as large a stain on our democracy than that committed by a criminal kabul in our fbi and the department of justice who think they know better than we who r who our president should be. some ended up on bob mueller's team to prosecute donald trump did everything they could to exonerate hillary clinton for her crimes and incriminate donald trump with a nonexistent crime. the only thing that remains is whether we have the fortitude to not just fire these people immediately, but take them out in cuffs.

>> that was fox news host janine puro blasting the fbi on her show yesterday. she is not alone these days. as mueller's investigation intensifies, so, too, from the special counsel and president trump and the gop. joining me now, philip from "the washington post." john from the new york post columnist, editor as well. and senior reporter at the "huffington post." was she speaking the truth, philip? was it all truthful, all the points she was making? >> i mean, i think that's the central point. the evidence we have does not point to the conspiracy of the former prosecutor. we know there were a couple people removed from mueller's team back in july because of texts they sent last year. we know, as well, people contributed to democrats including hillary clinton, who worked for mueller.

the question is, do people have confidence that the fbi, as an institution can perform duties objectively and there have certainly been a lot of times americans have challenged the fbi to do that. what we don't see right now is we don't see overwhelming evidence. there are a lot of people that argue it was the investigation of the clinton e-mail server that resulted in donald trump being president in the first place. it's definitely out in left field. >> without conclusive evidence here, how many, philip, do you think in congress and on the trump team believe this narrative? >> i would say there's a difference between the number that believe it and the number putting it forward. there's a political advantage to raise this issue because it carries favor with the president and because they did something that republicans, this is something republicans boelieve

donald trump is being targeted unfairly. if you are running for president and republicans believe this is the case, it doesn't hurt. there are people who feel as though the mueller team has been tainted in a way. there are a few that articulate the way she did. >> the news they accuse mueller of improperly getting the e-mails. we have seen the house judiciary tear into him, not to mention the continuing stream of derogatory tweets from the president's corner. just how far will the right go to protect president trump and discredit mueller? >> the right is a very broad brush. so, if you are talking about the congressman who grilled ron rosenstein about the misbehavior of mueller and people working for mueller who have been removed or demoted as a result of their behavior, you know,

they are clearly hitting on something we only know about because disciplinary action was taken. mueller, in essence admitted that people working under him had done things for which, you know, they deserve to be removed from his investigation. so, how that proves that mueller is in on a conspiracy to get trump is a very confusing and twisted thing. you have to bring up the fact that, you know, it is very simple matter that someone is trying to, people are laying out the potential predicate for a firing of mueller and the defense that will come from within the trump camp as to why that is a legitimate act. that doesn't mean trump is going to do it. i'm saying a path is being laid to make that argument if necessary. >> but -- but, john, the fact is, mueller removed those two. >> which is what i just said.

>> so don't you think mueller has the kind of integrity, by reputation, and the fact he's a republican himself, do you think he would be so sloppy as to not pour over the information that may have been gathered toward this investigation by these two individuals, in particular, look for evidence of bias or anything like that? that's not even discussed. >> when a guy is investigating the president of the united states in an incredibly and uniquely sensitive investigation, he is incumbent upon him to be cesar's wife. this is something in which you understand that the president'sal lyes are going to look for any possible way to discredit the investigator. that is what bill clinton's people did with kennethstar and now with mueller. the people working for mueller misbehaved and he demoted them. that does not clear mueller of the potential charge he is

sloppy in his staffing. just because he's a good guy and a republican and has a great history and all that doesn't mean he is beyond criticism. everyone can be criticized. the fact that mueller had someone clearly hostile to the president is one of his chief interrogators and investigators does not, you know, is not a great thing for the investigation as a matter of public diplomacy. >> arthur, you have the rumors swirling and you have two definitive denials. you have from ty cobb, trump's attorney and earlier today, speaking with chuck todd, our colleague on "meet the press," you have mark short saying this is never going to happen. this is not in the either, we are not talking of firing mueller. but, what do you think the chances are, given everything we are talking ability, laying a foundation of discrediting him. what do you think the chances are if it happens and if it were

to happen, what are the consequences. richard painter earlier this hour said he would hope to see a president pence, you know, in the white house by the first of january. it would be that cataclysmic. >> trump is unpredictable, but the denials are significant. the reason democrats are saying there's a rumor trump could fire mueller is they want to get the white house and congressional republicans on the record saying that wouldn't happen or they thought it was a bad idea. that worked. you heard the senate majority whip, john cornyn say, he thinks trump won't fire mueller. doing so would be a mistake. even though there are guys in the house of representatives who say that mueller has got to go, this investigation is completely tainted, it looks like senate republicans are not on board with that message and they don't support the idea of trump firing the special prosecutor. that's really significant. you have to look ahead and think

about, you know, how much do republicans in congress really even need donald trump after they get this tax legislation done? you know they are headed for trouble in the next election and the president is massively unpopular. you have to look at them saying firing mueller would be a dumb idea. >> another thing that should be pointed out, janine, according to reports made the case privately to trump that she made publicly last night and white house chief of staff, john kelly, ended the meeting prematurely and threw her out of the white house saying it's not helpful. janine may be ranting and raving and foaming at the mouth, but, you know, that is not necessarily helpful to a white house whose argument is there's no there there. why fire mueller if he's clean? it doesn't make logical sense. >> all right. gentlemen, i'm going to end this conversation for the moment and

say thank you to philip and john. even though you are sticking around. meantime, the gop tax plan inching closer to the finish line as the president declares it a gift for the middle class. how could it impact you? next. you can catch all the day's news here on msnbc. we continue live at 3:00. "meet the press" is at 6:00. we'll be right back. ♪ this holiday, the real gift isn't what's inside the box. it's what's inside the person who opens it.

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this is going to be one of the great gifts to the middle-income people of this country that they've ever gotten for christmas. >> there you hear the president touting the new gop tax bill, and if passed, it will be the most dramatic change to the country's tax code in over 30 years. a vote expected as early as tuesday, and here are some of the bill's key components. it lowers the corporate tax rate to 21%, lowers the rate for top income earners to 37%. it also doubles the amount wealthy taxpayers can pass on to their heirs. and if you have kids, the child tax credit would double from $1,000 to $2,000. if you own a home or you plan on buying one, you're still going to be able to deduct the interest that you pay on your mortgage as long as your mortgage is $750,000 or less. now, heading to the states with high taxes -- new york, new jersey, california among them -- you are only going to be able to deduct up to $10,000 of property taxes and income or sales taxes

combined, and if you don't have health insurance or you don't think you need it, you are going to save some money. the bill eliminates the individual mandate that is part of the affordable care act. bringing in philip bump with the "washington post," john podhoretz with "commentary" magazine. first the time frame on the voting with you, philip. what's latest on that? i understood it was tuesday, and then what, maybe tuesday or wednesday with regard to the house/senate first? is that the way it's scheduled and do you expect any last-minute resistance? >> yeah, that's my understanding. there are a lot of moving parts here, including the fact that there are a couple republican senators who have been in the hospital or been under the weather, they have to make sure they get back for the vote as well. but yeah, this is something that the president, as you just heard in that sound bite there, he's eager to have this done before christmas. i think that republicans broadly want to do this sooner rather than later, so the time frame is definitely going to be fairly short. >> and in terms of getting it passed before christmas, john, does the president have the

numbers to do it, and when might it actually get to his desk to be signed? >> he has the numbers, if thad cochran and john mccain are able to get to the floor, as philip mentioned, both of whom are in the hospital. and so, i think he has the numbers, so the issue then is can they dot all the is and cross all the ts and get the bill to his desk, which is a technical matter more than it is a procedural matter. they actually were handwriting large elements of this bill. they have to draft it properly, proof-read it 72,000 times, because once something's signed into law -- >> that's it. >> -- you know, a grammatical mistake can be a $5 billion error. >> yikes! when you put like that, it's kind of scary. john what about the quinnipiac showing 55% of americans are disapproving about the bill? do you think lawmakers are worried about facing constituents after it passes? how dangerous can this be for republicans? because this is pretty unpopular at this point. >> okay, the bet is that it's

going to have enormous macroeconomic effect, right? >> trickle down economics. >> huge cut, huge cut in -- not even trickle down, mine, a huge cut in the corporate tax rate, meaning that people will bring money home, they'll take money off the shelf and start spending it and corporations, because it will be taxed at a lower rate. if that happens, then the bill will be a political and personal success, and if the various very complicated provisions on the personal tax rates end up having a stimulative effect and a positive effect on people's pocketbooks, republicans will benefit, and if it doesn't, then they won't, then they will be hammered with it very hard. this is a real-world test of a whole bunch of theories about how government and taxation and individual choices and business choices interplay, and we'll get some very interesting results from that. >> can i ask you quickly, philip, about this situation with the cdc, how they are banning on official documents these words?

i think there's a full screen my director will pull up, that you can't say anymore -- transgender, vulnerable, evidence-based, things like that. what is that about? >> it's actualley a good question what that's about. that certainly is the case that when administrations come in, they want to put their stamp on the various agencies they control. i think that the reaction we've seen to this, which has been a very strong reaction, is in part an after effect of the way president trump has dealt with facts ads a candidate and as president. we've seen multiple times the administration has sought out official reports from government agencies and either withheld them or ask they be revised because they didn't meet with what they were hoping to say. and so, this is an administration that is very, very focused on putting forward the message that says exactly what they want it to, and if that is the case and if that helped to drive this, then it raises some questions about what message the administration wants to set forward on those particular issues. >> all right, philip and john, thank you so much. good to see you. well, details are pouring in about russian president vladimir putin's new phone call to

president trump today. what the two discussed, next hour. kind of looks like a monster coming to eat ya. holy smokes. that is awesome. strong. you got the basic, and you got the beefy. i just think it looks mean. incredible. no way. i'm getting goosebumps. this holiday season, become part of the chevy family. use your employee discount for everyone and trade up to this silverado all star to get a total value of over eleven thousand dollars. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. when heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites.

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and that's a wrap for me. i'm alex witt. the news continues right now about yasmin vossoughian. i think i've had enough. i think they've had enough of me too, right. >> 20 hours later, you've had enough? always a pleasure to get a handoff from you, alex. so good to see you. we have a lot happening, everybody. let's get started. russia calling. vladimir putin thanking president trump during a phone call today. we'll take you inside their co