kplukt that. if she wandoesn't want to, she resign. >> do you think it is a wise political strategy? >> what? >> to call these women liars and alienate a lot of women who are sympathetic. >> i think we need as a party to begin to reassess as we move into 2018 what it is we need to do in terms of our approach. >> we are all out of time. that does it for our hour, i'm micolle wallace, mtp daily starts right now. hi chuck. >> telemy friend the governor of new jersey hello for me. >> i heard you. chuck, the happiest of holidays and a great new year to you my friend. >> absolutely. to you, too. >> go canes. >> they did fine until they choked at the en. >> there you go, just like the cowboys. if it's tuesday, taxes, taxes, yeehaw!

good evening, i'm chuck todd here in washington. welcome to mtp daily. we are following breaking news from the house of representatives wherer being force sbod a redo on their tax bill. just hours after celebrating the bill's passage we just found out changes to the bill are needed to ensure that it falls under the senate rules that will allow for passage with their slimmest of mother-in-laws. essentially their ability to do this without the democrats filibustering. the house is now planning to vote again tomorrow. the senate plans to vote tonight. we are going to get back to this in a moment. don't be fooled. even with this fire drill, frank lesion it may make things worse for them perception wise, this thing will probably still pass. when it does the gop has what could be an even bigger problem. a messages crisis about who wins

and who loses and their biggest legislative achievement since president trump took office. they have taken populism and turned it into something arguably unpopular with this tax plan. hot off the presses, our brand-new poll shows that the public has soured on this legislation and democrats appear to have regained the lead on issue of handling the economy. folks just 24% say this tax plan is a good idea. more, 41%, say it is a bad idea. those numbers appear to be heading south. in fact, good idea has dropped a point since october. bad idea has gained six. here's why the perception of this bill hears to be so bad. a big majority, 63%, say this plan was designed to help corporations and the wealthy. and based on the way this bill was put together. that perception is actually pretty accurate. permanent corporate tax cut. but here's an example where the perception is arguably wrong. most americans are going to get a tax break. but more people, 32%, say they are going the pay more taxes or

believe they will because this plan. gist 17% say they think they will pay less. folks, the gop has managed to make tax cuts unpopular. think about that for a second. they have also seeded the economic issue back to the democrats according to this poll. democrats have a four point edge over republicans on issue of taxes. that's the first time they have led on the issue since 2013. they now have a five point edge on the all important larger issue of handling the economy. this tax plan is not the bran of populism that president trump ran on. that may be another issue for him. according to the non-partisan tax policy center, 80% of the tax bill's windfall do go to the top 1%. doesn't sound like a tax plan from this person that ran for president. >> do you believe in raising taxes on the wealthy. >> i do. i do. including myself. i do. >> the thing i'm going to do is make sure the middle class gets

good taxes, tax breaks. for the wealthy i think frankly its' going to go up and it should go up. >> nor does it sound like a tax plan from this president. >> this is going to cost me a fortune, this thing, believe me. believe -- this is not good for me. me, it is a not -- i have some wealthy friends. not so happy with me but that's okay. i keep hearing schumer. this is for the wealthy. well, if it is, my friend don't know about it. >> republicans now have to play some serious catch up on this now unpopular tax plan. democrats right now are blaming the bill. republicans, they are blaming the media. >> republicans will rue the day that they passed this tax bill. >> this piece of legislation is the single worst piece of legislation i've seen in my time in the senate. >> it's disgusting smash and grab of it's an all out looting of america, the wholesale robbery of the middle class. >> look, when you have a sling fest a mud fest on tv, when

pundits are slamming each other about this tax bill before it passes, that's what's going to happen. >> pelosi and all the frankenstein's -- quit reporting that and do some economics. it is a total winner. >> let's start thing off with garrett haake on capitol hill who can explain why we are in a legislative process nightmare that i wondered if i was going to happen when i saw all the last-minute changes they made to that tax bill in conference committee. lo and behold they ran into a process problem. explain. >> reporter: tonight is what happens when you russia very complicated bill to the floor. what happened tonight is you have what's called the byrd rule in the u.s. senate. at risk of being confuse wonky here, this is the rule that says if you are going to pass anything with just 51 votes, everything about it has to be germane to the original issue, the budge issue in place. the senate parliament aryan came out today and said two provisions that were added to this bill late in the game in

the senate process were not germane, they had to be thrown out. of course this happened after the house had already voted on the bill. so tonight the senate will vote as planned. the bill will almost certainly passed a planned. tomorrow the house will have to vote again on what the senate passed. chuck they have been using this football metaphor all week. they were on the 1 yard line. this is the functional equivalent of them scoring, dancing in the end zone and then having a five yard penalty called and having to do it all over again. they will likely score again but this is an embarrassment. >> the senate votes on a paraed down version that does fit within the rules. there were two specific provisions. can you explain what they are? >> one, deal about 529 savings accounts that would apply to kids who are home schooled something that ted cruz championed. and the second provision about

endowments for very small universities that their endowments not be taxed in a certain way. there is reporting that would have affected only one school although i don't have that independently confirmed. these are not particularly germane issues of it's easy to see why the parliament aryan would say these are very narrow issues and the parliament aryan says they have got to go before this bill can be vote on and passed with just 50 votes. >> garrett, on the other hand this is all perfunctory? obviously -- you say -- you used the football metaphor. every once in a while you don't get in on fourth and goal. >> yeah. >> is there any way somehow these two provisions blow this up or is this just a bureaucratic screw up by their staff? >> i lean towards bureaucratic screw up.

butter every day that you don't pass the bill is another chance for smog the prevent you from passing the bill. democrats operated that speed kills. they had the votes, and they took it. they will likely have the votes in the house again tomorrow. every day you are not getting this done you never know what other problems you might introduce. >> garrett haake, you have got to learn the byrd rule. thanks for putting it in english. i appreciate it. joining me now republican senator john kennedy of louisiana. i'm looking forward to this, senator, because i have a feeling you are probably got your own comments on sort this little last-minute mess up here. let me ask it this way, sir. it does seem as if this is what happens when you rush something, this is what happens when you try to do something too fast and too responsive to deadlines and timelines and the current politics.

is that a fair critique here, sir. >> not really, chuck. i just think -- i wouldn't read too much into this. i mean, you know, somebody screwed up. a emin of the staff screwed up it's not the end of western civilization. we have the votes. we will have the votes tomorrow. if necessary we will have the votes the day after that i really done think we went too fast. the issues that we have talked about, territorial versus non-territorial, system of taxation, the curve, standard of deduction. we could go through all of them. they have been debated and discussed on capitol hill for years. now, i haven't been here but i watched them debated and discussed. i just don't think on an issue like this that we rushed it through. i know some disagree, but that's just my point of view. >> are you -- do you feel like you know everything in this bill? or do you think there will still be provisions that you are like oh, i didn't know it did that?

i feel like we are still learning some of those, oh, is it going to do that? i didn't realize that. how comfortable are you knowing every intended consequence of this bill? >> i'll pretty comfortable. i'm still looking at the bill. i probably spent, i don't know, 300 hours going through it, the bill and secondary sources, because obviously, it's changed as it's gone through the process. i do know that there are certain provisions about which treasury will have to issuing arelations. you will have a you will the tax lawyers get involved and -- issuing regulations. you will have all the tax lawyers get involved. it is a broad issue. involved corporations, anwar drilling, health care mandate, this is a far-reaching bill.

>> one of the things -- go did, finish your statement. >> i was going the say i think ultimately once the american people have time to study it they will be supportive of it. i think a lot of americans don't know what's in the bill. not because they are not smart. it's just that because they are too busy getting up every day and going to work and they hear a little bit here and a little bit there. >> yeah. >> the media has been pretty negative about the bill. but you know that's your job is to ask tough questions. i think once people see the impact this bill on our economy they are going to be very pleased. >> democratic senators and a democratic president right about this time in 2010 complained that the media was being too tough on obamacare and then also made the case -- >> yeah. >> now people as soon as it's in place people will eventually like what they say. that took eight years before obamacare went on the good side over the bad side. you don't have eight years politically to convince the

public that this is a good idea. why are you convinced that the public is going to respond so quickly to this bill? >> well, let me say something first about the media. you know, if you are in politics, you get upset sometimes about what the press says about this or that. but you know i'm from louisiana. and i try to appreciate the media. had it not been for the media, there were times in my state when the politicians would have stolen everything that wasn't nailed down. so i try not to be too critical. but i do think a fair-minded person would have to look at all of the coverage and say, well, it's not been positive. that's pony one. point two, when will folks realize? when their take home pay goes up, when they see their small or large business investing in new plants and machinery and equipment and software. when they see the pressure that's going to come on wages. wages are going to rise just

naturally through demand, but i'll tell you why else they will rise, in my opinion. the real problem in terms of wages in our country are twofold. demographics. we are getting older. productivity hasn't gone up. but number two, our business people for whatever reason have not been investing in things that will make workers more productive. so wages haven't gone up. i think this bill will insent that. >> one thing you had said to me, you gave me a great quote, you said you would rather drink weed killer than support automatic tax increases. but that's still in there. 2025 is nothing is done there is an automatic tax increase. are you confident the public will never see that? >> yeah. i mean president bush's tax cuts were so-called temporary and they were renewed. these will be renewed. you know why we didn't make them permanent. because we had a $175 trillion guardrail. i think everybody would like to

make them permanent. we made the biscuits permanent because business people have to have some predictability when they plan their investments. but i don't have any doubt that in 2005 i may not be here. you will be -- 25 -- they will roll these over. >> i appreciate the optimism on my front there senator kennedy. let me pivot. you went viral thanks to our colleague sheldon whitehouse. here it is, to remind people of what i'm talking about. >> have you ever tried a jury trial? >> i have not. >> civil? >> no. >> criminal? >> no. >> bench? >> no. >> state or federal court? >> i have not. >> i think when the founders used the phrase advice and consent they were thinking about questions like that to nominees. but let me ask you this, you did make that a bit public. and there has been some press reports and i want you to

address it that you were trying to send a message to the trump white house here, hey, stop trying to ram through less than qualified judges just to pack it through. be more careful. fair? >> i would put it a different way, chuck. when i asked those questions, the room was empty. senator white house of course tweeted it out but the room was empty. i didn't do it playing to an audience. >> sure. >> i did the it because i suspected and my suspicion grew as i questioned the nominee that he wasn't qualified to be a federal district court judge in washed. i read mr. peterson's fbi background romplt he is very intelligent. he has a lot of integrity. i think he is very capable at what he does. but he has no litigation experience and you just don't walk into a federal courthouse for the first time, i don't care how smart you are, and say here

imi think i'd like to be a federal judge. you know, i was interviewing somebody this morning and i said look, you know, you are smart, too, but i wouldn't let you transplant my kidney. you know, experience matters. i just -- i think the president has nominated some super people. and i mean that. >> yeah. >> but my job is to catch those who aren't so super. >> yeah. >> we have two or three. one of them, mr. tally, we found out after the fact that he was an anonymous blogger. >> right. >> and allegedly had blogged in support of the ku klux klan. i'm not going to vote for a person like that. i'm not. and i'm not going to vote for somebody that's not qualified in my judgment. president trump -- >> do you think -- >> president trump called me about this. >> right. >> and he was very straight up. he said, kennedy, you know, vote your conscience, do what you think is right. he asked me what should we do here? i said pull this nominee down,

he's a fine person but not ready. >> do you believe that the white house counsel is doing a good job of vetting judges. >> i have no idea. i have no idea how the white house operates. the closest i get to the white house is a tour and i have to pay for that. >> i didn't know you had to pay for your white house tours. i have a feeling if the white house hears that maybe they will comp you every now and again. senator kennedy, thanks for coming on. merry christmas, happy holiday and a happy new year. >> you too, chuck. the democrats are riding high going into '18. if you thought the democratic party's good year couldn't get better, well, it just did. they are now winning races on recounts. we'll let you know what happened right after this. 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.

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welcome back. yes, it's december. and yet we still have more breaking election day news. it's been six weeks since election 2017, and we just got what has to be the craziest voting result from that day.

after a recount, virginia republicans have just conceded the house of delegates race in the 94th district in virginia. ready for this? the final count 11608 votes for the democrat, 11607 for the republican. that's right, after recount, the democrat won by one vote. that one single vote has flipped the house of delegates, that seat from red to blue, and that means republicans no longer control the virginia house of delegates. it is now a 50/50 power split. one vote changed the balance of power in the entire virginia house of delegates, not just in a delegate seat. back with more right after this. ah, but i may as well try and catch the wind♪ our mission is to make off-shore wind one of the principle new sources of energy.

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msnbc news's senior political editor. mark, there is somethinged aly not surprising that somehow this tax bill they have to do a redo. yes, it's not the end of the world as senator kennedy said and they are going the get their tax bill through. although it's like they are using up another down. you never know, one day can mean anything. it seems emblematic of the larger issue. >> putting legislation together is always sloppy. we always talk about the sausage making process of the it becomes sloppier when you know you have a deadline to actually do manage before the next democratic senator from alabama takes office. and the other part is kind the sloppiness, and one of the reasons they have to do this is the reconciliation. republicans did this by getting 51 votes. the republican majority instead of trying in the senate and getting 60 votes and trying to peel off manchins mccaskills and the donnellys and give out something that democrats would have to have a victory to get to

take back to get that 60 vote threshold. those two factors, doug jones and the reconciliation caused the sloppiness. >> i showed the polling numbers that we have and how much this bill has done damage to the party on taxes and the tax bill itself. and i feel like this only make it that much harder. they are trying to get out of the gates to resell this thing. and yesterday it was bob corker having to make it seem as if he didn't backtrack and there wasn't some sort of side deal to get him in and sort him and trumped a real estate developers. and today it's this mess. >> i think you are going to see more thing. when you have something slammed together at the last minute that you are staking the future of your party on because the 2018 midterms are staring you down in the face. i can imagine in february and march we will have to see senators explaining provisions journalists are going to be pointing out saying did you understand this part this bill was doing this. this is the way the tax bill was affected.

you are going to have awkward interviews i think when you try to explain to people what the bill is. >> senator kennedy is doing his rest to read the bill. he is still reading. i believe he is reading the whole thing. i don't believe everybody else is reading the whole thing. come february or march, there are going to be things that catch them off guard. >> i think the biggest thing here is the salt deduction of even though donald trump did not carry new york, california, house republicans still hold seats. those are more than half the seats democrats need to take back the house. >> two things came out of this that want to discuss, residual things. one has to do with paul ryan and a weird answer he seemed to give to a reporter about re-election. take a listen. >> are you going to run for re-election? >> oh, look i am not going anywhere anytime soon just let's

leave that thing at that. >> you know what i didn't hear? of course i 'm running for re-election. >> that's not the first time he said that, i'm not going anywhere any time soon. sticking around another year doesn't mean he is running for reelection. the me the better question is not only will you end up being on the ballot in 2018, could you expect to be in congress and speaker in 2019. >> it seems this is my explanation point this is my policy win. i got tax reform in i'm not going to do the entitlement reform that he dreamed of but he's out. that was an amazing non-answer answer. >> amazing non-answer answer. you have to think about the stress. the republicans who are sticking with trump and others who see themselves as true conservatives who are like what are we doing passing a tax bill that is going to be increasing the deficit.

i just got off the phone who like we just added trillions of dollars to the debt. he has to deal with the fraying party and frankly he doesn't look like someone who likes his job very much. >> what did you make of it. >> when paul ryan signed up for the speaker's job, he did so reluctantly and it was before donald trump took over the republican party. this is not a situation he want to be in. he does not live for politics he lives for policy. it would be easy to walk away after this accomplishments. >> kip you are put up a tweet. now with tax reform, and you start to look at 2017 on a promises made promises kept front, if this bill passes as he says, trump and gop will have repealed individual mandate of health care, cut taxes, open up anwar to oil drilling. put kneel gore such into supreme court. confirmed apell at judges killed a lot of regulations.

as he said, not trivial. >> not at all. particularly when you have a 52 majority in the senate. remember, barack obama at this time was between 59 and 60 senate seats. democrats accomplished more if you ranked what they did, still it is a nice list but look at how they got there and how sloppy it's been and chaotic and how the president is and what happened in virginia and what happened in alabama. in a lot of ways i think 2017 is a rougher year than a very good year. >> what is interesting is take away the tax bill and those accomplishments are paltry. the tack bill gives it heft. >> which is why you see republicans not reading the bill if they don't have to. won't take questions. they are like please give us something -- and smart because at least we were able to accomplish something. the republican party look like a civil war, like they can't get along. there are people going into

retirement because they are disgusted with their own president. >> how many retirements will we have over the break? >> ten. ahead of the curve historically. >> and getting this done is something that you can walk out on, right hey, i cut taxes look at that. right. >> how many republicans have been in safely drawn seats for years and now suddenly they have a democrat in their district raising $100,000 and $200,000 and they decide i might have race on my hands and this might be a logical time to hang it up. >> steve bannon is also looking at republicans saying we are trying to make it a challenge do you want to after all these years fine a way to have to argue with steve bannon? probably not for a lot of these people. >> is there a path for them in this tax bill? >> there is a big path. the fact is the economy is doing

very well. there are thing they can point to. you are going to be talking to nbc "wall street journal" pollsters soon but you look at president trump, he almost seems locked in. he pirly moved in our poll. if the economy continues to improve do his numbers improve all that much? if the answer is no it's still going to be a rough environment. >> you guys, pause, stick around, we'll get you on the other side of the break. >> poll numbers show a potentially huge democratic wave building that's heading for washington. can democrats sustain it? that's ahead. this is what it's all about, jamie --

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now what? well, after your first reaction, consider your choices. go it alone, against the irs and its massive resources. hire a law firm, where you're not a priority. call your cpa, who can be required to testify against you. or, call the tax law firm of moskowitz, llp. i went from being a cpa to a tax attorney because our clients needed more. call us, and let us put our 30 years of tax experience to work for you. welcome back. as we mentioned at the top of

the show, our brand-new nbc news "wall street journal" pole shows the public is souring on the tax plan but there there is an even bigger headline. it is the proof the blue wave we saw building much of this year. look. 50% say they want democrats to control congress next year versus 30 who wants republicans in control. democrats are the one who are energized right now. folks, about the best headlines for republicans in this poll is this number. it's not 2018 yet. but the big question for democrats is, can they sustain this momentum all the way until november? a lot to unpock on this poll. we did it with the pollsters behind the numbers. fred yang, and bill mcater. gentlemen, welcome. all right. i have to say when the nbc "wall street journal" poll shows

somebody at 50 that's a big deal, bill, explain why it is a big deal. it doesn't -- this early, too. i'm trying to remember the last time we had 50 -- >> 50 is a big number. we haven't seen democrats at 50 with a double digit league since 2008. and 2006. democrats won 30 seats. god bless republican redistricting. >> fred, this is with a 41% job rating. not a great one but if you look at the comparisons with others, 41 is better than the president's standing in a few other polls. this is basically best possible trump scenario you could have right now and our numbers so a double digit democratic party. >> chances are his numbers could go on. you asked in the segment before, can this be sustained? i would argue as long as president trump is in the 41 to

35% job approval range it will be sustained. a lot of this frankly is energy against donald trump. >> in either one of your experiences have you ever seen -- have you ever seen a trajectory change without some catastrophic black swan event at this point in time, bill? >> change? no. get better? yes. >> so you think -- >> it could get a little bit better. >> it can get better. you can't change it without a very significant event. >> again, i think one of the big numbers is the president's approval rating. as long as we have this president i don't see that changing. >> you know, importantly, look every other democratic, 7 off year -- every other democratic off year we had a recession. when democrats do get to run in districts we are going to outperform some of our national numbers. we have never had a off year with these kinds of numbers

because of a big economy. >> what if voters are discounting the economy because of trump. >> our poll shows even with the approval rating of 41% he had a positive rate on the economy but that's not trickling down to republican party. >> we asked two interesting questions. i think we are almost underestimating the numbers on these thing. one was having to do -- the country since president trump became president is better off, 30%, worse off, 45%, in the same place, 24%. i want to throw up this question that we asked. should congress hold impeachment hearings to remove president trump from office. 54% said no. 41% said yes. 45% of the country thinks the country is worse off, that's striking is it not? >> we are a at the end of 25 years of growing polarization

and this is the conclusion. democrats and republicans live in different worlds, have different believes. it tells you 40% of the election is gone. it means the trading range is -- by the way, this is why you have to excite the republican basement if you have 40% that are gone and cranked up, you better have about 40% on the other side because there is not much room left in terms of wiggle room to get a majority. >> i like the word bill usedlier, elasticity. or persuadability. there seems to be less and less of it. especially in these midterm elections. >> what do republicans do with this as candidates. bill, i was thinking -- >> i have a checklist for you if you want. >> especially when you have a president that wants to get involved. >> right. >> it was interesting. fred had the luxury of a president when he was unpopular say okay, you want me to

campaign or not campaign, you tell me. this president doesn't accept the idea he might not be an ass asset. >> one, raise a ton of money. you can't let challengers build up name id without putting a stink on them. and i'm glad we are voting for tax cuts and we better get more done, more done that makes the republicans want to come out and vote. that's how you keep a majority with these kind of numbers. last thing, our guys have a one year notice. nobody in the world has an excuse to be caught napping with these numbers. >> what about in the reverse, how do you keep the messaging from just being get rid of him? >> be very focused on some. things that bill is talking about. first and foremost our polling shows it's the economy. make the focus the economy, make the focus health care. >> make the focus the economy,

and the economy doing well, or economic fairness. >> as you said in one of your segments, the democrats have a four point lead in the economy which is our first lead since 2009. it's sure, the economy but economic fairness and equal opportunity are strong messages for delts. >> feelings towards robert mueller is what i want to throw up. in june, overall the country, plus 13. positive to negative. even republicans. positive to negative by a point. however, in december it is now among republicans minus 18. the campaign against robert mueller has had an impact on at least fox republicans maybe. >> lots of stuff has happened, memos weren't given to the congressional committees that were investigated. there were truls with the investigations. lets allow for there is a reasonable concern whether this

is being conducted appropriately. i'm glad as a pollster we asked it so we have a track point as this story develops. >> a partisan pattern, and also he is against trump. i think that's the filter a lot of the republicans are looking at. >> so much to dig into in all of these polls. we are all exhausted from numbers yt i'm glad we have this end of the year poll. >> it is a cool poll. >> one we are going to look at a lot. thanks guys. happy new year. carolina has been on my mind these days. the carolina panthers to be exact. why i'm obsessed with what could be the team's next owner. coming up.

tonight i'm obsessed with what could be a major opportunity for the nfl if they don't squander. because they could turn it into their own headache. it's incredibly rare for an nfl team to come up for sale but that's what happened when jerry richardson made the surprise announcement this weekend he is selling his team in the wake of allegations of workplace misconduct that was both misogynist and racist in nature. who can put together more than a couple billion dollars to buy an nfl team. sean p. diddy combs. he tweeted i would like to buy the panthers. he followed that up with quote,

there are no majority african-american owners let's make hess tree. steph curry says wants in. greg jennings, sean merriman and maurice jones-drew also tweeted they are interested. and colin kaepernick says he wants in on the ownership group, too. kaepernick of course led the protest movement in the nfl taking a knee during the national anthem to protest inequality in the united states. he has a grievance against nfl owners alleging collusion. now kaepernick wants to be one of those owners. richardson's abrupt decision sell the panthers can avoid a don sterling type nightmare. but if it doesn't go well it would be a worse nightmare. the point is, this sale and what we saw in the nfl, it's coming together. it's fascinating to see how the league is going to handle this. we'll be right back. of heart attack or stroke.

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time for "the lid" as we said earlier. the republican campaign, if you want to call it or house against special counsel mueller has taken a toll on mueller. back in june, the special counsel had a net positive rating of 13 points among both democrats and republicans. a net positive. by the time december rolled around, it shrunk to 7 points. and among republicans, it went from plus 1 in june to now underwater by 18 points. so the panel is back. all right. a bill pointed out, it's not as if mueller hasn't had these problems that has allowed him to take on water and allowed a lot of questioning to go on here. but they've softened up mueller and that does matter to the

white house. >> that's true. i can't think of one republican that i've talked to who said it would be a good idea for donald trump to fire mueller at this point. it would just be such a storm. especially as they're, hopefully, for them, going to pass tax reform or tax changes, tax cuts. are they going to fire him after all this other stuff? neil gorsuch? it didn't sound like there's actual muster to do that. >> but bill clinton didn't have to fire ken starr but ken starr eventually got seen as a political actor, even by political independents. it hasn't broken into independents yet with mueller. that's probably the number if you're, say, a richard burr. that's the number you're looking at. >> the rush investigation is something democrats and the base care deeply about. it is not something penetrating with independents.

i think we have to worry until the report colonels out. >> but bob mueller is a republican. he was appointed by a republican. the conversation has to change on fox with mueller instead of paul manafort. the guilty plea that's we've seen, which i think at the end of the day will probably end up being more significant than the campaign itself. >> there is a report this week that the president's lawyers and the special counsel will meet and we'll find, perhaps an update on timing and all this. the president's lawyers have been, i think, overly optimistic with the idea this has dropped off. all the white house interviews are over. and i'm thinking, isn't the president going to sit down with

with mueller? >> i think part of what has kept him restrained, he's been told this will wrap up by the end of the year but that's this five days. i don't think anyone thinks bob mueller will be done. so what will donald trump do then? when he's entering his second year and he has this special investigation, a cloud over his presidency. that's when we'll see president trump start to be more unhinged and it will be more interesting. >> i feel like democrats would rather throw him out of office over the sexual harassment issue than russia right now. >> for a lot of reasons. >> it likes they're more gung ho over this. ? we are still seeing elections hold parties and bad candidates

accountable. as we saw in alabama. and we've got plenty coming up in eastbound and 20. >> a lot of smart strategists say the russia stuff is all baked in. what we have to do is take the economy. make the change. particularly focus 2018. now, it is interesting on whether the impeachment gives republican as rallying point to defend president trump and that will be the one thing, as this plays out. if those impeachment cries play out, they've been a little apathetic over the last few months start getting fired up. >> i completely believe the president will embrace this and see it as an asset. >> that's why the crass don't want to, the democrats don't want to talk about impeachment. they're pretty uniform saying they don't want to talk about it at all. even doug jones saying that's not what i'm interested in. democrats real pies will rally

the base. we should be a check. not that we want to remove him. >> look what happened to dianne feinstein saying whoa, whoa. she's changed her tune and california has moved to the left of feinstein. democrats are turning out about 71% of 2016, republicans are turning out around 55%. >> by the way, california has moved to the left of pelosi most in a lot of ways. well done, president donald trump. man or machine? as it turns out, he's both.

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in case you missed it, we have a new definition of the political machine. >> it's a privilege to serve as the president of the united states. to stand here amongst so many great leaders of our past and to work behalf of the american people. >> the 45th president is wired, powered up and ready to go to the happiest place on earth. he is the newest member of disney world's hall. >> from the beginning, america has been a nation defined by its people. in our family, it was the american people who rose up to defend our freedoms and win our independence. >> the voice is definitely the

presses's. we know that. how about the face? social media fire saying the robe robbo president looks more like john voight. you can see this at disney world. or while you sleep the tonight. pleasant dreams, everybody. that's all we have. we'll be back with more tomorrow. someday they'll have robo anchors on the first floor of 30 rock. thank you. major legislation rushing toward passage and this is not just about taxes. tonight, the republican congress is on the verge of doing something it has failed to achieve for the last seven years.