donald trump makes it official signing the tax bill into law without ceremony and without a traditional end of year news conference before departing for his florida resort. >> we're going to wait until january 7 or 8 and do a big formal ceremony, but every one of the networks was saying, will he keep this promise, will he sign it for christmas, before christmas? so i immediately called. i said, let's get it ready. kicking the can. congress passes a temporary stopgap spending bill to keep the government running. but setting the stage for another budget showdown in just a few weeks. >> i don't think most of our democratic colleagues want to do nothing. and there are areas, i think, where we can get bipartisan agreement. and corroborating comey. new testimony in the russia investigation backs claims by james comey that the president asked the fired fbi director for a loyalty pledge. >> he asked specifically of loyalty in the context of asking

me to stay. >> good day, i am chris jansing in for andrea mitchell. boy, has it been a busy half hour. president trump on his way to the mar-a-lago resort, but not before he signed the tax bill into law. >> bottom line is this is the biggest tax cuts and reform in the history of our country. this is bigger, actually, than president reagan's many years ago. i'm very honored by it. >> kristen welker is at the white house, garrett haake on capitol hill. katy tur and peter alexander both with me. kristen, do we have you? >> reporter: you do indeed have me, chris. >> let's start with -- i don't know where to start, there's so much to unpack. let's start with he said as a favor to you, to me, to the networks, he decided to sign this bill today. >> reporter: right. look, he started off by saying,

we want to give the middle class a christmas present, a big tax cut for christmas. so after the bill was passed, the question became, when was he actually going to sign it into law and make that christmas present official? the initial thinking here was he wanted to have a big signing ceremony in january. of course, that would mean that christmas present wouldn't be official heading into the holidays. take a listen to what president trump had to say today in the oval office after signing that bill. >> we had the largest tax cuts in our history just approved, and i was going to wait for a formal signing sometime in early january, but then i watched the news this morning and they were all saying, will he keep his promise? will he sign it by christmas? will he sign it by christmas? i called downstairs, and i said, get it ready, we have to sign it now. we were going to wait until january 7 or 8 and do a big formal ceremony, but every one

of the networks were saying, will he keep his promise, will he sign it for christmas, before christmas, so i immediately called and said, let's get it ready. >> reporter: now, chris, we've known for a couple of days that president trump wanted to sign this before he left for mar-a-lago and he wanted to do it here at the white house. so the optics of it, i think, significant for him as well. but look, he's ending the year on a high note because this was a promise made and a promise kept. he also signed that government funding bill into law as well. it's going to keep the government open for another month or so, delaying a lot of thorny issues that lawmakers will have to deal with when they return. but a couple other headlines that came out of that oval office appearance that the president made. he was asked if he would have to hit the road to sell that tax bill. the president saying he doesn't think he will have to travel very much because he says the legislation is effectively selling itself. asked if he had any regrets about the year, the president said no. typically, as you know, chris,

presidents have end of year press conferences. we knew that wasn't going to happen heading into today. we hoped he would answer some of our questions upon leaving and boarding marine i to his home in florida at mar-a-lago. he ignored all our questions instead. all he said was "merry christmas." so bucking the question yet again, chris. >> well, kristen, don't go far. peter alexander, he said it was selling itself. i presume he's suggesting people will feel it in their paychecks. right now the polls don't think people have been sold on it. >> no. they hope in february they'll feel better about this, but look at the way the white house is framing this. he talks about the 12 days of christmas. they'll extend this out as long as they can. they had the south lawn ceremony which really wasn't a ceremony. they mostly praised each other and praised the president. today he signed it into actual

law, but they will probably do something beginning of the year to put focus on this. he's dodging so many other issues: the russia investigation, questions about sexual misconduct. so instead of having to talk about any of those things today as the narrative might have switched in the final hours, they spiked the football. americans, republicans, certainly in the white house feel good right now. even mitch mcconnell said, i didn't like the tweets most of the year, but i'm warming up to them. they're glad to warm up to the tweets if they can get business like this done. >> the president is scared of the press and running from their questions, or someone has gotten to him and said, listen, you know what the press is going to do to you. they're going to twist your words if you have this press kom conference, get out there, say what you want to say at the signing and get to mar-a-lago. >> he's been dodging questions

from the press for months now, really. he hasn't had a press conference since what, february? >> there you are. he has had one solo press conference. you can see the comparisons to the past three presidents. >> it's laughable, chris. the president can't stand in front of the press and take questions from the press. other presidents -- i mean, he is accessible in the oval office, he's accessible in these gaggles, he's accessible when you shout questions to him on the white house lawn, but these topics he wants to avoid, he has not done. that's a level of transparency if you want to argue it, but it's not true transparency. >> and it's not the way it's operated. kristen, give us a sense over the last 24 hours or so. there was a lot of speculation, a lot of back and forth. have they said why he's decided

against -- is there an official word about why he's decided against the press conference? i know typically when we go, they will say, either sarah sanders or kellyanne conway will say ultimately it's up to the president. >> i think peter hit the nail on the head. they're happy with the narrative they're seeing in the press right now. i think if you take a broad look at this year to date, he's been dealing with a lot of difficult headlines, the russia probe being at the very top of that list. of course, that continues to be something that we report on, that continues to be the subject of the special counsel investigation. but the bottom line is this is a win for the president. he said he wanted to get tax reform done, he got it done. he wants essentially that last image before he leaves for christmas to be what we saw two days ago when he was here celebrating with members of congress, that victory lap. remember, this is someone who is a former reality tv star. the president knows the importance of optics better than

almost any other president. he knows how strong those optics were, how lasting they were, and i think he wants that to carry him into the holiday and carry him into the new year. i wouldn't be surprised if in mar-a-lago he got a little bit restless and wanted to talk to the press. we'll have to see if that happens. but again, i think today he wanted to stay on message, and he did that. he did that during the oval office, even when reporters tried to get him to talk a little bit about what may be coming down the pike. he was very on message about that as well, chris. he talked about wanting to focus on infrastructure reform. >> i want to get to garrett haake who is on capitol hill and pick up on what kristen just had to say. what about infrastructure? mitch mcconnell had a press conference today as well. how are they looking at this going forward? >> reporter: well, it was interesting. infrastructure was not one of the issues that mitch mcconnell brought up as a priority for him and for the senate next year. the president has put this out there because he thinks it's the kind of thing that can get

bipartisan support, and that's still an open question. democrats would like to work on infrastructure, but they would like to be involved in the process. they don't want it to be the kind of thing where the president just puts a plan before congress and democrats either have to sign on to what the president has put out there or vote against it. it's a possibility that could happen. but one of the big themes of mr. mitch mcconnell's year-end conference which he holds every year and just held this morning, was that next year has to be a more bipartisan year in the senate. republicans are only going to have a 59-41 majority, certainly the most narrow majority you can have. if on another day john mccain or another senator are not here because they're not well, that effectively wipes out getting the majority. infrastructure is there at least in theory. we'll see what they can come up

with. >> the devil is in the details of the tax cut. everyone is waiting to see what the actual reaction will be, what impact it will have in 2018. the president touted several businesses, several corporations that announced they're going to give breaks, wage hikes or bonuses to their employees because of the tax bill, but he could not resist taking a few jabs, including at our parent company. take a listen. do we have that sound? >> i want to thank at&t who was actually the first out of the box, and boeing and sinclair and wells fargo and comcast, even though they own nbc which is not so nice to the presidency or the president, but comcast also, they all have made tremendous contributions to their employees and tremendous contributions to spending money in this country because of the tax bill. >> on message you could argue, katy, but it's almost impossible

to get him in a setting like this where he doesn't give that little curb. >> it's commendable for companies to give bonuses, it's commendable for companies to give to the u.s. there are those who do it to curry favor to the presidency or those who decide they want to do this. let's find out if other companies continue to do this and give more bonuses to the average american worker. let's see houw far it extends. a bit of a check on what he said today. he keeps touting this as the biggest tax cut ever. this is not even the largest tax cut when you adjust for inflation in the last decade. the obama cuts were more than this. he talks about how he has signed more legislation than any other president. he has not signed more legislation than any other president. he's rolled back regulations

through executive order, yes, but he has not signed more legislation. donald trump is trying to say on message, even though his message is not entirely true, it's the way he operates. if he says it, he thinks people will believe it. it's worked to his advantage. he's going to come back to a lot of difficult questions, more news from the russia investigation, more talk about 2018, what's happening to republicans. he's going to hope this tax cut sells itself. democrats are going to continue to paint it as tax cuts for the wealthy and the corporations more than anything else. the tax cut goes to the wealthy and the temporary tax cut to the individuals. >> thank you, peter, thank you, katy. you mentioned the russia investigation. again, some new developments in that. nbc news has learned that long-time trump assistant rhona graff will be interviewed in new york today.

fbi director andrew mccabe in testimony before the intel committee on tuesday confirmed that former fbi director james comey told him that president trump asked for a loyalty pledge. >> he can't say what he said, but i can tell you my impression. i am extremely impressed with him. and i wish we had more people like him in government. it is so important that he's honorable and he's a goodm man. >> i'm joined now by justice analyst matt miller and by nbc news national political reporter mike nemely. mike, who is rhona graff? why is she so important? >> there's been so much disagreement by republicans. the fact that they agree on rhona graff as a key witness

shows how important she is. she's worked at trump tower as president trump's gatekeeper, essentially, for 30 years. so itthey just had donald trump jr. interviewed with a russian-connected lawyer talking about ways they might have incriminating information on hillary to provide. when the publicist helped arrange that meeting, he specifically told rhona, i want to get this information to your father and i'll send it through rhona. >> what do you think about doing this in new york city? >> when you hear democrats in the committee, they are very concerned that the republicans are not conducting this investigation the way you usually do. typically the rules for investigation is you follow the facts wherever they lead. it seems like the house republicans on this committee

are doing is following the facts wherever they lead assuming it's not in an election year. they want to wrap this entire thing up at least in very early january so it doesn't continue to go into the election year where it can damage the president's political standing. that's not how you conduct an investigation. >> meanwhile, we have the fbi director going, mike, how many hours? >> 17 hours. >> comparatively to all the other people they've talked to, is there anyone in that area of 17 hours. >> so when we were standing outside the room where the interview with the intelligence committee was happening, it turned out to be eight hours. he's key for a number of reasons. in terms of the intelligence committee, one of the things we know came out of that interview is he corroborated director james comey's account of president trump asking him for a

loyalty pledge. that's not necessarily surprising because we know how meticulous james comey was in documenting every piece of evidence. that was narrowly focused on hillary clinton's e-mail server, the investigation they did on that, and trying to muddy the waters by focusing on these unrelated inquiries, and, of course, their favorite target hillary clinton. >> do you make anything, matt miller, of the length of testimony? is it necessarily indicative ? >> remember when he was kind of rid kuld ficuled for carrying te house's water and trying to talk

about what happened in the 2016 election rather than pursuing that investigation. you see republicans on the judiciary committee, on the oversight committee and on the intelligence committee all trying to attack the fbi, attack the special counsel, attack people like andrew mccabe who would be a key witness in the obstruction of justice investigation because jim comey did tell him what the president said to him. that is now where republicans are at. they are showing less interest in going after the president and more interest in going after the investigators. it's a dangerous place for the media. >> how quickly will they wrap this up, matt? >> the house and republicans, i think they'll be done before the end of the year. the more ultimate question is how long until bob mueller wraps. >> he hasn't said, we're eager to wrap this up. he said there are key wntsz. even if republicans try to wrap it up early.

>> matt melany and matt miller, same initials. it is expected to be a difficult campaign year. how the president is acting with frustrations to his closest officers. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. r insura? they helped with homeowners, too! ok! plus motorcycle, boat and rv insurance! geico's got you covered! like a blanket! houston? you seeing this? geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more. essential for vinyl, geico. but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra

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a lot of people say, he needed this because he has had no legislative approvals. >> that's president trump signing his first major legislative achievement into law, but can his success on the tax form bill be repeated with a lot of big fights ahead? still coming in 2018, the fate of the dreamer program, budget spending and the child credit program. he had a strategy just hours after the business meeting on

taxes. he reported the complained, the president wasn't being served well. let's talk to the political reporter who wrote that story. amy chozak, whose memoir on the clinton campaign is due out next spring. who was there? just how heated did it get? >> reporting with my colleague jack dossey, we found that inside the oval office, the president was confronted with several of his aides both inside the white house and those working outside. they looked a few hours after the tax bill passed and saw a coming wave in 2018, a resurgence of the democratic party. at times it got heated. the political director at the white house came under scrutiny according to people at the exchange. of all these issues and tensions that have been floating around the white house for a while as

they look to next year. >> you also said that tension included concerns about the electoral map, frustration with the rnc. what is the frustration there and do you get a good sense of if the president is going to be out there a lot, do the people want him out there? what do you see looking into 2018? >> chris, with regard to the rnc, it has raised a lot of money for the party over the past year, but there are people in trump's circle, in the president's circle, who say it should be out there more forcefully defending him. when it comes to complicated issues like the russia probe, they know bob mueller's investigation could continue into next year, and there is concern in the president's circle about what's being done to help support the white house, a white house at times they feel is under siege, and they would like to see more reinforcements politically rather than advertising whether it's a super pac or a committee in the coming

months. >> roger dearborn said he would be leaving the white house in 2018, there have been 20 high-level departures this year. that's a big number, even though a lot of people say they said they would only serve one year. does this create some kind of void? does it create a positive opening? what's going on there? >> it seems characteristic of the trump administration that he is celebrating his biggest legislative achievement with good old-fashioned staff infighting. people say we're going into the second season of "the apprentice" and it's looking more like "the survivor." i don't think it's unusual that he teams up with the staff who make him feel comfortable. you see other aides who weren't supposed to be involved with the white house day to day coming in and causing consternation with

kelly and some of the other white house staff. >> if we look at these pictures now, bob costa, it looked like such a kum-ba-ya moment. all those people who were highly critical of him getting a love fest. he got high praise from mitch mcconnell, high praise from paul ryan. he wasn't too happy about steve bannon. take a look at this. >> do you blame steve bannon for doug jones being elected in alabama? >> let me just say this. the political genius on display throwing away a seat in the reddest state in america is hard to ignore. >> you know, we could talk about people leaving the administration, but, bob, does anybody ever really leave? it's not like cory lewandowski is gone and never heard from

again or stoeve bannon's influence has waned? >> and steve bannon still talks to the president. this is due to the frustration, the anger of the mcconnell camp in the republican party, the bannon wing of the republican part. what's interesting about the majority leader's comments is he goes after bannon from alabama. yet president trump himself also supported roy moore in alabama and campaigned in that effort, went down to pensacola, florida, at least, and endorsed roy moore in different ways. yet mcconnell directs his ire at bannon. that's because bannon is a threat to the republican majority in the senate because bannon wants to have primary challengers in the incumbents, and that's why they're going after bannon. >> when the president fired mike flynn, he called him late at

night. chief of staff john kelly has tried to limit the number of people who could get in his ear, but does anybody ever really disappear from trump's orbit? >> exactly. it's hotel california, right? you can check out but you never really leave. the president has expressed frustration that some of his calls haven't gotten through, in other words, the chief of staff job is working. he still takes great comfort in these older aides who, by the way, were fighting during the campaign as well. i think bob has a good point. the obama -- bannon race has really challenged this administration. after a blistering address to the united nations, ambassador nikki haley now has a

special invitation for those countries that supported america. we'll share these details next on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. keyboard clacking ]

[ mouse clicks, keyboard clacking ] [ mouse clicking ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ mouse clicking ] [ keyboard clacking ] ♪ good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. but he hasoke up wwork to do.in. so he took aleve. if he'd taken tylenol, he'd be stopping for more pills right now. only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. aleve. all day strong.

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. the united states will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the general assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation. we will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world's largest contribution

to the united nations. and we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us as they so often do to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit. >> after that stinging rebuke from the united nations, ambassador nikki haley is throwing a thank you party for those countries that did not condemn the trump administration for recognizing jerusalem as israel's capital. nbc has learned that the eight countries that voted no, the 35 that abstained and the 25 more that didn't show up for thursday's vote have all gotten this invitation. you see it here, from ambassador hali hailey, to a grand celebration. john brennan tweeting, trump administration threatening to retaliate against nations that

exercise sovereign right in u.n. to oppose u.s. position on jerusalem is beyond outrageous. shows donald trump expects blind loyalty and subservience from everyone, qualities usually found in narcissistic, vengeful au autokra autocrats. >> joining me now, msnbc analyst. exercise our right as a sovereign nation, used by nikki haley and used again against the united states. what do you make of all this? >> it's kind of like the school of diplomacy. you extort people to get them to go along with your point of view. if you look at the nations that actually voted for this -- i don't know if we have them. >> we have a list. >> most people have never heard of them. >> canada abstained, so -- they

got invited, too. >> but of course, france, the u.k., germany, our greatest allies, all voted against us. >> yeah. there they are, okay? so what are the implications here. this doesn't have any policy implications, really, but is it really a big embarrassment? does it mean anything? >> i think we're making a lot more out of it. there is a lot of hypocrisy here. what is silly about it from our perspective is the trump administration acted like this is something new. we're going to take names and give you detention after school? the united nations has been voting against israel for years and we've been sticking up for it. but what is also bad strategy is is next week when ambassador haley has to go to the u.n. for support from north korea, hey,

you took our name last week, why should i vote against north korea? >> is there that much bad blood, is there that much negative feeling, rick, that when there is something as important like, what are we going to do with north korea, they would not vote with the united states even though they're not swayed by the united states? >> i think they can separate the bad blood. they're doing something which is shooting themselves in the foot, because when you do need to get some help on referendums, on votes, now people are like, why should we do you any favors? by the way, this idea that we give the most money to the u.n., which, of course, we do, that doesn't change people's behavior and this mafia-esque way of saying we're going to hold money

is a threat. >> how much is this actually eating trump? >> it's 100% predictable. if you're going to be hurt by this, you're going to be hurt by something you knew in advance would hurt you. it's just silly. >> do you know in advance it's going to hurt you? the president ran on the whole idea that he frankly was not part of all this. this was not his millieu, hanging out at the united nations and talking policy. he suggested as much on the campaign trail. we're going to stop giving money to all these organizations that don't do what we want them to do. >> that's impossible. it's not the way the mind works. this has been going on for decades and decades. by the way, we are the architect of the international system in

which the nation keeps the peace and this is from the post-war order that we have created. again, it's shooting ourselves in the foot. >> from the state department, let me play for you what was said. >> i wanted to reiterate what the president said yesterday, and that u.n. vote is not the only factor the administration would take into consideration in dealing with our foreign relations and countries who have chosen to vote one way or the other. >> good cop, bad cop. >> by the way, i changtried to e that step and repeat banner. isn't that awful? they realize it's not in their best interest to treat people like this, that people find it comic. basically it makes us more of a

pa r pariah nation than we otherwise would be. >> the real part of all of this is the united states saying we're going to move our embassy. do you see any movement that's going to happen in anything like next year. >> i think if you start with the embassy, which is also not in our interests, because trump called the ultimate deal because they moved closer to israel, and now they're saying, why? you put this right in our face. the other one is north korea. the president decided not to, but he needs to have some multilateral talks, i would argue, involving china, japan, south korea with north korea to get that done, and he needs,

again, global support for that. if we operate unilaterally with kim jong-un, that could have a really unhappy ending. >> rick stengel, good to see you and some people looking at the other end of the equipment, could agree with you. we're going to look back at some of the biggest moments of 2017. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. dad! we also know you can avoid drama by getting an annual check-up. so we're partnering with cigna to remind you to go see a real doctor. go, know, and take control of your health. it could save your life. doctor poses! dad! cigna. together, all the way. dad! i am totally blind.

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true, in just a few days we'll be saying goodbye to 2017, a year of change and opposition that have transformed this country. my colleague and brian williams of "the 11th hour" share their top 10 stories of 2017. >> bob corker, republican, departing senator from tennessee. >> the president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the confidence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful. >> so he's someone that said out loud what a lot of people in washington only say behind closed doors with a couple of cocktails. >> number 9. the mayor of san juan, carmen cruz. >> hurricane maria, one of the

strongest storms to hit puerto rico. >> we are dying and you are killing us with the inefficiency and the bureaucracy. >> what she did probably saved lives. mike flynn. >> former national security adviser. >> former national security adviser to the president of the united states. and the question that we sort of leave with after this dramatic news of his guilty plea is not just what does he know and what has he told mueller, because the answer is everything and whatever mueller wants, according to every prosecutor has who has ever been involved in a case like this. >> colin kaepernick and what he has stood for, or more appropriately, knelt for, has attracted the attention and the criticism of donald trump. >> wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say, get that son of a [ bleep ] off the field right now, out,

he's fired. he's fired! >> what kaepernick was doing almost epitomized peaceful protest and the right to do so. >> vladimir putin, number 6. >> at the end of the day, he messed with us. the only part of the story that doesn't satisfy a majority of americans is that trump isn't mad about it. >> he was a prisoner of war. so not for the first time in his life is he in the fight of his life right now, john mccain. >> this year you could argue has been really extraordinary won in the fight against cancer. and two, in that thumbs-down vote against repealing health care. >> this brings us to number 4 on our list. >> the reporters. >> this is something we agreed on when we first sat down to talk about this list. basically an old-fashioned print newspaper war without print.

>> they've also become our storytellers of this presidency. >> number 3, the twitter feed of the president of the united states. it's hard to believe the time of day, the frequency, the day of a terrorist attack he is likely to attack the media or the country already under attack, all of which brings us to number 2 on our 10 list. something we are calling after much deliberation the reckoning, the wave of sexual harrassment and assault, accusations and dismissals in certainly more than one industry. >> a lot of people probably believe that's long overdue. >> and now the time has come for number 1. robert mueller. >> he defines discipline and focus in a way that makes him, in 2017 as you head into 2018,

he is the looming threat over donald trump's presidency. >> we will be talking a lot about robert mueller in 2018, but also this ongoing story, the payouts. brian and nicolle mention touchdown as the reckoning, and now as we get a second look at capitol hill, we're getting a look at just how much was paid out in settlements. we have details on that, and going forward as well. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. sometimes the product arrives and the cold chain has been interrupted, and we need to be able to identify where in the cold chain that occurred. we took our world class network and we developed devices to track environmental conditions.

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welcome back. new details into sexual harassment payouts on capitol hill. nearly $600,000 worth of taxpayer money was used to pay out senate workplace misconduct claims but it pinpoints just one claim for a little over $14,000 for sex discrimination and reprisal. the findings failed to include a $220,000 sexual harassment agreement reached back in 2014. nbc news reporting yesterday, that settlement involved a congressional staffer filing a complaint against the u.s. commission on security and cooperation in europe. joining us now, nbc political contributor my yeah harris along with leanne caldwell, author of the reports targeting these findings on sexual harassment just mentioned. good to see both of you. this release only came after pressure from senator tim kaine

and others and only after senators were done for the year, heading out of washington. what can you tell us about all of this? >> yeah, i think the timing is quite significant, chris. two committee chairman have been sitting on this information. we didn't even know these committees had the data until senator tim kaine had asked for it from the oversight body that holds onto this. in a letter from the oversight body to senator tim kaine, they said the senate rules committee had ak less so this already. i reported yesterday the appropriations committee also had access to this information. so only after internal pressure from some of their colleagues and pressure from the media did these committees decide to release it. as you noted, they did it at 7:00 last night, just minutes after the senate took their last vote for the year. and there was no opportunity for reporters to ask senators about this. you know, the house and the

senate seem to be taking kind of different tacts on this issue of sexual harassment. the house seems to be more methodical and apparently more transparent. the senate, their actions don't seem so. i asked mitch mcconnell about it today, what he's doing specifically to address the issue. he said -- he points to legislation being composed by senators gillibrand and senators klobuchar. the senate doesn't seem to be as willing about this, chris. >> it's not even clear what category these are in. like, what actually happened here. isn't that part of the problem? if we're going to say, this money was paid out but we're not talking about exactly what the problem is that's happening within the has of congress. >> the you're absolutely right. and i think it really points to exactly why the entire system in congress needs to be overhauled, because there's not enough

transparency. a lot of these claims are lumped together. even just as -- you know, all of this conversation has been bubbling up and there's been momentum around doing something around this in congress, we've had sort of a drip, drip, drip of what are the actual complaints that have been filed and what kind of settlements have been paid. i think this is one of the key issues that should go to the heart of the reforms that need to happen in congress, which is related to transparency around this data. the entirety complaint system needs to be overhalled from beginning to end. it's daunting and dissuades people from coming forward. and it's just -- it's too long. it's dragged out, so i think that that also we need to see reforms there. but if congress wants to establish any credibility on this issue, which arguably they don't have a lot right now, which is unfortunate given the fact these are people who you would expect to be leading on this issue, not lagging on it, if they want to have credibility on this issue, they need to remove those forms, take them up early in the new year and

actually get something done to meaningfully change the system and create more transparency and more accountability. >> we only have a minute, but to that point, what is likely to happen in the new year? what are you hearing on the hill? there's a number of proposals out there but is anything going to actually happen? >> well, in the house of representatives, they have a big package of reforms they're working on. they actually expected to introduce that this week, but that didn't happen. they ran out of time. i'm told by members on both sides of the aisle they're trying to do this right. on the senate, they're moving much slower and there are multiple proposals out there but no timeline on when those will be taken up and worked on. >> thanks to both of you. we'll be watching closely into 2018. more ahead on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc.

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that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports," i'm chris jansing. craig melvin is up here. >> happy holidays. >> you, too. >> craig melvin at msnbc headquarters in new york. the list grows. a new report says two top trump allies could be interviewed about russia in the new year. for the first time. also done deal. president trump just signed the

tax bill and gave a hint at what he could be looking at for his next big legislative win. blaming bannon. the sarcastic shot that mitch mcconnell just took at steve bannon now that the state of alabama has an incoming democratic senator. we start with new details on the house intelligence committee to trump campaign ties to russia. two of the most senior people in the 2016 campaign reportedly are now being asked to testify before the house committee. steve bannon, the president's former chief strategist and former campaign manager, corey lewandowski, have been sent letters asking them to appear in early january. is that report from bloomberg news citing an official familiar with the committee's schedule. this developing as congressional investigators today are questioning a long-time trump aide in their investigation of russia's meddling in the