good morning. i'm gigi stone woods in for alex witt at msnbc world headquarters in new york. we are watching a california man facing terror charges for allegedly planning a christmas day attack on san francisco's pier 39. authorities say he is a former marine inspired by isis who complained about the president's decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. the fbi found a marterdom letter and three firearms in his home. also in california, officials say the wildfire has consumed 427 square miles,

destroyed hundreds of home. it is now the largest in state history. it broke out three weeks ago and is 65% contained. spacex rocket launch created a stir after it blasted off last night. many people thought it was a ufo. of course they took video and pictures and flooded tv station phone lines. there was so much fuss the l.a. fire department had to issue an advisory to tell people this light in the sky was a rocket launch. now to politics. president trump fresh off his legislative victory. before leaving the white house for mar-a-lago, he told reporters the tax bill put him in a new category among u.s. presidents. >> our country is doing very well. we have tremendously cut regulations. legislative approvals for which i have given to credit in the mainstream media. we have i believe it's 88, which

is number one in the history of our country. second now is harry truman. we have more legislative victories than any other president, not including this. but this is the capper. >> characteristic bluster and bravado should come as no surprise. co-founder and ceo of all in together, a women's advocacy grow. and joe watkins, aide to george h.w. bush. rick tyler, former cruz campaign spokesman and msnbc political analyst. thank you all for being with me. so, joe, beyond neil gorsuch, this tax bill, are there any other major accomplishments you can attribute to this administration that president trump is so proud of? >> well, we have a long, long way to go. this has been a tough year. a large opportunity was missed because they could work with

democrats to create bipartisan legislation. they could have had hearings. it was certainly a missed opportunity. but this has been a difficult year. i think a difficult first year. the president does get a chance to say that he got a landmark legislation passed. the democrats and republicans have a long, long way to go with regards to working together and learning to have regard for each other and to listen to each other. there should have been hearings on this bill. this bill, according to the -- the hill said it well. they said this is not a one size fits all policy. and they're right about that. a huge opportunity missed to work with democrats. >> we saw president trump holding up his large legislative accomplishment with his biggest pen and biggest signature ever. what's your take? is president trump getting a fair shake on assessing all of his accomplishments? >> part of what is fascinating

about tax reform, and i agree it was an opportunity missed in terms of bipartisanship. having a republican in the white house is fundamentally what they needed to pass a bill they have wanted for a very long time. it is much more of a victory for house and senate republicans. didn't get the carried interest loophole. that remains. that was one of his signature policy events. fundamentally on bipartisanship, it is not just what's in the bill but any ability to influence public opinion. it is wildly unpoplar. it was so rushed the assumption is that it's bad. i think there are certainly parts of the bill that many people will actually benefit from. but certainly for lower and middle income americans not only is it just minimally impactful on their lives, the sense over

all and the narrative in the public has been this is a big giveaway to trump and to wealthy members of congress who benefit personally. they have done a terrible job with this as they did with health care. a terrible job selling it to the american people. that is the down side of rushing through the legislative process to get the supposed victory. i don't know how much of a victory it will be when 2018 rolls around. >> the optics are not good. >> terrible. >> the white house still had this big tax celebration. it morphed into a love fest for the he president this week. i want to play you some of that. >> it's been a year of extraordinary accomplishment for the trump administration. >> something this profound could not have been done without exquisite presidential leadership. >> we will make this the greatest presidency we have seen not only in generations but maybe ever. >> we would not be standing here today if it wasn't for you.

>> i would say to the american people, president trump has been making history since the first day of this administration. >> this is one of the great privileges in my life to stand here on the statehouse lawn with the president who i love and appreciate so much. >> listen, these men were not all on on board from day one. so what went through your mind as you watched that? what happened? >> this is an overdose of the pill they took that day. the republicans have figured out that if they can make trump feel good about a legislative accomplishment, maybe they will get more of it. this is really to get his endorphins going. i think lauren is right. his thumbprint is very small. but there's two counter gambles going on here. one is that most people will see a tax cut but it won't come into

2019. >> right. >> but the democrats, because the polling is so low they have gambled in 2018, people won't see it in 2018. they will be able to run a campaign against it. they might be right about that. >> we have the whole family on board. ivanka trump promoting the tax plan. let's listen to what she had to say. >> i'm really looking forward to doing a lot of travel anything april when people realize the effect that this has both on the process of filling out their taxes. the vast majority will be doing so on a single postcard. buff also having experienced the relief that will be starting as early as february. >> wait to travel until then. did no one tell her the promise to simplify the tax code was not actually kept. the single postcard talking point no longer applies. is this part of the official spin is from the white house? >> yeah.

and the calculation is so cynical. that americans will not pay attention to the details of what are in the bills. one of the big shifts we have seen in fundamental citizen engagement since the beginning of this white house, this administration is americans are paying attention very closely. and that is a shift. you can spin it any way you want. but the fundamental reality of how it will affect people's lives. i give credit. increasing the child tax credit, which is really her signature piece of legislation, i applaud that. and i think it was important. however, for the vast majority of americans who need it most, poor and working families, $75 for over 10 million children, which is really nothing compared to what child care costs and the real issues. the theory and the process don't

line up. people will see that and see it quickly. people see it in their pocketbooks, they understand it personally for themselves. it's not an abstract concept. and i think the reality is the vast majority will see a benefit. i will. i'm lucky enough that i am in one of the higher income brackets. but ultimately that is not -- we need the vast majority of americans to see the benefit to them or they will have serious problems in 2018. >> the president leaving town without holding a year end press conference. the hill is reporting trump benefited from positive coverage on the tax plan. officials are concerned he could have been peppered about questions from the russia investigation. why not answer the russia questions, i have to ask you? >> because trump feels like it would lead on the ill legitimacy of his presidency. and in some ways he's right.

the russians were involved in the 2016 election. nobody doubts that except the president. he feels like if it is demonstrated to have any influence at all that it somehow delegitimizes him. the russians have begun to master the idea of how to be influential through social media in the russian election. there's hundreds and hundreds of examples of what they did and how much money they spent. it will literally undermine democracy. >> absolutely. thank you all for joining me. lauren, joe watkins, rick tyler. so much to discuss. the tax cut, potential blue wave. if democrats take control in 2018, would they repeal this bill altogether? i will ask a congressman in just a moment. also in the next hour, representative mike quigley, why it was held at a secret location. very important questions. stay with us.

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my view of this, if we can't sell it to the american people, we ought to go into another line of work. it allows us to continue this discussion with the american people. and we're all going to be doing that all through the year. >> indeed. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell on the gop tax bill. after nbc news/wall street journal poll found 41% of americans think it is a bad idea. 41% think it is a good idea. the ranking member on the house budget committee, thanks for being here, congressman. we know the optics of this bill aren't good. let's look at how it will impact your constituents in kentucky. the tax bill will result in mining, accommodation, food services and manufacturing landing some of the lowest tax rates. is this good news for the people in your state at least? >> well, it's good news for some

people. they're going to get a moderate amount of increase in their take home pay. for the vast majority of kentucky yanns they won't feel it. many will be hurt by the s.a.l.t. deductions. 400,000 people will be disadvantaged by that. and the interesting thing about this whole debate, or one of many, is we got absolutely no expressions of support for this bill from our business community. nobody was calling up and saying, hey, we need to cut our taxes. we're having trouble. and i have some very big companies based in my district, u.p.s., yum! brands, two big ford facilities. when we talked to them, they said it doesn't make any difference to us. essentially, it looked like they have given a huge tax break to

corporations and wealthy people when no one actually wanted it. >> that is interesting considering american businesses were doing so well already. >> exactly. >> chuck schumer sees trouble for this bill if there is a blue wave in 2018. do you think democrats would try to overturn this? >> well, i think there are certainly provisions in the bill that we would look at overturning or changing. for instance, the president's big promise to eliminate the carried interest deduction is something that mysteriously didn't happen. i think that is something we would look at if we take control of the house. a number of provisions we would change. i think we would go back to the house proposal that narrowed the number of tax brackets to four. this one actually didn't do anything like that. it made it more complicated. the really unfortunate part of

this debate is democrats were willing to participate to actually reform the tax system to make it simpler and ferrer and we were never allowed in the room. if we have a chance to run the room, i think you're going to see a lot of changes made. >> it is definitely not that much simpler. we were talking about corporate businesses. you said in kentucky they were telling you they didn't even want this. we do have to be fair. comcast, nbc universal, parent company of msnbc are announcing wage increases, bonuses, investments following the passage of this tax bill. the white house is saying these are signs that the tax bill is already becoming a promise fulfilled. do you think that's fair? >> the president will say anything he wants to say. at&t, while it's nice they all got $1,000 bonus, also laid off 600 people this week. you're getting a mixed message.

it is clear what they were trying to do. at&t has a merger they want approved. same with comcast. wells fargo has a number of regulatory issues with the government. boeing wants the same thing. they want to sell planes to iran. that's problematic right now. it is is clear they were sucking up to the administration. and the proof will be, as the year goes on, which companies actually do make investments, actually do hire more people, actually do increase salaries. i hope they do increase salaries. look at the magnitude of the money here. at&t makes $14 billion in profit a year. they just gave a bonus -- a $1,000 bonus to 100,000. it is a tiny fraction what they will make in addition to this tax bill. let's not be effusive with our praise from the president for these companies. they're making a smart pr move. and we'll see what happens. >> great press releases.

i want to turn to another major element. the repeal of the individual mandate. here's what president trump had to say about that. >> obamacare has been repealed. we didn't want to bring it up. i told people specifically be quiet with the fake news media because i don't want them talking too much about it because i didn't know how people -- now that it's appro d approved, i can say the individual mandate has been repealed. >> do you think this was the final blow to obamacare? will democrats be forced to work with republicans on some sort of alternative fix for health insurance, do you think? >> well, you know, the president doesn't have a clue what's in the affordable care act and never has. there are many aspects to the affordable care act. one is the expansion of medicaid. that's something the republicans are trying to attack but haven't been able to. there's improvements to medicare and changes in the benefits structure there. those have been very successful. they have resulted in reducing the rate of growth in medicare substantially in expanding the

life span of medicare. and discrimination because of pre-existing conditions. allowing children to stay on their policy until many things aren't going away, they're a part of the law. so what he's done, and the republican versus dealt a very serious blow to the individual insurance market. which affects about 6% of the country. we really do have to shore that up. that's, when they eliminate the individual mandate, rates have to go up. you don't have to buy insurance, the people who will not buy are, if are you a guaranteed coverage, the people that will not buy are the people who will, who are intensive users of health care, which will make that cost prohibitive. so this is a very, very serious problem. but it is far from the majority of what the affordable care act does. he hasn't been able republicans haven't been able change that because the american people value it very, very much. >> yes, still very alarming

potential consequences, congressmanniar moia -- congres yarmouth, thank you very much. are the fears of fearing robert mueller valid? we'll talk about that next. stick

. firing mr. mueller or any other of the top brass involved in this investigation would not only call into question this administration's commitment to the truth, but also to our most bake concept rule of law. it also has the potential to provoke a constitutional crisis. >> that's a top democratic senator on the intel committee, mark warner, expressing concern that president trump may fire robert mueller. the white house pushed back saying that is not going to happen. back now, here is my panel. rick, we have been hearing this

increasingly fiery rhetoric from the white house and conservative commentators against mueller and the fbi. you know, this may have driven these rumors that mueller could be fired. then have you warner warning against that. are both sides playing politics here? what's going on? >> of course, yeah, they're all playing politics. look, the white house is engaged in a campaign the campaign works like any other campaign. they're trying to make mueller unpopular an look illegitimate. so right now, they're saying they will not fire mueller. they are trying to build a case i believe that they will fire him. sarah huckaby is trying to have it both ways. she says on the one hand, we have no plans to fire robert mueller an at the same time, she says the whole thing is a hoax, if it's a hoax, of course, he should be fired. so as trump says, we'll have to see what happens. >> they said the administration has said they weren't going to fire people in the past. then, of course, they have been let go.

so let's just say mueller is fired. joe, would this create the constitutional crisis that warner suggested? how serious of a red line would this be? >> this would be very serious, senator warner is right, it would create a constitutional crisis this week, former u.s. attorneys, republicans, conservatives among them said that the mueller investigation needs to continue on unimpeded, so they sided, of course, with for warner saying it's so very important for the mueller investigation to be able continue on unimpeded. i agree with him. >> yeah. >> the president undercutting the fbi the a dangerous proposition, potentially, warren, what is your take on this. >> if you want to know what the president will say next keep an eye on fox news the reality is talking points and assault on mueller and the fbi is followed closely with a lot of hosts on fox, including people like janine pirro and hannity who have been for months and months harping on various consmir rapi

contractor conspiracy theories. it's how remarkable those two talking points wind up being. so keep an eye on that. but i think, look this is agree would be surprised if he follows through with it. it would be so dramatic and so inflammatory on every level. i also think it's the republican party's worst nightmare that he does that. you know, part of what the benefit of tax reform was it got us all talking about roy moore. let's not forget, what a liability, some of the president's most inin a minutory actions have been for the party as a whole that wants to focus on policy. so i think you will see a lot of quiet pressure inside the republican party to keep the president if line on this one. >> absolutely. laura, rick, joe, thank you for joining us him we'll stick with msnbc. we will not watch fox news, it is a valid question, which came first the chicken or theic the policy or straight from the white house in a half hour, i will speak with a member of the house intel

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