that about wraps it up for this hour of "msnbc live." right now it's time for "am joy" with joy reid, russia, taxes, collusion, we got it all. take it away, joy. the bottom line is this is the biggest tax cuts and reform in the history of our country. everything in here is really tremendous things for businesses, for people, for the

middle class, for workers. >> good morning. welcome to "am joy." just before departing for his christmas vacation at his private club in mar-a-lago, where the initiation fee is $200,000 and annual dew dues ruu $14,000, president trump signed into law a major tax overall which will line the pockets of the millionaires and billionaires who make up the trump cabinet. folks like steve mnuchin and jared kushner who stand to squirrel away millions under the new tax scheme. not to mention the millions republicans will shovel into trump's own bank account through the bill. 11 million a year according to a "new york times" analysis. the middle fifth of american households will get an average of 18 bucks a week in tax cuts in 2018. we'll see even that meager cut disappear within the next decade. republicans are setting their sights on gutting the social safety net to pay for the tax cuts for corporations and the

super rich. first up, welfare. which is not a single program but a catch-all term for social benefits that republicans never liked. >> you're going to see this administration move on vigorously to an agenda which will include infrastructure and welfare reform. >> i think we're working through some of the top priorities. i think you can expect welfare reform. >> the kinds of entitlement reforms we'll be pursuing are the kinds that make sure we get welfare to work. >> after that, expect them to cut medicare and social security that you, the working people of this country, have paid into your whole working lives. >> we have been trying to make our entitle ms susta m entitlem the future. >> though candidate trump promised zero cuts to medicare, medicaid or social security, the trump administration is now singing a different tune.

>> the president does not want to -- >> he doesn't want to do any cuts there, but you did do cuts in medicaid. >> we did, because he's trying to protect the program. it's on an unsustainable path that will not last. >> joining me now is alley velshi and kareem jean-pierre. ali, you look at the percentage change in after-tax income and you go at that by income, it's clear whether you look at it by percentages or recall numbers, this is a tax cut for the rich. >> we should forget the raw numbers, because it's not relevant because of the income disparity in this country. this is absolutely a tax cut for the rich. it's a teaser rate for the middle class for those couple years, like those mortgages, you will get a few bucks back every month and tlen hen it goes away. to discuss entitlement reform is a red herring, but to discuss it

when you're trying to use it to finance a tax cut for corporations that didn't need it in the first place is downright ugly. i studied this work program. the idea if you take the biggest entitlement program, medicaid. you look at the number of people who get medicaid, who potentially could work. it's a small portion. it's a few hundred thousand. it wouldn't move the needle. if you're trying to find a way to pay for your trillion dollar deficit addition with this tax bill because you financed and you gave a cut to corporations, you're not going to get it done through entitlement reform. president trump in his speech in st. louis said there are people working three jobs, and somebody next door to them is not working at all on government assistance and getting more money. i doubt that story is true. i thought we were gone talking about welfare queens. we realized it didn't move the needle. nothing wrong if there are some people who receive government assistance who could otherwise be working, we could figure that

out, but don't kid yourself that this will help you deal with the expensive tax cut for the rich. >> how do you justify that? you add on top of that the members of the trump cabinet and the money they'll personally get from the estate tax, these guys are getting 4.5 million. steve mnuchin, tillerson, betsy devoss. how on earth can republicans justify handing over that much money to the super rich and turning around and cutting medica medicaid? >> how they adjust it is at the ballot box in 2018 and figure out the 68% of the people who don't itemize deductions got a pretty good tax break. that's how it will work in my opinion. these folks were rich coming into the administration, when you define the level of rich, that's not $154,000 a year, they

made millions. whether they came from small businesses, large businesses, i move that to the side. i understand it sounds outrageous. i also understand they pay a lot of property taxes and bills. i'm not here to defend the administration's picks. i'm here to tell you i think the tax law is pretty about policy. i think that we have 21 billi$2n trillion worth of debt. 10 billion of it came on the back of barack obama, 5 more billion came on the back of george bush. i'm glad to hear we're all concerned about deficit spending. maybe we all ought to join the party. that's where they came from. that's what caused a lot of accountability in the republican primary. >> if you care about debt and deficits, it is said this will add a trillion dollars. >> others say it will add $2 trillion if the tax cuts for individuals is extended. there's a very big type of

difference in that debt you mentioned. most of the debt under george w. bush was from war. most of the debt under president obama was because we had the biggest recession since the great depression, we had a stimulus bill, and we were giving economic aid to people. this will be for the first time in a very long time tax cut for the rich financed deficit. tell me why that ever has to happen? why do we have to cut social programs and increase the deficit to give people who already had the greatest share of the economy in the country more money? and the worst part about it is the corporate tax cuts. corporations are swimming in money. stocks are up 18% this year. profitability is high. money is free. interest rates are low. we're financing through the deficit a tax cut to the one sector of society that absolutely didn't need it. >> i want to let kaden answer that. >> we're talking about corporations. s-corps and c-corps.

and we'll started talking about people, employees working for those corporations. those tax cuts and the incentives to grow your business, whether a small business or a large corporation has employees, sit zen citizens. >> they're just the one group who doesn't need a hand right now. >> i would disagree with that. i run a s-corp and c-corps, absolutely you need the capital. >> this is not for small businesses, this is for giant corporations. you guys are the grassroots folks, you may not need to do a lot of work in terms of getting people to hate this tax bill. it's already polling terribly. good idea or a bad idea? this is the new "wall street journal" poll, 24% say it's a good idea. 41% say it's a bad idea. which party would do a better

job handling the economy, democrats don't often win this one but they're winning it now. >> this is political suicide for republicans especially as we go into 2018. what donald trump is doing is basically giving poor people, middle class americans a lump of gold-plated coal for christmas. that's all he's doing. not only that, it's a continuous nightmare that goes into 2018 and goes well beyond. he'll take away healthcare from people according to the cbo score, 13 million people will lose healthcare because they got taken away the individual mandate. how are they going to pay for this? it can't pay for itself what they'll do, donald trump's administration has said this, they'll push for the reconciliation process to try to pass a bill that will cut

medica medicaid, repeal the affordable care act so they can pay for this whatever $3 trillion, $2 trillion deficit that will have to pay for this tax plan. this is so atrocious, horrific and terrible. this is political suicide for the republicans. >> i have to ask this question, katon. even if you personally like the policy, i know you do, the plain fact is republicans have to sell the idea that 18 bucks a week for the average hard working stiff out there, busting their hump every day, 18 bucks a week, and that that will be temporary, and that their boss, the corporation is getting multimillions of dollars. donald trump and his cabinet get multimillions of dollars. tax breaks for private jets. the messaging is easy. then they'll say paul ryan will come calling and take away their medicaid. this is not an easy sell for your party.

>> well, again, i differ with that. the affordable care act was a hard sell for the democratic party. it takes a while to soak in. president obama was elected and reelected on an issue that supposed by was unpopular in america. >> didn't hurt his party in the midterms. that was giving people healthcare and it got wiped out in the 2010 midterms. >> that's right. >> so don't you think your party will? >> i'm glad people are concerned. i don't. the numbers are good. the 33 races in the senate are good. the house numbers are good. i think what people will see in the -- by the time 2018 comes, they'll see reduction in the tax bills when it comes in the normal paycheck. they'll see some economic activity that they had not seen for a while. i know what the earned income tax credit will do. i know what the policies are. let me put it simple. we were not doing real well in the middle class, so i think

this maybe helps us try to start restoring some of the middle class workers that we have and need to identify, whether republican or democrat. what was working, the deficits were growing under the last two presidents, ali got that right to a point. but we needed something different. something i think optimistic. we can keep pounding the hell out of the rich and talking about the rich, but there's nothing wrong with being rich or getting rich. >> nothing at all. >> nobody said there was something wrong with it. but do we need keep on giving the rich a baby bottle? >> exactly. >> i'm all about people being rich. as i say on joy's show, i'm an unabashed capitalist. our problem in our economy today is not actually unemployment, it's inequality. it's bigger in america than it is in many other countries. part of the reason for that, if you're unemployed in norway or canada or the united kingdom, you can still get a lot of other things including subsidized or free college tuition, child

care, if you get a job you get paternal and maternal leave and you get job retraining. because america doesn't offer those things, if you are low-income or unemployed in america, you are substantially worse off than the rich. i will never say it's bad to be rich. i love the fact that people can aspire to be billionaires in america and so should we all. but we do have an inequality problem that this tax code doesn't actually address. i think that's the point here. katon, i'm certainly not against people being rich. i'm not even against corporate tax cuts or tax cuts for the wealth wealthy. why we're doing it on the backs of the people who most need it is what i question. >> it's not as if being rich is the problem, the problem is greed from a lot of peoples point of view. >> this will increase inequality. we're talking about taking benefits away from people who need it, the poor. medicaid, medicare.

this bill will trigger $25 billion cut from medicare. this is what this bill is doing. when i was talking about the reconciliation process, the reason they're using process is because they don't want democrats involved in it. they don't want democrats to filibuster. they want the minimal amount of votes to get that passed. why? you're talking about obamacare. we did it through regular order. this is not regular order. what they're doing is just unimaginable. it is going to hurt the people who truly, truly need this. >> well, i will end it right there. these are three of my favorite guests. it's great to have you on. merry christmas and happy holidays. thank you very much. >> merry christmas to you. >> katon will be back later in the show. coming up, donald trump declares victory in ending obamacare after millions sign up for it.

>> we have the individual mandate which is a very unfair and very unpopular provision, as you know in obamacare. essentially, i think, it leads to the end of obamacare. i think obamacare is over. the individual mandate was very unfair because you basically are saying pay for something in order not to have to get

healthcare. >> so donald trump claims that obamacare is dead because his new tax law eliminates the individual mandate. but not so fast, donald. nearly 9 million people signed up for insurance through healthcare.gov before the deadline last week, despite an enrollment period that was half as long and a 90% cut in advertising for the program. eliminating the individual mandate will have an effect. 13 million fewer americans will be insured by 2027. premiums in the individual market will spike by 10% a year. healthcare for 9 million children remains in the balance after congress passed a temporary spending bill findifu the children's health insurance program but only through march. joining me is kavita patel. i want to start with c.h.i.p. and it's only been renewed for three months what could be the implications for that and people

using that to insure kids? >> it's concerning that people are saying, well, don't worry, we renewed the program until march. joy, as you know, the program is renewed by also taking money from states that might have leftover money. states like texas, which had to draw down from other states in the country, those states are starting to tell families, listen, we do not know if we will be able to provide you for healthcare for the entire year. so this leaves 9 million children and their families in a huge uncertainty that is just really unjustified. >> so, we have a statement from 8 different childrens advocacy groups, they said states have already started to notify families that they may not have a source of coverage should congress fail to enact a long-term extension of c.h.i.p. funding and several states are using fund meant to operate the program to start actually shutting it down.

i want to let you listen to a woman named sara cameron, she's from pittsburgh, pennsylvania. her monthly income varies. she talks about the coverage her sons actually get through c.h.i.p., this is from station kdka in pittsburgh. >> this is who c.h.i.p. covers. this 8-year-old got his glasses a month ago and c.h.i.p. helped with that. my 5-year-old, austin is nearly asthmatic and he has some problems, sometimes breathing when he gets a cold and it goes straight to his lung. >> so, can you explain what gets c.h.i.p.? what is the income threshold and why is it 9 million children are on it? is it income based on the parents? >> yes. so the c.h.i.p. program is a little different than what we think of like for the medicaid program for example, and the income thresholds, it's based on parents, but think about it this

way. these are children who would not have insurance in any other capacity because their parents are not -- they do not have their own employer-based insurance that they can afford to put their kids on. but they might be employed and not be able to pay for their dependents to be covered. that's a large proportion of c.h.i.p. families, and these are families who may make above the income threshold depending on where you live for you to be able to purchase insurance or qualify through medicaid. a lot of people don't understand. some people even got confused and thought why do we need c.h.i.p., you have medicaid or get it through your employer. that's what ali talked about in the previous segment. we have a country of inequality. you can have a job and not be able to give your kids health insurance. that's who gets the children's health insurance program. >> it's insane they found money to give people who have private jets a tax break and not money

for c.h.i.p. that's off my soapbox. let's talk about the individual mandate. that was the most controversial part of obamacare. even barack obama in 2008 opposed the idea of making people buy health insurance unless there was a public option. the "new york times" had a piece on december 21st. here's a quote. the mandate was devised by conservative healthcare experts at the heritage foundation in the late 1980s who conceived it as a necessary part of a market-based system for providing health insurance in america. the mandate was intended to encourage individual responsibility. one other piece of information on obamacare, more than 4 out of 5 people enrolled in obamacare are in trump states according to a new analysis by the a.p. why does it matter there's no

more individual mandate and who would that hurt? >> so, i think it's interesting that people such as the president have said that the individual mandate was the heart of obamacare. the truth is that there were many pieces that really made obamacare come together, and the individual mandate is an important one. but as you pointed out, it's certainly not an original idea, and it's certainly not going to gut the affordable care act. in terms of who it will hurt, it's absolutely going to hurt people who are not yet old enough to be on medicare, but who probably have multiple chronic conditions. and young people who have chronic conditions. anybody who has pre-existing conditions, which i would argue the thing that obamacare did that was really truly universally amazing was to eliminate pre-existing condition bans. unfortunately, the reason that the -- the reason that the repeal of the individual mandate is so devastating, if you can

guarantee everybody can have health insurance but you don't have a requirement for people to buy it, then honestly it's just going to be people who need healthcare and the costs will skyrocket, premiums will continue to go up, we'll continue to make healthcare unaffordable for everybody in the united states. >> right. the premiums being high is what people who are in that individual market, about 7% of the market have been complaining about. surprise those of who hate obama care and you buy your insurance yourself, you're about to see higher premiums because of this. lindsey graham has not given up on repealing the whole thing. he said it's a sin to surrender on obamacare and this on the news that mitch mcconnell may be backing down on the idea of just repealing the whole thing and that the white house maybe doesn't want do it either. do you think we're in for another round of obamacare repeal drama? >> we've been in rounds of obamacare repeal since it passed. every year the house has done

something. last year we got dangerously close to getting as close as i've ever seen us, but i have to be honest, as your previous panel stated, 2018 is going to be a real interesting political reckoning, as these very lawmakers that ushered in this tax bill go home, they will hear from their constituents. i think we'll hear repeal talk, conversation, all of the rhetoric will continue, continue, continue, but the truth is that senator mcconnell is a smart man. he saw what happened when he tried to take away the provisions against pre-existing bans, keeping your children on until the age of 26. people do not want to get rid of this bill in its entirety. >> yeah. but republicans do. i think people need to start remembering that. they need to remember that and get rid of medicaid and medicare. they're not being quiet about it. >> no. coming up, millions of

dollars will be spent trying to convince you that the republican tax plan is a good thing. that 18 bucks is great. stay tuned.

up next, how your good friends the koch brothers plan

to help donald trump sell the tax bill and line their own pockets in the process.

>> mr. president, can you talk about how much you'll travel to sell this tax cut? >> i don't think i'm going to have to travel too much to sell it. i think it's selling itself. not surprisingly, donald trump is assuming his work is

done and that everyone will simply embrace his tax plan and reap the amazing benefits. basically 18 bucks a week for many in the middle class. even trump's most devout backers know passing the tax bill was hard but that selling it may be harder, which is why next year conservative groups are planning to launch a multimillion dollar effort to convince you that that 18 bucks is slathering millions of dollars on donald trump and his family. our guests are here, and i've got to play this ad for you. this is the first volley in i guess what they see -- what the republicans see as the wave of adoration that will follow donald trump for having signed this tax bill. here it is. the thank you trump political ad. >> every day americans are standing up to thank president

trump. >> thank you so much. >> for making america great again. >> thank you for cutting my taxes. >> thank you for fixing our economy. >> thank you for keeping my family safe. >> thank you for putting america first. >> thank you for supporting israel. >> as veterans, thank you for reminding us to stand for our national anthem. >> thank you, president trump. >> thank you, president trump. >> i know, jason, you're fresh out of the obawbama prison wher you were locked up for saying merry christmas, now that you're free, how much would you like to thank donald trump this morning? >> i would like to thank him for bringing back kwanzaa and -- >> he didn't bring back kwanzaa. that's still illegal. don't go back to prison. this reminds me of that horrible cabinet meeting where everybody has to line up in front of trump like the hunger games, we're your tributes, we're so proud,

we who will sacrifice our seats in the 2018 election salute you. it's ridiculous. if you have to explain t the bi bill is not selling itself. the american people want donald trump to fix roads, lower taxes and keep the country safe if that's what this bill ends up helping with, great. no one believes that now. it's unlikely they can sell it. >> amy, in places and districts where you live, people will not be able to be shielded from the fact that you have jared kushner who inherited millions from his daddy, now gets a 5 million to $12 million tax bump. donald trump reaping 4$4.5 million. wilbur ross getting 4 million. linda mcmahon gets millions. betsy devos gets millions, tillerson gets millions. when people see those millions compared to 18 bucks, how do

they sell that to voters like you? >> come february when people actually start seeing it in their paychecks -- >> the 18 bucks? >> it makes a difference. it does make a difference. every dollar counts. when you're trying to put food on your table, gas in your car, pay for your kids to go to school, every dollar counts what about the $1,000 bonuses that multiple companies are giving right here at the end of the year. that's a boost into the economy. they'll go out and spend that money. these corporations are investing back into their employees, and i think that people will feel that. we can sit here and talk about it all day long. all the other networks can, too. there's been a bunch of negative press about it. at the end of the day people vote according to what affects them personally and they'll see money back in their paychecks. $18 a week matters to a lot of people. >> i think a lot of people think their corporations could have been giving them a christmas bonus. i think people earn that money.

it's not as if corporations are a benevolent lord handing down money from on high. these people work really hard. i wanted to go to katon. >> i agree. >> should people be thanking donald trump like that and behaving like republican members of congress and giving thanks to the dear leader? >> there's two things. number one, all we ever see is negative. negative everything. i don't care which side of the aisle you're on. it's always negative. it's a good thing. i think uplifting to see people being grateful and having a positive message right now. and the second thing is this president, whether you like him or not, he has done what he said he's going to do. one of the things was tax reform. granted, it may not be the perfect thing that everybody wanted, but it was a start. and we all know how hard it was to get it done because if it were easy, it would have been done sometime over the past 31 years. it wasn't. so i think when people feel it, it's going to make a difference.

>> corporations are feeling it, because they're getting a monster permanent tax cut and your 18 bucks is temporary. katon, you have amy's vote. >> not necessarily, joy but -- >> okay. surprise-surprise. we'll go back to you on that then. katon, if you look at the numbers that the pollsters are running, republicans privately are worrying about a bloodbath, trying to get donald trump prepared for the fact that democrats may lose the house. you have mitch mcconnell and paul ryan sounding the alarm that the polls are not looking good. let's go through. in house races, democratic toss-ups, democrats have to deal with in the political report, you have this open seat in minnesota, al franken's seat. you have new hampshire, nevada. some open seats that democrats have to deal with. you have some republican toss-up seats that they'll have to deal with. some like florida, that district 26 in florida not looking good.

dana rohrabacher who has some issues. darrell issa who voted against the tax bill trying to sell his own skin. a lot of california there there, new jersey and new york, people will get hammered for this tax bill because it penalizes blue states. how do those republicans save their seats faced with this $18 versus millions for the rich? >> let's talk politics. there's also 14 open seats where governors are leaving. you have redirectistricredistri up. you have history that won president obama a re-election but cost him seats all over the country. we have a tax bill out there, these are big things, hard to understand -- >> very unpopular. >> i would say -- i see the polls here, i don't know if that will last long enough. my point is two big issues. the democratic party that

something right now, the ability to go run on. they have the passion, the energy. they don't have the numbers in the senate. they got ten seats up where trump won by 8 seats by 20 points. so my point of the whole diatribe is the democratic party by historic numbers, historic politics should have a big chance to capture a lot of seats in the house and possibly a few in the senate. with that being said, this is a different presidency, a different time, economy is doing good. we'll see what the tax package does. there's a good historic comparison here to look at the two big items of where a president wins the house and the senate and out there the country loses. that could happen. i think mitch mcconnell is wise to throw the radar up there and talk about our primaries and what we're doing to ourselves as a party in our primaries. amy and the tea party bunch will talk about deficit spending.

you could see a bit of the republican civil war up. at the end of the day i don't think it will be as bad because the numbers are for us in the senate. redistricting won't happen until 2021. so you won't see the shifts you have seen in 2008, 2010 -- >> and 2006. >> republicans have some issues they need to deal with. thank goodness i'm in that business. >> jason, if you put back up those senate seats, democrats need to flip two now because they got alabama. flake in arizona who is retiring, and then you've got the seat in nevada, heller who is already having polling issues. do democrats have the political sort of acumen to get those seats? >> they do. in large part because of republican mistakes. i worked for both sides on this. this part is clear. the republicans, by pushing through this tax bill the way they did, have not given the public the opportunity to find out where they'll possibly

benefit from it. like all those town halls may have hurt obama cair bcare but people a chance to say maybe it will help me this way or this way. we've already seen over 20 republicans saying i'm not running next year. i won't spend the next 18 months working hard to get knocked out because nobody likes the guy at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. it looks like not only is there going to be a huge, huge wave, if you look at midterm elections from 2006 to 2014, americans make it clear during midterm elections they want to put a check on the presidency. i think the republicans will lose the house. they will be 50/50 or lose the senate. >> amy, does it help the tea party, you came from the tea party, to be carting around the koch brothers who are the sort of image of mplutrocracy does

that help you? >> we are not funded by the koch brothers, i have not gotten a check from them. but the koch foundation, georgia pacific, they create thousands of jobs across this country. while everybody thinks maybe koch is just political, no. they create thousands of jobs. that's peoples livelihoods. i think at the end of the day, when -- no matder what we're talking about on tv, at the end of the day people go into the voting booth and vote on issues that matter to them and how it affects them personally. we saw it in the beginning with the tea party movement, we saw it again in 2016. i think we'll see it again. when people start seeing how this tax plan, even utilities across america, that's one hidden secret that nobody is talking about. this tax cut will benefit people because their utility bill also be cut. >> you can't throw that out there with some sort of evidence of that. >> bloomberg. it's on bloomberg.

>> you just remained people that the koch brothers who are against the entire social safety net are also georgia pacific. people try to trace where their money is. a lot of people don't like the koch brothers, now you just told them. thank you very much. >> merry christmas y'all. >> merry christmas, and happy kwanzaa. >> he's putting himself back in prison. coming up in the next hour, trump's wishful thinking that robert mueller's investigation will be poof, gone by new year's. and after the break, steve bannon for president. i said it. stay with us. just serve classy snacks and be a gracious host, no matter who shows up. do you like nuts?

the market.redict but through good times and bad... ...at t. rowe price... ...we've helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. call us or your advisor.

t. rowe price. invest with confidence. mitch mcconnell and this permanent political class is the most corrupt and incompetent group of individuals in this country. there's a time and season for everything. and right now it's a season of war against a gop establishment. there's a special place in hell for republicans who should know better. >> roy moore's stunning defeat in the alabama senate election may not have been enough to curb steve bannon's titanic political

ambitions. steve bannon may have considered taking his grassroots re luvolun on the campaign trail by running for president in 2020. stop laughing. i am not laughing at your great reporting but the idea that someone like steve bannon thinks that what america truly wants is steve bannon to be president. >> i spent a lot of time with steve after he left the white house. i traveled with him during the final stages of the roy moore election. this is a man who thinks of himself in world historic terms. he thinks he is on the verge of a political realignment like we saw in the 1930s with the new deal democrats. he is going to basically use the republican party to fashion a new coalition of working class whites, minorities,

libertarians, social conservatives. >> this makes me laugh because you're saying he thinks he's going to put minorities in a coalition with neo nazis. >> i challenged him on that, that you know basically the critique that breitbart and his movement has been associated the white nationalists. he says these are people who have no political power. he has no use for them. it's the quote, left media who shows up to cover their rallies. >> it's not their rallies. he hired them. he hired milo yiannopoulos. they're very open about mocking minorities, mocking people of col color. >> i think that is ultimately a problem. we've seen the limitations of the movement. he talks in sort of rosy terms

about wanting to invest in inner cities, but he has not to this date been successful in attracting a more diverse coalition. breitbart still is firmly associated with that extreme part of the right wing. >> they literally mock and attack people of color. it's laughable to me that he thinks which he bring people of color in. let's talk about his mitch mcconnell attack. this is his response. >> do you blame steve bannon for doug jones being elected in alabama? >> let me just say this. it -- the political genius on display throwing away a seat in the reddest state in america is hard to ignore. >> does steve bannon understand that that guy has a thousand times more power than he does? >> i just want to pause for a

second. just the glee you see in mitch mcconnell's face there at bannon's defeat in alabama. in bannon's calculus -- and i challenged him on this as well -- he thinks that the establishment republicans have revealed themselves, that they by backing luther strange who would have lost in bannon's calculus, that they have aligned themselves with the establishment democrats. he refers to them as the you know uni party. bannon is going to use that to run against mcconnell in 18. >> i have a prediction. whoever he puts up against mitch mcconnell will lose. i am not a fan of mitch mcconnell, but he's a good politician. he knows how to win. he takes no prisoners. great reporting. up next, robert mueller

looks to be setting his sights on jared kushner and donald trump jr. the fun never stops. stay with us. t a house. -oh! -very nice. now i'm turning into my dad. i text in full sentences. i refer to every child as chief. this hat was free. what am i supposed to do, not wear it? next thing you know, i'm telling strangers defense wins championships. -well, it does. -right? why is the door open? are we trying to air condition the whole neighborhood? at least i bundled home and auto on an internet website, progressive.com. progressive can't save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto. i mean, why would i replace this? it's not broken.

it is up to every member of this institution, republican or democrat, to make a clear and unambiguous statement that any attempt by this president to

remove special counsel mueller from his position or to pardon key witnesses in any effort to shield them from accountability or shut down the investigation would be a gross abuse of power and a flagrant violation of executive branch responsibilities and authorities. welcome back. even with the big gift of a giant republican tax cut putting millions of dollars into his and his friends' pockets, donald trump still hasn't gotten the christmas gift he wants the most. there's still no end in sight to the russia investigation. special counsel mueller is still quietly chugging along even as trump allies in the media and the gop continue their efforts to undermine the credibility of the investigation. two u.s. officials said mueller is now setting his sights on donald trump jr. and jared kushner, whose actions will be subject to close examination as

the investigation wraps up in 2018. lawmakers pursuing the russia probe in the house are reportedly looking for answers from steve bannon, corey lewandowski. i want to play eli jah cummings the ranking member on the house oversight reform committee, talking about what republicans in the house are doing vis-a-vis the russia investigation. >> whenever it seems as if mueller is getting closer and closer to the white house, it seems that we're distracted to something else. now they've reached into their play book of tricks and now they're pulling this out today. so we're prepared. >> what he's talking about there is among other things a report in politico this week that says the following.

a group of house republicans has gathered secretly for weeks in the capital in an effort to build a case that senior leaders of the justice department and fbi improperly mishandled the contents of a dossier that describes alleged ties between trump and russia. a member of -- the house intelligence committee has been quietly working parallel into the investigation. >> it is shameful. i long for the days of bipartisan cooperation, which is sorely lacking in this investigation. the fact that democrats are being excluded is ridiculous. also the thought that the fbi mishandled the dossier is equally ridiculous. as is always the case when the

fbi gets any kind of tip or information that has any credibility, they will investigate it. and the author of this dossier was a well known and well regarded, accepted source of information. he had been with british intelligence. he was respected. so of course it made sense that if he came up with some information, it would be investigated. this is a very troubling scene, as is the fact that the investigation is continuing in new york instead of in d.c., that's it in private, not in public. these are troubling signs of a lack of cooperation and an effort to protect the president at all costs. >> thinterviews of witnesses in new york, where democrats are not being able to come in, doing these things in secret is troubling. but also troubling, there are three people who reportedly can

corroborate and vouch for jim comey's testimony that he was told by donald trump -- he was asked by donald trump to give a loyalty pledge to him and that he was also asked by donald trump to go easy on or to curtail the investigation into michael flynn. they are all lawyers who work inside the fbi. nbc news is reporting that a source familiar with mccain's testimony before the intelligence committee told nbc news that mccabe confirmed that comey told him that, that he asked for a loyalty pledge from him. we've since seen mr. baker has been reassigned, james baker has been reassigned since then. you had donald trump in the past asking for andrew mccabe, who was the acting fbi director after comey was fired, calling for him to be fired in a tweet

that he issued on the same day of the raid of paul manafort's apartments. so you're starting to see retaliation against these three people, presumably because they can corroborate comey. >> i think that's exactly right. this is retaliation. it's meant to send a chilling message. despite what the republicans are doing, this is not going to change the velocity to ha looci investigation. the investigation is not bob mueller. the investigation is the russia investigation. it's not one person that's leading this. you can replace people and as long as it doesn't touch the investigation, it doesn't have an impact. they are attempting to sully the good name of these people in hope that the fruits of the investigation will be then sullied. it's just a tactic to premeditate the results here, to

say that because these people have questionable loyalty, that as a result the investigation is biassed. it won't work. just one last thing with that. i sort of feel very frustrated as we go down the road here. the whole context of this is russia. we have three investigations going. both the investigators have spoken to numerous people. the only person that does not seem to be part of the nexus of any of the investigations is vladimir putin. we've forgotten the context of this is russia, that russia started something here, that they did something against the democracy of our country. that's something the republicans don't seem to want to admit. as we go down into the weeds here, we forget the russia part of it. >> i think the reason it's not part of the narrative is that republicans understand that the closer you get to the truth of what russia did, the closer you get to the likelihood that they

assisted in the election with this president and they are likely concerned with protecting donald trump and making sure his legitimacy is not questioned. can they actually pull off that protection if we're now having conversations about jared kushner and donald trump jr.? it is getting closer to the president. >> right. you have to be living in a hermetically sealed bubble to believe that the fbi is not looking at every aspect of this investigation. i think that there actually is a group within the congress. we know congressman jim jordan this last week, who made a blistering attack against the fbi, essentially encouraging the trump administration to disband the fbi. these people think they can get past this thing by destroying the investigatory branches of government. all that's going to do with guys

like mccabe and mueller is make them and their deputies all the more determined to get to the bottom of this. you know, i actually tweeted towards congressman jordan that it's still obstruction of justice and a criminal act if you try to stop an investigation even if you think that it's a political witch hunt. there are still laws here that can be broken and anyone that tries to stop the investigation is culpable. >> we now have this broadening not only into the trump circle, but into the wider campaign. you have jill stein now coming under some scrutiny as well. this is senator mark warner talking about that aspect of the investigation. >> ms. stein was at the infamous dinner that included general flynn and vladimir putin. and we do know she's very very

complimentary things to say about julian assange, who clearly was being used by the russians to take some of the hacked information and release into our political system. >> among the things we don't see republicans expressing concern about is the fact you still have julian assange in the embassy hiding out. you still have wikileaks that is active. those things could still be active. we have another election coming up. >> i think we're seeing on the domestic front that republicans in congress are far more concerned about their own personal political wins than they are about anything dealing the national security. what the fbi is of involved in right now is making sure that no one is above the law. that means the president and his family. even broader than that, though, on the national security side, the fbi is conducting what is now becoming the most important counter intelligence operation in our country right now.

the fbi is trying to get to the bottom of how the russians were able to not only infiltrate the highest levels of a presidential campaign but fundamentally gets a sets assets related to putin's pockets. trump fawning over putin particularly in the last week, two phone calls that he made to congratulate putin without even once mentioning election concerns. if we look at this as a counter intelligence operation, that will certainly help give the fbi the support it needs. but that support will have to come from the american public. >> the dossier, which is what a lot of republicans are hanging their hat on in trying to say that the origins and financing of it are their smoking gun to say this entire investigation is a fraud.

your name came up in a politico investigation because now republicans are trying to say because an fbi official who's linked in some way to that dossier spoke to you, that somehow that proves -- i don't know what they're trying to say. what is the allegation being made and what is your take? >> the big picture here is this is part of the smear. they have this conspiracy theory that somehow democrats who paid for the research which went into the memos, that the memos themselves triggered the fbi investigation. therefore, this was all kind of a hoax from the beginning and because they say the memos are nothing but trash, which is not true. it shows that this investigation has been poisoned from the start. there's no reason to give it any credence. the memos themselves are not what triggered the fbi investigation, so they're wrong on that account. also in this instance they're trying to show that the fbi was

out there to basically get trump and by circulating these memos to reporters such as as myself and they focused on jim baker who was the general counsel of the fbi. he's a fellow i know. he's a social acquaintance. they're trying to say he somehow gave me the memos and that was part of the fbi operation to get donald trump. i've said, listen, i'm a reporter. we usually don't like to talk about our sourcing on any story. but in this case i made an exception and i gave a statement to politico and i said james baker was not my source for this. even so, politico puts out this story and now the republicans are trying to investigate this link between baker and me to sort of indicate that the fbi was playing games with the memo rather than looking at it as what was said a moment ago as a piece of information that deserved evaluation.

excuse me for going on too long here. it's complicated. jim baker and jim comey tweeted this out this morning, has been a public servant for 25 years working on national security and counter terrorism issues. i know how much he's lost sleep protecting people like you and me. and they're just smearing him because all that matters is protecting trump and not getting at the bottom of this and focusing on what russia did. >> the fact that they are now smearing jim baker, the fact that you've seen reassignments of the three witnesses that could corroborate comey's testimony, is that from your legal point of view is that obstruction? >> it could be obstruction. of course, it depends upon the intent with which it was done. i want to add to something that malcolm said. for example, we're now focusing on did the president know that

flynn had lied to the fbi and that's why he fired him. it doesn't matter. if he knew that he was guilty, he the president has something to hide and is trying to kill the investigation. that's obstruction of justice. it doesn't matter whether he did this because he knew flynn had lied or not. he just wanted to stop the investigation. so we have to be careful when we talk about what obstruction is and what conspiracy is and be clear that it's far broader than what the republicans are trying to define it as. >> is there any innocent explanation for why a president of the united states would want the fbi to stop investigating michael flynn given michael flynn's foreign business ties right up until inauguration day when he was texting his turkish contacts. >> absolutely not. if any normal president of the united states -- we're not in a normal world.

any normal president of the united states would be panicked due to the political impact of a foulo fallout of his national security advisor promising to abduct a u.s. resident and move them to turkey for cash, working with russia to build nuclear power plants behind his back. donald trump has spent every minute trying to stop anyone looking into this, because obviously something is behind it that is much broader than just even saying the word russia. it's a question of americans in conspiracy with russia. >> do you buy the idea that the fbi was in league to essentially plot a coup against donald trump? >> absolutely not. it's crazy. it's so frut trastrating becauss isn't just about trump. it's about russia. right now the united states is

losing. russia was successful in 2016. they're successful today. this idea they're coming back in 2018, i'm not sure they ever left. china, iran, north korea, all of these other countries are realizing look at what russia did, look at what we can do. until they acknowledge that russia actually did something -- president obama threw out 30 russian intelligence officers right before he left office. we should all be incredibly worried about that. >> is the now infamous dossier merely a political document opposed to donald trump, or is it evidence of collusion? >> i don't think it is the core of a lot of the investigation.

there was interest in paul manafort and carter page and their connections with russia i think that predate the dossier. i think they're trying to make it the core because they think they can discredit it. the memos are just one of many pieces of evidence that got the fbi's counter intelligence people worried and gave them a bit of a road map and places to look at. and the fact that they're still at it now, shows there is some "there" there at least to be examined. it's not based on what christopher steele gave them. up next, uranium and hillary clinton not a thing but donald trump should would like to make it one.

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you ought to look at hillary clinton. i'm really not involved with the justice department. i'd like to let it run itself. but honestly they should be looking at the democrats. they should be looking at a lot of things. and a lot of people are disappointed in the justice department, including me. >> attorney general jeff sessions seems to be doing his boss's bidding. sessions is now considering appointing a special prosecutor to investigate hillary clinton,

especially her role in the long debunked conspiracy theory of her involvement in uranium one. it's a deal which right wing upon conspiracy theorists claim is a smoking gun. you know, a lot of people don't realize that the origin of this uranium one story line is in this book "clinton cash" which a bright bart alumnus wrote. and then they cut a deal between breitbart and the new york times to run a big excerpt of it.

the times bought into it and wrote stories about it. that's when it really took off. it came from a purely partisan source whose goal was to ensure that hillary clinton was not president. do you think pause of that origin it's legitimate to spend tax money going back and investigating donald trump's political opponent. >> i think there are some key problems with the uranium one deal outside of the clinton cash. these folks gave $140 million to the clinton foundation. >> not contemporaneously to the deal. >> i think the deal is problematic on a couple of fronts. you have a senior law enforcement official who told nbc news there were allegations of corruption surrounding the sale. and we know now that no charges were filed in that. i think we need to know why. we now know that there was a terrible bias in favor of

hillary clinton at the fbi around this time. >> remember the new york fbi was called trump or something like that. they were all for trump. >> there's a problem also at number two, at which the speed was approved. >> the agency says it was normal. >> well, it was among one of the top two fastest deals approved, corporate marchers approved. i think the speed at which it happened is critical. if there wasn't a problem, there's no calling in calling the members back to answer some of these basic questions. company had problems with export licenses. we know in other country where is they had operated, the defenders of this deal said it's no problem to give them one-fifth of your uranium source because they can't export it. they had violated exporting agreements in other countries.

there's some issues here. bill clinton taking $500,000 for a speech from a russian bank. >> that has literally nothing to do with this deal. if we're going to go back and relitigate a 2010 transfer of a canadian company -- i am all for investigating any nefarious things that russia is doing, as you know from this show. among those who approved this deal, we pulled some old articles from 2010 when this happened. in utah and wyoming where most of these mines are located -- i think the majority are located in wyoming, which at the time had a democratic governor. in utah the governor was john huntsman. the governor of utah who was a republican even though there was some controversy about the land being transferred and people

wondering why are foreigners buying our land. the governor of utah who's now the ambassador to russia for trump signed off on the deal. are you saying that huntsman was corrupt in reporting and signing off on this deal? >> i don't know. we ought to call john huntsman. we have the u.s. ambassador to kazakhstan sending cables to hillary clinton's state department warning of this, saying he may have been acting on behalf of the russian intelligence military agency, looking to gobble up uranium sources around the world. >> where is the united states in the list in terms of exporters of uranium? >> that i do not know. >> do you want the heads of all nine agencies that have to sign off on this -- you'd have to

call in the homeland security secretary jeh johnson, commerce, defense. you think the defense secretary might have been corrupted by bill clinton years earlier doing a speech, energy, the trade representative and the justice department. you want the former attorney general called in. based on a deal that they said would be done today. it was a routine deal. >> i think all nine members should come in and explain. >> is your goal to get hillary clinton locked up? >> no. i think the obama administration is more culpable here. >> you see here -- jen is our friend. we like jen a lot, but it's

obvious there is a desire to change the conversation on russia to something that's about hillary clinton. >> totally. >> what do you make of that? >> first of all, joy, i thought you did a fantastic job of killing this story very recently. i thought because of that segment that went viral, this story is dead. i can't believe we're still talking about it. the only thing this story does is create a distraction from the mueller investigation. trump has created a parallel investigation. because of this uranium one story, which is a non-story, because it has enough to haof t keywords, russia, scandal, it really provides donald trump with a lot of material to confuse his base.

the only real investigation is mueller's investigation looking into trump and russia and collusion. >> do you believe that the mueller investigation into russian collusion in our election is legitimate? >> i don't think there's going to be any "there" there. i think some people around him might be in a bit of hot water. >> might be? you've already had guilty pleas. you've had his former national security advisor -- >> but not for russian collusion. >> do you think it's legitimate for your tax dollars to be spent on that investigation? >> i think -- >> yes or no first. >> you can't have it both ways. you can't say we ought to allow robert mueller -- >> hold on.

one of these investigations is about the interference in an american election. the other is about a long dead deal. all of the clinton part of it are years divorced from this deal. the fact is that you're saying that you think it is just as legitimate to spend your tax dollars on a fishing expedition to drag hillary clinton through the mud and the obama administration. you don't think the mueller investigation is more important than that? >> i think they're equal. >> how? >> they both have to do with russian collusion. it's not a dead issue. a report by the telegraph in the u.k. -- british intelligence officials shared with the telegraph that there was concern

as recently as november of this past year that russia for several years had been instrumental in helping both north korea build and accelerate their nuclear programs. >> what does that have to do with utah and wyoming? >> because this involved a russian company that was hungry for uranium. >> the united states are the tiniest exporter of uranium. what is the uranium used for? >> energy production. the russian company that was involved with this is on record as having violated expert licenses in other countries. coming up, no matter what trump says or does, he got a tax cut for the rich and himself. the gop love fest is next.

i'm watching a.m. joy. ho, ho, h ho, ho, ho! like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr.

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mr. president, i have to say that you're living up to everything i thought you would. >> something this big, something this generational, something this profound could not have been done without exquisite presidential leadership. >> this is one of the great privileges of my life, to stand here on the white house lawn with the president of the united states, who i love and appreciate so much. >> people often ask when did you

know or when did you know tax reform could be achieved in america for the first time in 31 years. my answer is always the same, november 8th president trump when you were elected president of the united states. >> it was quite a love-fest on the white house lawn on sunday when several congressmen and senators gathered to thank and prostrate themselves to donald trump. finally it seems that despite the numerous naughty statements that some of those prominent republicans have said about trump in the past, they all wound up on his nice list. or perhaps the praise was one way to make sure that trumpy claus doesn't put coal in their st stockings. what did you make of that? >> it's another chapter in the cult of personality that is the

trump white house. it's also an indicator of how deeply insecure he is. for as different a people as george w. bush and barack obama were, they were two guys who were comfortable in their own skins. they didn't need people around them constantly telling them how smart they are. trump needs it all the time. it cuts both ways. it's both a indicator of how insecure he is and also the degree to which this seeps down into his team and the people around him that they feel they need to pedal -- peddle this kind of praise. >> orin hatch, what would be the

reason for someone of that stature to prostrate himself in that way? >> he's had a long career in the senate. >> he was part of chip legislation. >> exactly. and he felt a need, i think, to kiss up to this president in an overthe top way. i don't know the answer to that other than perhaps somewhere inside himself he's uncomfortable with the nuts and bolts of this very poor piece of legislation they just pushed through. >> i want to let you watch donald trump. this is him on the white house lawn watching these folks praise him. just watch his body language. it's just a picture. look at his body language. that's not it. >> are you thinking of the ones in the cabinet? >> where he's got his armed crossed. mike pence is praising him. pence is on a two or three-minute extravaganza of

love. >> worship. >> pence wants to be president. i think everyone in the oval always knows that if you don't praise el douche, you you coucoe your job. >> is it that he's trying to affect a mous-- >> no matter how much you kiss up to him, he's going knob a bad mood. >> something omarosa said in june of 2016 in a documentary i think is still operative today. >> every critic, every dedistractdedratractor will have to bow down to president trump. everyone who very disagreed, ever challenged him, it is the ultimate revenge to become the

most powerful man in the universe. >> is that why he ran for president? >> and she's gone now, by the way. she didn't last either. i sort of wonder if those folks think about history and think about being on the right side of history far down the line or the kind of stories they may want to tell their grandchildren or children about the lives they lead and whether or not they sold out their own values and principles to get on this sleigh ride. one of the most startling things about the trump era is a lack of political courage, particularly within the go, but even in this white house. people do not last long. it's almost like the portrait of dorian gray. you can't maintain this public image of donald trump as the best ever while privately you're seeing this car crash going on. >> this is roger stone, who donald trump is sort of an ap

rachic in a way. this is stone talking about trump. >> i was like a lock gjockey lo for a horse. i interceded with the new hampshire chamber of commerce to arrange a lunch. the helicopter landing was as big a news as his speech. this is kind of the first time i saw the power of trump, the public interest in trump. it was palpable. >> to what extent is dronald trump a creation of roger stone? >> i think roger stone is being truthful there. i do think he saw the electricity, the effect trump could have on a crowd. what's not present in that clip is they intersected first in roy cohen's office in new york. roy cohen is a famous fixer, attorney power broker and trump's first mentor in

manhattan life. >> do you think donald trump is happy? >> no, i do not think he's happy. i think he's got an unquenchable thirst for love that never gets filled. >> thank you very much. appreciate that. coming up, my guests tell me who won the week. don't go away. i wouldn't go that far. are you there? he's probably on mute. yeah... gary won't like it. why? because he's gary. (phone ringing) what? keep going! yeah... (laughs) (voice on phone) it's not millennial enough. there are a lot of ways to say no. thank you so much. thank you! so we're doing it. yes! "we got a yes!" start saying yes to your company's best ideas. let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open.

time now for your favorite segment and mine. my panel will discuss who won the week. back with me jason and niaju. >> i would have to say who won the week was the dutch journalist who caught u.s. ambassador in a very embarrassing lie about the no-go zones in the netherlands because there's so many scary muslims over there. and as funny as this viral clip was, it's also really disturbing to see how far donald trump's lies have gone. you know, this whole thing about muslim no-go zones was first peddled by donald trump in 2015 about london and paris. it's scary to see how far it's gone. but when the ambassador tried to backtrack, he tried to use, oh,

that's just fake news. it's funny but also disturbing to see that our highest diplomats that represent america on the international stage are just spreading trump's lies. >> we actually have that clip, i am told by my fabulous producers. let's play the clip. >> speaking of threats, at one point you mentioned in a debate that there are no-go zones in the netherlands and cars and politicians are being set on fire. >> i didn't say that. that is actually an incorrect statement. >> yeah? >> we would call it fake news. >> chaos in the netherlands. there are cars being burned, there are politicians that are being burned. and, yes, there are no-go zones in the netherlands. >> you call it fake news? >> i didn't call that fake news. i didn't use the words today. >> no? >> no? >> i don't think i did. >> oops. >> that dutch journalist face actually wins the week. >> it does.

he was like you just said that. i love it. >> i think "time" magazine is not only winning this week but the last couple of weeks. they came out with a person of the year, the silence breakers on the me too movement. they also broke the story on me too national security which is a letter signed by more than 200 women talking about issues of sexism and harassment in the national security sector. and then this week they came out with this beautiful cover for ava divorney for her new movie "wrinkle of time." just look at that cover. it has women, eight different ages, different ethnicities, very, very glad to see this coming out and that "time" wilson is including them. >> i was a little salty that they didn't include gretchen carlson. i think that was a big omission but i'll give you this week's cover was really quite good. all right, that's a good answer. jason, johnson, can you top the

ladies? who won the week? >> i could not because i'm sure that would be a problem in this me too world we're in now. >> good answer, jason! >> there we go. best answer of the year. believe it or not, despite massive incompetence and lack of investment and tons of other issues, the democrats have actually won the week. >> no. >> because one thing, one thing that you cannot beat, you cannot beat history or father time. the polling numbers that have come out this week capped off by the lack of popularity for the republican tax bill, the democrats are going to win next year. they are almost incapable of screwing up the lead they have now. there has not been this much of a generic lead for an entire party in almost 40 years. all they have to do is sit back, be quiet, don't become a circular firing squad and they'll win. >> and you know what, they can even mess that up, jason. you know the democrats pretty well. they'll figure out how to mess up sitting down and being quiet

because you know how they roll. but you're right. history is behind them. the energy is behind them. like you said, just put up good, quality candidates and they should be fine. and yet all of you are wrong. because who actually won the week this week is santa. santa won the week, this is santa's week. we had santa on earlier. and children, i know him, he's real, his name is larry. he did a little promo for us earlier in the show. santa this week, there was a couple of authors who decided to solve the question of whether santa is black or white. and these two people, one is named daniel kibblesmith and he is a writer for -- he's a writer for one of the nightly shows. stephen colbert. he's a writer for stephen colbert. him and his partner tweeted the following. me and jen ashley wright have decided our future chill will only know about black santa. if they see a white one, we'll

say that's his husband. this has touched over a lot of anger on the right over this book that is trolling the war on christmas. there it is, it's santa's husband and it's saying when you see white santa it's black santa's husband. i will just say, kids, listen, santa is real. he takes all the credit for those presents under your tree. maybe your parents should get a little bit of the credit, but santa is real. you know, the reality is, is that as crazy as i am, i can find a husband, santa can do. santa can do anything. he's magical. he flies around with flying reindeer and one of them has an electric nose which is physically impossible because he's magic. lastly, santa has also -- black santa is an emoji. i want to answer the question of why he is sad. there was a story this week about whether white santa's emoji and black santa's emoji is sad. the anger is he's not sad, he just knows what time it is and times are serious. serious times, kids.

jason johnson, all of you happy holidays to all. >> that was awesome. y polident. the four in one cleaning system kills 99.99% of odor causing bacteria, cleans where brushing may miss. helps remove stains and prevent stain build up. use polident daily.

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that is our show for today. you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, i'm telling you why, santa claus is coming to town. thanks for watching "a.m. joy." we'll be back next saturday at 10:00 a.m. eastern. up next, my friend richard louie

is here. >> i feel like the grinch here with no red. >> you can borrow the hat. >> thank you. good morning, i did richard lui. alex witt is off today. here's what's happening for you. facing questions. the president's long-time gate keeper now entangled in the russian investigation, but who is she and why did congressional investigators talk to her? >> why are the republicans rushing this through? why are they trying to discredit mr. mueller? >> a house intel committee member with some pointed questions for his gop colleagues, including why some democrats could not attend interviews with key witnesses in the russia probe. nikki haley is going to throw a party, but a lot of america's closest allies are not going to be there, not going to be invited. the latest on whether this latest diplomatic maneuver could ba backfire. that's here on