♪ this morning, rudy guilliani mulledying the walters. first he made a public claim about a previously-unknown meeting between trump associates and russians and then denied it happened in a series of statements. >> plus, jury selection begins today in the case against paul manafort. he is first to face trial in the ongoing russia probe. and just a week after threatening iran on twitter, president trump now says he would meet with the country's president with no preconditions. ♪ good morning. it is tuesday, july 31st.

i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside whereas mind vossoughian and louis bergdorf. rudy guilliani is not ruling out the possibility of a second 2016 meeting about russians peddling dirt to the trump campaign, something he raised and denied in numerous television appearances yesterday. he told the daily beast last night that he was heading off a story from "the new york times" quoting from the report, guilliani said that journalists included magg included maggie haberman. he said he and jay sekulow spent a great deal of sunday trying to run the story down. he said he believes they managed to shut it down and kill the story. he speculated journalists found other reasons not to run the item. >> for her part, haberman told "the daily beast" they haven't run the story and have lost the thread of what guilliani was

talking about. yesterday guilliani backed off his flatout denials that senior trump aides discussed the offer in an earlier meeting. >> there was another meeting that has been leaked but hasn't been public yet. >> okay. >> that was a meeting, an alleged meeting three days before according to cohen or according to the leak. he says there was a meeting with donald jr., with jared kushner, with paul manafort, with gates, possibly two others, in which they out of the presence of the president discussed the meeting with the russians. we checked with their lawyers, the ones we could check with, four of the six. that meeting never, ever took place. it didn't happen. >> there's no second meeting here? >> it is highly unlikely. i always have to leave the option open as a lawyer in case they come across with something that really startles us or feels some of the things we feel are

important. >> so the first trial in the special counsel probe kicks off today with jury selection for paul manafort. for more on that i want to bring in nbc news national political reporter heidi przybyla. >> reporter: that's right. the president's former campaign chair is accused of hiding at least $30 million he made before his days with trump as an unregistered lobbyist for ukraine. we're told the prosecution plans to call 35 witnesses including agents from the fbi, treasury department and irs to show how manafort allegedly stashed his well it in overseas bank to avoid u.s. taxes. last week a member of robert mueller's team says he does not anticipate a government witness will, quote, utter the word russia during the trial. if he is convicted the special counsel could use it as leverage for him to talk about anything he knows pertaining to the trump campaign and russia. the trial is expected to last about three weeks and manafort also faces a separate trial on similar charges in washington in

september. so this is a big deal because, guys, it is the first time that robert mueller is bringing a jury trial in this whole case, even though, like they say, they don't expect it to be directly about russia. >> well, going off of that with regards about mueller, how is this going to set up the russia investigation going forward, depending on how it falls for manafort? >> the whole point here for robert mueller is to use manafort hopefully to squeeze him enough that he can use him to try to get information about any potential collusion between the trump campaign. if they can bring enough pressure to bear on him. secondly, this, i think, is very significant that they have rick gates who is manafort's long-time business partner, everything manafort knows rick gates knows, and rick gates has been cooperating apparently already with the prosecution for several months. so gates would know a lot about any potential collusion and this

directly intersects with the news of the day about there being potentially a second premeeting for the russia trump tower meeting. rick gates is one of the names that rudy guilliani slipped and revealed in the series of interviews yesterday. >> what is the significance of paul manafort dropping his case against robert mueller. he was trying to have this case dismissed in court, saying that robert mueller's jurisdiction did not extend to what he is actually charging paul manafort with? as i understand, he dropped those charges yesterday. >> it just seems he is increasingly finding himself to be more cornered and he doesn't have a lot of options to fight back at this point, and this is all getting back to that original goal of trying to squeeze manafort and get as. information as possible out of him as they move closer hopefully to doing an interview of the president himself. that is still very much on the table. >> also, heidi, why is it that paul manafort you think hasn't

struck a plea deal by now? >> reporter: that's a good question. i think this is a separate case, and it is not going to become apparent yet why he's holding out so long unless maybe he's more scared of the russian oligarchs than he is of the u.s. justice system. you would think he would have struck some kind of a deal right now given how much he knows because, remember, manafort was there at the genesis of a lot of the most important incidents with russia in terms of changing of the platform, in terms of trump just seemingly out of nowhere calling out for the russians to hack hillary clinton. all of that lines up and intersects perfectly with when paul manafort came on to the campaign trail so he knows a lot. >> we will talk to you again in a bit, heidi. following a pattern he started with north korea, president trump says he wants to meet with iran just days after threatening the country's destruction. >> i will meet with anybody.

i believe in meeting. i would certainly meet with iran if they wanted to meet. i don't know that they're ready yet. they're having a hard time right now, but i ended the iran deal. it was a ridiculous deal. i do believe that they will probably end up wanting to meet, and i'm ready to meet any time they want to. and i don't to that from strength or from weakness. i think it is an appropriate thing to do. if we could work something out that's meaningful, not the waste of paper that the other deal was, i would certainly be willing to meet. >> reporter: do you have preconditions for the meeting? >> no preconditions, no. they want to meet, i'll meet any time they want. any time they want. it is good for the country. good for them. good for us and good for the world. no preconditions. if they want to meet, i'll meet. >> so you heard the president say there's no preconditions for the meeting with iran, but the secretary of state has another idea. >> if the iranians demonstrate a commitment to make fundamental changes in how they treat their

own people, refuse their malign behavior, can agree it is worth while to enter a nuclear agreement that actually prevents proliferation, then the president said he's prepared to sit down and have the conversation with them. >> meanwhile, iran has responded to president trump's latest overture. an advisor to iranian president rouhani tweeted several conditions the u.s. would need to meet for talks to be a possibility, including returning to the landmark nuclear deal. a foreign ministry spokesman told reporters, quote, there will definitely not be the possibility of tie log and engagement and the u.s. has shown it is totally unreliable. all right. joining us live from london, nbc news international correspondent cal perry. good to have you with us, cal. a big gap between mike pompeo and his boss, at least three conditions set out by mike pompeo. last monday you had trump threatening iran with,

literally, quote, consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before. one week to the day of saying that he says he is now willing to meet with president rouhani, no conditions. i'm going to ask you the million dollar question, try to make sense of that for us. >> yeah, i don't know. >> thanks, cal perry, for joining us. moving on. >> see you guys later. part of it is trumpian, part is this showman, part of it we have seen before, part is that he loves the media, he loves the cameras, the flash of the cameras, he loves to sign things. the problem here is what was buried in what he said there, which is iran is in trouble. iran is in trouble. the real has lost -- its currency has lost half of its value since april. iran is facing these devastating sanctions that the u.s. is likely to reimpose in just over a week. so the question is, one, is donald trump doing the good cop/bad cop himself again? the second question then is did he catch pompeo off guard.

does the state department now advocate a policy of regime change in how do change? how does it make sense with what he said? none of it makes sense, i guess. >> the thing is iran has been in trouble before and they haven't come to the table. it worked with kim jong-un and the fire comments online and twitter. iran is a very different country. the leaders of iran are veritive than kim jong-un and north korea. >> right. so that's the headline here, two completely divinations. one is a rogue nation that has been sort of totally isolated from the world. it has a gdp of almost $13 billion -- that's north korea. iran has a gdp of almost $430 billion. this is a country that has recently sort of come into its own with the nuclear agreement. it will be interesting to see if they don't just try to go their own way with europe, but these are two very different countries, two very different situation goes. when you look again at the sanctions, we're talking about sanctioning iran's ability to

find u.s. dollars, to trade in gold, to find semi metals, to trade in coal. we are talking about a country normally would sort of make its living, make its economy on oil exports. they could fall as much as two-thirds by the end of the year because of u.s. sankss. so a very different situation and a country that's going to likely become quite desperate. >> i can only imagine what the israeli prime minister -- >> that's what i'm waiting for. >> -- his phone board must have blown up with people telling him what the president said. >> what does bolton think about this, right? this is a man that wanted to go to war with north korea and iran. i don't know. >> thanks, cal. >> we'll touch base with you in a little bit. stick around for us. there's new reporting north korea may be up to old tricks. the u.s. spy agency says there's new evidence including recent satellite photos showing that kim's regime is once again

constructing new missiles at the factories that produced the first icbms capable of reaching the continental united states. officials familiar with the intelligence tell "the washington post" the new evidence reportedly indicates work is under way on at least and possibly two liquid-fuelled icbms, according to an official able to describe the classified evidence. mike pompeo told a senate hearing last week that north korea continues to produce fis ill material used in making nuclear weapons. switching gears to the deadly fires in california where firefighters are continuing to work to try to control the carr fire in northern california, the fire which has charred more than 103,000 acres at and around the city of redding. it was reported last night to be 23% contained. however, the temperature in redding has reached 105 degrees yesterday in a heat wave that could threaten to make conditions on the ground worse for those firefighters. cal fire said the blaze has

destroyed more than 800 homes and more than 300 other structures. the carr fire has been blamed for the deaths of six people, including two firefighters, making it one of the worst in the state's history. still ahead, the fall-out over sexual misconduct allegations by les moonves and his fate as the company calls for new investigation. later, reporting that the trump administration is eyeing new tax cuts for the wealthy. what treasury secretary steve mnuchen has to say about that. those stories and a check on your weather when we come back. ♪ ♪

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nbc news correspondent morgan radford has more on this. >> reporter: cbs's board of directors taking no immediate action against ceo les moonves. the media company at a previously scheduled meeting now calling for an independent investigation, seeking outside counsel, following the bombshell "new yorker" report accusing moonves of sexual misconduct. the article details six women's account, four on the record, that include accusations ranging from forcible touching or kissing to physical intimidation between the 1980s and 2000s. moonves's wife long-time tv host julie chen reiterating her support for her husband on cbs's "the talk." >> i issued the one and only station i will make on this topic on twitter, and i will stand by that statement today, tomorrow, forever. >> reporter: moonves saying in part, i recognize that there were times decades ago when i may have made some women uncomfortable by making add advances.

those were mistakes and i regret them immensely and i have never misused my position to harm or hinder anyone's career. moonves's position now in question. >> it seems like they're afraid to name the ceo in any of the communications. >> why? >> because i think they want to leave lesley moonves to decide for himself whether he's going to step town. >> reporter: in a statement last friday cbs said, we to not believe however that the picture of our company created in "the new yorker" represents a larger organization that does its best to treat its tens of thousands of employees with dignity and respect. >> that was morgan radford reporting. the company announced it was investigating its corporate culture after long-time anchor charlie rose was fired. >> meanwhile, "the new yorker" report contains explosive allegations against the current executive producer of "60 minutes." several anonymous employees say he allowed harassment in the

news division, which he denies. let's get a check on the weather with bill karins. >> flood watches have been issued and the wet weather pattern is setting up. it doesn't look as bad as last week with flooding, but the heaviest rain day will be wednesday. here is the set up. we have the storm system with the dip in the jet stream over missouri and kansas. all of the winds from the south from florida north ward. that is increasing our flood risk. as of this morning there's not a lot of areas of heavy rain. cincinnati has been in it for a good portion of the overnight hours and southern portions of illinois, and some thorls rolling through central louisiana near alexandria. that's about it. hit and miss showers in other areas. timing out the mess going throughout the day, this is 10:00 a.m., still dealing with rain in areas of the southern ohio valley. as you would expect in stumper time, we get hit-and-miss dotted

showers. looks like areas north of raleigh could get into it. heavier rainfall areas, louisiana, central mississippi, scattered around d.c. and pittsburgh. from philadelphia north wards you remain dry today. that won't be the case on wednesday. the tropical connection feeds further to the north. wednesday afternoon, hit and miss showers and storms along the appalachians, near new york city possibly, even boston, and the heaviest rains will be south, especially near atlanta. it adds up to a four or five day period with two to four inches of rain. the greatest flood threat, north georgia, and that's where we could see upwards of five inches of rain. of course, the other issue is all of the fire problems out west. >> for sure. >> incredible heat. i will talk more about that next half hour. >> i'm sure they could use some of the rain happening on the east coast. >> it seems like it is always like this, feast or famine. >> yeah. still ahead, as baseball trade deadline approaches one of the

game's biggest stars could be on the move while the yanks and red sox continue to bolster their line-ups. all of the details next in sports. it naturally traps and removes the waste that weighs me down. so i feel... lighter. try metamucil and begin to feel what lighter feels like. and try new metamucil fiber thins, made with 100% natural psyllium fiber. a great-tasting and easy way to start your day.

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astros acquired suspended reliever roberto osuna from the blue james giving up ken giles and a top ten prospect in return. osuna is serving a sentence for a domestic conviction in may. lance lynne was acquired in exchange for tyler austin and pitcher rio. to the action on the field in minnesota where the indians' jose romero slugged a pair of solo homers in last night's game against the twins. the all star third baseman snapped an 0 for 16 slump with the first inning hit into right field. he repeats at the next at bat, and matching martinez for the league-leading 32nd home run of the season. as for the game, the twins beat the indians 5-4 in that one. some power there. to boston where a miscue in the

philadelphia outfield helps the red sox in last night's game in the fifth earning nunez an rbi triple after he lines one over the center fielder's head. the game would head into extras, tied at one. in the bottom of the 13th, red sox' backup catcher cranked a double into the team's bullpen, knocking in nunez for the winning run of the game. after the game the red sox announced they acquired second baseman ian kinsler to replace pedroia. >> hard to imagine harper being traded, but cal perry called it a few days ago. >> cal is an oracle out there in london. >> on twitter, to his credit. >> he can talk middle east affairs and sports. >> and baseball. let's not get ahead of ourselves, just sports. he said it would be a good thing for the nats to trade him, he was underperforming and had a bad attitude. >> should we go to cal now and talk about it?

>> go to cal. >> thanks for that, louis. president trump renews his threat to shut down the government over immigration, but not all senate republicans are on board. we will hear what some gop lawmakers have to say about it. plus barack obama and joe biden together again. we will have the details about their surprise reunion yesterday. stay with us. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens ♪ ♪ bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens ♪ ♪ brown paper packages tied up with strings ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ these are a few of my favorite things ♪ i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making america's #1 shave. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world.

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♪ welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis

bergdorf. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. one week after threatening the destruction of iran, president trump now says he is open to sitting down for a meeting. >> how about that? >> trump also says he has no precondition to meet, although secretary of state mike pompeo yesterday ran down a list of them during an interview on cnbc. >> not so fast. joining us once again from london, nbc news international correspondent -- >> and sports commentator. >> yeah. >> can we let the oracle thing breathe? just let it breathe. >> at least you get the baseball calls right. >> yeah, i appreciate it. >> listen, what are the chances of a trump/rouhani summit. >> wow, you're going there, calling it a summit at this point. >> let's see if cal can predict this. what's the over/under on this, cal? >> man. look, he would be the first president to ever do it, right? so i think that's part of his motivation here, is that he likes to be president-setting, he likes the flashes of the

cameras. here is what rouhani said since my last live shot. he says the american withdrawal from the nuclear deal was illegal. it is now in europe's court and he says the islaming republic has not sought tension in the region. code for iran's ability to move oil in and out of the strait of hor muz. the big fear among war amongers is they say if iranians shut down the strait, the american navy -- where specifically you have an aircraft carrier group basically stuck on a lake which is suddenly very scary. that's the question, right? when do you get to the tipping points with world leaders. >> so what i'm hearing really is that the u.s. needs to come back to jcpoa for them to entertain a meeting between the two leaders. >> so do you do it just to avoid the kind of crazy? like we know that donald trump, president trump, who is now sort of being accused by former rogue

nations of being rogue himself, you know that he loves the event. you know he loves the pageantry, he loves though cameras, saying the word summit. he loves going into rooms one-on-one with other world leaders without any advisers, just translators, because he is the man who gets the art of the deal. do you say, okay, we have at least two more years of this, possibly six? it is something we can't avoid, we have to sit down at that big oak table, we have to sign something, let him hold it up to the cameras and even if it means nothing we are buying ourselves time until the americans can have another election? that's one possible way for the iranians to do this. >> not sure though going in that direction. >> i think a lot of lawmakers and folks on the hill in general gave the president the benefit of the doubt on the north korea issue, they weren't critical of him when he went for the summit meeting. i think it would be different if he tried to push ahead with a one-on-one meeting with rouhani. >> just on the israeli front alone, right. >> exactly. >> that's right. >> it is a more complicated

issue there. cal perry, thank you. >> thanks, cal. the koch network of doanors said they would not back one of the republican biggest chances to pick up a senate seat this year. officials with the political network over seen by billionaire charles koch announced they will not support gop congressman kevin kramer against heidi heitkamp for north dakota's seat this november. the move comes as it says it could support those outside of the republican party. it deals a massive blow to kramer who is currently being out fund raised by heitkamp. kramer said he respected the koch decision to stay out of the north dakota senate race. staying in politics, president trump is renewing his threat to shut down the federal government over immigration and border funding.

he tweeted the threat sunday and repeated it yesterday while speaking in a conference along italy aprime minister. take a listen. >> if we don't get border security after many, many years of talk within the united states, i would have no problem doing a shutdown. it is time we had proper border security. we're the laughing stock of the world. we have the worst immigration laws anywhere in the world. i would be certainly willing to consider a shutdown if we don't get proper border security. >> okay. but a number of senate republicans, they are distancing themselves from the president's threat of a shutdown. for more on that i want to bring in nbc news national political reporter heidi press bizybyla. >> reporter: yes, sir. senator enthusiasm said they want to keep the government up

and functioning. senator hatch said, quote, he knows the game but we don't want to do that again. nobody wants that. here are how other members of the party responded. >> is the funding of the border wall going to wait until after the midterm elections? >> probably, and that's something we to have days agreement on. >> so you're not worried about a government shutdown before the midterms? >> no, that's not going to happen. >> i think it would be bad politics for the republican party to shut the government down. we would get blamed and it seems to me there's a way to get wall funding and deal with the population. i would prefer a deal that would be a win/win. >> none of us want to shut down the government. democrats or -- no one wins. i think the american people expect us to do our job. >> if the president wants to shut down the government, you know, that's his prerogative. i don't -- i think it would be a mistake and i don't think it is going to be necessary. >> reporter: so not a lot of takers on the shutdown. maybe they run the 2013 shutdown and how their approval ratings

plunged. >> yes, i was going to say, it is obviously they are the party in power. they control both the house and the senate. why would the president put his own political party in that predicament if he has the support to get wall funding. >> because he wants 25 billion. >> but j is why is he putting h party in that predicament? >> reporter: he loves the issue. let's go back to the hot-and-heated parties he had during the campaign, he got everybody to chant "build the wall." he thinks it is a core issue and we're going into an election year. he knows he's never going to get full funding but he can declare victory when he gets something. we have a billion in the senate, five billion in the house, they meet somewhere in the middle. the president again can say on this issue that he got some kind of a victory. >> but we are on the heels of an immigration debacle, 500-plus kids still separated from their parents who were deported from the country. we hear the president himself

saying we have the worst immigration laws in this country, in part due to what he put in place and the separation between the parents and the children. it is unbelievable to me that there would be this threat now two months ahead of -- possibly ahead of the midterm elections. >> shutdown's not popular. guess what? immigration may not be popular because of what is happening at the border. we may be seeing a paradigm shift here where this issue, which was jet fuel for the president's campaign and for some of the congressional candidates, is now turning around on them. what we're seeing in the polling numbers are, for instance, important demographics like suburban swing-voting moms are really upset about this issue. this only serves to, like you said, put this once again in front of them right before voting time at the election, just like meeting with putin wasn't a great idea, file this along in the category of not helpful. >> at one point we thought immigration would be a hot

button issue for midterm elections. we thought tax cuts would be a hot button. seems that's not a big topic for the midterm election. possibly the economy because we've seen growth there and the president wanting to tout his presidency for that. what else to we see as a hot button issue when it comes to mid terms that the gop will grab hold of? >> reporter: the gop were supposed to grab hold of the tax issue. that was supposed to be their saving grace. there was in absolute panic to try to get these tax cuts through, and now what are we seeing? for instance there's a special election coming up in ohio. some of the republican candidates are seizing back on the immigration issue. it is not good news for republicans given they spent so much energy into getting the tax cuts. but what we're seeing is what the companies did with these tax cuts is not what they promised the american people. >> yeah. >> reporter: they're investing them in stock buybacks, not in increasing worker wages, not in increasing necessarily new jobs. >> all right. it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

heidi przybyla, thank you very much. stick around for us. still ahead, president trump securing a critical vote from a fellow republican on his supreme court nominee. plus, politics greatest bromance. you know who it is, folks. they're back together again. details on the surprise visit by former president barack obama, former vice president joe biden to one d.c. bakery. plus, bill karins is back with another check on the forecast. stay with us. man: are unpredictable crohn's symptoms

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welcome back, everyone. two weeks ago republican senator rand paul announced he was concerned about president trump's choice of brett kavanaugh for the supreme court. yesterday though paul wrote on twitter, after meeting judge kavanaugh and reviewing his record i have decided to support his nomination. that is a twist that many political observers saw coming, including joe scarborough . >> when we look at the senators who may or may not support

kavanaugh, jim van dye, let's not even put rand paul on this list. he toss it every time. i'm going to vote against this, i'm going to vote against that, and he always ends up lining up behind the president. he always ends up supporting donald trump blindly. he's going to vote for kavanaugh. it is a joke for him to even -- any reporter that thinks he's not seriously should look into another profession. he's going to vote for kavanaugh. >> and former president obama and former vice president biden reunited yesterday, surprising a washington, d.c. bakery when they stopped by for lunch. the pair took photos and shook hands with workers and other patrons at the dog tag bakery which trains and employees disabled veterans, military spouses and caregivers. it is an unbelievable organization. they spent about 45 minutes at the establishment, thanking them

for their work in the community. take a listen. >> cheese sandwich, grilled cheese. >> changing the world. >> we got a little yoga afterwards. so, you know, what you guys are doing, having already rendered service whether as an active member of the military or a spouse, family member, and then -- to then contribute again, to come back and do more for your communities, that's what makes us proud. >> yes, sir? so we so appreciate you guys. >> it was a pleasure. >> looked like a fun lunch there. let's get a check on the weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, you're tracking some of the weather that is so critical to the fires burning in california. >> yeah, there's no rain in sight. it is the dry weather. wet weather doesn't start until maybe october. this is the carr fire, now at 25% containment. that's good. they went from about 10%

yesterday to 25%. still about 105 degrees yesterday. it will be similar to that today. it has now burned over 100,000 acres, just for some comparison the island of manhattan in new york city is about 14,000 acres. the state of rhode island is a little over 700,000. one-seventh of the state of rhode island is how big that fire is. the heat dome continues over the west. the only excessive heat will be interior sections of washington state, little slivers of oregon near pendleton. seattle and portland a little cooler today. here are some of the three bigger fires. there's 17 fires right now, large blazes that are unconfined. the carr fire is one of the biggest one. the ferguson fires, we've had problems with that one, the mendocino, and the temperatures will soar for the firefighters. 104 in redding today. as we go throughout this week, we get a little break in the northwest but it doesn't quite make it to california with the temperatures.

it goes from 102 and then it goes to 101 on thursday, 102 on friday in redding. there's really no end in sight to this, guys, for many areas of the west. we had a decent amount of wet weather over the winter, so everything started to grow, and now it has been so dry and so hot all of that is just -- you know, just like easy -- easy to burn. >> it just seems there's no relief in sight. how long could this thing go on, could the fires go on for in. >> typically the fire season is usually the worse going into the late summer, fall, so i want to say august. we don't start getting the humidity in tarnd whe air until october. november is the start of rainy season in the west. >> i believe the fire was only 23% contained according to cal fire officials there earlier. thanks, bill. still ahead, the potential price tag taxpayers may be on the hook for. >> plus, another round of tax cuts mulled for the country's

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welcome back, everybody. the potential price tag to bail out all the industries impacted by president trump's trade war could be much more than initially anticipated according to analysis by the u.s. chamber of commerce. it would cost taxpayers $39

billion to compensate the industries for the economic damage they may face. that figure included the $12 billion in emergency aid recently approved by the trump administration for farmers who produce certain goods like soybeans. any like soybeans. any potential impact to the soybean farmers could have major ramifications when it comes to the election. one-third of the nation's most contested house districts are home to major soybean farms, primarily in the midwest. while president trump had a strong performance in that region back in 2016, the area is bracing for a potential economic blow come harvest time due to the tariffs just before voters head to the polls in november. the trump administration is reportedly weighing a $100 billion tax cut that would largely go to help wealthy americans. according to the "new york

times," congress is considering bypassing the senate on that move. in an interview of g20 officials, steve mnuchin said his department was studying whether it could use regulatory americans to account for inflation in determining capital gains tax liabilities. capital gains taxes are overwhelmingly paid by high earners and were not touched in the $1.5 trillion tax law president trump signed last year. saying that independent analyses suggests more than 97% of the benefits of indexing capital gains for inflation would actually go to the top 10% in america. breaking a move by president trump, as a candidate said he would training the tax laws to force people who work at hedge funds to pay more in taxes's in an august interview president

trump said i may want to switch taxes around. i want to save the middle class and have hedge fund guys making a lot of money that aren't paying anything. trump reiterated that point in another interview just days later. >> the hedge fund guys didn't build this country. they shift paper around and get lucky. when the market collapses like it is now, they're losing a fortune. 45678 of energetic, very smart, but a lot of them, like they're paper pushers. they make a fortune. they pay no tax. it's ridiculous. okay? some of them are friends of mine and some i couldn't care less about. it's the wrong thing. the hedge fund guys are getting away with murder. coming up, axios's representative is coming up. and on "morning joe," president trump implementing spontaneous foreign policy. more on the president's off the cuffs comments or meeting with

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all right. welcome back, everyone. special edition of axios "one big thing" here here on set co-founder and ceo of axios himself, jim, what a way to make an entrance. talk to us about the "one big thing" today? what do you got? you and your hardball questions. >> i think there's a fascinating thing happening with donald trump in that his legacy might actually outlive him. the effect on the republican party. other candidates are adopting his style, looking for his blessing to win. that gubernatorial win in georgia. a candidate fairly obscure, trailing in the polls. the president blesses him because he talks about fake news

and talks about immigration and all the trump issues, instantly becomes the favorite. instantly wins. seeing this unfold in florida. congressman adam putnam, grooming himself to be governor. the president doesn't want him. blesses a conservative hard-liner, up by 12 points now. seeing it in almost every race. the economy is booming and republicans finally get the tax cut they want. but what are candidate talking about? about trump issues. talking about immigration. they're talking about all of the things that trump cares about. the wall. other things like that, instead of traditional republican issues which is, think about george w. bush. he was able to change the party in his image. he was changed by the party. donald trump is fundamentally changing the party top down. >> is it safe to say this is a new era trumpism? you had reagan onices but now

it's trumpism? >> he is fundamentally reordering the party. issues he cares about. took a party that stood for one thing, did some of that and now adding a new dimension he karca about, trade, russia, immigration. the part that could last. republicans say it will burn off. i don't think it will. hi think he really directed the party in a fundamentally different direction. >> we talked about how the gop can't necessarily run on immigration anymore, especially midterms, considering where we're at with immigration and what's happened in the last couple of months? >> you can at the primaries. think about issues that motivate republicans. immigration is at the top of the lists and gets people fired up. >> do they care about the separation policy? how do you spin that.

>> two parts. in a primary, care more about building a wall. general election, suburban district, trying to appeal to independent it become as complicating factor for the republican party and you isolate the party to the 40% to 45% of people enthusiastic about trump. another poll out that captures how powerful trump sway is over the party. asked -- a cbs poll. asked, if you're a true supporter of trump, who do you trust to get your information. 91% said trump. 60% said their family and 11% said the media. the fact they're looking to him at "the" divine source of fact and information. >> 91%? unbelievable. >> jim, great to have you in the flesh. >> good to be here. >> i want to bring my own music next time. >> a little intro for -- >> count bowne -- >> usually we have a dance. decided not to do it. stick around. "morning joe" in a few minutes.

don't forget. sign up going to axios.com to get that newsletter. that does it for us on this tuesday morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and "morning joe" starts now. nothing we know to lead anyone to believe there was anything about discussion for adoption. >> president trump would probably say wasn't the right thing to do but wasn't a big deal because nothing came of the meeting. >> he's prove ton not tell the truth about the whole thing campaigns look for dirt, nobody's going to be surprised. some things in politics you take your granted. >> looking at the federal code trying to find collusion as a crime. >> it's not. >> collusion is not a crime. >> so much is going on there. emean, there's a lie. >> it's an everybody vugs.