this sunday all the en presidt's investigations. michael cohen sentenced to prison, and implicating president trump in illegal tabloid hush money payoffs. e >> he directed make the payments and to become involved in these matters. >> i don't think and i have to check, i don't think they paid any money to that tabloid. >> this as new invesgations emerge involving donations to mr. trump's inaugural committee and to the trumpnvestigatioorgn. we have a "wall street journal" the investigation and on the president's honesty. >> plus, obamacare struck down. a texas judge rules for republicans that the individual mandate without a tax is unconstitutional and the law must go. >> big ruling. great ruling for our country.

we'll be able to get great health care. >> democrats vow to appeal and the case appears headed to the supreme court. my guest this morning, senate minority leader chuck schumer of ocw york and roy blunt of missouri and demratic congressman adam schiff of california. w also, thte house showdown over a government shutdown. it's trump versus pelosi and schumer. >> i will shut down the government, absolutely. >> we disagree. we disagree. >> i am proud to shut down the government for border security. >>is a preview of the battles to come?jo ing me for insight and analysis are "washington post" columnist eugene robinson, katy tur, host of msnbc live and david brody and eliana johnson. national political reporter for politico. welcome to sunday, it's ""meet the press." >> announcer: from nbcin washington, the longest running television show in history, this

is "meet the press" with chuck todd. good sunday morning, as if we needed another reminder. this week illustrated how not normal the trump presidency has become. president trump's lawyer sentenced to prison.f his chief staff, second one, mind you iout. a are y a routine photo op was a taunting schoolyard smack down. look at the president's investigations among the targets, the trump campaign, the trump transition team, the trump inauguration committee, the trump rumily, the organization and the trump charitable foundation,rump associates and finally, president trump himself. essentlly everything he's touched his adult life is under investigation. all of this may be taking a toll on the president. we have a poll out this morning on the russiaig inveion, 62% say president trump has not been honest and truthful. that's a growing number poll and across the board, democrats, independents and

republicans. 34% say he's been honest an 45% want to see the investigation continue 34%, familiar number there would like to see it end. there are the entire law has to go. h republicane sought to kill the affordable care actince the pastisage but the ruling cos as obamacare is now more popular than ever and helped democrats flip 40 htsse s in november. so looking ahead. multiple investigatio , a new fight over health care, trade war with china, possible vecession, and we haven't mentioned the chances of a government shutdown at the end of this week. happy holidays, everyone. joining me now is the senate

democratic lead er chuck schumer of new york. welcome back to "meet the press." >> good to be back, chuck. >> let's start with the health care ruling. the assumption is there will be appeals. how do you appeal this law? do you appeal the specific argument about the mandate or the entire ruling or is it on severibity? >> first,wf it's an ruling. it undoes preexisting conditions. it jeopardizes the tens of millio care in the exchange but goes way beyond that. it would knockout funding for treatment of opioids and raise drug priceand close the doughnut hole so seniors would pay more for drug prices and eliminate maternal care and women's health. it'sn awful, awful ruling. we're going to fight this tooth and nail and the first thing t 're going to do when we back there in the senate is urge, put a vote on the floor, urging an intervention in the case. o

the judge, a lthis depends on congressional intent and if a majority of the house and majority of the senate say that this case should be overturned, fe will have a tremendous on the appeal. on the peel. the first stop is e courts. it's an awful, awful decision and puts a lot of our republicans in a box because they sort of were once -- you know, two faced on the one haf- they said they want tostreserve preeg conditions and preserve health care. on the other hand, donald trump and a large number of republicans brought this court suit, so there will be a goobl number of reans that will really have to make a decision whether to join us in this intervention or face very se. re consequenc >> are you open to finding a compromise with republicans? let's say your prospects don't look as good in the courts as you might think they do. do you try to work with them to brpenalty back on the mandate if that's what it takes?

do you work with them to figure out a plan that eliminates the mandaton where are yohis? >> well, legislation when it comes to health care as we have seen is very difficult and the president and a large number of republicans are actually for cutting ba on health care.ey that's what ave done for two years. we have a divid house and senate. i think the courts have to be the first and best way to go. >> let me ask you thts about the coby the way. brian fallon, somebody that used to work for you tweeted the following. he said the judge the in favor of gutting obamacare was confirmed by voice vote. e remember that the next t democrats cut a deal with mcconnell and defend it by saying they were non-controversial nominees. this judge by the way confirmed te 2007 when democrats were in control of the ustates senate. do you regret e way you guys ice voted this judge? >> you never know how a judge will vote ten years later, but this was an awful, awful decision and it has to be

overturned. there is also, you know, an element, i don't know how you deal with this but forum shopping. the republicans chose this court and this bench because they thought they might get this way out of the main stream ruling from this judge whose done it before. >> you brushed off this judge issue very quickly. look, that was pt of a deal. you were part of cutting back in '07. was that a bhe deal? >> no, was no deal i don't think on this judge. he was a nominee to the district court. no one brought up anything, no one knew how he would rule in the future and, you know, it's an awful ruling. t let's make no mistake ab. >> some progresses and senators in your caucus are goingreo say okay, e go again with the affordable care about and it was a flawed enterprise anyway. here is what adam green, founder of progressive change campaign writes. he says democrats need to put a bright north star in the sky for 2020 voters to make clear that

we're moving toward medicare for all as a big part of a 2020 electoral strategy. it seems pretty clear the presidential nominee, whoever it is will support medicare for all. do you think it's time f democrats to push this? >> look, democrats are for universal access to health care, from one end of the party the other. we want more people covered, everyone covered. we want better health care at a lower cost. people have different views as to how to get there. many are for medicare for all. some are for medicare buy in and some are over 55, some are medicaid buy in, some are public option. we have to da lot more on health cile. itbe a major issue in 2020 and i believe democrats will get the best health care for the most people. >> where are you? do you think you should spend more time fixing the affordable care act or launching a new proposal? >> we have to undo the decision. we have a republican president and senate. they spent a lot of time sabotaging health care.st that's the fob. after that, democrats, as we did in 2018 rather successfully will make health care a major,

probably the major issue in the upcoming campaigns and as we acs in conand we're going to force the republican colleagues now that this decision has sort of lifted up their hypocrisy to choose a side. are you for the american people, working people for more and better health care or are you going to continue to cut it? same with trump. same with president trp. >> i know you're careful putting your view here now that you're the leader of the senate conference there, are you going to support medicare for all, senator schumer? >> lk, as i said, there are lots of different roots. i'll support the plan that passes and the cheapest health care for all americans. >> i want to move onto theeassue that mayto a government shutdown, it's immigration.

i want to playomething you said in 2009 on the senate fl lr. taketen. >> people who enter the united states without our permission are illegal aliens and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people that enter the u.s. legally. >> i apologize, you said that at georgetown. >> some people at georgetown would think it's better to say it there. >> that is so true. senator schumer, do you still believe in that principle? >> of course. no democrat believes there is no difference between legal and illegal immigration. we democrats were for a path to citizen ship, however, not amnesty, a very diffult path to citizen ship. in 2013, every single democrat

voted for it. a bunch of republicans led by john mccain voted for it and it was thwarted in the house. we want to create a path to citizen ship for those illegally but we don't think they are the same. >> is there any way you budget all on your number on boarder security on the 1.6? we know you don't want to give them the five. is there any middle ground that you would be willing to inch over to that you think could get 60 votes in the senate? >> president trump should understand there are not the votes for the wall in the house or the senate, he is not going to get the wall in any form. even the house, which majority republican, they don't have the votes for his $5 billion wall plan. in fact, ryan, afraid of what's going to happen sent all the house home until wednesday night, a day and a balf, two daore the shut down and they certainly don't have the they certainly don't have the votes in the senate. now, we democrats, leader pelosi and i fered the president two options as to how to avoid the shutdown and we should not let a

temper tantrum, threats push us in the direction of doing something that everybody even our republicans colleagues know is wrong. leader mcconnell said we shouldn't shut down the government.an chaihelby said we shouldn't shut down the government. >> i understand that. >> and they should join us in one of these two propels, which would get more than enough votes ss and avoid a shutdown. if the president wants to debate oce wall next year, he can. f shouldn't use it workers as hosta his temper tantrum to sort of throw a bone to his base. >> what you're sayg is there le is no wioom here. it's those two options or that's it. >> those two options are the kinds of things republicans supported in the past and when to them privately, even publicly, a c.r. is much preferable to a shutdown. they have to have the guts to tell president trump he's off on the deep end here and all he's g to get with his temper tantrum is a shutdown. he'll not get a wall. >> before i go, i want to ask

you about the prospects impeachment. we learned the president directed michael cohen to commit felonies. at what point do you believe tht house demo you are on the house judiciary committee in 1998. you're very familiar with this. at what point are house democrats obligated? nobody says that means you vote for impeachment but are they obligated to start one? >> i'll give you my view.ma we shoul sure that mr. is muellenimpeded, that he finishes his investigation and

we should make sure that that report is public and then make a decision on the totality. as you know, impeachment has a lot of different ramifications. we certainly think no president bove the law, but i thin it's wise to wait for the report, more and more people are believing in mueller. fewer and fewer people as your survey showed believe the president. let's get the reportnd let's read it. let it go public and then let us decide. >> is it an asset or liability to have the first name of senatoif you run for presidentin 020? >> we have a lot of senators running and not good senators running. let 1,000 flowers bloom. let everyone run and see the best. democrats will be guided who can best beat trump because he's such a danger to the nation, to the middle class, to the workine

close pef america. i think at the end of the day, there will be more unity than people think. >> sounds like you think electability should be first and foremost. >> the voters will believe that. >> fair enough. senator schumer, thankyour time. >> chuck, good to see you. can i make a plug? go giants. go giants. >> okay, as you fight for your non-play-off spot. >> you never know, you never know. >> okay. i'll have to check that math. fair enough. joining me now from the other side of the isle is republican senator roy blunt of missou who sits on the intelligence committee. welcome back to "meet the press", sir. >> good to be with you. >> let me start with something s nator schumer said he would ask the united stanate to do, to ask for a sense of the senate and the house on this lawsuit that says it needs to be congress needs to intervene with this lawsuit and stop pp. would you t that? >> what he was saying is the congress should tell the circuit court what to do. i can't recall a similar time reything like that happened and he said on health it's hard to get anything done when you ask him what kind of legislative things we want to do on health care. that's clearly not going to ha wen. that's nt we ought to be doing this week, and senator schumer knows it. >> didn't this federal judge act like a legislator and he decided on his own what the law is going to be? he said well, i've decided that congress said this is a zero

tax, i've decided it'snger a tax. that's the definition of a judge writing legislation. >> that doesn't mean that legislatorcan act like judges just because -- >> so you acknowledge, the judgb ly over stepped his bounds here? >> i think the thing to remember about the judge's ruling is it has to immediate impact. nothing changes yesterday. nothing changes tomorrow. this will have to go through a circuit court process. who knows if the circuit court d would upt or not. that will either be quickly dismissed,hich is one option or a long period of time before the circuit court deals with it. this will be another area where this health care will be used as tpolitical issue way beyo ramifications of one district judge making a ruling that has no immediate impact.

>> well, let me tell you what the president said. the president sa, this was great news for america. that was his point. do you agree with him? >> i think it's basically for america, it means we'll continue to debate this. health care clearly matters to people. some of -- what we had with obamacare, as you've called it today was a poorly thought out plan, really poorly implemented to start with that had lots of negative impact on lots of families who have insurance they don't need with deductibles they can'afford. >> if that is true, why have you failed to have an alternativht you've had eears. >> we had lots of alternatives

when obamacare passed. letting people up to age 26 stay on their parents' insurance was a bill i filed. as far as i know, it's the onlya republican prothat was filed during that process and an independent bill. it was four pages and probably insured more people than any other single part of the c affordabe act did. there were lots of ideas but the other side didn't want to listee to tdeas. >> your party can't unite on any idea, though. ifou had one, wouldn't you have more leverage at the table? >> i wouldn't say we couldn't unite on any idea, but this is a very difficult issue and closely divided senate. 49 senators including memeoted to do ing last year that couple republican senators couldn't agree with. trying to get -- this is why the committee process matters. the one thing i think we wouni be able to on is medicare for all would wind up meaning medicare for none. if democrats want to take that r view to the an people and seniors, particularly people covered by medicare understand the ramifications of that, there is no way that will happen and no way voters enll let it ha >> was this lawsuit necessary? >> you know, i'm not in the job of questioning what state attorney generals decide they want to do. >> ou have a future colleag

in the senate, josh holly who filed this lawsuit. it was probably the biggest political negative he faced, the heal care issue. he had to do a lot of answering of charges on that. in hindsight, was this a mistake? >> he won the election. if anything haimpact on voters, i don't know. i do know the court case -- >> you don't seem enthusiastic about the lawsuit. you doeem, you know, take it or lve it. >> you have to -- when you challenge something like the affordable care about, an attorney general in texas thesn't have the obligation to come up with wha alternatives are. josh holly and i have a different obligation than the attorney generals and we continue to look for more options, morchoices, more access to insurance that really meets people's needs, things ke he associated health plans that allow people in small

businesses to ban together. that's going to have a real impact on people that can get out of the individual market, ve ch is always more expen and more difficult to navigate than insurance at work. a lot more people will have insurance at work because of the associated health plans that thp administrati out there and they are already beginning to work. >> are you at a point, though, the expectation now is the affordable care act is the new w baseline atever you do, you can't eliminate any benefit that that already has? >> i thi options. create more i think for the individual marketplace for any foreseeable future, the affordable care act is going to be there. it's going to haes the boundaf the affordable care act but that's not served individuals for families as well as other things. we have a real opportuere to look at this democrat congress, republican senate, republican president trying to find solutions to some of these problems that have now been around for at least six years. >> if it temporarily halted this lawsuit, would you support on putting cent tax, if you will, on the mandate in order to pass this? >> chuck, i think the tax was always a stretch. the obama administration said tit's not a tax, it's not until the way the court would uphold it, maybe it is a tax and the court upheld it on that basis coming up with a one cent

gimmick wouldn't have appeal t me. >> you were the head of the in gural committee as far as congress is concerned not to say you're part of the actual campaign aspect of raising money but there and the amount of money that was raised, let me put what the head of bush's inaugural committee in 2005 said about trump's committee, they had a third of the staff and a quarter of the ients and raised twice as much as we did so thethe obvious question, where did it go?. i don't kn

look, what you saw in your role as head of the inauguration, did dyou say boy, how come th't have that many events with the amount of money they raised? >> my role was time consuming. it was a great opportunity. that part of the inauguration, what happens at the capital is under the control of the congress. the funding, congressional funding, taxpayer money and our government is never more vulnerable at any time than en you've got everybody outside in the middle of the winter on tons of plywood and lumber and there is a lot to think about. i would say the two or three times that i interacted with that committee, normally with tom barrick to make sure what happened at the capitol was up to us, not them.i ve no idea what they did. during that particular period, my time was very consumed by being sure if we had to get everybody off that platform for some emergency, we could get them off there quickly. >> you voted for all four articles of impeachment for bill clinton. two that passed were lying to a

grand jury and obstruction of justice. do you regret those votes? >> not as much as i'm sure he regrets lying to the grand jury. >> do you regret the impeachment process? >> you know, i looked at ken ar's book. ntthink all of us looking back at that would not o rush to anything that has all of the ramifications that impeachment has. if i was given advice to my he friends inouse, most of the chairmen i would have served with, my advice would be legislate, don't investigate if you want to be rewarded with the continued opportunnty to be in l of the house of representatives. >> roy blunt, republican from missouri. thanks for coming on. good to see you, sir. when we come back,orhe two big s of the day, the trump investigations and future and politics of health care. the panel is next.day, the trumo ♪

ignition sequence starts. 10... 9... guidance is internal. 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... ♪ so, the whole world is talking about ai. big, bold promises like... it'll find life on mars! but here's the thing. you don't live on mars. (beep) you build wind turbines. supply car parts to thousands of cities. answer millions of customer calls a year. like this one: no, i didn't order this. it's terrifying. and that's why you work with watson. hello. it knows your industry, protects your insights, and works with tools you already use. that's why it's the best ai for the job.

welcome back. we have eugene robinson and nbc

news crespondent katy tur and david brody, analyst. here is what donald trump, president trump tweeted out after the ruling, as i predicted all along, obamacare has struck down as an unconstitutional disaster. now congress must pass a strong law that provides g at health care and protecting preexisting conditions. mitch and nancy, get it done. it's the visual of mcconnell and pelosi somehow rewriting the health care law with donald trump as president. what does that look like? >> i thi that's a vision that nobody in this town can conjure right now and donald trump may be the only republican cheering this decision, which is somewhat fascinating. looking at conseative legal scholars and conservatives at large, there is nobody who seems to be happy about this ruling and to think it's reasoning makes much sense, which is really that you can't have a taf

zero dollars, which republicans in th house, they did away with the individual mandate by just saying the tax on it is zero dollars but before october went into law, you heard conservatives say once you pass an entitlement, you can't take it away and the feeling several years in is that it's too hard to take away because it's increased in popularity. >> sounds likeub rcans hope this gets tossed. >> yeah, they are like rooting for the circuit court to thr o it like next week, right? they want this out of the way because as long as this is sort of pending and it does seem to be a weird and i'm not a lawyer, i can't call it riculous, reasoning, the decision but seems ridiculous to me. it doesn't seem to mak a lot of sense. i read commentary by scholars scratching their heads. bu this is awful politically for republicans because they got to step up, right?

and they are going to have to say if push comes to shove, we have to do something about prepre existipree prsting conditions because if they don't, they will get blown out. >> looking at the timeline how this wouldet appealed if it doesn't get overturned, it has to go to the supreme court which would mean there is a pert whos talk about the timeline would be in 2020, which would make ate perfect political issue for democrats. o the idea that maybe this is not going a topic come 2020 in the next i election is think a bit of wishful thinking for republicans and democrats will use at. >> i'm old enough to remember when the 2012upreme court decision was going to be the be all end all of that presidentiai el. >> here comes john roberts again potentially on obamacare. part two. potentially save the democrats again. i think that will be interesting to watch. look, i think it's an opportunity for potential reset

pare. look, obamacare waed in terms of just a full partisan vote. so we know his. e we are, for example, they do need to start from scratch if you will. it does give republicans and democrats a chance to do it the right way or the way both parties said all along, it needs to be bi trtisan. maybs is a chance high in the sky but gives republicans a reset. >> let me remind people, i'll put upto issues, it was health care and it wasn't that close.lt it was hcare and immigration economy almost had to be combined to get overre health >> that's the context here. we have to step back and look at the context. our health care system is crazs it crazy. >> conas a ruwe have some of th medicine in the world and laser surgery and everything else but it is still the case, even after the affordable care about that catastroph illness can bring

financial ruin to a family. that weeust don't h the protections and the access that the rest of the industrialized world has. >> let me shift here. thisomes, it was sort of like what else are you going to put on washington disfunction? we had new investigation this week, katy tur. we had michael cohen now tesically charged that the president dir him to commit crimes and the federal government backing him up on this now you throw health care into this atmosphere but this atmosphere, as crazy as it is in the trump era, it's lik we stepped it up a notch. they makers will tell you can walk and chew gum at the same time, in the past two years. >> they have to dohe soft shoe. >> not a lot has gotten done even though congress has been controlled by republicans fro t to bottom. they certainly didn't get health care. they didn't try evenro toh infrastructure so when you throw

in the house being led by democrats now and all the investigations that are going to pop up wit them, it's going to be difficult to get a lot done in these nt two years. politically speaking, that might be a benefit i a backwards way to donald trump because he can go out and tell his voters, hey, listen, nothing ison getting because democrats are trying to obstruct at every corner and he'll have democrats that maybe will not be working with him but then again, he did run b onng a deal maker. he ran on getting things done. >> look, iant to put up maybe we know why he had a hard time finding chief of staff. it's amazing four people went out of way to publiclull themselves out of contention. want to be i did not the full time chief of staff. all of them, which we know the president hates, the perception that nobody wants to wo for him. he settles on nick and wt happens, we find out

immediately? nick once trash president trump. let me show you this clip. >> yes, i'm supporting donald trump. i'm doing so as enthousiasticaly as i can but the choice on the other side is just as bad. >> that'sis chief of staff. >> i think mike pence may be the only person in washington that would say donald trump is a good peon. certainly not the odd man out on that. i can't think of a time ingt wash where there has been so much uncertainty. scertainty when there will be a government shutdow days from now and what the trade policy is be a trade war with china and nt uncertwhat the mull eller investigation is going to change and has ancting chief o staff. this is a president that probably needs a chief of staff more than any psident in recent history but won't let somebody do the job and so we're really at sort of fascinating

juncti place in america can poliocs, w havedea what the next six months to a year will bring. >> that's why we all want to have the acting title these days when it comes to washington. the acting panel will be coming back in a bit b when we come back, the man that will be heing up the intelligence committee's investigation in the democratic controlled house. congressman adam schiff. in ♪ lw traders -- they'res looking for advantages. the smart ones look to fidelity to find them. we give you research and data-visualization tools to help identify potential opportunities. so, you can do it this way... or get everything you need to help capture investment ideas and make smarter trading decisions with fidelity for just $4.95 per online u.s. equity trade. fidelity. open an account today. ♪ but allstate actually helps you drive safely...

with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? new listerine® ready! tabs™ aren't gum, mints, or marbles. seriously, what is this? if you guessed they're tabs that turn into liquid as you chew, so you can swish and clean your whole mouth instantly, then you were correct. and that was a reallgood guess. nice job. ♪ whose idea was this?! the doctor just for a shot.

with neulasta onpro patients get their day back... to be with family, or just to sleep in. strong chemo can put you at risk of serious infection. in a key study neulasta reduced the risk of infection from 17% to 1%, a 94% decrease. neulasta onpro is designed to deliver neulasta the day after chemo and is used by most patients today. neulasta is for certain cancer patients receiving strong chemotherapy. do not take neulasta if you're allergic to it or neupogen (filgrastim). an incomplete dose could increase infection risk. ruptured spleen, sometimes fatal as well as serious lung problems, allergic reactions, kidney injuries and capillary leak syndrome have occurred. report abdominal or shoulder tip pain, trouble breathing or allergic reactions to your doctor right away. in patients with sickle cell disorders, serious, sometimes fatal crises can occur. the most common side effect is bone and muscle ache. ask your doctor about neulasta onpro. pay no more than $5 per dose with copay card.

turning now to the investigations of the trump administration. we askedhe peopleer they support democrats providing more oversight by opening up new investigations of president trump and his administration. overall 55% said yes while 42% said no. take a look at the party break down. it won't surprise you it was by a margin of 88 to that democrats saidpu yes. among icans it was flipped. 18% said yes while 81% were opposed. independents looked like the mix of the two. joining me now is the man who will leadus the hintelligence committee in the next congress.

it's adam schiff of california. let me start with an intervie the headline was adam schiff's plans to oblit rate the red line if muelleroes into my personal businesses before the campaign, thed would be a line. that is too much. the implication being maybe he would fire him or something else. what does that headline mean in practice? that you are going to obliterate the red line. >> obliterate was not my choice of words is there any entanglement that might influence u.s. pol oy against national interest? what we saw in the michael cohen revelationhe some of michael cohen revelations that the president while he was denng dealings with russia, his business was pursuingn

multimillion dollar deal in moscow, hiding it from the country. that is deeply compromising. the president has wanted to draw a red line and say you daent look at my business. the business is trying to have favor with the kremlin, we can't ignore that. the president should not be in a position to s you can't investigate certain things. that's what i mean. if mueller is not looking into this a i don't know wheth he is, someone needs to because otherwise we are being derlict with our security. >> what pooucies do fear might have been influenced by financial dealings with the president? >> unquestionably the u.s. response to the russian hacking of our election has been so influenced bmething. whether it's been influenced by the president being concerned that his effort to build the trump tower deal would come out. te russians knew about it. they were on other end of the transaction.

whether that was t motivation or whether there is other motivation or whether it is donald trump reacting to the question that has been raised about his legitimacy because of election i the don't know but we need to find out. >> does saudi arabia fit into that in your mind? is that something you plan on investigating? >> saudi arabia could fit into it if the saudis were funneling money into the iuguruation committee or the saudi investment in the trump businessu,ng hotel rooms, the deals that trump talked about during the campaign that made him love the saudis so much, if that is warping u.s. policy or affecting the president's unwillingness to it ize the crown prince over the murder o khashoggi. some of this may be the purview of our committee o other committees. we will be working to ensure we

don't step on each other's toes. >> what do you believe the deutsche bank financial records will show you? why them? what will their records show. >> the concern about deutsche ank is they have a history of laundering russian money. they paid hundreds of millions of dollars of fines to the state of new york because they were laundering russian money. this a tarently was one bank that was willing to do business th the trumporganization. now, is that a coincidence? what do we make o what the president's sons have reported of saying not having to deal with u.s. banks because they get all the cash they needed from russia? if this is a form of compromise it needs to be exposed. >> yo >> gina haspel has given a briefing. what you have learned, we heard bob corker essentially said if a

jury heard what i heard the own prince would be convicted in 30 minutes. is that a fair read of what you learned in your briefing? >> i don't think i there any question that the crown prince was aware andan knowing would have had to approve of an operation like this. so what concerns m is when i hear people like the secretary of state say things that they be literally true but are deeply esmisleading. are important issues as they affect the policy of the poited states. cy makers need to make decisions on the cest intellig i think you saw that by that nators are convinced that the crown prince's role in this. >> should we interv in saudi politics and basically push the king to dump the crown prince? >> what we ought to do -- here is where we need to rely on our intelligence agencies. we need to go through a menu of the responses here, everything

from using sanctions against the crown prince to suspending arms sales to suspending any support of the war in yemen. what will the saudi reaction be? if the crown prince were to fal who comes next? what does that y mean? are in a go slow approach. >> my feeling is you use the tst inligence. you don't ignore it or discount it. you use it to guide you decision making. and there are still a need to have a relationship with the kingdom. you ought to be governed by the facts. >> the last time you were here you talked about looking at transcripts of people who gave interviews to the house intelligence committee. have you found instances that you think are questionable? have you referred it to mr. mueller? >> we have found testimony that we find deeply concerning and it would include mr. stone among that group. >> roger stone, the one you

believed lied to congress. >> i believe there is ample reason to be concerned about his truthfulness. i think that with respect to m stone and perhaps others that the special counsel is in a better position to determine the truth and that we ought to provide it to special counsel. >> do you have a theory as to why michael flynn's lawyers are attacking the fbi? >> i do. there are several witnesses who are tryingt to have both ways in some degree. you've got manafort who was clearly double dealing trying to get a cooperation agreement with the government and trying to get a pardon. papadopoulos pleads guilty, admits guilt, gets sentencedut seems to make a public case for a pardon. i think to a lesse degree the same situation with flynn. t you don't know what it is? >> theory is they want to cooperate andget the investment

from the government. >> thanks for coming on. when we come back, is it time tstart wrapping our time tstart wrapping our holiday ♪ junior achievement reaches young ople all over the world to prepare them for the ture of work. we go into classrooms and we teach entrepreneurial skills and leadership skills. when you actually create a business when you're in your teens, it raises your self-confidence. junior achievement iseally unique because they inspire young people to think creatively.n' the citi foundats pathways to progress initiative ovhelped us reach kids in 50 co. citi has also loaned us their to help us deliver ograms.oyeesp our youth are three times more likely to become entrepreneurs and they're jore likely to creates for others. they are going to bring an entrepreneurial spirit

to making our worlda bett. ♪ i'm ray and i quit smoking with chantix. smoking. it dictates your day. i didn't like something having control over me. i wanted to stop. the thing is i didn't know how. chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. chantix reduced my urge to smoke to the point that i could quit.

when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, or allergic and skin reactions which can be life-threatening. stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. tell your healthcare provider if you've had depression or other mental health problems. decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. use caution when driving or operating machinery. the most common side effect is nausea. for me chantix worked.boom. end of story. talk to your doctor about chantix.

those colors only mean one thing. it's time for a very special data download, what is under the tree for your kids this holiday season? that may depend on the politics of your gift giver more than you think. if the gift giver is a trump voter there is a decent chance that present is something from nerf. e what is big gift among independents? it's hot whels. 42% of indies are buying the toy cars thisear way more than republicans or democrats. what would the holiday season be thout barbie? only about a quarter of democrats and republire buying the iconic doll this year. when it comes to toyon there is gift that nearly every group agrees on because theyave red and blue bricks.

legos. they all plan to buy legos this time of year. if your house is anything lke mi these days we all know the older kids are hoping for some video games stuffed in stockings this year. the most popularames for democrats and republicans are call of duty and fortnite. republicans lean towards mlb t show. the holidays are a special time of year forchildren. here is one more area where red and blue america agrees. es majorif republicans and democrats said they want toprovide their children with thn'gs they d get to have as a child. i'm one of those. and majorities of both parties admit that they plan to indulge their children with the littl extras, the ones they proebl don't need to be getting. there you have it, a note of y political agreement in time for the holidays. the new year and the new

congress will bring penty to disagree about. when we come back, guess which democrat moved into the top three in the lestpoll. coming up, end game and post game brought to you by boeing, continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore and inspire.

♪

ignition sequence starts. 10... 9... guidance is internal. 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... ♪ hey, batter, batter, [ crowd cheers ] like everyone, i lead a busy life. but i know the importance of having time to do what you love. at comcast we know our customers' time is valuable. that's why we have 2-hour appointment windows, including nights and weekends. so you can do more of what you love. my name is tito, and i'm a tech ops manager at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome.

end game,rought to you by boeing, continuing our mission to connect protect, explore and acspire. >> b now with end game. we have the first filed presidential candidatefrhis week our big list of 34. what did we get overnit? the first des moines register poll told us who the top two ers of democrats are. tier one biden at 32, bernie sanders at 19. be beto. there is a noticeable second tier. harris at five. booker at 4. they tested a dozen other candidates that didn't get up to three. what do you make of obviously

the headline is beto o'rourke in double digits. >> it tells you the exnt to which he broke through into the national consciousne with that incredible run in texas. it shows he is going to be a factor in this. he's someone that potentially democrats could fall in love with. democrats fall in love and republicans falln ne. >> beto o'rourke had a town hall on friday. d sounke a presidential candidate to me. take a listen. >> i want us to be big and to be bold and not to succumb to the smallness and pettiness and divisiveness that defines so much of the natnvnal sation today. that is what we are up against right now. it is moreon than jus person. it is all of us making this decision that we are going a live to our potential and to our ise. >> everybody from ted cruz's

campaign has said donald trump better take the isguy riously. >> because he is a really good messenger. there is a lot of folks -- joe biden, i guess on paper he would be pretty good in terms of getting back some of the blue collar democrats thatrump had won. i think that is interesting to watch. he is getting up there in age. beyond that, he has been known to be somewhat of aaff machine. i think that is a problem. i thin beto o'rourke -- the smart money is on him because of the messaging and put it all together. they need energy but at the same time kind of morphing int an optimistic message. i think if it is beto o'rourke and trump its anger versus optimism. anger comes with fear. a lotf folks vote when they are fearful. look at health care. trump will play up on immigration. >> what is it going to look like in 2008 where democrats wanted

to get inspirednd have hope again after eight years of president bush. they have be inspir play it safe or get angry. >> chuck schumer once pyed it safe. he wants somebody who can win. >> he wants somebody that c stand up to donald trump. so far joe biden is proven to bo body who can stand up to donald trump and who can get down in the gutter with him when need be but not get dirty in the same way that donald trump has. >> when i look at the top fourc idates i see two who could potentially eat into the trump base. i can tell you that folks on the trump campaign are worried about the candidates and those are joe biden and bernisanders. e other two, elizabeth warren and beto o'rourke would have to really juice minority turnout. i think beto o'rourke one surprising thing while he did overperform democrats in texas, heid not overperform on minority black turnout.

i think there are going to be questioned raised about that if moves forward. >> looking deep into our dive in our poll, joe biden and bernie sanders' favorables ratire much better when you look at it than other democrats. there is a bunch of independent menll that r like bernie and biden and nobody else. it's an interesting challenge for democrats. >>all it a gender gap, but it may be approaching that. so they are formidable figures. i wonder if this will be another bernie year or a biden year. i think they are looking for -- >> i wonder if it is anoth year for a white man. there are progressive liberal voters who will say not now then aen is it going to be? they need to ele woman or they need to nominate an

african-american or some sort of minority in order to push the party forward? >> i think what donald trump does best is brnd. my point is that beto o'rourke is a clean slate for donald trump. e biden is not, bernie sanders is not. watch out for beto o'rourke. >> quite a panel. appreciate everybody o watching. we'll be back next week because if it's sunday it's "meet the press." you can see more end game in post game on the "meet the press" twitter account.

this is a fight. not to the finish. but to the beginning. a fight that can only be won, if we stand together for one cause. him. expert care for every new beginning.