>> hallie, like a lot of things, it's atypical. what we have seen is number one, a higher than average rate of turnover, even for the first year of an administration which typically sees more turnover than the norm. this has been a lot of churn in this administration. the other thing we've seen is the president is not owe he reluctant to criticize. typically when an administration, cabinet official comes under fire, they circle the wagons. we've seen something different. the president is not afraid to call out officials he sees as taking the wrong course, making a bad judgment. he's not abashed about publicly criticizing and chastising that official, which may lead to more turnover than we've seen. >> tom dupree, josh dawesy, thanks for hanging out with us. >>> we're heading to alabama where roy moore, remember him, is challenging the election a couple of weeks after he lost to democrat doug jones. moore is claiming now, voter fraud. just hours from now the certification of the results. will this last-ditch effort actually work? we

hallie, bag the you. >> ayman from the west bank. today, back here in washington, we expect, we expect to see lawmakers vote to avoid a government shutdown for now but that's only good for two weeks. what happens after that? the guy on your screen congress mark meadows joins me after the break to talk about what happens long term. was so peaceful. until... it... wasn't. don't let type 2 diabetes get between you and your heart. because your risk of heart attack or stroke is up to four times greater. but there are steps you can take to lower your cardiovascular risk. talk to your health care provider today about diabetic heart disease. and find out more at heartoftype2.com. your heart and type 2 diabetes. make the connection. 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. why do people put why does your tummy go "grumbily, grumbily, grumbily"? no more questions for you! ouph, that m

hallie? >> we'll see you at the briefing later this afternoon, appreciate. >> it i'm joined by the president of american action forum, the former director of the congressional budget office and my panel for the next 60 minutes. axios editor-in-chief nick johnson and nbc news national political reporter vivian salama. rob widen calls this the ultimate betrayal. corporations and the wealthiest americans will see the biggest tax cuts. that's a fact. how can the president shell the as a middle-class tax cut? >> the starting point is that last year 2016 families who worked full time full year got exactly zero increase in their real income so the labor market is not delivering pay increases, real wage increases, it's been the achilles heel for five or six years now. the central piece are the business tax reforms that change the incentives to locate all of the intellectual property overseas, your money overseas and instead have tax incentives to do in the the united states. >> the argument is by doi

so certainly, hallie, the president coming out strong for roy moore. we heard that again last night with steve bannon, just taking on the establishment as he mentioned, within the next hour or so, we expect roy moore to vote himself riding in on his horse named sassy. you can't make this up. >> it's going to be -- it's going to be a moment. gabe gutierrez in mountainbrook, thank you. you'll be plastered all over the network all day along with steve kornacki looking at the data for us. steve, we talked yesterday about how the polls are everywhere, up in the air, it really is a crapshoot at this point who will be on top. but i want to talk about the coalitions that you think doug jones or roy moore needs to put together in order to pull out a win. >> yeah, let's take a look at it. it's sort of old fashioned. forget the polls now, we'll see who votes, where they vote and who they vote for. let me show you this is, this is what it looks like when they have an election in alabama. nobody really notices because the republicans win in a landslide. this is clo

hallie? >> kasie hunt, thank you.an, listen, you've got the meeting, we have done a lot of reporting on it what happened between the meeting on june 26 between don jr. and the russian leader, does this create new problems for don jr.? >> reporter: sure. we have obtained exclusively the 51-page statement to the senate judiciary committee answering a series of written questions. and i could sum it up in a sentence to say this whole thing is a big misunderstanding. she denies ties to the russian government and denies conveying a message. it is sort of what you would expect her to say. what i find more interesting is that she clearly said donald trump jr. came to ma meeting expecting to receive something from her because of the e-mails from ron goldstein looking at incriminating information from the russian government. she said he specifically asked her if he had information about illegal donations to the clinton foundation. when she applied she didn't, she seemed to lose interest. that's her story. and it is a story that

hallie? >> so hans, you've got in this lawsuit, for example, secretary mattis, other defense officials at very high levels named as defendants here. talk through potential consequences that these folks could face, if any? >> well, what the lawsuit seeks is to hold those officials in contempt. so you could potentially have secretary mattis in contempt of court if the department of defense is not fully compliant with the law. well, the lawsuit alleges that they have known about this problem for some time. there have been several reviews and yet they continue to be out of compliance. so the enforcement mechanism they are seeking is putting secretary mattis as well as the secretaries of the other service branchers in contempt if they are not implying with the law. hallie? >> as you talk about this, all this sparked from the sutherland springs shooting in texas. thank you. >>> "the washington post" is reporting new details about alleged sexual harassment inside the department of justice, specifica

the 18 days. >> exactly, hallie.s answers a lot of questions about why mueller has been talking to people who were inside the white house now. why he has wanted to interview don mcgahn. why he wanted to speak to every person who was there during the critical 18 days, between the time when the white house heard from salliuatsalliuatiuaty yate was fired. any lawyer in mccgahn's positio would have gone to flynn and said, so did you lie to the fbi? if that information was conveyed to mcgahn, it was likely conveyed to the president. then if so, why was he kept on for the additional 18 days? >> the explanation the white house has given for delaying, basically. i remember covering the administration at that time period. there were real questions about what in the world happened during this time period. why didn't certain people know about it? >> trump at one point told lester holt, look, mcgahn came to me and didn't set off any alarm bells. >> yeah. not an emergency, is i think the phrasing he used. >> you know last week, y

hallie? >> gabe, there's a lot to talk about. thank you for that reporting including the comment from the person representing roy moore that there are a lot of nonaccusers that have accused him of nothing. we'll get to that in a second, but we also want to talk about what is set to happen in about 12 minutes here. and an announcement from john conyers is expected to come on detroit radio. he's giving an interview after coming under house leadership to resign after claims that he denied of sexual"the new york t finish out his term but no more. garrett haake is on the hill behind me. listen, democrats have not minced words the last few days. every member of leadership said they want conyers to step down. talk about this decision playing out on the hill. >> reporter: not well, hallie. that's the short answer. every member of leadership on the democratic side, the speaker of the house and a number of other members, essentially, anyone you can get in front of the camera said it is time for john conyers to step aside. the prospect of a

>> hallie, some people will. if you're a married couple filing jointly and you're itemize is under 25,000, you're better off. only 8% of the country is going to itemize their deductions once they standardize it. a lot of those folks are going to be better off. for high-tax states like new york, we rely disproportionately for high tax people to pay the bill. those are the ones that are going to accelerate they're departure from new york state because of the way it's been framed within the legislation. >> where do you fall in the argument that at least this is something, right? 1986 tax rewrite was put together quickly, even if you oppose the bill, at least it's progress. is that your view? >> well, again, hallie, there is some progress here. we're addressing the issue of multinational companies that stash money abroad. beyond taxation, there is going to be a tax on those repatriated earnings are that are deemed depate yd repate yariate repatriated. many people would be benefited. some people will be hurt. that's j

. >> reporter: he's a stone's throw away from mobile, hallie. sorry about that. the bottom line is that the white house is pushing back vigorously against the characterizations, bottom line, this is a make america great again rally. this has nothing to do with roy moore, a stone's throw away from mobile, alabama. these essentially going to be talking about his own agenda, which is going to be yet another layer of his endorsement of roy moore. now, of course, you have the rnc who initially pulled the funding from roy moore, now they are back in the game, but it is really dividing republicans. and jeff flake spoke out yesterday, take a listen to what he had to say. >> i hope that he's not elected. i'm not happy that the rnc is backing him. and i think that we all aught to be very vocal about it. this is the not our best foot forward with roy moore, and it will have long-term damage from the party and the brand if we do so. >> reporter: hallie, president trump is tweeting about his visit to pensacola tonight. let me read you his tweet. it says, big crowd expected to

hallie?ays, thank you. >>> i want to bring in josh letterman and nancy cook, white house reporter for politico. josh and nancy, explain the significance of this acknowledgment now from the pentagon. >> well, this means that the u.s. is much more involved than we knew about on the ground actually fighting extremist groups and, you know, as hans said, there is actually two conflicts going on here. we have the sunni extremist groups al qaeda, isis and then you have the civil war. that civil war has its own problems because it is a proxy battle between saudi arabia and iran. >> regionally, how does this acknowledgment play, for example, in places like iran. >> well, it is going to make, even though we're talking about the u.s. fighting extremist groups, it's going to make the iranian government say look how invested the u.s. government is militarily in yemen in a country where they're actively supporting shiite rebels who are on the opposite side. it does increase the chance that the u.s. and ira

hallie maybe is going to disagree with me. these press briefings are short by standards certainly of the obama administration where it used to be common for them to be an hour, hour and a half. 20 minutes or less seems to be more the standard. i want to play what sarah sanders said yesterday. >> as the president said, he found the allegations troubling and if they were true then he should step aside and ultimately the people of alabama will make a decision in that race. >> what about his own accusers? he has accusers as well. >> he president has first hand knowledge on what he did and didn't do. he can speak directly to those and he has. i don't have anything further to add. >> what do you have to add? >> i was actually going to agree with you, chris. that was the briefing that happened yesterday was sean spicer level rowdiness. right? that's what we saw in the beginning of the administration when it was feisty, fiery. sarah huckabee sanders has remained rather sort of calm and composed. but i thought what you saw yesterday wa

this puts them in an awful box, hallie. but one of the things i have heard from sources up here on the hill is some have argued and this is not an opinion shared unanimously, but one of the best things to happen to the republican party in the senate broadly would be if roy moore wins and the senate kicks him out. and the governor there would then appoint his replacement. but again, this is a tough spot for republican senators who don't want to be associated with roy moore, again, and now accused of being a child molester. >> and now this is something that is back in the headlines again, not long before the election there. garrett, hang out for a second. i want to bring in jonathan and sarah here and pull up the tweet from president trump, if we can. because he talks about specifically tying this to policy, right? we need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, et cetera. this is what kellyanne conway said back on november 16th. listen. >> whatever the facts end up being, the premesis, of course, the principle is th

especially on a senior staff, hallie.ress secretary should know the exact number of african-americans on the senior staff. >> but she does know. she does know but doesn't want to give the right answer because the answer is zero. >> the answer could be, we don't have enough. we'll do a better job. the answer is zero and the president is committed. yet we got a word salad. >> you heard her say grow the diversity. we pulled the numbers. we pulled the research here. of the 22 highest paid people at the white house, so that top salary of $179.900. omarosa on that list was the only african-american. she was the only african-american person, period, on that list. when you look at the president's cabinet, only one member is black. that's ben carson. the surgeon general is black. for high-level positions, that's about it. >> this is not earth shattering. here's why. all throughout the campaign we didn't see people of color around donald trump. and candidly speaking, there weren't a lot of people of color raising their hands wantin

hallie, good morning. >> reporter: hey there, phillip. good morning to you. and this morning president trump is of course waking up in south florida where he has been spending his working holiday vacation. and i'll tell you what, he spent a lot of the time here when we have seen him either online or in rare instances publicly talking about 2017, talking about his accomplishments, what he perceives as his to-do list for the last year basically, capped by of course that new tax law. you saw that from the president when he made a surprise stop at the west palm beach firehouse, talking with firefighters there, talking about not just the economy but also his tax law, tying it also to the repeal of the individual mandate. so for president trump he's in a little bit of a routine. golf, tweeting, talking about 2017. but we're looking ahead to what's coming up in 2018. and that is going to begin really in just six days from now. that's when the senate gets back to work in washington. and then in that first weekend of january you're going to see top republicans huddle

hallie, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, lester. the president here is making a risky bet that doing something different will eventually end up productive for peace talks, but he's about the only one making that bet. this decision, which is not likely to be undone by future presidents, is one of the most controversial and potentially consequential of his administration. >> all challenges demand new approaches. >> reporter: seven decades of u.s. policy changed in an instant. >> today we finally acknowledge the obvious, that jerusalem is israel's capital. >> reporter: president trump will also move the u.s. embassy to jerusalem, which could take three or four years, and which puts the u.s. on an island. every other country, more than 80 of them, with an embassy in israel has theirs in tel aviv. >> while previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. today i am delivering. >> reporter: there are reasons those other presidents changed their views. like widespread consensus and united nations policy

hallie? >> ann, thank you. dylan is here with a closer look at what's in store for those very brave souls. >> we were just talking about how nice the couch sounds with sweatshirts. >> exactly. >> outside it is going to be brutal especially here in new york city. tonight we are expecting 11 degrees. that forecast hasn't changed much most of this week. we've been talking about that for quite some time. winds will be at 12 miles per hour. when you factor in the wind chill it will feel like 5 below. that makes it even more uncomfortable. where does this rank as far as coldest new year's eve on record? we could tie the second coldest new year's eve. that was set back in 1962. the only colder year was 1917 when it was 1 degree. it is not just new york city, it is pretty much everywhere across the country where temperatures are well below average. minneapolis at midnight will be 10 degrees below zero. chicago at 1 below. down south in atlanta looking at 28 degrees. the only warmer spot will be in th

nbc's hallie jackson has more for us. hallie, good morning. >> in the drama with north korea, a new twist. this one produced by putin. moscow is now offering to insert itself into potential talks tw regime. quote, russia is ready if both sides need it and want it, said the spokesman for the russian president. >> russia does not carry a lot of weight in this realm. but it would be to his advantage, particularly with a presidential election coming up, to be seen as an international statesman. >> reporter: vladimir putin, whose campaigning for an election he seems sure to win with one of his rivals blocked from run big the government, has been pushing for talks soon. a message his foreign minister reiterated to secretary of state rex tillerson. >> the situation should be resolved through diplomatic means. >> reporter: but what are the chances that will actually happen? after all, just this weekend, north korea called new u.n. sanction against it an act of war, and the u.s. slapped its own sanctions on two leaders of pyongyan

for more we go to nbc's hallie jackson. hallie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, frances, to you. another busy start to the day here in washington. you have just at pennsylvania avenue, members of congress trying to work out the differences between the house and the senate versions of that massive tax overhaul. that is something that is going to affect almost everybody watching this show right now. we also have word from the white house that later on this week, top leaders in congress will be coming here to the white house to meet with the president and, yes, that will include chuck schumer and nancy pelosi we are told, even after that no-sho because of the president's tweet. it's a different tweet from the president, though, that still has a lot of questions bubbling up about obstruction of justice questions that the president's personal lawyer is shooting down. and then of course the president's endorsement of roy moore yesterday. certainly going to be big headlines throughout the day and the week. we're going to

>> reporter: good morning, hallie. when will roy moore concede? he surprised folks last night by saying this was not over, that he still planned to, you know, possibly contest the results of this election. but when he came out and said that, the result was much closer. it was a .70% difference. now a .50% difference. so election officials here say an automatic recount wouldn't kick in unless it was one-half of a percentagen poi e point. the doug jones camp is elated. let's listen to what he had to say last night. >> folks, i've got to tell you, i think that i have been waiting all my life and now i just don't know what the hell to say. at the end of the day, this -- this entire race has been about dignity and respect. >> when the vote is this close, it is not over. and we still got to go by the rules about this recount provision. we've got to wait on god and let this process play out. >> reporter: so now we're waiting to see exactly when the concession will happen. hallie, speaking with several moore supporters last night, we did get the sense tha

you lay it out, hallie, and you covered this a long time. what we're seeing in the timeline is what you can call the negative space of the painting. the foreground of the painting is what's happening in that courtroom here on our screen which is admitting the lies. the rest of the space which is the case bob mueller and the investigators are building, is why did you lie about this? if this was normal planning or diplomacy or there were no other illicit or problematic thing, then why not tell the fbi the direction of american foreign policy. that can happen diplomatically. what you outline and what sally yates testified under oath about is there was something else beyond simply the discussion. what was it? well, i'm not going to speculate. i will tell you the type of things that prosecutors investigate is they look at whether there was quid pro quo. they look at whether there was blackmail or compromise. they look at whether there was any kind of payback. did you owe someone something for something? those are the questions they're certainly g

hallie, thanks. joining me, anne milgram, a former federal prosecutor and former attorney general in the state of new jersey. thanks for coming on the show. >> thank you for having me. >> let me start with what did we, what did you learn today from this plea deal and what's the bigger deal? that mike flynn pled guilty or that mike flynn is cooperating with bob mueller? >> there are a couple things. first, you've already said. this is an enormously important plea and cooperation agreement. so there are, a very small consent trico conse consentric circle. it's enormously significant. the second point, which i think you touched on is that people don't cooperate against themselves. they cooperate against other people. so here someone like michael flynn is going to have to offer the united states government a significant amount of information that the government finds truthful about other people who are involved in this whole question of ties to russia and influence in the campaign. so it is very signific

hallie jackson with details. >> reporter: tonight new conflicting reports on whether the special counsel is actually inching closer to the president's personal finances after reuters and financial times reported robert mueller's team subpoenaed deutsche bank for the records. signaling the probe may be moving beyond contacts made between mr. trump's campaign and russian officials into the billionaire's business dealings are russia. >> has mueller crossed a line? >> thank you. >> reporter: not responding today but this summer told the "new york times" his finances should be off-limits to mueller. >> reporter: now the presidential advisers says that not true. says confirmed with deutsche bank but not might be allowed to tell the team about the subpoena, since some supposed to be kept secret. tells nbc news it takes legal obligations seriously and committed to cooperating in authorized investigations. another twist five days after national security adviser mike flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi. >> when did the president know that mike flynn lied to the fbi? >> i refer you to john dow

our chief white house correspondent hallie jackson starts our coverage. hallie, good evening. >> reporter: it feels like a holiday celebration at the white house with republicans betting there will be no political hangover. this tax plan will end up winning over more americans. surrounded by his party, it felt like one for the president. triumphant tonight. >> it always a lot of fun to win. >> reporter: just in time for christmas, he's getting a political gift, the biggest tax overhaul in decades. >> ultimately what does it mean? it means jobs, jobs, jobs. >> reporter: for him it's a promise made, promise kept. >> we're going to have the biggest tax cuts since ronald reagan. >> reporter: for republicans, it's proof they can govern, although the house had to vote again today. just hours after that final gavel, lawmakers praising the president as much as the bill itself. >> you're one heck of a leader. >> exquisite presidential leadership. >> thank you, mr. president, for all you're doing. >> reporter: with its tax plan the gop is making a risk bet that ben

. >> let's get right to nbc news chief white house corners hallie jackson. hallie, break it down for you. what do we expect to hear from the president? >> reporter: actually, listen, probably 90 seconds now, chris, we just got warning from the white house the president is go to begin speaking any moment from here inside the white house. based on advance excerpts of the speech that just popped into our e-mails, the president will frame this, of course, as the beginning of victory lap, frankly, looking ahead what he's calling a big victory. often heard the president and many republican s hearken to th reagan tax cuts. and talking about somebody else. john f. kennedy and tax cuts back 55-plus years ago roughly nap is sort of the framing of what you'll expect to see. looking on my screen here, chris, because there are families, or should be families that will be lining up, tough for me 0 to see. >> they are there. >> thanks, chris. >> because the president wants to point to these families saying these are the people we are helping with this tax cut package. folk

here's one of the more interesting wrinkles in this, hallie. what we are seeing this week will be the first of potentially recurring votes here because the individual rates expire. this congress is essentially daring future congresses to keep voting to extend the tax cuts or risk them going back up, much like with the bush tax cuts. one republican lawmaker was asked about this earlier today. take a listen to what she said. >> with the bush tax cuts, because we were in a real bad downturn, it did not happen. but in other times, and that was a bad economic time. >> but you never know what is going to happen. >> well, we never know what is going to happen today or tomorrow, do we, chris? >> reporter: so not incredible optimism that the rates will continue to be extended. but at least for today and for this week, it does look like this bill will become law. >> we don't know what is ever going to happen today or tomorrow. >> reporter: that is sort of philosophical. >> the corker kick-back. that is trending on twitter this morning. what do we know ab

>> hallie jackson, thank you. >>> a disturbing story tonight from wichita, kansas. police there shot and killed a man whose death is now being tied to something known as swatting. it's a dangerous now deadly prank where false information is called into police to try and provoke a response from a s.w.a.t. team even though there's no actual emergency. ron mott has more. >> reporter: 28-year-old andrew finch, a father of two, was shot and killed by wichita police thursday night. police were led to his house by a call when a 911 dispatcher followed up, this is what the caller said. >> they were arguing and i shot him in the head and he's not breathing anymore. >> reporter: this incident is now believed to have been part of a prank known as swatting, originating from a disagreement online over the game call of duty, but the victim is thought to have no connection to the gamers. >> i keep thinking this is a dream. i'm going to wake up and he's going to be here. but the cop can't just go around shooting people without any consequences. >> reporter: today's wichita's deputy

craig. >> chief white house correspondent hallie jackson in west palm. thank you. >>> another white house note. impending removal of landmark that goes back almost two centuries. part of the jackson magnolia tree on the south lawn will be taken down this week. victim of damage and decay that made it unsafe. president andrew jackson planted that tree in 1835, reportedly in honor of his late wife. >>> health news involving older americans. taking vitamin d or calcium fractures resulting from osteoporosis? conflicting findings. but tonight a major new study that looked at dozens of clinical trials concludes that answer is no, supplements do not seem to prevent the fractures. >>> still ahead, growing interest in new college major for students that prepares them for career in marijuana industry. >>> doing away with do not disturb signs. why a big resort company is making the change. >>> we are back with a sign of the times in this country, one that coincides with the increasing acceptance of marijuana as both a medical and recreational drug. recreational pot

chief white house correspondent hallie jackson explains. >> reporter: a surprise stop at the west palm beach firehouse tonight sparking the president's proud 2017 talk emphasizing what his new tax law does to barack obama's healthcare law. >> and included the repeal of the individual mandate, which is a success. >> reporter: now president trump's hoping for a healthcare push of his own, promising democrats and republicans will eventually come together and develop a great new healthcare plan. >> we have essentially repealed obamacare. >> reporter: but they have not. with not much appetite to try and replace it. >> i think we'll probably move on to other issues. >> reporter: senator mitch mcconnell and other gop leaders instead point to how the tax law ends the individual mandate. that's the part of the affordable care act that makes everyone sign up for insurance or else pay a fine. ending it is a blow to obamacare, but not a death sentence. the mandate won't go away until 2019. so in 2018, business as usual. so far, nearly 9 million people have signed up for obamacare coverage in 2018.

nbc chief white house correspondent hallie jackson with details. >> reporter: tonight new conflicting reports on whether the special counsel is actually inching closer to the president's personal finances after reuters and financial times reported robert mueller's team subpoenaed deutsche bank for donald trump's records. "times" calling the move quote, a signal the probe may be moving beyond contacts made between mr. trump's campaign and russian officials into the billionaire's business dealings before running for office. >> has mueller crossed a line? >> thank you. >> reporter: not resp finances should be off-limits to mueller. >> reporter: would that be a breach? >> i would say yes. >> reporter: now the presidential advisers says that not true. >> no subpoenas issued or received. >> reporter: personal lawyer said they confirmed that with deutsche bank but not might be allowed to tell the team about the subpoena, since some supposed to be kept secret. tells nbc news it takes legal obligations seriously and committed to cooperating in authorized investigations into this matter. it's y

>> hallie jackson for us there in florida. thank you. >>> some breaking news tonight. federal prosecutors say hackers in romania took over two-thirds of washington, d.c.'s outdoor police surveillance cameras. they did it in the days just before president trump's inauguration last january. a federal complaint unsealed today says the cameras were unable to record video for several days until the problem was resolved. prosecutors say it was a ransomware scheme. the alleged hackers were arrested earlier this month by romanian authorities. prosecutors will try to extradite two of them to the united states. >>> two police officers in milwaukee are being called heroes tonight for their remarkable rescue of two teenagers trapped inside a burning car. the accident happened a day after christmas while the officers were on routine patrol. their body cameras captured the moments they risked their own lives to save others. national correspondent miguel almaguer has that story. >> reporter: the collision was so violent the speeding car flipped upside down spinning after slamming int

nbc's hallie jackson has the details. hallie, good morning. >> reporter: hey there, frances, good morning to you. you have president trump with that tweet that he sent yesterday, republicans also hoping for a major victory with this 1 1/2 trillion dollar tax cut bill. right now you've got lawmakers trying to figure out how to square the house version with the senate version. both bills double the standard deduction, both cut corporate tax rates, and both benefit the wealthy more than the middle class. but there are some sticking points that you have folks trying to figure out. one big one surrounds capping deductions for state and local taxes. that is something that affects people in high-tax states the most, places like, for example, california and new york. so, republicans in the house in particular who represent those areas have some concerns. lawmakers are also deciding on just how big that corporate tax rate cut will be. will it be 20%, 22%? and then critically whether to make those individual tax cuts permanent or t

our chief white house correspondent hallie jackson has details. >> reporter: the president today, 2,000 miles from washington, but unable to escape serious questions about what he knew and when about his former national security adviser's lies to the fbi. the president simply saying he feels badly for michael flynn. >> hillary clinton lied many times to the fbi. nothing happened to her. flynn lied and they destroyed his life. i think it's a shame. >> reporter: setting aside that james comey testified hillary clinton didn't lie to the fbi, the focus now did president trump obstruct justice? and could this tweet be used against him? quote, i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. the problem, if the president knew flynn lied to the fbi and if he did later ask comey to lay off flynn like comey says, but which the president denies, he could open himself up to accusations of obstruction of justice. charges some democrats are already raising. >> there is a credible case of obstruction of justice against donald trump. >> reporter: now, a new and controvers

that's extreme violence and extreme terrorism. >> thanks to hallie jackson. and we can also report that according to the white house, the president is scheduled to have lunch with secretary tillerson later today. >> a rare 4.1 magnitude earthquake struck delaware yesterday afternoon. centered six miles northeast of the city of dover and about five miles deep. cameras inside waive lab studios in wilmington captured the moment the tremor struck. the jolt rattling the mid-atlantic region of the east coast and it was felt from new york all the wait to baltimore. it was the strongest quake to hit the east coast since 2011 when a 5.8 quake centered in virginia and cracked the washington monument. the unusual incident caught some residents by surprise. >> the house was shaking and i had no idea what it was. i thought maybe it was a i had no idea, but our house was shaking. >> thankfully there were no injuries or major damages reported. >> minnesota public radio is facing major backlash after it fired long time host garrison keeler over allegations of inappropriate w

>> hallie jackson at the capitol tonight, thanks. >>> as we continue digging deeper into the gop tax plan, this question perhaps you've been wondering. why will your potential cut expire while the plan insures major tax cuts for corporations are permanent? here's nbc's tom costello. >> kill this bill. >> reporter: on capitol hill, accusations that the republican tax plan will hurt not help middle class americans. >> you want to know who will reap the huge benefits under this plan? ultrawealthy individuals and corporations who aren't hanging on by a thread. >> reporter: the benefits depend on your income. of people making between 75,000 and $100,000, 74% will receive at least $500 in tax cuts, but those cuts will largely disappear over ten years. even though corporations will keep their tax cuts. speaker paul ryan told npr today companies would use that money to expand and hire. >> you have more jobs being created that pay better. you have faster economic growth and you get more revenue as a result of that. >> reporter: but watch what happened at a recent gathering of business leaders

hallie jackson, nbc news. >>> we're going to take a short break here. in a moment, you still have a lot of names on your holiday shopping list. we'll tell you the best day to score the best deal on clothes, electronics, toys and more. >>> also, another famous actress comes forward. the accusation she's leveling at harvey weinstein. stay with us. >>> with christmas just 12 days away tonight the clock is ticking for holiday shoppers, but retail insiders say those who miss black friday may find even bigger bargains in the days ahead. the secret, know what to buy and when. and as almost half of americans will wait to complete their shopping during the week before christmas, shipping companies are feeling the pressure. here's nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: if you missed the black friday stampede, the best holiday deals of the year may still be on the shelf. theresa gilmore has 12 days left to shop for seven people, but industry insiders say knowing what to buy when could save you big. >> in the lead-up to christmas, you will see some retailers with spec

chief white house correspondent hallie jackson is following all of it for us. >> reporter: good evening to you. the president and congress are hoping for a big win with this $1.5 trillion tax cut bill. right now the lawmakers are trying to figure how to square the house version with senate version. both bills doubled standard deduction and cut tax rates and both benefit the wealthy more than the middle class. when you look at what's actually the sticking points here, there's a few of them. one surrounds capping deductions for state and local taxes. that is something that affects people in high tax states the most. places like california and new york. so republicans, especially in the house, who represent those areas, have some real concerns. lawmakers are also deciding on just how big that corporate tax rate cut should be, 20% or 22%. critically whether to make individual tax cuts permanent or temporary. multiple sources close to the process say they expect negotiation toss continue early this week with a goal of getting a final bill to the floor before christmas. kate. >> all right. we

hallie, good morning. >> reporter: good morning.that weekend in mar-a-lago. you've got the deadline next friday to avoid a government shutdown. but also something that the president has been tweeting about which is this tax cut bill. he and republicans in congress are hoping for a big win with this. right now, early this week. today, tomorrow and an open meeting wednesday. lawmakers, staffers are trying to figure out how to square the house version of the bill with the senate version. both cut corporate tax rates, both benefit the wealthy more than the middle class. there are some serious sticking points, whether to make individual tax cuts permanent or temporary. you've got questions about where that corporate tax cut will end up, what the rate will actually be. all of it, by the way, against the backdrop of what may be an even bigger political story at the moment. at least today. that's happening down in alabama. the president recording that robo call over the weekend for roy moore. his most direct involvement in that alabama sena