onnie first. >> could you repeat that, chris?when you see an exit poll that shows president trump's job support in alabama, among those who voted today, at 48-48, what does that tell you about who's going to win tonight? anything? >> it tells me this race is, as we say, tight as a tick, chris. >> how tight is a tick? hah! i don't know any ticks. how tight are they? when it's bitten into you? i guess that's what you mean. >> i don't know, we kind of went into this thinking there may be a 5-point lead. i bumped it down to a 2-point lead. but i don't know. i mean, i just don't know. >> who do you give to it right now? >> roy moore. >> same question? >> it's a lot tighter than i expected, even a week ago, chris. i would expect that roy moore squeezes this one out. it's a lot tighter than anyone would have expected, considering some of the exit polling we're getting with african-american turnout being a little higher than we anticipated. it is anybody's bargain. it's a jump ball right now. >> how high is it? up to 25%? back to john on

onnie: anyone to take care of any states or offerings that you would take care of?ifferentt is a question. the issue of states and credit is paramount now. likelesome states connecticut or illinois or new jersey have to be watched carefully as their credit situations deteriorate. we are dividing the united states into the weaker states and jurisdictions. they must be monitored closely. the stronger ones, which are very desirable, there is a huge gap. there's a big get between utah with a triple-a credit and new jersey which is 50% unfunded in its long-term liabilities. by utah over new jersey, you would never touch new jersey bonds, is that what you are saying? david: no, you have to be careful which one and what the claims rp if you're in new jersey or the highest personal property tax states, you have to make a decision. be careful about which ones you own. he is: david kotok chairman and chief investment officer at cumberland advisors. let's check in on "first word news." incident byificant the u.s. air force. there are reports a car tried to ram the gates. the b

trying to play chicken with each other to see which one will cave defund the government before friday. .onnieour thanks to you you will be on duty all day in capitol hill. let's get to the first word news. >> congress will go straight from the tax bill to a fight over the must have spending bill as they need to pass the measure by friday to the government operating. republican leaders are trying to avoid a shutdown and may have to make some concessions to democrats but cannot afford to alienate conservative republicans. the u.s. ambassador to the united nations warns that president trump will be watching a key vote on jerusalem this week. nikki haley pushing other countries to oppose a general assembly resolution criticizing the president and his decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. according to undp much. -- u.n. diplomats. -- thesident action european commission says poland uphold the block democratic values and were the first time the member nation triggered a process that could lead to economic sanctions and poland losing its vote in the eu. global news 24 hours a day

its rivals are also down. .onnie: julie hyman, thank you let's get back to the brexit breakthrough ast is being termed with the impact of the market. stocks today, that is intraday, on my bloomberg, a three-day chart of the pound. it rose when the deal was sealed and now on the decline again. joining us is daragh maher. hsbc outlook the and a little bit but let's talk about the news today. we got a deal. great news for some people and britain can move on to the trade part. what is going on with sterling? ,> this will be the easy part this was just like a little bit of talks at the beginning of the process and we can get to the bigger stuff. look how hard it has felt. it has gone down to the wire. i think there was relief. they have the headlines they wanted and can move on. but now we have the tricky bit. maybe not the transition negotiations but transition to what> ? not clear the u.k. government knows to what and they have to negotiate that with the eu. that is what we are seeing in sterling this morning. vonnie: talk to us about the medium outlook for the pound. how do you factor i

if you think he is solely focused onny 2018, 2016 is still on his mind, going on a tweet storm targeting hillary clinton and other democrats and looking to 2018 election races. abby is live in west palm beach near the vacation spot at mar a lago. how is the president spending the final day of the year? >> hi, boris. the president spent the morning getting quite a few briefings on several issues domestic and foreign that colorado shooting and also the ongoing protests in iran. he also started the morning by tweeting about democrats. talking a little bit of a preview of some of the political arguments that you might be hearing for republicans and the white house in the new year. he wrote why would smart voters want to put democrats in congress when the policies will totally kill the great month created? people of much better off now not to mention isis and judges and second a and tax cuts and more. the president here is coming into the new year really focused on that big mid-term election that republicans and democrats agree will be crucial. he is at his golf course today playing golf as h

those defendants have argued that the charges are overarching and this is an attack onny fr f speech.s did not do any damage, but say all were covering their faces and cheering on this damage. >>> hurricane harvey destroyed everything they owned. three months later, we'll see how texas families are facing and faring a week before christmas. >> homeowners in california don't know if their houses will survive until the holiday. a look at how the wildfires are impacting christmas plans and gift giving this year. >>> toyota says it plans to offer an electric version of all its cars and suvs by 2025. that announcement comes after the automaker said last week and it's in talks with panasonic to develop safe and energy-efficient rechargeable batteries. toyota aims to sell 5.5 million hybrid and electric cars by 2030. if you're scrambling for a last-minute tech gift. don't count on picking up a pair of apple's air pods. reportedly major chains like best buy, walmart and the carriers like at&t are sold out of the wireless headphones until the new year. this is, of course, a repeat of what happ

and not comment onny it. shouldn't draw any inference. it's simply -- it's simply not appropriate for me to talk about communications i may have with the administration. >> so it would be -- >> i would tell you if something happened that was wrong, if somebody ordered me to do something that was improper. but that has not happened. >> well, it would be improper for the president to ever contact you about initiating an investigation of someone, would itdi not? >> we've discussed this previously, congressman. presidents have commented publicly -- >> no, no, no. my question is, it would be improper for a president to contact you about initiating an investigation of someone. it would be improper, wouldn't it? >> it would be improperer for t president to order me to conduct an investigation that wasn't justified. the would be improper foror president to ask you to initiate an investigation. would it not? >> if it were for improper reasons, yes. >> and so is it your testimony today that the president has not asked you to investigate someone spe