Transcripts For FBC Cavuto Coast To Coast 20171207

Like it all has been worth it. Politics, Paul Wellstone told us, is about the improvement of peoples lives. I know that the work ive been able to do has improved peoples lives. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. For a decade now, every time i would get tired or discouraged or frustrated i would think about the people i was doing this for and would bet me back up on my feet. I know the same will be true for everyone who decides to pursue a politics that is about improving peoples lives. And i hope you know that i will be fighting alongside you every step of the way. With that, mr. President , i yield the floor. Neil with that, senator al franken has resigned from the United States senate. He says he will do so in the coming weeks. He didnt specify how many weeks. That is important parliamentarywise because we dont know whether he wants to stay for the vote, not only temporary measure to continue the government and continue operating the government for another couple weeks and conclude by voting yea or nay, presumably nay on the tax cut package in the Conference Committee in both houses is now cobbling together and hopes to get to the president s desk by christmas. Al franken wants to be a part of that before he steps down. Keep in mind minnesota has democratic governor would likely remain a democratic president. There will be a special election to determine who will fill out the rest of senator Al Frankens Senate term. A fresh election after that. Get response to all of this. No really big market move one way or the other. This was largely telegraphed and expected. The dow up 88 points. We have lee carter. Democratic strategist jehmu greene. What do you think . It is about time. I dont want to say i told you so when the first allegation came out i asked for senator franken to resign. I think it took a little bit too long for democratic leadership to get here but they got to the right place, and to say in what we heard tom perez say in his statement yesterday, anyone serving in the u. S. House, in the u. S. Senate or in any elected position, if you are guilty of Sexual Misconduct you should step down. That is a huge step for women who have been diminished neil what if charged . Al franken once again raised possibility, to his memory some of this stuff didnt happen or was differently interpreted. Should you step down even amidst the chars. Even if theyre not true . Theyre certainly credible charges. I did political training for women in minnesota, there was no doubt in my mind that these allegations were true. This is the reality. We need to start believing women, especially when you see woman after woman after woman come out and say, this behavior happened to me, and i know a lot of people have referred to this as sexual harrassment. This is Sexual Assault when you grope someone. We clearly have a society where men feel like they cant even remember doing this because it is so ingrained in their behavior, but guess what . We remember it as women. It diminishes us. It takes some women out of their professions completely and so i dont have sympathy for, oh, my goodness, what about his career or all the good things hes done . I certainly understand he agrees with me on many issues but there are many qualified politicians who agree with us on many issues and we dont have a dearth of talent in the democratic party. Thank you, senator franken. Neil i think that is your way of saying dont let the screen door hit you on the way out. One of the things that was interesting, lee carter, i want to raise this with you, senator acknowledging his own mistakes stepping down but pointing on the way out there are others who have done and said worse. I want you to react to this. I will be resigning as a member of the United States senate. I am of all people aware that there is some irony in the fact that i am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of Sexual Assault sits in the oval office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the senate with full support of his party. Neil all right. Lee, he is talking in the latter part in this case, roy moore, a Alabama Senate candidate, charges that date back decades on younger women, girls at the time. What do you think . Listen, im not surprised that he brought it up. I think all minds are thinking about this very thing. As we were expecting al franken to resign today, the question what does this mean for the president . What does it mean for the alabama race . I think contrast is really clear. Franken did the right thing and step down. Moore should do the same thing. The president should talk about as separate issue. Neil but moore isnt likely to do that . Moore is not going to do that. Neil say he is elected. He leads in some polls. He is elected. What would you advise . That is one of the worst things that could happen to the Republican Party. Now that franken has resigned and if moore wins this will make the Republican Party lose any moral high ground they have had. The whole notion that they have stood for republican conservative values, family values. Neil if alabama voters didnt care about that or ignored that, or said it was more important they deny a liberal liberal chance to, override. Charges could come. Take charges, end up losing his job. Could continue the investigation. Neil fill out his term. Jeff sessions old term. This is bigger than alabama. On the day that we became aware basically senator franken was going to resign the Republican National committee sent almost 200,000 to a man that a mall kicked out of, because at 30 years old, he was approaching 14yearolds for sexual relations. That is a child molester who just got almost 200,000 from the Republican National committee. Neil they have not proven the mall thing. Im not here to apologize. I point i want to raise here he will enter the United States senate, in event he wins, charges go back decades. No system in place in the senate to handle that. What do they do . I certainly hope somewhere within Republican Leadership in the senate, they find a soul. We have seen a very clear lack of morality in the flipflopping of the Republican Leadership on roy moore. Hopefully, through the actions of senator franken, through the continuing reckoning and outrain republicans will come to understand that this is not just a fleeting moment. Neil this will actually galvanize them . This will galvanize 100 . The fact that Republican Party started doing right thing. Mitch mcconnell said early november, well separate ourselves. That was the right thing to do. The fact that now this week he is going back and saying, listen let people neil president said that. I know it is not the right thing to do. Both women, obviously and it is that, it sound like politics, notwithstanding that is superseding issue for both of you . I think to me, the thing, yes, i am a woman. These are issues very important to me. My question can this man do his job . Can he serve the people as al francken just said. I can not serve the people be under this investigation. Can this man serve the people. Can he do his job embroiled in this kind of controversy. To me the answer is no, he can not. It will be a distraction. Well not be able to focus on issues that matter most, doing right thing by American People. Hopefully this is not a womans issue. Hopefully this is not a partisan issue. This is an issue that every american should be concerned with. Everyone who has a daughter, goes to a mall, doesnt want her approached by a 30yearold, have them sent to the United States senate. These issues should supersede partisanship. We need neil by that definition bill clinton probably should have resigned, right, in the middle of his stuff . Bill clinton was held accountable. There was an impeachment process. Guess what, he was impeached. He is one of two president s who neil senator gillibrand in new york probably should have resigned in retrospect what was going on then. What do you think . Look, i actually at the time was running the womens Outreach Office for the Democratic National committee. I had very strong problems as a young 20yearold with the accusations and neil environment is very different today, fair to say . Is a different environment but accountability is something we need to apply as democrats, as republicans, and as human beings. It is not that difficult. Pretty simple, neil. Neil thank you very much. Lee, thank you very much. North Carolina Republican senator thom tillis with us right now. Senator on the fastmoving developments what do you think . Al franken stepping down but not doing so for a few weeks. What do you read into the few weeks thing . Probably has to do with the votes that well have towards the yearend, continuing resolution and the tax reform, conference report which i hope to send to the president s desk before christmas. I can assume it is only that. But i think he made the right decision stepping down. Im right down from the chamber as it is unfolding before us. Neil my guests, jehmu greene, lee carter, coming from different worlds politics, the message to a roy moore, if that is the case he is elected, go, republicans shouldnt welcome him. What do you think of that . Mitch mcconnell thought he should step aside. He decided to stay in the race. Now the voters of alabama will make a choice next week. I still think it need to go, the facts need to be subjected to the Senate Ethics process. You mentioned in prior only so much jurisdiction we have over this, i do believe we need to look in the facts. I maintain the position my preference would be for mr. Moore to step aside. There are a lot of good alabamaians that could represent them in the u. S. Senate. One thing distracts us from pressing matters we want to get to and promises we want to fulfill. Neil president framed this with if he becomes senator moore, that alternative better than president cast as liberal, chum schumer, nancy pelosi acco acolyte, anathema to everything the party stand for. What do you think of that . You kind of have to worry when you use ends justify the moans rationale for something you dont want to do. I go back to the fact, i know a lot of people in alabama that would be great Public Servants would not have this taint. This is about removing distractions so we get tax reform done, get infrastructure done, continue regulatory reform. Those are the things that the American People wan to see. They do not want to see embarrassing chap were in right now. Anytime someone comes in, to keep the question going, at expense of important things we need to get done. Neil those agree spending package. Something that lasts couple weeks separately, getting tax cut thing done, iron out differences between your body and of course the house. How likely is it that for example, on the budget, the temporary budget, that could be done by tonight, tomorrow . Well, well have to see. I think, i think that we will probably have a shortterm cr. I dont like it. I hate crs in general. Well come back before christmas and have something longer term. We have to work out differences with the house. We have to work out a difference with minority leader pelosi is threatening a shutdown over the daca issue. She is making bad, a terrible mistake, with respect to the daca population people like me trying to come up with a reasonable, bipartisan solution. Neil well watch closely, senator, thank you very, very much. As senator was speaking, those were reassuring words, market up about 100 points right now, even as al franken prepared to leave the United States senate. Well have more after this. Neil all right. If there is any thorny issue in these ongoing tax negotiations has to be deduction or lack thereof in very expensive states like new york, california, new jersey, illinois, it is a very, very big issue. They want to iron that out to get this signed, sealed for the president s signature all before christmas. Gerri willis where this is all going. Thats right, neil, according to my sources im talk to a lot of people in washington the conferees ironing out differences talking about increase allowable deductions for property tax and state income taxes, good news for new york, right . The house and senate bill would allow taxpayers to deduct 10,000 of property taxes, conferees talking about boosting deduction and allow some state income taxes to be deducts as well. Hallelujah. Applying taxpayers to choose. Either they deduct property taxes or state and income taxes up to a certain level. We dont really know what the level might be. It is all discussion. The big question, how would they pay for this . The answer . Raising Corporate Taxes to 22 from 20 . Well continue to follow this conversation. But it is getting pretty interesting for people in the hightaxed blue states. Neil. Neil that he, very, very much, gerri. Congressman don young, republican from arkansas. He is on the Conference Committee, very crucial player in all of this. Congressman, thank you for coming. Thank you. Correct you one thing, alaska, not arkansas. Neil apologize you, sir, i didnt get my state initials down, i apologize. Beautiful state. Oh, yes. Neil let me ask you, how do you feel about this tinkering with the corporate rates, maybe raise them a little bit to raise the deduction for state and local taxes . Not as big of an issue in alaska, but potentially some of your colleagues other states . This is a conference and both sides have differences of opinion. That is why we sit down to debate. The goal is to get this bill done. I think you will see additions that help out the larger tax states. Doesnt affect my state. Im more interested in development of anwar and other things but im beginning to see this little shift because everybody has to give a little bit. I believe it will be become a reality. In heavilytaxed states may not get exactly what they want than for instance what is in the bills right now. Neil part of the quid pro quo for that i guess, sir, you raise the corporate rate a little bit to pay for some of these concessions made for your colleagues on the fence or just outright nos. What if the corporate rate ends up not being at 20 . Well you know, i believe the 20 is the correct number but again, i say were trying to solve a problem, get tax reform in, and there is room to compromise in the house and senate. I expect it to go up a little bit, maybe 2 . Im not sure. But i do think that will occur. And well see if, were correct. As far as the time, will be a difference too. The senate doesnt implement in 2019. We implement immediately. Well see effect on corporations. Come back to the nation to create jobs everybody says will happen if we lower the rate to 20 from 36 . This is conferences. My 45th year, ive been on a lot of conferences. Im optimistic well solve these problems. Neil first hurdle, more immediate hurdle on the spending measure to keep the government operating next couple weeks. Are you for what has been laid out on the table . I know one thing im for, dont shut the government down. I lived in the Newt Gingrich era, they shut the government down, it is very painful. It hurts everybody. It doesnt solve a problem. You establish something you cant really undo quickly and consequence lit the country suffers. Im not for shutting it down. The shortTerm Extension is absolutely necessary and hopefully we get a long Term Extension back in january. Neil another chamber about, congressman, i grant you, but al franken resigning next few weeks, putting pressure on republicans how they greet or dont growth a roy moore should he get elected next week, what do you think . Again the people, the people make that decision. We have become judge menial ourselves, when the people do electing we have to accept the wishes of the people. Im never happy with all the people that are elected but that is the people they represent. They have a right to pick whoever they wish to choose. And i will accept that. I will recognize it. I may not be too happy but i will do that. Neil all right. Congressman, thank you very, very much. I apologize for screwing up your state. Hey, remember one thing, 20 times bigger than arkansas. Arkansas is a great state too. Neil now we have arkansas phones lighting up. Thank you very, very much. God bless you. Neil be well. Happy holidays. Merry christmas. All of the above. Remember the olympics scheduled for south korea, still are, in just a few months. People seem to be backing out. Im not talking about russians getting thrown out. Im talking about no less than u. S. Officials contemplating the risks of going in the first place. What is going on here . After this. Hold on dad. Liberty did what . Yeah, Liberty Mutual 24hour roadside assistance helped him to fix his flat so he could get home safely. My dad says our insurance doesnt have that. Dont worry i know what a lug wrench is, dad. Is this a lug wrench . Maybe . You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Is the United States recommending our team goes or is that still an open question in this environment . There is open question. I have not heard anything about that. In the talks, whether jerusalem or north korea, it is how we protect citizens in the area. Neil weve been on this quite a while. Like a dog with a bone. Olympics the facts theyre supposed to happen, slated to happen, in the winter in south korea, first russians are kicked out. We find out the is not sending any of its players. Talk that the u. S. Is assessing reassessing monitoring whether it is safe to do so. This might not be such a sure thing. Were on that in a few minutes. Fox news saying Top Justice Department official has been demoted this follow as familiar drill here, the contacts with founder of fusion gps, behind that trump dossier. We have jcla executive director jordan sekulow. What do you make of that . We do not know enough about what the fbi and department of justice doing with fusion gps, they, the house, senate, they all want to know, all the American People want to know how much money, if any money was exchanged. We know there was a contract that was put in place, we dont know if it was ever executed with the fbi, overseen by doj and fusion gdp to continue work on socalled dossier. We have official being demoted. Two officials from the special counsels teams being demoted. One for sending 10,000 plus texts, some included antitrump texts. He is demoted. Another official, who he was having affair with demoted from the special counsels team. Seems like again while youve got director ray was testifying today, but next week, the acting attorney general for this russia matter, Rod Rosenstein has to testify before congress. I expect a lot of questions on this, neil. Neil rosenstein, was guy who appointed special prosecutor by mull per of course who fired the one who was sending nasty texts about trump, a separate issue. Im wondering, youre a very, very good lawyer, im not. I watched a lot of legal shows, i think i can count as expert, one of the things i do notice you want to leave a trail of suspicion if you eventually want to appeal or fight a decision that comes down, not friendly to you, in the trump administration, maybe this the suspicion bob mueller has bias, fbi, the investigation itself is bias. They can point back to these if it doesnt go their way. What do you think . When you have officials being demoted by mueller because they are sending, they are biased, admit he hadedly so. They didnt fight back against that, they were demoted. Two officials from the special counsels team have been demoted. One is a being reviewed. He is a top official. Neil im saying if mueller did demote and or fire some of these people, there might be others, does that prove he himself is trying to be vigilant and fair about this, or, does it taint whatever is going on . The more and more people that get involved, neil, get demoted more it taints. After a while if you start demoting all top people, so far these have been top people that have been demoted, youre tainting the investigation. Youre not helping the investigation out. Et cetera specially when the American People and those who are fighting back on this, trying to learn about this, funding it. Neil Like Congress are not learning about it until months later that happened in august. We dont learn about it until december. That is absurd. This idea, these retractions on the Deutsche Bank story, that undermines the investigation of the special counsel, when they allow a false report to hang out there for so long, that they subpoenaed record on donald trump, that they did not. Neil is that official by the way . That that never happened . Yes. Neil the accusation Deutsche Bank sometime back had been asked to hand over any record regarding donald trump or his associates, so their finances, which is something that the president indicated earlier would be a line crosser there . A red line, right. Neil right. Right. Now you have the News Agencies that reported that, was wall street journal, bloomberg, who broke it initially. They have all retracted that story said associates at afp, makes more sense, it was likely the subpoena, likely in relation to paul manafort. We know his charges had nothing to do with the president of the United States. Neil all right. Yeah, it is not very clear what the position is on that. Jordan, thank you very much, good seeing you again. Thank you, neil. Neil other developments. Wildfires destroyed 80,000acres in california. A live report from the ground. See how big and massive this thing looks like from space. Nfl commissioner goodell, bigmoney contract, at a time looking at big ratings falloff. Charlie gasparino tries to connect the points and the bonuses. Paying less for my medicare . Im open to that. Lower premiums . Extra benefits . Its open enrollment. Time to open the laptop. And compare Medicare Health plans. Why . Because plans change, so can your health needs. So, be openminded. Look at everythinglike Prescription Drug plans. And Medicare Advantage plans from private insurers. Use the tools at medicare. Gov. Or call 1800medicare. Open to Something Better . Start today. Neil we are getting word of Father School shooting in new mexico. Three are dead. Were getting early reports up to a dozen injured when a gunman opened fire at the school. That shooter, were told is down. The San Juan County Sheriffs Office confirming reports of a shooter at 9 00 a. M. Local time. This is Aztec High School in aztec, new mexico, which was i presume still is under lockdown. The school is 180 miles north of albuquerque. If we find out what precipitated this, well let you know. Meantime high winds fueling dangerous california wildfires, so big you can see them from space. Robert gray from california. Robert . Reporter neil, thanks so much. The fires are torching right now. That is fireman speak, basically letting burn off on the brush. Can see flareups here and there. Were in la conchita up the 101. You may can see if lance seemszooms in, keep them away from the homes and structures. They battled successfully to keep homes standing intact. Some. Locals weve seen milling about. Were across the street from the ocean, a little surf Side Community here, fairly tightnitzing folks interacting out here, neil. Earlier south of here on the freeway. You can see the 101. You can see embers skipped across the mead yawn and six median and sick lanes of traffic to get to the other side. Firemen saved seaside homes a little farther south of here. This is largest of the fires in the area. 100,000acres have been burned. Five containment. Neil, the pio reminding us, the Public Information officer said number goes down, it is a ratio. Doesnt mean theyre falling back or losing ground but the fire has gotten bigger. They said this will be a multicounty fire. They will be teaming up with folks from Santa Barbara county just north of here. That is the direction they expect the high wind to take flames a little later this afternoon. We should report, there has been one fatality. Theyre investigating that right now. That was an auto accident, unclear, it is directly related to the flames. Neil, back to you. Neil robert gray, thank you very much, my friend. Meantime more talk what kind of incentives and bonuses were built into ronfer goodells contract that could balloon it to 50 million a year. I grabbed Charlie Gasparino minutes before my fox news show and grabbed details that were not anywhere else only with us. Were always happy about that. Charlie, it builds in a lot of incentives that balloon the base pay of 3 1 2 million. What are they . Here is the problem. We dont know exactly what they are. They are not releasing the exact nature of them. Here is where it gets sort of interesting. Listen, lets be real clear here, there are 32 owners, 32 teams in the nfl. They are are sort of the board of the nfl. The ceo is the commissioner of roger good dell. They nominally work for him. He anomaly works for them Compensation Committee generally sets tone. This is perfunctory vote among the owners there. Is battle in billionaire boys club. By the way theyre all billionaires. Neil the worst team is worth at least a billion. At worst team is worth at least a billion. The best team, most profitable team, dallas cowboys. Jerry jones team. Neil not a fan of goodell. What you have the last month or so, two months. You had a battle in this billionaires boys club. One side, jerry jones, dan snyder of the redskins, stan kroenke of the los angeles loss rams. On other side head of Compensation Committee which has to approve goodells contract. Arthur blank of the falcons, who is former head of home depot. Bob kraft of the patriots. Bob mara of the giants. Probably missing one or two others. It is about five people in this committee and they have been battling each other. Jerry and this team over here wanted to hold up the contract and put really strict Performance Measurements on goodells pay. They think goodell is not up to the job. Some of the it is based on the fact jerry who is leading this charge is really mad at goodell sidelining ezekiel elliot, his star running back for six games. Neil that started it. The other thing is, jerry is worried when you talk to people around him, some of the metrics about the nfl. Declining fan base. Goodell on sop of that basically exasperated that problem by siding with the players on the one knee issue, with the protests. Neil right. Which essentially annoyed and angered their base, fan base very patriotic. Always has been in the nfl. Jerry thought time was right to put controls or blow him out because he doesnt think he is good for the game. The other guys said no. You can talk to them, all diffet reasons siding with goodell. My guess they didnt want jerry jones to get too much power in the whole thing. Neil a lot of them recognized the tightrope goodell was walking. He doesnt have a an easy job. I would say he made monumental mistakes, if you were a ceo and you gave ray rice a second chance. Remember ray rice . Neil sure. He had domestic dispute with his wife. Started out with a twogame suspension. Allegedly ray rice told them everything that occurred during the dispute. A week or month later it comes out there is a tape, where it wasnt domestic dispute. It was domestic assault. Ray rice cold cocked his wife. He hasnt been back in the nfl since. That was a big problem for roger goodell. Neil to be fair to goodell, there was back and forth whether he had access and knew of that tape earlier. We dont know. Real quick question to ask you. Incentives are normally based at the time the contract is signed, right . Yeah. Neil if get ratings incentive, pick up at low point, some would say by goodells doing. So he could profit off kind of his incompetence by boosting the ratings from the level theyre at now . Did you talk to jerry jones . Neil no. Because im sure that is exactly what he is saying. Neil because everything is based on where this level is at now. Jerry jones believes that the performance metrics that he has now are easy to meet, including that. One other thing we should point out neil the best time. Not even that. All their tv contracts are set in tone the next three or five years. The real you know what, doesnt hit the fan when ratings go down, when millenials start not watching tv, cutting the cord, all that will occur in the future when his contract is up. Until then he makes a lot of money. Jones is saying these metrics are easy to make. Neil did he get the private jet thing . He did get the private jet thing. Interesting thing my producer Brian Schwartz found out b. If he can only use it for business. If he wants to take a vacation he has to pay for use of the private jet. Apparently from our understanding he gets to own the private jet after five years. Neil really . They, bought him a private jet. Thats what we were told. Now we neil insurance for family at rest of his life . I didnt get that granular. I assume that is thrown in there as well. That is kind of typical. Ceos get insurance. They should. Neil right. But it is the jet thing that i think caught jerry was making a big thing out of this. One other thing i point out, neil, this battle over goodell really has disrupted the billionaires boys club. There was always a comradery i used to go to the owners tailgate parties before the super bowl. There was bob kraft neil you went to the owners tailgate parties . Yes, i have a source that bottom me in. You used to see bob kraft mingling with this guy, that owner, this thing between jerry, this sort of coup jerry jones led with kroenke and snyder disrupted sort of comradery. They will approve this ironically in dallas in the owners meeting in jerrys turf. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that meeting. Neil you dont have to be. You will be invited. I can get you into the olive garden. I dont think so. Neil you dont think i can get you in the olive garden. John tatum. Neil john can do it. Thank you, my friend, he broke the news, others rapidly try to follow to catch up. 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Or a little internet machine . [ phone rings ] it makes you wonder. Shouldnt we get our phones and internet from the same company . Thats why Xfinity Mobile comes with your internet. You get up to 5 lines of talk and text at no extra cost. So all you pay for is data. Choose by the gig or unlimited. And ask how to get a 200 prepaid card when you buy any new samsung device with Xfinity Mobile. A new kind of network designed to save you money. Click, call or visit today. Neil 76 years ago, very different pearl harbor after the big attack that thrust the United States into world war ii. Flags at halfstaff across much of the country. Remembering a day that tested all of us, that was then. A race to avoid a government shut down on defense spending. A defense measure called for letting us catch up, what republicans argue is underspending there. Republican congressman who disagrees. He is jimmy duncan. He says true fiscal conservatives can not justify upping the Defense Budget to that degree. It would be over 100 billion where it is now, congressman. Youre saying that is a little extreme, right . I would say to you billion over the budget caps, neil, it was billions more than even President Trump suggested, i requested the question, makes me wonder whether there is any fiscal conservatives at the pentagon . Im very prodefense but you can go ridiculously overboard on anything. We more than doubled defense spending in 2000. That is more than double the rate of inflation during those years. I think we need to look for ways to operate more efficiently with a little less money. I think it is possible to do that. Neil now, are you saying a little less money from the budget the way it is now, from what were talking about, to break the spending caps, to allow for a little bit more . One of the things, for example, that john mccain said . I said in the speech on the floor our National Debt has gone over 20 trillion, and we announced a few weeks ago the deficit for this past fiscal year was 666 billion. Some people think it will be even high they are next year. So i think weve got to have some fiscal conservativism in every department, even in the Defense Department. And in fact there is waste, you know, even in the Defense Department. Im, im a veteran. I started in the army as enlisted man. Rose to the rank of captain. I think National Defense is probably our most legitimate, most legitimate function of our National Government but i still think that we ought to operate frugally even in that department. I think certainly you carry special weight given your background and youre pretty consistent on this issue, having covered you, congressman, so i commend you of that. But your fears the genie could be out of the bottle to concessions want to raise the Defense Budget . Democrats argue nondefense spending has to go up as well, suddenly all bets are off, arent they . No thats correct. That is another concern of mine, because i see that heading down the road and i think we have another omnibus that busts the budget. What i have pointed out that the 700 billiondollar defense bill we passed is not the whole story for defense. We passed military construction bill in separate bill. That is another is 10 billion we added last 10 years in that area. The Defense Department gotten extra billions in almost emergency and supplemental Appropriations Bills we passed in recent years. Im sure they have extra money in the omnibus. Neil are you for the tax cut . Yes, im for the tax cut. But im also for spending cuts. I think we have to tighten our spending, reduce our spending in every department an agency of the federal government. Neil so when people look at this and say tax cuts should be paid for, obviously in that camp, you would do spending cuts but not too many are. Administration, republicans are open to addressing welfare spending to get that under control, you would be for that . Yes, i would be for that. I do believe that leaving more money in the private sector, the least economical, least efficient, way to spend money is turn it over to the federal government. If that wasnt true, cuba, former soviet union and venezuela would be heavens on earth. Im glad were leaving more money in private hand. I think that will help the economy. I really dont believe this tax cut will lead, will add as much to the deficit as some of these predictions. Neil youre quite right to point out, 1 1 2 trillion dollars, everyone is sweating how that is paid for. No one pays attention to the nine trillion in debt added to conventional spending, perfectly fine with that, you know . Well, thats correct. Neil congressman, thank you very, very much. Thank you very much. Neil youre a brave soul. I will say that. Thank you. Neil congressman, no one will argue with a military hero like that when it comes to defense spending but he does stand his ground here. We dont see enough of that on republican or democratic side, do we . Al franken leaving the United States senate in a few weeks. A guy worked with him going back to his days on snl, joe piscopo on that, after this. Unlock a realization that often reveals a better path forward. At wells fargo, its our expertise in finding this kind of insight that has lead us to become one of the largest investment and Wealth Management firms in the country. Discover how we can help find your unlock. Is the best way to get that fish to your plate safely. Bacteria can multiply to high enough levels that even cooking it will not destroy all of them. Its definitely the most important thing in my business. How fresh is the fish . Where it comes from . 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Who knew a tiny sensor could help keep the food chain safe . Food has to be fresh. Its that simple. Today im seen in the coming weeks i will be resigning as member of the United States senate. I have all people and mom and where there is some irony in the fact that i am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about its history of Sexual Assault lives in the oval office and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the senate with a full support of his party. Neil al franken made an official you were signed in the coming weeks but not for our shots in the oval office. Roy moore, Alabama Senate candidate waiting in the latest polls. What do you think of this . In a few weeks obviously you want to stick around for a couple of pretty big votes, but you related to my tax cover they know what you think . From hearing his speech, with absolutely clear, franken did not want to resign, but he was in fact forced out by his fellow democrats because it had been in or hurts the. Democrats cant attack republicans and franken and conyers are still in there. Thats the reason he is out. His speech showed no signs of remorse. He basically said they women were liars and its not about him but repeatedly made it about himself and its been a very tough couple of weeks for him. It just shows the selfimportance anybody was so important to the people of minnesota. The fact is gone in reality was because he was disposable and that democratic governor can pick his replacement. Neil the democratic governor can settle on a candidate within the next few weeks. They have a special election, serves out the remainder of frankens term. Is that how goes . They will be a special election and so its a pretty safe seat for a democrat. They will have a vote just like franken was a reliable democrat in that site is gone because he was disposable in a action have iraqi net. Neil im not a pejorative here. Its gone with the independent governor, republican governor. It can tricky sometimes. He won his race. Neil so, what you make of the political mood lately that we are getting out of this and how its reverberating across the country, a lot of democrats even on these developments mean we quickly handled the sins of our own, not those republicans. What are you hearing . That is again why he had to go even though he had no intention of doing so because it totally destroys the democrats narrative against roy moore and republicans and of course he made a parting shot at president tram. The reality is here to republicans cant do anything about roy moore and tell hes elected because the authority on the ballot. Just like the assumption of stepping down. Neil no process stepping in place. They have to redo the rule spoke peered exactly. They said if he wins they want to expel him. But that something that really hasnt happened before either. Its really uncharted territory. It is politics though, to because republicans dont want to give up the red state and alabama when the tax cuts in so many important votes coming out. Neil thank you very much. Staff writer extraordinaire, how does the curve on this one. Joe piscopo, you remember him from snl, the best of any generation of comics, certainly very good singer. First of all your reaction now. It is sad. Its tough to watch. Dont forget we replaced the original cast. Billy murray in chevy chase. Neil coming after mohammed ali. Danny aykroyd and ill franken was there with tom davis. Listen, i remember we went in and make it at eni, fired everybody else. So we are in their and then they bought the guns from the original saturday night live at Michael Donahue was there. These are legendary writers. These are like legendary writers. I was in awe of. Ill franken was one of them. And then he was nice. Neil any of this stuff came up at the pictures and everything else. I never saw it. I was shocked. Its so surreal as im watching the monitor. First of all, ill franken became a senator. And then, the groping and theres no denial. He was doing, d. I say that. I dont know how any guy has the atrocity to do that. I am like a dork. Before we went on the air, it like i can imagine being that audacious to be able to think that its going to be okay. A father of three daughters i worry about that, but its sad for me right now. Neil you dont have any pictures that could come out. Dont even go there. Neil where we going with this . During the comedy. Its a very popular radio show. You have to place yourself a little more than you have . You know, great question i have not. I really have not. I was emceeing a big event a week ago and there was a model they are. She came out. She was one of the presentation models animated jokes same delightful italian guys and im like yes i said it, go ahead. If i run for office to show it because they think we are getting a little crazy with it. You can joke in a respectful way. We said this before on your show. The pendulum is going way out of the way. Even if it doesnt go out of control. Neil what she annoyed this particular one in . At the thing. She laughed. You cant take the club. If you are from the clubs, it has nothing to do with groping. If women come out on my behalf, they are going to be disappointed joe didnt do anything. He was boring. Neil who am i to judge . I work in a big old glass house. I am well aware of that. I want to advance to what happens. Democrats are trying to say is we deal with those problems swiftly even though Corporate Market deals and everything we have now. Is there a middle ground on this, should we wait, you can argue that franken was denied an investigation into this. And anyway, republicans say i have no patience for that. Neil you wouldnt want to look into charges . If they say i did that, get the heck out. Youve got to give them the benefit of the doubt. Neil roy moore denies charges. I know. I think what is happening now is this is a setup where youre seeing what democrats are doing to go after i wonder who theyre trying to go after. Its tough for me as i stood before you put the loyalty and the family saturday night live paper with Something Like this happens, that was uncalled for. When they went after the president a halfhour ago, an hour ago. I was totally uncalled for. Neil when all this came out. Thats what this is all about. Dont they were pressured all of that. Where does he go . Thats a great question. Write the book. Would he be on the comedy circuit. I dont think so. Louis ck. These guys we have all admired. I have a chance now in the comedy club owners and they say we have to sort of police a little bit more and not all the time but if youre going to veer into harassment issues we just preferred that you not. When i had my daughter here, shes doing college. I dont know that i wouldve thought of that when i see her coming in to the work place. Im kind of glad all of this is going on in there calling up people like this because i worry about my kids. Neil because of all of this going on, it is swinging the other ways that men are going to be very, very careful to the point of not interacting for fear of it being called on something and it hurts the very women who are trying to advance in corporate america. Im walking in your finder is now. Im going to have blinders on like the worse as you see in central park. Im not looking at you. Neil you did when you came in a few minutes ago. You are looking at all of them. Lifetime alimony. Just like that. Did you see the women i have a daughter as well. It could change that mailboxes could say you know what, every meeting i hold with you the doors open im going to have another female sitting in here, which is something you would not do for email. Wait a minute, this could actually stunt their corporate growth. Now is the time to do that. Look at me. They always joke, youre the young wife, young girlfriend. At the appropriate myth neil im sorry i made the mistake of thinking she was your daughter. Very rude of me. I apologize. That was my daughter. I date age appropriately now. Neil so looking at past and ill franken, double another era. He loves to watch me squirm. Two minutes ago. Now im in rough shape. Neil did you have ill franken on your show . Now. On the radio show you mean . Our show is very much open, very, very open. But its so funny youre right. This is a great example. My new sky goes it was kind of an inappropriate thing that happened that you could live longer if you get a certain something. Id be inappropriate here on the air. He said during a commercial break. Thats hysterical. He made if you are with somebody and im been appropriate. I said do not say that on the air. Neil is policing you now. Going back to what you asked me earlier, do please myself. Its been respectful to the audience. Neil are you afraid to the point is changed everything . Itll come back. Honestly, if i did not daughters i would have no idea. Its like themselves look at me. Ill be working until im 107. Ive got a little daughter to worry about. You know. Neil you have a beautiful family. Im very respectful to girls. Neil look at the time. If i ever did anything wrong and the fbi, dont get the fbi, get to pluto. [laughter] what do you drive me. Neil here it is. Have at it. His show was terrific. It moves fast and its topical without being demeaning. It can be done. And appropriate. Neil and appropriate or inappropriate . It can be done. Neil we will always argue in his defense when it comes to legal matters. Meanwhile, the economy is growing under donald trump because of barack obama. After this. My experience with usaa has been excellent. They always refer to me as master sergeant. They really appreciate the military family, and it really shows. Weve got auto insurance, homeowners insurance. Had an accident with a vehicle, i actually called usaa before we called the police. Usaa was there handson very quick very prompt. I feel like were being handled as people that actually have a genuine need. Were the webber family and we are usaa members for life. Usaa, get your insurance quote today. Neil what you think of the corporate rate than not the innate 20 . You know, i believe 20 is correct, but again i say we are trying to solve a problem, get tax reform and in their compromised in the house and senate. I expected to go up a little bit, maybe 2 . Im not sure. Neil let the wheeling and dealing began. Iowa republican congressmen, good to have you. Neo, good to be on your show. Thanks for having me. How does the congressman followed joe piscopo. Neil it is tough but have every faith you can do because youre very good. Let me ask you what your colleague from alaska with pain. No one is married to anything come of the make or break just to get the deal done, but they have their priorities, his priorities to keep the corporate raider 20 , but if it gets more people on board, they bring it up to 22 to try to help people in high tax states, so be it. Would he think of that . Yeah, the art of government is fighting for what you believe and strongly and at the end of the day, we have to compromise a bit in an conference we have to compromise a bit. If the Corporate Tax rate, which is currently 40 comes up to 21 or 22 and look at it as a whole, thats a big win for business, big win for the economy. Before the break the Economic Growth economy experiencing right now because we are almost at double the rate we saw under president obamas eight years. Neil what it should make a president obama more or less saying this is the obama recovery. I mean, he did pick up from where we left with the severe recession so he seemed to be taken about for the continued recovery going on now. What did you think . It is probably something president s do since the beginning of time. We all have to agree on that. He left this economy in better shape than we found it. Clearly we are growing the first three quarters of this year that double the eight year average of the obama presidency. When the beating stopped, morale improves anything for the business world, when we elected a businessman to say it in the oval office, the beating stopped. The regulatory beatings have stopped and now we want to get the governments backhand out of the back pocket of businesses and individuals then i think the economy can grow at 3 a sustained. Neil to beatings minus. But some of the are not off topic. Are you worried thats going to be an issue in a problem assuming you can get a tax cut signed into crew that it might limit in the future because the these distractions. There certainly has a lot of them if you want to call the distractions. I had it through this before. Its only been three years. Last time is in the 80s with reagan. What we are seeing is folks that enjoy currently a loophole in the tax code is in there over the last 30, 35 years being reduced or been taken away. Those are a lot of the folks we are hearing from and they tend to be about and they tend to get media time as well and we just have to power through this. As i said before he came on the air, it seems to me republicans are upset, democrats are upset, the right subset, left is upset Good Neighbor we struck the right balance. Neil if everyone sticks after many onto something. Everybody has to give a little bit. Neil thank you, sir. Good seeing you. You heard what i was referencing about president obama. Heres exactly what he had to say on the economy. As we took these actions, we saw the u. S. Economy and grow more consistently with American History by far. And it still continues by the way. Ive marked his economy who is right . I think perhaps in a backhanded way, ill pawn his credit for the 3 growth we now have because he effectively suppressed growth for so long because of his approach to regulation and its attitude towards business. Its easy to grow more rapidly with a relatively low base. Neil im not trying to spin that but it has picked up since President Trump it at. I am wondering, would the economy has surged to the degree it has been we are talking a difference from roughly 2 to 3 plus growth. If obama were in office now, and in his ninth year now, what would they be looking at . Growth of roughly 2 . 3 for some of the reasons i just mentioned. The heavyhanded approach towards regulation. The inability on obamas part to fully understand what it takes to succeed in a capitalistic economy. I think obama made the mistake of not making younger americans, and these young millennial more aware of what is necessary to succeed in a competitive economy. He appears, you know, often to be looking for victims here, they are and everywhere and some excuses as to why these individuals are doing better economically speaking. Neil do you think corporations when they get their tax, whether 20 , 22 and i know its realistically not at the level 35 , the average is more that 27 or so today that they are going to hire people, pay them more. But they going to put it back in their socks . They are free to do whatever they want a nonbenefit from doing the latter. What do you think . I think if there is no reason to believe that these companies are going to take the lions share of the increase in profits that result from taxcut and increase wages or expand production capabilities. Whats important in the tax reform package is a more favorable treatment of Capital Spending. Here i wouldnt be surprised to see a significant pickup by Capital Spending that helps to drive growth in 2018 and 2019 and eventually this rising Capital Spending will lead to more jobs and improve the labor project david e. And as productivity grows, we should see faster wage growth. We do have a little Labor Force Participation rate. We have a low rate of capacity legalization, so i believe 4 Unemployment Rate exaggerates the extent of labor market tightness. After all, wage growth is still quite mild, growing wages by more than 2. 5 yearoveryear when we have 4 unemployment in the past because of a real tightening of the labor market which is growing by three points i to 4 . Neil always good talking to you. Do any of you remember when the president said that the fbis reputation was in tatters . The fbi chief had a chance to respond to that. After this. Ing for advantages. The smart ones look to fidelity to find them. We give you research and datavisualization tools to help identify potential opportunities. decisions with fidelity for just 4. 95 per online u. S. Equity trade. Fidelity. Open an account today. Neil all right, minutes away from the White House Briefing with Sarah Sanders, on the administration and reaction to todays developments, including the fbi chief Christopher Wray on the hill today amid growing questions on the president s credibility. The fbis reputation in tattered right now. Adam shapiro with the latest on all the back and forth. Reporter neil, that tweet was precipitated by the fact that it was revealed one of the investigators, not only of the clinton email scandal but also of the russia issues, peter strzok reassigned with the fbi and removed by the investigator mr. Mueller. But when asked about the president s tweet is the fbis reputation in tatters. Heres how Christopher Wray the director responded. We respond to this tweet by the president , is the fbis reputation in tatters . Congressman, there is no shortage of opinions out there. What i can tell you is that the fbi that i see is tens of thousands of agents and analysts and staff working their tails off to keep americans safe from the next terrorist attack, gang violence, child predators, spies from russia, china, north korea and iran. The fbi that i see is tens of thousands of brave men and women who are working as hard as they can to keep people that they will never know safe from harm. Reporter now the director deflected questions about peter strzok, again, the man reassigned in his role in the clinton email situation, but also about changing the language that director comey, past director comey had once used, this issue of changing gross negligence to different term of extremely careless, to which the director said essentially its the same thing, if you go a thesaurus. He did say he didnt want to interfere with the Inspector Generals investigation of what transpired. Strongly defending the thousands at the fbi. Neil im going to go to the thesaurus and see if hes right. All right, adam, thank you very much. The White House Briefing where no doubt the issues will come up. Meanwhile, talk back and forth about the russia probe bias, republicans feel Hillary Clinton didnt get nearly the amount of investigatory zeal that the president and his team are getting on all of this now. Gregg jarrett on this now. No question its going to come up, what are you hearing . Reporter looks like peter strzok at the center of effort to exonerate Hillary Clinton, and hes the one who signed the papers launching the trumprussia investigation, which now has the severe taint of illegitimacy and corruption, very hard for the americans to have confidence in the fbi, the top management of the fbi overseeing the clinton case and now the trumprussia case, as well as Robert Muellers special counsel team stacked with democratic donors. In fact, in the case of jeannie wray, for example, she defended the Clinton Foundation in a racketeering civil lawsuit case, not once but twice, she should be nowhere near muellers team, and another should Andrew Wiseman who wrote the email fawning sally yates for defying President Trumps order on the travel ban. Neil one idea thats come up is whether the fbi investigators are biased against the president and not so didnt feel nearly as much zeal when it came to Hillary Clinton is that donald trump is now president of the United States. The focus should be on not deflecting on them. You say . Deflecting on who . Neil democrats. Look, nobody is above the law. That includes Hillary Clinton. If she violated the law, and looks like theres overwhelming compelling evidence she did violate the espionage act, she should not be exempt simply because she ran for president. I dont get to rob a bank, run for president be and exempt from prosecution. Nobody is above the law. Its fair, especially if there was corruption in that investigation, and indeed obstruction of justice by strzok or james comey that Congress Needs to get to the bottom of it, and so do the American People. Neil legal minds obviously on that point can disagree. As you know, greg, and they have, back and forth on this, more on politics. Where is this going, and i always wonder when these incidents are brought up or whether the fbi is fair, or whether its zeal or bias is against the president or his team, that theyre laying the groundwork to oppose or appeal whatever they can do after a decision brought by bob mueller and his team. What do you think . A lot will depend what the Inspector General finds. We know he found suspiciously corrupt motives by peter strzok and now looking at 10,000 emails he exchanged with lisa page also on the mueller team. Shes an fbi lawyer, and i suspect that when that Inspector General report comes out, it will be rather stunning, and will probably merit the department of justice reopening its investigation of the Hillary Clinton characters and reexamining whether or not the evidence should be presented to a grand jury to decide whether or not to indict. Neil thats never going to happen. Do you think thats ever going to happen . Why would you they . Neil i dont think theres the appetite for it in washington. I think there is plenty of appetite across america, again, because nobody is above the law. The statute of limitation says not run on Hillary Clinton. Neil where is the appetite across america . Dont you think the American People are investigated out on all of this stuff . Its easy to say that, but the American Public does demand responsibility and Law Enforcement and justice, and you know, you could also say theres no appetite for continuing to investigate President Trump because theres no evidence, not a scintilla of evidence of collusion with the russians during the political campaign. Neil we dont know whats being uncovered. You are quite right, we have no idea. Right, and we have no idea whether the special counsel will accuse the president of obstruction of justice. As you and i talked before, that requires, under the law, a lie, a threat or bribe, a corrupt purpose. And even comey didnt accuse the president of that. Said the president had every constitutional right to dismiss it. Neil when do you think the trump stuff will be resolved, one way or the other . Its also a fools error to predict when the investigation will gone for years. I think there is urgency here. Because this is interfering in the president s ability to engage russia in foreign policy, pressing issues. I wrote a column about that. There is concern in the white house that the president cant meet with putin or pick up the phone and talk to him very much, for fear that the media will cite that as evidence of continuing russian collusion. So i think this needs to be expedited, and one hopes mueller feels that as well. Neil gregg jarrett, thank you very, very much. My pleasure. Neil we are waiting for the White House Briefing to begin. Running a little late. They tend to do that right now, dotting is, crossing ts on a number of controversial issues coming up. One, were getting leery about the upcoming Winter Olympics in south korea. Apparently were not the only country that is. After this. For every hour that youre idling in your car, youre sending about half a gallon of gasoline up in the air. That amounts, over the course of the week, to about 10 pounds of carbon dioxide. Growth is good, but when it starts impacting our quality of air and quality of life, thats a problem. So forwardthinking cities like sacramento are investing in streets that are smarter and greener. The solution was right under our feet. Asphalt. Or to be more precise, intelligent asphalt. By embedding sensors into the pavement, as well as installing cameras on traffic lights, we will be able to analyze the flow of traffic. That data runs across our network and we use it to optimize the timing of lights, so that traffic flows easier and travel times are shorter. Who knew asphalt could help save the environment . Neil heres sarah. Attacked at pearl harbor. As the president said in a stirring video, we remember the lives lost, the families torn from loved ones and the heroes who rose to americas defense. The president will be meeting with members who served at pearl harbor later today, as you all know. Also as you are aware, the president will meet later this afternoon with congressional leaders from both parties to discuss the need to fund the government, particularly our military and the department of Veterans Affairs. The president and the republicans in the house and senate are eager to pass a bill fully funding the federal government and the military. With the threats we are facing, our National Security should not be held hostage for irresponsible demands and certainly hope that wont happen. Now, with Christmas Season in full swing, i want to shine a spotlight on some of the incredible stories of generosity and love that show with the Christmas Spirit and the american spirit are all about. Today id like to start with a story of st. Matthews Episcopal Church in wheeling, westerning virginia. Over a hundred years ago when a young girl tragically died around the Christmas Season and family donated money to the church in her honor and asked it be used for the children at christmas. What they may not have realized is the act of kindness would bless countless children for the next century. They continue helping children and families during the Christmas Season, they usually do it anonymously but word of generosity spread through social media. At the local walmart numerous families will pay for christmas toys they put on layaway and tell there is no need because its been paid in full. So many acts of generosity and kindness that go unnoticed this Christmas Season and thats okay. St. Matthews church wasnt looking for credit and neither are so many others. They remind us what the season is all about, thats the greatest gift of all, a savior was born, hopefully we can focus and take time out of our busy schedules to enjoy the Christmas Season or however you celebrate. With that, i will take your questions. Reporter i want to ask but the possible Government Shutdown and the optimism that the president might have he can avert a shut down, and if i could follow up and ask about the california fires and the latest on the white house has on it . Sure, in terms of the Government Shutdown, we expect a clean cr to pass with democrat support. Thats what we hope will happen. Funding the government particularly are military, Veterans Affairs are always important but particularly now with so many threats that we face globally. This is certainly an important priority for the administration, and we hope something that will be discussed and agreed to later today. Jennifer . Reporter on the fires . Im sorry . Was there a specific question . Reporter yes, is the white house in coordination with the folks in california in battling that wildfire. Is there more money to be made available, especially for the areas near los angeles which are under siege right now by so much devastation . Absolutely. The administration is staying in regular contact with both fema and folks at the white house speaking regularly to state and local authorities and making sure were ready and able to help when needed and when requested by those authorities. Jennifer . Reporter why john bolton was here at the white house today . And also on taxes, was a little confused whether the white house would support a 22 Corporate Tax rate . You had the white house economists talking about saying it would be okay and wouldnt undermine the economy, and later the legislative structure said it needs to be 20, so our focus is getting the lowest corporate rate possible. 15 is better than 20. 20 better than 22, and 22 is better than what we have. Again were going to continue to push but not going to negotiate that from the podium, and were committed to getting the lowest corporate rate we can. John bolton, hes a friend of the president , somebody he wanted to visit with. Nothing more than that, nothing more than a checkin and a friendly visit. Reporter sarah, donald trump, jr. Refused to talk about his conversations with the president citing attorneyclient privilege. Would the president release him from any such privilege or allow him to speak to the committee . Thats a question you would have to ask his attorney. We believe his lawyers had a legitimate reason and basis for not answering the questions but something i would direct you to his attorneys for. Reporter can you explain how it could be attorneyclient privilege when neither donald trump, jr. Nor President Trump are attorneys . Again, thats something you would have to talk to don jr. s attorneys with. I dont have the ability to comment. Reporter senator franken, announcing his resignation that, quote, hes aware that there is irony in the fact im leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about history of Sexual Assaults in the oval office and preyed on young girls campaigned for the senate with the full support of his party, end quote. Whats the white house response to that . Look, the president addressed the comments back during the campaign. We feel strongly that the people of this country addressed that when they elected donald trump to be president , and ive addressed it several times from here and dont have anything new to add. Reporter can you talk more broadly in the differences in the way the two parties are handling these accusations of Sexual Misconduct . I think that some of that would be left to some of the party leadership. Im not sure if there is a specific question on the differences, but john . Reporter thank you, sarah. Have any of the president s counterparts around the world contacted the president , contacted the white house to indicate that they too will follow the president s lead in moving their embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem for acknowledging that jerusalem is the capital of israel . Im not aware of any countrys commitment to follow suit on this. Reporter you expect that to happen . You expect that others will follow the president s lead here . Im not aware of any countries that we anticipate that happening at any point soon. Im not saying that they arent, but im not aware of them. Jordan . Reporter thanks, sarah. Last week the president said the u. S. Would be opposing additional sanctions on north korea today. Do you have an update where that stands . Yeah, we expect the department of treasury to put out more details hopefully by the end of the week. And well keep you posted on that front. Jennifer . Reporter thanks, sarah. What is the president s reaction to allies notably the United Kingdom to express opposition to his action for recognizing jerusalem . And also did the fact that he kept his promise give him more credibility when negotiating in the middle east . Certainly, i think one of the abilities to follow through on something youve committed to, as the president has done, but also lets not forget this was something that congress voted on starting in 1995 and has reaffirmed 10 separate times over 20 years, this something that the president took action on, courageous and bold action, and something that frankly the members of the United States congress have voted on many times before. Olivia . Reporter thank you, sarah, you put out a statement under the president s name directing other officials to reach out to saudi arabia and urge them to immediately allow the flow of humanitarians into yemen. Two questions about that. Why isnt the president working the phones, and the second is, are there consequences for saudi arabia if they dont immediately allow the flow of goods . My understanding is the president did bring these up on previous conversations, and that i believe there are actions that are taking place for a port to open and well keep you posted of the details are more available. Major . Reporter asked you on monday, any consequences if they dont do this . We have reason to believe theyre moving in that direction for a port to be opened. Major . Reporter when the president became aware that Michael Flynn lied to the fbi, you refer her to john dowd, john dowd is not engaging on that. Thats a noble fact in the building, not a legal matter, not for the attorney to say. Can you tell us when the president became aware of that . Attorneys feel differently and feel it should be answered by them, and ill encourage them to respond to you. I refer to you john dowd. Reporter why is it a legal question what the president knew and what he knew it . Im going to listen to the attorneys on this one, and john dowd hopefully will follow up on with you. Sorry, major, im going to keep bouncing. Reporter its an open question whether the United States will participate in the Winter Olympics in south korea. Is it an open question . Is it now in doubt . Look, that wasnt exactly what the investors said, no official decision has been made on that, and well keep you guys posted as those decisions are made. Look, i know the goal is to do so, but that will be a decision made closer to time. I think thats an interagency process, but ultimately the president would certainly weigh in, but again, thats something he would take into account probably a number of the stakeholders that would be involved. Reporter does it involve security . Absolutely, if we felt that was an issue that come up. Reporter several funding questions, does he want sbs to be authorizeed . I havent had that specific conversation, i know we want to fully fund the government. I dont want to get into any more details. Reporter the bipartisan relationship is coming up in a different atmosphere than the last meeting, he didnt think it was possible because the democrats were so bad on Illegal Immigrants pouring over the border. Im wondering has the president changed his mind about that . And also specifically what he was referring to since the Government Shutdown . The president is very much committed to a Strong Border and border wall, and i imagine thats discussed reporter [inaudible] i think we all hope a deal can be reached. We hope the democrats will be willing to put aside partisan politics and fully funding the government. Josh . Reporter on the hill today chris wray praised the fbi and said its the finest Law Enforcement in the world. The president said its in tatters and the worst place in history. You can explain that discrepancy . Look, we dont think there is a discrepancy. We agree with chris wray that fbi field agents are appreciated and respected. The president s issues are with the political leaders in the fbi under former director comey. Particularly those that played politics with the Hillary Clinton email probe and dont see a discrepancy beyond that. Blake . Sorry, im going hop around. Reporter the fbi is in tatters, the fear that could create ramifications that people wont trust Law Enforcement . And people will say why should we interact with the fbi when its in tatters . Again, the president is referring to the political leaders at the fbi particularly those involved in the Hillary Clinton probe. Blake. Reporter two questions, one on the Government Shutdown, Chuck Schumer said on the senate floor, his Party Controls the senate, the house and the president said a shutdown would fall on his shoulders. Shoe that not a reflection of the political realities that republicans control washington at this point . Look, they may control washington but takes democrats to be engaged in the process, and we hope frankly that democrats will play by the schumer rule and not hold this bill hostage by playing partisan politics and come to the table, help fund our Defense Department, help fund our military, help fund Veterans Affairs. John . Reporter at some point daca is going to be brought up, or potentially be brought up. Is the white house willing to make a daca fix with government spending, and if so, when . The president said with daca he wants responsible immigration reform, including a border wall and other things that weve laid out in the priorities and the principles, that is something that would be part of the discussion. John . Reporter thank you, sarah. From the podium, secretary mnuchin and gary cohn both assured us that when a final tax reform bill is passed, the alternate minimum tax would disappear immediately. Now, of course, recent statements by the president as the conference is about to begins, indicate it might not completely disappear, and not immediately, certainly, is the Administration Still committed to ending the amt right away . Look, i dont think our position has changed on that front at all. But at the same time, look, the conferies were just named. We want to work it through the process. Weve laid out the principles, were committed to those in making sure the bill in the final piece of legislation delivers on that. Charlie . Reporter lot of attention on Sexual Harassment by congress, is the president confident that congress and leaders can police and investigate themselves on this issue . I think that we have no reason at this point to see otherwise, and hopefully that process will move forward. Halle . Reporter one question, on the podium on taxes, you said to matt on tuesday, if taxes are under audit, hes not going to release them. The 2016 taxes are not under audit. I will double check but the president s taxes, no matter who the president is, actually immediately go under audit after being filed. Ill double check. Reporter more broadly on this moment that we find ourselves in National Reckoning when it comes to Sexual Harassment. A broad 30,000 foot way, does the president believe he has a credible role in leading this conversation and can you speak to the specific steps this white house is taking to make sure the women that work here for a comfortable environment to talk about these things . I think that the president treats certainly as a woman myself, ive never felt anything but treated with the highest level of respect and empowered to do my job, thats what ive seen the president do day in and day out since weve been here, and during the campaign, so i think thats a pretty good start and a pretty good example on that front. Reporter having sessions or seminars, are you doing that here . Talking about in recent days what people in this Work Environment can do . There are certainly white house policies that we are reminded of and all of us expect each person to live up and to meet those policies and not cross the line that is not only not legal but not appropriate or not ethical. Kristen . Reporter weve seen democrats forcibly call for john conyers resignation, and al frankens resignation today. Do republicans and this president risk losing moral authority on this issue, which is a huge issue right now, by endorsing a candidate like roy moore which is now backed by the rnc as well . Look, ive addressed this in depth. We think the allegations are troubling and ultimately something the people of alabama should decide, steve . Reporter im not calling for him to drop out of the race. The president is failing to lead. Hey, kristen, im going move around. Reporter quick question, is he failing to lead. Reporter jerusalem delayed because of concerns expressed by the secretaries of defense and state about security they wanted to get Adequate Security in place for u. S. Embassies around the world . We wanted to make sure we had a thoughtful and responsible process and that the decision and the components of that decision went through the full agency process, and once that was completed, the president took action. Steve . Reporter do the palestinians under the impression that the president pulled out of the Peace Process yesterday based on the jerusalem decisions how do you correct that . Did he do that . No, in fact, in the president s remarks he said that we are as committed to the Peace Process as ever, and we want to continue to push forward in those conversations and those discussions and hopefully the ultimate goal of all those party is to reach a peace deal and thats something the United States is very much committed to. One more, david . Sarah, thank you. Given the recent revelations that one prosecutor on Robert Muellers team was sending antitrump texts to a d. O. J. Lawyer and another revelation that another one was congratulating sally yates for refusing to uphold and defend the president s travel ban. Chairman goodlatte said the appearance of impropriety would devastate the president s reputation. The question is does the white house believe the fix was in that Robert Muellers probe was bias from the beginning . Look, we are fully cooperating through this process, were going to continue to do so. As i said a few minutes ago, we certainly felt like some of the Political Leadership at the fbi was problematic. Were glad that director wray is there. We feel hes going to clean up some of the messes left behind by his predecessor and look forward to this concluding soon and showing what weve been saying all along, nothing to see here and certainly no collusion. The president has an event. Just a couple lastminute votes. President has an event here with members of the pearl harbor survivors, and well also have a pool spray at the top of the congressional meeting this afternoon at 3 00. Well see you guys shortly. Neil all right, Interesting Development there from Sarah Sanders at that White House Briefing. Ill break the rules and come back, i know there were a lot of questions on that. Frankly pretty ridiculous questions. President s throat was dry, nothing more than that. He does have a physical scheduled for the first part of next year. The full physical that president s go through will take place at walter reed and the records will be released by the doctor following that taking place. Thank you so much, guys. Neil that was interesting, she was referring to the president s garbled speech at the end of his remarks on jerusalem yesterday. Some were worried there might be something physically wrong, sarah saying he had a parched throat and needed water. Thats the official white house response on this. Continuing resolution to keep the government lights on. The administration supports, it will last a couple of weeks, no way to run even your home budget but it is what both sides of congress agreed to do. Ken langone, the founder of home depot. His read at 4 00 p. M. Today. Trish regan, trish you have been listening to White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders on a pretty busy day. We have jet showdown on capitol hill. Al franken resigning as senator and a raging wildfire in the los angeles area. Stocks continue in the green. S p trading up nine. Nasdaq composite up 37. Im trish regan. Welcome, everyone to the intelligence report. President trump will meet with congressional leaders in about an hour from now as he looks to work with democrats to keep the government funded. Congress is expected to pass the temporary solution to k