Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Americas Newsroom With Bill Hemmer And Sandra Smith 20171115

Home. Bill paul, thank you, the update for johannesburg on that. Sandra meanwhile here in the u. S. President trump back in washington as the gop hunkers down on tax reform. Senate republicans now saying their bill would include a repeal of obamacares individual mandate. This despite concerns the move could alienate moderates. Were optimistic that inserting the individual mandate repeal would be helpful and thats obviously the view of the Senate Finance Committee Republicans as well. Sandra House Republicans are not planning to include the mandate repeal in their version. Peter doocy is live on capitol hill following it for us this morning. Who do republicans think a mandate repeal helps most . People making less than 50,000 a year because they argue its who overwhelmingly ends up paying the penalty to uncle sam when they dont want to pay for insurance. An hour from now the senate will come back in here to keep marking up the senate bill. The person in charge, senator orrin hatch, explains including the mandate like this. By scrapping this unpopular tax from an unworkable law we not only ease the Financial Burdens associated with the mandate but also generate additional revenue to provide more tax relief to these individuals. But democratic leader Chuck Schumer counters with this. He says rather than learning the lessons from their failure to repeal healthcare, republicans are doubling down on the same partisan strategy that would throw our Healthcare System into chaos. If the American People were not already outraged by this bill, injecting healthcare into it will certainly do the trick. Again, the house is planning to vote on their version tomorrow. But it is already done and it is not going to include the repeal of the mandate. Sandra peter, do republicans have the votes to repeal the mandate as part of tax reform . It sounds like theyll have at least one vote that they did not have for healthcare. Thats alaska senator lisa mer kowski. For everybody else, some of the rank and file republicans are optimistic. Based on the tone of the meeting today, i would say that some have reservations about including the mandate. My gut tells me that if we decide to include the mandate, that the bill will still pass. There are disadvantages to including it but i think the advantages are much greater. Maine senator Susan Collins says she doesnt know how she would vote on the bill yet. No democrats are on board yet even though some of the red state democrats up for reelection next year have been traveling with President Trump throughout the country as he goes to their states to make the case. Sandra what a week. Peter doocy. Bill for more lets bring in the reagan staffer, art laffer. I love getting rid of the mandate. It makes no sense. If someone decides they dont want obamacare, i dont want it, then you get taxed. Well, that takes away this tax which allows you free choice. If you want aca you can have it. If you want it you dont have to have it and you dont have to pay a tax. I see no down side whatsoever to getting rid of the mandate. Its wonderful. Bill based on what i read about the mandate you would save 300 billion. Thats a lot. That would give you more latitude within the senate or house bill if its in the final package to cut even more, correct . That is correct and from my standpoint this is the first time the Congressional Budget Office has worked in our favor. It is an awful way they do their forecasts. This time it works in our favor. It makes no sense but it does. Bill the psychology of these tax cuts. They are basically saying trust us, right . All that corporate money is coming back. Many americans not all americans are going to get more money take home. When you think about the reagan tax cuts of 1986, just tell us why they were so successful 31 years ago. We cut the Corporate Tax rate from 46 to 34. Put the highest personal income tax rate. Not done in these bills. 50 to 28. We went from 14 tax brackets to two. And we got rid of all these deductions, exemptions, loopholes, lobbyists, all of those and made it strictly revenue neutral in the correct sense of the word. That passed 973. All dems were on board except for simon and levin and three were against it. It passed, was great and brought a lot of prosperity. Bill that leads me to the question, do you believe what theyre doing on the individual side is enough to convince americans that indeed they are better off if its signed into law . If they do the Corporate Tax rate without a phasein. Thats a killer because if you know theyll cut tax rates next year you will defer all your income and production until next year and it will cause a deep recession. So if they put in the phasein that would kill the economy for at least a year. I hope they dont. Yes, i dont think they need to address personal income tax rates this year. Once trump is reelected then we can do Something Like the 86 tax act and really go to a true flat tax which is what the country has been doing. Its what jerry brown proposed in 1992. I did his tax reform back then and jerry brown had a perfectly flat tax. Dems want it, the republicans want it. Everyone wants it except for a few people in washington bill some of these middle class americans are looking at paying a little more. No they arent. Bill you can disagree with the study. The New York Times have done the research and find that some americans in the middle class will actually see an increase. And you know, you talked about the high earners, too, 10 pay 70 of the taxes. You went after that figure in 1986. We sure did. Bill why is congress so afraid of that . Let me correct the New York Times theyre looking at staikt. Were talking about people who dont have jobs will have jobs and pay more taxes. People in the middle class that have jobs. They will pay more taxes but because they have more income, the whole purpose of this bill. The New York Times doesnt know straight up from they look at everything as static. Bill they used a software called tax brain. Its wrong. Bill they include the quarter of the families see an increase. They dont include any dynamic effect in that software and its wrong, wrong, wrong. It is really important. Bill i hope you come back. I would love that, bill. Hi, sandra. Sandra hello, art. Bill thank you, now well talk with peter king, his opposition to the house bill to save state and local Tax Deduction at 9 20. Later we talk to Mick Mulvaney about all these matters here that we are just talking about with art laffer and see whats in it for you or not. This is well debated. Deep stuff. Sandra thank you, art. Strong analysis and a lot changing on the story by the minute. Jeff sessions throwing cold water yesterday on calls for a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton. What will it take to get a special counsel . It would take a factual basis. You can have your idea. Sometimes we have to study what the facts are and to evaluate whether it meets the standard that requires a special counsel. Sandra how did the attorney generals response sit with republicans in that hearing . Congressman trey gowdy will join us for his take in moments plus this. What do you think im going to do . Why do you think theyre giving me this trouble . Why do you think im being harassed . Bill Alabama Senate candidate roy moore refusing to step aside. The latest what were learning on that today. Plus this. Sandra fox news alert. Were learning about how a quick thinking by teachers may have kept a mass shooter in california out of their school. I told my son it sounded like a bruce willis action movie. Its devastating. Just insane. U look amazing. And you look amazingly comfortable. When your vneck looks more like a uneck. Thats when you know, its halfwashed. Add downy to keep your collars from stretching. Unlike detergent alone, downy conditions to smooth and. Strengthen fibers. So, next time dont halfwash it. Downy and its done. Alright, i brought in high protein to help get us moving. And help you feel more strength and energy in just two weeks ill take that. Yeeeeeah ensure high protein. With 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. Ensure. Always be you. Sandra four people are dead, 10 injured, two children after a gunman goes on a shooting rampage at seven different locations in a Northern California town. A witness describing when the shooting started. I saw some people running around the school. And i know something happened. I heard pop, pop, pop, pop, so many times. Pop, pop, pop, pop. Oh oh, something happen. It was like one shot rapid and then a massive amount of gunfire that lasted three or four minutes. Sandra horrifying. The suspect attempted to enter a nearby Elementary School ramming a pickup through the schools locked gate and firing his rifle through the windows and walls. Police praising the efforts of the teachers who saved the lives of countless children. This incident has tragic and as bad as it is could have been so much worse if it wasnt for the quick thinking and staff that our Elementary School has. They went on immediate lockdown without having to be told to do so by Law Enforcement. Police shot and killed the gunman. His neighbor is among the dead. Shooter was arrested earlier this year with assault with a Deadly Weapon involving the same neighborhood. A live report coming up later. All the things we know about james comey in 2016, doesnt that warrant naming a Second Special counsel as 20 members of this committee wrote you 3 1 2 months ago asking to you do . Well, mr. Comey is no longer the director of the f. B. I. We have an excellent man of integrity and ability in chris wray. I think he will do an outstanding job. And i would say. Im asking for a special counsel. I would say looks like is not enough basis to appoint a special counsel. Bill the whole phrase looks like. Jeff sessions taking heat on the calls for a Second Special counsel. Republicans say Hillary Clintons actions as well as james comey justify that matter. The a. G. Saying not so fast. Trey gowdy was at the hearing yesterday. Welcome back, good morning to you. Whats the takeaway from Jeff Sessions testimony yesterday . Its a vitally important job with a large jurisdiction. He got questions on everything from firearms, drugs, to russia. Number two on the issue of special counsel, jim jordan is a great friend and have respect for him. I didnt sign the letter. I dont think the threshold has been met for a appointment of special counsel. You can investigate something without special counsel. 99. 9 of all investigations in this country are done by the women and men at the department of justice and the u. S. Attorneys offices and none of them is called special counsel. So there is a threshold that has to be met and i dont think it has been met. So to say were not going to appoint special counsel is not to say we arent going to look into something. We just arent going to do it bill jim jordan says its obvious. Is it . I want to be careful. He is an ncaa wrestling champion and i dont want to get on his bad side. Bill i have agree with you on that. And a very dear friend. This is the point i would make to jimmy and have made to jimmy. The fact that you believe something should be investigated, i agree with you. The fact pattern warrants investigation. The appointment of special counsel, when you hear special counsel what you should hear in your head the current people we have that we are paying to be federal prosecutors cannot do the job. Therefore we need to go hire somebody who is outside the department of justice, outside the u. S. Attorneys offices to do this job. It hasnt worked well in the past. The jurisdiction gets expanded. There is a reason. Bill let me cut through it for the sake of our audience. You say the threshold hasnt been met. At what point is it met . What do you need to get there . A conflict of interest where the department of justice and all 94 u. S. Attorneys offices are ill suited and the public would not have confidence in an investigation that they ran. Look at bob mueller was appointed special counsel. Some of your viewers dont have confidence in him. It doesnt automatically make people have confidence in something. The threshold, is there a conflict of interest . And is it in the interest of justice to go pick someone who is not even part of the system right now to investigate something . I dont think it has been met yet. Bill glen simpson testified he runs fusion gps behind closed doors yesterday for i believe a period of seven hours. Were you there for that all seven hours . I was there for part of it and i did the questioning on the front end for the republicans. The first hour. I cannot tell you, bill, i would love to. I cannot tell you the specifics of what was said behind closed doors. I can tell you that republicans had to go to great efforts to secure this testimony. We think its really important how the dossier came into existence, how it was vetted if at all. He is a really important witness on that front. The specifics of his testimony bill let me try to push you on one specific question. Does he stand by the dossier . What do you mean by stand by . Bill does he think its legit . Did it come from a real source . Let me just say this. I think the way that we vet information in a courtroom or in public is very different from the accumulating of opposition research. The threshold for whether or not you believe something is true is not real high when you are writing a Research Piece. It is really high in court. Whether or not he thinks the stuff is true, i could care less about. What i really care about is whether the f. B. I. Thought it was true and whether or not they used it in a court filing. Bill do you have an answer on that now . I do have an answer of that. I cannot share unless you want to see me in pinstripes. Bill the tie is fine for now. Sandra its one of those issues that has some republicans planning to vote no on tax reform. What about all the fam laoels in the high tax states . That really at issue and leading to some to say they will not vote for this in the house including new york congressman peter king. He is up next. 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Most of the new york delegation is going to vote no. I cant speak for all of them but i know that dan donovan is definitely no. Several others also. This again we believe will have a severe impact on new york. Especially the down state area that we represent where the property taxes and state income tax level is high and so much of that would be lost. Sandra give us an idea of the impact that you would predict based on this bill if it passed in its current form and you saw the state and local tax deduion, if you saw it completely go away. What would the impact be on the people of your state . Certainly statewide we would lose billions. As far as my district down state new york the average home probably is somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 as well as state income tax and local property tax. 10,000 of that would be allowed. You have 15 to 20,000 theyre losing in deductions. People tell you other pluses in the bill will make up for that. I havent seen that yet. It would hit every i would say most of the taxpayers in my district a good number of them would see their taxes go up because of this. Sandra Mick Mulvaney, as we understand it, there has been an exchange between you two. He was scheduled to come on this program in this hour. He canceled on us 30 minutes before his appearance. We dont know why. But i want to make sure that i get that out there. But he is saying he still feels confident that this house bill is going to pass in its current form even without your vote and even despite your efforts to save that deduction. So what is your response to him at this point this morning . They may have the votes. I dont know what the vote count is. I hope they dont. If they do, they do. My real objection to mulvaney is, he was yesterday saying how if there is a bad impact on new york, thats new yorks fault. This is what mulvaney has been doing back in congress. He is a guy that led the fight against the sandy relief money due to new york. He never supported the 9 11 healthcare bill for new york and now he seems to use every opportunity to take shots at new york and his original budget he cut dramatically the Homeland Security funding. What i say is Mick Mulvaney comes from a state where they get 2. 35 for every sandra you are talking about South Carolina and to be clear, he said he has a meeting with the president. I want to make sure thats in there. For the record. Here is what he is saying. Whose fault is that that people could leave your state as a result of this . Is it the federal governments fault that new york taxes are so high theyre driving people out of the state . Even the deduction for state and local taxes high income folks have left new york already. I dont think its up to the federal government to save new york from its bad decisions is what he told a group of reporters. I dont defend everything that new york has done. Having said that we would be in a lot better position if we were treated the way South Carolina was. We pay 48 billion every year to the federal government. More than we get back. We get 79 cents on the dollar. Mulvaneys state gets far more than that. 70 more than we do. If we have the same balance of payments to the federal government as mulvaney does in South Carolina we wouldnt have the problems we have. Weve been subsidizing him and his constituents for years and using this opportunity to screw us. Sandra you tweeted this last night, congressman, from sandy aid to tax reform mulvaney tries to screw new york. Probably feels inferior because new york subsidizes his state of north carolina. You say salt was restricted some of the people of your state if its abolished. Northeast republicans could suffer you say quote the ultimate selfinflicted wound. Can you talk about what the impact would be politically for you and your colleagues . I think it would have a severe impact. We saw some of it in the virginia suburbs the other day. On long island for Different Reasons republicans did not do well the other night. This will be a major issue against republicans because this is key to long islands economy, the down state economy. Dan donovan in new york city and in suffolk county. This would give ammunition to democrats to use against us and it would be unfair. We are leading the fight against it. It puts us on defense. We go into a campaign and well be on defense because of an issue raised by our own party. Thats the selfinflicted wounds. Sandra thank you for coming on this morning. Bill 9 30. Jampacked show here. Problems mounting for roy moore. How his own party is turning its back on him. Sandra one guest says a day of reckoning is coming for democrats who supported bill clinton in the 1990s. Roy moore should step aside. The women who came forward are credible. He is not fit to be in the United States senate. Endless shrimp is here with flavors youll love. 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After all, 4 out of 5 people who have a stroke, their first symptom is a stroke. So call today and start with a Free Health Assessment to understand your best plan of action. So why didnt we do this earlier . Life line screening. The power of preventvention. Call now to learn more. Did yon the National Debt . Ssman get elected by talking tough will they stay true to their words . Or did they promise you one thing. Only to do another . Right now, congress is talking about tax cuts that will add trillions to our National Debt and hurt our economy. Its time to tell congress. Dont borrow more money from china. And leave more debt to our kids. Keep your word. Tax cuts shouldnt add to the National Debt. Bill so now whats happening in alabama . The situation snowballing by the day for roy moore. The rnc pulling out of the joint fundraising agreement with the Alabama Senate candidate. Moore remains defiant. Here he is last night speaking and responding to the latest accusations. After 40 something years of fighting this fight, im now facing allegations. Thats all the press want to talk about. But i want to talk about the issues. I want to talk about where this country is going and if we dont come back to god we arent going anywhere. Bill that from last night. This from this morning. Jonathan is picking up the story in alabama. Good morning, bill. The Republican National committee has cut fundraising ties with roy moore according to filings with the federal election committee. National republicans are seeking an alternative to this highly controversial. This is a dilemma when you have an unacceptable candidate. It is a tough situation. Mitch mcconnell says it appears the only option is a writein campaign which is rarely successful unless the candidate is immensely popular. He said in Alabama Attorney general and former senator Jeff Sessions would fit the bill. Moore fired back on mcconnell with a couple of tweets. Republican primary, strike one. Republican runoff, strike two. General election tbd. Three strikes and youre out, mitch. Speaking at a Church Revival moore joked about the opposition he faces. I made a few people mad. Im the only one that can unite democrats and republicans. Because i seem to be opposed by both. Wisdom suggests the controversy will help his opponent Democrat Doug Jones has released a new commercial reaching out to republicans. Im a republican but roy moore, no way. Im for doug jones. Im another republican for doug jones. With no signs of moore dropping out of the race it appears he and jones will go headtohead in the general election december 12th. Bill. Bill thank you, jonathan. Gadston, alabama. Sandra roy moore rapidly losing support. The wall street Journal Editorial Board has come out saying its time for the republican Senate Candidate to step aside. Lets bring in our panel. Brad blakeman is former assistant to george w. Bush and Richard Fowler Fox News Contributor and talk show host. Brad, one thing for sure, not stepping aside. He is not. Thats for sure. He will go down kicking and screaming. If thats the way it is going to be and he would win i think he would be expelled from the senate. It gives the power to the senate by a 2 3 vote to expel a member. That would be his fate should he be elected. Sandra in the wall street richard, in the wall street Journal Editorial Board they published this. The roy moore mess. The gop would be better off losing the senate seat. For 25 years they apologized for bill clinton starting with jennifer flowers before he was president. Republicans can show their standards are better. Richard. I think there is a point to this wall street journal editorial. When you have sean hannity saying last night roy moore, explain yourself or get out of this race clearly the tides have shifted for this former Supreme Court chief in alabama and people are being very clear. Republicans are saying we dont want you in our party. To go further i wrote a piece about this for Huffington Post a couple weeks ago how important it is that christians reclaim their religion. You cant have somebody like roy moore use christianity to hide what is the most deplorable of crimes, right, to say this is an attack against christianity, an attack against me. No, no, sir, you are a pedophile and it is not an attack against christianity, just an attack against you and your hideous ways. Sandra how does this all play out . One of the latest developments here is the rnc is cutting him off. They pulled out of this fundraising pact. With him. A chorus of republican lawmakers saying step down. What does the timing look like here . Bill the timing couldnt be worse for republicans. As a matter of law we cannot get rid of moore on the ballot. He will remain on the ballot. The question is are we going to have enough time and effort and wind at our back in order to put a good writein candidate forward. Were trying to cut our losses. If a democrat will win well stand on principle but the days he is our bum are over. Sandra Corey Gardner says if moore refuses to withdraw and wins the race the senate should move to expel him. We should note that is a possibility. I think it is a real possibility. Lets be clear here. Clearly there is a pattern to his behavior. If this was just one woman, one allegation that would be one thing. But you hear female after female after female coming out saying this happened to me, the same pattern, the same instances and this speaks to a hugeer problem and speaks to a larger part of this rape culture that is being exposed in this country. We have to do everything in our power to break down rape culture. Part of that is for the people of alabama to overwhelmingly reject roy moore as a candidate. That means voting against him december 13th. This is something that will never go to a courtroom. It will be in the court of Public Opinion and up to the alabama voters to decide. Sandra for his part he is fighting back saying i wont get into the details of their filthy and sleazy attacks going against the Obama Clinton machines liberal media lap dogs. I refuse to repeat their lies. The forces of evil are on the march in our country. Its the martyr syndrome. He will go down in flames, i believe. Because if he wins, he loses. I think that the people of alabama have a tough decision to make. They have to stand on principle and do the right thing. Im proud our party and the leadership in the senate is standing on principle. Thats exactly what we should be doing. Sandra if you were to make a prediction as to what happens next Richard Fowler, it would be what . Well have to wait and see. It is up to the voters of alabama. If this was a false allegation, which is possible, not in this case but its possible, you would hope moore would say let me tell you what really happened. He hasnt done anything to clear this up. He hasnt done anything to talk about what really happened which speaks to the fact that where there is smoke there is clearly a raging forest fire. Sandra well keep watching it. Brad and richard, thank you. Bill were watching the federal courthouse now. This is in new jersey, jurors are deliberating the corruption trial of senator bob menendez. Will they break the deadlock . We await that answer. Sandra a fourth person shot dead in tampa as fears of a serial killer continue to rise in one community. Booking a flight at the last minute doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. Bill more pushback facing roy moore. He is responding last night saying this. Friend, the forces of evil are on the march in our country. I will never give up the fight, end quote. My next guest says a day of reckoning is coming for the democrats who supported bill clinton dating back to the 1990s. Howard kurtz host of media buzz with me now. Howie, good morning to you. Here is the title of your piece at fox news. Com. Sex scandal boomerang. Is the left ready for a bill clinton reckoning . Whats that all about . Increasingly the answer is yes. Some of roy moores attacks on the Washington Post and other media are being discredited as more evidence comes about. You have now some left wing commentators, some of who defended bill clinton nearly two decades ago when he was accused of all manner of Sexual Misconduct resulting in the impeachment and acquittal saying gee in light were talking about raising our consciousness, actors, entertainers, producers, roy moore, prominent journalists, we have to reassess the defense that the left made of bill clinton when he was accused of not just Sexual Harassment but in one case sexual assault. This is what you right. In the caldron of impeachment politics some liberals were as whetted to defending clinton, despite the mounting evidence as conservatives are defending roy moore. But there is a defend our guy at all cost mentality in such cases that at least some liberals are belatedly attempting to confront, end quote. Thats the crux of it right there, howie. There are echoes with the roy moore situation today. Because the republicans tried to impeach bill clinton over what people said was private misbehavior and lied about it to a grand jury, people like gloria steinam, 1998 New York Times by the feminist leader. She went through the accuser, kathleen willie, it was a dumb and reckless pass. Paula jones who said bill clinton exposed himself to her. It was a clumsy sexual pass. It seems indefensible in light of many voices saying when women make allegations against powerful men serious attempts are being made to determine whether theyre credible. Bill two more points on this. Hints are being dropped on capitol hill that something is about to drop. What have you heard in washington what are the possibilities here . Were increasingly hearing and some female members of congress and staff are starting to be more forceful in speaking out, they say that they were harassed in various incidents. Most have been reluctant to name names. If some of these names lawmakers do get publicly identified there will be an explosion here. Weve seen this in other state capitals as well. Congress excerpts itself from a laws it imposes on everything else. Much in the way of Sexual Harassment training. I think if some of these male lawmakers are publicly accused you can add that to the bonfire that has gone through industry after industry as we try to grapple with it. Bill Roy Moore Says the media is going after him. I think the word he used was he is being harassed by the media over these allegations. Address that. The Washington Post, which start evidence this by interviewing the four women including the one woman who said she was 14 at the time who was sexually molested by roy moore when he was 32. Did its job. The women who was 14 were interviewed six times and so were people she spoke to. Whether you think the post is out to get roy moore, the story has held up. In light of the accuser who had the News Conference the other day. Beverly young nelson saying he attacked her in a car sexually when she was 16 is getting harder and harder for even those who believe in roy moore, who dont like the liberal media to wave this away and why you are saying wall street journal editorial page, hannity being more critical. The tide is turning. Nobody can stop roy moore right now. Bill that election is december 12th on the calendar. Howard kurtz there live in washington, d. C. Well oef see what happens next, wont we . Sandra those three College Basketball players breathing a sigh of relief returning home after being arrested in china. When President Trump is saying about their case and his push to bring them back home. You owned your car for four years. You named it brad. You loved brad. And then you totaled him. You two had been through everything together. Two boyfriends, three jobs. Youre like nothing can replace brad. Then Liberty Mutual calls. And you break into your happy dance. If you sign up for better car replacement™, well pay for a car thats a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. We are the driven. The dedicated. The overachievers. We know our best investment is in ourselves. We dont take no for an answer. We fight for what we want. Even for the things that were once a given. Going to college. Buying a home. And not being in debt for it for the rest of our lives. But were only as strong as our community. Who inspires and pushes us to go further than we could ever go alone. Sofi. Get there sooner. Now what . Well, after your first reaction, consider your choices. Go it alone, against the irs and its massive resources. Hire a law firm, where youre not a priority. Call your cpa, who can be required to testify against you. Or, call the tax law firm of moskowitz, llp. I went from being a cpa to a tax attorney because our clients needed more. Call us, and let us put our 30 years of tax experience to work for you. Bill a painting by leonardo da vinci, called savior of the world, 500 years old. Believed to be one of his last surviving works. The canvas had been owned by king charles i back in the 1600s, the lines to see it stretching around the block at christies auction house in rockefeller center. If youre in new york its over there 150 yards. Im pointing right over there. Sandra hard to tell where over there. Okay. Did you see the bodyguard standing there next to the painting . Dont plan on getting too close. Bill ive had friends who tried to get in the line and not even getting close to it because its really, really long. Sandra all right. Those ucla players accused of stealing from a store in china are back home. You can see them here returning to lax. President trump addressing the news from air force one. What they did was unfortunate. You are talking about very long prison sentences. That was not something that should have happened. Sandra we have the story from los angeles. Whats next for these players . We could find out later today when ucla holds a News Conference at 2 00 eastern. The players are expected to speak but not take questions but is an embarrassment for the university and country they were caught on video stealing expensive sunglasses and items from two other stores adjacent to their hotel in china where the team played on saturday. The three arrived last night at lax thanks to President Trump who intervened to get them out. Given what they stole the three could have received up to two years in jail. What happens now is up to the university. For context, in 2010 after Police Caught three ucla foot ballplayers stealing items the coach suspended them the entire season. Days later they went on to play in the nfl. One season later prosecutors convicted a bruin basketball player stealing a laptop. He received a twogame suspension. In a Statement Last night uclas chancellor said the university will take action but he did not thank President Trump by name for the special treatment. Some wonder what was ucla doing in china in the first place . Under state law california universities are not permitted to play supports in eight states including texas and north carolina. California does not apply the same standard human rights standard to china where u. C. Berkeley will play in the same game next year. Sandra. Sandra they are back home now. Thank you. Bill what a story that is, too. Youre young, you make mistakes. These are really good players. They know better. I wonder what happens if President Trump is not there in china a week ago, whether or not they get the same treatment . Sandra they had no idea what their future was. Bill ball is a great player. He has two brothers, come from a good family. But this was dumb. Next hour coming up right here now calls for a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton continue. Growing from some republicans. The a. G. Jeff sessions says he will not give in to pressure. Our panel will take that up. Also a man with a highpowered rifle going on a rampage. Why a group of Elementary School teachers are being praised for how they reacted. This incident, as tragic and bad as it is, could have been so much worse if it wasnt for the quick thinking and staff at our Elementary School. Sandra President Trump setting his sights on tax reform as he returns from asia. Putting pressure on congress to cross the finish line. The house heading for a final vote tomorrow as the senate throws in a new tax twist if you will. Welcome to a new hour of americas newsroom, im sandra smith. Bill the last twist . Sandra no. I think we can make that prediction. Bill good morning. Im bill hemmer. As lawmakers focus on tax cuts for the middle class and small business. The senate moving to add a repeal of the Obamacare Mandate to their version of the tax bill. New york congressman peter king last hour leading a crusade to save the deduction for state and local taxes that will hit a lot of people. Here is what he said last hour. They may have the votes. Im hoping they dont. If they do, they do. My real objection to mulvaney is yesterday he was saying if there is a bad impact on new york, thats new yorks fault. This is what mulvaney has been doing back in congress. The guy that led the fight against the sandy relief money that was due to new york. He never supported the 9 11 healthcare bill for new york and now he seems to use every opportunity to take shots at new york. Bill peter king there. Kristin fisher live at the white house. Where does the president stand on the new changes as of today . He supports it. A senior white house says he was pushing senators while he was overseas in asia to include this individual mandate repeal in this bill. Now, the advantages to including it are that it would free up more money for tax cuts and getting rid of something that most republicans despise. But the down side is that it could embolden democrats and make tax reform much more difficult to pass which is why the house didnt include the repeal in their version of the bill. We didnt want to needlessly complicate the passage of tax reform. We want to see the senate go first and see if they can get it done and then well discuss whether or not it gets included at the end. Speaker ryan said its a bad mandate. He wants to get rid of it. He doesnt want to jeopardize getting tax reform done by christmas. Bill for thanksgiving. What about the timing and the scheduling. I know they said they would like to get it done. Thats a week from tomorrow. Right. The clock is running out. President trump said that he wanted to get this done by thanksgiving at one point in time. It appears that the house is on track to meet that timeline. They are set to vote tomorrow. It is almost impossible for the senate to meet that timeline. They are still shooting for the president s initial target of christmas. A Christmas Gift for the American People and yesterday Vice President mike pence says he believes that the senate will be able to deliver. We believe that we are making steady progress in the United States senate and in the house of representatives and that well have the votes. Were taking nothing for granted. President trump himself will be heading back to capitol hill tomorrow morning to try to finally get this across the finish line, bill. Bill thank you, kristin. From the white house, thanks, sandra. Sandra for more on this guy benson Political Editor at town hall. Com. The new twist were talking about. The individual mandate is the target of senate republicans. How does this change things . Well, i think paul ryans analysis we just heard in that report is correct. It does complicate matters politically a little bit. On one hand its a terrible mandate that is widely disliked by the American People forcing americans to buy a product in many cases that they dont want and cant afford and if you get rid of it, its a big chunk out of obamacare and saves the government hundreds of billions of dollars that can be put towards tax reform and funding that and making the numbers work in terms of deficit. There are a number of reasons to support the plan. I think the concern politically. There are policy concerns as well but the political concern, sandra, is if you inject healthcare politics into the tax reform debate, all of a sudden the dynamics change and the opposition might get more fired up and republicans who have already shown a skittishness to Touch Healthcare unfortunately with the failure of Obamacare Repeal might start to back off and say why are we lumping this in with tax reform . Thats the question republicans have to figure it out. Will they get to 51 votes in the senate if the repeal of the individual mandate is included. Im skeptical. I would be delighted but im skeptical. Sandra paul ryan will look to see what the senate did. He says that could change at conference. So is there an anticipation that we could see a change in the house when it comes to repealing that individual mandate . Definitely. So the house has already multiple times passed Obamacare Repeal that goes beyond getting rid of the mandate. If the senate proves it can have the votes and get that done in the upper chamber, that would ping down to the Lower Chamber and House Republicans would be more than happy to repeal the individual mandate again. One other point that you just made referencing a conference committee, i know there is a lot of reporting right now about what the house bill says and they might pass it tomorrow. What the senate bill says, oh, there is expirations of individual tax cuts in eight years in the senate bill. The ultimate bill is not going to be either one of these pieces of legislation. They will both pass hopefully from a republican perspective, theyll both pass their own bills and then have to get together in a room and come up with one bill that unifies both. Thats the most important piece of legislation we should look at in terms of analysis how it will affect the American People. Sandra when you watched the town hall on fox news last night with martha and bret it reminds you this isnt just economics. This is about emotions for the American People. And this affects everybody differently, which is why people are left in limbo wondering what happens next with all this . So weve got the final vote in the house tomorrow. As far as the votes they sound very optimistic. Is it going to take the president to push this over the finish line . I think the president has the biggest microphone in the country and the message that the white house can push out is independent score keepers and sort of math folks have come back and looked at these bills and said every single tax bracket, every single income group in america on average gets a tax cut under this bill and there is massive simplification, especially for people who file and take the standard deduction which is 70 of americans. It will go up to 90 with the doubling of the standard deduction. There is a lot to like in this bill across the board especially for the middle class and thats what the president is going to say, i think, or ought to say repeatedly. Sandra you probably heard us last hour discussing a defiant roy moore refusing to step down. There is a lesson to be learned here. They write the lesson Republican Voters should draw from the roy mess is by nominating candidate who want to achieve serious reform of the tax code or confirming originalist judges rather than pouring their emotions into a political fringe that will always find a way to lose. Your take on that. Amen to all of that. I think the most interesting Political Development on the roy moore front and of course there is a lot swirling right now, sean hannity last night basically gave judge moore an ultimatum. 24 hours to clear up this stuff and mount a compelling defense of himself or get out of the race. To me that was telling because you know sean has very deep connections at the white house, very highest levels. He is very familiar with white house thinking. I wonder if this was a shot across the bow from hannity to roy moore in anticipation of what President Trump might be thinking about saying. Sandra good point. Well see what the party does next and see in what form the president weighs in on all of this. Guy benson, thanks for coming on this morning. Bill eight minutes past. More on the breaking news out of california. Four people dead, 10 injured, two of them children vf a gunman goes on a shooting rampage. Seven different locations. Police say a fight with a neighbor may have set him off. He tried to get into an Elementary School. Staff blocked him from getting inside. Police say multiple crime scenes are making their job a lot more difficult. We have requested the department of justice, their investigative evidence teams to respond. Additionally the f. B. I. Has volunteered their investigative, their crime scene Investigative Unit to come and do a crime scene also. So right now resources are thin. We have a lot of resources on the ground. Were doing our work. Bill were live near the scene with the latest from Northern California. Claudia. Good morning, bill. Investigators are still processing seven different crime scenes. Now theyre doing it in the rain this morning and facing questions about whether they knew that the gunman in yesterdays shooting rampage posed an imminent danger. The crazy thing is the neighbor has been shooting a lot of bullets lately, hundreds of rounds, large magazines, and, you know, we just we made it aware that this guy has been crazy and he has been threatening us. Sandra locals have identified 43yearold kevin neil has the gunman. He was a known drug addict and out on bail for stabbing a female neighbor. He started with killing that woman and another man near his home. Stole their car, then drove around town firing at random. Leaving two others dead and 10 injured including two children, one of whom was inside the local Elementary School. Teachers there had heard the shots in the distance and immediately put the school on lockdown. Still firing several weapons and wearing a vest packed with ammo he tried to get into classrooms but they were locked so he gave up at the school and continued his rampage on the road until police finally caught up with them and shot him ending the rampage about 45 minutes after it began. The sheriff is also warning that the death toll which currently stands at five could rise because they say some of the gunmens relatives are missing and dont know where they are. Surveillance video from the school is now key evidence in this Ongoing Investigation and authorities are giving a lot of credit to the staff and teachers at that school for initiating that lockdown mode as quickly as they did saying that undoubtedly saved countless young lives. Bill claudia, thank you. Sandra attorney general Jeff Sessions pushing back as jim jordan wants special counsel to look into Hillary Clinton. Im asking for a special counsel. Looks like is not enough basis to appoint a special counsel. Sandra are the clintons in the clear or could they still face investigation . Our panel takes that up. Bill beijing putting new pressure on pyongyang. Will it get results its looking for on north korea and the Nuclear Issue . I think we have done a really fantastic job. It has been a great trip. It has also been really good in terms of north korea, getting everybody together. I think their acts are all together. China has been excellent. Whoooo. Looking for a hotel that fits. 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In elected office from President Trump to Vice President pence to members of congress or the senate, if that body of evidence existed there would be an investigation today on corruption charges and bribery. I think its that crystal clear. Sandra attorney general Jeff Sessions refusing to say one way or the other if that will actually happen. A former writer for president george w. Bush and capri cafaro is from the school of Public Affairs and Ohio Senate Minority leader. Now those introductions are done. Ned, he left the door open to doing so, did he not . He did. It might be there is already an Investigation Underway and he cant comment one way or the other. I have to say Jeff Sessions is one of the greatest disappointments of trumps cabinet. He should never have recused himself. If he was going to he should have refused the appointment. Im not the biggest fan of special counsel. I think there are other ways to skin this cat, sandra. Devin nunes can subpoena people and ask why they approved the uranium one deal. Doj can open an investigation into fusion gps and ask why were you doing what you were doing and spreading misinformation on behalf of a foreign state . The whole reason we have were having this conversation there is a justified perception thater i can holder and loretta link and james comey didnt do their jobs properly and the pay to play uranium one and the clinton foundation. They became heavily politicized under obama. Sandra if they would do their job it wouldnt be necessary. Trey gowdy came on last hour and made the case there is not enough there to appoint a special counsel. Listen. I did not sign the letter because i dont think the threshold has been met for the appointment of special counsel. I think this is a really important point. You can investigate something without special counsel. In fact, 99. 9 of all investigations in this country are done by the women and men at the department of justice and u. S. Attorneys offices and none of them is called special counsel. So there is a threshold that has to be met and i dont think it has been met. Sandra interesting. Capri . I think trey gowdy made neds point in the fact it is possible to do an investigation without calling a special counsel. I think we need to remember that the department of justice regardless of who is in office, whether its a democrat or republican, really needs to be above politics. Any time an attorney general or anyone in the department of justice or Law Enforcement play politics it is a disservice to the American People and i think in that regard what attorney general sessions was saying yesterday and what trey gowdy was saying there needs to be a threshold. You need to show that a certain burden so to speak is being met to actually pull the trigger for a special counsel. It is incumbent upon this administration and maybe sandra it comes down to getting answers for the American People. And they see that the exoneration of Hillary Clinton was written by the former f. B. I. Director well before the investigation and key interviews. The uranium one deal they see it happened and wonder why on earth that was ever approved. And they just wonder. Are we ever going to get to the bottom of this . Thats why we owe it to the American People. First of all, the American People deserve to know the department of justice is not politicized and weaponized. One of the basics of our society is rule of law. You can only have rule of law if you have impartial justice as capri was saying. I think we need to get to the bottom of this issue. We can do it. People need to know what the secretary of state while she was in office using her position to do influence peddling or was she not . Sandra the president is putting pressure on this to happen, does that perhaps make some reluctant to jump in and say. I think in politics perception is often reality. And in this case obviously Hillary Clinton was a former adversary of our current president it may look like he is trying to utilize his position and his cabinet members to seek revenge on a former political adversary. I do think because of the climate and because as has been mentioned the questions about previous administrations, at the end of the day the Justice Department and attorney general sessions have an obligation to the American Public to say were impartial. I served on the Ohio Ethics Committee for eight years. Sandra he said that yesterday during his testimony and he reveres was his word, i believe, his position there and takes it very seriously. Thanks to both of you for being here, good to see you. Bill two tax plans being hashed out in congress right now. On the house side we may get a vote tomorrow. On the senate side which one does the president like . Well talk to white house legislative director mark short about all that coming up next. Sandra fears of a serial killer on the loose mounting after a fourth person is found shot to death in a small community. I said what are you doing way over here . I thought you would say there. What are you doing . And he talked and i said dont you go nowhere by yourself. The best simple salad ever . Hearthealthy california walnuts. The best simple pasta ever . California walnuts. The best simple dinner ever . Great tasting, hearthealthy california walnuts. So simple, so good. Get the recipes at walnuts. Org. Booking a flight doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. Bp developed new, industryleading software to monitor Drilling Operations in realtime, so our engineers can solve problems with the most precise data at their fingertips. Because safety is never being satisfied. And always working to be better. Did yon the National Debt . Ssman get elected by talking tough will they stay true to their words . Or did they promise you one thing. Only to do another . Right now, congress is talking about tax cuts that will add trillions to our National Debt and hurt our economy. Its time to tell congress. Dont borrow more money from china. And leave more debt to our kids. Keep your word. Tax cuts shouldnt add to the National Debt. One nation in all of Human History was built on that bedrock, ours. Freedom has made america exceptional, but it can only last if you and i choose to act as people of character. Forging character has been the pursuit of Hillsdale College since 1844. Bill here we go now. Senate finance committee back to work marking up their plan on taxes. House expected to vote on a version tomorrow. President trump will be on the hill to hash it all out. Mark short from the white house with me now. Good morning. I have a lot of questions on all this tax deal. Thank you for your time here. I want to show you a clip from our town hall last night with bret and martha. The question is obvious. Watch carefully how people respond when this question was asked. If you are in this group tonight and you think that you might end up actually paying more under this plan, raise your hands. Bill im going to say about a dozen hands went in the air. I dont have a specific number. Thats a room of about 50 people. Under a republican majority, why would anyone raise their hand if this tax bill was good for them . The tax bill is good for them. The joint committee on taxation has said that every income bracket will receive tax relief. Every income bracket will receive tax relief. So i guess part of the question is the way that in many cases the Mainstream Media covers the legislation. Were very encouraged where we are in this process and we believe well be delivering tax relief for americans across the country next year. Bill does the president support the senate or house plan right now . Bill, this is a process. We both are excited. He is supportive of the underlying elements in each of the some of the things get ironed out in conference. We look forward to a house vote tomorrow. We expect a good vote and look forward to a senate vote after thanksgiving. Bill when he was in asia, a lot going on, north korea, china, etc. , etc. , how close did he Pay Attention to the tax debate happening at home . This president is a very handson president. He was very much in touch with the debate and speaking to leader mcconnell and speaker ryan frequently through the trip. He stayed very engaged throughout. Bill why did he call into a meeting of 12 Senate Democrats . Well, bill, i think this tax relief plan is good for all americans, republicans and democrats alike. Particularly Many Democrats who represent upper midwest states who have seen manufacturing jobs leave this country. What this tax bill does by lowering the corporate rate is intended to bring jobs back into america. Weve seen too Many Companies move overseas because our Corporate Tax rate is no longer competitive. We hope its a plan that can win both republican and democratic support. Bill the individual side a lot of people arent happy with what theyre seeing so far. Comes from the left and right and in conversations lunch, dinner, walking down the street. You wonder whether or not you make the corporate cuts in a way where you redistribute the money in order to make the businesses happy first. How would you respond to that criticism . Well, bill, i guess i would disagree with that criticism. I think this is focused toward middle income families. The president was consistent from the start that he wants that to be our target area, not so much the upper income individuals in america but the middle income families that we can provide more dollars in their pockets. And so if you look at what were doing not just with lowering their individual rates but also provide child tax credits were looking to make sure the middle income working families get the most relief. Bill you have to make sure the psychology at play here works. You have to convince people they are able to save a lot more money. Otherwise its just, as i say, just kibbles and bits on the side. And in the end you may not get the Economic Growth you are looking for. Respond to that. Well, i think that the Economic Growth we suffered under the obama years was 1. 8 . The worst of any president since the great depression. We need to turn that around not just so we can get more jobs in our country but if were going the pay our ob obligations and rebuild our military we cant do that if we continue to struggle as a country with 1. 8 growth. We need 3, 4, 5 growth to make sure that america stays secure. Bill a lot of people would agree on that. One last point, sir. 10 of americans pay 70 of the taxes. Those numbers dont lie. Whats in it for them . Well, bill, again each income bracket will receive tax relief. Whats in it for them. Bill each . Yes, each income bracket will receive tax relief. The bipartisan Nonpartisan Organization on capitol hill. As you go up each of the brackets the first 24,000 is a standard deduction. You go to the first 90,000 your income is reduced to 12 and on up until you get to the highest income and moved the top income bracket for 500,000 and a Million Dollars for a couple. So yes, even the top bracket in the house bill gets tax relief. Bill i hope you come back. Thank you for making your case with us today, okay . Look forward to discussing more. Mark short on the north lawn. Sandra were awaiting the verdict in the bribery trial of senator bob menendez. Well have a live report from the courthouse. Bill the cofounder of the firm behind the antitrump dossier meeting with House Intelligence Committee yesterday for seven hours behind closed doors. What he is saying about his involvement in the case. Here is trey gowdy. Whether or not he thinks the stuff is true i could care less about. What i really care about is whether the f. B. I. Thought it was true and whether or not they used it in the court filing. Ition big hype. Big price. Big deal. Olay regenerist hydrates skin better than creams costing over 100, 200 and even 400. For skin that looks younger than it should. Fact check this ad in good housekeeping. Olay regenerist. Ageless. Now, boost your regimen with Olay Regenerist concentrate. Sandra the cofounder of fusion gps Glenn Simpson facing questions from the House Intelligence Committee for seven hours yesterday over his involvement with the firms orchestration of the russian dossier that has sparked a national controversy. Catherine herridge joins us now live from washington with all the latest changing on this. After the sevenhour closed door session the cofounder of fusion gps did not take reporters question. He let his lawyer do the talking. Glenn simpson was with the russian lawyer before and after the june 9th 2016 trump tower meeting with the president s son among others. His lawyer claimed the timing is a coincidence and had no idea his Companys Research would be used during the trump meeting. Mr. Simpson at no time was told by anybody about that socalled trump tower meeting either before it happened or after it happened. Indeed, he was shocked and surprised when this matter appeared in the newspapers in the news media this summer. Court records show simpson directed Christopher Steele who used his russian contacts to compile the dossier to brief major Media Outlets in september and october of 2016. Simpsons lawyer concedes for the first time his client briefed the media on the dossier paid for by the dnc and clinton campaign. Sandra did we learn any more about the credibility of the dossier . Without getting into concrete examples, simpsons lawyer said the research is solid. This experienced official came back with a report that now in hindsight looks quite accurate. Last hour the senior republican on the House Intelligence Committee who led that partys questioning characterized the dossier differently. The way that we vet information in a courtroom or in public is very different from the accumulating of opposition research. The threshold for whether or not you believe something is true is not real high writing a Research Piece but really high in court. The lawyers deny claims his client paid journalists to write stories that benefited his comments. Whether payments were made by fusion gps to third parties such as law firms. It is worth noting there is ongoing litigation in washington, d. C. With fusion gps trying to block t. D. Bank from releasing its financials to this committee. Sandra thank you for your reporting on that. Bill Marc Thiessen from the Washington Post and good morning to you. You heard the clip from trey gowdy. He was here last hour. He comes back he will not tell us whether or not wow, that went down the wrong column. He will insist he wants to know what the f. B. I. Did with the information whether its true or not. Go ahead and start there. We need to know what the f. B. I. Did with the information and we need the bank records. I think what we find if we get the bank records fusion gps is a firm with deep links to the putin regime. In addition to being hired by Hillary Clinton to do this dossier, they hired fusion gps to try to repeal something called the magnitsky act. He uncovered massive tax fraud in russia and murdered in a russian prison. His boss worked here in congress to pass the magnitsky act which put sanctions on people involved in the murder and who benefited from the tax fraud. Fusion gps was hired by russianlinked people to accuse him of being involved in the tax fraud. So the question is why was Hillary Clinton hiring the same putinlinked firm to smear donald trump that putin hired to smear magnitsky . A lot of russian collusion. Bill i need a flow chart to follow what you said. I can cut through and ask you a simple question. Are we closer to understanding this now or not . We dont know what he said. What will really bring us closer is if we get the bank records. Its always woodward bernstein, follow the money. Bill i want to talk about taxes quickly. You have a lot to say about this and i want to paraphrase what you say. Four words no americans can utter. Republicans raised my taxes. Do you see that in play now on this tax bill . It is interesting. You had mark short and paul ryan was on last night. When they say is the average american will get in every bracket the average person in every bracket will get a tax cut. They will not say what george w. Bush said in 2001 when we were passing tax relief in the bush administration. He went on the stump and able to say every american will get a tax cut. Thats the problem theyre facing now. A lot of americans think that this plan is going to raise their taxes. Some of them are wrong because they havent figured out that look, youll get doubling of the standard deduction, your rates will go down. If you have a child you get more of a child tax credit. You may come out better under this thing. Some americans including trump voters and republicans may not come out better and that is going to be a big problem for them going forward. They have to explain to americans, we have to find out first who is not going to benefit. Who are we raising taxes on and explain to the americans who arent getting their taxes raised why thats the case. Bill you say tax reform is difficult. Tax relief is okay. Yeah. Bill its easy. Everybody understands what they are getting back. You choke me up every time, i have to run. Marc, thank you, sir. Sandra ill get you some water. A Tampa Community is on edge after a man was shot and killed in the same neighborhood as three unsolved shooting last month. Police are urging residents to be on the lookout. Steve harrigan. Are police thinking its the work of a serial killer . Theyve been hesitant to use the word serial killer but there are similarities. All four were people outsidewalking alone at night killed by gunfire. Sandra all right. We lost steve harrigan. I think well leave it there because i still dont hear him. Sometimes that happens. Bill if we get him back we will. We can get a signal from halfway around the world but sometimes things get in between here and miami. Sandra then we pop up. Bill in the meantime china putting pressure on north korea days after the president was visiting in beijing. What were learning about all that coming up in a second here. Sandra plus one of the best scrabble players in the world caught not playing by the rules. Shame, shame. Bill one of the worlds top scrabble players banned from the game after being accused of cheating. Are you one of them, america . Witnesses claim they saw Allen Simmons taking new tiles out of the bag after he had already drawn. He will not be able to play for three years in competition. Simmons has written books on scrabble and contributed game coverage. Ending his column in the newspaper. Sandra why did he take that risk . Bill he denies the cheating. Says it did not happen. Sandra the best game that ever, ever has existed. Bill it is . I play a little bit. Sandra that means you dont play. Bill i trend toward trivial pursuit more than scrabble. It is a great game and youre a huge fan. Sandra the electronic version a lot different than the board game. Not as challenging. I cant challenge your word. Bill that aint right. Sandra we have news to report. Bill watch the numbers. Sandra all right. Tensions rising on the pacific rim with china sending a highlevel special envoy to north korea days after President Trumps visit to beijing. Trump has repeatedly urged china to increase pressure on kim jongun to end his nuclear program. Is that whats happening here . Joining us now is Lieutenant Colonel ralph peters. Thank you for coming on this morning. Is that whats happening here . It appears to be. It appears that president xi of china wants to demonstrate he is responding to trumps visit. That he does want to help us out. The figure sent to pyongyang i would describe as a ghost foreign minister. A different system than ours. Parallel systems of government in a communist party. He is the Chinese Communist partys foreign minister. It is insider insider stuff. The chinese have not said why they sent him to pyongyang. I think its unmistakable it sends a signal President Trump, well help you out. Well see what happens. The chinese, sandra, are concerned on multiple fronts. They dont want a break with us. Theyve always viewed north korea as a valuable ally. Now north korea has slipped the leash and theyre worried. But as china has enforced some of the u. N. Mandated sanctions, russia has stepped in and the chinese dont want russia taking their place in north korea. So there are a lot of moving parts here. And the guy who is now the spoiler at this point is vladimir putin. Sandra the president on his way back from this historic trip commented on the relationship between United States and china. President trump the relationship is always important. It doesnt mean its necessarily close. It is really a relationship based on respect. To me a relationship based on respect is much more important than anything else including friendship because this is really something they have to respect our country and they have not respected our country for a long period of time. Sandra determining what were seeing now after the president s trip. That was on Board Air Force one yesterday on his way back. Determining whether or not this is another token gesture or a real effort, only a tangible result will have meaning. What does that look like . What are you looking for . Well, i do think it is genuine effort on the part of china most likely. I just am not sure where the limits are for china and how far theyll push. What would success look like . The first sign would be that north korea stays quiet and stops testing missiles and nukes. Theyve been having trouble with Nuclear Testing with tunnels collapsing on their own scientists. The first step. The most important step has to be steps toward denuclearization. Again, the bottom line after all the fuss. We cant allow north korea, which continues to threat en us, to have the capability to destroy American Cities with nuclear weapons. First step a quieter, more restrained north korea. But the second and much more difficult step would be denuclearization. Sandra i want to get to the ncaa players who were caught shoplifting at the store. The president stepped in and they are back in the United States. The president just tweeted this out. Do you think the three ucla basketball players will say thank you, President Trump . They were headed for 10 years in jail. What does all of this and the correspondence it took to get those players back, what message does this send or tell you . For president xi of china it was an easy give. Its another thing. It shows some results from trumps trip. But i tell you, those ncaa basketball players shoplifting in china, wow, what great representatives of our country. Maybe there is a place for sharia law, chop off their right hands, just kidding. Sandra they have harsh punishments there for shoplifting. The players are now back. A story well certainly keep following. Colonel ralph peters. Dont shame your country overseas. Bill jon scott is coming up next on happening now. Good morning, bill. More on that topic President Trump tweeting up a storm after his trip to asia calling it a big success and Jeff Sessions in the hot seat. What we learned from his testimony yesterday and the latest on the controversy over Alabama Senate candidate judge roy moore. It is getting hot there. Bill thank you, jon, see you in 10 minutes. We might get a verdict soon in the corruption trial of senator bob menendez. The new instruction for the judge is waiting for the jury to consider as they remain deadlocked. A live report coming up on that. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Bill deliberation back underway for a seventh day in the senator bob menendez trial. The judge with new instructions to the jury to avoid the mistrial. Is that possible . How long have we been deliberating now, david lee . As of now, bill, the jury has been deliberating a little more than 24 hours in total. Court convened about one hour ago and at this moment the jury is back at it deliberating. On monday the jury sent out a note saying that they were deadlocked and couldnt reach a unanimous decision on any of the charges. The judge then gave them verbal and written instructions asking them to continue deliberations among other things he told them this is not a reality show. Take as much time as necessary. We do know the jury is divided. The big question is how great the split. A short time ago senator menendez left the courthouse feeling what appeared to be cautiously optimistic. How are you feeling today . A beautiful day. Waiting on the jury. In the past day or so the senator has appeared to be a little more upbeat than usual. The other day he playfully pointed his iphone at the news media saying if you can take my picture, i can take yours. The question is how much longer is he going to remain in such a good mood . It will depend on what, if anything, this jury decides . Bill if the jury doesnt reach a decision soon, what would happen next, david lee . Well, the defense has asked the judge to instruct the jury that it is perfectly acceptable for them to make a decision that no verdict is acceptable as the outcome to this trial. The prosecution meanwhile wants the judge to instruct the jury that they can deliver a partial verdict on the 18 charges faced by menendez and his codefendant as well. We dont know what are the issues the jury is grappling with . Very interestingly, since monday, weve not heard a peep from the jury. They have not sent out a single note asking to see any of the evidence or asking to hear any of the testimony read back. This now as the trial continues on what is day 37 with this hour, really, no end in sight. Bill reading tea leaves indeed. Sandra President Trump working to whip up support for his tax cut plan as congress hashs out the fine details. And now a major change. A twist if you will as the senate adds something new to the mix. Dont try to get up. Hi, im julie, a right at home caregiver. And if id been caring for toms dad, i would have noticed some dizziness that could lead to balance issues. Thats because im trained to report any changes in behavior, no matter how small, so tom could have peace of mind. Well be right there. We have to go. Hey, tom. You should try right at home. Theyre great for us. The right care. Right at home. Do you have the coverage you need . Open enrollment ends december 7th. 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Keep your word. Tax cuts shouldnt add to the National Debt. Have you seen this yet . People magazines annual sexiest man alive edition. It goes to blake shelton. The cover, however, the News Business has some notable men, too, bill hemmer profiled in the hot off the press section. I did not label that, by the way. Look at that. There is our own bill hemmer as well as Shepard Smith made it as well. Look at that. Hey. Thats embarrassing. You guys are looking good. Time to check the eyesight, right . Next time the cover. Not bad for old men. Happening now. Jon fallout from the president s asia trip with a big announcement coming soon. On the domestic front the president has his hands full. Good morning to you. Im jon scott. Im julie banderas. New questions about the russia investigation after his attorney generals testimony and a growing scandal surrounding Alabama Senate candidate roy moore. While Congress Works to pass tax reform before everyone goes home for the holidays. Good