Slept. While on the republican side, word of a potential drastic option to keep the Senate Candidate roy moore from ever getting elected after accusations of Sexual Misconduct with young teenagers. We expect to hear from roy moore live shortly. Lets get to it. Good thursday afternoon from the fox news deck. To breaking news. A live look at the White House Briefing room. Sarah sanders set to take questions in this hour after House Republicans passed a bill to make the biggest changes to our nations tax code in three decades. The vote, 227205. 13 republicans voted against their own partys plan. Not one democrat voted in favor. President trump visited capitol hill earlier today to meet with members. The bill would affect nearly every household and business owner. The house bill reduces the number of tax brackets from seven to five. Also important what is not in this bill, theres no repeal of the individual mandate of the Affordable Care act. The senate bill would scrap the obamacare requirement that nearly all americans have to buy Health Insurance or pay a penalty. House republicans got rid of the deduction for state and local taxes or salt despite opposition from lawmakers in high tax states including new york, new jersey and california. The house measure does allow the deduction of up to 10,000 of property taxes. What is the overall effect . What would this bill do if enacted into law as is . Well, it would raise taxes on about 37 million americans. According to the joint committee on taxation. Thats a Nonpartisan Group that analyzes bills before members vote. Heres paul ryan celebrating with republicans after todays vote. Ive got to say, this is nothing short of extraordinary. This country has not rewritten its tax code since 1986. This powers of the status quo in this town are so strong, yet 227 men and women of this congress broke through that today. That is powerful. Before the vote, the House Minority leader, nancy pelosi called the Republican House bill a scam and she invited republicans to negotiate with democrats. This isnt tax reform. Its not even a tax cut. Its a tax scam. Why dont we go to the table, as has been done in the past in a bipartisan way, sit down, listen to testimony as to what works and what doesnt work. Shepard as House Republicans celebrate a win on taxes, another measure is still making its way through the senate and is by no means a done deal. Just yesterday the senator from wisconsin, ron johnson announced he doesnt support the bill. Other senators like Susan Collins and bob corker have said theyre concerned. Compared to the house, theres a smaller margin of error in the u. S. Senate where republicans have a narrow 5248 majority. They can lose one more vote and still pass this tax plan. It was the senate, by the way, that killed the republican healthcare effort after the house celebrated passing similarly the Obamacare Repeal bill. It never became law. Chad pergram is live on capitol hill. A dramafree vote today, chad. Yeah, i talked to some senior aides yesterday. They were amazed how smooth this was going. One aide said they were prepared to throw sand in the gears. You usually dont have this on votes of this magnitude. They voted on the same bill that came out of the ways and Means Committee last thursday. No changes. You put the changes in in the rules committee, the individual mandate repeal, maybe something on the state and local tax deduction. They didnt have to. They felt like they had the votes. When you have a vote of this magnitude, its strange to move it through that quickly and without many changes. They had the votes so didnt have to address those issues. If you compared this experience to what they dealt with in the spring, there were no sweaty palms, shep. Shepard how do things like on the senate side . Thats where the sweaty palms will be. We knew getting up, this bill would probably pass the house. Its very unclear in the senate. Mitch mcconnell indicates theyll try to move the bill the week after thanksgiving. You mentioned ron johnson, a no. I would look at someone like john mccain who indicated he was the person that blew up healthcare over the summer. He says i dont know what that bill is because its not written yet. Probably be out sometime tomorrow. You get down to the nitty gritty. Look at lisa murkowski. Theyre trying to get her vote. Theyre going to allow drilling in anwar, the wild life refuge. They moved that through committee yesterday. She had a lot of reservations about the healthcare issue. You put that in the bill, i asked Mitch Mcconnell about this. He thought it adds votes. Theres other republican senators that dont think it will at all. And then theres the deficit. You have the budget hawks. People like jeff flake, bob corker that says this will add 1. 5 trillion in deficit spending. Thats a problem. Shepard chad pergram live for us on the hill. Thanks very much. The House Republican tax plan could raise taxes on more than a million Older Americans just next year. Thats according to aarp. The nations largest lobbying group for folks over 50. Analysts say thats partly because the bill gets rid of the deduction for high medical expenses. It mainly benefits people with disabilities and Older Americans. The Fox Business Networks gerri willis is here. I wonder if theyre in touch with this change yet. No. We talked about americans with college debt, how they will suffer under this build. Older americans will, too. 1. 2 million americans will see increased taxes in 2018. By 2024, its worse. 4. 9 million americans will see expenses. You may be wondering why. Why . So many of these folks use the medical expense deduction. Youre familiar with that. You can write off your medical expenses. At the end of the day, 8. 8 million americans do that. 3 4 of them are older. Theres an additional standard deduction for people 65 and older. 1,250. When youre on a limited income, you have to be careful how you spend money, a lot of money to you. The lowest tax bracket goes from 10 to 12 . That is more money out of their pocket. I have to tell you, really meaningful if youre counting every dime. Shepard how will that play out for lower income americans . What is interesting about this and why its so hard to talk about, it plays out over ten years, 2027. When you look at it by tax bracket, how this plays out, what you find is the in early years, lower income americans get a good deal. Their taxes go down. The further you get into this tax plan, the more that turns around until by the end of 2027, these folks are paying higher taxes. Over ten years, the net average is higher taxes . The net average. Its so hard to talk about. Are you in blue states, older, younger. Its difficult to say. A lot of people will see higher taxes. Even if you dont see higher taxes, you may look at what is coming out of your wallet and say thats where i was before. Higher taxes for 36 million americans if the house build goes in unchanged. Doubtful it will. Shepard i doubt it, too. The democratic senator al franken is aapologizing after a news anchor posted a photo of him reaching to grope her breasts while she was asleep on a flight during a uso tour in 2006. Leanne tweeden is her name. She says senator franken forced her to kiss him. In a statement, the senator wrote that hes ashamed about the photo. He volunteered to undergo an ethics investigation. He said i dont know what was in my head when i took that picture and doesnt matter. Theres no excuse. I look at it now and feel disgusted with myself. Its not funny. Its completely inappropriate. Its obvious how leeann would feel violated. Lawmakers from both parties are joining senator franken himself in calling for an ethics investigation. Mitch mcconnell and the top democrat in the senate, chuck schumer, said the committee should look into what they called credible accusations. The news anchor, as i mentioned, Leeann Tweeden said this happened in a tour to the troops in the middle east when al franken was a comedian. Tweeden said that franken pestered her to practice a skit. When she agreed, he forced his tongue down. I remember i pushed him off with my hands. I remember i almost punched him. Every time i see him now, my hands clinch in a fist. I said if you do that to me again, i wont be so nice the second time. Senator franken says he does not remember rehearsing for the skit the same way that tweeden does but he acknowledges that we have to listen to and believe womens experiences. Mike emanuel is live on capitol hill. Mike, if you could, tell us what other Senate Republicans are saying about these accusations. Shep, already, a number of senators are being asked if senator al franken should resign. Theyre not going there yet. Nebraskas deb fisher says the allegations must be checked out. Theyre serious allegations. They need to be investigated. Is it fitting for a u. S. Senator . No. Its not fitting behavior for anyone. Then is one of the senates Top Republicans had an interesting response be to this question. Not entirely. This revelation about senator franken has really taken off on capitol hill. What about fellow democrats . A First Response from his minnesota senator saying i strongly condemn this behavior and an investigation must be started. Another example of why we need to change work environments and reporting practices across the nation including in congress. Another female senator also took a very firm approach, shep. Very disappointed. I support an ethics investigation. This kind of conduct shouldnt be tolerated by anyone or any public official. Should he resign . Thats something that well have to wait to see how it plays out on the ethics investigation. A big problem for senator franken has been that photograph that weve been showing. A number of female senators have told me today they just cant get passed that visual, shep. Shepard mike emanuel at the rotunda. Thanks. Two more women are a using the republican Senate Candidate roy moore of pursuing them when they were working at the mall. While a third woman says moore groped her at his office. Moore has denied accusations of Sexual Misconduct with teenagers and refusing to quit the senate race in alabama. Hes also set to speak at a meeting of religious leaders in a matter of moments. Were live in birmingham for more. Were waiting for the White House Briefing to begin on Fox News Channel on this thursday afternoon. Its ok that everyone ignores me while i drive. Its fine. 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Updates as warranted from the hospital. A live look once again at the white house where the briefing is set to start. Rescheduled from 3 00 eastern to 3 30. In about 15 minutes from now. A live look. Birmingham, alabama where were expecting at this microphone to hear from the Senate Candidate roy moore at any moment. President trump just yesterday ignored a question on whether he would join fellow Republican Leaders in calling for roy moore to drop out of the race. Now given what weve learned about al franken, roy moore is accusing Mitch Mcconnell of hypocrisy. Moore tweeted, al franken admits gift after photographic evidence. Mitch, lets investigate. In alabama, no evidence, 100 rejection. Mitch, moore would be expelled. Earlier this week, mcconnell said roy moore is not fit to be a senator. Other lawmakers calling for him to go. In the last 24 hours, three more women, three more, have come forward with accusations against roy moore. One told a. L. Come that moore grouped her during a meeting in his law office in 1981. She was in her late 20s at the time. He was in his 40s and married. Separately two other women are telling the Washington Post that roy moore pursued them when they were working at a mall. He was in his 30s. One of those women said she was a High School Senior and roy moore called her at school because she was wouldnt give him her home phone number. They went to a movie, she says. She says he gave her a forceful kiss. Roy moore has denied all accusations of Sexual Misconduct. Were not sure hes gotten around to these yet. Theyre new. Jonathan serrie is live with more. Jonathan . We expect to hear from him at any time. Right now were hearing from various faith leaders that are talking about roy moores record, his military service, his defense of socially conservative religious issues, the ones they mentioned are his stand to keep the Ten Commandments monument in the state Supreme Court back during the last decade and also his what they said was his defense of traditional marriage, his opposition to same sex marriage. They have been talking in general about the allegations against him. No specific denials yet from the campaign about these two most recent news reports that you mentioned. In general, theyre saying that all of the allegations about him are untrue that hes a good family man, that he loves his wife, that hes honest and that he has integrity. Were just waiting to see what roy moore himself will say when he takes the podium, shep. Shepard its been quite a fight among republicans during this process. It has indeed. In fact, taking a page from the trump playbook. Moore has become very active on twitter. He tweeted to the Senate Majority leader saying dear Mitch Mcconnell, bring it on and then chris hanson, director of the National RepublicanSenatorial Committee tweeted back, bring it on is a movie about high school cheerleaders. Its humorous but shows a rift forming between the national Republican Leadership and republicans at the state and local level here in alabama. If you talk to the national leaders, they will tell you roy moores days are numbers and he needs to drop out of the race. If you talk to many republicans in alabama, not all, many of them will say that roy moore is their best hope for cleaning up and shaking up things in washington, shep. Shepard Jonathan Serrie live in birmingham. Roy moore is to speak at the microphones in just a matter of minutes. We dont have a particular schedule but were led to believe he will replace this lady or future speakers shortly. Some republicans are thinking up a way, a radical way to keep roy moore from ever serving in the United States senate under any circumstances. Thats according to our next guest who says it would require the currently serving senator from alabama to resign right now. How that would work, plus the fallout over the harassment over al franken as we await the White House Briefing which well watch live to see if the white house we a lot of news breaking. Stay with us. People would stare. Psoriasis does that. It was tough getting out there on stage. I wanted to be clear. I wanted it to last. So i kept on fighting. I found something that worked. And keeps on working. Now . They see me. See me. See if cosentyx could make a difference for you a lot of news breaking. Stay with us. To severe plaque psoriasis. Find clear skin that can last. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. 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The Top Republican in the senate, the majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell, has said that hes looking at all of the options to keep roy moore out of the senate. One of the options hes reportedly considering is having the current senator from alabama, luther strange, resign. That would trigger a new special election. Politco reports the majority leader, mcconnell and his top advisers are discussing that drastic plan and trying to decide whether its possible. Josh gerstein, a Senior Reporter for politico. This isnt one i heard about until today. I know that Mitch Mcconnell and his aides are talking about it. What would it entail . The idea would be to have luther strange, the testimony senator that replaced Jeff Sessions when he became attorney general in february, have strange resign. The notion, as you say, that would create a new vacancy. The governor of alabama could then declare a new special election. That would give republicans essentially time to get their act together to select a new nominee and perhaps are a chance of righting some of these problems with moore. Shepard so if the current senator resigns, this runoff would no longer be necessary . They would begin a new process and pro tend that never happened . Right. They would do an entirely new election from the ground up. This faces several challenges. One is legally the 17th amendment to the constitution, theres a vacancy in the Alabama Senate seat right now. Thats the one that strange is temporarily filling. If he were to step aside, pass away, its not clear that would create a new vacancy. So thats one of the problems with this. Another problem with it is who is to say that roy moore wouldnt continue to run and might prevail despite the problems hes facing right now . These are all hurdles. I think the governor of alabama threw some cold water on this thing. Her intent is to go forward with this election. I think its set for december 12. Shepard the new and brewing scandal has to do with senator al franken, the democrat of minnesota and accusations against him. Where do you see this now . You know, hes definitely in hot water amidst all the reports that weve seen. Not just the moore controversy, but the Harvey Weinstein and a lot of stories coming out about Sexual Harassment and impropriety. I think hes in a different position than some of those stories in that so far were not hearing any serial allegations. Its an allegation about his activity on one particular trip sponsored by the uso and some Inappropriate Conduct against a skit and posing for a photo and so forth. So hes asked for this to be referred to the Senate Ethics committee. That will presumably happen. I dont think people should look at the Senate Ethics committee as a way to ventilate or dig in to what happened here. That sort of a black hole. Its a place where complaints about senators go to die or certainly not a way to publicize them in any kind of open factfinding process. Shepard if its not what good is it if its not for getting to the bottom of things . There sometimes are investigations, but the preference is to do everything behind closed doors. If people are thinking this would address them in a timely or public why, i wouldnt be looking at them to do that. Shepard thanks, josh. Hang with me a second. We believe roy moore is next. Lets listen for this introduction and see if thats the case. We just want to say judge moore, thank you. Thank you for your stand. Thank you for being unwavering. Thank you for being the man of character that we youre the candidate we dream of. Every election, you know how it is. They tell you i believe like you and i stand for your principles. Then they get elected and they forget why theyre there. That is if there was ever a man that wouldnt do that, its you. We just want to say thank you. We stand with you. If youd like to say a few words, well be honored. [applause] thank you very much, janet. Its indeed an honor, when i look at this group of people behind me, i wont repeat their names, but ive known many of them through the years, some ten years ago, some 20, some 30. Some 40. But some 40 are gone. Many of them have lost their jobs, lost their positions, suffered imprisonment. Jail time. Theyve been fined, suffered persecution. Some are gone like mr. Sifery who i dearly loved. They all have one thing in common, which reminds me of a story when i first got into politics. They said in the court system, they said three things you have to have to be a good candidate. Thats honesty, dedication and experience. So i went to a seasoned old judge and told him that. He said roy, thats not really direct. You dont need honesty, dedication and experience. What you need to do is have eye glasses. Shows people that you study a lot and read a lot. Ive come to where i have to have glasses when close range now. He said the next thing you have to have graying hair or thinning hair. As you can see, mine has been going for a while. He said, you have to have that to show your age. You have to be studied and be of an age proper. Then he said you have to have one other thing. Whats that, judge . He said you have to have hemorrhoids. I said judge, i dont understand that. I dont have hemorrhoids. He said, well, you have to have hemorrhoids. I said why . He said it gives you a concerned look. [laughter] i think the one thing that drives these people to come from places all across our country, from california, texas, ohio, maryland and pennsylvania, new york, florida, illinois, the one thing that we have in common is a concern for our country. A concern for our future. I wanted to thank every one of them individually. Its been a great honor. Its been a great encouragement to hear them. They know what theyre talking about, i think. They know that this country faces rough times ahead if we dont go back to the one upon whom it is founded. I think all of you have come to support me. I appreciate your support and look forward to serving the United States senate. One thing i would like to see happen in our country is unity. I said i wanted to see unity. I never dreamed that i would succeed even before i got elected. But i have unified the democrats and the republicans in fighting against me because they dont want me there. As you know, the Washington Post has brought some false charges not charges, allegations, which i have emphatically denied time and time again. Theyre not only untrue, but they have no evidence to support them. Two of the speakers up here said words that i caught. One said unsubstantiated and another said unproven. Another said they were fake. All of that is true. The Washington Post is certainly not evidence. What i want to do in this campaign is very simple. Get back to the issues which some are avoiding addressing. I havent had one question from press, the media about issues in this case since these allegations have occurred. What is important is how we address the future of this country. By cutting taxes, rebuilding our military, repealing obamacare, putting good judges and justices on the federal and Supreme Courts of the United States. Weve got to stop judicial supremacy or were losing our form of government. [applause] many of you have recognized that this is an effort by Mitch Mcconnell and his cronies to steal this election from the people of alabama and they will not stand for it. They overcame 30 million and voted me in the primary. Now theyre trying a different tactic. They even the other day, we got a call from one big magazine that you all recognize. I dont want to say it. They got a call and asked me to step down. I want to tell you who needs to step down. Thats Mitch Mcconnell. [applause] theres been comments about me taking the stand. Yes, i have taken the stand in the past. Ill take a stand in the future and ill quit standing when they lay me in that box and put me in the ground. Im proud to stand with people that i see behind me and with the people of alabama to bring forth the truth to washington d. C. Not just about what we stand for, but what the people of this country stand for. Acknowledgement of god and an acknowledgement of the constitution and an acknowledgement that we need moral value back in our country. Without god, we can never succeed. I want to thank you for coming here. I want to close with just saying, may god bless you, bless the state of alabama and the United States of america. Thank you. [applause] shepard judge roy moore speaking in birmingham following a group of supporters. Josh gerstein, the politico reporter. The war between this man and Mitch Mcconnell has been raging and continues. Yeah. To hear him say that Mitch Mcconnell and his cronies are trying to steal this election. It was really interesting to see moore talking about not only running clearly against Mitch Mcconnell but also more trying to position himself as a national figure, talking about people coming from around the country to support his campaign. He seemed like he was trying to transcend really we didnt have a lot of discussion there about alabama in that speech. Moore fancies himself as a standard bearer for some segment of the population and the republican party. Shepard josh, nice to talk to you again. Thanks. Thanks, shep. Shepard john bussey is here, a fox news contributor. This is perilous ground for republicans. It is. You have roy moore talking about the need for a return to god, country and moral values. The republicans are looking at this and saying, come again . What where are you now . Your thinking that this is first could be a tough election for him. If its successful for him, hes does face Mitch Mcconnell who says the first thing were going to do is open an ethics investigation on you. Shepard this reporting that theres active consideration of the following scenario, the current sitting senator in alabama who is an interim, resigns and they hold a whole new election. Joshs point on that, that torturous process, which involves a fair amount of legal gymnastics seems to only complicate this issue. At a certain point, Mitch Mcconnell will have to step back and let the people of alabama decide. Who do they want to have come to washington as their senator. At that stage, the Legal Process if Mitch Mcconnell and the republicans wish to pursue it can click into place. But to try to undercut the possibility of an election beforehand is fraught in its own way and i would imagine would elicit a lot of challenges. Shepard and the other problems in washington, al franken regarding sexual impropriety and from another, its really more about an argument than anything else. Where does that stand and how do the two fit together in this world where we find ourselves . Yeah. Franken, this happened before he was a senator. Doesnt matter. It was a couple years before he became a senator. He has contrary to roy moore said look, this happened. Theres a photograph of me groping or making it looks like im groping. I dont remember the scene of the kissing the way she remembers it. If you listen to her recitation, its compelling. Shepard he said shes to be believed. Yeah, he does say that. Its pretty graphic as well. Theres an investigation of franken. He has apologized. Its a difference from the situation with roy moore in that regard. But its, again, one of the same. The problems within the congress as in business of Sexual Harassment. Senator clobeshar has introduced policies that would cause the senate and the congress to look again at how it behaves. Freckle be subject to that. Shepard our friend, bill crystal, the Weekly Standard on twitter from about 40 minutes ago says this. The al franken story is attention grabbing, but the secret house Sexual Harassment settlement authorized by whom and using what legal fact finding processes known to whom else have the potential to be more explosive. Had there been similar cases in the United States senate. What do we have on reporting on this matter . Were at the very beginning of that. Congress has had its own sexual scandals of one sort of another for a long time. The public at this stage, the tolerance of these things which has never been high is lower now. Thats after Harvey Weinstein, the other Sexual Harassment after roger ailes and many others. The tolerance is lowering. This sort of frat house, frat b boy, al franken behavior, the tolerance is getting to the point where theres a pretty clear line that you simply cant step across. It will open up all sorts of relooks at the behavior of congress as well as behavior within business. Shepard while we wait for the White House Press briefing to begin today, this tax plan that has come from the house, there is one undeniable. That is the 36 Million People have their taxes go up. The two sides are fighting over whether this is better for the very rich. Its very hard to explain. We do know that rich people will get a break. We know that some poor people will pay more. The details are here or there. Were at the beginning of this. Youll see in the White House Briefing a desire to take a victory lap. And deservedly so. Its through the house. Really just the end of the beginning. As you point out, the senate has a different perspective on a lot of the issues that the house has already decided on. Then its got to come back to a reconciliation between the two. So what happens to salt, state and local tax. What the house has done to state and local taxes, what happens to property tax deductions. Its all in the air. This will be quite some time before we find out here ty bill that we can all sit down and evaluate and congress can vote on. Shepard less than a minute to the White House Briefing this afternoon. There was a victory lap in the house during Obamacare Repeal as well that turned out to be a nothingburgner the end. They didnt get anything done. Theres those that argue theres a bit of medical in here once we get to the senate side. They want to call it a tax cut but a lot of people on both sides that would argue with that. A huge amount of clouds around that issue. The victory lap that youll hear huckabee take on the president s visit to asia. There were not a lot of deliverables. Not much in the way of trade negotiation that we can see. Maybe there were some behind the scenes in terms of deliverables. It was mostly about the president talking about improved relations. John, thanks. Shepard the White House Press briefing, Sarah Sanders from the lectern. Away we go. Great to be back with everybody. Certainly miss seeing most of you that werent on the road. Most . Most of you. I gave myself wiggle room there. The president s historic fivecountry trip to asia was an incredible success. He rallied the world against the menace of north korea, strengthened our alliances and showed our commitment to a free and open indopacific region and took a stand for fair and reciprocal trade. American families will be more safer and secure and American Companies are one step closer to competing on the level Playing Field they deserve. Speaking of levelling the Playing Field for workers and businesses, the president applauds the house for passing the tax cut and jobs act. A massive step for fulfilling our promise for delivering historic tax cuts for the American People by the end of the year. Were encouraged the house and senate Work Together to deliver what the president asked them to do. Allow hardworking middle class families to keep more of their hardearned money and empower companies and workers to dominate their global competition. The Senate Finance committee is making progress on the companion bill and will soon at vance it to the floor for a vote. A simple, fair and competitive tax code will be our rocket fuel for our economy and its within our reach. Well bring back jobs and our wealth and has the president has said, bring back our Great American dreams. Now is the time to deliver. We expect the senate to follow. With that, ill take your questions. Cecilia. Two weeks. Does the president believe roy moores accusers and does he think roy moore should drop out of the race . The president believed the allegations are troubling and should be taken seriously. He thinks that the people of alabama should make the decision on who their next senator should be. So thats a no, that roy moore should stay in . The president said earlier this week that if the allegations are true, roy moore should step aside. He Still Believes that. How would the president like to see that proven . Look, im not going to get into and litigate back and forth. The president has been clear that if any of these allegations are true, allegations that he takes very seriously, finds troubling. If they happen to be true, then he should do the right thing and step aside. Does the president believe accusations themselves, the women themselves and their own credibility can be established, outside of them making these allegations, which is the mechanism by in the president would be satisfied the allegations are true . I dont think the president has laid out what the mechanisms are. That should be determined possibly by a court of law. Thats also something and a decision that the people of alabama need to make, not the president whether or not they want roy moore to support them in the senate. Sarah, ivanka trump says she has no reason to believe the women have not come forward. Does the president disagree . The president is not disagreeing with anybody. Hes saying he finds the allegations to be extremely troubling. He doesnt know any more than you do on this fact other than these are something that should be taken seriously and the people of alabama should be the ones to make the decisions on whether or not to support roy moore. Matthew . Having to information that we have and the information that the people of alabama have, would President Trump vote for roy moore . The president is not a voter in alabama. I know hes not. But he endorses candidates all the time. Would he vote for roy moore . I havent asked him. Would you get back to us that . John. Thank you, a number of republican senators have pulled their endorsement for roy moore. They urged him to step aside. Senator shelby said he wouldnt even vote for him. Senator cruz just pulled his endorsement. The president is not only the president of the United States but the leader of the republican party. Why wont he weighin on this. Why wouldnt he take the same strong position that the other republican senators have taken on roy moore . The president supported the decision by the rnc to withdraw resources from this race. He feels its up to the people of alabama to weighin on this. I dont have anything further the add. I dont mean to suggest this is the most important thing facing the country but its my story assignment for the day. You say that the president finds these allegations against mr. Moore, judge moore to be very troubling, extremely troubling, et cetera. As we know, the president faced a number of similar allegations during the course of the campaign and he denied them. I wonder what you would assert to be the difference between the two situations such that on the face of things we should find one set of allegations troubling and on the other we shouldnt Pay Attention to them at all or totally disbelieve them . I believe the president has a lot more insight to what he personally did or didnt to. He spoke out about that directly during the campaign. I dont have anything further to add beyond that. Id like to ask you about two other topics. The tax bill passed by the house today. One of the things the tax bill does is increase the deficit by 1. 5 trillion. I know the white house has argued that that he be paid by growing the economy. If the economy doesnt grow, how do you square that with the republicans view of or general principle of deficits are bad . I disagree with the premise of the question. We expect the economy to grow. Weve seen it happen the last ten months and we expect it to continue. Are you confident that economy will grow consistently enough to cover these costs that otherwise would be ballooning deficits . Yes. Thats been part of our process and part of what we have laid out from the beginning. We expect this to be consistent and certainly what we hope for. One of the reasons that the president continues to push for things like deregulation that have helped boost the economy. He continues to help push things that do that and accomplish that and move forward. Let me ask you about the tax bill. On the house side, they passed it. The senate side has a ways to go. Theyre similar but also different bills and plans. At this point does the president have a preference for the house or the senate bill and if so which one . Right now both bills achieve the president s priorities. Thats been his focus. Tax cuts for middle class families, simplifying the tax code, slashing tax for businesses of all sizes so they can grow, create jobs, raise wages for workers and compete in the global marketplace. He laid out both of those and the legislation does that. You didnt say repealing the obamacare individual mandate. Is that a priority for the president as well . Thats something that the prop would obviously love to see happen. In terms of the big things he laid out on the front end of the principles for the tax reform package, those things i just laid out. I have a question of the trip. Does his endorsement of moore still stand . As i said, the president believes this is a decision for the people of alabama to make, not one for him to make. My question about the trip is, hes made a strong argument that having a Good Relationship with russia and with Vladimir Putin is a good things for the United States. Does the president believe that putin would lie to his face . As the president said many times before, he doesnt think its helpful for him to get into a back and forth argument with Vladimir Putin. But he does think there are places that we can work with russia, particularly whether its on syria, north korea or other big global issues that the world is facing. Thats been the president s focus and he will continue to look for ways that we can work with them that help america. Another question of tax reform. 13 republicans in the house today broke from the president , broke from their Party Leaders because they believe this bill will increase taxes for some if not all of their constituents. In california, new jersey and new york. Those 13 members represent millions. So what does the president say to those people and how is this whole tax reform endeavor for them . Not a bait and switch. The president is still incredibly focused. Hes laid out his priorities of making sure this tax plan helps those in the middle class and thats what it does. The focus of both pieces of legislation and the house and the senate. Jim . On roy moore, would the President Campaign with him . Not that im aware of. Do you think hes a creep. Do i . Yes. I dont know roy moore. I havent met him in person. Does the president think that roy moore is qualified to serve in the u. S. Senate . The president , as ive said seven or eight times now that this is a decision for the people of alabama to make. Weve heard from you and weve heard from ivanka on this. When are we going to hear the president has put a statement out earlier in the week when we were on the trip and he stands by that statement. Hes ignored the question for two straight days. Hes the president of the United States and the leader of the republican im aware of the qualifications of the president. Its my job to come out here and answer questions on his behalf, which im doing, which ive done. Which he has done repeatedly over the last 12 days while we were on a trip across asia. So to act like he has not answered is silly. On the other side of the aisle, does the president have a response to the allegations against senator al franken and the mistrial over senator bob menendez . On senator franken, it appears that the senate is looking into that, which they should. We feel like an appropriate action. I havent asked him about senator menendez. Could you talk about the decisionmaking behind appointing Mick Mulvaney to lead the Consumer Financial protection board on an interim basis given the fact that hes been a longstanding critic of the board in the first place and what signals should we take from that for the future of that board . I dont have any announcements on that front at this point. Well follow up with you in the coming days if theres any movement there. Franchesca. Thank you. China has announced theyre spending a special envoy to north korea tomorrow. The president was just in beijing. Is that something that the president talked to president xi about while he was there . Is that something that the president favors . The president certainly favors china taking a greater role in putting maximum pressure on north korea. This is one of the things that he and president xi spoke about over the course of our visit. Any effort in order to denuclearize the peninsula there in north korea, then china participating in that, the president supports. Yesterday in the president s remarks, he said that we can no longer tolerate unfair trading practices and steal american jobs, wealth and intellectual property. The days of the United States being taken advantage of are over. Does the president still believe that china is raping the u. S. Economy . The president knows that theres not been a fair and reciprocal trade with the china. He doesnt think weve had great deals in place with china. Hes been very clear and very clear directly with president xi, which he will continue to be, that we want to make sure that americans and American Workers are getting the best deal and the best piece as possible. That is one of the reasons that he worked to security massive deals totalling over 250 billion while he was in china. He will continue to push for those types of efforts. Jordan . Thanks. Before the president left for asia, there was a question that north korea might by on the state sponsor terror list. Has the president decided to go forward with that move . The president will make an announcement on that next week. Well keep you posted. Hunter . Thank you. The fish and Wildlife Service is lifting a ban and will now allow elephant trophies imported from zimbabwe. President trump has previously said he disagreed with big game hunting. Why has he changed his view . Theres not been an announcement that is finalized. At that front i refer you to the department of the interior. They said they have drafted whats going in the federal register tomorrow. Again, theres not been an announcement. Until that is done, i wouldnt consider anything final. I would defer you to the department of the interior nor the time being. When we have an announcement, well let you know. The Senate Judiciary committee sent a letter to Jared Kushner alleging that he did not provide all the information that he should have about his emails during the campaign, including emails regarding wikileaks. Do you acknowledge that mr. C b mr. Kushner has not been totally forthcoming and that donald trump jr. Sent out all of his emails. Do you think the campaign was in touch with wikileaks and that his son was corr spending with wikileaks . On the first question, jareds attorney will be putting out a statement momentarily. That hasnt happened yet. It will probably be in the next half hour. Ill refer you to that. For the campaign, id refer you to the campaign. Deborah . Thank you. After the house passed the gop healthcare law, you had a celebration in the rose garden. Im assuming there wont be a celebration today about the tax bill. What are you doing differently this time around . The president was on the hillerlier today. Were looking forward to seeing the same results come out in the senate when they pass the bill and sign historic tax cuts and tax reform by the end of the year. You talked about the tax bill in terms of fulfilling the promise to middle class people that the president made during the campaign and afterwards. Why does the president support a bill where the individual tax rates will the cuts will expire at the end of 2025 but the corporate rates will never expire . The president laid out his principles. Thats what weve said all along. Were counting on the house and senate to put in the details of that legislation that reflect the priorities that the president laid out. Were going to continue let this bill work through the process. Were going to keep pushing forward for progress. You think that that is a fair bill, to have the one provision expire and the other not . The president has made it clear what his priorities are and well take jessica . One of the other things that happened in china after the president left the announcement about more ownership in the Financial Sector was announced. It was announced after the president left. I wonder if that came up in the conversation with the president and if that was part of any ongoing conversations ordeals that were reached. Im not sure if that specific thing came up. Id have to check. The chinese industry has taken issued with the president s statement yesterday that he and president xi agreed that there would be no freeze proposals. What is the president s understanding about what he and xi understand about that . Both sides made their positions clear. Theyre different. We agree that theres going to be different positions and its not going to move forward. Before the president left for his trip to asia, he called on the Justice Department to look into the democrats and that situation as he put it. Days later, the attorney general asked special prosecutorers to look into the uranium one deal. Did the president ask the attorney general to look at the democrats . The president has not directed an investigation of resign or appointment