Russian Business Access to 20 of the uranium supply in this country. They want to know whether the Obama Administration hid what they knew about the case from congress. And the reason were hearing about a 2010 case now, this deal, is because an informant has come forward. Its all because of new information thats come to light, what we didnt know, and we still dont know, was there an open fbi investigation or not back in 2010 . Thats what were aiming to find out. Reporter lawmakers who were at the News Conference this morning, none have spoken with the fbi informant, but the allegation is theyve got information, maybe even videos that go to the idea that the russians were trying to buy their way into this deal through Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time and the Clinton Foundation. This informant is under an nda, nondisclosure agreement, or gag order. The lawmaker is working with the Justice Department to get that lifted. For Hillary Clinton, she did an interview with cspan book tv yesterday and she was asked about these allegations and she said theyre without merit. The closer the investigation about real russian ties between Trump Associates and real russian, as we heard Jeff Sessions finally admit to in his testimony the other day, the more they want to just throw mud on the wall. Im their favorite target, me and president obama. Reporter i think its important to note that any deal of this magnitude has to go through several layers of sign off. In the previous administration, it took at least eight or nine senior officials to give it the okay back in 2010. So this was not simply Hillary Clinton as secretary of state saying go ahead with the deal and just make it happen. Thats not what happened here. Dana would have had to gone through the process of bringing a Foreign Investment in the United States, which im a little bit familiar. Interestingly, we have the senator who in 2010 and 2015 sent letters about this issue to the Obama Administration and never heard back. The house is formally also opening an investigation into former director comey. What is that about . Reporter house oversaoeulgt and house judiciary announced today that they are opening an investigation into the former fbi director james comey. Theres several elements to this investigation that theyre going to examine. One is why was there different treatment of the Clinton Campaign and the Trump Campaign . For example, director comey made an announcement in the summer of 2016 about the clinton email investigation, but he made no public announcement about the fact that the fbi also had a Counter Intelligence probe running on Trump Campaign associates. They want to know more about the timeline. Why was director comey drafting this statement that would ultimately recommend against criminal charges with clinton two months before the investigation was complete and he even interviewed her . The democrats responded with a statement that reads in part, this new investigation is a m s massive diversion to distract from the lack of republican oversight of the Trump Administration and the National Security threat that russia poses. Ten months into the Trump Administration and House Republicans still have not held substantive oversight hearings on clear abuses by the president or by his top aides. So you see the divide. Bottom line is that the republicans control these committees and they are launching an investigation into how the whole thing went down with the fbi director last year during the election, dana. Dana thank you very much. Well keep in touch. Turning to the other big story in washington. President trump on capitol hill, meeting with republican senators on tax reform as the public feud between the president and senator corker of tennessee escalates in a serious way. Chief White House Correspondent john roberts joins me now. John, what do you know about that . Reporter dana, good afternoon. We understand there are rumors on capitol hill, after the president gets through with his lunch, he may turn to the cameras and talk about the meeting. Tax reform was at the top of the agenda today. President also wanted to talk about the slow pace of confirmation, other issues dealing with the senate. But the real center piece of all of this is that feud with bob corker that well talk about in just a second. The president wants to try to get the senate moving as quickly as possible on tax reform. He said the other day in a Conference Call that hed like to get it done by thanksgiving. Likely that wouldnt happen. President sure would be happy to get it by the end of the year. A meeting today the president talked up the importance of tax reform to spurring economic growth. Listen here. Were going to massively reduce the Corporate Tax so that Companies Stay in america, move to america and hire right here in america. In other words, they stay in america and they dont fire their workers. Thats what were about. Our plan can be summarized in three simple words. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Reporter but overshadowing tax reform and the lunch, the reresumption of a feud with bob corker. Corker this morning suggested President Trump should keep his nose out of the senate process to write tax reform legislation and should not send out tweets taking things like capping 401k contributions off the table. To which the president responded on twitter, quote, bob corker, who helped president obama give us the bad iran deal and couldnt get elected dog catcher in tennessee is now fighting tax cuts. Corker dropped out of the race in tennessee when i refused to endorse him and now is only negative on anything at trump. That led corker to say a few choice words about the president to reporters in the halls of capitol hill. Corker saying the president is debasing the nation. Listen here. Just in the way that he conducts himself and goes to such a low level. I do. But look, i mean, the rest of us need to do what we can to access things and to try to move our nation ahead at a time when we have a leader such as we have now. Reporter corker all said he would not support President Trumps reelection and that he regrets supporting him the first time out. He also said President Trump should leave Foreign Policy to professionals. Never one to leave the last word, President Trump went back to twitter saying senator corker is the incompetent head of the Foreign Relations committee. Look how poor the nation has done. He doesnt have a clue as the entire world was taking advantage of us. People like little bob corker set the u. S. Back. Now we move forward. Suffice it to say, dana, there were probably some tense moments in that lunch. We may hear about that in just a few minutes. Dana bob corker might have found himself sitting alone at the lunch table at the senate this afternoon. You also found out the white house is about to make a decision about refugees. Reporter the president s travel ban executive order. You remember back in june the Supreme Court allowed that to be implemented. 120 day ban on the admission of refugees into the United States expires today. Later on today, probably 5, 6 oclock the president will sign another executive order which effectively cancelled whats known as section six of that kpebive order. The president will instead cap refugee admission to fiscal year 20182045,000. There will be advanced vetting standards to include biometrics enhance training of officers to detect fraud, Better Communications between the office of Homeland Security and the state department and a deeper dive into the background of refugees. That will likely include buy graphal background, what activities on social media some of these refugees have engaged in. It will apply the vetting standards equally across the board to men, women and children. Right now the vetting for men is little more stringent than it is for women and children. So that will bring parity to all of that. Dana john robert, thank you very much. Reporter thank you. Dana two additional congressional committees launching their own investigation into an obama era deal to a company that was controlling 20 of the u. S. Uranium to a russian firm. Just when you thought you could talk about tax reform, youre going to end up talking about russia again. What do you think about this . Reporter listen, the story itself evolved in 2015. Fox news was part of the original news rollout, New York Times fox news covering that. We did an hour Fox News Channel about all of this, the Clinton Foundation payoffs and the speeches former president clinton delivered all around to these different elements. I think the new element is that the fbi informant and whether this doj is going to sign off on the release of this person to not have to uphold the nondisclosure agreement and to be able to talk to congress. Dana house will have their hands full. Theyre juggle several investigations. I saw that a couple of times democrats have started to use this phrase that the republicans are proving to voters that they are not willing to do substantive oversight against this president. I dont know whether they upheld that language or think its a good talking point for them. I have already seen it several times today. Youll hear more about it. Theyll. Back that this is an investigation of the clintons essentially and that these committees are going backwards. But it is relevant. Especially if you have somebody that is being quieted from testifying in any connection to the russians. Sometimes this opens other doors as weve seen with special counsel mueller who is now reportedly looking into tony podesta, the democratic lobbyist and person who is tied to paul manafort. It opens a lot of doors. Dana let me also ask you about tax reform. Now you have the republicans inviting the president up to capitol hill to talk with them about how are they going to get the tax reform bill done. I feel like he can taste success. If he can get these republicans to all work together, they think they can get it done. How difficult do you think it will be to do . I think the budget is going to get through the house as is. Thats going to save a lot of time. Then youre going to move forward with the specifics. It is like herding cats. But you sense that they need a w so bad that they are going to try to kind of push through. I dont think thanksgiving is realistic. I think paul ryans estimation of christmas is realistic. The question is how much negotiation is there going to be . When the president says in a tweet the 401k shelter is not going to happen, dont worry about any changes to that, i think republicans look at that and say, hey, youre taking an arrow out of that. We want to negotiate with some of this to get something else. Were at the beginning of the process. Dana were looking live in the hallway there on the capitol where we are hoping that President Trump, after he leaves the luncheon, that hell come and maybe giver some comments and maybe take some questions there. So we will bring that to you live. Bret baier, thank you. Dana rex tiller son urging leaders in pakistan to take a stronger stand on terrorism. Rich edson has a live update from the state department. The white house said its trying to be more friendly to the press. How theyre planning to do that next. Your brain changes as you get older. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Dana a promise oven transparency from President Trump, Sarah Sanders telling a town hall that the white house is going to put more information on the record. We had a meeting today in our office to do push for things that come from the administration and particularly from the press office to be on the record. If its particularly a policy initiative and things like that. That should be on the record. Dana every white house deals with that. I remember it well. Sanders also blasting the use of Anonymous Sources calling it a disservice to the American People. Well keep an eye on that. Rex tillerson making stops in pakistan and india saying pakistans leaders must stop providing a safe haven for terror groups. This comes after his visit to afghanistan where he said there could be a place in the government for moderate members of the taliban. Rich edson is live at the state department. What do you know . Reporter United States and pakistan are working through substantial differences. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson spending much of his day in islamabad. Over the past week the secretary and Senior State Department officials have pushed pakistan to address militant groups operating inside its borders and then launching attacks in pakistan. Trump Administration Even threatened to cut aid to pakistan over this. Secretary said pakistans government needs to address militant groups operating in its countr country. We have made some very specific requests of pakistan in order for them to take action to under mind the support the taliban receives and other terror organizations receive in pakistan. As we said in this whole strategy, this is a condition based approach. Our relationship with pakistan will also be conditions based. Reporter pakistan maintains that it is producing results and deny tears roarist groups are operating inside its borders. Tillerson also noted the security relationship is a very important one in the region. Secretary of state is now traveling to new dehli. He will meet the Indian Government officials. That is also a concern of pakistan, as the United States and india are trying to push forward on a closer relationship. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson go ahead. Dana thank you very much. We just have word that President Trump is coming out into the hallway. Obviously theyve wrapped up the lunch. Well see if hell take any comments. Well just have to keep an eye on that as the press seems to get really worried there. Well find out what happens. Were watching that on capitol hill, where lawmakers could address the reporters at any moment. Well bring it to you when it happens. Twhaoeu response to this drug epidemic might not bed a mate. Plus, will the president get the response he wants on tax reform . Well tell you it all when we come back. Liberty mutual stood with me when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. I just snapped a photo and got an estimate in 24 hours. My Insurance Company definitely doesnt have that. You can leave worry behind when liberty stands with youâ„¢ Liberty Mutual insurance. Dana President Trump pushing Senate Republicans to get tax reform across the finish line. Telling john scott earlier that he would like to see a bipartisan agreement. I hope we do have some democrats for it. It would be better for the country. It would also be better for the longevity of the tax code for some sustainability. As compared to healthcare, i would say weve been better both on process and substance in working together, bringing everybody in, including democrats, letting them know what were doing, being more transparent. Having committee hearings. Dana president and ceo of Square Communications and former chief of staff for senator maria cantwell. Michael, if i could start with you, do you think theres a chance that the democrats could come along especially if they add some sort of millionaires tax to it . Oh, for sure theres a chance. I mean, theres so many things that happen once in a generation tax code change. Its been 31 years. Things that are concerning about the proposals around the table now is it blows up the deficit. Theres no way to pay for half of the stuff. There are some thing understand attractive to people trying to save for retirement like the 401k stuff. They have to allow people to negotiate. Dana we dont know what happened in that luncheon, matt. The cats got their tongue. Nobody is talking. Maybe theyre all on the same page for at least the next hour or so. What do you make of how theyre looking . Do you see momentum . Or are you worried about the road blocks ahead . Yeah, im definitely worried. Its been a long year where congress has not gotten many big things accomplished. Failure to get a tax plan through would be a huge tphaeubgs. Every republican ought to be voting for this for sure. Smart democrats from reddish states would be smart to take a look and vote for this as well. I think it meant a lot that the president went to the hill. Dana, you understand this. That is a sign of respect across pennsylvania avenue to come to them. Dana we have Mitch Mcconnell at the podium. Good afternoon, everyone. As you know, we had the president hrupb today. He went over all of the items that the administration has been working on. Much of which i agree with him, the administration hasnt gotten nearly enough credit for. I would high light several things that i think will be front and center going down the end of this session. Obviously, tax reform, were hopeful the house will, tomorrow, pass a budget that will open the door to begin the process of tax reform for the ways and meaning finance committee. We will be confirming a number of judges beginning with a couple district judges that i talked about yesterday. The president also talked about his upcoming announcement on opioids. We have a National Epidemic of historic proportion. The administration is correctly seized on this issue as something thats important to the American People. We need to get a handle on this as best we can. And the president will be talking about that. The president will be talking about that later in the week. The leader mentioned one of the big points the president wanted to cover today is what we can do to help ordinary americans, middle income families, improve their economic standing. Thats really what the focus of tax reforms all about. Lot of middle income families have had a very tough time during the past few years. And if youre trying to save for your kids College Education or put aside some money for retirement or save for a rainy day, its gotten harder and harder for average American Families to be able to do that. So thats why were focused on tax reform. Were on tax reform because we think its unacceptable that half of the families in this country say theyre living pay check to pay check and a third are literally one brake job away from financial ruin. So what the tax plan were putting forward does is it lowers rates on middle income families, doubles the standard deduction, removes a number of americans from even having Tax Liability at all by doubling the standard deduction. Also expands the child tax credit. Makes it easier for families to afford the cost of raising children in this country. We think thats a path forward that will help pave a better and Brighter Future for middle income families in this country. We hope there are democrats who are going to be available to work with us to pass that kind of tax reform because its good for American Families. Good for our middle class. Good for jobs and wages. Those are the types of things that democrats say they support. If they do, they ought to join hands with us and help us get this tax bill across the finish line. Im very happy that the president accepted our invitation to join us today for lunch. I thought it was a very productive meeting, an active discussion focused on the things weve been elected to do which is to help lower the taxes for the American People. President i think was very strong and very focused on that, on giving people a raise by cutting their taxes. This will be the first time in a generation that has occurred. Weve taken the first step in the senate by passing a budget. That has been done. We need a tax system in this United States that is fairer, simpler and lets people keep more of their hard earned money. Thats what were committed to do. Thats what the president was focused on today. In terms of businesses and the tax situation there, lower the taxs there to make it easier for businesses to hire people, put more people to work and to raise wages. Additionally the president talked about the issue of confirmation of some of his many nominees. Were in a position where it seems that the democrats have been so object struckive to President Trump and getting people in place to do the jobs of the American People that at this point president obama had twice as many people confirmed as President Trump has to this time. Were going to continue to work to break the obstruction were seeing from the democratic party. Part of the president s remarks today focused on the regulatory reforms that have been made already. Theyve been significant. Things like the power structure that would have raised utility bills. So called clean power rule. The waters of the u. S. That would require the epa to be involved in so much of the economy. These were huge overreaches, a step back from that. On taxes, the president said in his two principle observations what our members are saying on the floor and in all of their comments, this is about tax cuts for working individuals and hard working families. At the other enof the spectrum, its about creating opportunities for our country to be more competitive so that the jobs people have are better than the Jobs Available now. Not very complicated if we stay with those two principles well see this economy grow, well see families and individuals who work hard for a living benefit from it. Thats clearly where the president is and where the republicans in the senate are. For 1. 7 million jobs have been created in this country since last november. Thats what the president talked about. We witnessed great enthaou kwrafpl for a tax relief to American Families to help make sure people are able to keep more of their own dollars in their own pockets. 25 of the people dont have emergency access to 100. Economists like kevin hatch talked about the fact that tax reform, the work we are doing would give 4,000 in new average income to the average middle class family in this country. This weekend for the first time in 25 years we witnessed a shutout of the denver broncos. Its been longer than that since this country witnessed tax reform. 31 years ago. In 1986 top gun was the number one movie at the box office. In 1986 Mitch Mcconnell was rocking out to walk like an egyptian. In 1986 ibm unveiled its very first lap top, the pc convertible that weighed 13 pounds. Were still dealing with that 1986 tax code today. We can do better. We can grow this economy. [ inaudible ] look, i dont have any observation about that. Were here to try to accomplish things for the American People. Were all on the same page on the issues that i have mentioned. Of course, front and center is comprehensive tax reform as my colleagues described. Try to get the country going again and growing again. Thats what were gonna work on. [ inaudible question ] you guys were holering so loud, frankly, i didnt even no types. We didnt comment on it. We just walked into my office. Did the president tweet about it . How do you plan to unite your party when the president and Top Republicans continue to have fights . If theres anything all republicans think are important to the country and to our party, its comprehensive tax reform. The issue itself brings about great unity among our members. So were concentrating on the agenda that we have for the American People. The president shares that agenda, is gonna do a good job i think promoting that agenda. And we intend to achieve what we set out to achieve by the end of the year. Bob corker, at what point do you have an obligation to weigh in on these very serious criticisms of the president . What i have an obligation to do is to try to achieve the greatest cohesion i can among 52 republicans to try to achieve for the American People the agenda that we set out to achieve. Tax reform is what we are about. If theres anything that unifies republicans, its tax reform. Weve been looking for the opportunity to do this literally for years. We now have a president who will sign it, who believes in what were trying to do. Were gonna concentrate on what our agenda is an not on these other distractions you may be interested in. What the driving the news today . What is driving the news . President and senator corker, his feud with you. [ inaudible ] look, i dont know how many times i have to say the same thing. Lot of noise out there. We have a commitment in this country. Everybody gets to express themselves. But what were concentrating on is the agenda the American People need. I think theres great cohesion among republicans of all persuasions to achieve this goal before the end of the year. Thanks a lot. Dana all right. That is senator Mitch Mcconnell wrapping up his brief press conference there. Lets bring back our panel mike meehan and matt schlapp. While he was talking the senator of interest for several of the questions there also made some comments. Lets listen to those. I will comment on policy. With all thats been said and done today, probably get whatever i would say about it might be, you know, slammed off in another direction. Let me ask you a policy question then. Do you think the president s appearance will be helpful in passing tax reform . Tax reform barely came up. What did president discuss then . I appreciate this. Healthcare . Dana okay, matt. Press is very interested in the process story. I think they missed a real opportunity to press Mitch Mcconnell on some of these potential road blocks on some of the specific things because conservatives have long considered that the growth of the government is a problem. Got to figure out how to pay for these things. But the way things look, looks like theyre basically abandoning some of those principles. But i think you have a good point where you say the cuts will get you to the growth to deal with that. Have the economics changed . Dana, i do think theres some division maybe with even some conservatives on the idea of paying for tax cuts. Certainly, as chairman of the american conservative union, i have a whole different idea. I dont like the idea of raising taxes in order to pay for taxes. You have some tax cuts that are going to be off set with some removal of deduction ors tax increases. So i like the idea that this plan does rest on the idea of dynamic scoring and that revenues increase when we have the right tax policy. I just wont be a voice to call for it to be completely paid for pip aoed like to see as much pro growth tax cuts as possible. I think were in a unique position. After eight years what i considered a fairly antibusiness and radical obama regulatory tax environment, our economy could really explode. The people who will benefit from that are these working middle class, americans that go to work and work very hard. They have not seen their incomes go up. They will be the ones that will be the beneficiary. Thats where my party should stand. Dana do you think the democrats enjoy the republican infighting when you see President Trump and senator corker battling it out . Does that please them . Well, you do have to laugh that a year ago you would have thought this was a democrat and republican spat going on between the battle between corker and trump, between twitter and whatnot. Its a Big Policy Initiative being debated here. The question is all on the republican side of the table. Do you want to deficit spend to give 80 of the tax cuts to 5 of the people at the top. Democrat we have Senate Democrats coming to the microphones. Never know whats gonna happen on the daily briefing. For joining me here today. Now, as everyone knows, President Trump put down his phone for an hour to come to the Senate Republican luncheon to talk tax reform. Unfortunately, what the president says about tax reform has been correctly characterized by senator corker as untruths and corker was being kind. Lets just review a few of what the president said. Just totally divorce what the president says and what the republican plan does are polar opposites. So for instance, the president said this is not a plan for the rich. Blatantly untrue. Untruth number one that this plan is not a plan for the rich. Repeals the estate tax which benefits the 11,000 wealthiest estates in the country. Each one thaos be more than 5 million. It lowers the top rate. Untruth number two. Allowing hedge fund owners and big law firms to take advantage. Three, it provides a pass through so very wealthy people can pay a lower rate than average americans. Untruth. So it is totally untrue, shall we say, that this is not a plan for the rich, which is president has stated. Then he says at the heart of our plan is a tax cut for everyday working americans. Untruth number two. Just wrong. Tax policy center, third of the middle class families would pay more. And very few get much of a break. When they talk about getting rid of state and local deductibility, when they talk about limiting 401ks, when they talk about limiting the mortgage deduction, those are all aimed at making the middle class pay more so the rich can get a bigger tax break. Thats not what america needs. Thats not what america wants. And that is not whats in the plans put together by our Republican Leadership in the house and senate. Thats an untruth. Then the president claims this will not increase, this will lower the deficit. Untruth number three. Absurd. No one believes that this will lower the deficit. The Washington Post fact checker calls this claim a fantasy. No one believes it. So its untruth after untruth after untruth as bob corker put it when the president talks about the republican tax plan. Untruth one, its aimed at helping the middle class. Untruth two, its not a plan for the rich. Untruth three, it lowers the deficit. This plan is a disaster for america. No wonder our republican colleagues want to rush it through in the dark of night, because the more its exposed to sunlight, the more rot ten it smells and the American People will know that. Senator carton. Thank you, senator schumer. The more were learning about the tax proposal that the republicans will be unveiling next week, the more we have concern that this is certainly not in the interest of the American People. Senator schumer talked about the fact one thing is clear. It will blow a hole in the deficit. Theyre acknowledging it will blow a hole in the deficit when they allow 1. 2 trillion hole to be created with the tax proposal. But in addition we know theres a lot of gaps, even reaching a 1. 5 trillion deficit. Secondly, we know that it will benefit higher income families. The wealthiest are the ones that will get the big tax cuts. Senator schumer mentioned estate tax repeal. Mentioned the issues concerning the alternative minimum tax which will benefit wealthy families. Thats all clear. One thing is also clear to me. That is middle income families will be asked to pay more. Theyre not gonna get a tax cut. They will be asked to pay more. When you start looking at the way theyll be paying for this, they are talking about eliminating the personal exemption, independent exemption. People have large families, theyre going to certainly end up paying more as a result of this proposal. You look at the elimination of state and local taxes dana all right. Senators schumer and cardin, Senate Democrats coming to the podium to push back against republicans who had a meeting with President Trump today. And the person who invited President Trump, wyoming senator was there with the president. He joins me now from capitol hill. There you have it. The democrats have said these are five things that were going to try to hit them on. He said the president is not telling the truth when it comes to his tax reform plan. Are you prepared to deal with the message fallout from all of this. Seemed to me listening to those democrats that theyre making it up as they go along. We had a very productive meeting with the president. Hes talking about things American Families are concerned about which is keeping more of their hard earned money. To me thats what tax reduction and tax relief and tax cuts are all about. Thats the president s focus. Its where we are united. Weve taken the first step by passing a budget. Now next week well be releasing a tax plan the democrats havent seen it. They are just making up what they think is going to be in it. I will tell you this is a plan focused on a couple of things. One is lowering rates. Simplifying the whole tax code. Making it fairer. Letting people keep more of their hard earned money. Thats what the president was focused on today. Thats where we are committed and working altogether. Dana if the republicans do decide to add this fourth bracket or something, a new tax on millionaires, would you expect that some Senate Democrats would say okay, look, now theyre taxing the wealthy so maybe they can come on board . Democrats seem to use their same talking points no matter what we propose. Thats why were focused on letting people keep more of their hard earned money, lowering tax rates for the American People, tax cuts for the American People. That helps them with more money in their pocket. Also helps businesses who can hire more people. As President Trump pointed out to us today at lunch, 1. 7 million american jobs created since election day of 2016. There is a level of growth and optimism. Dana, we are sure seeing it in wyoming. Dana id love to hear that. He talked about Energy Dominance which is big thing for us in wyoming. He talked about trade, specifically beef, cattle, our number one cash crop. Everything the president said today was music to the ears of the people of the Rocky Mountain west and my home state of wyoming. Dana i want to have you back to talk about trade. How much of a distraction is it when President Trump is fighting with senator corker and hes punching back and you have the media basically asking Mitch Mcconnell four questions about corker and not one on the policy side . We dont need distractions. As Senate Republicans we are focused on the future and the families across the country. When somebody called this a photo op, i will tell you, dana, this is no photo op. This was a productive working meeting with the president of the United States dialoguing, questions and answers with senators from across the country. Lots of issues being discussed. The economy, jobs, a strong and healthy economy, trade, energy, regulatory relief that has meant so much to help jobs and the economy across the country, as well as neil gorsuch on the Supreme Court and additional opportunities that we have to put more judges in place over the next months and years. Dana while i have you, one more question on something we led the show with, which is theres a new investigation that the House Republicans have decided to do into the uranium one deal. I know for several years, going way back you being on the energy and Natural Resources committee have raised questions about this and you didnt get any satisfactory answers from the Obama Administration. Are you glad theres going to be an investigation . Absolutely. I think this is good news for the American People. Ive trying to raise questions since 2010 on this sale of so much of our uranium assets to russia. And this is a sale that had to be approved by a committee that approves those things. The people were on that kphreut tisch Hillary Clinton, who was secretary of state at the time, as well as the attorney general at the time, eric holder. Looks like the fbi was doing investigations all the way back to 2009. I want to know why the American People didnt know about those fbi investigations because that should have prevented this sale to russia and the vladamir putin from ever happening in the first place. Dana senator, thank you for being with us today. Thank you for having me. Dana President Trump set to declare a national emergency. Why members of his own commission are warning the response of this drug epidemic may not be adequate. Plus, will the president get the response he wants from Senate Republicans on tax reform . Well talk about that, too. Dynamic performance, so you can own the road. Aggressive styling, so you can break away from everyone else. The bold lexus is. Experience amazing. But when it comes to mortgages, shes less confident. Fortunately, theres Rocket Mortgage by quicken loans. Apply simply. Understand fully. Mortgage confidently. Dana President Trump on the verge of declaring the Opioid Crisis an emergency. There are some concern even for the members of his own commission that he may not follow through with the strong response. Joining me now addiction medicine expert and founder and medical director for therapy and an addiction expert and executive member of the dunes rehab facility. Thank you for being here today. We expect the president on thursday is going to finally make this declaration. Do you think its necessary, doctor . I think its a start in the right direction. I think having a National Conversation and allocating resources. My concern is where those resources will be allocated. So weve always looked at the drug epidemic, the war on drugs as a supply side issue and not the demand side issue. So i would personally like to see a lot of the demand side in terms of whats the under lying causal reason thats driving the Opioid Epidemic and not just look at addiction or even treatment. By the time someone gets to treatment, the horse has already left the barn. Theres a lot that we can do before it reaches that level of an intervention. So i want to see more preventive type measures in place. Dana youre having a lot of success at your clinic you told me with actually getting people, if they are addicted off of it and on to a sober life. Yes, you are right about that. I pioneered the outpatient detox methodology in the state of new jersey. Its been 4 1 2 years that i have been practicing in that clinic. We see 65 of our patients completing the program remain sober for 90 days and over. Its a beautiful success. And they are able to go back and integrate into the community. Get back in the work force. Dana but are you concerned more possible regulations, more laws would actually hurt Recovery Efforts . Absolutely. Absolutely. Because if you look at four or five violation of laws, are due to possession not sales or manufacture. Having said that, these patients who are seeking treatment, they successfully completed treatment and remain sober, but then they are unable to go back into the work force because the charges they incurred while they were actively using dana they have a record. Right. Come back to them. That has been putting a stop in their progress. That means treatment for them to go back into using drugs. Dana isnt i difficult for doctors who you want to help your patients deal with pain. So if a person is telling you they are in pain and you want to try to help them, do you have other options in addition to these medicines in trying to deal with the actual problem . So the problem is pain is one of the few selfreported illnesses and other illnesses doctors can diagnose using various measures. With pain, its selfreported. So the problem that you have now, you have clients who we all have to factor in the hall pass here. You have clients cause the one Research Study that just came out from the university of michigan, over half of opioid clients have also anxiety and depression. Thats a big driver to the Opioid Epidemic. So someone who has anxiety and depression is more likely to be a selfreporter of more pain. They have an amplified sense of discomfort or distress. So this drug seeking behavior, potential behavior, without any sense of control. Im not talking about necessarily criminalizing the issue. Im a treatment provider. We believe in treatment. But when you have a town like West Virginia that is the number one state in the union where people are dying. They have the number one overdose rate. You have distressed economies. You have a flood of opioids going into West Virginia. Theres a town in West Virginia that has 392 people, 9 million vicodin pills provided to that town in a two year period. Controlling that free flow of substances into vulnerable populations is part of the solution. You have vulnerable communities with free access to selfmedicating instruments which big pharma played a big part in. Dana if there was one thing you could ask President Trump to include in his emergency declaration, what would it be . That would be to have no criminalization of drugs. That is a key. If we decriminalize them, the amount of money that has been spent for the criminal skwrus seus can be diverted towards the treatment. I think thats important. And one big thing i want to bring to the table today is that addiction is a chronic disease. So we shouldnt be looking at this any different from diabetes or high blood pressure. We shouldnt be talking about criminalizing these patients. Dana thank you so much for being here. We have a fox news alert. New reporting by the Arizona Republic newspaper that republican senator jeff blake will not seek reelection. Reportedly citing the quote nastiness of trump era politics is the reason he will not run again. He will serve out the remainder of his term. Well be right back. Usaa to me means peace of mind. We had a power outage for five days total. We lost a lot of food. We actually filed a claim with usaa to replace that spoiled food. And we really appreciated that were the webber family and we are usaa members for life. Time for some good news. Five expresident s used their star power to raise millions for hurricane relief. The one America Appeal benefit concert raised 2. 6 million. The event brought together all five former and living president s and lady gaga. More than six Million People tuned in. The funds will go rebuilding texas, florida and puerto rico. Thanks for joining us. That was a lot of news in one hour. I enjoyed it. Im dana perino. Heres shep. Shepard republican civil war. A powerful republican senator calls the president of the United States untruthful. A bad role model. Says hes concerned about his stability and will not say whether he trusts him with the nuclear codes. His legacy says the senator, the debasement of our nation. Bob corker unloads on President Trump and the president strikes back. Then they had lunch. Ahead, the war within that is overshadowing all, including the tax plan was trump is pushing. Paul ryan promises were staying on track. All this stuff you see on a daily basis twitter this, twitter that, forget about it. Focus on helping