Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live 20171224

Mark short this morning denied the president made those comments but pushed for congress to take a more restrictive stance on immigration policy. I was not in that meeting but the people in the meeting say that those comments never happened and so i have no belief that that actually transpired but lets talk about the temporary protective status for a second because its an important case. The people here from haiti are here from an earthquake that happened roughly ten years ago under temporary protective status. We have tens of thousands of people in our country from honduras and nicaragua from a hurricane that happened in 1999. Tens of thousands of people. Copying needs to change these laws. Mark short speaking a few minutes ago. Lets start with Kelly Odonnell down in West Palm Beach florida with the president of the United States. Sarah Huckabee Sanders vehemently denying this. What have Administration Officials said since, kelly . Reporter well, good morning. Good to be with you and Merry Christmas to everyone. This is one of those instances where the white house is pushing back hard. Now theyre not saying the meeting did not occur, a meeting that was happening in june, so six months ago, and it was as is described by the New York Times in other reporting, that the president was talking about the numbers of people admitted under visas by the state department from a range of countries. The volatile comments that you cited focused on nigeria, haiti, also afghanistan. What the white house is saying they have consulted with cabinet level secretaries and other senior level officials who were present in the meeting. They say those comments were not made. The New York Times reporting using a number of sources, unnamed sources, and they say that a couple of those sources indicate these comments were made by the president while other sources had a differing view on that, didnt hear it, didnt remember it, didnt think it happened. So the reporting by tthe New York Times is their work, its not nbcs work, but it has certainly touched off a lot of controversy about this and forced the white house to have to respond. The white house gave us a statement as well as other news organizations saying this didnt happen. You heard mark short saying it didnt happen. It plays larger in part because the president s own public history of talking about immigration and a lot of different issues about Immigration Law where at times he has said volatile things and that makes this story resonate in a different way. The white house pushing back hard today. It is christmas eve. We saw the president once today where he was addressing Via Video Conference members of the Armed Services to thank them for their service. Well also expect to see the president and first family this evening when they attend Christmas Services. So a little bit of activity from the trump family on this holiday. The rest of the time over the next several days while the trumps are here the president says he will have some meetings and some work to do. Obviously its also holiday time for the family. Kelly odonnell in West Palm Beach, florida. Joining me is reverend al sharpton and raul reyes. Reverend sharpton, let me go to you. What did you make of what you read in the times yesterday. I think they are definitely racist and incendiary. I think the reason they resonate is not only do they run parallel with the immigration policy that this president has had from being a candidate going forward, it also is not out of line with his whole bigoted biased kind of rhetoric in the past. You talking about a man who said that there were fine people on bowe sides when neonazis were marching in charlottesville. Youre talking about a man who was a leader of the berther movement who said the president was not one of us all the way back to the 80s where he had to defend Racial Discrimination in housing suits. So why wouldnt we believe he wouldnt have said this . What would be anything in his career that would make anyone disbelief that donald trump did not say this . I think it is the height of an insult to the American Public if he is setting immigration policy based on his bias and bigotry. Notice, its always people of color that get the venom. Were not talking about other people here, were talking about haitians, were talking about people in nigeria, afghanistan. Oh, yeah, mexico wall. The rest of the world seems never to be the target of his immigration. Raul reyes, let me talk to you about that. This is a continuation along the lines of what the president has said before. Right. Is this a turning point as you see, what was quoted as something he reportedly said in the times yesterday . I dont necessarily see it as a turning point in any sense. Unfortunately, i think its quite sad. What were learning now is really just a continuation of what weve known so far of the president based on public remarks. As the reverend mentioned, hes insulted mexican immigrants. Hes insulted disabled people so when we have this push back between the white house, you know, against the reporting, its very easily disputed when you look at what the president has been willing to say in public. By the way, it also shows gives us a window into how this administration makes some of his decisions, for example, ending the tps for 59,000 haitians in a country that has not significantly made progress in many areas since the earthquake. Just for the record, hes here making disparaging comments about nigerians. Nigerians are among the best educated immigrants to the country. 37 have bachelors, 17 have masters. Honestly, im glad that this reporting is out. Im glad that its being talked about, but it is quite sad as people all over the world are celebrating the holidays that here we are discussing these deeply offensive apparently racist views of our president. Jennifer reuben, a take away from this piece is policy making when it comes to immigration is emotionally driven within the white house. Is it an outlier in that sense . When you look at all of this white houses policies, do you see emotion playing a larger role than it has in the administrations past . Well, you have a president who is an irrational figure, who is motivated by personal peek, by angers, by resentment, by prejudice i do believe. Yes, i do think it is emotionally based. A couple of things are interesting. They put out mark short who was not in the meeting. Its an interesting ploy when you dont want to have someone go out there who will directly lie to the press. I wasnt in there and the people there deny it. Why dont we talk to some of the people who were in the meeting. Frankly, if you ask President Trump directly hed probably confirm some of these. He has no shame. He either doesnt understand or doesnt care if hes perceived as being a racist. This is what he believes and i think we have to abandoned the pretexts that everything is a miscommunication, everything is a misunderstanding, everything is wrong reporting. No, this is who the president of the United States is. And i would say one thing about the policy. Mark short has it exactly backwards. These people have been here for year. Theyve had children. Theyve lived productive lives. Theyve put down roots in the cumulative community. Why, for goodness sakes, would we want to send these people back . So their logic is completely backwards. Reverend sharpton, i talked to peter baker who didnt write the piece and he said its a larger piece and larger look at immigration policy. How difficult is it to look past this and look at immigration at large . You cant easily look past the comments because the comments tells you the basis and premise that hes setting policy. So if youre looking at his immigration policy and realize the basis of it is his bias and his prejudice, then it reflects on the entire resulting immigration policy. The other thing, david, i felt was interesting as a minister, hes going to Christmas Services tonight, kelly told us. The interesting part of that, he campaigned about we should be talking about Merry Christmas, not the season bring kleist in. Jesus kleist was a refugee. I hope tonight whoever preaches these Christmas Services, they tell them the story of where mary and joseph had to take the baby jesus and flee to egypt to save them from the wrath of what was going on at that time. He is telling us to worship a refugee while hes making these kind of statements about immigrants. Irony . I dont know. Raul reyes, let me ask you about policy. What this means about policy as you mentioned a few moments ago. What happens to the children of undocumented immigrants still very much up in the air. Its not something they dealt with before they went on the holiday recess. How optimistic are you that this will be dealt with after they get back to washington in the new year . To be very honest, i am very ambivalent for some type of legislative fix for daca. What gives me cause for optimism is when i talk to the daca grantees, these young people, they are not giving up the fight. Their lives are literally at stake. They will be back pressuring lawmakers, taking to the streets and engaging in civil disobedience to fight for their protections and other people in their similar situations. What is concerning for people, this is an issue among the American Public there is great consensus. No matter which poll you look at, fox, Washington Post, cnn, the American Post wants there to be a legislative fix for the daca grantees. Where we dont see that is in washington. And when we have people in the white house such as steven miller, when we have people in the Administration Like jeff sessions, both of them with long documented histories, antiimmigrant, very zen knopho. It will be up to congress to act. Unfortunately congress on both sides has a tendency to kick this issue, all immigration issues down the road. So hopefully something will happen, but its hard to be optimistic. Jennifer rubin, last question to you on this note. Do you have a sense what President Trumps attitude is, what this White House Position is on daca . Its been kicked over to congress for them to deal with. You get the sense that the president s conflicted on this iss issue, at least in part having met many of these d. R. E. A. M. Ers. Do you get a sense you have an idea what the white house policy is towards is it . The president is conflicted because he doesnt like being seen as a racist. He doesnt like being seen as the guy that will kick these young people out of the country after living productive lives. Hes put in Office People who are strongly antiimmigrant. Not antiillegal immigrant, antiimmigrant. They want to cut illegal immigration in half. They have emotionalized views. Whenever this issue comes up, hes very swayed by the people in his inner circle. Unfortunately i would say this to my democratic friends, its time they put down their foot as well funding the government they essentially allowed this to go forward. I think there needs to be consensus about people who say they are concerned about daca that theyre not going to consider these two week crs, twoweek continuing resolutions until the daca situation is finished. Thank you all. Coming up, north korea calls the latest round of u. N. Sanctions, quote, an act of war. More on that in a moment. Stay with us. Love this city. Leonardo woo michelangelo whoa haha. Leonardo gear up guys but on the inside, i feel chronic, widespread pain. Like most people. Fibromyalgia may be invisible to others, but my pain is real. Fibromyalgia is thought to be caused by overactive nerves. Lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. Im glad my doctor prescribed lyrica. For some, lyrica delivers effective relief for moderate to even severe fibromyalgia pain. And improves function. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. Common side effects dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, swelling of hands, legs and feet. Dont drink alcohol while taking lyrica. Dont drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. Those whove had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. With less pain, i can do more with my family. Talk to your doctor today. See if lyrica can help. As we celebrate this most precious holiday, were grateful for each of you who spend this christmas away from your families and defend all of our families. Our freedoms and our flag. Every american heart is thankful to you, and were asking god to watch over you and to watch over your families. That was President Trump this morning in a video teleconference with military personnel overseas as tensions continue to escalate with north korea over tough new sanctions approved unanimously by United Nations Security Council on friday. That includes sharply lowered limits on north koreas refined oil imports and tighter restrictions on smuggling. Pyongyang responded calling those sanctions, quote, an act of war. Joining me is ro khanna. Let me have you respond to the rhetoric, what weve heard from north korea. This has been played back over and over again. Have we reached the end of the line about sanctions . Its appalling rhetoric. I give our team credit for getting the sanctions unanimously through with russia and china backing us. North koreas declaring war not just on the United States but also threatening russia and china and every country that voted for the sanctions. That said, i still think that we need a diplomatic approach. Thats what south korea has called on, and we need to explore diplomatic alternative like president clinton did in the 1990s. Let me ask you about something the president tweeted. The United Nations Security Council just voted 150 in favor of additional sanctions on north korea. The world wants peace, not death. From your vantage on the house Armed Services committee, how much talk has shifted to military actions versus the Diplomatic Solutions . Theres been too much emphasis on Diplomatic Solutions. Secretary mattis thinks thats not feasible. Its telling that south korea is the country that wants us to engage in diplomacy. That diplomacy can involve a few things. First, we need to have a clear line of communication with north korea so we can deescalate any conflict based on miscalculation. We ought to make sure theyre taking measures not to have more nuclear strikes, and we should talk about the size of our joint military exercises and assure them that we dont want regime change. President clip ton took this approach in the 1990s. It was quite successful. We need to go to the table again, and the people who are most at risk in south korea, thats what they want us to do. Congressman khanna, a bit of semantics. James mattis sads aboid about a ago, quote, it is not yet shown to be a capable threat. Whats that word capable mean . Whats the significance of that adjective the secretary of defense has been talking about when he talks about north koreas capability . As the representative of Silicon Valley it concerns me because there is this threat, could north korea put a Nuclear Warhead on an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and strike the United States . Of course, Silicon Valley would be a target, and i think secretary mattis is saying they dont have that capability yet, which is, of course, reassuring, but we are all concerned whether they would develop that capability and that is why a diplomatic approach to prevent them from doing so is so important. In that ad hoc signing ceremony in the oval office before the president left for florida, he signed something that was known as a 4 billion Missile Defense. That was the continuing resolution with the provisions for Missile Defense. How right is that, to be investing more money in Missile Defense as we look at this issue in particular . Well, we need to look at the facts. Look, im all for developing Missile Defense, but here are the facts about this. Only 50 of these ground interceptors have worked, and i dont want to have a 50 chance of some Ballistic Missile comes towards us that it would be intercepted. Second, the problem with this funding is theyre saying that they should develop additional ground interceptors before doing the testing. My view is why dont we first do the testing, make sure these things are working before spending additional money. Finally, i dont think we should be lulled into a false sense of security. We need to be honest with the American People that these antimissile p grouground inters have a 50 chance of working and what we really need is a diplomatic approach. We shouldnt think we are immune because we have this antiMissile Defense technology. So i think the facts here really are important and we should be honest with the American People about our capabilities. Youre on the Armed Services committee, i believe youre on the Budget Committee as well. I want to ask you about the consequences of the continuing resolution i spoke about. Its been a long time since weve had a traditional budget process. Have crs become the new normal in washington . What are the consequences of that when it comes to the state department . Unfortunately, they have become the new normal. If you talk to anyone in our military, they will say its an awful way of planning. It restricts them. We want to get a budget resolution, but i heard your earlier guest talking about the d. R. E. A. M. Ers. I was one of the democrats, among others, who believe that we need a solution to the d. R. E. A. M. Ers before we just allow government to go on, that its a moral issue. So were going to have a lot of work to do when we get back from the holidays, to get a real budget, not just the continuing resolutions and to solve the issue with the d. R. E. A. M. Ers. Policy decision for the state department giving weapons to ukraine. Theres been a tremendous amount of tension between ukraine and russia. How comfortable are you with that policy move when you look at it from a defense perspective . I thought it was a mistake and i was surprised because this president , this administration has talked about deescalating the crisis with russia. We, of course, were involved with encouraging at first the coup in ukraine. I think its been a mistake to have nato expanded in ukraine or to push for the European Union to expand there. We should have ukraine as a neutral buffer nation which doesnt threaten russia. So i think its just going to escalate the violence to put the Missile Defense there. I was frankly surprised that this Administration Given their prior comments is taking that step. All right. The gentleman from david, at the end, i want to wish you and everyone a Merry Christmas over the holidays. Despite all the difficult issues, i do hope people will get some break over the holidays. To you as well. The gentleman from the 17th district in california, congressman ro khanna joining me from florida. President trump says hes had more legislative accomplishments than any of his pred did i sesors. Well dig into that after this. For singing definitely dry mouth has been a problem for me. Im also on a lot of medications that dry my mouth. I just drank tons of water all the time. It was never enough. I wasnt sure i was going to be able to continue singing. I saw my dentist. He suggested biotene. It feels refreshing. My mouth felt more lubricated. I use biotene rinse twice a day and then i use the spray throughout the day. It actually saved my career in a way. Biotene really did make a difference. [heartbeat] when youre clocking out. Im the one clocking in. Sensing your every move and automatically adjusting to help you stay effortlessly comfortable. 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He moved it up because the media would not let him live it down if he waited until the new year. With his major tax reform bill in the rearview mirror, whats next . Here we have atima and curt morrow. He left the gop and joined the democratic party. Great to have both of you with us. Let me play one more cut from that ad hoc bill signing in the oval office on friday. The president was talking about the importance of that tax cut legislation. We have more legislative victories than any other president , not including this, but this is the capper because this is, again, the biggest tax cut, biggest reform of all time. Curt, let me ask you this. He called it the capper. He said this is a bill thats going to sell itself. We heard from House Speaker paul ryan saying this is going to become more popular as americans look at their paychecks down the line and be see whats in it for them. Are you confident this is something republicans are going to keep talking about, this is something theyre going to want to run on as we approach 2018 . I think theyre going to want to try to create some distance. This tax bill is a disaster. Donald trump as he entered maralago he said to the wealthy 1 who can afford to even go there, yall just made a lot more money. So this tax bill is a bill for the rich. Its a bill for corporations. Its a bill for ceos. Its not going to do anything for the working or middle class in this country. Republicans realize theres a reason why this bill is incredibly unpopular, why only 24 of americans support this bill. Theyre not going to want to keep talking about it the same way as when obamacare became unpopular, democrats faced the same conundrum. That anecdote is something that the president walking into dinner, seeing a few friends and saying, quote, you all just got a lot richer. Let me ask you how democrats should approach this . Wait and see approach, see how this plays out betting on the fact that Many Americans wont be as excited as they think they will be. The fact that the gop has been very, very hush hush about a lot of details about this bill until the last minute tells you just how much they know that this is not going to be a popular sell. Two out of three middle class americans are going to see actually their taxes raised off this bill. If youre an heir, heiress or working on a pass through organization, Something Like the Trump Organization where you get a lot of passive income, youre going to benefit from this bill but youre not if you are a regular american. Going into this coming election cycle, democrats are going to absolutely point that out and theyre going to highlight it and run on it because this is not the america certainly trump promised even his voters. I want to ask each of you about the prospect for more bipartisanship in 2018. Lets hear from the president and the majority leader of the u. S. Senate. I really do believe were going to have a lot of bipartisan work done. I think one thing i can say about this year, it was pretty partisan. You know, most of the things that i mentioned, not all of them, but most of the big things i mentioned were done largely on a partisan basis. I dont think most of our democratic colleagues want to do nothing and there are areas, i think, where we can get bipartisan agreement. Curt, give us the lay of the land as youve surveyed the legislative landscape. Where are those legislative areas that lead eer mcconnell a referring to . These are extraordinary words by leader mcconnell. Its ironic the shoe is on the foot. He wants democrats to come to the table and work with him. Unlike this year, next year it will require 60 votes in the senate to get through. They will require democratic support. The thing about trump is hes unpredictable. It will be interesting to see if trump really does the bring the democrats 209 table, work with them. Give them more than the republicans wanted to accede. The areas where they could find common ground, theyll have to try to do a drooem. R. E. A. M. Ers fix. With the political climate, the mid terms coming down on people, primary elections starting and the fbi Mueller Investigation, it will be very tough to get anything major done. Ateyma, i look at things on the agenda. Infrastructure, welfare reform, entitlement spending, social security, how much Due Diligence do they have to have a hand in setting that agenda in washington . Well, whats going to end up having to happen, which is what paul ryan had to do a few times, is already have conversations with schumer and pelosi about getting anything done on the budget end of things. The republicans wanted to work on entitlement reform. Thats what theyre talking about with paul ryan if he wants to retire from congress as goes the rumor in town, thats really what they want to tackle first. Quite honestly, democrats want to actually get some stuff done, but its just going to be pretty much of a problem when you have republicans saying that they want to work at the table but every time they do pretty much on health care, pretty much on tax reform theyve made it that a you will we need is 50 plus 1 votes to get it done and i think its the same going into 2018. Curt, ill ask you about the Republican Party. You left that party. Felt alienated by it. What does the Republican Party have to do to heal what wounds there are there to make it more conclusive. Its fractured. How do they repair it . They need to find their voice. We have this controversy where President Trump makes these ridiculous statements about the immigrants. Wheres the Republican Party saying this is outrageous . This is wrong . We dont feel this way . The reason why many people like myself have left the Republican Party is because of the overwhelming silence. Its not just donald trump and the roy moors, its the cowardness and when ridiculous things are said, they hide. They dont speak out. Until they find their voice and their own moral conscience. Thank you very much. After the break, the president continues his war of words against the federal bureau of investigation. Stay with us. Box. Its whats inside the person who opens it. Give ancestrydna, the only dna test that can trace your origins to over 150 ethnic regions. And open up a world of possibilities. Save 20 for the holidays at ancestrydna. Com. It wasntaking ceasy at first. She learned how to better communicate her needs. And you learned how to not ignore yours. I discovered how to make healthier meals. And i discovered how much i enjoyed them. Narrator becoming a caregiver is a learning experience for everyone. Find articles, tips and tools from experts and others who have been in your place. The Caregiving Resource Center at aarp. Org caregiving. Welcome back. Im david guer. The Washington Post is reporting that the fbis director is planning to retire. Andrew mccabe is reportedly hoping to retire after he becomes eligible for pension benefits in early march. This news comes after he faced hours of questioning in Congress Last week. Cnn reported that mccabe testified that former fbi director james comey informed him of his conversations with President Trump soon after they happened including the conversation where comey claimed the president demanded his loyalty. Fbi director Andrew Mccabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. 90 days to go. Trump continued his attacks this morning. Im joined by Natasha Bertrand jay newton small. Let me start with you, natasha, to ask you about the unique role Andrew Mccabe plays here. Right. So andrew mccape was the Deputy Director of the fbi during the clinton email investigation. Hes worked with james comey very closely and now he still remains the fbi Deputy Director. This is all an attempt to undermine mullers investigation. If you smear the way the clinton email investigation was handled, you can smear the way the russia investigation has been handled, both by comey and now mueller. The line that has been used is to that mccabes wife was given 500,000 to a polite calling committee linked to terry mcauliffe. Theres multiple degrees of separation here. Mcauliffe did not the clintons did not give the money to mccabes wife and mccabe was not in charge of the email investigation so this is really a stretch. Let me ask you about the relevance of that. You have a president casting aspersions on a nonpartisan event. What are the consequences as you see it . Its completely demoralizing for the fbi, david. Ive heard that from fbi sources, that the morale within the department is at an all time low. This is not just reflected in the treatment of david mccabe who is a very highly respected, longtime, in fact lifer at the fbi, but its also reflected in the president s tweets about the fbi. Hes tweeted repeatedly about how the organization is falling down on its job, how theyre doing terribly and its to the point where Christopher Rey who is the president s own head to lead the fbi, just this week there are articles about how demoralized he is, how hes struggling to bridge the sort of ocean between the president and the fbi. This really comes because mooul l mueller is silent. The only person the president can attack is the fbi and thats why you see him going after the fbi so harshly in the place of going after bob muller. Amid that quiet you do see people coming to their defense. The statement is beyond reproach. How effective is that defense as we see the president and others piling on here . Many of the republicans that are now attacking mueller were the ones to say he is beyond reproach. He was a great choice but now that hes trying to wait his way into the white house, you see some republicans get freaked out. He could be charged with Something Like obstruction of justice and that the collusion aspect is coming full circle with the cooperation of mike flynn and George Papadopoulos. What really matters right now is making sure trump stays calm and doesnt do anything like fire mueller over the holidays which several democrats are very, very concerned about. Let me ask you about the house intelligence committees investigation in particular. There are always investigations happening in parallel. There are many high profile interviews. What does that in particular say about the focus of the houses investigation . Well, theres been a lot of criticism, particularly by House Democrats, that this investigation is being rushed, that they are not interviewing dozens of people that House Democrats say they want interviewed. Theyre holding these interviews afield. So, for example, this interview of the president s longtime sort of gatekeeper as people sort of call her is being held in new york when it could be held in washington, d. C. , basically preventing a lot of members from attending this with a lot of votes, they cant leave with voting schedules and go up and listen to the interviews. They have to be reliant on staff in order to be present during the interviews. So theres a lot of andrew shiv whos the ranking democrat or the top democrat on that Committee Says he believes adam schiff. Rushing to prematurely end this. Yeah. Prematurely end this investigation and that he believes that this is actually damaging to mueller and that they are really looking in many ways to weaken muellers investigation. Natasha, whats your time line for this investigation . You have a back and forth here between House Speaker paul ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi talking about it. Republicans are saying it needs to be wrapped up well in advance of the 2018 election. When you look at all of these investigations in concert with each other, what happens with the house investigation do you think . Well, the house investigation, theyre ultimately going to issue two separate reports. The democrats are going to keep investigating or keep looking into all of this and issue their report who knows when. The republicans at the latest want to get their report out by spring. The house investigation has become not an entirely likely investigation as well. Theres no indication the Mueller Investigation will wrap up before the 2018 mid terms. The Senate Investigation is a less partisan, kind of more serious probe so they have given no indication that they incontinued to wrap it up any time soon regardless of what ty cobb, the white house lawyer tells trump, he wont be out of hot water before the mid terms. Cory lewandowski and steve bannon have been invited to testify. When you look at those two gentleman in particular, whats this Committee Interested in hearing from them . Lewandowski, he was on the email chains, George Papadopoulos told him i want to set up this meeting between the Trump Campaign and putin. That was last year. He was privy to a lot of these email messages. Steve bannon was there pretty much the entire time. He was another gatekeeper. They want to know what each of them saw and experienced during the campaign whether that had to do with potential obstruction or collusi collusion. After the break were going to take a look at the administrations push to expand americas Missile Defense system and whether it will pay off. Stay right here. Afi sure had a lot on my mind. My 30year marriage. My 3month old business. Plus. What if this happened again . I was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me . So i made a point to talk to my doctor. He told me about eliquis. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. Not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots. Eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. Eliquis had both. And that turned around my thinking. Dont stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. If you had a spinal injection while on eliquis call your doctor right away if you have tingling, numbness, or muscle weakness. While taking eliquis, you may bruise more easily. And it may take longer than usual for bleeding to stop. Seek immediate medical care for sudden signs of bleeding, like unusual bruising. Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots. Plus had less major bleeding. Both made eliquis right for me. Ask your doctor if switching to eliquis is right for you. North korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. President trump there speaking about north korea back in august. On friday it was United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley pushing back on the north korean test of new missiles. Pyongyang has chosen the path of isolation. As we have in the past, we will continue to match the kim regimes choice of aggressive actions with actions of international sanction. The u. N. Voted on tough new sanctions against the isolated regime after it test fired another Ballistic Missile late last month. Pyongyang voted to retalliate. Joining me is Steve Clemons let me start with you and ask you about this rhetoric. The regime calling this an act of war. Do you detect an up tick in the heat of that rhetoric . We have heard things like this from north korea in the past. With regard to the september u. N. Sanctions, they called them brutal, genocide. The North Koreans have the korean war armistice. They did that on september 25 when their foreign minister talked about the right to shoot down planes in International Air space. What we heard the last few hour, its terrible but its things we have seen in the past. Gordon, i want to you about the most recent amount of sanctions we have seen here. Looking at minerals and energy looks at those who have to leave north korea to work. How harsh are these sanctions relative to what we have seen before . They are harsher. They are the tenth set since 2006. They harsher than the ones we saw in september which were harsher than the ones before that. We have to remember they are not strict enough. If we believe we have only a limited time to deal with this, that we cant Deter North Korea and people believe. President trump needs to enforce his september 21 executive order. He needs to two after chinese banks that have been money laundering. We have can an immediate effect on north korea. What else is in this administrations tool kit when it comes to sanctioning north korea. He said there are limits to the levers this add mvrgs hministra. I guess youd have to go into some very extreme issues. Sanctions have never been a real tool for the United States. It exists like a drug cartel does. It operates through illicit operations. It gets cash shipped into it. It engages in narcotics transport and whatnot around the world. It benefits from participating in these gray zones internationally with other countries that are willing to work with it. I think thats the change in perspective we need. You have others that say if you want to cut that stuff out then we need a real naval blockade. That might create real pressure. As we talk about sanctions and banking relationships, i look at that as very piecemeal when it comes to directing north korea to take different actions. Nikki haley working on issues, this is administration with an uneasy relationship with the United Nations. How comfortable is it having the u. N. Being front and center when it comes to its Foreign Policy portfolio. The United Nations is a place that allows us to get a message the United States is trying to send. Its a place that sends signals back to the United States when other countries see we have crossed a line. When it comes to issues like the palestine case we have seen a rebuke from the rest of the world. We have an uneasy relationship with the United Nations that doesnt fit well with an America First Foreign Policy which is the brand this administration is putting out there. Thats not a bad thing. Sometimes the United States needs to make the weather in the world. There are other times we need to Pay Attention to whats coming. Donald trump is asking the world to work with us on the north korea pro. Many of our allies need to know we will be there for their threats. Be there in dealing with refugees. I think theres an imbalance of empathy between our needs and our allies needs. We heard the french ambassador saying theres a diplomatic solution. We need to get to it. Thats the path to that right now. I believe that is severe sanctions not just on north korea but on those countries that back north korea. For instance, china, russia and a number of other nations throughout the world. We have really had not begun to sanction those countries. This is going to be drastic but if we want a peaceful solution, we have to make it clear to the North Koreans that they have no choice but to do what we want. We have the power to do that. Weve not been willing to exercise the elements of power. Thanks the both of you. As we take a look back at Donald Trumps first year of presiden presidency, theres more news. Machine. President trump is spending his christmas in florida. Fresh off his first major legislative victory. A sweeping overhaul of the tax code. Trump told friends dining at the trump owned private club last night, quote, you all got a lot richer. This just hours after he signed that bill into law. Most americans agree. 63 say the tax plan will mostly help corporations and the wealthiest americans. According to the most recent poll. Trump is not too worried about how the bill is perceived telling the press on friday that americans will grow to love it. I think its selling itself. Its becoming very popular. I think it will really youll see something on february 1st when they open up the paycheck. Thats when you will start to see it. Signing it now, it kicks in for this year. Tell us a bit more about this. Some dinner table conversation taking place last night. Reporter well, the backdrop is that the president when he spoke to reporters in the oval office he was asked there if he needed to do a public tour. Sort of a post state of union kind of thing where we see a president go around the country and sell policy ideas. The president saying he doesnt think he needs to do that. The president was overheard saying to some of those who were attending that youre going to be richer. It