Good morning, im gigi stone, were at msnbc headquarters in new york. Alex witt is off. Its 6 00 a. M. In the east 9 00 a. M. In the west. I want you folks to not think i am keeping my promise. I am keeping my opinion promise, signing it before christmas. President trump crowing about the tax bill. Wing will at whether some claims about it are true or false. Plus the missed opportunities in the tax deal, one experts take on where it can go wrong, how it can do damage in the long run facing questions, the questions longtime gate keeper entangled in the russia investigation. But who is she . And why do congressional investigators want to talk to her . Robert mueller on the firing line, new gop efforts to discred at this time special counsel and whether theyre orchestrated. Details next on nsnbc live next, President Trump and the first family getting a start on their tenday vacation at the maralago estate in florida. Before leaving, the president uses the signing ceremony to attack democrats for opposing the gops landmark tax bill. Lets listen. Democrats dont like tax cuts. They want to raise your taxes. They dont want to lower your taxes. They want to raise your taxes and spend money foolishly on things that we dont need in many cases. So, were cutting taxes, taking care of our military and taking care of people and were really doing a job on jobs. Meanwhile, new development in the russia investigation, nbc news has learned yesterday in new york, a handsful of house intel members interviewed rona graph, a longtime assistant to donald trump. And Cory Lewandowski and former white house strategist steve bannon. President trump savoring wis i his win after sending the tax cut into law. We want to go to kelly odonnell, shes in florida, where the president is settling in for the morning break. Good morning. Reporter good morning, just a few minutes ago, President Trump and the motorcade with our colleagues who are in todays compliment of the white house travel pool left maralago. We dont know the destination yet, but if history is any guide, perhaps the president is going to one of his golf clubs here. What we certainly saw is for President Trump, the tradition of bringing the family down to mrg smrg a part of the Christmas Holiday f. He had anything on the wish list for santa, it certainly appears he got it with a tax bill that has now become law. Air force one returned to palm beach for the holiday, where President Trump found a present of sorts waiting for him. A crowd of cheering sign waving supporters. The president used the friendly response tohension his tax cut win. Earlier at the white house the president did a rare solo bill signing to make the tax cuts law. I am keeping my promise. I am signing it before christmas. Reporter the president said despite polls showing the tax cut package is unpopular, he does not need a public tour to promote it. I dont have to travel too much to sell it. I think its selling itself. Having failed on a full repeal of obamacare t. President touted the tax cut law, which eliminates the Health Insurance individual mandate and its tax penalty. I think it ultimately leads to the end of obamacare. Reporter President Trump ended something else, too. A 15year tradition of past president s who held a white house end of year news conference, but on capitol hill, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell did wrap up the year with reporters, with dry humor about sometimes being the target of angry trump tweets. With regard to the president s tweeting habit, i havent been a fan until this week. Im warming up to the tweets, actually. Reporter and on prospects for their agenda if 2018. We Work Together seamlessly and i think we go into the few year with the high level of confidence in our ability to Work Together with the administration. Well, at least at the moment the relationship between congressional leaders a and the president is very good and there will be a lot for them to work on in the new year. One of the things the president talked about with reporters as he was signing the tax bill into law and a measure to keep the government funded for a period of weeks as they still have to deal with the budget was the notion of infrastructure. Could that be something where republicans and democrats could potentially Work Together . The president said he thinks so. Its unclear if democrats would go say long. That is often a tough area where you do see some bipartisan support, how you would get there, how it would funded, the specifics involved would certainly come into the political realm of a fight in the new year. But at least thats something on the president s wish list for 2018. Bipartisan agreement would certainly be a change. Thanks lets bring in a reporter at axios and walk conte for usa today. Thanks for being here. Lets watch what President Trump said in the oval office about this legislative win. We have, of course the individual mandate, which is a very unfair and very unpopular provision as you know in obamacare, essentially, i think it ultimately leads to the end of obamacare. Essentially, i think obamacare is over. And yet its not. President trump making that comment despite signups nearing the 9 million mark. That is a surprise. Elena, whats the calculation for the president making this assertion and just continue tag repeal drum beat . Right. Well, President Trump isnt one to admit defeat they tried twice over the Affordable Care act and they failed. You see mcconnell at the end of the Year Press Conference said looking forward to 2018, any effort to try to do it again probably wont succeed. He said, good luck to anyone that tries to do it. But trump makes these assertions. He doesnt want to admit the failure. I thought we were going to play sounds on President Trump there. This is obviously an incredibly polarizing topic. Let me show you how polarizing this has gotten. Reporter for the president to layout a tax cut there would be a middle class miracle. Thats exactly what the Congress Passed today. This tax bill is armagezdon. Whats the gop strategy during the midterms, how are they going to manage that . Well, i this city theory here, President Trump has never been one to worry about the details. All he wants is the top line, i won, it has the trump name in it. The trump tax cut. For the gop the issue is, can they see, will people actually see some increase in their wallets basically . Will there be tax cuts . Will there be increases in their paychecks because of withholding is reduced. That is what their sales game is. You can see these companies rolling out new deals and bonuses for workers is a part of the attempt by corporations to help the president sell his bill. Right, its not working so far, americans are incredibly skeptical that this is going to help their pockbooks. I have to ask you, during the president s oval Office Statement yesterday, he suggested his administration doesnt get credit for all of its accomplishments. Lets talk about this, beyond the appointment of neil gorsuch, the tax bill, can you take off a lot of wins . What are they . So neil gorsuch is one that mcconnell during an axios event said thats a top accomplishment. Tax reform is a close second. Theyve signed a bunch of legislative achievements. Looking into 2018, there will not be many more easy legislative executive orders that they can sign, so trump in true trump fashion is going to tout any success he can. He says the media isnt picking up on these things, theyre focusing on things like the Russian Investigation. That may detract from some of the wins. But as you said there is not that many huge big wins that theyve had, tax reform is the one legislative success that you saw in this first year. And the Russian Investigation is definitely a dark cloud over there. House Speaker Paul Ryan is pushing back on nancy pelosi wrote a letter urging him not to curtail the work happening in these congressional committees. A spokesperson said leader pelosi would like to see this investigation go on forever, whether it concludes next month, next year in three years, she will say its too soon. You know, a lot of people think this investigation will wrap up shortly. Do democrats have any recourse, paul . Well, im not convinced it is going to wrap up shortly, if you consider the fact that there are ongoing criminal indictments against several people that have to play out in court, including paul manafort, the former campaign manager. It is not clear at all that the investigation is done in the courts. Now, on capitol hill, its an interesting question whether the house and Senate Intelligence continue to play out their investigations. I think what the democrats continue to do is during the campaign year, which were going into, is bring up the question of are we doing something to prevent our election systems from being hacked by russia or anybody else if 2018 and i think that that is a topic that they can continue to drive whether or not these are ongoing investigations in congress. Thats a really important question and yet what we are hearing from the gop, this repeated effort to under mine fbi investigation. I want to play you elijah efforts to discredit muellers investigation. Whenever it seems as if mueller is getting closer and closer to the white house, it seems that were distracted to something else, so now weve reached into the book of playbooks, trick, now theyre pulling this out today. So were prepared. I want to ask both of you, does this appear to be the case . Who is leading the republican charge for the gop on that front. Right. I think that one what weve seen with this investigation is, you look at ty cobbs, trumps personal attorney keeps pushing it will be over by 2017, thats clearly not the case. It will go into 2018, probably 2019. On the Trump Administration they ask, are you going to fire mueller, whats happening here . He keeps saying he wont, he maintain hess has no plans to fire mueller. But if you look at what theyre trying to do is discredit some of the evidence that could be brought up down the case in this road. You look at the attacks on the fbi, some of the other people that theyre trying to undermine with who they are bringing in. Its really them trying to cover their bases for anything that could arise in the investigation moving order. And affect the publics opinion of the Mueller Investigation, regardless of what the results are. Paul, what itself your reaction before we wrap up . Again, this is a pr campaign more than anything else. They are not in control of the legal situation. For them, the pr situation is, those guys are all out to get us. Its all corrupt. You know you are based on our supporters, we did the right thing. Theyre trying to do whatever they can to tarnish our victory. By all accounts, Robert Mueller is beyond approach and will not be affected by any pr spin. That is for sure, thank you for joining us both coming up, we have a new report suggesting the white house may have played a role to discredit muellers investigation. So stay with us. Well talk about that. The day after chemo might mean a trip back to the doctors office, just for a shot. 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If youd rather be home, ask your doctor about Neulasta Onpro. Tcan lead toof plenty of questions. Fortunately, theres a place to get the answers, for them and for you. 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. We have been discussing how republican criticism of the Mueller Investigation has ramping up. Well, now theres new information. A report that suggests some of the special counsels most vocal gop critics have been in direct contact with the white house. Three republicans, jim jordan, matt gaetz and ron desan tis. They have all had contact with the white house or President Trump. Heres congressman jordan. Have you had conversations with the white house, not about the questions you ask, but about the Mueller Investigation in general . Well, i talk to the white house about all kind of things. We have talks about tax policy, talks about welfare policy, obamacare. Of course, weve had talks with the white house. Joining me now is Natasha Bertrand political Business Insider reporting on all of this you heard it from representative jordan, himself, he says hes had routine contact with the white house. Do you see this as a new undermine of the russia tampering probe . It wouldnt be a new strategy the president has been trying to undermine mueller via intermed areas for months, he was pressuring members of congress to put an end to come out and publicly exonerate him. Saying he had done nothing wrong. So this will be nothing new for him. If he were talking to jim John Desantis or gaetz, telling them, do your job, question them fiercely, which is what matt gaetz and jim jordan did last week when they were quebec rod rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney general. They really guild him about whether or not there is bias in the fbi whether these Text Messages tainted the entire investigation. So this is something not coming in a volume, it would be surprising if trump werent speaking to them and egging them on. Whether they coordinated their criticism of mueller and his investigation, you say you think its possible the president reached out to talk about the investigation. Do you know . Do you believe this is the case . Absolutely. Trump has been saying for the last year the investigation is a hoax. He asked jim comey if he could consider letting mike flynn go. He asked him for his loyalty, with he would write a letter telling the public he had done nothing wrong. So this is a pattern. This is not something the president wants hanging over his head. If he can find allies in congress or the fbi our wherever he can get them to be on his side and have this conversation with them and encourage them to you know discredit the entire investigation. He will no doubt try to do that as weve seen in the past. It seems like the American Public doesnt realize how serious this is. How unusual is it . Is it typical for members of the judiciary and Oversight Committee to be discussion an open investigation with the president . No the last time we saw a president tried to undermine the fbi to this extent, we saw what happened, it was 96 within watergate so this is something that you know legal experts i speak to former fbi acts i have regular conversations with say it is very, very bad for the president. This is not the kind of thing that he wants to be drawing attention to, these fights with the fbi, ultimately mueller has an investigation. He has been conducting these investigations and james comey opened it in july. There is a ton of evidence they have been checking over the course of the year, where if trump continued to come out and speak and maybe tried to protect himself in the investigation and Say Something that could perhaps undermine or contradict anything that mueller has found, that can be extremely damaging for him. You talked about how the president talked to congressman desantis according to your reporting. Yet, just yesterday the president endorsed desantis for the florida governors race what do you think of that . Its interesting, its definitely noteworthy, because desantis introduced a provision that would dramatically limit the scope and funding of muellers investigation so this has become one of his most important subjects he has been working on, of course, he met with Trump Aboard Air force one a couple weeks ago before that rally in pensacola, where matt gaetz, who was also there, was telling trump that muellers probe has infected with bias. Its unclear whether or not desantis actually weighed in. He has been privy to those conversations the fact that trump would so aggressively endorse him on twitter, it raises eyebrows. It smax of controversy. Thanks for joining us, thank you this morning. Thank you so much up next. Tax cut real yilt the potential impablt pact for you and the impact for you and the country. The center for american congress, a think tank says the president will save 11 to 15 million a year because of these new business rules. So why does he say the overhaul will cost him money . This will cost mae fortune this thing, believe me. This is not good for me. The president said the tax bill will cost him a fortune, its actually not the case. How does he figure this will cost am lot of money . Look, we expect it likely will certainly on the personal side could cost the president a lot of money. Patients that i see that complain about dry mouth. They feel that they have to drink a lot of water. Medications seem to be the number one cause for dry mouth. I like to recommend biotene. It replenishes the moisture in your mouth. Biotene definitely works. [heartbeat] welcome back. Republicans say the tax bill benefits the middle class him critics say its a give away to wealthy business owners. Even President Trumps ideas of whats at the heart of the tax plan afear have evolved in recent weeks. Lets listen. The beetle heart of our plan is a tax cut for working families. Our tax lowers business from 35 down to 21 . Thats probably the biggest factor in this plan. The president making it clear thursday that business was his main focus. So joining me with a bit of a reality check is the president of the committee for responsible federal bug. Maia, thanks for being here. Thank you. The gop the president says this is a plan for working families. Is it or is it one that benefits the countrys wealthiest . Well, there is no question it will benefit the wealthiest in the country. Many of the things on the individual side, the st. Tax and tax breaks ensure the well off are going to do very well. I think the way the tax cut has been discussed, missed the point. We talked about who is get whack tax cut in the first point is this country cant afford tax can you describe. We have huge budget deficits. It wasnt paid for like it was supposed to be. Spending wasnt brought down at all. There were will be larger deficits. Which means the real question is how much will this tax reform plan grow the economy . And unfortunately, the information that we are getting about the bill is not very much at all. Far below what we are hoping are some of the estimate was some of the people are claiming it would t. Question is any growth that does come from it, will it be spread broadly across the economy or will it be targeted mainly to capital owners . So i think there is the real risk is that the Economic Growth doesnt appear as much as it should and what discuss isnt spread broadly across the sprek e spectrum, the real tax reform. You dont see the economy growing as much as republicans think it does, historically, trickle down economics, which theyre touting, hasnt really played out the way it was supposed to, correct . Well, its very difficult. To tell. Because the past big tax cuts we had, 1981, 2001, were followed immediately or quite quickly afterwards by recessions. That doesnt mean the tax cuts cause recessions, it means a lot of things go on in the economy, you cant tell how tax cuts aim throughout the economy. We do know what models tell us. What we see is the benefit of corporate improvements, which i say were overdue in our economy. We did need to improve our tax code, those benefits tends to go towards capital owners who are people at the higher end of the income spectrum so i think one of the interesting challenges this bill didnt live up to is figuring out how you grow the economy and make sure its shared across the spectrum. Thats a bicker structural question than child tax credits there or tax reductions there, i dont think we have grappled with that at all. We are count og corporations to be benefit ev lent in some ways. Right. I want to ask you, some of the Spec Industries getting breaks, mining, manufacturing, that can be seen as a nod to President Trumps base, yet, holding companies, food services, accommodation, aka hotels and real estate, which gets the biggest break, theyre all connected to President Trump in some way. You know, is that enough to rev the economic engine to create that growth. Is there a conflict of interest here . I wouldnt focus on the president per se, those issues are fair. Lobbyists influence these bills too much. Thats part of what makes people not trust washington in terms of crafting real policies that work regardless of special interests. We know the tax bill favors Certain Industries over others and there is not economic arguments for that thats a real unfortunate outcome of how things get done in washington him then i also think the point you brought up that is very important is, we are kind of relying on Business Leaders to make decisions about how the improvements to their corporate situation are spread amongst job creation, wage, higher wages and investments. And were going to see how those decisions get made. I think it will make a real difference on whether these tax cuts remain in place. Because remember, both on the individual side, a lot of them are going to expire and were going to have a huge cash crunch in walk, where there is a lot of pressure to repeal a part of this tax bill if it creates growth that spread, those corporate improvements will stay in if its all concentrated on top, they may get repealed over time. A lot remains to be seen. Important questions ahead. Thank you so much for being with us. Thank you. Straight ahead, we will be talking about whats the hurry, how nancy pelosi fires off a letter, asking speaker paul rin to keep those russia investigations going . Democrats, why do they think republicans are trying to wrap up the probe . We will ask mike quigley. That is coming up nextch. A new development in the russia investigation, nbc news learned longtime trump assistant rona graph was interviewed by house intel members in new york yesterday. It was clear if both were represented. Its an effort by democrats to stop republicans from wrapping up congressional investigations in the near future. So lets bring in democratic congressman mike quigley of illinois. He is a member of the House Intel Committee. Thanks for being here. Glad to be here, good morning. Its start with rona graph, she has been at prups side for many years in the private sector. Were you or any other democrat in that interview . It took place in new york, not in d. C. Was naa surprise to you . Well, i think its indicative of what the republicans are trying to do, to rush to a close this investigation. I think twice this week they scheduled interviews out of state when we are in d. C. So its difficult for members to be in the same place, particularly when the mandate is to vote. Its one indicative members they are doing, they want this investigation to go away. Did anybody interview her . Who did . What information would she be able to provide in the investigation as well . I believe one democrat was able to go up to new york to do the interview that took place yesterday we were another interview wednesday when we are in d. C. That interview was in new york. So, of course, no democratic members were able to go. Its certainly suspect West Virginia kind of information do you think that everyone is trying to get from her . Look, i this what i we are trying to get from the people we interview is what took place when . Clearly a witness like her would have access to the intertwineings of the Trump Campaign, what took place in trump tower before the president was elected. And to the extent possible what took place after. Were not really supposed to go into details of what has taken place in those interviews. Obviously, any interviews yesterday, i dont think there was any democrats there but a single one. Equally intrigue, Andrew MccabeDeputy Director sat down with the house Oversight Committee. I know you can tell us what was said, but there are reports he corroboratedtomiys statements in the past. Have you walked away the investigation has a little more credible . I feel on a continuous basis there is increased evidence of obstruction taking place. My first indication of that was when the president of the United States fired comey and in his own words for that russian thing. So i think thats why the investigation cant be rushed. Were learning more and more. We started at the periphery, moving towards the center. Why are the republicans rushing this through . Why are they trying to discredit mr. Mueller . Why are they doing any of these things . Because the investigation is getting too hot for them. Its entered the oval office. When general flynn was indicted and pled, thats a gateway into the oval office. It has them spooked. I think general flynn was particularly important to them and i think its why the president was so concerned about him that he told mr. Comey to lay off that investigation. Comey indicated publicly that he felt instructed by the president not to move forward on the investigation with general flynn. So i think thats why, quite frankly, the republicans are a little freaked out about this. And i think nancy pelosi was absolutely correct, this is on the speaker of the house. He can shut down these rogue investigations that have nothing to do with russia. He can make sure this investigation takes its course and that its not russian, in the manner in which it is. Understand, theyre not subpoenaeing everyone that they should. Theyre not forcing answers from key witnesses. Theyre rushing this investigation. The interviews are taking place on an overlapping basis, often out of state. And theyre refusing to bring in certain people, who would be important witnesses. All right. Very concerning. I want to play what democratic senator mark warner, the top democrat in the investigation told Cnbcs John Harwood this week. Youve said in the past that on this issue of collusion, youve seen smoke but fought fire. Is that still the case . I think more and more this pick is coming into view. I think some of the comments that i made literally months ago, i would amend those comments in terms of where we stand today. We heard some harsh words coming from senator warner, apart from that, do you feel the smoke is starting to clear . Or if you dont . I think the pieces are starting to fit together. I think last week was the first week i started to get some sense of what took place. But i think senator warners comments were measured to an extent and i understand that. I want the American Public to know, were doing this the right way. Witnesses of a benghazilike investigation. We cant be shut down and we cant be limited. Months ago if you had told me that the president s son would have been publicly acknowledging direct communications with wikileaks that if he would have said, if thats what it is, i love it, give us the dirt on hillary clinton. I believe this was attempts to obstruct. I believe there were attempts on both sides to communicate and coordinate that effort. But we cant say thats the end of it. There are so much more information. Look at this, the Mueller Investigation subpoenaed deutsche bank. Thats extraordinarily important. I dont believe the house investigation has scratched the surface of the financial things that have taken place. Understand manafort and gates were indicted for money laundering, in countries like cypress. An area where the russians have lawn launderred money for years, thats a cooperation and effort. We still dont know all the details. I dont want anyone to think there was a rush to judgment. Do i think there was coordination . Absolutely. A lot of potential dangerous layers here. I have to ask you about jill stein. She will be on our show later toot t. Senate is investigating her with possible collusion with the russians. Does this suggest anything to you that putins strategy for interfering in the election went beyond the Trump Campaign and would the House Intel Committee want to interview her or members of her campaign . This is a witness i think would be, would make a lot of sense for the house to interview. Its just one example. I think there is probably still 30 or 40 witnesses that we should interview. This is just one. I dont want to say one is more important than the other want because, quite honestly, you know, a month or so ago, no one knew who George Papadopoulos was or is. And now were learning that what an important key figure he was in all of this and how this all began in april of 2016 when they reached out to him and the russians reached out to him and offered dirt and these emails that were released after the meeting in trump tower with trump jr. So, its, its so enticing to jump to the some other conclusions. There is not just smoke here. Theres small fires. But they build to something that we need to understand. This is such an important investigation. We havent even gotten to the point where weve talked about the russians successfully hacking into three dozen states and their boards of election and their attempts to actually impact the voting process. We have done very little to thwart that in the future. The primary election takes place in march. So were months away from this. We have done nothing to alter that and to thwart that in the future. So this is the most important investigation in our lifetime. It cant be thwarted. Its on the speaker of the house to make sure this goes forward, so that the democratic process is protected. The investigation is important, it cannot be underestimated. Thank you so much for giving us your time. Happy holidays to all. In a moment, what ivanka trump said that only remoondz you of a broken promise by her father. Also in the next hour on ams joy, ryans hope. Now that cutting taxes is done, will the House Speaker actually go after cutting entitlements in 2018 as he has said . A battle is breaking out in washington over special counsel Robert Mueller as the russia investigation closes in on President Trumps inner circle. Now, the white house forced to address concerns that muellers job may be in jeopardy. Firing mr. Mueller or any other of the top brass involved in this investigation would not only call into question this administrations commitment to the truth but also to our most bake concept rule of law. We have no intentions of firing bob mueller. Were continuing to work closely and cooperate with him. We look forward to seeing this hoax wrap up very soon. Hoax. Some allies of the president have been ramping up against the president and the fbi. Joining me is a Christian Conservative and a columnist, thanks for being with us. Hi. Jonathan, we have been seeing this ramp up on the part of the gop to discredit mueller in the investigation. Is that what we are headed towards . Are they going to fire Robert Mueller in the administration . Is this going to be a constitutional crisis, crossing the red line . How fair is it to question muellers approach to the Russian Investigation. I think what theyre trying to do is lay the ground work for either getting rid of mueller, which is less likely or inhibiting his investigation by putting someone else in the justice department, for instance, somebody in rod rosensteins role, who can chip away at the investigation, via a direct line of intel to the white house, about whats going on in the investigation and otherwise compromise it. Either course, either firing mueller or compromising his investigation would precipitate a constitutional precipitate a constitutional crisis in this country in 2018. It would essentially be the president saying hes above the law. Thats what happens when you try to impede or affect or undermine a criminal investigation, contrary to what sanders said this is not a hoax. We already had indictments. Were way past the time where they can try to spin this as a hoax. This is a really serious criminal investigation, and it needs to move forward unimpeded. What kind of recourse can democrats and the American Public who are concerned about this have . You know, this could end up with people in the streets were he to fire mueller. I think you would see convulsive street demonstrations, not that that would necessarily do anything, but it would become a Bigger Campaign issue. It would be a dumb thing for the president to do politically to impede this investigation. But every time we think that hes touched bottom, he goes lower. So i dont think we can rule out the possibility that he will do something to impede this investigation. Activists are already mobilizing across the country for that possibility. If the white house maintains they have nothing to hide, why are the president and his surrogates so motivated to shut down or discredit muellers investigation . Because as youve seen throughout the campaign and throughout the first year of the administration, so much of this is about the way that the press covers the president and his administration and how his message is portrayed to his base and his constituency. This is a prminded president. So he cares a lot about the narrative coming out of this. A lot of the trouble he got into with firing jim comey and everything that was coming out prior to that was about wanting to clear his name in front of people, in front of the press. In his view this is not about all the legal back and forth and what eventually what will happen with the outcome of the investigation, its really about how am i being perceived . He is obsessed with this. You also have to recognize all of this talk going on, especially with the House Intelligence Committee and their investigation, and republicans being very forward and pressing rosenstein as happened last week, theyre wanting to show and, you know, theyre using this like a fundraising point as you look forward to 2018. They want to show washington is so corrupt. You need us. You need us to be the saviors. Its a part of their continuing narrative. I want to emphasize its not just about the investigation. Its about how everything is portrayed. They want to keep ahold of the narrative. He wont fire Robert Mueller. He knows, many in his administration and his political advisers know that would be a death nail. He cant do that. He wont do that. So theyre trying to control and spin the narrative as much as they can. And highlight perceived potential bias among the fbi. Donald trump jr. Criticizing the fbi over these messages that trashed candidate trump during the investigation. Lets listen. There is and there are people at the highest levels of government that dont want to let america be america. All right. So the idea is that basically theyre saying that the fbi officials cant leave their political opinions at the door. Does donald trump jr. Even have a point here, jonathan . Does it cast a shadow on the Mueller Investigation at all . No. Not to put too fine a point on it. Everybody has their own political opinions. If they seem to be causing a problem, then you have what bob mueller did last summer. You get rid of some of the people who may have caused a problem or perception of bias. He did that. Thats why we know about it because he shifted a couple people off the investigation when he felt their own political views were intruding on their judgment. To say that everybody has to be entirely without personal opinions, and if we find they have personal opinions, they need to be purged from the fbi which is what youre hearing on capitol hill, its completely ridiculous. When you had people in the new york office of the fbi leaking to Rudy Giuliani in 2016 dramatically antihillary clinton people within the fbi, i didnt see the republicans complaining about it at that point. So they only care about this if its a way of defending donald trump, carrying his water. The point is the net effect of this is really bad for the country. If youre trying to undermine law enforcement, using mccarthyite techniques by naming people inside the fbi, wrecking the careers potentially of very, you know, dedicated professionals. Its appalling. Its another consequence of the efforts by the president to defend himself and politicize this. Its potentially truly alarming to discredit reputable members of the fbi. This very Important Organization for the country. I want to bring you in, kirsten. The president has been suggesting hes not getting credit from the media for all of his legislative accomplishments. Whats your take . Do you think hes not getting a fair shake . I think there are a lot of things that he has accomplished that maybe dont get mentioned because of things like the russia investigation and other issues that people tend to care about more. Obviously the media responds to what people want to watch, hear about and what they want to care about. When you look at his approval ratings, which are in the 30s, they have remained extremely low, that will direct the conversation to what media covers more. People are not happy with him. So, thats going to drive coverage. The tax bill is a legislative accomplishment but not necessarily something good for people. Thats whats going on here. All right. Thank you both. I have to cut you off, but i love this conversation. Next hour on am joy, why the fate of the republican control of congress may rest on President Trumps salesmanship. Stay with us