Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Ali Velshi 20180129

Good afternoon, 18 seconds in. Im ali velshi from washington one day away from President Trumps first tate of the Union Address and he is expected to strike a note on bipartisanship, tout the economy and call on congress to pass Immigration Reform and a trillion dollars infrastructure package. Well get to those topics. But looming in the background Robert Muellers russia investigation and this. Today weve learned that Andrew Mccabe is stepping aside as deputy fbi director. Opting to take his un used leave timele he can retire in a few months. The news comes days after President Trump attacked mccabe during a press gaggle. And it comes on the same day that the House Intelligence Committee could vote to publicly release a memo spearheaded by devin nunez alleging that the fbi abused a surveillance law to obtain a warrant for former Trump Campaign visseradvice page. Julie ainsley is with me for nbc news. Jeff, lets tastart with you. Sarah huckabeesanders just stopped the briefing and what did we here about this Andrew Mccabe stepping down. It was the first question out, and while hes receiving criticism from President Trump, the White House Press secretary Sarah Sanders says the president was not involved in the decision to step aside and said the president would not was not a part of the decision making. Take a look. Weve seen the numerous reports as all of you have, and any specifics, i can tell you none of the decision was made by that of the white house and any specifics i would refer you to the fbi who i believe will make a entertainment later today. You say the white house was not involved in the decision but clearly the president seemed to be involved in a Public Relations campaign against mccabe . Look, the president stands by his previous comments. But in terms of the situation today, as i just said, weve seen the reports just as you have and we dont have any specific comments and i refer you to the fbi on the spesive i specifics about things going on today. And andrew make kab had been at the center of two politically fraught fbi investigations an the fbi investigation Hillary Clinton use of a private email server and the probe of the Trump Campaign and potential connections to the kremlin. But what caught President Trumps attention was the wall journal report last year that mccabe had declined to recuse himself from the clinton email investigation, despite the fact his wife run for the Virginia Senate as a democrat and during the campaign she accepted political donations from the Clinton Family allies, so the president has seized on that as evidence that the russia investigation is part of a democrat effort to undermine him. And that is why he is in lock step with right wing media has portrayed mccabe as a deep plot to destroy the Trump Presidency and the reports shortly after firing fbi director james comey, the president asked mccabe to tell him who he voted for in the 2016 election. Mccabe reportedly refusing to answer. The headline is the white house said they werent involved in the decision to step aside but in his attempt to pressure the Justice Department, this is the latest troubling development. You set it up well. The issue is whether there was pressure. And julia, i want to bring up the tweet that donald trump sent out about fbi director Andrew Mccabe. How can fbi director Andrew Mccabe, the man in charge, along with leaking james comey and the phony Hillary Clinton investigation including the 33,000 illegally deleted email be given 700,000 for wifes campaign by clinton puppets during investigation. That tweet loaded with stuff. Just to be clear, Andrew Mccabe was on his way out. It was widely known that by march he would be out. It is now the end of january. Talk to me about the time i think Pete Williams put this well when he said it is not what, it is when. We knew that he would be leaving. He has been a long serving Civil Servant and he will get his retirement and get a great job in the private sector but he decided six weeks early to ten down as the acting director and Sarah Sanders said the white house had nothing to do with this. But when you look at a tweet like this, this decision was made in a vacuum. There was political pressure on mccabe for sometime from this white house to the fbi and an agency and to him specifically a and he maybe decided to get out of the way and save his agency the pressure that he was under and were searching for the exact answers as to why he made this decision today. Anybody in the world who had a tweet from someone who might be a boss or senior in their organization would see that as pressure. When it is the fbi and the president is tweeting, he didnt have the confidence of the president of the United States. That is right. And it is one thing for mccabe to wear it on his shoulder and we have someone at the white house and like no one weve ever seen before and decided to attack me but he was acting director and now deputy and there are a number of people who say we want to get out of this cloud being in the political cross hairs so maybe he decided that he needed to make this decision in order to save them. Like we said. And the fbi even under comey, with the Hillary Clinton investigation, and then especially being heated up under the trump administration, they want to go back to a time where they could focus on counterterrorism, on interdicting drug operations, not being the people who are supposed to carry out a political investigation. Or the punching bag. I wonder if that exists. Good to see you. Julia ainsley. And thanks to Geoff Bennett at the white house. The latest on a secret memo that republicans on the House Intelligence Committee want to release that could undermine Robert Muellers russia investigation. Or that is their thinking. The Washington Post reported that he sought to release the memo and the Justice Department wanted to keep it secret. The post reports that chief of staff john kelly relayed the view to attorney general Jeff Sessions. Sarah huckabeesanders was asked about the memo in todays briefing. Look. No one at the white house has seen the memo so it is hard to make a decision or speak about it before that would take place. Right now were letting the house process play out and if and when it is time for the white house to weigh in, well do that through the proper protocol, making sure we follow legal process, but again. Were not to that at that point in the process yet. I want to bring in roslyn helderman who contributed to the report. Good afternoon. What do any of us know about what is in this memo that makes it so controversial . We dont know exactly what is in it. The memo is classified and it was written by staff or a republican member of congress summarizing key points of what they think is most important out of documents that are already classified. So it is a class 5 memo based on classified material. We do know that it has something to do with how the fbi went about getting a secret surveillance warrant, a fisa warrant for carter page, a visser to the Trump Campaign but what happened we dont know the Washington Post you write the intervention is sessions which has not been reported marked another example of the president s yearlong attempts to shape and influence an investigation that is fundamentally outside of his control. Trump appearing frustrated and at times angry, his complain to confide confidants and aides why he cant give order to my guys when he called the trump Justice Department. Two people familiar to the issue said that. And whether or not the memo should be released and what is in it. The idea that john kelly relayed the president s concerns to the Justice Department for my viewers, is that normal or abnormal . Is it outside of the realm of propriety for the president to tell the Justice Department what they should think in Something Like this. All of these things are so unusual and the entire set of circumstances that get us to this place are unusual. What happened last week, there is a letter from a Deputy Attorney general, or a assistant attorney general to congress saying it would be extraordinarily reckless to release the memo without giving d. O. J. The opportunity to review it to see if it would damage national security. It was the memo from d. O. J. That prompted President Trump to instruct john kelly to call Jeff Sessions an tell him back off. Tell your Justice Department we want this thing out. So stop interfering in the congressional process that could result in it coming out which is what were seeing today. There is a vote scheduled, i believe for 5 00 p. M. That will likely result in the republicans agreeing to make that memo public. We just spoke to jim jordan, katie just spoke to him and a lot of republicans ive spoke tone believe that will happen. That sometime this afternoon we may be more knowledgeable about what is in the memo. Roslyn helderman, thank you. And i want to bring in nick acerman. He was a former assistant special watergate prosecutor. Joe watkins with me, a republican strategist and former aide in the george h. W. Bush administration and the author of the new pc and john, let me start with you. At some point my viewers, this is just getting weird. There is some kind of memo. Republicans in Congress Want it released and democrats dont. The white house does. The Justice Department doesnt. People can be excused for not knowing what theyre so suppod to believe. What is up and what is down. People just do the right thing. At the end of the day, they shouldnt be moved by anybody, republicans in the house or senate or by the white house to try to discredit the investigation. So at the end of the day they ought to do the right thing, let the investigation be. Let it take place and find what it finds. Maybe they wont find anything damaging but maybe they will. In any case law ought to be able to proceed in an unimpeded way. Nick, what is your take. We dont know what is in the memo. Some members of congress has seen it and white house said they havent seen. It it is hard to opine on something when we have no idea what is in it. It is fairly simple as far as im concerned. This to me seems to be one in another of the pattern by devin nunez to try and undermine the mueller investigation. It kind of again sort of premises on three areas that are just dead wrong. One, the idea that the fbi is some kind of political organ that does things based on politics. Ive worked with hundreds of fbi agents, they are all extremely professional, they are they know what theyre doing. I couldnt tell you what the political leanings of any of these people were when i worked with them. This idea that there is some sort of political arm is ridiculous. Second secondly here, the whole idea that the fbi is some allpowerful organization that do anything they want is equally absurd. Fbi is simply the investigative arm of the department of justice. They do not make decisions as to who is charged, they dont make decisions as to the scope of the charges, all of this is done by the d. O. J. Lawyers who present evidence to a federal grand jury and work with the grand jury and recommend the charges to be brought. And thirdly, if you look at what is really underlying all of this, it is the Christopher Steel investigation. That was done first at the behest of a conservative organization, and later at the beheft of the clinton campaign. And Glenn Stinson the head of fusion gps that hired Christopher Steele testified before both committees in congress, that mr. Steeles only assignment here was just to find out what trump did in russia. There was no preconceived notion as to how he was to come out. Christopher steele is probably the number one reliable expert on russia. He was the number one person for the British Secret Service Intelligence agency. And as mr. Stinson testified, has consistently been a reliable source of information about what is going on in the soviet union. And lastly what i find most amazing if you take the most salacious of the allegations in the Christopher Steel memo, and i only quote, this is the june 20th, 2016 Investigation Report from Christopher Steel, he tates, quote, former top russian Intelligence Officers claim fsb has compromised trump through his activities in moscow, sufficiently to be able to blackmail him. According to several knowledgeable sources, his conduct in moscow is included. Perverted and sexual acts which have been arranged, monitored by the fsb. This information was not provided to the fbi at by the request of the democrats. It was provided on the basis that Christopher Steel believed he had information about an on going criminal act where the president of the United States could potentially be blackmailed by the russians. Now what other evidence do we have corroborating Christopher Steel . One, you have Keith Schiller who was his bodyguard, who testified before congress that, in fact, trump was offered women and now youve got Stormy Daniels who blackmailed him based on sexual conduct. So this is a situation where you have corroboration for Christopher Steel, even though the republicans are going after him. Joe, at some point where does this become a problem for republicans. If there are a whole bunch of people who want to stick by donald trump, they wan to not have this being true, that there would be any corroboration between the Trump Campaign and the russia yabut it is doing damage because of the fact the president is attacking institution. It wouldnt have been a republican thing to go after institutions of government, particularly the fbi. But recent polling shows it is working. There are fewer republicans who have faith in the fbi. Than for instance democrats. This particular line after tack on the Justice Department or the fbi or Andrew Mccabe who is now stepping down prematurely, how does this play out for republicans . Well, it is having an affects you said. The polling data shows it is and at the end of the day it affected the republican brand and so you have the challenge for all of those members who are up every member of the house of republicans up for reelection in 2018 and nine members running for the u. S. Senate and it affects the brand. People say people are led to believe that republicans dont play fair. That republicans are willing to publicize politicize organizations that arent political like the fbi or other investigative organizations in u. S. Government. For the sake of diminishing them or demeaning them. That is bad for republicans. And it is bad for the country also. Organizations within the government ought to be left alone to do their job at the end of the day. When i worked in the white house or the u. S. Senate we allowed that. We allowed the institutions of government to do their job and be unimpeded by interference from the white house or others. I think that ought to be the case even today. But it hurts the republican brand. If you look at number of people that identify as republican, or say they are republican or the number of people that are going to be compelled to come out and vote in 2018 against republicans, because of what they suppose the republican brand it, it really hurts. Thank you very much. Joe watkins, former aide in the george h. W. Bush administration. Nick is a analyst and watergate prosecutor and former u. S. Assistant attorney and thank you both for being with us. Up next, were reviewing the president s first tate of the Union Address. He is expected to pass a infrastructure package to repair bridges and all sorts of things, roads and railways, Mitch Daniels joins me next. About your brokerage fees. Fees . What did you have in mind . 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Welcome to the party. One of the biggest focuses of trumps state of the union is infrastructure. The president is going to lay out his more than trillion dollars plan to rebuild roads and bridges an railways and airports. U. S. Needs an infrastructure upgrade. The American Society of civil engineers, 2017 report, rates the u. S. Infrastructure as a dplus. It doesnt score an a. In any single category. The highest rating is a b. For railways an the worst is a dminus for transit systems. The report also estimated that in order to get an adequate grade the u. S. Needs to spend 4. 4 billion to maintain and upgrade that is a trillion. 4. 6 trillion to maintain an upgrade. Most if not all republicans and democrats agree something needs to be done but they dont agree on how to do it or how to pay for it. Im joined by former indiana governor and president of purdue university, Mitch Daniels. Hes championed the idea of public and private partnerships to offset infrastructure costs and the former head of the office of manager and budget. So he knows this. Good to see you, mitch. Thank you for being with us. Thank you for having me. You were a guy in the federal government and while we all sit here and we have this great opening about the state of the union and a countdown clock, you think the whole thing is a bit of a waste of time. I honestly twdo. I think we had it right for the first years of the republican when the president sent a message a written message to congress and Woodrow Wilson changed that and i dont think for the better. And especially the last couple of decades, it has become sort of theater in a ritual. I think people perform thor the cameras. I dont think it reflected on the process. In my opinion it is not a good use of time and money and they ought to dispense with the whole thing. I hope for a long time somebody would become president and say, look, im going to write it up and tell what you think but that will hold me. But a president that tweets an works around traditional media and to go back there and give the state of the union. Lets talk about infrastructure. Everybody agree, we know by reading the news and anybody who travels outside of this country understands on almost every level our infrastructure struggles which is fascinating for the wealthiest country in the world. You are a proponent for publicprivate partnerships in guaranteeing loans or determining the viability of projects but a lot of the money gets leveraged so the government puts up something and the private sector putting up something else, if not more to build certain things. Give me some campbel of some s to come together to fix this horrible infrastructure we have in this country. It could apply to almost all of the categories you mentioned. One irony here, this is not an innovative idea. The United States supposedly, an in ovation capital of the world, is the only major country that doesnt do this. You go to asia and other places and even countries sometimes they are described as socialist have been doing this for a long time and my point of view is that we will it cannot be a complete solution. That is to say private investment, but you wont have a complete solution or anything close to it without inviting in the massive amounts of private capital that are willing to come and help. In indiana, we are now judged by one of your competitor networks as the number one infrastructure in the country. And we did it by bringing in private capital, we turned an existing toll road into basically a regulated utility. Were paid money for the lease. And we fixed half we resurfaced half of the roads, rebuild a bird of the a third of the projects and it is a tremendous boost to the economy, both building the projects and as those facilities invite in other investment. It can be done. Not everybody is as fortunate as indiana but if it is not part of the mix, we wont get the job done and well make a big mistake. Let me ask you this. The president is going to call for bipartisanship, i assume on this and many other things tomorrow. Not everybody believes him. Given what happened in health care and the tax bill. They dont believe this is a guy who is doing to get it done. Why isnt this bipartisan . Why is infrastructure not inherently bipartisan, for democrats it will create work and jobs, and help the economy, and for republicans this is a ageold republican thing, keep the stuff working to attract business and to attract the things that you need to keep an economy going. You and i have discussed before, ali, the rather sad dissent of our process into polarization and the and the apparent inability of people to come together and compromise on anything. I completely agree with you, if there is one topic, i could name a couple, but if there is just one topic on which you would think people could sit down their cuth ills lock enou lon to both sides and there needs to be an attitude adjustment on both sides but you just defined it correctly. This is the National Interest and in everybodys interest. Each side would need to give a little. L but in a different era this would come out differently. I love to discussion infrastructure with you. Mitch danells, the president of purdue university, former governor of indiana. Coming up next, Immigration Reform and a boost in jobz. Two of president s biggest promises but does he keep his base that got him into the white house. Well talk about that on the other side. Needles. 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So but what we we dont know why he made the decision but we know it is coming as a surprise to many people around him and what we can talk about is the context. Which is hes become a focus of the controversy between donald trump and the fbi. It is a political football. And hes been attacked on twitter by the president and some people close to him have just said, you had enough, it was time for him to go. In the end the white house Sarah Huckabeesanders said there was to pressure from the white house. The white house is not involved in his leaking in his leaving. But the president tweeted about him. The president has been all over him and sort of portraying him as part of the corruption and the bias in the fbi that is infected this russia investigation. His wife ran for offices as a democrat of virginia. There is no evidence that he did anything inappropriate in regard to that. But it is weighing on him and it may just be that he was going to retire any way. This is a good time for him to go. Does this remove it seems like the tngs the tension between the fbi and the president runs deep. Does this allow the fbi to get out of the president s eye and we can get work done. That remains to be seen. The president has expressed confidence in wray and striking a balancing act and hes tried to defend the fbi. But were in the middle of this contentious investigation. The fbi is poking into donald trump and he doesnt like that so im not prepared to say the tensions between donald trump and the fbi are finished. Ken, always good to see you. Ken delaney an our reporter. The team of the president s state of the union is building a safe, and strong and proud america. Keeping a special focus on the economy, on infrastructure, immigration and trade and national security. This morn the president emphasized the significance of tuesdays speech. I hope its go to be good. We worked on it hard, covered a lot of territory including our Great Success with the markets and tax cut. It is a big speech, an important speech, we cover immigration. On the economy trail, the president made several promises from immigration to jobs in america. But does his conservative base think he is keeping those promises . For more on that i want to turn to joe pollack from breitbart news. And very much in touch through breitbart with that conservative base. Joel, good to see you. Good to be with you. Let me just ask you, straight up, there are lets take a look at daca. This is something that ive got polling that indicates somewhere upward of 75 support some kind of deal that leeds to leads to citizenship for Daca Recipients and some polls go up to 90 and there is a percentage that doesnt and those that dont, they dont want anything done to fix daca fits into the conservative base, that correct. Well is there there is a Broad Spectrum that favored a wall and Border Security before doing anything for daca or for other illegal aliens. So youve got to have those two pieces. You have to have the Border Security and the legalization and the Border Security first before the legalization. And that is where trumps base is becoming increasingly concerned. We saw with the plan that was released last week from the white house that trump more than doubled the number of people who would be eligible for amnesty and he said they would be eligible for a path to citizenship whereas before the discussion had been about some kind of legal status maybe permanent residency and they feel he is giving a lot away and they still havent seen the wall. The prototypes are stand tlg in san diego but there is not funding or billing. And now it might not be a complete wall, not along the whole border. People understand geography and topography but they are worried about trump taking care of illegal aliens and before american citizens and that is why they will watch closely. And the idea that daca has become an urgent matter was entirely of Donald Trumps doing. This didnt have to be something with a march deadline. The president could have extended this after dealing with the wall. Right. He could cancel it right away in september and then have the debate over whether it should be enforced or whether the people who were eligible for daca should be the priority for deportation and that sort of thing. I think what trump is done is useful in that he separated the daca applicants or the d. R. E. A. M. Ers out from the broader pool of illegal aliens. Democrats dont want to do that, to see it confirmed at once to give them more leverage and as you see it was rejected and legalizing the d. R. E. A. M. Ers because they say it is not enough, we want to bring parents in and all of the other people in. There is a difference about how this should be structured but it comes down to the wall. And that is a Core Campaign promise. I think there were many Trump Supporters didnt mean along the whole border. But it is a question of priority. Why is he putting this ahead of other things he promised and the 25 billion that hes proposing for Border Security, thats not just a wall. That is hiring new Border Patrol agents and thin he promised that he hasnt yet done that but the conservative base would look at this and say it is relatively affective. In other words, there are deportations and fewer people coming over the board hrder. So you could think of it as a wall or putting the federal government behind stopping of immigration. During the first months of the trump saysly, illegal crossings went down. We saw them down by twothirds. But once trump started talking about legalizing daca, you again have this problem of in sent vising people to come across and youve seen the numbers tick back up again. But that is not true because you cant come in as a new d. R. E. A. M. Er. No. But once you are talking about reform you see illegal border crosses. Again, im aware the two populations are very different. But once you Start Talking about any kind of legalization of illegal aliens, whether it is people who lived here their whole lives or just got here yesterday, you see that incentive and that is why were seeing the illegal border crossings going up. Why would anybody in the base care about the distinction between a path to citizenship or residency because they come with similar rights. People who come into the country get everything they need from permanent residency and you get to vote and serve on juries, but beyond that, why does that matter much to the conservative base . So there are two reasons. One is a rule of law reason. Because people who have come to the country legally and gone through the process would essentially have been at a disadvantage relative to those who came illegally and stayed. And you have the same rights so that is a question for the rule of law. But more broadly people are worried about the votes being diluted by people brought her illegal or came on their own and have the same Voting Rights as other people and people worry about what that will do to their voices. But we are a country with a flat birthrate. We need immigration any way. Steven miller keeps citing the ridiculous statistics about how to cut Legal Immigration, but we are gaining somewhere between half a million to a Million People a year. So that is that doesnt make sense. My votes are diluted every time there is an immigrant and somebody else died and i get that back. Do people think about that kind of stuff . That doesnt make sense. They do. It is a difference when it is Legal Immigration. People feel that legal immigrants are more likely to take the priorities and the principles and people are more likely to vote for whoever promised the most. That is the impression among Trump Supporters. It may not be true. It may be an impression but i dont know that bears out. I think there is a significant portion of the trump base that would accept Legal Immigration but the question is whether you will give legal and illegal residents the same and trump said by supporting the raies act, he said he wants to move to a skilled based system as opposed to the system now. He wants something more like what canada has and i think that is a debate we can have later. And we will. Well have to save that for later. Because were out of time. Good to see you. Joel mpollack from bright bard news. A look at ow bipartisan voters describe the state of our union. The state of the union is in what what word would you use . Turmoil. Turmoil . Nancy. [ inaudible ]. Your joints. Or your digestion. So why wouldnt you take something for the most important part of you. Your brain. With an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is now the number one selling brain Health Supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. There are just over 24 hours until President Trump delivered his first tate of the union. Were told the speech will try to strike a more bipartisan tone with a call for more unity and collaboration. Rehema ellis sat down with voters ahead of the first state of the union to find out how they the state of our politics. So in general, the state of the union is in what word would you use . Turmoil. Turmoil. Nancy . A process. Kobe. A process. Alicia. Turmoil. Steve . I go with nancy on that. I think it is a process where it can get better. But right now its there is a lot of boiling going on underneath the surface. And that despite some of the things that have been positive, people look to the economy and it is growing. People look to unemployment and it is down. When you talk about the economy, there is going to be an asterisk beside it because there are segments of the population not doing that well. That is right. Kobe, what do you think americans can agree on . Jobs. That is one big thing. Manufacturing and keeping jobs here so americans are employed and working. That is a big one. I would throw in safety. Health care that is provided. I think we could all agree on that. That we want those things. Maybe health care and we could make some sort of strides in that. Have people too many people that i know who are just priced out of health care right now. And if were going to get this tax revenue that these people these huge corporations say they are bringing back, lets take some and pour it into that direction. Alicia, what do you think are the main things that americans can agree on . One thing all americans can agree on is that everyone should be treated equally. And when i say everyone, i even i mean immigrants and people who have come to this country. I think most americans agree on as one of the biggest responsibilities of government, and that is to protect our borders, and enforce our laws. People that want to enter our county need to follow the laws and try and do what they have to do to become a citizen of this country. Are you hopeful that we will get past these difficulties that we have now to the next phase when we can stand and all of you will be a little more optimistic than you are today. Alicia . I do think there is a way to move forward without partisanship, bipartisanship, republican or democrat, there is a way to move forward. As people. Reporter they very much want to see the folks in washington work in a bipartisan way. But as they pointed out to me, there is not a whole lot of optimism that the president is the one who can help to unite the country. As one woman put it, she said right now she thinks the president is just too unpredictable. Ali. Rehema ellis in north carolina. Thank you for that. The president s bizarre feud with jayz spilled over into last nights grammy awards. Trevor noah took the stage following a performance by bruno mars an complimenting the retro feel of the song and nobody took a shot at the president and adding a shoutout to jayz. I love that song. It takes me back. To way back. To when trump wasnt president. And jayz, he sent you a message. He said we should inform you. This is a preference to this tweet. Somebody please inform jayz that because of my policies black unemployment has just been reported to be the lowest rate ever recorded. And hes touting tax cuts and the increase in wages and my next guest will tell us what the results are for those higher wages. The winter of 77. I first met james in 5th grade. We got married after college. And had twin boys. But then one night, a truck didnt stop. But thanks to our forester, neither did our story. And thats why well always drive a subaru. And i recently had hi, ia heart attack. It changed my life. But im a survivor. After my heart attack, my doctor prescribed brilinta. Its for people who have been hospitalized for a heart attack. Brilinta is taken with a lowdose aspirin. No more than 100 milligrams as it affects how well brilinta works. Brilinta helps keep platelets from sticking together and forming a clot. In a clinical study, brilinta worked better than plavix. Brilinta reduced the chance of having another heart attack. Or dying from one. Dont stop taking brilinta without talking to your doctor, since stopping it too soon increases your risk of clots in your stent, heart attack, stroke, and even death. Brilinta may cause bruising or bleeding more easily, or serious, sometimes fatal bleeding. Dont take brilinta if you have bleeding, like stomach ulcers, a history of bleeding in the brain, or severe liver problems. Slow heart rhythm has been reported. Tell your doctor about bleeding new or unexpected shortness of breath any planned surgery, and all medicines you take. If you recently had a heart attack, ask your doctor if brilinta is right for you. My heart is worth brilinta. If you cant afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. Stay with me, mr. Parker. When a critical patient is far from the hospital, the hospital must come to the patient. Stay with me, mr. Parker. The at t network is helping First Responders connect with medical teams in near real time. Stay with me, mr. Parker. Saving time when it matters most. Stay with me, mrs. Parker. Thats the power of and. Steve and cindy, these siblings started Staub Manufacturing Solutions 20 years ago. Thanks to the trump bump in economy they were able to grow to new heights in 2017 and thanks to the trump tax cuts they were able to give all of their employees larger christmas bonuses. That was White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders in todays briefing giving praise for the trump bump on the economy and the bonuses some people are getting around the country. Washington post abc news poll shows although 58 described the state of the economy as exlebt or good, only 38 give significant credit to the trump administration. How much are these trump tax cuts going to do for the economy and for wages in the long run . Joining me is james, de wit wallace institute. Good to see you. Thanks for having me on. I think i saw a poll, Reuters Ipsos poll, that indicated you quoted from actually in your report, says about 2 of the population will end up getting these bonuses. And i certainly dont want to belittle them. That is fantastic. If you were getting a thousand or 2000 or 3,000, thats great absolutely. Economists look at it in a different way. We are trying to find sustained wage growth. Not just the one time. A were not sure this tax bill leads to that. No, listen, again, happy, were happy a million, 2 Million People got a bonus. We have a work force of more like 150 million. So, theres still a lot of people left over. The way this tax cut is supposed to work is its supposed to encourage businesses to invest more, to become more profitable, workers will have more machinery to work with, theyll be more productive and wages will go up. And that will take time. Its not going to take six months or even a year. So, the only way to really judge this tax cut is a number of years down the line. To say like its already having these impacts, youre confusing with other things. The fact they have a Global Economic up turn, much tighter labor markets, thats whats really going on here. Not the tax cut. Right. The labor market, the tightening of labor market which has been fairly loose since the recession, we have taken so many years to gather up all these extra workers that only now, when you look at these increases that were seeing in some places, its because were seeing sub5 you think employment in some places, some parts of the country lower. Its better to be lucky than good. If youre President Trump, youre coming in at a great time where youve had a very long, slow but steady expansion and now it is at the point where that labor market should really be tightening up and we should see higher wages. If im the president im going to say thats because of everything ive done. Take credit for it. Hes a politician. That thats whats really going on. Is the tax cut going to help the economy of great britain, germany, japan or france . We have a global up turn. Thats whats going on. The problem is the president takes credit for everything. You cant distinguish. What has he done he can take credit for over the long run . I think this tax cut, it would be much better if it was fully paid for. It should help wages somewhat. Thats sort of standard economic theory. Well see if the higher debt means higher Interest Rates and that offsets it. This should be one of the things, but one of many things. Whats really going to boost wages over the long term are things like education. Listen, thats what ideally thats what the president should be talking about a lot more, education. Listen, republicans, if they want faster growth theyre supposed to be the party of growth. What they should be for is higher immigration rate. That would be an easy thing to boost growth over the long term. Thats not where theyre at. Lets come back and have that conversation. De wit fellow at the American Enterprise institute. Were going to take a quick break. Youre watching msnbc. Today, innovation in the finger lakes is helping build the new new york. Once home to the worlds image center, new york state is now a leader in optics, photonics and imaging. Fueled by strong university partnerships, providing the worlds best talent. And supported with Workforce Development to create even more opportunities. All across new york state, were building the new new york. To grow your business with us in new york state, visit esd. Ny. Gov. All right. My time is up. Im going to see you right back here in washington tomorrow for all day coverage of the president s state of the union. Or if you go by what was first printed on the tickets, take a look at that. State of uniom, an m instead of an n. Nbc news confirmed there was a spelling error on the tickets for guests. Senator rubio has weighed in. Deadline white house starts right now. Hi, everyone. Its 4 00 in new york. We are covering breaking news on multiple fronts this hour. First, the number two at the fbi is out today. Andrew mccabe, a frequent target of Donald Trumps Cyber Attacks on twitter, announcing his resignation. Mccabe is a central figure in the russia investigation for many reasons, mainly as Deputy Director under jim comey. He was aware of donald trump and then director jim comeys interactions. He was a witness to the circumstances of comeys firing, one of the flash points of interest to special counsel bob mueller. Heres white house spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee sanders on todays news of mccabes resignation. Can you say definitively the president did not play a role in andrew