And i. R. Mess. Were seeing confusion and anger from people who are paying next years tax bill, property tax bill now. Many are trying to take strange of a tax break thats about to change because of a republican tax plan. Well get to those stories in just a moment. We start with a new legal strategy from President Trumps team. This is according to the Washington Post. They report that trumps legal team will attack the credibility of former National Security adviser mike flynn. And perhaps the Biggest Development to date in the special counsels russia investigation. Flynn pled guilty to lying to the fbi exactly four weeks ago tomorrow. This is what one unnamed person who is said to have crafted this new strategy told the post about flynn. Quote, he said it himself, hes a liar. Two reports now. Msnbcs Garrett Haake following the president in West Palm Beach florida. And karen tamalte, National Political reporter for the Washington Post. Before we get to the post story, the white house has responded, i understand, garrett, what are they saying . In a short but sweet statement from one of the president s attorneys, craig, theyre calling this complete nonsense and fake news. Pushing back about as hard as they can against the post reporting in this case, saying that theres no such strategy under discussion at the white house. It could be any number of reasons why they would say that and perhaps its true, perhaps they dont want Michael Flynn thinking hes about to get rolled over on by the white house, should he decide to speak strongly to Robert Mueller about what he knows or doesnt know. Perhaps theyd rather just have this floated out there as a warning to Michael Flynn. Its also problematic if they do go this route in part because of all the positive and understanding and just good things the president has had to say about Michael Flynn, even after firing him. Heres a sampling. Michael flynn, general flynn, is a wonderful man. I think hes been treated very, very unfairly by the media. What he did wasnt wrong. What he did in terms of the information he saw. When i looked at the information, i said, i dont think he did anything wrong. If anything, he did something right. He was just doing his job. This man has served for many years. Hes a general. Hes, my opinion, a very good person. Well, i feel badly for general flynn, i feel very badly. Hes led a very strong life. So theres a little bit of the president essentially boosting Michael Flynns credibility. If it comes down to a he said he said, its not as though this president doesnt have a host of statements in which he has been caught in untruths. I think we can show you just some of the headlines where we and other news organizations have fact checked the president or hes come right out and said something that was objectively untrue. So penitential battle of credibility between Michael Flynn and President Trump doesnt look good for anybody and potentially something the white house would like to avoid. Karen, what has prompted what would appear to be a new approach to the Mueller Investigation . [ inaudible ] karen, i hear you just fine but apparently were having some sort of issue with your audio that were working on there. While we try to get that fixed. Garrett, whats the word on what the president s doing there at maralago today . Craig, once again, for i think the third day in a row now, every day except Christmas Day itself, the president is at his golf course as we speak. The white house, once again, not confirming explicitly that he is, in fact, golfing. He was spotted by poolers dressed in golf attire, at his course just a few miles from maralago. Hes also been tweeting. Interesting mix from the president s twitter feed. Everything from attacking the vanity fair magazine for a video piece they did about Hillary Clinton and a subsequent walkback. Talking about retail excitement in the economy. To talking about a touchy subject. A question of whether the chinese might be allowing or look the other way for oil supplies to be smuggled to the north koreans. A sort of oneoff tweet about an hour and a half ago now from the president about the worlds hottest of hot spots potentially, north korea. Remember this white house has made a big deal about leaning on china to try to get them to do more to stop their economically dependent neighbors, the north koreans, from developing their nuclear technology, their Ballistic Missile technology. If, indeed, the report, which have been airing quite regularly on fox news and other air waves about possible smuggling. That would be a violation of u. N. Sanctions. A big deal for the short tweet from the president for the lengths. Going back to general flynn and the Russian Investigation here, what would prompt what would appear to be this new approach to the investigation and how the Trump Legal Team is going to treat general flynn . Well, their a proech has been all along that they are fully cooperating with the investigation itself. But on december 1st, we got a gigantic piece of news. When general flynn pleaded guilty to a relatively minor charge. The assumption throughout washington, and you have to assume this, the assumption by the president s legal team, is that this plea deal was part of a deal where he is providing information to the prosecution. Now, general flynn is a very key character here. He was with the president almost through the entirety of the campaign. Outside the president s own family, he was one of his very closest advisers. So presumably if there is anything to know with regard to this investigation about any sort of actions by the president himself, by his family, general flynn would be a likely person to have that information. The president s legal team has insisted for some time now they believe the special counsel is going to wrap up this investigation quickly. Does this new strategy now mean that perhaps changing his mind on the timetable . Yes, that is also something that is suggested by this. It looks like they are hunkering in for what potentially could be a pretty long haul here. Karen tamalty, Washington Post, thank you. For more now on another segment of the Mueller Investigation, michael isikopf with yahoo news and chuck rosenberg, former u. S. Attorney, senior fbi official, now an msnbc contributor. Mike, lets start with you and the new reporting. Muellers prosecutors have started questioning Republican NationalCommittee Staffers about the partys digital operation that worked with the Trump Campaign to target voters in key swing states. Why . Well, look, this has been a subject of intense scrutiny for some time. Weve learned over the course of this year from the various investigations on the hill, about the extensive social media effort by the russians. Those facebook ads. The twitter bots. All of which was largely invisible during the 2016 election. This, the u. S. Intelligence committee has very little insight into what is going on. There was very little public notice. Theres been suspicions for some time as to whether the russians would have been sophisticated enough in their knowledge of american politics to know how to target facebook ads and twitter feeds. So it is not surprising that mueller, given the broad mandate hes got, would be taking a look at this. And this is a very murky area from the sources ive talked to. It doesnt necessarily add up to collusion in the sense in which you and i might think of it. Theres this whole area of data brokers who sell and buy voter information on the web. Sell it to campaigns that want it. Yeah, i think what mueller is looking at here is what prosecutors were looking at, is whether or not these data brokers may have done business with the russians. The russians may have bought or sold data to them. And that somehow led its way into the digital campaigns during the election. Mike, you also tie this development to one possible reason that Jared Kushner is searching for a new crisis pr firm. Explain that. Well, look, Jared Kushner was the guy in charge of the digital operation. So if this is an area of scrutiny by mueller, it is not surprising that his very able counsel, abby lowell, would be looking down the road and expecting a lot more Media Inquiries to be coming his way. Theyre looking for some sort of crisis communication firm. Chuck, President Trump, meanwhile, has been working to undermine the credibility of the fbi. All this month, weve seen tweets hammering the bureau. In particular top officials with ties to james comey. Put it all together for us. What do these new reports and the president s attacks on the fbi taken together what do they tell you . Well, theres a couple of things going on here, craig. The first thing i want to say is that the fbi is a strong and good place. Decent men and women trying really harded to get stuff right. And so the attacks may matter in a political sense. But in a legal sense, they really dont mean a thing at all. Let me tell you what i mean. If a case ends up in Federal District court, a judge and a jury are going to look at the facts and decide whether or not someone broke the law. And these attacks from outside arent going to make their way into Federal District court. Its a bit of a distraction. In a political arena, in congress, for instance, maybe these attacks have some meaning. But not in the environment in which bob muler er mueller is theres a lot of theories about what this deal means for the investigation. Some say its a sweetheart deal which means general flynn may have a lot to offer. Others say no, that this deal means that mueller only has a strong case on the false stap statements but not much else. Where do you stand . I stand in the middle. Heres why. Theres a lot of accusations flying around that Michael Flynn may have participated in the plot to kidnap a cleric living in pennsylvania and to remove him to turkey. We have no idea if thats true. For instance. And so saying he got a sweetheart deal because he wasnt charged with kidnapping is just a bridge too far. Were going to have to wait. Were going to have to be patient. Were going to see what facts are at his sentencing and at other trials before, you know, whether or not this particular deal is a sweetheart deal. That said, craig, hes still pleading guilty to a felony. Thats going to be with him for rest of his life. Hes agreed to cooperate. The zero to six month range of sentence that is stated in the plea, that comes right from the federal sentencing guidelines. And driven in large part because general flynn doesnt have a criminal record. So all of these things that people are using to say its a sweetheart deal may not even be right in the end. Chuck rosenberg, mike isikopf, happy new year, gentlemen. Same to you. Defeated but not done. How roy moore and sassy as well are trying to stop doug jones from heading to washington hours ahead of a key deadline. Plus, tax law confusion. The lines are long in several states with people trying to pay next years property tax bill right now. We ask them why. Why . Because with the new tax law, because if we dont, well get screwed. With the tax changes, i figured id take the chance i can make our real estate taxes deductible this year so i just emptied much of my savings account. Yeah, now im broke. Ok, so with the awardwinning geico mobile app, our customers have 24 7 access, digital id cards, they can even pay their bill beep bill has joined the call. Hey bill, were just phone hi guys, bill here. Do we have julia on the line too . k, well well just phone hey sorry. I had you muted. Well yea lets just phone so what i was thinking ok well well phone yeah lets just go ahead phone oh alright the awardwinning geico app. Download it today. Doug jones victory in alabama will be official within the next hour. Thats despite a last minute effort by roy moore to block that certification. Thats when alabama secretary of state is expected to certify results of this months special election. Jones won that election by more than 20,000 votes as you can see there. Moore filing the lawsuit late last night, blaming his loss on what he calls systemic voter fraud. A spokesman for the Jones Campaign responded a short time ago, saying, quote, this desperate attempt by roy moore to subvert the will of the people will not succeed. The election is over. Its time to move on. Im joined now by former florida congressman david jolly and also msnbc contributor and host of the remix on whiy radio in philadelphia, james peterson. David, alabama secretary of state john merrill has already said he sees no evidence of voter fraud. Here are some numbers to crunch here. Some more numbers. More than 1. 3 Million People cast votes. In order for a recount to be triggered, the race had to have been decided by less than. 5 . About 6,700 votes. Do moore and his supporters really think they can get this election turned around or is this merely a political ploy . I think roy moore continues to show just what a terrible candidate he was. And the reality is by contesting this, he continues to push this narrative of how entitled he felt as a republican. We cant overlook the fact that this was also trumps republican party. We know the similarities between roy moore and donald trump. This notion that facts dont matter. And if the facts dont matter, then theres no accountability. What you see right now in roy moore to take jeff flakes adjectives of the weekend are the last remaining spasms of the roy moore republican brand in alabama. The alabama voters spoke. They chose a candidate other than roy moore. Roy moore is being a very sore loser right now. Doug jones will be certified very shortly. James, there have been a number of folks here over past week or two who have said, you know, the voter i. D. Laws in alabama, we know that those laws have been changed over the past few years. Critics had indicated that those laws would have made it more difficult for africanamerican voters especially. Folks are now saying that take a look at alabama. Voter i. D. Laws dont appear to have affected turnout there. What do you say to that . Oh, i say they should sit down and be quiet, craig, because the reality is that voter turnout of africanamerican voters in the state of alabama is in spite of voter i. D. Laws and other tactics they use in the south and other states across this nation to disenfranchise poor folks and people of color. So its in spite of that that people were able to come out. Its also interesting to know here that the sort of underlying dog whistle and roy moores last gasp here is that supposed to be voter fraud committed by africanamericans in alabama, so its sort of consistent with the entire messaging around the politician hes been, consistent with some of the challenges we see across the nation with access to polls. We should not take alabama as some kind of indication we still dont have a lot of challenges around disenfranchisement in the africanamerican community. James what happened if roy moore never concedes . If he continues even after doug jones is seated, continues to insist that this election was stolen . Well, politically, nothing will happen. Theyll certify doug jones. Doug jones will be seated as the congressman from alabama. What happens is roy moores core supporters will live this sort of fact free existence. Theyll continue to rally around him. His tight circle will rally around him. It will only politically sort of erode his sense, peoples sense of him in the state of alabama. It cant do anything in terms of the actual larger political game about what happens in the senate. A lot of folks are already looking to tennessee where youve got a popular governor whos a democrat, appears to be making some inroads there. Some folks looking at mississippi as well. How worried should republicans be going into 2018 in midterm elections . They should be very worried. Donald trump likes to tweet out that, you know, republicans have done very well in the special elections. And thats true. But what its overlooking is how the deck has been stacked in so many of those races. Consider alabama, one of the reddest states where a democrat actually won. Look at virginia which is a purple state where democrats won. New jersey democrats should have held it. In georgia when we had the race, should have been favored by several points. What we see in all of those races, which does not appear in the final results yet but will in 18, is that all of the energy is on left. The left is dying to get out and vote and to send a message in november 18. All were seeing on right is apathy right now. If theres so much energy on left, why is that not translated in terms of fundraising . The most recent numbers indicate the rnc has outperformed the dnc in terms of fundraising by a significant margin. Why is that . Well, because i think when you look at the institutional parties in d. C. , both parties are similarly divided. Republicans are certainly divided. Democrats are equally divided. Who is the leader of the Democratic Party right now nationally. Whos the voice. We dont know. But what i point you to is look at the race. Look at the amount of grassroots money that went into the race. The 50 million congressional race. Look at the grassroots money that went direct to doug jones. That moneys not going to washington. People are frustrated on both sides with Political Leadership in each party. But at the grassroots level, the energy and giving is there on left. Weve enjoyed this conversation so much, weve decided to continue it. James peterson, david jolly, take a break for about 15, 20 minutes. I want to get you back to talk about some of the years biggest political stories. Meanwhile, tax offices have become the place to be in some blue states. How homeowners are trying to beat the system before the new republican tax law takes effect. Plus, just as people in erie, pennsylvania, can start digging out of the snow, things are about to get a whole lot worse there and other places as well. Whoooo. I enjoy the fresher things in life. Fresh towels. Fresh soaps. And of course, tripadvisors freshest, lowest. Prices. So if youre anything like me. Youll want to check tripadvisor. We now instantly compare prices. From over 200 booking sites. To find you the lowest price. On the hotel you want. Go on, try something fresh. Tripadvisor. The latest reviews. The lowest prices. I am totally blind. And non24 can make me show up too early. Or too late. Or make me feel like im not really there. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442342424. Here are the top stories were following on this thursday. A suicide bombing has killed 41 people in the afghanistan capital of kabul. Isis has already claimed responsibility for that attack. Detonating their explosives in the basement. A cording to interior Ministry Spokesman there, the attack took place during a gathering to mark the 38th anniversary of the soviet Union Invasion of afghanistan. The number of Law Enforcement officers killed in the line of duty has dropped to its Second Lowest mark in more than 50 years. This year, 128 officers lost their lives in the line of duty. Thats compared to 143 in 2016. 44 were killed by gunfire. Thats down 33 from the year before. Traffic crashes were their leading cause of death. Folks in erie, pennsylvania are literally still digging out from the record amounts of snowfall over the past four days. And theres more snow to come. Forecasters now predict another 16 inches over the weekend. This has been the snowiest month in erie, pennsylvania, history, with more than 65 inches on the ground already. The previous record, you ask, 30 inches. Republicans are hailing the recently passed tax reform legislation as much needed relief for the middle class. But for many working class americans, so far, its causing a lot of confusion. Several homeowners are rushing to prepay their 2018 property taxes. Theyre hoping to take advantage of a federal deduction that will be scaled back once the new law takes effect. But that payment may not be tax deductible after all. Lets get some answers from cnbc contributor ron insana and cnbcs eric chimney who is in upstate new york where people are lined up to try and file these things early. Ron, let me start with you. Let me start with the basics here. What is this federal deduction that homeowners are trying to take advantage of before it gets scaled back . As of next year, you can no longer deduct all of your state and local income taxes and your property taxes combined. You can only deduct a total of 10,000. So if you live in a high tax state where your income taxes, your local taxes and your property taxes exceed 10,000, youll only be able to deduct that latter amount. So some people are trying to front load those payments in order to claim the deduction for this year. Something thats been call noodle question the last 24 hours by the irs. So were now hearing that some of these homeowners who are trying to prepare their 2018 property tax, it may not be tax deductible after all. Why would that be . The irs said you need to have your house either assess order reassessed this year and then pay the tax, the property taxes, in 2017. Most municipalities have not gotten around to given hard assessments for 2018. They turned out some assessments at the end of the year. If you prepay the tax it wont be deductible. Eric, i know youve been talking to some folks there. In upstate new york. What are they saying about all of this . So were here in greenberg. You can see behind me lots of lines. Its been like this all day. People are happy that theyre able to get in here right before the deadline with one day to go. Some people are frustrated that they think the lines are too slow. Theyre mad at the government for rushing in this at the end of the year. Its a lot of confusion. Even behind me, theyre only able to pay some of the taxes because not all of the taxes have been assessed yet. Im actually going to bring in right now paul finder, hes the supervisor of greenberg town, hes the one that set up here. How overwhelming has this been for your community to deal with this influx of people . Well, its been very overwhelming because the governor announced his executive order on friday and we have to set this all up within a matter of days, set up new computer program, you know, systems. Some people had to cancel vacations. And really took a lot of work. Were in touch with the Governors Office and counsel to the new york state Tax Department. We have to make sure were doing everything right. Because we dont want to take peoples money and then people find that they advanced the money and it wasnt deductible. So we are being very conservative, fiscally conservative. Thats one of the questions back at the studio, in some town, if people paid the wrong tax that they shouldnt have paid for, they might be due a refund from the town because the town never should have taken it. How are you dealing with that potential problem . We basically only are taking the town portion of the taxes and the prior portion of the taxes. We have the budgets were approved this year, within past few weeks, and we had a warrant, signed warrant, and thats what the counsel to the new york state, our Tax Department told us and the Governors Office told us that we have to do. The communities in the area, were accepting school taxes and county taxes, but without a warrant, it cannot be accepted and the school taxes cant be accepted because the budgets havent been approved. So a lot of different kind of taxes. Village tax, town taxes, county tax, state taxes. How much is going down political lines . The governor of new york states a democrat. Both of you trying to push for a lot of this prepayment. But the republican guy who runs westchester county, he did not give out the bills for people to pay their county taxes. Is that because they werent ready or because a republican is following the party agenda . Because he wanted to make President Trump happy and he was voted out of office and this was his parting shot at voters for throwing him out. I think if he had gotten elected, he probably would have had the lines. Thats the town supervisor here in greenberg, in westchester county. Ill send it back to you guys in the studio. Thank you, eric. Ron, really quickly here, some advice perhaps to homeowners who might be watching or listening on sirius who are confused, not sure what to do. Wheres a good place for them to go and get some help . Collier county, there are also some universities around the country that provide tax advise to low income families for free. You can call some of the tax preparing companies. They might charge you. They might be nice enough to answer without a charge. You have to talk to somebody who knows whats going on in your state. Im sure in most states the Governors Office will know because theres some governors who are allowing the citizens in their states to make these payments in advance of 2018. I would certainly google that part of it with respect to the states. Or call an accountant that really knows the law right now. It is in flux. The one thing i will say is very few people have had enough prep time to even figure out the withholding tables for anybody on a salary next year. So its going to be a little bit confusing not just this week but early into 2018 as well. Personal question, and you dont have to answer if you dont want to. What are you going to do . You know, ive been an independent contractor for quite a long time now so with a limited liability corporation, my rules are different. I currently dont own a house so i dont have to worry about property taxes. I do live in new jersey so i have to worry about state income taxes. Im not really not sure what my deductions are as an llc owner. So this say long conversation ill be having with my accountant over the next several months. If ron insanas confused, theres no hope for any of us. Taxes always confusing. Thanks to you. Hard sell. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson defending his first year in office and he did it in the failing new york times, believe it or not. Also, President Trump calling out china saying he caught them red handed letting oil into north korea. Is an ama. But as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. Thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. The secret is an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. I used to have more hair. I used to have more color. And. I used to have cancer. I beat it. I did. Not alone. I used to have no idea what the American Cancer Society did. Research . Yeah. But also free rides to chemo and free lodging near hospitals. I used to maybe give a little. Then i got so much back. I used to have cancer. Please give at cancer. Org. President trump firing off a new tweet a short time ago. Quote, caught red handed. Very disappointed that china is allowing oil to go into north korea. There will never be a friendly solution to the north korea problem if this continues to happen. Lets go right to nbc News Pentagon correspondent hans nichols. China being caught red handed here, hans. Do we know what the president s talking about . Well, in november, the Treasury Department did release some photos. It had some satellite imagery of chinese and north korean ships. The Treasury Department put those out in november. They were from october. What the president may be referring to here is theres a report in a south korean newspaper that, since october, theres over 30 exchanges of fuel at sea. Now, this is so important, craig, because cutting off north koreas fuel supply is crucial to the u. S. Strategy. Theyve always pressed for this in sanctions. The most recent round of sanctions for the rest of 2018, north koreas fuel supply, their refined petroleum, they want to bring that down to 500,000 barrels. But, craig, you look in general at the president s tweets on china and north korea, its always a mixture between praise and prodding. Remember back in july, he said china could easily solve this problem. Hes always been very critical of china. At the same time, you have secretary of state Rex Tillerson writing today in the new york times, its a very china centered strategy. I think the only way to reconcile the president s tweets as well as secretary tillersons oped is China Remains the linchpin on this. Theres also a new report revealing that north koreas making some pretty major strides in its seabased missile technology. Yes. What more have we learned about that . As the Washington Post reports, it goes back and traces a lot of the seabased missiles north koreas potentially developing to the old soviet union. Technology thats over 20 years old but still very refined. We havent gotten independent confirmation from the pentagon on this story. In general, i would say, when you talk to folks at the pentagon, theyre very consistent in saying that north korea has ambitions not just for intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, but also for seabased. Something they can fire with solid fuel from a submarine. They have the ambitions. As weve seen over and over again, when north korea has ambitions, they test, they trying to accomplish something. Our man at the pentagon, hans nichols, hans, thanks as always, sir. From russia to the resistance and alternative facts. A look at 2017s biggest moments in politics. Plus former president obamas my brothers Keeper Initiative getting some bigname support from steph curry and chance the rapper. I want you to know, you matter. Theres nothing, not a single thing, thats more important to the future of america than whether or not young people all across this country can achieve their dreams. Were the ones to act. To bring ur unique gifts and talent. To make sure america lives up to its grand ideals for our children. And our neighbors children. Because our futures are all tied together. I am my brothers keeper. We are the ones. I am my brothers keeper. I am my brothers keeper. I am my brothers keeper. Im my brothers keeper. And i want you to be too. Hi, im the internet you know whats difficult . Armless bowling. Ahhhhhhhh you know whats easy . Building your website with godaddy. Get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. Build a better website in under an hour. Eight hundred dollars when wet switched our auto and home insurance. With liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. Hey. Oh. Thats my robe. Is it . You could save seven hundred eighty two dollars when liberty stands with you. Liberty mutual insurance. This just in, the Associated Press reports an alabama judge has just denied roy moores attempt to delay a final official vote count there in alabama. Moore made that 11th hour attempt last night. He cited irregularities in the vote. That means that Democrat Doug Jones is expected to become the senatorelect from alabama next hour. As we say farewell to 2017, a year that saw a mooch in the white house, alternative facts become part of our vernacular and an investigation into whether another country interfered with our election. Nbcs peter alexen de ander wit look now at the top Ten Political moments of 2017. Kicking off our list, the feud over facts. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration period. Sean spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts. A president ial pattern of misrepresenting the facts from unfounded accusations of wiretapping against president obama to revisionist history on Electoral College claims. I was give than information. At number nine, the travel ban battle. Were going to have a very strict ban and well have a very extreme vetting. Trumps executive order sparking nationwide protests. Later scaled back in the courts, but then allowed to partially go into effect. At number eight, the republican civil war. Im very disappointed in mitch. The president on the attack with republicans fighting back. I dont know what else there is to say today. Mr. President , i rise today to say enough. And fighting each other. Theres a special place in hell for republicans who should know better. He looked like some disheveled drunk that wandered in off the street. At number seven, racial tensions boiling over. This car plowed into a group of people killing one person. President trump taking heat for not taking sides. I think theres blame on both sides and i have no doubt about it. Number six, west wing exits. Michael flynn has resigned. Priebus becomes the shortest serving white house chief of staff ever. A cascade of high profile white house departures. I am grateful for seans work. Im a businesspeople. Anthony scarmucci kissing his Communications Job goodbye after just ten days. Erasing the obama legacy at number five. Ive been very active in overturning a number of executive actions by my predecessor. From the transpacific trade deal to the Paris Climate Accord and of course to obamas signature law. Were now one step closer to liberating our citizens from this obamacare nightmare. Although republicans failed to get that done, they did repeal the individual mandate. This is shameful. At number four, trump reshapes the courts. I, Neil Goresuch neil gore such as a justice. The senate has confirmed 12 trump nominees to the federal appeals court, a record for a president s first year in office. That has consequences 40 years out. At number three, massive tax cuts. We want to give you the American People a giant tax cut for christmas. President trump finally delivered his first major legislative win. This is nothing short of extraordinary. This is a great day for the country. Its the worst bill in the history of the United States congress. Merry christmas, america. Number two, allegations of Sexual Misconduct rocking the political world. At 14, i was not dating. He removed my clothing. He touched me over my clothing. I had emphatically denied time and time again. Alabama voters delivering a scathing rebuke to roy moore as the me too movement takes its toll on washington. His lips were really wet and it was slimy. I remember very differently. I apologize to her, and i meant it. Reporter republicans and democrats accused, part of a national reckoning. I will be resigning as a member of the United States senate. Reporter and the number one political story of 2017, the russia investigation. No collusion. I think the president at his word that i was fired because of the russia investigation. Director mueller is appropriately remaining within his scope. I did not collude with russia, nor do i know of anyone nels the campaign who did so. Lock him up Michael Flynn has just pleaded guilty to a charge of lying to the fbi. Reporter the president fuming as the special counsel zeros in on his west wing. No, russia did not help me. Okay . Russia. I call it the russian hoax. For more on the year that was, i want to bring back former Florida Republican congressman david jolley and msnbc contributor and host of the remix on whyy radio in philadelphia, james peterson. Let me start with you, james. The most important story of 2017. What was it . Well, i would agree with the list there except that i would expand the russia investigation to include a few more things. I think it has to do more with what the impact was from outside forces and external forces on the 2016 election. That includes the possibility of russia collusion and also includes the role that social media played and whether russia manipulated social media in that roll and voter disenfranchisement affected the key swing states and also the twin investigations from the fbi. One that we heard about involving Hillary Clinton and one that we did not hear about involving candidate trump at that time. All of the sort of external forces that impacted the 2016 election seem to be the biggest story of the year. David jolley, your pick for most important story of the year . So many. From a National Security standpoint, the rise of a nucleararmed north korea confronting a volatile and immature at times u. S. President. Certainly something of concern. But listen, theres something about the me, too, movement thats important. Obviously, to move to a cultural conversation about accountability, but in the an interesting thing happened this year, craig. It escaped donald trump. We saw political figures fall. We saw entertainment figures fall and business figures fall. Donald trump, we know, has passed. We know his own admissions. The me, too, movement was one of the greatest movements this year but somehow it escaped capturing donald trump in it. And the me, too, movement were watching it play out there in alabama as that, again, that judge has just shot down roy moores 11th hour hail mary, if you will. Underreported story of 2017, james. What would you say is one that managed to escape us . I think its striking that the massacre in las vegas was not on that top ten list. Imagine the world we live in where someone could kill scores of people and injured hundreds and not be on the list. But to me, the story that were really missing under the trump mushroom of stories is the systematic degradation of american institutions. The department of justice, our intelligence agencies, the epa, congress itself, media itself. All of these american institutions have been undermined and deliberately subverted by this administration. We just havent been paying enough attention to it. I would go back to las vegas, your point on that. Its also very interesting to me that we still dont have a concrete motive in that case. We still dont know precisely why it was that more than and bump stocks are still being sold. Still being manufactured and sold. Mr. Jolley there, your underreported story, sir . Really under the radar, and i say this in context, is the success of the bread and butter gop ajgenagenda. Largely a deregulatory agenda in the environment, health care, labor, tack on to that a probusiness tax plan. Listen, craig, elections are defined by creating contrast between parties and candidates. Republicans actually can go into 18 painting a very strong contrast between their agenda and that of democrats. It will be up to voters which agenda they embrace. You raise a good point there. I didnt fully appreciate precisely how many obamaera agenda items if you will, had been rolled back until peters piece there. Tpp, the paris accords, of course, the individual mandate coming next. So, david jolley, thank you, sir. James peterson, thank you. And happy new year to both of you. Happy new year, craig. Again, in just a few minutes, alabama is expected to make doug jones win over roy moore official. That is expected at the top of the hour. Just a few moments ago, word that a judge has tossed roy moores latest challenge out. Were watching thismontgomery,. Were going to keep you posted on that. That is going to wrap up this hour of msnbc live. Ill see you tonight on nightly news. Katy tur is standing by to pick things up from now. Doug jones is expected to be certified the winner of alabamas special election, but not without a lastminute challenge from roy moore and the legal challenge from judge moore was just rejected by another judge. Were going to have that announcement as it happens. Its been a little over two weeks since the republican candidate rode to the polls on a horse named sassy to cast a vote for himself for senate. We all know how that ended. Doug jones won the race by some 20,000 votes becoming the states first democratic voter in 25 years. Moore, who has refused to concedes has now filed an election complaint alleging voter fraud may be the reason he lost. Today, jones responded by filing a motion to dismiss that complaint. Msnbcs Garrett Haake joins me from West Palm Beach, florida, traveling with the president. This is, obviously, garrett, a senate seat that plagued the president. First, he endorsed luther strange. Luther strange lost in that primary. Then he endorsed roy moore. Even after roy moore was credibly accused by multiple women of Sexual Misconduct. And then roy moore lost. How is the white house responding now to his refusal to concede . Well, the white house has been amongst all other republicans over the last few days telling roy moore this thing is over and its time to get out of this race. Time to pack up. Time to go away. Time to admit defeat. Every day that roy moore remains a national figure. So its an open wound for the republican party. He has proven to be so divisive and so radioactive to the republican brand. Folks i talk to over the last week or two, even at the rnc and the nrsc, folks on capitol hill wouldnt wait for roy moore