And on the clock. With time running out to avoid a partial Government Shutdown, the white house signals flexibility on its wall demands. At the end of the day, we dont want to shut down the government. We want to shut down the border. Today with the president probably hoping his christmas break would hurry up and get started. He just suffered through a pretty rough 24 hours. He will have to fold, it looks like, on his border wall funding demands. He watched his former National Security adviser get smacked down by a d. C. Judge. Oh, by the way, his Charitable Foundation forced to close its doors after trump was accused as using it as a personal piggy bank. And hes still got two more days before hes expected to head to maralago. I have a great team to help me break it down but first i want to take a step back and explain exactly what were looking at here. Right now President Trump is on the cusp of a 16day vacation. When he gets back, democrats will be in the control of the house and with new investigations expected and a divided government in place, things will likely get worse for the president , not better. But tuesday was already bad. First we heard the white house was softening its position on border wall funding explaining if the democrats werent able to give them 5 billion, the president would just get the money from somewhere else. At almost the exact same time the president s former National Security adviser Michael Flynn was getting a smack jodown coury of a federal judge. Not only did he dismantle the suggestion the case was unfair but accused flynn of selling out his country, at one point asking prosecutor its they had considered charging him with treason. And while all of that was going on, we got news that the president s Charitable Foundation was forced to fold after charges for years and years the money that should have been going say to needy children or other good causes, instead went to the cause of donald trump. It was worth taking a closer look at this so you understand just how big of a deal it is. The Trump Foundations been around for 31 years and was originally set up as a private foundation to donate royalties from trumps book the art of the deal. But over the past decade, the new York Attorney general alleged that the foundation has repeatedly broken the law, describing, quote, improper and extensive political activity, repeated willful selffulfilling transactions and failed to follow judiciary obligations or to implement even elementary corporate formalities required by law. An attorney for the Trump Organization says the charity gave away about 19 million over its life span. But the attorney generals lawsuit says the foundation basically serves as a checkbook for trump to use however he wanted. For example, take the more than quarter Million Dollars that went to settle personal legal disputes. He used 30,000 of Foundation Money to buy poesh tritrtraits himself. One in 2007, another in 2014. Then he spent 12,000 on a signed football helmet by tim tebow. Now that the foundation is dissolving, all of these items have to be sold but while trump spent 42,000 of the charitys money for those three things alone, his own irs filing now shows them valued at just 975. And theres more. The largest donation in the charitys history helped pay to refurbish a fountain outside trumps plaza thole in new york. The smallest donation came in 1989 when trump apparently used the charitys money to pay for his sons 7 boy scout registration fee. The Trump Organizations Attorney Says the lawsuit is an attempt to, quote, political size this matter, dissolving the foundation may not be the end of it. The civil suit will go on. And the incoming new York Attorney general has promised to continue pursuing the president and his family for potential crimes. I want to bring in my panel, ken delynnian, intelligence and National Security reporter, a correspondent with the pbs newshour. And assistant Deputy Attorney and attorney for george w. Bush. A former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. Ken, lets start at the beginning. Did the Trump Foundation in any way operate like a real charity . I mean, in some ways it did, chris. But as you described there, in the main, no, it did not. It was a personal piggy bank for donald trump. All the while that money was protected from taxes, which is the point of a charity and why this is so outrageous. You mentioned some of the greatest hits, 264,000 that went to refurbish a fountain outside of the trump hotel. There was also a 25,000 contribution in 2013 to the attorney general of florida, pam bondi, who then did not join an investigation into Trump University that was being conducted by states attorney general. Now, look, is this selective, is this unfair, is this political in some way this is now being investigated . Sure it is, chris, but this is an example of whats happening to donald trump across the board. He operated on the margins for years and this happened for decades and it wasnt investigated because, look, its hard to enforce the law on these things. There are not enough irs to look into this stuff. Now that hes president everything hes done is coming under scrutiny and you can extrapolate this to his businesses and whole russia investigation. Hes now held to a High Standard and unfortunately he doesnt seem prepared to meet it. And the real question is, does it become a criminal matter . This new York Attorney general is very serious about investigating donald trump. Bob, its a civil suit now. Whats the likelihood it becomes a criminal matter . It is going to become a criminal matter. Ive been saying this for a long time. What she wrote in her press release yesterday talking about all of the improprieties, using it as a personal checkbook, is code word in criminal language for tax evasion, Campaign Finance violations as well as fraud. You cannot operate and i agree with ken, when you run for public office, anybody, not just donald trump, the spotlight is going to be on you by Law Enforcement and other people that bring improprieties in your business dealings. The commingling of personal funds and charitable contributions is always known to be investigated in a criminal way. And this implicates the people that are on the board that hasnt met since 1999. 1999. Him and his children, it is nothing less than what she indicated, a slush fund. When i read that press release as a prosecutor who made many press releases myself, right now shes talking civil but you can turn those words to fraud, tax evasion, Campaign Finance violations. She said shes going to pursue him. She said this is going to open up a criminal investigation. I think theyve got a lot of evidence. In fact, the incoming new York Attorney general gave us a quote. She said, we will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well. Tom, more than a few legal analysts believed for some time, bob among them, if the president is brought down, it could be because of his businesses and his foundation. How dangerous could this be for donald trump and his family . Well, i think there is a lot of danger here both for the president and for his family members, particularly those who are involved in the Trump Foundation. The fact now is theres an intense spotlight on the activities of the Foundation Going back at least a decade in a way i suspect none of them ever anticipated. One Significant Development is the fact the Trump Foundation agreed to dissolution. In fairness, theyve been looking to dissolve this foundation for some time but 24e didnt want to dissolve it under the supervision of the new York Attorney general who will have to personally approve every way this foundation sends out and gets rid of any money it has in the coffers. Lawyers for the Trump Foundation kind of tried to dismiss this saying look, the president , once he got elected, we were looking to shut all of this down anyway. But we know that the president does seem to want to protect his family, his kids, and this involves his three old children at all costs. Is there any nervousness at the white house youre sensing about all of this . I think its very clear President Trump and the people around him have really been impacted by the fact he chose to run for president , one the presidency, and now theyre all under investigation. If you look at who it is, you have your personal lawyer will now be sentenced to three years in prison. You have the idea his campaign manager, former campaign manager, Paul Manafort is also someone whos going to be doing time for fraud. Its not directly connected to the president but thats someone who was literally his campaign chairman. Then add to that the fact donald trump was in this what now seems to be this controversial meeting in trump tower with russians s and now you have the foundation where literally all three of his children more than three children, but three of his children are involved in this campaign and involved in this charity. That is really problematic for the president f youre someone whos already someone whos paranoid about all of these investigations, which is with what President Trump is when he tweets about the Mueller Investigation and tweets about all of these investigations, its obviously going to make you very much more worried. I think its clear the president just wants to try to put this behind him but the charity will not be able to put behind him because as you reported, every single thing they do to try to resolve it will have to be personally approved by the attorney general, and thats going to be a proper for them. Speaking of the president tweeting, he has tweeted about Michael Flynn. Ken, you were outside of the courtroom. This didnt go the way the president and flynn supporters had hoped it would, obviously. So what happens now . Theres this delay, another chance for him to cooperate with investigators. What happens . So theres been a 90day delay, chris. They will come back for a status conference in three months where Pete Williams will not have to wear a hat outside of the conference room. It was cold out, yes. What theyre hoping is judge sullivan will essentially cool down. Nothing is really going to clafr change in Michael Flynns claes. The idea hes cooperating is relatively minor. Its a serious case but the Eastern District of pennsylvania with the head of turkey. But the judge was just very offended by flynns conduct, by the lying to the fbi, by the lobbying for turkey and attempt by the memo to suggest hes not actually guilty of lying even though he pleaded guilty. I think basically what the flynn team hopes is they can come back in 90 days and judge sullivan would have considered hes basically gotten his anger out now, he aired his pique with mike flynn, although he doesnt have to and could sent inspect him to jail time. What how you see it . What does he have to do to not get jail time . First, he has to continue cooperation. If he les the support of bob muellers team saying no jail time, its all over and theres no question and he will go to jail. However, if he continues to cooperate, he has to keep his fingers crossed judge sullivan calms down. The other thing i would say is you have to stop attacking this as an ambush or didnt know what the law was. The judge shut that down yesterday. He absolutely did. In fact, it looks like the lawyers strategy backfired. They thought maybe it would make the judge more sympathetic with flynn but it clearly had the opposite effect, in that it infuriated the judge who thought he was trying to walk back his guilty plea. As i was trying to figure this out i was reading about judge sullivan, how hes been tough on prosecutors. He really believed people who served the public should be held to a higher standard. So maybe they thought if they could convince the judge that the prosecutors that overstepped, they would be the ones in trouble, huge, clearly huge miscalculation. Is it one that was so bad it could have potentially cost their client his freedom . I agree with you. It was a huge miscalculation, us in the world and former prosecutors looked at it and said what are you doing here . The idea why youre getting it break is you accepted responsibility. That gave him a downward departure, that you cooperated, that gave him a downward departure. I believe the defense thought they would be able to make sure they got a probationary sentence by this memo but what they did is tell the judge im not accept be responsibility. And thats what agitated the judge. And also, i have a clear agreement here and this was to me another big tactical mistake by the defense, this agreement says hey, the prosecutors agree, the defense agrees, but the court can sentence higher for what they call relevant conduct. And theres a lot of bad relevant conduct. The judge is saying wait a minute, he didnt get charged with turkey and all of these other offenses. He got a sweetheart deal over here. Theres all of this relevant conduct where i can do an upward departure where typically what we would do in fact im doing it now in federal court is ask for an 11c1 plea which says judge this is the recommendation the prosecution and defense agree to, if you accept the plea, you cant go any higher. When the judge said hey, you want some time to think about this . The judge is telegraphing theres going to be jail time. Equipment but tho but the lawyers dont know. Everybody says zero to six months but it kwcould be up to five years with where the judge says i found this so despicable and in violation of National Security interest im doing an upward departure. Which leads me to my final question for you, we have certainly seen a big difference in the way the president treated michael cohen, the things he said about him and equipment what hes said about Michael Flynn, wishing him good luck. Let me use the p word, what are the chances of a pardon here . Its hard to say but i will say that when you think about the way the president has talked about Michael Flynn, hes really talked about him in glowing terms. He talked about him as someone who didnt really do anything wrong. We all know now hes pleading to do something very wrong. I would say Sarah Sanders from the very rare equipment White House Briefing this week, the president can say positive things when he wants to and when the Washington Post pressed her and pressed her about the idea the president way saying something good about a man who as a judge said is accuse ud of selling out his country, Sarah Sanders defended the president and Michael Flynn. It doesnt seem the president will back away at all from the fact he likes Michael Flynn. Listen, chris, let me talk to you about pardon. I have been talking about this for a year now. State crimes, state crimes, state crimes. Theres no doj memo that says in the state system that you cant indict a sitting president and certainly his children are going to be a sore spot for him. And the other thing is its beyond the president s pardon power. Its a very interesting thing in one of muellers submissions that said when he was sitting there with new York State AttorneyGenerals Office and information is being shared back and forth. There may be some constitutional challenges to that but if they want to get him and and this new york ag seems like she does, they file the straight crime actions and you dont have to worry about some of the federal issues. Some of the state crimes are more significant in sentencing than the federal crimes. Such a great discussion. Bob, ken, tom, amesh, thank you to all of you. Up next, the clock is signaling towards a shutdown but is the white house signaling to an openness to a deal without the wall . Could an agreement be reached before fridays deadline. Weve got the latest on the negotiations. It was here. I couldnt catch my breath. It was the last song of the night. It felt like my heart was skipping beats. They said i had afib. Whats afib . I knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke. I needed answers. My doctor and i chose xarelto® to help keep me protected from a stroke. Oncedaily xarelto®, a latestgeneration blood thinner significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. Warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your bodys natural bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. For afib patients well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. While taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. Learn all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. Long lawmakers have to strike a deal in order to avoid a partial Government Shutdown that would impact these, about a quarter of all Government Agencies and the hundreds of thousands of people who work there. Yesterday the white house signaled the president may be softening his stance on funding for the border wall. The president wants 5 billion. Would he take 2. 5 billion, would that be an acceptable number . We have other ways we can get to that 5 billion that we will work with congress if we make sure we get a bill passed. At the end of the day, we dont want to shut down the government. We want to shut down the border from illegal immigration. This morning the president is on twitter promising, quote, one way or another we will win on the wall. Nbcs Garrett Haake is on capitol hill. Im not 100 what that means. There was a convoluted exchange with Sarah Sanders about how they get that money. Lets talk about where you are right now. I know youre tracking down some senators. What are they telling you . Whats the latest there . Witness, weve actually got moving parts this morning and for folks who want to see the government stay open, which is just about everybody, some good news. It seemed like the solution settled on by leaders up here is to do a cr, continuing resolution in the speak here, freeze funding at the levels its at and kick the can down the road. I talked to richard shelby, chairman of the committee this morning, happened to run into him in the hallway, he said he has that cr bill drafted and ready to go. The thinking is it will go some time into february but not quite sure how far. That gives democrats in the house to stand up and get organized and also gets this past the state of the union. So the president could continue to make it a legal issue. Lawmakers ive talked to seem relatively comfort with this solution. Its not ideal but its better than a shutdown. I just caught senator john kennedy as he was leaving another interview and this is what he had to say now how likely are we to shut down . Do we miss an opportunity here . Its unlikely. I dont think either the senate or house wants to shut down. I think we want to do a cr but i dont know how President Trump feels about it. I think we missed an opportunity last night when we passed the criminal justice bill. I, of course, voted against it but many of my democratic friends desperately wanted that vote passed. I wish we had time to pass it so the bill would border wall funding. The idea of tying the bill to the criminal justice bill is not something in wide discussion but this is the thing that happens a lot. There are so many conversations how do we attach something unpopular, get democratic votes by attaching something they want. That creativity essentially goes out the window when youre this close to looking at a dead line. Now were looking at the bare minimum to get through the two houses of congress and president s desk and now its a punt. Thank you for joining me. Democratic candidate Anthony Brown from maryland. I think the key thing we just heard from senator kennedy is simply this, i dont know how President Trump feels. And im wondering, congressman costello, how do you negotiable when you have a president who is not consistent, who often seems to contradict his staff and has a history of changing his mind . In fact, the last time we did a cr if my rks servecollection me correct, we pass it out of the house and the speaker had to go down to the white house the next day and convince him to sign it. I think what is going to happen here we will pass a shortterm fix through february 8th or on or around february 8th. There will be some attachments to the spending bill so it cant be spent as nearly on the wall as the president would like, and then the president is going to say, hes going to do with the money whatever he wants and we will everyone will live to fight another day, and it will set up subsequent to the state of the union, which i think this becomes the issue, how will the president frame this in february with the democrats in the house and what shape will next years funding, how will it be play out. But i mean before we get to february, we got to get to the next two days, right . And i think youve got the president tweeting about the wall a lot. This morning, heres what he said mexico is paying indirectly for the wall through the new usmca, the replacement for nafta. Far more money coming to the u. S. Because the dangers at the border including largeskill drug and criminal inflow. The United States military will build the wall. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said something pretty similar to that yesterday. Congressman brown, is this a fundamental lack of understanding about how the budget works . How do you see what theyre trying to explain about the wall . Well, first of all, i want to say that i think we do understand where the president is on the shutdown. He said last week that he would take pride in a shutdown, notwithstanding 300,000 to 400,000 federal Government Employees and their families would suffer through the holidays. I dont think we should be tying the question of funding a wall to a continued resolution. This debate, this discussion and whatever decision is made on border wall or enhanced Border Security needs to be done in the context of broader immigration discussion. Comprehensive Immigration Reform. We need to take up the question of the dreamers and those on s. We need to talk about the hseries visas and how we strengthen the system to receive those who are seeking asylum in this country. That is how we should be discussing and deciding the border wall, not by attaching it to an end of year, midnight, continued resolution debate. This sort of midnight, lastminute cr, congressman costello, you didnt run for reelection. As you look at the budget battle now through a little bit of a different lens than you might have a year or two ago, is this exactly why americans went to the ballot box in november and voted for exchange . Because theyre so frustrated where does Congress Keep kicking the budget can down the road . I think november was much more than a referendum on the president than anything else. Theres an element here when you recall and the guy wakes up and its time to make the doughnuts or bill murray in groundhog day we feel like were back here again and again and again. To my colleagues point, hes correct, i agree with him. We should not in isolation tie a cr to a border funding spend. It should be part of broader Immigration Reform. We tried to do that in the house over the summer. It didnt happen. But dakkia, visa reform, and Border Security should all be part of one big bill. The problem as i see it we have the far right and far left creating their own litmus tests and saying what they will never vote for rather than saying what they need in order to foet for a broader Immigration Reform bill. Those things havent gotten done but congressman brown, even though congress cant get on the same page about immigration, about the border, we can see a pretty bipartisan move overnight when the Senate Passed this pretty big criminal Justice Reform bill, backed by the white house, expanding Early Release programs, modifies sentencing laws, gives judges more discretion over sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and more for rehab programs for former prisoners. Are you going to support this bill . Are you surprised, anything you want to say about actual bipartisan on the hill . Sure, chris, its a much better product coming out of the senate than what passed out of the house. In fact, i opposed the house version earlier this year. I joined john lewis, the naacp, in opposing what the house passed. It didnt go far enough, the Senate Version does. Saz you pointed out, it gives judges discretion to go below the mandatory minimums. Reduces mandatory minimums for a number of drug offenses. It encourages homebased restrictions versus incarceration. So its a much better bipartisan bill. I look forward you would support this bill . I look for the to supporting this bill. Its a first step. We know there are far too Many Americans who are incarcerated in a disproportionate number than are young africanamerican men. So anything we can do to make progress to reduce the prison population by ensuring public safety, i think this bill is an incremental step in that direction. We have more work to do and i look forward in the 116th congress to continue in that effort. Congressman costello, in our last 30 seconds, would you vote for this bill, number one . And two, are there any other issues you see realistically in the short term like criminal Justice Reform that the two parties can come together on . I will vote for the bill. There is a disparate impact on treatment of those in the criminal justice system, disproportionally and detrimentally impacting africanamericans. The issue i think is most prominent where we could get bipartisan support for the betterment of our country will be infrastructure. You need to put revenue on the table though. Thats the one area where i think both parties can come together, and its very hard to do finger pointing when the American People know that we need more for roads and bridges, for Energy Independence and modernizing our grid, and, frankly, if you look at electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles, we need to make sure that technology within the infrastructure is speaking to our transportation system. So, yes, thats the one area where im optimistic and i hope it happens. I like that in a holiday season, to end on an optimistic note. Congressmen, thank you both so much. I hope you have a great holiday. Same to you, chris. Coming up next shocking new report from the New York Times reveals facebook was sharing a lot more of your information than previously disclosed. Even after they had promised to stop. Life isnt a straight line. Things happen. And sometimes you can find yourself heading in a new direction. But at fidelity, we help you prepare for the unexpected with Retirement Planning and advice for what you need today and tomorrow. Because when youre with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, theres nothing to stop you from moving forward. A partner who makes sure every step is clear, whoooo. Planning a vacation. Shouldnt be hard work tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites to find the lowest price on the hotel you want we make it easy. 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According to more than 270 pages of internal documents and interviews with 50 former employees, the times found facebook shared data with more than 150 company its through partnerships and some partners say netflix and spotify had the ability to access users data without their knowledge. Joining me now cnbc contributor and host of politico money podcast ben white, congressman costello and congressman brown are back with me. Back in April Mark Zuckerberg testified on capitol hill. He was pressed on the way that his Company Handled user data. I want to remind folks exactly what he said. We dont sell data at all. So the way the ad system works is advertisers can come to us and say, i have a message im trying to reach a certain type of people. They might be interested in something, they might live in a place, and then we help them get that message in front of people. But this is one of the its widely mischaracterized about our system that swell data, and its actually one of the most important parts of how facebook works is that we do not sell data. As you smirk. They dont sell data, but the report does reveal that facebook struck deals to share the information with dozens of silicone valley companies. What are we talking about here . Were talking about semantics in terms of not directly selling data. They share data, and apparently they share it a lot more robustly we had thought, contrary to what perhaps they agreed to in this ftc decree in 2011. The question is are they in violation of that . If they are, were talking very large fines. But the fact theyre allowing Companies Like netflix and spotify to have access to users messages will irritate a lot of people. A lot of things on facebook today i will delete facebook. Theres problems here already for facebook. A study back in september said half the users 18 to 29 deleted the facebook app from their phones. That may not have to do with privacy concerns, it may i dont want to be on the same platform my grandma is to check out what im doing, but even if you go off facebook, then is my information protected . Probably not, no. They have all of the information that you already put up there and theyve harvested that. They have that in enormous datia bases that is incredibly valuable. We live in an economy now where data is the coin of the realm, it is absolutely the most valuable thing these companies collect, and theyre sharing it in ways that people are not familiar with. Even if you have set your privacy settings to the utmost degree, it is now very clear that they violated those privacy settings in the way they shared this data with apple and all of these other Tech Companies. Congressman costello, records show again facebook gives Companies Like netflix and spotify the ability to read your private messages if youre on facebook, the relevant congressional committees investigated, we just saw Mark Zuckerberg when he was on the hot seat, others as well, can you see at this point after the investigations to the American People, we as congress are protecting you . No, no. Listen, i was just a party to those hearings. I sit on the technology committee. The reality is we do not have a privacy law in this country for data use. That is something that actually may happen in the next congress. Theres a number of companies, a number of members of congress, senators and house members, who have put forth privacy principles. Based upon my review of the New York Times reporting, yes, facebook doesnt sell data but they treat their data as a commodity and they trade that commodity to be able to grow their platform with outside companies, and in the process, they circumvent what would otherwise be a requirement to get prior informed consent from facebook users. Thats what happened. Whether or not that was an ftc violation is a serious question that will have to be probed, and i would expect congress will have additional hearings next year because when you dont have a law, Tech Companies hearings . What are you guys going to do about it . You need a privacy law so were all speaking the same language. You have big tech come before congress and theyre using their own terms. Does anybody know what an integrated partnership is . I dont but thats what facebook was using. When you have an integrated partnership as theyre arguing with an amazon, all of a sudden they dont need your informed prior consent in order to share your data. You dont know what theyre using that data for. And you have a company that simply says oh, well, we used it appropriately. How do we know you used it appropriately unless we haul you in to congress and get answers . It continues to be a situation where we get a little bit of information incrementally at a time and after the fact we find out its a much bigger problem than we were led to believe in the first instance. So since youve touched on it, congressman brown, one of the criticisms has been that congress cant do anything because, frankly, they dont get it. They dont understand it technically, whether its one phrase or the whole operation. We saw that, we saw some of the questions that went to people like Mark Zuckerberg, were pretty simplistic. So is it fair, first of all, is my criticism and other peoples criticisms fair . And do you see a path ahead for congress to get a handle on this . Yeah, i think ryan is accurate in stating that congress has to develop a better understanding of this industry and how they operate. Its not enough to call Mark Zuckerberg or any other ceo of a Big Tech Company in solely for the purposes of publicly exscorating him and his company. What we need to do is bring them in to ensure that we fully understand the industry, how they operate, and that not only members of congress but, quite frankly, the professional staff on capitol hill that doesnt have nearly the experience as the industry does in how they operate. We need to better understand this. But let me also add this is not solely a Consumer Protection issue. And thats very important, informed consent and disclosure. This is a National Security issue. We know at least one of the company thats had this more intrusive access to information has ties, its a Russian Company with ties to the kremlin. So its time that we develop a seat belt law for facebook, just as decades ago it took congress to mandate seatbelts for the Auto Industry to provide the safety we now enjoy in automobiles today, its time for a seatbelt law for facebook. The industry has matured. Its time for robust regulations. Not to quell or to quash the industry, but to promote and to protect, promote the ciindustry and protect consumers. I want to thank all of our guests for being with us. We have breaking news, msnbc confirming the u. S. Military is preparing to withdraw a significant number of troops from syria. Nbcs criswehris welker is at t white house. I understand the wall street journal and routers confirmed this and the president is tweeting an affirmation. Get us up to speed, kristen. Let me tell you what we can say, chris, and the president is tweeting this very announcement. This is from my colleagues cara lee, according to two u. S. Defense officials and one person familiar with the matter, the u. S. Is preparing to withdraw a significant number of u. S. Troops from syria. Now, these two Senior DefenseOfficials Say the white house will ultimately announce this as early as today. U. S. Military confirming that there are 503 u. S. Troops in syria. Even though defense officials acknowledge having more than 2,000 there at times. The u. S. Military mission there has been to defeat isis but troops have also been used for a range of other reasons. Everything from stabilizing efforts in recent weeks. Secretary mattis announced observation posts near the Turkish Border earlier this month. Heres what President Trump seems to be saying he tweeted, we have defeated isis in syria, my only reason for being there during the trump presidency. This is something he campaigned on, chris. He said he wanted withdraw troops from foreign engagements. Can colonel manning said at this time we continue to work by, with, and through our parter in the region so its not finalized. Some of our allies there, turkey, for example, and there have been tensions between the United States and turkey in recent weeks, recent months, have expressed concerns about the United States pulling out significantly. They are concerned that would give rise to militants in the region so who far have been held at bay. So this is a significant shift. If this is in fact announced by the white house or by the Defense Department later on today in the trump policy in syria, effectively pulling out a significant number of troops from syria, again, chris, we underscore this point. This was part of his America FirstForeign Policy he campaigned on, chris. It is, however, always causing some people to suggest its throwing american strategy it in the middle east into turmoil. Congressman brown, if i can get your reaction. Youre on house armed services, served in the military in iraq. I can go on with your credentials, which are significant. What do you make of it . Clearly a Significant Development. I dont rely on the president s tweets to conclude that isis has been defeated. What i would rather see is the president flanked by chairman dunford of the joint chiefs, secretary mattis and mike pompeo declaring to the United States what the mission is that we accomplished. If we did defeat isis, i would rather hear that coming from a more reliable source from the department of defense. Weve heard conflicting statements over the last 12 months from the administration as to why were in isis. National Security Council or adviser bolton suggested we were in syria as a counterweight to iran. Secretary mattis came to capitol hill and reassured members of congress that no, we were there to defeat eyouisis. And while we vafrnquished isis from rackia, there are several isis in syria. I would like to hear more from the president and dod what exactly we accomplished and what is the basis for the withdrawal and what risks remain for u. S. Personnel and u. S. Security interests in syria and the region. But just to be clear, congressman, as a member of house armed services, this week had you been given any indication that the u. S. Was preparing to withdraw significant numbers of troops from syria, or in any way consulted about this . Im not familiar with any information that was conveyed to congress. Admittedly that doesnt mean it has not been conveyed to Senior Leaders in congress. Im not aware of it. But i also add that over the last 12 months, members of congress, we have repeatedly requested for more accurate accounting of the number of u. S. Troops in syria, and weve never received that information. So theres a lot thats unknown, and i think the president really needs to step forward with his competent military instate department officials, and explain to the American People what mission did we accomplish . Are there any remaining risks or threats in the region . And tell us the status of u. S. Forces upon withdrawal. Congressman, thank you, Kristen Welker as well. Up next, one scene as the future of the Republican Party, Speaker Paul Ryan set to depart with a missed legacy, from a ballooning deficit to passing his longpromised tax bill, how will the wisconsin congressman be remembered . But before we go, its a big week for elon musk. Yesterday he unveiled his first underground transportation tunnel that runs beneath l. A. , designed for cars to travel 150 miles per hour. The tech ents prenear called it a 3d highway system underground. But it hasnt been all smooth travels for musk this week. 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Some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. Talk to your doctor today, and learn how janssen can help you explore cost support options. Remission can start with stelara®. As democrats prepare to take over the house in the new year, speaker ryans tenure is coming to a close. Republicans remember a time when paul ryan was a rising star of the gop, but after a sweeping tax bill last year, and increasing military expenses, a soaring deficit has them at odds. Robert costa joins me from cost cost, congressman costello and brown are back with me. I want to look at the deficit. When he came into office it was 438 billion. I think we have a graphic of shows how it went up according to the federal reserve, theyre saying it could be a trillion next year. Whats the legacy of paul ryan . The cloud over speaker ryans legacy, before he even bay speaker, he mounted an ideological project to try to contain the deficit, back in 2008. He promised reps if they took power, he would do his best to get the reforms through. He was on the gop ticket in 2012, but he was never able to convince a lot of his party to go along with his plans. He remains a politician well liked, but whose ambitions were never fulfilled. Theres this glossy videos you can look at and people like the former Speaker John Boehner saying nice things about him. Will we hear from him later today . Its formally a farewell, but you have him signaling to the party he wants to stay around. Hes only in his late 40s. He will not likely exit the political stage hes trying to say he did his best. Its a glimpse of how many so republicans frame themselves, as trying to do their best, and theres a real debate if he handled this moment in the proper way. Im curious what you think, congressman, costello. You consider yourself a fiscal conservative, leading along with paul ryan at the end of this. I wonder what you think how he leaves the republican parties and does the Republican Party that you are a part of the fiscal conservatism part of it exist anymore . It does. I think the speaker has served admirably. He laid out a vision in so many iterations, and tried to fulfill the vision. So why couldnt he get it done . He needs enough vote in the house for every single, very challenging, frankly very difficult policy prerogative. Cutting spending is not easy. He will be the first person to tell you that. Reforming entitlement programs is not easy, but he laid out in detail the types of policies he felt we needed to undertake. You also frankly have President Trump saying hes not looking to rein in certain spending. We have increased defense spending. While i think its a shortterm increase in the deficit as a consequence of the tax bill, i think over the tenyear period you would see more retch growth. As a developed cutting our tax rating was much, much lower than the rest of the industrialized world, and we simplified our tax code and brought down Corporate Tax rates, which makes us much more competitive globally. I think that was very, very significant. I think we have not celebrated or appreciated how positive that impact will be. Congressman brown, do you think that will have a positive impact . Im going to give paul low marks on this report card. Being speaker is tough, an i certainly appreciate pauls willingness to assume that role and take on that responsibility, but when he did, he said he would be a courageous conservative, and hes been neither. He didnt have the courage to bring immigration to the floor. He didnt have the courage to bring Gun Legislation to the floor where there was bipartisan support for some elements of gun prevention legislation, and he certainly wasnt conservative. What was already a large annual deficit is now significantly larger as it approaching nearly a trillion, just piling onto the debt. I like paul, hes a nice guy, no one would probably say other than that, but im going to give him poor marks as speaker. Its a tough job. He took the role, nevertheless he didnt deliver. Robert, ill let you have the last word. Short term what will we see . He says hell take his wife on vacation, maybe ambassador to ireland, what do you see for paul ryan . Personally he can do many things, work in the private sector, but thats not whats important. Whats important is whether they have the place in the trump administration, does that traditional conservative survive . Does he have a future in the gop . Or is he a relic of reaganism. Thank you, gentlemen. Happy holidays. No matter what, theres always good news somewhere, and we think good news rules. For this one we go to kansas, where a Highway Patrol officer played the part of santa claus for a woman outside of kansas city. After finding a package along a local highway, the officer picked it up, drove it to the womans house and handdelivered it himself. Shes probably thinking uh, otrouble, when hes knocking on the door, but it contained a present that was being sent to the womans daughter. Thanks to the officer, it arrived in perfect condition. Coming up right now, more news with hallie jackson. I love that. You are my christmas present. Theres the slightest suggestion of hope for the thousands of federal employees who may not be forced to work for free. It sounds like democrats and republicans been down, but what about the president . Well talk about what were hearing from our sources. Plus a bombshell report on another privacy scandal for facebook. Who slid into your dms . Why those other Companies Got access, and who is just deleting their account because its a hot mess. We have breaking news on a major move, the president appearing to confirm that the pentagon plans to pull u. S. Troops from that country. How this might throw the middle east strategy into turmoil and what this means for syrias ongoing civil war. Weve got our team covering all of it. I want to go to Kristen Welker. This breaking news has been fluid for the last hour or so. What do we expect today . Reporter this is what we can report, hallie. This comes from carol lee and courtney cubie. They are reporting that the u. S. Is preparing to withdraw a significant number of troops from syria. Now, these two officials tell us that the white house could announce this as soon as today. I have asked the folks here at the white house if and when we might hear something about this. Theyre not giving us any indication, but this is what the president tweeted, hallie, and this does seem to signal what he is thinking and where his mind is right now. He tweeted we have defeated isis in syria, my on reasonable for being there during the trump presidency. So all but walking up to the possibility that he will be withdrawing a significant number of troops. Theres just over 500 troops, thats the official number, but privately defense officials have indicated its really much higher than that, over 2,000. Why is this significant . This was part of thinks Campaign Promise to start to draw down u. S. Troops