so any possible attempt by the russians, either to enhance the stein campaign or use it in some other way so as to undermine our democracy i think is worthy of investigation. you haven t seen any sign yet, yourself, that that has happened, have you? i am reluctant to comment on documents and testimony submitted confidentially to our committee. right. but i think that chairman burr is well founded in talking as circumspectly as he did. interesting. last question, today joe manchin, democratic colleague from west virginia, said he didn t believe that al franken should have resigned and regretted the fact he was essentially forced out by your senate democratic colleagues. do you still feel that al franken needs to resign and leave the senate? i think, perhaps, most importantly, we need to respect and believe the brave and strong women who are coming forward to raise these allegations about a variety of spheres in american life including politics but also
served if this took place in public. what i m committed to do is work with chairman burr, we re the only group that is bipartisan. and at the end of the day it is important we have exactly which forum is something we ll work through. is very important, not just with donald trump jr., gerald cohen, there are a number of other individuals, again, you can t ask senators to draw final conclusions until we have had a chance to question the individuals directly. fair enough senator, throw caution to the wind and predict for me when the tax bill pass by the calendar year 2017? brian, i spent years trying to be involved in tax reform. i absolutely believe we need a more fair and balanced tax code. the product that has been produced doesn t meet that criteria. and a lot of my republican colleagues privately acknowledge it. my hope is that they will not
on this question of russian sanctions seems a little odd. i think we have not yet seen what the giveback here was truly. and what was being protected. when you think about the fact, this russia investigation was so sensitive, the president went to the incredible step of firing the fbi director, something here has not yet been reveals. i m not sure what it is, frankly. evan, do you think that the guilty plea by mike flynn today gets republicans in congress any closer to treating this with more urgency? i mean, when the white house talks about firing bob mueller, mitch mcconnell sort of says, i m going to stay out of it and paul ryan sort of says, he s doing his job. other than bob corker, there have not been a lot of people who have really gone out on a limb and said mueller s work is essential. and we learned in the new york times today that the president actually went to a bunch of senate republicans, including the chairman of the senate intel
committee, chairman burr and said, can you wrap this up? the president has no appreciation for the separation of responsibilities in terms of the congressional committees investigating russian interference, and he has really not a lot of regard, obviously, for the special counsel investigating this. do you think this gives any republicans any more steel in their spine? you are setting a very low bar. any republicans, any more steel in their spine? yes. that s where we are. yes, there will be some of that, but, sadly, i expect most of them to continue to follow the path of least resistance which is to say they ll not insert themselves very much. trump still has a base of support that is their base of support. and they are not going to stand up to that. i m sad to report. but i ll tell you something that i think is interesting about this. we have a situation in which bob mueller, the special counsel, and president trump agree about something.
conference. is the tone and tenor of republican reaction changing today? i spoke too soon. mitch mcconnell is being asked about russia. with senator chairman burr and ranking member working on that. that s our role in it. and special counsel has his job to do. we will concentrate on what we are doing here in the senate. you have said from this podium multiple times that there is that the votes nor interest to change rules for filibusters. let me correct you. . saying what they have to do with this in the investigations in the senate and house. other republican reaction that you are hearing today. a lot of republicans are afraid of which is the president