This picture taken in march of 2016. The man circled in this photo is george papadopoulos, who pled guilty to lying about the fbi and his interactions with russians during the campaign. Also in this picture, if you widen it a little bit you see the Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who previously said he did not remember that meeting, but today. I do now recall that the march 2016 meeting at the trump hotel and mr. Papadopoulos attended, but have no clear recollection of the details of what he said at that meeting. In all of my testimony i can only do my best to answer your questions as i understand them and to the best of my memory. Martha chief National Correspondent ed henry live at the white house with the back story on todays big hearing. It also included some brandnew details about the clintons. Great to see you today. Accusations that i have ever lied. That is a lie. Let me be clear, i have at all times conducted myself honorably and in a manner consistent with the high standards and responsibilities of the office of Attorney General, which i revere. This is a big deal, sessions also revealed in this testimony today that he now has 27 open investigations into the leaks of classified information. If that will be music to the ears of the president and his advisors as well, we are now up and talk about what they call the deep state, damaging leaks that they think ive undermined this white house. Martha. Martha thank you very much. Joining me now for an expletive interview, one of the congressman inside that hearing today. Congressman trey gowdy. Good evening, good to have you with us tonight. Yes, maam, thank you. Martha we heard a lot in there today, and one of the things that Jeff Sessions was trying to do was make it very clear that he felt he played no improper role whatsoever during
the campaign. At one point he was grilled about whether or not he had met with the russian ambassador. He said i never said that i had never met a russian, i said that there was never any intention to collude or to have any kind of relationship with regards to the campaign. Do you think he persuaded the committee on that today . I dont think you persuaded the committee, because i dont think the committee is very open minded. I think his audience was the american people, and i think they understand sometimes its hard to recall the details of conversations from 12 months ag ago. Ironically, in every court room across the country we have this concept called a Refresh Recollection where the witness forgot something and then the lawyer will hand them a document or a photo that refreshes their recollection. We dont do that in congress. We want to play got you, and if you dont remember a room that you were in 12 months ago or person you met outside of a restaurant, we think we have a perjury case. I dont think anybodys mind was changed because i dont think anybody want with an open mind. Martha in terms of the issue, the president has said that he would like the Justice Department to be more openminded to reopening some of the investigations with regards to Hillary Clinton and with regard to uranium one in particular. Heres an exchange with your colleague, mr. Jordan, congressman jordan on the issue of appointing a Special Counsel with that in mind. Watch this. Whats it going to take to actually get a Special Counsel . It would take a factual basis that meets a standard of the appointment of a Special Counsel. We know one fact, we know the Clinton Campaign and the National Committee paid through the law firm for the dossier. We know that happened and it sure looks like the fbi was paying the author of that document. Doesnt that warrant naming a Second Special counsel, as 20 members of this committee wrote you asking you to do . Martha congressman, do you think we will see a special
counsel appointed by Attorney General sessions based on what you heard today . I dont know, but i did like his answer, which is we will follow the facts wherever they go. Robert mueller, it is within his jurisdiction to look at all of russians efforts to influence the election, and that might possibly include finding a dossier. I think general sessions broader point is we dont need a Special Counsel for every fact pattern. You do have a Department Of Justice with women and men who have dedicated their careers to the enforcement of the law, and you have 94 u. S. Attorneys offices, so i love jimmy jordan, and he is a threetime wrestling champion, so i dont like disagreeing with him, and he is a very good friend, but what i would say to jimmy and all my other friends is Special Counsel is when theres a Conflict Of Interest with the Department Of Justice are all 94 u. S. Attorneys. I think we all think factual predicate should be investigated if theres a basis to do so. Whether that is done by special
enough to process all of those ifs. Martha one quick session on tax reform, which we just spoke with speaker ryan. What you think about the Senate Proposal to include the repeal of obamacare or the individual mandate as part of their Tax Reform Bill . I think i agree with everything paul ryan just told you and i want to congratulate you on having a fantastic town hall with the most knowledgeable member of the house. Im going to eat dinner with tim scott, my friend in the senate and helped draft the Senate Version and i will get him to explain to me why they included that in there. I think pauls point was well taken, at least by me. We will keep that separate from what we do on the house side, but theres a reason we go to conference, and if its in the house bill, not the senate bill, we will resolve all of that in the conference committee. Martha paul ryan said complement trey gowdy on his gordon gecko looked tonight. Im sure he did. [laughs] im quite sure he did. Martha just thought we would pass that along. It congressman trey gowdy, thank you very much. Good to see her tonight. Also breaking this evening, the Tax Reform Budget weve been talking about is heating up on capitol hill as a new amendment to add an Obamacare Repeal to the Senate Version has halted negotiations. We will talk about that coming up. Also, several Big Developers right now in the roy moore scandal as we await him to take the stage at a Campaign Event in alabama. The rnc just a short while ago has told their funding for the Alabama Senate candidate as the calls continue to grow for him to step aside. Karl rove weighs in next with the story right after this. When youre close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment . If you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. Taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. With taltz, up to 90 of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. In fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. Do not use if you are allergic to taltz. Before starting you should be checked for tuberculosis. Taltz may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. Inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz. Including worsening of symptoms. Serious allergic reactions can occur. Nows your chance at completely clear skin. Just ask your doctor about taltz. Nominee roy moore to step aside in the wake of several sexual abuse allegations. Moore, who was about to take the stage at a Campaign Event firing back a short time ago on twitter saying this. Alabamians will not be fooled by this. Insighthitchjob. Mitch mcconnells days as majority leader are coming to an end very soon. At this point has just begun. And within the last few hours in a somewhat historic move, the rnc pulled out of a joint fundraising agreement that it had with moore. Here now, karl rove, former Senior Advisor to george w. Bush and a Fox News Contributor. I dont think i can hear you, but i think you may be able to hear me. Tell me a little bit about what you think about the latest developments here with roy moore and whether or not you think that hes going to hang in there. It let me just operating it one more thing. Lets put this up on the screen. This is the internal Campaign Email for anyone who thinks that they are backing down, this is a strong message. Team, we are in an epic standoff
and we need to know more than ever. At the liberal media and the democrats are intent on hijacking the seat of Jeff Sessions on december 12th, and they have found unlikely allies with the republican establishment. I will check my audio and you tell people your reaction to that. Im on the email list, so i get several of these messages a day, and it is pretty clear hes digging in his heels. Here are the options, and none of them are good. The first one is the governor could change the date of the election. Governor ivey has said she has no inclination to do that. Roy moore could withdraw and the republicans could unite around one person. There were two steps to this. Roy moore has said hes not resigning and it would be hard to get people to agree on a unified choice. Roy moore could stay in and then the republicans could conduct a writein campaign, but that would tend to split the republican vote, and even in this heavily republican state, its enough to guarantee the
democrat wins. Moore could win back the election and be expelled by twothirds of the senate, and then a Second Special election could be held, probably in conjunction with the 2018 General Election and in the meantime the governor, Governor Ivey would appoint a successor to sit in the seat as a placeholder. Or moore could lose. Let me tell you, thats a real possibility even though this is a very republican state. In the last two decades the average republican statewide candidate has carried alabama for more than 20 points. There have been some exceptions, and one of them was roy moore in 2012 when he got elected to the Supreme Court by a margin of a think about six points. Take a look at this. This shows whats happening. Last three weeks of tv, this is both campaigns, the jones campaign, the Democrat Campaign started advertising three weeks ago, they spent 1. 4 million in one week. Last week 700,000. This week, 700,000. Moore was nowhere to be seen on the television the first week, last week 65,000. This week 65,000. He is being out spend by 2. 8 million to 130,000. All those big donors that steve bannon promised would be in his corner apparently havent materialized. Martha its a great point. Now hes got the rnc not backing him anymore. We know the National Senate committee is not backing him anymore, cory gardner pulled the plug on that almost immediately. Is there an option on your whiteboard that you think is the most likely . Do you have a Luther Strange writein . We know the president , Mitch Mcconnell spoke about this earlier today. Whats the scenario that you see that you think might work . Look, i doubt there would be a Luther Strange writein. He got beat in the primary and there will be a lot of hard feelings left over from that, and he might get more votes than he got last time around, but it would still be the 400 some out
thousand votes cast in the republican primary split two different ways. If roy moore does not step aside and say i am withdrawing from this race and i encourage all of my voters supporters to back this one candidate, Jeff Sessions or congressman robert at her hold, or former governor bob riley martha let me jump in, you really think that Jeff Sessions is going to come back and run for the senate seat . No. Ive known him since college days. What he said today that he reveres the office of Attorney General, he does. He was the Attorney General of alabama, he thoroughly enjoyed the job and did a terrific job. This is the honor of a lifetime for him to be the Attorney General of the united states, i cant see him going back. Martha when he talked about revering that job in that department, i thought theres no way that this is something that he will want to do to take it for the team. He wants to stay right where he is. Quick thought on steve bannon and the reflection on him if
there is one as a result of this roy moore story. This is the candidate that he blessed, but it is typical of the candidate that he has chosen. Think about the first candidate for the u. S. House of representatives, michael, former member of congress from staten island. He just got out of the federal penitentiary for tax fraud, not the first person steve bannon says martha he says it wasnt his fault he was wrongly accused exactly right. Sent to jail, but i would like to see him make that argument on the campaign trail. The first candidate for governor who Steve Bannon Picks is tom, the disgraced former republican congressman from colorado who last year was protested the cancellation of the Hotel Reservations for whites premises meeting. He doesnt have good luck in picking candidates. Martha thank you very much. Good to see you tonight, as
always. You bet, thank you. Martha Breaking News tonight on capitol hill, a new plan to add the Obamacare Repeal. At the individual mandate would be gone under the tax reform deal. Does it put that in jeopardy . We will break down the tracks from town hall with House Speaker paul ryan with Campaign Insiders Marc Theissen and robert shapiro, who have a lot to say on this, they will tell you what you should think about what you heard in there when we come back with more of the the story. No, thanks , santa, i got this. Looks a little tight. Perfect fit. Santa needs an f150. Thats ford, americas best selling brand. Hurry in today for 0 financing for 72 months across the full line of ford cars, trucks and suvs and just announced. Get 0 apr for 72 months plus 1000 cash back take advantage of these exclusive holiday offers during the ford year end sales event. This this this is my body of proof. Proof of less joint pain
and clearer skin. This is my body of proof that i can take on Psoriatic Arthritis with humira. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. Its proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. Humira is the 1 prescribed biologic for Psoriatic Arthritis. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Want more proof . Ask your rheumatologist about humira. Whats your body of proof . This tax bill for the average taxpayer in every income group gets a tax cut. With this plan, 90 of americans will be able to use the standard deduction. If you think that your taxes i will bring up couple props out, literally on a postcard. When you tax your business is that much, much higher tax rates, then your foreign competitors tax theirs, then you lose. We are losing jobs, losing companies, losing headquarters, or Foreign Companies are buying the u. S. Companies. We have to get tax rates down on our business is because we are losing global competition and especially Small Businesses. Thats where jobs come from. But doubling standard deduction that basically says 9 out of 10 taxpayers dont have to use itemized deductions, they can just take the standard deduction and they get lower taxes. But we are basically saying is get rid of the loopholes and giving the money in the first place. Let people keep more of their own tax dollars in the first place. It takes less money out of your pocket, your paycheck to begin with, and then you decide what you want to do with your money. Martha that was i am just a short time ago on our tax reform town hall here in virginia. If the house is expected to vote on their plan on thursday, but there is a hick up tonight in the Senate Version as a push to include an Obamacare Repeal of the individual mandate is put into the senate side bill. How is that going to be receive received . Marc theissen and Fox News Contributor joins us. Robert shapiro, welcome. Great to have both of you with us. Mark, i pressed speaker ryan on the issue that some peoples taxes will go up, and he basically swears up and down that that is absolutely not the case, that the numbers that we have looked at will not force anybodys taxes to go up. What do you say . First of all, he was very interesting link which, he did a great job tonight. I thought he did a fantastic job of laying out the principles
behind this tax reform, which arent that you should keep more of your money in the first place, rather than sending it to washington and letting them give you back if used do certain things the government wants. We need to get the economy moving, we had to stop punishing countries and pushing them overseas. Why are we taxing Small Businesses that are struggling higher than corporate taxes even . I think you did a great job of selling his plan. The problem he faced for all those people when you asked her audience how many of you think your taxes are going to go up and a lot of hands went up. At least the first time a lot of fans went up. Martha they got shy, they didnt want to ask the question. This is a big problem for republicans of people think their taxes will go up under this bill. When i worked for george w. Bush when he was pushing the bush tax cut in every american will get a tax cut. Pauline couldnt say that tonight. He said the average american in every Income Bracket will go down, but that means some of them will go up. No one in america should ever be
able to utter the words republicans raise my taxes. Martha robert shapiro, what you think about the bill as it looks now . The fact is this is a 5. 8 trillion in tax cuts and 4. 3 trillion in tax increases. When you are dealing with numbers like that you have a lot of winners and you have a lot of losers. And thats what the joint Tax Committee has said, thats what the Tax Policy Center has said. Thats with the institute for taxation and Economic Policy have said. They all agree that it looks like depending on the year between 20 and 25 of taxpayers will see a tax increase. Those at the very top will see very large tax cuts, and about 60 of the country will get modest tax cuts. Martha i dont see a big tax cut at the upper end of the bracket. The senate plan cuts it to 38. 5,
the houseplant leaves it at 39. 6. How do you see a big increase for the people at the upper end . There are several points here. One, most of the income at the very top is not labor income taxed at those rates, its Capital Income. In the taxation on Capital Income is going down. Second, we have the end of the inheritance tax, which affects the top two tenths of 1 of the country. About 280 billion. Martha im running out of time. Businesses that are worth more than 10 million. Martha i have to leave it there, 20 seconds. Quick response on that i have to go. I think they will pass this because the reality is if they dont pass it they are finished. Staring down at the political of this tends to focus the energies
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