steven miller detailing thousands of recent immigrants from afghanistan. quote, haiti had sent 15,000 people. they all all aids. he grumbled according to one person who attended the meeting and another person who was briefed about it by i different person who was there. 40,000 have come from niej and once they had seep the united states they would never, quote, go back to their huts in africa. we called the two officials who asked for anonymitiy. sarah huckabee-sanders denied the meeting and denied the used the word "hut" or "aids" and other said they didn't recall him using those words. general kelly, general mcmaster, secretary tillerson and secretary kneel sep and those in the meeting deny these outrageous claims. it is both sad and telling "the new york times" would print the lies of their anonymous sources any way. let's go to garrett haake in west palm beach florida covering the president on this day for you. the president at mar-a-largo estate. and garrett, the white house as we were just mentioning, denying the report. what do you know about the story and back and forth. >> reporter: well, obviously there is no good time for the president to be quoted disparaging nations full of people but this comes at as particularly inoff or tune time-inor or tune time in passing the tax bill and that pushes that down the ledger and in part because the president's travel ban continues to wind through the court system and any comments by the president that could be perceived as broadly anti-immigrant could become fodder for anyone -- any one of the lel cases that the president and his team faced. you mention the white house pushing back against the specifics in this report and the language used by the president but when you consider the broader context this would not be unusual language for this president who started his campaign for the office describing mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists, richard. >> garrett haake in west palm beach. thank you for the latest on that very story. joining us now is peter baker from the new york times and peter, the white house, as you know, pushing back on this report saying these things were not said. and saying there is questions about sourcing. what would you say about what you've heard so far? >> well, we've been confident in our sources obviously. this is -- my partners mike sheer and dual july davis spent time on this story and talked to a lot of people and in the end we feel confident that what our sources were telling us were true. >> now regarding the very language that wasued according -- used according to the report, it raised a lot of eyebrows. i hate to bring up the debate happening at the moment because of the travel ban, because of the ninth district court saying no, this is not good. but we will obstain. we will wait until the supreme court makes its decision. and then we have daca on q 1. what might be the implications of this reporting. >> i think the implications are it reinforces the way this president approaches immigration. we thinks we've had too much period. even legal immigration, he thinks that the country been hurt by immigration in the last few years and he's got a very raw understanding and evaluation of the people who have come into this country, whether they be permanent residents or in the case of the numbers he was reading from this particular list, short time, one time visa travelers. these were not people moving to the country, simply people who were visiting. but he thought that it meant that it would show people that he want keeping up his campaign promise to begin closing the borders to a lot of people who want to come in. >> and peter, this has to do certainly -- if this reporting does come to pass here and nbc has not independently verified this, is the ability for the chief of staff here, general kelly, certainly probably looking at reporting like this going, oh, this is exactly what i've been working against since day one, since i've taken this job as chief white house correspondent. what do you know about how this affects on the act to control message? >> well general kelly said any number of times it is not his job to control the president trump. it is his job to give him the best information he could to make the best decisions possible. but you certainly understand that in the circumstance like this, he understands the damaging nature of the comments, whether they be made public. in fact he was -- he cleared the room after his comments were made of other staffers that the conversation could continue with just a handful of really top senior advisers and even then people who had left the room could hear through the doors of the oval office the president very irate and very upset, very even belligerent to the top people about why people kept coming in the country despite his orders to restrict travel. >> peter baker, thank you for taking time to get on the horn and talk to us today. let's great straight to molly hoop of politics reporter for the daily beast and betsy woodruff and editor for the atlanta and national jurn, steve clemens and campaign manager to martin o'malley, liz seth meyers and ben gelis and maryland gubernatorial candidate. and betsy, the white house saying no, this reporting not good but we heard from just a second ago peter baker saying they worked on this story for some amount of time here. but will this push back actually work based on the narrative they are trying to craft here and that is that are equating certain countries with terrorism. >> this story is a significant problem for the white house and the damage it could do to the president's reputation would be amplified if other outlets are able to confirm the reporting. my understanding is other major outlets have not yet confirmed what the new york times has found. that doesn't mean of course that the new york times story is incorrect. that said, look, these are st-- extraordinary narrative, happening about six months and again, if confirmed, just highlighting the extent to which the president's under view of immigrants is radically different from the way of bulk of americans view them. particularly the president's comments about nigerians are telling because they are so out of step with the type of nigerian immigrants who come to the u.s. the counsel on foreign relations that nigeria has a brain drain problem because the doctors are immigrating to the united states and to the u.k. ni nigeria is sending the most talented citizens here to the u.s. so the fact the president would say they are living in huts -- besides being factually inaccurate, devoid of the experience. >> when i was there in west africa, that he had a lot of very talented doctors, medical te technicians coming to the united states and that is a story resonated over the years. let's go to you on this, ben, you heard the words said, your reaction? >> look, this is totally consist -- consistent with what the president has done. he called people rapists and murderers because they were born in mexico and attacks president obama's citizenship because his father was born in kenya and so why shouldn't we think he said these things. and what is troubling about it is that it stands in contradiction to who we are as a country and frankly what has made us one of the richest and most powerful countries on earth, which is us having an open door to the best and brightest of the world to come here and to help build our nation. that is why we have to make sure that our states do whatever they can to resist this president and to ensure that the spirit of the statue of liberty is upheld. we -- we've got to keep an open door to the world. we've got to keep on being who we are. and quite frankly, this president threatens all of that. >> liz, how does this translate? you heard the discussion. how does this translate to the very debate on the hill about daca and a lot of pressure on democrats right now, to get something done as a -- as they look past the c.r., what does this mean in terms of schematics there. >> there is a lot of pressure and there are a lot of people in the democratic base and in the democratic donor community who are very disappointed that democrats were sort of unable to get a deal on this. but there is a lot of pressure also from the right, especially on the business community, to get a deal on this. because if you see study after study, showing there is a huge economic benefit to having keeping d.r.e.a.m.ers in the country. so these comments are very unhelpful for donald trump, they are very unhelpful for the republican party. which is struggling with young voters and suburban voter because they've taken on this nativist front and it is important to push back on this and maybe something like this could light a fire under republicans and convince them they need to be a voice of reason and take some action and protect d.r.e.a.m.ers in the upcoming month. >> they've already been challenged as you know when it comes to foreign affairs, steve, you look at these words and take a step back again into the sphere of foreign affairs and scratch your head at what that might mean. >> i think it is shocking nativity -- bigotry. but what really intrigues me about this, is i talked to john kelly at the end of april about donald trump's efforts on the -- the 90 day and 120-day ban depending on the kind of either immigrant or refugee status that you were at because we were already at that point where despite what the courts had done, the provisions of saying well we were going to look at the vetting procedures and strengthen those vetting procedures, enough time had gone by since the administration had been in and fred hyde was there asking about these questions and he intimated that his job as then secretary of homeland security was to create the structures that let good people into the country and kept bad people out. and he intimated that the vetting procedures during his tenure have h improved and he didn't say it clearly, but intimated that there wasn't a need for this kind of measure. and i found it a very striking moment. because what you see and what we've seen in the new york times reporting is that it was never, ever, about vetting. it was just about keeping everyone out. that is -- nasty words are one side of this. but the deeper part of the story is, people were coming in for business, for education, for short-term stays under normal visa processes and steven miller fed him these numbers and donald trump is opposed to all entry from these countries an that is radical and incredibly dangerous for this country. >> and molly, as you cover the hill, and you look at this story evolve, one of the questions might be as a ninth district court as it moves forward on friday saying that the -- again the travel ban basically not level -- not legal. not consistent with the law of the land. might they bring in these very words and say it is not only that the args -- argument this is not a vetting process but instead a reflection of a bias, a prejudice coming from the white house. >> i think that what you are going to see has to do more with daca. and when it comes to taking action, congress and capitol hill, it is going to be whether the republicans can take what they've read and if they believe this article, the reporters are very good reporters, you know, whether or not they are going to take that and be able to do something substantial with the dreamer, the so-called d.r.e.a.m.ers in this country, because when the funding -- the temporary funding runs out on january 19th, that is kind of the big day. initially it was last week. but right now the congress is able to move to january 19th. and so there is a group on capitol hill from what i've understand, my sources are telling me, serious republicans and serious democrats who are working on a daca deal. very close to getting it that would deal with border security that would deal with what to do with these -- the kids in the country now. the kid who are -- kids my age with kids of their own, what they will do with parents, whether they could get work pirmitipir pirmity -- permits and this article and if it is true and how republicans react to that, whether it really pushes them to work with democrats and get this taken care of before the election, because keep in mind, you have an -- we have an election coming up in november and republicans are really worried that many t might be a -- it might be a wave election and if democrats take over congress, the president may think and say one thing, but he's going to have to deal with an entirely different body of people in congress. >> that is one of the them attics over the weekend. be careful about what might happen in 2018 of the reporting coming out this weekend that you are alluding to there, molly. and on this, liz, adding that to the pile here, that log on to the fire, is this another reason where you might say the democrats are look pretty good if 2018 or with the story like this to add to it? >> yes. and make no mistake, this is bad timing for them. recent polling shows democrats leading 13 to 18 points on a generic ballot, which outstrips the lead do -- going into the 2016 election. and this is not just about winning back the house or potentially winning the senate, it is about winning governor's races and state races and those are the people drawing congressional directs for the years to come and determining the makeup of congress for the next ten years sox those races are important to keep in mind as well. >> certainly a hope for democrats. no data as of yet in terms of -- showing that will happen but we special -- something that is being discussed. thank you all. we are just getting started this afternoon. when we return, inside the growing battle on capitol hill. to discredit the russia investigations and that man there. then later, we'll talk about some more of the business being put off to the new year. billions of aid for states like florida are hanging in the balance. you are watching msnbc live. we'll be back. like stop worrying about your boss fast, like wow, you're already asleep fast. when life keeps you up... zzzquil helps you fall asleep in as little as 20 minutes. next year the fbi's leadership will look a lot different it appears and new headline of a new report from the washington post reads facing republican attacks, the fbi deputy director plans to retire early next year. now that is according to people familiar with the matter. justice department official telling nbc news there has not been any formal notification of mccabe's intent to retire. but the official confirms his eligible to retire with benefits in march. mccabe was on capitol hill this week for hours meeting with house lawmakers and a target of republica republicans and the president as james comey right hand man. in the last hour after the news broke, the president went to twitter saying, how can fbi deputy director andrew mccabe, the man in charge along with leaking james comey of the phony hillary clinton investigation including her 33,000 illegally delet delet deleted e-mails be givenp $00,000 for wife's campaign for clinton puppets during the investigation. and fbi deputy director andrew mccabe is racing the clock to retire with full benefits. and a top lawyer direct christopher wray moved jim baker, a man described as one of the most trusted longest serving national security officials in the government, and now raised predecessor jim comey tweeting, sadly we are now at a point in our political life when anyone can be attacked for partisan game. james baker who is stepping down as fbi general counsel served our country well for 25 years and deserves better. he is what we should all want our public servants to be. still with us from washington, security and justice reporter julie ainsley and betsy woodruff and steve clemens. julia, to you first and let's -- let's get more information on the bureau's climate, the reporting happening today and then the responses that we've heard so far. >> in general, what i've heard from people inside of the fbi is that the moral within the building is pretty good. he is a new director and allowed to shake things up a little bit. jim brake e baker was put -- baker was put in that space by comey to be the general counsel and it looks like he'll continue to stay there just in a different capacity. reassignments happen all of the time and when people come into a leadership position, they are allowed to shuffle who their senior adviseser are around them and the same for mccabe. it was known that andrew mccabe was waiting until hes eligible to retire and there is a lot of money for his amount of experience in the private sector. where the moral is low is when the president is attacking the fbi and undermining its credibility. those have been very low blows, a lot of people have said recently, and that has really gotten under the skin of a lot of people inside of the fbi. but as far as wray goes, the report has been pretty good so far. >> if this does happen, if this does happen, what does this mean for the culture and the face of the fbi? what we're hearing so far. >> if baker is reassigned or mccabe retires, i think mccabe's retirement, both of them at the same time leaving does present a bit of a vacuum. and it would definitely make people think, well, is he stepping -- is mccabe leaving because it is hard to work in this political environment. i'm sure those questions would be asked. but again, shake-ups do happen and there are still people at the leadership level who were there in the past and a lot of career law enforcement people will remain and a lot of times it is a revolving door. some of the people are leaving to go join colleagues who left to go to private sector as well. so i think again the main thing that they want is a support from their president. and that -- to have baker leave -- would certainly be a shock in a lot of people might not enjoy that. but again it is not unusual. >> and steve, what a space we're in. we're talking about the fbi, a new director who probably does not want to be politicized, yet now here we are on a saturday before christmas and we are talking certainly in a way based on the comments made so far by the president to date and again his criticism of mccabe are not new, he's been doing it for four or five or six months tweeting least about mccabe. how can the fbi function some might ask based on all of this being politicized. >> it is tough. you nailed it on the head. my colleagues said maybe these are normal changes. we have new leadership in the fbi and perhaps there is more hyper ventilation about this than there ought to be but the president of the united states is harassing top leadership, public servants who -- with objective distance and objectivity for a long time in these positions and the president of the united states is harassing them. so it created a real cost for christopher wray and others wanting to go through normal transitions or bring people in or change the blood. but i think that what is really the deafening silence of jeff sessions here is outrageous. it is jeff sessions job in part to protect and defend the integrity of the fbi and he's just nowhere to be heard. jeff sessions is not in any of this reporting right now. and i find it one of the most peculiar pieces of the story that are our attorney general is not defending his high quality team. >> and then there is this -- a group of house republicans has gathered secretly for weeks in an effort to build a case that senior leaders of the justice department and fbi and improperly miss handled the comments of a dossier that described ties between trump and russia. the goal is to highlight what some committee republicans see as corruption and conspiracy in the upper ranks of federal law enforcement. and also this from senator sheldon whitehouse tweeting, imagine if somebody in the gop anti-mueller campaign were actually cooperating with mueller and gathering evidence of in tent to obstruct justice, just saying. i'd love to see those e-mails. >> betsy? what do you think. >> it is obvious that there is a lot of effort from republicans in the white house and capitol hill to damage the reputation of the fbi and we're seeing this amp up over the last 48 hours. that said, one vital piece of information that we have to highlight here is that the fbi is still functioning. and filling its vital national security role. in fact, on friday the justice department announced and included a quote from sessions in this announcement which is unusual. he doesn't usually give quotes, they announced that the fbi -- the fbi foiled an attempted christmas day terror attack. that was being put together by a map who was sympathetic with isis. it is extraordinary that the president has tweeted multiple times today complaining about andrew mccabe, complaining about the top leadership of the fbi, but he has yet to say anything about the fact that these career law enforcement officials who often do their jobs at great personal risk, accord together attorney general himself, actually stopped what could have been a blood beyond a violent christmas day attack. the fbi isn't just an organization based in d.c. that has to deal with politics and capitol hill and politicians. the fbi has field offices all around the country and agents work hard every single day primarily increasingly focused on national security matters, rather than sort of their typical crime law enforcement work, they are historically known for. it is a tough mission and complicated and my understanding just from speaking to folks who are in this space, is that regardless of what the president said, regardless of the efforts that republicans undertake to try to damage the fbi and its reputation, these people in the professionals and law enforcement and it is a huge group of people, are doing what they can every day to try to stop terror attacks on the homeland. as we've learned, on friday, according to the attorney gem, they are doing that job with a pretty good amount of affectiveness and we can't gloss over that. >> betsy woodruff, steve clemens thank you both so much. julia, stay with us for another minute. and just ahead, inside the foiled plot to allegedly launch a terror attack in san francisco, that betsy just mentioned. thank you, betsy. we'll be back in a moment. ♪ ♪ the 2018 cadillac xt5. beauty, greater than the sum of its parts. come in for our season's best offers and drive out with the perfect 2018 cadillac xt5. get a low-mileage lease on this cadillac xt5 for around $349 per month. thanks for staying with us. we're learning more about a holiday terror plot in san francisco. a let letter written by the suspect shows his motive before backing out. pete williams has more. >> reporter: the fbi said a former marine from modesto talked about carrying out a christmas day attack on the san francisco popular pier 39. investigators say 26-year-old everitt aaron jameson, a tow truck driver began communitying with fbi on operatives months ago and investigators told them he was willing to stage a gun and bomb attack on christmas day and asked the fbi operatives who he thought were connected with isis for a semi automatic rifle and bomb components. on monday he suddenly told them, i don't think i could do this after all. i've reconsidered. after an fbi employee in washington mistakenly dialed his cell phone and then hung up. agents say a search of his house turned up a martyrdom letter dated december 16th calling the u.s. nationalistic and godless and complaining about president trump's decision to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital. family members say jameson converted to islam and bam radical after child protective services took away his children. >> he lost his kids and may have lost faith in jesus or maybe switched over. >> he appeared briefly on friday in federal court to face the terror allegations. his lawyer said he'll soon enter a plea to the charges. >> he'll plead not guilty to those on january 5 when we learn what they actually are. >> reporter: san francisco police say even before this arrest, they had planned to step up security for the holidays. pete williams, nbc news, washington. let's go back to justice reporter julia ainsley. and what might we expect here from the plea? >> well so it looks like they are going to plead not guilty and one way that will see public defenders and civil liberties advocates get around this is by saying that the suspect may have been set up in some way. we know he started communicating with undercover fbi agents. that is common in counter-terrorism cases and people have said in the past that they are -- that some of that communication may actually kind of be leading. in other words, they may be leading the suspect into an act that they other wise wouldn't commit and then here we have a suspect who seemed to have gotten cold feet at the end and reconsidering. that came after the fbi blunder where they mistakenly called his cell phone. but i think that that will be what they'll lay out, but again and this kind of climate, it is difficult to see -- have a judge be sympathetic on someone who carry out an attack like this on christmas day. >> julia, thank you so much. julia ainsley there in washington, d.c. thank you. coming up, puerto rico and crisis nearly four months later. it is estimated that the island will not have full power until february now. we'll ask a florida congressman what he is doing to help. ♪ when heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites. (news anchor) downtown traffic is still bad. expect massive delays. (news anchor 2) all lanes on highway 50 remain closed at this hour. (news anchor 3) the stats are in and this city leads with some of the worst traffic, with the average driver sitting in gridlock the equivalent of three days a year. for every hour that you're idling in your car, you're sending about half a gallon of gasoline up in the air. that amounts, over the course of the week, to about 10 pounds of carbon dioxide. growth is good, but when it starts impacting our quality of air and quality of life, that's a problem. so forward-thinking cities like sacramento are investing in streets that are smarter and greener. the solution was right under our feet. asphalt. or to be more precise, intelligent asphalt. by embedding sensors into the pavement, as well as installing cameras on traffic lights, we will be able to study and analyze the flow of traffic. then, we will take all of that data and we use it to optimize the timing of lights, so that traffic flows easier and travel times are shorter. and sacramento is just the beginning. with advances in cameras, sensors, and network speeds, we have the ability to make cities smarter, and happier. what excites me about this technology is that we're using some of the most cutting-edge machine-learning, and ai, to help solve the most fundamental challenges that cities face around the world. who knew asphalt could help save the environment? (lani) and the possibilities are endless. welcome back. this week congress passed a temporary spending bill but lawmakers left for the holidays without addressing a proposed $81 billion disaster aid package for california, the gulf coast and puerto rico. it has been almost four months since hurricane irma followed by hurricane maria rocked puerto rico. and puerto rican authorities estimate it could take until february to restore power on the island. on wednesday a group of nine lawmakers signed a bipartisan letter to fema asking the agency to expand a federal housing program in florida. and to date florida has received 250,000 puerto rico evacuees, helping more than 1300 displaced family. that same program will end in three weeks but some lawmakers are hoping to extend that deadline for at least six months. let's bring in one of the lawmakers, congressman darren soto of florida. representative, thanks for being with us. if this does not get extended, this deadline, what happens to all of these evacuees, many of which you have probably seen in your district. >> well so many central floridians have opened their homes to family members and we're pushing to get the program so folks can live in regular apartments and houses rather than in hotel. the governor thank god pushed for an extension of the hotel vouchers past the january 13th deadline. but we can do better. and we need the state legislature to make sure that valuable housing trust funds go through as well as our bill to expand section 8 houses that i'm working on with senator nelson and congress woman murphy. >> representative, folks are saying i'm not going to have full power until february. >> it is outrageous. but the thing that the american people understand, it is still bad in puerto rico. we saw the whitefish issue where money was thrown around and they weren't able to handle everything right away. finally the mutual assance was agreed to. but there is only 65% of power up in puerto rico. so we need to continue the focus this disaster relief package and hopefully pass the senate in the new year and we'll be pressing to make sure fema and our utility companies down there get to business and get this power back on. >> i want to move to another topic that is haiti, the trump administration ending the temporary protected status, tps of haitians living and working in the united states since the 2010 earthquake. florida has the most haitians with temporary protective status of any state over 32,000. what is your plans, sir? do you plan on challenging this decision? >> without question. this is terrible for florida. haitians have been in florida for quite sometime now working in our tourism industry and agriculture, they are part of our community. we are hoping for a pamg -- pathway to citizenship and oppose it and bring it to court if we have to. but if we are talking about keeping or economy going strong in florida, this is -- this is absolutely disastrous move and it is another divisive move by the trump administration to attack minority groups. >> staying on immigration here, the issue of d.r.e.a.m.ers, and the issue of daca, many democrats being criticized because they let the cir, continuing resolution pass until the 19th of next month without having something in there for the d.r.e.a.m.ers. why did this not make it into the cr. >> we stormed senator schumer's office with other congressional hispanic members and wanted as many senators to vote no as possible. it went from 14 to 32 in the last cr. but we were promised to lay it all down on the line january 19th when budget caps are discussed because the republicans desperately want military increases and our d.r.e.a.m.ers are number one. they are number one priority and inspiring america and we need to stand by these kids for our hispanic community and for millennials and they need to be the top priority going into january. >> you may have read the report in "the new york times" today, and nbc news has not independently corroborated this, verified this, and that are comments made about those remarks about haitians, for instance, that are disparaging along the lines of what has been said before by the president, pocahontas, and he was talking about all of them having aids, and acould -- according to the report, to express other disparaging remarks. how does this affect the debate on daca happening again in the new year, as well as what is happening with the travel ban, as you know on friday, having another setback there in the ninth district. >> well it is not only disgraceful but goes to intent. it goes to where president trump's mind is with regard to all of these different communities. he has shown discrimination over and over again and the courts can use this going forward. and it is only going to make us dig in more to help these kids out and to fight this tps ruling and save the haitian community here in florida, such an important part of our community. >> what is his intent, do you believe. >> i believe his intent to discriminatory. i believe he has a view that is out of step with most americans and is based on fiction and discrimination and that the courts are going to see through this. he needs a rational basis at the very least to have the travel ban, he needs a racial basis to make sure haiti is ready to accept the folks again and he is showing it is more discriminatory thoughts coming out of the president rather than trying to run the country in a way based upon facts and it is certainly -- i would you say a new low but i've taken that out of my vac ab larry when it comes to the president. is this another wind in your sail toward 2018 as there is concern there in the white house that it will be potentially a democratic wave in 2018. >> well, we're certainly emulating the passion of our base. there is so many different groups that come together and whether it is the haitian-american, the puerto rico community or hispanics in florida, we are energized and young people are energized but we need to make sure we are fighting until the end on all of these issues and not give up because that is what the american people -- that is what democrats and independents and even moderate republicans looking to vote democrat in 2018 are going to expect from us. >> congressman darren soto of florida. thank you, sir. >> thanks for having me. coming up in our next hour, president trump is touting it as a major success. but will the tax bill help or hurt republicans in 2018? and a federal investigation into the financial dealings of jared kushner's company. what are prosecutors looking for and what are they hoping to learn. and this useful information. from the associated press style book, because you are curious about this. santa, it is just fine on second reference to santa claus. tweet about that. we'll be back right after this. we got a yes! what does that mean for purchasing? purchase. let's do this. got it. book the flights! hai! si! si! ya! ya! ya! what does that mean for us? we can get stuff. what's it mean for shipping? ship the goods. you're a go! you got the green light. that means go! oh, yeah. start saying yes to your company's best ideas. we're gonna hit our launch date! (scream) thank you! goodbye! let us help with money and know-how, so you can get business done. american express open. just serve classy snacks and bew a gracious host,iday party. so you can get business done. no matter who shows up. do you like nuts? senator al franken will officially resign from congress on january 2nd amid allegations that he groped and kissed women without their consent. franken delivered a series of speeches last week about issues during his time in the senate like education and health care in his farewell address on thursday he took a parting shot at trump administration over its relationship with the truth. >> you know, before i came to the senate, i was known as something of an obsessive on the subject of honesty and public discourse. but as i leave the senate, i feel -- i have to admit that it feels like we're losing the war for truth. and maybe it's already lost. and if that's the case, if that's what happens, then we've lost the ability to have the kinds of argument that help build consensus. so what is to be done? who will stand up and fight for more honest debate, to insist that even though we have a different set of opinions, we cannot honorably advance our competing agendas, unless we use the same set of facts. i hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will stand up for truth. >> still with us on capitol hill, molly hooper. thanks for sticking around. you know, this issue continues to evolve. give us a sense of where we're at in this debate. you heard franken talk about truth, but then there's the issue of sexual misconduct. it's an issue of a crime or not being a crime. and then third you also have this issue of sexual misconduct being politicized or not politicized. >> these are quite unusual times. it feels like we've been living in unusual times for the past two years, right? i wonder what santa claus thinks about that. but maybe santa would have a gift for e-- i just wanted to gt that second reference in there, santa. but maybe he'll be able to share his gifts of truth with congress. but i'm not sure if that's going to happen. in this climate, it feels like truth is relative. what may be one person's truth is not necessarily another's. and that goes for the sexual misconduct. it goes for, what is harassment, at least on the house side, and i believe the senate side is following suit in coming up with a uniform set of policies to establish what is sexual harassment and what is not. so until all the people up on capitol hill get on the same page when it comes to that, sometimes it's hard to differentiate between what is and isn't, you know, harassment and whether it's true or not. >> if we move to the politics side of it, the politization of this very topic, if i can say it, do democrats feel like maybe we went too far because of franken leaving, but we have others like farenthold who are not resigning? >> and that's a good question, because at the same time that franken decided to resign, i mean, some of his colleagues, including west virginia senator joe manchin said, i don't know if he should be resigning, he should let the ethics process play out. while that may be the case, i think it depends on which side of the aisle you're on and basically how safe a person's district is. it's a very personal choice to step down or not. i think democrats were bringing a lot of pressure, especially democratic women, calling for their fellow senator to resign, and i think at that time, franken had to do it. when it comes to the republicans and even a democrat, congressman kuhn who is also under an ethics investigation for sexual misconduct, that i decided they're not going to run for re-election, but they're still undergoing an ethics process. so when the ethics committee on the house side wraps up their investigation, it will be -- we'll see what they recommend, weather to censure, whether to kick the member out of office, we'll see. but these things are happening and i have a feeling that we're going to see more of them in the upcoming year. >> it seems so obvious at least on one side of the argument, this is about victims and survivors. this is about moral leadership. on the flip side, there's also, what about 2018, will laws be passed in advance thereof? will voters hold those who are running for office in these spaces accountable? >> and that's the question. we talk to lawmakers on capitol hill about sexual harassment and what to do if somebody's hit with a claim or what not, really the people they're accountable to are their voters and the people in the district. if it's a big enough issue, they'll get voted out of office. i think, especially in al franken's case and john conyers' case in the house, they saw the writing on the wall and said, no, i don't know if i would survive that, and for the best of the party, i better step down. >> it will be a test of the alabamian gender wave throughout the rest of the country. because that was certainly a part of the thematic that we could talk so much about this. thank you, molly hooper. >> happy holidays. >> you too, my friend. coming up, white house reaction to the "new york times" peace saying president trump used incendiary language to describe immigrants to this country. we'll be back in just a moment. that is awesome. strong. you got the basic, and you got the beefy. i just think it looks mean. incredible. no way. i'm getting goosebumps. this holiday season, become part of the chevy family. use your employee discount for everyone and trade up to this silverado all star to get a total value of over eleven thousand dollars. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. hello, everyone, i'm richard lui in new york city at msnbc headquarters. the white house and immigration, the shocking language the president reportedly used at a policy meeting this summer. plus, a win under their belt for 2018. republican lawmakers are back home with their voters, fresh off passing their tax plan. now some are calling for the president to stay home in the 2018 campaigns. so will he be an asset or a liability on the trail next year? and new scrutiny. there's a new report that prosecutors want some of jared kushner's company's financials, but it looks like it has nothing to do with the russia investigation. we'll start for you this hour with a lengthy "new york times" article that the white house is strongly denying. it all dates back to a june meeting where the president reportedly was annoyed about the continuing influx of people from foreign countries in the face of his pledge to stem migration. "the new york times" sources six officials who attended or were briefed about the meeting. the president reportedly began reading from a document given to him by steven miller, detailing thousands of recent immigrants from afghanistan. quote, haiti had sent 15,000 people. they all have aids, he grumbled, according to one person who attended the meeting and another person who was briefed about it by a different person who was there. 40,000 had come from nigeria. once they had seen the united states, they would never go back to their huts in africa, recalled the two officials who asked for anonymity to dus a sensitive conversation. sarah sanders denied the president used those words, hut or aids. in a statement, sanders tells nbc, general kelly, general mcmaster, secretary nielsen and all other senior staff actually in the meeting deny these outrageous claims. it's both sad and telling "the new york times" would print the lies of their anonymous sourc