comstock, somewhat endangered republican congresswoman from virginia saying roy moore has no place in the senate. earlier this afternoon, mitt romney, the last republican presidential standard bearer before donald trump put out very strong statement on twitter saying by name he believes the accuser and roy moore has no place in the u.s. senate. there's no, if then, qualification, purely a strong statement from mitt romney. i'm watching for. roy moore had five claimed endorsement in the united states senate. rand paul, john cornyn, mike lee, steve daines, among them, none of them have yet withdrawn their endorsement. four of the five said, if then, statements of condemnation if these thingsing are true he does not belong in the senate. we haven't heard anything from rand paul, rue cooperating from a bizarre incident, he ended up with several broken ribs. still, republicans not entirely willing to push roy moore off the bus, la they're creating a lot of distance. seems a lot of folks are waiting, ali, for the next shoe to drop. >> garrett, stand by. bring in gabe gutierrez in gadsden, alabama, garnering reaction to this there. some of the anecdotal reaction we've seen as you get closer to roy moore's home state. a little more defensive of roy moore than it is, than some of the people in washington have been prepared to be. grabe? >> reporter: that's right, ali. people we've spoken with here in gadsden, a lot of people think, political attacks and don't believe the allegations as described in the "washington post." spoke of one business owner you're about to hear from who says he's echoing what some republicans on capitol hill have been saying that if the allegations are true, he should step aside, but also urging people to keep with the principle of innocent until proven guilty. take a listen. >> this country has always been based on innocent until proven guilty, and i'm not prepared to change that today. you know? so the answer's absolutely i'll vote for him, because what i know is if those allegations are proven to be true, he will be removed. >> reporter: so that's something we've been hearing over and over again. the special election just a few weeks away, but people here in his hometown of gadsden, the courthouse i'm standing in front of, the same courthouse almost 40 years the main accuser told the "washington post" where she first met roy moore. folks we've spoken with say this is something the national media is out to get him. they question the timing of all this and gop officials here raises eyebrows with some of the things they've been saying. supporting roy moore, despite these serious allegations. despite the claims made by these accusers and particularly that 14-year-old at the time that claims she was touched inappropriately by roy moore. but, again, we expect to hear from him in just a short time on that radio show, where he's expected to be interviewed in just a bit and also scheduled, ali, to be at a veterans day event tomorrow. that is scheduled to go on as planned. so far no word from the campaign whether roy moore will actually be there. >> we will monitorial radio appearance with sean hannity and this statement from roy moore's brother. fascinating. listen to this. kind of like when jesus christ was hung on the cross. kings said turn him loose. nothing against him. kilt other guy, ba brab rabbous. not saying roy is like christ, just that they don't want to believe god is in control of this. this is relevant, not because a little nonsensical, but when faced with tough questions, roy moore, for much of his career, more recently with you, invokes christ, the church or the bible? >> reporter: absolutely. roy moore based his career on a paragon of christian values. the first time kicked off theal alabama supreme court for refusing to remove the ten commandments, second time, refusing the supreme court decision allowing same-sex across the country. here on capitol hill a few weeks ago i tried to grill him in the hallway about some of his more infilmer to statements about muslims and gay people and he wouldn't answer any question i asked him. at the very end of this sort of one-sided interview, he stopped as he was getting into an elevator and said, you guys just don't get it. all these rights come from god, not from the constitution, and reporters don't get this. this is someone who has cloaked himself in religionosity through his entire career. >> interesting. because it's a fundamental misunderstanding of the constitution of this country. gabe gutierrez, thanks very much. garrett haake, we'll talk later on the other big story on capitol hill. taxes. and more questions about the moore allegations. joined by the alabama secretary of state john mariel. thanks for joining me. >> thanks for having me as your guest. >> what's your take on this and what roy moore needs to do about this? >> this is very disconcerting, a number of things discussed across the state of alabama and, of course, this issue is a very, very serious issue. the charges are very serious and need to be properly vetted and they need to be given the appropriate attention, because of the serious nature of the allegations. >> let me ask you about how to deal with it, at this point. what you just said sounds very reasonable and there's a lot of that going around, but something else is going around. gabe gutierrez referred to it in alabama, with people saying, it doesn't matter. it was a long time ago. there's grace, there's forgiveness and by the way voting for roy moore sure is better than voting for a democrat. that's kind of out of sync with societal norms. would you not agree? >> i haven't heard anybody say that it doesn't matter. i have heard a number of people say that they are surprised, and i'm surprised, that this information is just being introduced at this particular time. especially in this campaign season, because judge moore has been an elected official for more than three decades. he has run in dozens of campaigns, primaries, runoffs and general elections. not one time in any of those campaigns has any information similar to this let alone of this serious context been introduced against him or has anyone challenged him about this type issue. so the -- the timing of this is very interesting, and very odd. >> although, you know, harvey weinstein's people said the same thing. right? nobody ever complained to the company. there were not complaints of that -- seems to be common. the first instinct when there's an accusation of sexual harassment or sexual assault, why didn't anybody bring it up earlier? i think we have a good understanding now over the last few weeks why women don't bring it up -- >> yes, sir. one of the things you introduced about that particular situation with him was that once that came out, there seemed to be a pattern over the years and a number of other things that had occurred with other people, time after time after time, and people continued to come out and people continued to share their concerns about what had actually happened with that individual. of course, with judge moore, the instances that have been introduced are new revelations and that's why i think it's so important to give him the proper and appropriate attention that they deserve to make sure that people's questions are answered. because this is not just a very serious allegation from these four individuals that have introduced this information. >> right. >> but this -- race for the united states senate is very, very important. we have two quality candidates that are offering themselves for consideration by the people of the state of alabama, and they need as much information as possible to make a informed decision. >> well, the governor, birmingham news reporter greg garrison, i just asked governor kay ivy if she found the word of the four women accusing roy moore trustworthy, why wouldn't it be, she says. i have to ask you. as a state-wide ewlected person in alabama, do you believe the allegations? >> well, i don't know these women. i don't have any -- information about who these women are, other than what's been introduced in the "washington post" article. i don't know anyone that i'm aware of that knows them personally. and so it would be inappropriate for me to comment on whether or not the allegations are well-founded or well based on accurate or truthful. one of the things that i do know is that these charges are very serious. they need to be given the attention necessary in order to make sure they're proper lly vetted and if proven to be true, at that point most appropriate for judge moore to take what i would consider appropriate action and to withdraw from the race, or for the state party to take action, but i don't think that he should be forced to be removed because of allegations that have been made that have not been proven to be true. >> you said you hadn't heard anybody say it doesn't really matter. the alabama state auditor made a comment earlier today. jim ziegler, comparing the allegations against roy moore to the biblical story of jesus, mary and joseph. that's got to strike you as ludicrous. right? that somebody makes -- you know, putting aside the whole theological discussion of virgin birth. if we're at that point, now sticking up for roy moore comparing him to, to jesus, and we're -- joseph or mary -- >> yes, sir. i don't think judge moore would compare himself to the savior, and i certainly would not, or any other person that's ever walked this earth. there was only one jesus christ, and that's all for humanity. it's up to people to determine whether or not they accept him as their lord and savior. i am a little bit surprised that the auditor made the statement that he made the way that he made it, but in order for you to gain commentary for him why he thought it was appropriate to go that direction, you'd have to take that up with him. >> understood, sir. thank you for your time. appreciate you joining me. >> thank you for having me on your show as your guest. >> alabama secretary of state john merrill. and david french issued plea to fellow republicans in a piece from the national view titled "conservatives don't dismiss the sexual misconduct claims against roy moore." david french, senior writer for the national review joins me now. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me, appreciate it. >> what's the argument? what's this point you're making and why? >> well, it's really a simple argument. look, let's look at the "washington post" story, and let's note a few things about it. number one, if you read the story closely, you see these are not women who came forward. they were pursued by "the post." "the post" tracked them down, found them, pursued them and got them to speak on the record. multiple people to speak on the record, and then also, they got people to speak on the record who corroborated that they knew of the relationship at the time, in other words, there was contemporaneous discussion of this relationship all of those years ago. and then the last thing is, if you look at the reason why the principle victim here, the 14-year-old, didn't come forward, it's a very powerful statement that she made that actually rings true with the experience of abuse survivors. that is -- that her life, this abuse sent her life in a downward spiral, as roy moore was marching through alabama politics, and that downward spiral, she felt would undermine her credibility. that's one of the tragedies that happens in abuse situations, is the abuser suffers, their life shattered. the abused person suffers, their life shattered and the abuser kind of marches on. a lot of things, a lot of factors that make me believe -- i don't know for sure what happened here, but made me very deeply concerned and very alarmed. >> david french, what would you say to the allegation that you and mitch mcconnell and all of the senators who said that he should step aside are all part of a conservative establishment, who didn't like roy moore in the first place? >> wel >> well, i freely confess i didn't like roy moore. i absolutely admit that. i believe he's dangerous and unfit will only comply with laws and court rulings he agrees with. he's not a man that upholds the rule of law. i absolutely believe roy moore is unfit. that's a separate question, though, from evaluating the voracity of these allegations. that's what we face now. we don't have a god's eye view of this information. only the information that we have and right now it looks like more likely than not, if alabama voters vote to send him to the senate, they're going to send to the senate a man who more likely than not, i believe, committed sexual misconduct with underaged girls when he was a d.a. in a very powerful position. that's regardless of your feelings pro or con him before this, that -- that's unacceptable. >> david, thanks for your time and joining me today. david french, "national rue vee review" senior writer. and forging ahead with a plan to overhaul the nation's tax code. proposals unveiled by both chambers differ significantly. take you to my board with a sense of what some of the differences are. republicans had said they wanted to simplify the tax code and by that often refer to the number of tax brackets there. i have to be on the record as saying, you only pay one of these. this doesn't actually make anything simpler for regular people. a bit of a smoke and mirrors thing, but the house plan, this one, stuck pretty close to the goal of reducing the number of tax brackets. reduced from seven to four. current code, seven. these are the four. notice the top bracket is the same with the house as the current law. the senate on the other hand sticks to the current search but drops the top rate down from 39.6% to 38.5%. then there are deductions. i want to start with the state and local tax deduction. state and local tax. that's s.a.l.t. you hear them talking about the s.a.l.t. deduction. the current tax code allows you to deduct property taxes, state income taxes or state sales tax if you live in a tax that doesn't have income tax or where sales taxes are higher. the house bill limits the deduction to just property taxes and just $10,000 worth of property taxes. if you live in a high taxed state, $10,000 is not nearly what some middle class people pay in property taxes. the senate bill eliminates that entirely. part of the reason, no senators from the states that have these high taxes. now to the deduction very big for home buyers. now people can deduct $1 million of their mortgage. don't have to pay taxes on that. the house gop plan would cut that in half to $500,000. the senate plans to leave it alone. the way it is. stays this way, the house little could become even more expensive. finally, corporate tax rates. both chambers plan to reduce the current rate of 35% to 20%. the senate proposal eliminates a one-year, implements a one-year delay before the rate is lowered. same thing, stocks tumbled on the news, by the way, yesterday, that the senate's bill delayed the 20% corporate rate. i've talked a lot about the fact 35% is a bit of a misnomer, called the statutory rate, not the effective rate companies pay. in fact, companies pay 18.6% as an effective rate. some companies do pay 35%. the average, 18.6%. back to capitol hill. garrett haake is bark with me now. where do things stand with this bill? it probably has support it needs for the house version. where are we on the senate version? >> reporter: sure. the house bill passed out of committee last week and could get a vote on the floor of the house as early as next week. the senate bill is in its infancy right now. just rolled out on thursday. right before the roy moore news broke, and right before all of these senators left town for the weekend. they expect to start the markup, the process of amending it, on monday, and amend it they shall. a lot of work has to be done on the senate side to keep this thing under that $1.5 trillion price tag. that's a big reason for the differences between these two bills. the house is trying to keep their bill under budget, but because they're the house and they have a different set of rules, in e don't have to keep it under that $1.5 trillion, and the senate does. that leads to, i think, the biggest sticking point, corporate tax cut and when it goes into effect. the president has been very clear he wants it to happen right away. conservatives in the house want it to happen right away. republicans in the senate have to find or pay for some other way to make up the difference in the money if they want to start it in 2018 instead of 2019, the current plan and when they get it figured out have to make sure the lawmakers from high taxed states are onboard with the state and local tax deductions. >> what would allow you to support this piece of legislation? >> the only way it could even be considered would be if the -- full property tax deduction was restored, and if the state income tax is restored. other than that, this is going to be a tax increase on my constituents. >> reporter: ali, hard to do those things and make the math work. one possibility, republican leadership will take their lumps and lose these republican votes from the high tax states and hope they still have enough muscle to get it through without them. >> garrett, another busy week next week. lookinging forward to talking to you more. garrett haake doing double duty at capitol hill. up next, under scrutiny robert mueller looking into whether fired national security adviser michael flynn was part of a secret deal with turkey and a plot to forcibly remove a turkish cleric from the united states. those details, after a break. 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this is, if true, we don't know that it is, if true that would be quid pro quo. the turks give michael flynn, national security adviser, money to do their bidding from the white house. that's crazy. >> well, it would certainly be very serious, a very serious charge if this in fact turns out to be true, if the special counsel is able to prove that this indeed happened. what we know is that the investigators are looking at a specific meeting in december of 2016 just weeks before the inauguration where flynn met with these senior turkish officials and discussed a number of things. what investigators are looking into, did he discuss a possible plot to remove this cleric from the u.s. and return him to turkey, once in the white house? would he move to drop charges against an ally of turkish president erdogan jailed in the u.s.? and if so, if he was successful, then investigators are looking into, did flynn agree to then do those things and accept a payment for upwards of $15 million, directly or indirectly? and obviously, as you said that would be proven true, a very serious charge. >> good. leave that behind and move on to the fact that robert mueller apparently interviewed the white house senior policy adviser stephen miller. we don't see him a lot but when you see him it makes an impression. what do we think he knows? >> well, look, stephen miller is somebody who has been close to the president. he's been in the white house. he's deeply involved in policy making and policy decisions. he travels with the president. and so there are any number of things that anyone investigating the president, president trump's decision to fire james comey, for instance, why you would want to talk to someone like stephen miller, who's in the white house and around and involved in any number of meetings or decisions or discussions. >> and let's finally talk about, you know, joe biden's been in the news a little in the last week. you wrote, co-wrote a story on nbcnews.com, mike pence has been talking to former vice-presidents joe biden and dick cheney about once a month? >> interesting, but mike pence, despite donald trump, you know, not having a relationship with barack obama or george w. bush, mike pence cultivated his predecessors and talks to them regularly about things like foreign policy or domestic policy or what's the job like? how do you navigate being the number two and how does the interplay between the white house and congress work? and so he has these regular discussions with both of them, and vice president cheney even met with mike pence in his office in the white house. >> all right. carol, thanks very much for joining us. carol lee. >> thank you. >> nbc news. and transporting puerto rico providing power down from 43% to 18%. the failure on the same transmission line repaired by whitefish energy, although the company released a statement saying the issues were not related to its repairs. whitefish got national attention after the small -- let me rephrase that, tiny montana firm, got a $300 million contract to restore power in puerto rico after hurricane maria. the deal was later canceled, because whitefish had no particular experience doing this sort of thing. up next, a number of alabama republicans coming to the defense of roy moore over allegations of a sexual encounter way 14-year-old. i'll be joined by someone who's known him for years. do these accusations come as a surprise? 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>> why wouldn't it be? >> the question remains, however, what do residents, vote voters, i guess, of alabama think for more joined by an attorney and former professor at the alabama law school. her husband bob vance ran unsuccessfully against roy moore for chief justice of the alabama supreme court in 2012. joyce, we've talked on other matters. i didn't ever expect you and i would talk about this, but thank you for joining me on the topic. alabama voters have overlooked a lot of things roy moore has done. they haven't been like this. but this is a guy who's been a maverick. he's been outspoken. he's got some -- holds by most american standards some fairly extreme views, but that doesn't trouble many alabamians? >> that's correct, ali. roy moore is well known for taking stands and taking actions based on his belief that god's law is more important than the law of the united states of america. and so the kind of acts that any other judicial actor in this country i think would have really fallen out of grace for, actions like failing to follow the order of a federal court that you remove a statue of the ten commandments from the alabama supreme court building, or failing to follow the supreme court's decision in the equalit. those sorts of failures to follow the law in this country by a chief justice of the state supreme court are shocking and yet alabama voters have rewarded him by continuing to vote for him. i don't think any of us expected he would turn out to be a child molester. >> an interesting concept. the separation of church and state and the constitutional mandate that the state will impose no religion doesn't mean that people can't be religious and have remarkable religious beliefs but it is actually a serious matter when people suggest religious beliefs over constitutional law. they would say we were allowing sharia law. >> and when you think about it, much of the reason this country was formed, puritans fleeing oppression in europe. so roy moore on record for instance, saying we shouldn't have muslim representatives in congress ale doesn congress really doesn't believe in what is fundamentally american. >> i don't want to paint everyone in alabama. they're competitive elections, people are different views an faiths but we've heard from a number of people today who have said some version of, you tweeted something about this this morning. some version of alabama voters asking themselves, gop voters, asking themselves, what's worse? voting for somebody like roy moore if he's done what he's accused or doing or a democrat? and that's really, some people are struggling with that. >> i think that that's accurate. look, people in alabama are like people everywhere else in this country. they're warm, wonderful, they love their families. i think sometimes we're painted in ways that aren't accurate, and that are really hurtful to people in alabama. but the reality is that people here do care deeply about fundamental american values. this presents people who strongly believe in supporting the republican party with a difficult choice, i had talked before this occurred with many republican friends who frankly were not willing to vote for moore, intended to vote for democratic candidate doug jones but doing so quietly in the privacy of their polling places. many are now struggling with the question whether they like governor ivey, for instance, should come out and say they see no reason to not believe the words of these four women. this will present a real moment in alabama where people have to make a decision about whether they're going to continue down the path of party over country, or whether at some level they have to walk away from their party's candidate, either not voting in the election or choosing to find something in doug jones to like. >> yes. and it's not a given that this necessarily helps doug jones. there's a lot more to see. alabama politics is nothing if not complex. good to see you. thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. >> joyce vance, professor of the university of alabama law school, former u.s. attorney there. coming up, louis c.k., sexual allegations made against him. we'll tell you his words after a break. and olympic gold medallist aly raisman coming forward with allegations she was abused by dr. nassar. many filed civil lawsuits alleges nassar sexually abused them under the guise of treating them for injuries. calling for major changes to the governing body so others aren't so scared to come forward with their accusations. >> why are we look at, why didn't the girls speak up? why not look at what about the culture? what did usa gymnastics do and larry nassar do to manipulate these girls so much they are afraid to speak up? baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? no sir, no sir, some nincompoop stole all my wool sweaters, smart tv and gaming system. luckily, the geico insurance agency recently helped baa baa with renters insurance. everything stolen was replaced. and the hooligan who lives down the lane was caught selling the stolen goods online. visit geico.com and see how easy it is to switch and save on renters insurance. searching one topic. that will generate over 600 million results. and if you've been diagnosed with cancer, searching for answers like where to treat, can feel even more overwhelming. so start your search with a specialist at cancer treatment centers of america. start with teams of cancer treatment experts under one roof. start where specialists use advanced genomic testing to guide precision cancer treatment... ...that may lead to targeted therapies and more treatment options. start where there's a commitment to analyzing the latest research and conducting clinical trials-to help each patient get the personalized cancer care they deserve. start at one of the cancer treatment centers of america hospitals near you. the evolution of cancer care is here. learn more at cancercenter.com/experts ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ comedian louis c.k. is confirming allegations against him. in a new statement this afternoon coming after the "new york times" reported accusations from five women in incidents as far back as 15 years ago. three women say louis c.k. masturbated in front of them. the forth says he did it over the phone and the fifth said he asked to do it in front of her but she declined. in response to the "new york times" report, louis -- louis c.k.'s publicist, the women felt able to name themselves and one who did not. these stories are true. at the time i said to myself what i did was okay because i never showed it woman my blank without asking first, which sass true. what i learned later in life, too late when you have power over another person asking them to look at your blank isn't a question. it's a predicament for them. in the end the statement reads i brought pain to my family, friends, children and their mother and spend my long and lucky career talking saying anything i want. i will step back and take a long time to listen. bring in a reporter who broke the news about louis c.k. cultural reporter. good to see you. >> thanks to having me. >> what do you make of this response? we had heard from louis c.k.'s publicist a statement is forthcoming, he admits to what he's done. given the context of all sorts of accusations what's your take on this? >> it's an interesting statement, i think. the fact he acknowledged his behavior was first of all true and second of all that it was hurtful and wrong i think is a big step, and i think for the women who were on the receiving end of this behavior, it was meaningful to get that. on the other hand, i think if you look closely at the statement, it doesn't actually include the words, "i'm sorry" and map not have been as much of an apology to them as it was to some of the people he worked with, his family, other people revered him in the comedy community he also may have disappointed. the bar for these statements may unfortunately be kind of low. most of the other people who have been accused, other hollywood figures -- they haven't acknowledged even the fact of this, of the behavior. >> right. >> so the fact he did that, does make the statement different. >> so this is an interesting point you brought up. when i read the statement, my initial reaction was, wow. quite forthcoming. then someone else, one of my producers pointed out to me, there was no, "i'm sorry oh " i there. makes you think is it damage control? might be pretty good damage control over what is fundamentally important here, that there's a victim and there's someone, a perpetrator, someone in power? >> right. he does address the fact that in doing this behavior he did take advantage of his power and balance, also something that is important to note. that's how this behavior happens. and that's how people who do this kind of behavior of able to get away with it for so long, because there is a power imbalance. he's a powerful figure in this community. the women he did there were typically not. at least not when it happened to them and they felt they couldn't come forward and tell their story in cases for over 15 years. >> there has been some talk that once again we hear this all too commonly, these things tend to be open secrets, at least some people know of this. what do you know about that? did people know that this is the kind of thing louis c.k. did? >> rumors about this behavior many years, especially the comedy world. the kind of thing, this talk about this circulated in back stage hangouts, in writers rooms at comedy clubs. eventually some of those rumors made their way online. published on sites like gawker and which no longer xifrtexists. but louis c.k. always denied it when it came to him and people asked him about it. the women subject to this action did not want to acknowledge it through all of the many years that these rumors circulated. so they remained in some way just that. rumors. people did ask louis c.k. about this behavior often, and especially more recently as his new movie was coming out that had similar moments in it, to this behavior, and he always denied it. >> thanks very much for reporting on this. a culture reporter for the "new york times." thank you. >> thank. coming up, we'll try make sense of president trump's zigzagging diplomacy with china and how the economy fared this first year of trump's presidency. lower premiums? 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ask your rheumatologist about humira. what's your body of proof? your bbut as you get older,ing. it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. president trump's currently in vietnam as part of his asia trip. back on his america first policy ahead of an asian cooperation summit. >> from this day forward we will compete on a fair and equal basis. fair and equal basis. we are not going to let the united states be taken advantage of anymore. i am always going to put america first, the same way that i expect all of you in this room to put your countries first. >> i guess everybody can't be first. joining me is a senior scholar. mira, this is kind of interesting. the flip-flop, the zigzagging on china, talking tough, then being friendly. fundamentally what the united states pulled out of the trans-pacific partnership which was meant to increase our influence in the region, vis-a-vis an ascendant china. not only are we not there but china not only seems ascendant but stable in the eyes of some of our allies. >> that's very much the narrative that xi jinping, china's president is working to proffer. ever since trump was elected he seized the mantel of the dependable nation. and fundamentally unsure if america would continue to lead in asia. so as trump has traveled through the region sending messages of, you know, in deep antipathy toward multilateral trade, promising new tariffs and quotas on imports in the united states, he's serving xi jinping's message that the future looks better if countries stick with china, and that's unfortunate. >> the united states has a massive trade imbalance with china, and that's a fact. that's not as fixable as donald trump thinks it is. but there are real issues the president was and is addressing. national security issues. around the edges, there are important matters that we can remedy in our trade relationship with china. >> no question about it. i'd actually note that most economists do not think that a trade deficit in a bilateral trade relationship is a huge problem. in the case of the u.s./china relationship, the trade deficit comes from the fact we have two totally different economies that are structured differently. china exports cheap manufactured goods that get sold at places like walmart. we export high end goods and services. there are all sorts of issues the united states can and should push china on in the economic realm. it needs to undertake major market reforms and revamp its industrial policy to give american companies and american businesses fairer access to its markets and fairer treatment when they do access its markets. we haven't heard a strong or consistent message from trump on those points which are the types of economic policies that his predecessors from both parties -- >> in congress from time to time you saw another bill introduced. part of the issue is given that the united states has come to the realization that china is really important to the north korea solution, does beijing have a little more of an edge than it did a little while ago? >> it certainly seems to with this president. ever since he was a candidate, donald trump has believed that china would fix the north korea problem for us. meaning that because china supports most of north korea's economy, if it wanted to, it would really turn the screws on pyongyang and force it to the negotiating table. the problem is that was never really true. china has a quasi relationship and it's loathed to put too much pressure on lest that regime collapse. even more problem at sick in the interim, north korea has develop an icbm capability. so the question of what is really possible has become a much more difficult one. this thesis that china will somehow fix the problem becomes more doubtful. >> mira, thank you for joining us, a senior scholar at yale. one year ago, donald trump inherited a booming economy. markets, jobs and wages have continued on their positive trends. as republicans pursue a tax overall, the president is promising more economic growth. i took a look at where things stand today. donald trump was elected president on a promise of economic growth. >> we have a great economic plan. >> reporter: a year othe president is still trying to deliver on that plan. including tax cuts before congress now. america's economy is humming with growth topping 3% in back-to-back quarters. >> i happen to be one that thinks we can go much higher than 3%. yet annual growth is still below that. in line with the general trend going back to the 1990s. >> i think if we continue to create jobs at levels that i'm creating jobs, i think that's going to have a tremendous impact. >> reporter: 1.5 million jobs have been added to the u.s. economy since the president took office. unemployment has fallen to just 4.1%. the lowest in 17 years. still, wages have room to grow. they are only up 2.4% year over year. not much of an improvement. more dramatic is the 28% climb in the stock market in the year since the election. >> under this pro-america system, our economy boomed. >> but the president inherited an already booming economy. either way, the stock market is a poor barometer for how most americans are doing in this economy, and research shows that 80% of market gains only benefit the top 10% of earners. now critics are warning the president's tax reform package will mostly benefit businesses and the wealthy. what the middle class really does need are jobs and wage growth. and the whole trickle down sales job has been belied by every historical example of these type of cuts. >> reporter: the white house disputes that citing its own research that slashing corporate tax rates will increase worker incomes by $4,000 a year or more. whatever the case, it's clear that president trump is banking on big businesses and the country's rich to grow the economy even more for all americans. it remains to be seen if he'll succeed. thank you so much. thank you! so we're a go? 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"the washington post" reports an exquisite and painful detail, stories of sexual misconduct with teenage girls as young as 14 from moore's time as an assistant district attorney in alabama. the story comes on the heels of tuesday's rejection of republicans up and down the ballot in virginia and nationwide, in part, due to a jump in turnout among women voters. here's the latest on the un