Plus, do republicans really want to go into the 2018 midterms having raised taxes on parts of the middle class . Ill ask republican senator rob portman of ohio. And did former National Security adviser Michael Flynn just cut a deal to cooperate with the Mueller Probe and what could that mean for the russia investigation . Joining me for insight and analysis are nbc news correspondent katy tur, hugh houston, host on the salem radio network, Heather Mcgee and Washington Post columnist michael gerson. Welcome to sunday. Its meet the press. From nbc news in washington, the longestrunning show in television history, this is meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. I hope everyone is having a safe and healthy thanksgiving weekend. There are moments in the past half century when as americans weve been forced to reexamine our attitudes and ourselves, vietnam, civil rights, gay rights. In politics, were facing the crucible of Sexual Harassment. Our revulsion at what weve learned and our uncertainty about what to do about it going forward. Is it time to demand the renation of all politicians accused of Sexual Harassment. Than to have the other party win an election . What should a party do about one of its own who has been a supporter of women but now accused of sexual behavior we are how closely should we reexamine a former president whose party supported him despate multiple charges of misconduct and worse. How do we reckon with a sitting president accused by more than a dozen women of outright misconduct . In short, after another week of stories of powerful men taking advantage of women, its clear were and experiencing a shift in how we view Sexual Harassment and sexual assault. Whats less clear is where we draw the line and what we do about it. The growing controversy the Harvey Weinstein scandal has emboldened victims to come forward nationwide. The revolt against Sexual Harassment and assault may in part be a backlash after Donald Trumps 2016 victory when millions of voters overlooked more than a dozen allegations of Sexual Misconduct. When youre a star. They let you do it. You can do anything. Whatever you want. Grab them by the [ bleep ]. And put mr. Trump in the white house. A result that triggered thousands of women nationwide to begin an antitrump movement that has flexed its muscles since the inauguration. This moment also serves as a reckoning of sorts for the democrats. After nearly three decades where Party Members largely overlooked Sexual Misconduct allegations against their biggest star, bill clinton. Now each party is facing a test, for Republican Voters in alabama, Senate Candidate roy moore is accused of Sexual Misconduct by nine women, including leigh corfman, who says he molested her when she was just 14. The white house has shifted from distancing itself from moore there is no issue more important than the issue of child pedophilia. To seemingly embracing him. Mr. President , is an accused child molester better than a democrat . Well, he denies it. Look, he deny it is. Reporter democrats are facing their own test. Senator al franken has been accused of forcibly kissing radio host leeian tweeden on a uso tour in 2006. He stuck his tuck tongue in my mouth so quick. He has since released a new statement on thursday after three new allegations of unwanted touching. Im a warm person. I hug people. Ive learned from recent stories in some of those encounters, i crossed a line for some women. No democratic senator so far has called on franken to resign. Then congressman john conyers, accused of paying off a former employee who says she was fired because she refused to provide sexual favors. New york congresswoman Kathleen Rice became the first and only congressional democrat to call on conyers to resign. Saying were going to have these allegations against politicians go before an Ethics Committee that can sometimes take a couple of years. No offense to my colleagues on the committee, but thats not real. Thats not real and thats not accountability. Democrats are still hesitant to criticize bill clinton. Only willing to say that by todays standards they might be calling for his ouster. My point is that the tolerance that we had 25 years ago, what was allowed 25 years ago will not be tolerated today. I dont think you can rework history. I think if it happened today, if any president did that today, they would have to resign. Joining me now is House Democratic leader nancy pelosi of california. Leader pelosi, welcome back to meet the press. Happy thanksgiving weekend. Thank you. Happy thanksgiving to you and congratulations on 70 years. Thank you. Thank you for that. Were now at 71. Im going to go back into our way back machine here. Heres you an meet the press, asked specifically about allegations against president clinton. Here is what you said back in 1998. Why the silence . When there have been these allegations, serious ones about president clinton. Well, id like to say that i think that the women of america are speaking out about what they think about this whole situation. And the women of america are just like other americans, in that they value fairness, they value privacy and do not want to see a person with uncontrolled power, uncontrolled time, uncontrolled Unlimited Money investigating the president of the United States. Back then, and, look both senator gillibrand and mayor de blasio were making the argument that our culture has changed. And today the same allegations probably would have led democrats, perhaps like yourself, to call for his resignation. You can have a debate whether it was an impeachable offense. Do you agree this is a generational change were experiencing . Obviously it is a generational change, but let me just say the concern that we had then was that they were impeaching the president of the United States. For something that had nothing to do with the performance of his duties and trying to take him out for that reason. But lets go forward. Lets go forward. I think that something incredible has happened world is happening now. Very incredible. Its almost 100 years since women got the right to vote. Here we are almost 100 years later and something very transformative is happening, that is women are saying zero tolerance. No more. And were going to speak out on it. And this is so wholesome, so refreshing, so different. But why do you think the reaction was different by women on bill clinton . And i say that because it does seem as if, frankly, when you watch some of the reactions by the president in defending roy moore, or at least overlooking the allegations against roy moore, were you putting politics ahead of your personal disgust . No, but were talking a child molester. Were talking about a child molester. President clinton was accused of being a sexual predator and even rape at one point by one accuser. Why dont we talk about instead how we go forward . Nobodys proud of president clintons behavior at the time. He was being impeached. I think the concern is that we allowed the erosion. The reason that were at this moment and the reason it got worse over the last 20 years is because of the way we handled it collectively then. Do you buy that . No, i buy the election of President Trump really, as your presenter said earlier just evoked a response. So many women, and this is really important i think to note because ive had heard from so many women in the last few months. Anita hill and so many women who have had a bad experience. And now a person possibliy engaged in that activity is the president of the United States. And now im speaking out. Think as your presenter said earlier. It was me, actually. Is that your voice . Thats my voice. Then you had it write when you said that harvey didnt evoke this, the election of President Trump evoked the and everybody has served notice. Lets go forward. Okay, lets learn from past decisions and go forward. So design zero tolerance. You said there is a zero tolerance. What does that mean for john conyers, in or out . We are strengthened by due process. Just because someone is accused, was it one accusation, was it two . John conyers is an icon in our country. Hes done a great deal to protect women in the violence against women act, which the rightwing is now quoting me as praising him for his work on that. He did great work on that. But the fact is as genjohn revi his kay how is it that you dont . He will do the right thing. The right thing, resign . He will do the right thing in terms of what he knows about his situation. He is entitled to due process, but women are entitled to due process as well. He took advantage of a situation where he had the rules of congress and i know you guys want to change these rules, but he got to hide his settlement. His accusers had to go through all sorts of craziness so why is he entitled to new due process in this case . We are talking about what we have heard. Ive asked the Ethics Committee to review that. He has said he will be open he will cooperate with any review. Do you believe john conyers accusers. I dont know who they are. They have not really come forward. So you dont know if you believe the accusations . Thats for the Ethics Committee to review, but i believe he understands what is at stake here and he will do the right thing. But all of these nondisclosure agreements have to go. By the way, some of them are there to protect the victim because they didnt want some of it to be public. But thats over. In other words, if the victim wants to be private, she can be. Yeah. He or she can be. I guess it goes back to, what is this line, right . What is a fireable offense . You say its zero tolerance, but what does that mean if youre saying john conyers, who already had due process, gets to stay right now . Well, as i said, weve asked for the Ethics Committee to review that. And i believe it will do the right thing. Where are you on senator franken . I dont think you can equate senator franken with roy moore. Those are two different things. So, you know, lets be lets have some you would accept an apology right now from al frank if there are no other accusers or all we know is what we know . Right. Also, his accusers have to accept an apology. The victims have some say in all of this as well. And that has happened in the past. People have accepted an apology as its coming forth now that i see in the press. But we didnt know because there was a nondisclosure agreement to protect the victims. Sometimes they didnt want to be public. Sometimes they did. Now they will have their choice. This is about going forward. And when we go forward, we will address all of that, but we also have to address it for every workplace in the country. Not just in the congress of the United States. And thats very important. And that a good deal of that would be done by the judiciary committee. Okay. And i know that john would take that into consideration. Shouldnt he you have one member Gregory Meeks called for him to be withdrawn as Ranking Member. Isnt that something in your power . Cant you decide he should be suspended as Ranking Member on judiciary . This will happen when we come together the beginning of this week, i think john will do the right thing. Youre not going to unilaterally make that decision . Im not sharing that with you right now. But what i am saying is this is a big distraction and its very, very important. Do you know that the beginning of the womens movement, Elizabeth Katie stant, she would hear examples of family domestic violence. That was one of the motivators for her to advance the cause of women. So this is as old as well, its old as civilization probably, but in terms of our history and the womens movement, one of the motivators. Now 100 years after her fight for the right for women to vote, we will have well clear the deck on this. But i am here to talk about something also transformative in our society, and that is this tax bill that the republicans have put forth. I want to get into this, but there seems to be a bit of a political plarll sis in prying figure this out. We will pass legislation this week for antidistinction and harassment behavior. We have to take a measure that has to pass both houses of congress for ending nondisclosure, who pays, all of the concerns that we have about this. I dont think that it should we want to give people hope. This is going to be addressed. Women have spoken out. Their concerns will be addressed in a way that i think will give comfort as well as end this behavior. Because, you know what, its disgusting, its repulsive and it has to be zero tolerance. Will congress will you support congress retroactively making public all of these private settlements that taxpayer dollars have been used . Not necessarily. Sometimes the victim doesnt want that. If the victim wants it public, will you side with the victim . Yes. 100 . Here is the thing, its really important. There is a question as to whether the Ethics Committee can get testimony if youve signed a nondisclosure agreement. Were saying we think the Ethics Committee can, but if you dont agree, well pass a law that says the Ethics Committee can. All right. A resolution in congress that the Ethics Committee can. But there is no i dont want anybody thinking there is any challenge here to our changing the law and see how people when we know more about the individual cases. But you know what our biggest strength is . Due process. That protects the rights of the victim so that whatever the outcome is, Everybody Knows that there was due process. Leader pelosi, unfortunately for time, ive got to end it there. Appreciate you coming on. You mean were not going to talk about taxes . You have fallen into the place they are doing something that is going to increase the debt enormously. Ive been covering it a lot. Its going to be a job killer and its going to raise taxes on the middle class. And that is has a big impact on the individual lives of all americans. And really we should be spending more time on that. Do you think this other issue isnt as serious as taxes . I think its look, as a woman, mother of four daughters, i think its enormously important. But i think that we have to have a balance in how we go forward because trust me, i struggle with this every day. This is giving them cover. There are so many reasons that we should be concerned about the republican majority in congress. I am going to be asking a republican across the aisle some of these questions in a few minutes. Anyway, leader pelosi, i have to leave the there. I appreciate it. Thats disappointing. Let me say one more thing. I want to thank the firefighters and our First Responders in california for what they did in the fires. Our thanksgiving is we prayed for them as a blessing to us. Wishing their families the best. A worthy last word. Thank you very much. Joining me now from the other side of the aisle, republican senator rob portman of ohio. Senator portman, welcome back to the show, sir. Hi, chuck. Thanks for having me back. I want to start with roy moore. I know you have said you do not believe he should be a candidate. You have called for him to step aside. You said you believe the accusers. The president of the United States says in fact in a new tweet says the last thing we need in alabama and the u. S. Senate and a Schumer Pelosi puppet weak on crime, weak on the border. Bad for our military and our great vets. Wants to raise the taxes to the sky. Those are his words in the tweet there. Jones would be a disaster. Do you agree with the president that it is better if alabamans elect somebody who has been accused of being a child molester of a democrat simply due to ideology . Well, i stand with what i said earlier, think it would be best if he stepped aside. By the way, i think the president said that initially. I think that would be better for the country and the elections in a few weeks here, a couple of weeks maybe, and, you know, there is a possibility for folks to do writein candidates. So well see. No, think it would be best if he stepped aside. If you were a voter in alabama, what would you do . Jeff flake said he would vote democrat in roy moore were the only other option. Well, id probably vote for a republican, but it wouldnt be roy moore. You would cast that vote knowing it probably throws the election, you know, the more republicans split their vote youre okay if a democrat gets elected there as long as its not roy moore . Yeah, look, chuck, as you know, i endorsed the other guy, luther strange. I thought he would have been a terrific senator. Hes my colleague now. I never endorsed the roy moore. When these allegations came out, i did say as more came out and the women went on the record, i thought there was a lot of credible in what they were saying and i didnt find the response very credible. Scott jennings, a republican strategist who i think lives on the border of ohio and kentucky so you may know him very well. Said this in the New York Times this weekend about this situation. Either were saddled with a democrat in a seat that ought to be republican or a brand anvil that is going to drag down the president , the senate, drag down the party and plunge the senate into immediate turmoil when he gets there. Is it worse for the Republican Party, senator portman, if roy moore wins or loses . I dont know. Look, the talking heads like scott talks about that. What i do th