Engaging. Rose and we conclude this evening with part three of my interview with steve bannon the former white house chief strategist and current executive chairman of breitbart news. He doesnt put the russians up on some its another fantasy of the opposition party. And thats my point. I dont take the media seriously. The reason i dont take them seriously t is a propaganda arm for the permanent political class. And all they do is make a mountain out of a mole hill. We should be focused on how we bring the cold war to an end so we dont have to and i think it was president obamas program, one trillion dollars to upgrade the nuclear arsenal, is that what you want to do would you rather spend a trillion dollars in cleveland, in baltimore, in the inner cities of this country where we need to spend it in the heartland of this nation. Rose joe manchin and steve bannon coming up. Funding for charlie rose is provided by the following. Bank of america, life better connected. And by bloomberg, a provider of multimedia news and information servces worldwide. Captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Rose President Trump hosted today a bipartisan round table of lawmakers to discuss tax reform, health care and infrastructure. This evening the president will meet with house and Senate Minority leaders nancy pelosi from the house and Chuck Schumer from the senate to hear further input from the Democratic Leadership on daca and health care. President trump tweeted this morning that the approval process for the biggest tax cut and tax reform package in the history of our country will soon begin. Move fast, congress. Last night President Trump welcomed republican and democratic snrs to the white house as his administration moves forward with plans to overhaul the nations tax code. Senator joe manchin of West Virginia was among those presented at last nights dinner and joins me now from the capitol. Senator, welcome. Im pleased to have you back after seeing you this morning. Its always good to be with you, and i enjoy being with you tonight too, as well as this morning. Take me inside the dinner last night, not only with the content and not only with who said what about what, but also your feeling about where the president s mindset is, and what the at toes atmospherics were. It was a very good dinner. It was a very lively discussion. It was very productive. I am the firs time ive been invited to the white house to have a sit down kind of a semiprivate dinner to talk only about policy with the president. And it was i thought was, it was, i was very honored but it was very rewarding to do that. I had, there were six other colleagues of mine. We had four republicans, there was rohrin hatch orrin hatch, the dean of our delegation as far as in that room last night, and then you had john from south dakota, ron johnson from wisconsin and pat toomy from pennsylvania. There was myself from West Virginia and hidey hydecamp from north da coats an joe donely from indiana. The president and the Vice President. Then we had carry goan and Steve Mnuchin and some of their stuff. It was all the right people to have the type of conversation we had. And we had a lot of the details of what theyre thinking and we had a lot of good interchange and exchange back and forth. So we first started out talking as dinner was being presented, we first started talking about infrastructure, and what needs to be done. And we talked about Public Private. And my input on the Public Private was that a lot of people are concerned that when you talk about Public Private that private companies, they could be private corporations or private countries, other countries outside of the United States that might own some of our infrastructure and that gave us a lot of pause for concern. But i said if you look at Public Private as ive known it, charlie, from being a governor of the state of West Virginia, you can use that form and use the Public Private concept to accelerate these public projects. And thats where i think that they understood and thats where they seemed to say we acknowledge that. And were very conscience about not leaving any of Rural America, rural West Virginia or Rural America behind whatsoever. So we were talking about that. And then all the great ideas and Great Innovation and creation and things that were happening around the world, why we need not only to catch up but to be a leader in this. That was a very lively discussion and we went right into tax. The first thing the president said, charlie, as we Start Talking about tax cuts, tax reform, but tax cuts is that there is not going to be tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. He said myself, or people in my category, does not need these tax cuts. That was refreshing, of how this kfertionz started conversation started out. But then we have to be competitive. But its my taking of everything last night was the sin erjee was going all towards working, men and women, working families that are the backbone of america, making sure they finally get a piece of this, and the reductions in tax cuts should be going towards them. Now everybody thinks about when we do tax cuts that were going to be upside down and giving everything away. And i said to the president , the most concern i have was adding more to the debt charlie that we already have at 20 trillion dollars. I have ten grand children. I look at these beautiful be conscience of the debt that were carrying and the debt we might be loading on. We should be paying this debt down. Rose but here you are, you are worried about debt and the amount of debt, the 20 trillion that we have, and the president and his party are sort of totally committed to eliminating inheritance tax or estate tax. And thats a huge amount of money. Yeah, i hope not, charlie. I think, all this, i took away from this meeting that we can set and reasonable people can come to Reasonable Solutions and thases something that i did not feel that anyone was wedded to. I think that as democrats, you know, i believe that there should be an inheritance but i think there should be an exemption. What we have right now is i believe the individuals a 5 million exemption. And two household members, a 10 million. So if it stays with that or they want to change that a little bit, but in that realm, i think that that something will be acceptable but to go ahead and exempt everybody, i just dont, youre right, that is a big cost. So when i talk about no due debt, we have to be looking. If you want democrats or moderate conservative, responsible democrats to be looking at this, and trying to find a pathway forward, i think they will be considerate towards that. And that will be part of the discussion and negotiations that go on. Rose let me pawk about three talk about three other issues. First in terms of the corporate realm. There is the corporate tax. The administration used to always talk about 15 . Republicans and the Congress Talk about more like 22, 24 or 25, something lake that. Was there some sense of where it might end up last night . There wasnt a sense of where it ends up. The president reaffirmed he wants 15. I personally believe thats too low because i have said, and we had this discussion at the table last night. And all, Steve Mnuchin understood where we were coming from. I said we have the greatest economy in the world and for us to give up or discount ourselves to that point, when the global, the Global Corporate average is around 21, 22, 23, i think 25 percent democrats, like myself can support 25 , corporate rate territorial. Because i think all in right now charl yea if you look at everything in, all corporations, that were probably in 20, 21 percent. So it what be an increasement but when they score, they will score deduction 3525 means youre going to lose money, thats not the case, thats not the reality. So we talked about that. Democrats understand territorially, we cant Keep Companies domiciled in the United States of america if were double taxing them on what they earn here and what they earn abroad and try to bring it back. That is why we have many parked offshore. We talked about that. Rose stop there. People like apple and a lot of other Big Companies have huge amounts of money parked overseas, money that they made overseas, in selling their products overseas, what does the president want to do and what do democrats want to do . Well, i can speak for myself and a few of us that were there talking. We want to repatriate. We all understand it has to be brought back but there are people been here longer periods of time that remember when the money was brought back before from repatriation, it was brought back and given in dividends an bonuses. And basically not put into the bricks and mortars, if you will, or the investment into their companies in expanding. So this is what we are saying, if that money is coming back and were giving you a tremendous tax break to bring it back, there should be some residuals from that. So everyone is still talking on where i think we could find a pathway forward on that, that one time money coming back. But if we do the tax code and make the changes and do it correctly, that should not happen again. Territorial, territorial tax system will prevent that from happening where they have to park their money cuz we wont be charged in the same rate after they already paid their taxes wherever they had made that money and other countries. Rose what about interest which is hedge funds and some of those companies. I think they all understand that has to go away. That is, and i think even the hedge fund people, even the wall street people understand. That has been a tremendous ride for them. And its time for that to be over it is time for that loophole to be over. But charlie, not just that, there will be many loopholes. When he says the rich, the superwealthy will not get any tax cuts, let me use the hypothetical, 39. 6 is our highest rate that we have in our tax code now. Under the new plan lets say that we agree to reduce it to 35. You are thinking well youre giving up four and a half percent credit to these people. Youre giving them a tax break. But charlie, we take away a lot of the incentives that you have, the writeoffs, the credits that theyre able to take advantage of. Most of those are going to go by the wayside. So at the end of the day theyre probably paying a little bit more. Ive never had a person, i havent had a person in that strats fear, if you will, saying i am i dont want to do that. Theyre willing to pay. They just want to make sure that we can get a tax code, that they can do business and be able to stay and live in america, be dom i sieled if america and be able to compete globally. And i think we can achieve all of that. Generally when will is a tax cut there is always discussion of eliminating deduks on the one hand or as you say tax credit on the other hand. I mean what, what conversation is taking place about what deductions mile be eliminated. The classic deduction in american life, obviously is a mortgage deduction. I think, i think that we always, that prime mortgage is sacred, okay. A person, the greatest wealth theyre going to accumulate, most people in america is going to be that house they own, the property they own. So prime mortgage is always going to be kind of sacred and protected, i believe. I cant speak for other people but i believe very strongly. Charitable donations help so many people. It really reaches so many corners of every community and every state. That, but there is an awful lot that has been piled on. You know, Vice President pence came to West Virginia about a month or so ago and gave a great speech. I happened to be in the audience and i heard him speaking and he goes we have to have tax overhaul, tax reform, tax cuts. He went on and on and on. He said the tax code is nine times bigger than the bible but theres no good stories. And he said that in jest and it really is true. It has grown disproportionately. The last time we made any major changes, charlie, we didnt have cell phones. So we have got to. Rose 1986. We have got to get back and be the leaders in the 21s century, be the superpower and tiquated tax system. N. So tell me about his atmospherics. Tell me about the tone of his voice, tell me about his ability to simply sit an listen to try to understand what you guys were saying. Sure. Well, he engaged. It wasnt he just sat there, and he didnt dominate. He let everyone speak it was a great exchange, and a very comfortable setting. I have been with him talking oneonone, ive always had the ability to have good conversation. We can agree to disagree. He said joe, could i have gotten you on the healthcare bill. And he says maybe if i had worked harder. I said mr. President , with all due respect, i truly in my heart believe that we can fix what weve got. We can repair it. And i says you can be the leader. You can be the mr. Fix it president because he came to this job in a nontraditional way, charlie. So we had those. We could have that exchange and its a good exchange, its healthy. Rose in the end that is what is going to happen am they will fix obama care rather than repeal and replace. I pray that we do that and i know that we can because there are good examples. Alaska has done something great in reinsurance, indiana has done something i think is very attractive in Holding People responsible and accountable for their new found wealth of health care. So there is a lot of examples that are working in holding down costs. And basically making the market more competitive. We just cant sit back and let it collapse. So im hoping that happens. But you asked me his overall demeanor. It was very energetic, very engaging, very lively, and its not what you see on television, that people were either i like or i dont like, okay. So i said this. I felt something in the room that there was an ease about the president that he felt more comfortable trying to move policy and legislation in a bipartisan way than he would if he had to move it just drikly in a partisan way. And i see that evolving. Hes more comfortable, hes more engaging in it, he gets more excited about it. Rose and there are more options, obviously. Many more options, charlie. This, our Founding Fathers never design this to operate the same as our house. The house basically can say weve got 51 of the votes. We have 218 out of 435, and whether you are a democrat in control or republican, we dont care what the other side wants. We dont care what they have input, we could care less. And George Washington said, the senate is like the saucer that cools the hot tea when it spills from the house. The senate cools it off so it can be drank. Thats who we are. Rose i think are you saying this, but im asking to confirm. There is a sense that when the president also met today with tim scott. And clearly he wanted to talk about charlottesville. And he clearly may be having some new thoughts, whether they are second thoughts or not, i dont know. But clearly wants to talk about that, an issue in in which senator scott, a republican from south carolina, an africanamerican had been very critical of him. Is he now meeting tonight with pelosi and schumer, those Democratic Leaders in the senate and the house. I mean, do you feel like show 24r has been an inflection point, and this president. Go ahead. I think he understands, if is communication. You know, and chartie i dont mean this in a disparaging, im not casting anything to the previous administration, or saying anything about that. But i never had this type of engagement. Ive had more engagement with this white house and this president in the six, seven months, eight months that theyve been there, than i did in the six years that i was with the previous administration. And so i, you know, i, i appreciate having my words heard or my thoughts. I have been involved in public service. Ive been the governor of my state. So ive gone through all of these challenges. And i have a perspective and i can share my mistakes that i made, hopefully we dont repeat them and also see the opportunities that we have. I just think that he is doing exactly what needs to be done, engaging. Tim scott is a beautiful human being. He is one great human being. A great man. And tim scott gets it. He came from that arena. He understands what is going on in that culture. And for the president reaching out wanting to learn more, i think that is tremendous reaching out to nancy and chuck, finding out, okay, and saying listen, guys, i want to work with you, it will be a giveandtake here, what can we do. I think it will open an opportunity to have more success than you can imagine. Rose did he talk about any mistakes that he had made, did he talk about the fact that perhaps he would have been better if he started with infrastructure. No, he didnt go back and rehash that. I said from day one when i first talked to him and he was going through the transition after he had gotten elected, but hadnt gotten sworn in, i said be careful going down the health care road. Thats a tough one. And i can tell you, infrastructure, get your financial house in order first. If people trust you with their money, charlie, they will trust you with anything you want to do in the policy arena. If they know you are prudent in watching their money and not just adding more debt, throwing caution to the wind, they will trust you, if they know youre fair and everyone is paying into this in a fair way and we expand the base and this country grows the way it should grow economicically, then were all doing good. And i think that hes getting that. And i would hope, i said one thing to him. I said mr. President , there is not a pod hole out in West Virginia or anywhere in the country that has just a democrat or republicans name on it. It has b