Is there any worry there at the white house that his poll numbers continue to be so low . Reporter i think there is concern over here at the white house, breanna. And that is why you see the republicans up on capitol hill. You see people over here at the white house, including the president , trying very hard to get this tax cut plan passed before the end of the year so the president can sign it. And then head off for the holidays. Keep in mind, this poll that just came out pretty alarming numbers for the president and house and senate republicans. It says here 29 say they approve of the republican tax plan, 61 say they disapprove. Thats bad numbers for the tax plan they ran through the senate in the middle of the night the other night. And you heard the president meeting with republican senators really singing is the praises of this tax cut plan and declaring that there is it republican unity in the gop like we havent seen before. He was saying that right next to senator jeff flake of arizona to obviously very famous will i in the last couple of months announced his serious concerns about President Trumps leadership. And when the president once again endorsed ray moore for the senate race. And i was told by a spokesman for jeff flake still opposes ray moore for the senate. And anything but unity. And an according to this poll some big concerns about the tax cut plan they are trying to get the president s desk. Thank you for that from the white house for us. I want to turn to the divide among the president s lawyers as the white house is about to have the first press briefing for guilty plea of Michael Flynn. First one to be charged and cut a deal. And as the president takes on questions that he may have obstructed justice to help flynn, we are now she go an a parent split in strategy between white house legal team. Ty cobb is backing away. John dodd there on the left has reportedly said a president cannot obstruct justice. I want to talk to jim acosta to speak about this. What is ty cobb saying . Reporter he is saying fact based defense, not at theoretical legal that the president cannot be held accountable or be found guilty of obstruction of justice. That is a concept that was floated out by john dow to axe on we can put this up on screen. This is a statement from ty cobb to the washington post. He says its interesting as a legal issue technical, from talking about this theory from john dow that the president cant be held accountable for obstruction of justice. But they intend to present a fact based defense, not ha mere legal defense. That should, going on with the statement, resolve things. But we all shall see. Thats an interesting statement there from ty cobb because it does reveal a split in the president s legal strategy as to how to deal with the russian investigation. Of course, yesterday when john dodd quote hit the headlines there via axios, it struck a lot of people in washington as president is above the law. The president is above the law type of legal defense, which is something thats been tried before and has not worked for other president s in the past. Its stunning how publicly they are so not on the same page. Lfrmt jim acosta at the white house, thank you for that as well. And the president s legal team, not only division that we are seeing there, we are seeing division involving the russia investigation. Conflict now between the two leaders of a senate panel probing Trumps Campaign ties to russia. Im talking about democrat senator Diane Feinstein and republican Chuck Grassley top members of the senate committee. Manu raju is live for us on chill. What is diane fine stain saying about senator grassley and is he responding . Reporter shes raising more concerns. She has sent a number of letters to various people in the trump universe, everybody from roger stone, to carter page, to the senior white house aide rick dear born, asking them for letters, documents, and interviews, and has not done with the support of her chairman grassley not signed on to the letters. She told me there is a subtle effort not to dig deeply into this issue. Now when i put the question to Chuck Grassley has well he pushed back. He said that is simply not the case. He would also not say whether he agreed with feinstein whether they are building an obstruction of justice against trump. Heres what grassley said. Bottom line of it is if people come up here as a result of her letters or my letters to be questioned, then her staff and my staff can sit in on each others and ask questions. So at the level of actually asking questions, there is a great deal of cooperation. You are not stalling . Well, you know, im not going to interpret anybodyses how they feel about something. Reporter do you think there is a case for obstruction . She said that on sunday. Do you agree with that . Case for obstruction, sir . So he didnt want to answer that last question at that moment but spokesman breanna later said he does not want to prejudge the outcome of this investigation. And you also have reporting about mcfarlane the former trump official about what she knew about Michael Flynn contact with the Russian Ambassador. What did you learn . Reporter yeah, thats right. She had testified before the Senate ForeignRelations Committee as part of her nomination to be ambassador to singapore. When he was asked in written correspondence whether she knew about any conversations between Michael Flynn and the Russian Ambassador kislyak, she said she was not aware of that. It turns out that it shows a senior official did have conversations with Michael Flynn about kislyak and the issue of russian sanctions and we learned that senior official was Katie Mcfarlane. Now i ask asked senator bob corker what this does for her nomination. Heres what he said. If she did testify inappropriately, obviously thats a big, big problem. I just dont know. But, look, its a problem. And her nomination is frozen for a while until that gets worked out. And, you know, she knows that, she has to know that herself, and well deal with it at the appropriate time. Reporter breanna, source telts me democrats in the senate has placed a hold on Katie Mcfarlane nomination. That is shes effectualively stalled. She wont get the confirmation vote any time soon unless she answer questions. Thats something they do not want to do, so unclear if she will get that post before she answers further questions. Yeah, it is hard to see how republicans would go out on a limb for herty point. Okay. Manu raju on the hill. Thank you, sir. There is so much to discuss here. I want to bring in cnn con tr contributor john dean. Great expertise you can lend in this situation, john. And i wonder having in the position you were in, why do you think as you look at ty cobb saying what you are hearing from ty cobb and what you are hearing from the president s personal lawyer, very different statements. You are hearing from ty cobb this idea that the legal team is going to present a fact based argument. And then youve heard now from john doud what he has said the president cannot obstruct justice. Why are we hearing two Different Things . Well, one explanation could be they have different clients. Mr. Doud represents mr. Trump personally. Thai cobb actually technically represents the office of the president. And while the president is mr. Trump there can be some differences at times. I dont know if thats the reason that we have these divergence. It is one potential explanation. The other is they may not be coordinating, certainly not conspiracying. When you are looking at their descriptions then of the strategy, should you put should what john doud says hold more water, as we look at what the strategy of the president s personal legal team . And to understand what that really is going to be . I would suspect you would see out of doud more rough and tumble than you are seeing out of cobb. And thats been the case right along where the white house is trying to certainly give the impression they are cooperating. Im not so sure that thats going to go across with all lawyers. Some of the lawyers are recommending that they pick a fight with the special counsel. That can be dangerous but can also be a strategy. So the fact that he has two approaches actually gives him some benefit to see how which plays the best. Okay. I want to turn now to Paul Manafort who is obviously mr. Trumps former campaign chairman. Because he has pleaded not guilty to Money Laundering charges. But the special counsel now says he violated court orders for working as a ghost writer on an op ed with a russian who has tie toss the russian intelligence service. What do you think Paul Manafort was thinking here . Or is there any possible explanation for this . I mean this sounds like a huge mistake. It sound like he was not thinking, breanna, so im not sure what he was doing. Well see if the judge finds this a violation and what he explains it as to, whether it was an innocent mistake, or something he was calculating. Hes going to have to be very frank with the judge or hes going to be in trouble with his bail. So we dont flow what his explanation is going to be . We dont. If thats potentially he didnt know whether this person had ties to return intel, right . That could be a possible defense but we dont know . It could be. That he is innocent and didnt know the connection. Okay. So you heard manu raju reporting there on Katie Mcfarlane. Currently she is nominating pending Senate Confirmation to be the ambassador to singapore. But now we have learned that what she said in her answer, in her writ answer as part of these confirmation proceedings about what she knew about Michael Flynns contact with the Russian Ambassador. We now know that she was not being forth coming. How is this going to play for her, do you think 12 . Well, ive watched a lot of ambassador appointments out of the years in government as well as out of, this is the typically the kind of thing that can disqualify someone. So i wouldnt be surprised if she stepped a side. But on the other hand we have an administration that seems to ignore all existing normgs. So the norm when you make this fatal error you quietly step aside and have your nomination may or may not be withdrawn may or may not happen. I think its smart if she steps down because she may be grilled more intensely and find herself on thin ice in other areas. Whether Congress Wants to go out on a limb too. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Coming up first member of congress to step down in the face of Sexual Harassment allegations. Senator john conyers announcing his retirement today but says his retirement has nothing to do with the explosive allegations against him. And also the ray moore dilemma. They avoided his candidacy. But why are they putting. Doug jones speaking out moments ago. Well have a live report. All of this as we a wait the White House Press briefing which we will bring to you live. And we are back in a moment. For your brain. Bug with an ingredient originally found in jellyfish, prevagen is the number one selling brainhealth supplement in drug stores nationwide. Prevagen. The name to remember. This s electricity. This is a power plant. This is tim barckholtz. 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Embassy from tel aviv from a wednesday announce. Cnn joining me now. This would be very significant, michelle . Right. Sources have telling us potential details of this plan now we are hearing it from more sources and sources close to the white house describing what at this point at least President Trump is expected to announce tomorrow afternoon. First that he will sign the waiver keeping the u. S. Embassy int in tel aviv for six more months but recognizes jerusalem as israel capital. He is also expected to say that he will move the u. S. Embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem that thats a definite plan but keeping indefinite the time frame. So he will say for now the u. S. Embassy stays in tel aviv. Ill move to jerusalem but uncertain when. So it will take sometime. Additionally we are told that these source expect him to find some way to soften this because of the tensions in the area. That he will recognize partly part of jerusalem as being the future palestinian capital. Certain holy sites given heed to the palestinian claims and deep sensitivities surrounding jerusalem. One more thing, we are told its possible that the president will also sues some language to further soften this which has been hotly debated in the white house, how to balance all of these tensions out, that he may make some kind of statement on their being a need ultimately for a twostate solution. I want to bring in cnn Senior Correspondent who served negotiator and adviser on middle east issues. Aaron, to you, we have heard now as of today there were a series of phone calls that President Trump made and he alerted arab leaders that indeed he is going to do this. There has been so much push back on whether or not this is a good idea. Whats your reaction to this news . I think its ill timed, ill conceived. Its not that the u. S. Embassy doesnt belong in west jerusalem, it does, no question. Israel is the only country we do not maintain a u. S. Embassy in the capital. But its all about timing. To recognize jerusalem as capital of israel will take an enormous amount of crockry. Because as recognizing jerusalem as this, unless the president finds a way to soften this, and it would have to be pretty dramatic softening, i think this will set the stage perhaps for violence, but ultimately for an undermined american rule as any sort of effective let alone honest broker in a Peace Process thats right now comatose. Michelle is talking about a softening, but when the embassy it appears will be moving, is there anything that can soften that to try to effectively avoid maybe even violence, as you mention . You know, as the president of the United States in a double historic move recognizes western jerusalem as capital, and on the road to establishing opinian state the United States will extend diplomatic recognition to palestinian capital in east jerusalem, that would be extraordinarily double, double historic move. But that would drive the israelis crazy. And ultimately would undermine, i think, one of the purposes of the president s announcement. Jamie, tell us how this decision was made, because you heard Aaron David Miller saying the timing on this is bad. And that this is ill conceived. He really had no positive words how this decision both timing and content came about. So our sources have told us a couple of things. First of all, that President Trump, this was a Campaign Promise that he wanted to fulfill. And that there have been meetings going on for about eight days about it. And that he has been the advisers have been saying to him bringing up all of the concerns, and he said no. I want to do this. Just one point to go back to on softening, whic