There are two major options for the president and the republicans right now when it comes to the legislative agenda. On one hand, you have a push for entitlement reform, for welfare reform, something that House Speaker paul ryan has hinted should be the next step for republicans following their victory on tax reform. On the other hand, you had something the president talked about again to reporters before he left the white house yesterday. An infrastructure plan. Something he admitted likely would have made the early days of his administration easier if he had pursued it. Because he believes there is Fertile Ground for bipartisanship on an infrastructure plan. Heres more of what the president said. I really do believe were going to have a lot of bipartisan work done and maybe we start with infrastructure. Because i really believe infrastructure can be bipartisan. He says he believes democrats will be enthusiastic about get something done on infrastructure. Beyond that, the president really has to take a close look at the changing political climate. For one, you have rumors that have been swirling for weeks that some of his top cabinet officials may be departing from his team, including rumors that have been swirling about Rex Tillersons potential departure, something the secretary of state has denied. And beyond that, also the continuing intraparty fighting within the Republican Party. Cnn has learned from sources that earlier this week there was some tense meetings at the white house when discussing a strategy going into 2018 for the midterm elections when discussing the president s support of roy moore. And the continuing rift between steve bannon and establishment republicans. Certainly something to watch for as the year moves on, fred. All right, boris sanchez, pull out that sunscreen, youre going to need it down there. Happy holidays. The russia investigation is hanging over President Trumps christmas vacation. Yesterday, house investigators questioned the president s longtime personal assistant, rona graph. Despite the president telling allies he expects the special counsel to exonerate him and soon, there is no sign the investigation is close to ending. Here now is cnn chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto. He asked me to call you reporter President Trumps longtime secretary is the latest member of his inner circle to face questions from law makers in the russia investigation. Rhona, come on, im going to make you a star. Reporter at his side for decades, long considered his gatekeeper. Including sending and receiving emails on behalf of mr. Trump, who has avoided them. Graff was mentioned by name in the june 2016 emails between donald trump jr. And british publicist ron goldsten in which the two discussed offering damaging information on Hillary Clinton. Goldston writing, i can also send this info to your father via rhona. Also this week, lawmakers from three house committees questions fbi Deputy Director mccabe for more than 16 hours on a range of topics including the russia probe of special interest to democrats and the fbis investigation of Hillary Clintons use of a private email server as secretary of state. Notable for republicans. Mccabe was also grilled on his inner actions with fired fbi director james comey who mccabe told lawmakers informed him of conversations he had with President Donald Trump soon after they happened. This according to three sources with knowledge of the matter. Democrats meanwhile are again warning President Trump not to undermine special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. Firing mr. Mueller or any other of the top brass involved in this investigation would not only call into question this administrations commitment to the truth but also to our most basic concept rule of law. It also has the potential to provoke a constitutional crisis. Reporter that is a warning the white house quickly shrugged off. I want to be very clear and make sure that i address senator warners concern for the 1,000th time. We have no intentions of firing bob mueller. Were continuing to work closely and cooperate with him. We look forward to seeing this hoax wrap up very soon. Reporter despite the reassurances from the white house, Democratic House leader nancy pelosi penned a letter to House Speaker paul ryan thursday urging the senior House Republican to protect mueller. Pelosi writing, quote, democrats are deeply concerned by the majoritys efforts to curtail the House Intelligence Committee investigation and its overall failure to address russias meddling in the 2016 election. Speaker ryans spokeswoman responded with a statement saying, quote, to suit her political attention, leader pelosi would like to see this investigation go on forever. That impatience with the investigation is shared by the white house. Jim sciutto, cnn, washington. All right, lets talk more about the russia investigation and where the president turns after this legislative win on taxes. Joining me right now to discuss, bazel smikle, senior adviser, good to see you. Alice stewart, cnn political commentator, good to see you as well. Merry christmas. Alice, you first, this ongoing russia probe that may linger deep into 2018 no doubt. So can the president and his fellow republicans pull off more legislative wins with this cloud of the investigation hanging over the administration . Or, you know, is there a way in which the white house can use all of this to his advantage . Well, weve seen that they can actually get things done despite whats going on with regard to the russia investigation. I think they would be best to let mueller do his investigation. Let him do his job. Provide all the information that he possibly needs. So we can wrap this up. I think the good thing is theres been so much Media Coverage and talk and conversations about the russia investigation, but at the same time, theyre able to walk and chew gum at the same time, as speaker ryan so often says. I think the takeaway from this week and certainly this month and this year is that republicans in washington have been able to work bicameraally in the house and senate and get meaningful tax legislation passed. What also gets lost in this is the repealing of the individual mandate and drilling in anwr which are keys to unleashing american energy. This is the big takeaway as we near the end of the year. I think the investigation is far, far, far back, way down in the headlines compared to tax reform. We end 2017 with the big legislative win, you know, for the president and the president also says, you know, that he sees that there will be a real bipartisan consensus on other things in the new year, particularly as it pertains to infrastructure. And he says, you know, everyone should be on board with that. But is it your feeling that, you know, 2018 will be Something Different . Or that there might be some bipartisan consensus . I think 2018 will be different in this sense. Republicans can walk and chew gum and also bash Hillary Clinton at the same time. Theyre already talking about dragging her through another investigation or her name through another investigation. I actually think thats a key part of this strategy for the midterm elections, number one. Number two, i dont see a tremendous amount of opportunity for bipartisanship. I would like there to be, but when you have in this tax reform measure states like new jersey and new york being hit particularly hard, that hurts the ability for real dialogue around infrastructure and the ability to get a number of projects often with the next couple of years, so i do think its a good conversation to have, particularly if voters are looking for republicans to be more bipartisan because theres already polling that says a lot of a number of voters want to see more democrats in office because theres a sense we want to work with republicans but they dont necessarily want to work with us. If that is the case, then its to their benefit to say they want to be bipartisan but nothing in the tax measure really indicates that they have the willingness to do that. All right, 2018 also a big one. Weve got these midterm elections and there have been many expressed concerns coming from republicans who say, you know, they are concerned about how an unpopular president just might impact midterm. There have been a number of missteps, you know, that could cost the house and senate gop seats. And it doesnt help that the president , you know, finally backed alabamas, you know, roy moore unsuccessfully. Former white house strategy steve bannon has vowed to mount challenges to most incumbent republicans but suffered, you know, that big loss. He too was behind roy moore. Here is Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell reacting to some of that. The political genius on display throwing away a seat in the reddest state in america is hard to ignore. Oh, boy. So always, what those are some challenging words coming from mcconnell. Its not easy to hear. But hes completely correct. Alabama should have been a shooin for the gop. The problem is the nominee was a tremendously flawed candidate. And moving forward to the midterm elections, i think its critical that the gop look at all the candidates theyre putting out, specifically new ones, and make sure theres a proper vetting process, to make sure we dont have any more accused child molestics and others with shady past get on the ticket. Because we need to focus on the economy, creating jobs and working on Building Infrastructure and immigration, the key issues that those who are currently in washington campaigned on and are working on and we need to continue to drive those messages in the midterm. Hopefully, the president s Approval Rating will tick up, being in the low 30s is not a good place to be, if hes planning on campaigning for some of these gop candidates. Hopefully, that will pick up as the economy picks up with regard to tax reform. And i do see it being a strong midterm for the gop, if we can do all those things. Vet the candidates better, improve the economy and the president Approval Rating. I think that will be a winwin for the gop. So if thats the strategy, for republicans, basel, what is the strategy likely to be for democrats . Can it be primarily antitrump or does there have to be Something Else . I do think theyll be Something Else. I think a big part of the strategy will be going to trump voters and really asking them, did you is this what you voted for . And i take a couple of things. One, in this tax bill, because of the deficit that it will create, youre going to have cuts to Social Security and medicare. Theyre already talking about changes to entitlement reform. You look at the way Net Neutrality and rollback of obama era policies will actually help or hurt, excuse me, rural voters, small farmers. You look at the fact that were talking, again, about daca and Immigration Reform and we just cannot get that done. And to me theres this sort of the combination of all of this leads me to this sort of man neve lent incrementalism. Yes, there are the big gaffes that the president makes with his tweets. But its these little issues that are actually really big issues. We hear on tax on steal tariffs that foreign steal is being flooded into our market and steelworkers may actually get laid off because of that. So going to voters that said they wanted to try out donald trump and see where this experiment would take us. Going back to those voters and saying, you know what, hes not really following through on anything he promised. Give the democrats an opportunity to get back to good policy and put you back to work. Well leave it right there. See you again very soon, thank you. Still ahead, President Trump has hinted hes open to working with democrats in 2018 to get his agenda passed. But are there any items that democrats can get behind given the charged political rhetoric . Ill talk to a democrat on the House Budget Committee next. Lets get the one with the candy canes. 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Hes a member of the house judiciary and budget committees. Good to see you, merry christmas. Good to be with you. As you headed into the house floor to vote, you tweeted out saying headed to the floor to vote hell no on gop tax scam. We will tattoo this vote on the foreheads of every new york member who vote for it. So now that these tax cuts are law, are you taking a wait and see approach to see if the tax law becomes popular or even delivers more money and the jobs promise for the middle class . I think whats going to be clear to the American People increasingly even though this bill is currently very unpopular, is youll have millions and millions of middle class americans, particularly here in new york city, who are going to experience a tax increase, not a tax cut, because of the limitations on state and local tax deductibility and the limitations on property tax deductibility. That is incredibly unfair. Same will be the case as it relates to middle class taxpayers in california, new jersey, illinois, pennsylvania and many other parts of the country. And we also know that this was essentially done in order to provide massive tax cuts to millionaires, billionaires, special interest corporations and to rich wealthy donors of the Republican Party. That is not meaningful tax reform. That is rewarding people who expect republicans to do their bidding and that is very unfortunate. Is it a primary plan for you and fellow democrats to try to turn these tax cuts to your advantage in the next years midterm elections, not just in the house but the senate as well . I dont think its a question of political strategy, its a question of what is right in Public Policy for the American People. Democrats have taken a very clear position that we should be focused on providing better jobs, better wages, a Better Future for the American People, raising their pay, lowering their costs and providing them with tools to succeed in the 21st century economy. We are going to make it clear that what this tax scam represents is another raw deal for working families, every day americans and middle class americans. Were going to try to offer them a better deal. Again, focused on good paying jobs, strong economic growth. So after that tax vote, you know, democrats did agree to this temporary spending bill to keep the government running until midjanuary. Youve been very outspoken about republicans getting to immigration issues, especially daca, the dream act. Have democrats kind of lost their leverage on that issue by not forcing a Government Shutdown fight . Well, were going to confront another deadline on january 19th and we want our colleagues to approach this in a responsible fashion. Clearly they werent interested in addressing the serious issues around protecting dreamers, extending funding for Community Health centers. And also making sure that we can protect the Child Health Insurance program otherwise known as chip. There is a Bipartisan Program and has always received strong support from democrats and republicans. But apparently its problematic in the era of donald trump. If donald trump really is interested in working with democrats, well start on the dreamer question, as well as it relates to Community Health centers and the childrens Health Insurance program, and then well be able to determine if hes serious or not abo