With the president , is the russia probe about to enter a new phase . Also, breaking news, anthrax missiles. As the u. N. Votes on new sanctions against north korea, south korea reports the kim jongun regime has more than a dozen biological agents, including anthrax, that could be made weaponready within a matter of days. Is kim jongun contemplating a horrifying attack . And christmas aloud. Thanks the president for things like taxes, the economy, supporting israel and, quote, letting us say Merry Christmas again. Is that among his most significant accomplishments . Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. President trumps Christmas Holiday is underway. Hes now over at his resort at maralago in palm beach, florida, leaving washington after signing the gop tax bill in a hastilyarranged the ceremony. White house sources tell cnn the president actually wanted to hold a yearend News Conference like so many of his predecessors but was persuaded not to do so by top aides. Instead, the president used the signing ceremony to tout his achievements and to complain that he doesnt get enough credit for them. And were also following beaking news. The House Intelligence Committee russia investigators are interviewing one of the president s longestserving aides, rowena graph, for more than three decades shes been his gatekeeper in new york where the hearing was held over objection by democrats on the committee. The United NationsSecurity Council has voted unanimously to impose harsh new sanctions on north korea in response to its Ballistic Missile tests. President trump praised the move in a tweet just moments ago and added, quote, the world wants peace, not death. Now there is new concern about the kim jongun regimes ability to use those missiles to deliver biological weapons, including anthrax and smallpox. Were covering all of that and and much more this hour, including with congressman ted lieu of the judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees. And correspondents and specialists are also standing by. Lets begin with the news on President Trump. Our senior White House Correspondent jeff zeleny is joining us from the white house right now. Jeff, we now know he wanted to hold a yearend News Conference but his aides talked him out of it. What are you hearing . Reporter wolf, that is what we are told tonight by administration officials, the president wanted to do what many president s do and hold a yearend News Conference, but some aides worried the russia investigation and other things could overshadow the conversation. Instead the president invited a few reporters into the oval office as his aides stood by and wat watched as he signed the tax bill into law. This is the bill right here. Were very proud of it. Reporter President Trump signing the tax bill into law today. Injecting a burst of reality show drama into the moment, the president hastily summoning reporters after white house aides said he would sign the bill privately. But from his seat at the resolute deafeni resolute desk, the watching television. We were going to wait until january 7th or 8th and do a big formal ceremony, but every one of the networks was saying will he keep his promise, will he sign to for christmas, before christmas . So i immediately called and said lets get it ready. Reporter the president hoping to send went on a high note, presiding over the first Major Overhaul of the u. S. Tax system in three decades he downplayed concerns of the laws unpopularity with Many Americans or it could be a weight on republicans in the Midterm Elections. I think its selling itself. Its becoming very popular. But i think it will really youll see something on february 1st when they open up the paycheck. Thats when youre going to start to see it. Reporter even as he blasted democrats for standing in unison against the bill, he said he believes his rivals will come aboard next year to support a major infrastructure plan. The democrats very much regret it. They wanted to be a part of it. It just doesnt work out. 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. Reporter its an open question whether bipartisanship is Wishful Thinking or a new years resolution. Harry truman had more legislative approvals than any other president and a record longheld. And we beat him on legislative approvals. Of which i get no credit. Reporter we asked the president if things would have gone smoother if he started with infrastructure rather than trying to repeal obamacare . I could have started with infrastructure. I actually wanted to save the easy one for the one down the road. Well be having that done pretty quickly is in when asked if he had any regrets from the start of his presidency, mr. Trump shook his head no. Yet politico reported a memo from Rana Mcdaniel suggests the gop is in danger of losing its majority in Congress Next year. As republicans place to defend seats in the house and Senate Roy Moore reporter the role of the president s former chief strategist steve bannon remains a critical question. Ate yearend News Conference on capitol hill today, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell made clear he blames bannon for losing a republican seat in alabama. Well, let me just say this, the political genius on display of throwing away a seat in the reddest state in america is hard to ignore. Reporter at the white house, there was no traditional yearend News Conference, like most president s have done. All i want for christmas is to take your questions. With the Holiday Season upon us, im delighted to see americans giving each other the best Christmas Present possible, a strong economy. Reporter in fact, President Trump has not held a formal solo News Conference since february. He was initially planning one to tout his accomplishments, cnn has learned, but some advisers argued against it to avoid being besignings with questions about the russia investigation. That tension was clear in the oval office today as aides tried again and again to escort reporters out. Even as the president seemed eager to talk. A few hours later, mr. Trump arriving in sun splashed florida with a bounce in his step. Greeting supporters as he started a tenday christmas break. Merry christmas. Reporter even though president obama and other president s have long celebrated christmas, mr. Trump has taken credit for shining a new spotlight on the holiday, with one of his super pacs launching this ad. Thank you, President Trump, for letting us say Merry Christmas again. Reporter so that ad playing from one of the trump super pacs, thanking the president allowing people to say neri christmas. That has always been allowed, but it was one of the biggest applause lines at Trump Campaign rallies throughout last year and, indeed, this year as well when he travels across the country. He has seized upon that to talk about christmas. But, wolf, he is at maralago now for a tenday holiday vacation. He calls it a working vacation, of course, keeping an eye on north korea and other threats. As of now, hes flying a bit high from the tax bill he signed into law. Of course well be talking about that all next year as its a central figure in the Midterm Election campaign. Wolf . Certainly will be. Jeff zeleny at the white house, thanks very much. There is breaking news in the russia investigation. The House Intelligence Committee interviewing President Trumps assistant and gatekeeper for more than three decades, rowena graff. Our senior Congressional Correspondent manu raju is here. Hes working this story for us. Manu, a lot of democrats objected to this interview. The fact to it was taking place in new york. Yeah, thats right. This investigation could be coming to an end and thats what democrats in the house particularly are concerned about. They see these interviews being stacked in the way that is meant to expedite the investigation. What youre hearing from member whos are democrats who are concerned about the fact that this is happening on a friday before christmas, where most members will not be attending and its happening in new york, theyre saying, well, why couldnt we wait until january when were back in session . Republicans saying, look, we want to get through all the witnesses as soon as possible. Shes an important witness. Why . Because shes a longtime personal assistant to the president. She worked in the Trump Organization for roughly three decades and presumably knows about any contacts that might have occurred, including matt meeting in june of 2016 with don jr. And the Trump Associates in trump tower. Wolf, in the email exchange between Rob Goldstone and donald trump jr. Setting up the meeting, goldstone references rowena and says i can contact rowena graff instead if you want to take this directly to your father donald trump. Its uncertain whether he went that route. Undoubtedly shell be asked this question today by the committee. The Staff Members are talking to her, not the lawmakers . Some members may attend. But not the full committee for certain. Most of them are out of town. There are also new developments involving Paul Manaforts deputy rick gates who is facing charges in the russia probe. Yeah, thats right. Apparently a federal judge is concerned that perhaps he may have violated his gag order. This because of a controversial lobbyist by the name of jack berkman played a video of him talking to donors essentially, talking about thanking them for their help in their case. The question of that the judge is wondering is whether or not this violated the gag order. And also side note, this lobbyist is a rather controversial person, someone who promoted this Conspiracy Theory about the death of that dnc staffer seth rich. Some questions there as well. One question is whether or not he did anything that the court would not approve of, to violate this gag order. Manu, thank you very much. Lets get some more on all of this. Democratic congressman ted lieu of california is joining us. Hes a member of both the judiciary and the Foreign Affairs committees. Congressman, thanks for joining us. Thank you, wolf. So President Trumps longtime secretary rowena graff has been interviewed by the House Intelligence Committee. She was his gatekeeper, as you know. Some called her his roladex. How useful could her testimony be to investigators . First let me say happy holidays to you and your viewers. In regards to your question, im pleased the House Intelligence Committee is continuing to do interviews. I think it would be tragic if speaker ryan shut shutdown the committee. I think theyre going to look pretty silly because i can guarantee you the Senate Committees and special counsel muellers going to keep on going and theyre going to keep revealing additional evidence, additional facts, so i really hope that the House Committee on intelligence does not shut down. There is a lot of concern, including adam schiff, your california colleague, who is the ranking democrat on that committee, because nothing so far is scheduled for next year. Theyre wrapping things up right now. Lets see what happens on that front. Does your committee, congressman, the judiciary committee, want to interview rowena graff as well . I would be happy to interview her. I do know that we did have a confidential interview of Andrew Mccabe yesterday with the fbi and i would be happy for he came back in an open public hearing because i think america would like to know what he said. Because cnn has learned that Andrew Mccabe, the Deputy Director of the fbi, is one of the people who were briefed contemporaneously by the fired fbi director james comey after his conversations with President Trump. Youre on that judiciary committee. As you correctly point out, mccabe appeared there this week. He appeared before other committees behind closed doris as well. Do you believe mccabe could corroborate comeys account . So i dont want to comment on what he said because it was a confidential testimony hearing, but i would be happy if republicans called him back to an open hearing. I think america would like to know what he said. How do you see all of the attacks on mccabe . Because there is some concern that there is a there is a there is a push to get rid of him by some republicans. As a former prosecutor, i have to say its disgraceful. The attacks by the republicans on Law Enforcement, on fbi agents, on prosecutors. So publicly theyve attacked him because his wife engaged in political contributions. Let me just say the fbi director Christopher Wray gave over 39,000 exclusively to republicans and i trust director wray to do the right thing, to act impartially, because its offensive and demeaning to say that if youre an fbi agent you somehow cant do your job just because you exercised your First Amendment right to make political contributions, its even a farther stretch to say your spouse engaged in certain conduct and somehow that affects your bias. His wife was running for state office in virginia and received a lot of contributions from the virginia governor, Governor Terry mcculloughs pac in virginia. Does he also have to answer for some of those antitrump Text Messages that were sent by two fbi agents and both of those agents, their responsibilities have changed as a result. Theyve been dropped from the mueller probe. So he did not send those Text Messages and when Robert Mueller found out about those Text Messages, he removed the fbi agent who sent those messages. Keep in mind, Robert Mueller is a republican, appointed previously by a republican president and special counsel mueller did absolutely the right thing by removing that agent. We need to let the special counsel investigation continue forward. When you see all of these attacks to smear muellers team, why question is, what are people afraid of . Well, what do you think theyre afraid of . So, when special counsel mueller was appointed, republicans praised him, republicans like Newt Gingrich and others. Now theyre attacking him. The only thing thats changed is two guilty pleas plus two additional indictments. So theyre afraid, i think, of facts and evidence that mueller is uncovering and that is not a good justification to try to smear his team. Are there outstanding questions, congressman, about the handling of the clinton email investigation, are are those questions a distraction from the current russia probe . I believe its a distraction. And last time i checked, Hillary Clinton is not president. Donald trump is president. Our intelligence communities and agencies assessed that russia attacked america last year in the cyber world. They did an influence campaign to undermine the democracy and help donald trump get elected. How much was the Hillary Clinton email investigation a focus of the interview with the Deputy Director of the fbi, mccabe . Again, i dont want to comment on his testimony, but im just going to say, again, i think if he testified again openly and publicly that americans would be interested to know what he said. Well, explain that, if you can elaborate a little bit. Absolutely. He would give you immense confidence in the fbi. By the way, i want to thank the fbi today for thwarting a terrorist attack on pier 39 in california. The fbi is one of our nations preeminent Law Enforcement agencies and it is a dear service for republicans and allies of the president to attack the credibility of 37,000 people of the fbi. Were going to have a lot more on that breaking story later here in the situation room. Congressman, stand by. There are more developments unfolding right now. Well take a quick break. Well resume the interview right after this. Another day of work. Why do you do it . Its not just a pay check, you actually like what you do. Even love it. And today, you can do things you never could before. Youre developing ai applications on the cloud. Finding insights hidden in decades of medical documents. And securing millions of iot sensors. So get back to it. And do the best work of your life. And do the best work of your life. Fotheres a seriousy boomers virus out there thats been