Is minutes away. Plus, a resounding rebuke, 128 countries reject the trump decision to move the u. S. Embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem in israel. Will President Trump stick by his threat to take names and cut off foreign aids to countries that voted against them . This is cnn breaking news. Good afternoon, everyone, welcome to the lead, im jake tapper. Breaking news in the politics lead as a crescendo of criticism grows from trumpfriendly politician and Media Outlets against the special counsels russia investigation, a brand new cnn poll shows that more americans approve of bob muellers handling of the probe than President Trumps approach. I want to get to david challion. This poll was done shortly after the president s former National Security advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his conversations with the russian ambassador. How are the American People perceiving muellers general overall investigation . Thats right, jake, this brand new cnn poll was done about two weeks after that bomb shell news. So that certainly had time to seep in with the american public. Lets take a look at bob muellers Approval Rating about how hes handling the investigation. You see its in positive territory. 34 of americans disapprove of the way muellers handling and a pretdty big nearly one in five americans say theyre not sure how muellers handling, but a plus 13 Approval Rating there. Lets look at the president on this issue, jake, not nearly as good. Hes at 32 approval with how hes handling the russia investigation, in fact, thats a bit lower than his overall 35 approval, 56 disapprove of the way the president handles this, clearly stacked up against mueller, not nearly as good. Obviously theres been a big push from trumpfriendly politicians and trumpfriendly Media Outlets and from the president himself to bash the investigation. The poll asked people if they believe what the president has to say about the investigation, what are the results . Yeah, not very good for the president. Take a look at this, majority of americans, if you add the fall side together here, thats 56 . Majority americans think what they hear from President Trump on the russia investigation is false. In fact, only 8 in this poll, jake, can say that everything they hear from the president is completely true. So, clearly, not so good there, but when you look at it by party, you start seeing how much partisanship matters and how people are viewing this investigation. 73 of republicans think what the president says on the matter is true. 86 of democrats think what the president says on the matter is false. So clearly, partisanship matters when viewing this issue. What about those wider effort to discredit the Mueller Investigation . Is that having an effect . You know, it is, although not overall, broadly with the American People, look, more than six and ten call this investigation a serious matter, only about a third are saying that its just an effort to discredit the president , but if you look at republicans only, on this issue, jake, take a look at this, 16 of republicans now say its a serious matter, 78 see it as an effort to discredit the president and compare that to november. They are on the rise in terms of thinking its an effort to discredit, and they are on the decline of republicans who think its a serious matter. It seems to me if youre watching fox news, if youre listening to republican politicians, if youre listening to the president himself, and as we just noted, believing him, you are starting to see this more and more as an effort to discredit the president. All right. David, thanks so much. Lets talk about this with our panel. I think weve turned the corner a little bit. More republicans are getting on board. I have five things ive been noticing. Number one, theres more House Republicans calling for the firing of Robert Mueller. Number two, Trump Lawyers are asking for an investigation of the investigation, number three, jeff sessions, wants an investigation of the clinton foundation, number four, devin nunez wants an investigation into corruption at department of justice. And lastly, rand paul today called for an investigation of obama holdovers. So to me, that is a big effort from capitol hill and washington to, you know, have a counter to what mueller is trying to do, if not get rid of them outright. Some of the ammunition given to the president s supporters from peter, thats the fbi agent who had written Text Messages critical of President Trump and as well as critical of other people as well, but he was in the middle of the Hillary Clinton investigation and then was part of the Mueller Investigation, and thats been ceased upon by the president s supporters. Yeah. I mean, obviously what they forget or dont mention is that robert mum mueller fired him immediately. I think whats obviously happening here is the Republican Party is worried about what Robert Mueller will find, and so they have a preemptive defense of the president which is to attack the investigation. We see that everywhere else. What i find interesting is that nearly break down these numbers, independents are really coming to the side of Robert Mueller and independents and democrats, and even a lot of republicans think the president is lying about what happened with russia. So, i think the reality here is that obviously the president , people think the president did something wrong and theyre trying to defend him, but with the American People, i think theyre looking for the facts. Phil mud, who used to work for the fbi, let me bring you in. As a former fbi official, do you find this disspiriting when you hear these charges made from people on fox news calling the fbi the kgb, from individuals saying that the on fox news again saying that the fbi maybe even thinking about assassinating donald trump, a claim for which theres zero evidence. What is the reaction like for somebody like you who used to work for the investigation . It is disspiriting. I dont think jake this is about the russia investigation. I think this is about a president of the United States who doesnt understand his role in government. Hes trying to support a trump agenda perfectly appropriate, the tax reform program, perfectly appropriate for a republican president , meanwhile, as the head of the executive branch, that is the sort of ceo for the u. S. Government, hes persuading the American People not to trust the government that he leads. Hes telling the American People not to, not to trust the intelligence professionals who say that russia is intervening in american elections. Hes telling the American People not to trust Law Enforcement professionals who are saying theres a valid investigation, led by the way and supported by a Deputy Attorney general whos a trump nominee, what hes telling the American People and were seeing this in this poll is on the head of the government, and the government i lead is a government that you should not trust. The dimensions of this, jake, are beyond the russia investigation. They go to a president whos persuading the American People that the taxes they pay for their government are taxes that are going to a biassed and partisan government. Thats painful. That is painful. And rebecca, its obviously not just President Trump, devin nunez, the congressman from california, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, he told cnn today that its not secret that he is investigating the Justice Department whether theres corruption at the Justice Department. Of course its not a separate investigation, he says hes also been fighting to get information specifically about the dossier put together by the former british agent, for Opposition Research firm that was being paid by the Clinton Campaign and the dnc. He did say at one point he would step aside from this investigation, but im not sure that he actually has. Well, he did say that, jake, but then, you know, the house committees looked into it, found that he was in a position that he was able to continue his work. So thats kind of behind him. Its in the rearview mirror, but there are going to be questions about devin nunez moving forward because of his role in the whole unmasking controversy because many people now see him as a partisan player in all of this. But you can see why he would be incentivized from a political perspective to try to pursue these investigations. When you look at these numbers of republicans who are skeptical of the Mueller Investigation when you watch fox news or listen to conservative talk radio and hear concerns in those communities and on those programs about a quote unquote deep state in the intelligence community, concerns that are shared by the president himself, its really no surprise that nunez would be going down this road, although it does open him up to criticism, certainly. I want to play some sound from steve mnuchin, the secretary on state of the union that he thinks the Mueller Investigation needs to end. Take a listen. I think it should be over quickly. Since i think there is nothing there. It should be over quickly. And people want to focus on other things. But does that include the president firing mueller when you say you want it over quickly or be allowed to run its course . I dont have any reason to think that the president is going to do that, thats obviously up to him. Whats your reaction to that, phil . Why should it be over quickly . That is the former director of the fbi, Robert Mueller nominated and served under president bush, renominated in a unique moment in American History by president obama, has to follow the facts. Those facts involve everything from reviewing interviews, from Trump Officials to reviewing Financial Information that has led to indictments to reviewing guilty pleas and cooperating from witnesses who have said that they were guilty and lying to the fbi about this investigation. Why would anybody care what the treasury secretary says about an investigation into political corruption by a nominee who by the way was a former nominee of a republican president . What Robert Mueller will do, i served with him for four and a half years, i dont think hell pay a shred of attention to what the treasury secretary says. I dont see why we should care what he says. Dont go anywhere anyway, we have a lot more to talk. Will Congress Give america a lump of coal and allow the government to shut down or will lawmakers pass quick fix to fund uncle sam . The vote begins in just minutes. Stay with us. At tmobile when you holiday twogether, great things come in twos. Like tmobile and netflix. Right now when you get an unlimited family plan, netflix is included. Wow tmobile covers your netflix subscription, so you can catch the hottest new movies and shows all year long on us. Amazing and its your last chance to buy any of these hot new Samsung Galaxy phones and get a 2nd one free. Thats one samsung for you and one to gift. Just in time to finish off your list. Tmobile. Holiday twogether. Morning on the beach until. It. Wasnt. Dont let type 2 diabetes get between you and your heart. Because your risk of heart attack or stroke is up to four times greater. But there are steps you can take to lower your cardiovascular risk. Talk to your Health Care Provider today about diabetic heart disease. And find out more at heartoftype2. Com. Your heart and type 2 diabetes. Make the connection. Were back with the politics lead, yesterday republicans were celebrating a big victory on the tax bill. Today theyre trying to keep the government from shutting down. Just another week in washington. Cnn Congressional CorrespondentPhil Matingly joining me live now. Now republicans think theyll have the votes to avert a shut down. Reporter you know as the jet fumes rise, the drama fades. Lawmakers to want go home. I think thats been the biggest differentiator, House Republicans were really struggling to find the votes for this bill, now they feel like theyre comfortable. Theyre in a good place. Lets look at what this would do. It would extend the government funding until january 19th, it would also include 3 billion to reauthorize the Childrens HealthInsurance Program through march. Include a short Term Extension of Warrantless Surveillance Program that expires. Also waive the automatic spending cuts that would come because of the deficit effect of the tax bill. Also key to look at what this bill doesnt do. Particularly given the grand ambitions of some lawmakers just a couple of weeks ago. Its not a longterm reauthorization. It doesnt touch much of the budget cap issue that will lead to sequestration, large cuts across the Defense Industry and other places as well. Its not a longterm reauthorization of the Childrens HealthInsurance Program, people a fiveyear reauthorization. Its not a longterm reauthorization of the Surveillance Program and while the house is expected to pass hurricane Disaster Relief funding, the senate is not going to take that up. A lot of work left undone thatll have to be addressed in january, at least for now, looks like no shutdown is on tap, jake. Phil matingly on capitol hill for us. Why has it been so tough for them to get the Childrens HealthInsurance Program reauthorized . This was signed into law initiated by hatch and ted kennedy. Bipartisan, it helps kids who arent poor enough to qualify for medicaid but dont have enough money to have insurance. It would seem to be a no brainer. You have bipartisan consensus that this should be reauthorized. Its just a question of the particulars, how are they going to get it done and how are they going to pay for it . When republicans in the house passed the reauthorization a few weeks ago, sent it to the senate, democrats opposed it because they opposed a measure that would have paid for some of it by increasing the rates for wealthier people who use the programs. Democrats oppose that, they said there shouldnt have to be a pay for that, you know, if republicans were concerned about the deficit, they wouldnt have passed tax reform to increase the deficit. So thats really what theyre quibbling over right now and trying to sort out that everyone seems to agree that this should be reauthorized in some form. Kids and their parents are actually worried daytoday before the Holiday Season about what theyre going to have. The Childrens HealthInsurance Program, i think it is outrageous that they spent a deficit adding 1. 5 trillion, and are leaving without giving that assurance program, thats 15 billion a year. Youre right, there were quibbling about the cost and the cost of health care from other people to pay for and democrats dont want to do that. Theyre looking at a world where we should cut Health Insurance for some people. I think, you know, i think the American People could ask how its possible that the congress, which is run by republicans can pass a trillion and a half tax cut for people who are in the top 1 . 81 of benefits when it comes to Health Insurance. Amanda, i know you care about the deficit and the national debt. Do you think, are you worried that the republicans have basically now just taken away any moral argument on that because they did pass this tax bill which, you know, conservative estimates are it will add a trillion dollars to the national debt. Some people dispute itll cost a huge economic boom. But thats not what the most analysis are. Heres what it comes down to, once in a lifetime chance to pass tax reform. There is no appetite for spending cuts. Until theres some press that stands up and say programs they want to cut to heal the deficit, that is outside the defense, it just isnt going to happen. Why on earth are republicans going to keep going to their constituents and say, spend your money, give it to washington so that were going to continue to waste it . They made the calculation that okay, we cant cut the deficit. The least we can do is help people keep their money. And if they want to come back and democrats decide theres some programs they want