Is it i a sure thing . Start with marco rubio. He said he was a no. He held out in exchange for a boost in the Child Tax Credit. Lawmakers quickly worked to meet his demands. So he got a 300 boost in the Child Tax Credit for working class families so hes now on board. Then you have bob corker, the republican from tennessee. He caved without winning any concessions, but said he didnt want to stand in the way of republicans progress. So with those two yeses, the house is now scheduled to vote on tuesday, the senate a day later on wednesday, potentially, potentially, fulfilling the president s Christmas Wish of signing this bill into law by the holiday break. President trump, earlier today, aaron, he touted the tax plan while on the south lawn, talking to reporters and he played up a feature in the bill that is designed to give companies breaks on profits earned overseas. Take a look. As an example, we think 4 trillion will come flowing back into the country. Thats money thats overseas, stuck there for years and years. It was 2. 5 trillion, then it was 3. 5, its probably over 4 trillion. This is money thats been stuck there for years and its going to come pouring back into the country. Now, the numbers the president laid out there are debatable, as is the question of what Companies Might do with the money they get to keep thanks to the tax break. Republicans say theyll invest that money in hiring new employees. Democrats and independent analysts say theres little proof of that. Nonetheless, republicans are hitting the fft forward on this tax plan, one reason for the rush, a republican aide tells me the gop knows it will be much harder for the party to pass things once doug jones, the democrat from alabama, is sworn in, in the senate. And as you know, the party is anxious to have something to show Republican Voters and donors for having control of the house, the senate, and of course the white house, for the first time in more than a decade. Aaron . Jeff bennett at the white house for us tonight, thank you. The gop has been celebrating the final version of its tax reform bill as a major victory for both the party and the american people. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell says the plan will, quote, bring real relief to the middle class by taking money out of washingtons pocket and putting it into theirs. President trump claims the cuts will foster job growth and higher wages, but according to bloomberg politics, Major Companies like cisco systems, pfizer, cocacola, they all say theyll turn over most gains proposed from the Corporate Tax cuts to their shareholders, undercutting President Trumps promise that his plan will create jobs and boost wages for the middle class. Now the plan also has seen brutally low approval numbers in recent polling. Theres a new quinnipiac poll that shows only 26 of americans approve of the tax plan, while 55 disapprove. For more on who the winners and losers are in this bill, lets bring in our panel now, coauthor of political playbook daniel lipman, ethics chair at the pointer institute, indira lokt ran an. And jay newton small, contributor for time magazine. Daniel, who wins and who loses in this bill . So a lot of rich folks, some of trumps friends, they are among the biggest winners. Apple, you know, your maker of your iphone, theyre going to make a lot of money off this bill. Some of the losers include doctors and lawyers, lowincome people, middle class families. Theyll get a temporary tax cut, but in a years, that tax cut goes away. Those Corporate Tax cuts, they are ended. They are permanent. So i think there will be a push to make those middleclass tax cuts permanent in eight years, but thats not how we see it right now. Indir a i mentioned this poll that were seeing from quinnipiac university, it shows that 26 of americans approve of this plan, only 26 . 55 disapprove of it. Theres another meris poll that shows 52 of americans think the bill will mostly hurt them, while only 30 believe it will mostly help them. And theres a new Associated Press norc poll that indicates 52 of americans think the country is worse off since President Trump took office. You take all that information, given all this information about how americans are feeling right now, why push, why pass this bill . Well, i think daniel started to put his finger on it. It obviously benefits trump, a lot of his donors, a lot of wealthy individuals who have contributed to the Republican Party and the president is very, very keen to get a big legislative win. One of the things he campaigned on was repeal and replace obamacare. He was not able to do that. Paul ryan, Mitch Mcconnell and President Trump all want a big win. And theyve dubbed it tax reform. Obviously 75 of americans, as you point out, are not convinced that its reform in a positive sense, but they will be able to push this through, it looks like, before the end of the year, before christmas. I mean, although in the shortterm, we see a doubling of the personal exemption or the exemption for married couples, so this will be good for many taxpayers in the shortterm, what we also know is that by 2019, people who make 30,000 or less are going to be paying more taxing than they are today. And by 2025, that basically applies to everybody. So as daniel said, theres the concern about what can they make permanent in all this . But the vast majority, the lions share of the benefit is really going to upper income people and corporations, from all the independent, nonpartisan analysis that weve seen. Jay, i have to wonder, if it would be wiser for republicans to take a little more time, to work on a better bill that will earn better Approval Ratings in the polls before they try to present something to the american people. Absolutely, aaron. Theres been a lot of concern about the rush to push this bill through so quickly. The last time we did tax reform on this level was during Ronald Reagans era, and that actual took more than a year to draft. And there were still unintended consequences. The entire savings and loans scandal came from a loophole that was born out of that bill that the drafters never anticipated. So to rush through tax reform in a matter of six weeks, drafting it and getting it through both chambers of commerce, leaves a lot of people very concerned that this is based much more on politics, much more on trying to get a win in before the midterm elections next year and a lot less about what can happen potentially down the road with this policy. Daniel, both marco rubio and bob corker were critical votes for the gop to win over, in order to get it moving forward. Theyre now on board. Was it just political theater from rubio and corker this week . Was that a feigned resistance to the bill, or was that real from them . I think they genuinely believe that they should push their Republican Leaders to get some substantive changes and they did make some progress on increasing, you know, the Child Tax Credit a few hundred bucks, but at the end of the day, kevin brady and Mitch Mcconnell and paul ryan, they all promise that this bill would make it so that americans could fill out their tax cuts their tax reforms on a postcard, and yet that i made the tax system much more complicated. There are many more loopholes now. They wanted three different brackets for tax cuts and now you have eight brackets. And so this is no postcard that you really can mail to the irs. Its much more complicated than that. Indira, what does this plan do for republicans going into the 2018 mid terms . Well, it, again, allows them to go back to their base with the claim that theyre giving them a tax break. It allows them to go back to their donors, we know that there were major republican donors who were basically saying, were not going to take your calls, to congress and the white house, unless you get through this tax bill. I mean, i think the larger picture, of course, is it going to work in the long run, to simulate the economy in the way that the president and his advisers claim . And what we saw after the reagan tax changes was trickledown economics doesnt actually work, according to the study. So the whole idea that you give more money to corporations, which, by the way, american corporations are making record profits right now. So its not exactly as if they are needing more of these tax brea breaks, for that reason. More ground to cover with this panel, theyll be back with us later in the hour. Thank you all. Thank you. Still ahead, pardon possibility . President trump skirts questions about the future of Michael Flynn. Plus, damage control, the president s soninlaw reportedly seeking out a pr firm to help protect his image as the russia investigation intensifies. At planters we know how to throw a remarkable holiday party. Just serve classy snacks and be a gracious host, no matter who shows up. Do you like nuts . When heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites. And youd think with all these options car it would be easy. But only true car shows you what others paid for the car you want and you can connect with certified dealers who offer prices based on this same information. None of those other sites do that. This is true car. Welcome back. New reporting today on the mueller investigation. According to axios, muellers team has obtained tens of thousands of trump transition emails. The news comes as republicans continue to attack the special counsel. Disgusting, unaccountable bias. And theres no way that could not affect a persons work. Gop lawmakers blasted the fbi and the Justice Department earlier this week as they tried to paint mueller as a democrat sympathizer, out to get President Trump. D Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein fired back, dismissing the claims. Have you seen good cause to fire special counsel mueller . No, i believe based upon his reputation, his service, his patriotism, and his experience with the department and the fbi, i believe he was an ideal choice for this task. The fbi taking another hit on friday with President Trump criticizing the agencys role in the russia investigation, once again casting a shadow of doubt over the intelligence community. Joining me now is ned price, msnbc contributor and former special assistant to president obama. And richard painter, chief mouse ethics lawyer under george w. Bush. Gentlemen, thank you for being here. Thank you. Ned, talk to me about this new report coming from axios. Whats the significance of the trump transition emails here . Well, aaron, whats been reported so far is that bob muellers team gained access to a cache of about 10,000 transition emails from the gsa. Thats the General Services administration, a federal government entity. Now, the Trump Lawyers are crying foul, claiming that bob mueller had absolutely no right to gain access to these emails but i think what were seeing here is just another attack on the mueller investigative team. The Trump Lawyers are saying that these emails could have been privileged. They could have been confidential. These were done on a government server. And bob mueller, apparently went to gsa, using the right channels, obtained the emails, and it seems to me that what the Trump Lawyers are most concerned with are really two things discrediting mueller, as i said, and number two, theyre very concerned with the fact that bob mueller seems to have had emails in his possession when he was questioning top trump transition officials, like Jared Kushner, like hope hicks, others who were involved in the transition. And mueller was armed with those emails. So he may have known answers to the questions he was asking them. And Trump Lawyers may be quite concerned that the answers that transition officials offered may not have been totally truthful. So, richard, in the meantime, these allegations about bias against trump, is this a good strategy for the president as the Investigation Continues . Any sensible republican isnt going to make that allegation. Robert mueller is a man of impeccable credentials and hes a republican. He was appointed by a republican Deputy Attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who was appointed by President Trump. This is a very professional investigation. Theres zero evidence of bias. This is just a bunch of garbage heaped up on fox news and then the congressmen get up there and repeat that. But its been made very clear by the Trump Administration itself, including Rod Rosenstein, including the new director of the fbi, that the fbi is in good shape. The fbi knows what its doing. Robert mueller knows what hes doing. One thing is clear, there was collaboration between some operatives in the Trump Campaign and the russians. We dont know if that collaboration was legal or illegal. We dont know who has been lying about it. We know a lot of people have been lying, at least general flynn, george papadopoulos, and a number of people are under investigation for lying, as well as those who have been indicted. Bottom line, this investigation needs to go forward. Its critical to our national security. Republicans want it to go forward, as well as democrats. Yes, there are a few republicans that are making a lot of noise, but i dont think those who want to get reelected in 2018 are going to be out there and carrying the president s furthermore, a lot of people may wonder whether the members of congress themselves have a putin problem, whether some of their Campaign Contributors are linked to putin. And that needs to be investigated as well. And those who are making the most noise may have the most things to hide on that. You mentioned Michael Flynn here. Could the president be secretly signaling to Michael Flynn that a pardon is still a possibility. And what could that mean for this investigation . Well, i dont know what hes talking about pardoning someone who is currently cooperating with the fbi. But that sounds like witness tampering to me. I wouldnt talk that way if i were the president. Hes already got himself exposed on the obstruction of justice charge because of his firing of james comey and attempts to fire robert mueller. Or talking about firing robert mueller. I think talking about pardons in the middle of an investigation, thats not a good idea. Its going to look like hes basically trying to bribe a witness, use a pardon as basically hush money. I want to ask you about Jared Kushner, ned. There are reports hes hiring a pr crisis team. Is he panicking . Well, whats especially interesting about this report, aaron, is the fact that Jared Kushner already has a press person working for him in the white house. Its quite unusual for a white house Senior Adviser to have his or her own press attache, but thats exactly what Jared Kushner has. So for jared to go out and to retain a separate firm to now work for him, certainly could fuel speculation and i think, not unfounded speculation, that they expect something to be coming. Whether thats charges, whether thats Something Else entirely, they seem to be gearing up for the next round, for which theyre calling in reinforcements, which i think is an interesting move. Certainly refocuses attention on him at this point too. Thank you both for your time. Thank you. Thank you. Still ahead, a familiar face taking on a new role in the fight against Sexual Harassment. Anita hill will head up a commission in hollywood, as more big names face accusations. The ford yearend sales event is in full swing. you are going to be a big surprise. whining aww, i see a big puppy. I see a biig puuppy. Hey greg thats ford, americas bestselling brand. Now get exclusive holiday offers, with 0 financing for 72 months across a full line up. For a limited time, get an additional 1,000 cash back on top of 0 financing for 72 months. Get these exclusive offers during the ford year end sales event. 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