9 00 in the east, 6 00 a. M. Out west. Heres whats happening. Taxing situation. The battles that lie ahead, the gop gets ready to rewrite the u. S. Tax code. Were going to tell you about one idea that could keep high earners from getting a big break. Gone but not forgotten, the lives of four american soldier were remembered this weekend while the search for answers intensifies. New insight into why so many troops are in africa and what their mission is. You knighted front. For the first time in years, five former president s gather on stage at the same time. What prompted the gathering and how it helped so many in need. But we begin with politics and President Trumps ongoing feud with democratic congresswoman Frederica Wilson, entering the sixth day with the president ramping up his attacks in a tweet again this morning saying wacky Congresswoman Wilson is the gift that keeps on giving for the republican party, a disaster for dems. You watch her in action and vote r. In a series of tweets last night, President Trump focus ed
error. As josh said, he could have handled this so much better by saying, if i was misunderstood, i apologize, i respect the service. And instead hes elevated it into this National Week long fight that has no end in sight. He went after a Gold Star Family on the campaign, this is territory hes gone down before and knows it doesnt end well. Hes incapable of restraining himself and admitting any kind of error, apologizing in any kind of way. To the tweet about the dossier, the president again asking the Justice Department to interfere in the russia investigation, which is centered on him and his campaign. Is this another sign of President Trump feeling the heat or do you think these tweets feel a little different to you . The strange thing to me is that the president seems a lot more focused on the dossier than almost anybody else. It is really it seems to have shaken him through the whole investigation, unprompted and insisting that what is in the dossier is not true. Time, similarly to the conversation about the johnson family, hes incapable of avoiding making anything about himself. And in terms of people paying for things, these tweets came out less than an hour after the Washington Post put out that report on the president pledging 430,000 to help pay the legal fees for some of his aides. Is that what the tweets are all about, what can you tell us about the pledge, 430,000 seems like a small amount for legal fees. In this line of work it is not much at all. This pledge comes after the rnc paid roughly that amount in legal fees. There was controversy about that, people giving money to the rnc doesnt know the money goes to lawyer and not campaign activities. But youre right, it is not very much money. I talked to somebody in the Clinton White house wrapped up in that scandal there. They were not directly connected to anything close to the millon
and says you can have a tax cut that leads up to 1. 5 trillion in Deficit Increases over the next decade. And then following that, it has to reduce the deficit or not increase it. That creates the box in which they have to write the tax reform bill. They have to argue about what to do with the space inside the box. There is a lot of competing interests, even among republicans on the hill. Rand paul has been out there attacking the plan for the fact that it raises taxes on many middle income families. The plan needs to be substantially changed to hold the families harmless. John mccain skeptical, people sometimes forget he voted against both of the bush tax cuts. Senator bob corker, retiring senator from tennessee, has been saying he doesnt want a tax plan that raises the deficit at all. People can change their minds about things, can compromise but also a number of other people like senator mike lee from Utahed Are Voluntary Cautah Ed Advocating a larger child tax
credit. The plan as written according to the Tax Policy Center would lead to more than 2 trillion in Deficit Increases. You have people saying they want to give out new goodies, you have people who want a bigger child credit, you need to take stuff away to fit things in the box. So thats going to be the really hard political part, making those decisions about who wins and who loses and thats what i think makes it really difficult to actually get a tax reform done, if you did the plan as it is now, you have 25 of American Families actually paying more taxes than under current law by 2026. That would be very unpopular, the changes you have to make to avoid that unpopularity. The way this will potentially squeeze 401 k plans, that will be a huge discussion point. Your concerns as well on this . I think theyre trying to thread a very thin needle here. Passed with the thinnest of margins, the budget before we get to taxes. The president and the white house have been reaching out aggressively to democrats that are up for reelection in states
that trump won. So far no real success there. So it looks like they have to do this almost entirely with just that 52 vote republican majority. Very, very thin, they already lost rand paul. It is going to be really tough. Josh and alex, good to see you both. Thank you. To the investigation in niger, new attack there, saturday left 13 Paramilitary Police officers dead, gunmen on trucks and motorcycles crossed the border and fired on a security base. Hans nickles is in washington with more with what officials want to know about that attack. Good morning. Reporter good morning. The families continue to mourn, congress is preparing to ask some hard questions next week, not only about this specific mission, but the overall strategy this that is putting american troops at risk in
africa. Army Sergeant La David Johnson was laid to rest saturday near his home in florida. His pregnant widow kissing his casket as she held an american flag. Johnson was killed in an ambush in niger earlier this month with three of his comrades, his body found one mile from the ambush site, 48 hours after the deadly attack. There was hope he was still alive with his beacon emitting a signal. The New York Times reports that some nigerian Officials Say the Army Convoy Spotted and chased insurgents until they crossed into neighboring mali. The times adds that the american soldiers did not mention giving chase. And they claimed they were ambushed and surrounded by insurgents outside a village. Possibly tipped off by tribal leaders who they were meeting. All week, pentagon officials have insisted that u. S. Forces
arent in niger to hunt extremists. Our missions are advise and assist, we are not directly involved in combat operations. Reporter a senior congressional aide tells nbc news the ambush stemmed in part from a massive intelligence failure. Congress now demanding more information on Counterterrorism Missions across africa. Have to keep us informed so we can make good decisions about do we want 1,000 soldiers in niger . If we dont want them, the way to deal with it is to cut off funding. Reporter the commander told Congress Earlier this year he had only a quarter of the reconnaissance flights he needed. The readiness of the airplanes has gotten better. But when you go from 12 to 6, the capacity is cut in half. And the impact, we have to do a better Job Coordinating and sharing assets because the continent is extremely large. Yes, sir. Reporter there are roughly 800 u. S. Troops in niger, most of them building a drone base, which will serve as a hub for a
drone Network Across all of africa. Thank you so much for that. He called on voters to reject the politics of division and fear, but there was another reason former President Obama returned to the campaign trail this week. Ill speak with democratic Congressman Jeffries about that next. Up to a gillette shave. And at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. T music [announcer] imagine what you wear every day actually making your body feel better. Thats exactly what Tommie Copper does for people everywhere. They call it wearable wellness, and Tommie Copper has infused it into everything they do. Why not experience the difference Tommie Copper can make in your life . Visit tommiecopper. Com to see the entire line of wearable wellness compression. Go right now and find out how you can save 25 on your first purchase plus free shipping. Life hurts. Feel better. Of new york, he sits on the judiciary and budget committees. With a big welcome to you, sir. Does the white house have a point there . Is there a line that should be drawn when it comes to topics like this when theyre so personal. A line that should be drawn and the one that broke through that line and highly inappropriate way was donald trump, the president , as well as the white house. Im stunned that the white house Chief Of Staff would make the decision to engage in Character Assassination against Congresswoman Wilson, a longstanding, well known civic advocate, activist, down in south florida. Im stunned that to justify that Character Assassination the white house Chief Of Staff would functionally lie about the speech that Congresswoman Wilson delivered back in 2015 during the building dedication and stunned at the fact that on the same day that Sergeant La David Johnson would be funeralized that the commander in chief, donald trump, will be at the
not at the white house, will be playing golf and attacking Congresswoman Wilson who is sitting at the funeral. Would you be appeased, would you think the majority of americans who take offense to this whole tit for tat back and forth, would they be appeased if general kelly were to say i misremembered what happened in that speech at the fbi build ing dedication and i apologize for my mistake . That would be the right thing to do. Doesnt appear that the white house has ever had any interest in apologizing or clarifying misinformation or misstatements that have come out of 1600 pennsylvania avenue. We all assume that the adult in the room is general kelly. And he would be the one to take that type of mature step, hopefully well see it in the week to come. We have a whole host of issues that we need to get behind in terms of this particular drama that has been inflicted upon the American People, we need to deal
with tax rae foeform, strengthe the Affordable Care act, protecting the dreamers, the white house has us mired in conflict, controversy and confusion. I want to ask you about a political report saying that the president is personally interview ed two candidates, this for Jeffrey Berman and ed mcnally. The white house is saying it is the president who is making these nominations. So since theyre candidates, he has the right to speak to them and figure out and try to decide for their position on things. But it has been raising concerns. Can you chalk this up to political novice on behalf of the president or more . I doubt it. It seems to be of concern to a lot of people who are interested in Good Government and the even handed administration of justice. These u. S. Attorneys functionally focus their energies as a chief Law Enforcement officer for their
particular jurisdiction. Manhattan happens to be the home of donald trump. And what is troubling about it is this evidence of an effort to help shape the mentality and the mind set of the individual who will be eventually confirmed as the top Law Enforcement officer, because the president is concerned about the investigation into his campaigns possible collusion with russian spies, interfering with the election, it will be best just to leave the process alone, make sure that it is not political, as every other president in the history of the republic with the possible exception of Richard Nixon has done. It is my understanding that President Obama never conducted any of these candidacy interview s, is that correct . Thats correct. As far as i understand it. Neither did george w. Bush or george h. W. Bush or Ronald Reagan or bill clinton. House is gearing up for big
legislation. You mentioned it. Tax reform. Top of mind of many certainly. In the coming weeks, look, there will be a lot of debates about this idea of a fourth tax bracket we heard about. House Speaker Paul Ryan says the idea is to put that in place to make sure high earners dont get a big drop in their income tax requirements. So is this something you are on board with . Well, im on board with focusing on trying to create better jobs, better wages and Better Future for the American People and part of creating that Better Future which is what House Democrats are all about is making sure that tax reform is done from the middle out. If anyone deserves a tax cut in america, it is the middle class. What appears to be happening is that president donald trump, republicans in the house and the senate, continue to put forward this failed theory of trickle down economics. Where there is an argument if you cut taxes for the wealthy and the well off, everyone else will benefit. The problem is that there is no evidence of that having
happened. If anything, what you do is you explode the deficit, the wealthy and well off save the money, put it into things other than creating jobs for middle class americans, and wages will remain stagnant. That was the record of george w. Bush, that was the record during Ronald Reagans tax cuts and if it happens again, it will fail again. Well do everything we can to stop it. I want to ask you about former President Obama on the campaign there in the Gubernatorial Race in virginia. Among the theory that or concerns that black voter enthusiasm is waning, they say the sentiment goes beyond that of virginia, and new jersey, and more should be done by the party about all of this. What are your thoughts . Well wi, certainly in the context of president Barack Obamas historic eightyear tenure, he was always going to be a very difficult act to follow because he would naturally be a vehicle to create a great deal of enthusiasm among
africanamericans, people of color, young people and many others across the United States. Jackie robinson who broke the Color Barrier was a tough act to follow. But that said it would be issue that i think will be important in driving africanamerican turnout moving forward and we can all do a better job of speaking to the concerns of the africanamerican community, higher rates of unemployment than anyone else in this country, the mass incarceration phenomena, the voter suppression, the rise of the altright and the White Supremacist Movement in america, all issues that were going to be sensitive to, speak to, with a laser like focus, and in the aftermath of President Obamas tenure in office, those will be the issues that will drive africanamericans to the polls, to turn things around in this country. Thank you so much for the conversation. I appreciate it. Still ahead, bill oreilly firing back at a New York Times report of a multimillion Dollar Settlement and the amount will
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