Washington. And finally, protests rock iran. The iranian people are angry at the rising tide of corruption in their daily lives. Reporter President Trump warns the u. S. Is watching. Whats the next move . This is mtp daily, and it starts right now. Good evening im chuck todd here in washington. Welcome to mtp daily and welcome to 2018. We begin the year with a president who probably feels like he could do everything. But we could end the year with a midterm wave that prevents him from doing anything. The big question, how far is this president willing to go to get what he wants . He seems unleashed and on the clock making mr. Trump a wild card of Epic Proportions as washington confronts an epic to do list. He was unleashed in that impromptu year end interview with the New York Times which its own staff didnt know about until after the fact at maralagoo. He told them he could do whatever he wants with the justice department. Spouted conspiracy theories object russia and claimed that he killed obamacare. Today he is talking about building a wall, cragging down on north korea, jailing huma abedin, and the deep state justice department. Thats a quote. And this is how we rung in the first press briefing of the new year w the white house being pressed to explain some of those recent president ial statements. Does this Administration Believe that the deep state is a real thing, that there is this shadow government out there actively plotting to sabotage him . Look, the president finds some of those actions very disturbing and he thinks that we need to make sure if there is an issue that its looked at. Is the president requesting that the department of justice investigate huma abedin . And how did he reach this conclusion that she should be in jail given she hasnt been convicted or indicted on any crime. The president wants to make sure that he doesnt feel anyone should be above the law. The president is seemingly living in a conservative echo chamber cheering the tax twin and his appointments of conservative judges and the rollback of some obama an herra regulations. So with his right flank behind him, how far will the president go to get what he wants . On immigration, he says he wants this. I got elected partially because of a border wall. Oh, we are going to have the wall. Dont worry. On the russia probe, he wants it finished and or discredited. That was a democrat hoax. It was an excuse for losing the election. And it should have never been this way where they spent all these millions of dollars. Its a shame what happened with the fbi. Really really disgraceful. On trade, he wants china to pay. We cant continue to allow china to rape our country. And thats what they are doing. Its the greatest theft in the history of the world. But what he says on the Campaign Trial and what he does in the oval office on china is sometimes two different things. Bottom line, january is shaping up to be a legislative and executive log jam that includes those and other issues whether it is government funding daca, health care or trade with china as the russia investigation hangs over everything. Top white house officials are meeting with the big four kong leaders tomorrow to begin talks in the new year at a moment when Neither Party seems interested in working together under this president. The core of the Democratic Party wants to begin impeachment proceedings and the core of the Republican Party seemingly wants whatever this president s wants. Joining me now, mark meadows the chairman of the powerful House Freedom caucus. It has 30 members. A good 25 or 30 votes are representative of your caucus . We try to get together and make sure we have a united front when it comes to the conservative voice. More importantly its not about the 35 members, chuck. Its about the millions of people who feel like washington, d. C. Has forgotten them. Thats why the caucus was formed, certainly its why they have influence on capitol hill. You definitely have flurchs and these Building Blocks to get the deals, the compromises done. Lets face it you are not going to get everything you want. Chuck and nancy wont get everything they want. Im shocked. And the president wont. Whats fatalistic and whats possible . Lets start with daca and the deferred action for the d. R. E. A. M. Ers. Is this going to be a narrow deal first of all, are you supportive of some form of protection for these folks . We have been working closely with the administration and some of my democrat colleagues even some republicans that perhaps are more moderate on immigration than i would be because the president set a deadline in march to deal with the 674,000 people that had deferred action. Right. We are going to get a deal. We have been working behind the scenes not only with members but with the white house as well to try to do that. But the president has been very specific on what he wants to see. You had it there in the leadup. The wall is everything to him. Well, its Border Security. I asked that because you heard the rhetoric. There is chants of border wall. You heard from democrats saying they will support any compromise on daca as long as the wall is not part of it. Why would they not want Border Security . They are going to come down to a fundamental decision. Are they willing to protect these individuals, some 600,000 or 700,000 individuals from deportation in exchange for a secure border and really enforcement that all americans, whether its the 674,000 or the 318 million should enjoy. I mean so why is it this without the other . What you are telling me is you think the wall is very much a part of this conversation, it hasnt been taken to of the table . It has not been taken off the table. Chain migration, making sure we enchain migration. And weve seen the last two terror attacks with this Visa Lottery Program somehow bag factor along with chain migration. So those three kpoeb entz are critically important to the president and something that weve got to discuss. Is there a chance that you just see, since you might not be able to come into agreement on all the other things this seems to be consensus on protecting the 700,000 folks. Is there somehow is that the lastminute snare i dont remember here . I dont see it being a lastminute scenario by itself. Heres the reason why. If you deal with those 600,000 or 700,000 individuals without changing the fundamental reason why they are here and the fact that well just be dealing with it again. You have seen previous administrations, both democrat and republican, try to deal with it. And they have never been able to deal with it. Lets go ahead, once and for all. Lets do something his forric and make sure we address it. You want this bill to be big, when i say big, expansive, deal with the entire immigration law. Like gang of eight style . Not saying the gang of eight bill but that comprehensive . I would like to see it bigger in terms of Border Security and dealing with this deportation issue. That being said, i want to be truthful, i mean there have been a number of discussions, do you do something really small . Do you do something in the middle . Or something really big . There has been more of an appetite too do it either big or in the middle than something skinny. How connected to the American Funding bill is daca now. This january 19th expiration date, does daca have to be agreed on before that . If you talk to democrats they are going to want to attach to it that funding. Conservatives said lets keep as a separate issue. You think march is the real deadline. March is the deadline. You are not talking about deportation until months after that even if we hit that deadline. But the deadline is march. But the other part is im encouraging leadership to do something bold in the next two weeks. Lets discuss and it see if we can get a bipartisan agreement you. Want it this month. Yes, in house. Because the senate is slower to act. Yes, i see it being dealt with long before infrastructure. What should be the priority for 2018 . You got taxes out of the way. You have got to keep the lights on. Lets separate them. Daca has to be dealt with because you have this deal. Lets talk about what you could do. There is talk of welfare reform, infrastructure. Lets be realistic. Its an Election Year. You might not get any bites. Whats the priority . From a priority standpoint, what is doable. Infrastructure is doable. Im on the infrastructure committee. We have been working on that for months. Thats something that honestly when you talk about bridges and roads and transit, it actually brings delts and republicans together. Sure. Because everybody has a road or a bridge in their district. I think that we can get a deal there. Now, the size of that deal becomes critically important because you know fur talking about a trillion dollars in Infrastructure Spending which this pre has committed to do. Is that a real trillion or a government trillion dollars . Are you suggest there is mat in washington and math on main street. Im just asking i think its trillion of investment. Taxpayer dollars or a Public Private partnership or some other type of dollars. It is a trillion dollars. Thats a priority. The well form reform aspect, it gets down to this, should able body adults with nondependent children have a work requirement, either 20 hours at work, 20 hours at school or 20 hours volunteering at a local municipality, should they be required to do that in order to get welfare. Modelled off of the georgia system by the way. There is a maine system. Its not new. We have had this under democrat administrations. There have been work requirements. There have. We have been waved those. I think we put the value back in work. I think those two things. You seem to be nervous about the political climate. You were very careful what you said about this and about the white house. You said well their political shop could use some work and essentially you think they are improving. What do you mean . What could they improve on . Decision making . How do you best allocate the president s time . No. Listen, the president has been a celebrity when he ran for office. He is now elected in office. Now he has become a historical figure in terms he have has gotten tax reform, moved the embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem. They are going to look at his name attached to those two things historically. When we look at the political operation it is not what the president does. Its about making sure that on this very thing of tax reform we passed it historically, nine out of ten viewers watching right now are getting more of their money back in this new tax bill. Thats not actually being communicated effectively, so we have got to do a better job of that. You are admitting 10 are getting a tax hike. Depending where you live, new york, california, new jersey. Its not as great in those and its actually, depending on which study, it would be 95 . But certainly, there are some who will pay more taxes. You have to be intellectually honest about those things. Charlie den said this over the break about loyalty to the president. He said, you know, before donald trump became president the litmus test for republicans was about the eye dideological confy and purity. Now the litmus test has changed. The litmus test is loyalty to the president. Is he right . You are talking about a man who has openly disagreed with the president. And im one of his biggest defenders. He calls you out my name. He does. And i always take his call. I am a one of the few members he tweeted about when i had a disagreement on health care. I dont like to bring that back up. You dont of want to bring up sure. But this is not about loyalty to the president. This is about loyalty do you think this he views loyalty as simply loyalty to him and not to something larger . No, i think this is about loyalty to the american people. My voting card, and charlie dents voting card has our pictures on it but it doesnt blonde to us. It belongs to the people we represent. Do you think the fbi is biased against the president. I think the fbi has engaged in activities that they shouldnt be engaged in. Lets take the most recent New York Times report that came out over the last few days. In that report you have six reporters reporting anonymous sources. But in the actual report they talked about the fact they have interviewed agents both current and former agents, fbi, doj agents, for their story. Now, what agent would actually opine or give a reporter information on an Ongoing Investigation . It is a cardinal sin and they cant do that. This is an i issue all the time. I do think there are people at the very top of the fbi that are not carrying out their constitutional duty without bias. Let me ask you this, if they were so antitrump why did they keep the investigation into the president as a candidate secret and why did they reopen the investigation into the president s opponent . This is where the facts dont fit the charges. You know me im one that will go to the facts. We also know that there was conversations and actually within doj and the fbi where, actually, documents or conversations were shared with the media prior to november 8th of 2016. And thats all going to come out. I under. But what im trying to understand is what part of the investigation itself i mean has any like falsified fact been found yet . Like there is an implication here there are rogue agents running around creating fake investigations. Well, there is all kinds of falsified facts, chuck. If you look at what up etrying to find one on some of the accusations that are out there. The dossier. The dossier is not an fbi product. You are right. It is a 12 million democrat product of custom the fbi coopted listen, we dont have to look any further than bruce orr. Why would he be meeting with the person who wrote the dossier . Let me ask you something, if there is wrong that happened why is everybody worried about the investigators . Heres why they are worried about the investigators and why i believe we need to stregt the investigators with a special prosecutor. Through the Looking Glass type of stuff. When you have fbi agents sharing with the media internal documents and internal conversations with the media on an Ongoing Investigation, that is not supposed to happen. Under that scenario then everything that washington has reported on for the last 50 years deserves a special prosecutor, sir. No no, no im not saying that you and i but law enforce men is held to a different standard. I understand that, but we are going to go round and round and im going to run out of time. Congressman ill leave it there. Thank you for coming in. Coming up next, President Trump asked senator hatch to stay. Today he said no. Based on your budget. [ gasps, laughs ] you ever feel like. Cliche foil characters scheming against a top insurer for no reason . Nah. So, why dont we like flo . She has the name your price tool, and we want it. But why . Why dont we actually do any work . Why do you only own one suit . Its just the way it is, underdeveloped office character. Youre right. Thanks, bill. No, youre bill. Im tom. You know what . No one cares. And my brother ray and i started searching for answers. vo when its time to navigate inhome care, follow that bright star. Because brightstar care earns the same accreditation as the best hospitals. And brightstar care means an rn will customize a plan that evolves with moms changing needs. woman because dad made us promise wed keep mom at home. vo call 8444brightstar for your free home Care Planning guide. Senator orrin hatch, the longest serving senate republican, announced today hes retiring at the end of term. Ive always been a fighter. I was an amateur boxer in my youth, and i brought that fighting spirit with me to washington. But every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves. And for me, that time is soon approaching. Senator hatchs decision not to run for an eighth term comes despite late pressure from President Trump who last month said he had hoped hatch would stay in the senate to quote quote, for a very long time to come. Why is that . Because hatchs retirement could lead to a senator myth romney. The former president ial nominee and Massachusetts Governor long promised to throw in his hat if hatch retired. All of it could happen in a state where he has deep personal and business ties. What all that means, we could see the utah seat going from this mr. President , i have to say that you are living up to every, everything i thought you would. You are one heck of a leader. And were all benefiting from it. To this. Donald trump is a phony, a fraud. His prormss are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. Two former romney advisors tell nbc news we should not expect a romney run as a pure antitrump Republican Campaign and that people will probably be surprised at his willingness to support the rest. Back with more mtp daily in 60 second. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Welcome back. While you were celebrating the holidays and watching bowl games, President Trump was continuing his reshaping of the federal government. The Washington Post james holman rounded up some big very recent white house moves that you may have missed. Such as reskinneding an obama era directive that tightened fracking standards. Watering down some regulations that were intended to prevent big oil spills like the deep water horizon you remember that from 2010. New medicine guidelines scaling back fines for Nursing Homes that harm residents and scaling back an obama era promise to pay for half of an amtrak track. And there was the firing of every advisory member on the council for hiv aids. Lets welcome in todays panel. Welcome all. I want to unpack the meadows interview in a minute. Quickly, lets go through this. Ramesh, it seems as if passage of the tax bill has now allowed everybody to sort of look at the first year of the trump president sy and look at what he has done on the executive level now and see big changes.