SUMMARY: On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became his country’s first sitting leader to be indicted. The announcement came just a day after opposition leader Benny Gantz lost his mandate to form a unity government. As a result, Israel is entering a new phase of political uncertainty. William Brangham reports and talks to David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
SUMMARY: While President Trump condemned the Russia probe as a "rigged witch hunt," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictment of 12 Russian military officers for conspiring to interfere with the 2016 Presidential election. The charges come three days before Trump is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Judy Woodruff talks with former FBI agent Asha Rangappa.
SUMMARY: After months of downplaying Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential election, President Trump lashed out on Twitter this weekend over the special counsel’s indictment of 13 Russian officials. Matthew Olsen, a former Special Counsel to Robert Mueller when he director of the FBI, talks about the indictment and what it means for the investigation.
SUMMARY: Russia's attempts to interfere in American elections and political discourse did not end with the 2016 race. What do we know about Moscow’s meddling and what can we expect in the near future? Judy Woodruff learns more from Nina Jankowicz, a Russian disinformation analyst, about how it works, what we should be worried about and what average Americans can do in response.
SUMMARY: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the week's news, including the Virginia governor's race, suggestions by Donna Brazile that the Democratic primary race was rigged for Hillary Clinton, the GOP tax overhaul plan, and the Russia probe indictments.
Judy Woodruff: (NewsHour): A different kind of economics, David, and that is taxes.
The Republicans did come out this week, yesterday, with their tax reform, tax cut proposal. What does it say to you about what the Republicans in Congress and the president want right now?
David Brooks, New York Times: Well, they have a vision for what business taxes should be, which is to lower the rates. And I think there’s a — our corporate rates are super high. And to attract capital to this country, it would help to lower the rates.
They have no vision of what individual tax rates should be or how we should tax individuals. Their bill is sort of a hodgepodge of moving rates the rates around randomly. They have no vision of how to protect families. There could have been a much bigger child tax credit.
And then, finally — and this is what everyone — the point everyone is making, but it happens to be true — they have no vision about the fiscal health of this country in the long term.
I personally think there are some pieces of this legislation that I like, capping the mortgage interest deduction. There are some things I don’t like. I don’t think cutting the rates the way that they do is super important. But it’s all dwarfed by the $1.5 trillion hole they’re going to blow in the deficit.
And until they can solve that problem, you’re not really dealing seriously for this country.
(CROSSTALK)
Mark Shields, syndicated columnist: I agree completely about the $1.5 trillion deficit, Judy.
And it is going to be financed, as we know, from the Republican votes in the House and the Senate, by cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, the very constituency that Donald Trump pledged to be the champion of.
And, no, it’s — I would say it had its biggest day yesterday. I really do. I mean, I think it’s not something that stands the daylight very well or scrutiny. It starts with 25 percent approval support in the country. That’s the lowest that any presidential initiative since George W. Bush’s ill-fated attempt to privatize Social Security in 2005, which died after 10 months.
Judy, what these people forget is the 1986 Tax Reform Act began in 1982 with Bill Bradley and Dick Gephardt and Bradley-Gephardt. And it includes people of the talent of Jim Baker and Dick Darman at the White House.
Steve Mnuchin and Gary Cohn are not Dick Darman and Jim Baker. And it had 430 witnesses before the House Ways and Means Committee and 26 days of markups.
These people think they’re going to do it on the fly, on the run? They’re absolutely delusional.
Judy Woodruff: So, both of you are saying…
(CROSSTALK)
David Brooks: Dan Rostenkowski. There was a lot of serious talent.
Mark Shields: Dan Rostenkowski, Bob Packwood.
David Brooks: But what’s — it’s not going to pass.
Like, they punish people in the blue states. You’re going to get rid of state and local deduction, and that that is going to create massive opposition. The realtors, philanthropies, student debt, there’s all sorts of things that are politically mine fields.
The question to me is, does it completely die or do they fall back to some limited tax cut, just so they can say they passed something?
Judy Woodruff: They passed something.
David Brooks: And I would bet — I don’t know if I would bet, but I suspect they will try to fall back to something plausible, maybe just the corporate rates. I don’t know what else. But they will try to fall back to just simple, smaller tax cut.
SUMMARY: Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife were indicted on federal corruption charges for receiving tens of thousands of dollars in gifts and loans from a wealthy campaign donor. The former rising star in the Republican party has vowed to fight the charges. Judy Woodruff talks to Rosalind Helderman of The Washington Post.
