Transcripts For MSNBCW Deadline White House 20181222

Discriminatory discipline in the schools. This was put in place by the Obama Administration to stop discriminatory discipline against black students and students of color who are being suspended more and treated harsher for the same needs of discipline as white students. What would be the rationale to go against Government Data that established and proved that students of color were being treated more harshly, that education was being interfered with more recklessly, and that they needed the safety of the federal government to protect their rights and make sure that not that theyre not disciplined but theyre disciplined equally to white students in this country . This is another example of this administration having different policies and different strokes for different folks. And this was the president that asked black america, what do you have to lose . That does it for me. Thank you for watching. Ill see you back here tomorrow at 5 00 p. M. Eastern with a special edition of politicsnation. We call it 2018, the soul of america. We look back at the events that shook, shocked, and shaped the fabric of American Society in 2018. Thats tomorrow at 5 00 p. M. Eastern. And then next sunday its politicsnation eighth annual revvie awards. Its where we celebrate the benefit and the worst of 2018 and give awards to those who deserve it. A real celebration. You dont want to miss it. Now to my friend and colleague richard lui with more on the shutdown. Rev, thats right. Eighth anniversary of the revvie awards. And you have a very good evening, sir. Im richard lui at the msnbc headquarters in new york. The partial Government Shutdown. According to our team, democrats and the white house still a long way off from striking a deal to reopen the federal government. Vice president mike pence did travel to capitol hill today to meet with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. In that discussion, it was just how much money it would take to get the president to budge on the border wall issue which has caused the current impasse. The number that pence volunteered is said to be between the 1. 6 billion initially negotiated in congress some weeks ago and the 5 billion figure that the president has demanded. Plus nancy pelosi writing today in a letter to her democratic colleagues, until President Trump can publicly commit to a bipartisan resolution there will be no agreement before january when the new House Democratic majority will swiftly pass legislation to reopen the government. All this as Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell has adjourned the senate until december 27th though he said he would call the senate back if a deal is made. Msnbc correspondent Mike Viqueira on capitol hill this hour. And when you and i spoke a couple of hours ago is it was pretty similar to right now but we have some weve had some developments since we last spoke here, vic. Well, thats right. And the folks telling us about the in between number, the 1. 6 billion number that was in the house and almost passed the senate and was almost past the house and the 5 or 5. 7 billion that President Trump wants in there for his socalled border wall, the fact that those details are being divulged is something that one side is leaking because they want you to know that there are good faith negotiations going on and having said that its now appearing more and more likely, even though there is that inkling of movement, its appearing more and more likely, richard, that this could stretch into thursday the week after next when democrats take over the house of representatives, january 3rd, the first day of the new congress. And nancy pelosi as you reported saying in that letter to members that they would quickly pass a funding bill to reopen the government if in fact it stretches that long. Mike pence in the daptll today, he was with mick mulvaney, the acting chief of staff, in are Chuck Schumers office about an hour, hour and 15 minutes, walking out, only telling reporters were still talking. Mitch mcconnell on the floor of the senate almost simultaneous to that closing up the senate for this saturday. The senate not going to be in on sunday. A pro forma scheduled for monday. That simply means they come in and sort of bang the gavel. Nothing actually happens. And another pro forma scheduled for thursday december 27th. Its possible that if there were some sort of agreement reached that they could in fact bring the senate back in to do this very quickly. However, its seeming very, very unlikely at this point. Democrats feeling like they are holding the cards in this negotiation because the senate has demonstrated through test votes that they do not have the votes to pass the 5 billion. They already passed a bill with a 1. 6 billion. Not for a border fence. Not for a border wall. Not for a slat wall as President Trump is now calling it but simply Border Security enhancements. The Senate Already passed that bill overwhelmingly and sent it to the house. Of course thats when things fell apart on friday and brought us to the point we are now almost a full day into a sthutdown. Richard . Full day in. 18 hours and six minutes. Right, vic . And as has been said before, it is watching ka brooubuki theate weve had developments on an optics issue that is pressuring the president. Would go to maralago or would he stay . Weve had a bit of involvement in that question. Thats right. The white house announcing, Sarah Sanders saying the president was going to stay in washington, not go to maralago as planned. Of course he was scheduled to leave yesterday. Melania trump the first lady is already there. The white house says shes going to be traveling back. This was an optic issue that was one of the first things in my mind when we realized that this was likely to carry on past christmas. Would the president go down there . Senate republicans were already sort of cringing at the way this has unfolded beginning with that photo op in the oval office, that Contentious Exchange between nancy pelosi, chux schumer and President Trump when President Trump declared i will own, it i will take the mantle for the shutdown, i will take the blame, given that, given the vote totals ive already outlined here. Given the dynamic under which this has played out. Democrats feel like they have the stronger hand here and even though in that statement nancy pelosi says shes looking for a bipartisan resolution dont expect the democrats to budge at all on the question of a wall. Anything thats described as a wall they are not going to go for. The president s base wants a wall. The democrats base do not want a wall. But the democrats feel like theyre in stronger position here in terms of this negotiation. Richard . Somebodys msnbcs Mike Viqueira on the hill. Thank you for watching all the details there. Joining Us Democratic congressman peter welsh of vermont. He is the democratic chief deputy whip. Representative, thank you for being here with us on this evening. You heard what Mike Viqueira was saying. He said do not expect that the democratic side will be budging in general is what he was reporting. Would you agree with that statement . Well, i do. But i think the real issue here is the president hasnt indicated what his position is. When you look back, wed actually had a budget agreement that was massive progress in what has been bitter conflict between republicans and democrats. Everybody had signed off on it. Mitch mcconnell, Chuck Schumer, nancy xwlois and paul ryan. And they had an indication from the president that the budget agreement that was going to take us well into next year was agreeable to him. And then what happened of course is the president saw Rush Limbaugh and he got hammered by some of the conservative commentators and he changed his mind. He had an agreement. And this was such progress where finally we were going to have a bipartisan approach to going forward, keep the lights on in government and then return next year and take up issues that are really important. The president pulled the rug out from underneath it. And now i think what pelosis really saying is mr. President , youve got to let us know what you say is an acceptable position because no one has any confidence that what you say today is what you mean tomorrow. The news just in and you were also listening to what vic was saying, Mike Viqueira, and that is the first lady will be coming back to the white house. It appears were looking at thursday the 27th. As the potential day of progress. Of some agreement happening. Would you agree with that time frame roughly . Well, im skeptical that well get an agreement before we return. The real issue here, we focus on the wall and how much the money is going to go to it. But theres a Border Security issue where both democrats and republicans are in agreement we have to have Border Security and a question of how to do it. The real challenge here is the president talks only about the wall and we need comprehensionive Immigration Reform. Becant have a wall without addressing these dreamers, these folks who were brought here when they were 4 or 5 years old, served in our military but could be deported tomorrow. We shouldnt be talking just about the wall when the president ion unwilling to talk about a pathway to citizen hip for folks who are in this country and have been lawabiding citizens. And really should we wall when the president ion unwilling to even have a discussion about how we increase legal vetted immigration . And by the way, our employers are searching desperately to try to get some workers. This immigration issue should be in the context of all of the issues surrounding what our immigration challenges are. The president boils it down to a wall. And what he does is at the end of lengthy negotiations where hes given a green light to an agreement he changes his mind and the government shuts down. Representative, you heard the reporting between 1. 6 and 5 billion. What number, again, because of your very title this, as youre the chief deputy whip, what do you think is the number that is going to be acceptable for democrats . 1. 6 and 5. Well, you know, frankly its hard to negotiate on tv. But the bottom line here is the real way were going to make progress is to include the other issues that we all know have to be addressed in immigration. The dreamers, the pathway to citizenship is there a number youre watching, sir . Is there a number youre watching in between the two . As im sitting here, no. Im not negotiating with you. What i am saying is the democrats are in agreement that democrats believe we have to have Border Security. In some places we have to have a physical barrier. In other places that means technology. In other places it means additional personnel. It just depends. In fact, the wall everywhere from sea to shining sea most experts think is a really bad idea. The president s constantly talking about the drugs coming in. 90 of the drugs come in by sea, not by land. Also, when you have this wall, theres incredible environmental damage oin land taking. And a lot of our ranchers down in texas, theyd be prohibited from being able to graze their cattle down to the rio grande or getting access to that water. And the president acts as though those arent real practical issues that have to be addressed. So hes kind of politicized this issue. And whatever the number it is that is offered for Border Security he wants a higher number. When he agreed to a number, he then pulls the rug out from underneath what that is. This is the president acting unilaterally, largely influenced not by mcconnell and Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi and paul ryan but what he sees on fox friends in the morning. Peter we wilsh, democratic congressman. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Head spokesman for ted cruzs 2016 campaign and democratic strategist and former Senate Leadership aide joel payne. Ron, what do you make of what you heard from representative we will snsh swelsh . I think the notion were going to go down the road of some and xh presencive Immigration Reform right now is fantasy. We have to get the government xwk open and this is not a good time for us to be shutting down the federal government. This is a very different environment than we were in a week ago. We had the resignation of the secretary of defense. We had an announcement concerning the u. S. Presence in syria which caught many of our allies by surprise. We have to demonstrate that as foe and friend alike watching what is happening in washington, d. C. That we have to demonstrate what the American Government is functioning and its meeting its responsibilities and it is inspiring confidence on the part of our allies. And not providing any type of sign of chaos or weakness to any adversaries out there around the world who would take advantage of a situation. We can talk about comprehensive Immigration Reform later on but i think in terms of a general strategy what we should do in terms of immigration is take those areas where there is agreement, move forward on that one slice at a time but try to move forward in some gigantic comprehensive Immigration Reform while there are clear things we can do now to stop the flow of drugs and Human Trafficking into our state of california where i am right now, right here on the border county of San Diego County. Lets accomplish what we can establish and move on to the difficult issues later. Joel, baby steps is what ron is saying. Lets not go for everything right now given we are 12 days into the new congress. Look, we have to take a step back here. The president is the one that is being held accountable for this. You could argue that last years shutdown that was all about Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats. The president and republicans were able to negotiate a position that was favorable then. Theyre in the opposite position now. Democrats have no reason to cave. You tried to press congressman welsh on a number. Hes not giving you a number because honestly hes not the one thats got to take the first steps. Republicans do. Thats why you see him huddling with the Freedom Caucus today and some republican allies. Big picture here we have to take a step back and look. The president is having a really bad week, right . Hes got a chief of staff coming in whos publicly made comments that question this wall that hes shutting down the government over. He lost mattis. He lost mcguirk. Hes hemorrhaging support in congress. And in two weeks Nancy Pelosis going to have the speakers gavel. What youre seeing is the lack of a strategy really coming to bite the president and the chickens coming home to roost. Does it come down to a number . You challenged that, joel. Ron, to you on this. Is it really not the number but the language . We see how the president is changing or evolving on language at least as we look at his tweeting. I actually think that thats a positive step. I actually visited the border here in San Diego County. The slat wall or slat fence, whatever we want to call it, actually is extremely effective. And if the democrats want to call that a fence and republicans want to call that a wall and we build that and give the Border Patrol the tools they need to protect our border and keep america safe from people who are exploiting weaknesses in that border, then that would seem to me a drex direction to move forward. This is certainly nothing about a number. In terms of dallas here, this is like a rounding error in the overall scheme of the federal government. Were running hundreds of billions of dollars in december as it is right now. This is not going to affect that one way or another. This is a political struggle right now in the aftermath of the recent november elections where democrats took control of the house and republicans gained seats in the senate. This is a political struggle. But the world is watching. We have to resolve this. We should be able to have operational control over our border. That should be a winwin for everyone. And then lets move forward. As a former Senate Leadership aide here, joel, and we were watching, until again they adjourn until the 27th effectively here. What did you see happening there . Are we looking past the 27th or days after that . What i saw was a very frustrated leader mcconnell. Leader mcconnell struck a deal with Vice President pence. He thought he had the president s word they were going to move forward and the president essentially backstabbed him which hes done several times and he made him look bad. I think what you saw from Mitch Mcconnell saying this is not my problem, this is your problem, you fix this with your inner circle. And i think its also interesting to take a step back and think about the president and whats his next move here . Because he had an opportunity, if you remember, to get a big deal on immigration a year ago. He could have traded, you know, making a sacrifice on daca from his political perspective for getting a lot of funding for the wall. The only reason were here is this president s a bad dealmaker and because the president did not understand that that was the best deal he was going to get. Republicans on the hill and around the country are starting to realize that the guy who they think is the dealmaker in chief, hes not exactlit best dealmaker weve got. And talk about deal making, ron. The constellation theoretically involves at least four or five different players but is it not a constellation . Is it really a pyramid and we just have to stay focused on the president who might be influencing . Were talking about mick mulvaney. Were talking about Jared Kushner headed up to the hill. Are those the closest to the president on influencing him . Well, we have a couple of different issues were dealing with here. Number one is who can deliver a majority in the house right now and then who will be able to deliver a majority in the house when the democrats take the gavel on january 3rd . I think that is one issue here going forward. Secondly, we have to recognize that this battle is taking place in a different environment than we were in a week ago. This is no longer just about Border Security, and its certainly not just about a number, 1. 6 billion, 5 billion, et cetera. This is about inspiring the confidence of people around the world during a tense time when were facing serious challenges globally and we need to be able to demonstrate that the American Government can come together. Chuck schumer and the Senate Democrats are not interested in anything that resembles a wall because thats a political term and thats a political argument. The reality here on the ground in a border county where we have mexico less than, you know, ten miles away is that we do not have full operational control over this border and victims are being created on both sides of the border. In tawanna and northern mexico as well as San Diego County with drugs and people moving back and forth with criminal enterprises and the like. Its coming down to a criminal argument. Real victims are being created and we ought to be able to get it together and solve this problem. Joel, last word. 15 seconds. I want to also say too, paul ryan really took a step back in terms of his legacy this week because remember there, was a deal that mike are pence struck with Mitch Mcconnell. I brought that up earlier. They had a bill passed through the senate. That bill could have gotten majority support in the house and you could have forced the president to potentially veto that. Paul ryan chose ton do that. Hes in his last week of speaker. Why woe not follow the model of john boehner who when he was in the last week of speakership he actually challenged his republican colleagues to make progress . I think you also have to put some blame at his feet as well. Great conversation. Joel payne in the studio. Ron, thank you so much, there in san diego. Just ahead weve heard from the politicians and now were going to hear about what government workers think about the sthutdosthuhutdown that leaves many of them without paychecks. Eaves many of them wit paychecks. A migraine hope to be there. For the good. And not so good. For the mundane. The aweinspiring. The heart racing. The heart breaking. Thats what life is all about. Showing up. Unless migraine steals your chance to say i am here. Thats why, we created aimovig. 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Joining me now, jackie simon, Public Policy director of the American Federation of government employees. Jackie, thanks for being with me. I want to start with this. Thank you for having me. You bet. Im looking at the gsa payroll calendar. Tell me if im wrong here. It says the Fourth Quarter of the year, basically end of the pay year, right . Ends today. And that this final paycheck of the year if youre getting electronic funds transferred, will happen on friday. Will this when we look at this calendar, will that check, will this funds transfer still happen based on the shutdown if it continues through friday . Our expectation is that yes, people will receive the paycheck theyre expecting sometime over the course of the next several days. Yes. They will receive that paycheck. Its subsequent paychecks that are up in the air. So beginning tomorrow, which is the first day of being paid for the next calendar year begins. Thats what is at risk. Its the beginning of a new pay period and it has the week of the shutdown so far. What we expect to be the shutdown at least through the 27th in this new pay period. The reason i ask, jackie, is this is so important as you know well, that many of these employees were not talking about the top 10 of those in the pay structure of income across the country. So these paychecks become very important. Expand on that. Theyve always been very important. Our union represents the rank and file. The people who are working on the front lines. These are real people with real families, real mortgages, real childcare bills, real car loans they have to pay. And they live paycheck to paycheck. Theres no cushion. They barely make ends meet as it is. They cant afford to go with one paycheck. They cant afford to have a short paycheck with days missing. This is a financial catastrophe. Its also extremely demoralizing. Federal employees realize theyre pawns in this ridiculous political circus. This is not about the budget. There was a budget agreed to unanimously, a funding measure in the senate just a few days ago. And the disregard for the Economic Situation that federal employees find themselves in is truly outrageous. And federal employees are very angry. So when were talking about federal employees who are angry and worried about these paychecks, effectively what is at risk is that sort of january 6th week, 6th or 7th. Is that when the checks may not show up . Is that what were talking about if this continues . Well, your guess is as good as anyone elses. We dont know how long this will continue. But everybodys paycheck, whether youre accepted and expected to come to work without a paycheck or whether youre furloughed, either way your paycheck is in jeopardy. The congress will have to pass legislation to provide backpay when they come back in session. Of course, after they reach a budget deal. Jackie, what percentage of total repemployees, federal employees are we talking about . 800,000. What percentage does that represent . More than a third. 1 in 3. 800,000 affected by this shutdown. Weve got Corrections Officers in the federal bureau of prisons. Theyre going to work every day in dangerous prisons, putting their lives on the line, without a paycheck. Weve got Border Patrol agents, i. C. E. Agents. Fema personnel still helping people with cleanup and recover from these natural disasters in california and the southeast. People are going to work. Theyre doing everything that theyre being asked to do. Everything that theyre expected to do on a regular basis in return for their paycheck. Only now theyre not getting a paycheck. How does this one feel different than the ones before that weve talked about, the other shutdowns . Quickly, how does it feel different or the same . This one feels so contrived, so last minute, and so ridiculous. This time there was a broad agreement about the budget, a unanimous vote in the senate of the United States on a funding measure. That doesnt happen. And it just happened. And then suddenly the president decided no, hed actually like to move the goalposts for a negotiation. And as some of your previous guests talked about, this isnt really about Border Security or immigration policy. That can be and has been debated elsewhere. This is just callous disregard for his own workforce, the federal workforce. How do these employees talk about this topic at home . Obviously theyre going to be spending a lot of time together over this next week or so and the holidays. Well, its a very sad situation when you have to be in such a state of uncertainty about whether or not youll be able to pay your bills. A lot of federal employees are required to maintain a security clearance. And falling behind on your bills, of course jeopardizes your security clearance, which jeopardizes your job. So youve got that pressure and that stress on top of how youre going to tell your children, sorry, this year christmas is going to be quite a bit more modest than you might have hoped for because politics has interfered with my ability to bring home a paycheck. Its just a its a disaster all the way around. Jacque simon, Public Policy director at the American Federation of government employees. Thank you so much. Thank you. Still ahead for you, a top diplomat resigning in protest after splitting with the president over syria policy. The short and longterm implications of that. M er implications of that the top u. S. Envoy spearheading the fight to defeat isis has quit overt president s decision to withdraw troops from syria. Brett mcgurk submitted hesitate Resignation Letter to mike pompeo on saturday. Hesitate decision comes less than two weeks after he defended u. S. Troops on the ground in the region. We have obviously learned a lot of lessons in the past. We know that once the physical space is defeated we cant just pick up and leave. Areas we have cleared of isis, they have not returned to actually seize physical space. Theres clandestine space. Nobody is saying theyre going to disappear. Nobodys that naive. So we want to stay on the ground and make sure that stability can be maintained in these areas. Were talking about years . Im not going to put a timeline on it at all. Mcgurk joins defense secretary james mattis, who also resigned in protest this week. He was originally planning on leaving early next spring but sped up his departure to the end of this year following the president s decision. And today were learning more about that phone call between President Trump and turkish president erdogan. A senior white house official tells nbc news that in a phone call with President Trump on friday turkeys president promised his president would take responsibility for finishing fight to defeat isis if the u. S. Pulled its troops from syria. The official who spoke on condition on anonymity says erdogan said to the president in fact as your friend i gef you my word on this. The Turkish Embassy in washington and turkish officials in ankara had no comment today. Joining me now is retired u. S. Army colonel jack jacobs, a medal of honor recipient. Colonel, lets start with something you know with the. Thats the issue of isis and terrorism. Brett mcgurk. How unique was he in his role . And will this be able to be supplanted . Is there somebody that will fill this role well . Well, he wasnt unique in his experience but he was very, very good at what he did. And the real question is not whether or not you can get somebody in there who is like mcgurk or who has his experience or capability but whether or not theres anybody out there who would take the job. I think you could ask the same thing about a replacement for jim mattis. If you had asked jim mattis a year ago, why would you go to work as the secretary of defense in this white house, he would have told you and he probably would tell you today that somebody had to do it. I dont think youre going to find somebody to do it today. Either for mattiss job or mcgurks. General mattis and i was watching your coverage all throughout the development here, colonel jack. And you were very clear in your knowledge of the way he thinks and why he did what he did. How many more resignations might we see . What have you heard . Well, youre liable to see some more. The problem is that mattis was something of the finger in the dy dike. There are a lot of people who are quality people and theyre very, very productive and who are there because of mattis. With matt itis gone i think you liable to see quite a few more res laigss at least partially because at the moment theres not the leadership in the Defense Department you that had with mattis and youre not likely to see it again and so i wouldnt be surprised if you saw quite a few more resignations near the top of the food chain in the Defense Department, richard. As we look at the balance of military leadership, international affairs, interNational Security, National Security here, colonel jack, who is the proverbial adult in the room that youre now looking to . General mattis was one of those certainly. Well, he was. People are now looking to pompeo, whos the secretary of state. But hes not jim mattis. And though he has military experience, he doesnt have that kind of military experience. And while hes not necessarily a yes man, hes much more of a of the president s man than anybody else youll find anywhere near him in the National Security apparatus, i mean, there was a comment from several people when jim mattis quit that the wheels have come off. And somebody else said, well, there arent any wheels. I think were in very, very dangerous train now. There is no leadership. Theres no leadership in the congress. And theres no leadership among the cabinet in the white house. And were at a time when we have a wide variety of threats. You know, its kind of interesting. If Vladimir Putin says youre doing the right thing, then youre most decidedly not doing the right thing. I think were in that mode right now. These are dangerous times that require much more leadership than wheef got. Colonel jack jacobs, as always, thank you, colonel jack. Thank you, richard. All righty. Coming up, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell says hell call back the senate if democrats reach a deal with the president. What both sides want next. President. What both sides want next. The inlaws have moved in with us. And, our Adult Children are here. So, we save by using tide. Which means we use less. Three generations of clothes cleaned in one wash. Those are moms. Anybody seen my pants . Nothing cleans better. Put those on dad its got to be tide. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders says President Trump will stay in wash where for christmas and now First Lady Melania Trump will return from florida to be with him. This as democrats and the white house remain far apart on a deal to end a partial shutdown now in hour 19. Nbc news also learning Vice President pence approached democratic leader Chuck Schumer with a new dollar figure that President Trump would accept for his border wall. Now, the figure somewhere between the 1. 6 billion initiated by Congress Weeks ago and the 5 billion passed by the house but rejected by the senate this week. Now to what you see on screen, a recent npr, pbs marist poll shows 57 of those polled on both sides of the aisle want trump to compromise on the wall including nearly 1 in 3 republicans. For more now lets go to geoff bennett, nbc News White House correspondent. Also lynn sweet, chicago suntimes d. C. Bureau chief. Geoff, get us updated on what we understand the president is doing not only when it comes to the first lady but also in this important back and forth that weve been talking about. This is the third partial Government Shutdown on President Trumps watch but what makes this different than the last two is the president has already claimed ownership of it. Its perhaps not surprising where you see that poll there where you have a majority of americans suggesting that he should be the one to cave in. So publicly the administration is Still Holding the line on this 5 billion even though we understand base the on our own reporting that as you mentioned emissaries from the white house to include the Vice President have made their way over to capitol hill and theyve presented a dollar figure slightly north of the 1. 6 billion. What im told is its maybe a couple of hundred thousand dollars more than rather millions of dollars more than the 1. 6 billion. But heres the thing. The president certainly today has been signaling what might be acceptable to hem. He sort of backed off this demand for a concrete barrier. Now suggesting that a steel fence he might be willing to accept. White house aides tell me they think democrats might be able to get to yes on that. They know they dont want to fund a concrete border wall but they might be open to funding some series of fencing along the border given that democrats have said before theyre all for Border Security. Drones, Law Enforcement personnel, other types of technology. Yes, steel fencing in some cases. They just dont want to give donald trump a victory on this core issue. Its not just about the wall. Its about the fact that the wall they believe stems from his xenophobic something, might say racist, antiimmigrant campaign pitch. Sought wall is the personification, the physical representation of all the terrible things hes been saying since he was a candidate, richard. So lynn, you know, as geoff is going through the numbers, right . Potentially a number larger than 1. 6. It could be 1. 8 billion. Maybe, lynn. But is it the number or the language or both . Because were watching a number but often as we know this is a rounding error. Well, let me tell you that i just finally got some information from the white house, which took all day, geoff. You should appreciate how hard it is. This 5 billion covers 330 miles of which 215 miles is seen by the white house as priority. Five miles in the san diego center, nine miles near el paso. 55 miles near laredo. So once if this was all it was, yes, you come to a deal. So we wont fund all 330 miles now. We know its hard to spend money fast if projects are not shovel ready. If we gave a check to the federal government right now for 5 billion, it doesnt mean 330 miles will be built by next christmas. Theres lawsuits. Theres this and that. It just takes time. So if that was yes, there is room to negotiate on how many miles and how much. Now, what this issue has morphed into as geoff has said is something more than just the wall. If mexico really had paid for the wall and it was built by now, i dont think democrats would have objected if mexico had indeed, as President Trump promised, paid for it. But the issue now has gotten more complex. Actually, what we dont have in the equation right now is what will democrats get in return for wheeling and dealing. Some are in there, often in these negotiations, weve seen it before, is some kind of deal to provide protections for dreamers. Geoff, taking a couple steps back before we get to who wants whats who was asking for it. You brought up the Vice President. And the Vice President has represented certain potential deal issues or details, and then the president has decided to go a different way. Yeah. And thats certainly been true of other representatives from the white house. So one has to ask that question and challenge what is happening, right . Are the right people on the hill and meeting with leadership there . You make a great point because today the white house held whats called a background briefing with Senior Administration officials. And thats when they put up people from the different respective relevant agencies to talk to reporters on background. So when we report it out they dont attribute their name. And halfway through the call i got a text from a colleague who said none of this matters because it only matters what donald trump has to say given that weve seen how this movie ends before. And if you have lawmakers on the hill who even make the point that while they might like and respect the viefrpt they cant guarantee that what mike pence tells them will be backed by what donald trump does because remember, this past week donald trump was for this spending bill that the senate had preefgsly approved before he was against it, before the criticism from the conservative chattering class got under his skin. So again, it really matters what donald trump will agree to and more to the point what he will actually sign when presented with that bill. Lynn sweet, well end the way we started. Quickly, if you can, 20 seconds. Are these poll numbers that we have from npr marist, is it going to get worse or better for the president in approving what hes doing . If its just on that question, compromise on the border wall, people want compromise. That is not that is something that as we know on other issues that the public wants. And it just depends now if it really were just horse trading you could figure it out. If trump really will compromise. And if the democrats decide to take nothing, you know, in return. If their victory is they lowered the number from 5, they will have some trouble on their front. But just to your question, people like compromise. We know that. All right. Nbcs geoff bennett. And thank you so much, chicago suntimes lynn sweet. Thank you. Thank you. Coming up, the Mueller Probe nearing an end potentially but theres one roadblock. The attorney general. Ette capital one cafes. Inviting places with people here to help you, not sell you. And savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. Because thats how it should be. You can open one from right here or anywhere in 5 minutes. Seriously, 5 minutes. 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Be there for you, and them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, control is possible. And i found out that ima from the big toe lian. Of that sexy italian boot so this Holiday Season its ancestrydna per tutti order your kit now at ancestry. Com i cant tell you anything about myself. But believe me. Im not your average consumer. Thats why i switched to Liberty Mutual. They customized my Car Insurance, so i only pay for what i need. And as a man. Uh. Or a woman. With very specific needs that i cant tell you about say cheese. Mr. Landry . Oh no. Hi mr. Landry Liberty Mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Well, weve got new reporting right now from Bloomberg News on the u. S. Supreme court, apparently being asked to be involved in the Mueller Investigation for the first time. A new legal filing under seal requests that chief justice, john roberts, temporarily block a federal Appeals Court ruling. That ruling required an Unidentified Company owned by an unidentified Foreign Company to turnover information to a grand jury, and this dispute is reportedly believed to be linked to muellers investigation, however that has not been confirmed this reporting. Joining us now, msnbc legal contributor, and a trial attorney. Katie, we are just getting it in. Make it simple for us, as you always do. What is the big deal about this . We are talking about the Supreme Court. Lets do a brief background on the case. This is all speculation that it has to do with the Mueller Probe but there was a subpoena where the Mueller Probe grand jury is seated. That subpoena asked the company to turnover information and it refused and it moved to quash the subpoena, and then an Appeals Court said you have to turn the info over and at this point in time from what we understand its now up to the Supreme Court to decide if it wants to hear this. What is important for the viewers to know, the Supreme Court is under no obligation to hear this case, and the Supreme Court has thousands of requests to hear cases, but it can be heard by the Supreme Court. Do you think its going to be heard, rebecca . Its always unlikely, as was just pointed out. Hundreds and hundreds of those kinds of requests get filed with the Supreme Court, and this issue is pretty well settled. Its not like the d. C. Circuit that said turn these documents over was slit on this, and this is clearcut, efforts to undermine the office has failed, and the general power to subpoena documents is probably not a topic of particular interest at the Supreme Court level. I want to go now that just came in within the last 24 hours to us, and we were reporting from bloomberg. Lets go back from the other five days of the week starting on monday, and thats when we heard that flynn, his sentencing was delayed by a u. S. District judge as he was rebuking flynn, and flynn maybe thought, hey, i am out of the woods, i made my deal here. How big of a deal is that development that happened just this week with Michael Flynn . Theres so much that has happened this week, and the reason the flynn thing was so important is because everybody thought it was done, and there was little jail or no jail recommended, and flynn probably thought i am not getting any jail. And then the judge was like, absolutely not, you are probably looking at prison and the sentencing has been put off until march, and flynns cooperation has been a big mystery, and the filings that have been done on flynn have been heavily redacted, and it must be of special importance for the special counsel to say i dont want him to be serving time, and so the judge read the redaction portions and that could be why he said i am looking at prison for you. As we talk about the Southern District of new york, first of all the reporting coming out of cnn that the president reached out to the acting attorney general saying, hey, what is happening out of sdny . I am not happy about it. Thats number one. Also coming out of sdny is that the Trump Foundation dissolving because of what is happening out of sdny. Its the state going after the Trump Foundation, and what the state has been finding is shocking and has not gotten enough news yet. What the attorney general for new york says, and this is somebody that acts independently of the federal government and that could be a good thing here, it found rammant illegality, and it was used improperly for the Trump Campaign as well. Those are pretty serious in any other world, what the new York Attorney gentlemen of the jurys office has found alone would be stopping the nation. Yes, thats one of dozens of things going on right now in terms of the reporting on whitaker being scolded for letting the Southern District of new york do their job. Frankly, i think i take that as optimistic. Whitaker obviously understands he cant shut something down that is clearly proper as the sdny investigation and conviction is. Yeah. As we have been discussing the shutdown, the impending shutdown towards the latter part of the week, all of the other headlines we are discussing here, katie, would make it a big week, and how big of a week would it have been if we did not sit in the issue of the shutdown now . Lets talk about bill barr, and hes the nomination for trump, and heres why. He gave a 20page memo that said trump should not be interviewed or investigated. Thats a really big deal. We will be nervous whether or not he does anything. We will leave it there. Thank you so much. That does it for me right here on msnbc. 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