Today on inside politics, defiant, bob menendez seeks to beat a federal indictment. On the clock, congress is shrinking a sixday window to stop a shut down. And guess what, donald trump just made the house speakers job a whole lot harder. Plus a picket line gamble, joe biden hopes to edge the gap between automakers say they can afford. Im manu raju for dana bash, lets go ahead to inside politics. Up first, Bob Menendezs big fight and one he vows to win. Minutes ago the new jersey democrat responded directly to a federal indictment. The allegations leveled against me are just that. Allegations. When all of the facts are presented, not only will i be exonerated, but i still will be the new jersey senior senator. Now, menendez took the microphone and National Attention to flatly deny he did anything wrong. And all of the ways he has stood up to egypt over decades of service and make what sounded like a case for reelection. Well start in new jersey with cnns Kara Scannell in the room. Kara, tell us more about What Menendez said. And why he had all of that cash that federal investigators seize. Reporter yeah, hes saying hes really standing up here saying hes not going to back down. Hes saying hes done nothing wrong. He believes he will be exonerated when its all said and done. Hes asked people to pause, and not rush to judgment, and saying sometimes, prosecutors get it wrong. And nod to his indictment in 2015 when he emerged from that unscathed both politically and personally. Prosecutors allege that they found hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash stuffed in envelopes at his home when he executed a search warrant last year. And those envelopes were even in pockets of a jacket that bore his name. Menendez spoke directly to that point just a few moments ago. Take a listen. For 30 years i have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal savings account. Which i have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family Facing Confiscation in cuba. Now, this may seem oldfashioned. But these were monies drawn from my personal savings account, based on the income that i have lawfully derived over those 30 years. Reporter now, he did not answer questions about why he had gold bars and why his wife had received a mercedesbenz convertible. Those are also payments that prosecutors allege were part of this bribery scheme. He was also charged with taking a number of steps that benefited egypt. But he went on the offensive here saying he has a record of being tough on egypt, with human rights abuses. But hes clearly trying to delineate from his public actions from what prosecutors allege was happening behind closed doors. He slightly addressed the calls to resign saying hes not lost the confidence of new jerseyans. He said theres a number of people in the room supporting him, some constituents that were here, he spoke a lot what hes done for this state and community. His Press Conference is at union city, new jersey, where Menendez Grew Up where he started his political career, today, taking a staunch stance that hes not stepping down. Hell be in Federal Court on wednesday facing the charges, manu. Not saying whether or not hes running for reelection, a big question that republicans and democrats are interested in alike. Care kara thank you for that. Jeff zeleny, margaret talev. And former federal prosecutor elliot williams. Just to get to viewers of What Menendez is facing. Very, very serious charges, conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit fraud and this indictment, that menendez disclosed nonpublic information to businessmen about u. S. Military aid, provide that information to those in the u. S. Embassy in cairo. The indictment really goes on that talk about the cash bribes that menendez allegedly had. The Mercedesbenz Cclass car that kara referenced a few minutes ago, 500,000 seized from his home. And gold bars. Eliot, he starts to lay out his defense, take us through what hes going to argue and how hard will that be for prosecutors to pierce . I thinks a politician, members of congress and the senate, his argument is going to be that youre criminalizing the work of politicians. Youre criminalizing the kinds of communications with constituents, or even possibly foreign governments that may be might be suspect to people, but are still permissible within the bounds of the law. I think his big problem is those gold bricks, right . Even his argument, as kara pointed you out, i withdraw money, keep it under the mattress, fine, people do that. Thats a plausible explanation. You have to explain the gold bricks. This is why if i were an attorney, id advise him not to talk. Because it opens up the question, even assuming people believe the idea about the cash, the gold bricks with the dna and fingerprints of one of the other associates or defendants is potentially you think he can hurt his own fe defense . I think he can. There are far more doors to open than the doors you close when you open your mouth as a defendant. Of course, thats the legal fallout. Theres also the political fallout, we started to hear isnt some democrats over the weekend, particularly the delegation, one on the house side calling for him to resign, step aside. Including the governor of new jersey but the senior senator from new jersey cory booker has been silent on this so far. And Democratic Leaders have been grappling with this as well. You heard senators, like dick durbin, the number two democrat, aligned himself with where Chuck Schumer was stopping short on calling him to resign. Terms of resignation, thats a decision to be made by Senator Menendez and the people of new jersey. I think Senator Menendez has to think long and hard about the cloud thats going to hang over his service in the United States senate. I do believe its in his best interest for Senator Menendez to resign. There are absolutely ways in which theres systemic bias, but i think what is here in this indictment is quite clear. And that last point was in reference to menendezs Paper Statement from over the weekend, where he said that hes being targeted here because hes a latino. Yeah. I agrewi elliott, i think its interesting he thinks he can talk his way through. We saw him appealing to his constituents. Speaking in spanish at the news conference. But a lot of what was laid out in the indictment looks troubling. And i think people like me who already im relatively new to capitol hill. I already felt he was perceived that he was perceived someone who most democrats on capitol hill kept him at arms length. He had seniority, they needed his vote, obviously, on a lot of things but he was not the most prominent and people continue to distance themselves. Why do you think democrats, if he runs, that can endanger a seat that theyre not fighting on, they have so many other problems to keep the senate next year. Chuck schumer is not strongarming him . Look, its the ethos of the senate. The senate really, every scandal i can think of, regardless of parties, usually at the very beginning, the leaders do not push enough. They give them space to make a decision, so i think that is what is happening here. But senator cory booker, i remember at the time he attended the trial virtually every day the first time. He has a tough decision here, what to say, the governor of new jersey, the democrat, other members of congress were prettpretty s forceful, as was the white house, so much is in place for bob menendez, i cant recall a time that the Political Climate has been so entwined with the situation. If democrats want to have any high ground at all, which they claim they do, then theyre forced to say something. That is why i think this is different than other moments weve seen. Well see what will President Biden has to say about this so far. Not a whole lot. Also this issue of running for reelections and facing the terrible press about the sordid allegations here. Heres what was in an editorial it says you need to cast an eye on the Torture Chambers Run by dictatorships. Where Security Goons clamp metal. And this is above the allegations in this indictment, that he may have been assisting the government in some way. There are a lot of real democracy and kind of who are you working for questions here that i think are going to come out in the legal case. I think politically, the questions are much more domestic focused. If youre a voter in new jersey, youre probably more likely to be drawn to the story about the gold bars, than about what the government does in egypt. And Senator Menendezs culpability for that. Particularly for the Democratic Party, to jeffs point, if you want to be able to say that the Democratic Party is stands in contrast to what donald trump is doing or what George Santos is doing, you need to be able to draw a much clearer ethical line about your own members. I think for Senator Menendez, one of the challenges is that he had 480,000 in cash, forget about the gold bars and mercedes. 480,000 in cash in pockets and envelopes. The Average American at the time they retire has 250,000. Look at the senator. It doesnt add up. Exactly. If he runs for reelection, is this case going to trial before November 2024 . This could actually go to trial before November 2024, behind the others are the questioned relates to President Trump, what they do top secret and all things that might take a time to get to trial. This is a relatively straightforward bribery case, in a matter of months you could bring this to trial. Interesting. With just five days to go before the government shuts down, is Kevin Mccarthy any closer to getting the hardliners to bend . We go live to capitol hill for all of the latest details. House speaker Kevin Mccarthy back at the capitol today less than a week before the government shuts down, he again called on hardliners in his own party to help keep the government open. Melanie zanona is here. I guess it is summed up, if at first you dont succeed, try, try again. Reporter as of right now, theres not a clear path to avoid a shutdown, speaker mccarthys goal is to pass as many individual longterm bills as we speak, thats in the demand of the far right. And the hope is that will get enough conservative hardliners on board with shortterm will that will build goodwill with them and they need a little more time to pass the spending. And its not clear that republicans have the support to pass either shortterm or longterm Funding Bills. Second of all, even if they did, those bills are dead on arrival in the senate. Now it doesnt help that now you have former President Trump openly calling for republicans to shut down the government if they dont get everything they want. This morning, we heard Kevin Mccarthy with he is own message trying to ramp up pressure on his own members to fall in line, take a listen. Well, you have to keep the government open, if people want to close the government, why would they want to stop page the troops or Border Agents or the coast guard . I dont understand how that makes you stronger or the point youre trying to make. Reporter of course, one way out of this mess is for Kevin Mccarthy to work with democrats and work with the senate. Across the capitol, they have taken steps in the senate to advance their own shortterm Funding Bills which would include aid and disaster money. Its unclear how mccarthy would handle that. Hes yet to put a bill on the floor, but if he did, manu, you know that as well as anybody that would trigger a rightwing vote. Ultimately, it may come down to Kevin Mccarthy keeping the government open or keeping his speakers gavel. Well see if hes able to do either. Melanie zanona, thank you for that. My panel is back, as melanie said, how do you get hardliners on board to keep the government open. I talked to garrett gregg, one of mccarthys closest allies. He told me over the weekend this small faction of holdouts to leave them with a worse solution and getting jammed by the senate. Its a huge concern that i have, and its not just something today, its something that weve been concerned about for several weeks now. Because there are people resisting or pushing back on efforts for the appropriations bill, dating back to may of this year, that have sort of caused this situation that were in. So they sort of created this quandary were in right now. And its something that we have been trying to avoid now for months. By they hes talking about the conservative hardliner holdouts. Mccarthy has a math problem, four votes, theres at least seven, maybe up to ten who said theyre not voting for a shortterm spending bill. He continues to pressure the folkses who show know signs of giving in. Yeah, not just the Math Problems as far as the numbers, but a lot of them want different things. So once he apipeases a few on, for example, ukraine, then he loses some on ukraine. Then appeases some on Border Security or passing the appropriations bill, he hasnt been able to appease enough people at the same time. One thing ive been hearing from members is why didnt they work on these things during the recess. They went home for five or six weeks. Six weeks in the house. Yeah, they came back with pretty much the same position they left in, with very little time to figure it out. And now were less than a week to a possible shutdown, as melanie said, there is no clear sign to avoid. It goes nowhere in the senate, because mccarthy is trying to include provisions that the senators wont accept on both sides of the aisle. Spending cuts, Border Security. The senate is going to move on with its own plan. Thats going to take almost a week to get something out of the senate. Rand paul says hell slow it down, which may include iran. And its not if, but how long the shutdown will be . Does anyone disagree there is going to be a shutdown, right . Yeah. The question is how long. I think i would add one more element to this conversation which is the theme of the strike. Because if you look at the writers strike, whats been going on in hollywood, took quite a long time, you look at whats going on now in michigan and with the autoworkers, uaw strike. You look at this week in politics, where you have biden and donald trump, both in michigan, both trying to show striking autoworkers how much they care about them. And trumps messaging to congress, to the hardliners, to all of congress, to voters, is to sort of treat the showdown like a strike. Its like a bad analogy, because you cant let the the federal government strike, and you cant solve the demands of the hardliners through the legislative process. Theres not the votes that they want. Yeah. But hes saying basically shut it down. Yeah. And i want to show viewers exactly what donald trump said. Hes talking to the People Holding out. He said this just yesterday. Republicans lost big on debt ceiling. Got nothing and now worried theyll be blamed for the budget showdown. Wrong. He said, whoever is president will be blamed in this case, crooked as hell, joe biden, shut it down. Remember, Kevin Mccarthy was the one that cut that Debt Ceiling Deal and they were touting huge victory here. And what donald trump is not helping Kevin Mccarthy at all. Not at all. Mccarthy is in a vise of his own making. This is a whole other deal. There is no exit ramp. I said a week ago, in washington, theres optimism, always finds a solution. I think that is possible because people dont want it. Theyre marching towards a shutdown, some with glee. The question is how long will it go . The former president hasnt said that yet, how long should they shut it down . But again, Newt Gingrich and others, elders in the party, are very concerned about this. Sure. So this could be the best thing that President Biden has at least politically, republicans shutting down the government. But the actual problem after it shuts down is how do you get it back open. I dont know the answer. Thats always the hardest part. Theres a big problem if theres a shutdown, most likely, it will be fuller than what weve experienced in the past. Were talking about members of the armed forces not getting paid possibly. And the white house is messaging on, perhaps, you know, what it could mean for Safety Net Programs for families and lowincome people. So there may be more pain than even the more recent shutdowns that weve seen which again will put the pressure we already know, Kevin Mccarthy has said it, the republicans are going to get the blame here, contrary to what donald trump says, usually its republicans. Kevin mccarthy and they do believe that. Cabinet is setting up each day of the week talking about the impacts. Theyre going out talking about ad programs and the like. Over the weekend, people also discussed the impact as well. And the American People dont want to shut down. From what i can tell, the senate is ready to go. The administration is ready to go. House republicans need to come to their senses and keep the government running. Look, the challenge here, mccarthy does not move forward with some support with dem