today on "inside politics," the democratic nightmare before christmas. joe manchin says he's retiring from the senate, leaving a blue seat open in a very red state, and leaving a the lot of people wondering what does the future hold for manchin? does it include a run for president? plus the maid, the wood worker, exclusive reporting on who saw what at mar-a-lago and how worried should donald trump be about what his employees wosay on the stand. and the house is a mess, that's how one congressman s summed up the new speaker's strategy to avoid a government shutdown. so what's mike johnson going to do with one week to go until the country can't pay its bills? i'm dana bash. let's go behind the headlines and "inside politics." we begin today with a one-man political earthquake. joe manchin has shaken up the political world by announcing hen won't seek reelection. republicans are rejoicing now that they are all but assured to pick up his seat in the senate, which takes them one step closer to claiming the senate majority. and there's also this. manchin banned democrats worst fears that he might run for president as an independent next year. >> what i will be doing is traveling the country and speak ing out to see if there's an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring americans together. we need to take back america and not let this divisive hatred further pull us apart. >> melanie zanona is live on capitol hill. what are you hearing from your sources? >> reporter: this is a scenario that democrats were dreading and republicans were really dreaming about. but we are learning that gop leaders worked behind the scenes to actually try to make a manchin retirement into a reality. sources tell cnn that mitch mcconnell personally recruited jim justice, the popular governor to run for the seat. meanwhile, steve danes got former president trump to endorse jim justice. so they are trying to make it as unattractive as possible for joe manchin to run again, at least for senate. there are still questions about whether he has some higher political ambitions. he's flirted in the past of the idea of running as a third-party candidate for president. it's something he has not ruled out. and the group no labels, an event he spoke out earlier this summer, they are offering a so-called unity ticket in 2024. so we'll see what joe manchin decides to do, but in the short-term, no doubt this is a massive blow for democrats in their hopes of keeping the majority. >> thank you so much for that reporting. appreciate it. i want to bring this conversation here into the table. jeff zeleny, julie davis, and eva mcend. happy friday one and all for those who celebrate. >> what's a friday? >> this is so fascinating on so many levels what we saw happen with joe manchin. let's just you and i walked around those hallways many years ago together. we understand how seismic this is. we all do. for what they are hoping to do in the senate, which is keep control. >> they have a very small margin of control right now. this is already going to be a pretty hard year for them. they have competitive races in a lot of competitive states and other red states like montana. and some swing states like arizona and nevada and pennsylvania, ohio, these are all going to be hard races. and he was the last sort of foot to fall. everyone else decided what they were going to do and it was a real coup that sherrod brown decided he wasn't going to run again. this is something that joe manchin has been flirting with for six years of this term. and so this is something that democrats were thinking was a possibility, but were really hoping to avoid and just makes the climb that much steeper to keep control. >> you mentioned, smartly, the difficult terrain that democrats are facing. not just in west virginia, but many of the key seats that democrats are trying to hold on. we have up there west virginia, just to oex plain why we're saying it's a goner, very likely a goner for democrats. trump won there by almost 40%. and the states where there are incumbents running, 16% in ohio, 8 in arizona, it was a bit closer. the rest were very close. >> the question has always been can they withstand all the head winds. his brand is as good as it gets in west virginia. but he also knew this was going to be a very difficult race because of jim justice. he's the governor. his dog is at every press conference with them. they have become part of the culture there. so for all the democratic complaining about joe manchin over the last several years about his ditering and his deliverance, now they are going to see what it's like to not have him in the senate. that's just the blunt reality of this. now all of those races up there on the maps are interesting. john tester, and sherrod brown also have very good brands. that's going to be a defining story over the next year. even if they both win, democrats have to run the table perfectly. that's a tall, tall order. >> let's turn back to joe manchin and what he's going to do. you have been doing a lot of work on potential third-party candidates, actual third-party candidates. the question is whether he's going to end up being one of them. talking about the candidate for president president of the united states. we don't know. what we do know is that a couple things. he said in a that video that he released yesterday that he wants to go around the country and see if there's a middle. he's been talking about that. anybody understands he's very frustrated with the extremes in both parties, particularly his own. and he's very worried about the raw politics in this country. he also really, really doesn't like donald trump. and so it's hard to imagine that he will do anything that will help reelect donald trump. but he loves to be the center of attention in the topic of conversation. so that might be some of the motivation here to engage in this national tour. it would be a tremendous sacrifice. we know during his senate campaigns, he relied on the democratic apparatus that he wasn't a prolific fundraiser personally. how would that play out? who is funding this last-minute effort if he decides to enter 2024. really quickly want to take a position on the panel. i do not think this as immediately dire for democrats as cob vengsal wisdom assumes. i think this really stretches democrats to invest in other places. so i just got off the phone with a campaign running in florida. she thinks she can really speak to latinas in the state in the way that senator scott can't. so democrats will have to invest heavily in these new candidates. >> the question is whether will they invest, but that's a really interesting contrarian view. let's talk about why joe biden is and should be worried about a third-party run. just one example of somebody who is not well known, jill stein, and what she is did. the presence that she had on ballots in michigan, in pennsylvania, in wisconsin back in 2016. the votes she had from voters, if they went to hillary clinton, it would have made the difference for her in those three states and hillary clinton would have been president. >> absolutely. anything on the margins toward the center, which is where joe manchin would be running, is going to be a problem for president biden's reelection. he really has to worry about keeping the democratic coalition together. we have already seen a lot of polling that's a very big concern to the white house. they are trying to keep calm about it and keep focused on the campaign to come. but clearly, there's anxioety he's not going to be able to unite the coalition. anybody who is seen as a plausible alternative to him, but not donald trump or the republican is going to be a challenge. >> exactly right. let's put a name out there or some letters. rfk jr., there was a focus group that was run by the third way, and they talked to trump to biden voters. and they talked about rfk jr. >> a three-way race, trump, biden and robert kennedy jr., by a show of fingers in that race, how many would take trump? none of you. >> how many of you would take biden? one of you. how many would take kennedy? >> that was not the third way. that was done by another group. >> the third party candidates, historically, the polling would show they do better in polls than they do on election day. because people don't necessarily pull the trigger. joe manchin is a problem for president biden theoretically here, but he's not the ballot. it's very challenging for him to get on the ballot. the no labels idea, they said they are going to put a republican a the top of the ticket unless the they change that, and all of us who have covered joe manchin, can we picture him as number two? i asked one of his advisers this it morning, he said, hard no. the reality here, joe manchin will travel across the country. even in new hampshire, there's interest in joe manchin, but he hasn't sort of built this momentum. jill stein is a much biger problem. >> she is running. >> she's on the green party and they are on the ballot. >> i went back to 2016, but first it was cornel west running on the green party ticket. now jill stein is doing it. he is still running. the rfk situation, he has the same challenge that anybody would to get on bilallots. but let's say he gets on one in a swing state and some of that sentiment we saw in the focus group holds. >> it's certainly not helpful. i wonder how many folks that do vote for these third-party candidates, how many of them wouldn't vote any way. if you're so dejected with the two-party system you're going to vote for a third party can candidate, it seems like the alternative for those voters is just staying home. >> everybody, standby. up next, a maid, a plumber, a sho fer, it's not a who done it. it's who probation reports may call to the witness stand in donald trump's documents case. we have a cnn exclusive, next. just into cnn, the judge in donald trump's classified documents case has ruled the case will, in fact, go to trial in may. the former president has pushed repeatedly for the trial to be moved until after the election, but judge cannon's decision set ises the case on a collision course with trump's likely general election bid for the white house. this comes after cnn exclusively learned that a plumber, a maid, a wood worker from mar-a-lago maybe called to testify against donald trump as part of that federal investigation. katelyn polantz broke the story and joins me now with more. >> these people are people the prosecutors have already spoken with. they brought to the grand jury and maybe calling as witnesses to trial. to testify against donald trump. these are the typing of people who maybe able the to bring to life what mar-a-lago was like after the trump presidency is, where donald trump is there. there are boxes of documents there. there are stacks of papers around the property. there are people who are coming in and out not just the regular staffers, former white house aids of trump who are there at mr march, who we heard lots about, but people who were temporary employees. this wood worker going in to install crown molding and noticing stacks of papers that he thought was sown usual because of the mark he thought they were mow veto props. there were other people who were noticing things who certainly didn't have the security clearances needed. so the prosecutors could use these people to really highlight how unsecured it was to have the nation's secrets at mar-a-lago in trump's possession. >> what's your new reporting about how the former president deals with the people who work with him, especially at mar-a-lago? >> i'm sure you won't find it a surprise that trump runs his club like he's the king. he's unhappy whenever prosecutors, investigators encroach on that territory. the two things that came out in this was the one was that he went ballistic when he found out that the maid who cleans his bedroom suite, so the person cleaning had his and melania's private quarters, when that person was approached by investigators she's a possible witness here, he also was quite unhappy that one of the key witnesses in this case, a man who cut a cooperation deal with prosecutors, got rid of his trump attorneys and got a new lawyer. kept working there until just recently. and when trump found out he was resigning recently, he was quite unhappy that this person stayed on. prosecutors are very likely looking to see how trump is responding to these people and if it he's trying to talk to them about this case. >> i'm sure they are. such excellent reporting, as always. really interesting. thank you. our panel is back now. we're also joined by karen freedman, legal analyst and former chief assistant district attorney in manhattan. i'll start with you. what do you make of katelyn polantz's reporting? >> i think this is very common for prosecutors. it's prosecutors 101. especially when you're dealing with very wealthy people who have staff and very wealthy people who have staff sometimes treat them as if they are just not exist tnt. they are the sigh elect witnesses who they don't realize they are talking in front of or doing things if front of. so it's very common in a situation for a prosecutor to expand their investigation to try to speak to those ind individuals, to see if they overheard or saw anything unusual. so it's not surprising that this is what jack is doing. they could be very valuable witnesses, who were privy to things that people don't even realize they were privy to. >> i'm sure they were privy to a lot of things. maybe this is just the tip of the iceberg. this is playing immediately on the campaign trail. and chris christie, who reminds us that he is not only a former friend of donald trump, but a former federal prosecutor, was talking to kaitlan collins last night. >> i think what you're seeing is how thorough jack smith's investigation has been, and there's no one who has seen or heard anything at mar-a-lago regarding these documents who is going to be immune from testifying, if they believe they have relevant information. >> i mean, it's remarkable. like all of this is happening, it seems like trump is taking incoming from all sides. and he simultaneously campaigning and using all of this to fundraise. something that i have found remarkable in reecent days is he's responsible for this. he's called for the weaponization of institutions, if he's reelected. that really allows democrats to continue to make an argument that they have long wanted to make, that he is a threat to our democracy. >> it does. but it also gins up people who he has convinced for eight years now that it's happening to him now. it could happen to you regular candidates tomorrow. and so let's just hear a little bit of what he's been saying that you mentioned about the weaponization, quote, unquote, of doj. >> they weaponized the justice department. they have weaponized the fbi. and they have come out to me with the worst indictment. if theyment to follow through on this, it could certainly happen in reverse. what they have done is they have released d the genie out of t box. if i happen to be president and i see somebody who is doing well and beating me very badly, i say, go down and indict them, mostly that would be out of business. they would be out of the election. in many case, it was such pathetic indictments. >> just to be clear, i just want to say it again, jack smith is not joe biden. jack smith is, according to him the and to the biden white house, staying as separate as he possibly can, entirely possible. and he's saying he would not do that. >> the da and all the other cases as well, this has nothing to do with the biden administration. what the former president has been somewhat successful in doing is blending everything together and saying this is his opponent going after him. you'll remember why he got in in the first place. he knew the indictments were coming. this was all part of the plan to set this up. but it's extraordinary what the former president is saying there. yes, he would use his doj. one of his biggest regrets and frustrations is picking jeff sessions as his first attorney general. when he recused himself, he was furious about that. so that has set this into motion that he would do this. this goes well beyond saying the quiet out loud. >> it's two things really. because by saying these things, he's undercutting the whole premise of the prosecutions against him. this is a way of say ing this i all political. this is not legitimate. there's nothing to this. but he's also messaging to his own supporters and people he wants to be his supporters if he gets backing into office, he's going to take revenge and retaliate. we have already seen my colleagues at the times have reported he's looking for lawyers who will not say no to him. he had a lot of lawyers, including jeff sessions, but white house lawyers in the administration who said no to him on some of the most, treatment things. he's looking for lawyer who is will not do that the next time. he's telling people exactly what he plans to do, both to sort of insulate himself against the charges he's facing is and to build up his support. there's a lot of evidence that that is working to really motivate republicans. you hear republicans on capitol hill repeating it. it's an element of all the campaigns that the justice department is weaponized against the right. and it could be a pretty tool. >> independent voters hear this and then what? they are going to be worried about our institutions. even if they are cool on the white house, cool on this administration and domestic policy matters, you hear he's ready to burn down the house. you want to vote for him again? >> karen, i want to bring you in on this notion of weaponization of the justice department. this is something he's saying it's happening against him without evidence, but more importantly, he's promising to do that if he's president again. >> yeah, that's one of the most dangerous things that he has said, frankly. there has to be a separation between politics and the justice system. there always has been. it's why, for example, joe biden, when there was his own son was being investigate the, i'm going to separate this out and keep a trump-appointed united states attorney david weiss. i'm not going to put my own person. this should be totally neutral so people will trust the investigation, i'm going to keep the trump united states attorney, who is now special counsel. this is a tradition in all of prosecutions. and justice has to be blind. it has to be without fear or favor. and if he's going to actually weaponize the justice department, unlike it's not weaponized now, he's just saying it is. but if he's going to do that, that's a very, very dark and dangerous time for america. the justice system has to be blind. >> karen, thank you so much for that. thank you, everybody, here. congress only has one week left to prevent a government shutdown, but the house and senate have already gone home for a long holiday weekend. cwe'll go live to capitol hill, next. nice footwork. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. once again, congress is preparing for a government shutdown. lawmakers have one week before current funding expires and the two chambers are headed for yet another federal funding fight. lauren fox is live on a very quiet friday on capitol hill. congress has gone home for a long weekend. it is a holiday, but there's a doedline coming up, they feel like every time this happens, where are they? >> it almost feels like they want to get down to crunch time because that kind of pressure maybe the only way for them