At the white house for a meeting being held in the situation room. His is supposed to be a briefing on Border Security. Funding for the border wall is the central issue right now that is keeping the two sides from really cutting a deal to end this partial Government Shutdown. This all coming on day 12 of the shutdown with 800,000 federal employees not knowing when they will get their next paycheck. Lets go live to Boris Sanchez at the white house for us. What do you know about this meeting . What can we expect . Good morning. Happy new year to you. Likely fireworks at this meeting between congressional leaders and the president. Eight lawmakers in all invited to the white house, four democrats. Nancy pelosi, Chuck Schumer expected to attend. The last time they were here at the white house we saw how that turned out live with them having a very public disagreement with the president , no common groupd on both sides regarding how to figure out Border Security and reopen the federal government. The difference this time the meeting taking place in the situation room, a room that is usual hae reserved for observing military conflicts for managing international crisis. It sort of gives you an idea of how this administration feels about the issue of immigration, the president often referring to immigrants as invaders. Democrats dont feel that way. Tomorrow we are expecting democrats will vote on the bipartisan package that will reopen the federal government, maintaining funding at current levels through february. Zero dollars for the long promised border wall. The president shaked at the idea that he would sign it. Sarah sanders put out a statement writing speaker designate nancy pelosi released a plan that will not reopen the government because it fails to secure the border and puts the needs of other countries above the needs of our own citizens. It does not fund our Homeland Security or keep American Families safe from human trafficking, drugs and crime. That meeting expected for 3 00 p. M. Today. You mentioned we may hear from the president before then. He has a Cabinet Meeting scheduled for just before noon. Cameras will be allowed in there. Todays officially john kellys last day as chief of staff. We will see if the president has words for him especially in light of the l. A. Times interview over the weekend. And whether the president mentions this oped published in the washington post, we know the two men have exchanged words before. Well see if it happens again today on camera. We will talk about that now. Thank you Boris Sanchez. That is the other big story, the blistering attack on President Trumps character coming from a new republican senator, mitt romney. His comments made more interesting given rominee was the partys 2012 nominee for president. The president has not risen to the mantle of the office. President trump firing back just a short time ago. Cnn Congressional Correspondent is joining us with details. What is the president saying . President trump responding over twitter and making it clear that he is not happy about the harsh words of the incoming senator, mitt romney. That harsh oped pub lished las night. Question will be, is he a flake . I hope not. I would much prefer that he focuses on Border Security and things where he can be helpful. He should be happy for all republicans. Be a team player and win. That in reference to the outgoing former republican senator jeff flake from arizona who at times really took the mantle of the chief critic of President Trump among republicans. So certainly that is a big question mark here especially in light of the oped by mitt romney. Will mitt romney take over that role when he comes here tomorrow. We are getting reaction from Republican Party chair woman mitt romneys niece. What is she saying this morning. Certainly family feud in addition to this feud. The rnc chair tweeted out a defense of President Trump essentially scolding her uncle for writing the oped. She says potus is attacked and obstructed by the Mainstream Media and democrats 24 7 for an incoming senator feeds into what the democrats and media want. Those are just remarkable striking words from the niece of mitt romney and really shows that this chapter especially as mitt romney comes here into the u. S. Senate potentially speaking out more against President Trump opens up a new chapter in their storied relationship. Thanks. Joining us now to discuss, cnns political director. And former Communications Director for the Republican National committee. David, trumps twitter reaction, how he is responding to romney. Would you consider it a measured response . Well, i would consider it a totally unsurprising response. Im sure mitt romney wont be surprised a bit. He knew he would draw the president s reaction when he published this oped. You can determine if it is a measured response or not. It clearly he is a bit perturbed. You got to remember, he is probably entering the United States senate tomorrow and probably maybe the most well known senator of all of them and will garner a ton of Media Attention and will have the ability when he does want to critique the president , there is no doubt the press will jump on that and bring that critique to the president and the white house and try to see if they will respond. He clearly understands that mitt romney can be a potential ally there. You can see it got a little under his skin. I noticed you dichdnt go afr him personally. In mitt romneys words in this oped were a little more personal going after the president s character saying he hasnt risen to the mantle of the office. It is interesting, they have a funny history. They hit each other and then they seem to make nice. This past summer we had romney saying trump was a shoe in to win reelection. This is how trump responded. Let me tell you, it is easy to win again. We are doing well. Mitt is a straight shooter. Whether people love him or dont love him, mitt romney is a straight shooter. And thats nice things to say. What do you think is mitt romneys goal . Was he trying to pick a fight . It certainly was a straight shot. Its not clear what the ultimate goal is here. When i saw the oped i tweeted thank you mitt romney. There is not a word that he wrote that i disagree with. There is a challenge that comes with that. While a lot of colleagues in the senate and House Republicans would privately agree with everything mitt romney said it may be lonely in that a lot of republicans may not join him publically in saying things like that. Whatever romney does will not be enough for the democrats. We are seeing democrats criticizing romney for talking to talk and not walking the walk. If you agree with the portion of the trump administrations agenda then you are complicit in all things trump. It is a difficult position. It does make clear that mitt romney is going to arrive in washington hitting the ground running. We already knew he was going to get a lot of attention anyways. This is going to cement that and make sure that whenever he is in the hallways in the senate or in the senate Underground Passage way that every microphone will be brought to him for everything that trump says. If there is question about whether republicans will follow romneys lead, i guess look to his nieces tweet in which she picks sides and it is not with her uncle. She is picking the president s side. Do you think that she was pressured into making a Public Statement about this . Well, i dont think she was pressured. I would be surprised if he is pressured. He is a total loyal supporter of the president and has indicated the organization she runs which the president hand picked her for is part and parcel of the trump reelection campaign. I think it is probably going to make difficult family reunions. They got through thanksgiving and christmas. As Incoming Freshman republican. It might be a bit awkward there. I think she is doing what you would expect her to do there. I do think doug is right to question sort of when the oped came out, you thought what is the end game here . President trump is still wildly popular with most republicans. He is 80 approval in the country. We saw the late john mccain or corker or flake before they left the senate unable to sway their colleagues into their criticisms of the president. So will mitt romney have a different ability because of his stature . I dont know. Im skeptical of that. Is he holding out some potential optio 2020 challenge by laying down this marker . Lets talk about the shutdown. The last time President Trump met with Democratic Leaders it was that confrontation in the oval office. What do you expect . There could be more fireworks. It wont be televised since it is in the situation room. I worked in the 2013 shutdown working in house leadership. Things are wildly different between now and then, not just because trump is president. For the past 12 days we have had absolute silence from both sides. In 2013 on the republican side, we were doing evens every day that some journalists might have called political stunts. Every day republicans were and democrats too trying to fill the space, drive the conversation, both sides have almost been to some extent at a quiet detente here. Given neither side has really budged since the shutdown began, what is the compromise that gets them to a deal . Well, i mean, the compromise may be numerically somewhere between the 1. 3 billion offers and the 5 billion request that trump has made for a wall. I think with the democrats making charge of the house nancy pelosi made clear the president is not going to get funding for a wall. I think it is why you start seeing the language changing out of the administration. What you will see today i think is you will see republicans trying to find a clever way to get donald trump out of the corner that he painted himself in on this issue that led to the Government Shutdown. So that is what im looking for today. How do the republican congressional leaders who obviously were blind sided by the president sort of flipflopping them, how do they get him and their party out of this bind that they find themselves in. Good to see both of you. Thanks for being here. Stay tuned. This afternoon mitt romney gives his first interview after that oped he wrote. He will join jake tapper on the lead at 4 00 eastern only on cnn. For the First Time Since the former u. S. Marine was arrested in russia on suspicion of being a spy, u. S. Officials have been granted access to him. It comes as we learn new details about his military record. Is joe biden running for president . A new report says he is being very careful ahead of a potential announcement. We have details. Stay with us. New developments this morning in the case of the american accused of spying in russia after spending days in detention, russia has allowed paul wheelen to communicate with u. S. Government officials. Secretary of state mike pompeo says the u. S. Is prepared to demand his immediate return. We made clear our expectation that we will learn more about the charges, come to understand what it is he is accused of and if the detention is not appropriate we will demand his immediate return. His family says he was in russia for a wedding and claims his innocence is undoubted. Mark savage is following the story from michigan. What else are we hearing about the case . Reporter this is officially known as consular access. Its something that is guaranteed as far as agreements between the United States and russia when it comes to those who have been detained. This is something that the family has been desperately waiting for. They havent had any contact or had no knowledge since he was taken into custody on december 28. Their initial fears were that perhaps something terrible had happened to him. Being arrested for espionage is not a good thing. So what they are waiting for is for the state department to report to them and say how does he look physically . How does he seem mentally . And above all, what were the circumstances surrounding his arrest . This is what he would be telling american officials and what possible evidence. Above all, for the family what they want to know about their son and brother is how is he and if there is any indication of when he may be sent back home. They hope to get an update. We are learning more about his military record which is raising new questions. Tell us about that. Reporter just so people understand, paul has served in the u. S. Marines. He was born in canada, but he is an american citizen. He served two terms in iraq. He has been in a war zone twice. It was actually during his tour of duty in 06 on leave that he made his first visit to russia and apparently liked the place a lot. He has been back there multiple times. He did get what was called a bad conduct discharge. Now, that should not be confused with a dishonorable discharge. Regardless of how he separated from the military it is clear he is still very proud of his military service. For more on this, lets bring in a prominent critic of russian president Vladimir Putin bill brouder. Great to have you with us. Your inside and understanding of what happens in russia. What is your reaction to the charges against whelan . In my opinion, based on what i know, this is a hostage situation. Paul whelan i believe was taken as a leverage for Vladimir Putin in response to the prosecution in washington. Vladimir putin very much doesnt want her to talk to u. S. Authorities. He was in a very weak position. He needed to change that negotiating position. So he looked for a hostage. I believe that this paul whelan arrest fits right into that pattern of behavior. So what do you think putin wants to get out of this . What is his end game . Well, putin is in a pretty bad position. There is a woman who has pled guilty to trying to disrupt the u. S. Political process. That woman is connected to a man named torsion, a russian Government Official who worked for Vladimir Putin. So this is the most direct evidence yet that Vladimir Putin was trying to influence the outcome of the u. S. Elections. Putin doesnt want that to goep to fruition so he needs to try to create some type of Counter Point. The best Counter Point is to take a former marine who is visiting russia for a wedding, grab him, accuse him of espionage and create a negotiating position out of that. I know you believe the u. S. Needs to react decisively and quickly. What should the response be . The response should be that there will be hell to pay for the russian government if they dont release this man. And there are lots of different tools, sanctions tools, economic tools. There are tools where the United States if necessary could disrupt russias access to the International Banking system. There are a lot of things that the u. S. Can do if they want to do. Its very important not just for this case, but if this man is allowed to be effectively taken hostage, then other dictators around the world will say americas got a weak hand. We can take people hostage for all sorts of different political situations and other americans will be at risk. This is not just for paul whelan. Its for the safety of all americans in the world. I want your take on whelans russian social media account which he apparently has had since 2006. Is it odd that he had one . Will that raise red flags to the kremlin in. I think it gives them more information in which to come up with a trump espionage case. I lived in russia for many ye s years. I know Many Americans and brits and nationalities that have social media accounts. That doesnt make anybody guilty of anything. It gives the Russian Secret Police access to information in which to construct a narrative. The next thing that is going to happen is they will come up with a crazy narrative about this man. Do you think it was the social media account that led to him being targeted . Or could it have been Something Else . I keep asking myself, why would he pick . If the charges are totally bogus, why would they specifically target him . Its not the social media account. What would have happened is that everybody who wants to go to russia has to fill out a detailed visa Application Form where you put in information about your job, previous jobs, connections. They would have looked at this. Lets say they were looking for a target, they would have looked for somebody who had government contacts, Law Enforcement contacts, various types of potential contacts that would have made a plausible case for an espionage allegation. This guy falls right in the center of that with his military background and with his Law Enforcement background. Youre familiar obviously with these tactics from the russian government, charges being drummed up. What is your advice to whelan . I cant give him advice but i can tell his family this is not going to be solved on a legal basis because there is no law in russia. The courts report directly to putin. This will be resolved on a political level. The United States has to be extremely tough on russia and make it cheer that this is totally unacceptable. Thank you for being with us. Thank you. Coming up, if joe biden isnt about to announce a 2020 run, he sure is acting like it. There is a new repor