Wouldnt even try. That wall, the president is referring to, and arguing about, the dollar amount he wants to build it, is the reason the federal government remains partially shut down right now. With hundreds of thousands of american federal workers wondering when they are going to see their next paycheck. Its been eight days. The new year is about to start. But theres no realistic end to the shutdown in view. And the president of the United States right now is out of sight. Inside the white house. Tweeting that democrats are to blame. When kids at the border die. Lets go to cnns sara westwood, she is at the white house, sara, the president , his political opponent, they pointed fingers a lot, back and forth, but weve never heard anyone, we never heard the president specifically blame anyone directly for the deaths of children. This appears to be New Territory for this president. Thats right, ryan. President trump appears to be weighing in for the first time on the deaths of these two Migrant Children in Border Patrol custody in the past month. And his first comment on their desk is to blame democrats who havent voted in the past for his immigration priorities. Now this tweet comes as the president is alone at the white house, and increasingly frustrated at his inability to get funding for his promised border waum. Hes canceled plans to travel down to his estate in west palm beach, florida, over the new year, as the shutdown rages on. And he is continuously blaming democrats for allowing the government to remain partially shuttered despite saying a few weeks ago he would be proud to own any Government Shutdown. This comes as the budget director Mick Mulvaney saying democrats have not been invited to the white house to continue those talks and mulvaney says the white house is simply waiting for a counteroffer from democrats at this point. Recall that Vice President mike pence went to capitol hill a week ago with an offer of support for a 2. 5 billion Border Security package plus wall funding, an offer the democrats projected and talks do appear to still be at a standstill. The white house is also adopting a new tactic, which is to try to create distance between Senate Minority leader chuck consumsch and the next House Speaker nancy pelosi. Schumer might be willing to cut a deal for the shutdown but pelosi, who is yet to have the speakership race is not willing to accept a compromise and thats why they say the government remains closed. And there is little incentive to vote on trumps terms because in just days the territory will hang. And Chuck Schumer is willing to make a deal says the white house and we have not heard that from Chuck Schumer who would be the person who is a big part of that equation. Thank you for that. And while the president and Congressional Democrats refuse to budge over paying for some type of wall on the mexican border, the u. S. Government remains partially shut down. Nine cabinet level departments and the people who staff them operating with no money. I want to get now to kaly hartung, now, here, and this is more than just an enormous inconvenience to parts of the government affected. Were actually talking about a lot of people here dealing with a lot of uncertainty in their lives this weekend. Yes, ryan, uncertainty is right. Some 800,000 federal employees are seeing their Bank Accounts directly impacted by this partial Government Shutdown. Stories of their struggles are starting to pour. In as we get to know the faces, directly impacted by this political bickering, you recognize that no two stories are the same. Theres no end in sight to the Government Shutdown. Forcing thousands of federal workers and their, families to make tough sacrifices. It is scary not knowing when you will get paid. Angelas husband is an air traffic controller. He is considered an essential work. And he has to go to work. I cant go to work because i just had a baby. With no income, theyre slashing incomes. Focusing on the mortgage and feeding their family. 420,000 federal workers like angelas husband, are entering a second week of work without pay. Another 380,000 federal employees are on furlough. Effectively put on a leave of absence without pay. Thats why the trash is piling up at some National Parks around the country. Where theyre unstaffed with no one to supervise the land and facilities. At Joshua Tree National park, volunteers from the local community, like these rock climbing guides, are stepping in to do the dirty work during the parks busiest days of the year. Im guiding every day and in the evening, were cleaning toilet, not to mention were about 400 out on cash buying toilet paper. The Government Shutdown sfans the country. Americans are talking about the tough financial challenges they face on twitter using the Hashtag Hashtag shutdown stories. In wyoming, ernie says the auto loan payment will be deferred in january and if he didnt receive back pay, he will be likely evicted february 1. And lauren says she depends on Child Support to pay the weekly after school care bill. And another one, sara, puts her struggle in perspective. My children dont care about wall, they care about a warm house to live, in a car to ride in and food in their bellies and none of which is possible if their mom doesnt go to work. Candid thoughts about the policy makers biggering and the longer the shutdown drags on, the more widely the effects will be felt. There was concern for the pay checks that active duty military would or would not be receiving, in light of this Government Shutdown, and ryan, weve learned that the coast guard in particular has announced that active duty military members serving in the month of december, will receive paychecks on december 31. All right, kaylee hartung, thanks for that report and putting it in perspective for us. Lets give you some of the advice that federal workers are getting from the trump administration. Theyre being told to contact their personal attorney. Or send sample letters to their creditors. Mortgage lenders. Or landlords. And the sample letter, federal employees are encouraged to perform odd jobs, like carpentry, or painting, for their landlord, in lieu of rent payments. With us now to talk about this, matt lewis, New York TimesPolitical Editor pout trick healy and former republican lawmaker congressman charlie dent. I rolled my eyes there a little bit patrick, if you noticed and that sample letter seems a little bit too lard to believe. They actually removed it now. I wonder why. Yes, i mean the sensitivity wasnt very strong in that letter. And the notion that people who have been hired based on their skills and expertise, and you know, federal jobs, are now being told by the government to offer to bang some nails into wood. Or do odd jobs around the apartment. Really wasnt sensitive. But it gets at a larger thing, ryan, which is that a lot of workers are now looking at leaning even deeper on to credit. Dipping into their savings. That this isnt just the shutdowns that weve seen in the past of just, you know, a couple of days, but its more like the 27day shutdown, that, you know, in the 90s, left thousands of workers really pretty strung out, sort of financially, and you havent seen President Trump yet try to bring together the notion of feeling the pain that a lot of americans, a lot of federal workers are going through, and saying, you know, look, weve got to come to some kind of a deal. Im willing to negotiate. Im willing to bargain. He is instead just sort of calling federal worker, democrats, saying these democrats forcing him. And now talking about democrats being to blame for the death of children on the border. Lets talk about that. Congressman department, i want to ask you about this new line of blame from the president , saying that its democrats responsible for the two children who recently died at the border and said a wall would prevent this. From your perspective, would a wall prevent Something Like this . And wouldnt people still be able to go to the border and claim asylum, even if there was a wall in place . Thats right. Look, i think it is really unfair for the president to make that kind of a statement. Its frankly, its wreckless. And what is shocking to me about this shutdown, i dealt with the shutdown in 2013, i believe that was a 17day shutdown, and we were working around the clock to rectify the situation. There doesnt seem to be a sense of urgency right now. Nobody is there in congress. A lot of retiring members are defeated. And many dont have offices down. There some live in their offices, or theyre home tless. There is no sense of urgency until january 3 when the new house comes in and likely pass a funding bill and send it over to the senate. Matt, i will bring you in. I was on capitol hill the week of the shutdown and it started to look like a ghost town. It is a ghost town right now. Many of the lawmakers arent there. There doesnt seem to be any type of conversation happening. Has President Trump missed opportunities to really put lawmakers on blast, maybe go to the empty capitol, hold a meeting with empty chairs, kind of demonstrate the fact that there appears to be no one talking . I mean you remember, the president really is basically the only person in washington now. Thats a good point. You know, donald trump is pretty good at staging theatrics and reality tv, gimmickry, and this time, i think it was a missed opportunity. Hes tweeting. He obviously visited the troops. But i think it is otherwise a missed opportunity. Is it nancy pelosi, who is in hawaii, im told. Trump could have made a bigger slash, i think, about this, and pointed out, i guess, you know, part of the problem may be, though, that it really, trump would have to go against the establishment in general. A lot of republicans are not in town as well. So maybe thats part of the calculus. If there is nobody in town, there cant be too much negotiating happening. Patrick, some of the president s closest advisers havent been around either. Were talking about his closest adviser, his soninlaw, his daughter, they were in florida for a little bit. And Steve Mnuchin was in kabo, the treasury secretary, at the center of all of this. I mean is that part of why the president hasnt been able to cut a deal, because the people around him arent even in town . And the optics are bad, the optics are bad in that the president s advisers, mnuchin tried, to from cabo, sort of calm the markets, and that certainly didnt work out. I mean but the problem is, i dont think the president knows what kind of deal he wants to get. I mean he continues to talk about the wall, the wall, the wall, democrats seem at least in the house, and i think a good number in the senate, you know, are opposed on political and moral and ideological grounds, to anything that smacks of a wall. The president has boxed himself in. He needs to deliver a wall for the base. He keeps tweeting about the wall and Border Security. As if theyre synonymous. But the reality is that the Border Security is a much stronger argument historically, for republicans, when youre talking about a comprehensive package, and the president seems to only be talking about getting those billions for a wall. So even if he is in, he is the only guy, in washington, you know, advisers there or not, hill people or not, he still doesnt know what his own end game is and is he willing to settle for some kind of compromise, his polling suggests that he can wait it out a bit and voters are not turning on him. They simply want some kind of a compromise eventually. Congressman, i want to ask you what you think about Mitch Mcconnells role in all of this. He of course, the leader of the senate. He will be the leader of the senate even when the new Congress Comes in. He is also not in washington. This is the Washington Posts take on this. They write, mcconnell is home in kentucky. The senators spokes american don stewart says it is up to President Trump and democrats to come up with the deal to end the stalemate over funding for trumps border waum. In other words, in mcconnells view, it is not on him. Congressman, he was initially in favor of this continuing resolution, the senate did pass it before it went to a quick death in the house. Should the majority leader be a little bit more involved in this process and be a little bit more proactive in helping to find a solution . Let me first say this. I think if anybody owns this shutdown, its the president. The party making the demand, the policy demand, is the one that usually owns the shutdown. So i think to a certain extent, Mitch Mcconnell has more or less, he did his job over a week ago, when he and schumer, they came up with a continuing resolution, to keep the government funded through february 8. They did what they needed to do. Then the house of course gutted it and sent it back with the 5 billion in it. So at this point, there needs to be a negotiation. It needs to be frankly, it needs to be a four corner negotiation. Mcconnell, schumer, pelosi, and ryan. Although of course thats transitioning. But it needs to be a four corner discussion. Ultimately, it is about the president. He needs to make up his mind. I suspect Mitch Mcconnell will be prepared to just keep the government funded as he did with that bill. Hes happy to do that. The question is, the president has shifted his position. He supported the initial bill only to reverse himself later. So the president has to make a decision. Congress could simply pass a bill, and send it to the president and force the president to decide. That has been the big problem. Even when they think they have a deal with the president , he ends up changing his mind. You guys were all so brilliant. I want to keep you around for another conversation here in just a minute. So stand by. We have much more to discuss. Still ahead, new signals that several high profile senators may be closer to announcing a 2020 bid. We are going to talk all about that when we come back. Voicecommand navigation with waze wifi Wireless Charging 104 cubic feet of cargo room and seating for 8. Now thats a sleigh. Ford expedition. Built for the holidays. hurry its the final days to get zero percent financing plus twelve hundred and fifty dollars ford credit bonus cash on Ford Expedition these days were all stressed. I hear you, sister. Stress can affect our minds. I call this dish, stress. Stress can also affect our bodies. So, im partnering with cigna to remind you that your emotional and physical health are more connected than you think. Go in for your annual checkup. And be open with your doctor about anything you feel. Physically, and emotionally. Body and mind. Cigna. Together, all the way. Thats better. Were nearing the end of the Holiday Season and you know what that mean, a number of democrats talking to their families about whether to run for president in 2020, and in some cases, they are doing a lot more than just talking about. It the New York Times reporting this morning that four high profile Democratic Senators have shifted their president ial planning in high gear. Kamala harris, scouting locations for Campaign Headquarters maybe in atlanta or baltimore. Elizabeth warren for massachusetts, studying her vulnerabilities and her political record. And cory booker and Kirsten Gillibrand interviewing and recruiting people to come work for their campaigns. Patrick, how soon do you think it is going to be before we see one or more of these candidates jump in . I think it could be a matter of days, ryan. I mean the impair tive to get in right now, there are a few. Some of these candidates very much want to answer kind of the yearning in the Democratic Party for a new leader, and what is going to be like a crowded field of candidate, i mean there could be as many as 20 by march, conceivably, democrats either with exploratory committees or formal announcements. That seems actually kind of low. You know, compared to last time on the democratic side, it would be high, but the republicans, as we remember, it was a busy field. Look, it is also a reminder that there is no real breakout candidate right now. There is no jeb bush who had, you know, tens of millions of dollars fairly quickly. Donald trump who had a lot of celebrity appeal and was able to get a lot of attention. It is very wide open right now. And youre seeing with harris, with warren, with gillibrand, with booker, a real desire to sort of shake off what can be some baggage in the senate, one of 100, and become certainly better known, stand out. And for a lot of these people, they need to raise money. They want to get staff in place. They dont have necessarily access from past campaigns like Bernie Sanders or beto orourke, they dont have access to a lot of money right out of the gate. So i think there is an imperative to really get going quickly. Lets talk about Bernie Sanders, matt. Bill press, a talk show host, an early backer of Bernie Sanders back in 2016, this is what he told the New York Times. He said quote, ironically, bernies agenda for working families will the Democratic Party<