Obscenity and preferred immigrants from places like norway. Now you have two american senators who at first didnt recall the vulgar speech. They have now come forward certain that the president did not say this, backing the president s denials. Are you saying the presidnt did not use the word that has been so widely reported . Im telling you he did not use that word, george. It is a gross misrepresentation. How many times do you want me to say that . I didnt hear that word. I didnt hear what senator durbin has said repeatedly. A democrat here saying he stands by every word of what he says happened during a bipartisan meeting last week. You have republican senator Lindsey Graham telling a South Carolina journalist this citing the tweet, reporter, quote, Lindsey Graham declines to confirm comment but tells me my memory has evolved. I know what i said. This whole he said he said sidelining the conversations as the government is facing a shutdown at the end of the week. Our Senior Correspondent is standing by live. To be clear, the president is denying he used the obscenity, but not denying the gist of his comments, correct . As clear as it is, thats whats happening here. Lets reset the story. This started last thursday, a meeting in the oval office. Initially after that the white house didnt deny the president said it. There was confusion if he did or didnt. He tweeted the next day that he didnt. Those two senators said they didnt recall that. Those two republican senators. Sunday they went on the talk shows to say, no, he didnt say it. For a meeting in the oval office about immigration. Of course a hot button issue. There was a lot of slow remembering what happened in that meeting. Brooke, its a moot point at this point. The reality is the president said he used strong language. Regardless of the word used, which sword was used, it is clear as we start the week here with the Government Shutdown potentially looming in four days a deal over d. R. E. A. M. Ers is very much up in the air, likely not to happen now. A week ago it looked like it would happen. Thats why senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina who has long pushed for immigration had words for both sides earlier today in South Carolina. Lets watch. I urge the president to lead us to that bipartisan solution. Mr. President closed the deal. 80 of americans want to give the daca kids a better life. 80 of americans want to secure our border and change a broken immigration system. Its going to take you, mr. President , working with republicans and democrats to get this done. Its not going to be done on twitter by tweeting. Its going to be done by talking and understanding. So well see if any of the meetings happen this week. The president is flying back to the white house from his threeday weekend at maralago in florida. That shutdown potentially looming on friday. Not much time to do a lot of work. Brooke . Thank you so much. Sunday wasnt the first time President Trump felt compelled to say hes not a racist. I said tremendous crime is coming across. Everybody knows thats true. Its happening all the time. All of the sudden im a racist . Just so you know, i am the least racist person the least racist person that you have ever seen. The least. If you want to have strong borders so that people come into our country but they come in legally through a legal process, that doesnt make you a racist. It makes you smart. I am the least racist person that you have ever met and you can speak to don king who knows me very well. You can speak to so many different people. Lets start there. With me now, ladies, great to have you on. Thank you. Before we get into the conversation about how the president is defending himself as not a racist, maeve, its mlk day, a federal holiday that President Trump and every other u. S. President designated a day of Service Since 1994. Going back to look at years during obama, bush 43, clinton, its Community Service from the president s. Look at the president s schedule today at the golf club. Hes flying back to d. C. No Community Service that we know of. Is that odd . Absolutely, thats odd. Especially considering the controversy thats engulfed him in the last couple of days. You would think as jeff said, you know, the sentiment he expressed, no matter what the word actually was, was something offensive to people all over the world, especially coming up on a holiday of this importance. You would think donald trump would want to do something to show that wasnt what he meant and he honors the legacy of Martin Luther king, jr. That he would go out and do something showing service to that community or extending an olive branch. Of course we know thats not how he operates. He seems to be digging himself deeper into the hole, insisting that he didnt say that and that people are misconstruing what he said. The fact that we have a president of the United States that has to come out and say, i am not a racist, over and over again repeatedly after the campaign he ran over the last year is just a sad moment for our country, i think. Thats what i wanted to get to. Tara, i want to hear you weighing in. Its not only this time, as we show ed multiple times. It is extraordinary in 2018 that we are here with a president who has to publically declare, i am not a racist. Right. This is not good. It goes back to the joke of, you know, yes, i have stopped beating my wife or any time it is a political axiom. Any time you are defending yourself in a situation like this, you are losing the argument. The fact we are debating whether hes a bigot, a racist, did he say hole or house . The sentiment is whats problematic here. The fact that the president is now vacillating over whether he said it, didnt say it and these cowards in the Republican Party who were in the room that refuse to come out and be honest about what the president said there, i dont believe for one second they all of the sudden didnt remember. I dont recall. I mean, thats the political cya of the century. If you dont want to admit, you say i dont recall. I dont remember. Clear and present danger, i have no recollection, senator. Everyone know what is that means. So we listen to the weak comments from senators cotton and purdue because they didnt want to admit it. If the president didnt say that and it wasnt close to that they would have come out immediately and said we were there, he never said that. Yeah. We all know he said it. Whether it was hole or house, he said it and he was proud. The a. P. Reported he was calling his friends he loves it. He loves the controversy swirling. He loves that we are talking about it. To your point on the two republican senators and i dont recall, whats up with Mitch Mcconnell . Senator majority leader silent. Yeah. Silent. Mitch mcconnell silent. Paul ryan gave a halfhearted. I know paul ryan is conflicted and is trying to maintain the politics. He has a caucus to keep together. They are trying to legislate, but at some point you need to come out and say what it is. Shame on people for their silence on this. Think about Lindsey Graham needs to come out, too. Be honest. We know he at least stood up in the meeting. And challenged him according to Lindsey Graham. He should publically admit it. Think about the politics of this. We went from that incredible meeting at the white house where we got a front row seat to everyone talking openly about immigration issues, looking like they were going to make progress on daca, potential even a broader, you know, immigration comprehensive Immigration Reform bill down the road. You go from that which was really a high moment for republicans when they are trying to swing, you know, democrats over to their side as it looks worse and worse for them in this midterm election. They now are engulfed in controversy where Mitch Mcconnell doesnt know what to say. Other republicans are struggling. After that meeting, after all of this, why play ball with republicans and come to a solution ahead of friday . Exactly. These are the moments for trump when he really, really loses the middle. We remember that in the campaign. People not just black americans and hispanic americans and people from those countries of origin, but white americans, the middle that very important middle part of the electorate gets totally turned off by this. You know, they are less likely to elect these republicans at the ballot box in november. Thats why republicans have a problem with women. These kinds of issues, they look at this as well and think, what are we teaching our children . This is part of what the problem is for the Republican Party. Losing demographics they need to hold onto power in congress. This is problematic. Its so unfair. As someone who worked in republican politics for 20something years who has tried or believes our policies benefit everyone and individual empowerment, all of those things and trying to shed that stereotype that republicans dont care about minorities and they are all racists from wherever, thats not the case. When donald trump is making these comments saying why cant we have more people like those in norway, what do you think youre supposed to do . You have Republican Leaders standing by. Kevin mccarthy is another one. Ill namecheck him. He was in the room. He stood next to donald trump with a blank look on his face, didnt say a word from maralago because i guess the cat has his tongue, too. This is where leadership and integrity matter. Looking at senator jeff flakes comments, hes free to speak because hes about to bounce at the end of the year. Not only is he calling out trump looking at the comments on wednesday. Hes calling out other republicans for standing with him. They deserve it. Weve got to go. I appreciate the conversation. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. Coming up next on the clock, democratic congressman john lewis says there will be no government funding without a daca deal for thousands of socalled d. R. E. A. M. Ers. Can the Government Shutdown be avoided by friday . Thats the deadline. Also, 38 minutes of sheer panic. New details on what went so wrong in hawaii with the false Nuclear Missile alert. Whats happening to the employee who pushed the wrong button . And a remarkable catch. Look at this. The video shows the dramatic moment a hero firefighter catches a child trying to escape a burning building. Look at that. The back story on what happened there . Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. Tech at Safelite Autoglass we know that when youre spending time with the grandkids every minute counts. And you dont have time for a cracked windshield. Thats why we show you exactly when well be there. Saving you time, so you can keep saving the world. Kids safelite repair, safelite replace we danced in a german dance group. I wore lederhosen. Man. When i first got on ancestry i was really surprised that i wasnt finding all of these germans in my tree. I decided to have my dna tested through ancestry dna. The big surprise was were not german at all. 52 of my dna comes from scotland and ireland. So, i traded in my lederhosen for a kilt. Ancestry has many paths to discovering your story. Get started for free at ancestry. Com. If you have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis,. Isnt it time to let the real you shine through . Maybe its time for Otezla Apremilast . Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,. With reduced redness,. Thickness, and scaliness of plaques. And the otezla prescribing information has. No requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Tell your doctor if these occur. Otezla is associated with an increased. Risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have. A history of depression. Or suicidal thoughts,. Or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla. Reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Other side effects include upper. Respiratory tract infection and headache. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take. And if youre pregnant or planning to be. Ask your dermatologist about otezla today. Otezla. Show more of you. We are back. Youre watching cnn. Im brooke baldwin. Lawmakers return to capitol hill tomorrow as the Government Shutdown gets closer and closer. The deadline is the end of the week. Thats when they have to come up with the agreement to fund the government. But democrats want to use this moment to fight over daca. They are considering withholding votes unless there is an agreement on the protection of these 800,000 or so d. R. E. A. M. Ers across the country. A lot of lawmakers are questioning if President Trumps rhetoric is influencing his policy decisions after his vulgar and racist remarks about african nations became public. But republican senator rand paul says it will be tough to negotiate a deal for d. R. E. A. M. Ers if critics keep calling the president racist. I do want to see an immigration compromise. Right. You cant have an immigration compromise if everyone is out there calling the president a racist. They are destroying the setting. Both sides are destroying the setting in which anything meaningful can happen. David chalian is here, our cnn political director. How true are the words of senator paul and because of that negotiations may be really difficult, especially with republicans. If youre a democrat looking at this, how do you see it . Yeah. So put aside the debate you were talking about earlier in the show about what was said and different accounts we are getting. What the white house and the president has never pushed back on is that he offered tough language that was clearly disparaging toward origin country for people who emigrate into the United States. Mmhmm. So thats something everybody agrees on. Thats what spoiled the well here. Brooke, if indeed the democrats see this funding bill and trying to attach daca to it as their only piece of leverage because it is very often that the republicans need votes from the democratic side in order to fund the government certainly in the senate its absolutely necessary that this is their moment of leverage. Comments like that are just going to dig in the democrats even harder into their position that they must have a daca agreement. Yeah. Let me fold in this sound from john lewis, civil rights icon, congressman. He says he will not vote to fund the government unless there is a deal on daca. We must not give up or give in. We must continue to press on and get a deal. I for one will not vote for government funding until we get a deal on daca. So obviously significant coming from him, david. But at the 11th hour would democrats really be willing to shut the government down over daca, over the d. R. E. A. M. Ers . Its a good question and one Democratic Leaders are grappling with in these days leading up to this deadline. Now john lewis, of course, if every democrat in the house was to follow john lewiss example there and no democratic votes on this, paul ryan showed in december that he could muster enough republicans to get over the hurdle to fund the government at least for a shortterm kick the can down the road thing until they work it out. Its on the senate side thats the big question about democrats. Will Chuck Schumer be able to hang onto some red state potentially vulnerable democrats from states like north dakota or indiana that donald trump won by a huge margin. Will they be willing to shut down the government over not having a deal on daca . The Democratic Base may demand it. This is why i think you will see the Democratic Leadership really trying to grapple with whether or not this is the moment in time to really do that and fear the backlash and blame. But placate the base. Or to move ahead and fund the government in hopes of getting a deal down the road. Deadline is friday. Well talk about this every day until then. David chalian, thank you for that. Coming up, my next guest was brushing his teeth when the alert came in. Imagine this on your phone. Everyone seek immediate shelter, this is not a drill. What do you do when you get an alert about an incoming Nuclear Missile . Thats next. Im all about my bed. This mattress is dangerously comfortable. When i get in i literally say, ahh. America loves the leesa mattress. We have more five star customer reviews then any other mattress of its kind. This bed hugs my body. Today is gonna to be great. Place your order and experience the leesa mattress at home risk free. Order now and get 100 off and Free Shipping too. Go to buyleesa. Com today. Before i had the shooting, burning, pinsandneedles of diabetic nerve pain, these feet. Grew into a freewheeling kid. Loved every step of fatherhood. And made old cars good as new. But i couldnt bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. 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