Agents who support his call for a wall, but taking no questions from reporters. Not to be outdone, pelosi then briefed reporters saying this. Were not doing a wall. Does anybody have any doubt that were not doing a wall . So there is plenty to discuss. Ryan lizza is here to help us out. So is nina turner and alice stewart. Good evening. Didnt i warn everybody about this . I said he is no longer going to have the entire spotlight, the entire media narrative. Hes going to have remember i said that share it with nancy pelosi. And i think that was going to be one of his biggest concerns. Something that hes not used to. Ryan. Yeah. I was right. He didnt like it today. He didnt like it. Hes got that full ensemble of cameras in the Briefing Room so he can pop in there whenever he wants and get on the news. So i think he took advantage of it today. The whole day was about the democrats and the democratic takeover of the house. And frankly, a lot of the coverage was a sort of celebration of the diversity in the Democratic Party and a lot of firsts in this new house of representatives, and i think youre right, don. I think he was sitting there watching it. Seething. Seething. He watches hours and hours of cable tv. We know that. Crazy to say that, but thats what the president does with his free time. Nothing wrong with cable tv, of course. But he was obviously seething and obviously needed to insert himself into a storyline that he doesnt like because he got beat badly in the midterm elections and today was the sort of culmination of that defeat. Yeah. But it didnt really it didnt work. I mean, it was it had stunt written all over it. I mean nina, help me out here. No . Don, i wish i could. I mean, the president was hes a whiner. He whines like a baby. Hes a liar and hes a whiner. I think what needs to happen is the republicans got to go over there and change the president s diapers, don. Thats what this is coming down to. So that he can cut it out, so the grown folks, the big boys and big girls can sit around the table and do what is necessary for this government, number one is to do away with this shutdown so those 800,000 folks that you talked about, some of those are our neighbors, relatives, friends and even strangers who definitely need their paychecks that they are not getting. So the whining and lying must stop. Thats my memo to the president. Thats quite a mental picture. Go ahead, alice. But don, you say it didnt work. I flipped over to one of our competing networks right after this happened, and it worked for his base. They took it hook, line and sinker. And praised him for getting out there and putting his commercial out there and leaving the Briefing Room without taking any questions. For his base, the message he wanted to get out, it worked like a charm. The word you said was commercial. Go ahead, alice. That would have been a really Important Message to get out and show the support for this wall 12 days and 21 hours ago when before we got to this shutdown point. So its a tremendous message. He needs to make sure that people understand that there is support for the wall amongst people out there, but its about 12 days a little bit too late. Alice, let me ask you this because i think you make a very good point there because nancy pelosi said it loud and clear. She said were not doing a wall. She called it an immorality. The president has staked so much on this wall. But is it out of reach, alice . It remains to be seen. Clearly we have both sides in their corners with their arms crossed and theyre not budging. We have mike pence saying no wall, no deal. And we have nancy pelosi saying no money for no wall, no how, no way, never. And we have to find a way to come to the middle. If we come down, the president comes down on the 5 billion and democrats come up on the 1. 3 billion or 1. 6 and we have some communication about daca and making this not just about his big beautiful wall but make it more about Border Security, there is bipartisanship consensus for this. That needs to be part of this conversation because americans agree we do need to secure the border, we do need to provide protections for daca, and until thats part of this conversation were going to continue to be in the shutdown and thats not a good place to be. Is this how the president is going to fight the new congress, with stunts an memes, nina . Hes very good at it. One thing we can say, whether you agree with his policies or tactics, he is the master at this because this is reality tv, not at its finest. Because being the president of the United States of america we cant afford for these kinds of stunts. But absolutely, don, thats his wheelhouse and hes masterful at it. Dont you get it immediately i said stunt, stunt, stunt. You did. And i said okay, dont fall for it. I was at home going do not fall for it. Monitor the Briefing Room. If he takes questions, go to it. If he doesnt, dont. Or turn it around quickly. Dont you do you feel, ryan, that the media has to be savvier instead of falling for those sorts of things or do you think they should run and take whenever he goes to the podium . I think we still even after what, three years now of covering trump, we struggle with how much in the old days if the president said something, if the president was on tv, if there was a briefing from the white house, it was just automatically news. It was by definition news. And were struggling with this idea of broadcasting lies and propaganda and news conferences where you dont actually get questions which were struggling, all of us in the news businesses are struggling with when is it the appropriate time to take Something Like that live or when do you just have your producers and others watch it and chop it up and use the ive been here long enough, since 2006. I remember when obama by the way, Brianna Keilar did call it a stunt right away afterwards. But i just remember when obama came into office because it was the first black president. Like every press briefing they were taking. And after a while we were missing so much news we would say the producers, lets go to the briefing now. Theyre taking questions about it. The briefings werent aired live. Every time someone over at the white house said something we would monitor it to make sure it wasnt a stunt or just a talking point and then put it on television. So you know, i dont know if thats the answer. Look, you know, im not i dont make any of these decisions obviously, but i think thats the way to cover trump is to digest it a little bit first before you present it. And because he has such a problem with the truth. That would take his oxygen away. Im sorry about that. It would definitely take his oxygen. That is his lifes blood right there. That gets him ticking. He knows hes a magnet and whatever he says, he stubs his toe, he sends out a tweet, it gets covered. To the extent were not 24 27 365 occupied with whatever move this man makes. It plays into his hands. Yes. The press Briefing Room is such a phenomenal place, and it should be a place where important things happen and big announcements are made. And i hope we dont get to the point where its the boy who cried wolf. If he says hes going to speak in the Briefing Room, it should be something monumental. Today was a tremendous historic day here in washington. It was great to be on the hill and seeing all these new fresh faces and unfortunately, in my view, that was something that kind of distracted from what is a big day here in washington. Can i just say just to clarify the reason to do that, what you suggested, don, is not to oppose trump or to harm him in any way or to you know, to get back at him because hes frustrating. Its just its a more responsible way to present whats going in washington. Also, its not our business also to be the promoter of propaganda or lies. Or lies. The best way to sort out whats truth and whats not is to, as you say, take a minute to absorb it. Because listen, one of the people at the president s Briefing Room appearance today was chris crane, the president of the national i. C. E. Council. Hes the one getting a pat on the back from President Trump. You might remember him. This is from Bob Woodwards book fear. Crane and the chief of staff john kelly reportedly almost got into a fistfight in the oval office. Now cranes back in the white house the day after kelly leaves. Does that tell us anything, nina . It does. The theater, the world is a stage. President trump is taking every single opportunity to cement that into the minds of the American People. And the fact that you had general kelly that tried to stop this kind of foolishness and a president now that has nobody there to try to keep him disciplined, which is very hard to do, is very telling. So yes, all theater cementing in the minds of the American People lies, lies, damn lies and lies on top of lies. Its all an illusion what this president is doing. And hes selfish, don. Weve said this time and time again. 800,000 employees, their families from all walks of life. People are suffering while hes playing games with this wall. Kelly was hardliner on immigration and he thought this guy crane, who heads the union, was you know, too far out there to be honored with an oval office visit. Thats what precipitated the near fistfight. So the fact that kellys gone and this guys front and center i think youre exactly right, don. It tells you a lot. As we say in the business, allegedly, right . So listen, just a day before the new congress was sworn in, a rightwing twitter account posted video of congresswoman alexandria ocasiocortez doing the dance ally sheedy did in the Breakfast Club. Its from a video she participated in when she was in college. Not in high school as the account claimed. Judging by the comments it appears to have backfired on the person who posted. Its not clear what alexandria ocasiocortez is guilty of besides being young and having fun there. Go figure. The thing is, like her College Years and days were much more recent than mine. I never danced in college, did you guys . Or to a video . Come on. Heres the thing. I have a lot of policy concerns about her but her having fun and dancing and having a good time, i dont see any problem with it. Whoever thought they would post that and do some damage to her clearly is sadly mistaken. I think it looked like somebody having a good time. Is it desperate god knows we need that. Its ridiculous. Was that desperation . And why . Who doesnt have fun and dance around in college . I cant imagine anyone who watched that video and thought, aha, i finally got the oppo dump on her thats going to take her down, you know, this woman having a great time and dancing. I mean, i think theyll be using this they should use this to promote her. Her whole brand is being accessible and normal and relatable. So i think its actually really fascinating watching the right deal with her because they dont they really dont understand her appeal yet, obviously. Yeah. Im sure a lot of people are going, ally sheedy, the Breakfast Club . Who doesnt love ally sheedy . I love ally sheedy. Nina, were old enough to know. Im sure some of the Young Millennials are like who is that . They know the Breakfast Club. What was pretty in pink . Ally sheedy was in molly ringwald. In Breakfast Club as well. As we say, we old. Okay, yall. Were seasoned. What you talking about, don. Thank you guys. Good to see you. Thanks, don. You too. House democrats wasting no time getting to work tonight including introducing a bill to protect Robert Mueller. Can they pass it . Please say the name of your second pet. Rocknar. Incorrect. Your call is important to us. Well be with you shortly. Hello, this is daniel in billing. Oh, hey, yes hello, daniel can you hold please . No, please main menu. Calling Customer Service is the worst. So tmobile just made it better. No bots, no bounci, no bs. I love you guys. We get that a lot. Its only day one of the new congress. Democratic oversight of the Trump Administration has begun. Democrats have introduced a bill to protect special counsel Robert Mueller. Lets discuss now. Asha rangappa as well as michael moore. Good evening to both of you. Good to see you. Happy new year. Asha, House Democrats were expected to introduce this bill. Now that theres a democratic majority in congress, does it have a better chance of passing . I dont know where it will go, but i think its important to understand what this bill does. Remember that the special counsel regulations come straight out of the executive branch from the department of justice unlike the independent counsel like Kenneth Starr who was appointed by congress, which means if President Trump fires this person, mueller, he has no right to do anything about it. He can only be fired for certain criteria like misconduct or dereliction of duty or conflict of interest. But if hes wrongly fired, theres no recourse. So what this bill would do would allow that to be challenged in court and would effectively bring in another branch. And thats a good thing overall because otherwise, you know, you just have a showcase showdown about whether there should be impeachment. It would escalate very quickly. I think its a good measure. Though practically speaking, i think at this point the train has left the station and im not really sure that the president could do anything to really stop this investigation including by firing mueller. Michael, i want to play something for you Speaker Pelosi said this morning. As you well know, there is Longstanding Department of justice guidance that states a sitting president should not be indicted. It is not the law. That is not the law. Everything indicates that a president can be indicted after he is no longer president of the United States. What about a sitting president . Well, sitting president when hes no longer president of the United States. A president who is in office, could Robert Mueller come back and say im seeking an indictment . I think that that is an open discussion. I think that is an open discussion in terms of the law. Do you think its an open question that the president can be indicted . I do. And i think guidance is just that, is guidance. Its not a statute, its not the law. Its a policy. Policies and guidance can be changed. We know that. There can be disputes and disagreements. Whether or not those are in effect. Theres some rules right now for the department of justice that say that Department Attorneys are not supposed to give credence and follow guidance from other agencies. I think its an open question. One thing we could see would be an indictment of the president that remains sealed until he leaves office. That to me is a more likely possibility than seeing a president indicted and brought to trial and brought before the court system during the time hes in office. I dont think thats unlikely. I think the court would basically say hes got time to do he needs to be able to focus on his job. Thats sort of a joke maybe, in this administration, but i think in normal circumstances they would say that the president should be able to focus on his or her job. But you could see an indictment sealed, held until the president leaves office and then brought out. Asha, what do you make of Speaker Pelosis comments . I think among legal scholars, there is actually some debate over whether a sitting president can be indicted. As michael just said, this is not a settled legal question. This is guidance in the department of justice. Fortunately, we havent had to test this so far. But as he said, the concern in the department of justice, you know, memorandum opinion is this would take away from the president s duties. You could see the indictment and the trial as being bifurcated you know, processes or stages. So far there are some who believe that you could indict the president even if he postponed the trial until later because otherwise, you would effectively be able to have someone immune to any kind of criminal liability for the entire time that theyre in president ial office for up to eight years which wouldnt make a lot of sense. Asha, i want to turn now to news out of the department of justice. The acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker told a former a. G. That a u. S. Attorney is investigating possible abuse of power by the fbi in surveiling former Trump Campaign aide carter page. Whitaker says theyre looking into whether the fbi should have done more to investigate the clinton foundation. Does it strike you as strange that a doj official would tell a private citizen about an investigation even if that private citizen happens to be a former attorney general . Absolutely. Don, and not just im sorry. That was for you. Not just a doj not just a doj official. This is the acting attorney general of the United States whose job is to lead this entire department. You know, its not only inappropriate but it calls up again all of the questions that have been raised about his the appearance of you know conflict that he has when it comes to many of the things that are going on in this department and particularly when it comes to the fbi and things relating to the Mueller Investigation or russia. And i think whats really disconcerting is that his job is to avoid the appearance of any conflict. So even if he has decided not to recuse because of prior comments that hes made, he has an affirmative duty to mitigate any further appearance of you know, lack of impartiality. It seems to me that he is just continuing to disregard that. That is really to the detriment of the entire department of justice in my opinion. Michael, the former attorne