And welcome to this special Holiday Edition of the lead, im pamela brown in for jake tapper. And we begin this new years eve with our politics lead. Let the countdown begin. No, not until andy cohen and Anderson Cooper pop that bottle of bubbly, but rather until nearly 1 million federal workers can start getting paid again. Day ten of the Government Shutdown, and there is no deal in sight. President trump spending this holiday alone at the white house and telling aides he will not budge on funding for a border wall and Border Security. This as the president is publicly rebuking his outgoing chief of staff who claims the Trump Administration gave up on building a concrete wall a long time ago. I want to bring in Boris Sanchez at the white house. Boris, what is the president saying now about the wall . Reporter hey, pam, yeah. President trump loud and clear on twitter, saying he wants a concrete wall, at least on some sections of the u. S. Border with mexico. The president saying that Border Security is impossible without a strong, powerful wall. The president very busy on twitter this weekend, even as the Government Shutdown nears 2019. President donald trump home alone on new years eve, and setting off fireworks on twitter. Trump taking aim at his own generals, the russia investigation and even blaming the deaths of two Migrant Children on democrats over the weekend. The president also correcting his outgoing chief of staff, john kelly, who an interview with the l. A. Times, tried to redefine the president s longpromised border wall with mexico. We are going to build a great border wall reporter to be honest, its not a wall, kelly told the paper. The president still says wall, oftentimes frankly hell say barrier or fencing. Now hes tended toward steel slats. But we left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration. Trump responding on twitter this morning. In all, concrete wall was never abandoned. Kelly also blasted jeff sessions, saying the former attorney generals zero tolerance policy, which led to families being separated at the southern border caught Administration Officials off guard, trying to defend a policy they claimed did not exist. Not a liar. Weve never had a policy for family separation. Reporter kelly defended his tenure, saying it should be measured not by what was accomplished, but by what trump did not do. Meantime, the president continues stewing over the Government Shutdown. Trump telling aides, he will reject any bill containing the 1. 3 billion democrats have offered for Border Security, while demanding lawmakers return to washington immediately to hammer out a deal. Some are optimistic the shutdown will end soon. Hes got to deliver on the promise of securing our border, and hes very openminded about combining wall funding with other things to make it a winwin. Ive never been more encouraged if we can get people talking, we can find our way out of this mess. Reporter now, Lindsey Graham says he tried to sell President Trump on the idea he could get funding for his border wall from democrats in exchange for a legal status, a pathway to a legal status, for dreamers, those daca recipients. Its an idea thats been tried before and has failed. Perhaps not surprising that the senator from South Carolina said the president was not committed to that idea, pamela. All right, Boris Sanchez at the white house. Boris, thank you so much. Both sides seem to be at an impasse, meaning this could be the first Government Shutdown to extend into two different congresses. Bi phil, democrats will take control of the house come thursday, and they have now settled on their proposal to reopen the government, is that right . Yeah, thats right, pam. Nancy pelosi has made no secret about the fact that when democrats take control of the chamber on thursday, they will move very quickly to try and reopen the government. How theyre going to do that will work like this. There are now currently seven Appropriations Bills that have not been passed. Thats the 25 of the government thats currently shut down. Democrats will package six of the Bipartisan Senate bills and send those over to the senate. They will do the seventh, the Homeland Security bill, the one thats the most contentious, could include wall funding and a shortterm basis through february 8th and send that, as well. Pam, its worth noting, this is not the end of the story. Senate republicans, including Senate Majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell, have made very clear, unless the president signs off on something, they are not willing to move forward on it, that means democrats might do something legislatively in the house, but the pathway to ending this is still very much, pam, an open question. Very unclear at this hour. Phil mattingly, thank you so much for bringing us the latest there. And i am joined by my wonderful panel here to discuss all of this. A lot of news for a new years eve. Typically its a slow news day. Not today. We are, what trump is the president , you know. Trump is the president , thats right. Thats right. And were in day ten now of this Government Shutdown, as phil just pointed out. Both sides at an impasse, no end in sight. Senator graham now saying the democrats may be interested in making a deal. He brought up the idea of daca. How do you see this shutdown resolving itself, and when . I mean, its not the previous two that went this long were about serious issues. 2013, we had a big shutdown on obamacare, basically. And in 1995, 96, on medicare entitlements after gingrich and the republicans had taken over congress, a showdown with president clinton. President s won, the first two shutdowns. Its Public Opinion and that was because you have a big advantage if youre in the white house. You can control the message. If your party works with you, you hang together. These parties in congress are always hard to keep together. You have dissidents in your party and suddenly you lose control. But thats not happening this time, because trump doesnt really control. If you had a normal white house and normal relations between the white house and the republicans in congress, i think trump would have the upper hand. But thats not the case. I think pelosi has much more control over House Democrats than trump does over Senate Republicans. And i think pelosi has an intelligent strategy. Shes going to pass these other Appropriations Bills, which will fund every part of the government, but Homeland Security. And tell the republicans what youre not going to pass these bills, which you passed. These are Senate Versions of the Appropriations Bills. Right. And youre going to not pass them, why . Because donald trump wants a wall . Whats the rationale for not funding agriculture and interior . Donald trump has control of the message. In that very public debate with the leaders, he told us he was going to shut the government down. He was going to own it and not blame the dems. Hes walked away from that like a lot of other presentations he makes. But hes walked himself into this box. Hes turned around, locked the door and sat there and stewed in that box with that white house and says im not coming out until i get my wall. Well, Border Security is more likely than a wall, if you will. Because theres no Empirical Data to support its going to stop what he wants it to stop. And so the president has controlled this message, but the pow power in the vote lies with the democrats right now, and youre right, that strategy makes sense. The reality is, though, what happens with that seventh bill on Homeland Security . Do they pass it without the with the funding . Does it go to the senate . What does Mitch Mcconnell do . And what do they send to the president or not . Does he veto it . If it comes back, what does congress do because of ongoing pressure from the public . Right. And mcconnell has said that he wont bring anything to the floor unless he knows what the president will sign. And we dont know what the president will sign. It seems like no one knows. I want to get to this sound from former Virginia Governor and potential 2020 candidate, terry mcauliffe, speaking on the state of the union yesterday. Lets listen. What should Democratic Leaders in congress do . Not give an inch. Democrats should not give an inch. Donald trump owns this. So is that the right message, scott . I think its the only message there. Because as i said but isnt this what people outside of the beltway, what they find so frustrating about washington . That both sides sort of dig in their heels and theyre playing politics . But the democrats arent digging in their heels. Theyve offered 1. 3 billion on Border Security. Can you honestly say and look to the American People and say i give you another 1. 3 billion on Border Security, where Border Security on the southern border factually and statistically is down over the last ten years, that the borders arent going to be safer . There are no terrorists coming over on the southern border. There are no gangs. I think. 3 of 1 was the last study of gangs coming over. Drugs arent coming over that southern border, because theyre being smuggled in at legal ports of entry. And immigrants. The majority of the illegal implements. These are facts. To your point, when youre talking about what the public thinks, i think a couple weeks ago, there was a poll that ahead of the shutdown that said that people did not want the shutdown. But when you drilled down on the numbers a bit, it was the republicans who were saying, yeah, shut it down. Hold firm. To President Trump. And thats what hes looking at. The further we get along in 2019 and 2020, were going to see this president become even more political. Because it starts becoming about his reelection, rather than those of congress and we know this is the president who said he was going to run the day he was inaugurated. So this is clearly something that with a committee and everything. Exactly. And that is not thats very unusual. So thats where his head is. To that point, i spoke with the head of the Border Patrol agents union a couple offin wee ago and he told me about an interesting conversation he had with the president in november. And he said, look, if this comes to a shutdown, and nobody likes a shutdown, but if its over a border wall, we will support you, mr. President , over it. So he does have the support of the republican base. He does have the support of the Border Patrol agents. And thats what the president is looking at here, rather than the broader population. Again, Senate Republicans get a say here. The president does not cannot shut down the government if he doesnt have the support of enough republicans to stay in a veto or to block the bill coming to the floor. Congress says for now, ill do what the president wants. Its kind of pathetic. You represent 53 people elected by voters, and you just follow the whims of one person in the oval office . Because they dont know what hes going to do. All the more reason not to follow him. Why doesnt mcconnell sit down with pelosi and dare trump to veto it . And override the veto . Because theyre walking away from him, and thats going to be a real issue for 2019. Trump is leading the party down the tubes. Why dont they want to walk away from him . They should. Im a democrat. Dont get me wrong. Yeah, what are you, defending trump here . Youre going to ruin your reputation. I think theyre hesitant to walk away and in 2019, whether the senate gop walks away or not is going to be a huge issue if they really want to move the country forward and work with the democrats. Theyve had it for two years, i guess, controlling all three houses. And havent made much progress in moving us forward beyond the tax cut thats really cost us a lot more than what they said. So much to discuss. We didnt even get to john kellys remarkable interview in the l. A. Times. My goodness. All right. Thank you, guys. And another thing. Yeah, and another thing. Way too much to discuss today. Stick around. Lots more to talk about. Well, he quoted lincoln and possibly trump. What defense secretary mattis said as he bid farewell to the pentagon. And an american ringing in the new year and russian custody. Did Vladimir Putin nab a spy or grab a bargaining chip . And heres a look at more of the celebration from moscow as the clock crossed midnight moments ago. Stay with us. Aaaaaahhhhhhhh ballooned your car. Call meeeee burke a flyby ballooning. Seen it, covered it. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum need a change of scenery . Kayak searches hundreds of travel sites and lets you filter by takeoff time, layovers and more, so you can be confident youre getting the right flight at the best price. Kayak. Search one and done. Very high triglycerides with diet and exercise deserves the hard work that went into the Science Behind vascepa. Prescription vascepa. Vascepa, along with diet and exercise, has Proven Results in multiple clinical trials. Vascepa looks different because it is different. 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S. Troops from syria, but defended the pullout, saying hes fulfilling a campaign promise. This comes as defense secretary james mattis bids farewell to all pentagon employees today. Mattis wrote, quote, i am confident that each of you remains undistracted from our sworn mission to support and defend the constitution while protecting our way of life. Our department is proven to be at its best when the times are most difficult. Cnns Barbara Starr with the latest from the pentagon. Reporter before the stroke of midnight, the pentagon will make a classified phone call transferring the power of defense secretary from james mattis to acting secretary of defense, patrick shanahan. Before leaving, mattis sent a final message to the troops, including what some see as a last dig at the president s isolationism. Telling the nations warriors to keep the faith in our country and hold fast alongside our allies aligned against our foes. Shanahan takes over tuesday with perhaps his first task, sorting out what President Trump really wants to do about withdrawing troops from syria. Just today, President Trump signaled a change in the speed with which the u. S. Is with drawing troops from syria, tweeting, were slowing sending our troops back home. A change from what trump said in a white house video posted nearly two weeks ago. Theyre all coming back, and theyre coming back now. Reporter he also today tweeted that isis is mostly gone, a change from a few days ago, when he declared we have defeated isis in syria. Military leaders say that is not the case. The tweets coming on the heels of a lunch with one of the president s closest allies, senator Lindsey Graham, whose adamantly opposed to a rapid withdrawal. The president is thinking long and hard about syria. How to withdraw our forces but at the same time achieve our National Security interests, which are to make sure that isis is destroyed. They never come back. That our allies, the kurds, are protected. And that iran doesnt become the big winner of our leaving. So i think were in a pause situation. Reporter but it is not clear what happens now. In this particular situation, it sounds like senator graham is basically saying, hey, i got to the president , and im hoping he rethinks his decision. Reporter its leaving allies and enemies confused. The problem is, the president already announced it to the world. And there are both friends and foes alike who are taking his last announcement of over a week ago, thinking thats what were going to do. Reporter now, President Trump is insisting, hes just doing what he campaigned on, getting out of americas wars. Pamela . Barb