First time. What hes now saying about the incident, and what he regrets. Well get to that in a moment, as well. We start with breaking news. Newly em popowered democrats one House Oversight committee, about to give President Trump a taste of republican medicine. The committee that republicans used for endless investigations into Hillary Clinton and president barack obama, opening a big one into the trump white house. Democrats focus . White house security clearances and the russia investigation. We should note, the white house has not immediately responded to our request for comment so far. Ken dilanian is here to explain this for us. Ken, we believe that this is the First Official launch of an investigation so far by this new committee. Is that right . Reporter it looks that way, at least the one announced with this kind of fanfare. Nbc news has obtained a letter from the chairman of that House Oversight committee, elijah cummings, to the white house, announcing he is opening an investigation into the White House Security clearance process, over what he calls grave breaches of National Security involving people that he says had access to classified information who shouldnt have. This is an interesting case, craig, because even the republicans on the committee, when they controlled it, acknowledged that there were some problems with the security clearance process, and started their own inquiry last year. They appeared to get nowhere. The white house rebuffed their requests for documents. Now, of course, chairman cummings and the democrats have said theyll issue a subpoena if the white house does not grant this request for documents. Right now, it is a chairmans letter, asking nicely by firmly for the documents. It is a wideranging request and promises to put a spotlight on the president s soninlaw, jared kushner. If youll recall, there were issues with his security clearance. At one point, it was downgraded because he hadnt fully filled out his Financial Disclosure forms. Then there were reports he had his clearance restored. Months later, the Washington Post reported he didnt have a full, top secret sci clearance to review the sensitive documents in the government. There were also issues around rob porter, the former staff secretary accused by former partners of domestic violence. Besides that, he got clearance to see the most sensitive documents in the white house. Even john kelly, when chief of staff, acknowledged there were problems with the security clearance process. Now, House Democrats want to air all the dirty laundry. They want the documents, and theyre prepared to issue a subpoena to get them, craig. Breaking news off the top. Ken, thank you. Susan page. David lite, former speak writer for president obama. Currently, head writer for funny or die. How worried should the white house be about this investigation . I think they should be worried about this investigation and all the others to follow. This is not going to be the last time, and it is not going to be the only committee in the house that will be pursuing the white house on a variety offish shoo y of issues, some involving the president , some the russia probe, some just agencies taking action for the last two years with little congressional overnight. That is about to end. Susan, let me read an investigation into White House Security clearances by nbc news. This is from roughly a year ago. More than 130 political appointees working in the executive office of the president did not have permanent security clearances as of november 2017, including the president s daughter, soninlaw, and his top legal counsel, according to internal white house documents that were obtained by nbc news. How far reaching do we surmise this investigation could be . Oh, it is going to be very far reaching. One of the things that came to mind right away is when that investigation of the some of the folks working in bedminster, trumps golf club in new jersey, there was Illegal Immigrants who were here illegally, and they got secret service pins. How did they get through secret service . How did they get their clearance, and they werent even in the country legally . I think theyre going to have a lot of explaining to do on how what their process and their procedures are. David, a number of freshman, highprofile democrats on this committee, most notably, perhaps, cortez. What does this investigation mean for their agenda specifically . Well, i think it is an important platform for freshman lawmakers to get their voice out, to start to establish how theyre going to act on the national stage. What i think is interesting about this investigation in particular is it does show some restraint. You could start with something very political, you know, as a democrat. There are about 40,000 things id love to know the answers to, but theyre starting with something that is National Security related. I think it is pretty likely that the white house was not super organized here. Maybe not super lawabiding. Theyre starting with the lowhanging fruit. Isnt this typically how all of these investigations start . They start with something fairly narrow, then all of a sudden, after a few months, it is revealed that, oh, well, this oh, and this, oh, and this. Six months from now, you know where we are. I worked in the Obama White House with the investigation with benghazi. No, thats not how they all work. Its how some of them go. Remember, there was an investigation to a real estate deal, and somehow, it blew up. Thats right. Another big story were following on this wednesday, shutdown day 33. President trumps advice to republicans, pray. Pummelled by awful new polling, convinced hell win, the president pushing prayer and a new slogan to win money for his wall. In two tweets this morning, he summoned his inner don draper with a jingle. Heres a jingle. Build a wall, crime will fall. Even the president admits, however, the slogan may need help from the almighty. Quote, this is the new theme for two years, until the wall is finished, under construction now. Of the Republican Party, use it and pray. His theme coming ahead of two senate votes tomorrow. Two big votes, two competing visions to open the government. The biggest dividing line, billions for the president s border wall. Both also may need prayer if either is to succeed. Susan, ill come back to you. 33 days in, going to be a second missed paycheck for a few hundred thousand workers. Where is the urgency in either chamber of congress . Yeah, where is the urgency . The fact is, were in a stage where the fact that the senate is going to have votes on two measures that are almost certain to fail is seen as at least a tiny step forward. At least theyre bringing something up. At least Mitch Mcconnell, the Senate Republican leader, seems to be engaged, after what was a long slumber during this shutdown. Perhaps this will demonstrate to both sides, and especially to President Trump, that the votes are not there for the path that hes chosen. Even prayer isnt going to get him over the finish line. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell once pledged hed not hold votes that werent passable. What happened to that pledge . Why hold a vote if you know the measure is doomed from the beginning . Because theres pressure coming from his from other republicans, especially those up for reelection in 2020. This is a good step. It is a signal that at least theres a conversation thats going to be had. It is the only offramp for the president , to have this settled between Mitch Mcconnell and nancy pelosi. At this point, im just hoping that leader mcconnell just has a little sliver left in him of what it is to be a public servant, not just be a political pawn for the president. David, i want to play something that trumps top economic adviser said today. Before i do that, are you at all surprised that, so far at least, your party appears to be totally unified, in terms of its messaging . So far, at least, publicly, i have not seen a single democrat weaver on whether they should engage in any sort of negotiation before the government is reopened. Well, you know, theres the open quote, i belong to no organized political party. I am a democrat. In that sense, im always surprised when we manage to hold it together and stay organized. I think in this case, we understand, that if you cave to this kind of hostage taking, the only thing youll get is more hostage taking. You dont reward bad behavior. Exactly. Heres the president s top economic adviser. I believe this is larry kudlow. Extended for the whole quarter, and given the fact that the First Quarter tends to be low because of residual seasonali seasonality, you could end up close to zero. The Second Quarter number would be humongous, if the government reopened. Not larry kudlow. It was kevin. Could the shutdown go on that long . I wish i knew. This thing seems to be going on for a long time. The strangest thing of all is that it would be so easy to end this shutdown. All that needs to happen is for President Trump to decide, lets reopen the government, or Mitch Mcconnell to decide, lets make reopening the government a priority. So this is a temper tantrum that has taken on historic proportions. Here we are. Susan, is there a way for the president to save face and still reopen the government . Yes. You can declare a state of emergency along the border, then agree to reopen the government. Thatd be one thing. He can also take a deal that is not the nature of a compromise is both sides do things they dont want to do, that they didnt want to do at the beginning. He can accept some deal that extended daca protections permanently and got him money for a wall. That was a deal democrats were willing to make last year and declare victory. Yes, i think there are ways that he could save face and get out of this. So far, he hasnt signalled any willingness to do either of those things. Susan, new polling out, and it is consistent with more recent polling weve seen. It is terrible for the president. 72 of folks asked tell cbs the border wall is not worth the shutdown. Worse for trump, theyre giving Speaker Pelosi higher marks on handling the shutdown negotiations. 47 for pelosi. 35 for trump. The president doesnt seem to be overly concerned with polling. How concerned should your party be . Well, the president is always concerned about polling. He tends to talk about it only when it is in his favor. The Republican Party should be very concerned about it. These are horrible numbers. Whats reflected in this polling is, people care about other people. They relate to the fact that they themselves cannot go more than one or two paychecks without hitting a crisis in their financial life. So it is now sacrificing families for a wall that, even the president s supporters say, compared to letting your family be destroyed and kicked out on the street because you cant pay the rent, theres no question which is more important. Lets get people back to work. David, let me read something about President Trumps embattled state of the union speech. This is something he told peter baker of the New York Times. Excuse me, this is peter baker of the New York Times. Didnt talk to the president for this. The address is being written to unveil a variety of ppolicies, just discussing the border dispute, which is why it is important to President Trump. What costs come with this wall debate that consumed this country and washington for the better part of 40 days now, 45 days . I think there is a number of really serious, major challenges facing the United States right now. Almost none of us think that one of those big challenges is the lack of a wall on the border. The president clearly does. Steven miller clearly does. Most americans dont. One of the most important things you can do as a president is focus on the right thing at the right time. President trump, to put it mildly, is terrible at focusing on the right thing at the right time. Susan, heres the other part of this. Beyond opportunity costs, weve talked about it a number of times, two things that dont get taughted about e talked about a lot, eminent domain. The fact the president convinced a large swath of the country he can build the wall, and we dont have thousands of acres of private land to do that. The second part, two years. Two years he had a republicancontrolled congress. Now, all of a sudden, it is his top priority. Yeah. It is mindboggling. You know, to talk about opportunity costs for a moment, big opportunity costs for the president. Can you imagine another legislative agenda from the white house . Manage to get through congress after the shutdown. Opportunity cost for democrats, too. House democrats hoped to get bounce out of hr1, their opening measure to deal with politics and money. Its gotten almost no resonance because people are so concerned about the shutdown. There is also a cost to the country, to address big issues that affect our nation. Its been pushed aside because we have to be dealing first and foremost with getting the government up and running again. Its anyway. Su susan, i have to leave it there. David litt in the flaesh. Love the tie. Funny or die, it is hilarious. I think itll take off, david. Missed opportunity. How President Trump stepped over one of his biggest bipartisan policy achievements when he ushered in this Government Shutdown. And exas i have trouble saying this word. Exasperating. Speaking out. An exclusive interview with the young man who sparked our most recent conversation on race on politics, when he appeared to taunt a native american elder. What he would do different if given the chance. Rent if given the chance rootmetrics say is number one in the nation . Sure, they probably know what theyre talking about. Or the one that j. D. Power says is highest in Network Quality by people who use it every day . This is a tough one. Well, not really, because verizon won both. So you dont even have to choose. Why didnt you just lead with that . Its like a fun thing. vo chosen by experts. Chosen by you. And now get apple music included, on us. 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New reports from the Associated Press and politico found President Trump is increasingly frustrated with a series of interviews that mr. Giuliani gave this weekend, saying the president took part in conversations about trump tower throughout the campaign. It is the latest in a series of comments that giuliani has had to walk back. In an attempt to mitigate his remarks, mr. Giuliani telling nbc news, quote, my recent statements about discussions during the 2016 campaign between Michael Cohen and thencandidate donald trump about a potential trump moscow project were hypothetical. My comments did not represent the timing or circumstances of any such discussions. Lets bring in darren samuelsson, the senior White House Reporter at politico who wrote todays piece on the exasperated west wing. You write, in part, trump was apoplectic after a pair of weekend media interviews by his personal lawyer, when giuliani had discussions about the building of the trump tower in moscow during the campaign. A statement contradicting trumps public position. Is this the Tipping Point . I dont think it is a Tipping Point for rudy. Its elevated, again, the concerns that have been there for a while. Rudys first interviews he gave with sean hannity back last spring also raised alarms that he was up to the task of dealing with what was really a highprofile, very fastmoving investigation. It puts the president s legal liability front and center, his president ial term, as well. Rudy manage