but make no mistake, don. it almost felt as though the president was trying, you know, his basic last chance here. basically, his last chance here to get that wall that he promised his reporters so many times out on the campaign trail. and i talked to a trump adviser here this evening, who said, listen, if the president does not get his wall, this is going to be a problem for the 2020 re-election campaign. they sold this promise to his base over and over again, and if he doesn't get it, there's going to be a sense of desperation that they just let one of these key campaign promises get away. so the stakes were high for the president tonight, but he sort of gave us the same old, same old when it came down to his immigration rhetoric and that wall on the border that he so desperately wants, don. >> and he can't lose conservative media like ann coulter and rush limbaugh, maybe even more so than his base, because his base might be prone to believe anything he says. i couldn't get it, they were x obstructionists, o

low bar, don. >> i know! and the one thing, when -- >> it's like you and me, when we go to dinner, if you even bring a wallet, i feel like i'm ahead of the game, forget about you paying for anything. low bar, don. he didn't lie that much. >> the better-looking one never has to say, so you have to pay. >> that makes perfect sense. >> the part that stuck out to me is when he tried to pit black against brown. this affects black people, african-americans and hispanics more than -- so, that was -- but anyway, next dinner on you, again. thank you, sir. >> divide, divide. absolutely. don't forget the mueller story. don't forget the mueller story. >> oh, i got it. >> the president got lucky tonight by giving this address on the same day that this mueller news broke. unlike ana and luis, i don't believe that there was anything constructed about this. i don't think they knew about the mueller news, but it's important. we've never seen a suggestion of coordination between the trump campaign and russian interf

and he's selfish, don. we've said this time and time again. 800,000 employees, their families from all walks of life. people are suffering while he's 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. that's what precipitated the near fistfight. so the fact that kelly's gone and this guy's front and center i think you're 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 right-wing twitter account posted video of congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez doing the dance ally sheedy did in "the breakfast club." it's 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. it's not clear what alexandria ocasio-cortez is guilty of besides being young and h

don's like did you see this? >> make a trend. lit don lemon, drunk don lemon. i'm not drunk, but whatever. so, listen, do you like mexico? >> i studied in mexico city. >> take it away. okay. leyla. >> leyla, what's up, girl? >> we still have about 20, 30 minutes to go. we are getting ready for the new year here in mexico city. and i'll tell you what, guys. they love to eat grapes with one wish per month. i have been hanging out. who are you with today? so he's here with his family. i'm going to give him some grapes, and we're going to make wishes. if you guys want us to eat a grape with wishes from you, you let us know. one grape for good health. what are your wishes? what wishes do you have? >> i wish, i don't know, getting in form, i get fit. >> fitness, so go ahead. grapes are good for your health so i think that's a good one. what else? >> my grades are good. >> okay, good grades in school. i don't know, brooke, don, what do you want me to eat a grape for? what are your wishes this year? >> i can't say it on television. why is it so smoky there? what the he

don fernando, el hijo de don pancho, a pensado en contratar a un investigador privado. pero la cosa no es fÁcil. >> en la parte econÓmica, un detective va a requerir de sus honorarios. adriana: don francisco dice que sÓlo le pide a dios que no lo dejen morir atado a una cama, sin poderse valer por sus propios medios. asegura que este serÍa el mÁs triste final para un hombre que, como Él, siempre se gano el pan de cada dÍa con mucho esfuerzo. todo por culpa de un conductor que decidiÓ manejar sin imprudencia. michelle: las autoridades que investigan el caso anunciaron que por el momento no tienen pistas para dar con el paradero del conductor. si usted vio algo, por favor denÚncielo.con tÉrmino la increÍble historia de supervivencia de este perrito en california. fue hallado dentro s de un refugio animales lograron salvarlo y fue adoptado. ahora estÁ feliz en su nuevo hogar. patricia: el frÍo perturba el sueÑo de millones en el medio oeste. del paÍs al presidente interino y congelarle sus cuentas bancarias. comenzamos la ediciÓn nocturna. [mÚsica] enrique

good to have you on. >> hi, don. glad to be here. >> this is really awful, when you hear these stories, and there so many of them. tell us what your workers do. what kinds of jobs are they doing, or not doing, as the case may be? >> right. so, the professional services council, we're the leading trade association representing the government technology and professional services federal contractors. we have contractors representing 400 companies. contractors in every state representing every federal agency. as you mentioned, don, you shared the stories of julie and julia. just like the shutdown is impacting them, it is equally hitting federal contractors, but if not a little bit harder so, and that's because, as you mentioned, as government employees ultimately will receive their back pay, contractors, historically, have never received back pay. and that's one thing we're focusing on at psc, is to make sure that contractors who are not getting paid now will receive back pay after the shutdown ends. >> all those people

two years ago don was like i'm not interested. and i was like check your temperature, sorry, is this don lemon? and look who popped up in your life. >> mr. malone. he obviously brought the babies to hang out with us. >> and what about mr. james fletcher, your hubby? >> my james bond is -- he's somewhere. >> he's in the satellite truck. hey, guys. look, they're so excited. hey! james is a big sweetie, by the way. i met him for the first time when you started hanging out with him for the first time, your first date. >> yeah. aw, look at this crowd. i love it. we needed some smiles after this year. yeah, you know, i met him -- i met my man three years ago at the party in new york, just mutual friends. and i thought he was such a hunk. he's from london and he was jet lagging and he was like can i take you to dinner the next time in new york, and i go what if i'm hungry now, and he goes get your coat. we had dinner that night. i invited him to new orleans. i had to wake up earlier to go surfing with briana keeler who's watching. he thr

if it is true, it is a block buster, don. it is the president himself committed felonies and did not direct somebody but he did it himself. >> a democratic congressman who sits on the house says if the president directed cohen to lie to congress, that's obstruction of justice, period, full stop. if this is proven accurate, could this bring the president closer to impeachment? >> absolutely. so look it is a federal crime for sure. and then it is exactly the kind of stuff that founders feared and why impeachment clause exists. i am not sure donald trump at this point has anything else. i think he almost wants to be impeached at this point of his behavior with the wall and such, he has no domestic agenda left. his domestic agenda is twitter plus the wall. that's about it. impeachment would actually allow him to do what he loves which is be a snow flake and pretend he's the victim and the democrats are this or that. at the end of the day, the impeachment process, if these facts are krcorroborated in today's report, i don't see ho

don? >>> this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. what a day. breaking news. just moments ago on day 13 of the shutdown the house passed a package of bills that would end the should the shutdown but without money for the president's wall. president trump tonight promising a veto, though. while speaker pelosi makes it really clear that she is not going to budge on the wall. >> we're not doing a wall. does anybody have any doubt that we are not doing a wall? >> so here we are. on the very first day of the new congress. nancy pelosi, president trump going toe to toe. remember way back in december, just three week ago, when the president said this? >> i am proud to shut down the government for border security, chuck. i will take the mantle. i will be the one to shut it down. i'm not going to blame you for it. >> so much for proud. so much for blaming the democrats. now it's all veto threats for this president with day 14 of the shutdown just hours away. so much for not blaming the democrats i should say. but as of today it's a whole new world. a world where presid

but to the extent that don jr. is a material witness with regard to the dealings between the trump organization and russia or with regard to allegations of money laundering involving russia and the trump organization, then i would expect that he would be called. >> so congressman, 31 days into the shutdown the president offered to extend temporary protections for dreamers and those with temporary protected status. democrats say he needs to reopen the government first. but didn't you already have a deal that he rejected when it comes to dreamers? >> that's correct. i think a year ago in the january, february, march time frame that deal was on the table. and the president rejected it. after he said that he would accept it. so that's the problem that we have right now with the president. among other things. he accepts something and then he rejects the very same terms the next day. and he keeps moving the goalposts so that people on our side don't know how to negotiate with him because we don't know what is the offer o

he can't be believed on the topic, don. so every question becomes reasonable. >> that's my question to you. so if every time you speak with me and you ask me something, and i give you a different answer for the same thing, how do you feel about what comes out of my mouth? >> well, often when you make these suppositions, it's hard for me to answer on television because it does mimic our personal relationship. so, you know, it's weird. trump, you, it's kind of the same thing in my life. no, look, the problem is obvious, and that's what is so vexing about all of it. the president never tells the truth on this issue. so how are we to believe him? >> yeah. >> what happens, god forbid, when he has to address the american people and say, here's what's happening. here's what we need to do and why, and i've gotten information from -- fill in the blank of the institution that he's probably bashed in the past. that could be a moment of crisis for us, and certainly it's a moment of personal crisis for him now, don. these are real quest

>> we're going to get to the bottom of it, don. i know that some people in washington say that people outside washington don't really care about the russia investigation. and, sure, it's not like the near fatal shutdown and affects their lives in that way. but i think this has truly affected our country, and we've been on the ropes since it happened. russia attacked the very idea of america. and until we can tell the american people who worked with the russians, how many people did, and what they did with the russians, i don't think we're going to climb out of this hole we've been in. that's why it's so important. >> congressman, thank you for your time. have a good weekend. >> you too. my pleasure. >>> the president caving, agreeing to end the government shutdown for three weeks. but what happens after those three weeks are up? i'm going to ask senator amy klobuchar. it. president trump caved today when he agreed to a deal to temporarily reopen the federal government, a deal that doesn't include any money for his border wall that

>>> this is "cnn tonight," i'm don lemon. president trump tonight trying to make the case for his wall, calling it critical to security at the border. but did his last ditch effort persuade americans? this is a crisis he wants you to believe is worth shutting down huge swaths of the federal government for, leaving 800,000 employees without pay. a lot of what the president said tonight doesn't hold up to scrutiny. and in their response, the democrats accused him of appealing to fear and ignoring fa facts, blaming him for the shutdown, which is now in its third week. the second-longest ever. a lot to talk about. and i want to discuss it with just straight off the bat with journalist maria elaina salinas. good to be with you. >> thank you so much, don. good to talk to you. >> so, the president began his remarks tonight, maria, by saying that the united states is out of space to detain the people who are coming here. speaking of crisis of the heart and the soul and the plight of the immigrants coming here. listen to this and then

i want to turn things over now to don lemon and "cnn tonight." don? >>> this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. happy new year, everyone. we're just hours away from the democrats' takeover of the house. with the clock ticking till the start of day 13 of the partial government shutdown, hours away from a whole new reality for this president, when nancy pelosi officially takes the reins. but the speaker to be is wasting no time flexing her muscles over president trump's pet project, telling nbc she'll give, quote, nothing for the wall. and saying this after congressional leaders met with the president about the shutdown behind closed doors in the white house situation room. >> we're asking the president to open up government. we are giving him a republican path to do that. why would he not do it? why would he not do it? >> why? simple. a source telling cnn that senator chuck schumer asked the president not once, not twice, but three times to give him just one good reason that he won't take the democrats' offer. the president's response, quote, i would look foolish if i did that. th

>> i don't talk about my conversations with don. don's an old friend, a new jersey guy. we have a jersey bond. we don't talk about the conversations we have. what i will tell you is don was amongst the most careful, smart lawyers i've met in my career. and what don was trying to do his entire time at the white house was to make sure that the people i kind of talked about -- >> yeah. >> -- were either kept out of the white house or were controlled if they were in them. that was a full-time job for him. >> he didn't succeed, though. mike flynn came in and ran -- he was the president's national security -- >> he didn't -- >> jared kushner outlasted don mcgahn. >> that's very true. but, you know, the bottom line is, flynn was out in 24 days and i do feel some sense of vindication over that because not only was he not successful as national security adviser, he was the single biggest failure as national security adviser in modern american history. >> we're going to have a break in which you can yell at me. i want to ask you one more question. >> i'm mr. mellow now. >> don mcg

i'm don lemon. this is the first night of a new era in washington. there is still no end in sight for the partial government shutdown. a total of 800,000 federal employees have been furloughed or working without pay since december 21st. and they won't get their paychecks till the government reopens which doesn't seem like any time soon. the new little democratically controlled house with nancy pelosi as speaker passing a package of bills tonight that would end the shutdown but without any money for the wall. the president not only digging in his heels but staging a publicity stunt to steal the spotlight from the democrats celebrating their taking back of the house. appearing for the first time ever in the white house briefing room, parading out border patrol agents, taking no questions for reporters. nancy pelosi then said this. >> we're not doing a wall. does anybody have any doubt that we're not doing a wall. >> so there is plenty to discuss. ryan lizza is here to help us out. know is nina turner and alice stewart. good evening. didn't i warn every

i'm don lemon. thank you so much for watching. we do have some breaking news. it is on the mueller investigation. the president says he's going to leave decisions on mueller's report to the justice department. but there's also this. it's a pretty ominous quote, and it's from "the daily caller," that interview with the president. and here's what it says. it says, i could have gotten involved in this. i could have terminated everything. i could have ended everything. i've chosen to stay out of it. but i had the right to, as you know, i had the right if i wanted to to end everything. i could have just said, that's enough. many people thought that's what i should do. hmm? well, if that sounds familiar, it really should because it's clearly something the president had on his mind for quite a while. this is in august. in august he told reuters that he decided to stay out of the investigation. but he went on to say, quote, now i don't have to stay out. i can go in, and i could do whatever. i could run it i

from chicago, here's don dahler of cbs news. the people in the midwest are a hardy bunch. they are used to cold weather — but nothing like this. —45 celsius windchills here in chicago. the city is taking precautions. they have been trying to prepare people for this weather. they have opened up some city buses to be homeless shelters for those who have no place to go. they are using, in effect, flame—throwers to melt the ice on tracks and they are using chemicals to melt the ice on aeroplanes. homeowners are desperate to keep their pipes from bursting in the cold, so they are putting up space heaters. but the officials say their best piece of advice is, if folks don't have to go out, stay home, stay warm. don daler, cbs news, for the bbc news, chicago. very dramatic weather. carol has

don? >> tom foreman, thank you. >>> michael cohen is indefinitely postponing testifying before congress. why? his family's safety is at risk and what he says donald trump and rudy giuliani have to do with that. was ahead of its time. still, we never stopped making it stronger. faster. smarter. because to be the best, is to never ever stop making it better. the new 2019 c-class family. lease the c 300 sport sedan for $429 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer. mercedes-benz. the best or nothing. you've i like working.areer. what if my retirement plan is i don't want to retire? then let's not create a retirement plan. let's create a plan for what's next. i like that. get a plan that's right for you. td ameritrade. ♪ audible members know listening has the power to change us, make us better people. with audible you get more. two audible originals: exclusive titles you can't find anywhere else. plus a credit good for any audiobook and exclusive fitness and wellness programs. all for just

the role evaughanca and don jr. is front and center amid the latest buzzfeed reporting and how much did they know about this moscow trump tower project. these siblings received regular detailed updates from michael cohen about the negotiation something ivanka trump has denied. ivanka trump's attorney did issue a statement, ms. trump did not know about this proposal until after a nonbinding letter of intent had been signed, never talked to anyone outside the organization about the proposal, never visited the perspective project site and even internally was only minimally involved. cnn did not receive a response from don jr. nor from cohen but we do know in 2017, trump -- don jr. told lawmakers he was aware of the project but was not involved. with me now is michael deantonio. you know this man better than most. you know how president trump ran his family business and how involved his grown children were. how much do you think don junior and ivanka know? >> i think they knew everything and i think they knew it all alo

the problem is now he's the president of the united states, don. the president's temper tantrums are getting in the way of responsible governing and what he doesn't seem to get is on friday, 800,000 people across america, federal employees are not going to get a check. that means no groceries. they're not going to be able to make their rent payments, car payments. what's going on? he just doesn't know what it's like to walk in the shoes of every day folks like the family i was raised in. he just doesn't get it. >> the president and his allies have been insisting all along -- well, insisting now that there's a crisis on our southern border. your district isn't directly on the border but you visited it recently. is that what you saw? >> i actually went down to visit the border with members of the congressional hispanic caucus. chairman castro. what we found was no running water, don. the water was contaminated. they couldn't drink it, they couldn't bathe with it, they couldn't cook with it. for the agents that work there, those are the conditions tha

allá, sólo en almacenes don carmelo, vayan. sólo en almacenes don carmelo. albertano: ¿qué vas a hacer? mírala. no vayas a hacer unas visiones, ¿eh? rosa aurora, por favor. maría: ¿qué está haciendo? ¿qué hace tu hermana? albertano: no comiences. rosa, bájate. maría: vela, mana, no se da a respetar. betzabé: no, mana. maría: luego van a pensar que nosotras somos igual que ella. betzabé: y nosotras somos unas damas. albertano: bájate. rosa, bájate. bájate. así no, chihuahuas. [chiflidos] maría: almacenes don carmelo presenta las mejores promociones, ¿y cuáles son las mejores promociones? delfino: las mejores proporciones la tiene rosa aurora. la duendecita de los precios bajos y amiga de todos los papás de los niños. tenemos para el a compren, compren, compren, compren ♪ nayeli: oye, chinito, y ahora que ya somos novios... chino: ¿quién dijo que somos novios? nayeli: le voy a decir a la miss que me robaste un beso. chino: tú me robaste mi torta y yo no fui de chismoso. nayeli: toma tu torta y regrésame mi beso. chino: ay, con tal

the government is closed on false pretenses, don, when you get right down to it. the president said that the primary reasons for taking the action that he took was one, because of the immigration at the southern border. the reality is that since the year 2000, we have reduced immigration at the southern border from 36 million to 130,000. >> so the numbers are continuing to go down. >> yes, he said that it is to stop the drugs from coming over the border, but the reality is 85% of the drugs come into our country from ports and not the border. and the third reason that he said was to stop terrorists from coming into our country, and the reality there is far different from what they have tried to sell us. approximately 4,000 people, and just under 4,000 people have been stopped coming into the country who have arguably ties to terrorist organization, and most of those and all but 47 of them were at airports and foreign countries where the individuals were trying to board the airplanes to come here. the remaining 47, and six of them were from the mexican border and 41

of course, this is a baseless accusation here from don jr. but certainly it is something a story good for don junior given the speculation about the meeting and whether he was talking to his father. it's unclear to us whether investigators are putting this to rest or are they still pursuing this, trying to learn about what those conversations with those business associates were about. it's unclear at this point this is a settled matter. wolf? >> excellent reporting, pamela. thank you. manu, thanks to you as well. the special counsel, robert mueller, has released details about evidence seized from trump ally roger stone, including computers, phones and data they contain. shimon prokupecz is here with us. it's described as voluminous and complex. how damaging could this be? >> it's hugely damaging for roger stone. when this arrest occurred on february, the fbi was searching three locations. they were at his house for hours. now we're getting an idea of some of the things that they found and some of the information that they have already obtaine

. >> did you see what don jr. wrote on instagram? a lot of people are outraged. we'll tell you why. that's next. great tasting, heart-healthy california walnuts. so simple, so good. get the recipes at walnuts.org. on average, we'll live move more in eleven homes. in the world. and every time we move, things change. apartments become houses, cars become mini vans. as we upgrade and downsize, an allstate agent will do the same for our protection. now that you know the truth, are you in good hands? [[clap, clap]] ♪ hey, jen, which tie says, "trustworthy but also fun"? gold down, oil up. oil down, gold up. this is too busy. we need to make sure people can actually use this stuff. which one says, "hours of free live streaming coverage without cable or subscription fees"? aluminum, aluminum? you ready, zack? oh, we're ready. welcome to the show. let's make finance make sense. ♪ so lionel, what does 24/5 mean to you?rade well, it means i can trade after the market closes. it's true. so all... evening long. ooh, so cl

i'm don lemon. tonight i want to talk to you about what we heard from william barr, the president's nominee for attorney general, and what the president himself might be thinking tonight now that he has heard that barr, what he's had to say to senators of the judiciary committee. the president might just be wondering, whatever happened to the guy who wrote that 19-page memo, arguing that robert mueller's investigation of whether the president obstructed justice was fatally misconceived. >> i will follow the special counsel regulations scrupulously and in good faith and on my watch, bob will be allowed to finish his work. >> you heard that. on my watch, bob will be allowed to finish his work. here's why that is important, okay? because mueller revealing new evidence today in a heavily redacted court filing. here it is. 188 pages, detailing paul manafort's lies about his contact with team trump, well into the president's term. 188 pages. mueller also revealing that manafort has told a grand jury about

thank you. >> thanks a lot, don. >>> this is "cnn tonight." i'm don lemon. i want to talk now about russia. there's a lot going on tonight. this is a clearly what we call a when it rains it pours moment in the investigation. we're learning tonight that robert mueller still wants witness testimony for a federal grand jury. a sign that there may be more indictments to come. we're going to have more in a moment. >>> there's also the acting attorney general, matthew whitaker, stirring up a storm with his comments today on robert mueller's work, including when and if his report will see the light of day. >> i am comfortable that the decisions that were made are going to be reviewed, you know, either through the various means we have, but right now, the investigation is, i think, close to being completed. and i hope that we can get the report from director mueller as soon as possible. >> okay. whatever. that sounds an awful lot like a message from the acting attorney general to the special counsel. i've got my eye on you. and that definitely has not escaped the at

i am don lemon. president trump will address the nation tomorrow night in a primetime speech from the oval office. it's his latest attempt to make his case on border security and the wall. sources are telling cnn that the president's advisers told him tweeting and speaking off the cuff wouldn't be enough to convince americans to support his wall. but the democratic chairman of the house judiciary committee says this about the oval office address. >> i expect the president to lie to the american people. why do i expect this? because he has been lying to the american people and his spokespeople continue lying to the american people. >> the president will also travel to the southern border on thursday. but the clock is ticking because we're just about an hour away from day 18 of the partial government shutdown. the shutdown the president once said he'd be proud to own. remember that? and while the president focuses on his wall, 800,000 federal employees are not getting paid. some of them are going to ha

. >> did you see what don jr. wrote on instagram? a lot of people are outraged. we'll tell you why. that's next. don't let cracked skin tell you what to wear. new aveeno® cracked skin cica ointment. with shea butter and triple oat complex. for fast relief and a protective barrier for lasting relief. wear what you love, aveeno®. they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/try and never go to the post office again! >>> did president trump's oldest son compare asylum seekers at the southern border to zoo animals? let's talk about this. hello, hello. >> hello, don. >> i got a panel full of very smart and talented and dare i say, attractive women. thank you for joining us. >> you can say that, don. >> i know. >> we'll take that. >> you're go

>> my pleasure, don. yes. >> first i want to get your response to the president's extraordinary statement today that he is not working for russia, that the "times" reporting it's all a big fat hoax. what do you think of that? >> well, it makes you scratch your head. i'll tell you that. the president should release all his notes and release all his papers and put this to rest if indeed he's had no affiliation or association with the russians then he could easily put this to rest. you know, we have had a problem obviously with the russians for many years but particularly since they intervened into our presidential election of 2016 on the side of trump. and since that time we've been asking ourselves was there collusion from the trump campaign with the russians to do this? and since that time trump has handled putin with kid gloves. this is a man, putin is, who is the head of the kgb, of the old soviet union. he's always been an adversary of the united states of america. and yet this president seems to put h

we would have loved to have that kind of access, don. no. what happened was the independent counsel submitted his report to i believe the house judiciary committee. they then released it immediately to the public. and so we saw it the same time everybody saw it. the president's team had drafted a pre-buttal, we had done a lot of work anticipating what the findings would be and stayed up the entire night to do a rebuttal when the report issued. by no means did we get an advance copy. we would have loved to have seen one. >> perfect segue to my next question. this is what sources telling cnn that the white house is going to beef up its legal and comps teams to prepare for this mueller report. if the findings, if, right, if they turn out to be devastating to the president, do you think they'll be able to contain the fallout? >> well, it depends on what the charges are and, don, i'm not so sure there will be a sort of formal report other than what he has, what he's required under the regs to report to the attorney general are any prosecutions he

i'm don lemon. we have some major developments in the russia investigation tonight, so we're devoting this entire hour to an in-depth look at all things russia. president trump's former lawyer michael cohen has been issued a subpoena to testify before the senate intelligence committee next month. cohen's lawyer says trump's former fixer will comply. in march, cohen begins a three-year prison term for a variety of crimes, including lying to congress about trump tower moscow deal. he says he lied to protect the president. the top democrat on the intelligence committee says cohen needs to provide a lot more answers about that project. also tonight, a cnn exclusive. a top russian official lashing out when asked if president trump's workers working as an agent for vladimir putin's government. watch this. >> i mean, it's completely, completely out of touch with anything that could be conceived as, you know, anywhere close to reality. >> is special counsel robert mueller dropping a hint that more indictmen

i'm don lemon. thank you for joining us. we want to talk about where we are right now, two years into this trump presidency. so let's talk about where we stand on the shutdown, on the russia investigation, and this administration's wrong-headed comments on race ahead of this martin luther king jr. day, okay? we're going to begin with the shutdown. tonight is day 31. 800,000 federal workers on the verge of missing another paycheck. workers who, just like the rest of us, they have to feed their families. they have to pay their rent. airports especially hard hit right now with 10% of tsa screeners calling in sick and air traffic controllers warning planes will just sit on the ground. and this president, who likes to style himself as an expert in the art of the deal, right -- right there -- despite not having actually written this book, can't seem to make this deal. he can't seem to make it. and that may be because of his negotiating style, if you can call it that. it seems to be to take things away and then offer to give them b

i'm don lemon. and i have one word for you and that is chaos. it's everywhere in washington. everywhere. so let me run down some of what's going on right now. the president's attorney, maybe crazy like a fox, maybe not. rudy giuliani denying that he is lying for his boss after saying this just days ago about trump's involvement. >> what did president trump have to say about the trump moscow project? >> he acknowledged that they had conversations about it throughout 2015-2016. the president can remember having conversations with him about it. >> throughout 2016? >> yeah. probably up to, could be up to as far as october or november. >> then, backtracking and claiming trump actually doesn't remember any of that. >> the president still planning to deliver the state of the union one week from tonight even though he hasn't been invited and it doesn't look like he's going to be. >> he can make it from the oval office if he wants. >> people that are supposed to be making the president's case for him locked

don, i just -- >> here's the thing. we're not going to say -- you know, you and i have had this conversation. i've had it on your program. fire long time i was reluctant to call trump a racist. i said that he was a bigot. i said he was racially insensitive because the idea of racism is really what nina's talking about, this idea of being in power and being superior over others. and i was like, is he really doing that in his position? in the beginning i had to reconcile that. as we've gone further into his president and his reaction, his reaction to charlottesville sealed the deal for me. there is no way that someone who does not have racist, bigoted racially insensitive, however you want to define it, tendencies in them can look at the charlottesville situation and say there are good people on both sides. no way. that sealed the deal for me. on top of everything else that he's done. and for people who support him in the beginning because of economics or whatever, they thought he was going to be their savior, fine, but a

>> that's ridiculous, don. and this b.s. partisan spin that the white house puts out only leaves credence to the charges. they're trying to smear the investigators. they can't address the substance so they scream witch hundred and they scream deep state. all of these conspiracy theories and they try to me line people that suggest they don have a very strong case and what's striking to me listening to steve and director jim clapper earlier, very down the middle intelligence professionals, decades of experience, they're voicing the same suspicions that the president of the united states could be compromised by the russians and nothing that donald trump has done makes the suspicions go away. i was struck by the fact that you were playing the clip of donald trump saying if you're listening, please go attack hillary clinton's e-mails and get the stolen e-mails. we now know based on mueller's indictment, that very day, the russians actually went after the clinton campaign. they began the hacking that resulted in the compromise of

>> it's ludicrous, don. again, my hat is oof to the fbi investigators who decided to sort of suck it up and say this is going to be controversial but we have to do it. and that's not an easy decision to make. not just in their own minds, but it's also there are tlehreshold that you have to clear before you do that. so, no, once again, you don't just walk in and say, you know, we're going to do this. and to echo something that max was just saying, yeah, the comment about finding the e-mails to russia, that certainly of concern. but there are so many other things that -- the thing that really struck me is the comment that president made in the oval office to sergei saying i just got rid of this fwi. under what circumstances, you either have to be incredibly not smart about how you're dealing with your foreign counterparts and then if you're talking to the russians, i mean, it's ludicrous on -- there are so many things that this president has done that are just absolutely either crazy or illegal or both. it's b