we heard from senator mitch mcconnell. we have a bit of the sound from him talking about what he expects, you can also go to our website to find everything that's going on with the shutdown as far as previous interviews that we have done. we're just going to take a look and sit back as the one of 16th congress is set to come in. >> this is what it will look like. mitch mcconnell was to remain majority leader of the republicans, of the senate. john thune will take on and will be the majority whip and the conference chair for senate republicans will be john barrasso. turning over to the democrats, it is chuck schumer as minority leader. dick durbin as minority whip and patty murray also as assistant minority leader. that's just what to expect as far as leadership, the ones that will be making in setting the temple for activities of the 116th congress. the 20th amendment to amendment to the constitution directs that congress convenes at noon on january the and odd-numbered year. that date can change from time to time. legisla

this is not mitch mcconnell's fault. this solely resides with president trump. >> no, no, no. >> if there's a crisis on the southern border -- >> the house passed a funding bill that includes funding for the -- >> which there isn't. apprehensions at the southern boarder are at year, decade lows. there is not a crisis. that's a manufactured idea. >> well, aei, which is a very respectable -- >> okay. >> has talked about the -- >> but let's reset. again, i'm just trying to figure out, the government's been shut down for two weeks here, and we know what the position is clearly from democrats in the house. they have put their offer on the table. they've passed it. we are waiting. we just put this out there. we want to see what happens in the senate. because nothing is happening there now, and there is a question whether there is going to be some movement from the cory gardners and some of these other vulnerable senators. and then there is the question of what will the president ultimately accept here. we listened for an hour

but mitch mcconnell is not a strong leader of the united states senate. he could not stop donald trump from shutting down the government because he would not stand up to the president of the united states as majority leaders have done many, many times in history including standing up against presidents of their own party. and then once the shutdown started mitch mcconnell did nothing to solve the problem. when the democrats then took over the house of representatives 12 days into the shutdown nancy pelosi immediately went to work to reopen the government and passed a variety of funding bills that would reopen the government. and mitch mcconnell was afraid, just afraid to bring up those bills when they were sent to the senate. because unlike any previous majority leader of the senate, he seems to live in fear of the president. and so the 800,000 federal workers who have missed their paychecks have missed them because of donald trump and very much because of mitch mcconnell. the former democratic leader of the senate harry reid said this about mitch mcconne

mitch mcconnell did get burned. one thing i learned about mitch mcconnell is he only gets burned once, on any one issue. i don't think he is going to proceed until he is sure that whatever the solution is can pass the house, can pass the senate. obviously that means 60 votes and get the president's signature. so i think in this case, senator mcconnell's really doing the best anyone could given his position, which is just to encourage the white house and democrats both in the senate and in the house to negotiate until there is something that's amenable to all parties. and again, i think the only such solution is that dhaaca plus border security compromise. i don't really see mitch mcconnell moving. part of the story here, steve, the country has grown so numb to these shutdown situations. you look at these financial markets. they're kind of ignoring it. i think most americans are ignoring the situation, obviously with the exception of the federal workers who are suffering through this. but the country is so sick of th

mitch mcconnell did that. he did that because he had gotten an agreement from the president. >> before the shutdown. >> right. he had gotten an agreement from the president that he would sign it. then rush limbaugh and ann coulter got on their shows and, you know, gave him what for, and he then reversed course. he backed up the truck and said, no, i won't sign it. so mitch knew from the beginning this was going to have a bad ending. so mitch's goal was very simple, i don't want to be anywhere near this. so if you remember, he immediately started saying, this is about the democrats and the president. this is about the democrats and the president. and you got to give him this, the polling shows that only about 5% to 6% or 7% are blaming the republicans in congress. they're blaming trump. and what mitch mcconnell is doing is trying to protect his members, those that are up for election in 2020 in tough states. he doesn't want them to have to take this vote because he knows they're going to have a tough road to ru

and the other is mitch mcconnell. when we go to work, no one goes to work as a republican or a democrat or an independent. we go to work as americans. and we need to get donald trump to understand, do not take hostages. do not make federal workers ponds. and th and -- pawn ns this shutdown now. >> brothers and sisters please welcome me in recognizing the federal members of congress that have joined us today. representative madeline dean, pennsylvania, fourth district. representative jan, illinois, 9th district, congressman mark -- i'm so sorry -- mark de-sal knee, california 11th district. representative abbie from iowa. representative steven horseford, nevada, fourth district. and mary kay seaner, stanner, from pennsylvania, fifth district. thank you so much for joining us. now, please welcome afc president lee saunders. >> good afternoon everybody. now i've got one question for you. are you willing to make your voices heard every single day to fight? to fight like never before? are you fired up? >> yeah. >> are you

mcconnell and there's lots of speculation as to why mitch mcconnell has been so reluctant, shall we say, that's a nice word, to allow a vote. your theory, it could be true but i certainly don't think that it would be fair to bar the spouses of t politicians or of political appointees from any particular occupation. >> host: less than a minute left. what is your plan for day 24 of the government shutdown? >> guest: we've been having protests at federal installations installation and offices all over the country, and at senators offices. and we've encouraged our members just to make, to flood senate offices with phone calls, to ask their friends and their family members to put as much pressure as itt possibly can on senators to get a vote on the house v passed appropriations bill. >> host: have you tracked how many calls that is meant and what you been able to generate from what you been pushing? >> guest: somewhat aberrant organization has. it's numbers in the thousands but i couldn't tell you the number now. hopefully those numbers will grow a lot in the coming days. >> host: there

whatever chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell agree on. but donald trump said that the last time that chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell agreed on a spending bill which they then passed through the united states senate unanimously in december. and after they did that and after donald trump promised that he was going to sign it, he changed his mind. after they passed the bill. donald trump said he was now opposed to it. and so today reporters pressed the president on exactly what he would be willing to accept. >> temporary spending without money for the wall? just to reopen -- >> i wouldn't be happy with it. i wouldn't be happy. but we have a lot of alternatives. >> wouldn't be happy with it? wouldn't be happy with it? he didn't say he would veto it. that's what he's supposed to say if he's going to veto it. with a normal president wouldn't be happy with it means he wouldn't sign it. but this is donald trump, so no one has any idea what he means. here is one of the alternatives for reopening the government, whatever that means, that the pres

and you described him as a clear way out of this and it is for mitch mcconnell to allow a vote. scott, i federal worker. go ahead. i would like to provide my opinion on the blame. first of all, it's not one party. it's all the politicians are to blame. there is that they are and voted in the public office to negotiate on behalf of the constituents. they are not doing that. present obama ran and one office based on change. also got intop office based on change. america wants change. they want politicians that will provide them the information they needed. another thing, congress, they failed their job with three continuing resolutions. the did not fund the government when they should have read october is a new fiscal year and congress didn't do it then. they weren't negotiating back then. they are failing. another point i would like to mention is federal employees, we can file for unemployment of we so need to. because we are in a furlough status. host: is that some thing you are recommending employees do? yes, we are. we are recommending unemployment eligibility varies by state.

. >> here's the problem for mitch mcconnell. if you remember, just before the shutdown started, mitch mcconnell and the republicans and the senate got what they thought was a go-ahead from the white house that you put through a continuing resolution to fund all of the government until february and the president will sign it and so the house overwhelmingly passed it. i think they got 80 something votes. republicans and democrats went along with that. then the president got hammered by right-wing talk radio, by the house freedom caucus. he switched his mind and said, no, i won't go for that. i'm going to insist on the $5.6. i won't see the continuing resolution. and mcconnell and the senate republicans felt burned by that. is a they basically said and if you listen to what mcconnell says, he's very precise in his language, he said i'm not going to put anything to the floor for a vote unless i know it has the support of house democrats and the president will sign it. so he's not going to be in another situation where he goes out an

everyone's like where is mitch mcconnell? listen, you made robby mook cough because he can't believe what you're saying about mitch mcconnell. >> we can all agree whether you agree with his tactics or his politics or not, and by the way, we can all also agree as a republican he is supporting a republican president and he's doing it in a way that is most effective. a democrat leader of the senate would do the same thing for a democratic president. >> what say you, robbie? >> i completely disagree. we're celebrating right now the absolute void of morality in the senate. we're celebrating a man who killed the rightful nominee to the supreme court from barack obama. we're celebrating a man who has absolutely abdicated the duty of the united states senate. you want to change this shutdown? you want to end this shutdown? the house has passed a bill. when the house passes a bill for appropriations, the senate passes their own bill, they can amend it, they can change it. the two chambers come together, come to an agreement and send a

and mitch mcconnell does not put it on the floor for practice. it was passed and then the president reneged and the democrats have using that fact against the republicans throughout the negotiations, and as things stand right now, and again, the republicans are looking down the barrel of the vote that is similar the to o t they have taken, mitch mcconnell does not want to take a vote and at the same time not get crosswise with the president. and so it is worth remembering that the context of all of this will change, because the democrats don't have to protect red state senators anymore, because the math for 2020 revolving around protecting the republican senators in places like maine and colorado and now all of the sudden a crack in the armour here, and the democrats will continue the apply the pressure no the president, and to mitch mcconnell to move these things forward to a vote and separate the issue of the wall from the rest of government funding. that is what we will continue to see. the other thing that i am watching for today, the white h

we will also present in a bill, the bill that mitch mcconnell did for a continued resolution for the homeland security bill until february 8, using his exact date. we have given the republicans a chance to take yes for an answer. we have taken their proposals on houseded by any bipartisan amendment, but just staying true to what the senate has already done. our question to the president and to the republicans is, why don't you accept what you have already done to open up government, and that enables us to have 30 days to negotiate for border security? democrats have been committed to protecting our borders, it is the oath of office we take to protect and defend. it has been very important to us, and we have committed resources to it when we were in the majority, and we will continue to do so. >> they are going to let us each speak, please. > i yield to the senator thank you. >> thank you. so the bottom line is very simple. we asked the president to support the bills that we support that would open up a government. we asked him to give us one good reason. i asked him directly. i said,

mitch mcconnell and donald trump. and let me tell you something, lawrence, the wall they should be worried about is not a the wall at the south border, but wall street where we had another gigantic drop today in where the last thing that's underpinning trump's survival here, which is strong economic results is starting to move towards recession. if that turns, it's a collapse for trump, a collapse for republicans on capitol hill. >> now, david jolly, consider mitt romney who has a former governor -- i know governors when they're out there in the country and 50 states they shake their heads, they cannot believe that it ever happens because it basically can't really happen in a state government. so here's mitt romney facing his first government shutdown, and what does he do about it? and one of the first things he's going to read about it is his colleague western senator cory gardener, republican senator like mitt romney from utah saying i don't think shutting down the government is ever the right answer. if mitt romney

mcconnell, they'd bc in that struggle with mitch mcconnell to actually allow that vote toto occur. and that's why i thought senator schumer's very clear outline of here's how we can move forward was so simple and important, easy to follow. >> what do you think that mitch mcconnell will do here,mi lawrence? i mean,el mcconnell is relative good at getting things to work out the way het wants them to. he has not necessarily committed himself ones policy one way or e other. he said he'll only bring up something thatly the president will sign andin he doesn't want any political stunts. it's all sort of -- sort of process talk. what do you think isor actually going to happenat here? because presumably, mcconnell ib not as comfortable as the president with the ideaas of a shutdown that goes on for years. >> well,n mitch mcconnell said emphatically, there would be no shutdown. so everyone knows that mitch mcconnell doesn't want a shutdown and theseow are the situations, rachel, in which for a senate leader it might be more important what he doesn't do. ises mitch mcconnell working th phone

it is mitch mcconnell's shutdown now. mitch mcconnell has the power to take up those house bills that would reopen those government departments and bring them to a vote. those bills would easily pass the senate if mitch mcconnell would bring them to a vote in the senate. so every federal worker in kentucky tonight out of work including the 5,000 irs workers in kentucky trying to provide for their families have mitch mcconnell to blame for the financial struggle they find themselves in tonight. now, maybe mitch mcconnell just can't relate because like donald trump, not as rich as donald trump maybe, but mitch mcconnell is a very, very rich man. and mitch mcconnell like all republicans, publicly at least, hates the irs. but does he hate the irs workers who live in kentucky? republicans love to ate thate ts publicly. but on a per dollar basis irs workers are the most valuable workers in america. they return a giant profit on their salaries to the united states treasury every year. and they do it in the processing centers in

but it's clear that republicans, including mitch mcconnell, who's largely stayed behind the scenes, as he usually does, but has not put anything on the floor that would reopen the government after the house has passed bill after bill that would do just that. he felt it was time to change the dynamic. and after a couple of days of huddling with vice president pence and the president's son-in-law, jared kushner, they came out -- the president came out, made this statement speaking in sort of the idiom of the traditional white house, direct to camera from the diplomatic room with all the trappings and solemn circumstance of the white house itself. it did not appear to work, at least initially, although this is going to play out over a couple of days when we see what the larger public reaction is. mitch mcconnell acting in concert with the president, hitting send on a statement as soon as the president finished that said in part "everyone has made their point now. it is time to make a law. i intend to move this legislation this week." the way the senate works, alex, it's not that easy. he

the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell earlier today. we will let you hear what he had to say in a moment as he talked about the dispute between democrats and republicans over spending bills, but first, terry from winston-salem, north carolina. caller: good evening, sir. my big beef with the congress on both sides, because i am republican, but it seems like our senators forget they are americans, first or they should be. i merrily, they seem to be republican or democrat and did they look for what the party is fishing for. they need to realize they are americans. our senators need to stand up against mr. trump. is pulling things and the republicans will not hold him back because he is republican. i have a big problem with that. life goes.ay we are americans first, then politicians. steve: how did both sides get to that point? caller: i'm not really sure. i wish i knew. once upon a time, i am 70 years old, they disagreed on points but they could discuss problems and work through it. they can't seem to do it now. will not call a vote on som

>> objection. >> objection is heard. >> that objection was from mitch mcconnell. huh? pretty exciting stuff. could you just feel the tension in the room? could you feel everybody's anxiety, what's going to happen? i'm telling you, every retired senate parliamentarian sitting at home watching that on c-span today was on the edge of his seat. the republican minority leader of the house, kevin mccarthy, who was hoping to be riding in the speaker of the house's plane this year, today said he was shocked, just shocked that the speaker would even consider leaving the country during a government shutdown, but he apparently forgot to be shocked when the president of the united states left the country after he started the shutdown. >> i'm just shocked she'd even think that she would leave the country. why would you leave the country with government shut down and you're speaker of the house? why would you even think -- >> the president left the -- >> because nancy pelosi was where at the time when he went to iraq to visit the troops? i think she was in hawaii. >> being speaker o

the other person to end the shutdown is mitch mcconnell because he has the power. he won't do it. everyone should be asking why aren't you going to use the power you had no problems to force $1.5 trillion tax cut for the richest people in our country and basically screwing the middle class, why don't you do it? because the president won't sign it. there is thing called over riding the veto. chris, you have a lot of people that watch your show all over the country. i would say to every one of your viewers who live in districts represented by republican senators, they should call up their senators and say go and tell mitch mcconnell to do his job, bring these bills on the floor because we already in the senate passed these last year and make sure that everyone gets paid. he won't do it. so it's very clear to me who can end this shutdown. i do not immoral, makes no distinction between right or wrong or doesn't care. i won't rely on this guy but mitch mcconnell can do something about this. >> there seems to be, the president has been sort of, you know, running this is the flag pole ma

to discuss the shutdown with him but couldn't find him. >> okay, guys, we went to mitch mcconnell's office where we went to the senate. hash tag where's mitch? >> according to an analysis by the "new york times" the 800,000 federal workers that hadn't been paid during the shutdown have missed on average more than $5,000 in wages so far. combined that's more than $200 million per work day and while the median federal salary is $77,000 about one fifth of the workers make less than 50,000. many said they have less than a month's worth of savings. here's how widespread the hardships have become for

mcconnell, himself, has said that that would be a pointless waste of time, but at least mitch mcconnell will appear to be doing something for those people who are convinced that the shutdown belongs to republicans. the "washington post" reports that donald trump is losing support among voters in key states that won him the electoral college like michigan. many here, even those who still support trump, say they hold him most responsible. they recite his comment from the oval office that he would be proud to shut down the government. when he said it, they listened." >> i am proud to shut down the government for border security. so i will take the mantle. i will be the one to shut it down. i'm not going to blame you for it. >> joining our discussion now, francesca chambers, white house correspondent for the dailymail.com and john heilemann is still with us, and francesca, mitch mcconnell violating his own promise. he said at the outset of the shutdown that he didn't want to bring any bill to a vote in the senate that wouldn't pass the house of representatives and wouldn't be signed by the

and we'll try and figure out where the heck mitch mcconnell is hiding next. onnell is hiding next what stiff joints? what bad back? advil is... relief that's fast. strength that lasts. you'll ask... what pain? with advil liqui-gels. yeah, i've had some prettyeer. prestigious jobs over the years. news producer, executive transport manager, and a beverage distribution supervisor. now i'm a director at a security software firm. wow, you've been at it a long time. thing is, i like working. 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. ♪ billions of problems. sore gums? bleeding gums? painful flossing? there's a therabreath for you. therabreath healthy gums oral rinse fights gingivitis and plaque and prevents gum disease for 24 hours. so you can... breathe easy, there's therabreath at walmart. >>> personally, i want the wall. but not at our expense. we're not the ones that come up with the decision. they should be tha

mitch mcconnell is in a position to stop this. he has been laying low, as you noticed, he's been looking at his shoes, he does his obligatory speech on the floor everybody morning. he likes the fact that so much of the blame is being put on trump and a very smart amount being put on the professional -- he cares about one thing, protecting his members up for election this time. tillis, all of those senators up in 2020 -- >> susan collins. >> especially the erosion among white male, non-college educated, which has been trump's go-to. when you look at those numbers, they feel bad in the senate. so they are going to have to put pressure on mcconnell. if mcconnell wants to end this, he can end it today. all you is to do realize if republicans wanted to do this, they've had two years to do it. they've been in charge. they've been in charge of the house, the senate and the presidency and they didn't do squat on the wall. that's because they don't want the wall. so now this is all political kobuki. my colleagues are afraid of the base. bu

mitch mcconnell to allow a senate vote to open the government. trade tensions cast a cloud over davos. business leaders ring the alarm over uncertainty in u.s.-china trade talks. trump'sin drain, why policies are hurting higher education and sending talent to other countries. mcconnell,p, mitch who had said the senate would not vote on any government funding legislation unless the , appears agreed to it to have changed his strategy and has scheduled a vote on thursday for democratic-backed legislation that would fund the government through february 8. marty schenker joins us now. this is coming from the new york times. we have got more detail. what is your read? has saidmcconnell repeatedly that he will not bring this bill to the floor of the senate that the president won't sign. now that he has reached an agreement with chuck schumer to have a bill voted on that would fund the government, re-open the ,overnment, until february 8 seemed to contradict that. chuck schumer has repeatedly said the senate would pass a now,ghtforward bill, and apparent

the other is mitch mcconnell. at any moment in time mitch mcconnell can just say, i've had enough of this and i'll let it go to the floor and i will likely get enough votes to override a presidential veto and we'll be done with this. mitch mcconnell has notably stayed very far away from the debate. what i thought was the most interesting element today was not trump getting up and walking out on nancy pelosi, i thought it was mitch mcconnell yet again not going out with republicans after that confrontation to talk to the cameras because he really clearly wants no part of this negotiation. >> that is exactly what i was seeing in those -- when they website o went out to the cameras afterwards, no mitch mcconnell. that's what i was seeing there. john heilemann, sam is so right about how important that is. mcconnell has been very careful in his language. people are reporting to have said -- to say repeatedly he will not bring up a bill unless. he's not saying that. he's saying things like it's not realistic to bring up

and we'll get to this, between mitch mcconnell and donald trump? it's so interesting that they have become allied and worked together in this way because he, mitch mcconnell, avods the liide light. but what has he gotten in these past two years? >> if you look back to the last year, last couple years of the obama from presidency, mcconnell started in motion this process of keeping up on a lot of judicial seats, a lot of federal judge seats on the hope there would be a republican president who could fill them if the just so happened that republican president ended up being donald trump. so he was invested very early on in sort of the effort to coach trump in his judiciary that he kind of collaborated with these conservative judicial activists on. so that's been the big one and he's been able to fill -- trump has been able to fill more federal judiciary seats than any president and mcconnell's played a role in that. >> 83. >> right. >> 83 conservative judges or at least conservative endorsed judges. that's -- and two supreme court justices. they hit

the president said to mitch mcconnell, i'll sign this bill. mitch mcconnell signed a bill. he sent it to the house. we were prepared to vote for that bill but the republicans wanted to shut down the government. we need to open up government and then negotiate. not the other way around. we're prepared to negotiate. we're prepared to have the homeland security bill approved for a short term so that we have to negotiate. >> is an impeachment process inevitable? >> no, i don't think an impeachment process is inevitable. and that's not what we're focused on. we're focused on bills. we have to focus on getting the government open. that's our primary first responsibility. >> are impeachment talks a distraction? >> i think the impeachment talks are a distraction. we'll have to see what the mueller report says. nancy and i both said that. we voted that way on the floor of the house of representatives. what we want to do is concentrate on our substantive agenda. we want to make sure that we get some reforms done, on redistricting, on campaign finance reform, on voting rights. we want

mitch mcconnell is a savvy leader. he's been around for a long time, almost four decades in washington, and i think what's going to happen here is he's going to allow a number of things and talk about border security that includes wall funding without calling it a wall. and we could appropriate $10 billion to be excited and recommendation and including partially a wall funding. and the president has advanced an agenda. >> the problem with what you were saying is if we were in a normal circumstance and we're not in a normal world where there was a republican president and republicans and democrats negotiating, there would be a back and forth and the issue if you're speaker pelosi, is this is not on the level. the president shutdown the government border security is something that everybody wants to do. we're not business as usual here. >> i had to say very quickly, and i have a lot of respect for you, but i think there's a political equation. most of this show was dedicated to democratic candidates running for president

you haven't seen mitch mcconnell. he's basically removed himself from this conversation. i think very smartly. and let this be about the republicans, the white house versus the democrats. and you have chuck schumer obviously who is trying to get something done. but also nancy pelosi who is in a very new dynamic as speaker. yesterday was a unifying day for democrats. she has not just progressives in her caucus. she basically has her own freedom caucus. the challenge pelosi faces is how does she demonstrate she's going to stand up and fight while having to govern at the same time. having barely lived through the 2013 shutdown when i worked in the house of representatives, it's a tough thing for the majority party in the house when you have a majority of the other party in the senate and in the white house. john boehner used to remind us we had one half of one third of government. that's not a point of leverage. >> and it's hurting. because i have you here and your extensive work with the sanders campaign in 2016, i want

i do sort of agree with ron johnson when he said to mitch mcconnell, this is really on you, mitch. >> do you think we'll be covering a state of the union next tuesday night? >> i think it's not impossible. i think this really could -- schumer and mcconnell could come to a deal. they could get some border security money, not the wall, just tell the president we're going to do this. nancy pelosi can say, mr. president, if you sign this deal we've come to on monday, you can speak to the house tuesday. the president would love the idea of giving the state of the union. i think this is maybe a long shot. i think it could be coming to an end faster now than people think. i've thought that for the last two weeks and i've been wrong. i just feel like the genuine humiliation of what's happening is i think beginning to get to republican senators who have swallowed a lot of humiliation over the last two years, but this is them. they could stop it. >> i don't say this often enough, it's always a pleasure to have you here with us. we greatly appreciate it. bill kristol with us tonight. >>> coming

mitch mcconnell said everybody was unified behind him. lisa murkowski said she did push president trump on the shutdown saying to him something to the effect the shutdown has squents and real people are starting to feel those consequences. she said he responded by telling senators to stay unified. she laughed and said that luncheon allowed little chance for a rebuttal. so not quite the hunky dory lunch that mitch mcconnell and president trump were trying to portray it as. >> i don't see the democrats all of a sudden giving in on $5.7 billion for steel barriers or whatever you want to call it. i do believe a lot of them would provide security money if they got something for it. >> telling them there were real consequences. >> she is worried that the effects come friday when the paychecks start. that's a concern. >> to me that would be your last option. >> to set a precedent, what this president does, what kind of precedent are you setting, but i'm hopeful that the normal process of negotiating through negotiations bills will get us where w

this is all going to be about what mitch mcconnell decides. does he allow the senate to pass again a bill that they just passed recently unanimously, and send it to the president and then you get into, well, what does the president do? does he veto it and do the democrats and republicans together have the votes to override that veto? in the house, probably not. in the senate, surely. those are the next steps that have to happen before we see -- >> because you remember, the white house gave the green light to mitch mcconnell to allow the republicans to vote for that so-called clean bill. but the next morning, the president was under a lot of fire from conservatives out there, saying he's caved, he's, you know -- given in. >> literally called rush limbaugh skpcand said, you're r. i'm going to shut down this wall. i don't think either side right now is in a -- is approaching anywhere near a deal. >> at the cabinet meeting, and it was all on camera today for about two hours, the president enlisted his acting attorney general, matthew whitaker, to