sunday night, two hours, 9:00. and then two more sundays for two hours. so six hours altogether. and it's really good, if i do say so myself. >> it sounds really juicy. jeffrey, thank you. can't wait to see it. thanks to our international viewers for watching. for you cnn talk is next. for u.s. viewers, "new day" continues right now. this is cnn breaking news. good morning, everyone. welcome to your "new day". chris is off. john berman joins me. what a night. it has been a roller coaster. >> we had a shutdown. >> we did have a shutdown. if you are just breaking up, while you were sleeping the federal government shutdown. the house voted to reopen the government. it was shut down for about seven hours. it is still awaiting president trump's signature. both chambers are now advancing this two-year, $400 billion bill that gives republicans a big boost in defense spending and democrats billions for domestic programs. but there are major sticking

points including how much this adds to the nation's debt and what happens to immigration. growing fallout over when top white house officials knew about abuse allegations against top aide rob porter. much focus has been on chief of staff john kelly. but don mcgahn and hope hicks, they are under scrutiny now also. the white house is insisting that kelly only became fully aware of the allegations after a photo of porter's first ex-wife with a black eye came out. what does that mean? does that mean he knew about some abuse or some allegations of abuse? that certainly seems to be the case here. the white house not denying that. what they seem to be most upset about is that it became public at all. now, new questions on that as well. let's get first to our top story. we have it all covered. suzanne malveaux live on capitol hill with the shutdown, very brief shutdown that is almost over, suzanne. >> reporter: it is almost over.

that bill going to the president to sign to end this shortly. while most people were sleeping, the shutdown was occurring. about seven hours or so. high drama we watched on both the house and the senate side. the house democrats slow walking their support, making their republican colleagues sweat. on the senate side, you had a lone republican senator who essentially ran out the clock to make a point about hypocrisy. >> the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. >> reporter: the house of representatives passing an expansive two-year budget deal, voting to reopen the federal government amid a shutdown that began at midnight thursday. house democrats forcing republicans to vote on the bill first, capping a dramatic night at the capitol. after senator rand paul prevented the senate from voting ahead of the shutdown deadline. >> my intention has never been to shut down government. but my intention is also not to keep it open and borrowing a million dollars a minute.

>> reporter: the senate ultimately passing the bill easily around 2:00 a.m. this morning. 71-28. the house following suit five hours later voting 240-186. overcoming opposition from conservative republicans opposed to the increased spending and democrats who have been depending a promise from speaker ryan to bring immigration legislation and a potential solution for dreamers to the floor for debate. >> as part of this agreement we have always expected that the house and the senate would address the issue of daca and the dreamers. >> reporter: ahead of the vote, speaker ryan promising to follow through. >> my commitments to working together on an immigration measure we can make law is a sincere commitment. my which commitment to working together is a sincere commitment. we will solve this daca problem.

>> reporter: mitch mcconnell teague up a pivotal immigration debate in the senate starting monday evening. mcconnell unable to prevent the government from shutting down for the second time in two weeks. after senator rand paul ran out the clock. sounding the alarm about the budget deal's $400 billion price tag and chastising his fellow republicans for supporting the bill despite the massive impact to the national debt. >> when the democrats are in power, republicans appear to be the conservative party. but when republicans are in power, it seems there is no conservative party. the hypocrisy hangs in the air and chokes anyone with a sense of decency or intellectual honesty. >> many of paul's colleagues openly criticizing the kentucky republican. >> i don't know why we are basically burning time here while the senator from kentucky and others are sitting in the

cloak room wasting everybody's time. >> reporter: the 652-page budget deal devotes $165 billion to defense spending and $131 billion to domestic priorities. it raises the debt ceiling for over a year. and includes nearly $90 billion in disaster relief. president trump announced his support for the budget deal earlier this week. but amid the shutdown, a noticeable silence from the white house. on tuesday, mr. trump said he'd love to see a shutdown if democrats don't agree to his immigration demands, a statement the white house later walked back. >> if we don't change it, let's have a shutdown. we'll do a shutdown. and it's worth it for our country. i'd love to see a shutdown if we don't get this stuff taken care of. >> reporter: 5:30 in the morning, after the vote, house members went running out the doors. they'll be back on tuesday to get back to work on all of this and members of congress come back with outstanding issues, first whether or not ryan's commitment to immigration

reform, the dreamers is that real? what does it look like? secondly, this staggering national debt now that this budget deal has been passed. john, alisyn. >> suzanne, thank you very much for all of that reporting. let's bring in cnn political analyst john avlon and real clear politics's a.b. stod tkord. you are there in washington. he has turned into the town crier on hypocrisy and the deficit, which is not endearing him, as we have heard, to some of his senate colleagues there but was to the house freedom caucus. strange bedfellows abound during this. >> well, that's true. but this is sort of an old, you know, routine that several years ago he did a long filibuster and everyone was #standwithrand. he has quite a following of libertarians, many of whom he

inherited with from the his father, as you know. he likes to get up and make a stand. everything he said was right. and his colleagues on the house side, he has a bunch of like-minded republican fiscal hawks in the freedom caucus who also oppose the bill saying this would grow government by 15%. this is opposite of what we were sent here to do. in working with the democrats, the speaker was able to allow the freedom caucus to moan and groan and get the bill through. that's usually how these funding bills, when the two parties get-together and overspend, are passed. >> everything, as you know, rand paul says is right. but the tax plan also will increase the debt by a lot more than the spending bill they just did. deficits and debt are his

primary concern, there sit right there, $20.6 billion. when rand paul brings up the hypocrisy, when you deal with paul ryan, this is rank hypocrisy. his whole career, his existence, he writes treatises about this kind of thing. and now it's a big giant never mind. >> yeah. that's basically right. he he sincerely cared about it in the past. warning about the decline of the american republic of deficits and debt. now he is in the speaker's chair and presiding over a ballooning of the debt. budgets higher than anything obama passed. it used to be the unforgivable sin in politics. trump era, it barely passes a mention. this is real. there will be a reckoning for these tax cuts and this budget bill. it bears repeating, republicans only care about deficits and debt when a democrat is in the

white house. that is incontravertable now. >> it will make a lot of people very happy. here's the thought. it's been shut down seven hours. we think it will reopen by 9:00 when the president signs it. listen to this. are republicans happy with the $165 billion for defense spending. $131 billion on non-defense spending that democrats pushed for. $90 billion on disaster relief. puerto rico, houston. the debt ceiling hike until march 2019. thank goodness we get a moment's peace. $20 billion on infrastructure investment. everybody wants that. and $6 billion for opioid and substance abuse programs. so many people are desperate for treatment centers to have more beds, to have more help. 10-year reauthorization of the chip program, children's health insurance program. this will make a lot of people happy, a.b., except the deficit hawks. >> that's true. what's interesting about what

happened to the republican party that had to answer to the tea party for overshepbd spending in the bush years, self-correct, and they won elections again in 2014 on this notion that obamacare was going to be a job killer and break the economy and also strong reaction to the bailouts at the end of the bush years. is so see they have obviously pivoted away from overhauling medicare and entitlement spending because that is the driver of our debt. the president doesn't believe in touching those programs. they have accepted truly that most republican voters now are trump voters. trump is a big spender. this is no longer a priority of their base. their base is looking for a stronger safety net from the government, both in retirement programs, in opioid recovery treatment programs. everything. so you are really looking at a party that has turned away from fiscal austerity and into

spending like democrats because that's the way president trump likes to spend. >> the president is self-styled king of debt. that is absurd for the republican party. but paul ryan is still making noise that he will take on entitlement reform. he said that will be his number one agenda. not support from the president or mitch mcconnell. that is how he is going to try to square the circle. you go to reagan. there was big spending and deficits in the context of the cold war. w., we saw the same thing. it would be a sign of government working trying to address people's needs. while the economy is raising, this is going to have an ironic impact. bad for the long-term economy and deficits. >> the "washington post" calls it the biggest spending bill since the stimulus, who the republicans largely opposed when the economy was in dire straits. stick around. thanks so much. the white house defending

its handling of the rob porter allegations. this is clear. several white house officials knew about the physical abuse allegations for months but did nothing about it. abby phillip live at the white house with all the developments. abby? >> reporter: good morning, john. today's question is who knew what when. especially when it comes to john kelly, white house chief of staff and other senior aides and these allegations of domestic abuse against kelly's right-hand man rob porter. when it comes to president trump, he was upset how it was handled publicly. but kelly is unlikely to lose his job over this in part because trump has no one to replace him with. president trump reportedly dismayed about the unfolding scandal over the white house's handling of the abuse allegations involving awe former top aide rob porter. a source familiar with the president's recent on

discussions with associates tell cnn that mr. trump remains uncertain about how to solve the problem. other sources tell cnn chief of staff john kelly's job is secure for now, despite mounting criticism. >> chief of staff john kelly, should he keep his job? >> absolutely not. absolutely not. >> reporter: kelly knew about the allegations against kelly for months. porter for months, sources tell cnn. but continued to raise porter's profile in the west wing. despite that, the white house insists kelly was not fully aware of the allegations until this week. >> you say fully aware. was he partially aware? >> i think we all became aware of the news reports that emerged wednesday morning and some of the graphic images. >> did he know any of this back in november? >> again, i'm not going to get into the specifics. >> reporter: a source tell cnn, don mcgahn was made aware of the abuse allegations in the fall after the fbi brought up the alleged abuse during a security clearance interview. the "washington post" reports that mcgahn knew in 2017 that the ex-wives were prepared to make damaging allegations against him.

but only learned of the nature of the domestic abuse allegations this fall. the white house conceding that the response to the controversy this week well short. >> i think it's fair to say that we all could have done better the last few days in dealing with this situation. >> reporter: a source tells cnn that the president was not happy with the admission despite expressing with his staff, disappointing including communications director hope hicks, who has been romantically involved with porter and helped craft kelly's initial statement. president trump spent the last few nights phoning friends about how to handle the controversy amid backlash over a number of issues, even confiding in his former chief of staff reince priebus who he fired and replaced with kelly. kelly doing damage control releasing this memo, we all take matters of domestic violence seriously. porter has denied the allegations as a smear campaign against him. porter's ex-wife said he asked

her to release a statement about the abuse she detailed online. >> he was asking me to downplay it. he was asking me to emphasize more the relationship he and i have now as opposed to our marriage. >> reporter: today may be a day we are looking over the controversy over this issue. we are waiting to hear when president trump might declassify the democratic rebuttal to the gop memo alleging fbi surveillance abuses. that decision could come as soon as today. of course president trump still has to sign the budget bill so the government can reopen. john and alisyn. >> we are getting new comments from the vice president about all of this while he is overseas. we'll bring those to you. what does this rob porter scandal say how officials in the white house see the abuse of women? that's next.

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vice president mike pence pressed by reporters about the scandal that is gripping the trump white house, domestic abuse allegations involving former staff secretary rob porter. but it is a reporter's follow-up question to mr. pence yesterday that is getting a lot of attention now. listen to this. >> we're on our way to the olympics and i learned this morning of those developments. we'll comment on any issues affecting the white house when we get back to washington. >> this is now a number of times you have find out -- you're vice president, number two in the administration, where you found out something very late where others have found out about it. can you comment why you often seem a little bit out of the loop on some of this major news? >> you know, it's a great honor for me to seven as vice president. and president trump has been incredibly generous with the

responsibilities and opportunities he's given me to serve. >> i'm not sure that was app answer. joining us now is symone sanders and alice stewart. alice, the vice president has been in the dark about a lot of things, are reportedly in the dark. obviously he didn't know about michael flynn. michael flynn lied to him. he didn't know about the russian meeting with don jr. with the russian lawyers. he didn't know about the he mails with wikileaks. why is the vice president so in the dark? >> i think a lot of people are putting this -- putting blinders on. >> so willful blindness? he's not really in the dark. >> a question everyone at that level of the white house, what they knew and when they knew it. the problem with is if you continue to sweep your dirty laundry over the rug, you're going to trip over it. they tripped big time here. that's a serious problem. more importantly, what did john kelly know, the chief of staff, the president. what did they know, when did they know it? there is a history and pattern with this white house with

regard to domestic abuse, sexual harassment. you go down the whole laundry list of this administration. roy moore, corey lewandowski, the president himself and now rob porter. there is a history of denying this, trying to down play it. they denigrate the women and defend the men. that is extremely disturbng. >> at some point you have to draw the conclusion this isn't coincidence. this is a pattern. it shows how they feel about accusations like this. and now we know from cnn reporting and others that don mcgahn, white house counsel, and john kelly did know about these accusations. they did know rob porter wasn't getting a security clearance. >> exactly. whose job was it in the white house to go to john kelly, chief of staff, to say, hey, domestic violence really should be a nonstarter? whose job was it to impart upon

the highest levels of this white house that it is not okay, we should not be supporting rob porter. >> why do they need someone to tell them that? why don't they know that? >> alisyn, it is so concerning and disturbing. the fact of the matter they clearly need someone to tell them. this white house knew very early on the disturbing pattern, the history of domestic violence of rob porter. they just didn't care. what made them care is the media. that's why in my opinion, thank you, that journalism is so important. >> two people tried to tell them. those were rob porter's ex-wives. they talked to the fbi. one of them at least went to don mcgahn because she was so concerned that rob porter was compromised because of his domestic violence past. so here is jennifer willoughby, his second ex-wife talking to anderson cooper last night. listen to this. >> he is now in a relationship with white house press secretary hope hicks. do you think he's changed?

>> i don't think he's changed. >> does that worry you? >> it worries me for a lot of reasons. i mean, it definitely worries me because if i'm being frank with you, if he hasn't already been abusive with hope, he will. and particularly now that he is already a lot of stress and scrutiny. that's when the behaviors come out. and if he hasn't already, he will. >> that's chilling, alice. she is taking to warning on national tv hope hicks the director of communications for the white house who is in a romantic relationship with him. >> sure. and the fact that no one at the white house is saying, hope, run fast the other direction. >> we don't know what they're saying inside the white house. we just don't know. because, by the way, they are not being transparent about this. >> sure. and i think to simone's point, who in the white house should have told john kelly domestic violence say non-starter. no one should have to be told

that. raj shah yesterday said we could have done you better. they could be better. they could get better. and they could set a better example for the american people on this. that is a critical step moving forward. they clearly -- this isn't a p.r. mistake. this is not a p.r. crisis. this is a character crisis. and now is the time for them to clean up the mess they have made here and set an example to women across this country. you should speak out. you should have a voice. you should not take, whether it's domestic violence or sexual harassment, you should not take that. we want to as a white house and as america, set an example for opening up the dialogue and not defending those who do this but also defending the women who are victims of this type of behavior. >> and i agree -- >> go ahead, simone. >> i agree with alice. the fact of the party is that these women did come forward. they did alert everyone from the fbi, to white house counsel, john kelly and lord knows who

else knew, and they did nothing. nothing until the public pressure from the media and the scrutiny that rob porter was on that caused him to resign on his own and the white house still issued a statement in support. senator hatch, who is a great -- for all practical purposes, should have been great on this who said i'm encouraging rob to keep a stiff upper lip. who is keeping a stiff upper lip is the women who have been subject to his verbal and physical abuse. why do more women not come forward? this is why. at the highest levels of our government, even when it is so crystal clear and the writing is on the wall, the good old boys club is protecting sexual predators, abusers and who knows what else. >> this is raj shah talking in the white house about this because they are being less than transpare transparent. >> fully aware. i don't understand what does

that mean. what does that mean john kelly did or didn't know. >> i do know he had not seen images prior to the statement on tuesday night. did he know of the allegations? >> say that again. >> did he know of the allegations? >> i'm not going to get into the specifics of what may have made of the investigation. >> you said he was not fully aware. >> we relied on a process. >> in other words, alice, he didn't believe it until he saw the picture of her with a black eye. so them going to the fbi and telling their story, them going to don mcgahn, posting a blog post about an incredible personally seering experience didn't believe until they saw the picture. i understand how compelling that picture of a black eye is. of course we all saw it. but don't be -- doesn't the white house owe us some answers about the specifics? >> they owe us a lot. they owe us a timeline of who knew what and when they knew it.

the other thing that was disturbing is they said all of this happened long before he was in the white house. that doesn't matter. it doesn't matter when it happened. it matters that it did happen. and also to point out, they said, when they became fully aware of the charges against him. it doesn't matter when it happened, it doesn't matter the level of domestic abuse. it matters that it happened. and the fact that they didn't immediately terminate him right on the spot when they became aware of this is troubling. and we brought up the point of the fact that he can be compromised. anyone who can go to work as he did clearly and perform his job in a stellar fashion, which is why many of them are defending his integrity in the workplace in such a way, but then go home and have this as part of his permit, that is someone that tkr -- the fear is he can be compromised, blackmailed. that is a security risk for someone who has security clearance for top levels of the

white house. >> right. reportedly the, wife was the person who was so concerned about this that she brought it up with the fbi. thank you both very much for the discussion. john. turning now to the russia investigation, should president trump talk to special counsel robert mueller? cnn has learned the president wants to or says he wants to despite concerns from his lawyers. ken starr joins us. he gives us his take next. to your ideal comfort, your sleep number setting. and snoring? does your bed do that? right now during the ultimate sleep number event, save 50% on the ultimate limited edition bed with adjustable comfort on both sides. ends soon. visit sleepnumber.com for a store near you.

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all right. there are questions about whether president trump will sit down with special counsel of rocket mueller's team. most are advising against it. sources tell cnn that the president is still eager to talk. let's discuss all of this and more with ken starr. his team interviewed president clinton into his real estate investments, which you all remember, ultimately led to his impeachment. mr. starr, good morning. >> good morning. >> if you were the president's attorney, would you have him sit down with robert mueller?

>> i would advise him of the risks. you have to know your client and you have to know the facts. and i gather from the reports we're seeing is that his lawyers, the majority of them are saying, mr. president, don't go there. >> you know this client. do you think he should sit down with robert mueller? >> i don't know all the facts. if i had interviewed the client and so forth, but i would advise him of the risks. this is a risky process. we have two guilty pleas for false statements to the fbi. this is very serious business. this is not a press conference. so the risks are extraordinarily high. on the other hand, he is the president of the united states and the defense lawyers know that. ty cobb said, yes, as i understand it, he's going to -- my advice is he needs to go forward. as a practical matter, i think he will go forward. >> you think the president will

sit down for a face-to-face interview with robert mueller? >> it is a predictive judgment. that's the way i think it's going to turn out. because if not, i think, depending on what bob mueller knows, and we don't know what bob mueller knows. but depending on what he knows, he will want to talk to the president. if the president resists, bob mueller has subpoena power. >> what if the president resists the subpoena? >> then it goes to litigation. it is not a very attractive spectacle for the president. there is a huge risk of being seen as fighting special counsel who is duly appointed and carrying on his work. >> and that happened with bill clinton. he refused your initial request to sit down and you had to go use a subpoena? >> well, there was a process. he had cooperated in different parts of the investigation.

again, these are judgment calls. eventually, yes, we did in fact, work out an arrangement. i think subpoenaing the president is not a last resort but almost a last resort out of the respect for the dignity of the presidency. you want to have a negotiated agreement. and i think that's what's going to happen. >> listen, it sounds like you're saying two things. you would advise your client if he were donald trump that there are big risks. >> right. >> to him sitting down. so that would mean you would be disinclined to sit down. sometimes the president, as you know, can say conflicting things. but you think that he should sit down. >> yes. because it's his judgment. the lawyer's job is to do his or her job and say, hey, this is what could happen. look what happened to general flynn, mr. papadopoulos. this is very serious business. this is not just a conversation. once he is advised of the risks, it becomes his choice. it is guided by the fact that he

is president of the united states. >> peel back the curtain for us. we assume negotiations are happening right now. what's happening with those negotiations? what are his lawyers asking for? what's the special counsel asking for? >> i'm going to project that what the defense lawyers are saying is limited time and definitely limited scope. you're not going to be talking to him about the financing of a russian hotel project that has zero to do with why you were appointed, which is collusion. the questions have to be specifically on collusion. and you're not going to sit the entire amount. he is vigorous, but this will go on for x hours. not a minute longer. we will have breaks and so forth. the president will consult with us, take breaks any time he wants to or we think that is advisable, et cetera. it is the framework of essentially it's going to be a negotiated settlement. >> is there any way that robert mueller agrees to just written

answers? >> he could agree to that. you said just. he could very reasonably agree to that as step one. it is frequently done in litigation. you have written interrogatories that it done in civil litigation more so than this type of investigation. but there is nothing to prevent special counsel from reasonably saying, okay, we will do that but then we will have a follow-up interview. >> very quickly, yes or no, is there any scenario by which this ends up in the supreme court. >> yes. >> so if he fights the subpoena -- i know i said yes or no, but i want to hear more. that's the scenario you see playing out? >> goes to litigation. motion to quash. it means, hey, judge, throw this out. the judge doesn't. there are mechanisms, even though it is not a final judgment. you can take it to the court of appeals. the appeals court says whatever it does. one side takes it to the supreme court of the united states. it could happen.

>> ken starr, thank you. >> you're welcome. the border wall goes to court today. president trump has a history with the judge presiding of the case. a live report next. mom, dad, can we talk?

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he has been granted a temporary 10-day stay. for ten days he will not be deported. his attorney said the professor will stay in jail while this immigration court hears his case. i.c.e. agents arrested jamal in front of his children last month as he prepared to take them to school. the battle over president trump's border wall heads to court today. the state of qaa and other groups challenging the right of homeland security to waive environmental laws in order to build it. the judge presiding over the case, a familiar name to many in the white house. cnn sara sidner live in san diego with the latest on this. some irony here, sara. >> reporter: very much so, john. as a candidate, donald trump made several remarks condemned as racist against this federal judge. as luck would have it, the judge is about to hear a case that aims to stop the border wall from being built or at least slow it down until the department of homeland security

complies with environmental laws. this border wall battle begins where the ocean meets the land in san diego and goes 14 miles inland right through a national wildlife refuge. >> that area is an environmental hot spot. it has habitats for endangered species. it has protected federal lands, national parks, national monuments, national forests. >> reporter: the state of california and environmentalists sued the department of homeland security saying it is using waivers to thwart environmental laws in order to build a border wall where a fence already exists. how many laws are being circumvented with these waivers? >> more than 30. so no environmental impact study. no public outreach. no consultation with experts. no specific look at endangered sees sees. they waived 30 other issues like clean air, clean water act, safe drinking water act. >> reporter: in 1996, congress authorized waivers to speed up

the process of building border barriers by bypassing certain federal and state laws. they argue it has the authority to continue to do so. that is how this fence ended up being built in the first place. the agency would not comment on the current case. now, the case that could impede trump's biggest campaign promise has been assigned to judge curiel. >> i have a judge who is a hater of donald trump. his name is curiel. >> reporter: he launched attack after attack against the federal judge as he presided over the trump university fraud case. jake tapper questioned him about it. >> i have been treated very unfairly of this judge. he is of mexican heritage. i'm building a wall. i'm going to do very well with the hispanics. >> no mexican judges could ever be involved? >> he is a member of a society very pro-mexico. that's fine. it's all fine.

i think he should recuse himself. >> because he's latino? >> does he know the lawyer on the other side? does he know the lawyer? >> i'm not talking about that. >> that's another problem. >> but you're talking about his race in talking about whether or not he could do his job. >> jake, i'm building a wall. i'm building awe wall. i'm trying to keep business out of mexico. >> but he's an american. >> he's of mexican heritage, and very proud of it. >> at the time his comments were condemned by many. >> claiming a person can't do their job is a textbook definition of racist he of comments. >> we asked for comment on whether or not the president has changed his stance on judge curiel. the white house did not respond to our request for comment. we should know that previous challenges to these waivers have been unsuccessful. we should also note federal judge curiel has never publicly

uttered a word against donald trump. thank you. >> thank you, sara, very much for that update. vice president pence is taking in the olympic ceremony. but look at this. he is just feet away in the same suite from kim jong-un's sister. we have a live report from pyeongchang for you next. one click gives you access to discounts on thousands of hotels, cars and things to do. like the papaya playa project for 49% off. ♪ everything you need to go. ♪ expedia.

history is being made at the olympics. north korean leader kim jong un's sister shaking hands with south korea's president. this is at the opening ceremony. another history making moment just happened. vice president mike pence is seated feet apart from the dictator's sister. there he is. cnn's will ripley is live in south korea with all the breaking details. what's happening, will? >> reporter: awkward seating arrangement. president moochb sitting next to vice president mike pence in the north korean delegation, one row

behind. the vice president skipped out on a dinner earlier with the other north korean delegate. he had a regularly scheduled dinner with the u.s. olympians. you can't avoid the setting chart when all the world leaders are there watching the opening ceremonies. pretty significant differences in how the hospital is handling things and south korean president moon jay in. you had mike pence with the father of otto warmbier saying the u.s. stands in solidarity with north koreans who yearn for freedom. you had president moon shaking hands on a couple different occasions with with the north korean. several diplomatic sources are telling me there's a good chance at the luncheon she could invite president moon to visit south korea at some point later this year. this is something that north korea wants. they want to extend this buffer period, want to engage with south korea.

a lot of analyst believe they're trying to drive a wedge between washington and seoul. clearly kim jong un sending his sister here with a mission to try to warm up the south koreans and divide them from the united states. >> will ripley for us at the olympics, thanks so much. let's discuss these history making moments with ian bremmer, president of the eurasia group and editor at large at "time" magazine. let's put this picture back up again. this is an extraordinary sight when you see the vice president just four seats and one row away from the sister of kim jong-un. he could have walked out, right? he didn't have to be sitting the there. >> you know there was a massive protocol viet. the dictator's sister and vice president pence are the two most important dignitaries for the south korean president. let's put you together?

no. one apart? >> absolutely not. >> two apart but one row distant. that was the discussion of hours, maybe days between protocol teams. it's extraordinary tabloid. so far pence and trump provided no public opening to engagement with the north koreans despite the fact that the north and south are doing everything possible to show that they want this to be the beginning of something much bigger. >> just to let people know, she is the one wearing the blue credential around her neck. she is in black. you can see her smiling, talking to the man next to her. >> looking in different directions. symbolically vice president mike pence and kim's sister looking in different directions. >> is there any way the pences could have said no, they're not going to share a box with her? >> sure. clearly not trying to create an incident but not showing at

least any opening. trump said himself on numerous occasions that he is prepared to sit down and talk to kim jong-un. since then it's been only under the right conditions. nikki haley, ambassador to the u.n. saying only if they make concrete steps towards denuclearization which obviously is not going to happen. we know trump's ability to pivot is very significant, irrespective of what he said before. if you look at what we're going to see which is an extraordinary outpouring of warmth between the athlet athletes, the extraordinary engagement with a several hundred person delegation including tom leaders in north korea. there's an opportunity for the united states to take an opportunity and run with it. >> is there? the north and south are having these warmer relations because of it. but where is the u.s. in this dynamic? >> right now the u.s. is saying we're going to increase

sanctions against north korea. since we already don't do business with them, that means tougher for chinese banks and corporations working there. we're also saying we're going to continue our tougher military engagements in the region. publicly, since this has happened, there's been nothing but we're squeezing. but why do you think this is happening? they're doing this in large part because the trump administration has actually really flexed its muscles and made them believe the possibility of preemptive strikes is real. the person not in tab low is the ambassador for south korea. he said privately to h.r. mcmaster that he opposed the idea of a preemptive strike, and so they got rid of him. trump's credentials on, i might just do this, are real. that means there has been

movement towards diplomacy. if trump wants to say, okay, now i'll engage, this could be a win. if he says no, i'm moving towards preemption, we could be moving toward war. >> there's something happening now, whatever the united states happens to do. obviously they're trying to reach warmer relations there. north korea has nuclear arms. they have these weapons. whether or not the united states chooses to act on that or not is another thing. >> the united states is really good at expressing policies that are philosophical and have no bearing in reality. russia must leave crimea. assad must go from syria. that wasn't trump. that was the obama administration. russians are still there. assad is there. obama is gone. now we say the north koreans must denuclearize. that's not a policy. it's an aspiration that is

unmoored from reality. i'm not suggesting -- >> you don't have to like it. >> you don't have to like it. your policy at some level has to be based on reality, especially when we can't call all the shots anymore. if not, south koreans, the chinese and others are all going to get on board and say, you know what, we're going to find a way to work with these guys. >> is it possible for north korean athletes to defect while they're in south korea? and then what? >> all this is very fragile. we have to remember that the north korean regime is incredibly repressive and violent. kim jong-un himself is incredibly repressive and violent. anyone who decides they want to get out -- they vetted these athletes very carefully. they'd still love to have the opportunity to get the hell out of this country. >> you're saying it's possible, even though they'd be terrified to do it, it's possible? >> sure. if it happens there's a major diplomatic flap. the south koreans wouldn't want

to send them back. i think there's that, a huge possibility that the north koreans have better relations with south korea, but they still need to prove their icbms. they did this big military parade. i know we like the idea of that here, too. a couple of days ago displaying eight icbms. they want to still show the americans that they have that deterrent. lots of ways after these olympics are over this could all blow up. for the next couple weeks, at least, let's talk about -- >> this is day one. the symbolism over the next two weeks will be extraordinary. >> ian bremmer, thank you for that context. following a lot of news this morning. let's get right to it. good morning and welcome to your "new day." it's friday, february 9th. chris is off. john berman joins me. every hour gets more peculiar here. we thought the shutdown was going to be over, but no, it's not. >> we're in a shutdown. >> we are currently in a shutdown. the shutdown is still happening

at this hour. we are told the shutdown has been lasting for eight hours. we're told the government will not reopen until president trump signs this massive budget bill that lawmakers passed early this morning, and we don't know when that's going to happen or why the president has yet to sign it into law. federal workers are awaiting word on whether they go to work one hour from now. congress has passed this two-year, $400 billion bill. gives republicans a boost in defense spending and democrats billions for domestic spending. >> he's been supportive of the bill -- maybe he doesn't want to cut into his executive time. meanwhile there is growing fallout over the abuse allegations against rob porter. much of the heat right now is on chief of staff john kelly. white house council don mcgahn, communications director hope hicks, they're also under skrutity. the white house insists the chief of staff only