pay per view this afternoon at 3:00 eastern. we are following breaking news out of saint paul, minnesota. a massive explosion levelled a home and local media reported one person was inside set of the blast and has been rushed to the hospital. fire officials are searching for the cause. thanks for joining me. inside politics starts now. welcome to a special holiday edition of inside politics. thanks for being with us. the president threatens another government shut down. can he get anything on his wish list before democrats take control of the house? plus, president trump is apparently accepting resumes and conducting interviews for open staff positions. can a hot shot from the vice president's office be changing desks soon? and the president's warm

relationship with the saudi government could mean more scrutiny or even an investigation on the horizon. >> senator, is the president lying? >> yes. the cia concluded that the crown prince of saudi arabia was directly involved in the assassination of jamal khashoggi. they did it as has been reported with high confidence. that's the highest level of accuracy that they will vouch for. it's based on facts and analysis and the no notition that they d reach that conclusion is not clear. >> this morning on twitter, the president called for a bipartisan action on border security and to make a big down payment on the border wall. the president is very much

fixated on immigration a day after his thag veered wildly from grievance to grievance to grievance. he showed visible frustrations in with his own cabinet to follow-through on big border promises. the president contradicted his intelligence agencies and feelings is how the president described the assessment that the crown prince ordered the execution of jamal khashoggi. nobody has concluded, the president insisted. the soon to be chairman of the house intelligence committee said democrats will use their new power to see if the president is telling the truth and suggest that is the new congress will scrutinize the president's finances for saudi connections. jeff is near mar a lago and a

jamal khashoggi investigation is the growing list that the pressures the white house will face in the new year. >> it seems that way with adam schiff saying he wants to investigate the white house's role in the death of the "washington post" columnist and how it relates to the dingdom of saudi arabia and what the president said about that. this is one of many sign that is the president is about to enter a new political order in washington. it's unclear if he is prepared for that or how it will go with this white house. there is no longer an absence of checks and balances on this white house come the new year. this is one more thing. there could be bipartisan challenges as well. from senator lindee graham to others saying this was wrong for the president to side with saudi arabia over his own intelligence community.

more interestingly is what sanctions might impose on this. in terms of investigating, the cia and intelligence community there is strong evidence to believe the crown prince and his leadership knew about that murder. again, it will be interesting and the president will be contending with this for sometime to come. >> jeff, you are going to stay with us and joining our conversation to share their reporting and insights, we have jackie with the daily beast. matt visor with "the washington post." sorry about that. david trucker with "washington post." i will start with you. adam schiff who the president has a different nickname for, here's what he had to say in

"the washington post" today about possible investigations. certainly we will be delving further into the murder of jamal khashoggi and i want to make sure that the committee is fully debriefed on it. we will want to examine what the intelligence community knows about the murder before investment in the trump businesses is guiding u.s. policy in a way that is antithetical to the country's interests. we need to find out about it. the last part in particular could be trouble for the white house. >> he is not the only member of congress who wants to look at where investments are not only within the trump organization, but the president himself we never saw his tax returns and there is a lot of curiosity and alarm among members of congress. the white house knows it's going to be under assault by congress and by the democratic house in a lot of ways, but the president himself will have to see how he tries to avoid giving up this

information. you know they are going to fight it. >> and the president will likely be under siege. what white house as the head of it, what will that white house look like? a white house under siege. >> the house democrats being able to call hearings and issue subpoenas and that changes the dynamics a lot in washington and around this very issue where you can explore the president's own finances. what is the underlying reason for them to be so closely believed that a foreign leader over his own cia. it goes back to him discounting russia's role in the 2016 election. they have to be careful about how deeply they go and not overreaching. >> as democrats have done in the past.

one of the things you have seen is both conservatives and democrats, republicans as well as progressives criticize the president over this. this is what they had to say in terms of the president's reaction to the jamal khashoggi murder. trump is embracing the saudis because of sophisticated understanding of the geopolitical risks of distancing the united states from a long time ally. the fact that jamal khashoggi's death gave the president reason to deride him was intolerable to a man who assesses great circumstance, big or small to the degree to which it makes donald j. trump look good or bad. >> we have seen that and with people like lindsey graham. >> in addition how does the democratic house handle the president on matters of foreign policy, what happens in the

senate where the republicans have a couple more senators and you will miss a couple chief critics. bob corker and jeff flake and adding more member who is feel indebted to the president. in indiana and north dakota states, he helped them win elections. what is that going to look at in the senate where there is much more of an involvement in foreign policy in terms it of how it works on capitol hill. where the president missed the boat, it's a healthy and fine argument to make that we don't want to cut saudi arabia loose. that alliance is too valuable to us even though they are not perfect actors and they should be rep ri manted. as the weekly standard discussed, the president talks about everything including in terms of dollars and cents and domestic politics. it hurts leverage abroad when we

reduce ourselves to another nation concerned about the bottom line like china and russia and i think the president hurt his position on this even though you could make the argument that by not cutting saudi arabia loose considering where we are, it's the right decision. how he arrived at that could end up hurting the u.s. and the region going forward. >> we heard from the president yesterday, you are down there and he was full of grievances. here's one of the things yesterday about the border. this seems to be maybe setting up for an ongoing fight that he is going to have about the border. here he was yesterday. >> we will close the border and mexico will not be able to sell cars until it's open. when they lose control of the border, we just close the border. a judge that knows nothing about it decided to take law

enforcement into his own hands and gives a ridiculous ruling. we will appeal it. it makes the job harder. we are still doing the job perfectly, but it makes the job harder and more dangerous because a judge made a ruling that was shocking. >> talk, if you could, about the president's mind set at this point. it's thanksgiving weekend and a time for gratitude and he is celebrating festive us. >> with his view, if you are not with him, you are against him. he throws everyone in that category. judges and even chief justice of the supreme court. opening argument, you will hear a lot more of. the judiciary is responsible for endangering the lives of military and law enforcement.

when he had a republican house and senate, he worked to change the laws. this is an executive order with a judge in california who put a temporary block on. the president yesterday doubling down and amplifying the argument he made in the mid-terms about the border, saying there is an impending crisis and trying to build a sense of urgencey and saying he will close the border. he said it was closed temporarily. we found out they closed a couple of lanes of one of the biggest ports of reinterview and reopened them. he sees immigration as a central argument politically speaking as well. unclear if any of this is going solve a real problem of illegal immigration. unlikely that there would be or impossible to imagine there would be bipartisan work on that. this is a prelude to a fight

about funding for the border wall. he has not been able to get full funding for the border wall and that is all part of the argument even if the situation is not as urgent as he said. >> we will get into that later in the show. up next, shoppers turn out to try to score the black friday deals. will the enthusiasm last and could there be signs is of economic trouble ahead. ♪ i'm all for my neighborhood. i'm all for backing the community that's made me who i am. i'm all for my theatre, my barbershop and my friends. because the community doesn't just have small businesses, it is small businesses. and that's why american express founded small business saturday. so, tomorrow, november 24th, let's all get up, get out, and shop small. i got croissant. small business saturday. a small way to make a big difference.

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your insurance rates skyrocket you could fix it with a pen. how about using that pen to sign up for new insurance instead? for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ it's that time of year again when retailers hope the holiday season will keep their cash registers ringing. this year rising interest rates, market swings and trade tariffs with china could mean consumers may not be that quick to open wallets and spend. we have cnn business correspondent in new jersey where holiday shoppers are try stog score the black friday

deals. i have to say, i have done my black friday shopping yesterday. what are you seeing out there in the malls and stores? >> today i'm seeing people buy and buy a lot. this is annex dotal and i have seen people wheel out three tvs at a time. one other gentleman went to the car to drap stuop stuff off and more things. you see how busy it is since they opened the doors at 8:00 a.m. 100 people waiting outside in 12 degree weather to get the door buster deals. i'm seeing brisk sales. >> larry cut low, the counsel chief under president trump said recession is so far in the distance, i can't see it.

how confident are they to avoid this in 2019? i heart from analysts and traders, too, more concern early about possibly a recession happening earlier than everybody is predicting. it seems to be there is a little more pessimism entering into the stratosphere earlier. there is a few things that concerning economists. it's the perfect they saw a spike in sales and they are seeing a reversal that is causing concern. borrowing costs are going up for regular consumers like you and

me. those lending rates are going higher and the additional tariffs that we are expecting to happen as soon as january 1. we are hearing that president trump may impose a third round of tariffs on the goods. that impacts consumer goods and prices could rise and affect consumers as well. he wants a place from 10% to 25%, a tax on what you and i would buy, which means goods would be more expensive. all this is concerning because economists worry it could slow down the economy. >> thanks for that report. as people are going off to do black friday shopping, there was a report on climate change not

supposed to be out until december. a few people will be paying attention. we have cnn government regulation correspondent. what do you expect to hear this afternoon and what will be in this report? >> this government report will focus on the human impact and people here in the united states. we expect that they will use real life experience. everything from health and the impact on climate change and transportation and many other topics. a bit of controversy before the report is released. why? because this critical government climate report was supposed to be released in december, but now scheduled on friday, the day after thanksgiving and scientists with people involved in the report and others, environmentalists speculating that perhaps this is an effort

to bury it on a day where people are paying attention. it's unclear why it was moved up, but it is widely seen as a way to cushion the impact of the report. this uses real life experience from climate change and that it is something that is happening today and it's not an issue in the far or near future. everything from the wildfires to the climate change. >> president trump tweeted about the cold front and saying and using that to question global warming. does sha that show he doesn't quite understand how climate change works? >> in a word, if you look at the tweet on the screen, yeah. it does seem as if he doesn't. this is a tweet that said the

brutal and extended cold blast shattered all records. whatever happened to global warming. it is best exemplified by the consistent rise in temperatures year after year, not looking at extreme weather over a one-day period or even a month. the tweet is clearly off base as it relates to the issue of climate change. >> thank you. and we'll be right back. welcome to the place where people go to learn about

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breaking news about robert mueller's russia investigation. a conservative writer conspiracy theorist and associate with roger stone is in plea negotiations with the special counsel. he expected the special counsel to indict him for lying to investigators. what are your sources saying about why he is negotiations for a deal? >> what we reported today is he is probably going to be indicted after spending dozens of hours with the mueller team.

these are questions and e-mails about roger stone and what he knew about the wikileaks disclosures and what role he had in faking that investigation come out. and dozens or so of associates focus on what roger stone was doing and his possibilities. >> his potential cooperation is important for what reasons? >> it's potential cooperation as in his extensive knowledge of the e-mails and how they were disclosed as far as with roger

stone. with others in the world that was speaking so actively to find the e-mails and saying in advance. that's the heart of what they are looking at here. how these people know it existed before they came out. did they have any contacts with the campaign? this is the one that the president had. he had the conspiracy theory. and the president is very aware of them and spoke to him in the past. >> what has roger stone said publicly? >> a year or two, we have not heard extensive conversations from roger stone other than it

did not show fore knowledge or anything. >> thanks for that. talk about what this mean fist are this white house and the president. >> there is no question that we head into the holiday season near the end of the year, there are so many signs that this russia investigation is inching towards a conclusion, towards a new phase or a chapter. this new plea deal would be one more interesting piece to the puzzle that bob mueller is trying to piece together. i would put this in the ranks of paul manafort and others. he was not as central to at this time trump campaign, but he is central to roger stone who provides that link to was there

russian collusion or was there not? in terms of the wikileaks dump and investigation here. should there be a plea deal and should there be a plea deal. it means one more witness is cooperating and perhaps testifying against the campaign. this is another sign that for all the president's arguments that this is a pitch hunt and there is no collusion, we do not know the answer to that question idea. we don't know. it's very interesting if he accepts a plea deal. >> the president just turning in answers to questions that mueller had for him. other phases obviously on the horizon with this mueller

investigation. >> you can figure out what trump's answers say versus what they are telling them. it's this cast of characters that we have in the investigation. and i think the bigger thing is mueller is back. mueller is back in the news after several months up to the mid-terms. laying low and not want to impact the elections. this is an indication that he has not gone away and won't be going away unless should changes happen that trump can orchestrate. >> your reaction to this fringe figure in many ways, but here he is central at this point to the mueller investigation. >> right, well it wouldn't be shocking how the hacking and release of the e-mails unfolded.

we don't know what we think we know about the special counsel's investigation. i interviewed ken star and i asked him as someone who had done this job whether you are on the right and you think it's a witch hunt or convinced president trump colluded and is in deep trouble, does anyone really know what bob mueller knows and how long the investigation will last or not and where he is headed. he cautioned everybody. you don't know what you think you know. if you think it's almost over, you don't know that. bob mueller kept everything very close to the vest. it's not until this thing is concluded and the details are release, if they are and everything is publicized that we find out where all of these pieces fit and what he has and doesn't have. he was very impressed when i asked him how delegate he asked and how under wraps he kept almost all of the information.

>> news the president may not like about the senate's investigation into russian campaign meddling.

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topping our political radar, a timeline from the chairman, republican richard burr told bloomberg that his committee's report from the 2016 campaign could take six months to write and declassify. that means the senate's russia probe would stretch well into 2019. the department of health and human services said about 14,000

unaccompanied children are still in its custody, up from the number of children in custody in september and compared to 2016 when the monthly average of the number of children in care was just over 9,000. the women's march founder is calling on its current cochairs to step down because of their association with lewis farrakhan, the leader of the black nationalist group, nation of islam. the current cochair said they are not working to support the movement and this morning, he fired back. take a listen. >> we are still a group of women's march organizations and we will march and all the cities across the world, i still believe that we can come together and need to address the

issues that we have and we need to resolve it. a lot of women in the community are hurt. >> and a quick programming note. in a few hours, watch tiger woods and phil mickelson's big 18-hole showdown. it's live in pay per view at 3:00 p.m. eastern. >> congress has a busy lame duck agenda, but can they get anything done with the president threatening to shut down the government?

♪ with the mid-terms in the rear view mirror, congress is now in full on lame buck mode and shaping up to be a packed agenda. take a look.

there is must pass legislation and president trump wants it to include 5 billion for the border wall, a major sticking point for democrats and other big ticket items are passing a farm bill, sexual harassment legislation and ramming through judges through the senate. but the president chimed in on twitter in a bipartisan action and criminal justice reform. one thing that could stand in the way is his continued threats to shut down the government if the border wall is not funded. >> it could happen overboarder security. the wall is just a part of it. very important. probably the most important part. could there be a shut down? there several could and it will. >> how important do you think this lame duck congress can be

for this president? >> i don't know that it will be very productive at all. the prelame duck congress was not productive for things signed into law. here's what the president is leaving out there. republicans don't want to fund the law. there is a version in his own pocket. those numbers are not coming back. perhaps they can take one for the team and you already lost and there was a lot of pressure on the lame duck members. we can't forget this is not a an issue that the republicans even agree on. >> his supporters as well. here's a trump ad buy on border security. >> i want the american people to see what devastation illegal

aliens cause. i don't want to see what happened to our family to happen to another person. >> that's a $5-00,000 ad buy there. as jackie points out, this has been a conditioned push from this president. the push back often coming from republicans. >> i think president trump always returns to immigration. it was the thing they started on and the issue he ran in 2016 on and the issue he tried to drum up support in the mid-terms on. he didn't win the mid-terms. they kept the senate, but the house was a landslide for democrats. house republicans have received that message. president trump really hasn't recalibrated in the aftermath of that. we are seeing a renewed push that is going to change. house democrats are not going to go for this. he sees the last effort to try to get the border wall. >> with mitch mcconnell and paul

ry ryan, it will be back to them to try to get the government funded. >> deja vu all over again. it looks like the house gop subpoenas for comey laz as why is this happening now? is it likely that they will be before congress at some point? >> they could end up before congress at some point, but the idea that they could get them in during the lame duck period, there will be a new regime in the house that will conduct things very differently. the republicans are holding the majority going forward. this hasn't been. as jackie mentioned, a lot of these guys are on their way out the door. there is no appetite for the

republicans to play ball or republicans to engage in things they were not big fans of anyway. the president's brand of politicking didn't work for them. if they had a come back or wanted lead and leave their political options in the future, i don't see them able to do their buddies a favor. that's one of the reason yes the president would exert pressure on him where he could wait until next year and have a big reelection fight and brand democrats as responsible for not funding his border security initiatives. it may not work, but they would share a broader responsibility summer by doing it now. it's all on the republican shoulders. it hasn't worked up until now. the president had a year and a half, almost two years to shepherd to the floor or capitol

hill the immigration package changing a host of laws that he complained about. all of a sudden he hasn't worked on it. going into the holiday season after what happened in the mid-term elections, he's not in a good place to pull anything off. >> we want to get you in on other moves that are happening on the hill. nancy pelosi. it looks like 24 house democrats said they can't support nancy pelosi and they are part of the problem solvers caucus. it seems like she had been peeling away the folks on the original letter. is this a serious blow to her or a temporary set back. >> she has a math problem. we know that. that said, i would never bet against nancy pelosi. she finds a way to gut it out and knows where the pressure points are and knows how to carrot and stick a lot of

members. >> maybe they provided the road map. we will see. it seems the white house is hiring and president trump is reviewing resumes. one name keeps coming to the top of the stack. you always pay your insurance on time.

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president trump spending at least part of his holiday at work. he said he loves his cabinet, but he is also conducting interviews this week.

you interviewing people this week for new jobs in your administration? >> yeah, we will have a few. i'm very happy with my cabinet and people who work for me and us. for the country. we have absolute stars. there is always a lot of change. i will be changing a couple. maybe a few. very few. overall we are very happy. >> it seems the president is keeping a close eye on his vice president's chief of staff, nick ayers. president trump has become envious over the smooth operations in mike pence's office. aiers is a top contendcontendere replace johnicle fe the job should open up. that's the question, how long john kelly has in this job. smooth operations in the vice

president's office. could he translate that to the president's office? >> obviously the job is totally differently. the leaders and the men are totally different. vice president pence served in congress and has been a governor and more used to a rigorous traditional system of running things, if you will. very different from donald trump over in the oval office. entirely different job. nick ayers, we do believe the president is considering him among another small list of others, potentially to be the white house chief of staff. we do not believe the president made the decision yet to move on beyond john kelly. he said he plans to keep him on board through 2020 and unclear if that will be the case or not. we do believe the president has made the decision he wants to replace kirstjen nielsen at some

point, but he needs to find a replacement before he announced that. we expect her, if everything goes according to the president's discussions to maybe transition out in december. she hits the one a year mark december 6th. if she would leave and john kelly leaves as well, they are very close. the president was planning to interview or talk with florida attorney general pam bondy while the president is here. unclear if that happened or still on the schedule. she is maybe someone considered to be a homeland security secretary. this is up to the president on when he wants to fill or change positions. he said almost two months ago, he wants the new un ambassador in place in the next couple of weeks. that has not yet happened. all the timing is his timing and as of now, he's at the golf course we assume playing golf.

maybe he is doing interviews on the back nine. we do not know. keep an eye on the staffing. he decides this alone. i will go to you quickly. the president is wary of hiring people. this could go on a while. >> yes. and he doesn't like to fire people himself. >> kelly usually does the firing. >> for kelly is gone, it could get complicated. >> a quick update and some democrats in the house problem solver's caucus said they are not ready to support nancy pelosi for speaker. that number is nine. they want pelosi to change the rules that would break gridlock in washington. thanks for joining us on inside politics. brianna keilar starts now.

>> i'm brianna keilar live from the washington headquarters under way right now. breaking news. one of roger stone's associates in talks with robert mueller for a plea deal. they believe lethal force on the border after a fiery west wing conversation over his powers. the house will investigate whether his personal financial dealings are tied to the saudis and a murder. young, rich, and loyal. the man who might become the president's next chief of staff. we are beginning with breaking news and an associate of roger stone in plea negotiations with special counsel robert mueller.