models. they agreed to send some of the bronze to greece where they'll be on display. "inside politics" with nia-malika henderson starts right now. president trump threatens to shut down the government and close u.s. border, and picks a fight with judges. >> we've got a lot of bad court decisions from the ninth circuit. it's a disgrace. >> mueller's end game? could he flip the man that can connect the trump campaign to wikileaks? nancy pelosi's fight for the gavel. who is she actually fighting? >> there's not an alternative right now. >> the mississippi run-off turns into a referendum on race. >> for anyone that was offended

by my comments, i apologize. >> it's given our state another black eye that we don't need. inside politics, the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters now. welcome to "inside politics." i'm nia-malika henderson in for john king. to our viewers around the united states and around the world, thank you for sharing your sunday. president trump ended the thanksgiving week like he spent the rest of it, lashing out at critics and slamming u.s. immigration policy. migrants at the southern border will not be allowed in the southern united states until their claims are individually approved in court, the president tweeted last night. if for any reason it becomes necessary, we will close our southern border. there is no way the united states will, after decades of abuse, put up with this costly and dangerous situation anymore.

that tweet, just days after a federal district judge struck down his plan to deny asylum to anyone crossing the border illegally. the president did not take that decision well. >> you go to the ninth circuit and it's a disgrace. and i'm going to put in a major complaint, because you cannot win if you're us, a case in the ninth circuit. this was an obama judge. and i'll tell you what, it's not going to happen like this anymore. it means an automatic loss, no matter what you do, no matter how good your case is. and the ninth circuit is really something we have to take a look at because it's not fair. >> that implied threat in his talk of an obama judge prompted a rebuke from chief justice john roberts, who released a rare public statement, saying there are no obama judges or trump judges and that we should all be thankful this holiday season for an independent judiciary. with this morning, this sunday,

to share our reporting and insights, from the weekly standard, the washington post and katherine lucy from the associated press. thank you all for being heren on this holiday weekend. margaret, what a week we've seen from this president raging in that call about troops, from immigration, shut down of a border and possible deal with mexico. where do things stand right now? what's trump's next move? what's mexico's next move? >> you're right. you don't see john roberts sort of stepping in and speaking his mind very often. >> right. >> that tells you to his mind what point things have come to. what's happening now between the u.s. and mexico is a combination of a couple of factors. you have an exodus from people from central guatemala up

through mechanixico. it's a humanitarian situation, governing situation for the mexican government as well as the u.s. the president obviously has his own political concerns, keeping the base satisfied that he is working on his immigration-related pledges, and a reality of a congress that he won't have very much control over at all anymore. things will get that much harder starting in january. the outlines of this apparent deal are still pretty new. the washington post reporting this yesterday and no agreement signed yet. it appears that what's happened is that the president and incoming mexican government are trying to work on an arrangement in which you're seeking asylum in the u.s., you claim that process while you're on the mexican side. what they've been trying to do is explore the idea that -- this

sort of safe third, it's called, this idea that if you were seeking asylum -- trying to seek asylum to the u.s., maybe you stay there. that's not an alternative that the mexican government is in and would likely face legal challenge. concerns about whether the actual spirit of asylum can still be followed in this manner. we have to watch this ongoing -- >> the president is declaring victory already. >> of course but this is the new mexican government, trying to figure out what is tactically the smartest way to try to work with president trump, who they're going to have many disagreements with. >> yeah, yeah. doesn't sound like -- one of the things we heard from the president was the idea that he would shut down the government over border security, over money for his border wall. where are we with this? in some ways it sounds like deja

vu. >> i was going to say, how many times have we heard him say i'm going to shut down the government? congress is not actually going to want to do this. the republicans of congress don't want to shut down the government over the wall. trump would have to take it upon themselves if they strike a deal to veto that entire budget deal to say no. he could do it. we've known this president to be impulsive on other things. it's not impossible. at this point, it might be a little bit of the boy who cried wolf and i don't want to tempt fate with this but he kept saying this and it was a very smooth, okay, we get another extension through. >> and then he complains again. we've seen this cycle before. katherine, obviously, we heard from the president this past week on twitter, but also in that call that he made with troops. he seemed to be airing all sorts of grievances. there's a long list of folks he has attacked over this week,

ninth circuit court of appeals. hillary clinton. my favorite on this list has got to be electromagnetic catapults. he prefers steam apparently. what do you think is the president's mind-set right now? >> clearly, he was in a fighting mood. and i think he was trying to push back on the deal -- some would say he's constantly in a fighting mood. he has been dealing with the loss of the house and the drip, drip, drip of seats day by day. the initial numbers looked better and he continues to had an erthat news which does not please him. he's getting schooled on what the new year will look like with the divided congress, what that can mean in terms of investigations, frustration about mueller. so he's coming back to a complicated washington and it's only going to get harder for

him. >> we heard him this week, another issue that's complicated, the khashoggi murder and his response. here is what he had to say last week about this. >> it's all about america first. we're not going to give up hundreds of billions of dollars in orders and let russia, china and everybody else have them. i'm not going to destroy the world economy, and i'm not going to destroy the economy for our country by being foolish with saudi arabia. >> they have vehemently denied it. the cia points it both ways. as i said maybe we should -- maybe he did, maybe he didn't. maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a vicious place. >> the president saying he's leaving out american values when he is thinking about foreign policy. >> not only leaving out american values but the truth in what

happened. the cia has concluded that this was a murder done at the behest of the saudis and mbs. of course, this is complicated. a lot of people are looking for the united states to immediately abandon saudi arabia, a longstanding ally and i think a lot of republicans would recognize it is a complex relationship that, of course, this murder makes even more complicated. the problem is that the president comes at it from a perspective that is entirely materialistic and entirely about money. >> these deals. >> these deals that were made, the issue of this weapons deal that the united states has with the saudis, as if our entire foreign policy in the middle east hinges on this deal. but to the point that you raised about american values, you don't hear that at all from this president. this is actually nothing new. we know this about president trump. i think for the first 18 months of his presidency, we haven't seen that sort of real-world

applications of a viewpoint of foreign policy that is really a divergence from the last 60, 70 years of american policy that says that america stands for something bigger, more than just material -- >> it's the indispensable -- >> more than just america first. >> it's all coming to a head now. we were talking about this during confirmation hearings for certain people. human rights, human rights. a resident of the united states, a foreign country taking him out in soprano style. you have a level of disgust coming back from even republican members of congress with this decision. you haven't seen them so visceral before and that will make a difference as to whether something is done to challenge saudi arabia, not tear up the

relationship but challenge them. >> a report of what's going on and what lies ahead, climate change could mean a devastating impact economically, basically like a 10% hit by the end of the century. is that a way you imagine that trump and the republicans might start to view the dangers of climate change? maybe there could be a change in the way they approach it? >> it's certainly one argument. other arguments have not been successful. we've seen the president announce plans to withdraw from the paris climate deal, express skepticism and really focus on trying to invest in coal industries. so, i think that's one argument you could pitch to them. but the short term, long term compilation here, what you have to figure out, is there a way to make that pitch so it matters in the near future? >> keep an eye on that. >> up next, nancy pelosi has a

math problem. can she reclaim the speaker's gavel? first, what are you thankful for this holiday season? president trump is thankful for, well, president trump. >> for having a great family and for having made a tremendous difference in this country. i've made a tremendous difference in the country. w, you don't see psoriasis. you see clear skin. you see me. but if you saw me before cosentyx... ♪ i was covered. it was awful. but i didn't give up. i kept fighting. i got clear skin with cosentyx. 3 years and counting. clear skin can last. see if cosentyx could make a difference for you. cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis find clear skin that can last. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur.

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i think nancy pelosi, when history is written, will go down as one of the most effective legislative leaders that this country has ever seen. nancy is not always the best on, you know, cable show or with a quick sound bite, but her skill, tenacity, toughness, vision is

remarkable. >> nancy pelosi intends to be speaker of the house, but on friday, those intentions hit another speed bump when nine democrats from the moderate problem solvers caucus said they can't support her at this time because she has not made changes they say will help break gridlock in congress. if not her, then who? they suffered a major blow this week when their preferred candidate, congressman marsha fudge of ohio cut a deal with a subcommittee. she then threw her support behind pelosi. in a weekend letter, she called for unity ahead of a caucus vote on wednesday. i thank so many of you for a strong support you've given me for speaker. respectful of all the views of members i request we all support the nominee of our caucus for

speaker on the floor of the house. our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power, simply signed nancy. she hasn't been able to put this thing to bed. she'll have 23 democrats saying that they won't back her. why is this still a fight at this point? >> because there has been this group of lawmakers in the house, democratic lawmakers that have kind of doubled down on this. nancy pelosi, just no on nancy and you don't necessarily have a solid backup option because pelosi is very good at using honey to get people what they want to get them to back off, which seems to have happened with fudge, or making threats when she needs to as well, which may have to happen in other areas. although she's gone with the sweet approach rather than the slap approach thus far. it's going to take some doing to be able to pick off everybody in that opposition camp, because there has been some members that have been saying no for a long time that have been in congress,

some members have campaigned i won't support pelosi's nomination on the floor, and other areas as well. so really this week is going to be -- >> critical. >> -- crunch time. we'll see if she can break that opposition or winld it so they can't really make a -- >> and here is brian higgins on his change of mind. >> after 16 years of the same leadership, we need a new direction. that's what people voted for this november and that's what they're looking for in congress. >> there's not an alternative right now. i'm a politician. my vote is my legislative tool. i use that to advance very important public policy objectives. >> michael, she was able to sweeten the deal for congressman higgins there. how nervous do you think she is at this point? >> i don't think she's that nervous. the higgins example is the perfect one of the rock and a hard place these democrats are

in. it is significant to note how much of the democratic majority did campaign on not being an automatic vote or even a vote at all for nancy pelosi. so this is an interesting dynamic. we've seen an element of it when republicans were in charge of the house. it's not the far left of the party that's a problem for pelosi in getting over the finish line but the moderates and places like orange county, california, for example. they're not actually enamored of the speaker to be from the northern part of the state. democrats have to be thinking about not what they're going to do in the next couple of weeks but how are they going to sell that in two years, four years? >> does she remain beyond that. >> right. >> incoming congresswoman therese davis out of kansas. i plan to vote for several

younger and newer members for leadership roles in the house, democratic congress and i will also vote for nancy pelosi for speaker of the house. the new generation of leaders is growing and we won't be ignored. >> some of the incoming class is playing it right. you can't miss the irony in having a problem solvers caucus that has no solution. okay, nancy pelosi is going to need to figure out what to do now. you've got a couple of trends. the democratic party taking over the house of representatives. seems like you would want someone who knows how to use the levers to execute that, with the investigations and all that stuff. pell o pelosi has a choice to make in january about how to groom the incoming generation of leadership. she is not going to be the house speaker forever and everyone up the ranks of leadership has gotten the message loud and clear, not just people approaching 80 should be in

leadership. who is she going to kind of bring into the fold? and it seems like some of the incoming members recognize an opportunity for pelosi to skip over several generations. >> a lot of whom left the house after the last time because they couldn't run. >> yes. >> perfect example now in the senate. >> they happen when men are in power and when women are in power, too, go figure. she has the opportunity and probably more pressure than ever before to begin the real work of grooming the next generation. the people who are going to come in after her. and if she's reading it like everyone else at the table is reading it, she has the opportunity to say maybe sooil skip the last 20 years and start looking ahead to some of these folks in their 30s. >> this is one of the youngest classes, average age is something like 45. those folks are looking to gain

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president trump is up early and tweeting this morning about embattled senator cindy hyde-smith. the mississippi republican is facing a tougher than expected run-off election on tuesday. trump tweeted tuesday she is an outstanding person. the president will be in mississippi tomorrow to help hyde-smith save her seat. jokes about voter suppression, and attending a public hanging. she apologized, sort of, in a debate last week and had this exchange yesterday with nbc news. >> could you clarify and articulate -- >> if i hurt anybody's feelings, you know, we're just staying on the issues that are on people's

mind. that is lower taxes, less regulations, you know, second amendment, all of those things. so, you know, any time i've said anything that somebody got offended i want to apologize. >> do you know what it is that offended people? can you acknowledge that statement? >> yeah. i apologize for anything i could have possibly said. thank you. >> democrats say hyde-smith's comments were particularly troublesome in a state like mississippi with its long history of lynchings in voter intimidation. mike espy wants to make that an issue. republicans say the party affiliation is disqualifying. >> hyde-smith's recent comments clearly do not reflect the values of our company. we've worked hard to overcome the stereotypes. her words should not reflect

mississippi values either. >> mike espny, funneling tens of thousands into their campaign because he gives them one more vote to stop president trump's agenda. >> michael, how much do you think these comments she's made, her affinity for confederate figures -- >> i think it's taken a race that was pretty easy, republican hold, and has made it somewhat competitive. i'm a little skeptical that the numbers are there. that's because rural whites, which make up the majority of the population in mississippi have pretty much entirely moved into the republican camp. mike espy was elected to congress. there were a lot of white democrats. >> cindy hyde-smith. >> exactly. trent lott from mississippi. they always get into making these comments and i think that reflects really this problematic past that cindy has. that being said, the numbers just don't seem to add up.

what makes it more competitive is it does give african-american voters in mississippi who might not have come out for a run-off election a reason to come out. but you can see from both of those ads you just played what both party triesing to do is get out some kind of middle of the road white vote to come out. >> such as it exists. >> that's right. and maybe what makes the difference in a marginal race like this, to say we're not the old mississippi anymore or you don't really want a liberal in the senate. >> right. and mississippi has the highest percentage of black citizens, 37%, louisiana, 32% during that first contest. 37% of the electorate was nonwhite. you got espy winning 15% of the white vote in that last contest which, again, speaks to how hard this is going to be for him to put together some sort of

multiracial coalition. >> i haven't followed mississippi closely. normally you need some sort of operation in your party for moments like this. you can actually capitalize on them. not just with a commercial but okay, you have seen the commercial, heard the comments. she hasn't really said this is wrong. she just said if i hurt your feelings. put everything in action and have it move. that exists more in a place like georgia than it does in mississippi. >> large urban area. >> right. and it takes years to build that infrastructure. if the attitude is that there's tl is not much of a democratic party to speak of or the prospects are slim in a national platform, that might be a deficit right now. if it existed, espy could actually use his advantage. >> if you look at the abrams and gillem race in terms of talking about race issues, does that possibly alienate --

>> some of these races could be much closer than people have long assumed they would be. people have been talking about for years georgia is going to flip. it didn't but came awfully close. and andrew gillem came awfully close. democrats see an opportunity. it's a numbers game, like all elections are and that perennial question, do you work on the persuadables or turning out the people that you have? i've seen various models for this. ap did some models on this recently. but, you know, if espy is able to galvanize black turnout, he needs a much smaller share of the white vote. >> 40% of the electorate is black. >> you've seen him walk this line of letting other people talk about that issue but then him trying to act like a

statesman and i think part of that is trying to get that magic number in turning out black voters but keeping enough white voters in the fold to try to put together what could actually be pretty astonishing. >> it hasn't happened since reconstruction. what do we make of the president reportedly going there on monday? why do they feel like they need to go down there at this point? >> he's going tomorrow for two rallies. this is a big effort by the president. i think what we know is they're leaving nothing to chance, that he needs to protect his senate majority. he wants to send a message about republicans, especially going into 2020 and a big issue is going to be, as we've been talking about, turnout and these kind of 11th hour rallies can help boost that. the president has just come off a really lengthy midterm rally blitz and he enjoys doing it. he likes getting out there and he took a lot of credit for republican gains in the senate and wants to make sure that

that -- >> folks in mississippi love this president so we'll see. up next, a friend of roger stone's may be ready to cooperate with mueller but the long-time trump associate insists he's still in the clear. >> we know the mueller team is listening. we can hear the clicks on the line. what do you have to say to the mueller team right now after this news breaks today? >> the decision is made on the actual evidence, facts and truth and no charges will be brought against me. (music throughout)

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another controversial figure in the president's orbit could be preparing to flip, jerome corsi, associate of former trump adviser robert stone, is in plea talks with robert mueller. the fringe conspiracy theory has become an increasingly important figure in the russia investigation and want to know if corsi possibly gave trump information about the wikileaks. it's a big sign that mueller's team thinks he has more to share. roger stone says if he does that's news to him. >> the assertion that jerry corsi new in advance that john podesta's e-mails had been obtained and would be published would be news to me, because he

never told me anything of the kind. corsi, if he is going to be prosecuted, it's not because he lies but because he refuses to parrot what they want him to say. there is not one iota, one scintilla of proof that i knew about the nicking of john podesta's e-mails in advance or that julian assange would publish them. >> in terms of whether or not there was any contact and knowledge between wikileaks and the trump campaign. >> that is the question, obviously. we know that mueller and company are looking at this wikileaks question, what they knew, when they knew it. as ever with mueller's investigation, we have to come back to the fact that he's always 20 steps ahead of us. we just cannot see all the moving parts behind the scenes. what corsi knew, when he knew it

could implicate but there's a lot more that we don't really have access to. >> karoun, in that clip we played of stone, he doesn't sound nervous. he sounds like the roger stone we've all come to know in this town. how nervous should he be? >> look, i don't think if mueller's team is making a deal with corsi, it can't be to get that far afield from roger stone. so you would assume that he would be rather nervous. as we've seen, stone has this penchant for standing up in front of cameras and talking as if he doesn't have a care in the world. if we could have all that kind of confidence with what he's facing, but it doesn't necessarily have to stop at roger stone, but roger stone could be next on mueller's list to actually make a deal. >> and the president, obviously, turned in questions and his attorney, rudy giuliani, said maybe there could be more to come. oh, sorry. i'm going to read it. it's not on the table. this is in terms of the mueller

interview on the table, whether or not it's on the table. here is what rudy giuliani had to say. it's not on the table but could be back on the table. we'll consider them and answer them, if necessary, relevant and legal. if it was something that would be helpful, relevant nork, not school exam. how worried is the white house for the president? >> i think they're worried about, in a broader sense what all of these revelations will add up to. they'll have to wait a few months to find out. it doesn't look like mueller's done with his work and so, you know, you could be look at the spring or certainly after the democrats have taken over the house, after there is a parallel investigative structure set up in congress. but what the president's lawyers have sought to do is kind of firewall the obstruction questions and stick to the questions that they thought was sort of more compelling that they would have to answer and see how far that got them.

i think there's just no way that this corsi development is good news for roger stone or potentially for president trump, but in terms of how significant it is, i think that, we are going to have to wait to see it play out a little bit more. but it certainly could allow mueller to explore this question that's been central all along, which is how do these e-mails get out and was it coordinated in any fashion? and if so, with whom? just because roger stone says this in an interview -- look, roger stone, this is for sure. >> which he loves. >> public relations campaign is certainly different than what happens with your lawyers in an investigative sense when you're actually speaking to people who will hold your statements to account. >> i think that's what has to have the white house the most concerned, roger stones, what he knows, what he did. it always seemed to me that he's center of the problem here with respect to the actual substance

of the mueller investigation, that actually it's a much weaker case against maybe president trump himself or some of the actual principles in the campaign but it's the association with roger stone, you know, the original dirty tricks guy and the fact that nobody really knows what he knew, what he did. that has to be really just very concerning, that unknown that we've been talking about. president trump is losing control of things in washington. this is something, i think, corsi talks here, as another example of how he's continuing to lose control of something he doesn't have control. we may see more from the president in terms of outbursts like we have before in those situations. >> as you said it's only going to get worse in terms of congress flipping, democrats, when the new congress comes to town. rough roads ahead for this white house. we'll see. >> next, our reporters share a page from their notebooks, including how the president is preparing or perhaps not

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one more time around the "inside politics" table where we ask our reporters to share something from their notebooks and get you out ahead of the big political news this week. margaret, we'll start with you. >> what may a political trend here, president trump asking the supreme court to weigh in on cases before they have gone to the appellate courts. my colleagues at bloomberg law have written about this, the

president's trangender military ban, put on hold by three district courts. the day after thanksgiving the trump administration asking the supreme court to go ahead and agree to take a look at it. we need to look and see whether it's simply a matter of timing or to some extent reflects the president's increasing confidence of how that court looks. by asking the supreme court to pay attention now is to get this on the docket in time for the end of the court's current term by june. >> take a look at that. keep looking at it. you, michael? >> the bipartisan first step act, criminal justice reform bill that the white house is pushing to get passed in this possible lame duck session. tom cotton, the republican usually aligned with the president on most everything else, is the real big opponent of this bill, leading the charge. he and law enforcement groups

that oppose the bill say it gives the current language certain violent felons to be released early. the republican who supports the bill says that's a distortion. they'll be hammering this out next few weeks in congress to see what happens. i think there's three big reasons why tom cotton could win this fight, at least in the short term, and either stop a vote on it or really kill it in a vote. the first is that this bill has only six co-sponsors. previous bill last year had 16. so supporters are already starting in a hole. second, it's not a big priority for mitch mcconnell in this lame duck session. he wants to get more judicial appointments through. the last reason is president trump himself. he does support it right now but we know how he can pull back from things, say things publicly or privately that hurts the bill and republicans who are unsure

what to do on it. people in the white house and the administration really don't like this bill. they'll be in his ear as well the next few weeks. >> the clock is ticking. >> exactly. >> kari? >> with democrats taking over, will pelosi be speaking but also what will republicans do in these last few weeks they have of their dying power? there's been so much scrutiny on the fbi, the doj. over thanksgiving, the judiciary committee put out subpoenas for former fbi director jim comey and loretta lynch, subpoenas that will be tougher to enforce in the limited time that remains and remember, rod rosenstein. there's a lot of animous toward him from the gop and people have tried to file articles of impeachment against him. do they take another whack at him? it's not that these steps will direct the course of where we're

going. democrat also take over and never use their authority own these committees to defend those types of subpoenas or pursue hard charges against these current and former officials but, but if these subpoenas are sent out, these fights are started, if these people don't show up on capitol hill, that gives trump more talking points and gop more arguing points in the next few years. we'll probably see more from mueller and will probably stay alive through the next election cycle, which we're already in. just throwing everything to see what will potentially stick in the future. >> all righty. >> i'm heading to argentina in a couple of days because president trump is going down for a meeting of the group of 20 industrialized nations and the biggest thing on his agenda is an expected meeting with chinese president xi jinping. this comes as the trade conflict between the countries is escalating and there's a lot of interest in whether the two can reach some kind of agreement to bring down the temperature.

it's not really clear at this point. lot of experts think this will be a tricky thing to do, but there are incentives on both sides that could bring them together. president trump talks about it this week and again part of his shoot from the hip foreign policy. but he said he doesn't need to prepare because he knows the ingredients. he knows the statistics and he said, you know, his gut has never been wrong. we'll have to see. >> we'll see how that goes. and i'll end with this. and so it begins, the bill and hillary clinton tour, the first stop canada next week, then on to texas, then in the spring, new york, detroit and philly. bill does an evening with the clintons, the tour is sure to draw scrutiny and raise questions. among them, while the clintons can certainly draw headlines, can they draw big crowds? and as the democratic party looks toward 2020, is hillary clinton actually thinking about

running again? also, how awkward will this whole thing be as democrats look to move on to the clinton era and the me too movement reshapes how people look at clintons? a docu series in the upcoming 20th anniversary of bill clinton's impeachment. the clintons will still be taking up space on the stage even as many democrats want them to go away. that's it for "inside politics." thanks for sharing your sunday morning. catch us weekdays as well at noon eastern. state of the union with dana bash. her guests, incoming chairman adam schiff and republican senator joni ernst.

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escalating threats. president trump trying anything he can to stem immigration at the border. >> we will close entry into the country. >> threatening a government shutdown over the wall. how will congress react? we'll ask iowa republican senator joni ernst next. plus, gearing up, the mueller probe closing in on another guilty plea as one of its first targets is headed toward prison. >> the written answers to the witch hunt that's been going on forever, they've been finished. >> we'll talk to a man