it has had a profound influence on this entire nation and it has to be affirmed. the partial u.s. government shutdown, yep, it's still a thing. still a stalemate. the nation's president not only flip-flops to blame democrats, also blaming them for the deaths of two migrant children at the border in mexico. we'll talk about it. plus, democracy in action. voters in the democratic republic of congo cast their ballots in a long-delayed presidential election there. also ahead this hour, allegations of new ties between former trump campaign chairman paul manafort and a suspected russian ex-spy. we are live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta. and we want to welcome your viewers here in the united states and all around the world, i'm george howell.

the cnn "newsroom" starts right now. 4:00 a.m. on the u.s. east coast, thank for being with us. we start with the latest ripple in the partial government shutdown, the shutdown showdown. it's now affecting the pay raise of u.s. government workers that they've been expecting in january. that raise, not happening. the u.s. president cancelled the 2.1% wage increase and as we head into the second week of this shutdown, it adds insult to injury for the more than 800,000 federal employees who are affected. people who will be living without paychecks indefinitely as this thing continues to drag on. as for the president himself, he is sitting in the white house, waiting for democrats, he says, to come over to work out a deal, though he's been out of sight, he's still tweeting. our sarah westwood had more from the white house. >> reporter: president trump is alone in the white house and fuming about democrats refusal to provide any funding for his promised border wall. he's been trying to blame them

for everything, from the deaths of two migrant children at the southern border earlier this month to the partial government shutdown that he once said he would be proud to own. now, the president is alone here at the white house because he cancelled plans to travel down to his palm beach estate mar-a-lago amid the partial government shutdown he continues to blame on the inaction of the democrats. the president writing on twitter, i am in the white house waiting for the democrats to come on over and make a deal on border security. from what i hear, they're spending so much time on presidential harassment that they have little time left for things like stopping crime and our military. now, acting chief of staff slash budget director mick mulvaney says those congressal leaders have been invited back to the white house for further talks. the white house at this point is essentially just waiting for a counteroffer from the democrats. mulvaney suggested the president might be willing to back down

off that demand for $5 billion in wall funding, though he didn't specify by how much. that's align with cnn's reporting that mike pence went to capitol hill last weekend for a bill worth $2.5 billion. that's a deal that the democrats rejected. so talks are still at a standstill. there's not a lot of clarity at this point still about what kind of deal the president might support. but it is clear that trump is growing increasingly frustrated with his inability to get funding for his signature campaign promise and it's also clear that the partial government shutdown has no end in sight with democrats preparing to retake the house and therefore shake up the dynamics of negotiating power in a little less than a week. sarah westwood, cnn, the white house. now caught up in the middle of all this, hundreds of thousands of federal workers. they're very concerned about what happens next, especially those people living paycheck to paycheck how long this goes is anyone's guess. our kaylee hartung has more.

>> reporter: there's no end in sight to the government shutdown. forcing thousands of federal workers and their families to make tough sacrifices. >> it's pretty scary not knowing when you're going to get paid. >> reporter: angela's husband is an air traffic controller for the federal aviation administration. >> he's considered essential employee, so he has to go to work. and i can't go to work because i've just had a baby. >> reporter: with no income, they've slashing expenses, focussing on the mortgage and feeding their family. another 380 federal employees are on furlough, effectively put on a leave of absence without pay. that's why the trash is piling up at some national parks around the country, where they're unstaffed with no one to supervise the land and facilities. joshua tree national park, volunteers from the local community like these rock climbing guides are stepping in to do with the dirty work during the park's busiest days of the year. >> my free hour or two in the

evening, i'm cleaning toilets not to mention we're $400 out on cash buying toilet paper. >> the impact of the partial government shutdown spans the country. americans are talking about the tough financial challenges they face on twitter using the #shutdownstories. in wyoming ernie johnson says his auto loan deferred his truck payment in january but if he doesn't receive back pay, he'll likely be evicted on february 1st. >> lauren says she depends on paycheck. she won't have the funds for after-school care or school lunch. and sara waterson who describes herself as a marine corp. veteran on twitter puts her family struggle into perspective saying my children don't care about walls. they do care about having a warm house to live in, clothes to wear and food in their bellies. none of which is possible if their mom can't go to work. candid thoughts from americans about the toll of policymakers bickering a and the longer the shutdown drags on the more widely the effects will be felt.

kaylee hartung, cnn. >> kaylee, thank you. let's get context now with scott lucas, professor at university of birmingham in england and founder and editor of ea world view via skype. pleasure to have you. >> thank you, george. >> scott, we've seen the president blame democrats for the deaths of two migrant children due to immigration policy, also blaming nancy pelosi as the reason for this impasse, but as we keep our eye on the ball of this blame game, it is important to recall the president's own words right from the start. let's listen. >> and i am proud -- >> we diagree. >> i am proud to shut down the government for border security, chuck. i will take the mantle. i will be the one to shut it down. i'm not going to blame you for it. >> so now government employees baring the blunt here. now their pay raise has been cancelled as this drags on and seems to get more dire for them, does it put more pressure on the president or on democrats or,

scott, on both? >> no. bottom line here is that donald trump is in a corner. he is in a corner because of that clip you just played that he would own the shutdown. and he's in a corner because almost everybody except donald trump and some republicans in the house of representatives realize that the wall is just a vanity project, that it has no use. there's a deal which is already on the table, that is democrats and republicans in the senate have offered to continuing resolution to fund the government, which includes $1.3 billion more in border security. the white house reportedly wants 2.5 billion more in border security, but it appears they're clinging to the idea that trump, to save face, has to get something for, quote, the wall. democrats aren't going to give him something for the wall because it's useless money. it's a useless measure. so as a result, because trump won, he took credit for the shutdown but two has no way out without giving up the wall, what he is doing now -- i need to be clear, george. he's now lying. he said that democrats were

responsible for the deaths of two migrant children, he said that those children, in fact, the father of one of those children actually said that it was his fault, that it was his problem that she died. the father said no such thing. the father said there were problems when they were taken into custody. trump will continue to use twitter now, rather than discussions with democrats, rather than discussions with his own republicans because, let's be honest here, george, it's ego. if he backs off the wall, his ego is the priority here. it's damaged and he's not going to have that. >> let's put politics aside for a moment. let's talk about the people, scott who are affected, about 25% of government workers, some 800,000 workers. many of whom may be living paycheck to paycheck. it is starting to hurt for them because it means not being able to pay bills on time. people are proud to pay their bills on time. not able to do that in this case. or even keep up with the

mortgage, possibly even coming down to putting food on the table. this is real for a lot of people. >> yes. this is very real in the holiday season. it's been buffered a bit because you pay federal workers before christmas, so they were paid through december 21st, thank goodness. but if this goes through january, if the democrats aren't able to get the continuing resolution through because of trump's resistance early in the month, and if these workers are not paid by the end of january, then they do face evictions or they do face having to cut back on essentials for their homes. which is why you have the extraordinary position where the government is advising its own workers, oh, go to your landlords and ask them to let you off part of your rent or go to your creditors and let you off some of your car repayments or part of your mortgage repayment. that's not the way this is supposed to work. and let me add one thing, george, that may have been missed. this trump veto now on a 2.1% pay increase for government

workers isn't just because of the shutdown, what has happened is because of the spiraling government deficit, because of the 1.5 trillion there are tax cuts on december 2017, the government is now short of money and what we have now is the extraordinary situation, the government workers who are already punished by this closure are now being said, well, you really got to give up your pay increase because we gave away all these tax cuts. a lot of went to people who are far wealthier than those now being affected. >> scott, as this thing continues to drag on and seems to head into the new year, how much pressure is on democrats to meet the president at some point, are they obliged to do so, or do they have a stronger hand here? >> what the democrats are going to do, george, bring it down to what we expect when congress reconvenes on thursday is the democrats will reintroduce the measure in the house of representatives for $1.3 billion increase in border security as part of the continuing

resolution. now that measure was agreed between democrats and republicans in the senate just before the shutdown. so when democrats go to the house, having the majority, and they probably push this through, the senate is likely to concur and at that point donald trump faces, i think, the biggest choice of what has been a series of choices that he has sort of pushed to the side so far. does he veto a continuing resolution that keeps the government open, that gives him more money for border security but doesn't give him money for a 30 foot wall that serves no purpose? and at that point, if donald trump vetoes that measure, then he does well and truly own this shutdown. >> scott lucas with us in birmingham, england. scott, thank you for the context and perspective. >> thank you, george. as we mentioned a moment ago, president trump blaming democrats for the deaths of two migrant children while in u.s. custody. the head of homeland security just spent two days on the u.s.

border to see circumstances there for herself. one place she visited, el paso, texas, where our nick valencia was there and filed this report. >> reporter: this is the 16th trip to the southern border for dhs secretary nielsen and part was to check on conditions at border patrol stations in el paso. friday she was visiting two stations and did the same thing in uma, arizona on saturday. another part of her visit was to check up on health screenings. it was part of a series of extraordinary protective measures which she implemented after the death of 8-year-old gomez alan sow, second child migrant to die in u.s. custody in les than three weeks. after her visit in friday in el paso, the system is clearly overwhelmed. we must work together to address this humanitarian crisis and protect vulnerable populations. we know that if congress were to act, or the courts were to enforce the law as written, we

could address this crisis tomorrow. instead, we continue to do more with letsds. i have asked congress to please put politics aside and recognize this for the growing security and humanitarian crisis this is. some cases they are dropped off with no resources and nowhere to go. the volunteers here say they're stretched thin and that's what we're hearing as well from a customs and border protection official. he says they are bursting at the seams. they're not intended to hold so many people. originally they were built to house single adult males. influx in family units they're really struggling to keep their head above water. reporting in el paso, texas, i'm nick valencia. the mayor of new york city, bill de blasio, says as many as 2 million people are expected to ring in the new year in times square in new york. the world celebrates, the city

celebrities, countersnipers will be protecting the crowds there. that's not the only way new york plans to keep revelers safe. listen. >> the ability of the nypd to prepare for such a thing is legendary. >> what's different this year is the counterdrone technology and the drone factor, which is we'll be deploying nypd drones for overwatch. we haven't done that before. >> and while new york is doing everything it can do to keep people safe, the one thing city officials won't be able to do is keep people dry. maybe a little wet there in times square. ivan cabrera is here to tell us about a wet and solg ggy start the new year. >> i did not know about the drones. yes, we're not just talking a few showers. it will be a heavy rain. in fact, quite an event coming up for new york. george, haven't seen this in

quite a while as far as it raining right at midnight. another storm system setting up, yet another storm system that will be moving inland here or will basically do that inside run, right, where it pulls the warm air in as opposed to the big nor'easters to the cold air. this is getting going down south. you see the rain showers and thunderstorm activity heading into the southeast as we head through the day on sunday. but really this doesn't get going until monday. and the timing could not be worse. this is at new york's doorstep by the time we get into 10, 11. then we're looking at heavy rain moving through midnight and continuing to the very early part of 2019. so that's what we have for you. the snow will be well to the north. we have colder air, canada and portions of new england. but even there i think it will be higher elevations, the green and white mountains. the rainfall, this is not good, as you recall, this area has been hit pretty hard. where you see the yellow, upwards of 11 to 12 inches of rain the last few days. this is going to make things

worse as far as the flooding. as far as the entire forecast for the u.s., here is what you can expect at midnight in each location you see there, pick your temperature. denver 7 degrees. look at rapid city at 3. there you see the relatively mild air, atlanta 65 and 40s in new york. specifically at midnight i think it will be right around 49. it will feel like it's in the mid 40s with the wind out of the south at 9. by the way, just a little trivia for you as we like to do that, there you see, george the last time it was raining at the ball dropped, 1994. so long ago. 2000 i was the last snow, coldest ever. minus 18 windshield in 1917. anderson and andy were bundled up as it was 9 degrees last year at midnight. it will be much warmer, good 40 degrees or so but it will be raining. >> a lot of people watching that. >> and 2 million getting wet. >> happy new year to you. >> you, too.

around the world and united states in the you're watching news room. still ahead, an historic election to tell you about almost 60 years in the making, but not everyone is eligible or rather not everyone eligible to vote, i should say, is being allowed to vote. we'll dive into that for you. plus, voting also under way in bangladesh. why the general election there is so controversial. stay with us. i'm gronk! i'm big and awesome, but this guy is little, can it really clean? heck yeah it can! it's concentrated detergent plus stain fighters plus odor flighers that fight for clean. boom! even this entire bottle can't beat tide pods. and now a word from future gronk: ugh... tide pods. if it's clean, it's got to be tide. so we improved everything. we used 50% fewer ingredients added one handed pumps

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♪ welcome back to cnn "newsroom," i'm george howell. in the democratic republic of congo, the polls are open for a historic election there. for the first time in almost 60 years, voters there are casting ballots in a democratic transfer of power. but there are concerns of vote rigging and more than a million people who will have to wait until march to vote because of two things, because of the ebola crisis and fears of terrorism. let's bring in our own lionel econi following this story. thanks for your time today. we want to understand, so this certainly an historic transfer of power, this election. but there are red flags that have been raised. outside observers not allowed

in. what are people saying about the perception of this election as free and fair. >> absolutely, george. there are many questions about the credibility of this vote. exactly for those reasons that you mentioned. so, indeed if this election were to take place quite peacefully without many incidents, it would be historic. it would be the first time since the country's independence in 1960 that we would see a transfer of democratic power. however, it's been marred by violence. we've seen weeks of protests. this election itself was supposed to be held in 2016. it was delayed because the government said there were concerns about violence, rebel militia violence, the ebola outbreak, all reasons given by the government. the opposition says the government has tried to cling on to power for all these years. on top of that, as you mentioned, there's no independent observers. they have offered help but they

were both banned by the government saying they don't want any outside interference in this. and as you mentioned as well, there are three cities on wednesday in the eastern part of the country that are seen as opposition strongholds in which voters were told they couldn't vote until march. but the results of these elections are expected in january. so in effect, we've cancelled those million plus votes out about 40 million voters. so lots and lots of questions about the credibility of this vote and we've seen people getting out on the streets. if they're not happy with the way things are going today f they feel like they've been robbed at the ballot box, people will get out on the streets and we can expect more protests to come. >> latest indications, leone that the two major opposition candidates are ahead at this point of the government candidate, but as you pointed out, they could split the vote, correct? we'll have to continue to see how this plays out. thank you again for your time and following the developments there from our london bureau.

now to bangladesh, voting right now in its general election. the prime min stister cast her e just a short time ago. she appears set to win a record third consecutive term. even as she faces allegations of vote rigging and human rights abuses. let's get the very latest from new delhi. what's the latest about the perception of this particular vote, the key question, will this be perceived as fair? >> that's right, george. human rights organizations in the run-up to the vote have raised concerns about the repressive, political atmosphere as human rights watch called it in a recent watch and climate of fear as people went out to vote today. voting ends later today. hasina is widely expected to win. this would be her third term. but there are questions about her growing authoritarianism and

how that will play into the vote in the run-up. we've seen heavy security because of concerns about violence. the opposition has claimed that many of their activists have been arrested. they have been stopped from campaigning. the government denies this. the opposition itself the bnb, the main opposition party, when it was in power before hasina was itself accused of many human rights abuses. voters face a tough choice. there's something else about hasina which is that over her past two terms, these concerns about human rights, they have gradually, gradually come to the center, climbed up the agenda was at the same time bangladesh's economy has done really, really well. there have been two stories, one is a booming economy where hasina has made progress but on the other hand concerns about them clamping down on decenting

voices. now as she is expected to win, people will watch out for what happens afterwards. if she wins, will that authoritarian streak become more pronounced if she does, in fact, win a third term as many expect. george? >> important to point out the history there. the cloud of controversy around her leadership, but at the same time, seems to be in line to win at this point. thank you so much for the reporting. we'll keep in touch with you. still ahead here on "news room" the trump organization under scrutiny. coming up, why democrats may start looking into the trump family businesses when they take control of u.s. house next week. plus, a new report alleges former trump campaign chief paul manafort was pressured to pay back debts to a russian oligarch. find out what manafort report lid offered. we used 50% fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top safety standards

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welcome back to our viewers here and in the united states and all around the world, you're watching "cnn newsroom." we thank you for it. i'm george howell with the headlines we're following for you this hour. the u.s. president's family is in the state of florida for new year's holiday, but president trump has chose on the stay in washington, d.c. he says he's waiting for democrats to make a deal on border security and to end the partial government shutdown now heading into its second week. some 800,000 federal workers are wondering when they will be paid next. the head of u.s. homeland security just spent two days on the southern u.s. border. here kirstjen nielsen said she wanted to see for herself the circumstances under which two migrant children died while in u.s. custody. president trump says democrats

are to blame for the deaths. millions of people are expected to cast their ballots today in congo. they're choosing a success r of the current president of that nation but more than a million others in parts of the country will have to wait until march to cast their ballots because of terrorism fears and the ebola crisis. humanitarian corridor supposed to open saturday in yemen has not. rebels were supposed to hand over control of the port city to allow convoys to bring supplies. there are reports in the region that the rebels did not comply. just a few days, democrats take control of the u.s. house of representatives. it will be their first chance armed with subpoena powers to demand answers from the trump administration on a range of troubling issues. our randi kaye takes a look now at one area where they could start the trump family business empire. >> reporter: is the trump organization mixed up?

money laundering? that's what some members of congress want to find out. deutsche bank has a history of illegally laundering russian money and a relationship with the trump organization. >> they paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines to the state of new york because they were laundering russian money. and this apparently was the one bank that was willing to do business with the trump organization. now, is that a coincidence? >> here he comes. here he comes. >> reporter: there's also the michael cohen problem. he pleaded guilty in august to eight counts, including campaign finance violations tied to his work for trump, which cohen says included payments designed to silence women who claim they had affairs with trump. which trump has denied. >> he directed me to make the payments. he directed me to become involved in these matters. >> reporter: voters were kept in the dark as they headed to the polls. yet cohen admitted in court filings that in coordination and at the direction of a candidate

for federal office, he kept information that would have harmed trump from being made public during the 2016 election cycle. and what about that proposed trump tower in moscow? cohen previously said talks about the moscow project ended in january, 2016, before the iowa caucuses. turns out that was a lie. according to judy giuliani, the talks continued into november, the month of the election. in court, cohen admitted he made his false statements consistent and out of loyalty to individual one, just who is individual one? donald trump. all of this matters because if it's true, it could prove trump was seeking business with russia while moscow was secretly working to get him elected. and speaking of hotels, attorneys general for maryland and d.c. have filed a lawsuit and subpoenaed financial records from the trump organization and the trump international hotel in

d.c. >> this is the most coveted piece of real estate in washington, d.c., the best location. >> reporter: the hotel plays host to foreign officials and leaders from around the world. the lawsuit suggests the president breached the emoluments clause of the constitution which prohibits the president from accepting payments of foreign powers while in office. all said, at least five committees in congress now poised to probe the trump organization on everything trump's touched, including his yet to be released tax returns. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> randi, thank you. "time" magazine is reporting on an alleged tie between a top trump campaign figure and a russian ex-spy. here are the players. paul manafort, former trump campaign chairman, victor boyarkin, the russian ex-spy and

the powerful russian billionaire oleg deripaska. manafort was deeply in debt. he looked for ways to pay that money back. a spokesman for manafort declined to comment about times new report. cnn caught up with deripaska last year about reports in the washington post and the atlantic that manafort offered to brief deripaska on the race. >> owe you millions of dollars and he's the head of the trump campaign? >> our matthew chance there tracking the story down. but here is the question, who is oleg deripaska? >> deripaska is one of a few e oligarchs extremely close to

putin. he would do anything when asked by putin to do. so, you know, what we have is trump's campaign chairman paul manafort in deep debt to a man like deripaska. we knew there were these e-mails and we knew that deripaska was involved. we didn't know how they were connected. he was hammering manafort for the money while the campaign was going on. one of the ways manafort suggested paying it off was to offer private briefings on the campaign. so, you know, you have a campaign manager in debt to a russian oligarch connected to putin being pressured for money in the middle of a campaign he's running on behalf of the republican nominee for president. >> paul manafort faces his first of several sentencing hearings in february for financial crimes. he's also accused of lying to prosecutors after agreeing to

cooperate with them. 2018 was a big year for u.s. politics to say the least. with president trump in the white house, let's just say it was never boring. we take a look back at the biggest u.s. political stories to hit the headlines that cnn "newsroom" pushes ahead. stay with us. we used 50% fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top safety standards the new johnson's® choose gentle

welcome back to "cnn newsroom." here in the united states there's no question political headlines dominated 2018. from a contentious confirmation battle for a supreme court seat to the deaths of two political giants, cnn's chief political correspondent dana bash looks back at a tumultuous year. ♪ >> you would think 2018 being a midterm election year, that would be the defining political story. it was big, but with donald trump in the white house, there was so much more. when a former student opened fire, murdering 17 people,

including 14 students at marjory stoneman douglas high school, emma gonzalez and fellow survivors channelled their sorrow into action. >> every politician who was taking donations from the nra, shame on you. >> across the country, thousands of students heard the cry coming from parkland florida and staged a 17-minute walk-out, one minute for each victim of the shooting. then, their demand for stricter gun laws went global with march for our lives. >> we can and we will change the world. >> washington felt the weight of several icons passing away in 2018. ♪ senator john mccain died in august after a 13-month battle with brain cancer. the naval fighter pilot and vietnam prison of war was known for reaching across the aisle to get things done and bucking his party, in classic mccain style,

he asked the two men who defeated him for president to eulogize him. >> what better way to get a last laugh than to make george and i say nice things about him to a national audience. >> his final maverick move, not inviting the president he tangled with and worried about as america's leader to his funeral. >> we honor our 41st president, george -- >> the country also mourned the death of former president george h.w. bush, described as decent, honorable and gracious. the 41st president who managed the end of the cold war without a shot fired was eulogized by the 43rd president, his son. >> let us know the blessings of knowing and loving you, a great and noble man. the best father a son or daughter could have. >> a family grieving for not one parent but two with the passing of 41's wife of 73 years, barbara bush, just seven months earlier. an american icon who was

remembered by another famous son. >> she was our teacher and role model how to live a life of purpose and meaning. >> immigration. >> immigration. >> immigration. >> president trump continued to put immigration front and center in 2018, imposing a controversial family separation policy. >> when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away. >> images of children in cages sparked an outcry from both sides of the aisle, along with revelations that at the height of the policy, more than 2600 children were separated from their parents after entering the u.s. illegally. bowing to political pressure, the president reversed himself and signed an executive order to end the separation. a few months later, raw political move to motivate his base, he warned against a caravan of immigrants headed to the southern border. >> we're not letting these people invade our country.

>> after election day, he largely stopped talking about the caravan but not about immigration. he ended the year with a government shutdown over the border wall. the president stunned the world in helsinki this year when he stood next to vladimir putin and not only failed to admonish the russian president for meddling in american elections, he accepted putin's denial. >> i have great confidence in my intelligence people, but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. >> angry democrats and republicans lashed out in disapproval. senator mccain called it one of the most disgraceful performances by an american president in memory. but that wasn't the only 2018 trump shocker on the world stage. after months of rhetorical fire and fury with north korea's kim jong-un, president trump broke precedent by agreeing to a summit in june in singapore. after nearly five-hour trump/kim

meeting, they announce what had they called a denuclearization agreement. >> we developed a very special bond. >> despite the warm embrace, 2018 comes to an end with reports that the hermit kingdom is still operating secret missile bases. >> we have made history tonight. >> it was the year of the woman with record-breaking numbers of women running for and winning races on a local and national level, especially congress. 14 women elected in the senate, bringing it to a total of 25. 102 women will serve in the house next year, breaking the previous record of 85. women from all walks of life are flooding the hill with one exception, republicans. only 13 gop women will be in the house next year, the lowest number in a quarter century. supreme court fights are always high stakes, but president trump never imagined what would happen when nominating brett kavanaugh,

someone he thought was a rather safe pick. several women came forward accusing kavanaugh of sexual misconduct, leading to a day of public testimony for the ages. starting with christine blasey ford. >> i believed he was going to rape me. i tried to yell for help. when i did, brett put his hand over my mouth to stop me from yelling. >> kavanaugh followed with a fiery defense. >> i'm not questioning that dr. ford may have been sexually assaulted by some person in some place at some time. but i have never done this. >> ford's story touched a nerve among women across the country who had been sexually assaulted and afraid to come forward or not believed. a new front in the metoo movement, republican jeff flake had just announced he was a yes vote and this happened. >> you're telling me that my vote doesn't matter? a rattled flake worked with democrat chris coops to delay

the vote for a week. kavanaugh was ultimately confirmed to the high court's swing seat. trump's second supreme court win in just two years. kavanaugh no vote would cause trouble for some red state democrats up for re-election in places like missouri where that state's now gop senator elect josh holly predicted it would be a game changer, and he was right. >> big deal? >> big deal. very big deal. >> like that could make the difference? >> yeah, i do. >> gop backlash over the kavanaugh fight energized their base and helped republicans maintain their majority in the senate. >> and cnn projects that democrats will reclaim control of the u.s. house of representatives. >> on the house side, a very different story. democrats found that blue wave and rode it back into the majority, winning 40 seats, almost twice the 23 needed to take back the house. >> there was no collusion whatsoever. >> it's been over a year since special counsel robert mueller was given the mandate to

investigate russian interference in the 2016 election and any possible collusion with trump aides or associates. the president spent the year trying to undermine it. >> it's a terrible witch hunt. >> the mueller investigation has revealed that many in trump's orbit had contacts with russians, 16 to be exact. but the most stunning revelation, trump's long-time personal attorney and fixer michael cohen was sentenced to three years in prison and turned on the president, cooperating with federal investigators. the president now calls cohen a liar and a rat. and after months of claiming his innocence, president's former campaign chairman paul manafort pled guilty to several crimes not associated with the trump campaign. he cut a deal with mueller, which by year's end fell apart. manafort is now looking a the possibility of more charges from the special counsel. 2018 ended "president nominating a new attorney general william barr to oversee the

investigation after he fired jeff sessions. and mueller's team bringing charges against 32 entities and individuals, 5 people pleading guilty and 4 sentenced to prison. what a 2018. what's in store next year? buckle up. ♪ dana bash, thank you. investigators are trying to figure out why a jet way collapsed at baltimore's international airport. we're talking about those extendible hallways. airport officials say the incident sent six people to the hospital with nonlife threatening injuries. other passengers on the southwest airlines flight got off the plane safely thankfully. after the break, a story from my home state we always take pride in saying things are bigger in texas, and baby ali can attest to that. this little bundle of joy is just a newborn and already breaking records. we'll tell you about it. are you a christian author with

a book that you're ready to share with the world? get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! ♪ welcome back to "cnn newsroom." the best gifts can come in small packages. one texas family that struggled to have children were given the biggest gift of all, a nearly

15-pound baby boy. our affiliate ktvt has this story from dallas. >> can you say hi there. hi. >> reporter: right now baby ali is nearly twice the size of an average newborn but he is anything but average. >> he's my special baby. >> reporter: he came into the world just of 15 pounds weighing at 14 pounds, 13 ounces breaking a record at arlington memorial hospital. >> i was like, oh my god. really? j. they say they were anticipating a bigger than average baby. >> we heard a oh my behind the curtain. and i was like, oh my what? >> reporter: ali was born via c section. mom says she had a very healthy pregnancy. ali spent a week in the nicu

because his blood sugar and platelets were low. >> reporter: for this couple, ali is a blessing in many ways. doctors told them having a family would be a long shot. >> we tried any way and prayed. >> reporter: anna bell was born through the help of fertility treatments. >> our last treatment they said that my follicle was going to turn into a cyst. they're wrong. it turned into her. >> reporter: the family was getting ready to start the process again when they learned that they were expecting ali. many are already planning his future based on his size. >> he is meant for something big. maybe not football. everybody keeps saying that. >> reporter: but it's music that runs in the family. ♪ twinkle twinkle little star >> reporter: both jennifer and eric are music teachers. whatever he chooses. >> he's loved and that he can do whatever makes him happy. >> reporter: mom and dad say right now this is music to their ears. their family is now complete.

>> that baby is due for something big in the future. very, very happy for that family back in texas. one of the most watched movies of the holiday season was not even shown in theaters. we're talking about "bird box" starring sandra bullock on netflix. netflix says the movie was streamed by more than 45 million accounts, the best first seven days ever for a netflix film. thank you for watching this hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm george howell at the cnn center in atlanta. let's do it again. more news right after the break. stay with us. gentle means everything, so we improved everything. we used 50% fewer ingredients added one handed pumps

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the u.s. government shutdown now in its eighth day, and the u.s. president blocks a pay raise for federal workers who are still out of jobs. plus, delayed democracy in the democratic republic of congo. polling stations open despite claims of vote rigging. also ahead this hour, an african-american hotel guest seeking answers after hotel employees called police on him for taking a phone call in the lobby. that's frustrating. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and all around the world, i'm george howell. "cnn newsroom" starts right now.