welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thank you for sharing your day with us. president trump on his way to the u.s.-mexico border. he says he's open to a compromise to end the government shutdown, but today is about making it clear it would have to include his wall. democrats repeat, the wall to them is a nonstarter. and on this day 20, they blame the president for the increasing stress on furloughed federal workers. one way out, some believe the only way out is for the president to declare a national emergency to take wall money from the pentagon, maybe other federal agencies. he says that might happen soon, but it's clear his immediate goal is to try to get the

democrats to blink. >> i find china, frankly, in many ways to be far more honorable than crying chuck and nancy. i really do. i think that china is actually much easier to deal with than the opposition party. >> and we begin there with the president headed to the border this hour as both he and the democrats look much more interested in making points, not deals. talks to end the government shutdown have evaporated, that with the president's bye bye, closing the door on the latest attempt to break the border impasse. nancy pelosi calls it a temper tantrum of the president unwilling to make a deal. republican lawmakers are suggesting democrats are the unreasonable ones. >> the buck stops with everybody. they could solve this problem in literally 15 minutes. we could be back. we could have border security.

they could stop this problem in 15 minutes if they wanted to. i really believe now that they don't want to. i really believe that. i really believe that they don't care about crime. >> the president's afternoon trip to the border today another publicity gambit hoping he can change minds about the bordered wa -- border wall. his chat with reporters reinstated it. nancy pelosi won't give in, the president won't abandon it. a national emergency seems to be the only way out to the end of a government shutdown. >> i have the possibility of a national emergency. the lawyers have so advised me. i'm not prepared to do that yet, but i will. there's no doubt about it, i will. if we're unable to make a deal, i want to say it 100%.

i don't want to say 100% because maybe something else comes up. if we don't make a deal, it would be very surprising to me that i did not declare a national emergency and just fund it through the various mechanisms. >> that's the president. cnn's kaitlyn collins at the white house. the president saying maybe, maybe, maybe. we understand the white house is doing the research to get him to that point. >> they're getting ready for the president to take that maybe to a yes, that he's going to declare a national emergency. right now that is still uncertain. they are preparing the legal justification for the president to do so since it's widely assumed if he does declare a national emergency on the border, it will certainly face a court battle. that legal strategy and legal justification they are prepping right now includes a legal defense, because they do assume that is something it could come down to, and that legal defense comes to something you've seen in recent days, which is not only the president but some of his aides and spokesmen have called this a crisis on the

border. they want to use that to justify if the president does declare a national emergency. and according to the morning shows, the more they say this is a crisis, the more the legal team will be able to point to those times in their legal strategy. they're also looking for other ways, john, including the white house has held every single meeting they've had with congressional leaders over this shutdown, including the brief one yesterday that lasted about 15 minutes in the white house situation room. they want that to convey this is a crisis on the border, something democrats have essentially said they are making up. now, the president didn't commit to declaring this a national emergency, but our sources inside the white house say that is increasingly seeming like the only option, because it doesn't seem that these negotiations are going to pan out between the white house and democrats, and if that wasn't obvious enough, it was when the president compared the house speaker to negotiating with the leader of china earlier today. john, that's what they're waiting on right now, for the president to be prepared to do that, but we are told right now we don't expect him to do so at the border today. >> not today, at least.

kaitlan collins live at the white house. julie pace with the associated press, paul kane with the "washington post," kerry with bloomberg. the more they declare a crisis, the more justification they have of a crisis. if i keep saying powerball, do i win the powerball? >> you can't win if you dont pl -- don't play. >> sorry, but they're preparing the paperwork, which is what they're supposed to do if your boss says it's a distinct possibility. most members of congress, even if they support the wall, don't want it to happen because it's an assertion of public authority, the president saying i'm going around you. but is it? given what we heard yesterday from the democratic leaders, is it the only visible offramp at the moment? >> it certainly looks like it is if the president's condition here is if we can't make a deal,

i will do this, that's an indication there is no deal in the works here. if he does go forward with a national emergency, what does that actually do to funding the government? does the democratic party, do republicans push him to say if you do this, you have to at least sign a funding bill. i don't think we've heard that from the president yet, if he would make sure the government does open if he goes forward with an emergency. >> it is a missing piece. the president, whether you like him or don't like him, one of the remarkable things about him, he's fully transparent. today is about making points, not about making deals. he's going to the border. we'll hear from democrats in a minute. nobody is willing to make a deal today, they're reinforcing their political standing. listen to the president here. we know there are republicans meeting with mitch mcconnell right now, their leader, saying, wait a minute, we're getting a little nervous about this. we know the president went to see the republicans yesterday, and the president is right to say the republicans aren't running -- yet. but they are a little nervous.

the president says, no, they're not. >> the republicans are extremely united. they all want to see something happen, but they're extremely united, and i don't think i've ever seen unity like this in the republican party. we have tremendous unity in the republican party. it's really a beautiful thing to see. i don't think there will be any breakaway because they know we need border security and we have to have it. >> he did, correct me if i'm wrong, he did buy himself more time yesterday. he went up to the hill and said, look, i need you to stay with me, we're going to work this out, trust me. how long will that last? >> you know, it depends on who you ask. if gu you go to the susan collins/lisa murkowski wing, lisa keeps saying, mercy merk, . tomorrow is payday and 100,000 employees aren't going to get

paid. but the republican senators have dug in right now and they're willing to let this go another couple weeks, i think, to the state of the union which is january 29th. play this out and see where it goes. >> again, the president is on his way to texas. he is on his way to a place where there is some wall. he wants to build more wall. why is the president so sensitive about who is going to pay for it? >> when during the campaign, i would say mexico is going to pay for it, obviously i never said this and i never meant they're going to write out a check. i said they're going to pay for it. they are. they are paying for it with the incredible deal we made called the united states-mexico and canada, usmca deal. mexico is paying for the wall indirectly, and when i said mexico will pay for the wall in front of thousands and thousands of people, obviously they're not going to write a check. >> it's not how trade deals

work, but i'm not going to get into that right now. mexico is not paying for the wall. if it goes through, taxpayers will pay for the wall either through the pentagon budget or they categorize and make a deal. the president brought that up. why is he so sensitive about the who is going to pay part? >> he made a campaign promise and he's clear that it is broken. he's sort of hopefully discussing -- he sounds like someone who is guilty of messing up something and saying, well, that's not what i meant to say. even though i covered the campaign, i never heard him say, we'll have a wall that will be paid for through congress. what people heard was we will build the wall, mexico will pay for it in some direct way, and you can tell he's nervous about it. >> that was the whole point about, look, i'm going to be really tough on border security and this is my way of communicating that. but you see what's under his skin by when he comes out and what he brings up in his sessions with reporters. it's like his therapy. >> you can see this kind of

steady redefining of what the terms would need to be. at the same time a feeling that even if all those terms slid, it had to be a concrete wall, but it could actually be a steel fence. mexico has to pay for it, but actually they already have paid for it. even if all those new conditions were met, the redefining conditions, he may still pull the trigger on this emergency. i think for the republicans, the problem is not necessarily whether he declares the emergency, if it's sustained by the courts. if he tries and the courts say no, then he gave it the old college try, he can show the base he did everything he can, the system is stacked against him, whatever. but if he tries and he wins, then he has redefined the balance of power in washington, created a massive political crisis, created a situation where if the next president is a democrat and the republicans are in charge of any chamber of commerce, it doesn't matter what they want to do depending how the court rules. none of this is new, it's all been debated in the last few

days, everything from health care to climate change or whatever. it is a -- it's like -- it would be a short-term solution with profound long-term consequences. >> it's not the way it was supposed to work. president proposes, congress disposes and you take votes. if someone loses in the normal world we used to live in, you cut a deal. you're right, the next president, democrat or republican, or donald trump for another term. i didn't get my way, it's an emergency. here's what's dangerous. he says he'll get to that point at some point. his lawyer is with him today, the secretary of the army are with him today. those are the people who would be most affected if he decided to declare an emergency and take money from the pentagon. what he is trying to do is get the democrats to blink. the question is, will this work? >> there is no reason why we can't come to a deal. but you have another side that doesn't care about border security. the democrats, which i've been saying all along, they don't

give a damn about crime. they don't care about crime. they don't care about gang members coming in and stabbing people and cutting people up. they've been taken over by a group that's so far left, i really don't think they care about crime. >> most democrats care about crime. all democrats care about crime. we can have debates about how to deal with crime. but to this point, the president is trying to make a political argument. he's trying to get less liberal democrats to blink and put pressure on their leadership. it reminds me of when the tea party first came to washington, the democrats were saying, why are people doing this? why won't they compromise? the tea party is doing what they said in the campaign, said no every time obama said yes. the democrats in the house, especially the newly elected ones, said we will say no every time trump says yes, and that's what they're doing. >> this was a midterm election about putting a check on donald

trump. the issue now is for the democratic class, they've got about 63 newcomers. some of them are from districts that trump still won, maybe only by four or five points, but they're in swing districts and they're trying to measure that balance between we said we would put a check on trump versus, oh, my gosh, we want government to function and our voters back home want some functionality. so there are a good two dozen of them that are going to have to work this out. some of those from the more liberal districts like the bronx, queens, they don't have to worry about this. they're here to fight. >> the reality is the politics on a shutdown are not static. we're about to hit tomorrow the first pay period people are going to miss. if it becomes two pay periods, three pay periods, which party is most successful about making the argument about why we're in this shutdown. democrats feel pretty strongly they have a case to make. hey, you're missing your paychecks because the president is asking for a border wall. that doesn't add up. they feel good about that political argument. >> the key is can they sustain

it as we go. as of now, there is no end in sight. next we go live to the communities impacted by the president's push for a border wall. and as we go to break, the afl cc irk aflcio holding a meeting right now ordering him to open the government right now. >> open the government. do your job so we can do our job! makeup now optional. new aveeno® maxglow™ infusion drops

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is boost® delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. boost® high protein. be up for life. . the president arrives in texas in a little bit in the middle, of course, over the big washington debate over the border wall. the president says that will solve what he calls a national crisis, a humanitarian crisis. the people who live on that border, do they feel like they need that wall? you've been down there talking to ranchers and other people in the communities. how do they feel about the president's demand? >> reporter: it's not like everybody down here in the border regions, especially here

in the rio grande valley are against a wall. by and large, most of the people you speak to here, john, says they do not believe that the amount of money it takes to build up and fortify these border structures, fences, walls, whatever it is you want to call them, is really worth the money. just to give a sense of where we're at, john, that's the rio grande. you see in the distance behind me, mexico to your left. we're standing inside a levee just inside this river. people might be surprised to hear there are already a number of projects in the works, about eight or so, up and down the u.s. southern border where border fencing is either being newly built or replaced. this was money already earmarked, already in the system paying for some of these projects. here in mission, texas, there is one of those proposals already in place. the fence and border wall would go along this stretch of the levee. which means everybody on this side would be in what's described as a no man's land

sitting between the south of the wall and a river. many people cut off. we spoke with one man who owns about 65 acres of land just a little north of where we are. his name is fred cavasos, and he says this wall is supposed to be starting to be built in february, and he feels like he's running out of time to stop it. so you're running out of time. >> yes. what can you do? you can't fight the government. we'll try. we'll try to stop them and stall a little, but we can't stop the government. they'll do what they want to do. >> >> reporter: so, john, a lot of tension, frustration. a lot of people worried about the continued efforts by the trump administration to continue building and pushing for more border wall, hundreds more miles of these structures to be built in these areas. and here in texas is really where it becomes complicated because there is so much private land along the u.s. southern

border that a lot of this will be tied up in the courts for months and years to come. john? >> complications in washington, complications right there where the rubber meets the road. ed lavandera, i appreciate the reporting from texas. we'll see if the president can change any minds today. the most important thing is, this is washington, of course, making sure everybody knows it's the other side's fault.

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welcome back. apologies to the other mess in washington. today's debate really isn't about a government shutdown, it's about assigning blame. the president had the stage first blaming democrats he called crying chuck and nancy. that would be nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. he says t they say the blame lies with the president and the republican leadership. >> of course, the president doesn't believe in governance, so he doesn't care if governance doesn't take place. he doesn't appreciate the role of public policy in the lives of the american people. >> leader mcconnell, quote, the guy who gets us out of shutdowns, is aiding and abetting the blockade against reopening the government over a policy he doesn't fully support. >> cnn's phil mattingly is live

on capitol hill. phil, a lot of finger pointing, a loft of blame game. do you see a path here either to a compromise or one side blinking? >> reporter: you know, john, if you have an idea to bridge the uncurable divide, i know about 175 members who work in the building i'm currently in that would agree with you. nobody seems to move an inch and nobody seems to be willing to move an inch right now. the baselines are the same as they were when you and i were standing out here hours before the government shut down. i don't see anyone here who thinks that will change soon. there are talks going on between senate republicans, some of whom have expressed frustration. two have confronted the president about that in the senate republican conference lunch yesterday, but the odds of that deal actually coming together seem very, very slim. i would note, the lawmakers that are in the room having these

talks are serious lawmakers who are trying to put something together. the baseline right now, and what we're told is a skeleton proposal, is a temporary fix in exchange for billions of dollars for the wall. they just met a short while ago with vice president mike pence. the white house seems somewhat amenable to listening to discussions, but guess who is not in the room? democrats. every senior democratic aide i've talked to in the past 12 hours or so are basically saying there is no chance this turns into anything at all. they have all participated in the immigration debates with this administration. there is no trust whatsoever particularly on the issue of daca. so while there are talks going on with a small group, the best way to look at these talks is there is a group of lawmakers who are frustrated. frankly, they're bored. they're going to try to figure out some way so they'll meet. will it turn into anything? nobody really thinks so. if that doesn't turn into anything, the messaging wars, i think that's probably about the

extent of what you'll see in the coming days. >> okay. we'll keep it at that, and as julie noted a little bit earlier, tomorrow about a million federal workers don't get their paycheck. two weeks after that, they don't get their paycheck. to phil's point, i'm not questioning the intent of these lawmakers. it's largely the group we've seen before. we're going to find the solution to obamacare. they mean their intentions. a, is there any way they can have an impact here, and b, does it meet the point? nancy pelosi is now speaker of the house. we live in a different world. >> mike pence sat with them as they discussed that cr to keep the government open, the stopgap funding resolution to february 8. senate republicans looked at each other, he didn't object. they went and voted for it unanimously the next day --

>> the president pulled the rug out from under them. >> so anything mike pence is doing right now up there comes with a credibility factor of just about zero. >> if you think about that, the president's point man on capitol hill, nobody trusts. now, it's not mike pence's fault. >> no, it's not. >> so, then, we're at this for a while. we're at this for a while. the lindsey graham group, and i don't question their intentions, but they're talking about help for daca recipients, changes to hgb visas, help in the temporary immigration status program. essentially, here's something the democrats want, give the president his wall. they could have gotten democratic votes when the republicans were still in the house. that could have gotten them to the finish line. but the republicans don't rule the house any more. >> he's not going to get a better deal now. >> a, would democrats support it, and b, is there any indication that the president,

who answers to his base and their tweets, is going to accept a deal that gives -- >> ann coulter, fox news, rush limbaugh. it's not clear that the president wants to sign a deal to relieve people of daca ever. >> last year and at the end of the year, trump's base revolted and said we didn't support you to have you fold to some democrats and moderate republicans on something like daca, even though daca is extremely popular, coming up with protection for the d.r.e.a.m.ers. i don't think there is any reason to believe that same base wouldn't have a massive outcry, even if they were given a wall. >> it's smart and it's factual, and a whole bunch of democrats in 2006 voted for a wall. why won't you vote for a wall now? the reporter stood with the wall behind him.

it stood at 80 to 19, signed into law in 2006. joe biden, hillary clinton, barack obama all voted for it. sherry brown is now a senator. he voted for it in the house again. you guys were before this before, now you're against it just because of your animous for president trump. it was also 13 years ago and we live in a different world. >> that was part of a broader debate that was going on in 2006 and resumed in 2007 that there was going to be comprehensive immigration reform, and you're talking about 10 to 11 million undocumented immigrants who were going to have a path to citizenship, and that was the sort of atmosphere by which that would be passed. >> george bush supported the comprehensive bill, too, unlike donald trump. there is a huge, huge difference. >> the lindsey graham proposal that's been talked about is the obvious answer. of course, it's the obvious solution. what do democrats want? what do republicans want? how do you put it together in

the middle, but it relies on there being a president george w. bush in office to make that deal. not only is it not clear at all that president trump wants to make that deal with no pressure, but it's also want clear that he could make that deal at the risk of losing his base, and it's not clear that the democrats think they can trust him. >> it's not clear the democrats want that deal. a, their new majority, and b, some of the energy of the liberals in the new majority, they think it's important. 36% support the border wall, 80% want them to have legal status. the democrats have a policy which leaves us at day 22 and counting. no one can retreat from syria but the boss. (dad vo) we got the biggest subaru to help bring

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topping our political radar today, democratic sorturces say the treasury secretary steve mnuchin will brief this afternoon on the russian oligarch. the russian oligarch has close ties to both vladimir putin and the prior campaign chairman paul manafort. there were sanctions last year on two companies where he has a big stake. but in december the administration announced they woulden lifting. all democrats are demanding to know why. the president of venezuela was sworn in for a second term, but he was getting no well wishes from the united states. quite the opposite. this tweet from the president's national security adviser. quote, the u.s. will not

recognize dictatorial leader. pompeo says president trump is bringing welcome changes. >> remember, it was here in this city that another american stood before you. he told you that radical islamic terrorism does not stem from an idealogy. the results from these misjudgments have been dire. >> secretary pompeo also said the united states will not retreat until the fight against terrorism is over, that despite president trump's plan to withdraw troops from syria. interesting, number one, to follow in the footsteps of barack obama who famously gave a big speech neearly in his presidency in cairo.

the current president saying forget that, that's over. syria is happy in the middle east, saudi arabia is happy in the middle east 37 days after the murder of jamal khashoggi. the administration has seemed to turn a blind eye. what have we learned from this? >> there is still a divide in the administration from the president himself to his cabinet officers. rand paul walked out of the senate lunch yesterday with donald trump just after the president had left. and minou and i caught up with him, and he said on syria the president's position hasn't changed. he said he still very strongly wants to have a quick withdraw from syria. that's not what we're hearing from mike pompeo or from bolton. >> or from john bolton, right? >> or from envoy jim jeffrey or from anyone trying to work this

out. the president sent the entire u.s. military into a panic, and impressed upon him why that could be counterproductive to national security goals as well as israel's interests, as well as other contingencies that the president actually cares about from a political and policy perspective. so i think there is a consistent message from all the non-mattis advisers who are left, from bolton, from pompeo, from dunford. right now the president agrees with their counsel, what they are telling people about the administration's actual guard rails and conditions for withdrawal in syria. but how long will that hold? how long will the president remain patient enough to protect the kurds, protect the isis -- to protect the parameters by which the isis prisoners are held, to protect israel's interests? that's a real question.

>> that's months and months and months and months and months. we'll see about that. up next, will the american public ever get to see the special counsel's report? the president says stay tuned. the great-tasting nutrition of ensure. with up to 30 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals! ensure. for strength and energy.

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welcome back. president trump commenting for the first time today on a big development this week in the russian election interference investigation. because of a mixup by paul manafort's lawyers, we learned that he shared sensitive trump campaign polling data in 2016 with ukranian oligarchs who are known to have ties to the kremlin. the president of the united states was asked this morning, sir, you were the candidate. did you know anything about it? >> do you know that paul manafort was selling polling data from your campaign to the russians? >> i knew nothing about it. nothing about it. >> shimon prokupecz joins us for

comment. it raises the possibility of collusion. was he doing this to help the russian troll farms in their russian interference, or was he doing it because we know he's a swamp creature and he either owed money or wanted to make money. the president saying, not me. >> there is a possibility he didn't know. i think there was a feeling certainly early on when all of this began by the fbi that a lot of people on the campaign close to trump were trying to pocket money, right, make business out of this campaign. so maybe paul manafort was trying to do a favor. the big question is why did he feel that he needed to give this information to them? why did the russians want it? why did this guy ask for it? there is so much information that it seems it would be contained in this polling data that would be problematic given what the russians were up to in their own, as you said, troll farm, what they were doing.

i think mueller knowknows, beca there are russians talking about other data that they had so the u.s. government knows about this. we'll get answers. >> maybe we'll get answers in some of the court filings, the continued cases against some of the russians, they're trying to bring some of them here for trial, there is still michael fli flynn to come up. the president was asked today, bob mueller finishes a report, should the public see it? >> if robert mueller finishes his report, should that be made public? >> we'll have to see. there is no collusion whatsoever. >> we'll have to see is a trademark. probably, no, thank you very much, in trump translation. >> some of this can't be made public because of doj guidelines, so that could save him. the other thing right now, the member of congress, the dems,

certainly, who want to pursue all different avenues of navigations, they are waiting for mueller. once mueller is done, it will open so many doors and so many avenues for the democrats to pursue. witnesses who have not been able to talk to members of congress or the media or other folks, they may be set free. that's going to open up a whole new door. >> if you close the mueller door, you open the investigative doors which will be 2019 and 2020. the question is how informed is all this speculation that mueller must be winding down? rod rosenstein is ready to step down. we know he's been the contender and supporter of the mueller investigation. he's planning to leave. is that because he knows mueller is about done, he doesn't need his protection anymore? is that because the new contender to be is waiting? he just asked for six more

months from the grand jury. we haven't done any sentencing. there are other trials that have yet to happen. we don't know what will happen to roger stone, we don't know what will happen to courrsi, we don't know what will happen to don jr. we keep hearing it's almost over. >> there are aspects of this investigation that will live for years that a department of justice under a new attorney general is going to handle. there could be aspects of this that will live for many, many years to come. but certainly the part that mueller was tasked with, and remember, there were mandates given to him by the department of justice. we don't know all of them. those could be winding down. and whatever else knew that he has learned, that could continue. but it does appear that things are winding down. >> it could continue in the sense we've seen him hand off to other prosecutors in virginia and new york. we know the white house president's aide is traveling with the president today. he also just took the job, the

"washington post" reporting again today how he comes into this depleted office. it has 20 lawyers left, he's trying to beef it up to 35 or 40. are they ready for what's about to happen, a, mueller, b, congress? >> i think there is some haste in the west wing to get ready and do it quickly. there are some people who know this will be a rough two years regardless what's in the mueller report. a lot of this will get handed off to congress and there will be a lot of investigations handed off to congress that have nothing to do with mueller, nothing to do with russia that could be more problematic for the president. next for us, the president is on his way to the border. he wants to change the minds of america. the conservative media, evidence of collusion there when it comes to the wall? just a joke. like endless shrimp monday admiral's feast tuesday four course feast wednesday and more. five days. five deals. fifteen dollars. see you before six.

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infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. help stop the clock on further irreversible joint damage. talk to your rheumatologist. right here. right now. humira. the president touching down in mcallen, texas in the next hour. remember it was the wall that produced this shutdown. the president flipped and decided he would not sign a spending plan that had no new border wall money. now a morning tweet quoting his favorite echo chamber. quote, fellow supporters do not want him to cave. i won't, the president is saying. later on tonight he'll sit down with sean hannity who is looking to give the president an even bigger boost than usual by broadcasting his show from the border. this was hannity last night. >> pelosi, schumer, the rest of

the democratic party in the media want to stay on manufacture crisis and allow this to continue and play a political game? the president will have the full authority and power to declare a national emergency and tackle this head on with or without congressional funding approval, or he could use the defense department. this is about protecting our homeland. but first it's up to you. look at the number on your screen. you might want to ask the member of the house or senate to hold the line. >> that's what happens in paid political ads, and there, which is about the same thing, i want to cut to the president. but the serious point is that the president has reacted to his base. that is why we are here. is that all the president is looking for here, to keep that? >> at this point, yes. i mean, because you have to put this in the context of his reelection campaign. if trump has any weakening of his base, it's over. he's done very little over the previous two years to build any

new support. certainly in an election you're going to be looking for any signs of weakening in the moderate republicans, in the independents that may have sided with him. if that base starts to slide, it's done and he knows that. >> does he get the joke? joke is the wrong word for it. hannity did that in the end. it looks like an advocacy ad. call congress. make sure they don't buckle. the reason he does that is because days ago the president was going to sign something that didn't include the board wall. he flipped when coulter and others went nuts on him. listen closely. >> i tell you who he's not walking out on, he's not walking out on the moms and dads who have lost their children. he's not walking out on law enforcement officers who have to fight this each and every day and sometimes tragedy strikes there. he's not walking out on the families who have to deal with drug overdoses each and every day. he's staying engaged, and i applaud him for doing that, and we need to get behind him.

>> stay here. don't move, mr. president. please don't go back to where you were, stay here. >> do you know where mark meadows was that thursday morning when donald trump decided to start this shutdown? he was on fox & friends. and the night before, jim jordan, his best buddy, was on laura ingram. they target him through fox. they speak directly to him through fox. >> yeah, they're saying we're with you as long as you do -- >> agree with us. >> yes. for the president there is a corollary political advantage in that as long as he's thrown the democrats off their game and made them respond to him, they can't lay out these messages they want to when nancy pelosi ascended to the speakership. this has to be priority number one because now they'll be hamstrung in terms of trying to do a test vote or political vote on a program the senate is

nefertinever going to sign off on because there is no money to pay for it. >> it just sets the tone for his new term in 2020 that this is not about the government. we'll see you next time on "inside politics." brianna key lilar starts right . underway right now, 100 million people about to miss a paycheck as the president takes a trip he really didn't want to go on to the border. the president and democrats are arguing, not about the way to run the government but whether he handed out candy at a meeting and a temper tantrum. should the mueller report be made public? he's not saying, but if the administration agrees, why not? and nearly 100 of the