yamiche: possible term criminal referrals. in fights over government funding. the january 6 committee is prepared to urge the justice department to prosecute former president trump on criminal charges. >> the continued resolution we passed yesterday will ensure that the government stays open. yamiche: congress averts a government shutdown for now. >> the american people are saying this is too much money, we cannot afford it yamiche:. yamiche:but a longer-term agreement is in doubt. >> the u.s. is all in on africa. and all in with africa. yamiche: the president sinks -- seeks to strengthen ties with leaders of a pivotal continent. next. >> this is "washington week."

corporate funding is provided by consumer cellular. additional funding is provided by the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. these individuals. robert and susan rosenbaum. the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> once again, from washington, here is our moderator. yamiche: tonight, a big development. generally six committee is planning to vote on urging the justice department to pursue three criminal charges against former president trump. the charges under consideration are insurrection, obstruction of

an official proceeding, and conspiracy to defraud the u.s. government. there are just two weeks left of the 117th congress and top lawmakers are scrambling to avoid a government shutdown. a publix let is emerging between the republican leaders of the house and senate. kevin mccarthy is still looking to secure the votes to become the next speaker. he wants to wait until his party takes control of the house. here's what he had to say on wednesday. >> we just had an election where we changed the course and the house will now be controlled by republicans. let's do our next spending bill later. yamiche: but mitch mcconnell had this to say. >> a truly bipartisan bill is ready for the senate.

i will supported. yamiche: all of this comes as a series of new polls show former president trump's popularity is on the decline. multiple polls all show that his favorability among americans and republicans are at historic lows. joining me to discuss this are the white house correspondent for nbc news. and here in studio, the chief washington correspondent for the new york times. the congressional correspondent for cbs news. and the politics bureau chief at politico. i want to start with the fact that politico roque this story about the january 6 committee possibly looking at referring criminal charges for former president trump. what more do we know about what lawmakers are thinking and preparing? >> you have to take a step back.

it is extraordinary that the u.s. congress is considering urging the justice department to pursue the most serious kind of middle charges against a former president. we truly are in uncharted turn -- territory or in the history of the country. from a political standpoint, i think this will be one more rock in the load that trump is carrying as he goes into the next couple of years. a lot of people in the gop really want to move on. even if there is not a conviction, if an indictment comes from the fed, i think it galvanizes republicans turning the page. yamiche: you have it on capitol

hill for a long time covering this. i wonder what you are hearing from lawmakers. are they concerned that the doj could do nothing? >> in some ways this is symbolic. the does not have to do anything. but what a symbol. that the house is going to deliver these findings. i think there is a lot of interest among lawmakers, certainly, to disqualify trump. make it so he is disqualified from political office. even if he never goes to jail. this is part of the effort to do that. to make him not a credible candidate. his taxes are an issue. what are democrats going to do? any thing is striking.

a select committee of the house is going to say that a former president of the u.s. abetted 82 -- a coup. yamiche: i wonder what you are hearing overall? some say the decisions have been made. what is the impact? >> this has not been unexpected. the committee has to produce a product. you are remember the long stretch of hearings we saw over the summer. they methodically laid out their case. this is an alignment to what we have seen.

john eastman was that controversial attorney who authored this memo to overturn the elections. in that legal battle there was a federal judge to actually suggested that the former president might have had some illegal activity. this is in line with what one federal judge has said. not a huge surprise. the big question is whether the doj will pursue action. >> they have their own investigation going on. >> they are looking at a number of issues. the classified documents.

we know the feds are looking into that. there are these two parallel tracks already set up. what they are looking into and now with the committee will try to turover to them. i think a bigger surprise would have been if the panel had not referred criminal charges after all of these months. i think it was pretty clear from the start where this was headed. it was headed directly at donald trump. yamiche: all the rocks that he is carrying are getting heavier. i wonder what president biden in the white house officials that you are talking to every day are doing? especially as former president trump is running again. >> this is a white house that is content to sit back and watch

this all in pope. they don't want to be getting any influence in that. that is something we have heard time and time again. this white house was happy to troll the former president. they are highlighting some of that work. they are happy to have a tongue-in-cheek approach to some of that. he has talked about january 6 repeatedly. how important it is.

when i talk to the white house, they say they are very happy to continue to watch this. that polling that shows that president trump is fading away. there is that -- not much appetite for him to be the nominee again. but all signs point to as a reelection. they will say that this nominee is ultraconservative. yamiche: i will definitely get to the digital trading cards. i want to come to you. there's also the issue of government funding.

this was a tweet about lindsey graham. they are having enough problems trying to find a speaker, much less pass a bill. what are your sources tell you about the concern that there might be a government shutdown? or that we are seeing republican infighting? >> this is congress at its worst. you have to wait to the end of the you to jam everything through. there are earmarks from a lot of people.

if you write a new bill next year, all of those earmarks disappear. mitch mcconnell is looking at what is going on in the house right now and say if they cannot elect a speaker, how are they going to pass a bill? we don't need to hold up the ukraine funding. mitch mcconnell wants to get the deal done. a lot of people think kevin mccarthy is a member of what we call that caucus. i do think that the sense i'm capitol hill i have gotten in the last two days is this will get done but it will be next friday. yamiche: i think the proof will be of the pudding. we know appropriators have been working on that long-term spending package.

if we see that bill, i think hopefully we will be on track to see some action on that. as we are talking about the spending bill, kevin mccarthy does not have the vote to be house speaker yet. we are seeing this open split between the house and senate on the republican side. you told producers that they might be different parties. >> you mentioned both chambers. this was kept under the surface. there is a lot of tension.

the senate is a country club and the house is a truck stop. i think we will see more of that reflected in this next congress. what kevin mccarthy is effectively dealing with is trying to tame a party that really reflects two different parties. it is effectively a coalition government. both parties under the same umbrella. the actual governing for him will be a big challenge. yamiche: i want to put up for folks, this week a poll show that president trump's popularity is declining.

just 31% of regular voters have a favorable opinion of him. 59% have an unfavorable opinion. that is the lowest rating since 2015. among republican voters, 70% have a favorable opinion. that number may seem very high but it is the lowest favorability among republicans since march of 2016. what are you hearing from trump world about these poll numbers? how real is this? we have seen him go in the republican party say we cannot deal with this guy and then they run back. >> because the leaders have always followed the voters. you have seen somebody moments where this could be it. but then they stick in line.

if he runs for president and he is winning primaries, then i think they will stick with him. if he is losing left and right, >> >> they won't. >> they don't want to go out on a limb for his candidacy. not one of them has endorsed donald trump. of the 50 gop senators, only one has endorsed his candidacy a month after he announced. there is a desire to hang back and see where this goes. then make a decision. yamiche: that also may be one of

the points of agreement between house and senate republicans. even kevin mccarthy this week would not that question. i want to bring you in. that announcement was perplexing. what are you hearing? >> this i a white house that is happy in the first year or so of the administration to just call him the former guy. they were not going to comment of every single thing he was doing. that shifted a little bit in last few months. he said he cannot hold his tongue on this anymore.

we have seen joe biden say this time and time again. in the white house, they are very quick to remind you that democrats were up against donald trump in the last election. they are arguing he could do it again. he respects the fate and things that intervene. yamiche: i want to come back to you. talk about this digital trading card. we covered him together. we watched this administration.

how is it beneficial to him as somebody who wants to be a serious presidential candidate? to have digital trading cards featuring your picture? what are you hearing from folks? >> it is underwhelming, to say the least. it is an effort to stay relevant. we have not really seen or heard much from him. we have not seen him back on the trail. we have not seen him put forth any specific policy proposals. beside something pertaining to free speech. it is still early. we know the former president is full of gimmicks. he has been in the past. it is a little perplexing.

we still have a long way to send -- go in this race. >> he is already made a good chunk of cash on those tens. for himself, not his campaign. that will help with some future expenses. of course it is embarrassing for people in the party to have him doing this. it does seem beneath the office. it raises the question, is there quality control? where the advisors saying no? this is beneath the office. are they saying that or are they not saying it at all? that is the question. what are the folks around him saying? will they have any pull? >> it was the announcement that launched a thousand means. but it also felt like the home shopping network. the entire thing was crazy.

yamiche: i want to turn to the fact that this week the president celebrated legislation protecting same-sex and interracial marriage. he held a summit focused on investing more in africa. >> the people of africa are indispensable partners. and in every institution. yamiche: tell us about the timing of this. why is the president focusing on africa right now and how much is russia and china and their influence affecting his thinking? >> he was quick to say he did not want this to be about strategic competition.

when you are talking about gathering 50 leaders from the continent, it was significant. but some african leaders said they have heard this before. the u.s. making this pledge to invest in africa. not having much follow-through. they pledged $55 billion in american spending of the next three years. the president said he and the first lady and the first lady in major cabinet officials will all be visiting sub-saharan africa. he spent a lot of the time in egypt in november. he has not spent much time there as president. that will be a major trip to multiple countries.

this is something past administrations have done. particularly with countries that he insulted. this is as much about restoring that kind of diplomacy as making a pledge for the future. yamiche: in the last minute that we have here, talk to us a bit about what the white house is saying about the polling numbers for the president. he has had a couple of good weeks here. but the polls show he still is struggling in a lot of ways. >> he is still underwater. that is absolutely right. but he has been climbing slightly since october.

there have been a lot of victories. they feel that there is momentum, especially with the midterms they have been bracing for. they fel that was a bit of a turning point. in the last couple of weeks with gas prices lower and with inflation possibly cooling a bit, they do feel that the economy and that outlook is impring as well. all of that work -- will factor in. the white house had a series of meetings with key allies who would be hugely influential in a potential 2024 campaign. brain them to the white house and saying look at our long list of accomplishments. this is what we will likely build a campaign on. the intention is to run. it is not completely official. they will huddle over the holidays. and then i think we will learn very early next year with the decision is. yamiche: it is definitely a big

decision when i know you will keep watching. thank you so much. thank you to all of you. we will have to leave it there. thank you for sharing your reporting. beure to tune into pbs news weekends for a look at the crisis affecting the cryptocurrency market. this is a 10 year anniversary of the sandy hook elementary school in. the devastation and grief and resilience sticks with me a decade later. my heart is with the families whose loved ones were killed that day. the survivors to carry on through their trauma and with the entire community. good night from washington. >> corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> consumer cellular offers no

contract wireless plans designed to help people be more of what they le. our customer service team can help find a plan that helps you. >> additional funding is provided by the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. these individuals. robert and susan rosenbaum. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪

announcer: major funding for "tell me more with kelly corrigan" is provided by the quad family foundation, susan and david tunnell donor advised fund through the san francisco foundation, and by the gordon and llura gund foundation. labels get a bad rap. you can be labeled bossy, hysterical, needy, dramatic, but in the case of a long-sought diagnosis, a label is often pure relief. selma blair has been called it all. what is true is that she was a baby with a bit of scowl, a girl who drank too much too soon, an actress with a lot of talent, and a mother with an undiagnosed disease. today, her most favorite label is disabilities advocate.