there's a reason she's still living and to be happy and live on for molly. molly didn't get that chance. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. i'm morgan radford at msnbc world headquarters here in new york. at 7:00 in the east, 4:00 out west. here's what's happening. not a creature is stirring. shut down day two. legislators home for the holidays and the government effectively closed. new information on how long it might last. >> president trump has been on a destructive two-week temper tantrum. >> they've refused to meet president trump halfway. >> plus, both sides playing the blame game-- border wall

funding. no mar-a-lago christmas for the first family. why the change of plans? >> a mysterious development in the mueller investigation reportedly involving a foreign-owned company. does it matter to the president? first breaking news from indonesia. it was hit by a deadly tsunami. officials say it was triggered by an eruption on a volcanic island. it rippled up and down the coast, north and south of that volume khan owe. officials confirmed 22 people -- 222 were killed, 843 injured and 28 miss ig. rescue workers are combing through rubble as more than 500 homes were severely damaged along with hundreds of boats and dozens of vehicles. officials expect a number of victims to rise as more information comes in throughout the day. joining us now is lucy kafanov.

this seemed to take people by surprise. why was there no warning? >> that's right, morgan. there was no warning. the tsunami struck at about 9:30 p.m. local time on saturday night. it was the holiday weekend in indonesia so the resorts and the hotels along the sunda strait would have been packed full of people. there was no warning because there was no earthquake. indonesian authorities believe that it was triggered by landslides, undersea landslides, potentially caused by an erupting volcano. this is the anak trakrakatoa volcano erupting since june. because the water level was higher than normal, that might have contributed to the disaster. people were completely caught unaware. i want to pull up a video. i should warn our viewers that some might find it disturbing. it's an indonesian pop band performing at a resort last night.

you can see the stage collapses, they continue to play. that tsunami tidal wave washing through. the lead singer of that band survived. the bass guitarist, the manager did not. many in the area and the region are missing. rescue teams have been deployed to the areas. they've been combing through the rubble. the problem, morgan, we don't know the full scale of this disaster. because they haven't been able to reach all of the affected areas. as you know, unfortunately, this is only the latest disaster to hit indonesia. more than 2500 people were killed by a quake in a tsunami this past september and in 2004 we remember the devastating pictures that 9.1 magnitude quake that triggered the massive tsunami. more than 230,000 people killed. they've still been recovering from that. today's disaster, unfortunately, adding to that trouble. authorities are warning residents and tourists in coastal areas today to stay away

from beaches. a high tide warning is in place and the fear is that volcanic eruption could continue. the fear is there could be more in the aftermath of this event. morg morgan? >> lucy, we'll be monitoring the situation throughout the day. thank you so much for joining us live from our london bureau. new this morning, the white house and members of congress still far from striking a deal to end the partial government shutdown. the stalemate entering its second full day. this is now expected to be the longest government shutdown under the trump administration. it will likely last at least until thursday when the senate is back. both sides negotiated saturday with no breakthroughs. a new offer from the president fell short and vice president mike pence told senate minority leader chuck schumer, the president was willing to accept less than the $5 billion he demanded for a border wall. but the president is still requesting more than $1.6 billion. a spokesperson for senator schumer says they are, quote,

still very far apart. senator lindsey graham who was in a republicans-only white house lunch yesterday said the president is prepared for a longer fight. >> you want to know how silly this is, america. chuck schumer offered today $1.3 billion for the wall after he had agreed to 1.6. they have a hatred for trump. they've won the house. they want the fight. they don't want to solve the problem. they're going backward, not forward. >> graham is not the only one speaking out. retiring gop house member ryan costello is blasting the president, writing on twitter, the notion that a shutdown creates more pressure on democrats is toddler logic. >> in the land of common sense, we're not in it right now. the shutdown is because the president wanted a shutdown. >> while all this is happening, house leader nancy pelosi is assuring democrats that she will not cave.

pelosi wrote that she's willing to make reopening the government the first order of business when democrats take control of the house on january 3rd. nbc's mike va'a cara joins us live from capitol hill. we got the details from a senior administration official about the president's position. what did we learn that was new? >> well, morgan, principally we learned that members and the white house are still very far apart. they're really still in the talking point phase of this, each side trying to appear reasonable. members at sunday morning, they're home all snug in their beds. but among the talking points yesterday, mexico will pay for the wall, they're insisting. but mexico will not pay for it right away. that's fairly obvious to everyone involved. the white house wants $5 billion downpayment. the shutdown, they say they will make it as painless as possible, it's unclear how they'll do that. the president, senior administration officials say is not insisting on a concrete barrier. a key semantic point we've

encountered. he said it could be steel slats. that seems to be where this debate is centering right now. what are you going to call it a wall? if call it a wall, you won't get any point billion dollars. their base doesn't want anything to do with a wall. democrats feel they're in a very strong negotiating position as they take over control of the house in just about nine days' time on january 3rd. republicans here sort of waiting for things to happen. mitch mcconnell insisting it's up to chuck schumer and nancy pelosi to negotiate with the president who is in -- the president is staying in washington. however, things appear to be at a standstill this morning, morgan. >> mike viqueira, we'll be watching with baited breath. a staff writer for the hill,

melanie, you heard the report from mike on the senior administration official. what strikes you as most critical right now? >> i think it's very significant that the president is now shifting from calling this a wall to saying he would be open to something such as steel slat barrier. that is a term we've heard him use over the past week increasingly. it's a clear recognition that semantics could be the key to unlocking the stalemate. of course, democrats don't want to give anything that's considered a wall. they want something for something like a fence or something that can be considered border security. but the president, his allies, are now trying to say that the steel slat barrier can count as the wall. yesterday trump at a signing for the criminal justice reform bill, it said the exact thing, this is giving him an out. he's saying the quiet thing out loud. it's a clear understanding he won't be able to get money for the wall if he's relying on democrats. >> that's what truck me most.

this semantic shift. let's talk about the reaction on the hill. i want you to watch what representative ted loo said. >> we're in day one of the trump shutdown. it's not a proud day for america. it's a failure of republican leadership. they control the house, the senate and the white house. democrats are certainly happy to talk about border security. but we're not going to build this vanity wall of donald trump with u.s. taxpayer dollars. >> julia, i want to go back to something melanie said. how much is semantics? are democrats really willing to reach a compromise on the money part as long as it doesn't include the term wall? noerd, if you replace wall with steel barrier as the president put it, will it make a difference for democrats? >> i don't think it will make a difference for democrats. i think this is a huge principal for them. they're not willing to back down on it. we've seen the president push home the issue of immigration. this is an effort to try to appease and rally his base.

we saw last -- a couple weeks ago he said that he would be proud to shut down the government. then there was this reversal from the white house saying they'll find other ways to fund the wall. then there was a lot of pushback from the members of the conservative community, rush limbaugh, anne coulter and others. democrats see that and they say no, we're not going to end up appeasing this base or trying to at least reach a compromise on this because, in their view, there doesn't need to be a wall. there's border security at the border already. the bipartisan point of this is that border security needs to be improved, but they don't want to appropriate a huge amount of money for a wall when they say that there's already enough structure down there. it isn't semantics. i would say on principal, democrats aren't backing down on this. once pelosi and the house democrats take the majority next month, we'll see them attempt to turn this around quickly. >> just briefly, something else

you said, you mentioned ann coulter, rush limbaugh, do we now have the conservative pundits driving policy? >> absolutely. >> i would say. you saw conservatives really lobby for this. it's no secret that when conservatives want to get a message across to president trump, they go on fox news. we saw that time and time again this week. sean hannity personally lobbied president trump to shut down the government if democrats don't give them the wall. ann coulter threatened to not support trump's reelection and he promptly unfollowed her on twitter. mitch mcconnell thought he had a deal with him. he appeared willing to sign without wall funding. then there's a big shift on thursday after a gop conference meeting. they're hearing from their constituents as well, a lots of republicans watching. a lot of people listening to radio hosts. it's no doubt there's a conservative media right now is

dr driving the shutdown. >> is it also driving the art of distracti distraction? jul julia, this talk about the wall has definitely pushed the negative headlines to the back burner, including the mueller investigation and the mattis res egg nation. is this kind of helping the president? >> i wouldn't say it's helping the president. we've seen the president try to bring back other stories to the forefront when other, i guess, aspects for instance. mueller investigation don't appear to be helping him. in the long-term, i wouldn't say this is good for the president politically. of course, he really feeds off of the energy of his base. we've seen him bring up this issue of immigration in order to rally them up and galvanize them, especially before the midterms this year. however, what he's doing while rallying the base is pushing away a lot of moderates and undecided voters and even though we're two years from 2020 now,

it's early, this extreme talk of do this or nothing at all isn't going to help them. i think a lot of undecided voters in the u.s. are frustrated at congress. you know, this shutdown is the problem that people -- that americans have with washington. this inability to get anything done. when both sides are really digging in and only speaking to their base, especially for trump, he's alienating the independent voters and unless he changes his tune over the next couple of years, 2020 is going to be very difficult for him. >> julia and melanie, stick around. we have a lot more to discuss. we'll talk to you both later on. >> robert mueller and the battle between a company that could end up in the supreme court. stay tuned. up in the supreme court. stay tuned as a fitness junkie, i customize everything -

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new details this morning surrounding a mystery court hearing involving special counsel robert mueller last week. an unnamed company owned by an unnamed foreign government is now requesting to take its legal battle with the special counsel to the supreme court. all in hopes of quashing a subpoena for its records. joining me now is criminal defense attorney ashleigh merchant. ashleigh, let's jump into it. the this court ruled the company must comply. how likely is it that the supreme court steps into this fight? >> that's an interesting question. the supreme court doesn't like to consider things under seal. this would be a unique first opportunity for them to consider something under seal. if we step back, what happened first is the district court said that this subpoena must issue. this unknown foreign-owned company, foreign government owned company alleged a couple arguments, that it would violate their own domestic law. the district court said no, it

wouldn't. we reject that argument and say you have to comply with the subpoena. they took it to the federal district appeals court in washington, d.c. and that court agreed with the district court. they said the district court got it right. you actually do have to comply with this subpoena. what now this corporation is asking, they're asking for the supreme court to actually step in and offer them protection. what that would require is, first of all, the supreme court would have to say yes, we're going to consider this issue. if they did consider it, second, they have to say they disagreed with what the district court and the federal appeals court both ruled. they'd have to overturn that decision. i think those are a lot of steps that have to happen if the supreme court wants to view this. they certainly can. that would be an activist type move on their part and typically they don't engage in those types of moves. >> interesting that you say this would be almost an activist type move. it comes down to whether the supreme court says yes. i want to turn to what government officials are telling

nbc news about the special counsel's report. they say that robert mueller is planning a february wrap-up of his report and it's, quote, examined whether the president obstructed justice. so from everything that you've seen so far, is there any way to tell whether mueller actually had a viable obstruction of justice case? >> i think he does. i think what we have seen is an obstruction of justice. i also think if it's not the probe that weave got something in the southern district of new york as well with the cohen investigation. there would be campaign finance issues of crime there. i think special counsel has enough for obstruction. the question is going to be what happens with that. does congress actually move to impeach. do they take that and actually go and impeach. we know that the special counsel and the doj is not going to indict the president. they're not going to violate their own rules and indict a sitting president. what can happen with this is, if whitaker decides to let some of this report go public, actually

let congress do their job and impeach the government, i think that's the most likely step and the most likely outcome that we would see from the special counsel's investigation. >> what's also interesting is this cloud of secrecy, this almost shroud of mystery. so there's not much public information about this actual company. cynthia ask former prosecutor sd she thinks the record could be bank records. what are your thoughts on that? >> i think they definitely could be bank records. we know it's a foreign government-owned company. somehow the government, in another country owns this company. that's only a limited amount of type of corporations. plus, they're saying that it violates their own domestic laws. the reason that that makes us think it would be bank records, there's financial disclosure laws in that country. that would be what it violates. some type of privacy law in that country. that leads us to believe it's most likely bank records because

that would violate that country's privacy laws. what our country is saying, we're rejecting that argument. it doesn't matter if it violates your country's laws. actually district court said they don't think it does violate the country's laws. they didn't believe that. so they've issued the subpoena. >> criminal defense attorney ashleigh merchant breaking it all down for us this morning. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. no postcards from mar-a-lago this holiday. the president not leaving d.c. and the first lady making an abrupt return to washington. the reason for the changing plans coming up next. and just like you, the further into winter we go, the heavier i get. and while your pants struggle to support the heavier you, your roof struggles to support the heavier me. [laughter] whoo. [crash] and your cut-rate insurance might not pay for this. so get allstate, you could save money and be better protected from mayhem like me.

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president trump has canceled what was supposed to be a 16-day holiday trip to his resort in florida. the president is staying in the white house because of the government shutdown. my panel is back with me this morning. we have julia manchester and melanie za not a, both with the

hill. >> this mar-a-lago g. no-go. is this really about optics? >> i would say so. the president does not like to be in washington during the times when he's supposed to be at his summer home in mar-a-lago. you know, he would obviously rather be there with his family. however, it would look really bad if he were to go to mar-a-lago. the first lady shows that there's some sort of unity going on right now. the question about all of this, what happens to secret service given that the government is shutdown? however, we saw that the funding for them at midnight when the government shut down. there are over a thousand agents currently working. that is in the works now. >> melanie, what's your take? this change in plans, we heard julia mention the first lady going back to d.c. and son barron is going back to d.c. could there be any regret around this government shutdown? >> i think the president is very sensitive to how things play out on tv.

he knows the bad optics of what it would look like if not only his wife and son were in mar-a-lago or if he were in mar-a-lago. there's no negotiations going on, on christmas eve or christmas. i saw nancy pelosi on a flight to san francisco last night. congressional leadership isn't even in town. i don't think much is going to be done while he's here. but ella void the bad optics of being on a nice vacation home while the rest of the government is shut down without pay. >> julia, very briefly, only a few more seconds. what is your final word, thoughts on this ends. >> it's going to be lengthy. definitely longer than thursday. >> thursday? >> yes. >> melanie, do you agree? >> i think it goes to january 3rd when pelosi takes over. >> both from the hill, thank you for joining us this morning. i'm morgan radford.

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