♪ dfive of the government shutdown president trump digs in saying it won't reopen untim congress gives him a border wall. and suffering the worst christmas eve ever. and a second migrant child dies in u.s. custody after initially being diagnosed with a cold. ♪ >> good morning everyone. it's wednesday, december 26th. we begin with the second migrant

child to die in u.s. kis custody this month. this time an 8-year-old guatemalaen boy. customs and border protection say he died minutes before midnight christmas eve in mexico. the boy apprehended last week with his father first showed signs of illness early monday. he was first diagnosed with a common cold. the government statement says he was found a have a fever held for 90 minutes and released with antibiotics and pain killers. later that night he was found to be nauseous and vomiting and fell unconscious on his way back to the hospital where ehoowas later pronounced dead. the official cause of death is unknown and the government will conduct a review. they've ordered extra medical checks for every child in its custody. and now to the government shutdown as president trump

insists there will be no deal unless congress agrees to fund his border wall. after a video conference with troops, he told reporters he is unwilling to -- >> i a can't tell you whether the government's going to be open. i can tell you it's not going to be open until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they'd like the call it. i'll call it whatever they want. but it's all the same thing. but many of the workers have communicated stay out until you get funding for the wall. these federal workers want the wall. the only one who doesn't want the wall are the democrats. >> and quote different people from the same white house are saying different things about what the president would accept or not accept to end his trump shutdown, making it impossible to know where they stand at any give moment.

the president wanted the shutdown but he seems not to know how to get himself out of it. members of the house and senate will return to capitol hill tomorrow. and capitol hill for the hill, molly cooper. glad to have you with us. let's start with members of both the house and senate. they're returning to washington tomorrow. where does the continued government shutdown stand? where are they literally picking off from when they get back to work? >> reporter: if you look at schumer and pelosi's statement, i think the problem democrats and republicans have is they don't really know where the president stands and senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, said saturday we're not going to take up any measure until we have one that the house can sign off on and that 60 members of the senate can sign off on and if you look at the republicans continuing to push the president to continue the shutdown, what they want is a

full year's worth of funding for the wall and that could be 1$1. billion/7 billions. that's probably the lowest level they would accept. but it's a full year's funding for the wall. as it stands the measures they passed originally last week, the so-called continuing resolution would have only funded these government agencies that are closed down through february 8th and then the congress would have had to negotiate spending from that point forward. so what they really want is a full year's worth of funding to get them through to the next year at which point democrats will be in control of the house and republicans fear they're not going to get the money they want. but it's the full year's worth of funding to get from the democrats. >> the democrats and some of the allies have been putting the blame on nancy pelosi and saying

it's because the left-leaning wing has held her hostage and not wanting to meet her president. and potentially to secure her speakership comes a new congress. is she going to have more power or less power to strike a deal and do we move forward on this new issue in the new congress? >> once she secure as speakership january 3rd when they organize, i don't think she would sign off on anything close to $5 billion for a wall, but perhaps continuing funding at the $1.3 billion level, tlarltsz something she might hold her nose and get on board with. and this is what i hear republican and democrat santeres, she can't given in because she needs to get every single vote on the house floor, 218 votes and this is going to

be a diverse caucus -- a diverse democratic caucus. it's going to be fun. wild times on capitol hill. so she really needs to get her speakership before being able to budge on any of these issues. >> a few people were saying the chances of gettish anywhere near the number the president and allies want is going out the window. so we'll see how that plays out. live for us in washington d.c. thanks. >> thank you. and president trump cancelled his holiday trip to florida but what is he doing inside the white house remains an open question. he tweeted on christmas eve i'm all alone, poor me, waiting for democrats to come back and make a deal on desperately needed border security. earlier writing quote christmas eve briefing with my team working on north korea. but a white house nbc noted i've

not seen a marine in front of the west wing at all today. makes me wonder if this photo was taken today or not. they noticed the copy of the previous day's "new york times" appeared to be on the resolute desk. an hour after that tweeted, i just gave out a 115 mile long contract for another long section of the wall in texas. and they added that trump cannot award construction contracts as they award contracts for border wall construction after congress approves funding and months have gone into planning. last month they approved 33 miles of wall in texas and they aunse noed construction will begin in february. trump elaborated on the claim and tied it to his reelection.

>> yesterday i gave out 115 miles worth of wall. 115 miles in texas. and it's going to be build, hopefully rapidly. i'm going there at the end of january for the start of construction. that's a big stretch. so it's all being built the new piece, the new section is very, very exciting. what's going on there and you'll see it because in january i'm going there. we're almost having a ground breaking it's such a big section. it's probably the biggest section we'll get out. so while we're fighting over funding, we're also building and it's my hope to have this done completed all 500 to 550 miles. to have it renovated or brand new by election time. >> all right. president trump also addressed the north korea situation. tweeting, quote progress being

made. looking forward to my next summit with chairman kim, exclamation point. that came just after the judge ordered north korea government to pay $500 million for otto warmbie rerks. he returned to the u.s. in a coma and despite trump's claims of progress less than a week ago, north korea announced it won't denuclearize unless the u.s. does so first. and writing quote saudi arabia has now agreed to spend the necessary money needed to rebuild syria instead of the united states. see, isn't it nice when immensely wealthy countries help rebuild their neighbors, rather than a great country, u.s. that is 5,000 miles away. and good to have you.

i see you drew the short end of the stick working today out of london. >> why didn't you tell me that we fixed saudi arabia? why didn't you tell me? you should have called me. that's amazing. >> what does that say for the state of president trump's foreign policy when you see he spent his christmas holiday working on north korea and syria with the saudis? >> reporter: saudi arabia was not on any of the call sheets. it's unclear what the president is talking about. let's back up. last week we have this earthquake where james mattis was fires and then fired more quickly on the heels of a cong conversation with trump and the turkish president. basically deciding to withdraw troops from seyria. there is no way saudi arabia is

going to pay to rebuild syria. it's some 3$388 billion. saudi arabia is responsible for famine on a massive scale in places like yemen. so this idea saudi arabia is going to pay to rebuild syria, it's crazy when you look that geoo politics involved, when you look at what president trump has done in the past week when it comes to syria. the other thing worth mentioning when it comes to the situation in and around syria, this is of course all a proxy war between saudi arabia and iran. the united states, as general mattis would say but hasn't publicly yet, abanding its allies and the kurds. is a massive foreign policy shift and something the president has seemingly done on his own after talking to the turkish president. >> hard to imagine they would help rebuild syria that is

firmly intrencheds with iran and its proxies and russia. something the saudis have been oposed to. and reported israeli air strikes taken place in syria. a sign that israelis are still very much going to act in that country. >> reporter: and when you look at what the israelis are interested in. it's iran. you have iran deeply intrenched in syria. probably the winners of what has been a horrendous conflict in that country. the israelis hitting air stripped in and around damascus. the local reporting from hezbollah television station in -- and there has been a ratcheting of tensions with lebanon. they have been destroying tunnels. this as a prime minister that is

equally as embattled as president trump in the united states is fighting for his survival, benjamin netanyahu. tensions as high in the middle east as you knoand can be at times a powder keg. it seems like we're there again and president trump's random tweet. >> we're going to talk to you again. we're going to try to get our money's worth out of you today. up ahead a mystery case heads to the supreme court. nbc's pete williams has all the details. and officials are warning of more extreme weather and high waves. the very latest after this. the very latest after this

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huge waves nearly five feet tall crashed into the western coast of java and the southern sumatra islands with very little warning. now they're bracing for quote more extreme weather and high waves. they're warning people to stay away from the coasts. the rough weather around the volcano could inflict more devastation. they used drones and search dogs to look for survivors. 429 have been confirmed dead. at least 154 are still missing and more than 1,400 people were injured in that. bonny, good to have you with us. what more can you tell us about the very latest weather that it threatened indonesia at this point? >> unfortunately this area is known to be volnerable to volcanoes well below the ocean surface and that serves up the opportunity for tsunami. very difficult to detect. that's why anyone near the

coastline has the most vulnerability. and there's that risk for future tsunamis for that area. the day after christmas it's been quiet christmas eve, christmas day. still the beautiful tree in rockefeller center. but i can tell you things are changing. 19 million amaericans at risk fr severe weather in texas. that's not the only thing we have to deal with. we have the hev a erain here. but get ready for a big winter snow storm and it will feel that way from the northern plains further to the south. we'll see potential blizzard conditions with blinding blowing and drifting snow. and it does cover a wide-spread area, well over 1,000 miles. dangerous situations for a busy travel week. this is the amount of snow we're expecting.

well over a foot in parts of south dakota. and by contrast, in advance of this system, our temperatures are so mild into texas in the midsouth in tennessee. at least 10 degrees above normal. by the time we get to friday we'll see a warmer chicago, cleveland and louisville. if you're wondering are we going to warm up? not quite. it's going to be cooler as we approach this busy weekend. only at 33 it degrees. a reminder it's going to be turning much colder as we wrap up this year. and a court battle playing out unwashington in unusual secrecy that involves robert mueller and a state-owned company. pete williams explains the mysterious case has made its way to the supreme court. >> reporter: this mystery presumably involves robert

mueller's investigation based on lawyers including some from his team. the federal court house went to unusual lengths to keep it secret, ordering reporters off an entire floor. a corporation owned by country a is fighting a grand jury subpoena, arguing it's beyond the reach of u.s. law. but the company, whatever and wherever it is was found in contempt of court for refusing to comply to a subpoena. chief justice john roberts has put everything on hold including the fine he ordered the government to respond. >> i'm more interested in this than most kids are what they're getting christmas morning. the intrigue, the cloak and daggers, the secrecy of the entire case. >> reporter: said mueller's investigation is pointless. >> millions and millions of dollars of wasted money. there's been no collusion.

>> reporter: robert mueller must file its response by new year's eve and maybe then this mystery will be solved. still ahead the trump administration administration's efforts to right financial markets making things worse. we'll have the very latest reporting straight ahead. we'll have the very latest reporting straight ahead a brand new john deere. that's not a mirage. with 60 months financing at 0%, say "happy holidays" to money well spent. if additional offers are what you desire, visit your john deere dealer before they expire. now, start up your engines and drive out of sight. new john deere equipment for all and to all a good night. see your john deere dealer today to discover more great deals and special financing offers. new year, new deere.

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into holiday tradition the nba on krigsmous day in los angeles made the commute north to oakland to steak on the golden state warriors and this was all l.a. as they crush the warriors. the big news was not lebron's 17 points in the game but his early exit with a groin injury. the king is set to receive an mri today. and he is day to day pending those results. back east in boston. coming down to the wire with 20 seconds to go. kyrie irving nailed a game-tying fade away jumper sending it to over time. irving kept the momentum going, hitting clutch backing-to-back threes. and the celtics win 121-114. meanwhile in new york the knicks taking on the milwaukee bucks who have been playing on

christmas since 1970. that didn't stop? bucks from trampling the knicks 101-95. while in houston james harden went off for 41 propelling the rockets over the thunder 113-109 in that one. and the jazz blew out the trail blazers in utah 117-96. >> i thought some of those games are possible previews of what comes at the end of the season, the playoffs. i think you could make the case philadelphia and bausven a chance in the eastern conference and definitely the lakers and the warriors >> all new york teams, just rough year. >> a rough couple of years for new york sports fans, even if you throw new jersey in there as well. >> so true. still ahead the president vows to keep the government closed until he gets funding for

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the most inspiring minds. the most compelling stories. text "listen5" to 500500 to start your free trial today. ♪ welcome back, everyone. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories for dwrou. you president trump spent christmas digging in as the federal government remains shut down and as the fight over immigration continues we've

learned an 8-year-old guatemalan boy died. >> reporter: the president came out on christmas morning like a kid ready to open his presents. he wanted to talk about a new section of the wall, 115 miles of it and slam democrats for obstructing him and he wanted to continue to push for funding for more of the wall which he says he wants to have built by the time the election rolls around in 2020. >> i want to wish everyone a really merry -- >> reporter: president trump started christmas morning making calls to service members around the world. but when the holiday cheer was over he made it clear what's at the top of his christmas list. money for his border wall. >> i can tell you it's not going to be open until we have a wall,

a fence, whatever they'd like to call it. >> reporter: mr. trump says he gave out a contract for 115 miles of wall construction in texas with building set to start next week. >> the new section is very, very exciting what's going on there. so while we're fighting over funding we're also building. >> reporter: but provided no further information on where that wall was going to be built and who appropriated it. >> i want to finish it. >> reporter: and customs and border protection announcing the death of a 8-year-old boy in new mexico. he was taken to a hospital for treatment. the 8-year-old whose name has not yet been released passed away just after midnight. he was the second migrant child to die in custody this month. congressional democrats are saying they're going to investigate the case of the boy

who passed away on the border. the white house still has not commented on the death and all of othis reminds us this debate isn't just talk, there are actual lives at stake here. now for an update, a 7-year-old in south carolina tell as local newspaper that santa clause is in fact real. this after a christmas eve phone call with president of the united states who was speaking to children on n oorad wanting to know santa's exact location. >> how old are you? 7. wow. you still believe in santa? the post and courier newspaper of south carolina tracked down the child on the other end of that phone. he said when the president asked

if she believes in santa, she replied yes, sir. and had the same question when the president asked if believing in santa at her age was marginal, even though she had never 3rd word marginal before. she's grateful the president took time talk with her and santa visited her house and gave her a new american girl. >> johnny, cover your ears. the president was about to say, you know. kids so the steep fall by the stock market looks set to resume after a brief pause for the christmas holiday as the trump administration faces scrutiny. the dow slated to shed around 200 points when trading begin after the markets suffered the

worst christmas eve trade ever with stocks close to erasing their gains of the last 10 years. s&p 500 has shed over the last weeks. and tweeting that the only problem our economy has is the fed. they don't have a feel for the market. adding the fed is like a powerful golfer who can't score because he has no touch. he can't putt. that tweet appeared to further fuel monday's losses and the treasury secryitary's phone call with the heads of the largest banks on sunday. the market fallout over secretary steve mnuchin's calls is reportedly leading to frustration on president trump's part. he could be in serious jeopardy with the president. the stocks continue to fall despite the treasury secretary's

efforts to calm wall street. and they aren't the only reason trump is upset with mnuchin. he's upset a tentative trade deal with with china did not provide a boost in the markets, something mnuchin and others said would happen if a deal was reached. and trump is the first president not to visit u.s. troops at christmas time. the last time he didn't visit troops or wuntder wounded warriors was in 2002, president bush but it was during the run up to the iraq war. and he's received backlash after not visiting arlington national cemetery and canceling a trip to a burial ground in frangs. he has not visited any u.s. troops in any active war area to date. and had this message before turning the attention to the

troops. >> it's a disgrace what's happening in our country but other than that i wish everybody a very merry christmas. helly merry christmas, very special people. a happy new year. just remember the people unour country, we're very proud of you. the country's doing well. we have a little bit of a shutdown because we believe in walls and borders and we have a special country. people have to come in through the legal process, not just walk in and we have no idea who they are. we're stopping drugs at a record rate and we need help and the help is the wall that helped us. i know your group has built very effective walls and the military built effective walls for me on the southern border. on behalf of the country, merry christmas, happy new year. >> holiday message from the

president. meanwhile outgoing defenseman steve mattis has his own message for troops. he outlined seven points including to those in the field or at sea keeping watch at night this holiday season, you should recognize you carry on the proud legacy of those who stood the watch in decades past. in this world awash in change, you told the light. storm clouds loom yet because of you your fellow citizens live safe at home. far from home you have earned the graltitude and respect of your fellow citizens and remains my privilege to serve along side you. marry christmas rr and may god hold you safe. it was secretary of state mike pompeo who told mattis that his departure was movered up to january the 1st. >> what a contrast of those

christmas messages from the leaders. they speak for themselves. let's pick up on the last story. outgoing defense secretary james mattis and the reaction from congress. we heard some of the leaders saying he wants to see it the president a like minded individual as the next secretary of defense. what are you hearing towards the sentiment of mattis's early departure and who might replace him? >> reporter: the is sentiment of him leaving at all in this juncture was shock. both democrats and republicans on the house and senate side have been, for lack of better word, despondent with the exceptions of rand paul who is an isolationist and wants u.s. troops to come out of syria. but you have the chairman -- was the chairman of the house armed services committee and his

democratic counterpart, adam smith. they're not happy about the decision to pull the troops out of syria and equally upset about mattis's decision to leave. it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks when he puts forth a permanent replace frmt mattis and congress has to approve or confirm. remember they have to confirm several heads of agencies going forward. the attorney general, interior secretary, i have the whole list. epa administrator. u.n. representative. there's so many people that need to be confirmed in this whirlwind of excitement. it's unclear how it's all going to pan out. >> we're not even talking about the ambassadorships. and let me gelt a talk on the

i'm all alone, poor me, that white house. how is that playing out during it this shutdown because a lot of them were able to leave town? >> i've actually covered a number of these government shutdowns. i covered the so-called fiscal clip several years ago and there's something different about this partial government shutdown. the urgency to get to an end line too, finish it is not there as much as it has been in the past. and what's interesting is we'll see how many people actually show up tomorrow. mitch mcconnell said we're not going to vote on anything until we can vote on something everybody agrees to and they're given 24 hours notice to vote on a bill like that. it's unclear when it's going to end and if it goes to the next congress what that means for members. do they have to be here or not?

i'm not sure there's a lot of love lost with the woe is me comment. i know there's a great deal of concern with what's going on over seas and mattis's departure. but listening to people like marco rubio -- and this is back to the mattis departure and his reasons for leaving -- really going forward marco rubio has said you can expect to see oversight hearings if isis does someh rekaurngs aught to in that area. it's unclear if isis really is defeated and that was one of the key issues republicans pounds, pounded barack obama for leaving iraq too early and allowing isis to constitute in the first place. that's going to be a key issue going into the next congress. >> and see what turkey does and if they get involve would troops in syria.

>> exactly. still ahead turkey's leader offers president trump a formal invite to visit that country. calipari is back with details on what that may mean in the wake of removing troops from the war-torn country. seriously, what is this? new listerine® ready! tabs™ aren't gum, mints, or marbles. if you guessed they're tabs that turn into liquid as you chew, so you can swish and clean your whole mouth instantly,

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with erdogan on turkey and they discussed isis, and trade. calipari joins us from london. the administration says that trump is going to meet with north korea's kim and potentially north korea's kim. what does it say about the direction of america's foreign policy for 2019? >> reporter: we know president trump loves these big events. he loved meeting with putin in helsinki and kim in south korea. it should be said north and south korea are making incredible progress on the international stage. we heard rumbles from north koreans last week. the u.s. must -- which means the removal of all nuclear threat,

not just from the south and the north. they're speaking specifically about guam. kim, i think, feeds off of the television attention as much as president trump does. so look for that. we're looking at maybe january or february, somewhere early 2019. >> so let's come back to the middle east for a moment. president trump possibly going to visit turkey. the announcement to withdraw troops from syria caught a lot of people by surprise. how does that change the diynamc in that conflict? >> reporter: listen the united states main ally was the kurds. turkey's interest in this is to kill as many kurds as is possible. that's what's going to happen in the coming weeks. we've heard that on capitol hill that we've betrayed our allies. that this may have done it for general mattis, the soon-to-be

former defense secretary. they're interested in getting to northern syria and dealing with the kurds. for americans this should be more about iran and saudi arabia. on the heel of a butcher of a "washington post" reporter, it was the turk whose gave a lot of that information to the international media. a meeting between an american president and erdogan certainly strange bedfellows and a lot of the american allies are not going to be happy with. we heard this in general mattis's goodbye letter and he says maybe you should have a defense secretary who is more alined to your way of thinking. >> we were talking earlier about their messages to the troops and how starkly different those two tones were over the holidays. mattis is expected to stay in

place at the department of defense through the 28th of february to participate at a nato meeting. but i know you spend a lot of time in the u.s., in europe. what is the sentiment among our allies about the upheaval in this administration, especially when it comes to a position like the department of defense? >> reporter: there's an incredible amount of nervousinize wh nervousness. they saw what he believed in. nato has held the world together for seven decades. general mattis talks about nato being a check on russia specifically and then you have president trump and his friendship with russia. and france has said what france needs is a reliable partner and an ally that must be dependable. that's the concern among allies. >> cal perry, thanks.

and japan is facing backlash are for returning to whaling after a decade on the ban. and who put put a small bod international space station. ion. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair's derm-proven retinol works so fast, it takes only one week to reveal younger looking skin. neutrogena® with my bladder leakage, the products i've tried just didn't fit right. they were too loose. it's getting in the way of our camping trips. but with a range of sizes, depend fit-flex is made for me. with a range of sizes for all body types, depend fit-flex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit.

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welcome back, everybody. japan is drawing international criticism after deciding to begin mushl whaling for the first time in 30 years. starting next summer, japan will

join norway and iceland in defying a global ban on commercial whaling aimed at protecting the animal's populations. japan says it will continue hunting to coastal territory waters and its 200 mile exclusive economic zone in the sea of japan and east china sea. that's where it's going the confine its whaling to and stop its controversial antarctic whaling expeditions. and there is a high stakes mystery more than 200 miles above the earth. officials are investigating what caused a hole in the side of the international space station. with claims of sabotage, kerry sanders has more. >> reporter: it sounds like a plot line from a movie. at first, scientists suspect a meteor strike opened a hole discovered under external

insulation. but now a sinister plot twist. cosmonauts discovered the hole, about half the size the head of a match stick, was drilled from the inside of the capsule. russian mead russian media reported astronauts drilled the hole to get a sick colleague sent back home. scientists hope a more innocent, simple explanation can solve a mystery discovered 220 miles over earth. that is an incredible story. lots of question. imagine being the guy sent out to the space station to investigate it. bonnie schneider, let's bring you in here with a check off your weather. >> if you're traveling, you're not going to like this.

in texas, the threat for severe weather and 19 million people impacted by that. snow is the story, not just rain. it's the first big snow of this winter season. we have winter weather alerts in place from duluth down through the central and southern plains. we'll be looking for 6 million people at risk for this wintry weather. how much snow can we predict? this is where we'll see the heaviest amounts. well over a foot of snow and the winds will pick up, as well. 35-mile-per-hour sustained winds, 40-mile-per-hour gusts and in the area of red, we'll see a foot or more of snow. snow combined with warm temperatures, it's an interesting week ahead. temperatures will be 10, 15 degrees above normal in some parts of the country. so we're really getting it all after a quiet holiday. >> bonnie, thank you very much for that. coming up on "morning joe,"

the president's fight to secure money for his border wall. more on president trump's christmas eve message, threatening to keep the federal government closed until he gets the money to fund his wall as the senate prepares to return to washington. eturn to washington only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol®

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before we toss it over to "morning joe," we have one more for you. in one artist's bid to get into the christmas spirit and raise awareness, the artist made this massive sculpture of santa claus using sand and plastic bottles in eastern india. the artwork measures 30 feet wide, 100 feet high and features 10,000 plastic bottles. one goal of the piece is to raise awareness with the words change, get ready to beat pollution. that does it for us on this wednesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ >> it's a disgrace, what's happening in our country.

♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ i can't tell you whether the goftd government is going to be open. ♪ with the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you have a good time of the year ♪ ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ >> then there's probably presidential harassment. but other than that, i wish everybody a very merry christmas. ♪ with those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings when friends come to call ♪ >> i'll tell you, that ending reminds me of maybe my favorite holiday movie ever, maybe, "it's a wonderful life." he goes at the end, well, other than that, merry christmas, everybody. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it's wednesday, december 26th. i hope everybody had a merry christmas. in the spirit of thda