>> i'm in for andrea mitchell, and we have a lot of news to cover, including a new threat from the president to shut the border as the government enters the seventh day, and both sides are digging in on the funding for the wall. >> it should not be hard to get to where the president wants to be. >> it is going to hurt our economy, and it makes no sense whatsoever. >> and speaking of the border, the secretary of homeland security on her way there right now as customs and border protection face growing criticism and scrutiny after the deaths of two detained migrant children this month alone. and wall street's wild swings after recovering with a 900-point rebound, the markets are up and down today. >> so the bounce or the rebound continues, and the stocks are going for day three here. >> begin today with president trump though threatening to close the southern border if the democrats don't fund his wall, and this is the backdrop for this seventh day of the government's partial shutdown. i have a great team to break it

down for us, but first, let's set the stage for the discussion. if the government remains partially shutdown, the president spent the morning as he often does tweeting in a four-part message that he threat enned to close the southern border and scrap nafta and cut off aid to guatemala and el salvador and that is by 8:00 a.m., and he is preaching to the the choir, because the congress has gone home with no plan to end the shutdown in view. hans nichols at the white house, and garrett haake at capitol hill. and now, hans, it seems that i are trying to give up on the $5 billion demand. what are you hearing? >> they rare not going to get te $5 billion, and they are going back and forth with the negotiations. they have not indicated what the number is, but they have come down.

so while there is softening there, but at is same time they are hardening the decision of entire entirely shutting down the border. it is new, and a new element into the discussion about tying the open of the border to this overall negotiation of building a fence, a wall a barrier or whatever you want to call it. the white house is trying to set the stage for today's debate l earlier in the morning with a series of tv appearances, and also, this is what sarah huckaby sanders had to say. >> the democrat s has have not willing to do anything, and that is sad part. they care more about keeping the borders open than the government open. they do not want to protect american citizens, but they want to protect illegal immigrant and it is a sad day when we can't get the democrats to show up for work and sit down with us to have these conversations to make real solutions and get something done. >> we are unlikely to see any sort of action until january 3rd when that new congress is sworn in, and nancy pelosi is going to

become the speaker and it is all garrett's game. >> okay. let's talk about the tweet storm and help you, or ask you to help to us unpack it. and the president is tweet iing out that the united states loses so much money on trade with mexico over nafta and over $75 billion a year not including the drug money which would be many times that amount, and he claimed, quote, word is a new caravan is forming in honduras and they are doing nothing about it down there. oso help us to fact check that and what did the president get right or wrong in those tweets this morning? >> on the caravan, there are local reports that the new caravan is forming, and in the past, caravans have formed and the sizes will change as they come up. the numbers we have to be s suspect until they get closer to the border, and even then, it is difficult to get a precise and accurate count. look, on the nafta number, that is a way for the president to, and i know that he is talking about the trade deficit, but it

is way for the president to potentially figure out to say that mexico is paying for the wall, because it is clear among all of this that mexico is not go going to pay for the wall in a traditional sense. now, the president may be able to backend it by saying, look, we have cut a much better nafta deal, and so therefore they are paying, and he may be setting the stage for that, and that is why he is introducing the numbers. guys? >> thank you, hans nichols, and we switch over to you, garrett, over at the capital, are the house members showing any sign of going this direction? >> no, we are not seeing anybody here. it is a ghost town. they will be back next week. right now, everybody is looking to someone else to make the next move. you heard hans lay out the white house position and dropping on it in nancy pelosi and saying

they are not willing to negotiate, and i spoke to nancy pelosi's can chief of staff who said they have not had outreach to the white house since december 11th, and setting it aside as a white house talking point, and to me as a political 12r59 ji point of view that the white house has made so much of this about pelosi, and it is the kind of thing that could potentially backfire, because it suggests they need nancy pelosi to come in to clean up the mess that republicans have made here by saying that nothing is going to move until the house comes back on january 3rd. as for that day, the democrats are talk about a couple of options to pass the bills out of the house that they concede will be unlikely to face direct action in the senate, and unlikely to get to the president's desk, but they can send the message that the democrats are here to govern, and they want to reopen the government. so there is a number of ways they can do that. all of them would put more pressure on the republicans to show that they, too, are here to

be adults and here to govern. >> garrett haake live on capitol hill. i want to bring in democratic congressman of maryland anthony brown. thank you for joining us, congressman congressman. >> good morning. >> you heard sarah huckaby sanders defending the white house and putting the blame on the democrats saying that sit i the democrats who are refusing to bring them to the table. why not bring everyone back toing washington and have some talks about the options floated out there? >> certainly. we should have people in washington negotiating and discussing the path forward to open the government. start with this, the default setting is at the federal government should be open. you don't hold federal government employees, federal contractors and quite frankly the american public hostage, because of a disagreement on the border security. last week, the democrats and the republicans came together in a bipartisan way, and they sent a continued resolution to the white house with an agreed upon $1.3 billion and now the

president is asking congress to negotiate against the american people and against themselves. >> so, i am sure that you saw this earlier, the incoming acting white house chief of staff nick mulvaney also made interesting suggests on fox news. take a listen. >> everyone agrees that what we can and should be be building on the southern border is the steel barrier that the the president tweeted out. that is what he wants to build. the democrats don't call it a wall, and they know that we have a ability to do that and so it is a functional barrier and everybody is okay with the design. they offered us $1.3 billion to do that and we counted at $5 billion, and they walked away. they have shutdown the discussion. >> so this is the question that viewers have about the debate. is the debate about money or the terminology? is it that the democrats want to prevent the president from

getting a win on the immoral wall but they don't mind the terminology of steel barriers or flat fencing or is it the money when you ruck are talking about $5 billion. >> well, both. and whether the president wants to call it a wall, fencing, including technology and human monitoring, and this debate and discussion and ultimately decision ought to be made in the context of comprehensive immigration reform such as pathways to citizenship for dreamers and daca recipients and those in the country on the temporary protective status. we should look at the lottery system and family reunification and how the system strengthens the labor force. so to have a narrow conrer versation about border security regardless of how you want to characterize the physical

component of the security is ill timed, misplaced and passed t t continuing resolution and get through the year and then get to that debate. >> and so there is a twitter storm of sorts that the president is going to consider closing the southern border if he is not getting funding for the wall. and a, what is the consequences of a move like that? what are you reacting to, congressman fosh congressman, for the president's threat of closing that southern border if he does not get the funding? >> well, it is a threat, and he is trying to raise more awareness and sort of gauge what kind of public reaction there may be, because in order to fully close the southwest border, it is going to take significant resources, and he cannot do that with the involvement, consultation of congress. he has sent active duty military to the border recently, and that is a $200 million note right there, and so if you are talking about completely closing the

southwest border, and 2,000 miles transcontinental from the gull of the pacific, that is going to be costing a lot of money, and i don't believe that the taxpayers have anticipated that or deserve that. so it is going to involve congressional input, and we have to take a look, but it is not sounding feasible to me. >> we will see if it is more than a threat if push comes to shove. thank you, congressman anthony brown. happy new year to you. >> happy new year. >> and joining us is senior adviser curt bardella and spokesperson for olympia snowe, and also catherine snow. and so, curt, we are ohours from the start of another holiday weekend and the congress is not in the capital today, and is there any way that you will see that the shutdown is going to end p before the new year or before this congress is out? >> no. i mean the house and the senate, they are gone.

donald trump has made it very clear that he is not moving or budging at all. i think that trump's people tell him that they believe he is getting the better end of the shutdown and they are delusional enough to believe that the longer it goes, the bert it, because he loves nothing more than to fight, and to fight on the signature issue of the immigration and border wall, and never mind that we had an election where he made the border wall the centerpiece of the conversation, and played up the idea of the caravan invasion coming to america to take all of our jobs and to kill everybody, and you know, the american people overwhelmingly rejected that vision that donald trump put forward and it is as if he is living in a world in which the election did not happen, and the democrats did not just win 40 seats and kicking out 40 republicans, and they have the new majority, and he is operating in a delusional state where he believes he can continue to act in the last two years without a check and balance on power, and the american people made it clear they want the check and balance and they want a different path and agenda and they have rejected the border-first

agenda. >> and let me play you this sound bite from louie gohmert who talked about how long this government shutdown should last. listen to this. >> congressman, how long should the government kebe closed by t president? >> it is only 25%, and because we are continuing to see people lose their lives without one, you do itt until hell freezes over. >> january, february -- >> until hell freezes over, because we owe it to the country. >> and that is, you know, you heard him there until hell freezes over and that is the position that he is taking and a few others within his party are also taking that position. and so i am curious to get your thoughts politically speaking, and how feasible for the gop as they have lost the midterm elections, and they don't have the mandate to govern, and something that as curt said, staked the election of members of congress on and they lost.

>> it is unbelievable and turns upsidedown that the republicans are the party of fiscal conservatives and that is where we have landed that you have democrats fighting for smaller spending, and smarter spending and fighting against completely waistful ineffectual ballooning deficit-driving ridiculous border wall proposal. it is an unbelievable change, but you have to look at what happened in the last few month, because it is not an accident on des december 18th when the senate passed the bill and sent the continuing resolution to the president's desk, they expected it to pass. they expected it to pass, because republicans in the senate and the house said that $5 billion was a nonstarter, and they would not support it, and members of his own party in the majority in the house and the senate for a couple of days said no way. they thought that it would pass and what else was happening around december 18th? well sh well, we were talking about michael flynn and the fact that

we had an agent of a foreign government working actively in the national security apparatus of the united states, and talking about michael cohen and his conviction and the on ogoing negotiations with mueller, and we are not talk about those things today. i absolutely think that it is entirely possible that none of this is about the border wall, and none of this is about this, you know, supposed burning platform of emergency issue that does not exist at the southern border, but the huge distraction. the longer it goes on, and the more we are talking about the government shutdown, and we are not talk about the swirling accusations and the difficulties legally for the president. >> and let me see if i am summarizing this, it is your position that the president is creating this as a distraction from the mueller investigation and other cases? >> yes, and he has done it before. he is failing to live up to the campaign promises that he did make which were ridiculous, and impossible, and base is up in arms. >> and including that mexico is going to pay for the wall.

>> the whole thing is ridiculous, and to say that the renegotiation of nafta is going to cover the cost of this is a complete -- this is so difficult about this time is that we don't is that we are not dealing with re reality. every day the president and the inner circle are building arguments based on fantasy and the american people and the federal workers are paying a price. they are hard working civil servants and they deserve bet r better. >> and not to mention the secretary of the treasury. and the gop talking point this morning is that nancy pe llosi peacocking for the colleagues and blocking negotiations to look strong and shore up support for her speakership, and come the next congress, and the republicans are unite ed d in t dislike of pelosi which is something that we have known for several years, and that a smart strategic move to say that the left or the democrats have a left wing within their party, and that is making nancy pelosi take this hardened position? >> they can try to say that, but it is a complete break from real

ti, and nobody is going to buy that. nancy pelosi's position since the election is strong. there is not a severe challenge to her speakership, and the reality is that something that the republicans can not escape from, they had a deal, and they a had it pass around this is all on the house republicans to refuse to bring that bill to the floor tomorrow, and he could do that tomorrow, and end this shutdown, but he is not doing that. and when the democrats take back the majority in six days, they will put up a bill and pass it, and donald trump is going to have to veto the bill, and force the shutdown and own it twice. it is something that the american people are not going to buy that it is all her fight, because it started before she was speaker. >> and a lot of people are saying that the president's shift in position is because of the right wing media and the base and the ann coulters of the world. >> and now, wall street is rebounding, and stocks are on track for the worst december

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welcome back, everyone. let's take a quick look at the markets as wild week is rolling on. the dow is now up in positive territory about 25 points that you can see there after starting the day in the negative. essentially recapping a roller coaster week. here with the very latest is leslie. what is driving the markets? >> well, it is a muted session with all three indexes, but the absolute numbers is not telling the picture of what is going on all day and that is that the dow was up 161 points at the session high and down 155 at the session low and visiting break even several times in between. so volatility is the name of the game, and in today's session and this week where you have seen the massive swings to the upside and the downside and in unpr unprecedented fashion. >> what do you think is the

driving force behind the volatility, the trading itself, what is happening outside, external comments from the president. what do you think is the driving force? >> i believe it is a couple of factors put togethera and couple of iningredients that have been causing the wild swings that we are seeing. number one, it is seasonably common time for a lot of the trader s traders to be away for the holidays, so low volume in single-stock names. that coupled with the fact that we have this monetary policy right now where things are tightening. we have had years of the liquidity in the market, and that has reversed itself, and so those two things coupled together, and gaiagainst the backdrop against all of the uncertainty out of washington has really created these wild swi swings that we have seen this week in a really unprecedented fashion that a lot of people are looking to and looking at what that portends for 2019. >> yeah, right. we will pick up from that point right there, and leslie picker joining me now, and finance

columnist rick neumann who is the director of public for growth, and also dave mcintosh. and mentioning what leslie was talking about the volatility rounding out the final month of 2018, can we, pkt the expect the same factors to cause volatility in 2019? >> yes. we have reached highs in august or september depending upon how you measure it, and then we saw lots of wild swings. it is crazy in a way, because for the week, we will end up more or less flat, but of course, we had all of the draw marks and drawma and it is telling us something. investors are concerned about the economy slowing. not a recession, but economy slowing, and the corporate profit growth is going to slow, and is that going to tip over into something worse than we think or remaining steady?

co corporate profits are strong, and the economy is still pretty good, and that is why we are getting the manic reaction in the market, and maybe it is going down by enough, and people are saying, wow, these stocks have not been this cheap in three years and i have to buy this stuff. so we are seeing a battle of the optimism and the pessimism. >> and so despite the rally this week, the disaster on christmas eve if you want to call it that, the markets are track for the worst performance since 1931, and so what is the approach for this, the feds are thinking that the economy is doing well enough they raised the interest rates by a quarter of a pint, and how

can y economic trade and the interest rate. >> yes. gdp is at historic lows and inflation at less than 2%, but at the same time the market is nervous as we have seen with the volatility that rick and leslie mentioned. the key that i think are a couple of places where they will be continuing to watch, the rate hikes and the treasuries will keep in balance the long-term, and the short-term interest rates so you don't have a flat yield curve. if that happens, the market falls precipitously or indicates that you will get into the bear market. the second is trade. there is a big question of whether china and the u.s. will reach an agreement in the coming months. the tariffs have hurt our economy, and the chinese economy, and therefore, the world economy. the third which is mentioned already is the political unrest. people elected the democrats.

that is not our choice at the club for growth, but that is what the people chose to do in the election, and i think that the goal was to return to a kind of the more business as usual, but the signals are getting from the democratic leaders nancy pelosi and folks there, the acolytes in the press like the washington post are saying impeach, impeach, impeach, and that is going to krcreate more unrest. the public will reject that because they want the government t to get back to business as usual, and i think that it will hurt the markets. >> and so, rick, let me pick up that point from the congressman there, and rick, anything in 2019 that congress or perhaps the white house should do to kind of allay some of the concerns and fears out there in the markets? >> absolutely. first, reopen the government. this is not really hurting the markets directly, but it is adding to the sort of the loss of confidence that anybody is really in charge in washington, and open up the government, and put that aside, and think they trump would goose the markets if

he resolved the trade dispute with china and created a deadline of march 1st, which is ambitious, but if within the first six months trump said we are making progress and show the actual evidence of the progress, a and make a deal with china, and we know that trump could sort of get very little out of a deal and say it is the greatest deal ever, and big beautiful deal and better than it would be, and markets would be massively relieved to get rid of the tariffs. i don't know if he going to do that, because it is an important issue to do, and if he is in a desperate spot, that is something in the pockets to help the markets. >> and this is volatility because of the self-inflicted wounds coming out the of the white house, and his fighting with the fed chair jerome powell and others. thank you for your insights. and happy new year to you, guys. and coming up a line that we heard time and time again. >> who is going to pay for the wall? >> mexico. >> not even a doubt. >> and all right. we are going to be taking

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all right. so president trump is threatening to close the southern border if the democrats don't give him money nor for t

border wall, but what he wants to the move is a seemingly moving target. and joining us is ali who spent two years on the trump campaign and new analysis of how the president's comments on the wall match up to what he is doing today. hey, ali. >> we have all heard the president's demands for the wall or the government shutdown, and that is a different promise he has made over and over again to the voters since 2016. >> are you big border people? >> fewer things are less trump than this. >> who is going to pay for the wall? >> mexico. >> not even a doubt. >> reporter: the indelible promise that propelled him to the top of the republican party and the white house. it is a promise to -- >> it will remain closed. until i get what i want. >> we don't usual necessarily,

but steel slats. >> reporter: that sounds different than the pitch over and over to the base. >> i am going to build a wall, and a big beautiful wall, and not a toy wall like we have right now. and it is not a wall, but a little fence that is ten feet tall. i am talking about the wall. you see that ceiling up there, higher. you see that ceiling, it is peanuts. if they get up, they are going, oh, man, how do i get down from this wall. maybe a rope. >> reporter: both in terms of what is in a wall and who is going to the pay for it. >> i say that mexico is going to pay for it, and it is getting to be paid for by mexico, believe me, 100%. we are not paying for it. mexico is paying for it. >> reporter: that has since become indirect. saying that mexico is going to pay for it indirectly through the changed nafta deal.

>> every month it is paying for itself. >> and as the president has said, and we have all said that the wall is going to be paid for through the savings of trade alone. >> the trade benefits if there are any don't go to the treasury. >> he is saying that the revenue provide and the money provided through the umca deal is going pay for the wall and pay for it four times over. and through that new trade deal, we can pay for the wall. >> do you have the math on that? >> some americans don't want to wait for it. >> we could all pay $20 and pay f for the wall. >> crowd funding. >> yes. >> reporter: that idea floated in indiana separately manifested to this crowd fund the wall to the tune of $2 billion all while trump lobbies congress for the construction. ever shifting rhetorical progress to notch a win and make

promises later. >> the wall just got ten feet taller and we love it. >> reporter: this is interesting, because the voters may not care about the sliding rhetoric and i will be asking them about that when i get back out on the campaign trail in 201 2019, but this is a issue that nancy pelosi joke ed d in an interview that trump is now down to the beaded curtain or something about the the wall. so i expect more of that in the new year as we get out into 2020 and full on a campaign season. >> it is going to be interesting if when with you start to speak to the voters out there or his base whether or not they agree or forgive him for a lot of what he has said that he has not been able to deliver on or moving the goalposts. >> yes. >> thank you for the great reporting. i want to bring in charlie savage, long time washington post correspondent, and msnbc contributor and also jeff from reute

reuters. i want to pick up, jeff, with where ali left off. how does it complicate matters when the president is asking for a constantly moving target? >> well, it is a good question. in some ways, it complicates it for himself, because it is some fodder to the democrats, and ali cited what nancy pelosi has said in terms of kind of jibing him a little bit about moving the the goalposts or changing the rhetoric about the wall. that said, it is also very clear from his tweets today and from what sarah sanders has been saying over the past few days and in general from the white house position since the government shutdown started that whether he is calling it a wall or steel slats, he is certainly digging in. that could have some long-term ramifications for the government shutdown or the employees going forward. >> the president has used all kinds of justifications for wall everything from keeping the drugs out to criminals out, and even invoked terrorism, and saying that they had apprehended

ten terrorists over the course of a couple of days, and i know that you have been writing about counter terrorism for 15 year, and give us a realistic sense of how concerned we should be about terrorists exploiting or using the southern border to sneak in. is that a legitimate concern among law enforcement and national security officials? >> this is an important question, and we saw trump invoke this speaking with troops in iraq. and he said that terrorists coming through the southern border and that is a lie. the data from the post 9/11 and post 20th century, there is no evidence of it. and not even anybody who tried to and was stopped at the southern border. it is an interesting rhetorical tick for the president to go there and there is a legitimate

conversation about migrants and drug trafficking on the southern border that he feels the need to go go to the scare mongering to appeal to ignorance and he feels that the existing tools are not enough, and he is not getting anywhere with the argument, and putting the trpressure on democrats to get some face-saving ooutcome here. >> jeff, the dhs secretary kirstjen neilson is expected to visit the southern border, and obviously two tragic high profile deaths of migrant children in u.s. custody. what does she need to say and do on this visit and what type of tone does she need to strike right now? >> we were talking about the presses suur pressure, and the president putting the pressure on the administration and that is showcased by secretary neil zen's trip, and she has to stress that d hshhs is taking i

seriously and put in some measures to ensure that it does not happen again. and politically speaking, the democrats will be pushing that issue as hard as well. this is an immigration crisis that president trump is calling it at the border, but you have had two children die in u.s. custody, and i suspect that people who oppose the wall and the president's policies on immigration is going to say that is as big of a crisis if not more. >> and to the point that jeff brought up, charlie, is that enough to appease the democrats some of whom are calling for neilsen's resignation in oversight committees? >> well, they have their own base to please when it comes to rhetoric on what is happening on the border, and children dying in u.s. custody. they have no incentive to back down. this is one of the major, major issues that the now democratic-controlled house and

executive branch will be fighting over starting in january when the power shifts in washington. >> all right. charlie savage, and jeff mason, and gentlemen, thank you very much, and happy new year to you. >> thank you. >> thank you. and bizarre turn in the russian investigation. special counsel mueller has so much evidence that it now includes a nude selfie. ♪ the new capital one savor card. earn 4% cash back on dining and 4% on entertainment. now when you go out, you cash in. what's in your wallet?

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mueller is new court filings by the office of concord, one of the russian companies is asking them to lift a ban that prevents them from seeing millions of pages of nondiscovery compiled by mueller including a nude selfie, but mueller says it could expose u.s. surveillance methods and they should not be shared. joining me is barbara mcquade. and now, let's talk about something that i find fascinating the volume of documents in the case. what does it tell us about the scale of mueller's investigation when you are looking at everything that we know that he has possession of so far? >> yeah, they make reference to millions of documents, and this is the indictment that relates to the information campaign relating to the election that was conducted on facebook and other social media, a tnd the ft

that there are millions of documentses suggest that it is the account documents or also may relate to documents that cover how the communications worked, how the computer files worked, and so it is going to be fass na cinating of what is con ed within the document, and it is an immense investigation and incredibly complex investigation. when people complain at the length of the time that it has takenb for a case like this to come to fruition, should be mindful of the incredible breadth of the case. >> and we are also talking about how when you are throwing in the documents from the michael cohen investigation, how it adds up to hundreds of thousands more documents. and let me ask you this, barbara, how unusual for a defendant to not be allowed to see all of the documents produced during discovery? >> well, i think that it is important to note what they are asking for they are actually

asking for the method of which robert mueller obtained certain evidence, and not all of the evidence itself, and it is that method that robert mueller is contesting and has said that what he would like to do is to show it ex parte, and out of the presence of the defendant to the court, because it is of classified nature. the defendant is complaining about that, but there are procedures under the court rules and the classified procedures act to do just that. i can't turn over something if it is classified, and i will show it to the court, and if the court is satisfied that it is not going to prejudice the defendant in the case, then the court will grant the relief. but that is what they are fighting about, the manner in which robert mueller came to possess this particular item, and whether it is a nude selfie or something else, i don't know. >> looking ahead to 2019, what are you expecting to see both on the mueller investigation front, and the broader front in eterms

of investigations? >> well, in the short term, it is most like ly to see indictments against jerome corsi, because he disclosed the plea offer to the public and a good prosecutor does not make a plea offer unless he is prepared to back it up with a charge. so it is almost certain that jerome corsi is going to be charged, and if you are looking at the pleadings, his conduct was intertwined with roger stone, and so charges against roger stone is likely. and in the longer term, it is what it has always been about, can you connect the trump campaign with the russians main the election. that is the piece that is missing and we will look to see that i think that some of the documents in the flynn case, and in the cohen case suggest they have information core to the investigation which relates to the subject, and so if they are able to pull it altogether, we may see the charges, and if not, and robert mueller concludes that there was no such collusion, then those who have faith in robert mueller will

accept that as well. >> and throwing in the mix of the house of representatives and the investigations they will be launching and shaping up for an interesting year. barbara mcquade, thank you, and happy new year to you. >> as we prepare for 2019, we will look at the stories that defined 2018. i switched to geico and saved hundreds. that's a win. but it's not the only reason i switched. the geico app makes it easy to manage my policy. i can pay my bill, add a new driver, or even file a claim. woo, hey now! that's a win-win. thank you! switch to geico®. it's a win-win. so we improved everything. we used 50% fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top safety standards the new johnson's® choose gentle

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we are just four days away from the new year and just in time for 2019 nbc's brian williams and nicole wallace have a look back at the biggest stories of 2018. >> number ten -- men we are calling the goodfellas. >> because the word good is there, you mean the opposite? you mean the ideal of goodfellas. >> donald trump is a great unifier. >> michael cohen pled guilty to eight felony charges. >> so he's lying very simply to get a reduced sentence. okay? >> michael flynn who served as national security adviser walked into court to plead guilty to false statements to the fbi. >> you know what? he happens to be a very good person. >> number nine -- our planet.

it felt like every week there was another story on tv and in the newspapers about another calamity. a typhoon. record rainfall. floods. from california, the worst fires that the state has ever seen. >> number eight -- child separation. >> when you prosecute the parents for coming in illegally which should happen you have to take the children away. >> it's so hard to really explain how that story was different but there were baseballs, there were children. there were young people whose lives will never be the same. >> number seven -- legal eagles. these are the people on our shows every night, the people we cover outside of courthouses, the lawyers. >> busy season for them. number six -- mohammed bin salman and vladimir putin. individuals we are calling the rogues. >> british prime minister

theresa may accusing russia of attempting to murder an ex-spy. >> this is not the first time the russian state acted against our country. >> as soon as we get the facts straight if we agree we'll condemn russia or whoever it might be. >> i ask you and the other guests, how far is this from the normal conventions of how the united states used to behave in the world? number five -- the new wave. >> if democrats wanted any chance of flipping congressional seats in a deep red state like kansas, they were going to need a fighter. they found one. >> they had elected a lesbian native american mma fighter with a cornell law school degree. those aren't four people. that's one person. congressman-elect davids.

>> number four on the list -- parkland. >> it's happened again. another deadly mass shooting at american high school. this time in florida. >> 17 people are confirmed dead. >> we want change! we want change! >> they say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun. we call b.s.! >> these young adults changed the gun debate in america. >> number three -- the hearing. >> brett kavanaugh is one of the finest human beings you will ever have the privilege of knowing or meeting. >> the nation got to meet dr. blasey ford who says that when she was 15 years old judge brett kavanaugh as a high school student sexually assaulted her in a room. >> number two on our list, a category we are calling farewells. we are talking about the public farewells for three towering americans. this year's list of the most is

topped by -- >> bob mueller. >> robert mueller. >> mueller. >> bob mueller. >> robert s. mueller. he still holds all the cards and he's zil for a lot of americans represents the hope that we will get the truth of the election, who chose this president, if there's influence of another foreign power. >> wow. all right. so this could turn into a longest government shutdown in history. who wins that? we'll be right back. gentle means everything, so we improved everything. we used 50% fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top safety standards the new johnson's® choose gentle

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all right. that wraps up this hour. right now, more news with jasmine. busy hour. >> i'm told by the director i can now look at you. >> good luck this hour. busy hour. >> a weekend for you? >> it is. >> should we talk about what you're doing this weekend? >> no. mostly sleep. >> mostly sleep. thank you. good afternoon, everybody. from msnbc headquarters in new york, today the head of homeland security does damage control along the southern border. also, big buck hunter. 2020 democrats in a race to the finish line for cash and we start with the government shutdown. seven days, no end in sight. today the justice department pausing all civil cases in manhattan and elsewhere due to the shutdown quote severe restraints. the president threatens to close the southern border. acting chief of staff said this time it's