unfortunately i don't. i know where brooke is. i know i'll see her again. and that gives me hope. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching. and a very good saturday morning to you. i'm richard lui in new york at nbc headquarters. 7:00 in the east, 4:00 in the west. here's what's happening on this day for you. shutdown, day number eight. the president threatening to close the border at mexico while democrats dig in their heels. new indications of how this could play out in 2019. done. the president's personal attorney on why robber mueller should not expect more written answers from the president. plus, plans canceled. the president says no to something near and dear to his

heart. but we look at the partial government shutdown as it enters its eighth day with 800,000 workers either furloughed or working without pay so far. we heard vice president pence make a reduced offer last saturday and senate majority leader chuck schumer rew e jekded i. what we heard is the amount offered. also in the last 24 hours president trump threatening to close the southern border entirely if democrats do not agree to fund the wall. >> i don't think he can do this even if he wanted to. it probably violated nafta. i don't think he'll have much if any support in congress, nor do i think he could implement it.

>> kirstjien nielsen is waking up at the border. she's expected to visit yuma, arizona. an 8-year-old guatemalan boy crossed the border with his father. he then died on christmas eve in new mexico. the second child to die while in custod custody. they say he'll wake up in the white house on new year's day instead of joining his family at a mara laggo for their year-end gala. a new harvard harris poll commissioned by the hill.com. 41% think congress should not move to impreach president trump for his actions while 39% say he should be impeached and removed from office, 20% saying he should be censured.

nbc's mike va kara joins us from the care tall. mike, good morning to you. to get the 800,000 folks back into the game, to get paid, what needs to be peck lated? >> i hate to say it, but the countdown clock we have here should go forward. between now and then we don't expect much action. you outlined the details leaking out when mike pence was up here one week ago today. they're trying to find some middle ground between the $1.3 billion that was offering. 2.5 seemed to split the difference. all you have to do is look at the fak there have been zero

negotiations. ing that's when they're going to wipe the slatd clean and take it from the beginning. the democrats are considering a few differential options. they can do that within a matter of hours on thursday afternoon as soon as all the formalities of a anywhere. it's unclear whether there's going to be votes for whatever it is that the house passes, and that is likely to have absolutely no money in it for the president's border fence, barrier, slats, whatever he's calling it these days, the s symantec edition not getting much attention. that's expected to hold well into next week, richard. >> we'll see if we do get to 13.

good morning, kevin. >> good morning. >> when you and i were talking, what was the number? we heard it was going to be 2.5. what's in that number? >> this is in many ways the president recalibrating and breaking off. we've heard about steel slates or fencing and whatnot, and i believe privately people like mick null vainy and others when they were up there before the holiday recess negotiating, they were signaling that the $5 million number is something they would have low fehr. in the short term when nancy pelosi, the likely new speaker of the house anticipate this

will be funding, you've got the president of mar-a-lago and nancy pelosi. no negotiations are happening. >> let's talk about chief of staff, incoming chief of staff, i should say, mick mulvaney who's pretty clear on why things are not happening. here's what he said. >> here's what i think is happening. this all comes down to mrs. pelosi's speakership. i think left to his devices, they would cut a deal, but they're protecting mrs. pelosi. if she cuts a deal with the president of any sort on january 3rd, she's at risk of losing her speakership, so we're in this for the long haul. >> you hear the chief of staff saying, hey, look at the incoming if you will or the speaker elect, right, presumed to be nancy pelosi.

it's her issue, and she's not at mar-a-lago but the white house and will be for the new year. >> what do you think about the democrats aiming at pelosi here? >> it's an i temd. 47% of the people in the country blaming president trump. richard, you remember when president trump said he wouldn't blame the democrats for the shutdown. he would be proud and. he's on record now saying a shutds down saying it's hard for the wows now try to turn the tables. >> one of the reasons that nbc is hearing as to why chuck schumer did not agree with the

number is because the president -- this has been said on both sides didn't say it publicly. had he said it publicly, that potentially they could have gotten past go. >> right. and right now they're at a stalemate. to erin's point, the situation is right now -- i mean if this thing goes untail january 22nd, it becomes the longest partial shutdown in hichtd. the impact that has, just hearing in washington in the dmv area, you can't even calculated it because you've got these mom and pop shops and restaurants all across the city where lawmakers and their staff are supposed to be fully returning and the government agencies are supposed to be fully returning. economic impact is something that's going to be fell. this is something i think is going to be with us unfortunately for the long hall and that boents sides.

>> so, erin, it's not only the number as you both know. it's also the words. the wall, fence, barrier, security. you pick it. it may come down to that. >> it definitely might. we've heard him change his tune on who's paying for it. remember his campaign promise is mexico will pay for the wall. i think he knows, republican leadership knows shutdown is a tough word for the party right now. this is essentially the last act of unified republican control of congress and it's not a shining act really. it's a full shutdown of the government partial, a quarter of the government now. and when the government talksen ingran grags.

he'd rather talk about that than the shutdown. >> there have been several options floated out, kevin, in terms of getting to a solution. there's three being discussed. >> i don't think it's a negotiation between the white house and nancy pelosi. i think it's a negotiation between likely speaker pelosi as well as the base of the democratic party, and i think, you know, until they're all -- all democrats in the house are up there and going through the new organization. i think that's when you're going to be -- at one point they were blaming senate majority leetzer

chup super. people like doug jones, joe manchin to get on board with the clocher vote to move this thing along. i think it's, again, at a stale maehl and it's too premature to know where it's headed, until it fully picks up. >> until we get new congress starting on the third. f. >> i got one. saying no. rudy giuliani's new message to robert mueller. robert mueller including me, esurance spokesperson dennis quaid. he's a pretty good spokesperson. ehhh. so when i say, "drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved an average of $412," you probably won't believe me. hey, actor lady whose scene was cut. hi. but you can believe this esurance employee, nancy abraham. seriously, send her an email and ask her yourself.

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giuliani. take a listen. >> do you expect he's going to have to answer more questions in writing? >> i think i announced more than ten days ago over my dead body and i'm not dead yet. >> you don't need anything more than that. >> that's outrageous opportunistic. danny cevallos. does the mueller investigation move forward if there's no interview or could the president face a s&p later on? >> it's highly likely that rudy giuliani has been having this conversation about whether or not the president should sit down with special counsel robert mueller's team these past few months because he's gone back and forth about the possibility

of a sit-down with mueller. but in reality he doesn't have to. if nod, we have to to. that's what a subpoena is. it's forcing someone to come down. the real question is whether or not a sitting president can be subpoenaed for his testimony. that remains an open question. >> he says mueller should be investigating whether he covered up and destroyed evidence.

do you think mueller could face an investigation as giuliani is saying? >> it clouds the issues. if there's a criminal daytona rudy giuliani was defending, he might have a claim that they have to turn over exculpatory evidence. that's not where we with are there is indeed a case. this is a situation where rudy giuliani has to look at it. that's why prosecutions are kept secret until indictment time. >> so this is -- since we're obviously talking about mueller and the investigation, the mystery case as we've been taller uncovering it. we have an update which is

believed to be mueller's office responding to the supreme court, a request by an unknown foreign company, this response coming late in the evening yesterday, so not much known about it. fill us in again on what the case is in terms of the late filing and where it's at. >> it's fascinating for two reasons. grand jury proceedings are secret, but they ear not usually that secret. part two of this fascinating case is the extent to which our federal law in the united states allows our kourtss to expert jurisdiction over foreign governments. foreign sovereigns. there's a law that says we can't generally expert jurisdiction over them, but there are so many exceptions to the general rule that this remains an open case. if we ever find oud who the

party is or what the decision is will flush out some of the contours of that law. >> that filing is believed to have happened overnight. who knows what's in it and what it might mean. finally the big development on the muller investigation came out. it was a letter by some writings that they say fizzled. what's your quick note on what came of the investigation of the mueller investigation? >> it's hard to say when it comes to the house investigations. when you ask who watches the watchmen, obviously those observing the mueller team and their progress are going to have their criticisms, and they're free to do so. however, it has a significant import when it's the opinion of the house of representatives and congress after conducted investigative powers.

but they're very broad, very sig canal, and compare those of the mueller team itself. >> danny sell valleys, nbc legal analyst. thank you so much, sir. coming up, a new poll on the public appetite for impeachment. public appetite for impeachment. take your razor, yup. alright, up and down, never side to side, shaquem. you got it? come on, get back. quem, you a second behind your brother, stay focused. can't nobody beat you, can't nobody beat you. hard work baby, it gonna pay off. you got this. with the one hundred and forty-first pick, the seattle seahawks select. alright, you got it, shaquem. alright, let me see. from capital one.nd i switched to the spark cash card i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. what's in your wallet?

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there you have it. volatile week on wall street ending, but it wound up being the best week of the month. over the past five weeks the nasdaq gained 4% and the s&p 500 and dow rose 3%. for the month when you put it all toke, all indices about 10%. the hourly rate is going up in 22 states the highest being 15

bucks. there's an op-ed. the author of that piece who helped break the watergate scandal and writes in that that in. it's instilled a new sense of alarm among many republicans. >> i think, a, there is already much that can be held again him. these are opinion moves. as more evidence comes in, as the president acts a little bit stranger and stranger as he takes precipitous actions, politicians begin to get more worried. >> erin delmore and keviner ar

with us. >> richard, when you talk about the guide posts moving, there are lawmakers in charge of the president. that's why the debate is something that became a huge sticking point that was enough to cause the government shutdown. but there's a moving of the goalpost that matters for others and for any proceedings to go food. it has to be the president who wises up. this is still a republican-friendly senate in republican control. it will be very tough to do. >> talking about the public, new polls, we'll share numbers with you on that according to this new poll. 41% say congress should not taking a against this president.

39% should be impeached and removed from office. does it come down to the pressure on republicans or democrats and the way they put together their case. >> yes, it does. but when four in ten americans are saying the -- he should be removed in office, 6% say some type of action should be taken like a censure. the bottom line is i think everyone from nancy pelosi on down are waiting to see what happens with the mueller investigation. until that's completed and we know what's in that.

>> erin delmore and kevin cirilli. thanks so much. that does it for me. up next, "your business" with j.j. ramberg. stick around for that. h j.j. ramberg stick around for that.

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good morning. coming up on nbc's "your business," his father fired him 20 years ago, but now he's got his own plane business. criminal minds star has become a star by turning her love of whiskey into a successful whiskey brand. >> and these two impress shop i phi with their line of jewelry. that's all coming up next on "your business."