and that's going to wrap up the last hour of "andrea mitchell reports" for 2018. morgan radford takes up the coverage. what a year. >> 2018, chris. >> just another life in the year of politics. >> we made it. >> survived so far. morgan, happy new year. >> and to you, chris. good afternoon to everyone out there. i'm morgan radford. thank you for being with us. it's new year's eve, monday, december 31st, and let's get started. we have this breaking news with the shutdown on day ten. house democrats have decided on a plan to try to reopen the government. >> the wall has become a metaphor for border security. i think he is receptive to a deal if it secures our goal. >> president trump this morning digging in on the government shutdown and border security

disputing very publicly his outgoing chief of staff john kelly who says the administration abandoned the idea of a concrete wall early on in the administration. >> he tweeted this. he says, an all concrete wall was never abandoned. >> i think that's part of the problem that no one knows what he would agree to. >> first the democrats have to come back. nancy pelosi needs to come back from hawaii. less hula, more mula. >> nobody's going to win this kind of game. nobody wins in a shutdown. we all look silly. >> he told me some things i syria. he promised to destroy isis and understands the need to finish the job. >> there's intelligence that says there are more isis fighters around the world than a couple of years ago. breaking news, the highest profile democrat yet officially wading into presidential waters. >> no matter where you live in

america and no matter where your family came from in the world you deserve a path to opportunity. that's why today i'm launching an exploratory committee for president. we're set to close out the worst december since the great depression. 11 hours from now, a new year begins but a partial government shutdown continues. and just today, house democrats say they've decided on a plan to try and reopen the government once they take control of the chamber but that's not until thursday. still, there are roughly 800,000 federal workers. they're not receiving a paycheck this week and they haven't seen a paycheck since the shutdown began and many may need financial assistance. while this is happening, the definition of president trump's border wall which is the issue at the center of this shutdown, it is a moving target. >> it really depends on what customs and border patrol says they need, and they have said they need barriers. they need -- the president says

a wall. a barrier. steel slats. technology enhancements. >> the wall has become a metaphor for border security, and what we're talking about is a physical barrier where it makes sense. >> all right. so if we just take a look at the president's own words, noesh negotiations stalled. he tweeted today give us the funds necessary and then hours earlier insisted that border security isn't possible without a strong and powerful wall. but even before that, he tweeted an all concrete wall was in all caps never abandoned. and we do just want to remind you on friday the president threatened to close the southern border entirely if, in fact, democrats do not give him money to finish the wall. but despite his closest advisers shifting goal posts and saying the wall is just a metaphor for border security, the president

repeatedly said he won't agree to any funding without a wall and let's not forget this fateful day when the president sat down with democratic loaders nancy pelosi and chuck schumer there on the right and this was reportedly the last time he actually spoke with them. >> i am proud to shut down the government for border security, chuck. because the people of this country don't want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country so i'll take the mantle. i will be the one to shut it down. >> so the big question this afternoon, where do we stand now? joining me, msnbc's garrett haake on who will hill and malcolm nance and "the new york times" national immigration roertd caitlyn dickerson. garrett, i have to start with you. this flurry of activity on the hill. the democrats trying to vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government until february 8th but, garrett, what exactly does that entail? do we know if any republicans

are on board? >> reporter: there's seven outstanding pieces of the government not fully funded right now. what the democrats hope to do is vote to fully fund six of them for a year and leave homeland security under a continuing resolution that would get us to february so presumably the president continue this is fight and the conversation. that should pass easily in the house. it might even get some republican support. the problem is while it might get some republican support if it's voted on in the senate, it lacks the support of the key republican mitch mcconnell. the senate majority leader is pretty clear he won't put anything else on the floor until he's sure that the president will sign it so until and unless we hear from president trump that he is willing to kick the can down the road and resume this fight with lower stakes, meaning basically the only part of the government that could be shut down again would be the department of homeland security, and then he might be willing to sign this democrat backed plan,

essentially two different sets of proposals here, this will pass the house and then go nowhere in the senate but it does become a big political piece of the puzzle here showing that democrats will be -- have proven to move the votes, to be here to govern and puts pressure on the republicans to say that they really think as a unit, as the senate republicans and white house willing to keep the government closed over the wall and how long republicans say united on that mess and is the open question. >> but that's what's interesting, garrett. you talk about a public proclamation of support needed to -- they have to hear it from the president before they're willing to move and we haven't actually heard from the president since december 11th and that was publicly. i want to take a listen to something kellyanne conway did say. >> the government has been shut down for nine days. >> they failed to pass -- >> over a wall. >> no. it has not -- no, no, no. that is incorrect. that is -- >> the president said in the oval office -- >> excuse me.

he is shut down because of border security. no, no. the house then -- okay. >> the house passed $5.6 billion for border security. not for a wall. that's not restricted to wall buildi building. >> to the senators in the republican -- >> so, caitlyn, i want your thought on this. this seems to be a constantly changing definition. concrete wall, steel slats and barriers and how can congress come up with a deal if they don't understand the definition? >> that's a really good question and i think it's larger than just this changing definition of the wall. right? i think many members of congress are bewildered by this fight to begin with. because what we have heard from the beginning of the trump presidency is that everyone who works along the border has said we don't need a physical barrier. if anything we need improved technological barriers and same time the vast majority of people entering this country who don't have permission to be here, they're overstaying visas.

we don't have a large number of people crossing the border without permission. the central americans who are seeking asylum they're walking up to agents and declaring themselves and walking in to government offices. congress is confused how to proceed. and i think skeptical about giving any money at all to this question. >> but that's interesting. do you think that just very briefly humanizing some of this reporting has made a difference? do you think that's made a difference to president trump's base and are they softening in any way on the position on the wall? >> not necessarily. i think when we talked about family separation, that could be sort of the one exception. perhaps to the deaths of two small children that have happened over the past month, i think i saw some softening not necessarily from the president's base but from the leadership so before these two deaths that happened to young migrant children in border patrol custody we heard of leaders that they didn't have the resources to care for children and they didn't plan on changing that.

their focus was to discourage people from coming in the first place. now that tune is changing and saying, congress, we need money, support, improve -- >> and the question now is how much? >> exactly. >> i want to bring in malcolm here because, malcolm, we have this other issue on another front because at midnight general mattis will officially leave his post as defense secretary and today he effectively said that the defense department undistracted from the sworn mission. how assured are you that the president can do that, especially given these recent tweets politicizing this situation in syria? >> well, i'm certainly not assured that the president will maintain this stability and uphold the values of the constitution. we have seen he's almost incapable of that. the chain of command below the president of the united states starting with the acting secretary of defense and then the joint chiefs of staffs and the men and women of the united states will faithfully execute

the laws as they exist. the problem with president trump and i think secretary mattis was sort of hinting at that and certainly general kelly mentioned that in the interview the other day was his inability to understand what is a lawful order and what is an unlawful order? and the people of the armed forces, this is where the real conundrums will come is because they have an obligation under the uniformed code of military justice and the constitution to disobey any unlawful order. so it's real -- we'll see if the acting secretary is going to become a yes man for the president and start passing on activitys that are detrimental to the men and women of the armed forces like hastening the withdrawal of syria -- >> malcolm -- >> or whether we see defense stand up to them. >> i want do go back to something you said briefly. you mentioned the distinction of lawful and unlawful and perhaps

inability to understand the two. is there a threat right now to the national security with all of this at an impasse and all this chaos? >> yes. there is a threat to the national security of the united states for the last two years. the president does not fundamentally understand how the united states government runs. he thinks that it is a top down business that he can just order people to do. in fact, his biggest bugaboo is the democratic processes. should that infiltrate the belief to order people to do things like moving men down to the border of the united states. putting 6,000 soldiers on the border of the united states while pulling out of syria. he has the right to do that. the problem is will it get people killed? and that i think the new leadership and the new house armed services committee are going to have to take that up right away.

this president doesn't particularly seem to care. he only cares about whatever's in his head at that moment. >> malcolm, i think that's part of the concern with this revolving door at the white house, the acting secretaries and, of course, now new leadership in the house and what comes next and who's in charge? garrett, malcolm and caitlyn, thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. and we are off to the races. the 2020 presidential election has officially begun. just this morning, massachusetts senator warren announced her exploratory committee making her the first top tier democrat to commit. we'll have the details next. >> we can rebuild america's middle class but this time we got to build it for everyone. i am a family man.

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welcome back do msnbc. i'm morgan radford. thank you for joiningousen this last day of 2018. the 2020 presidential campaign is already kicking into gear. this morning, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren became the first top tier democrat to launch an exploratory committee for a presidential bid making announcement in a video pushing the populist message and reached out to minority voters. >> working families today face a lot tougher path than my family did and families of color face a path that's steeper and rockier, a path made even harder by the impact of generations of discrimination.

the stark path doesn't have to be our future. we can make our democracy work for all of us. we can make our economy work for all of us. we can rebuild america's middle class but this time we got to build it for everyone. >> joining me live, we have politico reporter daniel litman and white house reporter. warren denied wanting to run. what do you think changed her mind and frankly why now? >> i don't think anyone really changed her mind. i think she's wanted to run for president for a rather long time. i mean, obviously, she's been saying publicly on the record different things but now with a launching of the exploratory committee that's enough of an underscore over her actual intentions as anything else we have seen so far and coming to the trump white house and the trump campaign and trump's

allies, funny thing is, they may be completely wrong about this and regretting the wish if it actually does come to this but warren is a kind of candidate that team trump would prefer to run against. at least according to the officials i have been speaking to recently coming the democratic nomination. >> because she provides a foyle to the president? >> yes. 100%. and also, they think that they can have the upper hand on portraying her as, for instance, something mark clotter who used to be the president's press secretary and now a member of the 2020 advisory board told me earlier today he thinks she is another, quote, out of touch socialist. and this is something that team trump is eager to portray her as. >> i want to interrupt you when you talk about that socialist label because before we get into team trump, daniel, i want to get your opinion on this back and forth between warren and the president. my question is, how ugly can

this get? because we heard her here on msnbc a year ago and reacted to the president calling her pocahontas. >> we have a representative in congress who they say was here a long time ago. they call her pocahontas. but you know what? i like you. because you are special. >> it's deeply unfortunate that the president of the united states cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without having to throw out a racial slur. look. donald trump does this over and over thinking somehow he's going to shut me up with it. it hadn't worked in the past. it is not going to work in the future. >> daniel, not only is she saying she won't shut up but will try to take his job. do you think the president's attacks on warren would help her or hurt her in a matchup? >> well, i think it's kind of a thing that she can be proud of in terms of democratic primary

voters that he's focusing on her. i think a lot of democrats evening if they don't like her policies they view her as an effective counter puncher and would be good on a debate stage in attacking donald trump and that she has the fortitude to have a good brand for 2020. everyone knows who she stands for, what she stands for in terms of being a consumer advocate, the other candidates like kamala harris and gillibrand, their brands are much less defined. >> speaking of those brands, what about the other side? we already got a preview of the rnc's attack line because they said in a statement about her candidacy, quote, senator warren couldn't be more out of touch. with her lack of support from voters, now that she is running, americans will see her for what she is. another extreme far left obstructionist and a fraud. this is a shorter version of what they said but do you think

republicans are worried about her? did she cause ir refusible damage in this debacle of the linage? >> i think it's an uneasy combination among trump world and also the republican party writ large of concern over a possible warren candidacy because of how fluent she is in the language of economic populism and other matters that resonate with a wide swath of voters and that combined with their genuine view that they are -- will be able to define her early. and paint her as a rabid far leftist who they can easily defeat. >> she is stepping out early and giving them time to react. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much for joining us this and. >> thank you. >> it's been a pleasure to speak with you. next, it is a wild year in the markets. we are looking at the ups and

the downs and how it affects your wallet. plus, trump's tax cuts a year later. where did all the money go? stay tuned. you're watching msnbc live. your enamel is very precious. acidic foods can wear away your enamel. your tooth is going to look yellower, more dull. i recommend pronamel because it helps protect and strengthen your enamel. it's pro enamel. it's the positive thing. ♪ at booking.com, we can't guarantee you'll good at that water jet thingy... but we can guarantee the best price on this hotel. or any accommodation, from homes to yurts. booking.com booking.yeah

ultimately what does it

mean? it means jobs. jobs, jobs, jobs. >> i wanted to be called the tax cut cut cut cut plan. i actually did. i would have put it in. we'll call it the tax cut and jobs plan and we did that and we got it passed and it's the first time, the biggest in our history. >> our tax plan was really designed to stimulate the economy and get growth so we're humming along on what our projections are and i've said at 3% economic growth this tax plan will not only pay for itself and create additional revenues for the government. >> you just heard president trump and treasury secretary mnuchin hailing the republican tax plan that's now one year old and you see the president signing it into law on december 22nd of last year. well, you also heard the president say it creates jobs, jobs, jobs and you also heard secretary mnuchin say it will pay for itself. how much of what was promised will actually come to fruition?

joining me now to discuss live, jared bernstein, former chief economist for vice president biden. what was promised to middle class taxpayers? i understood that the average household gets a tax cut of about $1,600 this year. is that going to happen or will people be surprised doing the taxes this year? >> a lot of people are already surprised and that's one of the reasons why republicans during the midterms very clearly did not run on this tax cut because they recognized it wasn't a plus for them at all. let's start with the notion that middle class people, working class people have been helped by this. the white house said that their paychecks would grow $4,000 per year eventually. we are starting to see positive real wage growth and we are in year nine of economic expansion and seen nothing like the promises to the middle or working class.

where steve mnuchin went way off the reservation was on this business of the tax cut paying for itself. in fact, we have a budget deficit that's about 4% of gdp. historically when the economy is as strong as it's been the budget deficit is close to zero so really none of the promises are stacking up the way we just heard from the cuts advocates. >> break it down for us. are people like me and you, looking at the wallets a year later, who are the winners? who are the losers? >> right now the biggest winners are people who share price before the big tumble in the stock market, the share prices went up because of the stock buybacks. corporate profit shlt was really boosted by this tax cut. no question. if you recognize over 80% of the value of the stock market held by the wealthiest 10% of households they're the one that is got the biggest boost.

now, middle income people will find that their taxes, you know, fell by, you know, a few hundred bucks maybe but they're not going to be able to really wash that out in the mix. what they're really looking at is their paychecks week to week, month to month. as i said, they're starting to grow a bit, maybe half a percent to a percent year over year and not anything close to what was promised. >> what about the jobs, jobs, jobs we just heard? >> yeah. >> also this increased wages as a result of cutting the corporate tax rate to 21% from a high of 35%? where does that stand? >> so that stands in a very unflattering place for the administration. the last part you said. here's the thing. the idea was that corporate prof profitability to go up. it did and trickle down topaych. those other three links in the chain did not occur. we got did profitability. we did the productivity investment or the wage bump. in terms of jobs i think there

the administration has an argument we have had strong job growth this year. however, it's growth on a trend they inherited and not accelerated or done better and now it's starting to slow down a bit and i'm happy to see the job gains we have had but they're on a trend already in play. >> we have jared bernstein giving us a lay of the land. thank you so much. >> thank you. i want to turn to wall street. so far the markets are relying and rallying on the final day of the year and right now the dow up more than 200 points and it's been up all day. the s&p and the nasdaq are also higher right now but the markets are still poised for their worst december performance and that's since 1931 during the great depression. before trading started today the dow and the s&p were down almost 10% this month alone and the nasdaq was down more than 10% and i want to bring in cnbc's leslie pickard to join us. what's moving the markets today?

>> hey, morgan. we have seen in the last 30 minutes or so real momentum start to pick up across the three major indexes. positive news on the trade front like with this weekend trump tweeting a quote very good call with president xi of china creating some optimism and then i think traders are starting to be optimistic about the shutdown in washington. with news on that front. but as you mentioned, this december is the worst we have seen in a very long time, since the great depression. the year is the worst we have seen. it's on track to be the worst we have seen since the financial crisis of 2008 with losses in all three major indexes of about 9% this year. so, it's not a good looking 2018. i think a lot of investors are looking forward to 2019 at this point. >> leslie, i have to say when i was home for the holidays everyone was talking about their 401(k)s. there was all this angst, all this anxiety.

and for those people watching them tumble, how about a new year's rally? >> it's very scary, especially as you're watching the numbers on a weekly basis and toward the end of the year when usually we expect to see the markets move higher, now, next year, there are mixed views on what could come. people are looking at the potential for aear after that. economists chorus surrounding that view has become a little bit louder. that said, i think this is gotten the attention of president trump, as well, a lot of what happens with the markets next year depends on what happens at the central bank, at the federal reserve. how quickly the interest rates rise because the markets tend to react to the liquidity in the market directly what the interest rates and the tightening regime is with the central bank. >> here's to hoping that january is better than december. leslie, thank you. >> thank you. next, talk about the

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welcome back. thanks so much for joining us. i'm morgan radford. outgoing white house chief of staff kelly made a number of noteworthy allegations in an exclusive exit interview with

"los angeles times" stressing the president never ordered him to do anything illegal saying, quote, because we wouldn't have. kelly also added that the proposed border wall at the center of the government shutdown fight is not exactly as it's being portrayed. the revelations came out just days before he departs the administration for good. so joining me to break it down, we have reporter who conducted the interview with john kelly, molly o'toole and former white house chief of staff andrew card. molly, there were shocking things that came out in this interview but what struck you most about what he said? >> i think that the essence of his argument was pretty amazing to me, essentially that his tenure pretty rocky tenure by all accounts at the white house and also in the administration earlier at homeland security, should be measured more by what didn't happen perhaps than by what did and i think that really gets at many people's concerns

about the administration in terms of what people are able to do potentially to temper some of the president's, you know, more controversial or mecurial impulses. >> did you feel like he was relieved to be leaving the post? >> he was pretty explicit about that, actually. insofar as describing the job as i believe bone crushing hard. he described it as a very difficult job and candid about that. in some respects, i think many people have the question, defenders of kelly in particular, as whether he was sort of set up to fail or was the victim of unrealistic expectations. if there was anyone that was going to be able to manage donald trump or be the quote/unquote adult in the room but he definitely was very explicit that it was a difficult, exhausting job. >> speaking of that, andrew, in that piece someone who worked

with kelly at the defense and homeland security said, quote, there's only so many things a chief of staff can do, particularly with a personality like donald trump. so, andrew, you served as a white house chief of staff. do you agree with that statement? >> i do, actually. you know, the job of the white house chief of staff is a tremendous burden. it is -- i thought molly do a good job of describing the nature of the job. talked about getting up at 4:00 in the morning and going home at 9:00 at night. that was kind of a typical day. yes, you have to deal with an awful lot of incoming problems and you have to deal with management problems, running a significant organization, about 2,000 people who are looking to the leadership of the chief of staff, never mind the leadership of the president. and you have to do a tough job of trying to discipline the organization, to respect a process that they don't want to participate in, and then you have to keep people away from doing things that they want to do that they shouldn't do.

so it's a tough job to have and i thought general kelly did a remarkr remarkable job but he had a tough environment he was working in and it is very difficult to give discipline to the oval office because most discipline emanates from how the president is disciplined and president trump is not a very disciplined individual. it is really hard to introduce that -- >> it's interesting because i want to go back to something else, molly, you mentioned. is this notion of the border wall. that's why we're in the middle of the shutdown and he said it's not as it was being portrayed. what do you think he meant by that? >> i think kelly was pretty clear. he said from early on in the tenure at homeland security he sort of convened the people who are really on the front lines from customs and border protection and patrol and asked them what do you need and where do you need it?

>> they said a barrier but not a 100-foot concrete wall against thousands of miles from sea to shining sea sort to speak but more fencing, more personnel, more technology at the board i and not the quote/unquote wall that the president is adamant about that he wants, that he needs, that he wants $5 billion for and what the government is currently shut down over. i think the gap between the sort of people on the ground on the border and then the rhetoric coming out of the president's twitter feed frankly, that gap is going to persist moving forward and i think that's what kelly was really getting at. >> i want do go back to the notion of a gap between the reality and the rhetoric because in that interview kelly said, quote, it's never been the president just wants to make a decision based on no knowledge and ignorance. you may not like his decision but he was fully informed on the impact. molly, did you get the sense that kelly was in a sense

defending the president often throughout this interview and what would be his motivation to do so? >> i mean, certainly was defending the president or at least dechdifending his process said he implementing describing getting the white house there was no process in place. i mean, he gave what i thought was a powerful anecdote about afghanistan. you know, other people reported on some of the meetings of 2017 and sort of bringing all of the most powerful national security and military figures together to brief the president about afghanistan and potentially dissuade him from his impulse which was to withdraw from afghanistan earlier and this was an example that kelly gave of the process he brought to the administration trying to ensure that the president had all the information he needed when it often appeared that the president was making impulsive decisions or sort of governing via twitter. so that's another area in which

kelly maintains that he brought that process and the chaos and that unpredictability of the president persisted in the kelly tenure and especially likely to continue in the future when someone without the same sort of force of personality or the brass that even the president said he really respected and clearly surrounded himself with, if a person like that isn't there then the question is what comes next? >> you describe the impulsivity of this -- his process, decision making processes. andrew, as someone in this process with the moving parts as you mentioned earlier, kelly said that the tenure as chief of staff could not be evaluated or could be not by what trump did in that time but rather by what the president had not done. is that exactly a good metric to measure the legacy of someone as chief of staff, andrew? >> i doubt that it's the legacy metric that john kelly wanted to have. but i'd suspect he's telling

what he feels to be the truth. he probably put in place a process that educated the president and better educated president meant he didn't get to do the things he was impulsively predisposed to do. yes, i think he did help the president get smarter and helped the advisers around the president to have better discipline about how they advised the president. and it's a hard job so i'm not sure that i would have said that it was his greatest success was keeping the president from doing things. i do think that he helped to make the president better educated and said in that interview with molly and i think as a result the president didn't make as many mistakes as he might have been able to make. >> what happens in the next two years? will the style of the role begin to evolve and change in the next ye years to come? thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. >> thank you. good to be with you, molly. >> happy new year. 2018 was an extraordinary year in american politics and we are looking at the top ten

moments. don't go anywhere. oh, and don't forget, it was time for the monumental american. it is nancy grace roman, an astronomer known as the mother of the hubbell space telescope. she overcame sexism for a phd in aston my from the university of chicago in 1949 and then ten years later in 1959 she joined nasa and in 1961 became one of its first female leaders. the very first chief of aston my and throughout her entire career studied the velocity of stars and helped launch satellites to observe galaxies and the biggest legacy the hubbell space telescope that launched in 1990 and roman was honored with a lego made in her likeness to inspire other girls to have careers in science and roman died on wednesday in washington d.c. she was 93 years old but still now you should stay with us because we'll be right back. .

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>>got it. ran out of ink and i have a big meeting today >>and 2 boxes of twizzlers... yeah, uh...for the team... >>the team? gooo team.... know what's better than overnight shipping? free one hour pickup when you order online... or on our app. at office depot officemax welcome back the msnbc. we all know that 2018 is jam packed with news from devastating tragedies to surprising developments in the russia investigation but before

we begin 2019, we're taking a look back at the top ten story that is defined this year. here's nbc's chief white house correspondent hallie jackson. >> reporter: one of the ten biggest stories of 2018 happened just six six weeks into it. >> students could be seen filing out of building. >> reporter: the parkland shooting sparked a student movement. >> they say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun, we call bs. >> reporter: after that a ban on bump stops and a bill closing loopholes in the background system. a small step but not enough. >> we'll have a 25% tariff on foreign steel. >> reporter: new fears for farmers in states he won. >> the glass is pretty cloudy right now. >> reporter: at the border, anger boiled woefr t eed over w nation horrified. >> it's sickening to see little

kid, they say four years old is the youngest that are separated from the parents. >> reporter: the president forced to back frak cktrack on separations. >> the democrats want caravans. they like the caravans. >> they'll be like look. then they are giving tax cuts to their billionaire friends. >> reporter: the partisanship pause to honor the end of an era. president george h.w. bush laid to rest. >> in our grief i just smile knowing that dad is hugging robin and holding mom's hand again. >> reporter: his service attended by every living president, including donald trump who did not attend senator john mccain's funeral. >> the america of john mccain has no need to be made great again because america was always great. >> reporter: anti-trump rhetoric part of the momentum behind a blue wave that crashed over the capitol has democrats took over

the house. >> majority, majority. >> reporter: while the gop held the senate. >> it's a good morning nor senate republicans. >> reporter: democrats looked toward 2020 and rising stars like beto o' rourke who lost his senate race. >> so proud of you guys. >> reporter: the president facing divided government at home and overseas. a new world oerder as he brushe all allies and embraced enemiee. >> we fell in love. >> reporter: the president seemed swayed by moscow's denials of election interference. >> president putin said it's not russia. i don't see any reason why it would be. >> reporter: he later walked that back but moved forward with other campaign promises like shifting the u.s. embassy in israel to jerusalem and withdrawing from the iran nuclear deal. his handling of the death of jamal khashoggi wildly

condemned. >> there's not a smoking gun. there's a smoking saw. >> reporter: the landscape shifting for women at home from metoo. >> the time is up. >> reporter: to the midterms. >> today is a milestone but it's really a beginning. >> reporter: and a record number of women elected. the first native american women headed to congress. the first muslim. the first female senators from arizona and tennessee. >> reporter: james mattis raising alarm after he resigned in protest over differences with donald trump's world view. >> four officials say they have witnessed kelly calling the president an idiot behind his back. >> reporter: with the back fighting chronicled by former insiders. >> donald trump is a con. >> reporter: and journalists. >> there's war on truth. >> reporter: still looming over capitol hill and the white

house, the russia investigation consuming both ends of pennsylvania avenue. >> paul manafort has been convicted of eight felonies. >> michael cohen sentenced to 36 months. >> reporter: five former members convicted or pleaded guilty to crimes related to the special counsel investigation as jeff sessions stepped down. >> it's a witch hunt. >> he may be first president to face the prospect of jail time. >> reporter: the biggest political story wasn't president trump in trouble but brett kavanaugh confirmed to the supreme court. >> i believed he was going to rape me. >> reporter: accusing kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teens. >> with what degree of certainty do you believe brett kavanaugh assaulted you? >> 100%. >> i have never done.

this has been a calculated political hit. >> reporter: the senate voted him in. >> brett kavanaugh is now justice kavanaugh. >> make no mistake, tonight is a major political win for this president. >> reporter: from the lower courts where republicans are reshaping the federal judiciary to the highest, a conservative shift that will affect a generation of americans for decades to come. 2018, a year for the history books with 2019 a new chapter ahead. hallie jackson, nbc news, washington. >> tonight, stay with us because nbc lester holt will help lower the new year's ball in time square. that's tonight coming up on your local nbc station. stay with us. we'll be right back. nbc station. stay with us we'll be right back. i'm alex trebek here to tell you

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thanks for watching. katie tur will continue our coverage. >> let's do it. it's 11:00 a.m. out west and 2:00 p.m. in washington where the government has entered its tenth day. democrats tell nbc news they have a plan to re-open it and a plan expected to be made public later today. democrats will introduce a bill that funds homeland security

through february 8th. it provides $1.3 billion in funding for the border. on january 3rd, when the house returns to the capitol hill, that proposal will get a vote. while the nearly two week stand off began over the president's demand for a $5 billion cement wall at the u.s. border, three of his closest allies the wall trump is intent on building isn't really a wall. revealing exit interview with the new york times. john kelly said to be honest, it's not a wall. the president still says wall. he'll say barrier or fencing. now he is tending toward steel slats. we left a solid concrete wall early on in the administration. that sentiment was echoed by two more of trump's frequent defenders. >> the president said last week and he tweeted out pictures of steel slats. it depends o