good day. i'm alex witt in new york. happening now, vice president mike pence leading a follow-up

meeting with congressional staff. the partial government shutdown now on day 16 and a breakthrough is not expected any time today. there's no end in sight. meanwhile, president trump joining a staff retreat at camp david. before leaving, the president said he may decide in the next few days whether to bypass congress and declare a national emergency to build the border wall. setting the scene for us, msnbc's mike viqueira at the capital and geoff bennett at the white house. geoff, the president appeared to be signalling a concession of some sort on his end. tell us more. >> the definition of what constitutes a border wall is becoming more and more flexible by the day. this might seem like ancient history now, but it was six days ago that president trump feeted, an all concrete wall was never abandoned as has been reported by the media. you have mick mulvaney saying they are willing to take this all concrete wall entirely off the table thinking that democrats might be able to get behind some sort of steel

barrier. although democrats have said all along that they will not vote to fund any kind of brrds barrier because they say it's not emblematic of the nation's values. you have william hurd whose district constitutes 47% of the southern barrier, he says a border wall is the most expensive, least effective way to secure the barrier, that manpower and technology is far more efficient and effective. the president seems to have in his back pocket this notion of declaring a national emergency as one way of making an end run around congress to get this wall that he has been calling for. take a look at what he told reporters earlier today. >> i may declare a national emergency, dependent on what's going to happen over the next few days. we have a meeting, vice president pence, and a group will be going to a certain location that you know where that is and they'll be having another meeting. i don't expect to have anything

happen at that meeting. >> reporter: but even the most dispassionate voices in all of this have said that there is no national emergency, that the level of illegal crossings at the southern border is at historic lows. what's happening at the southern border they say is a humanitarian crisis, but the only reason we keep talking about illegal immigration day after day because president trump has set the terms of the debate. alex? >> right you are as always, my friend. thank you so much from the white house. to capitol hill now and mike viqueira. mike is there any clue as to whether either side is moving at all behind the scenes? >> well, i mean, regardless of what the white house calls it, a concrete barrier or steel slats or a chainlink fence or split rail fence or nancy pelosi would have it a beaded curtain, democrats feel as though they don't need to crede an inch here. nancy pelosi said the other day she's not going to give one dollar, won't agree to one dollar, for what the president wants to do on the southern

border involving a barrier or a wall or whatever it is the he want to call it. democrats feel as though at this moment in time, alex, they are holding all the cards in this negotiation. they are not inclined to compromise or come to the president's position or give any money to this whatsoever. the game of chicken right now is, democrats keeping the pressure on. they're going to be putting spending bills on the floor again this week to send over to the senate, keeping pressure on senate republicans to see if they will jump ship, abandon their leadership, abandon the president on this issue and hopefully then the rout would be on. susan collins, the likely target, the moderate from maine, gave some indication she's willing to look at the democrats' position. >> we could reopen much of government where there's no dispute. let's get those reopened while the negotiations continue. it is not a sign of weakness to try to figure out a middle

ground. >> reporter: okay. add cory gardner to that, a republican senator from colorado, he faces a tough re-election battle in a blue state come 2020. remember the map last time in in 2018 when there were so many democrats facing re-election battles that switched on its head in 2020. democrats in the house and nancy pelosi, all across the capitol, are looking at those republicans, putting the political pressure on and hoping that that's the pressure point that ultimately breaks this impasse. alex? >> always looking ahead for us, mike viqueira, thank you so much. joining me now, peter baker, chief white house correspondent at "the new york times" and msnbc political analyst, also jeff mason, jeff to you in just a second, peter, i want to look at this latest article that you wrote here because you talk about how this build a wall mantra was birthed. first used as a campaign tool. here's part of your piece. how do we get him to continue to talk about immigration?

sam nounberg recalled telling roger stone jr., another adviser. we will get him to talk about he's going to build a wall. you say this has become, peter, a symbol that the president is boxed in by. can you explain this? >> look, you know, if you are somebody who worries that there's been too much immigration over the years, you have a lot of different things that you would like to accomplish, a lot of different policies or laws you would like to change, practices you would like to implement. the wall is only part of that. if for some of these hardliners, not even the most important thing, but there was a visceral thing for president trump or candidate trump to seize on when he was running for office and his advisors knew that and that's why they put this in his script in effect. it was something that a builder or developer like he was could feel almost viscerally like with his fingers. one of his biographers said he could almost hear the beep, beep, beep of the cement trucks backing up. it's his be all end all with the

government shutdown at stake, some of the hardliners are concerned about because they worry he will trade away something they don't like to get a priority that isn't really the their number one issue. >> you're talking about the executive director for the center for immigration studies is worried about the president trading away something, does the base then potentially drop the president if he relents on building the wall? is that why he's digging in his heels? >> that's the real question. the number one most memorable thing he said as a candidate, build the wall. chant at all these rallies. ann coulter says, we didn't chant, you know, make employers use e-verify. we didn't chant about government remittances. we chanted build a wall. it would be a big deal to let go of that. he doesn't want to look like somebody who drops a campaign promise. there are advisors near him who think he has more room to maneuver than he may understand, that the base understand his

heart and head are in the right place as far as they're concerned and there pligmight b more willingness to compromise beyond some of the louder voices that he's been listening to. >> very quickly before i get to you, jeff, i was surprised when i heard my colleague susan in our last segment say that she does not believe that most of those in the campaign rallies dur the president's run up to the presidency actually thought that he was going to build a big, beautiful, 20, 30 foot concrete wall that he talked about and have mexico pay for it, that they just sort of liked the enthusiasm of where he was going. do you agree with that? it was my take people were saying we're going to have a wall. >> i think it depends on the people. there are a lot of people who came to the rallies and voted for president trump and enthusiastic about him who don't necessarily take everything he says in a literal sense but he shares their concern, their fear, their anger about this issue. if he were to tell them look, i've come up with a solution, some wall, some this, some that, they would probably accept his

assurance that was the right approach. that's not the view of everybody in president trump's circle. some think that wall is so visceral, so visual, that you can't abandon that for fear of losing the support of those people who really did, in fact, expect him to build one. >> jeff, time to bring you in again, white house correspondent with reuters, you were just at the south lawn and the president was fielding questions from reporters. what are your main takeaways about what he spoke about. you asked what a compromise would look like, right? >> i did. he didn't really have any spi s specifics on what a compromise would look like. what he's been saying consistently for some time, he still wants that wall and more specifically he wants the $5.6 billion for that wall. he may be changing the way he refers to it. sometimes it's a wall, sometimes it's steel slats, sometimes it's a barrier. he has said that he doesn't care what you call it, but he still wants that. that was the message today too.

he also said that he thought democrats wanted to come up with a deal. he clearly wants to come up with a deal of some kind too, it's just a question of where they found middle ground and if they can. >> by your reporting, jeff, do you think democrats want to come up with a deal that replaces a concrete wall as the president described, to now compromising to the steel slat, barrier, fence, whatever you want to call it? is that a big difference in can democrats' minds? >> well, look, i think we just have to listen to what the democrats have said and the primary spokesperson for the democrats right now anyway is the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, and she said last week that building a wall is not -- is immoral, and so not something that she or her caucus can sign up to. i'm not certain that changing the words for that or changing the material for that is going to alter her view of what it is and what it means for our country. interestingly along that same line, president trump this morning when he was speaking to

us outside, said look, this is a battle that i have to win and it's also a battle for the definition of who we are as a country. the democrats see it that way too. >> do you think, peter, is it in democrats' best interests to come up with some sort of a compromise? do they win politically by doing so? >> well, i think at this point they want to show their strength. they've just taken over the house and they want to show they're going to stand up to a president who is to most of their base. there is a lot of anger and pent up frustration among many liberals and other people about president trump and they have pressed their leadership in this democratic party not to give in. there's a real political danger for them in a compromise, even though they would like to open up the government again too. this is where we're at. both sides, the president and the democrats, who feel like they would lose face in effect and, you know, betray their most passionate supporters if they were to compromise, even though,

you know, you could easily see some sort of middle ground if both sides could get there. >> meantime you have 800,000 federal workers that are like a tether ball right now. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell on the sidelines, he said this is between the democrats and one person, the president. we have the largest news paper in mcconnell's home state calling on him to get into the game and end the crisis that doesn't need to be happening. jeff, does mcconnell need to get involved at this point? what are the expectations of him doing so? >> well, i thought wit particularly interesting on friday that senator mcconnell did not appear with his fellow republicans and with the president in the rose garden. that seemed to symbolize his desire to sort of take a hands off approach right now. clearly the majority leader in the senate said he doesn't want to bring up a bill that president trump is not going to sign, so he's sort of leaning on the president to show leadership on this and for the white house to show what it wants and will accept before mitch mcconnell gets in and says we'll make this happen in the senate. >> all right.

peter baker and jeff mason, always good to see the both of you. thank you so much. have good sundays. for all of you, i'm going to speak with sam nunberg about how he came up with the border wall idea and whether he thinks it's a good one now. next, setting an impeachment trap for the president, is that what democrats are up to? denny heck of the house intel committee joins me next. >> you can't impeach somebody that's doing a great job. i've probably done more in the first two years than any president, any administration, in the history of our country. e grandkids... ♪ music >> tech: ...every minute counts. and you don't have time for a cracked windshield. that's why at safelite, we'll show you exactly when we'll be there. with a replacement you can trust. all done sir. >> grandpa: looks great! >> tech: thanks for choosing safelite. >> grandpa: thank you! >> child: bye! >> tech: bye! saving you time... so you can keep saving the world.

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i may declare a national emergency, dependent on what's going happen over the next few days. >> really threatening talk from the president that he doesn't have the power to execute. look, if harry truman couldn't nationalize the steel industry during war time, this president doesn't have the power to declare an emergency and build a multibillion dollar wall on the border. >> there you're hearing the new chairman of the house intelligence committee, adam schiff, reacting to the president doubling down on declaring a national emergency to build the border wall. joining me now, representative denny heck, a democrat from washington, also a member of the intelligence committee. good to see you again here in studio. >> thank you. >> do you agree with representative schiff there? do you believe that the president lax tconstitutional authority? >> constitution or legal. it's pure fantasy. about as accurate of his

estimate that he had the largest inauguration crowd in history. that's fantasy. >> you don't think he's going to try to put the military on the line force to choose to obeying the law and presidential orders? >> he very well may try to do it, but i'm completely confident that the courts will check him in that regard because again, he lax both the constitutional and legal authority to do it. >> yet, senator lindsey graham is urging the president, hold fast to this. here's what he's saying, the president may actually be open to extending the temporary protection status for immigrants feeling civil wars from precollepr preselected countries. >> here's what i think the deal would look like. given the money we need to secure our border and $5 billion could be well spent, and we could put on the table tps reform. there's 400,000 people that are

going to lose their legal status. i would like to deal with that problem. >> do you like that idea? what does that stand with regard to daca, the 700,000 that would be covered under that proposal? >> i think republicans are clearly beginning to look for a way out of their own mess. the corner they've painted themselves into. it's not just senator graham. senator gardner from colorado and senator collins from maine have called for us to reopen the federal government short of that. listen, alex, in a previous life i was a professional negotiator for labor and management. i learned a couple of things, you can't negotiate through the press. the second of which is, oftentimes it's always darkest before the dawn and it looks pretty dark now. we absolutely need to get the federal government reopened because so much is at stake. tax refunds, food stamp recipients, right on down the line. >> what does it say to you that the republican representative along the 1500 miles border in texas is even saying, let's not do this. we need to reopen the government, believing a wall along his border with mexico is

ineffective? >> congressman will herd is to whom you refer. >> of course. >> i have the privilege to serve on the intelligence committee with him. he is a former covert cia agent. it's not just will. i'm not aware of a member of the congress, liberal or conservative, who represents a border community who believes that wall is a solution to border security. in fact what they almost universally say, it's a fifth century, medieval solution in search of a 21st century problem i spoke with peter baker, you may have heard the conversation, and "new york times" correspondent, co-authored the article which mentions that even conservative activists who want sharp reductions in illegal immigration see a border wall as barely relevant. that's echoing your sentiments you're seeing this throughout congress. why is there such a problem? if this is how people are really feeling, why has this become the

sticking point? >> so you're asking me to speak on behalf of the president of the united states? i admit, alex -- >> how about speak on behalf of congress. why doesn't mitch mcconnell get involved ri involved right now? why does he not see what you're alleging, peter baker as well, there are so many who don't see the practicality of this wall and believe it may be a losing issue, but for political expediency? why not get something done and move on to the plethora of other issues that you have in congress? >> why is senator mcconnell hiding? i'm not sure why. however, he's beginning to get signals as we referred to earlier from senator collins and senator -- who else said -- senator gardner, we ought to reopen the federal government. he also got a pretty strong signal, i think, last week interest senator romney, who made a pretty strong statement about the context within all of this is occurring. when he gets enough signals he

will come out of hiding. i encourage him in the strongest possible terms to do just that and to own up to his job and do his job and reopen the federal government. it's not just trash piling up, alex. pretty soon people are not going to be able to get their tax refunds which a lot of people rely on -- >> food stamps. >> food stamps. we're talking 38 million people that are at risk of going hungry. we're not talking about the stitch stench of trash in parks. we're talking about people going hungry. we have seven appropriations bills that have not been passed. six of them have absolutely nothing to do with this. they have passed the house by overwhelming majorities and passed the senate, there's no reason why we can't reopen all the rest of them, even if we kept isolated this conflict or this disagreement about the president's obsession with the wall. let's reopen the federal government. >> you think you will be able to do that department by department, as susan collins was suggesting earlier? >> we're going to do that this

week in the united states house of representatives. we're going to start passing department reopening legislation one at a time. >> do you expect the senate to also come on board with that? >> i'm not in the business of necessarily predicting what the senate will do, but if you follow the trend lines of an increasing number of senators beginning to make utterances mosque in that direction, i have my fingers crossed and optimism they will begin to see the error of the president's ways. >> impeachment and talk of that within the now democratically controlled house of representatives, is that a winning strategy right now? is that something that you believe constituents want congress to focus on? >> so, i think the house of representatives institutional position is best represented by the public statements of the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, the majority leader steny hoyer and the chair of the judiciary committee new york's own congressman jerry nadler, all of whom have said the same thing, on the same page, consistent, that impeachment

should come at the end of the fact gathering process, in other words, we need to wait for bob mueller's report to come in according to all reports and we don't really have eyes on it so we don't know for sure, we are however not too far away from that. i think it is prudent and i think america needs for us to wait for that report. >> all right. congressman denny heck, thank you so much. i'm always glad to have you in studio with me here. it's a pleasure. >> you're welcome. >> we've been keeping an eye on the meetings under way. i think we have some video. we've seen mike pence arriving the top of the hour. they're running just a little bit late. they're having another round of talks today. you see the vice president, jared kushner, and kirsten nielsen as well. we'll see who else shows up and report that on msnbc. we'll be right back. t on msnbc we'll be right back. (voice) you know what you're doing right now?

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that has been a familiar refrain at trump rallies in the months before the 2018 midterms, you heard it as far back as 2015 when he first announced his campaign. the man taking credit for the wall branding, the border wall, how a potent symbol is now boxing trump in and joining me

now, sam nunberg, trump campaign adviser during the 2016 election cycle. sam, sam, sam, my friend, is it you that we have to thank for all of this consternation about building a wall and here's why i ask that, because you spoke to "the new york times" for this and in this report by peter baker, whom i spoke with earlier in the hour. >> right. >> it says that the whole wall idea was a, quote, memory trick for an undisciplined candidate. was that your thinking when you came up with this? i mean, tell the story. i'm going to give you the platform to tell us how this all came about. >> this was an issue discussed in 2006, it was discussed in the 2008 democrat primary. they were talking about fencing. the president had talked about fencing in april at a trip, april of 2015 at a trip in new hampshire. how do we get donald trump, a mogul, a magnet, someone who was going to do a campaign like nobody has ever seen before, someone who wanted to do rallies

and a free-flow type of speaking at that point, to make sure he hit his policy points. this president thinks, obviously, to his career and brand he made was always going to talk about the economy and always talk about the military and the vetsz. those were issues dear to him. we also wanted immigration, which he had agreed and he had been following closely from the 2013 when the gang of six deal failed, we wanted to make sure that he brought in that point. on the other hand, too, his campaign was a common sense type approach to problems. now i just heard congressman heck say -- i've heard republicans i wouldn't necessarily consider them conservatives, some in state, although not really by the border, outer parts of texas and arizona, say they don't want to vote for a wall, but this is something that was voted, this audience and everyone, this was

in 2006, you had then senators schumer, you had senator obama, senator hillary clinton and senator joe biden, they voted for something because they also wanted to get a comprehensive type deal, which is where i think this is going to lead to. something where the president will get his funding and i believe he will, in order to make sure he gives daca, which he has taken this party, he has shown leadership on that issue and take an leftward position and he will take the heat on that and also give other residuals to people that are here that need protection. >> sam, that can only happen after this shutdown, you know, is -- >> there is a piecemeal approach and that's what we're seeing. >> you heard denny heck saying, susan collins talk as well, that's what they hope to do piece by piece. did you imagine there would be a government shutdown over this concept? >> you know, i did, i'll tell

you why. during this last cycle we wanted the president outside supporters, i'm not part of his campaign, people like us that were trying to help him maintain the house, we saw in focus groups, we saw in polling that trump supporters, the trump base, they identify the majority of his immigration accomplishment with that wall. while you can see that some people may say to reporters at the rallies, look, we don't take him quite literally, there are many others that do. this doesn't necessarily have to be. i would say something else, when he visited texas, alex, in july of 2015, kasie hunt asked him about the wall, he said in some places we won't have a wall but other places we will. i think at this time if they're able to get their message out, he has a very good chance of being re-elected or a chance of being like paul ryan, the former speaker of the house. >> can i ask who came up with the idea for mexico to pay for the wall? >> that was certainly mr. trump

said that we would partly take that. it's not about necessarily coming up with the idea. we had discussed this. look, i also want to say too, i don't want to say i'm mr. wall here. there were plenty of concepts we proposed to then mr. trump that he didn't like or probably wouldn't have worked. with mexico paying for it, i would also say, too, that something he had always said to us during the campaign was look, we don't necessarily have to say exactly how we can get them to pay for it because i do think that in terms of trade, i think in terms of cutting foreign policy -- excuse me foreign aid, foreign aid to mexico, there are ways we can actually save money. with that said, though, once again, i think that this is an issue, i understand people talking, i would respectfully disagree with them and tell the president that this is a threshold issue for his re-elect on top of other issues that he needs to do, including getting a comprehensive deal with china.

>> we should just say mark is being concerned the president might give away too much to get this wall with regard to immigration which he wants to see controlled certainly. sam nunberg, i just wanted to know where all this came from and i'm glad you came on. >> thank you. >> coming up next, what the incoming chief of staff said today that might make you wonder what is going on inside the white house. i'm alex trebek here to tell you about the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's.

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take your razor, yup. up and down, never side to side, shaquem, you got it? come on stay focused. hard work baby, it gonna pay off. . happening now, the talks on the stalemate over border funding have resumed.

white house officials have arrived to discuss the president's price tag for the wall but optimism appears to be in short supply. mick mulvaney making this new prediction in an interview. >> i think this is going to drag on a lot longer. we're back to square one, $5.6 billion and they're at zero. >> let's bring in adrian, former director of strategic communications for hillary clinton's campaign, john calloway and amy tarcanen. before i get to this topic, you were listening to sam nunberg, give me a reaction to your thoughts about this, the genesis of this whole wall during the campaign for donald trump? adrian, you can go first. >> i think it looks like he's being boxed in because of a, you know, maybe not very well thought out strategy by his -- some of his strategists including roger stone who basically said we want him to talk about immigration and this is a very important issue to the

republican base, party base, but at the same time he may not remember to talk about it, so let's keep telling him to talk about a wall. that is what is causing literally the government to be shutdown at this moment. >> the president not talking about things because he was as we remember so off the cuff during his campaign rallies, does this make sense to you, the description by sam nunberg? >> well, first of all, i'm glad to see sam looking better than when we saw him looking about six months ago. this is bad policy, it's a childish device they gave to a president who nobody thought would win, and now it's caused a government shutdown. this is just really bad policy and it doesn't seem to be well thought out. what struck me there is that this is coming from the minds of roger stone and sam nunberg who are not the varsity, so to speak, in terms of campaign talent. these are people who are not really versed in serious policy and shouldn't be coming up with things to guide a campaign. they should be coming up with rhetoric, perhaps, to guide rallies. i think this whole thing is just symptomatic of this entire administration, which has gotten so far down the rails that

nobody ever thought that this would be reality, yet here we are in 2019. >> i'm going to suspect that amy will have a little different position here. you have at it. >> yeah. i think it was initially good pr. we do live in a world of 30-second blurbies and that was their intent and it blew out of proportion a little bit. >> what's happening most recently via the president who said he may declare a national emergency within days, he's going to decide soon if there's not a breakthrough on a deal. does that concern you at all? do you think that is fair play in these circumstances? there are so many legal and constitutional questions about the potential for the president to do this. >> you are correct. there are a lot of open-ended answers to all of those questions dealing with how we're going to fund the border. what i found helpful and i wish that the president would have done this a lot sooner, was if

you don't want to hear the words from the president himself, then bring out tborder security agens to explain why we need stronger border security. in their words they said we don't need a wall from sea to shining sea, but we do need it in certain areas. when you have the border security agents actually pleading with the american people and pleading with the members of the house that this is necessary, i think then we need to take a serious step back and listen to these experts. >> where do you see this heading, this emergency declaration by the president? do you think there is still room for a deal? i mean, how about the exchange for daca protections for those 700,000? would that be viable? >> sure. i'll respond in reverse. there is no room for a deal that includes a wall. the wall is a nonstarter for nancy pelosi and house democrats. you have a younger, browner, more progressive congress and the wall is a nonstarter. the democrats have offered

substantial funding for enhanced border security all of which has been proven and data would suggest is a more effective means of border security than the wall. the wall is a nonstarter. if that's the president's sticking point this could go on another month which would have serious ramifications and unintended consequence ps for variety of things for our government to mention families missing paychecks off this thing. >> with regard to border security, all sorts of technological things, why does it have to be the physical appearance of a wall or a slatted metal fence, which really it's six and one half dozen in another. everything that the president is saying that he's trying to compromise on that, not really. so why does it have to be a wall? to don's point and to the point of border agents and others who have looked at this issue and say, we need different types of technological advancements along

the border to keep the border enhanced and safe? >> well, i think that goes back to your first question about your interview with sam nunberg being stuck on the word "wall". the president i think made that mistake of just using the word "wall." we have to use different forms of technology. we need to use whether it's called a barrier or wall. including more bodies at the border. >> is there anybody, amy, within the president's advisory circle who could say, mr. president, if you start talking about border security, talk about technological advancements, talk about infrared and drones and all those things that might not be a physical barrier, you might actually get somewhere? is there anyone who might do that for the president? would that be effective politically? >> i think it would definitely be smart. i believe there have been some

members in the senate that have actually come out and said what you just mentioned, saying look, we're not looking at this as just a wall. it's got to be a barrier of some sort including technology. are these people in his ear on a daily basis? that's a good question. i have no idea who that would be actually on his day-to-day staff. >> well, let's take a look at what we're hearing adrian, this morning from mick mulvaney, the acting chief of staff. let's listen to that. >> what do you think is going to be the biggest challenge for you as the acting chief of staff for president trump? >> oh, i haven't found any yet. it's actually been a lot of fun. >> you haven't found any challenges? >> people keep asking me, bump me in the hallway, don't know if i should congratulate or console you. it's a lot of fun. >> kind of an interesting response on the challenges of the job under the circumstances. what's your reaction to that? i don't think john kelly ever called this, you know, fun. >> no, he didn't. i think mick is probably trying

to make things -- make things seem like they're very calm in the west wing when they probably aren't at this point. it's interesting to see he's going on under the chief of staff, that's his title, but we'll see if he becomes the permanent chief of staff. we know he's taking the staff to a retreat this weekend and maybe they will come out with some fundamental objectives that can help people. i'm not placing bets on it. >> neither is the president apparently. mulvaney was also asked about congresswoman tlaib using an expletive about impeaching the president and whether the president's own choice of words has affected public discourse. let's look at that. >> i think people can be coarse as this member of congress is. i was glad to see some of my former democrat colleagues distance themselves from that type of language. the president does use coarse language in private with us. i don't think anybody blames the president for the coorsening of the language.

>> do you agree with that? do people not blame the president for this language and rhetoric? >> i think a substantial amount of people do blame the president for a wholistic sense of debasing the public discourse over the past five years. he kicked in the door with the racist rhetoric of obama being born in kenya, building a wall, mexicans sending rapists and murderers. she said a word i don't use but i don't feel the need to distance myself from congressman dlaib. this is a really bad case of what about it. people have been involved into the oval office into the president's inner sanctum. >> your reaction. >> the democrats said it themselves when republicans go low, we go high. this doesn't seem like they followed through with their own words. i do not support the president using that type of verbiage, but then i found it very

disappointing that an incoming female of muslim descent we should be celebrating decided to use that verbiage. >> all right. well i will let that be the last word. adrian and dawn and amy, it's good to see you as always. hollywood's first award celebration of the year, who is picked to win a golden globe, next. year, who is picked to win a golden globe, next severe rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. humira can help stop the clock. prescribed for 15 years, humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions and new or worsening heart failure.

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the stars are out for the first big show of the movie industry awards season. tonight's golden globe awards are hosted by the hollywood foreign press association will air live on nbc. but all weekend celebrities have been partying ahead of tonight's big gala. some pretty big names stepping out to celebrate. what a year it has been. joining me now new york bureau chief at variety. i guess i owe you big thanks for being here because you were at one of those big parties. it's early there in l.a. let's talk about the trademark party of the year in terms of hol bywood standards. what is the big buzz. what are you expecting? >> it's like the new hampshire primary with an open bar where all the candidates can drink throughout the entire evening.

it's the only awards show where alcohol is served throughout the show. so some of those speeches towards the end if you see the winners sounding wobbly, there's a reason for that. >> i remember it's such a casual environment. didn't allison jannie miss coming on stage winning an award. there are great stories that come out of the globes. >> it was christine lady who was at the potty. >> i can't believe we said that. let's talk about the picks for the big winners. best drama category here, 3 out of 5 films ramin focussed on black characters. first of all, is that a record? ultimately who do you think wins this one? >> it is. when you have black panther, black klansman and if beale street could talk, there's often talk about how movies are behind when it comes to diversity compared to television shows, but this has really been a landmark year for films and

diversity. given all that, i still think a star is born is going to win best picture drama. the movie has made more than $200 million. it's a huge box office phenomenon. it's bradley cooper's directory debut and it's of the five films nominated probably has the strongest review. i think it will be a big night for a star is born and propel the movie into oscar season next month. >> yeah. the big push for diversity extended into the best musical and comedy category with 2 of the 5 focussing on diverse categories but in this category you're picking vice, yeah? >> vice has six nominations and i think it will win for best actor for christian bail but i think green book could be the surprise winner in best picture comedy. the movie is set in 1950s as ali has a piano player who befriends his driver. >> there was a point in that film where i cried. have you seen the film? >> i have, yes.

>> the second time that there's a law enforcement interaction there, it's so touching to me. it was very touching. so what about drama tv. this show also has television. you have the americans, pretty timely with the news about the russian spies. but you have homecoming with movie star julia roberts. what are you betting on here? >> the golden globes really like to award freshman series, much hipper than the emmys. this will be a race between pose about the trans gender community and homecoming. i think homecoming has the edge and will probably pull it off. i think julia is going to win best actress in a tv drama which will be her first golden globe for a television show. she's been nominated eight times for movies, but this is the first time for a tv series. >> good. we'll see if she gets it. lots of politics on these

particular stages. particularly at the globes, i think. we have sandra oh, andy sandburg are hosting. they've looked comedic in their rapport together. you have jeff bridges who will get a lifetime achievement awards. as you know, frequently the recipients will get up there and speak their minds about a number of things. oprah did it and practically brought the house down. do you think they'll use the platform for politics, any of these leading the discussions? >> i think so. both sandra oh and andy sandburg said they want to stay away from trump and politics. that's been hard to do at awards shows because hollywood is so liberal. when meryl streep won two years ago, she gave a very political speech and the president called meryl overrated on twitter the next day. may be with jeff bridges but certainly mentions of trump throughout the show. >> give me a quick rundown with

ellen degeneres, kevin hart hosting the oscars. that's not going to happen now? >> this is very strange. over the weekend someone from kevin hart's representative said he will not host the oscars. the word is there will not be an oscar host. >> it has been very interesting that discussion. as is this one with you. ramin, thank you. >> thank you, alex. >> have fun tonight. >> thanks. catch the golden globes on nbc at 8:00 p.m. the onslaught of new investigations the president is about to face. how will he react to the pressure? face. how will he react to the pressure of growth opportunities with a level of protection in down markets. so you can be less concerned about your retirement savings. talk with your advisor about shield℠ annuities from brighthouse financial, established by metlife. f(pirate girl) ahoy!!!!!al, gotcha! (girl) nooooooooooooo!

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i guess we're sleeping here tonight. xfinity home. simple. easy. awesome. call, go online or demo in an xfinity store today. almost at the top of the hour, just in time to hand off on time. i'm alex whit, take it away. right now it's 2:00. >> right time, earlier the better. go have a good weekend. thanks for being with us. i'm right ard lui. we'll start this hour with vice president mike pence meeting with congressional staffers, both sides they're trying to come together on a solution as the partial government shutdown today marking day 16. as for president trump, he will be arriving back at the white house very soon after heading to camp david for meetings with his senior staff when he does land. we'll be watching for that for you. prior to his departure, he was again blaming the shutdown on others. >> this shutdown could end

tomorrow and it could also go on