>> have a good weekend. bye! that's all for now. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. from headquarters here in new york, it is 7:00 in the east. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." a headline raising questions about the president and whether the commander in chief was working on behalf of russia. the white house calling the report absurd. >> why was the president doing the things he was doing? they decide to go forward with the monumental decision of opening up a counterintelligence investigation into the president. also the partial government shutdown now the longest in history. whether there could be blowback for dems with the house and senate adjourned.

and reining in aoc. how to get the novice to play ball. we start with a new report on president trump. "the new york times" reporting that after the president fired james comey in 2017, the fbi began investigating whether trump as a sitting president, was working wittingly or unwittingly with russian interests against america's interests. now "the times" reports there was an fbi counterintelligence inquiry. officials were considering if the president's actions constituted a possible threat to national security. now the investigation was triggered by the president's own actions and words, including during this nbc news interview. the president appeared to say he fired comey because of the russia investigation. >> regardless of recommendation,

i was going to fire comey. knowing there was no good time to do it. in fact, when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, theis russia thing wih trump and russia is a made up story. >> the white house is stating the report is absurd and calling comey a disgraced partisan hack. and the press secretary saying if there was a counter investigation, it would result in some action taken. joining me right now is julia manchester on capitol hill and white house correspondent for "time" magazine. tessa, you first here. is this report absurd and nothing as rudy giuliani contends or evidence of wrongdoing on the president's part? >> i don't think it is evidence yet on the president's part. nor is it absurd. it is a big deal the fbi

launched an investigation into the sitting president of the united states. for an investigation like this, they must have had very good reason to do so. it likely would have been signed off on by the very highest levels of the justice department. we know the probe was referred to robert mueller once he became special counsel. we don't know whether he has continued it or what may have come of it. the very fact that it was started in the first place shows there must have been a reason for that. it can't be dismissed out of hand the way rudy giuliani did. >> weigh in on this, julia? >> the president's supporters and those around him will say this is proof the fbi or intelligence community has been out to get donald trump and they will use this as ammunition. this is absolutely a huge deal that the fbi which normally take a lot of direction from 1600 pennsylvania and open this probe. this is really unprecedented. i can't think in recent modern

u.s. history when something like this happened. this will have a huge impact on the mueller probe. we don't know if this investigation has closed yet. it will be interesting to see how this impacting the mueller probe and the public's perception going forward. >> absolutely. tessa, how do you see this fitting in the larger mueller probe and was the white house somewhat flat footed in the report or do you think they knew theiry excited? >> it is in the larger context of what robert mueller was looking into. how russia sought to interfere in the 2016 election. this is an interesting development about the national security questions raised by the president's own conduct and whether he was knowingly working on behalf of russia or had

unwittingly used by russia for its own end. fits in the larger question. this is a new detail about the facts that the fbi and then mueller's investigation had been looking into trump in a countertoejs ccounte counterintelligence context. >> thank you, julia and tessa. also, no end in sight for the partial government shutdown. day 22 and counting. longest shutdown ever in history. congress adjourned until monday with no weekend negotiations scheduled. the president saying he will not declare a national emergency right now, but not lifting the threat to bypass congress to build his border wall. >> congress should do this. if they can't sddo it, this is 15-minute meeting, if they can't do it, i will declare a national

emergency. >> so if the president does declare a national emergency, he could divert natural disaster funding and billions for puerto rico and california. 800,000 federal workers are waking up without a paycheck. the first missed pay day since the government shutdown. 420,000 essential employees are working without pay. including tsa and air traffic control officers. and the shutdown now costing the u.s. economy $1.2 billion every week. one bright spot, furloughed workers will get back pay for lost wages once the shutdown is over. let's go to mike reporting from capitol hill since the shutdown began. that means long and lonely nights. growing division about all of this, mike. that includes among republicans, right? >> reporter: right. it is hard to under estimate the

stakes for president trump and the republican party the longer this drags on. if the president were to see serious cracks in the republican front, it would be a rout and political disaster for the president. now beyond politics, the 800,000 people you mentioned and not to mention the contractors, depending on the federal government for their livelihood and now officially has become the longest shutdown in american history. they don't care about the politics. they want to get back to work. it says something, alex, where we are in this. some people are floating as the best option for the president to declare a national emergency. that is a way to save face for the president and while this is fought in the courts, congress could get back to work and quickly pass the spending bills to reopen the government. now there are two key republicans we are looking at her for the weekend. one is lisa murkowski. she is from alaska.

obviously a huge federal presence there. lindsey graham, who has a channel open directly to president trump. let's hear what they had to say on these issues late in the week. >> count me in as one of the many in this body and the many around this country who want to ensure that we have strong borders in this nation. let's do a short-term cr to allow us to process this, but let's not keep the government shutdown while we do this. >> the national emergency idea is one way to try to get the wall built. it's got its own problems. just pick. >> reporter: so there you go. lindsey grbehinlindsey graham t president, build wall now. alex, once it happens, it is fought over in the courts. to translate what lisa murkowski

is stating there. cr. a continuing resolution to reopen the government at the existing funding levels. you see a crack in the republican facade here now and it depends upon how deep this fissure goes which will dictate the president's next move. >> mike, thank you for that report. setting us up nicely. julia manchester and tessa baronse no, baronsen. where does the white house stand? is that clear? >> it is not. >> if it happens, the definition of the word emergency as opposed to classify this as a national issue. why has this not happened? >> it is not clear. the president has contradicted himself multiple times within the same span of a few minutes the other day, he is not looking to declare a national emergency and then he said he might.

what it shows is that, you know, trump is spinning his wheels here a little bit and trying to figure out a way out of this. both sides have really dug in their heels and the president is just desperately trying to find a solution that will allow him to reopen the government and also deliver on the border wall which he cares deeply about and it is his signature campaign promise. there is a poll out in the month which showed the wall is popular among republicans. 77% of republicans in the reuters poll supported the wall. 54% supported shutting down the government over it. the policy is more popular than the politics right now and procedures to get there. he is trying to find some way he can win on both fronts and reopen the government and also delivering border security. >> to tessa's point, julia, will both sides budge? this is pretty easy to pin on

the president. >> alex, i don't see democrats budging at all. as the president is trying to please his base, the democrats are trying to do the same. the wall for trump's base is the same as opposing the wall to nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. one thing i would like to point out is the longer this goes on and we are at the point it is the longest government shutdown in u.s. history. this will hurt both sides of this. it is easy for me to say in washington, d.c. this is not just affecting the government, but business. if we go outside of d.c. to utah and alaska which has large concentrations of federal workeworker worke workers. we see local economies suffering. it is not just the federal workers who missed paychecks yesterday. the businesses that depend on the federal workers. this is main street america. this will politically hurt both sides. i don't think the average american really cares if chuck schumer and nancy pelosi or

trump come out on top. they want to pay their mortgage and pay the tuition. >> it was decided $1.2 billion was lost every week in the economy. i'll give you both a chance to answer who will blink first. democrats or the president? tessa. >> i think i'm wondering if it is the longest shutdown in history if it will make donald trump to he find a way out. for he can say to his supporters i tried. i shutdown the government for longer than it has been. democrats would not work with me. >> you are thinking it may be the president who has to blink first? julia? >> i would agree. the president's base has stuck with him through thick and thin. he has the opportunity to say look, i tried to shutdown the government, but this is hurting many americans. you know, that could include the president's base. he can absolutely say he tried.

ultimately his base will stick with him. >> julia and tessa, thank you for starting us off saturday morning. the president is up and tweeting. we will bring that to you. it is about the alarming headline. inquiry into whether he was secretly working on behalf of russia. there are legal consequences? we will get to it after the break. get to i t after the break. ♪ when cravings hit, hit back. choose glucerna, with slow release carbs

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the president already tweeting this morning about the alarming report raising questions about whether some of his actions posed a threat to national security. let's go to nbc white house correspondent geoff bennett. he is up and tweeting. what is he saying? >> reporter: alex, good morning. the president fired off a tweet. wow. just learned in the failing "new york times" that the corrupt former leaders of the fbi, all fired or forced to leave, opened up an investigation on me for no reason and with no proof after i fired who the president calls lying james comey. if you read "the new york times" story, it lays out the details of why the fbi launched the investigation. it also adds the fact that fbi investigators, alex, had to grapple with this question. whether or not president trump's actions surrounding the firing of former fbi director james comey constituted anti-american activity and a threat to

national security. this morning, a bombshell report by "the new york times" reveals law enforcement officials grew alarmed by president trump's behavior in the days after firing james comey that they began investigating whether he was secretly working on behalf of russia. according to "the times" the fbi became suspicious of his ties to russia in the 2016 campaign, but held off on the investigation. >> they knew the decision of opening opening investigation in the candidate or president would be an enormous deal. >> reporter: "the times" reports left two events left fbi officials unnerved, they took the step of launching a probe into the president.

the president's plan to send a letter to james comey about his firing, but never did in which mr. trump explicitly mentioned the russia investigation. the second, the apartmepresiden interview with lester in which he appeared to fire comey because of the russia probe. >> knowing no good time to do it. i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a made-up story. >> reporter: the president's personal lawyer rudy giuliani pushing back. telling nbc news if the fbi investigation obtained any evidence, it would have to result in action being taken or they are imperiling the national security. this shows how out of control they are. and press secretary sarah sanders in a statement to nbc calling the report absurd. and "the times" reports the mueller team has taken over the investigation into where mr. trump is a russian asset.

"the times" says it is not clear if the team is still pursuing it. alex. >> geoff at the white house. thank you. joining me now is former fbi official is chuck rosenberg and criminal attorney ashley mercha merchant. chuck, you first here. we were not supposed to find out about this. look at the ma in thgnitude of investigation. look how explosive this is and how shocked you may be and are you surprised that the president with this tweet minutes ago saying wow, just learned in "the new york times." as if it is a surprise to him. >> let's take the last part first, alex. good morning, by the way. the president's tweets have never been a reliable source of information. i'll put that aside. that's not where i look for the truth. this is a big deal. this is unprecedented.

you have to let this wash over you. the fbi, a meticulous investigation, opened an investigation on the president of the united states is extraordinary. i hope you know i'm not giving in to hyperbole. it is extraordinary. it is troubling to me we read about it in the paper. these types of investigations are deeply sensitive and secret. that's how they ought to remain. just because an investigation is open doesn't mean anyone did anything wrong. that's why we open investigations to make that determination. >> just because the investigation is open, chuck, is it still ongoing? could this lead to a criminal investigation? >> that's -- >> in terms of prosecution. >> -- sure. criminal investigations are int

intertwined. they have a number of options in an investigation. you may never see the fruits of the counterintelligence investigation. we may into the information gleaned from it to look to a diplomatic solution or understand the capabilities of our adversaries. on the other hand, you saw this in the mueller team indicting the 12 russian gru military officers. the spying activities of the adversaries include crimes or often include crimes and sometimes we charge those in federal court. it is braided and it can go in either direction. you may never see the fruits of it. in my experience, counterintelligence investigations take a long time and it could be ongoing. i don't know that. >> ashley, timing wise, the inquiry started after the firing of james comey before the mueller investigation began. how does, if at all, connect to the special counsel's investigation?

>> i think it connects to his investigation because that investigation will look into what the information was that he was -- that president trump wanted to fire comey to avoid coming out. i think mueller will be investigating what actually was the obstruction. the obstruction act was the firing of comey. these will interplay with each other and we will see a culmination of the facts and all of these different investigations coming together to lead to impeachment for charges being filed. >> chuck, rudy giuliani, in response to the inquiry admitted he had no inside information on the probe. he said the fact it goes back a year and a half and it shows nothing. that means they found nothing. as a former senior fbi officials is that assessment accurate? does it mean nothing with the lapse of 18 months? >> you know, i said earlier we

don't look to the president's tweets for thing truth nor do we look to mr. giuliani's statements. >> you also said these things take a long time. >> they do. he would know the outcome of this today is ridiculous. counterintelligence investigations as i mentioned, are intended to be secret. i'm confident the fbi would not share the fruits of it with mr. giuliani. >> new analysis, ashley, what if the fbi was investigating the russian leelection meddling and adding the president by possibility obstructing justice. was the collusion? what is your take? >> it could be the collusion. that is what i was thinking that both investigations are working together. i think we see multiple agencies conducting investigations and they have to compare the information and if they present that to the house and senate and they look at impeachment and look at the information gathered by the agencies and by all of the investigations and put it

together and see if this was collusion or obstruction of justice or lying. those are the charges they will look at and i think we will see in the future. >> ashley merchant and chuck rosenberg, thank you for your insight. stealing the spotlight and bringing new energy to the party. what to make at the attention aimed at new congress member alexandria ocasio-cortez. sio-coz unpredictable crohn's symptoms following you? for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease, stelara® works differently. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection

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in just a matter of hours, former secretary of housing and urban development julian castro is expected to announce he is running for president. with a good morning to you, mariana, what did he say to you? did he give you an indication? do you know which way he will go? >> reporter: good morning, alex. he is likely to make that important announcement today here behind me. the former mayor of san antonio. being in texas, obviously, my first question was about donald trump and the border. to which he said he thinks donald trump is creating a political ploy. a quote boogie man at the border. this is a man whose grandmother

migrated from mexico in the '20s. his mother is a political activist. he said i am the democrats anti-dote to donald trump. the product of the american dream. i asked him how he will compete in what is likely to be a crowded primary. this was our exchange. >> how are you going to stand out from figures with nationwide recognition like elizabeth warren and joe biden if he runs? >> i will get out there. it will be a crowded race. i look forward to articulating my vision for the future. i don't think it is necessarily always having the shinny words or approach. people want to know that somebody has the right experience and that they have the right investigation to make sure their family can succeed in this country. i have that. i look forward to getting out

there and making the case. >> reporter: he is expected to be joined by his wife erica and two young children and, of course, alex, his identical twin brother representative joaquin castro. we will have those images for you live here on msnbc. >> you mentioned his mother who is proud of her sons. mariana, thank you. let's go from there to day 22 of the federal shutdown. workers and contractors getting a pay stub that looks like this. joining me now is the democrat from virginia. thank you for joining me. let's talk about virginia which is home to federal workers affected here. what stories are you hearing about how people are coping? >> people are doing the best they can. it is an awful situation. speaker pelosi said they don't have a father or a mother they

can necessarily go to and ask for money. so, we have got to end the shutdown. the president started this. the president will have to come forward with some proposals to end this so we can get on governing the american people and show they can work. >> i'm curious about the advisory put out encouraging folks to pet sit and baby sit or become a mystery shopper. are workers offering items up for sale to get cash in exchange? this is the first missed paycheck. what does this look like as time goes by? >> it gets uglier and uglier. i'm sorry the advisories were sent out. again, that's why the president has got to come to the table. he has to get realistic about what he can and cannot do. we can reopen the government. democrats from day one came back to the capitol in charge of the house and passed bills to open up the government. the senate refused to take those

up. mcconnell says he won't take them up unless the president approves them. that's not how the government works. we passed more bills to open on more federal agencies. we are doing everything in the house to get people working and paid to pay their bills. >> democrats are not offering anything in terms of money for the wall. republicans are saying if they were to do that in some fashion, some exchange for concessions on daca for example, would you be open to any of that? >> look, republicans had two years of controlling the government to get this done. what we want to see is realistic border security. most of the problems we have come through ports of entry. we shouldn't be worried about a wall that is a fourth century answer to the 2st century probl problem. >> does this mean you are not willing to put up money for the

wall? >> i'm personally not prepared to put up additional money for the wall. the president hasn't spent the money we have given him yet. we want to see technology and drones and border security. not a wall that you can jump over or tunnel under. >> sir, do you think there is any way to put forth what you are proposing? the tech following ynology alon d border? do you think this is the kind of border security we support? just not the monolithic wall? is there any room for negotiation? >> i believe there is. i believe our leadership has expressed that through the media like we are doing now as well as to the president personally. >> what about, i guess, the tone of all this? does the shutdown come down to this? president doesn't want to

renege on his campaign promise. is there anything left in this fight? >> i think that is an unfair characterization of what democrats are saying. we said we are for border security. we said we expressed our desire to have technology and 21st century solutions. we are not playing politics. we opened government or tried to open government and we are waiting for the than tpresident partner with us. and not hold the 800,000 workers hostage. >> the president is focusing on the wall. behind the scenes, he is hiring a number of lawyers another to "the post" report here. you have scheduled testimony to happen on february 7th here in the house oversight committee. what is the expected testimony? >> we expect to learn what michael cohen knows about the president's activities veies vis

with the payment for silence and other things. house democrats are focused on two things. exercising our constitutional obligation of oversight and making sure we address the kitchen table issues to make people's lives better. >> congress member, thank you for weighing in. i appreciate your time. >> thank you for having me. it appears president trump may back down from declaring a national emergency. so is this a change of heart or change of strategy? strategy one hour pickup order?

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the partial government shutdown officially now the longest in u.s. history as of today. a solution is not coming soon enough for the 800,000 federal workers who missed their paychecks on friday. joining me now is philip rucker and the political analyst. good morning to you. let's get into it. congress adjourned for the weekend. there are zero scheduled negotiations scheduled in the next day. what is happening at the white house on friday? is there a lack of urgency here? >> alex, there is a stalemate here. there is no plan by those in congress or those in the white house of how to get out of this. how to reopen the government. the last meeting that we had between democratic heard democ

congress ended with donald trump storming out of the meeting. it is hard to see how they pick up the pieces and get out of it. the president is talking about declaring a national emergency to empower him to build the border wall without congressional approval. he will not do that immediately. he wants to continue negotiating. >> what is behind that? it is almost like whiplash. thursday he said he is likely to do it. he is in mcallen and he is saying this is what we need to do. on friday, he said we will wait. what changed in the 24-hour period for the president? >> a couple of things. i think he got cold feet. all week long, the president and vice president mike pence and the administration were trying to make the case for a national emergency. they were saying this is a humanitarian and security crisis at the border. they were laying a foundation and building a presentdicate. the lawyers were reviewing the

legal options and how this would work and importantly how would the administration defend it in court? they expect federal court challenges. they found it is not conclusive if it were legal. although president trump said he had the authority to make the declaration and defend it in court. it is not that clean and not that easy. you are hearing from key senators, including chuck grassley from iowa saying hold on. this is not a good idea to make the declaration. the president decided to hold off. he may do it in a few days, but we'll see. >> is this a good idea as we understand the president is looking into other possibilities to pay for it. including tapping asset forfeit funds and military construction funds and tapping into the money used to provide for emergency scenarios like puerto rico and florida and california for the last year from environmental disasters. what is the most likely scenario

to take form here? are we looking at a more partisan exit to the shutdown if that is possible? >> we could be. it seems trump is trying to exhaust every option he can to find money to build the wall. including manipulating the funds for allocating of disaster relief and reallocating that to the wall. there would be tremendous political resistance to that on capitol hill, especially from democrats. there is the question if that is even legal. congress is the body of our government that allocates money that decides the budget. that is not an executive authority. the president could potentially be overstepping his bounds in doing so. that being said, he feels extraordinary pressure from his political base to deliver on the wall. he doesn't think he will secure the funding because the democrats control the house. he is looking for every way he can to make that construction happen. >> can i ask since we talked

about mcallen and the president's visit on thursday. you were there covering his visit. do you have a sense of where his head is on this? >> that's a great question. i have to tell you in that three or four hours we were on the ground at the border in mcallen, the president was all over the place. he said we needed wall immediately and on the other hand i'll do the national emergency. then saying hold on. i want a more comprehensive immigration bill. i want to do something for daca for the kids who came from undocumented parents and born in the united states. there is no strategy here or any message where he is explaining exactly what he is trying to do and being consistent. >> can i ask as you look at the faces of those elected and appointed officials standing next to him. the two senators from from texas and kirstjen nielsen from

homeland security. do you get any read on how they interpret things as the president rambles off one prospect after another? none of which syncs up? >> they are public figures and they have good poker faces. they sat through the hour-long presentation at the border patrol station in mcallen where the president had a lot of extemporaneous remarks about the dogs able to sniff out drugs from illegal immigrants crossing over the border. they heard all of the comments and did not react in any noticeable way. they are good at saying the things they are supposed to say which is to commend president trump for his leadership and talk about the crisis at the border and keep their lips sealed on everything else. >> my friend, you are good at saying what you are supposed to say. answering the questions. thank you. who may pay the biggest price for the border wall?

not mexico, nor taxpayers. the answer may surprise you on that one. and why alexandria ocasio-cortez is causing fellow democratic lawmakers to become ex-as p e exasperated. before i had the shooting, burning of diabetic nerve pain these feet raised a bouncing boy and climbed the ladder in the hardware business. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. so i talked to my doctor and he prescribed lyrica. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these,

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whatever you want to call it, it's okay with me. they can name it whatever. they can name it peaches. i don't care what they name it. we need money for that barrier. >> peaches? well, anyway. the president friday at the white house last night volunteers in maryland providing dinner for employees affected by the shutdown. hundreds showing up at a high school in silver springs. joining me now interim executive director of the national security project and former director of constituency outreach for the obama/biden re-election campaign and fouworg for former senator rand paul. bishop, i will start with you here. there is a growing number of americans who are blame the president for this shutdown. as we continue to hear stories about people being hurt by this, is there any risk of democrats overplaying their hand and helping to keep both sides

apart? >> well, first off, thank you for having me this morning. i think there's always going to be that time of risk. we need to get back to understanding what these workers and families are actually experiencing. from my own experiences in 2013 i understand what it feels like to actually be furloughed when i was at the department of defense. i had to experience this and not knowing what your financial situation might look like, what it might be, we really need to get past the politics of this and both sides need to come together and form an agreement. what we ultimately have here is the president holding the country hostage because of these policies around draconian and outdated idea of what a border wall is and what immigration should be. we need him to go ahead and be prepared to sign the legislation that both the house and senate has already passed on now two occasions. >> bishop, how long were you out of work and how tough was it? >> i was furloughed for about a

week, and we didn't have any type of consistent idea of when our paychecks were going to come. >> nerve-racking. >> it was absolutely nerve-racking. i was a young, single guy living in d.c. already kind of had to budget my money appropriately before the inconsistency and the unsure events that were transpiring actually occurred. my heart goes out to these families dealing with this. >> you were a single guy. imagine for the bread winners of families with children and all, this is pretty tough. brian, we have the senate and house adjourned for the weekend, the president has pulled back from declaring a national emergency to fund the wall. what do you think is behind that? why did he back off on that idea? >> i think that maybe he will do it. we're looking at a situation where we don't see an end game. we don't know how this will end. many in the house, many democrats are saying not one more dollar for a wall, and it's a really odd position from my

perspective because democrats aren't calling to tear down existing walls. they just don't want to give him any extra money. >> hang on a second. i spoke with a member of congress from virginia who said we're all about providing border security via technology and the like, it's just not this monolithic wall we're supporting. is there any way to get proper security put up along this border and get money for that from a technical advantage as opposed to just this wall that seems to have been a campaign promise? >> well, i think technology is important. i think all of these things are important. you need every aspect of border security to keep the border secure and walls, fencing, whatever you want to call it is an aspect of it. we have seen them work in certain situations and i do find it really strange that the democrats have kind of lost their minds on this. they're overreacting to president trump and making the case that walls are immoral.

we can't build any more walls. they're not calling to tear down existing walls. they work. you have a situation where democrats are dug in, not one more dollar for the wall and obviously president trump has dug in, too, saying i'm not going to sign anything without my $5 billion in wall funding. i don't see any common ground. >> may i ask you, bishop, to weigh in -- we saw the scenes of the metal fence, the prospect of the wall, and there were holes that were cut into that. so how effective is that? >> holes that were cut into with a hacksaw you could buy as an ace hardware, as a matter of fact. if the president really cared about border security, if he really cared about these issues, he would be funding the coast guard right now, ensuring that the department of homeland defense had the proper funded it needed in order to carry on its mission. he would ensure that agents with customs and border patrol were properly resourced and properly funded in order to do this. a draconian wall and draconian policies are not going to work. walls can be destroyed and can

be scaled. here in the year 2019 we're even having this discussion about whether or not we need to have a wall versus looking at immigration reform and technical advances that could actually work. >> all right, guys, listen -- >> exclusively a wall, i've never heard anybody say that. >> i've heard it on several occasions while i was on the clinton campaign, at rallies, that mr. trump continuously said he was going to build a wall. no one could build -- >> he also deployed the military to the border. >> we can get into that, too, if you'd like. he did that in a way no other president has utilized that type of egregious activity before when you talk about deploying the military in that capacity. >> would you not agree, brian, it is the wall, the prospect of an actual wall in some fashion that is the sticking point here? >> oh, no, i 100% agree. i think both sides are dug in. they're not giving an inch.

i think one of the biggest problems is the separation of powers problem. congress really hasn't done their job. over the past year we've seen congress not send appropriation bills to the president on time. we get into these situations of continuing resolutions right at the last minute, and this is going to happen. it was inevitably going to happen, the government was going to break down. so part of it is a problem with the process and it's an issue between the separation of powers of the congress and the president. >> unfortunately, i'm out of time. i hoped to talk more. i will leave that to my colleague, david gura up next. the fate of the mueller probe. ♪ there goes our first big order. ♪ 44, 45, 46... how many of these did they order? ooh, that's hot. ♪ you know, we could sell these.

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