this morning the government shutdownhe continues to drag on. we reached day 26 with no end in sight. now tense of thousands of federal employees are being ordered back to work without pay. hotrump's pick william barr gets grilled as they drill him repeatedly about the john mueller probe. comments concerning white supremacywh made by congressman steve king. even king voted in support of the measure.

good morning, it's wednesday, january 16. it is day 26 of the government shutdown, both the house and senate say they are can selling next year's recess unless there is aes resolution. right now, that appears unlikely. president trump showed no science of backing down. in fact, trump reportedly, we will be out for a long time. people are very impressed with how well government is working with the circumstances we are under. >> the ap reports behind the scenes the administration on capitol hill are warily eyeing the next pay day. they need to prepare the next round forre workers seeing zero on their pay slips. the white house invited a group

of rank and file. none of the democrats took trump up on the offer. meanwhile, house democratic freshmen walked over to mitch mcdonnell's house-passed bills that would reopen the government. mcconnell was not there at the time he wasco on the senate flo. >> the impacts continue to be felt bymp millions of americanss growing numberf of federal workers face deepening anxieties about when they'll see their next paycheck. yesterday the trump administration orderedtr thousas of furloughed federal employees back to work without pay. nearly ay50,000 employees will have to return to work to fulfill some key government traffic like dispersion tax refunds, overseeing flight safety and inspecting the food and drug comply. a new poll believes the president is to blame for the

shutdown. to blame for the shutdown the poll also found that seven out of ten americans say shutting down the deposit in order to reach an agreement on a policy is bad strategy compared to 22% who say it is a good strategy. all right, let's talk about the confirmation hearings from yesterday. attorney general nominee william bar senior set to return to capitol hill for a couple hours for the second day of his confirmation hearing before the senate judiciary committee. barr testified for nine hours yesterday as he faced tough questions over the future of robert mueller's russia probe, if he is confirmed n. some instances, barr broke with president trump on how he views the investigation saying he would be completely independent when it comes to running the justice department. >> i am not going to do anything that i think is wrong and i will

not be bullied into doing anything i think is wrong by anybody. whether it be editorial board, congress or the president. i have known bob mueller for 30 years. we worked closely together throughout my previous ten year at the department of justice. we have been friends since. i have the utmost respect for bob and his distinguished record of service. when he was named special counsel, i said his selection was good news and knowing him, i had confidence he would hand tell matter properly. i still have that confidence today. given his public actions to date, i expect that the special counsel is well along in his investigation. at the same time the president has been shedd steadfast he was not involved with collusion russian attempts to interfere in the election.

i think it is in the best interest of everyone, the president, congress, and the american people this matter be allowing the special counsel to complete liss work. mueller, you say you have known mueller a long time. you say you have a close relationship on mr. mueller. >> i would say we were good friends. >> would you say that you understand him to be a fair minded person? >> absolutely. >> do you trust him to be fair to the president and the country as a whole? >> yes. >> when his report comes to you, will you share it as much as possible? >> consistent with the regulations and the rule of law, yes. >> do you believe he would be involved in a witch hunt against maybe? >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> the white house says president trump was keeping an eye on the confirmation hearing for his attorney general nominee. press secretary sarah sanders told nbc news the president watched some of the proceedings when pressed on notable

discrepancies in his views of the mueller probe compared to how the president sees it. sanders would only say that barr quote is a very honorable man doing what he believes and the president respects that. president trump thinks he will be a great attorney general. >> all right. let's bring in political reporter for the daily beast, live in washington, d.c., betsy, great to have you with us. when you watched a little of that confirmation hearing of william barr, it sounds like he is striking all the same points, saying the things they say democrats want to hear. he is assuring a continuation of the mueller probe. he is saying it's not a witch hunt, that bob mueller is an honary man. which makes me think he may have a different take away. >> one of which mr. barr's conconversations with president trump match or don't match the comments at his confirmation hearing. another important question for us is the way he characterized

the report that mueller is ultimately going to provide to him. his description isn't consistent with the broad understanding of the way the special counsels are handles. >> that report almost definitionally is supposed to be private. then he will be able to take content or material. repackage it and give it to congress in a different form. now, there could be plenty of material, especially classified material that's unlikely to see the light of day. but barr's description of the movement from the special congress is unusual. i followed this on a granular level. i never heard it described the way barr described it yesterday. i can tell you on the hill, it's raising eyebrows. >> betsy, i want to talk shutdown here while we have you. there is a new service saying the economy was initially

projected to suffer not as much as it may. the economy may suffer more because of the shutdown the way the numbers are looking. how he hangs his hat on the polls we have been talking about as being blamed for the shutdown. do you think that this could kind of force his hand to negotiate more with regard to the way the polls are looking? >> it certainly doesn't do anything to reassure congressional republicans, who are looking at the same numbers, many of whom also are going to face challenging elections in 2020. remember, there basically aren't any polling or numerical indicators that have good news for republicans. we're seeing overwhelmingly the majority of americans blame trump for the shutdown. perhaps if trump said there would be a shutdown, it would be his responsibility. i can theorize maybe that would have played a role in it.

if you look at the average of the president's approval ratings over the last 30 days or so, the, his approval ratings go down and his approval ratings go up. it's easy to surmise, that's because of the way this shutdown is going. just looking at the data, there is not a lot of good news, that said, trump is a truther when it comes to this data, particularly when the polls were wrong in 2016. it absolutely informs his thinking. though, it doesn't necessarily govern it. >> the president he likes to talk about polls when they're in his favor. >> with way he takes credit nor the stockmarket when it on and up rally as opposed to a down swing. >> betsy, talk to you in a bit. yesterday's near unanimous vote to condemn steve king's latest racist remarks. they passed by a vote of 416-1. the lone holdout was bobry rush who claims it didn't go far enough. the resolution which came on the

90th birthday of another king, dr. martin luther king, jr., was introduced by a majority of james clyburn of south carolina. >> today as this body stands ready to vote to disapprove of representative steve king's recent comments and condemned the evil concepts of white nationalism and white supremacy and white nationalism are evil itself. they are insidious and are clear and present dangers to our great republic. >> i have carefully studied every word in this resolution and even though i'd add some more that are stronger language, i agree with the language in it. so i want to ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, let's vote for this rulings. i'm putting up a yes on the

board here because what you state here is right and it is true and it is just. >> while king says he agrees, he claims his quote in the "new york times" asking how that terms white nationalists and supremacists became offensive was misinterpreted. >> i understand how you interpreted my words win read them this way. there is no tape for this interview that i did. it was 56 minutes long. there are some notes on the other end. but there is no tape. there is no way to go back and listen. but i can tell you this, that ideology never shows up in my head. i don't know how it could possibly come out of my mouth. >> but after a career of offensive and racist language, the iowa hometown des moines register is calling on king to resign. king has often made iowa a laughing stock on the national

stage with offensive remarks about immigrants, calling them as dogs or comparing them to muls with calves the size of the can't lope yesterday congresswoman liz cheney became the first member of the house leadership committee to say king should resign. but despite that and all that happened yesterday, the congressman remains defiant.

>> from this day forward now he dice down. after the resolution is behind us, what are they going to do ne next? after they get done asking me to resign. >> that is not going to happen. >> still ahead, british prime minister brexit deal gets crushed in parliament a if you step towards a 2020 white house run. we will show you kiersten gillibrand's stories and a check on your weather when we come back. on your weather when we come back

but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios. fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. and i don't add trup the years.s. but what i do count on... is boost® delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. boost® high protein. be up for life. introducing the all new lexus es. every curve, every innovation

every feeling. a product of mastery. lease the 2019 es 350 for $399/mo. for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

7pgñóo hey, batter, batter, [ crowd cheers ] like everyone, i lead a busy life. but i know the importance of having time to do what you love. at comcast we know our customers' time is valuable. that's why we have 2-hour appointment windows, including nights and weekends. so you can do more of what you love. my name is tito, and i'm a tech-house manager at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. welcome back. heading across the pond, ten weeks sense he was set to leave the european union. things are not going well. yesterday, teresa may's deal

struck with the european union was soundly struck in parliament. >> that is the biggest parliamentary defeat for any prime minister in history by a wide margin. 100 members of may's conservative party voted against her plan. immediately after that vote, jeremy corbin announced he will ours may by bringing a vote of no confidence against the prime minister later today. may postponed it after it was career he would be defeated. he survived a no confidence vote from the conservative party days later. may only has a couple options left, that leaving the eu on march 29 as planned but with no divorce deal in place or holding a referendum vote which isn't as

farfetched as it was found. a final agreement has not been implemented. >> wow, lots of developments to see. >> oh, yeah. >> maybe not many. joining us now, correspondent sarah harmon, for us, good morning, good afternoon to you. what are the chances here of another brexit vote happening? what does the future hold do you think forrer is e teresa may at this point? >> good morning. a couple months ago, a second referendum was a remainder's pipe dream. support is growing for a second referendum. time is rapidly running out. britain is set to leave the european union barring an extension ten weeks from now. parliament has to approve any deal with the eu.

it doesn't have to approve a no deal brexit. some lawmakers want a no deal brexit. they are not prepared to upper stamp. teresa may faces a no confident vote later today. labor leader jeremy corbin called this with the aim of winning an election. instead, there would be 14 calendar days where she can regain the confident of lawmakers or another government can be formed. and to be clear. no matter how much consoevtive mps dislike here labor plan. many like her government plan less. what we can honestly say right now is we have no idea what can happen. >> see, i dead e said it. developments or no developments. >> thanks, sarah.

someone that usually has some idea of what will happen. he gets a lot of credit. california is bracing for bad weather this morning. >> the most impactful winter event so far. we will see a blizzard in the mountains, mud and debris flows out of this and wind damage. i also saw one meteorologist saying they could get incredible wave action, too. it will have it all. this is what is responsible. a huge storm spinning out in the pacific. all the moisture and rain is starting in san francisco in the bay area. san francisco up to napa. san francisco, los angeles is not into flash flood kwauchs. it was the burn areas we were concerned with, easily, three,

four inches of rain, san francisco northward. two to three inches easily, down the mountains of l.a. then the snowfall, we're talking 12 to 18 easy. they could get up to 3 or 4 feet of snow. this mess will head across the country. we will talk more about the impact in the east. it looks like still a significant weekend winter storm and even new york city, boston, harvard providence, yesterday i was saying no to rain, maybe it's ice, rain back to snow. >> now we're talking winter. still ahead, new polling appears to show the ongoing government shutdown taking a toll on president trump's approval ratings. we will have those numbers coming up for you. rs coming up for you.

a whole new way to care for newborns is born new johnson's cottontouch™ wash and lotion made with real cotton and enhances your gentle touch a new soft a new touch a new gentle new johnson's cottontouch™ (baby cooing) choose gentle that's where i feel normal. having an annuity tells me my retirement is protected. learn more at retire your risk dot org.

to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and well-rested. because hey, tomorrow's coming up fast. nature's bounty. because you're better off healthy. psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream. it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop.

some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. welcome back. time now for sports. we begin with the nba in denver as the golden state warriors scored 34 points against the nuggets with steph curry and klay thompson. each putting up a game clay of 24 points. they move back atop the western conference in full effect. turning now to the nfl, they battle this weekend, the rest are ironing off rosters and

staff next season. the quarterback has been sett settled. doug pederson reright rating the success over the last two years n. denver they hired ed do donatell. they worked for the bears and espn reports the new york jets will reportedly make interimcoach greg williams the team's next defensive coordinator. finally those michigan football recruits are getting younger and younger, toech jim har baugh makes 13-year-old quarterback isaiah marshall to be the youngest to receive scholarship, after watching game tape of the 7th grade signal caller, searching for prospects. that's incredible. >> so he actually has a scholarship set up for college at 13? >> at 13. >> how old is your son?

>> we're getting him ready. he's 2. >> we have a championship for him. >> he will now be the youngest recruit next year at 3. >> still ahead, much more for attorney general william barr's confirmation hearings, including his thought of indicting a sitting president. a preview of what to expect when michael cohen publicly testifies to congress next month. we'll be right back. testifies tt month. we'll be right back. (burke) parking splat. and we covered it.

talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ but in my mind i'm still 35. that's why i take osteo bi-flex to keep me moving the way i was made to. it nourishes and strengthens my joints for the long-term. osteo bi-flex because i'm made to move. onmillionth order.r. ♪

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. nah. ♪ we don't bake. ♪ opportunity. what we deliver by delivering.

welcome back, everybody, it

is the bottom of the hour. we start with the morning's top stories. in a couple hours, attorney general william barr will be back on capitol hill testifying for a second day. barr faced tough questioning in day one of this confirmation hearing as democrats hammered him whether the russia probe will be allowed under his watch. barr attempted to ease those concerns by president trump's protect himself from any legal repercussions from the probe. let's watch. >> if confirmed, i will not permit partisan politics, personal interests or any other improper consideration to interfere with this or any other investigation. i will follow the special counsel regulation's scrupulously and in good faith and on my watch, bob will be allowed to finish his work.

>> if the president sought to fire prosecutors in the southern district of new york to try to end the investigation into his campaign, would that be a crime? would that be an unlawful act? >> well, i mean that one -- usually firing a person doesn't stop the investigation. that's one of the things i have a little bit of trouble accepting. but the basic point is, if someone tried to stop a bonified lawful investigation to cover up wrongdoing, i would resign. for 40 years the position of the executive branch is you can't indict a sitting president. >> well, it's the tradition based on a couple of olc opinions, but now it is potentially an imminent and indeed immediate possibility and

i'm asking you for your opinion now, if possible. if not now perhaps at some point? >> are you asking me if i would change that policy? >> i'm asking you what your view is right now? >> you know, i actually haven't read those opinions in a long time, but i see no reason to change them. >> all right. so the "wall street journal" reports next month's public testimony from extrump attorney michael concould be highly restricted. a person close to the fixer says he must avoid topics to the russia investigation when he appears to the house oversight committee in three weeks. he may be limited about the continuing manhattan office investigation which resulted to cohen pleading guilty to eight felonies to stop two women from

publicizing their alleged affairs with president trump. but the person says condoes have things to share. quote. he's going to tell the story of what it's like to work for a mad man and why he did it for so long. he will say things that will give you chills. it's worth noting this quotation which appeared in the story last night no longer appears in the "wall street journal" online. the special counsel says rick gates is still cooperating in several investigations. the revelation came in a new filing from robert mueller's team in which prosecutors asked to delay his sentencing. he pleaded guilty for financial fraud and lying to investigators and was a star witness in the trial against paul manafort. gates faces up to six years in prison under the terms of his cooperation deal. all right, a new 31-page court filing from special counsel bob mueller's prosecutors appears to show they are presenting extensive everyday inner that claims that

paul manafort repeatedly lied to them during his cooperating testimony. the document, which has 406 redacted exhibits reveal itself little beyond the topics that obtained last month. his business associate contain te konstantin kilimnik. nearly four weeks of a shutdown is taking a toll on donald trump's standing with the american public. this month's gallup poll finds the approval rating down to 37%. the approval rating down to 37%.

now, a majority of voters do not think donald trump fit to serve as president. three republican state delegates in. we vast announce plans to help build president trump's border wall. if approved the legislation would divert 10 million in funds from the $200 million in surplus to go towards the southern border wall and to address the opioid epidemic. they defended it in a statement writing the plan is no different than sending our national guard

to the border or overseas for u.s. interests. they plan to introduce the legislation in the coming days. joining us, the political reporter for the daily beast, let's talk about this rick gates news, betsy. what do you make of these latest special counsel filings that show rick gates is still cooperating in several investigations. >> reporter: i don't think anyone has public reportable specific investigations with which mr. gates is cooperating. what we do know however there is at least one current investigation which he almost would certainly have valuable invite investigation on. that's the southern district of new york looking at two las vegas firms. one is mercury llc that is currently lobbying for putin allied oligarch's aluminum firm. the second is a podesta group which shut down within hours of

manafort's indictment in 2017 in part to their connection to the work that manafort was doing. we know those two firms are getting scrutiny from federal investigators. we know that rick gates was a part of their effort essentially to whitewash the ukrainian politician by another ukrainian politician victor yanukovych, who was one of paul manafort's clients. i don't want to speculate. that's the publicly available investigation we have about the investigations that rick gates likely would have valuable information on. >> let's talk a little about president trump and his approval ratings we were talking about there a little bit. there is an interesting contrast we show from the various pochls and weeks ago the head of his 2020 bid saying the government shutdown has not affected their internal polling. how do you explain or how has the shutdown affected these arguments that are being made by the polls we showed and greg pass quarel is saying?

>> reporter: he is a very sanguine guy. if the trump has incredible internal polling showing all the public polling is wrong and, in fact the american people think the shutdown is a great idea. then they should release it. every reporter in this town would love to check it out and see how they came to those conclusions and what their methodology was. the reality is people who work for political campaigns often make claims based on gnostic wisdom from their internal pollings. until those pollings become public, we shouldn't take those terms seriously. >> sometimes i wonder if the polling is twitter commentary? just wondering. there you go, putting that out there. >> betsy, we will see you again in a bit on "morning joe". just ahead, chris christie

speaks out. he is accusing of carrying out a political hit job. >> i wonder who that might be. >> explosive new book. plus, bill kearns is back with more on a major storm system sending plenty of snow our way. storm system sending plenty of snow our way. ♪ when i first came to ocean bay, what i saw was despair.

i knew something had to be done. hurricane sandy really woke people up, to showing that we need to invest in this community. i knew having the right partner we could turn this place around. it was only one bank that could finance a project this difficult and this large, and that was citi. preserving affordable housing preserves communities. so we are doing their kitchens and their flooring and their lobbies and the grounds. and the beautification of their homes, giving them pride in where they live, will make this a thriving community once again. ♪ these days we're (horn honking) i hear you, sister. that's why i'm partnering with cigna to remind you to go in for your annual check-up. and be open with your doctor about anything you feel. physically, and emotionally. body and mind.

about 50% of people with evesevere asthma k? have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. eosinophils are a key cause of severe asthma. fasenra is designed to target and remove these cells. fasenra is an add-on injection for people 12 and up with asthma driven by eosinophils. fasenra is not a rescue medicine or for other eosinophilic conditions. fasenra is proven to help prevent severe asthma attacks, improve breathing, and can lower oral steroid use. fasenra may cause allergic reactions. get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to.

tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection or your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. haven't you missed enough? ask an asthma specialist about fasenra. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. former new jersey governor and the one-time chairman of trump's troop situation team has written a new book where he criticizes president trump's son-in-law jared crushner. he writes he put a political hit job on him as revenge for him prosecuting his father years ago. in the book, christie describes how he pushed to remove him from trump's team due to that feud. trump's team due to that feud.

the former adviser confessed that christie's dismissal. the former governor weighs in on kushner's involvement on the trump tower meeting writing that taking the meeting was dumb and a sign of kushner's and trump jr.'s profound inexperience. exciting words there. >> let's switch gears and get a check of your weather there everyone is wondering if we will get a substantial snowfall. >> we'll get into that. first things first, anyone joining us. tomorrow in california, a huge storm on sure. it will be the big snowstorm in areas of the east. the reason they have evacuations in place, we're worried about the mud flow. the fire concerns in los angeles

and paradise are expected to get a possibility of one or two inches of rainfall. the mountains will see a blizzard and up to four or five feet of snow. this first one is week, thursday into friday, thursday night in areas of the northeast. not a huge ordeal, you will see a possibility of up to an inch of snow. just friday morning, an inch of snow. maybe school delays. that's about it. storm two blows up on saturday. interstate 70 is the dividing line. also kansas city to st. louis. then we take this day saturday during the day. erie, state college, binghamton, syracuse, albany, snow breaks out. a period of snow and then on sunday as the storm gets closer it's going to be an icy members,

heavy snow so here's the bottom line. i will not give snow amounts here this purposely shows you the potential for heavy snow s. it's boston, northward, northern connecticut northward, mountainous areas, the area of southern new england, it could be an ice storm especially possibly even northern jersey, too. it will be a mess. sunday, northeast, bottom line is, it's a survival day at home with the kid. >> hopefully, there won't be a lot of travel disruption over the weekend. still ahead, a top democrat jumps into the presidential field. >> plus the trump administration is dealt a legal blow over the one i don't meaning census, an official is accused of deliberate discrimination with a controversial question on the count. i am a family man.

i am a techie dad. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome.

welcome back. kirsten gillibrand has announced her name of the list running for 2020. >> that list keeps getting longer. >> are you keeping track? >> no. >> she made the announcement last night. >> i'm filing tonight. i'm going to run for president of the united states because i'm a young mom, i'm going to fight

for other people's kids as hard as i would fight for my own. which is why i believe health care should be a right and not a privilege. >> so senator gillibrand will make her first campaign stop in iowa. another politician eyeing early primary states, ohio sharod brown. he announced a dignity of work listening stour tour. he has plans to visit nevada and south carolina. senator brown says he is still mulling a presidential bid. he will make a decision with his wife soon. former new york city mayor and potential 2020 candidate michael bloomberg took questions after speaking at the university of toronto last night, where he suggested the world isn't changing as fast as some in politics might think it is. >> somebody the other day said if you are not 50, white, if you are over 50, white and male, forget about it. you will never get elected in

america ever again. i don't think that's true. i think we have gone a little too far in some of these things in thinking the world has changed. people still want somebody with maturity and experience and accomplishment accomplishment. there's nothing wrong with people being young and there's also nothing wrong with people being older. >> bloomberg said he is in no rush to make a decision about joining the white house race. >> a federal judge has blocked the commerce department about adding a question on american citizenship for the 2020 census. the upcoming census will determine which states gain or lose seats in the house of representatives when redistricting in 2021. it would stoke fear and curb responses in illegal immigrants and places that tend to vote democratic in an evident to shift power. in a scathing 277 page ruling the judge said commerce

secretary wilbur ross broke a smorgasbord of rules when he directed the question one year ago accusing the secretary of cherry picking facts, concealing his reasoning from the bureau of experts. they stopped just shy of saying ross discriminated against non-citizens and minorities. the ruling is a blow to the trump administration, whose next move remains unclear before the census is sent to print this summer. several congressional republicans are naming support for nato. one of those reports called it one of the greatest accomplishments in the last century almost uniquely successful at keeping the peace.

thom tillis said said congress is solidly behind the alliance and joined it with another senator. on monday, the "times" said the president wants to withdraw the u.s. from nato, telling his top security officials the alliance was a drain on the u.s. and he did not see the point of staying in it. coming up, access's mike allen has a look at one more thing. and looking to clarify the future of the probe. and looking to clear fears on the investigation and breaks with president trump with some matters pertaining to that probe. vice chair, mark warner, joins the conversation to report the investigation of mark being

an asset. just moments away. just moments . ♪tryin' to hold back this feeling for so long♪ ♪and if you feel, like i feel baby then come on,♪ ♪oh come on let's get it on applebee's all you can eat is here. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. to take care of yourself. but nature's bounty has innovative ways to help you maintain balance and help keep you active and well-rested. because hey, tomorrow's coming up fast. nature's bounty. because you're better off healthy. make ice.d be mad at tech that's unnecessarily complicated. nature's bounty. but you're not, because you have e*trade, which isn't complicated. their tools make trading quicker and simpler so you can take on the markets with confidence. don't get mad. get e*trade.

you might or joints.hing for your heart... but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. ( ♪ ) dealing with psoriatic arthritis pain was so frustrating. my skin... it was embarrassing. my joints... they hurt. the pain and swelling. the tenderness. the psoriasis. tina: i had to find something that worked on all of this. i found cosentyx. now, watch me. real people with active psoriatic arthritis are getting real relief with cosentyx. it's a different kind of targeted biologic. cosentyx treats more than just the joint pain of psoriatic arthritis.

it even helps stop further joint damage. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms. if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. i got real relief. i got clearer skin and feel better. now, watch me. get real relief with cosentyx. >> in the last hour, a new york federal judge sentencing cohen to three years in prison. >> tonight's other major piece of reporting broken by nbc news. we're following a number of fast-paced developing stories this morning. st-paced developin this morning

welcome back, everybody, joining us from washington. axios a.m., the cofounder of axios, mike allen. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> talk to us about axios one big thing today. >> it's president trump's model for strategic planning, mike tyson. let's unpack that. jonathan swan was talking to a trumped a advisor whether or not the president was frustrated about the lack of a strategic plan for what's coming. they will be hit by mueller and democrats with subpoenas and hearings. this advisor said, no, the president is frustrated when there is a plan. this advisor told a story about a time when they tried to convince the president that he needed a plan on something, and the president likes to tell stories and he told a story ant his friend, mike tyson.

he pulled out a famous tyson quote that says, everybody has a plan until they're punched in the mouth. the president's point was that prior planning that can prevent poor results instead can be futile. >> i was going to say i'm not sure the president understood the mike tyson quote in the same context. >> although that tattoo looks quite nice on the president. >> can you describe this policy you described among the president he just wants to be in a street brawl all the time, how does that play out in something like the government shutdown for example? >> we saw the president didn't have a plan going in. you talk to those around the president and republicans. to this day, there's not a clear exit ramp. the president pulled out something he occasionally does, says there's a secret plan. a secret plan to coral isis over

the weekend. he was watching tv, saw a "washington post" reporter tweeted, complaining about the report there wasn't a plan for ending the shutdown, which is, of course, true. the president said, i do have a plan, he's just not telling us. >> you have reporting how the white house is preparing for the onslaught from house democrats. talk to us about that. >> jonathan swan has an exclusive look at what the white house is doing behind the scenes out of the view of a lot of the aides in the building, even out of the view a lot of the president. that is, now, there is a rush to get ready for what's coming. it started in ernest in november, which is very late. we've talk on the air, president bush, when he knew change was coming and house democrats were going to be in charge, started way back in the spring getting ready. now, they're trying to make up for lost time.

the new white house counsel, swan has been told, hired 17 lawyers for the counsel's office. some are very experienced from the george w. bush years but didn't experience with what the clinton administration did with impeachment and republicans controlling the house. the person who experienced that, emmitt flood, the whoite house lawyer, the president's impeachment lawyer tried to pass on lessons learned, talking to the come shop and other cabinet agencies what happens and how to deal with it. he's the only person inside with life experience to convince them of the magnitude of what's coming. >> live in washington, d.c., thank you. we will be reading axios in just a bit. sign up for the newsletter at axios.com. >> thank you for joining us.

"morning joe" starts right now. jeff sessions recused himself, which he shouldn't have done. >> i think he probably did the right thing, recusing himself. >> the president released seven tweets writing, bob mueller is totally conflicted. >> i have the utmost respect for bob and his public service. >> i call it a witch hunt. it is a witch hunt. >> i don't believe mr. mueller would be involved in a witch hunt. >> the president's retweets showed a list of democrats including deputy rod rosenstein behind bars. >> i have a very high opinion of rod rosenstein. >> i have president putin. he just said, it's not russia. >> i believe the russians interfered or attempted to interfere with the election. >> donald trump and william barr don't agree on everything but they do seem to agree a sitting president cannot be