and feeling the pain. new numbers show the public is blaming the president for the shutdown as he complains to his sta staff, according to one report, that he's being crushed by the crisis. but who are the real victims? >> 78% of america lives from paycheck to paycheck. that's a very, very high number. so for something like this to happen and they know those numbers, it's sad. it means they care nothing about the american people as they say they do. and good day, everyone, i'm andrea mitchell in washington with the latest collusion delusion from the trump legal team. personal attorney rudy giuliani now publicly conceding that operatives within the trump campaign may have colluded with the russian government but repeating false claims that the president has held that same position throughout the course of the mueller investigation. >> the president did not -- >> he said nobody had any contact.

>> whatever collusion is -- >> the guy running his campaign was working on an issue at the same time as the convention. >> he said he didn't. he didn't say nobody. how would you know that nobody in your campaign -- >> he actually did say that, rudy. he said nobody and then he said as far as i know. >> as far as he knows, that's true! >> joining me now, nbc white house correspondent peter alexander. ha harry litman, former u.s. attorney. jim messina, campaign manager for president obama. and michael steel, former senior adviser to jeb bush's campaign and former top congressional aide to john boehner. welcome, all. peter alexander, let's start at the white house. what is going on? >> that's a good question. you'll need a couple of hours of television to clarify that. but we'll do our best in the course of the next few minutes, andrea, if we can. it appears rudy giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, is

backtracking from the stunning assertion that he made in that conversation you played a part of just moments ago where he appeared to leave open the possibility that members of the president's campaign had coordinated with russians during the course of the 2016 campaign. the backtracking is a new statement. first he spoke to our colleague kristen welker, then provided us with a formal statement where he said he was afraid that if him changing his position, as appeared to be the case, that he had been i think misinterpreted was his language, he said more broadly that he had an only done so unconsciously. he said, i represent only president trump, the no the trump campaign. there was no collusion by president trump in any way, shape, or form. likewise i have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign. he adds, the only knowledge i have in this regard is the collusion of the clinton campaign with russia which has been -- which has so far been ignored. obviously this is sort of a recasting of the narrative that

we have heard literally hundreds of times from the president, his associates, and his legal team, that there was no collusion, not just by president trump, but by members of the trump campaign as well. we can pull up multiple tweets where the president said the trump campaign did nothing wrong, no collusion. so it certainly leaves a lot of people with raised eyebrows. >> let's look at what the president said in 2017 to lester holt. >> in looking at me and the campaign, look, i had nothing to do -- this was set up by the democrats. there is no collusion between me and my campaign and the russians. >> and that's pretty categorical, harry litman, it certainly seems that rudy giuliani was trying to move the goalposts in that interview. he had plenty of opportunity to clarify, his subconscious, whatever other part of his

conscious was informing what he said last night and didn't in the moment. what do you think is going on? is he aware of something come down? is he trying to further separate themselves from whatever is coming down on paul manafort or other people from the campaign? >> right. who are you going to believe, me or your tape recorder? i do think they're basically anticipating that the manafort filings are going to document more concrete and very tangible collusion. of course, remember now, they've been asserting with great bluster, this is a witch hunt, for months. and now he says, well, we have no way of really knowing this, all we've known about is trump. so it means it's been irresponsible and basically dissembling for all this time. hopefully this puts an end to the kind of trash talk that's been his stock in trade since he joined the campaign, joined the administration.

>> and michael steel here, the president has tweeted hundreds of times -- >> right. >> -- at least that it's total hoax, that any talk of collusion, which is not literally a crime, but working with the campaign and the russians is a hoax, a witch hunt, a hoax. so where are we now? >> i think what you're looking at here is the trump team shifting the goalposts because of the new facts that are coming out, because of facts they anticipate coming out as part of the mueller probe and various other investigations including house democrats getting under way, trying to get to a point where unless you find a note that says "dear vlad, thanks for all the help, love donald," then he is not personally culpable for illegal collusion. >> in fact we had that video, i think we have it ready, but if we don't, we'll show it in a little bit, the video of them in hamburg at the g20 back in 2017,

signaling to each other. i'm not sure we have that ready. in any case, the fact is that there's plenty of indications of the vlad and donald relationship. >> sure, absolutely. i think what they're ultimately preparing for is they know impeachment in the house is probably a foregone conclusion. they're preparing a defense that allows some number of republican senators to vote not to convict despite all the facts and news that we're seeing. >> to peter alexander, could part of the -- what provoked this be that extensive filing from the mueller team against the manafort, you know, defense strategy, which was all blacked out, redacted, but it was hundreds and hundreds of pages earlier this week, and it showed that they have extensive exhibits, so whether they do know what was redacted or didn't find out from the manafort defense team, they may have some inkling that there is a lot of evidence here. >> yeah, and andrea, it's an important point you make,

because this is not the first time we heard something from rudy giuliani that appeared stunning to everybody listening when it ended up being strategic, with knowledge of a new story coming. remember the conversation we had with sean hannity of fox news many months ago, he was sort of trying to get ahead of the fact of the idea of campaign finance violation as it related to stormy daniels. even sean hannity was struck by rudy giuliani's acknowledgement that the president had reimbursed michael cohen on that occasion. we can't be certain where this is coming from but based on past experiences where rudy giuliani has muddied the waters as best he can, but at other times tries to strategically get ahead of some potentially negative news story for his client. it has a lot of people thinking that could be the option again here. >> and what about michael cohen? peter, first to you, this "wall street journal" story, which,

you know, we don't know the sourcing of, saying that michael cohen paid off a contractor to rig two polls before the election campaign. >> yeah, well, so that's another major headline that came out today that guiliani was forced to respond to again. so michael cohen on twitter earlier today basically said yes, i was a part of this transaction on behalf of my boss at the time, donald trump. here is the actual tweet, he says as for the "journal" article on poll rigging, what i did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of donald trump, the president. we've heard from rudy giuliani saying, if that ever took place it was certainly michael cohen who was freelancing, he was basically working on his own, giuliani trying to protect his client here. he said, if anything it proves that cohen was a thief because he was reimbursed $50,000 when the payment was only 12 or $13,000. but it's just one more item i think that goes to the heart of the challenges that the

president and his associates and legal team are facing right now to try to defend him against what has been a flood of allegations, many of which have been proven true. >> jim messina, you've run a lot of campaigns. i don't know if you and anyone else in your campaigns ever shared internal privileged polling information with a foreign adversary, for instance, whether you ever got involved in this kind of alleged payoff. how normal is this? >> absolutely not. this is the craziest thing i've heard in a while. also, andrea, you and i have talked about this before, it's why the folks out there shouldn't believe these online polls. they're really easy to rig. there's reports that the only poll the president trusts is a rasmussen online poll which has been proven to be easy to rig. every other poll shows his numbers dropping precipitously. and i think it goes to a really pathetic story here, that here's a guy who is supposed to be this billionaire, who is this king of

the television show, and then he's paying 50 grand to rig an online poll. and, you know, it's not only illegal, it's inept and kind of sad. >> and we should also throw up here, "the wall street journal" reported a women for cohen twitter page, a fake account created in may 2016 and run by a female friend of the contractor who described mr. cohen as, quote, a sex symbol, praised his looks and character and promoted trump's candidacy. >> they should have paid way more than 50 grand for that. >> but it just seems as though there is so much fake stuff going on here. it just again proves not only that we can't trust what's going on with these campaigns but we don't even know what might be being investigated, peter alexander, by mueller at this stage. >> yeah, no, andrea, you're

exactly right, william barr, who is likely to become the next attorney general, he said, i don't even know what robert mueller is writing right now, raising questions that we may not even see the full mueller report when all is said and dondon done, noting that the attorney general may summarize it and put out his own report. these new details as they relate to michael cohen, if this thing keeps going, there is no indication it is ending anytime soon, even as we hear it could end in the not too distant future, the bottom line is we don't know what mueller knows that's yet to come out. >> michael steel, what about the political fallout from any of this? >> i mean, i keep picturing the line from "all dogs go to heaven," "i'm surrounded by morons." the gaggle of incompetent

grifters should not be allowed anywhere near a major political party let alone the white house. but at this point michael cohen is a known liar. much of what he said is discounted. i think it won't have any real political impact. >> remains to be seen indeed. michael steel, peter alexander, harry litman, jim messina, thank you all so much. coming up at the table, democratic freshmen meet with the president over the shutdown. we'll talk to one of the congre congressmembers who was with the president at the table. was withe president at the table he was 34% eastern european. so i went onto ancestry, soon learned that one of our ancestors we thought was italian was eastern european. this is my ancestor who i didn't know about. he looks a little bit like me, yes. ancestry has many paths to discovering your story. get started for free at ancestry.com

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we haven't heard, very silent, more than 24 hours, to your question that you ask me every time i step out of the office, have you heard. no, we haven't heard yet. >> president trump still has not responded to house speaker nancy pelosi's power play more than 24 hours ago, calling for him to delay his state of the union address. this as is presidethe president bill that congress passed ensuring that back pay will be paid once the government reopens, if and when. it comes after he held more talks yellsterday, the first in several days, with a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the situation room. the white house described the meeting as constructive. congressman max rose, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me back. >> i assume it's your first trip

to the situation room, even though you have a military background, i don't think you were there before. tell me, how did it go and what was your takeaway from meeting with the president there? >> yeah, so first of all, it speaks to how ridiculous this city is that a bipartisan meeting about a national crisis, this national crisis being the government shutdown, would be worthy of news. it does not happen nearly enough in this town. nobody's talking -- and i don't think people are feeling that sense of urgency that they should be feeling right now. so we went to the white house to present a very simple message, and that message is, is that we have got to reopen this government, even on a temporary basis, so that we can then have a sensible discussion about how to preserve our national security, uphold our values, while also paying people for doing the critically important work that they signed up to do, which is to protect and defend us and make this government

work. that's what the discussion was focused on. and -- >> but congressman, i mean, excuse me, but do you think that he was trying to divide the democratic caucus, undermine pelosi's bargaining position by inviting you? was he using you guys in some way? >> no, no. and look, even if they had wanted to do that, it would have been a futile effort. look, i'm 12 days in here. i'm not going to start down this path of cynicism just yet. we have got to unite around the fact that this government shutdown is a truly urgent matter. the house of representatives has passed bipartisan bills week after week after week, and it's time that the senate does so as well and the president signs onto it. that was the message we imparted. but yes, there was a second factor to this, which is that there is a deep desire to ensure our security and uphold our values. and there is a potential pathway forward in that regard.

but beyond sending that very high level message, the purpose was not to get into any negotiations. that would not have been proper. we've got to get this government open. if we had started negotiating, i think we would have sent a message that somehow this government, this type of tool of negotiation, a government shutdown, is rewarded. i wouldn't support a republican president doing this nor would i support a democratic president, if they have shut down the government so as to achieve some type of political objective. it's just wrong. >> let me show you something that the president just said in an appearance at the pentagon about the democrats. >> the party has been hijacked by the open borders fringe within the party. the radical left becoming the radical democrats. hopefully democrat lawmakers will step forward to do what is right for our country and what's right for our country is border security at the strongest level.

stop human hijacking. stop drugs. stop gangs. stop criminals. that's what we're going to do. that was my pledge and that's what we're going to do. >> so he's trying to play the deal that you democrats are against border security. we know that's not true. that's the way he's casting it. and at the same time the senate has done nothing, mitch mcconnell has not let anything go to the floor. one of your colleagues from new york, alexandria ocasio-cortez, of course high profile on social media, chasing around the congress yesterday, let's play a little bit of that, looking for mitch mcconnell. >> we have voted repeatedly over and over again to reopen the government. we're here. now we're on the senate side. now we're on the senate side. we're roving out into the senate side because the thing is, we went to his office on the capitol. we went to his office in the russell building.

we went to the floor. we went to the cloak room. he's not in the cloak room. it's not in the capitol. he is not in the russell building. he's not on the floor of the senate. and 800,000 people don't have their paychecks. so were is mitch? >> have you figured out where is mitch? >> yeah, i guess we have to go to k street to find mitch mcconnell, because he's in the pocket of every single special interest in washington, d.c. but the truth is, is that we can't make this town into a circus. everybody needs to unite around the fact that before being members of the republican party or the democratic party, we're americans, okay? i have to -- to put this into perspective, i have to do gift card drives for coast guard members in my district, recruiting volunteers to clean up federal parks. this is an atrocity, okay? and i sincerely hope that the republican party over on the senate side will come to their senses because we passed

bipartisan bills coming out of the house. that's a cute line the president had about how the democratic party has become the far left and this and that. i wonder how many second-rate consultants it took him to come up with that line. i'm not going to dive into this circus. >> max rose, congressman, thank you very much, we appreciate it. >> thank you so much. a new report, a disturbing report from the president's department of health and human services from the inspector general, including stunning revelations about a previously undisclosed large number of immigrant children, hundreds of children separated from their families at the southern border, more than a year ago, longer ago, according to nbc national security and justice reporter julia ainsley, even before jeff sessions' zero tolerance policy was put in place. what's going on here? >> that's right, andrea. we just got this report a few hours ago that says that thousands of children were separated before zero tolerance

went into place, an uptick in 2017. this did not occur previously under the obama administration, as trump has tried to say. it's unclear why they were all separated. we asked today what the criminality was of their parents. was it simply that they were crossing illegally or was there something more? they said frankly hhs had very little information about what the parents did to cause this separati separation. as journalists we want more specifics. the most important thing, andrea, is we don't know where these children went. unlike the children represented under zero tolerance, they're not represented as part of a lawsuit. frankly this large number wasn't known. these children could have been put off to sponsors, to relatives, to non-relatives, and not reunited with their parents. we don't know where they went. >> i know you'll be working on this, julia, thanks very much.

terribly upsetting reporting. coming up, space jam. details on a pentagon plan, next. stay with us right here on msnbc. red lobster's new weekday five days.s here: five deals. for fifteen dollars get a different deal every weekday til six pm like endless shrimp monday admiral's feast tuesday four course feast wednesday and more. five days. five deals. fifteen dollars. see you before six. and back pain made it hard to sleep and get up on time.

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we will recognize that space is a new war fighting domain with the space force leading the way. we will ensure that enemy missiles find no sanctuary on earth or in the skies above. >> president trump at the pentagon just about an hour ago, announcing the much-delayed space-based missile defense program. joining me now is jeff mason, white house correspondent for reuters, just back from covering the president over at the pentagon, and shannon pettypiece from bloomberg news, welcome both. jeff, tell us about the president's visit, this was the first update to missile defense since 2010, i believe. and it comes as both russia and china have now proved that they have hypersonic missiles for which -- against which we have no defense. >> that's right, andrea. one of the main reasons for him going over to the pentagon was to talk about that program and

to talk about boosting u.s. investment in missile technology. he did focus on that although he also took time aside to talk about the casualties of americans in syria just a few days ago, and also to push his case again for a border wall. >> and shannon, the president actually spoke about the missile defense as being offensive as well as defensive, which kind of makes everything we've heard for decades, going back to when i was covering ronald reagan and the so-called "star wars," that it's defensive, not onset iffen. >> that doesn't sound good to our allies or anyone in the world that we're trying to convince that we're the world's policeman, not the world's bully. another issue we had trouble getting out of the administration is who is the main adversary that this was targeted at. there was a briefing the other day with a senior administration official, we pressed them on. they were talking about rogue actors. who are those rogue actors?

the administration has said, for example, north korea is no longer a threat, isis is defeated. do they still stand by that this missile defense system is targeted at north korea or is there someone else they have in mind for this? >> a quick preview to our viewers, we expect a meeting here with kim yong-chol, the high ranking north korean official, who is coming to washington. he's only been here once before, to set up the summit in singapore. we think that's imminent, to set up a second summit. that's despite the conclusions that officials have reached that the north koreans are not even meeting the agreed-to denuclearization efforts. what about hamburg, we see the

president gesturing down the table to vladimir putin. this is so cozy and so familiar, which wouldn't be suspicious, let's say, but if there weren't all that other stuff around their relationship and all the other concessions and parroting of putin positions that he has taken regarding nato and regarding other strategic interests, jeff. >> yeah, absolutely, i mean, it's hard to think about the broader relationship of where the united states wants to go on something like missile technology and nuclear weapons and nuclear agreements without including the rest of the context of that relationship between president trump and president putin. the russia investigation that of course has dodged the president's two years in office. and it's continuing now. so all of those things are sort of swirling around. and i think you were right as well to bring up the potential north korea summit. they're setting that up, and the president is obviously very eager to have that second summit with mr. kim.

but at the same time that he's setting that up and the white house is preparing for that, they're also saying, look, we need this missile defense technology. >> i also want to refresh everyone's memory, i know you'll never forget it, jeff, this is jeff mason in helsinki asking the key question to trump and putin at that news conference. president putin, did you want president trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that? >> translator: yes, i did, because he talked about bringing the u.s./russia relationship back to normal. >> so maybe there wasn't collusion from the trump campaign to russia but there certainly was russian investment, shall we say, in the trump campaign's victory, jeff. >> yeah, that was a big moment last year. and certainly the fact that the president of russia was willing to say there and publicly that he wanted president trump to win was a big deal. he didn't go on to describe whether or not russia -- i mean, in fact he denied the fact that

there was collusion in the same way that president trump has denied that. but he was certainly very open about saying this was the candidate he wanted to win in 2016. >> shannon, i mean, it could not be clearer from at least the russian perspective. >> right, yes. and they haven't backed away from that at all. it's obviously been a sore spot for this president. if you take him at his word that there was no collusion, it is certainly something that he feels undercut his victory, the idea that either, you know, russians helped him, and of course there have been indictments of russians with their troll farm and their interference. that's something the intelligence community stands behind 100%, that there was russian interference in this election. that has been a very major sore spot for the president because he feels it undercuts his victory. he feels it says he didn't win fair and square. so that's continued to sort of cast a shadow over this relationship he's had with putin regardless of whether or not there is any sort of back story or collusion or whatever else may have gone on between the campaign. >> shannon pettypiece, jeff

mason, and jeff, thanks for rushing back, i know you had a lot open your plate today, we appreciate your coming on today. >> my pleasure. coming up, the deadliest day. new questions about president trump's plan to withdraw troops from syria, following yesterday's suicide attack leaving four americans dead. the mother of an american journalist whose son was killed by isis says it is too soon to get out. she'll join me next. stay with us on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. when you're y for what comes next. at fidelity, we make sure you have a clear plan to cover the essentials in retirement, as well as all the things you want to do. and on the way, you'll get timely investment help to keep you on the right track, without the unnecessary fees you might expect from so many financial firms. because when you have a partner who gives you clarity at every step, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. hi, i'm joan lunden with a place for mom. when my mother first began to forget things, we didn't really know what that meant

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we have new information today about yesterday's deadly attack in syria that killed four americans. witnesses say that u.s. forces were patrolling near a popular restaurant on the street in manbij when they were targeted by a suicide obabomber wearing explosive vest. isis is claiming responsibility for the attack. two u.s. service members and a contractor where among the 19 people killed. nbc's richard engel is back in iraq from syria today. any new information on -- this was an area that was not considered to be particularly dangerous. i know people, including you but others of our colleagues, who have been in and out of manbij. that really did not prove to be safe. >> reporter: manbij is still considered to be a dangerous area. it is not a front line area. it is considered liberated. u.s. forces do patrol there.

kurdish forces patrol. they patrol on foot. it is not an active battle zone. it appears in this case they went to a restaurant and may have established a pattern, because according to neighbors in the area, several witnesses, u.s. forces went to only two restaurants in manbij, this was one of them, and would go several times a week. perhaps they thought it was more safer than it turned out to be. this was an ambush attack, a hit and run attack. but in other parts of syria, there is still an active battle zone with thousands of isis fighters concentrated in a pocket of about three towns that they still control. >> and richard, any connection, do you think, or is it unfair to say, to the announcement, the president's announcement on december 19th about withdrawing from syria and the signal that this sent to the bad guys? >> reporter: well, the commander

of kurdish forces believes that it is absolutely linked. he thinks that isis is encouraged by the president's announcement, that isis is incensed that its caliphate has been declared over, and it wants to show its supporters, its potential recruits around the world that it is still fighting. and it wants to change the narrative. it wants to say that u.s. troops didn't pull out on their own, that they were forced out. and i think this attack, andrea, really highlights that these decisions, particularly the decision to leave iraq, to leave syria, to stay in syria, to have clarity of the policy, there are consequences to all of this, that lives are at stake, and not just american lives. there are 6 million people living in this pocket of syria. they don't know what their future holds. they are currently protected by american forces, which have a lot of military hardware there.

and they are worried that not only will they not be able to continue the fight against isis if americans leave in a disorderly way or leave without any kind of plan, that they won't be able to protect themselves either. >> richard engel, just back from syria, thank you so much. last july, senators jeanne shaheen and lindsey graham visited manbij, the same town in northern syria where american forces were killed yesterday. joining me now is senator jeanne shaheen, and diane foley, the mother of james foley, an american journalist of course murdered by isis in 2014. diane, it's good to see you again. i know with the massage of time, nothing becomes any easier, especially the confusion over policy, u.s. policy. your reaction to the president's precipitous announcement of withdrawing from that area in syria, which of course also sparked the resignation of jim mattis?

>> i'm incredibly concerned, andrea. and i thank you for this opportunity, because i think president trump and the american people seem to forget that part of our role in syria is to help the syrian kurds with the containment of about 1,100 islamic state fighters whom they have detained. and amid that group are two of the alleged captors, torturers, and murderers of four young americans. and i feel it's essential that we hold these men accountable for the targeting and killing of our son jim foley and the others. that seems to have been forgotten in this conversation also, that the syrian kurds are holding so many, 1,100 islamic fighters who nobody wants to

hold accountable, prosecute and hold accountable for their human rights crimes. >> you make such an important point, diane, because as richard engel was meeting with the kurdish commanders there, the syrian kurdish commanders, they have no way to hold these people. and senator shaheen, they will be released as we withdraw. >> that's what we've heard from the syrian democratic forces. without the united states' support, they may be forced to release those foreign fighters. we have hundreds of foreign fighters, there are actually thousands when you count the isis folks who were seized on the battlefield. and one of the reasons i went to manbij and to northeastern syria last summer was to see firsthand what was happening with the people who were being detained and those terrorists who we think are suspected of being responsible for the killing of james foley and the other americans. and we really need to continue

to make sure that they're being held, because the threat for them to be released is not just to fail to provide justice for james and the other americans, but it's also that they could be released, they could go back to the united states, to other countries around the world, and engage in further terrorist attacks and continue to fight on the battlefield in syria. and it really refutes the claim that isis has been defeated in syria. it has not, as we saw so clearly yesterday. >> and speaking of that, the vice president was speaking today at the pentagon. let's see a bit of what he had to say about this. >> their families, their sacrifice will only steel our resolve that as we begin to bring our troops home, we will do so in a way that ensures that the remnants of isis will never be able to reestablish their evil and murderous caliphate.

>> diane foley, the vice president says that. i was traveling this week with mike pompeo in the middle east, the gulf states, saying similarly that we're not going to abandon our allies there. but we are withdrawing, and no one explains how. they keep saying we're going to get rid of all the iranian boots on the ground, and they don't explain how they're going to do that with u.s. soldiers gone. >> and i agree, andrea, it just doesn't make sense. and if we don't keep our brave soldiers in places where they can hold on to the victories we've achieved, essentially, isis will just go underground and use these opportunities to reappear wherever they -- they're critically shrewd. and i really wonder where is our outrage about the targeting and killing of innocent americans. where is our accountability? and i call on our president to

bring these two alleged captors back to our country for a transparent criminal courtroom, for true accountability, so we can actually find out, where is their leader? where is al baghdadi and the other leaders? they've all gone underground and hidden. we need to be shrewd enough to follow through with these promises to not allow isis to gain a foothold and threaten our entire way of life. so i thank you for helping us get that message out. >> diane foley, thank you for your passion and your courage and stamina in all of this. it's good to see you again, and thanks for keeping on this as we promise to as well. >> thank you. and thank you, senator shaheen, thank you so much. >> thanks, diane. >> senator shaheen, you've been extraordinary on all these committees, on foreign policy.

i want to switch to 2020 for a moment. you're from the state of new hampshire, of course. >> i am. >> another woman senator is in the race, kirsten gillibrand, your colleague on armed services. she was on with rachel maddow last night. i want to play a little bit of it for you. >> it is a moment for all of us, rachel, to be called to do whatever it takes to make a difference in this country. and i feel called to run this race, to show the strength of america, to show what's possible in america. that is our story. that is the american story. we never give up. we try to help others. we believe in the golden rule. and that's what president trump has destroyed. >> kamala harris, your colleague, elizabeth warren, amy klobuchar potentially, kirsten gillibrand is in it. will there be a woman on the ticket? >> we want as broad a discussion of ideas as possible. it's fun to see my colleagues running. i support all of those efforts.

and it's the american people and democrats across this country who are going to decide who gets on the ticket. >> jeanne shaheen, senator, former governor, always great to see you. >> nice to see you. >> from the wolf standerful sta new hampshire, thank you. coming up, a growing up in of tsa officers are walking off the job. a lot more on the shutdown's real impact, next on "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us. next on "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us i'm ken jacobus and i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back.

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the nearly month lock government shutdown is having a devastating impact on hundreds of thousands of workers, government workers and their families, their neighbors, struggling to make ends meet. nbc's ron allen join us at the philadelphia airport where he's been talking to tsa officers. and hans nicols is in huntsville, alabama. ron, first to you. what are you seeing? >> it's a very different thing to see this government shutdown and hundreds of thousands of government employees in washington and here in the real world in philadelphia where you have mothers and fathers, hard-working people, who are just trying to make ends meet and they're caught in the middle of this massive political showdown in washington that

doesn't really make a lot of sense to them here. now, let me introduce you to a young family. his name is tyrone sharper. his wife, ebony. they have a 7-month-old son named josiah. things are really tight. they missed a paycheck last week. they've been putting things on credit cards now, cable, tv bills, gas bills, to keep going through this shutdown, which of course has no end in sight. here's a bit more of our conversation with mr. sharper and his family. >> it's unfortunate. it's probably i believe my third furlough i'm going through while being at tsa. the other ones didn't last as long and i didn't have as much responsibility so it wasn't as much of a frustrating situation. because -- like i managed when it was just me and my wife. now i have a son to provide for and i'm a homeowner now and i have cars i have to pay. this is all based off me keeping my commitment to tsa and them keeping theirs. >> one more thing, we ended the

interview last night, he went to bed at 2:30 in the morning so he could get up at 4:00 a.m. and come to work and not get paid. >> what about the church trying to help the nasa workers in huntsville, alabama? >> this is a community that's in need and they're hungry for information. what they did is set up a bunch of booths here. the food bank of northern alabama. different military service organizations. you have all kinds of banks offering loans. because this is a community that really relies on federal workers. i have two of those nasa workers for you right here. thanks so much for joining us. how much longer can huntsville survive? >> not very much longer. i'm afraid it's affecting not only us but the restaurants in the area, the businesses. and also the contractors. that's something nobody's talking about. is the 4 to 5 million contractors that are laid off, not getting anything at all. and they won't get paid back. >> what's the solution? what do you want to see happen

out of washington? >> i want them to open the federal government back up. get us back to work. and then have the debate on border security and anything else outside of the shutdown. i mean, having 800,000 employees not being paid plus all the contractors not being paid it's a huge impact not just personally but economically. they need to open the federal government back up. >> thank you very much for your time. you got a sense here just how intense this was. you had over 700 people trying to get information. we also i sa a lot saw a lot of. these are people that haven't seen each other. they were glad to get together. >> the message is very cleeshgs get back to work, open the government and then deal with the border security issues. thank you so much, ron allen and hans nichols. we'll be right back. ntix can het "slow turkey." along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting.

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and thanks for being with us. that does it for this edition. remember, follow the show online on facebook and on twitttwitter twitter @andreamitchell reports. >> we'll take it from here, andrea, have a great afternoon. i'm ali velshi. >> i'm stephanie ruhle. it is thursday, january 17th. let's get smarter. "the wall street journal" is reporting and cohen is confirming via tweet that cohen and his role as donald trump's personal lawyer hired this i.t. firm, right, in early 2015 basically to rig polls. >> rigging polls is probably in

this category of lawful but awful that's come to define the trump administration. >> if this were a tv afterschool special, i think we'd turn it off because it seems so insane, it could never happen. >> it's basically this idea that president trump or then candidate trump didn't know what was going on, what the people under him were doing. >> first, it was no collusion, then it was collusion is not a crime, now this from mayor rudy giuliani. >> i never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people and the campaign. >> yes, you have. >> i have not. i said the president of the united states. the president did not -- >> you said nobody had any contact -- nobody colluded? the guy running his campaign -- >> he didn't say nobody. he said he didn't. >> i wonder what is about to drop. we see giuliani emerge and drop these media bombshells right before robert mueller announces a big boom-boom. >> the fact that mr. trump