>> one, what was the trigger for the president to finally cave? jonathan swann reported from inside the senate punch on thursday, vice president pence was there, he could see the boots were moving away from him in a big way he said this must have been what the union lines were like right before first bull run. so the thinking inside the white house was better to pull the plug on our terms in our words than have an embarrassing vote with a bunch of republican senators moving away from us second question, why was mitch mcconnell so quiet it turns out it's because i told you so he told trump from the beginning that this would in the win and that they would in the wind up with leverage. mitch mcconnell was right. >> mitch, where was mitch? mike allen, appreciate it. >> have a great week >> you, too, buddy >> that's does it for us on this

monday morning i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf "morning joe starts rig" startsw >> is the president prepared to shut down the government in three weeks? >> yes, i think he is. >> no one should underestimate the speaker, as donald trump has learned. >> have i not been clear on the wall no, i've been clear on the wall. >> any chance you'll cooperate with robert mueller if asked >> that's a question i'll have to determine after my attorneys have some discussion >> i am seriously thinking of running for president. i will run as a centrist independent outside of the two-party system >> so, let's do this [ cheers and applause >> wow

>> well, there we go the president is weakened, the house speaker is empowered, the special counsel is advancing, and as you saw, the presidential race is getting interesting. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it's monday, january 28th. we have david ignatius, sam stein -- >> he's great. >> he's great, too >> you knew it was coming, sam >> it's monday, man. try harder >> come on, the shutdown's over, joe. >> former chief of staff at the cia and department of defense, now an nbc news correspondent jeremy bash and host of "andrea mitchell reports," andrea mitchell and, joe, great to have you back i'm glad you're feeling better are you feeling better >> you know, i'm old i'm just old

>> no, you're good >> i guess i'm feeling better. you know, mika, one of the things you learn as a young first-year law student with an undisciplined mind is you learn to read these huge -- just these massive legal cases, just page after page after page after page and really the gift of what a great law professor can do, they can help you tear it down to its bare essential by saying, okay, i know you've read 130 pages, this is the sentence that matters, this is the holding to take out so you take that skill with you in your life and you're able to sort through everything. i'm looking through all of those clips that up showed in the first -- don't worry, mika, this plane is coming in for landing >> are you sure you're feeling

better i don't know >> i'll go to dave ignatius because dave is more disciplined with his facial expressions. david, so much was coming at us in those clips you're trying to say, wait a second, that's what we're going to be talking about, you know five years from now. but there's so many things, whether it was stone or whether it was, my gosh, kamala harris' announ announcement, schultz causing cle clear panic. what a weekend >> i had a feeling we were watching the beginning of a change of regime this weekend. the mueller investigation now becomes very tight and donald trump with roger stone, people so close to the president are now in mueller's jurisdiction and we have this chain of lies that's now -- the story that's told in mueller's legal actions,

one close person to trump and another alleged to be lying. at the same time we find the democratic party trying to find new voices, new ways to connect with the public. we have no ideas whether kamala harris, joe biden, who will emerge from this i thought it was a weekend where you had that sense of washington changing >> a turn. yup. >> and, hey, joe, it's back to school day the 35 days of dysfunction are over >> thank god >> this is the first monday federal workers have worked in a long time. it was that kind of weekend for me >> it wasincredible weekend. a lot of people don't have any reason to know this but, mika, today a really important day certainly for your family. i wish i could be in washington with you this morning to be

celebrating what we're going to be celebrating later on, and that is 40 years ago tonight you caused an international incident that almost finished u.s. had much -- u.s.-chinese relations forever. but 40 years ago was the unofficial opening, the state dinner that the chinese decided to hold at your mom and dad's farm house in virginia instead of the white house to open up relations between china and the united states and we're going to be celebrating that this morning. >> yup that's why i'm here in washington ahead we'll look back at that key moment in american foreign policy my family literally had a seat at the table we reflect on that night and how we all survived it, quite frankly. it was rough trying to do a state dinner at a small farm house in mclean.

>> also, andrea mitchell, it's tough when little mika brzezinski was wait staff and spilled caviar on the leader's lap and then tried to wipe it up >> history was made in the farm house and the run-up to it and all of that diplomacy and jimmy carter's legacy there overshadowed later by a lot of other stuff, obviously the terrible things in iran but that may be a lasting legacy in u.s.-china relations >> it may be >> let's go to news now, mika. >> i'm doing it, i'm doing it. look at these poll numbers a now "washington post" has president trump's approval ratings sinking to 37% and giving him the lowest two-year

of average. among independents, 63% dise disapprove of trump's job approval and one in five say they were personally inconvenienced by the government shutdown. and 63% said the nation is heading on the wrong track, matching the record high for the trump presidency so the government is now temporarily reopened, but president trump is again ramping up the pressure on lawmakers to strike a deal that includes funding for his border wall. the agreement with congressional leaders will last three weeks until february 15th to allow for them to continue talks over border security. on saturday the president tweeted 21 days goes very quickly. negotiations with democrats will start immediately, will not be easy to make a deal, both

parties very dug in. the case for national security has been greatlyin hanced by what has been happening we will build the wall at one point in the middle of his white house speech last friday, the his teleprompter stopped rolling and the president, oh, boy, decided to rift on some of his talking points on border security. >> based on operational guidance from the experts in the field, they will put together a homeland security package for me to shortly sign into law over the next 21 days i expect that both democrats and republicans will operate in good faith. this is an opportunity for all parties to work together for the benefit of our whole beautiful,

wonderful nation the walls we are building are not medieval walls they are smart walls women are tied up, they're bound, duct tape put around their faces, around their mouths, in many cases they can't even breathe, they're put in the backs of cars or vans or trucks. they don't go through your port of entry they make a right turn going very quickly they go into whatever desert areas or whatever areas you can look at and as soon as there's no protection, they make a right or left into the united states of america there's nobody to catch them, nobody to find them. >> wow >> and nothing to get hung about, strawberry fields forever. i have absolutely no idea, sam

stein, what all of that meant. that's a president seeing his poll numbers absolutely battered, his high 43% but that's an out lior and "the washington post" poll has him this morning at 37%. this is what i don't understand, sam you go through everything demographic group, things are getting worse for him. if kpr nancy pelosi is not going to be negotiating on the wall and she shouldn't, how does this end in three weeks from now? >> obviously it doesn't, unless he declares an emergency declaration. if it was an emergency hereby would have declared it over the past five weeks, which he hasn't done but that speech is very surreal,

right, the whole duct taping in right and left turns they enter the country, none of it really makes sense. he spent five weeks doing the shutdown fight, he got the hopes of his base up, he then killed the hopes of his base by giving in he ruined his poll numbers, he took an economic impact, emboldened nancy pelosi and said to everyone i'm going to do this again in three weeks that is insane politically i don't know what they'll have in three weeks that will be new to them they didn't have four or five weeks ago >> one thing that remains the same is nancy pelosi nancy pelosi is not going to move an inch on the wall you know, trump has to know that this has to be a three-week strategy figuring out a strategic retreat. >> it will end up being some kind of a semantic variation you saw a couple of people on

"meet the press" talking about a fence. well, in that case if there is some money for a fence and they call it a wall or some sort of additional border security, money isn't the issue. that's the interesting thing they're not worried about the fiscal side of this, they're willing, the democrats to spend a lot of money on border security, just not call it they're really fed up. and i don't think wool people i've spoken to who are willing to override a presidential vote owe or in the worst case convict in an impeachment trial. so he still has republican support. but the senate leadership and throughout the senate caucus are really fed up. you saw that in last thursday's

lunch meeting and they are not going to let this go to a shutdown >> let me make a quake point in the republicans' part. what was an interesting byproduct of his cave is there was an erosion of support but last night they went after ann coulter for being mean to him. >> i'm so glad you brought that up david ignatius, let's stop for one second this is not personal to anybody. it's just the truth is we all know it as just a matter of fact that it was ann coulter and rush limbaugh that actually get donald trump to move away from a deal that would have averted all of this, all of this and if you are just donald trump

or one of donald trump's closest advisers, you look at the incalculable damage that those two have done to this president and to this presidency and his ability to govern over the next two years, industry, you look at how much it savaged his presidency he's been so weak, he can't stand up to them >> he's been like a yo-yo played by these right-wing commentators he had a deal with mexico to finesse the whole order of the border the mexican president was coming to washington, the deal was set and there was right-wing condemnation of it and trump just absolutely freaked out.

he just can't handle the criticism from and the deal was scuttled, the mexican governor kran cancelled his -- i'll make a crazy prediction, which is that by february 15, the deadline, we will have a deal. i think the democrats would be foolish not to take this as a win. it's a way in which they can craft a win. the country is so sick of what they're watching if the democrats extend that or seem to extend it -- >> i don't know on what planet him closing down the government again or declaring a national emergency would help him in any way. speaking of republicans getting a little fed up, then there's the fbi, jeremy, as the political deadlock gave way on friday fbi director christopher wrait broke his soy silence to address

the strain and some people remaining at home without pay. >> it takes a lot to make my angry, but i'm about as angry as i've been in a long, long time now, i know there's some question about why you haven't seen the fbi leadership out there in the press, fighting the good fight over the past five weeks, but there are real costs to doing that. for us you know better than most that we've been thrust into the political spotlight more than we would have liked over the past few years, and the lastthing this organization needs now is its leadership to wade right into the middle a we are

activity advocating for you left and right at every lef and experts would tell you with border crossings down, i could go down the list, and yet this shutdown that he caused by creating a phony crisis actually did cause one danger after another. there we saw the fbi director. of course, as you or, you know, leads against gang members you can talk about the coast guard and being -- not being able to do all that they do on stopping the flow of drugs and human trafficking into this country. you could talk about the pilots

association talking about air traffic. i mean, there was one example of another example after another example of vow this -- created a real national security chris being. and again, i'm just got to wonder is this really a risk that donald trump or any republican is going to be allow to be roo peated again in three weeks? >> i disagree with david i don't think the democrats are going do go. i don't think we're going to see a national and i'm going to toss this to the court and and dir t

directand we're going to devote it to building the ball prm and but to your point, joe, that move like the past two weeks, will also undermine national security security because it will take something pak for the point gone, joe, it and would be under this term moving into something else that is going against, you know, the kings of congress, the appropriators. >> it's an abuse of power is what it is actually. it's an abuse of his ability to do that. the statutes that provide for that with you know where this ends up. it ends up in the courts can you bet that there will be

federalist society court justices who will overturn any emergency declaration. conservatives, moderate, liberal judges whether they were appoint appointedthere's only one way out of that corner he has got to deal with nancy pelosi and on terms that he is not going to like. tell us, meekia how do you think that looks >> it looks like it going to be absolutely fascinating and i don't think it ends well for him. i think he's met his match in and he's used to billying for a whole host of reasons. and it's actually perfect

placement for her matched up against dpromt you're optimistic i'm eternally optimistic so let's just you and me talk here as optimists >> just between us >> why couldn't -- why couldn't democrats go to donald trump and have said, okay, you say $5.7 billion for your wall, i'll tell you what we're going to do we're going to give you $6 billion for border security. but here's the deal, we're going to focus on ports of entry where 90% of the heroin comes in that kills our kids and kills our fathers and kills our messed also on drone technology and the sort when we're using that is the war and, yes, there are

parts of the fence that actually do work and have been proven to stop illegal immigrants from coming into the united states and democrats and republicans have agreed on that. and parts of those fences are actually in disrepair right now. so we'll spend some money to repair that as well. and we'll do allof that and al you have to do is say what you said you were going to do on dreamers and on daca, you know, a year ago why can't that be a grand bargain, david, where everybody wins >> so it can be. i just have this hunch, i could be wrong, i could be too optimistic, that rather than take the country back in the shutdown land, that nancy pelosi, who is a deal maker, she is what donald trump pretends to be you heard donna schala,

saying we want border security, we want to spend the money, we want to be there on this issue and come out of it with a formula that is very hard to trump to turn down the only other thing i wonder, given how upset the public is about the shutdown, whether we won't see more efforts to say this tactic is just not acceptable anymore in american politician, that whatever else we do. >> the reason it can't work, joe, is because donald trump had a deal like that presented to him at the end of 2017 but the deal was for $25 billion on border wall funding so if he were to accept anything under $25 billion at this point, it would be a lot of egg on his face and a massive failure

the reason it wouldn't work from the democratic perspective, it's about using a government shut shutdown to negotiate. what they want to see are not just policies gains they can point to but also a commitment from the president to never use the shutdown as leverage before. we saw nancy pelosi where she said she would support legislation from allowing government way-ins it sh down. >> the past is the past. what we're looking at is a three-week deadline. donald trump knows, as do reb senators, we can't do to the fbi and the coast guard and air traffic controllers and the tsa what we did over the past month. so there is a possible way

forward. donald trump was holding four aces a year and a half ago when he was demanding $25 billion right now he's got a bussed plate strait, and you don't got the car that wanted to draw. and one other thing. >> too there in states like virginia, in states like georgia that want a republic-leaning district they need to be able to go back and they need to be able to say, hey, it's not just word when we democrats the asks for $5 billion for a medieval wall? you know what we gave him? we gave him $6 pl at homeland security and that all the experts said will actually make

the border safer, will make vote me 2020. that's what the democrats need to get out of this they can't overreach they need to make a deal, too. that's why count me of team ignatius this morning. >> exactly so far we'll see instead of a wall he got a gave still ahead jared kushner reportedly told chris christie that firing michael flynn wouldnd. >> and the latest from the presidential campaign as a certainly senator and a starbucks ceo shake up the race. we'll talk about all of that head on "morning joe." ♪

don't let cracked skin tell you what to wear. new aveeno® cracked skin cica ointment. with shea butter and triple oat complex. for fast relief and a protective barrier for lasting relief. wear what you love, aveeno®. hey. i heard you're moving into yeah, it's pretty stressful. this music is supposed to relax me, though. ♪ maybe you'd mellow out a bit if you got geico to help you with your renters insurance.

oh, geico helps with renters insurance? good to know. yeah, and they could save you a lot of money. wow, suddenly i feel so relieved. you guys are fired. get to know geico and see how much you could save on renters insurance.

♪ and if you feel, like i feel baby then come on, ♪ ♪ oh come on ♪ let's get it on applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. the follow up cat scan showed that it had gone to her liver. we needed a second opinion. that's when our journey began with cancer treatment centers of america. one of our questions was, how are we going to address my liver? so my doctor said i think we can do both surgeries together. i loved that. now my health is good. these people are saints. ha, they're saints. cancer treatment centers of america. appointments available now.

a business owner always goes beyond what people expect. that's why we built the nation's largest gig-speed network along with complete reliability. then went beyond. beyond clumsy dials-in's and pins. to one-touch conference calls. beyond traditional tv. to tv on any device. beyond low-res surveillance video. to crystal clear hd video monitoring from anywhere. gig-fueled apps that exceed expectations. comcast business. beyond fast.

with faith in god, with fidelity to country and with the fighting spirit i got from my mother -- [ cheers and applause -- i stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the united states [ cheers and applause we are at an inflexion point in the history of our world we are at an inflexion point in the history of our nation. we are here because the american dream and our american democracy are under attack and on the line like never before. we are here at this moment in time because we must answer a

fundamental question who are we who are we as americans? so let's answer that question. to the world and each other right here and right now america, we are better than this >> senator kamala harris officially ti officially kicked off her 2020 campaign with a rally in oakland campaign her campaign stated oakland official estimated 20 million people look at trying to figure out who is going to suck sod and it's

not of the it factor that somebody feels what it takes and they don't to fill the stang i've seen 6'4" men on the stage, i've seen women standing on the stage and you either rook the second i saw her up there, wow, she's got what it takes. she filled that stage, she can play in the big leagues. >> absolutely. she had a couple of uncertain along the way coming from this point. there she was in oakland with a huge crowd and a very good peach. and the we are looking bad to

the world and she confronted all of those issues. she's clearly bright and, you know, has a new feeling about her, but this really came together now, does this play in ohio, in msh began, i think certainly in michigan and pennsylvania. i don't know whether but right now cam la i think the real over development over the weekend that we can talk about is howard schultz. >>we have that, former starbucks c ceo. an independent schultz tells the "new york times" that he plans to crisscross the u.s. on his book tour over the next three months before deciding whether to formally enter the race, but he has already laid the groundwork for a campaign in all 50 states.

here's what he said about a 2020 run in a recently taped 60 minutes interview that aired last night >> i am seriously thinking i will run a and we're living a at most fragile time, not only the fact that this president is not qualified to be the rest, but the fact that both parties are consistently not doing what's necessary on behalf of the american people. and are engaged every single day in revenge politics. >> some democrats are uneasy about schultz's interest in running as an independent. they're worried that he could pope voters that would otherwise vote democrat and ultimately slidify another tour your the service proclaimed life long

democrat said it would be disenken and hoose interested in revenge politics on boo. fmt and there are obviously going to be a lot of crass who are going to be very importantthis breaks of course you never know until you actually won the race and you have the election. i know the bush family still believes to this day that ross perot helped elect bill clinton. in we can say this pb. >> they are not registering, majorities are not registering

as republicans and democrats they're independents, they're non-affiliated this is the future at some point, at some point there will be an independent president, sometimes very soon, but i don't know if it's in 2020 and i don't know if either one would be the guy that had the reelection of donald trump pinned around him. >> well, people will be angry at hib who is get a second term with a minority of the country behind him by running a third par i think, you were sick of the two party, the alignment that we've got, but what i think they're looking for is certainly what i'd say, i'd like to see more of is the bug, prmt and

that's the stanz ard by which i'll be grading kamala harris. she gave a big speech, she knew how to build that big tent wrr and that's how goo going that takes some away from both side >> seems like a difficult time to run as an dipt -- i think of peacekeeper tur that snm the gors and the clintons standing next to each other with their arms all head high in the air and the caption only one got to

sit in the oval office i mean, the electoral college, yes, that's as well but also people taking votes away from al gore and taking votes away from hillary clinton. >> yeah, i mean, listen, empirically we don't know who would lose more if howard schultz were to run, whether it be the democrats or trump. >> i think we do >> we kind of do >> no, we do >> but either way the idea that no one really wants to find out basically, and even centrist minded democrats who i was pac and a trat and so no one is

really into this game. just to button this up a little bit, i do agree there's a pool of people who don't associate themselves with political party prp but i just happen to think that they also don't flock to a mutt million whose sold agenda is to tell them we can't afford this that's not the galvanizing message for that become when it's a year from now and sudden litz mike pence against kamala harris or elizabeth warren and suddenly it seems to fit a little bit better in the middle. and when bill clinton decided to jump in in 1991, you were there. everybody thought he was crazy he was running against a guy that had 89% approval rating

so you never really know >> actually she'she's got a lot of problems as well but he has certainly the name recognition >> what are you hearing, andrea? that's the question of the month. what's joe going to do >> he told some people the week before that he's 75 to 80% wanting to do it there are some family reasons that are holding him back. he wasn't to see who else is rying to the sur stas, you've got terry mcauliffe, who is oo. >> that's a first out. you got a lot of other people out therewho really want to do it it seems to be becoming together

very quickly now, you have three prominent pick. >> i'm sorry. >> can we add one more name to this mix we're about 30 minutes over in this block alone john kerry, there's a possibility of john kerry jumping in what's the latest you hear on johner that i don't think that once you've been nominated you goat another chance to do that adley stevenson did. once you've won the nomination, i don't think he would have a chance with this party >> all right, final thought,

whichly leave hanging with no comment, is that there is also word hillary might jump back in. howard schultz will be our guest on "morning joe" this coming we'll talk to jeremy bash about what officials are saying about "morning joe" will be right back at&t provides edge-to-edge intelligence, covering virtually every part of your finance business. and so if someone tries to breach your firewall in london & you start to panic... don't. because your cto says we've got allies on the outside... ...& security algorithms on the inside... ...& that way you can focus on expanding into eastern europe... ...& that makes the branch managers happy & yes, that's the branch managers happy. at&t provides edge-to-edge intelligence. it can do so much for your business, the list goes on and on. that's the power of &.

& when this happens you'll know how to quickly react... one hougot it.p order? ran out of ink and i have a big meeting today. and 2 boxes of twizzlers... yeah, uh...for the team... the team? gooo team.... order online pickup in an hour. hurry and get 20% off with coupon at office depot officemax

"the new york times" is reporting this morning the americans and taliban officials have agreed in framework to a peace deal the deal reportedly includes the taliban guaranteeing from afghan territory from being used by terrorists, point that could lead to the full withdrawal of american troos in terms of a cease-fire the american's envoy tells the paper, quote, we have a draft of the framework whats that to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement, adding that the tell grap have committed to from ever becoming a platform for

international terrorist groups or individuals joe, a big development >> it is a big development jeremy bush, i'm curious what do you think about the possibility of a peace plan between the two and how in the world is taliban going to stop terrorist organizations from operating within their borders when the pakistani government can't do it in their own >> by mid 8011, they had actually discussed in thatthe united states pivot had had nrnl but the showers has been how would the table at the political

place in afghan sta with concerns about women's rights and human rights and would they. >> having watched this for so many years, the idea of getting a towel and i've renounced zwrb be appearance to be mabbing more progress a my sense is maybe this is for real what do you think? >> he is clearly a very effective negotiator he's got the heritage, the none in all afghanistan so we have our potentially best team on the field. i also think the president has

played an important role here and they've been an important pli i think this is going to hard it have -- one of the things that almost screwed this up was the president with his precipitous withdrawal from syria announcement also said and afghanistan, too, just when the tiks were at a very critical stage. why would the taliban give anything at the table when they think we're getting out anyway against -- so jeremy, we still haven't talked about theory rest of roger stone what does it mean for roger stone? >> i think the key paragraph is paragraph 12 i talked about a senior trump official was directed by somebody who was empowered to

direct a campaign official, was directed to check in with roger stone, to figure out how they would work with wikileaks, an of aious and known russian foreign intelligent assets we have the the under lying mechanism was not the basis for indime butt lie and we have these own liars who were now fuchl and what's weird really fundamentally is that the president of the united states surrounded himself with that cast of characters mueller is being meticulous about this he's got -- obviously he has receipts it's not sprizing o me that this

the question i have is what does roger stone do when he's pinched like this? he's saying i'm never going to -- >> almost confidently. so what can you you a groub grvgs this is not what he wants actually andrea, he may try to put on a brave nixonian face, but we've all been around long enough to hear people talking tough. we heard sam nunberg talk to d had. we have a president sitting in the white house whose campaign

manager that got him over the top that was running his campaign during the rnc is in jail the number two, his number two campaign guy, rick gates, guilty the guy that he said was one of thinks two top torch guilty. his national security adviser guilty his long-time lawyer and fixer and a guy that actually held a picture in the and his long-time political adviser guilty this is just the beginning ought this is not the way prosecutors usually write indictments. for them not to say so and so number one, so number two to do this to number two to do this to roger stone, it was in that passive voice. so there's a lot more there.

but this was the first time that mueller actually took what had been established in the previous indictments bast rear that wk leaks in and took that and tied it to someone in the inner circle >> wow >> and that means there's a lot more to come >> right >> jeremy bash, andrea mitchell, thank you for being on tonight and kasie hunt droujoins us fore next round to strike a deal for border security. and house republicans managed to stall even though the democrats are in power "morning joe" will be right back as someone in witness protection,

i can't tell you anything about myself. but believe me... i'm not your average consumer. that's why i switched to liberty mutual. they customized my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. and as a man... uh... or a woman... with very specific needs that i can't tell you about- say cheese. mr. landry? oh no. hi mr. landry! liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ i saw my leg did not look right. i landed. i was just finishing a ride. i felt this awful pain in my chest.

i had a pe blood clot in my lung. i was scared. i had a dvt blood clot. having one really puts you in danger of having another. my doctor and i chose xarelto®. xarelto®. to help keep me protected. xarelto® is a latest-generation blood thinner that's... proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt or pe blood clots from happening again. in clinical studies, almost 98% of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. xarelto® works differently. warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your body's natural blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase risk of blood clots. while taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems.

learn all you can... to help protect yourself from another dvt or pe. talk to your doctor about xarelto®. the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a few years old or dinosaur old, we want to buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our techno-wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car and say hello to the new way... at carvana. i get to select my room from the floor plan... free wi-fi... ...and the price match guarantee. so with hilton there is no catch. yeah the only catch is i'm never leaving. no i'm serious, i live here now. book at hilton.com and get the hilton price match guarantee.

is the president really prepared to shut down the government again in three weeks? >> yeah, i think he actually is. keep in mind he's willing to do whatever it takes to secure the border >> i'm not sure that would be very smart welcome book to "morning joe." it's monday, january 28th. along with joe and me we have columnist and associate editor for "the washington post" david ignatius, capitol hill correspondent on msnbc kasie hunt, senior writer at "politico" and msnbc political contributor jake sherman is with us and white house correspondent for pbs "newshour" yamiche alcindor

trump's approval is at an all-time low and the lowest approval rating of any president in the 72 history of political polling. 63% of independents disprove of trump's job performance, up 10% since november and more than one in five say they were personally inconvenienced by the 35-day government shutdown. now congressional leaders have three weeks until february 15th to come up with a new deal on saturday the president tweeted "21 days goes very quickly, negotiations with democrats will start immediately, will not be easy to make a deal, both parties very dug in the case for national security has been greatly enhanced by what has been happening at the border and dialogue. we will build the wall." can he build the wall? is it possible and can he really shut down the

government again and declare a national emergency >> no, he's not going to be able to build that want but secondly, kasie hunt, as far as a shut down goes, talk about the any desire for another shutdown fight, do they understand just how badly things got for donald trump and the party in the polling over those three, four weeks? >> there's absolutely zero appetite among senate republicans for another shutdown, joe. they were fighting about it over lunch the day before it all finally got solved mitch mcconnell in the room saying you think i'm happy about what's gone on here? he frankly thought this was a terrible idea from the beginning. how many times have we heard him save you don't learn anything from the second kick of the

mule the reality is they were fighting over the idea of a republican shutdown. the president is on an island by himself here >> and, jake, the maddening thing for republicans is there was no lodge touk agic to any os they had to deal with democrats, they were going to keep the government open and then ann coulter and rush limbaugh gave him a hard time and you look at how badly his poll numbers have suffered because of it how do they deal with a president who just wanders off

into the field and can never be trusted to keep his word >> first of all, paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, as kasie noted, did try to turn him off of this. if you are in the president's position and you promised a border wall for all of these months and, frankly year you still have gotten basically number -- but, jake, here's the thing, i mean, again that would be a great argument for donald trump and republicans to push except for the fact as we all know, republicans were in charge for two years. >> up. >> republicans like john corewin said walls don't work, they just

wanted the political fight surrounding the wall >> i think that's 100% true. over the past few years the president had almost shut down the government in multiple times. he feels he was treated poorly by his party if you talk to hem, they'll say the president made an unreistic promise and refused to get things close to this wall many times. he had a deal for $25 billion and he refused that. so this has been mr. call and i feel many member of the president's white house are misguiding him in all of this. lost in all this is the loss of the stun we're looking at a president who is willing to send troops to the border to prepare for care vans that never came and was even talking about them last week

like got thing we got those two i mean, these things, actually he says them and he actually put troops at the border is it possible he will shut down the government again or declare a mags think that everybody knows that the state of the union is chaotic, it's petty, it's political warfare so in some ways, every time donald trump gets up there, nancy pelosi has the final say of when the president gets up there, whenever it because so many people have seen for 35 days the government to the have to extend restaurant weeks

let's not even talk about the 800,000 or so workers who suffered without a paycheck. i don't think that president trump will did, the idea that democrats got him to go on camera to say i will own this shut down i think hamstringed him. >> it's incredible >> the idea he's not saying mexico will will pay for the wall anymore, i think he stunds mexico will not reissue the wall. >> so knapp p nancy pelosi has to reissue her invitation and she hasn't done so yet >> and i think she'll get around to saying, okay, here's when you can come to my house >> talk about being schooled >> i just wanted to ask, david

ignatius, what did you think about that i'm glad yamiche brought it up donald trump makes a political decision that obviously puts him in a terrible position and it is almost immediately after that that moment takes place nny really kick him where it hurts talking about rogerstop and, i'm not suggesting she doesn't have the right to do that i'm not suggesting in trump's washington maybe she would have been seen as wk i just wonder, might that have been an opportunity to old a bunch and put out. >> she's got donald trump's number and i think she's getting so many pats on the back for having

navigated there so skillfully politically, but the base inc. to turn toward helping the country find a way out of this take the win, as it were, and then turn that into approximately m vanity wall is what i've come to think of it as >> that's putting it nicely. >> he can't give it up and we have a real crisis caused by the shutdown. >> right >> we haven't begun to hear all the things that were happening in the air as air travis got, the spacing between db that we're real air security, we were a couple of days fromming is a

real crack in the air traffic control system i any when you compare the two, the manufactured crisis, the real crisis, the idea we're going to go back to the real crisis, which would be even worse the next time around, i still think pelosi should understand that's not the pli pelosi, emergency and the problem is you assume a rational act of the president >> joe, that's the thing she cannot let the pressure she has off him and being pretty tour and only let up when he's been port of a deal. he's been proven time and time again that he is not sfwrmgt and

think that fair is fair. >> well, we all know that and we also know that nancy pelosi is the best politician on capitol hill, and we said it in realtime while there were some democrats talking about possibly replacing her, that we thought that would be foolish and again, i just want -- i understand democrats have rightly attacked donald trump over the past serve months, eefr the bor-- over ther issue. over the shutdown. i will say, though, that a democratic majority in 2020, democratic success in states like wisconsin and minnesota and michigan and ohio and that rests

on them being abable this is an opportunity to do itmy only point is you downdo that when your opponent is negotiating from a position of strength. you dough do that when the no prp if democrats are looking at that or if that your going to keep trump shoved up against the wall so much that we could have another government shutdown. i understand again and we've ben been saying every day, this plays against donald trump's post office. i was going to -- let's talk about what's happening with children at the border, let's talk about, you know, working

class wages, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. just a footnote. >> let's talk 2020 senator kamala harris officially kicked off her 2020 presidential campaign with a rally in oakland, california. >> with faith in god, with fidelity to country and with the fighting spirit i got from my mother -- [ cheers and applause >> i stant before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the united states come painst made $ harris joins what is expected to be a crow d crowded.

in the first major speech of her came pain, the california senator took the opportunity to speak about her progressive agenda and also hit trump and his device hif >> we are at an inflexion point in the history of our world. we are inflexion point in the history of our nation. we are here because the american dream and our american democracy are under attack and on the line like never before. we are here at this moment in time because we must answer a fundamental question, who are we who are we as americans? so let's answer that question. to the world and to each other right here and right now ameri

america. >> david ignatius, you have seen more than a few of these presidential announcements in your time. tem us what you saw yesterday with kamala harris, first of all, and, secondly, tell us how does she separate herself from a field of possibly 20, 25 challengers? >> joe, i felt the strongest thing about that speech was that it showed you a person who knows why she wants to be president. she was able to outline some basic themes that came out of her own experience, the different things she done in her career all fit together in the story that she wants to tell the country. i think her challenge over the coming months is going to be to show that she can be a candidate who can broaden her appeal and she had that opening speech in oakland with folks who know her. she needs to -- let's watch her in iowa, litz watch her in new

hampshire, let's watch her campaigning in states where she needs to say i'm the person who can govern this whole country. >> all of us, yeah >> but, joe, i'd say you can't have a better start than that but those are the questions we look for in the next period ahead. >> a great start and there is, yamiche, a purpose. there is a reason she are about just a month into this 2020 cycle activity and you take the candidacies of two women, let's talk about elizabeth warren and also we can talk about kamala harris yesterday. everybody knows what they both stand for already. they no why they are running kamala harris, we are better than this. and of course elizabeth warren

has been criticized because of her bumper sticker style mentality of campaigning but she keeps that is a plus that these two women have figured out how to do this out of the gate and that's something that vexed hillary clinton for two years. it's a criticism that mika had for two years, what does she stand for? i'm with her and they'd say, well, go and look at her policy papers, go and listen to this speech, but hillary could never boil is down to what kamala harris and elizabeth warren have already done in their first couple of weeks of campaigning >> i think especially in elizabeth warren's case what you're going to have is someone who is going to be able to say i've held these progressive beliefs for a very, very long

time, i don't have anything to apologize for. there are some dna issues she's going to have to confront. but long terms in ternls of her progressive politics, can you believe this with kamala harris, i'm someone who is going to announce on mlk name, u and i'm then independent going to hold my 20,000 person rally. what she's saying is i'm not going to run from diversity. she saying that the future of america is diverse, that we are supposed to be people who look at all the different dimensions of ourselves and question and figure out and say, yes, i can be all these things and americans. i think the interesting thing will be where is the rule set? can you take billions from any organization >> and again, to joy a poin

point,terps of helping the american people where they are casey, they are strong americans out of the box and the fact that they are women are not even part of the bumper sticker. >> it's unremarkable these the third -- i think it's a real victory. i also they political consultants and kamala harris is really staking out one side which has as be and he's not

saying, well, we lost in michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania among male voters and therefore we need to bend over backwards to those people in order to win. she is making a bet on the other side of this spectrum. it's going to be an interesting test he p she does potentially have a clear pass to the nomination the foreign policy women are the single most important constituency i have a lot of women. final thoughts and is there a democratic freakout going on by the president who is known to punch his owe owe pen to the only for his own -- there's a

broad coalition of had find on and the and still ahead, with the shut down over, speaker of the house nancy pelosi is turning herself to the russian probe asking what does putin have o, congressman jim himes next on "morning joe." (vo) we're carvana,

the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a few years old or dinosaur old, we want to buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our techno-wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car and say hello to the new way... at carvana. willy davis, who has alzheimer's. i decided to make shirts for the walk with custom ink. the shirts were so easy to design on the site. the custom ink team was super helpful

and they just came out perfect. seeing my family wearing my shirts was such an amazing reminder of all the love and support that everyone has for my dad. - [narrator] check out our huge selection of custom t-shirts and more, for teams, businesses, and every occasion. you'll even get free shipping. get started today at customink.com. you'll even get free shipping. a business owner always goes beyond what people expect. that's why we built the nation's largest gig-speed network along with complete reliability. then went beyond. beyond clumsy dials-in's and pins. to one-touch conference calls. beyond traditional tv. to tv on any device. beyond low-res surveillance video. to crystal clear hd video monitoring from anywhere. gig-fueled apps that exceed expectations. comcast business. beyond fast. any chance you'll cooperate with special counsel robert mueller if he asks

>> you know, that's a question i would have determine after my attorneys have some discussion if there's wrong doing by other people in the campaign that i know about, which i know of none, but if there is i would certainly testify honestly i'd also testify honestly about any other matter, including any communications with the president. >> wow indicted former trump adviser roger stone has apparently not ruled out possibility of cooperating with found robert mueller. meanwhile, new analysis from "the new york times" found that trump and his oshts had more than 100 contacts with the russians before the inauguration the contacts included more than 100 in-person meetings, phone calls, text messages, e-mails

and private messages on twitter. among the president's own contact was a letter of intent he signed for a trump tower in moscow, despite tweeting i have nothing to do with russia, i have no deals, no loans, no nothing! >> in addition to saying this -- >> i have no deals with russia i have no swegs or ails, no question been and also with us former justice department spokesman an msnbc justice and security and there's this moment

when sherlock says never is the universe so lazy we have trump team lying about those meetings and here we find ourselves possibly near the end of an investigation and it's just impossible to come to the conclusion that all of this is a coincidence, there's something there. of course the question is what is it? the sheer number suggestions it's extraordinary >> it's obviously extraordinary. and the president's remarks that we just played, you know, once he took office were obviously a

lie. they had a number of contacts with the russians. he was trying to do business in russia, campaign his son were meeting o had on friday when we found out that someone, a very senior official in the trump can pan and found out what was coming next the question that we still don't really know the answer to is why all the lying? >> are a couple reasons -- the less benign, maybe not criminal but still quite toxic politically explain would be

they're lying because the political scandal is just too damaging and they didn't want any of to come out, even if they didn't cross line into committing a crime that's the question i think we need to focus on if we are getting to the end of this investigation. we are going to see evidence of crimes thahere may be other evie of behavior by the president, behavior of people andh, direct just showed on tv and there's so much of are of of it, of the president lying about his contacts with the russians we have the vice president on tape lying about the campaign's contact with the russians. the attorney general, former attorney general lied in testimony before congress about meetings with russians his son lied about a meeting

with russians in trump power son-in-law lied about meeting wi with. >> what did you do -- i mean, there's so many different directions that your committee could go in. where do you start >> well, matthew's right i mean, that's the big question. it's no longer a news story that people, including the president, are lying. the president lies on twitter pretty m ino sent lies i haven't been sort of in

and o and this sgsis a highly calibrated, well-executed massive spiry. prp spsh and the question is, i think the big remaining question because we're pay past collusion, right, if collusion is helping each other out, there was lots of helping each other out. the question is was there coordination and quid pro quo? is michael cohen or roger stone or anyone else, the president, on record as saying, hey, if we do this, we will get that? that when you move from conclusion --:until criminal conspiracy song juan, do were you surprised at you a that

himself ban roger ston's invent, that he is is there are no thanksgiving that mueller discovered that he has laid out in that indictment were you surprised by any of that and do you buy that that exonerate him in some way? >> well, it certainly doesn't exonerate him in any way remember, michael cohen is going to come on the president continues to say i know collusion, calling it a witch hunt, et cetera. does it tell you as somebody who has been all of these meetings, in the testimony that they didn't hit roger stone with a

collusion or against anybody for swircy and that's the clesing act of this drama and we're but if there was in fact a conspiracy on the part of a presidential campaign to conspire to defraud the american people or defraud the government, that, believe me, is the claes at,that is the closing act of this whole thing. we should be very clear, just because everybody is lying doesn't man a lot of slopey behavior, do anything for the boss so to your point, your question,

casey, if that is out there, that is the collecting act th status of your committee, is it up and running and are you able to actually do the work you need to do? >> that's a good question. as of this morning, it is not up and running. nancy pelosi appointed members of the committee i'm told kevin mccarthy is doing that tomorrow. we not done real photographer sit o congressman jim still ahead, president trump apparently thought the russia controversy would be over when he fired michael flynn chris krasy hayes he broke the bad news to trump telling them probably would not be the case we'll have more details from the former governor's new book

strayed ahead on "morning joe. i didn't really know anything about my family history. went to ancestry, i put in the names of my grandparents first. i got a leaf right away. a leaf is a hint that is connected to each person in your family tree. i learned that my ten times great grandmother is george washington's aunt. within a few days i went from knowing almost nothing to holy crow, i'm related to george washington. this is my cousin george. discover your story. start searching for free now at ancestry.com at panera, we treat soup differently. with vine ripened tomatoes, signature cheddar, simmered to perfection. with big flavors, not artificial ones. enjoy 100% clean soup today. panera. food as it should be.

this round is on me. hey, can you spot me? come on in! find your place, today, with silver sneakers... included with many medicare plans. call the number on the screen now or visit getsilversneakers.com not long ago, ronda started here. and then, more jobs began to appear. these techs in a lab. this builder in a hardhat... ...the welders and electricians who do all of that. the diner staffed up 'cause they all needed lunch. teachers... doctors... jobs grew a bunch. what started with one job spread all around. because each job in energy creates many more in this town. energy lives here.

in his new book, former new jersey governor chris christie

said he and his son-in-law thought the controversy around russia would end afternoon the firing of michael flynn. on february 14th, 2017, the day after flynn was dismissed for lying to the vice president about his contacts with the russian ambassador, christie and his wife mary pat had lunch scheduled with the president jared kushner decided to attend. according to crihris christie, said "this russia thing is all over because i fired flynn." and trump responded what do you mean flynn met with the russians?

i fired flynn, it's over and kizy were the and said he was crazy when he said they would most likely still be discussing the russia issue in 2018 chris christie will be our guest tomorrow on "morning joe." this feels like a conversation that trump and jared would have, very blind to the fact that there are other people looking at the russia questions that go beyond mike flynn and that the firing of mike it really just got beginning. bad bloog, though -- >> again, we're going to have christie on in a couple of days and we can talk about his reporting through the lens of his feelings about the kushners

in general, but that being said, jared kushner was the person who encouraged the president to fire james comey saying it would help put the russia investigation behind him and perhaps now in this book is to be believed, he suggested the same thing about firing flynn this is a white house from the beginning that just never really had any grasp on how sprawling this russia investigation was going to be. it's shocking how ignorant they were about what they put themselves in the middle of. >> they kept thinking that they could turn it off. well, if we fire flynn, it's over well, if we fir copy it's opinion. and they put out individual parts of this while behind them the blaze just keeps getting bigger the fascinating thing about the

christie book is obviously it's another story in the shakespearean revenge. that's fascinating i'm sure you'll talk with the governor about that. but i do think this particular moment is -- i asked myself did jared kushner really believe when he said that to chris christie, that it was over, or was i mean, this a more they say something, the more team think it will be and isn't it interesting and because roger's

tone has changed a bit over the past 24 hours. i'll be quite -- i'll be surprised if he carries his arrogance into the mueller investigation, but we'll see but, you know, matt miller, i thought it was very interesting what we heard from congresswoman himes who said, who knows, maybe these are just a bunch of liars, a bunch of goofy, dopey people who were lying because that's what they felt the president wanted them to do. and i have through the years when people have said, well, you've known trump and you've known people around trump, explain what they're doing and i have said that more often than not if the choice is between just pure evil and sheer stupidity, you're not going to lose money by pushing your chips across the table to sheer stupidity. i wonder if this is another

example of their just absolute, it have and an called for and unjustified arrogance that has gotten them into all of this trouble. >> that's the deep tirey that more often than not, that tends to be the right explanation. look, when it comes to them lying all the time and this indictment that was released on friday and to the congressman as point, i think ever since we assault weapon the indictments of the russianofficials by bob muleary team, we seen a conspira conspiracy would there be and i think the shoe we were all waiting to drots roger step. and when we saw the shoe drop on friday, it didn't include that

conspiracy so i think there are one is there's nor and the second is that you had these two actors, the rush and possibly otherthey never entered into that conspiracy together. >> matt, let me stop you right there. what you're saying could be true it certainly is a fair reading of a possibility i have, though, read over the weekend some outrageous op-eds but conservatives suggesting, well, now is the time for mueller to come forward and say

there was no collusion, there was no conspiracy, there was no untoward influence from putin. that's important to understand is what i think people like you have always said, we don't no, we don't know the evidence that's in himself hand and we shouldn't prejudge it one way or the other until it's over. unless you want to be proved wrong, you shouldn't be making predictions about what he's going to do because we don't know it could ainappropriate of the people around him but not crossing a line because think didn't get drb it doesn't ma nn

and in bd it dons. just because he didn't cross the line into a crime, the standard for congress to look at the pret as paas andy mccarthy, who has written very strong, compelling arguments for the president of the united states has said from time to time, if you're not guilty, stop acting guilty there are so many times where donald trump has just added fuel to the fire. it seems that he's been obsessed in adding fuel to the fire so again, we'll see where this ends but at the same time, so much damage

sp if they could have just taken the phone out of his hands on -- i'm serious -- on january the 20th, if they could have done that, if we could make cars that were fueled by milk chocolate, i could eat as many steaks as i wanted and never get fat, what a wonderful world it would be. but just think about the difference between what donald trump has given us over the past couple of years and just a simple communication discipline. a simple communication has given since january 2017, my god, the political world, washington, d.c., the world itself would look so different today. >> well, yeah, they couldn't contain him.

if they were able to contain him and his urges, it might have helped and i think it will be fascinating to hear from chris christie tomorrow and talk about the conversation you guys just had with his insights because he really did see a lot and did sea lot. tomorrow morning we'll be joined by white house aide cliff simms. in the book simms writes that president trump relishes giving friends, acquaintances and strangers tours of the white house. this we know we had one ourselves making sure to point out the spot where -- oh, god, really? where all that monica lewinsky stuff happened simms the subject leads to lengthy often crass conversations. i can see him doing that he's obsessed. >> unfortunately that part of it -- all we saw, mika, we just saw all the pictures lined up of

the crowds on inauguration day and he said look at the crowds from this angle. >> yes we were just given that tour of all the pictures of the large crowd. that have not that large trump also reportedly claims to his guests that his private dining room near the oval office was quote in rough shape and former president barack obama used it to watch sports. he just sat in there and watched basketball all day, trump recently told a tour group he loves giving tours. that's for sure. and talking repetitively about certain things matt miller, thank you very much up next, she says she told white lies to protect the president but now hope hicks is working in hollywood. and what worked in the trump west wing is apparently not working on the west coast. "vanity fairja" ne fox joins us with her new reporting next on "morning joe".

show of hands, who's a future comcast business customer here? i think we all are. yeah, definitely. sign us up. yes. two hands. two hands. yay. double hands. get fast reliable internet and add voice for a low price. just one more way we go beyond for your business. and now you can also enter for a chance to win $10,000 from comcast business toget your year off to a fast start. there's a new $10,000 winner every day in january. go online now and enter for a chance to win. comcast business. beyond fast.

joining us now senior reporter at vanity fir and msnbc news contributor is emily j. fox. she has a new piece out. hope hicks west wing alum begins her second act on the west coast. emily, what did you fine what is she doing and how is it going? >> it was an open we do me, what happens when people leave the west wing and try to create life after donald trump's white house. and you see some people who, obviously, others have written books about their experience and try to attach themselves to it you've seen someone like sean spicer who has not landed and found his footing. there are a group of people who have worked there, have tried to find actual corporate jobs and what's interesting to me in reporting this is hope hicks landed a very big job. she's now running communications

for new fox. and if by all accounts she is fairly skilled at doing these sort of big communication jobs where you have to manage one single principle and do communications for the boss, essentially. but it has yet to be seen if she is able to shake the stench of the white house. all the reporters she's working with, the hollywood trade press are not willing to welcome someone with someone who worked so closely with president trump for so long. they have questions about her honesty. the fact that she worked for a man like donald trump for so long and i think as good as she is and is as capable as she is in her job is she going to be able to shake the trump name from her brand? >> you would think hollywood would be a hard place to go with trump as your last job >> it sounds like it because it sound like she's in some ways struggling to get this idea you just can't float out kind of vague ideas of what you think

might be the truth or if you don't know you may need to say you don't know which is a question i have for you, emily tell me about the anecdotes where she's accused of telling falsehoods you were talking about this idea there was possibly someone who was let go and she said that's not true right now and i'll get back to you and it didn't work out in her favor >> what happened people aren't willing to give her the benefit of out because she worked there. someone was going to leave the company and reporters caught wind of the situation and asked her about it and she said there's no news there yet but things are fluid so i'll let you know when there's a final decision what happened was i think from my reporting is things moved quicker than she thought they did. that person was out. the reporter said she wasn't honest things moved quicker than she thought. because of where she worked for so long people assumed that she was lying. so i think thisis the problem

for people who leave trump's west wing. no one willing to give them the benefit of do your and that's why it makes it difficult to start offer even if you're capable and very good at your job. >> emily j. fox, thank you very much we'll be reading your new reporting in "vanity fair" and still ahead the president faces some of his lowest polling yet. we'll have the new numbers we could be facing another shutdown as the president expresses little hope that lawmakers will reach a border security deal that he would sign "morning joe" is coming right back hydro boost water gel from neutrogena®. with hyaluronic acid it goes beneath the surface to plump skin cells from within and lock in hydration leaving skin so supple, it actually bounces back. the results will blow you away! hydro boost and our gentle exfoliating cleanser from neutrogena®

when did you see the sign? when i needed to jumpstart sales. build attendance for an event. help people find their way. fastsigns designed new directional signage. and got them back on track. get started at fastsigns.com. and got them back on track. ♪ ♪ this simple banana peel represents a bold idea: a way to create energy from household trash. it not only saves about 80% in carbon emissions... it helps reduce landfill waste.

that's why bp is partnering with a california company: fulcrum bioenergy. to turn garbage into jet fuel. because we can't let any good ideas go to waste. at bp, we see possibilities everywhere. to help the world keep advancing. is the president really prepared to shut down the government again in three weeks? >> yeah. i think he actually is >> over the next 21 days i expect that both democrats and republicans will operate in good faith. >> no one should ever under estimate the speaker as donald trump has claimed. >> i've been very clear on the

wall >> any chance you'll cooperate with special counsel robert mueller if he asks >> i have to determine after my attorneys have some discussion >> i'm seriously thinking of running for president. i will run as a scecentrist independent outside of the two party system >> so, let's do this >> wow >> there we go the president is weakened. the house speaker is empowered the special counsel is advancing. and as you saw the presidential race is getting interesting. good morning and welcome to "morning joe". it's monday, january 28th, 2019. along with joe and me we have columnist and sorry editor for "the washington post" david ignatius politics editor for the "daily beast," sam stein. he's great too >> not so much

sam, you knew it was coming. >> it's monday, man. >> the shutdown is over, joe >> former chief of staff at the cia and department of defense now an nbc news national security analyst jeremy bash and chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of "andrea mitchell reports," andrea mitchell. >> let's go the news now, mika >> i'm doing it. look at these poll numbers a new "washington post"/abc poll has trump's approval rating sinking to 37% one point above his all time low. giving him the lowest two year average approval rating of any president in the 72 year history of presidential polling. among political independents 63% disapprove of trump's job performance. up ten points since november the poll also found that 22% of americans more than one in five say they were personally inconvenienced by the 35 day government shutdown.

and 63% told the nbc/wall street journal poll that the nation is heading on the wrong track matching the record high for the trump presidency so the government is now temporarily re-opened but president trump is again ramping up the pressure on lawmakers to strike a deal that includes funding for his border wall. the agreement with congressional leaders will last three weeks until february 15th to allow for them to continue talks over border security. on saturday the president tweeted 21 days goes very quickly. negotiations with democrats will start immediately. will not be easy-to-make a deal. both parties very dug in the case for national security has been greatly enhanced by what's been happening at the border and through dialogue. we will build the wall at one point in the middle of his white house speech on friday, his teleprommer stopped rolling and the president decided to riff on some of his

familiar and unsubstantiated talking points on border security >> based on operational guidance from experts iran the field they will put together a homeland security package for me to shortly sign into law. over the next 21 days i expect that both democrats and republicans will operate in good faith. this is an opportunity for all parties to work together for the benefit of our whole, beautiful, wonderful nation the walls we are building are not medieval walls they aresmart walls. women are tied up, they are bound, duct tape put around their faces, around their mouth, in many cases they can't even breathe.

they are put in the backs of cars or vans or trucks they don't go through your port of entry they make a right turn going very quickly they go into the desert areas or whatever areas you can look at and as soon as there's no protection they make a left or a right into the united states of america. there's nobody to catch them there's nobody to find them. >> wow that's just -- >> and nothing to get hung about, strawberry fields forever. i mean, i have absolutely no idea, sam stein, what all of that meant >> yeah. >> that's the president, obviously, who is seeing his poll numbers absolutely battered his high 43% that's an out liar the ap him at 48%. this morning he's at 37% this is what i don't under, sam.

he's getting pounded, you go through every demographic group. things are getting worse for him. what changes over the next three weeks? if nancy pelosi is not going to be moving on the wall, which she isn't and she shouldn't, then how does this -- how does this is any different three weeks from now >> it obviously doesn't unless he declares an emergency declaration, which, you know, he should if it was in fact an emergency he would have declared it at any point over the past five weeks which he hasn't done that speech was very surreal stuff he's talking about, doesn't touch reality, duct taping and left and right turns doesn't make sense i guess i don't understand who is giving this president strategic advice in the white house. he spent five weeks doing the shutdown he got the hopes of his base up. he then killed the hopes of his base by giving in. he ruined his poll numbers

he took an economic impact he emboldened nancy pelosi and then says tomb i'll do this again in three weeks that's insane politically. i don't know what they think they have to win this fight. that will be new to them in three weeks that they didn't have four or five weeks ago. >> one thing that remains the same is nancy pelosi nancy pelosi is not going to move an inch on the wall and, you know, trump has to know that this has to be a three week strategy, figuring out a strategic retreat. >> it will end up being some kind of a semantic variation you saw a couple of people on "meet the press," you know, talking about a fence. well in that case if there is some money for a event and they call it a wall or some sort of additional border security, money isn't the issue. they are not worried about the fiscal side of this, they are willing the democrats willing to spend a lot of money on border

security but just not call it a wall the difference is the republicans in the senate have had it they are fed up. you don't have and i don't think we'll ever given the current circumstances have 20 republicans, according to people i spoke to, who are willing to override a presidential veto or worse case, you know, do something like an impeachment numbers because they see in his numbers strong republican support. he still has republican support. the but the senate leadership and throughout the senate caucus are fed up you saw that in last thursday's lunch meeting and they are not going to let this go >> one quick point on the republican's part. what was interesting about his by product of his cave there was an erosion of republican support in all demographics. last night trump went after ann coulter for being mean to him. if that's the type of bickering you'll see in the aftermath of

these fights i'm not sure republicans will be allied to trump so much in the future. >> i'm so glad you brought that up david ignatius, let's stop for one second and this is not personal to anybody. it's just the truth is we all know it as just a matter-of-fact that it was ann coulter and rush limbaugh that actually get donald trump to move away from a deal that would have averted all of this, all of this and if you are just donald trump or one of donald trump's closest advisers, you look at the incalculable damage they have done this president and his ability to govern over the next two years, history books will be

written about it i wonder if donald trump understand how much those two savaged his presidency on that one day. well actually he savaged his presidency by being so weak that he couldn't even stand up to them >> he has been like a yo-yo played by these right-wing commentators it's true from the very beginning. he had through jared kushner a deal with mexico to finesse the whole issue of the border in the first weeks of his presidency. mexican president was coming to washington the deal was set and there was right-wing condemnation of it and trump just absolutely freaked out. he just can't handle criticism from the right oh, my gosh my base is injured and the deal was scuttled. the mexican president cancelled his visit. it's a prelude to what we're in now. i'll make a crazy prediction by february 15th, the deadline, we'll have a deal.

i think democrats would be foolish not to take this as a win. >> still ahead on "morning joe," we know jim comey injected him into the political conversation when he led the fbi. his successor chris wray said he was determined not to do that until the government shutdown forced his hand. the latest fallout from that 35 day debacle. from the very beginning ... it was always our singular focus, to do whatever it takes, use every possible resource, to fight cancer. and never lose sight of the patients we're fighting for. our cancer treatment specialists share the same vision. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. and these are the specialists we're proud to call our own. expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com. appointments available now.

learn more at cancercenter.com. 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; find our coupon in sunday's paper. the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a few years old or dinosaur old, we want to buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our techno-wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car and say hello to the new way... at carvana. but one blows them all out of the water. hydro boost from neutrogena®. with hyaluronic acid to plump skin cells so it bounces back. neutrogena® it's a revolution in sleep.

the sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999 senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. and snoring? how smart is that? smarter sleep. to help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the patience of a saint. sleep number is ranked #1 in customer satisfaction with mattresses by j. d. power. and now, save up to $500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. ends wednesday. woman: this is your wake-up call. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. humira can help stop the clock. prescribed for 15 years, humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. vo: humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened,

as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. woman: help stop the clock on further irreversible joint damage. talk to your rheumatologist. right here. right now. humira. right here. right now. a business owner always goes beyond what people expect.

that's why we built the nation's largest gig-speed network along with complete reliability. then went beyond. beyond clumsy dials-in's and pins. to one-touch conference calls. beyond traditional tv. to tv on any device. beyond low-res surveillance video. to crystal clear hd video monitoring from anywhere. gig-fueled apps that exceed expectations. comcast business. beyond fast. over the shutdown gave way on friday, fbi director christopher wray broke hiscy thrones address the strain on law enforcement agents and personnel who had gone more than a month without pay. >> making some people stay home when they don't want to and making others show up without pay, it's mind-boggling, it's short sighted, and it's unfair it takes a lot to get me angry,

but i'm about as angry i've been in a long, long time now, i know there's some question about why you haven't seen the fbi leadership out there in the press fighting the good fight over the past five weeks. but there are real costs to doing that for us as an institution and for our 110-year-old brand you know better than most we've been thrust into the political spotlight more than we would have liked over the past few years. and the last thing this organization needs now is its leadership to wade right into the middle of a full on political dispute. but let me also be very clear, we're actively advocating for you left and right at every level. >> so, jeremy, i mean, think about this donald trump is talking about declaring a national emergency of something that every expert will tell you is not a national

emergency with border crossings down, 90% of the drugs coming through legal ports of entry i can go down the list and yet this shutdown that he caused by creating a phoney crisis actually did cause one danger after another there we saw the fbi director. of course, as you know, the fbi not able to pursue all the terror leads that they usually would pursue or, you know, leads against, you know, gang members. you can talk about the coast guard and not being able to do all that they do on stopping the flow of drugs and human trafficking into this country. you can talk about tsa agents not being able to do their jobss that cause there was one example of another example after another example of how this phoney crisis created

by donald trump created a real national security risk and, again, i just got to won, jeremy, is this really a risk that donald trump or any republican is going to allow to be repeated again in three weeks? >> i think where we're headed is national emergency declaration i disagree with david. i don't think the democrats are going give in to what they see as a concocted phoney crisis that under mines national security the president is going to toss this to the court. i'll direct the department of defense, department of army and take money that would be used for military readiness and operational ability and we'll fight this in the curt he wants this issue off the table politically. to that point that move like this past three weeks will also under mine national security but

it until take something from pentagon and use it for a fake campaign promise >> it's a direct challenge he's taking money that congress appropriated for specific things and would be under this term moving it to something else. that is going against, you know, the kings of congress, the appropriators. >> it's an abuse of power is what is it it's an abuse of his ability to do that. the statutes that provide for that were not envisioned to fulfill a fake campaign promise. >> coming up on morning joe the california crowd loved her but can kamala harris win over voters in the heartland too. we'll break down her position heading in to the presidential race what if numbers tell only half the story? at t. rowe price, hundreds of our experts go beyond the numbers to examine investment opportunities firsthand.

like a biotech firm that engineers a patient's own cells to fight cancer. this is strategic investing. because your investments deserve the full story. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. i but i can tell you i liberty mutual customized my car insurance so i only pay for what i need. oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no... only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ i get to select my room from the floor plan... free wi-fi... ...and the price match guarantee. so with hilton there is no catch. yeah the only catch is i'm never leaving. no i'm serious, i live here now. book at hilton.com and get the hilton price match guarantee.

book at hilton.com (alarm beeping) welcome to our busy world. where we all want more energy. but with less carbon footprint. that's why, at bp, we're working to make energy

that's cleaner and better. we're producing cleaner-burning natural gas. and solar and wind power. and wherever your day takes you... we have advanced fuels for a better commute. and we're developing ultra-fast-charging technology for evs.. at bp, we see possibilities everywhere. so we can all keep advancing.

senator kamala harris officially kicked off her 2020 presidential campaign with a rally in ooakland, california she stated oakland officials estimated 20,000 people attended the kick-off look at that crowd

she was home i think she was really strong, joe. what are your thoughts >> it's so interesting, trying to figure out who is going to succeed, who is going to fail on the presidential stage, and, andrea, it's that "it" factor about either somebody has what it takes or not to fill the stage. we've seen 6'4" men fill that stage and look small i've seen 5'4" women standing on the stage delivering a statement, looking like giants you either have it or you don't. there's no predicting until that moment that person walks up to the microphone and announces they are running for president i don't know you about, but the second i saw her up there, i said wow, she's got what it takes. she filled that stage and she can play in the big leagues. >> absolutely. and she had, you know, a couple of uncertain steps along the way coming to this point but there

she was in oakland, huge crowd and a really good speech she had -- they and the people around her and her core message was very, very strong about america is better than this. we are better than this. we are looking bad to the world. we're encouraging racism i mean she confronted all of those issues she's clearly bright and, you know, has a new feeling about her, but this really came together now does this play in ohio, in michigan i think certainly in michigan and pennsylvania i don't know whether it is all across the country or if this is a west coast-east coast thing. right now kamala harris is in a great position in this field the real other development over the weekend we can talk about is howard schultz >> absolutely. >> put democrats in a total panic. >> we have that. former starbucks ceo howard schultz is weighing a potential

2020 presidential run as an independent. schultz tells the "new york times" that he plans to crisscross the u.s. on his book tour over the next three months before deciding whether to formally enter the race but has already laid the ground work for a campaign in all 50 states. here's what he said about a 2020 run in a recently taped "60 minutes" interview that aired last night >> i am seriously thinking of running for president. i will run as a centrist independent, outside of the two party system we're living at a most fragile time, not only the fact that this president is not qualified to be the president, but the fact that both parties are consistently not doing what's necessary on behalf of the american people and are engaged every single day in revenge politics >> some democrats are uneasy about schultz's interest as

running as an independent. they are worry he could poach voter that would vote democrat and solidify another four years for president trump. to his critics the self-proclaimed life long democrat said it would be disingenious to run as a democrat because the party has shift sod far to the left. i'm interested in his comments about revenge politics on. both sides >> he's absolutely right now is a perfect time to have the interview, right after government shutdown. and there are obviously going to be a lot of democrats who will be very concerned about how this breaks of course, you never know until you actually run the race and you have the election and you see who takes from whom. i know the bush family still believes to this day that ross perot helped elect bill clinton. so it's hard to say. we can say this, though, david

ignatius, that there is no stronger brand in american politics right now than the independent. you look at young voters, they are not registering, the majority is not registering as republicans and democrats. they are independents. they are non-affiliated. this is the future at some point, at some point there will be an independent president, sometime very soon. but i don't know if it's in 2020 and i don't know if i want to be the guy that helped the re-election of donald trump wrapped around my neck like the albatross i shot for the rest of my life. >> well, people will be angry at anybody who is seenas having helped donald trump get a second term with a minority of the country behind him by running a third-party candidacy. i put it a different way, joe.

i think, you know, yes, younger voters are sick of the two party, the alignment that we've got but what they are looking for, certainly what i would like to see more of is the big, probably create a big tent under which everybody can gather that's the standard by which i'm going to be evaluating kamala harris she gave a great speech. she knows why she wants to be president. democrats from lots of different viewpoints from all over the country can gather, people who may have voted for trump but are sick of him can gather one that tent that's how i'm going measure kamala harris. pretty much everybody else howard schultz i like a lot of things he said in his speech but as you say it's tough to be in that place in the middle that takes votes away from both sides. >> coming up on "morning joe," roger stone has had a throat say over the years the big question will he start talking to bob mueller how his arrest reshapes the

russia probe next on "morning joe" minimums and fees. they seem to be the very foundation of your typical bank. capital one is anything but typical. that's why we designed capital one cafes. you can get savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. and one of america's best savings rates. to top it off, you can open one from anywhere in 5 minutes. this isn't a typical bank. this is banking reimagined. what's in your wallet?

( ♪ ) ready to juvéderm it? correct age-related volume loss in cheeks with juvéderm voluma xc, add fullness to lips with juvéderm ultra xc and smooth moderate to severe lines around the nose and mouth with juvéderm xc. tell your doctor if you have a history of scarring or are taking medicines that decrease the body's immune response or that can prolong bleeding. common side effects include injection-site redness, swelling, pain, tenderness, firmness, lumps, bumps, bruising, discoloration or itching. as with all fillers, there is a rare risk of unintentional injection into a blood vessel, which can cause vision abnormalities, blindness, stroke, temporary scabs or scarring. ( ♪ ) juvéderm it. talk to your doctor

about the juvéderm collection of fillers. talk to your doctor the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a few years old or dinosaur old, we want to buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our techno-wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car and say hello to the new way... at carvana. you should be mad they gave this guy a promotion. you should be mad at forced camaraderie. and you should be mad at tech that makes things worse. but you're not mad, because you have e*trade, who's tech makes life easier by automatically adding technical patterns on charts and helping you understand what they mean. don't get mad.

get e*trade's simplified technical analysis.

stone. >> pardon me >> i said thank you. >> oh, no, that wasn't a question, i was saying that to the president. pardon me! [ laughter ] >> well, i'm sure he appreciates your loyalty and your eccentricities >> i'm a normal and straightforward guy. wow. steve martin on "saturday night live" playing long time political confidant of donald trump roger stone after stone was indicted on friday with seven counts accused of lying to congress and obstructing investigations into his discussions with wikileaks and the 2016 trump campaign. stone is asked to be be arraigned in washington, d.c. tomorrow when he says he'll -- where he says he'll plead not

guilty on saturday morning president trump broke his silence on stone in a tweet writing if roger stone was indicted for lying to congress what about the lying done by comey, brennan, clapper, lisa page and lover baker and so many others what about hillary to fbi and her 3,000 deleted emails what about lisa and peter's deleted text and weiner's laptop much more. he's the king of deflection. on saturday night the president continued to rail that the investigation looked into the data meant to damage hillary clinton and not information and media coverage related to his campaign trump added roger stone didn't even work for me anywhere near the election, concluding in all caps, witch00. joining us now staff writer for the atlantic covering national security and the intelligence community, natasha bertrand. former assistant u.s. attorney for the drik of columbia now an

msnbc legal analyst glenn kershner and jennifer taube. and, joe, wow, we haven't spent that much time talking about roger stone, but the president seemed, sure seemed defensive over the weekend >> well, i want to go to glenn because glenn may be the only person old enough to be steve martin and steve martin's wild and crazy guy and his excuse me, from excuse me to pardon me. that was quite a wonderful moment on snl. i want to ask you, though, again, there's so much speculation since these indictments came down on friday. give us the headline give us the big idea give us the holding. what matters most about the indictments against roger stone? >> so, joe, here's what matters most as i have read and reread

this indictment. i've been carrying it around since it came out. have indictment, will travel i keep looking for the conspiracy charge, because this is a conspiracy indictment when we prosecute sort of what we call standalone cases, and roger stone at this moment looks like a standalone case because he's the only one charged in this indictment. and we have, for example, a witness tampering charge here's how that indictment would read it would say something like on january 1st, 2019 in the district of columbia defendant john q. public tampered with a witness by attempting to impede his truthful testimony before an official proceeding. that's not what this indictment is this indictment reads like a conspiracy indictment and names other potential co-conspirators it's julian assange, it's corsi,

it's randy credico and importantly it's darn near senior trump campaign officials who participated in what seems to be a two way street of information flow not just passively receiving information from roger stone about wikileaks, but pushing him to find out more so i don't -- i don't even need to put my glasses on at this point to see the bigger conspiracy indictment coming down the pike. >> wow >> so, natasha, let's move from this one puzzle piece we were just talking about with glenn to looking back, taking a step back and looking at the entire board, and everything that you've been investigating, everything you've been reporting on over the past several years. what does this mean for the entire operation, trump operation where you now have a president, we showed the clip off the top of the show, lying

about contacts with russians and having no joe ianniello russia a vice president lying about the fact that nobody ever talked to russia julian assange lying about meeting with russians. son-in-law constantly lying about his contact with russians on declaration forms an attorney general lying in front of the senate. i can go on. it never stops it continues nsa had lying. how does the roger stone piece fit into that larger puzzle that you've been reporting on now for a couple of years >> yeah. i think you hit the nail on the head, joe. i think it's really about why all of these associates of donald trump have been lying about their contacts with russians over the last two years and why they concealed all of these contacts during the campaign and i think mull certificate doing a very good job right now of laying out all of those lies in real-time these are not trivial lies when we found out that michael

cohen had lied, for example, about the timing of the trump tow mont tower-moscow deal that was a reason why trump was cozying up to putin now we know roger stone was lying to the committee about who his real back channeling was to wikileaks. we know now that he was saying that randy credico essentially basically was his cover story, saying randy credico was his back channel when, in fact, he was trying to get information out of wikileaks months easterly via jerome corsi i point out jerome corsi earlier this week on msnbc, actually, when he was being interviewed that his story is completely unbelievable about how he came to predict that john possible defendant jo's emails would be released in october of twoik because john podesto, offense course had no role in the dnc.

now you're seeing this picture come together of roger stone and jerome corsi working together in a significant way. randy credico the fall guy lining and the conspiracy comes together i don't think this is the end by any means of, you know, or even reaching the end of the mueller investigation. i think there's a lot more to come especially because the arrests, the stone arrest was not just an arrest warrant it was also a search warrant and carting out his electronic devices and things he had been withholding from investigators for the past two years there might be a lot more on his devices especially because he was so, he used encrypted apps so often to talk to his contacts that may incriminate the president and his associates directly >> i want to get on glenn why the fbi raided his house jennifer you said don't dial down on your enthusiasm on what mueller can fine a lot of folks, we want to stick

with facts it could be -- we don't know what it could be but yet you say and he given the picture that natasha just painted in terms of what we know, you think it could be explosive. >> i really do i agree with glenn and natasha this indictment of roger stone lays out a conspiracy story and i see three different conspiracies that end up linking the russian intelligence officials who hacked into the dnc and clinton campaign emails all the way to the white house the three conspiracies that seem to be revealed although not charged is being part of this, the conspiracy to hack and stage the release of the democratic emails and that's conspiracy to commit an offense against the united states, namely the computer fraud act the second conspiracy sure looks like a conspiracy to defraud the united states which is a stan

alone defers sort of to interfere with our election process the third conspiracy, this draws on what benjamin observed is really this idea that maybe the obstruction is the collusion so i think what we're seeing most importantly in this stone indictment is a conspiracy to obstruct justice we're seeing a lot of defenses coming up from the trump side, this is a journalist platform. even if they are pushing back saying there was no coordination on the hacking or release, it was just tell us what you have, which i don't believe, there's still the lying about it >> yeah. and the coordination >> i expect that to be charged >> did it seem they knew i mean, what are they looking for in roger stone's stuff and why isn't he upset >> so, first of all, let me talk

momentarily about this sort of complaint that it was a pre-dawn raid with guns drawn let me tell you. when we're executing search warrants, safety first, okay why does law enforcement do pre-dawn raids because people are asleep. they are less likely to have weapon less likely to be able to destroy evidence there is a reduced chance that innocent guests will be there visiting the house so this is keeping with protocol ich it's not unusual or heavy handed what are they looking for? i have every confidence that stone recklessly communicates with others. encrypted apps one he's trying to hide what he says to others one, it would incriminate him. two the mueller team can go behind the encryption to find out what he was talking about. when i saw the indictment returned by mueller against the 12 russian operatives for what they were doing in russia right

down the key stroke that was investigative genius in my experience mueller has now reached the stage where he's been investigating don jr. and jared kushner and the president himself and roger stone and corsi. that's like investigating fourth graders. these men are so reckless in their communications and we saw some of that in the indictment that was just against stone. >> they keep going on tv we'll have to have you all back. thank you all. we only really scratched the surface here up next before the u.s. and china could talk about trade, they had to start talk in the first place. that can be traced back to something that happened exactly 40 years ago today we'll look back at that moment in history which hits very close to home. for me, that's my home, "morning jo ie"s back in a moment

house. we had heads of state to our home we had don jan ping. >> oh, that delicious. oh, forgive me i'm so dumb >> joe loved that joke david letterman having fun at my

expense. the trump administration says china has until march 1st to come up with a deal on trade they will meet again this week since they announceed a temporary truce to the trade war. the fact that the u.s. and china are even talking to each other at all is of note. that wasn't always the case. a big part of that can be traced back to 40 years ago when the chinese president reached an agreement with president carter. he had dinner with my family at hour house in mclean, virginia very stressful in a moment i'll bring one of my brothers to be that night. but first here's tom brokaw a look back on the carter presidency >> reporter: it was a visit that changed the world. >> good evening, chinese vice premier is in the united states.

>> reporter: 4'11" but a giant in international politics. the leader of china in 1979 arriving to the united states at the invitation of president carter >> we transformed the political and economic picture >> reporter: it was a long time coming ♪ >> reporter: the first lady of america greets the first lady of china. >> reporter: 1943 the last time a top chinese official visited washington >> we in china like you want a better world >> reporter: but in 1949 mao mao tsmao ts mao tse tung had china become america's enemy for decades. president ford visited china

relations stalled until the rise of the vice premier in 1978. president carter announced a stunning break through >> united states of america and the people of the republic of china have agreed to recognize each other and to establish diplomatic relations >> reporter: tonight's announcement coincides with major changes. >> this move towards new friendship with china is a very good, very positive development for world peace. >> reporter: he was someone that the u.s. could do business with. more pragmatic still ideological, but eager to modernize china. his arrival in washington was a very big deal. there was a pause and a wave for the cameras. but later in the evening he slipped off for dinner with brzezinski >> brzezinski, carter's national security adviser was instrumental in forging the new relationship, visiting china in may he invited dong to dinner.

he accepted. helping to serve that night, 11-year-old daughter mika brzezinski her dad was fascinated with all things chinese up to a point that night's state dinner was the hottest ticket in town with some controversy over one best it in particular >> richard nixon returned to the white house for the first time since he resigned in disgrace 1/2 yedisgrac disgrace 4 1/2 years ago >> i have no apology i think it was the proper thing to do. >> i look forward to seeing

president and mrs. carter again and to meet vice premier, whom i have never met. >> reporter: nixon met the premier that night and so did most of official washington. >> vice premier, on behalf of all americans, i welcome you to our house. >> reporter: then it was off to the kennedy center where dun was treated to a night of entertainment john denver introduced the national children's choir. >> they would like to sing a song for you well known to the children in your own country it's called "i love tiananmen square." ♪ >> reporter: a decade later, of course, tiananmen square was the scene of a massacre. a crackdown on dissidents ordered by dunn zhou ping. but that was far in the future his visit to washington was a whirlwind of meeting, interviews, photo ops,

sightseeing and a visit to capitol hill where congressional leaders were worried that the president was selling out taiwan >> some time foreign visitors think the president can just press a button and they get anything that he wants >> reporter: but this historic moment belonged to jimmy carter and dun. >> china and the united states of america are now meeting on the basis of equality with full diplomatic relations >> with the agreements, china will buy american science and technology worth billions of dollars over the next few years. and with that will come perhaps huge changes in chinese society. >> from washington, he went shopping a ford plant in atlanta. the space center in houston. boeing in seattle. the first steps in china's road to becoming an economic powerhouse carter's road was rougher. the landmark nuclear deal that he signed with the soviet union soon after the visit was never

ratified after the soviets invaded afghanistan. senator ted kennedy, a guest at the state dinner, would challenge carter for the democratic nomination. and on the very day that dun left washington, in the middle east, the ayatollah khomeini returned from exile to a hero's welcome in iran. his radical followers later seized the u.s. embassy, taking dozens of americans hostage and crippling carter's presidency. still, reimagining the u.s. relationship with china, home to almost a quarter of the world's population, stands as a singular achieveme achievement, transforming china from an enemy to strategic partner and, in time, a formidable 21st century competitor >> wow, brings us back our thanks to nbc news senior producer andy franklin and editor rob caflin for that great

piece. joining us, mark brzezinski, my brother. mark also served on the national security council staff under president clinton. joe, this event and this dinner at our house 40 years ago today it does go beyond spilled caviar in many different ways. >> it really does. it was a wonderful recap of that time with -- by tom brokaw i did want, though, david ignatius, in looking at brokaw's package, tom brokaw's package, you know, when people assess the carter presidency, when we talk about dr. brzezinski, the focus is always it seems first or out of the gate the camp david accords because it was such an extraordinary landmark peace agreement, but my god, it is hard to find a diplomatic

breakthrough more significant to the world we live in today and the world we will live in a century from now than what happened 40 years ago tonight. >> that wonderful time capsule was a reminder for me of the importance that personal diplomacy makes. the fact that dr. brzezinski, mika and mark's dad, reached out personally to dun and brought him into his house that was something that clearly was powerful to him personally, to the chinese people, that their leader was being welcomed in this way. i think it just took the relationship into a new space. the other thing i have to say, it's painful today when china was emerging as an adversary for the united states to remember the hopes that we all had that free people would make a freer country. that china was opening up. it was entering our world and we

were helping i think your dad would be sad to see the way in which china increasingly is seen as a potential adversary. >> absolutely, joe >> mark, let's go back though 40 years and -- at your father's funeral, i thought president carter was so extraordinarily gracious toward your father, talking about the vital role that he played even joking about how dun wanted to go eat at your house first. talk about the relationship, the special relationship, between your father and deng xiaoping, as david ignatius just related to, the importance of personal diplomacy that could make something like this happen. >> based on two things, first, chemistry. these were two people who saw an

alignment in advancing shared objectives despite ambiguity the americans wanted to contain the soviets who were trying to expand into south asia, into africa the chinese wanted to unleash deng's developmentish initiati and bring it from a fourth world country into a first world country. the strategic piece was how could you advance. major differences on taiwan. the taiwan lobby in washington at that time was even stronger than it was today. second, the chinese were thinking about a military aggression against vietnam which had itself been aggressive against cambodia the americans wanted to normalize relations with vietnam. the president, president carter, and deng, wanted to advance key shared interests and carter's chief strategy, zee

brita z zeebrinski, were the right people for the job deng arrived in mcclaen, virginia, the flue in the fireplace opened - >> i just don't think we opened it correctly, actually >> and there's brzezinski with newspapers trying to get the smoke out the window and despitethat, the dinner wa a great success. >> that happened, we were all affixa affixated. >> of course president carter talked about you almost running him over and also the caviar incident set the scene for us personally what it was like any way a little girl like yourself or mark could understand what you were in the

middle of? >> i could feel the stress the whole household. because my mother made us do everything there were no caterers it was stressful, couldi could l the tension of it. looking back, we really were at the seat of the table of history. >> for our father, diplomacy was so much about personal relationships. remember -- >> it was, dinners, yes. >> the secretary of state in the 1950s refused to shake the hands of the chinese leader. our father knew the importance of personal connections and personal relationships and he fully maximized the potential of that. with maritime collaboration, commercial collaboration, geopolitical collaboration you

see between the chinese and americans today. important lessons for today regarding what happened 40 years ago between america and china. >> absolutely. >> important lessons for today also important lessons for future leaders, for future presidents president carter had sent the secretary of state over. as the president said it did not work he didn't give up. he then sent dr. brzezinski over and of course there was an historic breakthrough. we're going to continue this conversation on wednesday, alex, i believe we have secretary albright on, is that correct >> that is correct, yes. >> we do >> we would love -- mark, if you could come back on a wednesday and david ignatius, as always, love to have an extended policy discussion about what went on, the impact it had and if mika could ever be trusted at a state dinner again. >> no, i can't