bob cusack is here.st: i want to ask you a question, over the last 72 hours, luis gutierrez said he's open to a wall even though he doesn't like it, he would exchange dreamers for the wall. senator schumer said he's put that on the table. do you think that -- and that was not the case weeks and months ago. do you think the chances of the wall getting approved with funding are rising significantly this year? >> we do think so. we think these democrats now understand that when we had a meeting two weeks ago in the cabinet room where a bipartisan group said we're going to talk about four issues, it wasn't just daca, but border security and the wall, ending the visa lottery and reforms to the extended family chain migration system. those are necessary when you look at daca, right. because the issue is that if you are sympathetic, and the president duds want to find a responsible solution, but if you give them legal status, you encourage more parents to come over a po rouse board we are minors. we don't want

host: let me turn to bob cusack.: hey, congressman, i want to get your take, whatever deal is struck eventually, whether it's before the next deadline or not that it will be a dreamer deal and with some border security, maybe some wall funding but number one do you think it's essential that any type of deal like that will get a majority of the majority in the house and do you think that speaker ryan should commit to that publicly? mr. kelly: i think the president is clear. he wants to make a long-term deal on immigration. but he wants to make sure it's really good for our country. and i do not think that is odd that the president of the united states would say, listen, i am open to these things as long as it is in the best interest of the american people and our great country. so whether speaker ryan or whomever it is that works on this, and the speakers working on all of these things and i think he has done a magnificent job navigating the last couple of days. look, we're going to have to come up with immigration re

bob cusack will begin with senator ted cruz. we remember where he was in 2013. bob: absolutely.s the one who wanted to do away with obamacare funding and got a lot of house conservatives behind him. it was a strategy that then speaker john boehner and mitch mcconnell did not want to follow. but did followment and it led to i think a 17-day shutdown and that was very much blamed on republicans. it was i think an ill-fated strategy. but ted cruz is defending it to this day. and here's what he said today. steve: the texas republican senator on capitol hill. reporter: what do you think of this deal? >> i'm glad the government is going to open up again. it was a mistake for chuck is humanner to shut down the government -- schumer to shut down the government. three days of a schumer shutdown. and i think we'll see more of this. the reason chuck schumer forced a shutdown is his far left base is enraged. they're angry, they hate the president. and they're demanding a senate democrat oppose everything, resist everything. shut everything down. reporter: sounds pretty familiar. didn't you

here is bob cusack, "the hill" editor-in-chief. some of the stuff in there, one in three chance of the president resigning, that sounds like wishful thinking from his enemies. >> yeah. we knew this book was coming. which knew it would be a tornado, there were a lot of people interviewed. it is interesting bannon is not disputing anything in the book but other people on social media, reporters said this certainly sound as little off. this could be exaggerated. it has been a distraction for the white house. especially the first week back after the holidays, especially after the big win on tax cuts and economy and stock market and all that kind of stuff. that is why i think the white house would be wise to move on and push its agenda. they got a big partisan win on tax cuts. maybe they can get a bigby partisan win on transportation. melissa: i have known michael wolff a long time. his writing is like this all the time. he wrote like this in on "vanity fair." he is a hired gun, an attack dog. this isn't a surprise. when people see him

here is bob cusack, "the hill" editor-in-chief, gianno caldwell fox news political analyst.ow, bob, why don't you start this out. i will hand it over to you and you can organize it and sort it out for us. go ahead. >> well, i think it is unfortunate that this is what we're talking about now because the president had a very productive meeting earlier in the week and it looked like everyone was going to get a deal, and they actually started to make progress on the policy. we're not talking about the policies here. immigration is not easy. melissa: why don't we talk about the policy. gianno, obviously doesn't get us any closer to a deal. everybody was already upset about where we were at that moment. i mean that is kind of where all of this came from was, it looks like kumbayah in that room. everybody left to work on what they wanted. then all of a sudden nobody is getting what they want. it feels like we're further away. what does everybody do now to get a deal back on track? what does that look like? >> yeah, we're certainly further away, thanks to president trump. it was dis

melissa: here now is bob cusack, "the hill" editor-in-chief. hmmm.w, i'm not feeling inspired by this back and forth. how but? >> i am in your camp melissa, think about it congress has been debating immigration over a decade and haven't been able to get anything done? how can they get something done the next few weeks? it will be really, really difficult. melissa: schumer saying pulling the wall back. what a joke. it was never really there. that is not really significant. at the same time, he did get a beating over what looked like a very tough stand and then crumbled instantly. >> yes. melissa: does that help or hurt the negotiation i wonder? because on one hand they look very weak but on the other hand now it is, it looks embarrassing. so maybe the other side gets angrier? >> no, i see your line of thinking there. schumer had a tough week. melissa: yeah. >> it was his toughest week at democratic leader since taking over for harry reid. you're right. whatever the next deal is, i don't think there will be a shutdown in fenn because democrats will not

here to discuss with me bob cusack. and christopher bedford. was a busy and successful time for the trump administration. they were focused on quickly dismantling a lot of things that probpresident obama put in to p. >> right, usually whether use wn administration's change the abortion policies are changed that is an automatic. but this is 14 regulations overturned by congress and the president, before trump was in office only one had been eradicated this way. i think that the markets like that and environmental and labor policies trump has done an effective job. but his revoking ation of what a did is far reaching. charles: the 1500 regulations, that he have been slowed down, delayed or rid of, i think have been key to sparking this economy. >> you know president obama set himself up for this. he came in white house, he was on record saying how wonderful, helpful, president bush and his administration had been in facilitating him to come in, consider that with obama team helping trump team come in. unmasks of officials, they put trip wires for

joining us from washington, bob cusack, editor and chief for the hill. you have been writing a lot about this and you talked about the needle moving, what do you see? >> president trump has gotten back in the work mode and affected the news cycle and his tweets work certainy on moving the tax cut bill to his defk. the button tweet is seen by swing voters and a lot of them backing trump over clinton, it could be a negative and the white house aides and some republicans, on capitol hill including mitch mcconnell they don't like trump tweeting. but at the same time, the president is going to tweet and his base loves it and we in the media love it because we see what he's thinking without ten statements from the spokespeople. >> harris: this president if you ask him a question he gives an answer. we have to do our job and me makes himself available to us. you are looking at the political end and i bring you in for that point. is this why president trump got elected? >> i think so. i think people didn't like the canned statement. they lining when you ask the

charles: with me now, john burnett, new york gop strategic adviser along with bob cusack, editor in chief on the hill. what's on the agenda is how do you get mcconnell, ryan and the other folks who work with each other? philosophically they're butting heads on the agenda items? >> absolutely, ryan is not talking about transportation, not talking about something that could add more money to the debt, but mitch mcconnell is and his wife is a transportation secretary. so mcconnell wants to be more bipartisan and get bipartisan wins or a big win like transportation in 2018. it's going to be very hard for ryan. remember ryan is watched very closely what he does on the immigration dreamer thing coming up later this month. the conservatives are against any type of amnesty. so ryan is talking about other things, like government reform and welfare reform, i think trump will say we can do welfare reform and transportation, but certainly trump has got to referee this thing. charles: let's not forget the infighting between the freedom caucus and the tuesday group that sank all the efforts to complete

bob cusack is with us. patrice, what do you make of what mr.aying, that, you know, democrats might have fumbled on these two key issues? >> i think he's absolutely right. if you read the progressive headlines this afternoon, they're saying democrats caved on principle. they're taking a lashing from their base for that. you know, there's a vigil for daca recipients because they feel like they have been run over because of this deal. so i think democrats, you know, we have seen their lead and generic poling evaporate from double digits to five points right now. they took a big risk and realize it wasn't worth it. >> neil: we were ♪ing that senator elizabeth warren voted thumbs down on this. michael, as a democrat that wants to find a reason middle ground, was this it? >> this wasn't. the idea that we -- we being both democrats and republicans allowed the government to get shut down and then now we don't have a daca agreement still. listen, it's time for democrats to grow a damn backbone at some point. we offered up the wall to president trump. we

bob cusack. on this issue, he had much more conciliatory, kind things to say about chuck schumer, and we're all -- i'm paraphrasing -- embarrassed when we push points and lose them and they'll be able to negotiate something else on another day. i'm oversimplifying it. but this tweet sounds tougher than that. what do you make of it? >> yeah, neil, the white house had to put out principles and proposals because even mitch mcconnell said i need to know where the white house stands. i think this is a step forward in some ways but at the same time, neil, you know, congress has been debating immigration for over a decade. they've gotten close a couple times, but to think that they're going to get a big deal, i think in the next few weeks is folly, and this is -- we're already in an election year and this is anything to be an election year issue. i think something could possibly pass out of the senate, negotiated among the centrists, is that bill going to move in the house? i don't think so. hard-liners