geoff bennett, great reporting, keep it up. thanks so much. we're getting our first readout of what mick mulvaney is telling abc news this morning that he and vice president mike pence met with democratic and republican leaders on capitol hill to talk shutdown negotiations. saying quote, we gave them an offer late yesterday, abandoned and we're waiting to here -- yesterday afternoon, i should say and we're waiting to hear back. to break this all down, the panel is here. kimberly, i want to start with you. a lot of people are just sort of stunned that lawmakers seem to throw up their hands and went home for the holidays. how is this impasse going to break? >> well, it's up to the president really. as you said the democrats have zero incentive to move on this at all. they made it clear they're not interested in this border wall connecting that to this funding bill. and the president is the one who at the late hour when it seemed there was an agreement it seemed like everyone was ready to go away for the holidays was the one who have the stopper

geoff, what do we know about this last minute meeting with republicans? >> i think it's safe to assume president trump and this group of republicans are having a conversation about how best to walk back from this cliff, how to escape from this corner. insert your metaphor. what we know is that the president already claimed ownership of the shutdown even though he's preemptively trying to pin the blame on the other party. mitch mcconnell imploring him to use the nuclear option to get this budget deal passed, that is a nonstarter. here's the state of play. the house as you mentioned passed this amended spending bill last night, which includes the money donald trump says he wants for his border wall. that is a non-starter in the senate. absent some movement, absent a deal, the government goes dark midnight tonight. here's sarah sanders, she echoing the president trying to pin the blame on democrats for an impending shutdown. take a look. >> the fact that senate democrats would put that on the line for political purposes, that's a sad, sad moment. i think it'

for more now let's go to geoff bennett, nbc news white house correspondent. also lynn sweet, "chicago sun-times" d.c. bureau chief. geoff, get us updated on what we understand the president is doing not only when it comes to the first lady but also in this important back and forth that we've been talking about. >> this is the third partial government shutdown on president trump's watch but what makes this different than the last two is the president has already claimed ownership of it. it's perhaps not surprising where you see that poll there where you have a majority of americans suggesting that he should be the one to cave in. so publicly the administration is still holding the line on this $5 billion even though we understand base the on our own reporting that as you mentioned emissaries from the white house to include the vice president have made their way over to capitol hill and they've presented a dollar figure slightly north of the 1.6 billion. what i'm told is it's maybe a couple of hundred thousand dollars more than -- rather millions of dollars mor

geoff, i want to bring you in. the "new york times" writes, quote, the president has grown increasingly angry as comment e commentators have described mr. mattis in near heroic terms for standing up to mr. trump and making his resignation count as no one else in the president's circle has done. if we peel back the curtain, what's the big-picture look into the president's decision making? why did he do what he did in the way he did? >> well, a couple factors. contrast the fact that he's asking mattis to leave early the fact that his original tweet after getting that resignation letter but apparently not reading it was to be -- to give praise to general mattis, to say he was retiring and doing so with distinction so just reading into the shift in his tone suggests he was upset with the news coverage, upset with the rebuke that was more than implied in the letter from jim mattis so you can analyze that as such and i think picking up on what josh quite frequentally said, there's a shift in the types of people the presi

geoff? >> high k-- my colleague and friend, kelly o'donnell, thank you so much. >> we have indiana congressman and co-fonder of the federalist society, david mcintosh and maria a ksachetti. the longer this goes, do you foresee any scenario in which the democrats end up owning the shutdown? >> no. the president just said two things that were completely untrue. first of all, he tried to claim they are sick before they got to the border patrol. that is absolutely not true for one of them who ended up with the flu and then was probably misdiagnosed or mishandled in an american hospital. this is just ridiculous. i think this guy is -- i've said before i think he's crazy. no, i don't think the public is going to blame anybody but trump. trump is doing this. trump is not leading. he completely flals around, he is obsessed with the politics of it and there's a human tragedy unfolding, a real president of either party would actually send people to the border to try to alleviate the suffering and brin

geoff bennett, thank >you.shing for supourt justice ruth bader ginsburg.n recoveringhe hospital after treated for lung cancer. matt bradley is outside memorial sloane in new york. we reporter: good morning, kristen. re hearing that justice bader ginsburg will be here for the next couple days. w surgert well. there were no real complications. that could change at any minute because we are talking about an 85-year-d and with surgery like this, there is never a low-risk or no-risk surgery. the justice had a pulmonary olobectomy. tw nodules were removed from her lungs. they were malignant. it is important to note. doctors say they fou no evidence of any other diseases anywhere else in her body and they areo not going be recommending further treatment. this was discovered really by accident because last month the justice nd broke a couple of her ribs. they found these nodules doing a routine investigation and trying to repair her ribs. in many ways, it wasucky she fell. so in the next couple days, we will hope that

geoff yu is still with us.r has been sliding since the trade war began. what does the valuation look like for out of 2018 into next year? some of this must be cheap. michael: is going to be similar, so yields are extreme. it's hampered by the multitude of headwinds that cause a wave of profit warnings going into 2019. the other extreme, you've got high investment and valuations for autonomous driving and the likes of tesla. that's going to be the most pronounced in 2019 with the ipo of uber. matt: one of the biggest tailwinds could be if we get an agreement with trade between the u.s. and china, but also the u.s. and europe. do you think there's any likelihood that we get that, considering this 90 day moratorium and the group that's going over from washington to beijing at the beginning of next month? geoffrey: i would still be quite cautious of any prospect of renewed talks. they are part of the talks, but it has to go to to the premier level. still want to err on the side of caution. on trade, more than happy

geoff, i won't ask you for a number, although you can put one out there if you like, my friend. what are we seeing from the president in terms of his messaging? because that's clearly what's happening, the battle of the messages. >> today he's acknowledging for the first time the deaths of those two migrant children who died while in federal custody. the president's approach has been to distance himself from that, to say that democrats were to blame. in the process he's really politicizing their deaths. here is wha portion of what the president tweeted. he said, any deaths of children or others at the border are strictly the fault of the democrats and their pathetic immigration policies and allow people to take the long trek thinking they can enter the country illegally. this is coming from our colleague jacob soboroff, dhs says for the past ten years they've had no children die in their custody until this month when two children in this month alone have died. part of the problem is the trump policy of targeting families who try to apply for asylum. that then forces these famili

barbara quaid joins tonight's panel of geoff bennett, danielle lajae, and matthew coninani. but barbara, i want to start with you. your reaction as a u.s. attorney to hear a former u.s. attorney in rudy giuliani saying, they're not big crimes? >> well, to suggest there are some crimes that are more significant than others i suppose has some truth in seriousness but that doesn't mean it doesn't count and you get a free pass. for one thing, there are civil matters in campaign violations. that happens when people are forgetting to dotcross a "t" ort an "i." this was what president trump sought to deceive. so it is a serious crime. and to hear a former u.s. attorney dismiss it as not so i think is disingenuous. >> i'm curious of your take of the president's legal exposure. right? you have the mueller probe. you have new york prosecutors not just with the michael cohen investigation and the stormy daniels issue, but also apparently the inaugural committee. then you have the new york attorney general examining the trump foundation. you've got the lawsuits followed by the attorneys

geoff, the issue of experience, geoff, help us understand that.ays he wants to change things. why is he going for folks who might not be the most qualified, at least on paper. >> reporter: if you talk about the lack of experience, you know who else lacked experience when they got a top job? donald trump. he's the first president to never have government or military experience when elected to office. we've seen he picks people based on whether or not he likes them or whether or not he fit the part, as he says. so he's dismissed in certain cases all of the traditionally categories of relevant experiences. with heather nauert, this is certainly a job, a job like ambassador, will shift based on the world view, and in this case the person who happens to occupy the job. we know donald trump sees little use for multinational organizations like the u.n. we also now heather has a relatively thin resume that if confirmed, she's eventually have. that's one of the reasons why this is a sub-cabinet position. adrian got it right. the other reason this accounts

nbc's geoff bennett at the white house. thank you so much. >>> i want to bring in former four star general and msnbc contributor barry mccaffrey along with former ambassador and msnbc contributor christopher hill. general mccaffrey let's start with you, what can you tell us about patrick shanahan? >> i have worked with him directly. i think it's good news. he is a very, very experienced high technology guy from boeing, two masters degrees from m.i.t., his dad was a vietnam veteran, you know, the family is a family of service. he's dealt with military programs for much of his 30 years in technology, so he understands very complicated issues like missile defense. i think it's good news. you know, basically right now mr. trump just fired secretary mattis, gave him a week to get out of the pentagon. we ought to be -- feel lucky we've got a guy like shanahan in office. i can't imagine someone with a political future who would be willing to join this administration. so i think this is a good news appointment. >> and that's intere

it's a short drive from geoff's place out towards the wholesalers. 90% of geoff's flowers bloomed inlife in liverpool. i think they should back her. i want her to carry on and she remains in power and hopefully the country will realise she's doing a good job. to help the country they need to find a new direction away from europe and it'll take some time. it will take years, probably. you seem like a very patient man, geoff. i am a patient man. right next door but a world away on brexit is ben. 60% of his stock comes from europe but he isn't afraid of rejecting a deal that he sees as a lose lose. apart from itjust ties us into europe for the foreseeable, it's completely and utterly crackers. it's ludicrous. it limits all the trade with the rest of the world. we'd be far better off going out of europe on a no deal. no deal? yeah, no—deal principle, and going back to world trade organisation rules. onto a visit to father christmas. plenty of good cheer. just not for westminster. i don't understand parliament, or what have you. there's no plan b, so where is our country, where's our chil

. >> geoff, what is t chance this is overturned on appeal? >> it could end up at the supreme coureg you have experts on the left and right who say the legal loc thatupports the ruling is fairly weak and unlikely to succeed in overturning obamacare. here is the thg. if this suit wins out, insurers could flat out deny americans insurance based on the health status. as we wait to see how this plays out, today is the deadline to sign up for health insurance for 2018. >>geoff, thank you. >>> another headline coming from the white house where president trump on friday announced his oxt chief staff. budget director mick mulvaney. the announcement coming after days of speculation of who would replace general john kelly. nbc's correspondent kelas o'donnellore on that. >> reporter: good morning, peter. the washington guessing game is over. the president named his new and third chief of staff in just under two ar he will succeed john kelly who will leave at the end of the year. the process was more public and messy than the white house wanted raising qu

>> geoff bennett for us at the white house. thank you. >>> outgoing chief of staff john kelly giving that exit interview to the los angeles times, as geoff mentioned, this statement on the border wall. to be honest, it's not a wall, kelly said. later in the piece he's quoted as saying, the president still says wall, often he'll say barrier or fencing. now he's headed toward steel slats. but we loved selling concrete wall early on in the administration. going to writer for the l.a. times who interviewed john kelly exclusive. you have information to share with us in this article. let's start here with that wall quote. immediately generating headlines, it really stood out to me upon reading it. in what spirit did he say that? >> well, we were having sort of a larger conversation about some of the areas in which it seemed that there were distinctions between the positions of john kelly and the president. and sort of before he joined particularly the white house as chief of staff, as you know, he was secretary of homeland security,

so what's the mood at the white house, geoff, and could that be a pressure point? >> reporter: i think it'ss safe to say it's cautiously optimistic since you have both the house and senate that will be in session later this afternoon, and we're told that talks will continue. one white house official tells us they're still working out the numbers. might the president accept something less than his $5 billion demand. might he accept steel fencing instead of a concrete wall. it's a possibility the white house officials says they expec the shutdown to last at least until sunday. >> i know you're expecting another long day. thank you requester your report. >>> we want to turn to nbc ease national political correspondent, steve kor nknack key, and the pentagon under president obama. gentlemen, good morning. thanks forn, coming in on this holiday weekend. steve, a quiet way to start the holiday, right? what a week. the presidentth we saw, he saide would be proud to own a shutdown. now he's trying to blame the democrats for the shutdown. a lot of this is about a border wal

nbc's geoff bennett has more. >> reporter: mark schoonmaker is a new dad for the second time. >> it's easier this time than the first. jt when his daughter was born three years ago, mark is taking full advantage of his company's paternity leave policy. >> i think it's very rt your wife. and for the whole family for that matter. just to be there. >> reporter: mark works for the software company red hat, which last year started offering fathers six weeks paid time off for the birth or adoption of a child. his firm is among a growing number of american companies introducing or expanding paid leave options for new dads. why is that? research shows paternity leave is good for business. >> it helps our bottom line because it helps us to retain associates. it also helps the associates to be engaged. >> reporter: top companies on average now offer 11 weeks paid time off. some men are reluctant. fearing it could derail their careers. concerns familiar to many working moms. a workplace survey finding more than a third of men believe taking le jeopardize their position. companies are trying to c

i'm geoff bennett at the white house. >> reporter: i'm garrett haake on capitol hill where negotiationso reopen the government continue behind closed doors. while in public leaders of both parties point fingers. >> we arrived at this moment because president trump has been on a destructive two-week temper tantrum. >> they've refused to meet president trump halfway. >> reporter: lawmakers have been told they'll get 24 hours' notice on any vote to reopen the government. almost all of them have now gone home, leaving the capitol's usually busy hallways empty. we caught california democrat ted lieu on his way to the airport, preparing for a prolonged holiday shutdown. >> $5 billion out of the whole federal budget is not a ton of money. is this democrats not wanting to give the president a win? >> it's not about a win. it's wasteful and inefficient spending. and donald trump's major campaign promise was not a wall. it was that mexico would fund the wall. the only way he gets his wall is if he delivers on his campaign promise of having mexico fund it. >> reporter: so what could a possible shu

as geoff reported democrats are confident that will be the president. there can be no larger or more literal symbol now than the wall that president trump wants to build. $5 billion he's asking for in the spending bill. that's out of an annual discretionary bill. democrats feel this wall is something that is immoral as they've said i'm and time again, that their base is behind them and the senators are voting by voice vote. that's the deal the house thought they had with president trump until he pulled the rug out when we saw paul ryan say it was back to square one. mulvaney was making the case, the president's case, and he took a jab at nancy pelosi. let's listen. >> i think it's a good question here whether or not this deal can be cut before the new congress comes in. i think there's an implication here for nancy pelosi's election for the speakership. i think she's now in that position of being beholden to her left wing where she cannot be seen as agreeing on anything until after she's speaker. >> reporter: there is some truth to what mulvaney is sayi

nbc's geoff bennett has the latest. >> reporter: the government shutdown drags on. no truce on the horizon in the battle over funding mr. trump's border wall. acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney offering his prediction on how long it will last. >> i think that is -- it's very possible that this shutdown will go beyond the 28th and into the new congress. >> reporter: and who's on the hook to pay? >> none of that is mexico paying for the wall. let's just be -- >> technically, you and i both know that it cannot work exactly like that. >> reporter: mulvaney says the white house has dropped down from its $5 billion demand for border security money, hoping democrats move up from their $1.3 billion counteroffer. democrats say they're willing to negotiate on the price tag but want a guarantee on what the money buys. >> the democrats want to see for real border security, not some medieval wall. >> reporter: the department of homeland security estimates the entire $5 billion would be able to build or beef up 215 miles' worth of barrier along the border. the admini

nbc's geoff bennett has more from his interview. >> reporter: john kelly talking candidly about his rocky tenure as white house chief of staff. in an interview with "the los angeles times," general kelly says president trump's long-promised southern border wall is not what he has portr portrayed. "to be honest, it's not a wall," general kelly admits, and he blames former attorney general jeff sessions for the policy separating undocumented immigrants from their children at the border. kelly saying the move took him by surprise. it was just one of the many controversies he weathered during his 17 months in the white house, something he called a bone-crushing hard job. >> the last thing i wanted to do was walk away from one of the great honors of my life, being the secretary of homeland security, but i did something wrong, and god punished me, i guess. >> reporter: hired to instill order in a free-wheeling west wing, kelly was dogged by constant rumors of his firing. >> i'm not quitting today. i don't believe, and i just talked to the president, i don't think i'm being fired today. >> repor

they can't be making mortgage payments and other things. >> reporter: i'm geoff bennett at the whitee signs of the government shutdown throughout the district, mostbl no on the monuments on the national mall. tourists hoping to get a close look nt theional christmas tree can't get any further than the perimeter fetie. the infor kiosks are also unstaffed. the rest rooms at sun sites are closed. and you won see any park rangers around either. they're floughed due to the shutdown. it's left visiting tourists very sappointed. >> how can happen in washington in the usa? so it's difficult for me to understand that. >> it's not very good for tourism, you know. you're here for a few days, and you expect a good view of your country. >> the national park services also saying they're forced to limit emergency and rescue services on hiking trails due to the shutdown. be sure totay with news4 and our nbc washington app for continuing cove we have an article on the app on what's open and what's closed during a partial government shutdown. just search "shutdown." >>> we're following breaking news o

we'll begin with geoff bennett. he's in philadelphia, where the president is headed for the army/navy game. what can you actual es about these new filings? >> reporter: ever since these court filings dropped, president trump has taken to twitter multiple times to make the following argument. one, that he did nothing wrong, but two the investigation hasn't produced any results. both arguments are entirely off the mark. federal prosecutors are saying for the first time that michael cohen it is direction of president trump made these two illegality payments and they were a violation of campaign finance rules to stormy daniels and to character karen mcdual -. he said this is collusion illusi illusion. at this late date, after after we have gone through, millions spent, there is nothing impeachable here, time for the witch-hunt to end. and our colleagues spoke to rudy giuliani earlier. he told them, when pressed on this issue, based that the federal prosecutors have implicationed president trump, rudy giuliani told them

geoff bennett, what is the significance of this acting title instead of a permanent replacement for john kelly, that stands out. >> reporter: two sources familiar tell us it was mick mulvaney who requested of president trump to have that acting title. that reflects his desire to do this job for a limited amount of time. his demand, really to have something of a safe exit and a soft landing if this job turns out not to be a good fit. we know from white house press secretary sarah sanders that mick mulvaney isn't entirely letting go of the judge he has. what's budget director. he is setting expectations about his commitment to the job and how long he might do it. it was supposed to be nick ay , ayers, president trump ultimately decided he wanted someone to serve in a longer frame of time, someone potentially pull out the entire first term of his time in office. that ultimately broke down, the talks between those two men ultimately broke down. president trump, we understand from sources familiar, relented and then allowed mick mulvaney to take this job in an acting capacity. >> jeff mason,

geoff bennett, thank fu. >>>ou are headed home for christmas today, there are some problem areas when it comes to the weather. dylan is in forl withur first check of the forecast this to christmas eve. >> good morning. so people want a white christmas, and for some folks in the northeast and out west we'll get it. we have a little light snow falling across central new yorko heastern pennsylvania, western pennsylvaa as well. this is a quick little clipper system that's mainly going to affect us today. it's going to produce perhaps some squall lines up across new england, including the boston area. those are those brief lite periods of heavy snow. just enough to coat the ground andake things slippery on the roads. also enough to make it pretty for christmas neve. it going to amount to much but we're still looking at those potential squalls for today. then that will movegh out to how much snow? maybe a dusting to an inch across most ceareas. ral and northern new england. and then your lake effect snow could prod

geoff bennett is traveling with the president.ng at the latest developments at the summit, and china is in the headlines again. >> reporter: you're right about that, richard, and president trump and chinese president xi jinping are in the middle of what can be described as the marquee event at the g20, the dinner meeting between the two leaders aimed at finding some way, any way to deescalate the brewing trade war between the two countries. president trump the aides and advisers have sounded optimistic that the dinner is going to produce some results. it's not entirely clear what informs that optimism or if that optimism is entirely warranted. we heard president trump saying s say today that the two men, he and xi have a good relationship. the u.s. and china have been talking past each other in these negotiations, so here's a bit more of what president trump had to say when reporters were let into the room. take a look. >> we'll be discussing trade. and i think at some point we are going to end up doing something that is great for

geoff bennett starts us off. is that changing with a tweet?r wall. there's talk of optimism on the part of the president. trump ally, senator lindsey graham. he was at the white house for a two-hour lunch with mr. trump. graham suggests the president might suggest a compromise that would allow work permits and legal status to qualified undocumented immigrants in exchange for billions the president wants to build border barriers. president trump has been out of sight over the last few days baa he's been active on twitter, including in the last few minutes, as you mentioned. the president says this, an all-concrete wall was never abandoned as has been reported by the media. some areas will be concrete. but the experts at border patrol prefer a wall that is see-through so they can see what's going on on both sides. democrats said a border wall is a deal-breaker. it appears the shutdown will drag on. >> geoff, thank you. >>> russia's domestic security service says it had detained an american citizen in moscow on suspicion of spying. it took him in

. >> joining me now is geoff bennett at the white house. geoff, talking about walls. how about bridges? bridges between the two sides, specific terminology the president used in that statement. he says wall, then says or slat fence -- >> right. >> used the term border security. the bake impasse here is the democrats don't want to ever tell their base we gave trump money for a thing he's now going to call a wall. so that seems to be bottom line for democrats. bottom line for trump has been wall, wall, wall. is there theoretically something where they can come together here where trump can claim victory and democrats can say they didn't give in? is a slat fence the answer to that? >> reporter: it appears that way. look, without officials say they're working out numbers of a potential deal. might that mean the president backs off his $5 billion demand. maybe. might it mean he accepts this steel wall, the slat fence instead of a concrete wall stretching to the heavens? perhaps. interesting about this, steve, is that you have a majority of the american public who are again

geoff, tell us who's out, who might be in? >> reporter: hello from kansas city. let's start with who's out. as you he thinmentioned john ke president trump's long suffering chief of staff has days left in the administration. that's what multiple sources are telling us. i'm told that the relationship between the two has devolved to the point where they are no longer on speaking terms, craig. president trump on the south lawn speaking to reporters didn't answer questions about that. he instead announced these two big personnel announcements. first, william barr the president's pick to serve as attorney general. he's a well-known republican d.c.-based lawyer. he won't need much in the way of on the job training as he served under george h.w. bush. here's what president trump had to say within the last hour or so about mr. barr. >> a terrific man, a terrific person, a brilliant man. i did not know him for -- until recently when i went through the process of looking at people, and he was my first choice from day one. >> reporter: here's the thing. i'm told president t

jeff, thanks ve -- geoff, thank. geoff bennett at the white house. the resolution expires next friday or they would need a continuing resolution to keep it going. house majority leader kevin mccarthy announced today house republicans would be out of session this coming monday and tuesday, leaving only a total of five days to avert the shutdown. for the latest on capitol hill, let's get to msnbc's garrett haake. garrett, it was hard if you're watching that thing live, as we were, to keep track of who was saying what about what votes, but leader pelosi said the president doesn't have the votes to get his funding right now. he said he does. give us some clarity on this. >> well, he may not and we won't know until we see a vote. house republicans has been sitting on a bill and they haven't brought it up for a floor vote yet. paul ryan was asked this morning and said what's the point until we know what the senate can pass. nancy pelosi is the best of her kind in terms of counting votes and the theory here is that republicans, who had a tough time coraling

geoff, carol, david.d at some point the the president was going to blink when it came to the government shutdown showdown and declare victory. seems like exactly what they decided to do, we can't win, therefore we won. >> the president had to be seen at least putting up a fight. the whole shutdown thing hit the buzz saw of base politics. clearly we know border security, that's the one issue where president trump derives his most solid connection to his core supporters and democrats clearly were not going to give him a money for a border wall from sea to shining sea, especially because they believe it not to be a viable policy issue but also because they believe it stems from his anti-immigrant, xenophobic campaign pitch. so whatever comes from this agreement, and nothing focuses the mind for lawmakers like having to work over the holidays, we will probably get a cr by the end of the week, but whatever comes from this has to have both sides saving face in sides saving face in some way. >> do they get it? >

geoff is still hoping to convince rich people to help the poor.but my impression is that many risk people don't even notice the poor anymore they are all too busy making more money than what is probably the most expensive city in the world. no no. no no no. no no. climate change first. waste. pollution. isn't it time for good. eco africa people and projects that are changing the environment for the better it's up to us to make a difference to be committed for a good. magazine. w. every journey begins with the first step and every language but the first word published in the book. rico is in germany to learn german and why not with him it's simple online on your mobile and free to suffer from d w z e learning course speak german made easy. please get. his facts.

as geoff bennettreports, it's high drama with real world impact.e house as the partial government shutdown drags on with no deal in sight. the stalemate hinging on trump's $5 billion demand for his signature campaign promise -- a sout border wall. on heepeatedly said mexico would pay fo the preside who said he would be proud to shutown the government over border security. >> i will be the one to shut it down, w i't blame you for it. >> reporter: he signalledai it could for a while. summoned top aides and allies to the white house to talk strategy. e president appeared t soften his stance. in a tweet suggesting he might accept funding for a steel barrier instead of one made of concrete. a senior administration official told nbc the psidents willing to negotiate on the tape of barrier so long as democrats agree one. roughly 25% of the federal government has gone dark. that means 380,000 government employees are furloughed or forced to take unpaid leave until the shutdown ends. at 420,000 are w expected tok without pay, including tsaag ts. they'll be

rounder mitchell marsh has been responding to a lot of criticism particularly from former test legend geoffout by the selectors. hello. how are you? look, his comments are his comments, that is his opinion. all i can focus on is preparing for this test match and preparing for this test match and preparing well for the summer, doing my best. that is all i can do. people are going to say what they are going to say. but i am looking forward to seeing him. india have never won a series in australia so the hosts are still favourites to win the four—test series according to batsman ajinkya rahane — even without steve smith and david warner who were banned for a year in the aftermath of march's ball—tampering scandal in south africa. i feel anything, the players ifeel anything, the players at i feel anything, the players at home are i feel anything, the players at home a re really i feel anything, the players at home are really good. australia still the favourite to win the series. we're not going to take lightly at all. yes they miss steve and david warner, but you see their bowling, they have a

at the white house is geoff bennett for us. we have tonight's panel, jeremy bash, a former pentagon chief of staff, nbc news national security analyst, neera tanden, former adviser to president obama and hillary clinton. and hugh hewitt, an msnbc political analyst. kasie, let me start with you. obviously there is a lot of chatter. white house negotiators went to chuck schumer's office, seemed to walk out, walked over to the house. that sounds like a ping pong strategy has developed, but it sounds like it's an acknowledgement that democrats have all the leverage. >> it's fundamentally an acknowledgement of that, chuck. there's a reason they started in schumer's office. but i think you have it right. frankly this is a much better scenario standing here at 5:00 than it was even at 2:00 because people are talking. for a long time, there were no conversations going on. what has been building here over the last couple of hours is pressure to get a deal, pressure to avoid a shutdown. there's still a lot of big question marks as to how

. >> to follow geoff's comments, the president has a phone in his hands, so who knows what he will be tweeting or saying over the next couple days as he remains in the library. as it stands right now, mick mulvaney asked the chief of staff about possibly going to january 3rd, the mandate when the new senate starts, and nancy pelo pelosi says when and if this partial shutdown continues, they can really, in the course of a few hours, pass a spending bill to reopen those parts of the government that are closed over this holiday season. the senate has already demonstrated they have the votes to do that. they passed the spending bill without the president's $5 billion for a wall, a slat wall, a barrier, sagebrush, whatever you want to call it, that they want to put down there right now, whatever the negotiating position is, as trance apparently semitic it may be. following again your discussion with geoff, it's hard to see how the politics work in the long run, but you know what, we've been surprised before, we'll probably be surprised again, alex. >> okay, vic, thank you so much. apprecia

geoff bennett, thank you very much. >>> coming up, the very last words that george h.w.h said from someone who new him quite well. >> how do you want to define your legacy? >> i've kind of banned the use of the l word, the legacy word. that was then, this is now. i think will history will point out some of the things i did wrong and some of the things we did right. you're in the business of helping people. we're in the business of helping you. business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. the powerful backing of american express. don't do business without it. i was on the fence about changing from a manual to an electric toothbrush. but my hygienist said going electric could lead to way cleaner teeth. she said, get the one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's gentle rounded brush head removes more plaque along the gum line. for cleaner teeth and healthier gums. and unlike sonicare, oral-b is the first electric toothbrush brand accepted by the ada for its effectiveness and

what then, geoff >> that really i think is what is not talked enough about right now. two ways to go about it one, there's a surprise or victory tomorrow then. we're going to see a big rally in u.k. assets, especially sterling right now let's talk about a loss of 100 votes. if the vote is much narrower then that can be construed a new vote could be brought through and maybe that could be passed. >> jeff, a real pleasure see you soon. >> thank you. >>> on deck, d.c. drama and your money. could the ramping up for the mueller probe be the real reason why stocks are sliding. >>> winter weather woes. how a storm in the south completely slammed a region and left tens of thousands stranded. stick around the stakes are so high, your finances, your future. how do you solve this? you partner with a firm that combines trusted, personal advice with the cutting edge tools and insights to help you not only see your potential, but live it too. morgan stanley. >>> good morning welcome back 5:23 on the east coast hope you have a great start to your day dow futures are down they're in t

and as nbc's geoff bennett explains, maternitys leave common in the u.s., but now some companies seeing new ther's time off as well. >> reporter: just likehis daughter was born three years ago, mark is taking full advantage of his company's paternity leave policy. >> it's very important to be at support system for yo wife. and for the whole family, for that matter, just to be there. >> reporter: mark works for the software company redhat which started offering fathers six th weeks off fobirth or adoption of a child. his firm is a number of companies introducing or expanding paideave options for new dads. why? research shows paternity leave is good for business. >> it helps the bottom line cause it helps us to retain so asciates and helps associates to be more engaged. >> reporter: top companies offer 11 weeks paid time off. some men are reluctant, fearing it could derail their careers, s concamiliar many working moms. a workplace survey finding more than a third of men believe taking leave would jeopardize their position.ie compare trying to change that and at american express, a com

geoff bennett at the white house. >>>th meantime government shutdown extends to certain sights in the district. >> many tourist attractions a impacted by part of the government being dark. derrick ward is in northeast d.c. in one are thats missing some holiday cheer. derrick,ood morning. >> reporter: good morning. we're here at the national christmas tree where you can kind of see a sign of the times. take a look. the sign is on the gatere it says "because of a lapse in federal appropriations, theis national chras tree site is closed for the safety of visitors and park resources." so usually you could stroll among the 50 state trees there, but you can only take a look from this side of the fence today. indeed, a sign of the times. congress adjayrned yeste without any resolution to the issue of funding over the wall. so mhatns that we are starting to see some of the first signs here in d.c. now, most of the smithsonian institution museums will be on eir normal schedule. they'll be closed christmas day. that's usually t

. >> let's go to white house correspondent geoff bennett who is traveling with the president and has more on today's developments. jeff. >> reporter: hey, richard. the thing that people should know about the g-20, it is the principal forum for world leaders trying to find common purpose on trade, climate change. it has really been the g-19 versus 1. this gathering just produced as what's known as a communique, a nonbinding joint agreement, and on this issue of climate change and we happen to know president trump is a climate change skeptic, you have 19 other countries reaffirming their commitment to the paris climate agreement while the u.s. is the only country reconfirming its commitment to withdraw from the paris climate agreement. we also learned the president met briefly, informally, with russian president vladimir putin at a dinner for world leaders. sarah sanders said "as is typical, president trump and first lady had a number of informal conversations." the president called off the conference this afternoon out of respect and deference of president bush. the thinking here is a

. >> let's get straight over to geoff bennett, our white house correspondent with the president.ght then, i guess about three hours ago? >> reporter: that's right, so the long resignation watch is over. i think the resignation watch for the chief of staff certainly almost lasted as long as the one for the attorney general, jeff sessions, but the president there making it official that john kelly will depart the administration at the end of the year. why now? well, a couple of reasons. certainly we're reaching the halfway mark in the president's first term, and the administration is certainly pivoting as it focuses on 2020, the president's reelection. it has to be on a firm footing as it deals with an onslaught of subpoenas and investigations from a democratic controlled house of representatives when the new congress comes into effect in january, and certainly in order for john kelly to be effective as chief of staff, he had to have something of a decent, personal working relationship with president trump, and that certainly was not the case. over time, i'm told the two of them, t

kids actually it doesn't wash them or people make mistakes fess up now cricket cricket commentator geoff lemon takes issue with bank coughs language why does someone get taught such tricky fake formal language like dave suggested to me to carry out the action on the ball it's like a tennessee grifter pretending to be a lawyer and others are asking if it would have killed cameron bancroft to wear a shirt in such an important interview while this person just posted a picture of the man who shot j.f.k. lee harvey oswald's with the caption david warner made me do it piece i will be back with more at eight hundred g.m.t. but for now i'll hand you back to folly. john i think you very much for that will do it for today's news wait remember to keep in touch with us on social media at all times hash tag is great and all the other ways to get in touch with us right here including our what's up number nine seven four five or one triple one four nine. hole news great team thank you very much for watching we're live on. the new center next to stay with us. for the arrival of refugees is debated in eu

. >> let's start with geoff bennett. geoff, it's not exactly a shock that zinke is leaving, is it? >> reporter: great to see you, keir. well, it is and it isn't a shock. i think it is in some ways shocking because, remember, ryan zinke isn't the first trump cabinet member to be the subject of ethics scandals. you have tom price and scott pruitt. both of those men endured months of scandals, investigations and public protests yet somehow still managed to hold on to their jobs for at least a time. in the case of ryan zinke you have the man who's supposed to be the chief steward of the natural resources and is the subject of 20 investigations. they range from things like improper spending on charter flights to improper dealings with an oil executive in his home state. we are just weeks away from democrats taking control of the house of representatives and there was a concern within the west wing that ryan zinke would be hauled up to capitol hill week after week perhaps to account for some of these things for which he's being investigated. it seems as if now was the right time for him

joining me, geoff bennett. tell me about the implications of this? >> the president said he would be proud to order a shutdown over the border wall spending and he's got it. at this point it's not clear how or when congressional leaders will find their way through the stalemate. this morning americans are waking up to a federal government that's partially shut down. with congress at an impasse over president trump's $5 billion border wall demand. congress already approved funding for about 75% of the government, but about a dozen major agencies are dark this morning. during the shutdown, at least 800,000 government employees will not receive their expected paychecks with christmas coming fast. >> it shouldn't be that i have to worry about getting paid. >> depending how rough it is, we may not have things during the holidays. >> essential employees will still be expected to work without pay including tsa agents and air traffic controllers. u.s. customs and border protection agents, marshals, coast guard employees, and forest service firefighters. they

let's go over to msnbc white house reporter geoff bennett who is traveling with the president. how are you? >> hey, philip, good to see you. the long resignation watch is over. here's the thing that people should know, the job of the chief of staff is certainly to represent the president's thinking and to push his agenda. it became harder and harder if not impossible for john kelly to do that given that the relationship between him and president trump had devolved to a point where i'm told the two weren't really even on speaking terms. their personal chemistry dissipated. because john kelly is seen as having moral authority within the white house, given he is a retired military general, part of a gold star family and because he devoted his life to public service, president trump when he talked to reporters was careful to make clear he was not firing john kelly. take a look at what the president had to say speaking to kelly o'donnell and other reporters in the last hour or so. >> so john kelly will be leaving toward the end of the year, at the end of the year, and i appreciate h

geoff, we heard from deputy press secretary a few minutes ago. what did he have to offer on the chief of staff position? any new insight? >> reporter: he didn't say anything that would help bring this endless guessing game to an end. look, earlier this week president trump said he had his list of potential chief of staff contenders whittled down to about 10 to 12 people. now the list probably stands around about five people. take a look at what he had to say. >> he has about five names in the hopper. we expect him to make an announcement pretty quickly. >> is chris christie one of them? >> obviously if the president and the chief of staff will make out another deal and extend it, they can do that. it's their prostheterogative to. >> administration officials are cautioning us against declaring any front runner in part because president trump can change his mind and i'm told has been changing his mind, but also because this isn't a job that people are necessarily lining up to do given the unceremonies you departures of john kelly and reince priebus

i'm geoff bennett at the white house. >>> some of your family and friends are in town for the holidays. they quickly found out a lot of sites are closed due to the shutdown. that includes the nationaltr christmas. the lights have been turned off. the tree is right across from the white house. a family visiting from florida and a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary told us just how disappointed they were. >> a lot of darkness and we're really bummed out because the kids were really excited to out and check out the national tree. >> it's ppnd of dinting that the government can't get their stuff together to be able to let us see the tree. month when just last president trump and first lady melania lit the tree for the >>> federal workers will be able to get free lunch every day the government is shut down, and it's all thanks to celebrity chef josen jdres. jose announcing on twitter each of his d.c. restaurants will be giving out free sandwiches until workers get paid again. people just have to show a government i.d. stay with news 4 and our nbc washington app for continuing cove