Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703

You are live in the cnn newsroom. Im jim acosta. It is a busy evening on capitol hill. Over the last several hours, lawmakers have dramatically backed away from the brink of a Big Government shutdown. Were not Out Of The Woods yet. With surprising speed and bipartisanship, the house passed a stopgap Spending Measure that would fund the government for the next 45 days. The white house has signaled the president will sign it. First it has to get through the senate and that vote may have hit a delay. Manu raju is following all of this on capitol hill. I was hoping that it would not be sunset by the time you were able to go home this evening but it seems like thats not the case. You cant count on that on capitol hill. There may be a bit of a wrinkle in the senate in terms of getting to the finish line. What can you tell us . Reporter thats right. This is about the issue of ukraine. This bill that is waiting for a final Senate Approval that got approved in the house to avoid a shutdown does not include Emergency Aid for ukraine. The senate was trying to get that approved. They wanted 6. 2 billion to help ukraine. That ran into opposition from the speaker of the house himself. Kevin mccarthy had Division Within his own republican conference about whether to include aid for ukraine at all. He decided to drop that, not have it in the bill that was approved on a bipartisan vote in the house to keep the Government Open for 45 days, provide money for Natural Disaster relief but no money for ukraine. Now this at the moment is the issue in the senate. Senator Michael Bennet, a democrat, has raised concerns about this, as other democrats have as well. But he is objecting to having a final vote on this proposal. This is important because in the United States senate, just one senator can object and delay consideration of a bill. If that person continues to object, then the Senate Majority leader would have to take timeconsuming procedural steps to overcome that objection. If it goes to that length, that would push this well into next being. Thats not what we expect. We expect that they try to resolve these concerns that Michael Bennet is now raising as part of the negotiations. What he wants is some sort of statement put out to issue, to show bipartisan support in the cause for ukraine. People are watching this on capitol hill about whether the funding will continue to come to help the war effort in ukraine and fighting back against russia. Beenet wants to make that clear in a statement. Thats what the haggling is behind the scenes. The expectation is that at some point this will be resolved. At the moment, no indication of when that will happen. Sometimes it happens very quickly. Sometime it drags out. Theyre coming in and out hoping to get answers, hoping to vote. Only a matter of when this will happen but it could be a little later. We were just talking to two senators, two of bennets colleagues on the democratic side. Tim kaine and jack reed. They both seemed to indicate that yes, they think this will get resolved. They think there will be a vote to avoid Government Shutdown. They think there will be some kind of Funding Mechanism in the not too distant future to make sure the flow of aid and the assistance to ukraine continues. I guess the question that i have for those two senators, and ill put it to you is, theres no guarantee that Kevin Mccarthy will put that on the floor of the house. The house may have gotten out of this jam and voided being tagged with the blame for a Government Shutdown. But it might come at the expense of the ukrainians if something cant get worked out in the not too distant future, i suppose. Mccarthy was asked this directly at his Press Conference this afternoon. Would he guarantee a vote for ukraine aid . He would not go that far. He seemed to tie it to his desire to pushing for more funding and other issues with Border Security at the u. S. Mexico border. That could be tied all together. He did express his support for the ukraine cause against russia but would not explicitly say that this money would definitely get approved, even in the next 45 days. We could be facing another Shutdown Possibility in 45 days, in midnovember. It is unclear that it would ride along with that or maybe get delayed even further. And thats causing a lot of concern from the senators that ive been speaking with this afternoon, saying this money, they say, is desperately needed. They say it should come, it should be approved immediately. Not just for the war effort but also, to make sure the world knows the United States continues to stand behind ukraine. But youre right. No guarantee how the House Republicans will deal with it. In fact, the majority of House Republicans voted against continuing funding for ukraine and a whole separate bill earlier this week, even though it did pass with the support of democrats and the number of republicans. Those divisions within the house gop is what is causing a lot of alarm for Ukraine Support on capitol hill. Absolutely. Manu raju, youre absolutely right about that. And i guess, it might be tempting to minimize the significance of this here if the House Republicans have figured out a way to defind assistance and aid to ukraine. That may sound farfetched at this point. Perhaps were not at this point where that will take place. But if the House Speaker is not giving any guarantees at this point, as come they will leighton was saying in the previous hour on this program, not continuing to fund ukrainians would send a bad signal to the ukrainians but might send a green light to vladimir putin. I have to think there are lawmakers who are fiercely in favor of continuing to fund the fight in ukraine. Theyre very mindful of that. Yeah. If you put this bill on the floor to fund ukraine, it would pass overwhelmingly by bipartisan support in the senate. Probably get maybe 70 votes in the United States senate. Maybe 75, up to 80 in the senate. In the house it would pass on a bipartisan basis as well. Probably up to 300 votes or so in the United States house. But as you know, jim, to get the bill on the floor of the house, you need to have the leadership. They need to schedule a vote. There are ways around it to force a vote. They rarely succeed. But thats a possibility that could exist sometime down the line. As weve talked all along about the threats to the speakership, if mccarthy were to move forward, the aid package, another thing they are saying they would use to it push him out. He is cognizant of the outspoken forces in his own conference. So unclear how the speaker plans to show both support for ukraine and the right. And the possibility that Kevin Mccarthy might not be in the job of House Speaker when it come to pass. I know its been a long day. Ill let you go and do more reporting. We appreciate all of your tremendous reporting. Thank you. Right after the vote, Hakeem Jeffries said it is a win for democrats. Lets take a listen. We went from devastating cuts that would have impacted the health and safety and economic wellbeing of the American People if 24 hours to a Spending Agreement that meets the needs of the American People across the board. Entirely consistent with what democrats have said from the very beginning is the only path forward. A bipartisan Spending Agreement that keeps Government Open, avoids a catastrophic Government Shutdown, and meets the needs of the American People in every possible way. Weve said from the beginning that we were going to protect social security, protect medicare, protect medicaid, protect public education, protect public safety, protect those individuals who secure us all across the land. Protect veterans. Protect our ability to continue to combat the climate crisis. Protect the economy and protect the ability of our government for the health and safety and the economic wellbeing of the American People. And that is what the Spending Agreement that democrats overwhelmingly supported on the floor of the house of representatives accomplished today. All right. That was the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries. We are watching this situation in the senate right now very closely. Thats where there could be a vote very soon to prevent a Government Shutdown. Of course, it is not done until its done. And right now, its not done. So stay with us. Welcome back. The Nations Capital is in a bit of a Holding Pattern right now. Lawmakers on capitol hill have backed away from the brink of a Government Shutdown. The white house has signalled the president will sign it but it has to get through the senate first. That has not happened yet. Lets talk about this with david gergen, adviser to nixon, reagan, ford and clinton. Its not supposed to work like this. It is kind of outrageous that here we are again on the brink of yet another Government Shutdown. And they cant get their act together. And i know a lot of this is driven in the house with the republicans in that conference who are not willing to compromise. There was compromise today. If you can reflect at all in just how ridiculous thing have gotten. We always have to put another coin in the government to keep it running. Youve said it well. This is a long, long time. It was unacceptable to shut down the government. Thats changed in recent years. They have ended but they havent ended well. There is no reason for a celebration tonight. What we did, it was not hard. We averted the catastrophe. Thats a good thing. Lets not pat ourselves on the back for something that never should have happened to start with. So there is a new book coming out that i recommend called the tyranny of the minority. And it was zelenskyy who argued that too often today, small groups of people, small numbers representing just a disproportionately small percentage of the population, they can rest control from the rest. Which is just about to happen here with the hard right. They could basically almost shut down the government. Yeah. And i think first of all, i should say were having one of those authors on tomorrow. We had both of them on previously because we have talked about this. I guess it leads to my next question. This constant cycle of brinksmanship. Hasnt it practiced and trained some of the most bad faith actors in the dark arts of shutting down the government . Grinding things to a halt . Making things a mess up on capitol hill . So the frequency of these acts of brinksmanship is making the people more prone to going about and doing it more skilled and practiced . Its a mess. Yes, it is a mess. Especially with social media that you can use to flog your favorite villain, to set them up and tell all sorts of tales which arent true but get people to believe it. It is really, really interesting how much our politics have been wrenched out of the traditions that we had in the past that served this country so well when we were considered a city on a hill, as reagan, and all the way back to the founding fathers, the pilgrims also believed. And now, you know, in so many instances, the rest of the world is looking at us and saying, this is why we understand this happened to the country in decline. This is what happens when people lose their anchoring, their sense of values, being a part of a community. Being proud of a community. A beloved community as Martin Luther king jr. Used to say. Now we have the poison community. Its just not working. One of my concerns, ive been in a University Environment the last couple decades. There are some young people who are really, really talented who are saying, im not sure i want to go into public service. Especially they dont want to be in politics. A lot of those talented folks would much rather work in Silicone Valley or new york rather than getting into this mess. Youre right. We have gotten away from being the city on a hill. Were more like a city just held hostage. Careening from one act of brinksmanship to the next. And speaking of which, House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy sort of called the bluff of these hard right lawmakers during all of this. When he realized they wouldnt go along with him, decided to work with democrats and now that has raised the prospect of whether he will hang on to that job. It is very interesting, david gergen. Earlier this afternoon i spoke to one of the house members and i asked, is Kevin Mccarthy in trouble, do you want him to leave . And then manu was talking to House Republicans who were sounding like they wanted to toss him out and they didnt sound like they were ready to do such a thing. I wonder if calling out some of these members on their bluster and their bluffs is the way to do it. Why buckle to these numbers all the time . I totally agree with that. A good point. What do we have . About a dozen people who really cause problems and throw monkey wrenches into this situation . We ought to have their faces plastered all over the place. These are the guys that almost took us over the brink. If we had gone over the brink and we still might. I think it is very unlikely now. If we had gone over the brink, we probably would have had a recession in this country unless we can stop it pretty soon. Some of these characters seem to take a certain amount of delight in messing with peoples lives. Whatever the latest, it is a strange world. One in which i think we dont have a lot of time to get things right. You can reach a certain stage in decline when it is really, really hard to make a comeback. Weve been a resilient people for so long. We forgot what it is like when you really go in the hole but it can be very, very rough. Yeah. The state of our democratic republic is not a guarantee. It doesnt have to stay as smooth and steady as it has been the last 50 years. No question about that. Always great to talk to you. Thank you. So for your time. I knew we could count on you for your wisdom. Thank you. Thank you. All eyes are on the senate. In the house, Jamaal Bowman is under fire for pulling the fire alarm. He says it was an accident. Do republicans accept that . There will be an investigation on top of Everything Else taking place on capitol hill. Well talk about that next. Hows the chicken . The prawns are delicious. Oh, i have a shellfish allergy. One prawn. Very good. Did i say Chicken Wrong . Tired of people not listening to what you want . Its truffle season ah thats okay. Never enough truffles. How much are they . Its a lot. Oh okay im good, that its like a priceless piece of art. Enjoy. Or when they sell you what they want . Yeah. The more we understand you, the better we can help you. Thats what u. S. Bank is for. Huge relief. Yeah. A Government Shutdown is not the only issue on the governments minds tonight. The democratic congressman Jamaal Bowman pulled a fire alarm inside the capitol. He said it was an accident but hes already facing back lash from his republican colleagues, including a possible investigation by lawmakers on the House Committee that oversees the Capitol Police. Joining me to discuss, congressman brian stile. Lets talk about this first. What do we know about what took place . And is it of a serious nature to the extent that you have to have an investigation in your view . Well, we know Jamaal Bowman pulled the fire alarm. Why he did that is pretty unclear. His initial explanation that it was an accident doesnt seem to really pass muster. The United States Capitol Police is investigating what happened. I think he needs to be far more forthcoming about what occurred. If he did engage in this to interrupt house proceedings, that is a serious violation of the law and no one should be treated above the law. Have you talked to congressman bowman about this . I have not spoken to him directly. I have reviewed his public statements. He is currently under investigation by the United States Capitol Police. And i suspect that that investigation will wrap up in the not too distant future. And i would hope that he is far more forthcoming as to whaes doing when he pulled the fire alarm. Okay. In the meantime, if you can shed some light into what took place earlier today in the house, the speaker, Kevin Mccarthy, decided ultimately at the end of the day, he wanted to work with House Democrats to get this continuing resolution out of house to the senate. Now were waiting to see what the senate does with this. If you can walk us through how you voted on this. Why you decided to vote the way you did. And why did it take this, until the 11th hour almost, for this to get resolved . The Spending Process in washington is completely broken. If this was a business, it would be bankrupt a long time ago. I think im as frustrated as everyone. At the end of the day, not shutting down the federal government is a small victory. At the end of the day, well have to address the reckless spending in washington Driving Inflation further and secure the mexican border. Yesterday, republicans, we had an opportunity to move forward with a conservative stopgap measure that would have done both those things. Unfortunately, we came up short. Today our options were less available and therefore moving to cr was the best move we find ourselves in. So i guess what happens with your speaker, Kevin Mccarthy . I suppose youre not one of the lawmakers clamoring for him to vacate his post. You would like to see him remain . I think hes done a pretty darn good job in wrangling the cats in the conference. Yesterday we had a great opportunity to move forward with a Conservative Cr. I was hopeful we could have done that a week before. To truly address the reckless spending in washington and the fact that the border of the u. S. And mexico is unsecure. Unfortunately, a small number disagreed but that was why we were brought to it. I think hes done a pretty good Chance Wrangling the cats. Are you worried about your partys ability to govern . They had these other items but it is unlikely that would have gotten through the senate. Isnt try it that your party was really driving the country, driving this government to the brink of the shutdown . I would say the whole Spending System in washington is completely broken. The senate is further behind than us in moving appropriation bills. They didnt have a stopgap measure in the senate. Far too often, it works like a College Student doing a term paper, at the last hour. I would love to see us completely rewrite the Spending Process of the United States so we dont find ourselves in this position again. That said, were here passing the Stop Gap Measure was the best path in front of us to give us an idea to truly move through the reckless spending in washington and most importantly, from a policy perspective, worked to secure the u. S. Mexico border. What about aid to ukraine . Were you comfortable with that assistance being stripped out . Would you like to see that put back in at some point . Not in this election but for the aid to the ukrainians to get voted on in the future so that fight can continue on that front . It the American People deserve to have a fullphase debate to make sure the ukrainians have the weapons to win the war but not just sending the money in an unchecked manner. We deserve to have a broader and more substantive debate to make sure were Holding Russia accountability for their illegal invasion. Putting into a stopgap measure undermines the seriousness of the situation in ukraine. Youre not ruling it out. You would be in favor of helping the ukrainians out somewhere down the road after that conversation is had . It sounds like thats what youre saying. I would like to see any final legislation. We want to make sure. The American People deserve to understand the strategy and i feel President Biden has done a terrible job explaining to the American People what the american interests is in helping the American People defend themselves in an unjust invasion from russia. But its been the president who has been leading on this front. Has he not . Are you giving the president some credit for that . If writ his predecessor, this would not be the case. Ultimately, what i believe is we have seen a failure of leadership from President Biden explaining the u. S. National interest in ukraine in seconding the weapons as we have. Previously, the president called for significant spending in ukraine. It is important to make sure were assisting those ukrainians who are defending themselves and their certain. What we dont want is a blank check. I do feel this administration has done a poor job explaining to the American People why they have an interest to take ukraine. The biggest concern is that Russian Troops would enter a nato country triggering troops. The president has said that. I would offer to you, hes done a poor job explaining that to the American People. All right. Thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it. Appreciate your time. In the meantime, were watching all of this on capitol hill. As you can see, that member of congress is there, others are still there because were not clear whether or not the government will run out of money tonight. Its up to the senate where the vote could happen at any moment. We are following the latest on capitol hill as senators now have the ball in their court as to whether or not a Government Shutdown will be prevented. Joining me now, republican congressman Kelly Armstrong of north dakota. Thank you for joining us. If you can help us out, we were talking to one of your colleagues a few moments ago about how this unfolded in the house today. How did we get to a place wareHouse Speaker Kevin Mccarthy was essentially working with democrats, relying on democrats to get this continuing resolution out of the house . What was your vote on it and why did you decide to vote the way you did . I think the vast majority of our position has been lets pass the most Conservative Cr that can get 218 votes and avoid a shutdown. Thats why we worked really larld to negotiate on the most fiscally conservative Spending Package that has come off the floor if probably 30 years with of hr 2 Border Security. We didnt have enough votes on the republican side to pass it. The democrats were never going to support that. When we lost 21 votes yesterday, we went to conference and a couple ideas floated up. The only option was to put this forward. We would take whatever Chuck Schumer sent to us, 12 days or 30 days, that would be the cr. He never wanted a shutdown. The vast majority of us didnt and this was the best approach given the hand we were debt. Why take it to the brink . Here we are, four hours and 21 minutes from the brink. It sounds like the president will sign this. Why cant this get worked out much sooner than this . You dont have members of the military, Border Patrol agents, why take it to the brink . I think in an alternative time line, we would have passed the one we had. We had 21 people vote no yesterday and this becomes about Border Security and ukraine funding. I think everyone at the last minute, those are two issues to a lot of people. Border security is the number one issue in this country right now. We had an opportunity to do that and we live to fate another day. I guess that raises the question. Is this an effective way to run a railroad. You take it to the brink in hopes of getting more Border Security and you didnt accomplish that in the end. Why not go through the regular order and the regular appropriations process to get this kind of funding the way that you want it. You took it to the brink and it didnt work. The question is, why . I think it did work. I think it is an unfortunate position that the most Conservative Cr we can get off the floor of the house will require democratic votes. But it came together. Weve got 45 days. We come back monday. We have to push the issue. I think it is one of those rare issues in congress where republicans can win both politically and on the policy front and it is up to us. We to continue the pass appropriations bills. The entire scenario, how we do our Government Funding is broken. Was the always going to he said in a cr and the question was whether we could have some questions. Do you want to see Kevin Mccarthy survive as speaker and do you think its possible we could see a move early next week to remove him as speaker . I think we put up a large number today. Somebody had to be the adult in the room. We tried every way to get a conservative package across the finish line and we have a choice. We can come back Monday Morning and start working on more appropriations bill. We have open Amendment Process or we can start the circus. That wont be good for the conference and not good for the country. I wonder, when you mention the word circus, i wonder if youre concerned that the American People are looking at whats happening in the house of representatives and saying maybe the republicans shouldnt be handling the house of representatives. It takes them 15 votes or so to soelt a speaker. They run up until the deadline in passing Government Funding and so on. It doesnt look good, does it . We have to continue to do our work. Nobody will care how we start. It is how we finish. We have to deal with out of control spending and continue to move forward. I dont think anybody around d. C. , were going to keep ourselves out of shutdown and do our appropriations work. All right. Thank you very much for your time this evening. We appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Well be right back. 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What theyve done is theyve gone after opponents so that if you become president , or some other job, but if you become president , and you dont like somebody or if somebody is beating you by 10, 15, 20 points like were doing with crooked joe biden, lets indict [ bleep ]. Former President Trump addressing his recent legal troubles in a speech to California Republicans last night. Lets discuss, former prosecutor greenberg is with us and shan is with us as well. Youre here in the studio with me. You know, one of the things that special counsel jack smith has been saying in the last couple days in terms of wanting this judge, Tanya Chutkan to put a gag order on him, that trump is again engaging in this incendiary rhetoric. The other day, talking about mark milley, how he should be executed. I believe he also referred to almost purchasing a gun, which hes not supposed to do earlier this week. And that clip we just played. Hes minimizing what took place with paul pelosi. We should remind our viewers, the reason paul pelosi was attacked was the intruder was trying to go after the House Speaker nancy pelosi at the time, who is by the way, one of the former president s political enemies. And is this war evidence for jack smith to take to the judge and say, we need a gag order on the former president here. I think he could add that in. It just happened recently. I think it fosters this notion that trump enjoys the idea of violence happening in favor of him or against his enemies. And i think thats the picture that smith is trying to paint for the judge. This isnt just First Amendment political speech. He is really fostering this culture of violence and thats what you have to stop him from doing. Unlike most defendants, he has some sway with people when he says that. Weve seen what happens. And it will be difficult as to whether or not the judge is ultimately going to put some kind of gag order on the former president. It is as if trump wants one so he has more red meat to throw out to the base and more things to talk about in speeches like he had last night. To pick up on that point, at some point is there a line that he crosses where the judge has to do something and what could she do . I certainly think she is going to be very attuned to any intimidation, any inkrenld area statements with respect to perspective witnesses and potential jurors in the jury pool. So those two categories of individuals, i think shes going to be very, very concerned to make sure that there are not at the kind of statements, among the kinds of things the prosecutors, you are looking at not just intimidating statements and statements to incite violence, but also disparaging statements. I think she may try to draw the line there. I think you can make some disparaging statements about the prosecutor and the judge within your First Amendment rights without necessarily changing a jury pool. It is when you start making intimidating statements, when you start making threats, when you start making statements that could lend itself to violence that is when, i think, the judge is really going to look and say, this is unacceptable. And the consequences here are too great. There has already been a death threat on judge chutkan. Theres already been a charge of somebody making that death threat. There has to be a line here where we think things could just get too far. Because, ultimately, the safety of everybody involved in this process depends on it. Yeah, and shan, we already know that the president s rhetoric leads to violence. It took place on january 6th. So, this is not a theoretical argument here. No, not at all. I think thats the problem here. And that line about the First Amendment is harder to discern with him, because, when he says things like the prosecutor is the ranged or the judge is that makes his supporters very angry at those people. Why is this deranged bad person going after the former president . Thats where the danger is and thats really because of who he is and who is history, that line is harder to figure out than in a normal case. And kristy, theres also the part of what trump says and that comment, where he talks about indicting the mother this is the line that he sends out to his base, the reason why he has been indicted four times is hes somehow beating biden in the polls which, most of the polls that we show show the races about did even at this point. So, that argument goes out the window. But it does have some say lions with his supporters, this notion that he is being persecuted because, as he sees it, he is the best shot the republicans have enunciating President Biden. Right. And again, this goes towards really trying to corrupt the jury pool, to think that this is somehow a political persecution and now the prosecution of a criminal case, and that he is a victim here. And so, really, these kinds of comments need to be carefully scrutinized by the judge. And it is hard to draw those lines, particularly where this is an individual who has such a platform, unlike any other criminal defendant, to really reach a base that he has shown, as you said, on january 6th, that he can inflame and incite to violence. So, the judge is really going to have to take a look at this, and i suspect there will be some gag order, maybe not everything prosecutors are asking for, but somelimited gag order, to show that there are limited consequences to actions. They are going to be penalties, whether it is starting out with fines, waiting to criminal contempt, and if it continues, and if it gets more and more brazen, potentially, prison shan, how do you navigate having a defendant like this . I cant imagine what the special counsel is going to do when this finally goes to trial, and trump comes out of the courtroom every day, goes out of the courthouse, and gives a Press Conference and calls jack smith deranged, or talks about what a certain juror was wearing. The sky is the limit with this guy. Absolutely. I think with the special counsel is doing right now is very wise, which, is very early, they are trying to set the stage. Its like raising a red flag, early and often with a judge, to not only put trump on notice, but to get the judge aware, in incremental steps. For example, the mentioning of the financial sanction, moving more toward a very harsher type of sanction here. That is what they are really doing. Its setting the stage for that to happen. And thats what the problem is. The large platform that he has even these things there is a line that you could draw, which would be pretty simple. Which is, you can profess your innocence as much as you want. And you cant mention anybody in particular. Dont talk about the judge. Dont talk about the case. And he could be out there when opponents are questioning him about, you are being charged with these things. He can say, i am completely innocent. Trust in the system . Take care of im not going to talk about that right now. There is a way he could draw the line. But, for him, for a long time, his defense and his campaign are completely the same. Yeah, and kristy, the conventional wisdom is that, if you go out if the judge goes after trump, it is going to play right into his hands. But as shan was saying, if the prosecutors are trying to go line by line, every time this happens, and theres another penalty flag and it puts the judge on notice and so on, doesnt that potentially create a situation where trump could be put in a box once this trial gets started . Because, if the judge says, okay, listen, we put up with the shenanigans up until this point, but now the trial is starting. If you say anything about me, the prosecutor, or any of these other folks, you are going to be detained during the process of this trial. Does he eventually run out of runway here . The trial is currently set for march. So, we have months to go. Thats true. I suspect, that in october, when they have this hearing, that there will be some lines drawn. Shes going to have very strong language. Again, i do think there will be an order from the bench. It may not be everything the prosecutor is asking for. But somelimited Gag Order Put in place and then, we will see, over the next few months, how he behaves. Does he adhere to the order . Or does he continue to violate it . And if he continues to violate it, look, i think its going to be very difficult for this judge to put a former president who is now running a campaign to be president in prison. So, she is not going to take to that action likely. So, its going to have to be very brazen violations of her orders, probably repeated violations of her orders, for her to take that step. But she and the special counsel are looking to get this established now, said that record now, so that, if that is what needs to happen, she has a very clear case to me as to why it is justified. All right. Kristy greenberg and shan wu, thank you both very much. We appreciate it. Back to the breaking news. The possibility of avoiding a Government Shutdown rests with the senate. A couple of hours ago it was reported that maybe it was going to be over by now. But, guess what . This is washington. Its never that easy. So, here it is. It is coming up on 8 00 eastern here in the Nations Capital. We are going to keep our eyes on the senate. We are live in the cnn newsroom. We will be right back