Newsroom. Im ana cabrera in new york. Thanks for being with me. President trump doubling down on his threat today to declare a National Emergency. If he doesnt get exactly what he wants from congress, money to build a border wall. A National Emergency. That means money set aside only for times of war or massive disaster when human lives are in unavoidab unavoidable danger. The president is putting a political argument on the same level of extreme urgency as Hurricane Katrina and even 9 11. I may declare a National Emergency, depending on whats going to happen over the next few days. He said the same thing friday that he may declare a National Emergency. Thats the president s idea of leapfrogging the established political process, compromise, give and take. Something that should come easily to a man who says this about himself. Im going to make the great deals. I make deals. I negotiate. Everybody wants me to negotiate. Thats what im known as, a negotiator. Im so anxious to negotiate. What i do is i do deals. I deal. So if the president declares a National Emergency to get border wall money, that means the great negotiator has failed. And, of course, theres the shutdown now in its 16th day. About 800,000 american men and women, federal workers, still not getting paychecks, because the president is unhappy with the way the negotiating is going. President trump today made a puzzling statement, saying he can relate to all those people who are wondering how theyll support their families if this shutdown drags on. Lets get to cnn white house correspondent, boris sanchez. Boris, no day off for the white house and for officials there, congressional aides also meeting. Both the Vice President and the president holding different meetings today. Any progress . Reporter hey there, anna, it depends on who you ask during several of these meetings, democrats and republican, we heard one side say talks talks were productive and other side said talks didnt get anywhere. This time President Trump tweeted shortly after the meeting here on the white house grounds ended between the Vice President mike pence, and Kirstjen Nielsen and Jared Kushner alongside some aides to top lawmakers. Heres the tweet. Quote, Vp Mike Pence and group had a productive meeting with the Schumer Pelosi representatives today. Many details were discussed. Were now planning a steel barrier rather than con kreeccr. It is stronger and less obtrusive. Good solution and made in the ewes. Despite that, weve heard multiple accounts from people actually inside the room that said that talks really went nowhere, according to a source. Republicans presented to democrats a specific outline that official justification for spending 5. 7 billion on the president s longpromised border wall, according to one source, democrats felt that that presentation was incomplete. On their end, from a source, were hearing that democrats didnt really present a counteroffer. They simply kept arguing that the government should be reopened before any discussion about Border Security or a border wall could take place. In the meantime, President Trump has been talking about this option of his, of declaring a National Emergency in order to secure funding for his border wall, something he says he strongly is considering. Listen to this. Were looking at a National Emergency, because we have a National Emergency. Just read the papers. We have a crisis at the border of drugs, of human beings being trafficked all over the world. Theyre coming through. And we have an absolute crisis, and of criminals and gang members coming through. It is National Security, its a National Emergency. I asked the president what conditions it would take to declare a National Emergency. If perhaps he had decided on a deadline if talks continued to stall past a certain point, he would invoke that option. He didnt really specify. He said we would have to wait and see. That note about a steel barrier rather than a concrete one, the president tweeted he wanted a concrete barrier. Today he says that democrats dont want concrete, so well give them steel instead, suggesting it would be stronger, less obtrusive and boost america companies. His decision on declaring a National Emergency, and saying well let you know fairly soon, answering your question, boris. I want to bring in our contributors. Selena, a National Reporter for the Washington Examiner and mark, the president saying he can relate to furloughed workers. Listen. I can relate. And im sure that the people that are on the receiving end will make adjustments. They always do. And theyll make adjustments. People understand exactly whats going on. But mayny of those people that wont be receiving a paycheck, many of those people agree 100 . We talked to a furloughed worker. We asked her about trumps claim that those affected by the shutdown are fans of this fight. Heres what she told us. Are you one of the biggest fans of this shutdown . No. Im not a fan of the shutdown. Do you know anyone who says i dont care about my paycheck, i care more about the wall . No, i havent heard that. Celina, is trump listening . Well, you know, i dont know any person that has ever been furloughed thats going to be a fan of someone who has put them in that position. In particular, the people that are furloughed right now currently are, you know if youre a trump supporter, you think its the democrats fault. If youre a supporter of the democrats, you think its trumps fault. But if youre furloughed, you arent happy, because that sense of instability, you know, for yourself and or your family, its uneasy. And, you know, because you dont know when your paycheck is going to come. So i dont think if anyone thats furloughed is going to be a fan of the of the shutdown. Michael, why do you think the president keeps insisting that unpaid workers support the shutdown . Why not acknowledge that people are likely frustrated . Well, i think in his imagination, were all buying this. Hes very much a marketer. This whole concept of the wall was developed as a Campaign Issue that was marketed first through right wing media and then became something that he built his campaign for president around. So now hes telling us that the federal workers all agree with this idea, and theyre supporting him. Now, he might be able to find two or three to bring to the White House Briefing room and say, well, here they are. These are the people who like this idea. But its more a matter of trying to persuade us that this is true. And if he says it over and over again, i think he thinks its going to get through. Selena, the president also claims most unpaid federal workers are democrats. Surely, there are trump voters out there who are being impacted by this shutdown. If youre a supporter of trump, how does that land with you . Should the president be more empathetic . Well, i think in these situations, its probably very wise, whether it is pelosi or if its trump, to give off that sense of empathy. So, you know, say, look, im sorry youre caught in the crosshairs here. You know, if youre trump, you say, look, we want Border Security. Im sorry youre caught in the crosshairs. Im working the best that i can to get this done. If youre pelosi, you say, look, im sorry youre caught in the crosshairs. You know, we what was the word she used the other day . Immoral . Whatever sort of the political rhetoric that suits your ideology. But i think thats, you know, the better way to handle it. And i think most importantly, i think both sides need to show that theyre working on this. They need to not just throw volleys at each other. But to show that theyre meeting and theyre working. Which i think that they did today. I believe that they met today, and i believe that pence and the staffers met the day before. Thats a good sort of visual to show. But, you know, at the end of the day, you really dont want to see people not, you know, having their jobs because of politics. Right. And it was pence and staffers who were meeting. It wasnt the president. Yes. And nancy pelosi and chuck shumer, for example. But michael, President Trump, he has not budged on this demand now for 5. 6 billion. But he has shifted on who is going to pay for the wall. How it will be paid for. What its going to be made of. According to the washington post, Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell has complained that the president is an unreliable negotiating partner. What is the president like as a negotiator . Well, he is unreliable until the very last moment. So his very first bit of negotiation was done with the city of new york back in the 1970s. And what he did in that case was he actually submitted documents that had never been executed. And he used those unsigned agreements to leverage the city of new york and get what he wanted. So hes very, very good, i think the president said earlier today, at keeping all of his options open. And thats a smart thing to do when youre trying to make a deal. And i also think he doesnt want to be perceived to be giving in much at all. So this capitulation to steal rather than concrete, i dont think he likes this. Concrete has always been the word that he was using all along. And actually, he built trump tower out of concrete when it was built. It was the largest concrete structure in the world. He likes concrete. So all of these adjustments come hard to him. And hes not going to give until he absolutely has to. I want you to listen to this exchange with White House Press secretary, sarah sanders, on fox news with Chris Wallace about the need for a border wall. We know that roughly nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists come into our country illegally. And we know that our most vulnerable point of entry is i know the statistic. I didnt know if you were going to use it. But i studied up on this. Do you know where those 4,000 people are captured . Airports. Not always. Airports. The state Department Says there hasnt been any terrorists they found coming across its by air, its by land and sea. Its all of the above. Selena, as Chris Wallace said, there are no government records of terrorists being caught at the southern border. Is the white house manufacturing a crisis . I think that the white house what they what how sarah could have handled that better is if she would have put her explanation at the end at the front end. And say, look, we have problems with terrorists coming through. The majority have come through the air and the sea. As she said. And also the border. But because she made it sound as though you have the illusion it was all through the border. But im not even sure its true any are coming through the border, according to the state department. And this is the bureau of counterterrorism portion of the department, wrote in a july 2017 document, and im quoting, no credible information that any member of a terrorist group has traveled through mexico to gain access to the United States. Well, you know, her job is to talk about what the president wants to communicate. Our job as journalists, as Chris Wallace did, is to to, you know, sort of pressure them with facts. And sometimes it doesnt look good. Okay. Got to leave it there tonight. Thank you very much. Michael, selena, good to have you both with us. They are part of the bedrock of the president s base. Now the shutdown is threatening to delay desperately needed government aid. So do those farmers think a Government Shutdown over the wall is worth it . Youre live in the cnn newsroom. Show your gut some love. Only activia has billions of our live and active probiotics. A delicious way to enjoy probiotics every day. With 20 years of devotion to gut health. Activia. 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President trump vowed to take the mantle in the Government Shutdown blame game, but it gets a very different spin from the president s new chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney. Im forced back to the conclusion again and again that the democrats, for better or for worse, think they are winning this battle politically, and theyre really not interested in opening the government, because they think the president is paying a price politically, and thats unfortunate. Who is to blame in their eyes . Cnns politics Senior Writer and analy analyst harry enten, is keeping a close eye on the latest polls. I think Mick Mulvaney is hinting at the right answer there and that is that the public is blaming trump and Congressional Republicans. Ive looked at the polls, averaged them since the shutdown began, and overwhelmingly by about a 20point margin they are blaming the congressional gop and trump. The majority are blaming them. And is there support for this border wall . Yeah, i think this makes a lot of sense, right . Because the majority of americans have consistently said they do not want this border wall, and they do not want a shutdown in order to build this border wall so it makes sense a majority are blaming the Congressional Republicans and President Trump for the shutdown. Who stands the most to lose here . I know you also looked at some new data regarding how popular nancy pelosi is, and how popular President Trump is currently, right . Right. And whats so interesting is for pretty much the entire trump presidency, President Trump, despite being unpopular, was more popular than nancy pelosi. That, in fact, has now shifted. Whereby neither one of them is tremendously popular, but nancy pelosi is slightly more popular than President Trump is. And thats a big shift. And i think, obviously, nancy pelosi is going to need the backing of democratic voters nationwide to continue to have a mandate from them and what we are seeing is this will probably help. Were showing the numbers there, harry. And you say shes more popular than the president. And a lot of people are looking and saying, wait a minute, that doesnt make sense to me. Shes got 38 favorability, hes got 40 . Isnt 40 higher than 38 . Theres a little math going on here and that is his unfavorable. Im using something called net favorability which over time has tended to be a better understanding of where the public stands on each figure and it should be pointed out, Nancy Pelosis net favorability rating used to be minus 20, 25. So shes come up tremendously while the president has been stuck right around minus 15, minus 20. All right, harry enten, thanks for the information. Farmers impacted by President Trumps trade war facing a second punch. Loans and aid promised by the administration now delayed because of the Government Shutdown. Many of those same farmers voted for trump in 2016. But now their loyalty to the president is being tested in a major way. Last month, President Trump pledged to boost financial help for these farmers whose earnings got crushed by his china tariffs, promising emergency farm aid in the form of subsidies. But then Government Agencies shuttered their doors, leaving farmers in farm aid limbo. Now they cant even apply for the assistance to help them survive the president s trade war. It gets worse. The usda announcing friday, it is delaying a crucial crop report due to the shutdown, leaving farmers without vital information. Lets get right to cnns vanessa youre cavich. What do these struggling farmers have to say about trump and this shutdown standoff . Reporter hi, ana. This shutdown really came at a poor time. Were here on brian duncans farm. He is a soybean, hog and corn farmer. He had a tough 2018 with the tariffs from china and retaliatory tariffs that came from mexico. In order to help him out, the government decided to provide subsidies for farmers like brian. He was able to apply for those subsidies, for soybeans and hogs. But he just finished his corn crop just last week, and the government was shut down at that point. So the paperwork is sitting on his desk, and hes just waiting for the government to reopen. So the question is, when will that be . Well, i asked him when he thought that might happen. Weve heard the president say, though, that the shutdown could go on for months. It could. If not years . Years . Yeah. So, i mean, youre still going to be waiting for that money. I know. Can you afford to wait that long . You know, the tariff the tariff relief payment helped, in that it bought us some time here as we hoped these problems are resolved. And it was significant, okay . But it was not so significant that its that its the difference between us being able to go on another year. It took us through some shortterm cash flow crunches. And so as you heard from brian, hes able to stay afloat right now. But whats weighing on him heavily, ana, is this trade war. And we know that the u. S. Is sending a delegation to china this coming week to try to work out a deal. Brian and many of the farmers weve spoken to here in town are hoping they come back with some really good news, because i can tell you, ana, that brian and others we have spoken to are struggling and really dont know how much they can keep their head above water at this point. Ana . Vanessa, we know youll continue to follow this story for us. Thank you. Were back in just a moment. Okay, max. Time to help mrs. Tyler reach her health goals im in but first. Shelfie the greattasting nutrition of ensure. With up to 30 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals ensure. For strength and energy. Ensure. [ dobaxter. Ng ] its bedtime. Peace of mind should never be out of reach. [ voice command beep ] xfinity home. Xfinity home connects you to total Home Security you can control from anywhere on any device. And it protects you with 24 7 professional monitoring. I guess were sleeping here tonight. Xfinity home. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Call, go online or demo in an xfinity store today. Mexico is paying for the wall through a still unapproved trade deal. Much of the wall is already built. Actually, the president may their a National Emergency to order the security of the border. Parts of the wall are going to be made of concrete. No, its going to be made of strong steel. Now those are all claims the president has made in the last week. They cant all be true. But maybe, eventually, one of them will be . With us, Time Magazine con tributer, jane newton small, and white house reporter, ta talu ranif. I want to start with the president saying he may declare a National Emergency, the second time he has threatened this in the last few days. Talu, is this a real possibility . Its something being discussed in the white house. Its difficult to see how the president could get this to pass legal muster. Obviously, there are people within the White House Counsels Office trying to let the president and his advisers in the white house know there are a number of legal restrictions that would prevent him from repurposing money and declaring a National Emergency and building a wall without involving congress. But there is something the president is looking to do. Hes looking for an offramp, a way to get out of this standoff that is looking like its going to continue for days on end, because democrats are not budging. As you talked about all the different messages that the president and the white house have put out, they have been all over the place, going back and forth, steel versus concrete, National Emergency versus a deal, daca or no daca. They are all over the place looking for a way to come to a solution. The democrats are being very, very straight forward. Theyre saying we are going to open the government by passing a series of bills that have already come out of the republican senate, and because theyre sticking to their same message, the white house is looking for a number of different messages and trying to see what can work. And this whole idea of a National Emergency is the latest iteration of that, and it doesnt appear that its moving democrats or the threat is having the impact that the president wants. So it may be an offramp that the president may try to use, but it will immediately end up in a legal jeopardy and a legal challenge. And that could end up leaving the president in the white house legally exposed to various forms of lawsuits. Now, jay, we just got word two democratic senators, Chris Van Hollen and ben cardin are officially calling for any bills unrelated to the reopening of the government be blocked. They want mcconnell to hold a vote on those bills the house passed thursday. Could this work . I mean, i think thats one of the real threats, i think, coming down the pike here, is that not just democrats, but also some moderate republicans, lisa murkowski, susan collins, two women who have banded together in the past to block certain things they didnt think were appropriate and on the president s agenda. At some point, people are going to start to say my state is feeling pain, im hearing a lot from constituents, this is getting kind of out of hand and ridiculous and were going to start blocking nominations. Were going to start blocking other business areas, other bills going through in the senate, just to sort of say, hey, look. We shouldnt be doing a business as usual when there is a Government Shutdown going on. We should be focusing 100 on a solution to reopen the government and we should go and reopen the government. There is new polling that shows for the First Time Since trump took office, House Speaker nancy pelosi has a net favorability rating thats higher than the president s. Does that change the white house strategy at all, do you think . I think the white house is seeing Speaker Nancy Pelosi play this pretty straight. She did put as the first one of the first measures after taking over the gavel of the speakership an effort to open the government by passing a bill that had already passed the senate, already gotten the support of almost a unanimous group within the senate, republicans and democrats coming together, and now shes going to put a number of different bills to open things like the Treasury Department so people can get their irs tax refunds. The white house has struggled to play this straight. Nancy pelosi has been playing this very straight. And with her numbers going up and with the president s numbers just stuck among his base not getting much support outside his base, its going to be difficult for him to spin this politically as a win for him, because democrats are saying that were passing republican bills and being bipartisan. And the president is sticking to his 5. 6 billion number. And thats making it difficult for him to move past his original statement, which was that he was going to own the shutdown, he was going to be proud to do it, and as it becomes more politically untenable for the shutdown to continue for weeks on end, its going to look much more like the democrats and nancy pelosi are being the grownups in the room, and the president and the republicans are struggling to find a way out of this shutdown trouble. And so, jay, why do you think nancy pelosi is suddenly seen as more favorable . I think theres been a ton of attention on pelosi, her comeback. Everybody in america loves a comeback story, right . You love the underdog who lost a dozen years ago and is now back in power. Shes somebody that people are rooting for. And i think that there is this sense also that they have the moral high ground here. Theyre going to say, look, you originally agreed to this and then backtracked because of pressure from your base. This isnt a reasonable position to demand 5. 6 billion and sort of think of it and hold the rest of the government hostage to this. And its going to quickly become untenable. Look, its going to start to become very unsafe to have huge spots of the government closed for weeks and weeks and weeks on end. Not just in terms of lost research that is being done by various different arms of the government, but also in terms of the tsa. You know, screeners not being paid in terms of the coast guard not getting paid as of the 15th of january. The entire coast guard not being paid. These are things that are very worrisome for the safety of our nation. Fda, food inspections arent being done. Just on the heels of that romaine lettuce, e. Coli outbreak. So theres all kinds of issues here on any given day. Something can go wrong and it can be catastrophic and blamed for the Government Shutdown. And thats the game of russian roulette theyre playing every day this government remains closed. And the reason why theres going to be increasing pressure to really reopen the government across the board from i think constituents, republican and democrat. We played that clip earlier of the president insisting that unpaid federal workers support this shutdown. This isnt the first time hes made this claim. But hes not provided any evidence, necessarily, to back that up. Do you know where hes getting this impression . Because a furloughed worker i talked to this week, it does not support this shutdown. Yeah, this is just another area where the white house messaging has been hard to follow. First the president said these are mostly democrats that are being affected and theyre the ones not getting their paychecks. Then he said these are actually people who support the wall. There arent very many people within that cross section, democrats who support the wall in the political electorate. So its hard to find where the president is getting this information. And i think jane newton small was right. When she said that people start to feel this more, when we see more people calling off of work from the tsa and from agencies that actually impact the lives of americans and we see airports starting to be impacted, then the idea that this is a popular shutdown that the president is saying that people are happy will really blow up. It will be hard to sustain that, because people will see the impact of the shutdown and will see that workers are not happy to not be getting their paycheck. Mick mulvaney was on tv earlier and said if this shutdown is not resolved by tuesday, people will not get their paycheck this coming friday. And i think if people start to feel this in their pocket books, theyre going to be much more vocal about how much they are not happy with the shutdown and the myth that the president has been spreading about all these workers that are happy about the shutdown and want him to keep going. That will evaporate quickly and it will be much more untenable for this white house and for the administration to continue the argument that the shutdown is something thats popular when the polling shows that its not. Thank you both. Breaking news in the case of the deadly driver the deadly driveby shooting, i should say, in texas. A suspect is now in custody and facing capital murder charges in the death of a 7yearold. We have details. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. engaging uptempo music with tripadvisor finding the right hotel at the lowest price is as easy as dates, deals, done. Going on a work trip . Dates, deals, done. Destination wedding . Dates, deals, done. Because with tripadvisor all you have to do is enter the dates of your stay and well take care of the rest searching over 200 booking sites to find you the best deal its as easy dates, deals, you know the rest. owl hoots read reviews, check hotel prices, book things to do, tripadvisor. Houston police say a routine traffic stop led to the arrest of a suspect in the driveby killing of 7yearold jasmine barnes. 20yearold eric black jr. Appeared in court today. He faces a capital murder charge. Investigators say black confessed he was driving the vehicle, and he says a man in the passenger seat fired the fatal shot. Jasmine was struck in the head during the shooting and died from her injury. Police say they dont believe her family was the intended target. Our Kaylee Hartung joins us now from houston where police just held a News Conference a short time ago. Did they say jasmines murder was simply a case of mistaken identity . Reporter ana, sheriff gonzalez was very careful with his language when he spoke to us, saying they believe its very likely this was a case of mistaken identity, that the shooter opened fire on jasmines car, believing someone else was inside. Who they believe to be inside, the sheriff couldnt tell us. But we learned more through eric black jr. s probable cause hearing this morning in which his arrest affidavit was read, saying that it was a tipster who unanimously first reached out to sean king, the activist, who then passed it along to the sheriff, who initially said this was a case of mistaken identity. The sheriff explained that this is an ongoing investigation. At this time, eric black jr. Is the only man charged in connection with this killing. And until they can firm up their evidence otherwise, the sheriff is not ready to speak to eric blacks specific role or what theyre looking for from they believe to be another suspect. Again, in that probable cause hearing for eric black, it was said another man in the passenger seat of that car he was driving who was identified by the initials lw, we are aware of a man who was arrested overnight with the initials lw, who is being charged with possession of marijuana and other controlled substances. And in his probable cause hearing, when the state was making the case for his bond to be greater than 5,000, which it would typically be for someone facing a charge like that, they mentioned he is a suspect in a homicide and murder investigation. The bond for that man is now set at 100,000. Ana . Kaylee hartung in houston for us. Thank you. The Government Shutdown now in its third week. We have all sign teen the pictu out there of the national parks. Up next, how the safety of americans could be impacted. Youre live in the cnn newsroom. Hi there, this is a commercial about insurance. But lets be honest. Nobody likes dealing with insurance. See, esurance knows its confusing. I literally have no idea what im getting. I dont know either. Im just the spokesperson. But thats why theyre making it simple so that even actors, like us, can understand it. Im not an actor. Id love to tell you more but i only have thirty seconds. So heres a dramatic shot of their tagline so youll remember it. 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And for the 800,000 federal employees who arent getting paid right now, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet, that news cant come soon enough. Suzanne malveaux reports. Reporter ryan bon and his friends spend unplanned time away from work volunteering. Really, i did find a volunteer thing we could do tomorrow morning if youre interested. Reporter thursday, ryan spent three hours giving blood platelets. Friday, he picked up trash at the national mall. And while hes being productive with his newfound freedom, he says he still feels held hostage by the shutdown. Let us work without having anxiety over our next grocery bill for those working without pay now and whose leave was cancelled over the holidays. Reporter andrea is one of those with a choice between groceries and utilities. All those things are already prebudgeted. So when Something Like this happens and youre not going to get your next check, its like okay, what do i do . Reporter over all, 380,000 workers are furloughed. Another 420,000 working without pay. But in a way, they could be the lucky ones. Traditionally, Congress Grants back pay to those federal employees. Though not guaranteed for anyone, back pay is even less likely for federal contractors and the companies they work for who might not get any money at all. It puts Small Businesses out of business, if it continues much longer. Reporter david, who represents federal contractors, says some businesses are still paying employees without getting paid by the government. He says the biggest impact for so many is the uncertainty. When is this going to be over . Am i going to be made whole at the end of it . Will anybody care about the work i do that matters so much to me . Reporter its a question some federal workers were asking even before the shutdown. Author Michael Lewis latest book looks at how President Trumps election impacted agencies across the government. All they get is slandered and abused. And yet we expect them to perform these critical missions. Reporter lewis says the president just doesnt understand what federal employees do. I will shut down the government. Fair enough. We disagree. And i am proud to shut down the government for Border Security, chuck. Reporter last week, President Trump cancelled federal employee pay raises for 2019, and claimed without evidence that, quote, most of the people not getting paid are democrats. Ryan, who refuses to get into the political mud, worries he may miss his opportunity to buy a house of his own. When people in leadership positions publicly surmise about how the pain of a million federal workers and their families are is going to tip the scale of the debate one way or the other, that represents a lack of moral leadership. Reporter and ironically, while the president is fighting with lawmakers over his push to build a border wall, the partial Government Shutdown is interfering with his administrations immigration agenda. As Border Patrol agents and Border Protection officers are forced to continue working without pay. Immigration judges are furloughed, and some Immigration Asylum cases are now put on hold. Suzanne malveaux, cnn, washington. Relief for those federal workers could be a long time coming. President trump threatened on friday to keep the government shut down for months or even years, if thats what it takes to get funding for his border wall. That brings us to your weekend president ial brief. This segment we bring you every sunday night, highlighting some of the most pressing National Security information the president will face when he wakes up tomorrow. And we have a former adviser to the National Security council during the Obama Administration and cnn National Security analyst. Sam, President Trump says the shutdown is all about security. And yet you have a new article on cnn. Com today saying this shutdown is actually making the u. S. More insecure. Insecurity grows every day the shutdown continues. From a staffing perspective, were hamstrung. We have 380,000 less employees showing up at work tomorrow, and many of them perform key security functions. The Treasury Department, where i used to work, has a publicly available document on its website, saying its only able to provide limited analysis on terrorist threats to our financial infrastructure because of this shutdown. Thats just asking terrorists to exploit gaps because they know that employees arent there to pay as much attention. Plus, the employees that still have to show up at work in spite of the shutdown like tsa, are starting to call in sick in larger numbers. We have reporting to that effect, and that could spread to other accepted employee groups like Border Patrol or the fbi or even i. C. E. And that could lead to real physical security gaps. And ana, as we look forward, it is illogical to assume were going to be able to recruit the best and brightest talent to the agencies affected by the shutdown if we cant even guarantee a paycheck. Government service is public service, but its not charity. Thats true. Now we know one person who is working, and that is the National Security adviser, john bolton, currently in israel. Made some surprising comments today about the u. S. Withdrawal from syria, saying the u. S. Will not leave until turkey gives assurances it will not target the kurdish allies there. Should we expect a full withdrawal . Well, ana, this should not be a multiple choice question. Either the president has sent guidance to the pentagon to actually deliver Withdrawal Options and drawdown options, or he hasnt matched his words with actual action, and the pentagon hasnt started drawing up those plans. In my experience, working for the National Security adviser, any public talking points he uses are typically coordinated with the department of defense and the state department. So i think we should have every reason to believe that ambassador bolton is really socializing the idea of a withdrawal before its finalized with our allies in israel and around the world. And while he does so, its probably music to everyones ears, because no one is really keen to see what the president has said is a full withdrawal, and in the interim, it is very hard to know who speaks on behalf of the u. S. Government right now, and who is just ad libbing, including the president. We have heard from other members of the administration, not the president himself, until this weekend, about the american who is being held on this. Its been more than a week before whelan was detained. The kremlin says whelan is a spy. The arrest is just after the alleged russian spy butina pled guilty to conspiracy charges in the u. S. Court. Do you think the president could be working on a prisoner swap . I think the president s kmernt comments today were wholly appropriate. We need to guarantee whelans sa safety. The last thing the president should do is raise the stakes on mr. Whelan and imply in any way hes different than any other detained citizen abroad. We need to be careful and stop using the word swap. That draws a false equivalency from butina, access to a lawyer, due process, and shes admitted to being a spy. And whelan, theyre apples and oranges. We need the process to go forward before talking about a swap. John bolton is on a throwday working visit to israel to ease concerns of allies in the middle east. The trip is after the white house announced that isis has been defeated in syria. And the u. S. Would bit draw the troops from the warn torn nation. Reporter john bolton is in the region to reassure allies after President Trump announced to t abrupt plan to pull troops out of syria. There was shock and concern after the announcement. The feeling now is that the pullout will be more deliberate and conditional. Speaking alongside Benjamin Netanyahu here in jerusalem, bolton reaffirmed the United States commitment to israel and the syrian kurds who fought alongside u. S. Troops against isis. Right on your border we have the problem of the conflict in syria. Were going to be discussing the president s decision to withdraw, but to do so from northeast syria in a way that makes sure that isis is defeated and is not able to revive itself and become a threat again. And to make sure that the defensive israel and our other friends in the region is absolutely assured. And to take care of those who have fought with us against isis and other terrorist groups. The two men also discussed what netanyahu believes is the main threat to israels security, and thats iran. Bolton said despite getting out of the Iran Nuclear Deal and reimposing sanctions that theres little doubt irans leadership is still committed to achieving a deliverable nuclear device. He added the u. S. And israel will make sure that doesnt happen. We are alone. The other signatories to the Iran Nuclear Deal have refused to follow the United States lead. And despite israel and the United States certainty, international monitors inside iran have said theres no evidence iran is currently working toward a nuclear weapon. Ian lee, cnn, jerusalem. Get ready for a new cnn original series. Join fashion and cultural experts for a front row sate to american style. It premiers next sunday night at 9 00 here on cnn. Finding your Perfect Hotel at the lowest price. Is as easy as dates, deals, done simply enter your destination and dates. And see all the hotels for your stay tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites. To show you the lowest prices. So you can get the best deal on the right hotel for you. Dates, deals, done Amazon Prime Video so when you say words like. Show me best of prime video into this. Youll see awesome stuff like this. Discover prime originals like the emmywinning the marvelous mrs. Maisel. Tom clancys jack ryan. And the man in the high castle. All in the same place as your live tv. Its all included with your amazon prime membership. Thats how xfinity makes tv. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Expert. Miriam webster says its displaying special skill or knowledge derived from training or experience, and one with the special skill or knowledge representing mastery of a particular subject. The president has continually bragged about how he is the expert on, well, just about everything you could think of. You also know i predicted that Osama Bin Laden was coming to the United States, because i knew a lot about it, and i know more about it than most, believe me. Then i spoke with sheriff joe arpaio. He knows borders, right . He said i want you to know im endorsing you because you know more about this stuff than anybody. I know more about contributions than anybody. I contributed at the top of the line. I know more about courts than any human being on earth. I know more about debt than practically anybody. I love debt. I understand the power of twitter. I understand the power of facebook. Maybe better than almost anybody. Based on my results. Right . I know the h 1 b. I know the h 2 b. Nobody knows it better than me. Nobody in the history of this country has known so much about infrastructure as donald trump. I understand money better than anybody. I know more about politicians than anybody. I know more about Steel Workers than anybody thats ever run for office. Theres nobody that understands the horror of nuclear better than me. Having a drone fly over head, and i think nobody knows much more about technology this type of technology, certainly, than i do. To be clear, that is just a sample. There were many more examples. And how about when it comes to the people are who are the experts . Generals who have spent their entire careers, decades serving this country . The president is pretty sure he can do their job better. I think i would have been a good general, but who knows . Lets not forget the president got five draft deferments during the vietnam era. Hey, hes the expert. A video of cortez dancing went viral. Millions of people viewed it. What does that mean . Does that mean were going to see her cha cha on the campaign trail . Jake tapper takes a look. New any sworn in alexander akos owe cortez is a new kind of politician. She talks to her supporters on instagram where she chats with her constituents about the problems of cash bail while cutting chili bpeppers. Some folks in an attempt to follow her millennial lead in warrens exploratory announcement when she talked economics in her kitchen. Im going to get a beer. It was pretty tame. Club soda of beers. We wonders if all the older 2020ers might try to get in on the millennial action. Will we see Bernie Sanders trying to bird box his way through iowa . Maybe joe biden will do his entire campaign only using biden memes. Might bloomberg try his hand at flozing . At some point youre going to die anyway. Cortez wont be old enough to run for president until right before 2024, but there might be a cortez of its own. Im so [ bleep ] proud of its o of you guys. Breaking news, the New York Times now reporting that former Vice President joe widen is in the final stages of deciding whether to run for president. And that he remains