Good evening once again. This first friday night of the new year brings an end of day 7 15 of the Trump Administration. Tomorrow begins week three of this Government Shutdown. Today brought what the white house likely viewed as good and worrisome news. First the good. Stocks soared after taking a dive. It came after a robust jobs report. Over 300 jobs added in december. There was also a new and potentially ominous development, however n the mueller investigation. More on that just ahead. We begin here tonight with this ongoing yet still urgent shutdown and the breathtaking reporting from the Washington Post tonight saying the white house may have been cavalier about the a shutdown because they didnt fully understand what it entailed, and we quote, the Trump Administration, which had not anticipated a longterm shutdown recognized only this week the breadth of the potential impact several Senior Administration officials said. They said they before focused now on understanding the scope of the consequences and determining whether theres anything they can do to intervene. The president met with Democratic Leaders again today. Hes holding firm on his demand for 5 billion for his wall. Nancy pelosi calls it contentious. The wall street journal describes it this way, also breathtaking. Mr. Trump opened fridays meeting with lawmakers with a 15minute profinancetylaced rant about impeachment, according to people familiar with the meeting. Mr. Trump also told laurms he didnt like the word shutdown and preferred the word strike, one of the people said. We told the president we needed the government open. He resisted. In fact, he said he would keep it closed for months or even years. Im very proud of doing what im doing. I document call it a shutdown. I do it for the benefit and safety of the country. You can call it whatever you want. You can cause it the schumer or pelosi or trump shutdown. Doesnt make any difference to me. Just word shoes have you considered using Emergency Powers to grant yours authority to build this wall without congressional approval . Yes. In mexico, we can call a knackal emergency because of the security of our country. Yes, we can do it. It got everybodys attention late today. Tonight our nbc news colleague julia andly reports two Trump Administration lawyers are already meeting to figure out if the president can, in fact, do this. Earlier on this Network Longtime commentator charlie psychs raised the alarm precisely about this. This idea that he might invoke a National Emergency power, this should be a fire bell in the night nerms of Constitutional Division of power. As for the democrats, while they continue to insist the president will get no money for the wall, House Speaker nancy pelosi seemed to hint at least of movement on some of her partys demand. How do you define progress in a meeting when you have a better understanding of each others position, when you eliminate some possibilities. If thats a judgment, we made some progress. So theres that. Remember, as these talks consider, there are some 800,000 federal workers left in limbo. Their next scheduled payday, january 11th, and unless theres a deal this weekend, it means they will not get their paychecks. But today we learn from the Washington Post are to start to get 10,000 raises. This afternoon the president was asked about these raises. The 10,000 raise that your cabinet members and Senior Administration officials are due to receive tomorrow, will you ask them to not accept that least during the shutdown . You know, i might consider that. Thats something i may consider it. Meantime furloughed federal employees waiting to go back to work are now left to figure out how to cover their family expenses, even Government Works are village the determination to hold out for the wall. Since it does affect me and were talking myself and my wife are government employees, therefore, if this continues, we will not have a paycheck, but i can definitely understand where donald trump is coming from. The president insists federal workers are behind him and share his about the shut down . Many of those workers have communicated to me, stay out until you get the wall. A lot of people are looking to get their paycheck. Were not giving up. We have to have border security. Do you have any mind a safety net for those who need it. I believe they agree with what were dock. I want you to understand how federal workers can go without a paycheck. If we have to do it for a long time, we will do it. Those not getting their money in most cases are the buggest fan of what were doing. The budget may still be creating a fracture within the president s party as rupp. Today one of thome speck out. Even if this ball issue isnt entirely resofld, are you for it . It has the wall in it. Yes, lets get the government open. That was kind of going to happen whether you got 5 billion or more. I support get 5g million. He was interviewed by the very ta tall reporter. Lets bring in our panel. Welcome to you all. Let me take you to the rose garden event this afternoon. Do they seem this is the white house at large to understand either the actual gravity of this going on too long or confederate flthe super . The president Still Believes this is a winning issue for him. You saw him standing out there twice in the last two days. You saw him making surprise appearances in the briefing room. You saw him coming out and delivering the Rose Garden Press Conference after this meeting trying to double down, making clear he has no interest in this rngs concerned that this could last days, months, or even years, digging in for his border wall money. The president has tropical depression too it again. The president s day still though files like this is a winning issue. Hes had so much pressure, folks who worked on his campaign, telling him, this going on. Thats why youve seen discussion popping up over the last 24 hours or so potentially including daca. You had a discussion about using this emergency declaration. Weve heard the pretty now. Its been months hes been floating this idea even during the midterms. We heard him talk like that when he deployed the military down to the border there. So theyre trying to come up with powe ttentiapotential. Josh, i dont know if people have weighed through. Folks through no fault of their own are living paycheck to paycheck as most parties do. Is anyone feeling the heat more than the other . I p. He keeps suppression the confidence there are many, many that may approach it. As you go weak to week or month to month, certainly there are very few people who could sustain a year or more without a pay thek. F i did think despite his bluster there were signs he was looking for a way out of the dispute wlrks it be through an emergency degree declaration that might be able to bring this to a close. I didnt think he was as much as he was . The video. Lets talk about the president s migrating remarks when describing the wall that he wants. Were going to build a big beautiful wall, a big beautiful wall. Tit got taller. You dont have to call it concrete when kru you build it. Steel wall or slades as you use i. Steel is stronger than concrete. If i build this wall or fence or anything democrats need to call it because im not into names. Im into production. A seethrough wall is far stronger than a concrete wall. It actually will be a more po r powerful wall and more beautiful than having a concrete wall. People are aware of this in real time. Theyve seen his comments change. Theyve seen the goalposts move on the part of this white house. Brian, i dome expect that the 2020 campaign chant is going to be build that concrete or steel or whatever the democrats want to call it. I think hes looking for an exit ramp. Youve going to see an skpapgs of the shutdown. Right now youre talking about several agency. The rest would shut down. Others would shut down which would sabotage his own effort. The way hes drawing funds now is transfer 4 billion in department speps iing. Usually they get consent from con chooses a leaders what you would see is an expanding shutdown. Hes looker for an exit ramp, something he can say is a wall or steel or concrete barrier. Living here in washington, d. C. , the highest number of people are lived here. Arlington and fairfax and arlington. These are some of the most overwhelmingly democratic parts of the country. The idea that theyre supporting the president in jep ran. A its the most that this entire debate is about to be about. When the president floats this idea or specifically a report ore did today of declaring a national issue. A, what about it and, b, is anyone in the white house taking it seriously . Its something under discussion as i said earlier. This is something, an idea thats been floated for several months now as theyre trying to figure out weighing to circum vent congress, understanding its very likely that they would sign arch. This is an idea theyre throwing back and forth. Theyll start constructing this wall. But as the president has allowed to over the last couple of days, when the president starts signing executive orders. Its something he has described as a very significant step, its kind of a scary thing. They were talking about tsa agents not showing up for work, everify, for instance, thats not operational right now. The president is up there talking about the need for National Security, how this is all about border security. You see the impacts of the shutdown really starting to show themselves and across the government. Were going to start seeing over the coming days how it impacting real people, real lives, and the calculus could be changing for the president very question fin. The new acting chaef of staff, Mick Mulvaney is supposed to take them. Any idea in your view . I think its interesting that the president wants it resolved soon. Theres now clearly a more forward lean to what the white house is doing to at least create an impression that theres progress. I think thats why some of us think there theyre suching for an ohm raj. If he goes ahead with the emergency option to get this baeltsz, theyll be trying to block him again. It will make progress of building any kind of fid tall necessary. He might do better in there department by trying to cut a deal. Tough as it is to look at a shin yo object. Thanks for starting our first friday broadcast for the now. Its the kind of thing you only hear from seniors like putin, eager to rewrite history and then hader. The uproar over an innamed the age to defeat. Overs forgiving whats called a rookie mistake. The 11th hour jidle getting under way at this point. Tting under way at this point. The clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. Ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. Humira can help stop the clock. Prescribed for 15 years, humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. 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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. Lets face it. Folks are still getting their sea legs. The new year is just new and the president has said a lot. What he said is getting a lot of attention, not just because his version of the invasion of the soviet and afghanistan is completely wrong and attempts to rewrite history. The reason russia was in afghanistan was because terrorists were going into russia. They have a right to be there. The problem is it was a tough fight, and literally they went bankrupt. They went into being called rush again, instead of the soviet union. A lot of these places are no longer a part of russia because of afghanistan. Today the normally trumpfriendly wall street journal weighed in, quote, we cannot recall a more absurd misstatement of history by an american president. The soviet Union Invaded afghanistan with three divisions in december 1979 to prop up a fellow communist government. The soviet invasion of afghanistan was a defining event in the cold war, making clear to all serious people the reality of the communist kremlins threat. Mr. Trumps cracked history cant alter that reality. The russian government is moving on official resolution, defending the soviet invasion of afghanistan. The approval is scheduled to blake place next month. Russians have previously called the invasion a tragic error, but putins regime, which regarding the collapse of the soviet union is systematically rehabilitating various soviet crimes. With us the former battlefield commander in the gulf war, a veteran of the cold war and a couple of hot ones. With us tonight also a former fbi assistant director for count counterintelligence who in the past worked for one robert mueller. Gentlemen, will you please tell folk the rhyme history . It sounds as if theyre written for the gfu. In 1979 they took a social government. They took 50,000 killed and wounded. They killed a couple of million of afghan civilians. They drove 4 million into exile in pakistan and afghanistan. It was a tragic operation from the start. It had nothing do with terrorism in the soviet union. I think he must have grabbed pieces of history and is thinking of check nia. This is truly an astonishing ignorant statement by the president. Gentlemen, its so scarring. Its hard to visit afghanistan and not come facetoface with the shards of the old soviet military. Youll see a tank track, pieces of artillery. It litters the countryside. Yeah, it was a disaster for the soviet union. A bunch of 18yearold draftee boys fighting these nationalists, patriotic app i so its hard to imagine what the president was thinking of when he made this assertion. Theres certainly no comparability at all between the soevt experience and after began stan which whas stamped the population into the ground and the attempt by nato allies to support putting afghanistan back together. I think that must be his purpose to delegitimize what were doing in afghanistan, and now it essentially ends the likelihood of a Diplomatic Initiative to end the war. Frank, you and i always take even. I think the feds are operating at a higher level. But the president says this on television. Are you saying theyll stop and take notes because hes parroting his clowest circle around putin . Certainly the counter intel dense investigation as you kraus. They ear going to take a look at why our president is siding with the kmicht regime claiming that the russians were right to go into afghanistan. Now, general mccaffrey has suggested a fairly benign reason, which is hes trying to cover his tracks but the fbe is looking at it more deeply. Wurchs you look at the conflating rise in the taliban and russias presence, once you get rid of that, theres another option. Theres the chance to regurgitate the putin linen on this. And we needs to help understand what that serges his jen da to appease them and im ott your side. This is what they do for a living and when you combine it with the facts coming out of the special counsel inquiry, youve got toy a assume mueller is going to look at this. Thats what counterintelligence is about. Frank, also in your bailiwick, the question we ask rhetorically at the top of the broad caste, what do you mean that muellers grand jury has been extended for six months, a time they dont is inially have to use, but tied they needed to reserve . Well, im going to state the obvious. Grand juries sit, brian, for a number of reasons. One of them we care deeply about is to issue indictments. Theres more coming, more on the radar jean and this thing is not over. If you have a question, ask a former fed, we had two f o them. Wee appreciate im. We have them standing by to talk about that very point when we come back. O talk about that very point when we come back. Your digestive system has billions of bacteria, but life can throw them off balance. Realign yourself, with align probiotic. And try align gummies, with prebiotics and probiotics to help support Digestive Health the question isnt whether he should be impeached any more. Hes the most corrupt president in american history. And we all know it. The question now is, how fast can we move past this president so we can build a more just and prosperous future . Please, join the more than 6. 5 million americans who are demanding action now. Because theres nothing more powerful than the unified voice of the american people. Together, we will make this happen. Need to impeach is responsible for the content of this ad. boy got it. Nooooooo. dad nooooooo. vo quick, the quicker picker upper bounty picks up messes quicker and is two times more absorbent. Bounty, the quicker picker upper. Its a much bigger problem, its a problem of terrorists. But a lot of people dont say we have terrorists coming through the southern border because they find thats probably the easiest place to come through. They drive right in and make a left. We right now are losing approximately 100 its hard to believe. And this doesnt include the drugs porg in. Remember the drugs. Theyre poring into the country. If theyre milwaukeeing a left, they may be doing it wrong, but be that as it may, the president relaying that to members of congress during that meeting in the situation room during this week. Theyre talking points our president has repeated in an effort to convince democrats to approve the wall funding. The only problem is theyre not true. Ads nbc news is reporting, quote, according to the justice didnt records at the southwest border on terrorism charges in recent years, and we must engage to engaging in some television sliegts. He rooks a lot like general Barry Mccaffrey because he was among his many other titles including u. S. Military commander, general mccaffrey was the derek fer of the office of drug control policy under clinton. So, general, this is a simple question. Would it make it safer . What would it do with our relationship to our neighbor to the south . Ill tell you, i certainly was a drug policy director in a different era. We had bipartisan support in congress and reasonable dialogue and we had the department of justice and treasury and. Thats whats lacking here. When you look at the southwest frontier, they do a lot of good in the particularly populated areas. You no longer have 10,000 people running through the port of entry and san diego. When it comes to its function, it assists the 45,000 men and women of the Border Protection, no question. If you want to deal with a dug issue, you dont do it with a southwest border. Youve got to get an addiction in baltimore and detroit and other cities across the united states. Youve got to look at the two largest cities. But the drugs that come through the southwest border tend to come through the ports of entry, hidden in compartments or trucks, on trains, individual passengers, that i come in by air, by submarine out of colombia into Central America and then get moved three a border. The border shouldnt be open, it should be protected. But this is not the way you deal with a chronic problem of addiction in america. With the president declaring a National Security and ordering it built, jack reed of rhode island says this. The idea that President Trump is considering declaring a phony National Emergency as a pretext to take billions of dollars away from our troops for his wall should alarm people. It looks to me like its flat illegal. You cant spend money thats appropriated. Thats what the constitution says. You cant use it as a Domestic Police function. This is not american values. If we want to enforce the law, add more money to customs and Border Protection by the way, we have a problem here. Were not paying men and women enough trying to protect our frontiers, so i think the president would be right into transparently illegal activity if he tried to unilaterally build a border. Thank you for both of your appearances. General Barry Mccaffrey, always a pleasure to have you on. Coming up, president s response for on her first day on the job when we come back. On the job when we come back. I dont keep track of regrets. And i dont add up the years. But what i do count on. Is boost®. Delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink now has 33 more protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. Boost® high protein look for savings on boost® in your sundays paper. I think its very hard to impeach somebody whos done a great job, thats number one, and we even talked about that today. I said, why dont you use this for impeachment, and nancy said, wear not looking to impeach you. I said, thats good, nancy, thats good. But you know what . You dont impeach people when theyre doing a good job, and you dont when theres no collusion, and there was no collusion. That was the president speaking. His comments were in response to a freshman member of congress who used some very colorful nonfamily language to push the issue on her first day on the job. People love you and you win. And when your son looks at you and says, you won, i said bullies dont win. Theyre not committing to making impeachment a priority. Here is the new speaker. You have to weigh the equities. Is not the position of the House Democratic caucus. Thats freedom of speech of an individual member. As i say, generationally, that would not be language they would use, but nonetheless, i dont think we should make a big deal of it, i really dont. Now nbcs Jonathan Allen who joins us summed up this dynamic. Quote, it didnt take long for newly empowered House Democrats to lose on impeachment. Back with us is Jonathan Allen. A friend used to say never underestimate a democrats ability to screw things up. A number of them believe on a voting district of impeaching this guy. Absolutely. They believe in that. Theres a Democratic Base thats hungry to see him removed from office. A lot of them would like to see it happen at the ballot box, but a lot of them believe there is already evidence enough for impeachme impeachment. There is this push for that, and the thing is theres a question of whether that anything donald trump has done rises to high crimes and miss demeanors and then the political question whether its advantageous or dised a van tanks to move foofrmd Nancy Pelosis argument is to wait for the Mueller Report to come forward. To. Most of the House Democrats i talked to said they should wait for the Mueller Reportle which conclusions he drosses. I believe watching a good bit of the other network, fox news is planning to run and democrats are as if congresswoman ocasiocortez as president of the united states. Even though her name will not be on the ballot, she is pushing a goal of being free of fossil fuels in 12 years. For get about cars. No one has said how we will fly. And in an interview, shes talking about a 70 tax bracket for those, quote, at the tippy top of the american earning population. So this is going to be a real learning experience for a young congresswoman, us, and the political party. We found out what it takes to knock her off the top of the newscast and out of the front page of the paper if youre another freshman democrat and that ice to call the president an m. F. They like to use her as a boogie woman for democrats. Theyre certain willing elevating her and the process is creating a tremendous following outside of the house of representatives. She start thad when she won the primary against joe crowley last year. Thats only been growing and what thats been doing is raising her profile and giving her that. As we mentioned, one of the banner headline graphics on fox news earlier this evening, radical democratic agenda. Thats going to be the crux of this going forward. Thanks for the topic and thanks for stinging around. Our own Jonathan Allen. Coming up rngs the president said the shutdown could last for year years and sometimes hazardous impact of this shumtdown across the country. S impact of this shumtdown across the country. And if you feel, like i feel baby then come on, oh come on lets get it on applebees all you can eat is here. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. Did you know you can save money by using dish soap to clean grease on more than dishes . Try dawn ultra. Dawn is for more than just dishes. With 3x more grease cleaning power per drop, it tackles tough grease on a variety of surfaces. Try dawn ultra. A Business Owner always goes beyond what people expect. Thats why we built the nations largest gigspeed network along with complete reliability. Then went beyond. Beyond clumsy dialsins and pins. To onetouch conference calls. Beyond traditional tv. To tv on any device. Beyond lowres surveillance video. To Crystal Clear hd video monitoring from anywhere. Gigfueled apps that exceed expectations. Comcast business. Beyond fast. Coming up here in about eight minutes, top of the hour eastern time, begins week three of this Government Shutdown. Washington post is reporting the white house may not have initially understood the scope or the stakes of a shutdown, but they are very real. For 800,000 federal workers, and their customers, that would be us, the taxpayers, beginning with our shared national treasures, our normally pristine national parks. In the past parks were closed to visitors during extended shutdowns but not this time. Visitors are still allowed on park lands even though 16,000 of our 19,000 park employees are no longer on their jobs. Along with all the others theyve been deemed nonessential. That means roads are left unplowed, garbage left uncollected, bathrooms no longer work or are being maintained. Trash is piling up. There are Health Hazards and park visitors in some places are taking care of business, shall we say, along pathways, or in the woods. And while the parks are unattended, at least three people have died inside our parks since the shutdown began. Then there are the farmers already under duress from the president s trade war with china. The shutdown means theyre not getting the stimulus payments promised by the government. Us t the usda is closed. Only enough money in emergency reserve to cover payments until midfebruary. Same for native american tribes who rely on federal funding for essential Services Like health care and law enforcement. With most of the irs now closed the shutdown may may mean a delay in tax refunds. That will get everybodys attention. Federal courts run out of funding next week but not the russia investigation. Funding for the special counsel continues. So does government money helping the people of california. Those still recovering from the devastating wildfires last month, hundreds of fema workers are still getting paid on the ground running badly needed relief centers, helping people find shelter and providing loans to them. And where Public Safety is keshed lets not forget that the tsa agents and air Traffic Controllers working despite not getting paid. Its a lot to consider. Coming up, paul ryan, back home in wisconsin. No doubt enjoying his freedom while now having to earn a living, may be interested in learn how another former speaker is making money. That story when we come back. Hey, darryl hey, thomas. If you were choosing a network, would you want the one the experts at rootmetrics say is number one in the nation . Sure, they probably know what theyre talking about. Or the one that j. D. Power says is highest in Network Quality by people who use it every day . This is a tough one. Well, not really, because verizon won both. So you dont even have to choose. Why didnt you just lead with that . Its like a fun thing. vo chosen by experts. Chosen by you. Get six months apple music on us. Its the unlimited plan you need on the network you deserve. Now buy the latest galaxy phones, get galaxy s9 free. Hey kurt, are you watching the best of geico . I sure am, linda. Theyve been saving folks money for years. And now theyre reairing some of their alltime greatest hits. With classics like. Hump day. Caveman airport. And even. Celebrating squirrels. This crudite is great, but those geico ads are even better. But thats not all. Vote today and you can enter for a chance to appear in an upcoming geico commercial. Just visit geico. Com bestof. Oh, geico. There he is. Last thing before we go tonight. Quick question. When i say the name of former House Speaker john boehner whats the first thing you think of . Who among you answered legalized weed . We know from numerous profiles of him the Ohio Republican was already known to embrace the holy trinity of modern day vices, alcohol, tobacco and sun exposure. Less well known is his relationship with the cannabis industry, unless and until you see this tv ad as we recently did. Marijuana unleashed a green gold rush across the nation creating 10. 8 billion in new wealth every day and every day transforming more and more morn americans into millionaires. How you can become one of them. Join him online for the american cannabis summit. To secure your spot text. Its free to attend. Text join to 44055. Cant honestly tell you what happens when you next the fub. None of us wanteded record of it on our company phones. Boehner was once vehemently antisemitism cannabis and said publicly since his mind was changed by a military veteran for whom it treat add previously untreatable condition. Americans have slowly embraced it, and are slowly learning things like the difference between thc and cbd. Across the usa, 33 states now have legalized it. 10 states and the District Of Columbia have legalized recreational use, and yet the crazy part of it is, all of it violates federal law. But let it also be said the former speaker of the house knows a growth industry when he sees one. That is our broadcast for this friday night and for this week. Have a good weekend. Thank you so very much for being here with us. Good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Good morning. Welcome to up. Im Joshua Johnson host of the Public Radio Program 1a sitting in for david gura. President trump may bypass congress and declare a National Emergency to build the border wall, but could he really do that . Have you considered using Emergency Powers to grant yourself authorities to build this wall without congressional approval . And second now the wall that prompted this twoweek Government Shutdown has changed from