Which is a live shot about nothing. That about sums it up, hallie. Back to you, garrett. Exactly. The senate will be back in session. Its not the full crew. They cleared the decks before leaving town so they could moving quickly if and when there is a deal. Right now, no deal is in the offing. Democrats are looking to the president , hoping they will come to him with an offer they feel he can accept. They dont really know where he stands. Despite the president saying he definitely wants a border wall, he has also called it a wall, a fence, steel slats. The dollar figure seems to be an open question and democrats dont want to move until the president moves and thats leaving republicans essentially on the outside here, even though they control both chambers, waiting to see what democrats and the president can hash out. Republican senator bill cassidy on another network this morning was talking about exactly that. What can they put on the table . How do they get to the middle to negotiate to get results for the American People . You frame it perfectly. It shouldnt be hard to get to where the president wants to be. Youre asking me will schumer move . I dont know that. I dont know his mind. Should he move . Absolutely. So where does the president want to be . If its 5 billion for a wall, we know thats not happening. That essentially died late last week. Where between there and the 1. 3 billion for Border Security that democrats have been talking about is still very much an open question. And neither of these of the sides here are expecting Much Movement today. I think we continue to sit and wait. Go home, i guess, garrett. Cool. Relax for a little bit. This is your home. Very good. If there are developments i know youll bring them to us. Hans nichols, i spoke to an official who said theres no one on the hill until at least tomorrow. Yeah. This shutdown will last at least a week if not longer. Both sides have dug in and are very virtue use in their position. The president was up early and on twitter. Have the democrats finally realized we desperately need Border Security and a wall on the southern border, need to stop drugs, human trafficking, gangs and criminals and it goes on. This is an indication of how the president feels and how he feels this is a winning argument. Garrett is well versed to talk to his folks down there. Its clear on capitol hill that the democrats also think they have a winning argument and theres no obvious solution in sight. Both sides are trying to bolster their case in public opinion, trump even talking about it when he was away, visiting in iraq. Here is what he had to say. How long do you think shutdown will last . Whatever it takes. Were going to have a wall. Were going to have safety. We need safety for our country, even from this standpoint. We have terrorists coming in through the southern border. We have terrorists also coming in through the southern border. Because you know why . It was always the easiest. Hallie, to answer your question about not until next week, i think garrett and i could brush up on our seinfeld quotes and go back and forth. Youll have fun. Garrett haake, come back if you see anybody on capitol hill. Not sure that will happen. National political reporter robert costa, chief of staff for president clinton, Washington Bureau chief for the boston herald, kimberly atkins. And msnbc contributor. Huge thanks to all of you joining us on this week. Bob, let me start with you. Theres no obvious solution. Thats something we keep hearing. What is the less obvious solution to ending this shutdown that we may be missing . The Senate Passed a clean resolution, insider term they call it, without any kind of funding, to keep the government open more than a week ago. If House Democrats take over in a few days, you could see new Speaker Nancy Pelosi move to reopen the government and make that her final play. If the president wont sign it, bob, isnt that dead in the water . Its dead in the water, but at this point, the president is still at this 5 billion number because hes playing to his conservative base and knows democrats, at most, will go for 1. 6 billion for Border Security. He either has to accept that or walks away, vetos the bill and has another showdown for his Political Base. Do you think thats going to happen . Is that a win politically for President Trump or at some point does the backlash build to the point where it backfires . Talking to top trump allies they say at this point 2019 will be so volatile he needs his Political Base to stick with him. This is not just about the wall but setting the stage for a rocky Political Year after losing power in congress. Can he make sure that core group of voters is sticking with him . To make sure that happens, he has to signal to them hes fighting for the wall. In your view, is that a smart strategy for this president . I think its a win win strategy for the president with his base and the democrats with their base. Frankly, i think it is a lose, lose strategy for the country and how we should be governing and focused on the important problems of the day. Everybody is for Border Security. Were really arguing about how much were going to fund this wall and hallie, i know we chuckled about it, but the battle cry in the campaign with mexico was going to pay for this wall and thats been dismissed here a bit but we need to resolve this situation and this is another sign of washingtons dysfunctionality. Mack, youre right. That is a promise thats already been broken. Mexico is not paying for the wall. The government is now shut down because the president wants to make sure that Congress Puts taxpayers on the hook for that border wall bill. I think thats exactly right and i think robert may have outlined a potential end game. At some point of course, weve had the holidays here, and that softens a bit or changes the dynamic of a governments shutdown perhaps. But at some point, i think the pressure starts to build on both the democrats but particularly on the president and the white house. Part of that, kimberly and charlie, is the fact that, yeah, its the holidays. Things can kind of chill, kind of quiet. This affects actual people. We talked about this hash tag all over social media, the New York Times reporting on a paralegal at the department of justice who lives in texas. She is a contractor worker. She is not getting paid right now. Shes actually applying for unemployment. That will give you half her normal paycheck. She wont see that money for a long time. She says i think that will get us through but its going to be tight. Im not going to lie. Republicans underestimated the impact it will have, particularly on contractors who dont get paid and dont get retroactive pay once the shutdown ends but also people who will. Even if we have not made it through a full pay scale yet. Early january. That paycheck will be misd for a lot of people, middleclass folks, if they dont know if that check is coming or not, that makes a big difference for their bottom lines and will be a big problem for the president. Nancy pelosi could come in, pass a bill and send it to the president. The president loses politically on that if he chooses to extend that and loses any possible claim, that he also doesnt have, that this is a democratic shutdown. It is all on him and he is waging a war over a wall. As hans explained, a lot of these workers are democrats, is the point he was trying to make, and so nancy pelosi should try to open the government for them or give him the wall for them and many of these federal workers are telling him to stay the course and stay strong. The largest federal Workers Union came out and said these are people who are eager to get back to work. Theyre unequivocal ly opposinga shutdown as a means resolving policy disputes this is not about a wall. This is about 800,000 real people with real families and real bills to pay. Theyre just trying to feed their families and pay the rent. But coming out of what robert was talking about earlier, this is a strategy for him that has larger overtones. Theres a lot of bad news. The economy, as we see with the stock market, is super volatile. Mueller is closing in, in various ways. And the democrats are about to take over and start investing the heck out of it. So if im going to fight against illegal immigration is his best card to play at this point. The president is clearly keeping an eye on that political ball if you will, as it goes into the new year, talking when he was overseas in iraq, about this trip he wants to make to the border prior to the state of the union. Here is what the president said. Im going there. Im assuming youre coming with me, probably the end of january. A little bit before the state of the union. Ill be going to texas and well be sort of having a long well have a long groundbreaking. It covers a lot of territory. Well have a groundbreaking for the wall. Its still not clear, robert, what the groundbreaking to this wall is, the 150 Million Contract that the president says he has given out. The president hasnt answered our questions of where that is, who is building it and how its getting paid for. That clip underscores how were really only in chapter one of this shutdown showdown. Even if the government reopens and they dont have a longterm deal, the government will reopen until early february. Thats right around the state of the union address. You could have, in one month from now, a whole episode with the president going to the border, if they have a clean bill this time, fighting again at the state of the union to make some sort of standoff over immigration. Final thoughts to you, matt. If you were in your old job, advising this president , if you were in the shoes of mick mulvaney, incoming chief of staff, what would you be telling him to do . I would be suggesting that we need to find the right end game here. While we need to be mindful of our base, so many americans, vast majority, are unsettled about how things are going. Its time to govern. Thats the best winning political strategy. Let the democrats overplay their hand on these investigations if thats what they choose. But i think this strategy is short term, perhaps shoring up the base but long term i do not see it as a Winning Strategy either from a governing standpoint or political standpoint. Mack mcclarty, robert costa, thank you for being on. Members of the military may be happy to see the president , iraqi lawmakers called the visit arrogant. Now some say they want the u. S. Military out of that country. Well explain next. The holiday didnt last long for the president s attorney. Rudy giuliani is out with a new interview dropping this hour. No surprise, hes lashing out at the special counsel and why he says Robert Mueller needs to be investigated. Thats next. S to be investigated thats next. boy nooooooo. grandma nooooooo. dad nooooooo. dog yessssss. vo quick, the quicker picker upper bounty picks up messes quicker and is two times more absorbent than the leading ordinary brand. boy hey look, i got it. Bounty, the quicker picker upper. So we improved everything. We used 50 fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top Safety Standards the new johnsons® choose gentle america shouldnt be doing the fighting for every nation on earth, not being reimbursed in many cases at all. So were not the suckers of the world. Were no longer the suckers, folks, and people arent looking at us as suckers. That was the president s message on his first visit to a combat zone since taking office. Thats the president and first lady there, after landing at Al Assad Air Force base after withdrawing troops from syria, a decision that the president repeatedly defended and explained. Putting his pentagon cap on. Hans, the president talked quite a bit about his decision to pull troops from syria. Were also now getting new reaction from officials there in iraq. What can you tell us . In terms of the president s explanation, his argument is shifting ever so slightly. It used to be that isis was entirely defeated. The new argument, hallie, is that he kept giving the generals more time, they were asking for more time and he finally pulled the plug. Listen to how the president had to say it. They said again recently, could we have more time . I said nope, you cant have any more time. Youve had enough time. Weve knocked them out. Weve knocked them silly. The United States cannot continue to be the policemen of the world. Hallie, that is a different argument, that isis no longer poses a threat to the United States and have been completely eradica eradicated. That was the old argument. Now he seems to be settling in this middle ground. And the fact that he did not meet with the Prime Minister of iraq is causing ripples. The president said troops will stay in iraq for the foreseeable future but its unclear whether theyll be welcomed in iraq. Hallie . Hans nichols, thank you. Peter mansour, military historian who served as executive officer to David Petraeus in iraq. And former undersecretary of state for Political Affairs is joining us as well. Colonel mansour, let me start with you. President trump was definitive on how he sees the role of troops in iraq as it relates to the drawdown of troops in syria. Take a listen. Do you have plans to pull out of iraq as well . No plans at all. In fact, we could use this as a base if we wanted to do something in syria. I will say this. If you take isis and if we see something happening with isis that we dont like, we could hit them so fast and so hard. Peter, you used to serve in iraq. What do you make of that . I think its a misbegotten strategy. Isis is not yet completely eradicated. What the president is saying is well, we could stay on this side of the iraq Syrian Border and launch raids into syria if we need to. That will not keep isis under wraps. What would keep isis contained is having u. S. Troops in syria, fighting with our kurdish allies, and the president has completely underd cut his own strategy in that regard. And that ship has clearly sailed, given the president s announcement last week and his reiteration, his defense, his explanation again today. He talked about the role moving forward of turkey and saudi arabia there. Do you think that will be a successful strategy for him . Absolutely not. Turkey will be more interested in attacking our kurdish allies than they are in eradicating isis along the iraqi Syrian Border. What we have just told any future group that wants to ally with the United States is that you cannot trust us to be a partner over the long haul. Its outrageous. Ambassador burns, here is that statement from the president. I want you to listen to it and then get your reaction on the other side. If you look at what happened in syria, president erdogan stepped in and said he wants to knock out isis. We said whatever is left. Its just the remnants of isis. And saudi arabia just came out and said theyre going to pay for some Economic Development which is great. That means we dont have to pay. Ambassador burns, do you agree with colonel mansour . I think the president s policy is one of lack of strategic coherence here. In taking the American Forces out of syria, hes helping the russians, strengthening them, the iranians and hezbollah and president assad. Weve been fighting with the Syrian Kurdish partners for several years. Theyre the ones helping us to destroy the Islamic State but that job is not finished. The president is essentially leaving the field with the job unfinished and is weakening the United States. Hes also putting israel at risk. The iranians and other shia forces in syria, hezbollah, are trying to get the leg up on israel and israelis had to conduct air strikes just over this past weekend. There doesnt seem to be any sense of strategy here. Its quite superficial. Its about photoops on this trip with the troops. Im glad the president went to iraq. He had to do that. But theres no sense of strategy of how the United States is going to benefit from all of this. What about the idea that he did not end up meeting with the iraqi Prime Minister . The white house said its because it was a lastminute visit, they talked on the phone. Everything is fine. Do you buy that . I do not. We have 14,000 troops in the country. We have to fight with the iraqis and have a political diplomatic strategy work ed out with them. If the president travels all that way, he could have met them at an american air base at a secure cloeks. They would have done that. Its a lack of respect to visit someone elses country and not even meet that countrys leadership. You didnt see president obama or president george w. Bush do that when they visited combat zones in the past. Colonel peter mansour, ambassador nick burns, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. Whats going on with the stock market right now. Wild ride. Dow down nearly 500 points after that historic thousandpoint surge yesterday. What does it all mean . Were breaking it down for you, next. re breaking it down for you, next my experience with usaa has been excellent. They really appreciate the military family and it really shows. With all that usaa offers why go with anybody else . We know their rates are good, we know that theyre always going to take care of us. It was an instant savings and i should have changed a long time ago. It was funny because when we would call another insurance company, hey would say oh we cant beat usaa were the webber family. Were the tenneys were the hayles, and were usaa members for life. Get your usaa Auto Insurance quote today. So we improved everything. We used 50 fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top Safety Standards the new johnsons® choose gentle the new sleep number 360 smart bed. 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And then the violence on the upside is uncharacteristic of how normal human beings trade. Then we have tax law selling. Thats Portfolio Managers going to their clients and saying we can generate from losses for you. We havent had that opportunity in the last few years and that has added further pressure to stock prices. As you look ahead into the early parts of 2019, what should people not investors and people working at hedge funds, what should people at home expect to see in their 401 k s . January, i would advise clients to do exactly what i do. I just wouldnt look at my statements. Just dont log in. Good advice, nancy. In the near term it doesnt matter. You dont market your house every second. The average investor thinks they should zig when they should be zagging. The average investor is up about 5 annually because they buy when markets go up and sell when they go down. Look at great companies, stocks or mutual funds, depending how you invest your 401 k , that you can own for a lifetime and just keep adding to them regularly. Theres some great bargains out there right now. Let me ask you about the trump factor. This president likes to talk about the economy when its doing well. Its obviously having a little backtoback of a turbulent time, roller coaster ride at the moment. One of the president s economic advisers had to come out and say no, no, he has 100 confidence in jay powell, is not even thinking about firing the fed chair. That obviously helped. What else do the folks in white house have to do right now . I was exhausted in january with the tweets and up and down movements. I think if the white house could come out and provide some framework around trade with china, that would calm investors more than anything else. The chaos of people coming and going, its noise. Its irritating. The tweets are offputting to many people. What investors are focused on is trade with china. We would like to get some clarity on that. Good point. Charlie, last month after the g20 moved under the radar a little bit, but it could still be and is still going to be a huge issue as we head into 2019. Thats right. We have to say first that the stock market is not the economy. Right. If people can overblame a president or praise a president over the stock market. Uncertainty over china and the Federal Reserve by firing jay powell is driving this volatility, there is something where he can put this at his door and especially now that we see that rally yesterday was a suckers rally not a real rally as we move down the other direction again. In 2019, the thing to watch is whether President Trump renews his attacks on jay powell, try to fire him or gin up some for cause reason even though he shouldnt be able to fire him. The wall street journal reporting today that chairman powell seems to be open to a meeting with the president. If that happens, do you think that will be a good sign for folks . Yeah, i do, actually, hallie. The more we can return to normal in this administration is better. And ceos not investing as rapidly in capex because theyre not sure where were going. That has to be clarified and then the marks will have room not to generate 20, 30 returns but in lines with Earnings Growth and dividend growth, 5, 8, 10, 12 a year. Those are normal returns and thats what i would expect to see in the coming years. Kimberly, quick final thoughts to you as the dow ticks down 480 this morning. One of the people who incorrectly conflates the economy with the stock market is the president. He has taken a great deal of credit when it was going well. Now hes trying to pass the blame off to others. One thing that the markets dont like is volatility. That is what hes creating. You cant lay all the blame at him just like you cant lay it all at jay powell but it isnt helping. Kimberly and charles, stick around. Other stories making headlines today, that bone spur keeping President Trump out of the military in vietnam, now news that that diagnosis was made as a favor to his dad. Made as a favor to his dad i switched to Liberty Mutual because they let me customize my insurance, and as a fitness junkie, i customize everything. Like my bike and my calves. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Allow you to take advantage of Growth Opportunities with a level of protection in down markets. So you can be less concerned about your retirement savings. Talk with your advisor about shield℠ annuities from brighthouse financial, established by metlife. So we improved everything. We used 50 fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top Safety Standards the new johnsons® choose gentle so, President Trumps thank you to troops in iraq has resurfaced questions about his own military record. Now, a new investigative report by the New York Times might have some answers. It reveals a podiatrist from queens may have diagnosed President Trump with wobone spu as a favor to his father, fred trump. His daughters say fred trump would give direct access to bronstein, the daughters are not fans of the president , didnt give the times any documentation to back up their claims and the white house has not commented on that report. I want to bring in the New York TimesInvestigative Reporter who broke that story. Thanks for coming on the show. Much appreciated. Happy to be here. Lets talk about what your reporting shows. Elysa bronstein says what their father got was access to fred trump f there was anything wrong in the building my dad would call and it would be taken care of immediately. Its a story thats kind of like lore in the braunstein family. I had already written about trumps record during vietnam and the idea was that there was this podiatrist who was operating on hillside avenue in queens, who was renting from fred trump and the question of how this bone spurs diagnosis came about. That led me ultimately to the braunstein family. One of the daughters said the implication from her dad was that donald trump did not have a disqualifying foot ailment but, she says, did he examine him . I dont know. Theres also no documentation to back this up. What do you make of how this all unfolded . Its one of those types of questions where youre trying to look back. This is a 50year mystery. One of the things that comes up. Its been a question thats been faced for former president s, before President Trump. And so i think what we have here is one possible explanation thats sort of emerging. Given the amount of time thats passed, the lack of records, we have the accounts of two daughters who heard their father speaking about this over the years and, you know, building an historic account of what took place. Why do you think theyre talking now . Well, i think its because i reached out to them. I had gotten that tip. Lets just say, this tipster just threw this at you, basically, right . Based on your article. Just said anonymously, hey, i think you should look in this. This guy who looked into this building that fred trump owned. Right . Exactly. Back in 2016 i had written about this. The tipster had seen that piece and said theyre making more of this story. It didnt include the name. Tried to figure out who may have been operating on hillside avenue at that time, using phone books to figure it out, talking to podiatrists in queens. W it was a little bit of a hunt that led me to them. They werent out there seeking to politicize it. You Start Talking about the discussion and lerp about the history it was an interesting one to report. Both of these daughters, by the way, both say theyre democrats and not really fans of donald trump. Im curious, steve, was there something, given that you had already reported on this during the campaign, was there something in this story, the new one, that surprised you . What did you find that most took you aback . I think it was the historic account, the vietnam record, the fact that this has been one of those things thats of high interest to voters and the country, Selective Service records of president s and candidates of office and trying to learn more about President Trump and hear about this possible explanation related to the medical documentation, to really dive into that seemed to be important and worthwhile at this point. Yeah. So that was sort of the guiding idea. Back in 2016, the president in an interview with the times, of course, talked about the draft and said i had a doctor that gave me a letter, he said, a very strong letter on the heels. Another guy you talked to who worked with dr. Braunstein in the 90s who said theyre having different with their wives and dr. Braunstein talked about how the trumps had treated him pretty well, not necessarily raising the rents on them repeatedly. That was part of the reporting, finding other people who knew dr. Braunstein, could help fill in the blanks. This doctor had been passed away a number of years. Those details helped to fill out the relationship to some extent between fred trump and dr. Braunstein. When you piece that together you start to build a portrait. For the family even though he passed away in 2007 dr. Braunstein still talked about this. President trump before he was President Trump was a very prominent businessman in the 1980s and i think it was also interesting that dr. Braunsteins view of President Trump evolved over the years. I helped out a famous businessman in new york to becoming a little more worn out by the gossip pages and the apprentice kind of era. Steve, thank you for coming on and talking through that interesting story. Appreciate it. Thank you. We spnt a lot of time in the courtroom this year, whether it was covering President Trumps closest advisers or fights over his policies. Well get a check on the top ten legal stories of 2018, coming up. 2018, coming up very foundation of your typical bank. Capital one is anything but typical. Thats why we designed capital one cafes. You can get savings and checking accounts with no fees or minimums. And one of americas best savings rates. To top it off, you can open one from anywhere in 5 minutes. This isnt a typical bank. This is banking reimagined. Whats in your wallet . So we improved everything. We used 50 fewer ingredients added one handed pumps and beat the top Safety Standards the new johnsons® choose gentle were not out of 2018 yet but the 2019 Court Calendar is getting pretty packed already. 2019 will be filled, potentially, with some big legal moments after a 2018 that saw plenty. Msnbc chief Legal Correspondent ari melber joins us now with the breakdown. What have you got . Good morning, hallie. Sometimes it felt like we were all going through law school together, top stories of every rundown and front page was all legal stories. For the very first time, weve put together what its really been like in the law. Take a look. Number ten, border fights, President Trump separating immigrant family. If you dont want your child to be separated then dont bring them across the border illegally. A federal judge halted the policy and ordered the administration to reunite the families while other judges struck down trumps policy to defund sanctuary cities. Number nine, trump attacking the rule of law. A stunning report out tonight says President Trump was poised to order the criminal prosecutions of two of his biggest political adversaries. President trump ordered the firing of special counsel rort Robert Mueller back in june. Legal experts say those moves would be illegal and trumps own white House Counsel blocked them. Number eight, the rise and fall of michael avenotti, a lawyer who became famous overnight for representing Stormy Daniels and taking on trump and his lawyer, michael cohen. He surged in a political climate. When they go low i say we hit harder. He ended the year announcing he wouldnt run. How do you plea to the sole count . Michael cohen, guilty, your honor. For trump hush money and lying to congress about trump tower moscow. Number six, a change in Law Enforcement as juries convict Police Officers of committing murder in the line of duty. Theres no justification for sho shooting jaquon mcdonald. Guilty of seconddegree murder. Two officers convicted this year compared to one murder conviction for officers in the past 13 years. Number five, the Supreme Court upheld trumps travel ban, the court ruling in a 54 decision that trump had not exceeded his authority. Number four, bob mueller indicting russians for election interference. The indictment charges 13 russian nationals seeking to interfere in the United States political system. Including the 2016 president ial election. An historic development, the first u. S. Indictments of foreign election meddling in the modern era. Number three, Paul Manafort convicted, former Campaign Chairman found guilty on eight counts, including tax and bank fraud and later pleading guilty to conspiracy, striking a deal that bob mueller now says manafort broke by lying to investigators. Number two, me too prosecutions, growing and moved from activism into the courtroom with prosecutions and convictions. A guilty verdict in bill cosbys Sexual Assault trial. This was the max sentence, ten years. Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been indicted by a grand jury. 99 women accusing weinstein of harassment including angelina jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and rose mcgowan. He stole so many lives. Do you get it back today . I think today is a damn good start. 2018 also showed the limits to that movement, top legal story of the year, Brett Kavanaugh confirmed to the Supreme Court by two votes after an intense battle over Sexual Misconduct this whole twoweek effort has been a calculated and organ straighted hit. I believed he was going to rape me. I tried to yell for help. Brett put his hand over my mouth to stop from yelling. Brett kavanaugh, sworn in by the justice hes replacing, after denying the Sexual Misconduct allegations against him. Ali, this is a piece we did for the whole year were running all day. Its merely a coincidence we landed on some of your anchoring of the news worthy moment that will shape the court, if hes happy and healthy, shape the court for decades. And thats when we put together the top Ten Political stories of the year, nomination of the Justice Kavanaugh was number there too. Walk me through 2019. What are you looking forward to next year . We talked about a couple key court dates. Whats on your radar . Obviously, what happened to the individuals cooperating with the Mueller Probe . Are they wrapping it up as there have been reports or are there other things coming down . What have they learned as they debrief people . And watching the Supreme Court move into a more centrist position and trying to hold that court. We saw last week, immigration is a hot button and legal issue. Roberts siding with the likes of Justice Ginsburg to push back trump on immigration. If there ever is a mueller quest to actually force donald trump to testify as bill clinton did under oath, as george w. Bush did in the libby case, thats going to be obviously a fight of the year, if not the whole first term. Really, this will be the first time too this summer we will hear Justice Kavanaugh, your top story person, make rulings as a member of the court, right . Thats right. Were also going to see, theres a lot of talk about ideology and ideology matters but when we often see new justices join the court, the question is who do they want to work with and how do they side . Weve seen indications he wants to be with roberts and procedural matters where it comes to looking less partisan. Kavanaugh associated with partisanship because of the nature of his confirmation hearing and some of the unusual statements he did make in the hearing. While we have you, can i ask you about a different lawyer, the one who worked for the president , R Rudy Giuliani . Hes lashing out again at Robert Mueller. I want to play you what he had to say, some of his criticism here. The business things that happened years ago or the mow could y moscow think, which was perfectly legal. Soon they will look at parking tickets, did he pay them all. He also said to the hill he should be investigated again. Is this giulianiing or significant . I think the fairest way you can say this is his job is make the most aggressive defense possible of his client and that includes trying to minimize the directions the probe has gone. He certainly is within his rights to say look, if everyone is so worried about highlevel putin collusion, why are we talking equipment about Michael Cohens payments that he confessed to and the president , at least according to the Mueller Probe at this hour, has not ever been accused of wrongdoing. Thats that part. Where rudy i think steps over the line if you read the new interview on its face, he seems to suggest theres prosecutorial misconduct with evidence by mueller. Nobody alleged that. Thats a farfetched theory on this holiday week, ali. We will catch you later on the beat. Nice to have you around early, breakfast time. I was up early and working late. Hardest working man in the biz. We will be right back. Ill be ri. Ill be ri. And. Adjourned. Business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. The powerful backing of american express. Dont do business without it. Youre in the business of helping people. Were in the business of helping you. Business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. The powerful backing of american express. Dont do business without it. Take your razor, yup. Up and down, never side to side, shaquem, you got it . Come on stay focused. Hard work baby, it gonna pay off. Voicecommand navigation with waze wifi Wireless Charging 104 cubic feet of cargo room and seating for 8. Now thats a sleigh. Ford expedition. Built for the holidays. hurry its the final days to get zero percent financing plus twelve hundred and fifty dollars ford credit bonus cash on Ford Expedition what our sources are saying. Kimberly and charlie, sticking with our legal theme from the last segment, both of you are looking at different cases, different sort of rulings that will come up next year. Thats right. I have been tracking the maybe mueller mystery fight thats now reached the Supreme Court. Something folks saw on this show yesterday with that Pete Williams report. We dont know what it is exactly and were not 100 its mueller, as circle evidence suggests it is, but its led to a lot of speculation. What could it be . We know its a foreignowned Boston Corporation thats trying to not turn over information into a prosecutor who is probably bob mueller. Some of my sources have said, and this is still speculation, not 100 , the language the Appeals Court used in describing this sounds an awful lot like what they invoke in a foreign bank that has transferred some money in a way that moved through the u. S. System and caused a direct effect here even though its happening there. This may be a financial transfer thing that prosecutors are trying to uncover. Thats interesting. Kimberly . The shutdown has not shut down the courts or Mueller Probe but it has shut down parts of the doj. My sources are telling me the doj is seeking to put some cases on ice, include highprofile cases, including the president , the challenge of the asylum ban, challenge for the census deposition and more. Judges, some of them are granting this. Its up to their discretion whether they put it down, some are granting them, some are rejecting them. But thats one way the shutdown is affecting President Trumps own legal problems. Interesting. Pleasure to have you on, on this thursday. Thank you very much. We wrap up as always with todays big picture. Today comes from 30,000 feet. Check it out. This is howell, hes a dad from ohio. Hes on the left side of the screen. He spent his whole christmas flying on planes. Why . Because of the young lady on the right of your screen, his daughter. A Flight Attendant who had to work over the holidays so his dad thought he would join her by booking every flight she would be on. Sitting next to hal is the passenger who had to share the sweet moment, sitting next to a fantastic father. You can see why it went viral quickly. Great idea, if you cant be with your family during the holiday, be with them at work. Thats does it for us on msnbc live. Catch me later on nbc nightly news. Heading over to the white house. Good morning to you. Greg melvin here in new york city. Were following breaking news right now. A little whiplash on wall street. The market is taking another tumble this morning. This one, though, coming a day after the dows biggest onepoint point gain ever. Too early to say if were bottoming but a lot of repair work needs to be done to the market itself. President trump back at the white house after that unannounced trip to iraq, giving at times partisan speech to troops while calling on middle east nations to take more responsibilities for their futures. Were not the suckers of the world. Were no longer the suckers, folks. And people arent looking at us as suckers. And no end in sight. Day six of the gover