Matter, something the president said just days ago seeming to endorse the soviet invasion of afghanistan decades ago, seeming to take the russian line and rewriting history. Tonight well talk about why federal investigators maybe replaying that televised moment as the 11th hour gets under way on a friday night. Well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. This first friday night of the new year brings an end today 715 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 surged nearly 750 points after taking a dive yesterday. That bounceback came after a robust jobs report, over 300,000 added in december. Also a new and potentially ominous development, however, in 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 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. The officials said they were focused now on understanding the scope of the consequences and determining whether there is anything they can do to intervene. The president met with Democratic Congressional leaders again today. Hes holding firm on his demand for 5 billion for his wall. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described it as contentious tonight the wall street journal described it this way, also breathtaking, mr. Trump opened fridays meeting with lawmakers with a 15minute profanity laced rant about impeachment, according to people familiar with the meeting. Mr. Trump also told lawmakers he didnt like the word shutdown and preferred the word strike. One of the people said. That, of course, would be the opposite of a strike, where workers choose to walk off the job. At any rate, the afteraction reports on the meeting didnt offer a lot of hope. We told the president we needed the government open. He resisted. In fact, he said hed keep the government closed for a very long period of time, months or even years. Thats where we are. Absolutely i said that. I dont think it will, but i am prepared. Im very proud of doing what im doing. I dont call it a shutdown. I call it doing what you have to do for the benefit and for the safety of our country. So you can call it whatever you want. You can call it the schumer or the pelosi or the trump shutdown, doesnt make any difference to me. Just words. Have you considered using Emergency Powers to grant yourself authorities to build this wall without congressional approval . And second yes, i have. We can call a National Emergency because of the security of our country, absolutely. No, we can do it. That last part, declaring a National Emergency to build the wall got everybodys attention late today. Tonight our nbc news colleague Julia Ainsley reports that according to two sources Trump Administration lawyers are already meeting to figure out if the president can, in fact, do this. Earlier on this network long time republican commentator Charlie Sikes raised the alarm precisely about this. This idea that he might invoke a national Emergency Powers, this should be a fire bell in the night in terms 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, on movement on some of her partys demands. Did you make a dollar figure for what the president wants or what you all want from him . 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, then we made some progress. So theres that. Remember, as these talks continue there are some 800,000 federal workers left in limbo. 80 of these folks work outside washington. Their next scheduled payday, january 11th. And unless theres a deal this weekend, not looking likely, that it will very likely not mean it means they will not get their paychecks. But today we learn from the Washington Post that senior officials in the Trump Administration are to start getting 10,000 raises. This afternoon, the president was asked about these raises. The 10,000 raise that your cabinet officials are due to receive tomorrow, will you accept them not to accept that . I might consider that. You know, thats something i may consider. After todays rose garden event Vice President mike pence said he wont accept the increase during the shutdown. Meantime, furloughed federal employees waiting to go back to work are now left to figure out how to cover their family expenses. Even some government workers who supported the president say theyre having second thoughts about his determination to hold out for that wall. If this did not affect my household directly, i would tell him to stand tall because something needs to be done. But since it does affect me, and, again, were talking myself and my wife are Government Employees so therefore, if this doesnt if this continues we will not have a paycheck, but i can definitely understand where donald trump is coming from. While citing Nothing Specific the president insists federal workers are behind him, and share his views about the border. Whats your message for impacted by the shutdown . Many of those workers have said to me and communicated, stay out until you get the funding for the wall. These federal workers want the wall. A lot of people are looking to get their paycheck. We are not giving up. We have to have border security. Do you have in mind a safety net for those who need their checks . Well, the safety net is going to be having a strong border. Many of the people youre discussing, i really believe that they agree with what were doing. I want to understand how you expect federal workers to last that long without getting a paycheck. If we have to stay out for a very long period of time were going to do that. And many of those people, maybe even most of those people that really have not been and will not be getting their money in at this moment, those people, in many cases, are the biggest fan of what were doing. As we reported here last night the budget still may be creating a fracture within the president s party. Republican senators worry now about the shutdowns political and personal damage. Today one of those senators spoke out. I just want to be super clear here, though, i mean, you calling to reopen the government now, and as even if this wall issue isnt entirely solved yet, getting the government reopened now. The reality is this, the Senate Appropriations bill has the wall in it. Yes, lets get the government open and we can have a bigger fight for the rest of the funding anyway. That was coming whether or not you got 5 billion or more. I support getting 5 billion. I support getting more. But lets get the government open now. Leadoff panel, Jonathan Allen, happens to be coauthor of shattered, the story of the Hillary Clinton president ial campaign. Jill colvin, White House Reporter for the associated press, and josh gernstein. Welcome to you all. Jill, 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 even just the superficial optics, the damage of this going on for too long . No. At this point it really doesnt seem like they do. The president Still Believes that this is a winning issue for him. And you saw him standing out there, you know, twice in the last two days. Weve had the president semisurprise appearances yesterday in the White House Briefing room today coming out and delivering this Rose Garden Press Conference after his meeting, really trying to kind of double down, making clear that he has no interest in this wrapping up anytime soon, confirming, in fact, that hed said that this could last for days, months, even years. And digging in still on this demand for his border wall money. The president has tried to make the case again and again and again that this money is necessary for border security. Clearly democrats are not willing to budge at all. And the president still, though, feels like this is a winning issue with his base. Hes had so much pressure, so much feedback from people on the right, you know, the talk radio people, folks who worked on his campaign, who keep telling him this is the way to go and youve got other people, though, in the white house who are looking at this and saying, look, what is the off ramp here . At some point, this cant go on forever. Thats why you see discussion popping up talking about potentially including daca in some type of fix. Discussion today about using the emergency declaration. Weve heard the president now, its been months he has been floating this idea, even during the midterms, we heard him talk like that when he, for instance, deployed the military down to the border there. Theyre trying to figure out, trying to come up with potential offramps to end this. Josh, i dont know if folks have naught throughout equation of upwards of 800,000 federal workers having to choose gasoline or Health Care Starting next week, folks who for no fault of their own live paycheck to paycheck as millions do, is any party, either side in this feeling more heat than the other . I think that the white house will begin to feel more heat. I dont know right at the moment how much heat there is, and the president keeps expressing this confidence that there are many, many federal employees that back his approach here. And it may be true that there are some. You just have to wonder, as you say, brian, as you go from week to week, or possibly on to months, certainly there are very few people that could sustain a year or more without a paycheck. I dont see how the president can even remotely claim that. You will see the heat going up on both sides. Despite his bluster today, as jill says, there were signs that he was looking for a way out of this dispute, whether it be through the emergency declaration, or through some further negotiations and concessions to democrats that might be able to bring this to a close. I didnt think that he was as confrontational, hed been, as hed been in some of those videos, for example, that were produced by the white house a week or two ago. John, i want to play you something and well share it with our wider audience. Lets just call it the president s migrating remarks when describing this wall he wants. Were going to build a big, beautiful wall. A big, beautiful wall. The wall just got ten feet taller. Ten feet taller. Youve got to be able to weave and bob. You dont have to go through a concrete wall when you can go over it or around it. You have to have see through. You have to know whats on the other side of the wall. The barrier wall or steel slats, whatever you want to call it, its all the same. We dont use the word wall necessarily, but it has to be Something Special to do the job. Steel is stronger than concrete. If i build this wall or fence, or anything the democrats need to call it because im not into names, im into production, im into something that works, a see through wall made out of steel is far stronger than a concrete wall. It actually will be a more powerful wall. And it will be a more beautiful wall than having a concrete wall. So, john, weve gone from concrete to steel wall to fence. People are aware of this in realtime. They have seen his comments change. Theyve seen the goal posts move on the part of this white house. Yeah, brian, i dont expect that the 2020 campaign chant is going to be build that concrete or steel or whatever the democrats want to call it. His campaign chant has always been build that wall. I think he is looking for an exit ramp, as jill called it. If you look at whats going to happen with the federal government over time, if you actually shut it down for months or years, as he suggests, youre going to see an expansion of the shutdown. Right now youre talking about several agencies. The rest of the agencies would run out of funding in september of this year. So at that point you would see the Defense Department shut down, among those that are currently funded, which would sabotage his own wall efforts to circumvent a deal on the wall because the way that hes looking at drawing funds for it now is to transfer 4 billion of Defense Department spending, which you can do under the law by declaring it in the natural interests. The defense secretary has to do that. Thats what he was talking about today. Usually they get consent from congressional leaders historically. Thats the way its been done. It sounds like the white house is willing to steam roll. Youre seeing expanding shutdown of the government, things would get much, much worse over time. Hes looking for an exit ramp, looking for a fig leaf, something he can say is a wall or a concrete barrier or a steel reenforced concrete or something to give his base. One point i want to make, though, about the federal workers, brian, living here in washington, d. C. , the highest concentration of federal workers in the country, in this area, Montgomery County maryland, washington, d. C. , arlington and fairfax county, these are some of the most overwhelmingly democratic parts of the country. The idea that federal workers are supporting the president in general is one that is just not borne out by the numbers politically. And, jill, irony of ironies, Homeland Security is among the most greatly affected cabinet agencies. This entire debate is supposed to be about Homeland Security. When the president floats this idea, or specifically a reporter did today of declaring a National Emergency, a, what about constitutional issues, the house after all is supposed to start all revenue, and b, is anyone within the white house taking at a option seriously . You know, at this point its something that is under discussion, as i said earlier. Its an idea thats been floated for several months now as theyre trying to figure out ways to circumvent congress, understanding that it was very unlikely that democrats would sign off on, you know, any kind of wall that the president is envisioning here. And so, you know, this is an idea that theyre throwing back and forth. It would, you know, theres theoretically allow the white house to be able to activate the department of defense, to start constructing this wall. But as the president has even alluded to over the last couple of days, when the president starts signing executive orders or emergency proclamations, opening up these new scopes of power its something that even he has described as, you know, very, you know, significant step and something thats kind of a scary thing that he could be getting into here. I also want to say, you know, as you talked about this kind of the fact that this is impacting department of Homeland Security, you know, cnn had a stunning reported to that talked about tsa agents who werent showing up for work. You have everify, for instance, that is not operational right now. As 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 in the department of Homeland Security. And across the government and were going to start seeing over the coming days how this impacts real people, how it impacts real lives. And the calculus for the president could begin to change very quickly. Josh, were told that at the staff level there will be meetings all weekend. The new chief of staff, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is supposed to take the core west wing group to camp david on sunday for an idea session. Any of this amount to anything in your view . Well, i think its interesting that the white house wants the message out now that theyre working on resolving this shutdown. It seemed like early on the president was willing to just sit there and project this image of him sitting alone in the oval office waiting for the democrats to call. Theres now clearly a more forward lean to what the white house is doing to at least create an impression that theres progress and i think thats why some of us think that they are searching for an off ramp. But i was also struck, brian, in the president s comments when he decried liberal Judicial Court rulings that if he goes ahead with this emergency option to try to get this wall built, hell be running headlong into another sort of hail of legal ritz with people trying to block him again and whether that will actually help him make any progress on building any kind of a physical barrier along the border im very doubtful. He might do better, even if that department, by trying to cut a deal here rather than trying to assert his own power to do this on his own. Tough as it is to avoid a good juicy shiny object for the news media to look at. To my panel, thanks for starting off our first friday broadcast of the new year. Coming up for us, what the president just said about russia, its the kind of thing you only hear from senior russians, one of them named putin, eager to rewrite history. And why this can get the attention of the feds. And then later, the uproar over a profane pledge to impeach, some willing to forgive, calling it a rookie mistake. The only fdaapproved 3in1 copd treatment. Trelegy. The power of 123 trelegy 123 trelegy with trelegy and the power of 123, im breathing better. Trelegy works 3 ways to. Open airways,. Keep them open. And reduce inflammation. For 24 hours of better breathing. Trelegy wont replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. Trelegy is not for asthma. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high Blood Pressure before taking it. Do not take trelegy more than prescribed. Trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. Call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling,. Problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. Think your copd medicine is doing enough . Maybe you should think again. Ask your doctor about oncedaily trelegy and the power of 123. Trelegy 123 save at trelegy. Com. Before discovering nexium 24hr to treat her frequent heartburn, marie could only imagine enjoying freshly squeezed orange juice. Now no fruit is forbidden. Nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for allday, allnight protection. Can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn . For allday, amazon prime videoion. 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. Lets face it, folks are still getting their 2019 sea legs, the new year is merely four days old and already the president has said a lot. But it was something he said on wednesday that is getting a lot of attention, and not just because his version of the soviet invasion of afghanistan is completely wrong and attempts to wherewrite history. The reason russia was in afghanistan was because terrorists were going into russia. They were right to be there. The problem is, it was a tough fight. And literally they went bankrupt. They went into being called russia again as opposed to the soviet union. A lot of these places youre reading about now are no longer a part of russia. Because of afghanistan. Today the normally trump friendly wall street journal weighed in and we 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 a reality the communist kremlin threat. Mr. Trumps crack history cant alter that reality. Indeed, several people have noted a piece from new york magazine, the russian government is moving an official resolution, this is present day, defending the soviet invasion of afghanistan, the approval scheduled to take place next month. Russians have previously called the invasion a tragic era, but putins regime which regards the collapse of the soviet union is systematically rehabilitating various soviet crimes. Linking to this oped from russian dissident who wrote about the resolution just last month. Well, with us for more tonight, general Barry Mccaffrey, retired u. S. Army four star general. A veteran of the cold war and a couple of hot ones, he is a decorated veteran of combat as well. And with us tonight, also frank figluzzi, in the past hes worked for robert mueller. General, short and sweet, first question to you, will you please tell folks the real history . Well, its an astonishing assertion by the president. It sounds as if the talking points are written by the gru. December 1979 the vosoviets wen into afghanistan to take a socialist friendly government and keep them in power. They brutalized the country. They were there for a decade. They took 50,000 killed and wounded. They killed a couple of million afghan civilians. They drove 4 million afghans into exile in iran and pakistan. It was a tragic operation from the start, had nothing to do with terrorism and the soviet union. I think he must have grabbed pieces of history and hes thinking of chech nia. This is a truly astonishing, ignorant statement by the president. General, it was so scarring, i know you know this is the case, its hard to visit afghanistan and not come face to face with the shards of the old soviet military. Youll see a tank track, youll see pieces of artillery. It litters the countryside. Yeah. It was a disaster for the soviet union. A bunch of 18yearolds draftee boys fighting these nationalist, patriotic afghans who were basically responding to communism as an atheistic, you know, affront to islam. So, you know, its hard to imagine what the president was thinking of when he made this assertion. Theres certainly no comparability at all between the soviet experience in afghanistan, which was stamped the civilian population into the ground and the attempt by the nato allies, and much of the World Community to support putting afghanistan back together. I think that must be his purpose, to delegitimize what were now doing in afghanistan, given the fact he tweeted out this unilateral, were going to going to cut our troop presence in half in afghanistan, which i might add now essentially ends the likelihood of a Diplomatic Initiative to end the war. Frank, you and i always talk about things that take place in plain sight. Im just a civilian. I always think the feds are operating at a higher level. But the president says this on television. His words. Are you telling me the feds will stop, rewind and take notice because hes parroting talking points that are limited to the closest circle around putin . Certainly the counterintelligence investigation, if youll recall, was the impetus for this entire special council. The counterintelligence side is going to take a look at why it is our president is siding with a communist regime claiming that the russians were right to go into afghanistan. Theyre going to want to know the reasoning behind that, and where its coming from. Now, general mccaffrey has suggested a fairly benign reason, which is hes trying to cover his tracks as to why were pulling troops out of afghanistan. But the fbi is going to look at it even more deeply to say, look, there are a couple of other options, once you set aside incompetence, inflating the rise of the taliban with russias presence, once you get rid of that, theres another option, the president has deliberately chosen to regurgitate the putin line, the russian line on this because he somehow needs to paint russia in the most favorable light, and why is that . We need to help understand whether thats because it serves his agenda to appease russia, to say to them, you may have compromised me. We may have a problem here, but im on your side. And, look, while this sounds like conjecture to many people, this is what counterintelligence agents do for a living. When you combine it with the facts coming out of the special counsel inquiry, youve got to assume muellers going to look at this, what is the motivation to make a comment that simply paints russia in the most favorable light . Thats what counterintelligence is about. Frank, also in your bailiwick, the question we asked rhetorically at the top of the broadcast, what does it mean for the russia effort for the president when you hear that muellers grand jury has been extended for six months, a time they dont necessarily have to use, but time they needed to reserve . Well, im going to state the obvious. It means this things far from over and it means theres more indictments coming. General grand juries sit, brian, for a number of reasons. But one of them that we really care deeply about is to issue indictments. So theres more coming. Theres more people on the radar screen of the mueller inquiry. And this things not over yet. If you have a question, always ask a former fed. Our thanks to two of them. General Barry Mccaffrey, and frank figliuzzi, coming up, today the president said drugs are pouring into our country because we dont have a wall. We happen to have president clintons former drug czar standing by to talk about that very point when we come back. Whoooo. With tripadvisor, 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 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. When insurance is simple, its surprisingly painless. We think this is a much bigger problem, the border is a much more dangerous problem, its a much bigger problem, its a problem of national security, 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 they make a left. We right now are losing approximately 100, hard to believe, and this doesnt include the drugs pouring in, and just remember human trafficicers, the drugs are pouring into this country. They dont go through the ports of entry. If theyre making a left, they may be doing it wrong. Be that as it may the claims you heard from the president were also relayed to members of congress during that meeting in the situation room this week, talking points our president has repeated in an effort to convince democrats to approve the wall funding. The only problem is, theyre not true. As nbc news is reporting, according to Justice Department public records and two former counterterrorism officials no immigrant has been arrested at the southwest border on terrorism charges in recent years. And we must confess to engaging in some television slight of hand here. We told you we had president clintons former drug czar standing by, and we do. He looks a lot like general Barry Mccaffrey because he was, among his many other titles, including u. S. Military commander for all of latin america, general mccaffrey was director of the office of drug control policy under president clinton. So, general, this is a simple question, the answer might be tougher. Would a wall, as the president contends, make us safer . What would it do to drug flow . What would it do with our relationship with our neighbor to the south . Well, i tell you, i certainly was a drug policy director during a different era where we actually had bipartisan support in congress, and reasoned dialogue and we had department of justice and treasury and a Defense Department and others with a coordinated, respectful approach to mexico. Thats whats lacking here. Look, when you look at the southwest border, 3,000 mile frontier, 700 miles of fencing already in, does a lot of good, particularly in the populated areas, no longer have 10,000 people run through the port of entry in san diego. When it comes to its function, it assists the 45,000 men and women of the customs and border protection, no question. If you want to deal with a drug issue you dont do it with the southwest border. Youve got to get addiction in baltimore and in detroit and other cities across the united states. Youve got to operate against mexican cartels who are the most organized criminal element in americas two largest cities. But the drugs that do come through the southwest border tend to come through the ports of entry, hidden in compartments in trucks, on trains, on individual passengers. They come in by air. They come in by submarine out of colombia into central america. And then get moved in a different manner. So you simply cant deal with the drug issue through the border. The border shouldnt be open. It should be protected. We should we need a better way of managing asylum. But this is not the way you deal with a chronic problem of addiction in america. On this question of the president perhaps declaring a National Emergency, and ordering it built, your fellow west pointer senator jack reed democrat 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 and defense priorities in order to pay for his wall should alarm all americans. General, do you concur . Looks to me like its flat illegal, its moving into dictatorial powers. You cant spend money that isnt appropriated by the congress. Thats what the constitution says. You cant divert a fighting force, a u. S. Department of defense which has tremendous challenges in the Global Community and use it as a Domestic Police function. This is not american values. You know, if we want to enforce the law in the southwest frontier, add more money to customs and border protection. And by the way, we have a problem there. Were not paying these men and women enough for the demanding duties trying to protect our frontiers. So i think the president would be right into transparently illegal activity if he tried to unilaterally direct the pentagon to build a border. Thank you for both of your appearances tonight, general Barry Mccaffrey, always such a pleasure to have you on. Coming up, President Trumps response to an explicit call for his impeachment but an unapologetic freshman member of congress on her first day on the job, when we come back. And use y possible resource to fight cancer, and never lose sight of the patients were fighting for. Our Cancer Treatment specialists share the same vision experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care, specialists focused on treating cancer using advanced technologies, and more precise treatments than before. Working as hard as we candoing all that we can for everyone who walks through our doors. This is Cancer Treatment centers of america comprehensive cancer care network. And these are the specialists were proud to call our own. Treating cancer is more than our mission. Its our passion. Expert medicine works here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. Appointments available now. Smile dad. I take medication for high Blood Pressure and cholesterol. But they might not be enough to protect my heart. Adding bayer aspirin can further reduce the risk of another heart attack. Because my Second Chance matters. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. 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 were 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 impeach people when there was no collusion, because there was no collusion. That was the president today addressing the possibility of impeachment now that the democrats control the house, as you might have heard. 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, mama, look, you won, bullies dont win, and i said, baby, they dont because were going to go in there and were going to impeach the [ bleep ]. So use your imagination there. The new house leadership isnt necessarily ready to commit to making impeachment a priority. Here is the new speaker. We have to weigh the equities. That is not the position of the House Democratic caucus. The equity to be weighed is thats freedom of speech of an individual member. Generationally that would not be language i 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 again in a moment summed this dynamic today. It didnt take long for newly empowered House Democrats to lose control of their message on the possible impeachment of president donald trump, less than a day. So back with us, the aforementioned Jonathan Allen who we talked into spending even more time with us. Jonathan, a friend of mine likes to say never underestimate the democrats ability to screw things up, a. B, a lot of these Young Democrats were elected, they believe, on a voting wish in the liberal districts on a platform of impeaching this guy. Absolutely, brian, and even a lot of democrats in districts where theyre represented by more moderate members believe in that. The tension youre seeing right now is there is a Democratic Base that is hungry to see donald trump removed from office. Obviously a lot of them would like to see that happen in 2020 at the ballot box. But a lot of people believe that there is already evidence enough for impeachment. This is this push among the democratic electorate for that. And the counterweight right now is that there are varying degrees among the democratic elected officials as to what the merits of that are right now. Whether its wise to do it both in terms of the prudence of the constitutional question of whether anything that donald trump has done rises to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. And whether its advantageous or disadvantageous for them to move forward. They should wait for the Mueller Report to come forward. Most House Democrats i talked to said they believe that they should wait for the Mueller Report, and that it made sense to wait for that to see what he comes to, what conclusions he draws before they decide whether or not to move forward. I believe, watching a good bit of the other network, that fox news is planning to run and republicans are against the democrats as if congresswoman ocasiocortez, the new very young democrat of north korea is 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, forget about cars, no one has said how we would fly. And in an interview coming up this weekend on 60 minutes shes talking about a 70 tax bracket for those at the tippy top of the american earning population. So this is going to be a real learning experience for a young congresswoman, for this political party, and for the republican party. And we found out today exactly what it takes to knock congresswoman alexandria ocasiocortez off the top of the newscast and out of the front page of the paper, if youre another freshman democrat and thats to call the president an mf, her colleague Rashida Tlaib having done that. Look, i think the republicans have this infatuation with alexandria ocasiocortez. They like to use her as a bookie woman for democrats, theyre certainly elevating her, what shes doing in the process is creating a tremendous, a tremendous following outside of the house of representatives. She started that when she won her primary against joe crowley last year. And thats only been growing. And what its doing is raising her profile and giving her influence within the democratic caucus. I want to thank you very much for being with us tonight as we mentioned one of the banner headline graphics on fox news earlier this evening, radical democratic agenda. And thats going to be the crux of this, i think, going forward. Thank you fur your journalism on this topic today and thanks for sticking around with us, Jonathan Allen, our own. Coming up the president says the shutdown could last years, perhaps, but just 14 days into it we have a look at the real life, personal, and sometimes hazardous impacts of this shutdown across the country. With advil, youll ask. What sore muscles . What pounding head . Advil is. Relief thats fast. Strength that lasts. Youll ask. What pain . With advil. Im a fighter. Always have been. When i found out i had agerelated macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. My doctor and i came up with a plan. It includes preservision. Only Preservision Areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the National Eye Institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. Thats why i fight. Because its my vision. Preservision. Also, in a greattasting chewable. Coming up in act eight minutes, the top of the hour begins week three of the government shutdown. The Washington Post is reporting the white house may not have initially understood the scope or stakes of a shutdown but they are very real. For 800,000 federal workers and their customers, us, the taxpayers, the treasures are normally pristine national parks. In the past they were closed during extended shutdowns but not this time. Visitors are still allowed on park lands but 16,000 of the 19,000 park employees are no longer on their jobs along with all the others they have been deemed nonessential. That means roads are left unplowed, garbages left unclu uncollected, bathrooms not maintained and trash is piling up and Health Hazards and park visitors in someplaces are taking care of business shall we say along pathways and at least three people 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 they arent getting the stim payments and 9 the work force. The snap program not funded beyond january. There is only money to cover payments until mid february and federal funding for health care and Law Enforcement with most of the irs closed, the shutdown may, may mean a delay in tax refunds. That will get everybodys attention. Federal court 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 concerned, 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, he may be interested to learn how another former speaker is making money. That story when we come back. Money. That story when we come back every Insurance Company tells you they can save you money. Save up to 10 when you bundle with esurance. Including me, esurance spokesperson dennis quaid. Hes a pretty good spokesperson. Ehhh. So when i say, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved an average of 412, you probably wont believe me. Hey, actor lady whose scene was cut. Hi. But you can believe this esurance employee, nancy abraham. Seriously, send her an email and ask her yourself. No emails. No emails. When insurance is affordable, its surprisingly painless. 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. 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 . Now who among you answered legalized weed . We know from numerous profiles of him that the Ohio Republican was already known to embrace the holy trinity of modern day vices, alcohol, tobacco and sun exposure, less wellknown is his relationship with the cannabis industry unless and until you see this tv ad as we recently did. Marijuana has unleashed a green gold rush across our nation. Its creating 10. 8 billion in wealth a year and every day its transforming more and more americans into millionaires. In a historic event, former speaker of the house john boehner reveals how you could become one of them. Join him online for the american cannabis summit. To secure your spot, text join to 44055. Its free to attend. Text join to 44055. Cant honestly tell you what happens when you text the number. None of us wanted the record on our company phone. He was once anti cannabis and said his mind was changed by a military veteran for whom it treated an untreatable conditio condition. Americans have slowly embraced it. Across the usa 33 states legalized it and ten states and the district of colombia have legalized Recreational Use and the crazy part is all of it violates federal law and the former speakerous house knows a growth undust industry when we sees one. That is our broadcast for friday night and 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. Happy to have you here. The grand jury thats been impanelled in washington d. C. To hear evidence and issue indictments with the special counsels investigation, that grand jury just had its term extended. Remember when the president s lawyer kept insisting to reporters they were totally sure the mueller thing would be over by thanksgiving