you take a position in government that you then have to recuse. the president, whom he wants to be the permanent attorney general, bill barr, a new memo has been revealed. unsolicited memo to the doj saying this investigation was based on a fatally misconceived theory. now chuck schumer is like, pick a new pick, donald trump. not going to happen, obviously. but could this be a problem for him? i think it will, obviously, provide a lot of fodder for the confirmation hearings. you ve publicly stated your view of the mueller investigation. do you still hold these views and why? from time to time in washington you have former high-level officials write these things gratuitiously, send it in to their colleagues and say here is what i think about it, maybe never anticipating it could come
weinste weinstein s attorneys to throw his sexual assault cases out of court, how it all unfolded in that courtroom. we start with that breaking news, a dramatic showdown brewing on capitol hill over whether the government will be forced to shut down tomorrow, a possible partial government shutdown. house speaker paul ryan canceling the republican leadership news conference a few moments ago reportedly after getting an emergency phone call from the president. all of this as congress struggles to pass a bill to fund the government. the senate passed it. the president in a series of tweets this morning indicating he will not sign a bill funding the government unless he gets funding for his border wall. with us now nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker, politico senior writer jake sherman, msnbc s garrett haake, and kimberly atkins, washington bureau chief for the boston herald. garrett, what do we know about what happened with speaker ryan? we know he stepped out of the
wrong. we re going to leave it there, yamiche alcindor, aaron black, andy card, next time i promise i ll talk to you for more than 30 seconds. i swear. i m out of time. i m going to put it into the very capable hands of craig melvin. thank you. craig melvin here msnbc headquarters in new york city. breaking developments in the shutdown showdown. president trump accusing democrats of putting politics over country after the senate passes that continuing resolution to keep the government open until february. the big question in washington, even inside the white house right now, will the president sign the bill? no one seems to know. president trump defending his decision to pull troops out of syria. russian leader vladimir putin applauding the idea, shocked republicans slamming the withdrawal. whose idea was this? and going to trial, the judge dismisses a request by disgraced movie mogul harvey
you re looking at the u.n. security council meeting. they re talking about a solution to the ongo iing civil war in syria. the backlash to the president s decision is just growing in washington. there s anger, frustration from key republican allies, who are telling the commander in chief to reconsider his decision. right before the show i spoke with angus king, independent of maine, and intelligence and armed services committees who signed on to a letter asking the president to change his mind. senator angus king is joining us now. thanks for being back on the show. absolutely, hallie. glad to be with you. this letter, you say, came together about an hour when normally something like this would come together in about a week. can you explain why you think there s any chance that president trump will reconsider after seeing this? some of the names on that letter are people that he
take control of the house. then there s syria. the timing of that troop withdrawal, starting almost all of washington. the president, he says this morning, it s no surprise at all. he has been campaigning on this for years. garrett haake is on the hill for us. kristen welker is joining us from the white house. garrett, let me begin with you. fill us in on what the latest is with the shutdown discussion in the house as paul ryan, really, gets ready to take questions on this. after the senate passed the cr with senators on the floor singing christmas carols, it looked like smooth sailing to keep the government open. as i stand here this morning, that s not quite so clear. republican house members have been leaving their thursday morning meeting amongst themselves. republican leadership is trying to say this is not us giving up on the wall. this stop gap funding bill february 8th is a good idea and rank and file republicans aren t buying t i talked to some conservatives who say that pas