Him to speak. The next real chance for a breakthrough may not come until the new congress convenes next thursday with democrats now in charge of the house. That brings me to cnn at the white house. Boris, judging by these tweets this morning, the president threatening to close the border and cutoff aid to Central American countries, he appears to be digging his heels in. Reporter thats right, jim. No small thread here from President Trump to shut down the border entirely. We should point out a small portion of the southern border in the san diego area was shut down as part of that migrant carrier arrived. Shutting down the entire southern border would have enormous ramifications on the American Economy and on that volatile stock market we have been seeing that we know the president has been watching closely. Also including in these tweet, a suggestion that the u. S. Should return to a prenafta era. Not sure if the president meant undoing that agreement he dragged on brokers with mexico, the United States and canada. I did want to update you on where things stand on the shutdown here. Incoming acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney spoke to reporters here saying things were at a standstill. He revealed republicans offered democrats a deal that would contain a deal short of the 5 billion. He did not specify what number that would be. That goes in line with what cnn reported recently, that republicans had offered democrats a deal that contained somewhere in the neighborhood of 2. 5 billion for border wall funding. He says he does not believe democrats will try to strike a deal until after nancy pelosi is sworn in. Boris sanchez at the white house today. We will head to el paso, texas to look at the medical screenings at Border Patrol stations there. The deaths of two Migrant Children in u. S. Custody this month prompted that visit. Were learning new information about the condition of one of those children. Lets bring in dan simon in el paso. Dan, what have we learned about what led to this boys death . Reporter well, jim, its been determined now that the eightyearold boy has the flu. He tested positive for influenza b. It will raise more questions about the medical treatment he received. Keep in mind, when he went to the hospital, he was told he had the common cold and was given antibiotics, which would not be effective against the flu. In the meantime, you have a white house spokesperson sara sanders talking about these incidents in the wake of two children dying within the past month. Take a look at that. We are doing everything in our capacity to make sure that when people do come that theyre taken care of so that we dont have these type of instances. In many cases they show up extremely dehydrated without food and theyre seeing a doctor for the very first time in their lives, both adults and children. Reporter and were also gaining some new insight as to why the eightyearold boy and his father made the journey in the first place. The boys mother speaking out saying her husband wanted to find work and they just wanted a better education for their son. One thing she also said is they were under the impression that when you bring a child across the border that you would have better access into the u. S. In other words, you would have a better chance at gaining entry into the United States, which is going to be exhibit a for critics of u. S. Immigration policy who say that the policy incent vises people children across the border. Unusual about this visit, is it not, that there is no press allowed. What can we expect from her visit . What does she hope to accomplish there . Reporter we dont know a whole lot about her itinerary, jim. We are told she is coming to inspect and see firsthand some of these medical screenings taking place. He has ordered her agency to do enhanced screenings. She will be going to some of those controlled cities and headed to arizona tomorrow. Dan simon at the border. Thanks very much. Joined by a democrat by virginia. Congressman, thanks for taking the time. Good to be with you, jim. Your direct includes many federal workers, some of which i imagine are furloughed or affected by this shutdown. Absolutely. What are they telling you . And do they blame democrats as well . Do they believe that democrats share the blame for this for not keeping the government funded and running . I think most people affected directly arent in the blame game. They just want the government reopen. And they are anxious about the future. So its not like this is new. There have been a number of Government Shutdowns since the republicans took over congress in 2010. But they are worried about longevity and uncertainty. What do they do in terms of their household finances, their plans. And by the way, they take pride in going to work and doing the work. Holidays are an expensive time. And that check coming up, i imagine for a lot of folks, will make it hard to pay the bills. I wonder, though, when folks who arent following the news every day, arent following every president ial tweet may not even know that the president took ownership of that in that Famous Oval Office meeting with pelosi and schumer. At the end of the day, they say, listen, Congress Take care of it. Are you aware that they play political chicken on there, it is a danger for the democrats as well . Not really. My constituents are highly educated people. They did all see the clip of the president in the oval office arguing with nancy and chuck and saying, ill take responsibility for it. I will shut down the government. And were seeing more temper tantrums today. Ill close the border. Ill cutoff aid to salvador, honduras and other countries because we dont get anything out of it. This is a very troubling moment, frankly, in terms of the president s behavior. I want to ask you specifically about that threat to cutoff the border. The president has done this partially before. He may very well do it. What would your reaction be to the president of the United States shut doung twn the mexic border over this funding fight . The president lives in this delusion world fed by fox news and a couple of right wing talking heads and does not connection actions with consequences. If you close the border, you will reinvite huge swings in the stock market. You will jeopardize the economic progress weve made, and youre frankly going to do a lot of damage for your own prospects for 2020 by inviting a recession. Let me ask you this. The solution to this stand off is obvious and its been obvious for a number of months. Thats a straight up quid pro quo. Give the president money for his wall and president and republicans make a deal on dreamers, giving legal status to dreamers. This has been shown bipartisan support. The president is not talking about it now. Do you see that as a solution to this . Well, it was a solution, as you said, jim. It was the solution at hand. Once again it was the president to veto that. He indicated that was a deal he would accept then because right wingers got to his ear in the white house. Basically he walked away from his own deal. We dont know who were dealing with. Who is the negotiator on the executive branch of government that we can deal with . It is not the vice president. It is not the chief of staff. It is not the omb director and not trump. He will change his mind on a dime. Trump does, although he takes shots at us, he watches cnn. If you were speaking to the president right now, would you be willing to say, listen, you make a deal on daca, you will get some money for your wall. I cant speak for the democratic majority. I do think the president might spend less time on the blame game and on twitter and actually have serious in camera negotiations to see if there is new ground here. The object is to get the federal government up and running, secure the border and the tat tus status of dreamers. Are you concerned that that agenda will be hijacked by an ongoing funding battle . There is speculation that thats sort of the method behind the madness coming out of the white house. But, no. One way or the other, were going to do that because there has been Voter Suppression going on in state after state after republicans took over. That has to be reversed. The franchise is the most sacred right americans have besides life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We cant allow that to be compromised. You are on the Foreign Affairs committee. I want to talk about the president s decision to withdraw troops from syria. It is happening as we speak. Damages the u. S. National security in your view . Very. I think it is one of the most sorted acts by a president of the United States in terms of foreign policy. The kurds work side by side with the United States. They were the only group willing to fight isis on the ground, and they won. They won. They sacrificed thousands of lives. And for us to pull out and put them at the mercy of, you know, other troops, other interests in the region that wish them no good, i think its just a crazy act. There are 50,000 refugees under our control. What happens to them . And oh, by the way, the only person who praised this move ironically was vladimir putin. Yeah. Hes the biggest backer. I spoke to a Senior Administration official in the wake of this decision who said that there was no longer a National Security decisionmaking progress. Those decisions are made on a whim by the president himself often on a phone call. Thats been the reporting. What can congress do . Because this has become a pattern with this administration. What can congress do . And do you have any support from your republican colleagues to try to solve this, to reign in the president s worst impulses . You know, we have already passed legislation on a bipartisan basis with respect to sanctions and some other areas of foreign policy. I think we have to up that game. You know, there are vast powers that are implied in the role of commander in chief. But i think we need to look at the powers implied because we saw congress playing a much more political role in the issues of war and peace than in the last 50 years we have played. I think we will have to reexamine our role in overseas missions and our obligations to allies like the kurds who have actually done the fighting on the ground. That will be a test for the new congress. Thanks very much for taking the time. Still to come this hour, new year, new problem for President Trump. House democrats now bulking up ahead of whats sure to be a number of investigations into the commander in chief. Also, a strange blue light glowing in the sky over new york city. That is real video there. Its not hollywood. And, no, were not being invaded. 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Matt, cnn has learned that House Democrats are scooping up staff and lawyers. They are staffing up for a series of investigations of this president. How bad could this get for trump and republicans . Yeah. Well, i mean, first, this is what you probably expect them to be doing. It is not terribly abnormal. But i think that you could have an administration that is basically playing defense all the time, that is innone dated with investigations. There is also a danger for democrats. I think oversight is a truly legitimate responsibly of congress to do. You can imagine a scenario where they become obsessed with this, and that as opposed to legislating would be a mistake. Fair criticism, is it not . Because democrats conscious of that. The way they ran the midterms was about aagenda, not just investigation of the president. Voting rights, anticorruption. How do they get that balance right, or will they . I think all these things go together. Investigating the president shows the base they are serious about holding President Trump accountable. I think the shutdown is about saying, look, we will be the other branch of government that keeps the executive in check and forces the executive to negotiate and those things come together with asserting their power and then pushing for health care, Campaign Finance reform, infrastructure, all of those things policywise that democrat voters want. Elizabeth drew, famous washington journalist has got st some history. He suggested this morning impeachment of this president is now inevitable. Mr. Nixon was pardoned by president jer rald ford. No evidence has ever surfaced that the fix was in. While mr. Trumps case is more complex than mr. Nixon, the evident dangers of keeping an out of control president in office might impel politicians in both parties not without controversy to want to make a deal to get him out of there. You might be able to impeach, but getting the twothirds to convict in the senate, particularly with a republican advantage just aint going to happen. Whatever you see, even from the special counsel. She says dont be so sure. I wonder what you think. As a columnist, i admire this. To take something that really doesnt have a news peg and to write a column that sparks interest is a talent. She has a point in this. We tend to assume that things move along in linear progression and we tend to think that because something hasnt happened yet it is not going to happen in the future. But really if you read the book Tipping Point sometimes things happen all of a sudden. Is there a scenario where something happens . We just saw with jim matt is, righ right . I think the media spoke very much on the shutdown. It could be that the Republican Base in the senate at least is much more upset over syria. Maybe ultimately steps like that lead to them abandoning trump. There is a broader issue here beyond the investigations both personal and political of this president is general mismanagement of the job of president. And the syria decision was one of those points because im sure you heard the same thing from left and right. Even folks who are reluctant to criticize this president like Lindsey Graham going ballistic on this decision. That raises larger questions, does it not . This is one of those issues where you have seen those issues on the republican side and the democratic side questioning the president over this decision at a minimum because of the way it was handled and rolled out in conjunction with secretary mattiss abrupt resignation, as matt pointed out. On the policy we got this wrong, whether they think we abandoned the kurds or bad for counter terror. This is bad for policy. It will be a stretch for democrats or republicans to lump this in for an impeachment push. There are grounds potentially for impeachment. A policy difference is a thing. I do think it is wrong headed. Its more than a policy difference, is it not . Because i spoke to a Senior Administration official in this administration who said there is no National Security making progress whatsoever, not in consultation with your senior advisers. If the president got on the phone with the turkish president and on a whim, on a phone call marketedly changed. I dont think that trump would ever be impeached or what happened in syria would be listed in the articles of impeachment. I do think it could be one of the developments that starts to peel away the republican support in the senate. The world is dynamic. What happens if the kurds start getting if there is a genocide now against the kurds . What happens if isis starts to make a comeback. Or stages another attack now that they have their base reestablished. I just want to make a quick point just to be clear. I think this was a terrible decision. But even if President Trump was spun by president erduwan, 63 Million People voted for someone who likes to turn over the apple cart. They didnt vote for someone who was a deep policy thinker. President trumps Approval Rating is barely below what it was when he was inaugurated. It hasnt moved a lot. Thanks very much. A lightening strike, a massive explosion, a visit from aliens . Looked like it. T