Fight over impeachment divide democrats . Well ask the man leading investigations into the president for the house. Democratic congressman adam schiff, in moments. Hello. Im jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is in complete dysfunction. Were in the 16th day of the partial Government Shutdown over the president s border wall with no suggestion of any progress being made. Today President Trump will travel to camp david where hell meet with senior staff before meetings with Congressional Staff on the shutdown are expected to continue. On saturday, Vice President mike pence and senior members of the president s team met with Congressional Staff for negotiations where the president later said, kwoerkts not much headway was made. The impasse comes as President Trump is now deal with a new political reality. Thursday democrats assumed control of the house. And nancy pelosi took the speakers gavel. This week House Democrats plan on pushing legislation to fund individual parts of the government to attempt to pressure republicans in congress and the white house. Joining me acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney. Thanks for joining us. Appreciate it. Happy to be here. So where we are in negotiations, the meeting is over. And i know that Speaker Pelosi had said she didnt want to give even more than 1 to the border wall President Trump has talked about 5. 6 billion. Is there any give in the 5. 6 billion in terms of whether it has to be for a wall or whether it can be for more generally Border Security . The president said for a long time its 5. 6 billion for Border Security, including the wall. We recognize that things Like Technology and border crossings are important. But certainly a barrier is important. We didnt make much progress at the meet chicaing which was surg to me. I thought we could come in to talk about places we agreed on. Places we agreed to spend more time and attention, things to improve our Border Security and yet the opening line from one of the lead democrat negotiators was that they were not there to talk about any agreement. They were actually, in my mind, there to stall. And we did not make much progress. What were they there to do if not to negotiate . They had a lot of technical complaints about data that they were asking for for the first time. Things that we werent even aware they were interested in and the Vice President and i have been talking to Chuck Schumer now for over two weeks. And this has never been raised with us before. Thats how they opened the meeting today and said they were not interested in having further discussions until they received this technical data from us and that the government was opened, which is very strange. The president yesterday accurately asked the question. So you want me to negotiate opening the government after the government is already opened . So it was a very it was a disappointing meeting. The shutdown, obviously, is obviously having its in its third week now real world effects for about 800,000 federal Government Employees who are either furloughed or working without pay. In addition to contractors. I want you to take a listen to one of the furloughed workers from colorado. Her name is andrea. Take a listen. When Something Like this happens and youll not get your next check, its like, okay, what do i do . Ill have to make a tough choice between, you know, paying my utilities or going and buying groceries. President trump is his demand for border wall funding is the reason that there is this impasse right now. Does he understand the real world consequences of the shutdown, the fact there are people like andrea who has to make a choice between paying her utilities or buying groceries . A couple different things. Certainly the president understands that. No question the shutdown has costs, which is why weve been goerktsi ing negotiating or trying to negotiate since before the shutdown began. You said the president s demand is the reason the government is shut down. Thats certainly one side of the coin but it takes two to tango in this town. I could say its the democrats refusal to give the necessary money for Border Security thats the cause of the shutdown. We get all of that. Were not interested in laying any blame. The president really does believe that you can solve this in ten minutes. Were asking for 5. 6 billion. Theyre offering us zero. Sounds like were arguing about one variable which is how much are we going to spend on that barrier on the southern border, on the wall, on the steel slat fence, whatever you want to call it. This should be relatively simple. Im forced back to the conclusion that the democrats, for better or worse, think they are winning this battle politically and theyre really not interested in opening the government because they think the president is paying a price politically. Thats unfortunate. The reason i described it the way i did is because the senate, which is republican controlled, passed a clean Government Spending bill which included no wall money because they were under the impression that was going to be good enough to get the white house signature. And then President Trump said no and then he said hed gladly own the shutdown. As recently as friday, i believe, he said he was proud to be doing what needed to be done. He is proud to be doing whats needed to be done because we do need to defend the southern border. One of the most frustrating things, jake, about the meeting we had yesterday was we cant agree on the basic facts. Dhs secretary Kirstjen Nielsen stride on point out weve arrested 17,000 at the border last year. Nancy pelosi refused to accept those facts. There are not your facts and my facts. There are just facts. If you cant have a basic understanding of the facts, its going to be very difficult to come to an agreement. When you talk about the crisis at the bord cher President Trump is talking a lot about, republican congressman will hurd of texas, retired cia officer, his district in southern texas includes more than 40 of the border. More than 800 miles of it. And he said, quote, building a wall from sea to shining sea would be the most expensive and least effective way to secure the border. True Border Security demands a flexible defense in depth strategy that includes a mix of personnel, technology and changing tactics which come at a lower price tag than a border wall. Thats a loyal republican congressman who knows from american security, having been a former cia officer, and knows the border. And hes saying this wall is not a good use of money. Right. Go back and read his comment. From sea to shining sea. The president has long ago said he recognizes the fact there are places where technology is actually better than a barrier. But there are places where there is no substitute for a barrier. The barriers we have up now in the high traffic areas are over 90 effective. Where we have built a barrier along the southern border, its reduced criminal immigration by more than 90 . There are places out in the mountains in the middle of nowhere where technology is better and more effective. But that doesnt obviate having a wall where you need it. The 5. 6 billion is for Border Security, including the wall. Right now their number for all Border Security is 1. 3 billion, which is clearly inadequate. Thats a status quo number. If all we have is a status question then next year we have the same problems which is not acceptable to the president. President trump trying to drum up support for the wall. On friday said that some past u. S. President s have told him that they should have built a wall along the u. S. mexico border previously. Spokespeople for george w. Bush and bill clinton said that wasnt their boss that said that. Neither barack obama nor jimmy carter have ever endorsed the idea of a border wall. Who was he talking about . My guess is this boils down to semantic difficulties we had with leader schumer just yesterday. Mr. Schumer kept saying you dont have money for a wall now. You dont have money for a wall now and were showing pictures of what were building on the border with the money we received last year. Its a very similar style to what the president wants to build in the future. The steel bollard fence, 30foot high steel barrier. And our understanding is that thats not a wall in the law. Right now the law actually limits our use of concrete, for example, on the border. Were like, thats fine. Thats completely fine. So im not really sure you dont know what president it was . I dont know what the president s mean when they say they werent supporting a wall. George bush was president in 2006 when they signed a secure fence act which is what were using to build the wall. Which president s told him . I have no idea. I havent asked the president that question. I want to ask you, President Trump says hes considering using Emergency Powers to fund and build the border wall. I want to read what you said as a congressman in 2014 after barack obama, then the president , took a series of executive actions on immigration that you opposed. This country is governed by the rule of law, not one man. The president s excuse congress has not acted is pathetic and insulting. His party had complete control for two solid years and completely ignored immigration reform. Does that statement not apply to President Trump as well . It absolutely applies. I think a couple years ago, i think that applies to his action on daca. I think he said publicly he didnt have the right to do what he was doing but he was doing it anyway. One of the things you learn in government is we give the president who is the chief executive officer of the country a great deal of latitude over how the government is run. And one of the things ive learned at omb is we can do that effectively. You folks ran a story a few weeks ago about how the doecoas guard was not going to get paid. The president wanted to do everything within his power legally to make sure those folks got paid and we were able to do that. Move money around legally. And president s have the ability to do that. This president has the ability to do that as well in other areas and well explore opportunities to do that. I dont think that excuses president obama on what he did on daca years ago. President s have the authority to defend the nation. The president has asked every single cabinet secretary and the office of management and budget to go out and find money that can be used, legally, to guard the southern border, which is exactly what were going to do. So youd support it if he wanted to do it . Im heavily involved with it and have been working with all the cabinet secretaries to try and find money we can legally use to defend the southern border. The president said on friday that mexico is going to pay for the wall through the new trade deal. Take a listen. That is paying for the wall. Many, many times over. In fact, what we say save on the usmca, the new trade deal with mexico and canada, what we save on that just with mexico will pay for the wall many times over. Now, obviously, congress has not yet ratified the usmca, but even assuming it does, that money doesnt go from mexico to the u. S. Treasury to then pay for the wall. Explain to me how the math works. The what the president is talking about, hes talked about this since he announced the usmca. Its so much better for us economically when businesses do better, when american citizens do better, taxpayers do money and well be taking in more money as part of our relationship with mexico, and that could be available to us to build the wall. It still requires appropriation. If mexico wrote us a check, okay it would still have to go into treasury and appropriated by congress. Thats how our system works. I want to turn to a comment from Rashida Tlaib. The president said her comment, its time to impeach the mfer. President trump is not known as a delicate flower with his language. Hes sworn quite a bit. Take a listen to some of it. Were going to knock the [ bleep ] out of isis. Going to knock the [ bleep ] out of them. And you can tell them to go themselves. Youre not going to raise that [ bleep ] price. You understand me . Listen you [ bleep ], were going to tax you 25 . Does President Trump think that he has played any role in the course setting of our National Discourse . No. He doesnt . People can be coarse as this member of congress was. I was glad to see some of my former democrat colleagues distance themselves from that kind of language. The president does use coarse language in private with us. Those were public. I recognize that. I dont think anybody blames the president for the coarsening of the language of the you dont think anybody in the country blames the president . You probably do but theres more important thingses too who is coarsening language. I want to ask you about something the president said. He defended of the 1979 invasion of the soviet union in a cabinet meeting. The Editorial Board said we cannot recall a more absurd statement of history by an american president. As you know, the soviet union did not invade afghanistan because terrorists from afghanistan were attacking the soviet union, and it is not necessarily considered by americans or even the soviets, now russians, certainly not the afghans, a good thing that they did so. Where did he get that idea from . I think that idea is borne out of frustration. This ties into the comments and discussions you and i have had about syria as well which is the president promised that he would have a different middle eastern foreign policy. Hes just very frustraited with the slow progress. I think one of the challenges previous chiefs of staff, especially for this president. Not just for this president , but especially for this president , is controlling the flow of information and making sure that the information that gets to the resolute desk is accurate and is the best information. I know that outgoing or gone chief of staff john kelly, that was something he put a lot of effort into. Making sure the Bad Information did not get to President Trump and good information did. This is a challenge because this president gets a lot of information from a lot of people, and some of them might be giving him Bad Information, especially when it comes to the soviet union, now russia. How do you plan on handling that . The president gets the best information thats available. He just does. He has the and a lot of other stuff. The full Assets Available to the federal government when it comes to information. I can assure you ive been involved in discussions on these matters and other matters, and the president gets the very best information. He may not make a decision that agrees with some of his advisers. Ive disagreed with him from time to time. He and i have many fun discussions about the budget, for example. But he is still getting the best information about what it means to make certain decisions. The consequences of certain decisions and the fact he makes a decision that may be different than his advisers doesnt mean hes getting Bad Information. It means hes relying on other information that others of his advisers are giving him. Im not talking about the decisions. Im not taking issue with the decisions. Im taking issue with bad facts, information thats incorrect such as why the soviet union went into afghanistan. And im wondering if you are at all concerned that there is a campaign to get Bad Information to President Trump. Without giving away too many inside secrets, i have been the acting chief of staff now about four days, but john kelly and i also worked in cooperation with each other for the last two weeks before the beginning of the year. And i have seen every single piece of information that goes on to the resolute desk. Ive seen every single piece of information that goes to the residence at night, and i have not seen anything objectionable. You know its not true that the soviet union didnt invade afghanistan because of terrorist attacks on the soviet union, and they it was nod a good thing that they went in there, right . I think those are comments the president made borne out of frustration for where we are. Im not too concerned about the details. What do you think will be the biggest challenge for you as the acting chief of staff for President Trump . I havent found any yet. Its actually been a lot of fun. You havent found any challenges . People keep asking me. I dont know whether to congratulate you or console you . Its actually a lot of fun. This is probably the best job that many in the white house are ever going to have. Working in the white house is a tremendous privilege and tremendous opportunity. If you do it properly it can be a lot of fun. One thing i learned i talked to james baker. He and i have developed a friendship. His grandson worked for me at omb. I called him and said, secretary baker, do you have any advice . Yeah, just remember youre the chief of the staff, not the chief of the president. Your not going to change the president of the United States. None of us ever were able to do that, nor do we want to do that. The question is, how do you make the staff make the president successful . Thats a challenge, but its one of those fun challenges that you look forward to in your career. Its been a great couple of weeks on the job, and im looking forward to it. You and the president have had some disagreements twh s wh comes to the budget. S