Good monday afternoon. The president of the United States says he never worked for russia. An extraordinary statement from an american president. The denial comes after reports in the New York Times and in the Washington Post. The times reports that the fbi actually investigated whether President Trump was secretly working on behalf of the kremlin. Today the president pushed back. I never worked for russia. You know that answer better than anybody. I never worked for russia. Not only did i never work for russia, i think its a disgrace that you even ask that question. Because its a whole big fat hoax. The Washington Post reporting that President Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal his closeddoor conversations with Vladimir Putin. According to the reporting of the post, the president took away the interpreters notes and told him do not discuss what was said, even with senior u. S. Officials. So nobody has a direct recount of what happened in that meeting. The white house suggesting the president was trying to prevent leaks. Democrats now control the house. They have the power to investigate, which they are. The new democratic chairman of the house intelligence committee, adam schiff is talking about possibly having President Trumps interpreter testify on capitol hill. All of this is threatening to overshadow the i dont know going government shut down, now the longest in the nations history and with no deal in sight to end it. John roberts reporting live from the north lawn. Dana the president responded to this report with judge janine in which the president told her that the question was the most ludicrous then he was ever asked. He didnt deny it. He said. So today the president denied it pointing to the people in charge of the investigation at the time that that inquiry was launched, people like andrew mccabe, peter strzok, bruce ohr and others. Listen to what the president said. I guess they started it because i fired comey, which was a great thing i did for our country. So the people doing that investigation were people that have been caught that are known scoundrels. I guess you could say theyre dirty cops. According to texas congressman John Radcliff whose questioning of james baker uncovered the fact that there was an inquiry going on, at that time according to radcliff, political bias had infected senior fbi leadership and emotion not evidence was driving their decision making. Some democrats say the revelation that the fbi even opened an inquiry to what the president might have been up to at the time, potentially engaged in unamerican activities according to fbi officials on behalf of russia was a good reason to keep the Mueller Investigation going to its large call conclusion. Listen to chris coons here. Theres been a confusing and at times alarming tendency on the part of President Trump to compliment president but that has led many of us to question his close enough to president putin. Lets go to the Washington Post report about the president going to extraordinary lengths to keep the details of his facetoface meetings with president Vladimir Putin away from the eyes of other Senior Administration officials. The president in the south lawn said look, i had these bilateral meetings all the time, this is no different. We should point out too, it was president just President Trump and president putin and their interpreter, Sergey Lavrov was there and so was Rex Tillerson who was secretary of state at the time. Rex tillerson certainly has not been shy as of late in his criticism of President Trump. So far he has not said that anything was amiss during that july 2017 meeting in hamburg with Vladimir Putin. Shep . Shepard john, give us an update on what the president said about the shut down. Doesnt look like its any closer ending today than last week. The president addressing the farm bureau in new orleans a few minutes ago. He said that he is not about to back down. Listen here. When it comes to keeping the American People safe, i will never ever back down. I didnt need this fight. This is a rough fight. Were dealing against people that think that if they can stop me from building the wall again, weve done a lot of work, but they think thats a good thing for 2020. Because theyre not going to win. The president spent the weekend talking with republican lawmakers trying to make sure none of them go squishy on this. The president believes the longer this goes on, democrats will eventually cave from the pressure. A new abc post poll shows that opposition to the border wall is beginning to erode somewhat. Other polls show the president is getting the blame for the shut down. The president also said this morning as he was leaving the white house that he has shelved the idea for the time being of declaring a National Energy to build the wall. Listen here. Im not looking to call a National Energy. This is so simple, we shouldnt have to. Now, i have the absolute legal right to call it. But im not looking to do that because this is too simple. The democrats say we want Border Security, we have to build a wall. Otherwise you cant have Border Security and we should get on with our lives. After saying publicly in the oval office with Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi that he would accept blame for a government shut down, the president pinning the blame for federal employees not getting their paychecks on the democrats so far no indication whatsoever that the democrats are feeling any kind of heat and are getting ready to cave. Shep . John roberts live on the lawn. Thanks. Lets check in on congress. Theyre back to work now. Our senior producer is chad pergram. Chad, has anybody there noted Movement Toward the possibility of some sort of agreement that might reopen the government . None at all, shep. Thats what is so unique here. Usually when we get in these situations, theres a lot of back room dealing, weekend sessions, trading paper. None of that. I talked too old time capitol hill hands here that are confounded by that. They have never seen a situation that you have a crisis that goes on as long as this one has and no true negotiations. Thats a problem here on capitol hill. Its strange. I talked to one senior republican congressman that said that they thought things would get worse before they get better. Bennie thompson is the chairman of the House Homeland Security committee, democratic from mississippi. Hes put out a statement about savation security and the long lines at the airport. Thompson says it could have a negative impact on aviation security. In other words, if they dont start to work this out. This is a real problem, shep, when theyre not talking. J. F. K. In his inauguration speech said you shouldnt be afraid to negotiate. They cant get to any resolution, any compromise if theyre not negotiating, shep. Shepard anything from the Senate Majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell . Hes the one in the past that has said i get you out of shut downs. Any luck . Thats what people have been confounded by here. Mitch mcconnell is one of those folks that has this really good inside game. Hes good working out deals with the other side. He has virtually fallen silent. Hes been very critical of the democrats here. But he hasnt taken some of these bills that the house of representatives passed last week. In another universe he might say lets try to amend the bills and get to 60 votes to clear a filibuster on a closure vote or Something Like that. Thats not happened. Heres the other problem for the United States senate. Tomorrow, william barr has his first confirmation hearings. A couple days there. We dont see the senate moving at all. Theyre going to take a procedural vote for a third time this afternoon just to get on to a bill that deals with supporting israel and trying to sanction syria. It failed on two different occasions last week. They cant even get on the bill. They need 60 votes. We expect a similar vote later today. Thats because nobody is willing to deal on the government shut down. Shepard wow. Thanks very much. I appreciate it, chad. As always. President trumps pick to lead the Justice Department is about to get a grilling. Senators are set to ask the attorney general nominee, william barr a lot of questions at his confirmation hearing that begins tomorrow. As it turns out, we already know the first things hes going to say, including what he will do about the Mueller Investigation. Thats coming up as reporting continues on this monday afternoon. 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So you wake up ready to train for that marathon. Save up to 500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. Only for a limited time. Shepard the president s pick for attorney general, william barr, says its vitally important that Robert Mueller be allowed to finish his investigation in russian interference and the results should be public. Thats according to prepared testimony released before his confirmation hearing starts tomorrow. Democrats expect to question barr about a memo that he sent last year in which he criticized the special counsels investigation. Catherine herridge reporting live from washington. In these prepared remarks, the president s nominee to attorney general says hes planning to make the report public. My goal will to provide as much transparency as i can. I will make the judgments based on the law and will let no personal, political or other interests influence my decision. As noted last week, he was on capitol hill to press for the confirmation hearings and barr was pressed on how he will handle the special counsels report after he sent this memo to the Deputy Attorney general concluding any obstruction case by the special counsel targeting the president was not legal. Heres senate democrat, chris coons. I asked about his intentions to recuse himself or seek an opinion from the ethics counsel from the department of justice and whether he would follow that regardless of the advice or outcome. Lindsey graham said hes had assurances from barr about the special counsel among other issues. Are you committed to making sure mr. Mueller can finish his job . Yes. When the report is handed over to you, what will you do with it . Go through the process of what i can share with the congress and the public bearing on the side of transparency. The hearings start early tomorrow morning and scheduled over two days, shep. Shepard and questioning to go beyond the special counsel. In a statement, the aclu told fox news they believe barr laid the foundation for government surveillance programs and they want senators to press the nominee for his position on war rentless surveillance and mass Data Collection programs. They have to question him on his power, what he thinks the limits of the president s power are and how he will defend the fourth amendment. Whether he will scale back surveillance programs that we know and raise privacy concerns. The aclu says that the dea began mass Data Collections on barrs watch as attorney general, shep. Shepard Catherine Herridge live on capitol hill. Action against iran . Ahead, what President Trumps Team Reportedly requested and how the pentagon responded. Plus, the secretary of state mike pompeo meeting with the saudi leader accused of ordering the killing of jamal khaishoggi. What went down there when secretary pompeo spoke with the crown prince. Thats coming up. 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Shepard were learning that pentagon officials were shocked when President Trumps National Security team asked them to come up with options for a military strike against iran. Thats what former u. S. National security official told fox news. The wall street journal first reported this development. The Parent Companies of the journal and fox news share common ownership. Pentagon officials pushed back on the president s peoples request and expressed concern that a military strike could lead to an allout war with iran. They did provide military options as requested to the National Security counsel. Jennifer griffin reporting live from her post at the pentagon. Shep, according to a former u. S. National security official that i spoke to today, National Security adviser john bolton and his deputy told the pentagon to come up with military options to strike i ran after shiia malitias fired three mortars near the embassy. The malitias fired on the u. S. Consulate in basra forcing the u. S. Consulate there to close temporarily, shep. Shepard what else have we heard from the pentagon on this . According to a senior former u. S. Defense initial with knowledge of the preparations, the pentagon was asked to prepare to strike iran. The department was concerned im told that one senior participant in the National Security counsel deputys meeting was shocked and dismayed by the request. Jim mattis joined by secretary of state mike pompeo resisted the request and prevailed. The pentagon did provide military options to the National Security counsel but mattis tried to manage expectations as to what they would entail. Officially this is the Statement Released by pentagon spokesmanker no rob manning today. The department of defense is a Planning Organization and provides the president military options for a variety of threats, routinely reviewing and updating plans to deal with a host of threats including those posed by iran and to defer and if necessary to respond to aggre