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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Day Three Of Government Shutdown, Text Messages Between FBI Agents Now In The Hands Of Government, Highway 101 In Santa Barbara County, California Reopened, Women's Marches Largest Taking Place In Cities Around The Nation, Women Taking Center Stage At This Year's Screen Actors Guild Awards, Philadelphia Eagles punching their ticket to Super Bowl 52 with a 38 to 7 mauling of the Minnesota Vikings, Tokyo Conducting The City's First Missile Evacuation Drill. Aired: 3- 4a ET
Aired January 22, 2018 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
MITCH MCCONNELL, SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: It would be my intention to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. It would be my intention to proceed with legislation that would address this DACA.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, ANCHOR, EARLY START: The Senate Majority Leader intends to address immigration reform but is that enough for Democrats to back a spending plan bill for the government if time permits. We'll find out at noon today.
Entering day three of the government shutdown. Good morning, everyone, welcome to "Early Start." I am Christine Romans.
DAVE BRIGGS, ANCHOR, EARLY START: Inspiring, isn't it? I am Dave Briggs. Monday, January 22nd, 3AM in the East. The Super Bowl is all set. We'll get into that shortly, I do hope.
We'll talk some football, but we'll start with the government shutdown entering, yes, day three and as Christine said, at noon today in the Senate, a key vote on the measure to reopen the federal government through February 8 due to this deal last night, Republican leader Mitch McConnell's intention to take up a bill that would extend protections for Dreamers. Those immigrants brought into the US illegally as children.
Republicans hope McConnell's promise will lure enough Democrats to turn the government's lights back on.
ROMANS: But overnight, two Democratic sources told CNN they expect today's vote to fall short. A top aide said McConnell's commitment are just not firm enough. And a Republican source tells CNN, McConnell made no promises. The House will take up whatever the Senate passes. Still, there is some optimism in the GOP.
The number two Senate Republican, John Cornyn says, "It is better to have a successful vote today than a failed vote overnight."
BRIGGS: A senior Republican aide says leaders think they have a shot at picking off enough Democrats to move forward. The aide is saying this is they're offering. Let's bring in Ryan Nobles with the latest from Capitol Hill.
RYAN NOBLES, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Dave and Christine, good morning from Capitol Hill where it turned out to be a much earlier night than anyone expected, but that isn't because a grand bargain was struck between Republicans and Democrats.
No, they just extended this debate for a little bit longer hoping that noon today, Eastern time will be the opportunity for a great breakthrough and that the government will finally be open. This is what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor late last night.
(START VIDEOCLIP)
MCCONNELL: It would be my intention to resolve these issues as quickly as possible so that we can move on to other business that is important to our country.
Assuming that the government remains open, it would be my intention to proceed with legislation that would address DACA, border security and related issues.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
NOBLES: But McConnell's olive branch not quite enough for Democrats last night as they decided not to vote on that measure and instead give their members some time to sleep on the issue. There appears to be an issue of trust right now between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats are insistent that a vote on immigration and in particular, protection for the Dreamers comes up before the next continuing resolution deadline, which is now set at February 8th.
But regardless of the back-and-forth between Republicans and Democrats here on Capitol Hill, there is a stark reality for the hundreds and thousands of federal workers across the country. They don't have to go into work today. That means that they will lose a paycheck for today because the government remains shut down. Many of them waiting on edge to see whether or not Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer can set aside their differences and cast a vote that will reopen the federal government. We'll have to see what happens later today.
Christine and Dave, back to you.
ROMANS: Yes, now it is a regular workday. A regular work week begins for those government workers, so now, it will really start to be evident what's happening here for real people.
Two Republican Senators who broke from their party on Friday night are now back in the fold. Arizona's Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, agreeing to vote yes on the stopgap funding bill known as the continuing resolution.
Flake and Graham have been key participants in negotiations with Democrats and they believe the White House has not done enough to strike a deal here.
(START VIDEOCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, do you really think you can come up with an agreement by the 8th?
JEFF FLAKE, US SENATOR, ARIZONA, REPUBLICAN: I don't know. I mean, I hope we can, but I am doubting it because that relies on the White House to actually work with us on this. We haven't seen that yet.
LINDSEY GRAHAM, US SENATOR, SOUTH CAROLINA, REPUBLICAN: The White House staff, I think is making it very difficult. And I have talked with the President and his heart is right on this issue. I think he's got a good understanding of what will sell and every time we have a proposal that is only yanked back by staff members.
As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we're going nowhere. He's been an outlier for years.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
NOBLES: Poignant words there. The White House using the Senator's own words to defend Miller and attack Graham saying, "As long as Senator Graham chooses to support legislation that sides with people in this country illegally, we're going nowhere. He's been an outlier for years." This is intraparty fighting here, folks.
ROMANS: That's right. Overnight, the White House kept the pressure up on Democrats, "Democrats can't shut down the booming Trump economy. So, they shut down the government instead. The President's..."
[03:05:00]
ROMANS: "...position is clear, we will not negotiate on the status of unlawful immigrants while the Democrats hold our government and our military hostage."
BRIGGS: Earlier, President Trump tweeted, "If stalemate continues, Republicans should go to 51 percent changing to a simple majority vote known as the nuclear option." We've heard this from Trump before.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate Republican Congress does not support changing the 60-vote threshold to end the filibuster. We've heard that before from Mitch McConnell," We are not changing the Senate rules. That's who we are as a body."
He has said it repeatedly.
ROMANS: All right, helping us breakdown this shut down this morning, "Washington Examiner" commentary writer Philip Wegmann, good morning. Bright and early, and now we're heading into Day Three of a government shutdown. You heard that Lindsey Graham sound bite. I thought that was so fascinating how he said, "Look, the President is surrounded by ideologues who couldn't get 60 votes, who have outlier positions. They couldn't get 60 votes." Is that what the problem is here that the President is signaling to Lindsey Graham and others that he wants -- a bill of hearts as we heard or a bill of love as we heard just a couple of weeks ago.
The people close to him who helped him get elected on restrictionist immigration policies have his ear.
PHILIP WEGMANN, COMMENTARY WRITER, WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Well, I think what we're seeing right now is that you have Lindsey Graham who is on one side of the party and then you have President Trump who is appealing back to the base that got him into the White House.
Lindsey Graham is asking him to do something that is more extreme of a concession than Barack Obama would have had to made to Ted Cruz in 2013. So, the idea that that somehow, you know, the President is being, you know, off base here is, I think, frankly ridiculous and should be dismissed out of hand here.
I think what's happening instead is you see Republicans thinking to themselves, "Wait a minute, we were ready to do a continuing resolution that Democrats didn't oppose." Anything of substance within and now, at the last minute, they are asking for DACA.
So, it's going to be very confusing. We're going into the third day and we're going to see how this ends up here in nine hours.
BRIGGS: Yes, but really it's kind of day one, I think for a lot of Americans. The weekend, everybody's out with their families doing stuff. Now, it feels real. The pain starts to be real. Things start to close down.
How is this playing do you think publicly for Democrats who have this March 5th deadline for Dreamers? They are shutting the government down whether you like it or not. How's it playing for them?
WEGMANN: Well, I'm starting to wonder what Nancy Pelosi ever did to Chuck Schumer because late last night, there was that CNN poll which showed that on the generic congressional ballot, Democrats lost their double-digit lead.
Now, they are there up to a, I think, a 5 percent lead against Republicans going into 2018. So, this thing is definitely not trending in the direction the Democrats wanted to go and the longer that -- you know, the longer that the government stays shut down, I think the worst that is for some of these Democrats who are hoping to retake the House, and then also hoping to hold on to their seat in the Senate.
ROMANS: You know, it's so interesting all weekend, it was all about the blame, the blame, the blame, the blame. I think Dave is right that this is the first day that people will feel the effects of a shutdown and I don't know that blame message, whose fault it is -- is going to resonate as much as just do your job.
I mean, it is the number one job of Congress to have the government open and...
BRIGGS: And we're not even talking about a long-term funding deal. That not even on the table here. ROMANS: Right, right. It's sort of ridiculous at its face.
WEGMANN: But we're talking about, you know, weeks, you know, this is not long term like you mentioned.
I mean, everyone else who doesn't get a government paycheck, they are showing up to work today, so it seems like why can't Congress get this right?
But you're absolutely correct when you say you know, all of the pointing fingers, that has been going on over the weekend and now, the rubber finally meets the road because people aren't going to be going to work today, if they are federal employees and the branding battle, whether this is the Schumer shutdown or the Trump shutdown, whoever wins this, whoever finally hammers out a deal and turns the government back on, I think that they are going to be able to say authoritatively that they are the adults in the room.
BRIGGS: Literally, we're battling over hashtags though.
ROMANS: Right.
BRIGGS: I mean, they are counting the number of tweets and suggesting public sentiment is either on or against them.
ROMANS: You just wait...
BRIGGS: That is leadership, friends.
ROMANS: ... until hundreds of thousands of Americans are calling the IRS to try to figure out something about their W-2's or their taxes or something, right? But we are at the moment of implementing the President's big tax win, but service is closed except for essential services.
BRIGGS: But you mention the President, Philip, and what is the President's role in all this. This is clearly a choice the Democrats have made, but this President was elected on draining the swamp, on cutting deals. He is doing neither. What's his role been here?
WEGMANN: Well, the President has been all over the place. Frankly, we saw some of these tweets where he is talking about you know, using the nuclear option, returning the Senate to a simple majority...
[03:10:00]
WEGMANN: ... rather than the 60-vote threshold that it has always had and that is very unhelpful for two reasons. The first is that that is not what is being debated currently and every time he talks about parliamentary reform, something that everybody is super excited about, he takes interest away from the actual topic at hand.
And then second, what goes around comes around for crying out loud and if the President you know, does away with the nuclear option, if he forces Mitch McConnell into making that decision, well come 2018, if you know, for some reason Republicans don't hold onto their majority, he is going to have a really tough time when Democrats are in control.
So, this is unhelpful. The President needs to get on message.
BRIGGS: All right, Philip Wegmann, "Washington Examiner." We'll talk to you again in about 30 minutes. Perhaps, a breakthrough in the next 30 minutes.
WEGMANN: Don't hold your breath. Not yet. All right, thanks too.
BRIGGS: Okay, government shutdown will inflict a lot of pain to Christine's point, if it lingers. Some of the long-term operations to help victims of hurricanes and wildfires and mudslides -- that'll be all put on hold. NASA estimates more than 17,000 employees will be furloughed. Those working on experiments will have to abandon them after the government reopens in many cases, that means starting over.
ROMANS: The United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado announcing the cancellation of all sporting events. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expected to furlough 61 percent of its staff in the midst of a deadly influenza outbreak across the United States. The CDC says it plans to continue its immediate response to urgent disease outbreaks.
BRIGGS: States are doing what they can to deal with the shutdown. Officials in New York announcing Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty will stay open on the state's dime under an agreement with the Interior Department.
Also, the state of Arizona stepping in to keep the Grand Canyon open as well.
ROMANS: You know, you have to get tickets for the Statue of Liberty crown like sometimes months in advance.
BRIGGS: Yes, that would be...
ROMANS: So, you have these people who have planned on that.
BRIGGS: They have traveled here for that.
ROMANS: And then it's shut -- also, in terms of military, we're told the reserves, anybody who does, you know, training for the reserves, those will have to be cancelled.
I mean, the longer it lasts, the more profound the effect. A short- term shutdown is not the end of the world. More than a few days, it becomes a problem.
BRIGGS: It does one thing right and that was get the Air Force network, Armed Forces network back on so they could see football. I mean, that was a big deal for troops. Huge deal.
ROMANS: Speaking of football, that was the best three hours of my day yesterday, Super Bowl 52 is set.
BRIGGS: For most of us. ROMANS: The Eagles and Patriots will play for the Lombardi trophy.
How each team punch their ticket, next.
[03:15:00]
BRIGGS: At 3:16 Eastern time, hundreds more of those text messages that Republican say prove the Mueller probe is tainted, now in the hands of lawmakers.
Nearly 400 pages of text between two top FBI officials delivered to Capitol Hill on Friday. White House allies say the messages show that some FBI staffers working on the Russia investigation are biased against the President.
ROMANS: In one exchange from February 2016, FBI lawyer, Lisa Page calls it, "Unbelievable. Trump would win the GOP nomination." Counterintelligence expert Peter Strzok, who led the Clinton e-mail investigation responds, "Now, the pressure really starts to finish the Clinton probe."
The first batch of texts included insults targeting both Democrats and Republicans.
BRIGGS: House conservatives demanding the release of a classified memo spearheaded by Congressman Devin Nunes that is critical of the FBI's conduct during the 2016 election.
The memo can now be viewed by all House members after a vote in the Intel panel along party lines. The memo is said to contain details of alleged missteps by FBI and Justice Department in their use of FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
ROMANS: Democrats claim the hastily prepared memo present a skewed version of events, insisting it is an attempt to torpedo Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation has conservatives who have reviewed this report, say they believe it contains evidence of widespread FBI abuse.
BRIGGS: Twelve days after deadly mudslide shut it down, Highway 101 in Santa Barbara County, California was reopened. Traffic starting to flow again shortly after noon on Sunday.
At least 21 people were killed hundreds of homes destroyed or damaged in the mudslides that followed the deadly wildfires. The body of the latest victim discovered just two days ago.
ROMANS: Dozens of women's marches largest taking place in cities around the nation. It seems playing out from the West Coast to the east. Demonstrators calling for women's rights and equality and urging people to vote in this year's midterm elections.
Sunday was the official anniversary of last year's women's march in Washington. That's when hundreds of thousands of women wearing pink hats flooded the streets of Washington in a remarkable display of resistance to President Trump.
Huge numbers of activists also gathered in cities across Europe, including London and Rome.
BRIGGS: Women taking center stage at this year's Screen Actors Guild awards. The show, featuring nearly all female presenters. Kristen Bell became the first person, man or woman to host the SAG awards in the ceremony's 24-year un-hosted history.
As for the winners, the dark comedy "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" taking home three trophies, including the top prize.
ROMANS: Among the major TV categories, the HBO limited series, "Big Little Lies" -- gosh, that was a great, great show, snatched a couple of wins for Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgard. "Veep" took home Best Cast in a Comedy and "This is Us" won as Outstanding Drama Ensemble. I know you love that one.
BRIGGS: Oh, he's great.
ROMANS: One of the show's stars, Sterling K. Brown became the first African-American actor to win for Male Actor in a Drama. He's just terrific in that series, and then Julia Louis-Dreyfus snagged two wins and so she broke the record...
[03:45:00]
ROMANS: ... for the most SAG honors for a single actor. She now has nine SAG statuettes and she wasn't there last night, right, she was home your PJs...
(CROSSTALK)
BRIGGS: Is that right? No, I did not realize that.
ROMANS: ... because she's recovering from breast cancer treatment.
BRIGGS: That's right. We saw that wonderful video for kids singing to her on Instagram about a week ago.
ROMANS: Lip syncing to "Beat it."
BRIGGS: All right, to sports. The Philadelphia Eagles punching their ticket to Super Bowl 52 with a mauling of the Vikings, 38 to 7, now face the defending champion...
[03:20:00]
BRIGGS: ... New England Patriots. First quarter of the NFC title game, the Eagles defense making a statement early time to score at seven, seven on a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown by Patrick Robinson and check out this return and that block. The key right there shifting the momentum in the Eagles favor. Their offense, steam rolling the top rank Vikings defense, lifting Philly to its Super Bowl in franchise history. The Eagles have never won though the big game...
ROMANS: Really? BRIGGS: Lagarrett Blount plowing through their earlier Sunday, though
it was vintage Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The quarterback unfazed by a stitched up throwing hand throwing two fourth quarter touchdown passes to Danny Amendola to lift New England to a 24-20 comeback win over the Jags, the eighth Super Bowl appearance for Brady and Belichick who have teamed up to win times.
Look at that grab by Danny Amendola. You just had a sense in this game that no matter how much Jacksonville controlled it, you just knew Brady would do this.
ROMANS: I didn't know. I was really nervous for him because...
BRIGGS: Oh yes?
ROMANS: Yes, because you know, it looked -- that quarterback for Jacksonville was so good.
BRIGGS: Blake Bortles was fantastic.
ROMANS: And I just -- I felt so bad for him at the end of the game because he and Tom Brady were such great quarterback to that game, but it just felt slightly short.
BRIGGS: I am happy to hear you watching an entire NFL football game.
ROMANS: Well, it didn't start at 7:30 at night, so I could do it.
BRIGGS: The NRC is a tough one. All right, a live missile drill on a part of Japan, how to play out in real time. CNN's Will Ripley, live in Tokyo with the report next on "Early Start."
[03:25:00]
ROMANS: All right, welcome back, 25 minutes past the hour, everyone. Government officials in Tokyo conducting the city's first missile evacuation drill to counter the nuclear threat from North Korea.
Hundreds of volunteers rushing for cover inside buildings and the underground after a siren signaled an approaching simulated ballistic missile. The drill taking place in the heart of the city.
CNN's Will Ripley live from Tokyo with details. I mean, just even a run through just shows how terrifying and real the possibility of a conflict.
WILL RIPLEY, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: It is the nightmare scenario for Japan, Christine to have a North Korean missile -- an armed missile approaching a metropolitan area like Tokyo. Thirty-five million people live in the greater Tokyo area and there have been so many missile drills in Japan over the last year.
They have actually been much more common than this rare snow that we are seeing here in the Japanese capital. However, this is the first time they've actually done it in a large city like Tokyo. They also did one in the Japanese city of Fukuoka, but the reason why they haven't done them in these large cities is because of the logistics. They had 600 people involved. They had to close down certain areas of the city.
You heard the alarms. People got these messages on their phones called J-alerts telling them that they needed to take cover and so, we saw people basically running into subway stations or moving to more secure areas of concrete buildings.
This is a country that endures many kinds of natural disasters. They are used to earthquake drills. They are used to tsunami drills, but never since World War II. Since World War II, more than 70 years ago have Japanese citizens had to prepare for the possibility of being bombed.
And of course, North Korea at the center of all this. They have a team right now on the ground in South Korea, led by the way, by the lead singer of North Korea's version of the Spice Girls, the Moranbong Band, they are going to be expecting the concert venues for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, those inspections happening tomorrow, Christine.
ROMANS: All right, Will Ripley for us in the beautiful snowy evening in Tokyo. Thank you so much for that, Will.
BRIGGS: PyeongChang needs some of that snow for the Winter Olympics.
All right, the Senate Republican leader says his intention is to take up immigration if the Democrats helps reopen the government. Is that enough though to sway the skeptical Democrats. A key vote later today. We'll discuss.
[03:30:00]
MCCONNELL: It would be my intention to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. It would be my intention to proceed with legislation that would address DACA.
BRIGGS: Senate Majority Leader intends to address immigration reform but is that enough for Democrats to back his spending plan that will reopen the government? Signs are mixed. We'll find out at noon today.
Welcome back to "Early Start" on a shutdown Monday. I am Dave Briggs.
ROMANS: Yes, entering Day 3 here, folks, I am Christine Romans. It's 31 minutes past the hour. The government shutdown now, first working business day of the week, at noon today, in the Senate, a key vote on a measure to reopen the federal government through February 8th.
New to this deal last night, Republican leader Mitch McConnell's intention to take up a bill that would extend protections for Dreamers. Immigrants brought to the US illegally as children.
Republicans hope McConnell's promise will lure enough Democrats to turn the government's lights back on. BRIGGS: Yes, but overnight, two Democratic sources told CNN, they
expect today's vote to fall short. A top aide said McConnell's commitments are just not firm enough and a Republican source tells CNN McConnell made no promises the House will take up whatever the Senate passes. Still there is some optimism in the GOP.
The number two Senate Republican, John Cornyn says it is better to have a successful vote today than a failed vote overnight.
ROMANS: A senior Republican aide says leaders think they have a shot at picking off enough Democrats to move forward. The aide says this is their offramp.
Let's bring in Ryan Nobles who has got the very latest from Capitol Hill.
NOBLES: Dave and Christine, good morning from Capitol Hill where it turned out to be a much earlier night than anyone expected, but that isn't because a grand bargain was struck between Republicans and Democrats.
No, they just extended this debate for a little bit longer hoping that noon today, Eastern time will be the opportunity for a great breakthrough and that the government will finally be open. This is what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor late last night.
(START VIDEOCLIP)
MCCONNELL: It would be my intention to resolve these issues as quickly as possible so that we can move on to other business that is important to our country.
Assuming that the government remains open, it would be my intention to proceed with legislation that would address DACA, border security and related issues.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
NOBLES: But McConnell's olive branch not quite enough for Democrats last night as they decided not to vote on that measure and instead give their members some time to sleep on the issue. There appears to be an issue of trust right now between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats are insistent that a vote on immigration and in particular, protection for the Dreamers comes up before the next continuing resolution deadline, which is now set at February 8th.
But regardless of the back-and-forth between Republicans and Democrats here on Capitol Hill, there is a stark reality for the hundreds and thousands of federal workers across the country. They don't have to go into work today. That means that they will lose a paycheck for today because the government remains shut down. Many of them waiting on edge to see whether or not Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer can set aside their differences and cast a vote that will reopen the federal government. We'll have to see what happens later today.
Christine and Dave, back to you.
BRIGGS: Well, indeed. Thank you, Ryan. Two Republican senators who broke from their party on Friday night, now back in the fold. Arizona's Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina agreed to vote yes on the stopgap funding bill known as a continuing resolution.
Flake and Graham have been key participants in negotiations with the Democrats and they believe the White House has not done enough to strike a deal here.
(START VIDEOCLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, do you really think you can come up with an agreement by the 8th?
FLAKE: I don't know. I mean, I hope we can, but I am doubting it because that relies on the White House to actually work with us on this. We haven't seen that yet.
GRAHAM: The White House staff, I think is making it very difficult. And I have talked with the President and his heart is right on this issue. I think he's got a good understanding of what will sell and every time we have a proposal that is only yanked back by staff members.
As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we're going nowhere. He's been an outlier for years.
(END VIDEOCLIP)
ROMANS: The White House using the Senator's own words to defend Miller and attack Senator Graham saying, "As long as Senator Graham chooses to support legislation that sides with people in this country illegally, we're going nowhere. He's been an..."
[03:35:00]
ROMANS: "... outlier for years."
BRIGGS: Overnight, the White House kept up the pressure up on Democrats, "Democrats can't shut down the booming Trump economy. So, they shut down the government instead. The President's position is clear, we will not negotiate on the status of unlawful immigrants while the Democrats hold our government and our military hostage."
ROMANS: Earlier, President Trump tweeted, "If stalemate continues, Republicans should go to 51 percent changing to a simple majority vote known as the nuclear option."
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate Republican Congress does not support changing the 60-vote threshold to end the filibuster.
BRIGGS: And helping us break it down this morning, "Washington Examiner" commentary writer Philip Wegmann.
ROMANS: Good morning. BRIGGS: I don't know if it's evening or morning, whatever it is,
but...
ROMANS: It's shutdown...
BRIGGS: ... thank you for being here. Yes, and you are not shut down. All right here we go. Noon, is the big vote, any sense we're going to reopen the government today?
WEGMANN: Well, I said a moment ago, I think that you are absolutely right. We have lost all track of time. It's not clear whether it's you know, morning or evening or night because negotiations are going anywhere right now.
The one thing that I think that we need to point out though is that this is an emperor has no clothes situation and the press has no credibility if we don't point out that right now Democrats are asking for even more than Ted Cruz dared for in 2013.
So, the last that they are asking for a DACA deal here even though Republicans have made clear that they're willing to deal with that issue in March. Right now, we just need to see where all the blame is going to end up.
ROMANS: And it has been a weekend of blame. In fact, when you call the White House -- the public comment line at the White House. This is what you hear, listen.
(VIDEOCLIP STARTS)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you for calling the White House. Unfortunately, we cannot answer your call today because Congressional Democrats are holding government funding including funding for our troops and other national security priorities hostage to an unrelated immigration debate.
Due to this obstruction, the government is shut down.
(VIDEOCLIP ENDS)
ROMANS: I guess is jury is out on who will ultimately get the blame, right? I mean, in 2013...
BRIGGS: That's unusual. That is very unusual. That is more like the RNC though, isn't it Philip?
ROMANS: I remember the Super pack at?
BRIGGS: Yes.
WEGMANN: Yes, that's not something that you expect when you call your elected representatives, much less the White House.
ROMANS: The people we vote.
WEGMANN: Absolutely, so is an aggressive move. You know, the White House is not pulling any punches here, but we know we talked about this earlier in the hour.
The branding battle whether it is going to be the Trump shutdown or the Schumer shutdown, the only thing that matters is how this end because the person who comes to the table hammers out the deal. They are going to be the one that voters look to as the adult in the room come the midterm elections.
BRIGGS: Yes, and look Democrats are choosing to draw their line in the sand, but there is no trust here. If this is going be based on trust, we will not have a deal.
Here's what Chuck Schumer, the Minority Leader says about where they are at this point.
(START VIDEOCLIP)
CHUCK SCHUMER, SENATE MINORITY LEADER: The bottom line is this, it would be hard to imagine a much more reasonable compromise.
I was in principle agreeing to help the President to get his signature campaign promise, something Democrats and Republicans on the Hill staunchly oppose in exchange for DACA, a group of people, the President said he has great love for.
I essentially agreed to give the President something he has said he wants in exchange for something we both want.
(VIDEOCLIP ENDS)
ROMANS: He is talking about the border wall? Money for the border wall?
BRIGGS: Gave them the wall. That's what Democrats are saying. The President not being clear to either side. His own party has said, "We have no idea what the President wants to sign." What about that piotn from Chuck Schumer?
WEGMANN: Well, first of all, that's what Senate Democrats are saying. If you ask Nancy Pelosi whether or not she's on board with this sort of you know, DACA for wall funding in this CR that $20 billion that was talked about. She responded to reporters over the weekend and she was just completely incredulous.
So, first of all, there is that. Chuck Schumer can only speak for himself. Second of all, you know, the President definitely needs to figure out what his message is in all of this.
Over the weekend, he was talking about parliamentary procedure and ending the filibuster in the Senate. So, the President himself needs to be clear about what his priorities are because going into the shutdown at noon, battle lines are drawn, but it's still unclear where the White House is.
ROMANS: If you were a betting man, would you say the President goes to Davos to rub elbows with the very people who he campaigned against? The global elites? Or do you think he stays home and deals with this? WEGMANN: Well, I think that this is definitely the big obstacle, the
big challenge of his presidency so far, not certain whether or not this is going to change travel plans.
Like you said a second ago, the President campaigned against rubbing elbows with global elites like those at Davos, so this doesn't look good for the President currently, but at the same time, it doesn't look good for Democrats because this is hurting House Democrats...
[03:40:00]
WEGMANN: ... we saw in the CNN poll that they're lagging in the generic ballot down from double-digit lead to just 5 percent.
So, this is going to blow up on one side or the other. We're going to find out today at noon.
BRIGGS: All right, betting there on Patriots or Eagles? One word.
WEGMANN: I am going to call (inaudible) to root for the Patriots. God bless the Eagles. Hopefully, they win. Hopefully the Eagles win.
BRIGGS: Philip Wegmann, "Washington Examiner," he is on record for taking the underdog, Eagles. Phil, thanks.
WEGMANN: Thanks, guys.
BRIGGS: All right. Vice President Mike Pence also a Colts man in Israel this morning, but he is being forced to defend comments he made about the government shutdown. Here's what the Vice President told troops near the Syrian border.
(START VIDEOCLIP)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Minority in the Senate has decided to play politics with military pay, but you deserve better. You and your family shouldn't have to worry for one minute about whether you're going to get paid as you serve in the uniform of the United States.
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BRIGGS: Critics accusing Pence of accusing -- of using US troops as a prop there. CNN's Ian Lee live in Jerusalem. Good morning to you, Ian. How is the VP responding this morning?
IAN LEE, CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Good morning, Dave. Mike Pence isn't backing down from those of statements, still putting blame on the Democrats for the government shutdown and that government shutdown has followed him here to Jerusalem.
In the local press, there have been reports saying, "If the Trump administration can't broker a deal with the Democrats, then how are they going to broker a deal for Middle East peace?" You know, that coming, especially after last December's announcement by the Trump administration that Jerusalem would be the capital of Israel. That was condemned by the Palestinians. They aren't going to be
meeting with the Vice President on the strip. Also, local church leaders, people that the Vice President was keen to meet. They also canceled their meetings with him after that announcement, Dave.
BRIGGS: Poignant words there indeed. All right, Ian Lee live for us in Jerusalem, 10:42 a.m. Thank you.
ROMANS: All right, entering Day Three of a government shutdown, folks, a private Maryland-based charity, the Fisher House is stepping up to make sure families of fallen troops receive survivor benefits during the shutdown. Those benefits include funeral and burial reimbursements which will not be paid while the government is shuttered.
Can imagine the indignity?
As of Sunday night, there have been no reported combat deaths during the shutdown. Two service members were killed in an Apache helicopter crash on Saturday at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.
In terms of the GOP, still riding the success of the tax bill. The shutdown has crippled the agency that oversees taxes. It's tax season and the IRS will furlough most of its workers, keeping just enough to begin processing returns.
If you are waiting on an existing audit or other tax matters, you are out of luck. The shutdown could even delay your refund. The 2013 shutdown deferred $4 billion in payments. That's tough on Americans who rely on that money to pay off debt or other expenses. That's mainstream, but investors could also lose out.
The SEC, the agency that polices Wall Street may furlough most of its staff suspending SEC investigations, postponing stock market debuts, initial public offering -- that will be a first for the SEC. It worked at full force during previous shutdowns but most have occurred in the fall when the agency still had money from the previous year.
Speaking of investors, will the shutdown affect stocks and confidence? Today's Wall Street's first chance to respond. Currently, futures are a little bit lower and I would say just watching the record highs over and over again last week in the stock market, investors, Wall Street was betting there either wouldn't be a shutdown or it would be short and shallow as they say.
But we'll see.
BRIGGS: No major reaction, it looks like yet.
ROMANS: Not just yet. This will be the first -- when the market opens, we'll get the first chance to react, yes.
BRIGGS: Okay, Super Bowl 52, all set. Patriots, Eagles, Lombardi trophy. How each team punched o their ticket, next.
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BRIGGS: Hundreds more of those text messages that Republicans say prove the Mueller probe is tainted, now, in the hands of lawmakers.
Nearly 400 pages of texts between two top FBI officials delivered to Capitol Hill on Friday. White House allies say the messages show that some FBI staffers working on the Russian investigation are biased against the President.
ROMANS: In one exchange from February 2016, FBI lawyer, Lisa Page calls it, "Unbelievable. Trump would win the GOP nomination." Counterintelligence expert Peter Strzok, who led the Clinton e-mail investigation responds, "Now, the pressure really starts to finish the Clinton probe."
The first batch of texts included insults targeting both Democrats and Republicans. Forty-eight minutes past the hour.
Dozens of women's marches largest taking place around the nation. And just look at these, that's Seattle -- playing Seattle, Miami, Phoenix, Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles -- demonstrators calling for women's rights and equality urging people to vote in this year's midterm elections.
Sunday was the official anniversary of last year's women's march in Washington. That's when hundreds of thousands of women flooded the streets of DC in a remarkable display of resistance to President Trump.
Huge numbers of activists also gathered in cities in Europe, in London and in Rome of protesting the same, and you could see the Time is Up Movement was something that was a common denominator there.
BRIGGS: Yes, women also taking center stage at this year's Screen Actors Guild awards. The show, featuring nearly all female presenters. Kristen Bell became the first person, man or woman to host the SAG awards in the ceremony's 24-year un-hosted history.
As for the winners, the dark comedy "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" taking home three trophies, including the top prize.
ROMANS: Among the major TV categories, the HBO limited series, "Big Little Lies" snatches a couple of wins for Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgard. "Veep" took home Best Cast in a Comedy and "This is Us" won an Outstanding Drama Ensemble.
One of the show's stars, Sterling K. Brown became the first African- American actor to win for Male Actor in a Drama and Julia Louis- Dreyfus who snagged two wins, broke the record for the most SAG honors for a single actor. She now has nine SAG statuettes -- what was that other little show that she got a lot of awards for?
BRIGGS: Sign something...
ROMANS: Louis-Dreyfus was not there at the ceremony. She is at home recovering from breast cancer surgery, but she tweeted about it saying, it was pretty awesome to win while sitting in your PJs. That's superb.
BRIGGS: She is so talented indeed, okay, the Philadelphia Eagles punching their ticket to Super Bowl 52 with a 38 to 7 mauling of the Minnesota Vikings. They now face the defending champion Patriots in the Super Bowl, first quarter NFC title game, Eagles defense stepping up huge. Time was minute seven, 50-yard interception return for a touchdown there by Patrick Robinson fueled by that block right there at the 15.
Philadelphia just took over this football game, Nick Foles rolling that is Lagarrett Blount plowing in there. The Minnesota defense just had no answer here. Third Super Bowl in franchise history for the Eagles. They've never won the big game though.
Earlier Sunday, just vintage classic Tom Brady...
ROMANS: What's with the glove? It's the first time he's got a glove...
BRIGGS: The glove. A lot of attention on that glove. That's right. Unfazed though by the stitched-up throwing hand, he threw two fourth quarter touchdown passes to Danny Amendola who is the key here, 24-20 a comeback win over the Jaguars, eighth Super Bowl appearance for Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick.
For the Patriots, it doesn't matter what you do, you take away everything they've got and somebody else beats you. Rob Gronkowski was lost with a concussion half time, didn't matter. Danny Amendola to the rescue.
ROMANS: We don't have that clip, I am sure, but one of the best pictures is Coach Bill Belichick.
BRIGGS: The big hug with Matt Patricia, the defensive coordinator. That was the real thing. No man hug there.
ROMANS: Happy guys. All right.
BRIGGS: The real thing.
ROMANS: A blizzard pummeling the plains with heavy snow, the same system said to bring rain and colder air to the east coast, meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri has our forecast.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, METEOROLOGIST, CNN: Dave and Christine, big time blizzard about across portions of the plain states here, about two million people dealing with this across Sioux City, Omaha into Lincoln there with heavy snowfall and gusty winds really going to make it for treacherous go into the early morning hours of Monday, eventually into Tuesday before everything tapers off.
But we're talking about upwards of a foot of fresh snow coming down over the next day or so across this region.
Now, the southern periphery of this frontier is coming in not only a warm side, but also some severe weather around portions of Arkansas on into a northern Louisiana this morning as the spread begins to skirt off toward the east, and we do have warm enough air in place initially to where the northeast doesn't have to worry about snow.
This goes around right across the major metropolitan cities there and then we see cold air come back in behind it on Tuesday into Wednesday.
So, how about 52 in Chicago that is over 20 degrees above average for this time of year; in Atlanta, into the middle 60s, Washington at 64 degrees, almost an early hint of spring there in store, but again it's short lived here in Washington. You'll notice it eventually dropped out down to 47, which is closer to what would be normal for this time of year, guys.
ROMANS: All right, I thank you so much. Okay, imagine a supermarket with zero checkout lanes, even without your wallet. Amazon just opened its first physical cashier-less store. Details on CNN Mainstream, next.
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BRIGGS: All right, 3:56 Eastern Time. Government officials in Tokyo conducting the city's first missile evacuation drill to counter the nuclear threat from North Korea.
Hundreds of volunteers rushing for cover inside buildings and underground after a siren signaled an approaching simulated ballistic missile. The drill taking place in the heart of the city. That's where we will find CNN's Will Ripley live from Tokyo as it pours down snowing, quite a scene there. Good morning, good evening to you, Will. Tell us how this played out.
RIPLEY: Hey, Dave, well you know, there are two things that you rarely see in Tokyo. One is the kind of snow where you can make snowballs like this and the other missile drills.
In fact, it's never happened in the Japanese capital before. In the last year, the Japanese government has hosted hundreds of these simulated North Korean missile drills where people get alerts on their phones, the alarm sound and then they have to either seek shelter underground in the subways or in a sturdy part of a concrete building.
They weren't doing these in the big cities for the past year, just because of the logistics. There were 600 people involved here. A lot of planning, they had to shut down certain areas in Central Tokyo to make this happen.
But the Japanese government feels even though things have been quieter lately because of the inter-Korean talks and the Olympics, so the expected kind of a calm period for this region, Japanese government wanting to make it clear to people not to let their guard down.
They do believe that after the Olympics, there is a very good chance that the North Korean threat will revive itself once again.
And so, they want citizens to be prepared, which is why they had this drill today. There were some protesters out though accusing the government of basically hyping up the North Korean situation for political gain.
Meanwhile, in South Korea there is a delegation from the north on the ground right now, very rare to have North Koreans in the South. A delegation led by the lead singer of the Morinbong bond, which is North Korea's version of the Spice Girls and they will be expecting concert venues for the winter games in the coming hours, Dave?
BRIGGS: All right, hopefully, PyeongChang gets some of that snowball like snow. They could use. Will Ripley, live for us in Tokyo. Thanks.
ROMANS: All right, let's go check on CNN Money Stream this Monday morning. Global stock markets don't seem to care the US government is closed, but in the US, futures are down, heading into day three of the government shutdown.
So, far Wall Street hasn't been too concerned. The thinking is a short impassable, not hurt the economy in the long term and in the past, shutdowns have not caused significant selloff.
In fact, US stocks hit record highs on Friday, helped along by the big corporate profits. Expect another slew of earnings this week with reports from Netflix, Verizon, United, Ford, Caterpillar, Intel and Starbucks. Those corporate earnings will likely direct trade.
The majority of the wealth created last year went to the top 1 percent. The bottom 50 percent of the populations had no increase in wealth at all. That's according to Oxfam International proving that group says that the global economy is skewed in favor of the rich.
It released this report ahead of the Davos World Economic Forum. That conference is synonymous with rich, with wealth and the elite.
President Trump is scheduled to head there this week, but those plans could change if this shutdown endures.
All right, imagine a supermarket with no checkout lane. Amazon just opened a cashier-less store. Here is how it works. Customers scan the Amazon go app when they walk in.
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