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Erin Burnett Outfront
Government Has Been Shut Down For 19-And-A-Half Hours Now; President Upset About Missing His Own Big Party, His Anniversary Party At Mar-A-Lago Tonight; Anti-Trump Protests Across The Nation All On The President's One Year Anniversary In Office; President Trump Fulfilled Some Of His Promises On The Campaign Trail. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired January 20, 2018 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:11] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT next breaking news, a government shutdown, no end in sight. Anti-Trump protests across the nation all on the President's one year anniversary in office.
Plus no show the President upset about missing his own big party, his anniversary party at Mar-a-Lago tonight. The $100,000 per couple event though is still on even with the government shutdown.
And Trump grand promises that got him elected, where do they stand one year later? You may be surprised.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. Welcome to special edition OUTFRONT.
We are following breaking news on several front this evening on the one year anniversary of President Trump taking office.
A shutdown government that has forced Trump to stay in Washington as protesters around the country are chanting no to Trump. It is certainly not how President envisioned that this evening going. At this hour, he thought he would be at Mar-a-Lago at his estate, celebrating with friends at a $100,000 per couple fundraiser for his reelection that went up to quarter million if you participated in a round table with him. Instead, he is at the White House.
Well, just outside, angry Americans were marching today in protest. And that's what we saw across the country. Massive crowd from New York to Chicago, Los Angeles, hundreds of thousands of people turning out down the street from the White House. Negotiations to end the government, frankly, going nowhere.
The House and Senate reconvening for a rare Saturday session. There has been pretty much no progress to report, though. The majority leader in the senate, Mitch McConnell, said late tonight there would be a vote on Monday on stopgap measure to fund the government until February 8th. But Republicans and Democrats spent most of the day blaming each other with the President taking the lead. He began today with the tweet at 6:30 a.m. this morning. That's pretty usual but here is the tweet.
This is one year anniversary of my presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice President, #Democratshutdown.
Now sources tells CNN privately Trump is telling aides and allies that quote "he will be blamed." And his own words explain why. He is very consistent on this. Because when the government shutdown on October 2013, Trump was relentless in blaming Obama and the Democrats. At one point tweeting Obama, the Democrats want this shut down. He has failed to lead. Negotiate our country is a laughing stock. People are far angry at the President and they are at Congress read the shutdown. So as I said he is very consistent.
He also went on television back then to blame Obama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He is not a natural dealmaker. He wants to get something done but he wants it to be his way or the highway.
You have to get everybody in a room. You have to be a leader. The President has to lead. He has to get Mr. Boehner and everyone else in the room and they have to make a deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Lead. Get something done. Make a deal. Well, those are the very things of course the President thus far has failed to do. Chuck Schumer says he left a crucial White House meeting yesterday just hours before the shutdown. He thought that he and the President had made great progress and then, of course, he found out things have changed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), MINORITY LEADER: Negotiating with President Trump is like negotiating with yellow Jell-O. That's why this compromise will be called a Trump shutdown.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Soon after Schumer said that the White House and now the budget director, Mick Mulvaney to speak to the press.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICK MULVANEY, BUDGET DIRECTOR: You have to ask yourself at one point, it doesn't even become possible to continue to work with somebody like that. So Mr. Schumer is going to have to up his game a little bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Meanwhile, the party goes on at Mar-a-Lago. The guest of honor is stock a thousand miles away inside the White House.
Phil Mattingly is OUTFRONT tonight on Capitol Hill where we begin our coverage. And Phil, where do things stand now?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erin. If you want a flavor of where things actually are, I will just read you a text I got from a senior Republican source who said basically everyone might as well go home for the night as nothing substantive is going to happen. That's day one of the shutdown.
On the House floor, on the Senate floor, a lot of theatrics, a lot of political talking points. But behind the scenes, very little movement in the direction of actually reaching some sort of compromise.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer didn't hear from President Trump today. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell didn't talk to Senator Schumer. McConnell says Schumer should be calling them first. Schumer's team says McConnell's team should be calling them first. Their options there, less than half football field a part. As one Democratic aide told me at this point, everybody has dug in.
Now the one kind of primary source of potential talks comes through senators Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake. They were shoveling back and forth between McConnell's office and Schumer's office, various points throughout the evening. And they were also trying to make a deal last night at the last minute.
But I'm told that deal is not ripe yet. What they are working on is not quite there yet. And that means we will move into day two of a shutdown with no resolution necessarily in sight.
Erin, at this point, the next vote on the senate floor is scheduled for 1:00 a.m. on Monday. As one lawmaker told me just a short while ago, we need to start moving tomorrow. This thing is going to go a while.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Phil.
And Jim Acosta is OUTFRONT at the White House. So Jim obviously sounding pretty sandbox and childish over on Capitol Hill. And the President tonight obviously held out hope as long as he could that he would have a different kind of an evening being where he wants to be, Mar-a-Lago at a big party, huge fundraiser. But instead he is not there. He is at the White House, and privately admitting that he thinks he is going to carry the blame for this.
[19:05:18] JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin. It is a party of one for the President tonight here at the White House. He won't be down in Mar-a-Lago. They did exchange insults and hashtags today but no proposals.
Just to echo what Phil Mattingly was saying a few moments ago. I just talked to a source familiar with the process trying to end this shutdown and this source said there is no proposal on the radar screen at this point that has any chance of being passed to reopen the federal government. So that is how dire things stand right now.
We do understand from talking to a source close to this White House that the President while he has been behind closed doors throughout the day. He is privately worried that he is going to be blamed for all this, even though the White House and top officials here has been calling this the Democrat shutdown.
And just to give you a sense of that, they did put out some pictures every year at the White House and the President just in the several minutes. We want to caution our viewers, these are official photographs from the White House. They were taken by White House photographer. The press was not allowed to capture these images.
One of those images you see, Erin is of the President talking to White House staff. There he is walking down the colony. But there is another picture of President talking to White House staff and they are all smiling. That is not exactly the kind of optic or image that the public probably wants to see at this point. They probably want to see people hard at work inside the White House. Instead you are seeing the President's daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and other top officials like the press secretary and so on smiling there inside the west wing not really moving towards any kind of conclusion to all of this.
Now we did mention that a few moments ago the President was expected to be down at Mar-a-Lago this evening for a big glitzy fundraiser at his resort down there. That is obviously not happening, but the show is going on down there. We understand the President will appear via video message. And the message to those people down there is he couldn't make it because of the shutdown and that it is the Democrats fault.
Erin, it is going to be hard to continue to make that argument. They are in control of the White House, they are in control of the Congress and at this point their own party can't solve this crisis - Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jim Acosta. We will be going to the White House and we will be going to Mar-a-Lago so you could see, you know, I don't know, what happens when you pay $250,000 to have a round table with the President hang out with him and he is not there and you are still pay $250,000.
All right. OUTFRONT now, Margaret Hoover. She worked in the George W. Bush White House. Jason Miller, former senior communications advisor for the Trump campaign. Joan Walsh, national affairs correspondent for "the Nation," John Avlon, editor-in-chief of "the Daily Beast," Nia-Malika Henderson, senior political reporter and Chris Cillizza, editor-at-large for CNN politics.
I just wanted to pull that picture back up of them all smiling. And the reason I wanted to and it's almost hilarious. I mean, look at - I'm not going to say it is fake. I know they took the picture. But I mean, it really - everybody is smiling so happily and we are all leaving at work on a Saturday. It seems a little -- the White House is calling this a hostage negotiation. Who blinks first?
JOHN AVLON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: It's a little close for the hostage negotiation metaphor. These are still all early hours. But this looks bad because the positions are pretty intractable. The President isn't leading in the way he prescribed, for example, to President Obama do when the last shutdown occurred in 2013.
Here's the problem for Republicans. Not only do they have unified control over government, but in the history of shutdowns we have had over the recent decades, it's been Republican Congress against Democratic President. And so the perception has been Republicans in Congress, the folks who cheer the shutdown.
The fact this is happening on one year anniversary with the Republican in the White House and Republicans in controlled Congress, not that it's all them, because Democrats are also taking a tough attack on this, that is an optic problem in the public perception for them. And so the only way to blow through that is if the President steps up and takes own advice and starts to lead. And that's going to mean getting out of the bunker.
BURNETT: And I mean, yet, here is the thing. Minority leader Senator Schumer has not spoken to the President today. He said so directly. McConnell, majority leader has not spoken to Schumer and what was it, a half a football field a part as well described their offices. I mean, frankly, it seems very childish but it is also us very clear, we are not getting anywhere because these grown individuals are not talking.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes. I mean, this was an entire wasted day. And I think that the kind of conventional we have been going into this was that, you know, they get their acts together over the weekend. Maybe it would be a pretty short. But everyone seems really dug in at this point with the President being a real wild card in terms of what he wants to see.
You now, and I think it also goes to show that do Republicans actually really want to do anything on immigration reform, right? I mean, they say they do and they said that for a while. The President has certainly said that in 2013 you had a bill that came through the Senate, not that many Republicans voted for it. I think something like 14 Republicans voted for it. It never even was brought in the House. And I think that's where Democrats find themselves. Not really trusting that something would ever actually happen on DACA.
[19:10:00] BURNETT: Chris?
CHRIS CILLIZZA, CNN POLITICS EDITOR-AT-LARGE: I think that's right. I mean, I think that's why -- four weeks has work, how about three weeks? The mayor reminds me of that.
(CROSSTALK)
CILLIZZA: Why don't we try seven minutes? I mean, it is just so ridiculous. And I think it is to me as point of trust issue. Phil Mattingly mentioned something which I think is important, which is the conventional wisdom, and Nia mentioned this was, well, if they had two more hours last night they would have gotten it done. So like today somehow. But with every passing day.
BURNETT: It's easier to get it longer. CILLIZZA: Yes. I wish they think about it like jumping off the
diving - the high diving board, right. The first time you are nervous. But once you do it once now it's like OK this isn't as bad as we thought and you do it again. I just think if you don't get something done tomorrow into Monday, the positions aren't going to get less intractable.
The longer it goes, both sides will hear from partisans that affirm their views. And I think we assume it's going to are short, and it might be. They could ten minutes from now announce something. But I can't assume it.
BURNETT: Right.
Now Margaret, here is the thing. There is also this blame game going back and forth which when it comes to every hour in the shutdown over the weekend, you know, there are people affected, but it is a very small group of people, relative to what it will be, OK. They are blaming each other with the illation and all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHUMER: America knows this is the Trump shutdown.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are now engaged in a Schumer shutdown.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Trump shutdown is all yours.
MULVANEY: And my favor still a Schumer shutdown so I check that nice little ring to it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Illation, I think illation clearly one today. And not just only Republican.
You know, look. What you have to look at and you have to acknowledge is the Democrats had a clear strategy here. I mean, what they decided to do is go for broke. They got CHIP, right. But then they were like, you know what? Let's see how far we can go. Let's see.
And you know that because the way they were counting the votes. And finally when they knew they had enough Democrats in the Senate to close down the government, they said we have enough. So, look, if I'm a Democrat, I'm not sure I wouldn't do the same thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course you would.
HOOVER: But it's shocking to me that the principal flexibility of being able to say, I mean, Nancy Pelosi called shutting the government down leg lay certificate arson, OK. They say people will die if you shut the federal government down. They have said it deeply irresponsible (INAUDIBLE). And now they are doing it. So let's just keep in mind that this is very easy to do. You can call it a Schumer shutdown. You can call a Trump shutdown, but Democrats made this happen. And they do still have five weeks (INAUDIBLE). JOAN WALSH, NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, THE NATION: That's
ridiculous.
I think it is important thing that we need to realize today is the anniversary of inauguration day. It's very perfect. Because we have to face the fact we now have a new President and his name is John Kelly and the vice President is Stephen Miller. Because truly, truly, Donald Trump has met with bipartisan leaders. Donald Trump has met with Chuck Schumer twice. Let me speak. I didn't interrupt you, but I did interrupt you.
HOOVER: I was going to say you have a fair point.
WALSH: Good. But Donald Trump has made two deal, Democrats and Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake have walked away, and then they had to deal with John Kelly saying -- and Stephen Miller saying no deal. So John Kelly is the new President. He is the power. They should be negotiating with them. And Donald Trump is forced out in his own --.
BURNETT: Because the President seems to want to be Mr. nice guy. I will sign anything. Let's bring in the bill of law. Let's bring in Chuck Schumer. And then somehow those people leave the room. And his position flips completely. Chuck Schumer calls it Jell-O. Well, what is it? Who is it?
JASON MILLER, FORMER SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR FOR THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN: And I just say that Senator Schumer will be the three-part bounty because you can't exactly trust what he is saying. But I think Joan made a very important point which is, yes, this is the anniversary of President Trump being inaugurated as our 45th President of the United States. And if you look at the first year successes that he has had, this -- once in a generation tax cut, booming economy, record low unemployment. If you think about what happened say if Senator Clinton that won the election, if she got to this one year mark and have that record, my western senator friends wouldn't be here this evening. They would be in South Dakota chiseling Hillary Clinton's image into the side of Mount Rushmore.
BURNETT: What are you trying saying here? There is plenty who think that is - are you educating something is about to happen here?
MILLER: I'm saying this is a fantastic first year. So we talk about what is going on today.
WALSH: He has mired the scandal. He has mired in Russian scandal.
MILLER: All this is fantastic record, knocking ISIS.
WALSH: He has Barack Obama.
BURNETT: OK. Make your point on the shutdown.
MILLER: So I think the Democrats have really picked interesting hill to die on here, pun intended. The fact that they are putting hundreds of thousands of people who are here in this country illegally ahead of the rest of the country, I think it shows radical shift to the Democratic Party. And I would say really, they are putting Democrats in states like West Virginia, Missouri, North Dakota, Montana, Indiana. They are going to be endangered species list as we go to the midterm elections - hold on.
BURNETT: You can say it's actually not choosing.
MILLER: But when you talk about --. He is going to sit down and make a deal.
BURNETT: He hasn't.
MILLER: There has to be some core principles. And he got to build a wall. Democrats are unwilling to do that.
(CROSSTALK)
[19:15:06] WALSH: One thing. Chuck Schumer says other people say he offered money for the wall. Democrats were screaming then Louise Gutierrez got on our air today. You can call him. Immigration hardliner and he said I will go build the wall myself. Democrats are moving on this. They have --.
MILLER: And lottery and chain migration. Those are important principles that have to be anything but part of it.
WALSH: The Durbin deal actually had some caving, some compromise on chain migration and the lottery.
MILLER: Guys, here's the important thing with DACA, even describing what the fix is going to be, their core differences between Republicans and Democrats are, is it going to be full citizenship or status?
(CROSSTALK)
MILLER: I'm sorry, what was that?
WALSH: I agree with you.
BURNETT: I'm just saying someone has been there since they were three and now they are 20. Is there really any fix?
(CROSSTALK)
WALSH: Maybe they have been in the military.
MILLER: Of course there is a fix for them to stay. And that's what President Trump is --
BURNETT: Right. So everyone can agree that they should stay. This shouldn't be so hard.
AVLON: But hold on. But they have to come together to come up with solutions.
(CROSSTALK) AVLON: Steven Miller big foot impulses on immigration reform. This could full Nixon in China. This is a moment of potential leadership building on bipartisan compromise. But he let himself get booted by hardliners in own administration. He has to step up.
WALSH: President Kelly.
BURNETT: All right. And we are going hit pause next. Everyone still with us. The resistance, hundreds of thousands turning out coast to coast against Trump today.
Plus the war of words, Trump shutdown versus Schumer shutdown, well one of them is trending a whole lot more than the other. And White House top aide Kellyanne Conway will be OUTFRONT.
And remember all the promises Trump made on campaign trail. Well, heard Jason's point of view. What are the facts? How is he doing one year later? We have the report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:21] BURNETT: Welcome back to our special edition of OUTFRONT this Saturday night following breaking news on multiple fronts. Live pictures of Capitol Hill. Lawmakers it sounds like tonight giving up on a deal to end the government shutdown. And who knows if it changes in the next few minutes but as of now no progress.
Protesters also today out in mass to protest the one year anniversary of President Trump's inauguration. Demonstrations took place in cities from coast to coast. Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, and many others.
Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT in L.A.
And Kyung, what was the mood like there? The attendance?
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was very different from last year in one particular way, Erin. It was a lot of women coming together with a lot of women saying that they needed to have a united voice.
What was different this year is that it is very directed to action. And that action that you heard over and over again from the podium from every single speaker, and I tried to keep count it first, but then I lost count, is that they have to get politically active. They have to get out there and vote. They have to run for office. And that is something that this crowd was certainly receptive to.
The mayor of Los Angeles announced that this was the single largest women's march in the entire country. And estimated according to the city 500,000 marchers who walked through the streets of downtown Los Angeles.
And as I walked through the crowd, we saw a number of signs that all pointed to the midterms. So 2018 midterms that will happen later this year that women want to have a voice, that women will make a difference. And Erin just from our coverage what women have been doing since last
year's women's march, we already know they are training to run an exponential number of women training to run, first time women, attempting to run for office -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you, Kyung.
And my guests are back with me.
Joan, you were in one of the protests today here in New York.
WALSH: I was.
BURNETT: And that obviously you were there last year as well. How was it the same or different?
WALSH: You know, I would agree that there is so much of a focus on the midterms and on action. Last year there was a real sense of grief. It turned into pride and solidarity because the march was so large. But there was a sense of what are we going to feel? What are we doing? What are we going to do?
And we saw in 2017 the most popular sign I saw today was grab them by the midterms. Now we all know what that refers to. I'm not going to have to say it on the air. And I just felt like people are looking at Virginia where the 13 of the 16 women won their races. They really powered the Democratic come back. And (INAUDIBLE) now has 26,000 women who contacted them to run for office. They had a thousand in the election year of 2016.
So women are running. They are stepping up. They are winning. And we have 35 Republican incumbents in the House who stepped down and women are stepping up to run against them.
BURNETT: You are going to see a lot more?
WALSH: Yes.
BURNETT: I mean, Margaret, you know, some of the protesters today, reporters around the country had a chance to talk to a few of them. Here they are.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This feels like appropriate today. Last year it felt more like a funeral. This feels like anger and resistance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are trying to take all this energy that we see here in this amazing march and take it to the polls and really make our voices heard.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hopefully, they will hear our voices and if they don't, we will - they will our voices in November.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: What do you make of that, Margaret?
HOOVER: Right. So that is all very constructive, right. You have a movement. You have a ground fall. You put it to action and really started driven away. I would hope for the sake of their advocacy that they really are that directed and it really is, as Joan described, a very focused movement.
But I do think you have to worry that there is so much about the women's march that meets the air waves and I guess a bit of a luck. And it just reminds me of the hacker quote, you know, first you have the movement, then it becomes a business, then it becomes a racket, right.
WALSH: Who is laughing?
HOOVER: One has to think as that - yes, I mean, there is a lot about the women's march. Look, it started as a protest to Trump and then it became like this, 365 women's march is like you are really marching every single day?
WALSH: No.
HOOVER: Republicans take note, there is real aground swale here against this candidate that you described. And as political operative who is supporting Republicans in the midterms, I am quite worried about many of our centrist candidates. I think that's real. But the women's march as an entity, as a political organization that has becomes sort of this 365 political operations.
BURNETT: There was a lot going on today. I mean, I terms of, you know, the MeToo - I mean, John, the President actually got involved with a tweet.
AVLON: Yes.
BURNETT: OK. Shocker. He is sitting at home and he is watching it on his screen, he is hearing it outside his window. Look, last year he didn't want to get involved. But this year beautiful weather all over our great country. And I'm so mad I'm not in Mar-a-Lago. Sorry, everybody.
(CROSSTALK)
[19:25:02] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Didn't have room for that.
BURNETT: They are out there now to celebrate the historic milestone an unprecedented economic success and wealth creation that is taking place over the past 12 months. Lowest female unemployment in 18 years. Now, was he just trolling them?
AVLON: Of course, he was trolling. But I have to say by President Trump tweets standard that was actually pretty witty and restrained. It was a soft troll.
BURNETT: Soft troll.
AVLON: And that's the best you are going to get from Trump's twitter feed. So, you know, good for him having a sense of humor.
BURNETT: And yet, he is pointing at something. When you talk about the midterms might really matter. The unemployment rate is a fact, OK. So when it comes to it, do people say, well my personal situation is better and I'm going to give him credit for it?
HENDERSON: Yes. And we have seen some of the polling on this so far, right? Trump seems to be getting much more credit than he used to. And it is still, I think, split between who kind of gives Obama credit. I think Obama gets about 49 percent and Trump gets about 41, 42 percent the last polls I saw. And he probably would get morph if he tweeted less and if he trolled people less. But that is something that he has not able to.
It will be interesting to see, I think, every year, every time there is an election year, midterm, Presidential election as well, there is always this idea of will it really be year of the women like it was in 1992, that was in the wake of Clarence Thomas. So it would be interesting to see if that happens. You talked about the women running and women sort of showing up in Virginia. We also saw that in Alabama particularly with African-American women really making a difference in that race. So it will be fascinating to see.
BURNETT: Quick, Chris?
CILLIZZA: Yes. So two things. One, I think that Nia is exactly right when it comes to where does this all go? Where do we go from here? I think the two parties are in midterm elections about energy and enthusiasm within the base, right. The women's march is not for everyone but it doesn't have to be. Because if the Democrats liberal base of the Democratic Party is fired up, that's a huge deal. And we saw it in the Virginia state legislature. They won 34 state legislative elections, Republican held.
AVLON: Republican lost a seat in Wisconsin and they shouldn't have lost.
(CROSSTALK)
CILLIZZA: We have seen Donald Trump won by 16 points.
AVLON: Yes.
CILLIZZA: So I do think that that translation, if you -- I was, frankly, surprised/impressed that, to Joan's point, I watched it on TV, and when I was walking here to the studio, I saw a lot of -- the rally was close to CNN studio. There were a ton of midterm signs which is a very sophisticated. I mean, most people are like I hate Donald Trump. Very sophisticated messaging which is I hate Donald Trump but I'm going to show it. No, it is January not November.
(CROSSTALK)
MILLER: Heading into the midterms as we saw good (INAUDIBLE) road national review today, started off asking the question, are you better off today than we were a year ago. And for most of the people that we saw marching, those images, the answer is the resounding yes. That is going to be in tough message going into the midterm, everyone have change when everyone sees their 401(k) going up.
(CROSSTALK)
CILLIZZA: Very quickly.
BURNETT: OK. Quickly. Quick.
CILLIZZA: If Donald Trump made a public appearance and never tweeted and had the record that he had in terms of Jason's accomplishments, I think he would be getting better polling. The promise is that the electorate is so divided, they are so polarized.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And his supporters love it.
(CROSSTALK)
CILLIZZA: I just mean from people who earned his not core supporters. I think there is an argument to be made if he was - and he is not going to be.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Pause for a moment.
Top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway is next. What is the President doing to end the shutdown? Kellyanne will answer.
And Trump's missing a splashy expensive party that he wants to be at at this hour at Mar-a-Lago. Look. So shrouded in secrecy the shot is even grainy. What's going on there?
We will be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:31:51] BURNETT: Breaking news, the government has been shut down for 19-and-a-half hours now. And there is no solution in sight. President Trump and the Democratic senator Chuck Schumer have not spoken today according to senator Schumer. Their meeting yesterday seemed promising at first. It seems like a deal was closed. The President called the meeting excellent. Schumer said they were making progress. And since then boom, absolutely nothing except blame by both sides over whether it is Trump shutdown or Schumer shutdown.
OUTFRONT tonight Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the President.
Kellyanne Conway, thanks for being with me. I appreciate your time.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE COUNSELOR: My pleasure.
BURNETT: On this question of who has talking to whom, Senator Schumer says he hasn't spoken with the President today. Has the President talked to anyone on Capitol Hill today or any Democrat, Kellyanne?
CONWAY: The President is constantly working the phones and invite people there and steady stream. You saw it live and in person about ten days ago when he had a bicameral/bipartisan meeting in the cabinet room on this specific matter on immigration.
He is willing to get back to those negotiations on immigration once the Democrats agree to reopen the government. If you voted no last night, Erin, if you voted no this spending bill as a senate Democrat, you voted no to military families, you voted no to Social Security checks, you voted no to children relying upon the CHIP program. You voted no to border patrol agents.
The DACA deadline is in March. The deadline for the government spending was last night. So let's do this sequentially. Let's get to a deal. The President has made very clear he supports the house passed. Had Senator Schumer here yesterday very small private meeting. And is he a master deal-maker. He is a negotiator. I still don't think a year into this that swamp speed in Washington really understands the way President Trump makes decisions and how he has built a very successful career outside of the Washington, outside of politics. He is willing to talk. Everybody saw it transparently. CNN covered it for an entire hour last week.
BURNETT: Yes, we did. We obviously did. And obviously, a lot changed since then in terms of everyone's positions.
CONWAY: I think that was about immigration. That wasn't about the government shutdown. And he is willing to talk. We can get back to negotiating.
BURNETT: But even his own party Lindsey Graham said what happened to the guy on Tuesday and the guys on Thursday?
CONWAY: That was about immigration, not the government shutdown.
BURNETT: You say he was a deal-maker. If he was such a great deal- maker, the government wouldn't be shut down, would it?
CONWAY: That's just not true and here is why. The President of the United States executes the law. The Congress makes the laws. This is a spending bill. The continue resolution is the spending bill. So the President stands ready. Here is behind me. Stands ready to sign into law anything that is put on his desk that is reasonable and reopens the government.
But I think that the resistance, the very proud motto that the left and the Democrats have had for over a year now, Erin, comes, it is a far. It comes with great risk because of the country sees you always saying resist, obstruct, no, holding up a stop sign, they know who is shutting down the government. They know he resisted the tax cut slash last month. And I think - look. I think in the space of a month, the Democrats have made a huge mistake, being on the wrong side of the tax cuts which America now sees as 20,000 jobs.
(CROSSTALK) BURNETT: -- on the point about who is responsible for coming up leading with what is going to happen here? And you are saying it's up to Congress.
[19:35:00] CONWAY: It's up to everyone.
BURNETT: And your own party, Kellyanne, Republicans are saying they don't know what the President wants and they need his leadership. Here are two of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: I'm looking for something that President Trump supports. And he is not yet indicated what measure he is willing to sign.
REP. MO BROOKS (R), ALABAMA: I prefer clarity. But we are not seeing that from the White House. That does to some degree make our jobs more difficult here on Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That's pretty damming, Kellyanne. That's two Republicans.
CONWAY: It's not damming at all. And leader McConnell's statements are about a different issue. He has been leading the negotiations as a majority leader in the United States Senate. We have had House members on the phone as well over here throughout the week. And this is -- anybody who wants to call the President, can, they know that. He works the phones himself. But this has to be a full on - full on endeavor.
Erin, we still don't understand why Democrats who support each individual piece in the continue resolution don't support the continuing resolution. You now have Democrats against s-CHIP. You now have Democrats against border patrol agents because they want to resolve people who came across the same border illegally. This President has said he has committed to resolving the DACA issue. I know many people do not expect him to do that.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: -- for them but they insist that a DREAMer, a DACA solution be part of this? You are saying that is completely off the table. There is no way at this point in any way shape or form that the President will entertain that concept?
CONWAY: Well, Erin, but let me ask you why they want that. It actually doesn't make practical sense when you think just of the time line. So the government shutdown last night, the continued resolution expired on January 19th. DACA needs to be resolved by March. And only because after court decisions, this President gave the Congress an extra six months.
They had nine months in 2017, they did nothing. He gave them another six months. And since then, for all the world to see in our meeting that you covered live, thank you for doing that. I think it is great to have that type of transparency and accountability in our government. This President --.
BURNETT: But it would have been nice to have cameras in the meeting where he said s-holes.
CONWAY: He told them that - told them that he would go ahead and help them resolve this issue. He is still willing to do that. But we can't get there if the government is shut down. If our military families don't know if they have the funding they need.
Let's listen very calmly in a nonpartisan fashion to General Mattis, the secretary of defense. He has clearly said you can read the letter that military readiness is imperiled when we have a lapse in funding. When we have a temporary or government shutdown. That should concern all Americans. It certainly concerns me.
BURNETT: I think it apparently concerns the Democrats as well. They just believe this should be bigger.
CONWAY: They can vote to reopen the government and not have this one issue that's not even due right now that the President has said he will negotiate on. Along with the other three things that are important to him and to chain migration.
BURNETT: Kellyanne, do you find it though confusing as it certainly is, according to the polls which show that Americans so far blame Republicans and President for the shutdown as he of course said they would when it was President Obama shutdown? Do you find it confusing that Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the House, and you are trying to say Democrats are to blame?
CONWAY: What I'm saying is those Democrats who cast a vote of no last night voted against keeping the government open. They voted against border patrol agents and firefighters getting their money. They voted against our military being completely funded. They voted against nine million or so children who rely upon, our most vulnerable children relying upon CHIP. That's what I'm saying.
And to your larger point, as you know, there is 60 votes that are necessary. So this by its definition has to be bipartisan.
BURNETT: It certainly does.
CONWAY: And we did see - and Erin, we saw --.
BURNETT: And not only do not of those Democrats, you don't even have all the Republicans.
CONWAY: Well, we saw - there were few last night who didn't vote yes to that particular measure. But Erin, they all voted yes to the taxes pretty much. And when they had a chance to give historic middle class tax relieve including to a lot of those women who are marching today by the way, they did that.
But a couple of Democrats, I think a handful of Democrats started peeling off last night. And I see that - I saw your panel talking about midterms, I think that's a very big moment of inflection because they are basically saying to the leadership, we are not going to go down with you because you are mollifying a left wing base at this point where people auditioning for 2020.
We are going to vote to keep the government open because we have to go back home and explain why we didn't. And that included the newest senator Doug Jones from Alabama who is not up for re-election.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kellyanne. I appreciate it.
CONWAY: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, that splashy fundraise at Mar-a-Lago. The President just taped the message for his supporters who are going ahead with the party. What did he say about the shutdown tonight to them?
And Trump's many campaign promises that got him elected. Is he following through?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:43:23] BURNETT: Welcome back to special edition of OUTFRONT as we following the breaking news tonight. The government shutting down, White House on defense, insisting the Democrats are to blame for it being paralyzed. This coming as the Senate has just adjourned for the night.
So that's it, no vote tonight guys. They are coming back. They are not getting up early tomorrow morning. They can go to the gym.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Because they are complaining the towels aren't there because of the shutdown. Anyway, they are coming in session tomorrow at 1:00 in the afternoon.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: That is as good as a hard working weekend.
(CROSSTALK)
HENDERSON: And they are getting paid.
(CROSSTALK)
CILLIZZA: And unless they change something, which they could, but unless they change something, first time there could be a closure vote, stop debate, sit, potentially get the government to reopen is 1:00 a.m. on Monday. So I mean, they are coming in tomorrow, but it is not going to happen tomorrow.
BURNETT: Right. (INAUDIBLE). They just want to be able to sleep in. All right. Pointed jokes. Me, I spoke to, obviously, just Kellyanne
Conway. We just all heard her. Your reaction to her spin on this?
HENDERSON: I mean, it's the spin that is expected, right. I mean, it is the spin we heard from Sarah Huckabee Sanders. It is a spin we heard from Donald Trump, this idea that it is the Schumer shutdown. And they are hoping to sell that. They are hoping to make it stick. They are hoping that particularly among some of those Democrats people like John Tester in Montana, a state that Trump won by 20 pints.
BURNETT: They will feel the heat.
HENDERSON: Yes, they will feel the heat and maybe start going along with whatever sort of continuing resolution over the next --.
AVLON: But where do you say doesn't matter where you stand. That's not new. But Kellyanne is saying it is very effective framing in the issue that the shutdown hurts families. But that's not the Republican talking points in 2013 when they shut down the government on President Obama. So their situation (INAUDIBLE) both sides. That they are gasping a lot of folks get frustrated.
[19:45:09] BURNETT: Right. And Margaret, you are pointing to, and obviously, you are Republican here on this. But you see the Democrats' point of view, right. They are not against CHIP or whatever they are for it but they really want the DREAMers in there and there is a reason.
HOOVER: Here's the problem. I mean, this is really at this point, it is all tactics, right. It is like how much can they get? And what they really want is something on immigration. They don't think there is any way to get it unless, you know, guns blazing in a moment of total heatness. They have got to a point where our government is far more dysfunctional than the founders have ever intended in order to get something done.
With this hyper polarization and hyper partisanship, it takes a government shutdown to force somebody's hands. And if the Democrats can hold together and tow their line, with the Republicans in such disarray, they might actually (INAUDIBLE) this immigration issue.
And, frankly, there are some Republicans probably who want some immigration reform, Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake among them, who probably applaud the strategy even though, you know, even when there is total hypocrisy, as John said, on both sides. Because Democrats were way holier than now three years ago about Republican shutdown.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: You shut the government down over immigration, you are just causing chaos.
MILLER: Both sides.
WALSH: This is one case where both sides is actually true on this side one. I will grant that. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Both siders.
MILLER: Here's the thing that everybody is missing is we actually have a President who wants to fix this problem.
(CROSSTALK)
MILLER: Bush couldn't get it done. Obama couldn't get it done. But Schumer is holding us hostage.
BURNETT: OK. But you can't blame it on Schumer.
MILLER: Yes, you can. You have to have 60 votes.
BURNETT: They both walked out saying there was --.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: And Republicans, as you just heard, are saying we don't know where our own President stands.
MILLER: It is easy where he stands. Build the wall and chain migration and get rid of the visa lottery. And also we have to make sure we have to get to a --
BURNETT: Were those point were put in a talking points by the department of homeland security cabinet chief. He said I don't know what these are. I agree with them for now.
MILLER: Exactly. Because there are other parts of it too, as far as what's the definition of DACA. But again, here is a thing. Schumer is going in shutting down the federal government to try to force there something that is completely and connected to it and that is absolutely ridiculous.
HOOVER: Yes, and he might very well --.
(CROSSTALK)
CILLIZZA: Yes, it takes 60 votes. But, again, I think the Republicans, this is simplistic, but the facts, Republicans control the White House, Congress, at every level there. Yes, you need 60 votes. But I just don't see how politically speaking, politically speaking the average person, I think my parents were not watching cable TV every minute. They are not following this. They don't know what cloture is. They don't care about any of that stuff. They know Republicans are in charge, right, like most people know Republicans are in-charge and they know the government is currently shutdown. I just think -- and I made the same argument back in the day when Democrats were saying, well over 60 votes. People don't engage in that stuff. One party controls Washington. I would be stunned --
BURNETT: Right.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Go ahead, John.
AVLON: And offers some clarity. I think the other thing that is just a really stark reminder of how dysfunctional our government has become is that 60 vote standard, which has been side stepped by McConnell to push through things and the 51, is basically untenable right now because our politics are so vulnerable and so polarized.
WALSH: Barack Obama too. I mean, the Republicans -- I loved when Kellyanne said they are going to be the party of no, the party of obstruction, this isn't going to work for them. Well, as a matter of fact, it did work for Republicans. It worked very well.
The other thing that she said that was so really so heartless is the idea that we can wait until March. DACA doesn't have until March. There are families. There 700,000 to 800,000 people across the country who don't know where they are going to be in March and April and May. That's not cool. That's not fine. That's cruel.
HENDERSON: And Trump made it happen.
WALSH: And Trump made it happen.
(CROSSTALK)
WALSH: I hope. I really would like to see that.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all, staying here.
And next, Trump made a lot of promises that he alone could deliver on, he said. So has he kept some? And which ones has he broken?
And shutdown reset, 20 hours into the crisis, it is not looking good. They are sleeping in late tomorrow. What are the odds it all changes at 1:00 a.m. Monday morning?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:52:59] BURNETT: Welcome back to a special edition of OUTFRONT.
President Trump made a lot of promises on the campaign trail. Among them cutting taxes, and that is a promise he kept. His tax reform planned was his biggest legislative victory his first year in office. But what about his other signature promises?
Tom Foreman is OUTFRONT.
So Tom, let's start with the wall. I mean, how many times did he say the wall, the wall, the wall and who is going to pay for it, Mexico. It was a chant at his rally.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, over and over again. Yes, like a lot of candidates he made a big promises like a lot of prism he hasn't delivered so much.
And then gold plated promise of the wall, that's one of the really big one. He said he would start instantly building it along the southern border and Mexico would pay for it. A year later, we have a few prototypes. But no sign of any serious construction. And his own chief of staff says, they maybe some more fees but no, Mexico is not going to pay for this thing.
What about Obamacare? This is one of those things where he said absolutely, we are going to overturn it, has not happened. The Republican tax plan has done a little bit of damage to it. But overall complete repeal like people wanted, no. That pledge gas bot been fulfilled.
His plan for great big infrastructure plan where he would have new roads and new bridges and new dams coast to coast, no real sign of that out there.
He had fulfilled his promise to be good for the economy. The recovery that started under Barack Obama has continued steaming along. Housing prices are up. Unemployment is down. The stock market is booming. That has gone very well.
And you mentioned a minute ago, tax cuts. It took until the 11th hour, but yes, the Republicans passed a new tax plan. Not clear who the real winners and losers will be in the long run. But he promised he would do it and it is done -- Erin.
BURNETT: So now you also have immigration which is a hugely contentious issue, right now in the center of all discussions. Where is Trump on that?
FOREMAN: Well, again, you get into sort of murky water here. He said at one point that he was going to deport everybody who is in this country illegally. At the time that was estimated well over 11 people. He started sort of fish-biting back from that and changing things. So now, their deportations have ticked up a little bit. Nowhere near those numbers.
He said he is going to ban Muslims from coming into this country. You know, huge legal problems every time he has tried. Most recently, the courts have allowed him to partially fulfill that.
But the one really huge victory he has here in terms of his promises is right there in the courts. He said he would pack the courts with conservative judges and he has, including a Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch. Yes, some of them are criticizes unqualified. Some had to withdraw. But he has had a huge impact here. This is absolutely a slam dunk in terms of his promises. And, Erin, it is one that will have an impact for decades.
[19:55:43] BURNETT: That's right. Absolutely. Unlike a regulation or an executive order can be overturn by the next President. The courts will stay that way for the lifetimes of those who serve.
FOREMAN: Absolutely.
BURNETT: Thank you so much, Tom Foreman.
FOREMAN: You are welcome. BURNETT: And next, the shutdown blame game is getting rather nasty as
you can see. Wait until you see an ad just out from Trump camp which takes the fight to a whole new level.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
