[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn Anchor:] Happening now, breaking news: border stall. As President Trump heads to Texas to promote his wall, are talks to avoid another government shutdown making progress or going nowhere? We're following late negotiations this hour and the status of a new Democratic proposal that Mr. Trump is attacking tonight. Postponing again. Michael Cohen is putting off another chance to appear before Congress, coming up with a new reason to delay. After multiple hearings have been nixed, will the former Trump fixer ever testify? The odd couple. We're digging into Roger Stone's indictment and his relationship with another key figure in the Russia investigation. Why does their unlikely alliance matter to Mr. Trump and to Robert Mueller? And inside Iran. CNN is live in Tehran, as Iranians mark 40 years since the Islamic Revolution with defiance of the U.S. president and chants of "Death to America." Does it feel like 1979 all over again? We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in
[The Situation Room. Announcer:] This is CNN breaking news.
[Blitzer:] We're following breaking news on the threat of another government shutdown just four days from now. This hour, President Trump is on his way to El Paso, Texas, to rally support for his wall and to try to blame Democrats for a new holdup in talks on border security. As negotiators are expected to resume talks up on Capitol Hill this hour, the partisan divide over immigration remains deep. It will be on full display tonight as Democrats protest the president in Texas with a counter-rally called Stop the Wall, Stop the Lies. I will get reaction from Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, and our correspondents and analysts are also standing by. First, let's go to our Chief White House Correspondent, Jim Acosta. Jim, we heard from the president just before he left the White House for Texas.
[Jim Acosta, Cnn Chief White House Correspondent:] That's right, Wolf. President Trump is starting to dig in his heels all over again as the deadline approaches for another government shutdown. The president is on his way to El Paso, Texas, at this hour, to pitch his border wall one more time. But there's one other sticking point in the shutdown talks that also goes to the heart of the immigration debate. The president, by the way, is not vowing to own the shutdown this time around. When asked a short while ago whether there will be a shutdown, he said that's up to the Democrats. But this time around, the president wants more than just a wall. He wants beds.
[Acosta:] With just four days and counting until the government runs out of money again, President Trump is looking to escape any blame this time around and pointing the finger at Democrats.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] Now, we need a wall. We can call it anything. We'll call it barriers. We'll call it whatever they want. But now, it turns out not only don't they want to give us money for the wall, they don't want to give us the space to detain murderers, criminals, drug dealers.
[Acosta:] Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney warns a shutdown could happen again.
[Mick Mulvaney, Acting White House Chief Of Staff:] You cannot take a shutdown off the table. And you cannot take $5.7 billion off the table. But if you end up someplace in the middle, yes, then what you probably see is the president say, yes, OK, then I will go find the money someplace else.
[Acosta:] But now there's a new wrinkle. Not only is the president demanding more money for his wall as part of a deal to avert a shutdown. Democrats want something, too, a cap on the number of detention beds used by ICE to keep undocumented immigrants in custody.
[Trump:] Democrats want them to go into our country. That's why they don't want to give us what we call the beds. It's much more complicated than beds.
[Rep. Deb Haaland , New Mexico:] I was just at the border this past weekend. And the whole situation with those facilities is that they weren't meant to detain families. Whole entire families now are being detained at the border facilities, and it's an untenable situation.
[Acosta:] The president is off to El Paso, Texas, to whip up support for his wall, but he will have company as potential Democratic contender in 20 Beto O'Rourke is planning a rival event just down the street from Mr. Trump.
[Rep. Beto O'rourke , Texas:] Not too far from the coliseum where we're going to present a powerful, positive message for the country about who we are on the U.S.-Mexico border.
[Acosta:] The president has been taking jabs at potential rivals in 2020, mocking Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar's snowy announcement over the weekend, tweeting: "She was talking proudly of fighting global warming while standing in a virtual blizzard of snow, ice and freezing temperatures. Bad timing. By the end of her speech, she looked like a snowman, woman." Klobuchar said the president doesn't know the difference between weather and climate issues.
[Sen. Amy Klobuchar , Presidential Candidate:] I would like to see when he called me a snowwoman, I would like to see how his hair would fare in a blizzard.
[Acosta:] The president is also trolling Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and her past claims about her heritage, tweeting: "Will she run as our first native American presidential candidate? See you on the campaign Trail, Liz." Mr. Trump capitalized the word trail, which appeared to be in reference to the death of Native Americans on the Trail of Tears. The president's son Don Jr. was loving it, calling it "savage." Warren didn't wait long to fire back.
[Sen. Elizabeth Warren , Presidential Candidate:] Here's what bothers me. By the time we get to 2020, Donald Trump may not even be president.
[Warren:] In fact, he may not even be a free person.
[Acosta:] The president is also defending how much time he spends on the job after leaks of his schedule to Axios showing he's spending hours in the residence on executive time, as he tweeted: "No president ever worked harder than me, cleaning up the mess I inherited." With the government closing in on another shutdown, Mr. Trump is asking Democrats to lighten up, tweeting: "Loosen up and have some fun." A top official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency known as ICE, held a conference call with reporters earlier this afternoon and blasted any notion there should be a cap on the number of detention beds for immigrants coming into their custody. But Democrats worry the White House has moved way beyond law enforcement concerns and is simply trying to use ICE to round up law- abiding people who pose no threat to their communities. And hammering this point earlier today was the California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. He is pulling hundreds of the state's National Guard troops from the border, accusing the president of the trying to manufacture a crisis. Wolf, there are four days and counting until this government shutdown. But it's starting to feel like here they go again Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Yes, let's hope they can resolve this. Jim Acosta, thank you very much. Let's get some more now on the shutdown negotiations that are under way behind closed doors up on Capitol Hill right now. Our Senior Congressional Correspondent, Manu Raju, is joining us. Manu, top negotiators, what, they are planning to work through the evening. What are you hearing?
[Manu Raju, Cnn Senior Political Correspondent:] Yes, actually, a more optimistic note, Wolf, than yesterday, when negotiators were concerned that negotiations had essentially stalled. I talked to the top Senate Republican who's working to try to cut a deal, Richard Shelby, just moments ago. And he told me that negotiations have reopened and he feels more positive than he did yesterday, simply because they are talking. Of course, they broke down on Friday night after Senate Republicans rejected that Democratic offer to limit the number of detention beds of individuals held in ICE custody on American soil. Now, this after that, the Republicans rejected that. There were really no talks up until this afternoon when the top four negotiators met for about 90 minutes behind closed doors, and, afterwards, not just the Republicans, but Democrats sounded potentially more hopeful about getting a deal, including Patrick Leahy, who's the top Democrat appropriator. He said that he's hopeful that they can try to finish tonight and, of course, time is of the essence. If they do cut a deal, they got to move it still through both chambers of Congress, get enough votes, of course, get the presidential signature, so a lot of hoops they need to jump through. But at least, according to both sides, they're talking about seeing if they can get a deal. We will see if they're able to do that tonight. We expect more talks to happen this hour, Wolf. We will see if any more developments happen, but, at the moment, a little bit more optimism than yesterday, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] That's good to hear that, but if there's not a deal reached by Friday, Manu, is there a backup plan to avoid a government shutdown and prevent 800,000 federal workers and their families from suffering, as we all remember what happened during the 35 days of the first shutdown?
[Raju:] It's unclear at this point. I asked that question directly to Richard Shelby if there will be a short-term stopgap measure to keep the government open. He said, "I don't think so, I hope not," meaning they hope to get a deal and not resort to that last-minute effort. But it remains to be seen. All this has to be negotiated, of course, big question about whether the president tries to declare a national emergency and try to fund his border wall. That would open up a whole range of political and legal questions going forward, but that remains an option as well. Still, a lot needs to be negotiated to avoid that shutdown. Still very possible there's another government shutdown, but negotiators now fervently trying to avoid that, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] Let's hope they can avoid it. Manu, thank you very much, Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill. Joining us now, Senator Bob Menendez. He's the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator, thanks so much for joining us.
[Sen. Robert Menendez , New Jersey:] Good to be with you, Wolf.
[Blitzer:] So, as you know, the president, he is continuing to call for a wall. Even if negotiators can reach a deal and they're working, obviously, very hard to come up with some sort of compromise do you believe the president will accept it?
[Menendez:] Well, it will be either he will accept a bipartisan compromise, the second one that has come about we had one in December or it will be at his doorstep to if he rejects it, we will be in the midst of another government shutdown simply because he is recalcitrant here. So, I mean, you know, I hope we all don't forget that the president's insistence here is about billions of dollars toward what is an even bigger figure, $20 billion, $25 billion, ultimately, to build a wall that he wants to build, and ultimately something that he said Mexico would pay. And Mexico's made it very clear they never will. So it is the president's insistence. If he cannot accept a bipartisan compromise, which I believe can, in fact, ultimately take place, then he will be responsible for doing damage to the American economy, to the American people, and to all of those federal workers and federal contractors.
[Blitzer:] There's a sensitive issue involving beds. Going into the negotiations, as you know, Democrats wanted about 35,000 ICE detention beds. Then on Friday, they proposed a cap of less than half that number. Why did Democrats take a stand on that issue when talks seemed to be going so well?
[Menendez:] Well, Wolf, in a negotiation is exactly that, a negotiation. All we have heard is what the administration wants. The problem here is that ICE is out of control. They are already 8,000 beds daily over their existing budget. They want the Congress to bail them out for violating the budget that already exists. So the bottom line is that we cannot go on a path in which ICE and the Border and Customs Department is already bigger than all of the other federal law enforcement entities together, FBI, Secret Service, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearm. And that's because the president has decided to criminalize everybody who is an undocumented immigrant, even when he uses them at his luxurious country clubs and properties to make profit.
[Blitzer:] The deputy director of ICE says a cap on beds, in his words, would be quote "extremely damaging to the public safety of this country." How do you respond?
[Menendez:] The reason that they are already 8,000 over their budgeted amount, so they're violating the budget, is because of the president's zero tolerance policy that has turned everyone, regardless of their record, into a criminal. For example, if you cross the border undocumented, he has now made you a criminal. He is creating that problem by turning people away who legitimately seek asylum. If a person has a driving while under the influence violation, he is now making that, saying that that's a criminal. What we have seen in the past under, for example, President Obama, that violent criminals, yes, we want to see those persons not only arrested and detained, we want to see them deported. But at the end of the day, because he tears children away from their mothers and puts them all in detention facilities, he has an over- demand as a result of his policy. So it's his policy that's driving this. No one who is a real criminal at the end of the day, anyone is going to advocate for them to be let go. No, they need to be detained, they need to be arrested and they need to be deported. But that's different than what we're talking about and what's driving this demand for beds. It's his demand to take everybody. Look, I had a grandfather from New Jersey who's been here over 20 years. Works hard. Never had a criminal record. They wanted to deport him. They wanted to detain him. That's not the essence of brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers who otherwise have been law-abiding in every other respect. He wants to incarcerate them as well as he seeks to deport them. It's far different than criminal aliens.
[Blitzer:] But if the government does wind up shutting down once again, will Democrats share the blame if they insist on this issue of a limit on beds?
[Menendez:] Wolf, a negotiation is exactly that. It's not a limit on bed. It's that ICE cannot have an unlimited budget. It's beyond the question of beds. It's a question of, can ICE continue to over-expend and expect the Congress to bail it out because of a policy that the president is directing that doesn't go to the essence of our national security? So at the end of the day, there was a bipartisan agreement, unanimously passed in the Senate on December 18 of last year. The president rejected it. There hopefully will be a bipartisan agreement. The president cannot accept a bipartisan agreement, then it is fully on his lap and in his responsibility. And so I hope he accepts a bipartisan agreement that I think can come forward and that ultimately will be fair and balanced at the end of the day.
[Blitzer:] They're working really hard on it right now. Let's hope the bicameral, bipartisan negotiators can come up with a deal. Senator, I want to turn to the Russia investigation right now. The House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Adam Schiff, says he's concerned that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, might not be pursuing the question of money laundering as far as the president is concerned hard enough. Why are we just now hearing this criticism of Mueller? What do you suspect is going on?
[Menendez:] Well, I think there's a concern. You know, Deutsche Bank, which is the financial entity involved here, when everybody else was not willing to lend to the Trump Organization, lent them hundreds of millions of dollars. In 2017, Deutsche Bank was fined by both the United States and the United Kingdom for significant violations of Russian money laundering. So you have to wonder whether or not the fact that Trump, President Trump, said, if you go into that, you're crossing a red line, that somehow the special counsel was prohibited in some way from pursuing that. It needs to be understood whether Deutsche Bank, that was doing Russian money laundering and seems to be one of the few financial institutions in the United States that wanted to give Trump money, was doing so for reasons outside of its financial determinations. So we need to know whether the president is being responsive to his interests and whatever interests overshadow him, or whether he's being responsive to the interests of the American people, particularly in foreign policy.
[Blitzer:] Schiff says the House Intelligence Committee will investigate that. Let me get your thoughts on the Trump administration's failure to meet Friday's deadline to provide Congress and the American public, for that matter, a full report on the death of "The Washington Post" columnist Jamal Khashoggi and what role the Saudi crown prince may have played in his murder. You're now preparing new legislation, I understand, with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham in response to that failure to meet that deadline. What will that bill look like?
[Menendez:] Well, first of all, Wolf, the president didn't have a choice here. The law is clear. I helped write that law. And, in fact, the then Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker, and myself, as the ranking Democrat, invoked the provision of the law to demand for the president to make a determination. It's not discretionary for the president to decide whether he wants to make that determination. So he's violating the law, number one. And we're looking at ways in which to force that determination to be made, pursuant to the law. The legislation that we have co-sponsored, and there are several Republicans with us, Lindsey Graham is the lead on it, but there are several Republicans with us as well, the Saudi Arabia Accountability and Yemen Act would do a series of things. It would deny a series of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, it would impose sanctions on those who are in the midst of the Yemen conflict, both those who are supporting the Houthis and those denying humanitarian aid. And specifically as it relates to Khashoggi, it would insist on direct sanctions on those individuals who are ultimately found to be responsible for Khashoggi's murder. And from everything that I have seen, it is very clear to me that the crown prince was intimately engaged in that murder. So, at the end of the day, the president may seek to avoid that responsibility. The Congress will put his feet to the fire. I'm glad that we have broad bipartisan support in this legislation and I look forward to putting a vote on the floor of the Senate, because we cannot just simply allow the indiscriminate killing of a journalist to ultimately go by without consequences at the end of the day.
[Blitzer:] Senator Menendez, thanks so much for joining us.
[Menendez:] Thank you.
[Blitzer:] Just ahead, former Trump fixer and lawyer Michael Cohen is postponing another date with Congress to testify. So what's his excuse this time? And will Democrats do a better job investigating the president's personal finances than Robert Mueller? We're taking a closer look at the House Intelligence Committee chairman's concerns about the special counsel's probe.