Government Shutdown Continues; Trump: I'm Very Proud of What I'm Doing; Trump: I Could Call a National Emergency and Build Wall Quickly; Sources: President Prefers the Word "Strike" to Describe Shutdown; 3 Dead, Several Others Injured After Bowling Alley Shooting; Looking For Compromise on Capitol Hill; Shutdown Stretches Into Another Week, No Deal in Sight
NANCY PELOSI, SPEAKER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: We really cannot resolve this until we open up government.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very proud of doing what I'm doing.</s>SCHUMER, SENATOR (D) NEW YORK: We told the President we needed the government open. He resisted. In fact, he said he'd keep the government closed for a very long period of time, months or even years.</s>TRUMP: Absolutely, I said that. I don't think it will, but I am prepared.</s>RYAN VAUGN, FURLOUGHED GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE WHO VOLUNTEERS: Let us work without having anxiety over our next grocery bill.</s>ANDREA POPELKA, FURLOUGHED WORKER: All of those things are pre- budgeted. So when something like this happens and you're not going to get your next check, it's like - OK, what do I do?</s>ANNOUNCER: This is "New Day Weekend" with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.</s>CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: Well, Happy new day to you, so glad to have you with us. You are waking up to shut down week three. President Trump says, "He'd rather call it a strike."</s>VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: It's not a strike, but whatever you call it, he says, if a deal is not reached it could last for months even, years.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm very proud of doing what I'm doing. I don't call it a shutdown. I call it doing what you have to do for the benefit and for the safety of our country.</s>BLACKWELL: So what's happening next? Well, in a few hours Vice President, Mike Pence will host a meeting with House and Senate staffers. This is a follow-up to yesterday's meeting, which reportedly started with a 15-minute tirade from the President during which he cursed at congressional leaders.</s>PAUL: President later called the meeting productive. Democrats called it contentious. But afterwards the President warned, he could go around Congress, if he so chooses, and build the border wall using military funding. With the latest from the White House now, CNN White House Reporter, Sarah Westwood. What are you hearing about this 11 o'clock meeting, Sarah?</s>SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christi what we heard yesterday were very different outlooks from Democratic congressional leaders and from the President out of those high-level talks in the situation room yesterday with Democrats reiterating their demands to reopen the government while talks continue, and the President saying that he'd be willing to keep the government partially shuttered indefinitely until he gets funding for that border wall. And heading into today's meeting, which will happen at the staff level, it won't have the principals involved this time around. The President is reprising those demands for that $5.6 billion sum that House Republicans passed in a spending bill in one of their last acts in the House majority before Democrats took over. That happened right before the shutdown. And Trump is showing increasing flexibility also as to what might qualify as a wall. Suggesting, he might settle for steel slats or a fence. That he might not need the concrete wall that he ran on in 2016. And Trump is also now saying that he's considered declaring a national emergency over border security in order to get funding for his border wall if he's not able to get that money legislatively. Here's what he said yesterday.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can call a national emergency because of the security of our country, absolutely. No, we can do it. I haven't done it, I may do it, I may do it. But we could call a national emergency and build it very quickly.</s>WESTWOOD: Now Congressional Democrats are already expressing their opposition to that idea. Congressman Adam Smith, the Democratic Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee threatened to scrutinize the President's military budget requests if he were to proceed with this idea. Saying in a statement last night, "By abusing this authority President Trump would be saying that he does not actually believe all the money he requests for our country's defense is needed for legitimate national security purposes. That would raise major questions about his credibility when he requests his next defense budget from Congress." Of course, Trump would face serious headwinds if he tried to proceed with this national emergency declaration. But heading into today's meeting, there's not a lot of expectation for a big breakthrough, Victor and Christi, because Democrats are showing no signs of moving anywhere closer to a compromise.</s>PAUL: All right. Sarah Westwood, thank you so much for the update.</s>BLACKWELL: Let's talk about this now with Amie Parnes. She's a Senior Political Correspondent at The Hill and Co-Author of the book "Shattered". Amie, welcome back to the show.</s>AMIE PARNES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AT THE HILL: Thanks Victor.</s>BLACKWELL: Let's start here with what's happening at 11 o'clock. Vice President, Mike Pence is going to meet with congressional staffers on the Hill. The President has undercut and undermined Vice President Pence twice. First, before this shutdown started, when he went to the Hill and said that, "The President will sign this bill", and then he didn't. And then after going to Democrats and saying, "Let's talk about $2.5 billion", the President said, "No, I want 5.6". What's his word worth in these negotiations with the President not in the room?</s>PARNES: Well, apparently, not much, as we've learned from these two specific instances. But, I think, he's going there - the Vice President to sort of try to, kind of, come to some kind of compromise, I think. If I were to guess, I would think that some people around him want to make this happen. It doesn't look good for the White House ultimately. I think the White House - I think there are some White House officials who kind of know this. No one is urging the President to do anything different. In fact, the sources that I've spoken to are saying that they're holding firm and they're holding their ground and they don't want to compromise. But I think it'll be interesting to see what Vice President Pence can kind of can do in these sorts of situations, and in this in this meeting.</s>BLACKWELL: I want you to listen to the White House Director of Strategic Communications Mercedes Schlapp. This was before the meeting yesterday between the President, Schumer and Pelosi, and what you said is potentially or could be on the table.</s>HALLIE JACKSON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT FOR NBC NEWS: Would the President agree to some kind of a compromise that protects Dreamers and gives him money for a border barrier?</s>MERCEDES SCHLAPP, WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: Well, I think we got to see what happens in this meeting today.</s>JACKSON: So it's on the table.</s>SCHLAPP: I believe that it is on the table. I think we have an opportunity to have these options. For our goal, it is important to say, though, that border security is key.</s>BLACKWELL: Dreamers, DACA on the table. Now we know from reporting that it was when Ann Coulter wrote that op-ed for Breitbart that said, wall less country, but a gutless President, and criticized him and others in the Freedom Caucus. He then pulled out of the funding deal - the continuing resolution. Here's what Ann Coulter said about Dreamers and DACA.</s>ANN COULTER, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'd deport the Dreamers before deporting MS-13 members. They are - you catch them, they at least say OK you got me. The Dreamers are all over Congress, the streets, TV, demanding - demanding that we grant. How dare you wait before excusing our law-breaking? No, I want those guys first, then we'll get the felons and then the hard-working illegal aliens doing the gardening and so on. Everybody kind of likes them, they're so friendly, they're such hard workers. But the Dreamers, #1.</s>BLACKWELL: If that's who the President is afraid of offending and he's scared of what she's going to say, how could the Dreamers or a DACA deal be on the table?</s>PARNES: I don't think it's on the table, Victor. In fact, everyone I've spoken to who had - was in that meeting, who knows about the meeting, has said, "Well, it's an idea in theory. It's not something that's plausible". Democrats are kind of holding firm to that notion too. Of course, they want something they want to do on DACA. But they're saying, no, first we need to the government, then we can talk about DACA. Later and you know even President Trump has said as much like, "Let's get this wall built and then we can talk about DACA". So, I don't think that this is anything - both sides are kind of in agreement on this that this can't be part of this agreement.</s>BLACKWELL: Before yesterday, the semantic argument was over wall, steel slats, concrete, fence, see-through, now is - it's the President doesn't want to call it a shutdown reportedly, he wants to call it a strike, which is a very different thing. What do you glean from the President wanting to reframe or recast this shutdown as strike.</s>PARNES: He's trying to minimize it, obviously, Victor. I mean, some way to say, this isn't as big of a deal as some people are making it. But the thing is, as long - even if this goes months and years, this has ramifications. This is going to - he's going to start hearing from more and more Republican lawmakers, increasingly, that say this is a problem for me and this is a problem for my constituents. My constituents are really angry about this. I mean, this is a huge chunk of the population. And so I think that as this kind of carries on and takes on, it's going to be increasingly problematic for him. And I think that's why democrats feel like they have leverage at this point.</s>BLACKWELL: So what's the argument? I just spoke with one of the members of the Trump Campaign Advisory Board on HR21, which is the bill that would open and fund through September 30th all of the departments, except for Homeland Security, to continue the fight over the wall, that they could get Agriculture, Interior, HUD and the rest back open. What's the congressional argument for not bringing that bill to the floor of the Senate?</s>PARNES: I think because the Department of Homeland Security is critical. There I've talked to a source yesterday who says that it's not as up to snuff as it should be right now and they're kind of concerned about that. And so, I think, it has to - a lot of people feel like it has to include the Department of Homeland Security to move forward. It's not enough to just say, OK the rest of these departments will open. So I think they're holding on to that and seeing what how - much they can - what they can build off that.</s>BLACKWELL: All right. Amie Parnes thanks so much for being with us this morning.</s>PARNES: Thank you, Victor.</s>PAUL: So we're bringing another viewpoint here. Andrea Catsimatidis. She's the GOP Regional Vice Chairman for New York State. Thank you so much for being with us, Andrea, we appreciate it.</s>ANDREA CATSIMATIDIS, NEW YORK STATE GOP REGIONAL VICE-CHAIRWOMAN: Thanks for having me.</s>PAUL: Absolutely. So we just heard - I want to ask you a question off of what, Amie was saying there. How long do you think the GOP can support President Trump in this until - before Congressmen and women in the GOP are going to the President saying, "Listen, my constituents are not going to put up with this much longer".</s>CATSIMATIDIS: I think that they're going to do whatever it takes to support the President. When you're negotiating a deal, you can't tell the other side when you're going to finish negotiating, because then there wouldn't be a negotiation. They would know when it's over and they would know when you cave. So I think the President and the GOP have to hang strong in this endeavor.</s>PAUL: For the sake of their constituents? I mean, do you think that GOPers are going to say I'm going to risk my whole job for this wall?</s>CATSIMATIDIS: I mean, the Republican Party really supports the wall, it's a matter of national security. We have to know who is coming into this country. 89 percent of border security agents say that the wall would help improve national security, and I think that's what the American people ultimately care about.</s>PAUL: OK. I want to listen to something that President Trump said yesterday about who he believes these people are that are dealing with a shutdown and what they support. Let's listen.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can call a national emergency because of the security of our country, absolutely. No, we can do it. I haven't done it. I may do it - I may do it. But we could call a national emergency and build it very quickly.</s>TRUMP: I really believe that these people - many of the people that we're talking about, many of the people you're discussing, I really believe that they agree with what we're doing. Many of those people, maybe even most of those people that really have not been, and will not be getting their money in at this moment, those people, in many cases, are the biggest fan of what we're doing.</s>PAUL: Do you know what evidence the President has to back that up?</s>CATSIMATIDIS: That was his whole campaign promise, and the reason that he got elected. So--</s>PAUL: But how does he know that the people who are suffering through this shutdown agree with him? What evidence is there that all of these people, as he deems and he said, I really believe these people agree with him, that they agree with what he's doing?</s>CATSIMATIDIS: I think Americans want to be kept safe. And as I said 89 percent of border security agents say that it's going to help with our national security. We're having huge problems in America, because not only is this a national security issue, but it's also a domestic security issue. MS-13 gang members get across the border illegally and they commit these heinous crimes in these countries.</s>PAUL: We know that there are dangerous people that come across the border. We know that there are people who are not dangerous that come across the border. You are right in that. But here's my question. Right now today we're dealing with week three of a shutdown. There are people who cannot afford to pay their rent, to buy food, to buy clothes, to take care of their children. So at the end of the day, President Trump hasn't had to live paycheck to paycheck. Do you think there is a disconnect for people and could there be a political vulnerability there because of it?</s>CATSIMATIDIS: I really sympathize with these people. And, honestly, I feel like it's irresponsible on the part of the Democrats for passing the legislation on Thursday knowing that the Senate and the President weren't get a vote for it, and therefore the government was going to stay shutdown for longer, and these poor people are going to be out of work for longer. And I think that there needs to be a compromise, so that we can send these people back to work.</s>PAUL: But can that compromise be about the number? At the end of the day there is a commonality, Democrats and Republicans both say we need to secure the border. Is it up to the President to come to the table and say, "OK, let's agree on a number".</s>CATSIMATIDIS: So the border wall would cost about $5.6 billion, which is essentially only about 0.1% of the budget. 0.1% is--</s>PAUL: So what happened to Mexico paying for the border wall?</s>CATSIMATIDIS: Well, President Trump didn't say--</s>PAUL: --paying for the border wall?</s>CATSIMATIDIS: Yes. Well, President Trump didn't say exactly how Mexico would pay for the border wall. They're paying in other ways through our beneficial trade agreement. But, ultimately, I think--</s>PAUL: If there being other ways why does he need that much money for the border well?</s>CATSIMATIDIS: It's about national security. I mean, they're paying in other ways, but it would be more beneficial for us to get the wall this way.</s>PAUL: OK. So let me ask you this. We just heard the President there too say that he would bypass Congress and declare a national emergency, and in doing so, then he would take money out of the military budget to pay for a wall. Here's my question. Are you - and do you think other republicans are comfortable with that idea, knowing that if you're taking money out of a military budget and something huge happens in terms of terrorism, whether it has anything to do with Mexico or not and now we have deflated much of that military budget. That could be a real crisis for us. So would you - are you uncomfortable at all or comfortable with the thought that the President would steal money or take money rather. I shouldn't say steal. Would take money out of a military budget to pay for this and bypass Congress?</s>CATSIMATIDIS: The wall is a matter of national security. And I think, ultimately, Americans will feel safer at night knowing that we have that border security. And so to me as a national security issue it makes sense. But would I rather have it come somewhere else? Yes, and I think everyone would as well. But, ultimately, I think that it would be important for us to have the wall.</s>PAUL: Andrea Catsimatidis, we appreciate being here. Thank you.</s>CATSIMATIDIS: Thank you.</s>BLACKWELL: We are following breaking news out of Southern California this morning. At least three people are dead and several others are wounded after a shooting at a bowling alley. This was in Torrance. Officers say there were multiple people with gunshot wounds inside the building and witnesses described it just a chaotic scene.</s>DANA SCOTT, WITNESS, BOWLING ALLEY SHOOTING, TORRANCE: A lot of people ran into - back into the bar area behind the seats, and on the floor, under the benches. People were crying. It was not comfortable. People were looking for their parents. Nisei is a family league, so you got mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, you know everybody's friends in that league.</s>PAUL: Well, detectives are investigating the shooting and working to identify those suspects. We're going to bring you more information, of course, as we get it, we'll pass it on to you right away.</s>BLACKWELL: Plus, it's a test of wills and many other things as President Trump and Congressional Democrats negotiate a deal or try to get close to opening up the government fully. With no end in sight, a growing number of lawmakers on Capitol Hill are calling for compromise. You'll hear from them.</s>PAUL: Also, hundreds of TSA employees calling out sick at major airports across the country, the effects that that could have on your travels.