Partial U.S. Federal Government Shutdown Continues; Republican Senators Meet at White House Regarding Government Funding Bill; President Trump Reportedly Expresses Desire to Fire Federal Reserve Chairman
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for being with me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We're about to enter now hour 14 of the partial U.S. government shutdown. And neither side is ready to blink on the border wall issue. The president, he is having lunch with a group of all Republican lawmakers to discuss border security. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says it is the Democrats who actually need to make a move in order to get the government back open again. Listen.</s>MITCH MCCONNELL, (R) SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: We pushed the pause button until the president, from whom we will need his signature, and Senate Democrats, from whom we will need votes, reach an agreement. No procedural votes, no test votes, just a meaningful vote on a bipartisan agreement whenever that is reached. And it's my hope that it is reached sooner rather than later.</s>CHUCK SCHUMER, (D) SENATE MINORITY LEADER: President Trump, if you want to open the government, you must abandon the wall, plain and simple. The wall is President Trump's bone to the hard right people. It's no way to spend $5 billion, for a political bone.</s>WHITFIELD: Let's get right to CNN's congressional correspondent Phil Mattingly on Capitol Hill. You're hearing that this could get worse before it gets better?</s>PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred, that's exactly right. At least this current state, there are no clear pathways out of the negotiations that have occurred behind the scenes. What I'm told is that there have been proposals traded back and forth from the White House to Democrats and back, and at this point they are still, what I've been told, billions of dollars apart. And obviously one crucial issue, you heard it from the Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on the Senate floor, Democrats are not willing to budge in the idea that they will not provide a dime in border wall funding. The president has made clear his threshold right now is $5 billion, willing to come down a little bit, we're told in negotiations that have been ongoing, but there does need to be money for the wall. And if you're reading tea leaves, and pretty much given that most lawmakers aren't here today, that's what a lot of us have been left to go. If you look at the meeting in the White House, the lunch that you mentioned that is going on in the White House right now, and who is attending that lunch. You have essentially hardline conservative and allies of the president, members of the House Freedom Caucus, Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Mike Lee, Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, who is considered somebody who can be part of a potential deal. But if you look at that list, and I've been talking to both Republicans and Democrats about those attending, nobody views that list as the type of people that are going to help the president move any closer to making a deal. The House Freedom Caucus allies are a very conservative caucus in the House, were the group that was pushing the president to have this fight, to stick to the issue that he campaign on and promise his supporters he would eventually win on, the funding for the wall. And given that that is occurring, given that negotiations really haven't moved that far over the course of the last 12 to 15 hours, you mentioned that it is 14 hours into the shutdown, we shouldn't probably be talking about the hours that this will take. We should be talking about the days, maybe even longer according to aides I'm talking to now. I will note Vice President Mike Pence making his way back to Capitol Hill, he was in here last night with Mick Mulvaney, the incoming chief of staff, and Jared Kushner the president's son-in-law and senior adviser. He has been trying to take an active role in discussions and talks and negotiations, but at this point, even as he arrives on Capitol Hill, nobody believes that anything is happening any time soon. In fact, it might be a long wait at this point, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Phil Mattingly, thank you so much. So President Trump delayed his holiday trip to his Mar-a-Lago resort in south Florida, and says that he is working hard at the White House trying to resolve this shutdown. We just mentioned there was going to be a lunch there. Let's check in with CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood. So Sarah, what are you hearing about what productive material could come from this lunch?</s>SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Fred, President Trump has really been all over the map when it comes to this funding fight. First, he said about a week ago that he would be proud to be responsible for a shutdown if it meant getting money for his border wall. Then his aides signaled that he would be willing to sign that temporary spending deal that passed the Senate. It would have kept the government open to February 8th. But by Thursday, he had changed his mind, put his foot down again, taking a hardline stance in favor of his $5 billion. And that's how we got to today. There's still not a lot of clarity coming from the White House about just what kind of legislation the president would be willing to sign. That's causing a lot of headaches for negotiators. The president had become increasingly sensitive to criticism from his conservative allies that he was essentially surrendering by taking that temporary spending deal that would have kept the government open, and forfeited his last, best chance to get the wall before Democrats come into power in the House in January. Now, this White House meeting that you and Phil mentioned, it is really just with people who already agree with the president on funding for the border wall. And as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell mentioning, what the president needs to do right now to break the logjam is huddle with people who don't agree with me, with Senate Democrat whose votes he will need to get something passed in the Senate. Remember, he has to have 10 Senate Democrats come across the aisle, at least 10 if he doesn't lose any members, any Democrats, to come across the aisle and vote for what he is willing to sign in terms of border wall funding. The White House not signaling just how far down from that $5 billion he would be willing to come. And so there is a lot of wait and see until the president clarifies his position right now, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: Sara Westwood at the White House, keep us posted. Let's talk more about all this. Joining me right now, CNN political analyst Brian Karem, and Washington bureau chief of the "Chicago Sun Times," Lynn Sweet. Good to see both of you. Happy holidays. So, Brian, you first. What's the point of this lunch if it really is preaching to the choir?</s>BRIAN KAREM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, because you like to hear the choir sing back at you on occasion, I suppose. What this situation really boils down to, Fred, is three things. First of all, he was willing to compromise, on Wednesday gave the signal he was going to compromise, then heard from Ann Coulter who is the intellectual equivalent of an empty wasp's nest in the middle of winter. And when she went after him, he capitulated, and Rush Limbaugh hopped. And so the president hardened -- Pharaoh hardened his heart. So that's where we got to where we are. Then the issue itself, as far as the border wall, it's a very disingenuous issue. So they tell us it will stop illegal immigration. A lot of the illegal immigration is from people who overstay their visas. Then they tell it is going to stop terrorism. I covered that border for five years. There has been very few cases of terrorism. Most terrorists come in the usual route, the terrorists from the Middle East, and where he says. And then finally, he talks about it curbing drug problems. Well, it's not. There is a demand for drugs in this country. And so all three of these issues are just disingenuous. And the real reason why this is an issue for Ann Coulter and for other Republicans is that they believe that the people coming in from south of the border are brought here to vote Democratic. And so they're brown people, it's a racist argument, and it's a political argument. So today, when he sits there in that lunch, he is preaching to the choir, talking to the choir, and they're bolstering each other, and there's nothing being done.</s>WHITFIELD: So then, Lynn, you heard from the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, who was trying to be both instructive and also admonished the Senate there. And he says, you know what, this administration has barely spent money from last year. So he says this is, and I'm quoting now, ineffective law the majority of people don't even support, meaning this $5 billion for the wall or any amount of money for the wall, because Schumer was saying, look, we have three proposals on the table, two of them are Democratic, one is from Mitch McConnell, and they all are promising $1.3 billion for border security, but no funding for the wall. So is this both sides just simply digging in their heels? And this promises that this is going to be a very long government shutdown, because neither side is going to budge?</s>LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": Well, I've been through these shutdowns before. And these deals materialize somewhere. What is giving them an escape valve is that because this is the Christmas holiday, people all over the place are on holiday, so you won't feel the impact of it in the way you might otherwise have said. But I want to --</s>WHITFIELD: Unless you're a federal worker, one of the 800,000.</s>SWEET: That's true. But you might -- it just is not the same, this is the most unusual week of the year, where people, a lot of people are off, and might not have trials scheduled, trips to national parks scheduled. But my point being, I don't want to negate in any way the toughness that this is on federal workers, who may be in a tough position. I want to go back to Schumer's speech today, because he had two parts in it. One that was a strong argument, one that was a weaker one. Saying what people rely on, or citing the poll, most people think this or that, is something that is easily debatable. And what is not as debatable is Schumer understands how federal government works, and this is such an important point, let me just plow through this. Most federal projects do not get full federal funding all at one time. The White House has not put out, it's not saying that we need $5 billion year one, you spend 1.2, year three we do whatever. So if you can't even spend the money in the pipeline, it is hard to justify in routine federal projects getting all of the money at once. That's why there is this term called shovel-ready projects and all that, all this to say that Schumer really struck on something, that you can't spend all this money in one year, so why do you need it in one year? And then that goes back to --</s>WHITFIELD: He is getting to the heart of governing. He is being very critical and saying Mr. President, you don't know how to govern.</s>SWEET: Yes.</s>WHITFIELD: And you're not leading --</s>SWEET: That's why I think, Fred, you need to pay attention to this. And then the other thing that Democrats are a little slower coming back to is they don't even have to necessarily debate about the wall, because if Mexico is going to really pay for it, it would have been a nonstarter. And that's where I think you're going to see some of this discussion going, bringing it back to a point sometimes people forget.</s>WHITFIELD: So then Brian, the flipside to that is you have the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who is placing the blame on Democrats and saying, wait a minute, the pressure is on you, on you two come around and to compromise and to get government running again.</s>KAREM: Well, and then Mitch is ignoring the point that Lynn just made, and he knows it all too well. That's Mitch playing to the base, to the president's base, because Mitch knows all too well, Senator McConnell has been there for a long time. He knows how this game is played, and he knows that if you don't spend the money, everything that Lynn just said, I won't repeat, but he knows this. So when he is saying what he is saying, he's being disingenuous in order to sell it. The president came out and owned this, said he would be happy to shut it down, said it was his shutdown.</s>WHITFIELD: And it's difficult to walk that back.</s>KAREM: Well, no, how do you walk that back?</s>WHITFIELD: He is saying it, and so are other Republicans who are supporting him, who are saying, yes, it is on the Democrats, you own this. But the president said he owns it.</s>KAREM: But Fred, he has walked everything back at one point or another, since he's been there. Since day one when they showed his picture and said that the inaugural crowd was the largest ever. They create the facts, and then they want us to report them. It is a long cry from where it was when Reagan, Larry Speakes said, look, don't tell us how to stage the news and we won't tell you how to report the news. This administration stages it and then wants to tell how to report it and then changes it. It's not news. This is the way Trump operates. Merry Christmas.</s>WHITFIELD: We will leave it there for now. I know, merry Christmas. Brian Karem, Lynn Sweet, good to see you both. Appreciate it.</s>KAREM: Good to see you.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, a new resignation over President Trump's surprise withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Syria. The top U.S. envoy in the ISIS fight quitting a day after Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis turned in his resignation. So what do these departures mean?