



Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

U.S. Government Shutdown Enters Third Day; Pence Arrives in Israel to Warm Welcome from Netanyahu; Tokyo Holds First North Korean Missile Attack Drill. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 22, 2018 - 01:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.



[01:00:00]



(MUSIC PLAYING)



UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.



ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.



GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): And I'm George Howell, following the breaking news this hour here on CNN.



The U.S. government shut down now for a third day. The U.S. Senate failed to reach an agreement on a temporary spending bill on Sunday night but now a vote is scheduled. The vote scheduled for noon on Monday.



CHURCH: Democrats are pushing to tie a program protecting young, undocumented immigrants from deportation to the spending bill. Ryan Nobles has the details now from Capitol Hill.



RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary and George, it turned out not to be as late a night as we expected here on Capitol Hill but that's not because there was some sort of grand bargain struck between Republicans and Democrats.



Instead they've decided to yet again delay this process, extending this vote just a little bit longer, till noon Eastern time on Monday. This is what Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor late Sunday night.



(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)



SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), MAJORITY LEADER: Should these issues not be resolved by the time the funding bill before us expires on February 8th, 2018, assuming that the government remains open, it would be my intention to proceed to legislation that would address DACA, border security and related issues.



(END VIDEO CLIP)



NOBLES: If you listen to what the Senate majority leader is offering, it is a promise to Senate Democrats and some Republicans that they will address immigration, in particular, protections for those DREAMers, those hundreds of thousands of young people who were brought to this country through no fault of their own and were once protected by the DACA program.



But there's been a long sense of a lack of trust between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to this issue.



Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, who's been one of the key negotiators from the Republican side, told me last night, after McConnell's speech, that he is hoping that the fact that the Senate majority leader made the promise to take up that DACA issue before this next deadline for the continuing resolution will be enough to convince Democrats to vote yes. Take a listen.



(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)



SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: I think there is a lack of trust. And that's why I wanted to stand up afterwards and reiterate and to confirm what the leader has committed to.



I do think, given the high-profile nature of this whole debate, that it will be impossible for us not to move on to immigration. And the Democrats still have the spending caps as leverage beyond this time. So I do think we'll get there.



(END VIDEO CLIP)



NOBLES: Beyond the back and forth, though, between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, there is a stark reality for the hundreds of thousands of federal government employees across the country, who now will not have to come into work on Monday morning.



And that means they won't receive a paycheck on Monday as a result. They are continuing to remain on edge, as Republicans and Democrats here in Washington iron out their differences. They are hoping to cast a vote on this issue noon Eastern time on Monday -- Rosemary and George.



HOWELL: Ryan Nobles, thank you. The facts first there with the reporting.



Now let's break this down politically. We've got our Republican digital strategist, Austin James, with us and Democratic strategist, Caroline Heldman.



Good to have you both with us this hour. Let's talk about this because another day passes, another delay that we've seen. But there is a sense now, you get a sense that there is some progress in the air.



Also, you can hear it in the tone of the minority leader, Chuck Schumer. Let's listen to what he had to say after Mitch McConnell. We can talk about it here on the other side.



(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-N.Y.), MINORITY LEADER: I am happy to continue my discussion with the majority leader about reopening the government. We've had several conversations. Talks will continue. But we have yet to reach an agreement on a path forward that would be acceptable for both sides.



(END VIDEO CLIP)



HOWELL: Comparing that to what we heard just hours ago, days ago, the heated, incendiary rhetoric, it seems that cooler heads are prevailing. Signs of progress but still there is a big deficit with Democrats, who don't trust that Republicans are serious about this.



Caroline, how do both sides bridge the gap of trust?



First to you.



CAROLINE HELDMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think there are fundamental disagreements here. You have DACA on one hand, which nine of 10 Americans support and the Republicans want to tie it and Donald Trump wants tie to it building the wall, which only three in 10 Americans support.



And so you have a fundamental disagreement. And as much as they are posturing that they want to get something done, I think the very fact that we are here shows just how deep this division runs.



I do think that we will reach an agreement, hopefully, very soon although, if they don't reach an agreement in the next couple of days and dig in their heels, because it's a real disagreement --



[01:05:00]



HELDMAN: -- this government shutdown could go on for quite some time at great expense to taxpayers.



HOWELL: Austin, to you. The same question for those Democrats who question whether Republicans are serious about this.



What do you have to say to the Democrats?



AUSTIN JAMES, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, listen, I think it's less of -- more of a compromise and more of really a breakdown of the Democratic unity.



I had a friend who was kind of going on TV and doing some talking points about a week ago. And at that time, the polling really was quite negative toward Republicans. And I think things have shifted dramatically.



I think what you're looking at is you're looking at the polling -- I think it's a CNN poll that came out recently -- to match numbers to Caroline's point, says that over 60 percent or almost 60 percent of Americans support the funding of the bill, funding of the government, at no cost to -- speaking to illegal immigration. I think about one-third said that DACA was more important. And so I



think Democrats are kind of reading the tea leaves and there's this group of 10 that are very worried about running for re-election in states that Donald Trump had won.



And I think you're starting to see them crack under what the ultimate motive of the Democrats is and the changing of the tide of the American people.



CHURCH: Let's just listen to what Senator Jeff Flake said when he was asked whether the Senate could come to any agreement by February 8th, let's listen.



(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)



SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: I don't know. I mean, I hope we can but I'm doubting it because that relies on the White House to actually work with us on this. We haven't seen that yet.



(END VIDEO CLIP)



CHURCH: They haven't seen that yet, the White House working with them on coming to an agreement.



That's damning, isn't it, coming from a Republican senator?



I want to go to you first, Austin James.



How do you explain that?



JAMES: Listen, I think one of the more troubling narratives that we're seeing play out here is that you have the White House and then you have kind of the Republican Party. And I think some of that is starting to break.



I mean, Stephen Miller, to his point about illegal immigration just not being a motivating factor, you know, we've got people fighting for our freedom overseas and they're taking a back seat to less than 1 million illegal immigrants.



That is a narrative that ushered Donald Trump in and still works even though I think Stephen Miller himself has got the energy of Wednesday Addams. So he himself as a messenger may have to go. But I think ultimately that message still works.



Regardless of those talking points coming out of Congress, I think you see a more unified message across all Republicans, including Trump and the White House, and ultimately that is prevailing against the non- unified voice of Democrats.



CHURCH: And Caroline Heldman, I'm sure you'd probably want to reply to Austin and the poll numbers he was using because not everyone is in agreement that the blame, the finger of blame, is being pointed at the Democrats for this shutdown.



HELDMAN: Well, according to that exact same poll that Austin cited, 50 percent of Americans or 48 percent blame the GOP and Donald Trump for the shutdown, whereas only one in three Americans blame the Democrats. So Americans are actually really squarely placing the blame at the feet of Republicans.



And that's because, if you look at what caused this, go back to January 11th. Donald Trump, the negotiations about DACA broke down when he flipped his position and he referred to countries as S-holes. That is what started this government shutdown.



Donald Trump talked about how we needed a government shutdown back in September as though it's something flippant and not something that's going to cause 850,000 people to be furloughed.



You see Mulvaney actually talking about the government shutdown being cool. And I would very much disagree with Austin that this message works or Stephen Miller's position works. Nine out of 10 Americans want DACA to be fixed. The Republicans defunded CHIP --



(CROSSTALK)



JAMES: But not at the loss -- and not at the extension of this nonfunding. I think that's the bigger issue. So how we got here is a non-issue; it's where we go from here I think is --



HELDMAN: It's absolutely the issue. The only person, Austin, who can get us out of this is Donald Trump having a clear head, not listening to extremists or people like Miller --



JAMES: You're giving him too much credit.



HELDMAN: You're giving Donald Trump, the President of the United States, too much credit?



No, he's actually the one who could broker -- he's the person who caused the breakdown --



JAMES: But Caroline, he's the one that has said, I will give -- I will extend past March, I am trying to work toward a solution. And ultimately what I'm saying is that the American people literally see this narrative as, why are we holding up funding?



Why are we having --



HELDMAN: Don't put it that way, that's a Republican talking point.



HOWELL: -- I want to talk about this because you're both getting to this issue again, this trust gap. So we talked about it a moment ago, Democrats not trusting Republicans. And some Republicans unsure of where the Republican president stands on these issues.



We have seen the U.S. president change his mind from time to time.



The question to you, Austin, does that cause a problem here, as, again, we're seeing a sense of progress here.



Are Republicans certain that they know that this U.S. president is firmly in their court?



JAMES: Yes, no, listen, I think that's a fair point. But ultimately, kind of back to my previous point --



[01:10:00]



AUSTIN: I think what we're going to see is Republicans kind of offering -- they're going to kind of offer that olive branch that is the, "We will talk about it soon, bring it to the floor at X date."



Like I said, I think you're going to see Democrats, who are in kind of a precarious position in some of these red states, start to fall.



(CROSSTALK)



HOWELL: The question was about the U.S. president, just to be specific.



Do you get a sense that he is -- sure, is he -- can Republicans count on his vote, his approval, with where they are now?



JAMES: Listen, I can't speak for the president, but I will say this, I think he is kind of looking at the tide and he sees the upper hand. I noticed if you -- I think we all know, we saw his tweet today, where he referenced pulling out the nuclear option, which probably is not the right solution here.



But again, I can't speak for the president but I think he wants a solution, I think Republicans want a solution. Ultimately, they're not willing to put something in stone because this isn't a funding issue. DACA isn't a funding issue.



I think having a discussion about things like some of the domestic funding that Democrats ultimately want is probably more what Mitch McConnell is looking to do.



CHURCH: Caroline, this is the problem, though, isn't it, because we saw in that Tuesday meeting, the bipartisan meeting, that Donald Trump had said, I'm going to sign whatever you put in front of me.



You guys just hammer this out and I'll put my name to it. He went back to the White House and his advisers got to him and he changed his mind. And this is really at the root of the problem.



So how do you and how do the Democrats deal with that?



And also to you, Austin, that's a problem for the Republicans because the American voters see this and the world is seeing this, the flip- flopping.



HELDMAN: He absolutely flip-flopped on his DACA position again. Which is why we are here.



The Democrats are looking at what the Republicans have done, the Republicans have withdrawn funding for CHIP and they've withdrawn protections for DACA folks. And we are now demanding that these be fixed. These are things that Republicans broke.



And we are not going to be compromising until these Americans are protected, until 9 million children and 800,000 people, who were brought here as children, get protections. And it's absolutely a trust issue, when you have a president calling immigrants, referring to them from S-hole countries and causing a breakdown.



There is no trust because he has flip-flopped back and forth and ultimately he needs to stop listening to extremists like Stephen miller, who taunted immigrants when he was in high school and has a long record of something I would call racial resentment.



He needs to stop listening to these folks and actually do what is right for everybody, including the military, the CHIP kids who need medical care, the 800,000 DREAMers or DACA recipients.



(CROSSTALK)



JAMES: -- she brings up a good point, so CHIP, the health care of our children domestically, those who are fighting for our freedom on foreign soil, I think those are issues the American people care about. And ultimately she's right that DACA is over -- the numbers tell us that the American people do care about this.



But again, like I said, this is a linear process. And so I think Democrats will ultimately lose in 2018 -- in 2020 if they continue to take these kinds of rogue issues and put them in front of the American people.



HOWELL: Austin James, thank you so much for your time.



Caroline Heldman, thank you so much for being with us.



We'll stay in touch with you both as we try to sort all this out and see where it goes, thank you.



CHURCH: Thank you.



We'll take a short break here. But still to come, members of the U.S. military still have to report for duty. But if the government shutdown continues they may not get paid. Next, some of the real-life consequences of this shutdown.



(MUSIC PLAYING)



(COMMERCIAL BREAK)



[01:15:00]



(SPORTS)



(MUSIC PLAYING)



CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Let's just recap our top story.



The U.S. government shutdown is now on day three. Lawmakers have not been able to agree on a deal but the Senate is set to vote on Monday at noon to reopen the government.



HOWELL: In the meantime, thousands of non-essential federal employees will be furloughed. Our Pentagon correspondent Ryan Browne reports the U.S. military may also be affected.



(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)



RYAN BROWNE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: As the government shutdown continues, both sides have pointed to its effect on the military as a reason that it needs to come to an end.



Now the military will be impacted in a variety of ways. U.S. troops, U.S. uniformed personnel, will continue to perform their duties both here at home and overseas. But if the shutdown continues to the next pay period, those troops, including those in combat, will not be paid.



Death benefits to be paid potentially to fallen service members' families could potentially be affected as well by a shutdown. About 50 percent to 75 percent of the Department of Defense's civilian workforce will be furloughed, will not come in to work.



That can affect contracting, can affect other maintenance programs, something of very big concern to the Secretary of Defense, James Mattis. Reserve training will be canceled as well.



All these things having an effect not necessarily on active military operations but a lot of the support services, which is why Secretary of Defense Mattis said a shutdown would have a terrible impact on the United States military and the Department of Defense but U.S. troops around the world would continue performing their jobs. Back to you.



(END VIDEOTAPE)



CHURCH: Thanks so much.



Joining us from Los Angeles, CNN political commentators, Democratic strategist Dave Jacobson and Republican consultant John Thomas.



Thanks to both of you for joining us.



Now on Sunday, we all watched Republicans and Democrats pointing the finger of blame at each other for this government shutdown instead of actually finding a solution toward essentially what is a very high level of dysfunction.



So who's to blame for this shutdown?



What do the polls tell us, Dave Jacobson?



DAVE JACOBSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Rosemary, Politico and Morning Consult put out a poll just hours ago, in which they asked the American people, who do they blame for the government shutdown?



Forty-one percent of respondents said it was Republicans. And only 36 percent of respondents said that it was Democrats.



Why do Americans believe that Republicans are to blame?



Because for the first time in modern history, you have one-party rule with a government shutdown. Donald Trump, the Republican, --



[01:20:00]



JACOBSON: -- is in the White House. Republicans control the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. This is unprecedented. And I think it underscores a true failure of leadership from the top down when it comes to Republicans. And the American people know it.



CHURCH: John Thomas, do you agree?



I suspect not.



JOHN THOMAS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, of course, not. But Dave's not wrong about the polling. And I think the -- first of all, it's almost margin of error stuff. But the reason you do see American public today believing that, in fact, Republicans are slightly more responsible is because most Americans don't understand that you have to get 60 votes to pass this budget bill.



And the fact is there is no path to 60 without Democrat support. So in fact it is the Democrats that are truly to blame. And I think public opinion will begin to reflect that when they start to understand that 60-vote count.



Here's the most amazing thing to me, Rosemary, is that the reason -- this is a bill that no one objects to the things in the bill, yet Democrats are voting to shut down the government over DACA, a policy that doesn't expire for weeks and that both Trump and the Republicans have said they want to fix and figure out.



HOWELL: Well, John, to your point, this question to you as well. So two Democratic sources say they expect that Monday's key vote will fall short of that 60 votes that's necessary. That's what we're hearing from two Democratic sources.



So the question, John, to you.



As this drags on, if it drags on, who will be most at risk to feel the ire of voters?



Will it be Democrats or Republicans?



THOMAS: I think everybody's a loser in this particular situation. I think some are worse off than others. I quite frankly think Democrats are backing themselves into a corner, specifically Democratic senators that are in states where Trump won.



For instance, Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, if she has to vote to keep this open, if she doesn't, it could jeopardize her re-elect.



So I think the other thing is, Democrats are making -- saying the reason they didn't vote for this bill is simply because they want illegal immigrants to have legal status and that's contradictory to Republicans in Trump's America first message.



HOWELL: Dave, same question to you.



Who stands the most to lose here as this continues?



JACOBSON: Well, I think the polling that I alluded to earlier clearly is the latest evidence that shows the Republicans are already hurting more than Democrats. And that's because Democrats are advancing the agenda of the American people.



Poll after poll consistently has shown the American people want a fix to DACA. CBS put out a poll the other day: 87 percent of Americans want a DACA fix, 79 percent of those are Republicans.



When it comes to CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program that was part of the House bill that had the six-year extension but not a permanent solution in extension in terms of funding, that even has more support than the DACA fix does.



So clearly the Democrats are advancing an agenda that the American people overwhelmingly support.



And going back to John's point in terms of passing a deal, Republicans are the party in power. Republicans have had one year of the Trump presidency to pass a comprehensive budget.



But what do the Republicans do?



They jam through Congress a widely unpopular tax cut for millionaires and billionaires and Wall Street banks and corporations at a time when they could have been passing a comprehensive budget.



And I think that really serves as fresh evidence of what the Republican agenda is and their priorities. It's looking out for the rich and kicking the middle class and poor people to the curb.



CHURCH: John Thomas, to you now. I want to tackle the DACA problem because we heard from President Trump in that Tuesday bipartisan meeting, when he discussed this and he said, I will sign anything put in front of me.



Then we suddenly see this backflip. This is the problem. And this is really at the core of the lack of trust on the part of the Democrats when it comes to making a decision on this. And they're using this as leverage to get what they need for the DREAMers.



So do you agree that there is a problem here and the root of it appears to be President Trump and what he believes?



Because Mitch McConnell himself has said he doesn't really know exactly what President Trump wants.



THOMAS: Yes, but this fight really is between Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell. Like the president said, he would essentially sign what makes it to his desk. And it's not that -- President Trump does want to make a deal on DACA, Rosemary, but he also wants to keep the government open.



The challenge with DACA, like to Dave's point, most Americans do want to keep DACA but the devil is in the details. DACA doesn't mean amnesty for the parents as well as the kids.



Does it mean they can use welfare programs?



What about chain migration?



It is a complicated problem that we're not getting the answer to tonight. But we want to keep the government open. And people like Dave and Chuck Schumer are literally willing to throw 8 million --



[01:25:00]



THOMAS: -- children under the bus that rely on programs like CHIP and our military, grieving widows, like your reporter said, they're willing to play politics with those people to get a score on DACA but they can get it a week from now.



CHURCH: Dave, this is the problem for the Democrats, isn't it, there is a vulnerability here because a lot of people could turn around and say, just open up the government and deal with DACA a little later, because it's not a problem for DACA right now.



JACOBSON: I think John's right that the devil is in the details. At the end of the day, the American people are going to look at which party controls all different arms of the government.



And that's the Republicans. They're in charge. They're not going to look at all the finite nuances when it comes to these votes.



And let's not forget that four Republicans actually voted with the Democrats to shut down the government: Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake, Mike Lee, Rand Paul. So this isn't purely a Democratic strategy.



There's a number of key, high-profile Republicans, who lined up with the Democrats because they wanted a comprehensive solution. And it's clear that Democrats want to bring some sort of common sense consensus effort forward.



And that's why they were able to partner with those four Republicans to come up with some sort of a plan. It's also why Senator Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin presented a comprehensive deal to the president. It's on Republicans like Donald Trump, who shut down that deal, who are ultimately causing the shutdown.



HOWELL: Well, you know -- the one thing that is certain, here's where we are. The incendiary rhetoric, it seems to have been toned down a bit. There are thousands of people who are uncertain about what happens next.



Do they get a paycheck?



Do they go to work?



That's where we are right now. And we'll have to see if these sides could come together to reach some sort of a deal.



Dave Jacobson, John Thomas, thank you so much for your time.



JACOBSON: Thank you.



CHURCH: Thank you



HOWELL: Well, the U.S. government, again, shut down. And now we move into the work week after the Senate failed to reach an agreement over the weekend.



What happens next?



We look into it as CNN NEWSROOM continues.



[01:30:00]



(COMMERCIAL BREAK)



HOWELL: Welcome back to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM Breaking News Coverage, I'm George Howell.



CHURCH: And I'm Rosemary Church.



HOWELL: Returning now to the top story we're following, the U.S. government is now in its third day of a government shutdown. The Senate failed to reach an agreement on a temporary spending plan on Sunday night.



CHURCH: Democrats are insisting a program protecting young undocumented immigrants from deportation be tied to the spending bill. Republicans want to vote on that separately, another vote on the spending bill is scheduled for Monday at noon.



(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)



SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: So let's step back from the brink, let's stop victimizing the American people and get back to work on their behalf.



SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: I am happy to continue my discussion with the majority leader about reopening the government. We've had several conversations, talks will continue but we have yet to reach an agreement on a path forward that would be acceptable for both sides.



(END VIDEO CLIP)



HOWELL: So let's talk about where we are right now. Bringing in David Siders, David is a Senior Reporter for "Politico." Good to have you with us this hour. We just heard there from Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer the tone certainly cooler than we saw in the past few days. There is a sense of progress but there's also a big trust gap that exists. DAVID SIDERS, SENIOR REPORTER, POLITICO: Well, I think definitely there is a miss -- there's a gap in trust. But the -- what you talked about first is this really was a day of inching I think close to a deal than we had been before.



Keep in mind that it had been a day I think since Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer had spoken, so here they were speaking for half an hour today and -- or Sunday and now we're in the Monday and we'll see. The gap that needs to be close is that Democrats need to be convinced that Republicans are serious about addressing DACA and they're mistrust full of that right now and Republicans have to make that case. I think that's the way you come to a deal whether it happens today or later on.



CHURCH: So David, how likely is it do you think that they will reach the necessary 60 votes when they decide this at noon Monday?



SIDERS: I think the likelihood of an agreement at noon on Monday is slim only because of the reporting that you folks mentioned earlier, the two sources, the staffers I think on the Democratic side saying that it's unlikely that that -- that that number gets reached.



HOWELL: Let's talk about the U.S. president again. We've seen him change his position from time-to-time throughout the course of this entire debate. The question now, do republicans know where he stands on this issue and how does that factor in to, again, David, this trust gap that exists between democrats and republicans?



SIDERS: No, this is clearly caught -- it's complicating, the conversations. You heard both Democrats and Republicans complaining about not knowing where this president is on the deal. And so that's clearly been a complicating factor.



There has been some praise for the president's I think public anyway standing away from the debate. So you haven't seen -- well we did see the one tweet on Sunday about how he thought the Republicans should use the nuclear option.



There wasn't this broadside of tweets all day long interrupting negotiations or talks and I think that's -- that that might be the one positive that you hear people talk about with the president's involvement.



CHURCH: And David, you mentioned that you didn't think that this was going to get passed, that the government would reopen in the noon vote Monday. The problem with that, of course, once they get to the vote, if that's what they decide would likely happen, they probably will then defer it for another day presumably.



And people are going to get pretty sick of this because it does reveal and reflect dysfunction of a government. So, who will be blamed ultimately do you think?



SIDERS: Well, I think the pre-shutdown polling show that there was a little bit more blame to go for the Democrats than for the Republicans. But I think the reason that you see both sides wanting to get to an answer here.



And when I say I don't think it will happen at noon, I don't think it's unlikely. And, of course, all sorts of things happen in Washington. So this may happen today, it may happen tomorrow or a week from now but the reason you see both parties wanting to get to a deal is because Americans are more than capable of being frustrated and upset with more than one party.



[01:34:14]



And I think that's what you see in a shutdown is that the animosity, there's plenty to go around for both democrats and republicans.



HOWELL: Has this U.S. president though done enough to weigh into this debate? I remember with the previous president there was the criticism, the claim that he would lead from behind. So, we're seeing this president distance himself from the debate, is that leading from behind and what does he stand to lose the longer this plays out, David?



SIDERS: It's hard for me to make a judgment on that. I'll say that President Trump had -- when he's talked about shutdowns in the past, I think he has called for some responsibility on behalf of the president.



On the other hand, last shutdown was in 2013, the dynamics are clearly different now. The president's poll numbers are abysmal and I'm not sure that the shutdown has a huge impact on it one way or the other but we'll see. If it goes on for two weeks or three weeks or a month, then, yes, then I think we do need to start talking about how it plays for the president and how it plays for the midterms. I'm just not sure that we're at that point yet.



CHURCH: Yes. We'll see how this vote turns out in the next few hours. David Siders, thank you so much for your perspective and analysis. Appreciate it.



HOWELL: Thanks, David.



SIDERS: Thank you.



CHURCH: Well, next here on CNN NEWSROOM, a second day of rallies and marches in the U.S. as thousands of women drew together to demand greater women's rights. How they plan to create change, that's next.



(COMMERCIAL BREAK)



[01:40:17]



CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, Sunday marked the last day of the Women's March Protest in the U.S. and around the world. For the participants, it was a day of political resolve.



HOWELL: Over the weekend, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, celebrities, politicians, they spilled into the streets of many different cities demanding greater rights and equality for women. CNN's Sara Sidner takes us to the closing rally that took place in Las Vegas, Nevada.



SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We heard a lot from some representatives of Congress who couldn't be here today, of course, because of the shutdown. I'll give you a look at the crowd here that is walking all of this go down.



I do want to talk a little bit about what this is all about because last year without moving your feet and getting the attention of the world, this year is really about strategy, it's about power to the polls and that has been the mantra over and over and over again trying to flip seats, (INAUDIBLE) for a reason. That reason is it's still considered a battleground state and they're hoping to flip some seats here.



But they are also very concerned about the shutdown and here have one of the organizers had to say about the shutdown and sort of who they feel like is to blame.



(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)



NATASHA WILLIAMS, WOMEN'S MARCH ORGANIZER: So this is the first time in history when you had a unified and a unified White House that we've seen a government shutdown and I think this clearly demonstrates the catastrophic leadership that we have in place right now that's why it's so very important that we went in for the 2018.



(END VIDEO CLIP)



SNIDER: And some of the other people that you will hear from today and you will hear a performance by (INAUDIBLE) and also Cher will be here as well but the organizers of the Women's March have been in full force here.



Linda Sarsour talking earlier to the crowd and getting them all wild up. This is a rally, not a march here in Las Vegas but it is a big one.



(END VIDEOTAPE)



HOWELL: All right. Sara Sidner filing that report in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now to the U.S. Vice President, Mike Pence, he arrived at Tel Aviv receiving a warm welcome from Israeli leaders.



In the coming hours, he's expected to meet with the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss peace and regional security issues. However, Palestinians are boycotting Pence's trip after President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Oren Lieberman has more.



OREN LIEBERMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Vice President Mike Pence, this visit in Jerusalem is a bit of a victory lap for the Trump Administration and the Israeli government after Pence first visited Egypt and Jordan on the swing through the Middle East.



Pence will be treated as the man of the hour here after President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last month. Pence will be welcomed with fanfare by Israeli leaders at all of the events, the biggest of which will be a speech at the Knesset, Israel's parliament on Monday afternoon.



He'll also go to the Western Wall in the old city of Jerusalem just as Trump did when he was here back in May. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at the foreign ministry shortly after Pence's arrival said the two will discuss security and peace. Security focuses on the Iran nuclear deal. Netanyahu sent a message to European leaders in a statement telling them to take seriously Trump's direct to cancel a deal if it's not fixed.



On peace, Netanyahu directed his message at Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, he said for not willing to discuss peace with the Americans, you don't want peace. Palestinian leaders boycotted the American delegation following Trump's decision on Jerusalem despite Pence reiterating in Jordan and Egypt that the White House is still committed to a peace process between Israelis and Palestinians.



While Pence is here, the Palestinian leader will be in Brussels on Monday meeting with European Union leaders. Oren Lieberman, CNN Jerusalem.



CHURCH: This week, the "Wall Street Journal" reported new details about an alleged affair between Donald Trump and a former porn-star named Stormy Daniels. The report details how Mr. Trump's personal lawyer went to great length to keep in under wraps.



HOWELL: Now the woman at the center of the alleged scandal seems to be capitalizing on the attention as our Dianne Gallagher reports for us.



(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)



UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Stormy Daniels brings here, "Making America Horny Again" tour to the Trophy Club for a one-night performance this Saturday.



DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cashing in on controversy.



UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): On the hills of Stormy's national publicized alleged affair, this is --



GALLAGHER (voice-over): That affair according to the "Wall Street Journal" between adult film star Stormy Daniels and the now-president of the United States reportedly happened back in 2006 after the two met at a golf tournament.



Daniels whose real name is Stephanie Clifford and the White House have denied the relationship but that's not stopping this club from promoting it.



UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is the Twitter storm sensation.



GALLAGHER (voice-over): And on Friday, "In Touch Magazine" published the full transcript of a 2011 interview with Daniels in which she eagerly dishes on the tawdry details of her alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump.



[01:45:01]



According to the "Associated Press," the tabloid never published it because Donald Trump's personal lawyer threatened to sue. Neither Trump nor his lawyer, Michael Cohen, have responded to CNN's request for comment. Now, journalistic several news outlets say just a few weeks before the 2016 election, Daniels told them she wanted to talk about her relationship with Trump and then suddenly she didn't. The "Wall Street Journal" also reports that's around the time Cohen formed a shell company to pay the porn star $130,000 in exchange for her silence.



CNN has obtained documents that show Cohen did set up at least two corporations in Delaware around that time, including one on September 30th, 2016 called Resolution Consultants LLC. Those records show he dissolved it on October 17th. That same day he incorporated Essential Consultants LLC. And that's the company The Journal says Cohen used to pay Daniels hush money through a series of fake names and legal contracts. The White House avoiding answering questions about it Friday night on CNN.



RAJ SHAH, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: These matters were asked about and answered pretty extensively during the campaign. Now, I certainly don't have anything to add and you contact --



UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a denial of the affair but there's never been any reporting about her being paid by the president until now.



SHAH: Sure. And you can contact the individuals who were involved with that.



GALLAGHER (voice-over): CNN has not been able to independently contact Daniels, but in a statement attributed to her, she calls the Wall Street Journal article absolutely false and denies not only the affair but ever receiving hush money from Donald Trump. That statement, however, was provided by Trump attorney, Michael Cohen. In Greenville, South Carolina, Dianne Gallagher, CNN.



(END VIDEOTAPE)



CHURCH: All right. A North Korean delegation is in South Korea right now to inspect sites for performances during the Olympics. The seven- member advance team was met by dozens of anti-North Korean protesters in Seoul. The lead singer of Kim Jong-un's girl band, Moranbong, is leading the delegation. North Korea will send 22 athletes to compete in next month's Olympic Games in South Korea.



Meanwhile, Tokyo is preparing its citizens for the possibility of a ballistic missile launch from Pyongyang. Hundreds of people took part in the city's first evacuation drill in the city's center, Monday. The Japanese government has been conducting these drills in cities across the country since March. And CNN's Will Ripley joins us now from Tokyo with more on this. So, Will, it is a chilling drill for the people of Japan to have to deal with. What are they saying about this and the threat posed by North Korea?



WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, people, given the fact that so many North Korean missiles have either flown over this country, like twice last year, or have come very close to this country, numerous cases of missiles coming down the waters near Japan. When we were asking people about this missile drill, which involved 600 participants in Central Tokyo, they said -- many of them said that they're frightened by the news of North Korean missiles, they want to know what they should do if a missile approaches this city, which basically is they have to either seek shelter away from windows inside of a sturdy building or they run out of a building and go to one of the many subway stations around Tokyo.



That's what we saw happening in this drill today. People received alert messages on their cell phones. There was a voice over loudspeakers telling them to take cover. And then 10 minutes later, the all-clear came and the drill ended. But there are other people, and there were protesters, a handful of them but quite loud, loudly demonstrating, Rosemary, saying that they feel the Japanese government is overhyping the North Korean threat, that they're politicizing it, trying to take advantage of people's fear about North Korea to push forward the Japanese government's agenda, the party led by Shinzo Abe, the Liberal Democratic Party, of revising this country's pacifist constitution. That was a goal of Prime Minister Abe before the North Korea threat really fired up.



But he has kind of taken that. In fact, just gave a speech here Tokyo within the last few minutes where he once again reaffirmed North Korea as his number one foreign policy issue, saying that it's a clear and present danger for the people here and it did help him to win, Rosemary, the North Korea issue, helped him to win a supermajority in the most recent national elections.



CHURCH: Interesting. And of course, while all this is playing out, North Korean delegations are visiting South Korea preparing for the Winter Olympics. What are Japanese authorities saying about that? That, you know, seeing the two Koreas coming together in the midst of this when Japan is having to go through drills.



RIPLEY: Well, certainly, Japan just like the United States and others have said that they encourage talks between the two Koreas but they have also warned repeatedly, and again, the Prime Minister speaking here in Tokyo just a short time ago, reiterating the warning that Japan and the world should not let their guard down, which is why you're seeing the continuation of drills like this. There have been more than 100 missile drills that have been held in Tokyo just over the last year. This is the first time that Japan has ever held drills about potential bombing attacks since World War II. This is a country obviously accustomed to many kinds of natural disasters but now people also have to worry about the threat of a potential nuclear attack, the kind of which this country being the only one in the world that has endured a nuclear attack on civilians twice back at the end of World War II.



[01:50:12]



And so, Japanese officials, they're saying that while they expect calm during the Olympics, they're going to watch very closely what happens after the Olympics and they certainly do feel that it may just be a matter of time before North Korean missiles are once again flying towards this country, which is why we see them continuing to hold these types of drills to have citizens prepared just in case.



CHURCH: It is a major concern for people there, and of course, across the globe now. Will Ripley joining us live from a very wet Tokyo, where it is coming up to 4:00 in afternoon. Many thanks to you. We're going to take a very short break. We'll be back in a moment with all your world news.



(COMMERCIAL BREAK)



PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We've got ourselves the most disruptive of wintery weather patterns here across the central portion of the U.S. Blizzard conditions in line here. I'm meteorologist Pedram Javaheri following a really could be a headache setup here for at least parts of 10 states that are underneath winter weather alerts, but blizzard warnings in place as well. Parts of the Dakotas working your way into Southern Minnesota on into even Iowa there, dealing with not only the combination of heavy snowfall but blinding winds to go with it. So, you put it together and visibility will be really drawing close to zero across some of these regions. So, we know disruptions going to be widespread for some of these communities. As much as a foot or, say, around 30 centimeters of snowfall could come down across parts of, say, Sioux City. So, this is certainly a big story for folks around that region, and going to see some travel disruptions out of it as well.



The western U.S. expecting a quieter setup. Some showers coming in across the I-5 corridors from Seattle down towards San Francisco. Highs ranging from around, say, eight to 10 degrees across the northwest to about 13 or so degrees down in San Francisco. And finally, see the trend here for milder temperatures. Sure, there are some bouts of cold air in the forecast across the far northern portion of the U.S. but it looks like a relatively moderate setup of temperatures for much of North America for this third week of January.



Down towards Chihuahua, how about 13 degrees? Mexico City a beautiful January afternoon, makes it up to 24 with sunny skies, and leaving you with Quito, thunderstorms and 17.



CHURCH: Welcome back. It's lobster roll versus cheesesteak in this year's Super Bowl. The New England Patriots are set to take on the Philadelphia Eagles for the American football championship. The Pats clinched the AFC title, Sunday, by beating the Jacksonville Jaguars. They trailed for most of the game, but quarterback Tom Brady led a winning touchdown drive in the fourth-quarter. The final score was 24-20.



[01:55:04]



HOWELL: In the NFC, Philadelphia crushed the Minnesota Vikings 38-7. Super Bowl LII set for February 4th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It will be a rematch of Super Bowl XXXIX, the Patriots squeaked by the Eagles in that game, 24-21.



CHURCH: How about that? Well, the Screen Actors Guild Awards not only recognized Hollywood's best films and televisions Sunday, it elevated the voices of women in the room, literally.



HOWELL: The show's producers chose Kristen Bell as its first emcee ever and all of the presenters were women. In her acceptance speech, Nicole Kidman acknowledged a shift in roles for women over the age of 40 in Hollywood.



NICOLE KIDMAN, ACTRESS: 20 years ago, we were pretty washed up by this stage in our lives. So, that's not the case now. We've proven, and the actress and so many more are proving that we are potent and powerful and viable. I just beg that the industry stays behind us because as stories are finally being told, it's only the beginning. And I'm so proud to be a part of a community that is instigating this change.



(END VIDEO CLIP)



CHURCH: She's right. Another sign of change at the awards was an announcement of a new code of conduct that will be put in place on sets to keep actors safe. And that's all the time we have this hour, I'm Rosemary Church.



HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. CNN's breaking news coverage of the U.S. government shutdown continues right after this break. Stay with us.



