Sanders: Trump Not Prepared to Back Short-Term Funding Bill
PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: About half an hour from now, President Trump is set to meet with House Republicans to discuss how to avoid a government shutdown amid a dispute over border wall funding. Joining me to discuss, Democratic consultant, Joe Trippi, and Republican strategist, Kevin Madden. Boy, a lot has happened on this issue just in the last hour. Things unfolding rapidly. And now it appears, Kevin Madden, that the White House isn't going to get on board with the C.R., according to the latest statement from Sarah Sanders, the press secretary, saying that the president is not prepared to support it without funding for the border wall. This flies in the face of other signals from the White House to the Senate just yesterday. What's going on here?</s>KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, we knew it was going to be a roller coaster today, but I don't think we anticipated it would be this much of a roller coaster where literally hour by hour we're getting different news from Capitol Hill. But what's going on, Pam, we don't know. In another 30 minutes, the White House could take another position. That is at the heart of why we have so much disarray up on Capitol Hill right now. Congressional Republicans just don't know where this president stands. He said he was going to shut down the government, proudly shut down the government, if he did not get the $5 billion he wanted, just a week and a half ago. But then indicated that he would be willing to sign the C.R. that was making its way through the Congress, passed by the Senate, now being considered by the House. Then this morning, they just got another new message from the president that caused more internal fighting and added just more questions. So I really couldn't tell you where things stand right now. We'll have to wait and watch for the next hour.</s>BROWN: So on that note, Joe, is this, do you think, part of the White House's strategy, to leave people sort of hanging in the balance, allowing for this uncertainty so that Republicans and Democrats are forced to come up with more funding for the wall?</s>JOE TRIPPI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I would be very doubtful about calling this a strategy. It's just not clear at all, as Kevin said, about what exactly is going on here. The fact is there was real bipartisan support for this continuing resolution, both in the House and the Senate. It's the Freedom Caucus that is -- there's a lot of bipartisan support for border security. There isn't even partisan support for a border wall, for spending the billions required to do that. That's one of the reasons when you saw, I think, bipartisan support for a continuing resolution, the president already started to lose this battle. He lost it back when Chuck Schumer offered the full funding, $20 billion or so, in exchange for moving forward on DACA. The president thought he could get a better deal. Turned it down. It didn't work. Now we're seeing this sort of the air coming out of this bubble. And it's going to get much worse for him in the new Congress as things come around. I don't know how he wins on this one, how anything happens where with the Republicans controlling the House and Senate and the presidency, they can't move funding the government forward where the president somehow or the Republicans somehow avoid getting blamed for a shutdown if that's what occurs here.</s>BROWN: Let's talk about that. The White House knows full well that border wall funding is dead if it's not in this bill. But of course, it isn't in this bill as of now. Of course, things are very fluid. But is there a win for the president? I mean, either he keeps the government running or gets funding for the wall. It just seems like there isn't a good situation either way you cut it here, Kevin Madden.</s>MADDEN: Yes. And, yes, I agree, but it's also a different question. It's, yes, the White House knows they're not going to be able to get funding, but have they been able to convince the president and those allies on Capitol Hill that are pressuring the president to veto this? That's where I think the gap is right now. There's a huge canyon between that reality and what the president I think is willing to accept. So, you know, I think we're really sort of out of really good options here. And I think the folks up on Capitol Hill have to find a way to communicate that to this president in a way where they can come together on a coherent strategy. They have been entirely at odds for the last week and that's where we have a situation where we don't really have many good options left for Republicans. And we're sure to bear the brunt of the bad headlines if there were to be a shutdown.</s>BROWN: And the president has said, of course, he would shut the government down over border wall funding. On the whole, the American people don't want that to happen. But it's clear the president is sort of feeling the heat from conservatives, particularly the Freedom Caucus, on this issue. So we shall wait and see as this uncertainty over the short-term funding bill continues AT THIS HOUR. Thank you both for coming on and sharing your perspective. And breaking just this morning, President Trump's Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker has been told by ethics officials at the Justice Department that he does not need to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation. Details ahead.