Morning Joe regulars talked about the House investigations making Trump jumpy, and whether or not it's going to lead to another shutdown.
"So you have the House intel committee working together now with the special counsel's office, and before that has produced some charges, that has produced some guilty pleas," Willie Geist said. "We'll see what comes of it this time."
Heidi Przybyla said the investigation is now a lot more extensive than it was. (What is the deal with the Donkey Kong graphic behind her head, anyway?)
"Let me explain to you what is going through the president's head with that outburst about investigations. Today when the House Ways and Means committee convenes to have its first hearing on taxes, it will officially cross that red line that the president set about not delving into his personal finances.
"I was told by aides yesterday that the extent of the probe into this president's personal finances is going to be extensive, it will go across six different committees. And if you listen closely to what Chairman Schiff said yesterday, he used the magic words 'money laundering.' So this is going to go beyond the investigation into Russian collusion and interference and into a documented history, if you look at just how recently the Trump organization faced a fine of $10 million over violating anti-money laundering standards at the Trump Taj Mahal, it's going to be pretty extensive," she said.
"When you listened to the first few minutes of this program, about elements in the state of the union, talking about the potential of investigations that are just beginning under the Democratic stewardship of the House of Representatives, it's pretty clear that the priorities facing this country are not going to go unaddressed again for another two years," Mike Barnicle said.
"Right. And that became crystal clear during Stacey Abrams' Democratic response," Eugene Robinson said.
"She talked about a lot of things that we're used to hearing presidents talk about priorities for the American people. She talked about the shutdown, something that the president didn't even talk about. So we're in this point, Mike, as we talk about on the show every day and on every show, priorities are not being focused on. What's affecting the American people is not being focused on because the president spends all of his time tweeting, picking fights with perceived political enemies and not -- and focused on own political survival instead of the American people."
Joe Scarborough asked Sam Stein if it looked like we would have another shutdown.
"Yeah. I mean, the wild card, of course, is if he does an emergency declaration," Stein said.
"I've been actually a little bit surprised at the Republicans warning him not to do it, hinting quite publicly they might bring up a resolution to show disapproval, which would be an embarrassment if it got to 60 votes in the Senate. Obviously, there's concern it would lay the predicate for Democrats doing the same.
"And everything you hear in this conference committee, it's not going to include the funding for a concrete border wall. And President Trump must know that at some point in time in a couple weeks, less almost, he's going to have to either swallow his pride and sign it, or shut down the government again."
Or declare a national emergency, which will almost certainly be shut down by the courts and cause a Republican backlash. Whatever he does, you can be sure it will be aimed at doing the most damage.
