Trump aides: No DACA talks until government re-opens

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer responds to a question from the news media during a press conference as the Senate continues work on ending the government shutdown in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2018. WASHINGTON - Aides to President Trump said Saturday they are willing to negotiate with Democrats on the fate of an immigration program, but only after a congressional vote to fund the government and end the shutdown.

The Latest: Trump says women marching for ‘economic success’

President Donald Trump has tweeted that it's a "perfect day" for women to march to celebrate the "unprecedented economic success and wealth creation" that's happened during his first year in office. People participating in rallies and marches in the U.S. and around the world Saturday are in fact denouncing Trump's views on immigration, abortion, LGBT rights, women's rights and more.

Congress at work on a Saturday as lawmakers try to end shutdown quickly Source: Cox Media Group

Hours after funding lapsed for the federal government at midnight, lawmakers in both parties returned for an unusual Saturday session of the House and Senate, as both parties quickly launched themselves into finger pointing over who is to blame for the first government shutdown since 2013, with few signs that a deal was near on the major spending and immigration issues that brought about the standoff. "Get it together," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi bluntly said to Republicans in a morning speech on the House floor, as she led a chorus from her party in blaming the President for the budgetary impasse.

The Government Shuts Down And Washington Plays The Blame Game

For most of Friday, it seemed from the outside as though there was next to nothing was happening with respect to the impending threat of a government shutdown at midnight. On Thursday, the House had passed its version of a Continuing Resolution that includes government funding through February 16th, a six-year extension for the Children's Health Insurance Program that had been in limbo since the new Fiscal Year started in October, and a handful of other "sweeteners" that Republicans hoped would garner some Democratic support in the House and Senate.

Graham offers path out of a Dreamera shutdown

Sen. Lindsey Graham , one of the Republicans who joined Democrats' shutdown filibuster Friday night, offered a plan forward Saturday, saying he wants to see a 20-day funding bill passed along with a guarantee that the Senate will quickly move to debate immigration next month. The South Carolina Republican had been working the floor during the filibuster vote, trying to win over colleagues to his proposal, and shuttling between GOP and Democratic leaders to keep them up to speed on his deal-making.

Letter: Trump opposed by media, both parties

Isn't it just amazing that the open bipartisan White House meeting on immigration, which was broadcast for the world to see, President Trump actually received some positive reviews from some of the mainstream media and members of both parties in attendance? However, when he met again with the DACA Group and six of the senators, that consists of Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Cory Gardner, R-Colo.; Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; Bob Menendez, D-N.J, Dick Durbin, D-Ill. and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., presented their immigration plan, that wasn't open to the media, the outcome wasn't the same.

Twitter to notify users exposed to Russian propaganda during U.S. elections

Reuters - 20 January 2018: Twitter Inc, which is reviewing Russian interference during the 2016 U.S. elections, said on Friday it would notify some of its users whether they were exposed to content generated by a suspected Russian propaganda service. The company said it would email 677,775 people in the United States who followed, retweeted or liked content from accounts associated with the Internet Research Agency during the election.

Trump’s dealmaker image tarnished by U.S. government shutdown

On the first anniversary of his presidency on Saturday, with the stock market roaring and his poll ratings finally rising, he had planned to rest at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, feted by friends and admirers. His failure to win passage by the U.S. Congress of a stopgap bill to maintain funding for the federal government further damaged his self-crafted image as a dealmaker who would repair the broken culture in Washington.

Donald Trump is a racist, a bigot and a boor. But un-American? Hardly

After Donald Trump's vulgar comments about immigrants from "shithole" countries in Africa and the global south were reported last week, the president was almost universally condemned by critics as a racist. Nearly three years after Trump announced his candidacy and began his xenophobic campaign, mainstream media outlets, which until now have been reluctant to use that term to describe the president, finally acknowledged what has long been obvious.

Shutdown drama shows Washington’s failure to lead

Even by Washington's standards, the sequence of busted negotiations, partisan dysfunction, and blame games that shut down the federal government at midnight on Friday was baffling. That's because on the major issues that are driving the most tense political moment yet in Donald Trump's presidency, the two parties are broadly in agreement.

Trump and Schumer came close to a deal. Then it fell apart

After his morning television shows had ended and as the deadline to fund the government loomed, President Donald Trump placed a call to the man in Washington he believed held all the cards: Sen. Chuck Schumer . The flurry of conversations that ensued between the President and the Senate's top Democrat -- beyond just their Friday lunch in the President's private dining room -- reflect the lengths Schumer was willing to go in negotiating with a President eager for a deal.

Mick Mulvaney: White House OK with Senate GOP going nuclear to end…

White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said the White House would back Senate Republicans if they decide to do away with the 60-vote threshold to end debate on policy bills in order to reopen the government. However, Mulvaney emphasized the more palatable option is for Senate Democrats to get on board with a continuing resolution to reopen the government and then deal with larger issues after that.

Analysis: Emboldened Democrats take a risk on a shutdown

Congressional Democrats are taking a page from the playbook of President Donald Trump and hard-line conservatives: Fight for your base and don't blink. In forcing a showdown over immigration - and triggering a government shutdown - Democrats have embraced a confrontational, rule-breaking strategy they once blasted as irresponsible when practiced by the other party.

The Latest: McConnell to propose shorter-term funding plan

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is accusing President Donald Trump of reneging on a deal he thought they had neared on immigration and spending. The New York Democrat said on the Senate floor that after a White House meeting Friday with Trump, he thought "in my heart" that senators could complete an agreement by evening.