STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): We had the acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, circulating yesterday, talking about the prospects for a government shutdown. Well, it could shut down, but, then again the president still might be able to declare an emergency even if it is staying open. Nonetheless, he's emphatic. That wall is going to get built.
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BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): He might be able to get some other money from something else to get it there.
AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): Right, instead of pulling the emergency switch. You know, the president said this is what the Democrats want because they have want to take the focus, they want to distract from what's happening in Virginia, so they would love another shutdown so it makes him look bad. And he's saying that many people in the Democratic Party really want to negotiate and they want something done, but he feels like the leaders in the Democratic Party are stopping it.
KILMEADE: And something happened, Senator Mike Lee came out over the weekend and said, “I talked to the president,” and he essentially said, “I'd take $2 billion, you get me $2 billion, I'm all right.” Keep in mind, he hasn't really -- between all the regulations and all the forms and getting everybody up to speed, they're just starting on the 2017 money now. So they get about 50 miles out of that. You get $2 billion, there's seven months left in the fiscal year, then you get another $2 billion, next thing you know you’re getting close to halfway done knowing there's only a finite amount of people available to build the barrier.
DOOCY: Well that, the $2 billion figure is one that's floating around, I have heard they're not even close to $2 billion. Apparently the talks have broken down. There’s no suggestion when they're going to start again, and as to an agreement regarding the amount of money that would build a fence, or a wall, or a barrier, they didn't even take that up, because this number of [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] detention beds is a non-starter. I mean, the president will not go along with it.
EARHARDT: Seems like a tactic, doesn't it?
KILMEADE: I just can't believe the Democrats would give up their ability to govern to Nancy Pelosi. I mean, clearly she is pulling the strings. She's making Senator Schumer look like just a solider for her. All these other people in negotiations, and Tim Ryan was actually talking, I think with Maria [Bartiromo] over the weekend, he had no idea that there was even an issue with beds at the border. So where did this come from? Why would that be a problem?
