How is CBS News reporting what was said in the cabinet meeting BEFORE it is over?

President Trump, in a Cabinet meeting on the 12th day of a partial government shutdown that has no end in sight, said he'll keep the government shutdown "as long as it takes."

Mr. Trump, in a session with the Cabinet and reporters that lasted nearly two hours, gave few details on how he hopes to end the shutdown that has hundreds of thousands of federal employees furloughed or working without pay. The president told his Cabinet he thinks they can work with Democrats on border security, calling the border wall like a sieve and emphasizing the need for a wall. But it's unclear if he will take less than the $5 billion he wanted.

Mr. Trump also claimed he essentially "fired" former Secretary of Defense James Mattis. That's after the White House repeatedly insisted Mattis retired. Mattis' resignation letter was intensely critical of the president's military approach, and Mattis said the president deserves a defense secretary who views the world like he does.

The president also aired his grievances about troop withdrawals in the Middle East, the border wall, and incoming Sen. Mitt Romney, who wrote an op-ed criticizing the president Tuesday night.

Later in the Mr. Trump will meet with top Republicans and top Democrats in the Situation Room, in a closed-press conversation negotiating border security and the shutdown. Mr. Trump is demanding funding for his border wall, funding Democrats say they won't give him. That meeting is set for 3 p.m. The dynamics in Washington are shifting quickly, with Democrats taking control of the House officially on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the president has lashed out at incoming Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, who wrote a scathing op-ed claiming the president has failed to live up to the mantle of his office and has weakened America on the world stage.

"Here we go with Mitt Romney, but so fast! Question will be, is he a Flake? I hope not. Would much prefer that Mitt focus on Border Security and so many other things where he can be helpful. I won big, and he didn't. He s

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-meets-with-cabinet-as-shutdown-lingers-live-updates-today-1-2-2019/

>>4566979

Fox News just now reporting on Trump taking questions from press live now.

So far, he has not answered the question as to whether he would take something below $5 Billion for border security. He is talking about things he has talked about in the past including money we have given Pakistan ($1.3 Billion) which we are no longer giving them. Talking about us subsidizing other countries’ security. Germany pays 1% when they should be paying 4%. Talking about Obamacare failure, individual mandate end.

What has General Mattis done for me? I’m not happy with what he did in Afghanistan. As you know President Obama fired him and essentially so did I. We are talking to the Taliban and different people. India is there, Russia is there. Russia used to be the Soviet Union; Afghanistan made it Russia because they went bankrupt fighting in Afghanistan – Russia. So, you take a look at other countries – Pakistan is there. They should be fighting. Russia should be fighting. The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They were right to be there. The problem is, it was a tough fight. And literally they went bankrupt. They went into being called Russia again as opposed to the Soviet Union. A lot of those places you’re reading about now are no longer a part of Russia because of Afghanistan. Why isn’t Russia there, why isn’t India there, why isn’t Pakistan there, why are we there we’re 6,000 miles away? But, I don’t mind, we want to help our people; we want to help other nations.

You do have terrorists mostly Taliban, but ISIS. I’ll give you an example. So Taliban is our enemy; ISIS is our enemy. We have an area that I brought up with our Generals four or five weeks ago where Taliban is here, ISIS is here and they’re fighting each other. I said why don’t you let them fight; why are we getting in the middle of it? I said let them fight, they’re both our enemies. Let them fight. Sir, we want to do it…[POTUS didn’t finish his thought on this]. And they end up fighting both of them, it’s the crazies thing I’ve ever seen. I think I would have been a good general but who knows. These are two enemies fighting against each other and we end up going in and fighting and what are we doing. But, I say this, India, great relationship with Prime Minister [inaudible]. He’s a great man and doing a fantastic job. He’s brought the country together. India, Russia, you look at some of the satellite countries that are extremely wealthy with oil surrounding and I spoke to some of them. I said to a certain country, a very rich country, what would you do if the U.S. pulled out? Oh, we’d be taken over by the Taliban and terrorists. I said, uh, then why have are you charging us when we have to use your country to send product through?

>>4567385

Why are you charging us when we send airplanes over your country? We’re doing the job for you; why are you charging us? He said to me, great gentleman, smart, well nobody ever asked me not to. I said I’m asking you not to. He said, “We will not charge you.” And I’m talking about millions and millions of dollars, flights over his country.