President Trump discusses “crisis” at border

President Trump made a speech in hopes of funding his long-promised border wall Tuesday night, taking his case directly to the nation with an address from the Oval Office, and calling the surge of illegal immigration a "growing humanitarian and security crisis" ... The president's speech drew seemingly deep lines in the sand as Republicans and Democrats plan to meet Wednesday to continue negotiations on ending the partial federal government shutdown over border wall funding, which is now in its third week. In a joint Democratic rebuttal to President Trump's address, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the president of fear-mongering and manufacturing a crisis to distract the public from the "turmoil in his administration" and urged him to sign legislation to end the shutdown.

In Other News Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg missed a second straight day of arguments on Tuesday, sparking concerns about her recovery from cancer surgery last month ... The court did not indicate how long Ginsburg could be absent, but Chief Justice John Roberts said Tuesday that Ginsburg would participate and read from transcripts and briefs. Ginsburg, 85, had two cancerous growths removed from her left lung Dec. 21. She was discharged from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City on Christmas Day. The growths were spotted on her lung after she fractured ribs in a fall in early November. Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, apparently shared polling data during the 2016 presidential campaign with Konstantin Kilimnik, a business partner in Ukraine who allegedly has ties to Russian intelligence. It’s unclear whether the interaction involved internal campaign data and when exactly it occurred. But the information could have provided Russians with valuable knowledge about the presidential race at a time when Moscow was undertaking a covert effort to sway the election to Trump by releasing hacked Democratic Party emails and spreading misinformation on social media. Robert Mueller, who is leading the investigation, has charged 33 people for various things, including several of Trump’s former top advisors. No Americans thus far have been charged with conspiring with Russians during the campaign, and Trump has repeatedly denied that there was any collusion (which means secret agreement or cooperation) between his team and Moscow.