. >> no, no, i'm not a racist. i'm the least racist person you have ever interviewed. dark and rather unusual words from the president of the united states after reportedly using a expletive to describe african nations now who can and can't remember what was said in that meeing suddenly a partisan meeting. >> the president is blaming the

democrats on the verge of a shutdown. can talks on a deal be salvaged before friday's deadline? >> changes in hawaii after a false alarm of inbound ballistic missile. warnings set millions running. can you imagine the fear that ran through the hearts and minds of hawaiians. good morning everyone. thanks for getting an "early start" with us i'm dave brigz. >> i'm christine romans. this is the day we remember and honor martin luther king jr. school is out. it's 4:00 a.m. in the east, 11:00 p.m. in honolulu, 6:00 p.m. in seoul. president trump defending himself over days of controversy over those remarks to describe haitians and african-american. this was thursday. the last night the president pushed back about accusations his words reflect racist believes and lawmakers within

the gop, they disagree on whether he used this explosive term at all. >> the president talked about the possibility of a federal shutdown. white house correspondent boris sanchez traveling with the president has more from west palm beach. >> reporter: the president taking a few moments before dinner with house majority leader kevin mccarthy on sunday night to answer reporters questions and he made news on a variety of fronts. having to answer that uncomfortable question that came up this week after the president reportedly made some disparaging remarks about african nations and haitians during a meeting at the white house. he's the president answering the reporter's question, are you a racist. listen to this. >> no, i'm not a ray siff. i'm the least racist person you've ever interviewed, that i can tell you. >> reporter: and getting back to the question of whether the president said those controversial remarks at a meeting with lawmakers on

thursday, sunday night the president asked reporters did you see what senators said about that meeting? the interesting thing about that is that there are very many different answers even just from republicans about what the president he had. christine and dave? >> thank you. the partisan wrangling over what the president said becoming increasingly bitter. listen to two republican senators in the homeland surety secretary. >> are you saying the president did not use the word that is being so widely reported? >> i'm telling you he did not use that word, george and i'm telling you it's a gross misrepresentation. how many times you want me to say that? >> i didn't hear that word either. i certainly didn't hear what senator dur binl said repeatedly. >> you're saying in that room you didn't hear sort of lumping everybody together. >> i did not hear derogatory comments. >> about individuals or persons, no. >> i don't recall him saying that exact phrase. i think he has been clear and i would certainly say the

president will use, continue to use strong language when it comes to this issue. >> to say i don't recall seems implausible. if the president of the united states used the word blank hole talking about countries in the oval office or didn't say it, i would know. >> i understand the question. it was an impassioned conversation. i don't recall that specific phrase being used. >> tomorrow at a senate judiciary committee oversight hearing that sets up an interesting possible face-off with committee member dick durbin that democrat who says the president definitely used that vulgarity that he heard it, he confirmed that vulgarity was used. >> senator graham the only republican in the meeting with a different answer. he did not directly confirm or deny trump's comments in a statement friday but graham did say, quote, i said my peace directly to him. the president and all those attending the meeting know what i said and how i feel. an initially statement from the

white house did not deny the president made the comments, although the president said he did not use these particular expletive. there's too much focus on the expletive and not on the notion that we want more people here from norway and less about haiti. not your skills, not the your education. >> it is fascinating and it is a problem now for the discussion about daca and the d.r.e.a.m.ers. now you've got a real fight set up. the president blaming the democrats for the lack of progress on immigration talks. no deal is in site on immigration reform. with government shutdown looming at the end of the this eco, democrats insisting the president doesn't want an agreement. >> but i don't think the democrats want to make a deal and the folks from daca should know the democrats are the ones that aren't going to make a

deal. i don't know if they'll be a shutdown. there shouldn't be because if there is our military gets hurt very badly. we cannot let our military be hurt. >> the trump administration is now taking renewal applications for d.r.e.a.m.ers immigrants brought here illegally as children. the federal court order has blockled the white house from determine naturing the daca. >> u.s. markets are closed in observation of the holiday today but investors will return tomorrow with the market as all time highs and a big reason for that, the corporate tax cut. look at that start to the year. while the president has promised that the tax overhaul will be fantastic for the middle income people of america, the jury is still out on how much of the tax law will benefit main street in the long run. workers are helped by a rising stock market through investment and retirement accounts. the market tends to favor richer americans more. here's how. the federal reserve says barely one-third of families in the bottom half of earners own

stocks, either directly or indirectly and dozens of companies are sharing their tax savings with workers. you've heard about all these announcements of up to $1,000 bonuses, higher wages. less than 10% of the s&p 500 companies have announced worker benefits or sweetened 401(k) plans at least so far. maybe that will change but at least so far. wall street wouldn't love the tax law if it were the greatest gift to workers because that would eat into record high profit margins and it is those profits that are driving the market. >> did the president say i have or i'd have? yes another semantic debate. it makes a difference as the white house disputes a equity in the "the wall street journal." the president was answering a question about north korea and was quoted as saying, i probably have a very good relationship with kim jong-un. white house press secretary challenging that quote claiming he said i'd probably have in as i would have. >> president trump following up with a tweet calling the "the wall street journal" fake news.

the journal is a conservative publication and the white house and the newspaper both releasing aud kroe of the comment. they both released audio of this moment, here's the clip from the destination. listen carefully and judge for yourself. >> and i'd probably have a good relationship with kim jong-un. >> the president calling out the "the wall street journal" while insisting the door is open for talks with north korea. >> the "the wall street journal," as you know, quoted totally wrong but we'll see what happens with north korea. we have great talks going on. the olympics you know about. lot of things can happen. >> when asked if he spoken directly with kim jong-un the president, again, refused to answer. >> republican senator jeff flake expected to deliver a floor speech on wednesday comparing president trump's attacks to the

news media to joseph stalin. flake plans to call trump's tactics, quote, an assault as unprecedented as it is unwarranted. >> the senator's speech reads in part it's a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken about joseph stalin to describe his enemies. it bears noting that so fraught with malis is the phrase that even the predecessor forbade its use. the president's action should be a great source of shame for the senate and republicans. senator flake is not seeking reelection in 2018. in hawaii the emergency management officer who sent a false alarm has been reassigned. not fired. not yet any way. the mishap that sent hawaiians scrambling for cover came during a routine drill at a shift change. they mistakenly picked the wrong message template, one for

sending a warning to the public not just internally. >> they clicked okay to confirm. ballistic missile inbound to hawaii. this is not a drill. that hair-raising warning sent tvs, radios, every single cell phone in hawaii. it took 38 minutes to send a follow-up alert that the first imagination was a false alarm. emergency officials and congresswoman sent tweets saying there was no missile threat but the alert itself is not the main issue. >> what makes me angry is, yes, that this false alarm went out and we have to fix that in hawaii, but really we've got to get to the underlying issue here of why are the people of hawaii in this country facing a nuclear threat coming from north korea today and what is this president doing urgently to eliminate that threat. >> officials say it took so long to cancel the false alarm because they had no tem plalt for that, an omission that's now been fixed. a manager on duty will also have

to confirm any future alerts. president trump calls it a state issue. the white house says he was briefed although he did not mention the issue for more than a day while tweeting on several other topics. >> cnn's barbara starr reports the pentagon is about to issue its nuclear posture review, a draft linked to the post" shows senior officials not only want to modernize the u.s. aging arsenal, they want to add new ways to wage nuclear wars as china bolster its collection. several people were injured when a floor collapsed in indonesia. the second floor inside tower two fell monday around 12:30 p.m. the area's an open space that is frequented by tourists. trading resumes at normal and the afternoon session. wow. >> 11 minutes past the hour. north korea and south korea back at the negotiating table.

their second round of talks in a week about the olympics and more. we'll go live to seoul.

north korea and south north korea return approximating to the table. they held a second round of talks. the talks were taking place in the truce village. let's go live to paula hancocks as she's in seoul, south korea, with the very latest. back to the table talking again. what do we know? >> reporter: that's right. the second round of talks in just a week. there's less than a month to go before the olympics so there's an awful lot of details to be ironed out. they have agreed today it really was the knitty gritty of the discussions. things like where to put a stage at the olympics so that the north korean troops can actually perform their. the entertainers, so it was really quite in detail at this point and there was also interestingly the leader of an

all girl band group which is in north korea, it's the one that kim jong-un, the leader is entertained by from time to time. it's the best known export from north korea. one of the singers was also part of this delegation, so potentially they'll be coming within the delegation. but they did agree or at least the south koreans proposed there should be an inter-korean team when it comes to women's ice hockey. they would like to see a joint team playing and competing under the same flag. that would be the first time within an olympics if that happens. we've got no word from north korea whether or not they would accept that. at the same time they're sitting opposite each other at these talks which are significant, there are still articles slamming south korea. christine? >> thank you so much for that in seoul for us this morning. investigation is under way after commercial airliner skidded off a runway in northern turkey this weekend coming to a rest, yes, on a seaside cliff

with its nose just yards from the water. officials say if the boeing 737 jet had gone any further down the slope, the plane would have likely plunged into the black sea. 162 passengers and crew on board. the airline in a statement says everyone was able to make it off the plane uninjured. >> that's terrifying. >> amazing. a rare interview with queen elizabeth to park the 65th ver of her cor nation. the queen sharing harass memories on the smithsonian manager. she recalls her father was so determined to prepare her from her cor owe nation that he had her write her cor owe nation when she was 11. riding in the gold state coach was a horrible experience. >> horrible.

it's just -- it's only sprung on leather. >> it rocks around a lot. >> not very comfortable. you can only go walking pace. horses couldn't possibly go any faster. >> the queen says the cor owe nation was going to be so long, guests snuck food, strong drink and smelling salts. the minnesota vikings with a moirk finish for the ages headed to the nfc title game. how this one finished next? ...you could learn you're from ireland... ...donegal, ireland... ...and your ancestor was a fisherman. with blue eyes. just like you. begin your journey at ancestry.com

the death toll from the california mudslides now at 20. four others are still missing. the santa barba sheriff's department says it's now a search and recovery mission. a vigil was held last night. officials say it is still not clear for travel. >> just a tragedy. >> devastating. >> still really in a lot of pain. something resembling a real life movie stunt but something more dangerous. a speeding car hit a center divider in the road, launching it into a second floor dentist office. a fire broke out but was quickly extinguished. both people in the car suffered just minor injuries. the driver admitted to using narcotics. he was admitted to a local hospital for observation. a minnesota vikings are headed to the championship game after a bit of a miracle in

minneapolis. minnesota with a stunning last second victory over new orleans. the vikings dominated this game early taking a 17-0 lead to the half. the lead seesawing back and forth with the teams trading field goals. vikings down to their final play, the clock and their season about to expire. >> steps in to, the pass is caught. side line, touchdown! unbelievable! >> remarkable. case keenum to diggs. 29-24 vikings. the skull champ rocking. they head to philadelphia for title game. eagles beat the falcons saturday. the jacksonville jaguars stunned the football world beating up on the steelers 45-42.

jacksonville makes its first appearance in an title game. the jags had two new england next week. a nine point under dog to take on tom brady and the patriots. as for the vikings, they could be the first team ever to play at home for the super bowl. minnesota will play host first weekend in february. >> that was quite a pass. >> it was astounding. my son ran in and woke me up. >> good stuff. president trump says he's the least racist person you've ever met. but his remarks to lawmakers last week suggest otherwise. the fallout deeming hopes for an immigration deal before friday's shutdown deadline. big hype. big price. big deal. olay regenerist hydrates skin better than creams costing over

$100, $200, and even $400 . for skin that looks younger than it should. fact check this ad in good housekeeping. olay regenerist. ageless. now try olay hydrating eye hydrates better than #1 prestige eye cream.

and i'm the founder of ugmonk. before shipstation it was crazy. it's great when you see a hundred orders come in, a hundred orders come in, but then you realize i've got a hundred orders i have to ship out. shipstation streamlined that wh the order data, the weights of , everything is seamlessly put into shipstation, so when we print the shipping ll everything's pretty much done. it's so much easier so now, we're ready, bring on t. shipstation. the number one ch of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/tv and get two months free.

>> no, no, i'm not a racist.

i'm the least racist person you have ever interviewed. stark words from the president of the united states after reportedly using an expletive to describe african-american nations. now who can and can't remember exactly what was said. a bipartisan issue. >> like everything else. the president blaming democrats for bringing the country to the verge of a shutdo shutdown. can talks be salvaged before friday's deadline? >> and changes in hawaii after a false alarm of an inbound missile. the warnings sent millions running for cover. fearing the worse after months of heated rhetoric. happy monday. not the happy weekend in hawaii. 31 minutes past the hour on mlk day. we start with the president defending himself after days of controversy over those remarks to describe haiti and african nations. the president is said to use an

expletive. last night the president pushed back against accusations his words reflect racist beliefs. now lawmakers even within the gop disagree on whether the president used the explosive term. >> the president also talked about the possibility of a government shutdown the clock ticking to friday's deadline. the sides remain far apart. our white house correspondent is traveling with the president. he has more from west palm beach. >> reporter: the president taking a few moments before dinner with house majority leader kevin mccarthy on sunday night to answer reporters questions and he made news on a variety of fronts. for one having to answer that uncomfortable question that came up this week after the president reportedly made some disparaging remarks about african nations and haitians during a meeting with lawmakers at the white house. here's the president answering the reporter's question, are you a racist? listen to this. >> no. no, i'm not a racist. i am the least racist person you have ever interviewed.

that i can tell you. >> reporter: getting back to the question of whether the president said those controversy remarks at a meeting with lawmakers on thursday, sunday night the president asked reporters, did you see what senators said about that meeting? the interesting thing about that is that there are very many different answers even just from republicans about what the president said. christine and dave? >> thank you. the partisan wrangling over exactly what the president said in that immigration meeting becoming increasingly bitter. listen to two republican senators and the homeland security secretary. >> are you saying the president did not use the word that has been so widely reported? >> i'm telling you he did not use that word, george, it's a gross misrepresentation. how many times you want me to say that? >> i didn't hear that word either. i certainly didn't hear what senator durbin has said repeatedly. >> you're saying in that room you didn't hear any of this lumping everybody together? >> i did not hear derogatory comments. >> about what the sentiment.

>> about individuals or persons, no. >> i don't recall him saying that exact phrase. i think he has been clear and i would certainly say undoubtedly the president will use, continue to use strong language when it comes to this issue. >> to say i don't recall seems implausible. if the president of the united states used the word blank hole talking about countries in the oval office, or didn't say it, i would know. >> i understand the question. it was an impassioned conversation. i don't recall that specific phrase being used. >> homeland security secretary appears tomorrow at a senate judiciary committee. that sets up an interesting possible face-off with committee member dick durbin, a democrat who said the president definitely used that vulgarity. >> senator lindsey dwrgraham, t only republican in the meeting with a different view. american is an idea not a race

adding that he himself is a descendant of immigrants who came to the u.s. the president later said he did not use that specific expletive. >> the president insisting democrats don't want an agreement. >> but i don't think the democrats want to make a deal. the folks from daca should know the democrats are the ones that aren't going to make a deal. i don't know if they'll abe shutdown. there shouldn't be because if there is our military gets hurt very badly. we cannot let our military be hurt. >> the trump administration is now taking renewal applications for d.r.e.a.m.ers. immigrants brought here illegally as children. a federal court order has blocked the white house from terminating the daca program. >> another semantic debate this

morning. did the president say i have or i'd have? this makes a difference as the white house disputes in a quote in the "the wall street journal." the president was answering a question about north korea and was quoted by the journalist saying i probably have a very good relationship with kim jong-un. white house press secretary sarah sanders challenging that quote claiming the president said i'd probably have as in i would have. president trump following with a tweet calling the "the wall street journal" fake news. now remember, the journal is a conservative murdock owned publication. >> the white house said the newspaper both releasing audio of the comment. here's the clip from the administration. >> and i'd probably have a very good relationship with kim jong-un. >> let's listen again. this recording provided by the "the wall street journal." >> and i'd probably have a very

good relationship with kim jong-un of north korea. >> the president calling out the "the wall street journal" while insisting the door is open for talks with north korea. >> as you know, quoted totally wrong, but we're going to see what happens with north korea. we have great talks going on. the olympics you know about. a lot of things can happen. >> when asked if he has spoken directly with kim jong-un the president again refused to answer. >> interesting situation. i'm not sure what i hear there. >> when you see -- when you see it written you can hear it exactly -- >> you can hear exactly the way you want to thaer. >> in the moment and hours after that interview was first published why didn't the white house immediately say -- because the journal editors told the folks, our lead is going to be of this wide ranging interview. it's going to be the president

saying i probably have a good relationship with kim jong-un. has he talked -- that was all the discussion there. the president saying that and there wasn't pushback immediately. i don't know when the white house began asking for a correction maybe on friday. >> this is a thursday interview. if you're a reporter and you're sitting there listening to that your follow-up question is, you just said i have a good relationship but this will continue. hawaii the emergency management officer who sent a false alarm about an inbound missile has been reassigned. not fired, not yet. the mishap that sent hawaiians scrambling for cover came during a routine drill following a shift change. officials say an officer in the emergency operations center mistakenly picked the wrong message template. one for sending a warning to the public not just internally. >> then the officer clicked okay to conterm that incorrect message. here what it says. ballistic missile threat inbound to hawaii, seek immediate shelter. this is not a drill. that warning sent to tvs, radios

and every single cell phone in hawaii. it took 38 minutes, 38 minutes to send a follow-up alert that the first message was a false alarm. there was no missile threat but she says the alert itself sno the main issue. >> what makes me angry is, yes, that this false alarm went out and we have to fix that in hawaii but really we've got to get to the underlying issue here, why are the people of himt in this country facing a nuclear threat coming from north korea today and what is this president doing urgently to eliminate that threat. >> it took so long to cancel the false alarm because they had no template for that. an omission that's now been fixed. a manager on duty will have to confirm future alerts. president trump called it a state issue. he was briefed. he did not mention the issue for more than a day while tweeting on other topics.

the pentagon is about to issue is nuclear posture review. they not only want to modernize the aging u.s. arsenal. they want to add new ways wage nuclear wars at russia, china bolster their own nuclear arsenal. 72 people were injured when an entire floor collapsed at a stock exchange in jakarta. the second floor inside tower two fell monday around 12:30 p.m. the areas an open space that's frequented by tourists. trading resumes at normal for the afternoon session. time for an early start on your money. president trump loves to take credit for good economic numbers and it's been a great first year for him. low unemployment, a booming stock market. but there's one statistic he used to mention all the time. >> 94 million americans are out of the labor force.

the 95 million people out there that aren't working. >> 96 million really wanting pay job and they can't get. the real number. >> that real number is 95 million and it's americans out of the workforce. 95 million american out of the workforce. it's a number that hasn't budged a bit in the last year. who are these people? about half are retired, 44.5 million. they're not looking for a job. they're required because they most likely want to be. most of the remain 50 million are either in school, taking care of a loved one or physically unable to work. what about the rest. 1.6 million have looked for a job in the past year and 6 million are listed as other. we don't know much about these workers, these 6 million. the majority out of the workforce aren't looking to get back in. they are missing from the workplace. it is a number that the president used on the campaign trail to talk about the weakness of the barack obama recovery. he would use it always to say the stock market's rising but look at these people out of

work. the unemployment is falling but look at these people out of work. same number of people out of work. it's a misleading statistic but it is a number that has not budged. north korea and south korea back at the negotiating table. their second round of talks in a week about the olympics and more. we're live in seoul ahead.

4:46 eastern time. north and south korea returning to the table. they held a second round of talks. on the participation. and next month's winter olympics in south korea. the talks are taking place in the truce village. let's go live to paula hancocks as she's in seoul, south korea, good morning to you. what do we know? >> reporter: this was the second round of talks and it was a lot more detailed this time.

it was working level, lower level to try and get to the nitty-gritty of how north korea can send a delegation to the winter olympics next month. now they were talking such specifics as where to put a stage for one of the entertaining groups from north korea to perform. what we saw is one member the leading member of an all female pop group from north korea which we have seen north korean leader kim jong-un being entertained by in the past. she was also part of that delegation so it does raise the question could they becoming to south korea as well, one of the best known north korea exports when it comes to pop music. we know from the south korean side they want to have an interca inter-korean team, they want an ice hockey team. we know that north koreans officials or going to go to switzerland on saturday to talk to the ioc and the olympic committee and find out how many

athletes they're going to be allowed to have at the pyeongchang winter olympics. the talks will continue as well on wednesday. we understand there will be higher level and this is hopefully where we'll hear more about whether there will be that inter-korean team. >> any hint of any concessions by the north? >> reporter: absolutely none at this point and they also have a lot of articles talking about how south korea media was suggesting they were talking about denuclearization, calling that nonsense, calling it rubbish. at the same time sagt cross the table with the south koreans they're slamming them in the media. >> paula hancocks, thank you. an investigation is under way after a commercial airliner skidded off a runway in turkey this weekend. coming to rest on a seaside cliff. its nose just yards from the water. officials say if that boeing 737 had gone into further down the slope, the plane would have likely plunged into the black sea. 162 were on board.

the airline in a statement says everyone was able to make it off the plane uninjured. >> terrifying situation there. amazon's grocery business getting a big boost. we'll get a check on that on cnn "money" stream next. full of rich pro-v nutrients. for 100% conditioning, 0% weight. new pantene. foam conditioner.

"saturday night live" returns taking on the trump tell-all fiery and fury. a heavyweight was unmasked at steve bannon. >> here to talk about it, steve

bannon. >> i'm working on a web series for crackle. it's called cuts and cars. i'm also coming out with a new line of wrinkle barn jackets called frompers for guys. springtime, skin care line. blotch. >> the book fire and fury, a salacious was released last week and then this week, the sequel wrote itself. during an oval office meeting. trump attacked protections from african countries which he called s holes. that's what nbc asked us to say, by the way, even though the president can say [ bleep ] hole. norwegians were like, america? we're not going to that shatter hoerch. >> can i be honest. when with someone asks me did you hear what donald trump called haiti and africa, i was

like oh, boy did it start with an "n" but then i heard what he said and i was like that's it. i've said that about countries for not having a cvs. donald, you do realize how rich these places are in resources, right? they're in bad shape because they've been robbed and exploited for centuries by western powers. so the president of the united states calling africa a [ bleep ] hole is like telling a kid you molested, boy did you grow up to be weird? >> what a thrill it is to be alive in a time where porn star black males president is like the fourth biggest story of the big. at this rate we'll see the headline, trump found with dead hooker right next to the cross word puzzle. >> there's so much going on. such huge international consequence that the porn star story didn't even rate. >> stormy daniels did not make it. google it. it's another "the wall street journal," in fact. 15 people suffering injuries after a fire sunday aboard a

casino shuttle boat in port richey, florida. the 50 passengers on board the "island breeze" jumped into the frigid water to escape the flames. the boat was about a half mile from the shore. all 50 have now been accounted for. fire officials say it likely started in the engine room and spread quickly. a rough start of the australian open. she was beaten by switzerland belinda ben chich. venus lost to her sister just last year and the reigning champ losing her open match too. she lost in three sets to shang shaway of china. stevens has been in a long slump. she lost eight straight matches. the vikings are headed to the nfc championship game after a miracle in minneapolis. minnesota with a stunning last

second victory over new orleans. the vikings dominated this game early taking a 17-0 lead into the half. the saints fought back. the lead really seesawing in the fourth quarter with the teams trading field goal. 25 seconds left, there the vikings down to their final play with the clock and their season about to expire. >> steps in to it, pass is caught, diggs, side lined, touchdown! unbelievable! >> case keenum to diggs, 61 yards for the score, final score 29-24 vikings. they head to philly next week. the eagles beat the falcons over in the afc. how about the jaguars put up 45 points to beat the steelers. first appearance for the jags

since '99. they head to the new england to take on tom brady and the super bowl champions. they're a nine point under dog. minnesota could be the first team ever to play at home for the super bowl. >> wow. let's get a check on money stream. markets are closed today in observance of the martin luther king holiday. let me show you how investors have fared to far. the dow up 14.4%. the s&p 500, that's the broader, up 500 stocks. the dow climbed 228 points to another record high friday. the s&p 500, the nasdaq also hit all time highs. two high profile executives are leaving disney's board. facebook ceo sheryl samburg and jack dorsey are stepping down from their positions on disney's board. a disney spokesman said it is

becoming increasely difficult to avoid conflicts relating to board members. amazon's multi-million dollar bet on whole foods seems to be paying off. they have helped boost sales on the grocery delivery service amazon fresh, up 35% to $135 million in the last four months of 2017 compared to the previous four months according to the in august for $13.7 billion. a lot of people in retail, a lot of people in the grocery space watching very, very careful to see how this works out. >> you ever buy groceries online. >> i don't like all the boxes. i hate getting the boxes. i do sometimes. >> i have to pick up the produce myself. "early start" continues right now.

>> no, no, i'm not a racist. i'm the least racist person you have ever interviewed. stark words from the president after using an explef tif to describe african-american nations now who can and can't remember what was said at that meeting. suddenly it's become a partisan issue. >> the president blaming democrats for bringing the country to the verge of a shutdown. talks on immigration deal be salvaged before friday's deadline. changes in hawaii after a false alarm of an inbound missile. the warning sent the island under cover fearing the worst. can you imagine if you got that on your phone or on the tv? good morning. i'm christine romans. >> some of the video in utter panic. i can't imagine. i'm dave briggs. it's mont. martin luther king jr. day. 5:00 a.m. in the east. midnight in honolulu, 7:00 p.m. in seoul. we'll go there live shortly. we start with the president defending himself after days of controversy over