'Start Here': Howard Schultz eyes 2020, government shutdown costs billions, US sanctions Venezuela. What you need to know to start your day.
House Democrats are focusing on their priorities after the government shutdown.
It's Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019. Let's start here.
1. Poll: 56 percent wouldn't re-elect Trump
Fifty-six percent of registered voters said they wouldn't vote for Donald Trump in 2020, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll, while 28 percent said they definitely would.
The presidential election is 21 months away, but it's a "tough position" to be in when assessing support for a re-election, ABC News’ John Verhovek tells us: "There's no real good way to spin that."
And with no clear Democratic front-runner, 43 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they have no opinion on whom they'd support in a primary today, the poll found.
Where does that leave former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who recently announced he's thinking about running as an "independent centrist?" He's facing criticism from Democrats worried he'll split the vote in 2020, and he may not have the votes to win outside of the two-party system, according to FiveThirtyEight Managing Editor Micah Cohen.
"The problem is, most of those voters, while they like to call themselves independents, they're not true independents," he says. "They, year after year after year, vote for one party or the other, and so if Schultz is relying on them, I think he's in for a rude awakening."
2. Congress, federal workers back to work
Government workers are back on the job ... for now.
Congress has less than three weeks to negotiate solutions for border security and wall funding to avoid another shutdown.
ABC News' Anne Flaherty and John Parkinson walk us through the next steps for federal workers, lawmakers and the president.
3. US has 'agreements in principle' with Taliban for peace deal
There have been "encouraging conversations" between the U.S. and the Taliban to end 17 years of war in Afghanistan, according to Pat Shanahan, the acting defense secretary.
"I'd say really, right now, the takeaway is encouraging," he told reporters on Monday, without elaborating on how the talks would affect the withdrawal of U.S. forces.
The top defense official was reacting to a statement in the New York Times from U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who said the U.S. and the Taliban reached "agreements in principle" to the framework of a peace deal with the insurgents.
ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz explains that the U.S. has been trying to deal with the Taliban on and off for years, before removing U.S. forces.
"I think the U.S. has learned such lessons from Iraq, and pulling out all of the troops there at the end of 2011 and ISIS moved in," she says. "You don't have the ability to gather intelligence the way you do if you have some force on the ground."
4. Sanctions on Venezuelan oil
The U.S. on Monday announced sanctions against Venezuela's state-owned oil firm, further limiting the power of Nicolas Maduro days after the Trump administration announced it was recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's legitimate president.
The sanctions will divert any purchases of oil from Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. into accounts Maduro is blocked from accessing, according to the Treasury Department.
ABC News Foreign Editor Kirit Radia says the move is aimed at degrading support for Maduro within Venezuela's military.
Other news:
'I want to thank Michael Cohen for agreeing to appear voluntarily': The president's longtime personal lawyer and fixer has agreed to talk to the House Intelligence Committee behind closed doors.
'This has been a tough day for our city': Five Houston police officers are injured in a shooting ambush where both suspects are killed.
'We're aware of this issue and we have identified a fix that will be released in a software update later this week': Apple, at least temporarily, shuts down Group FaceTime after a glitch allows callers listen in on call recipients.
'As the dust settles from the Trump Shutdown, it is clear as day that the president's temper tantrum caused serious and lasting damage to our nation's economy': The shutdown actually may have cost the U.S. $11 billion, not the $6 billion estimated earlier.
From our partners at FiveThirtyEight:
How President Trump is like a terrible poker player: What will happen at the end of the next three weeks is very much up in the air. But the way Trump has played his hand so far on the shutdown has a lot in common with how bad poker players tend to cost themselves money.
Last 'Nightline':
Cardi B's 'Twerk' video sparks conversation on women's empowerment: Critics are taking aim at the rapper's new music video, opening a debate on the line between body positivity and objectification in the age of #MeToo.
Chris Christie on his relationship with Donald Trump: The former New Jersey Governor and a major player in the president's campaign discusses the Mueller probe, what the 'Bridgegate' scandal cost him and why he believes Jared Kushner worked against him.
On this day in history:
Jan. 29, 2017 -- Protests erupt over the president's travel ban.
The must-see photo:
Members of a rescue team react upon returning from the mission, after a dam owned by Brazilian mining company Vale SA collapsed, in Brumadinho, Brazil. (photo credit: Washington Alves/Reuters)
For more great photos from around the world CLICK HERE.
Socially acceptable:
A man is arrested for stealing art from a gallery in broad daylight.
All right, you're off and running. Get the latest news on ABCNews.com and on the ABC News app. Details on how to subscribe to the "Start Here" podcast are below.
See you tomorrow.
"Start Here" is the flagship daily news podcast from ABC News -- a straightforward look at the day's top stories in 20 minutes. Listen for free every weekday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, or the ABC News app. On Amazon Echo, ask Alexa to "Play 'Start Here'" or add the "Start Here" skill to your Flash Briefing. Follow @StartHereABC on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for exclusive content, show updates and more.
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