WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump made a televised plea for border wall funding Tuesday night, seeking an edge in the shutdown battle with congressional Democrats as he declared there is “a humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul.”

https://t.co/Ft6FqQmYfI

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2019

Addressing the nation from the Oval Office for the first time, Trump argued for funding on security and humanitarian grounds as he sought to put pressure on newly empowered Democrats amid an extended partial government shutdown.

Trump called on Democrats to return to the White House to meet with him, saying it was “immoral” for “politicians to do nothing.”

Trump, who has long railed against illegal immigration at the border, has recently seized on humanitarian concerns to argue there is a broader crisis that can only be solved with a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. But critics say the security risks are overblown and his administration is at least partly to blame for the humanitarian situation.

Trump has been discussing the idea of declaring a national emergency to allow him to circumvent Congress and move forward with the wall. But he made no mention of such a declaration Tuesday night.

Democrats have vowed to block funding for a wall, which they say would be immoral and ineffective, and have called on Trump to reopen shuttered portions of the government while border negotiations continue.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Fighting for advantage in the government shutdown battle, President Donald Trump aimed to use a prime-time address Tuesday to convince Americans he needs billions of dollars from Congress for his long-promised border wall to resolve security and humanitarian problems he contends have reached a crisis pitch. He was sure to face intense pushback from Democrats.

Following up his first Oval Office speech, Trump plans a personal visit to the Mexican border on Thursday as he tries to put pressure on newly empowered Democrats in the shutdown standoff. His Tuesday evening remarks were to be followed by a televised rebuttal from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who strongly oppose the wall and have repeatedly called on Trump to reopen shuttered portions of the government while border negotiations continue.

Trump has been discussing the idea of declaring a national emergency to allow him to move forward with the wall without getting congressional approval for the $5.7 billion he’s requested. But the president was not expected to make that declaration Tuesday night, said two people familiar with the White House plans, although it was possible he could change course.

Such an emergency declaration would represent a dramatic escalation of the dispute and would immediately draw legal challenges. It could potentially unlock military dollars for building the wall but would require the administration to make the case that the border situation was indeed a national crisis . While Trump has previously described the situation on the border that way — including when he directed active duty troops there ahead of the midterm elections— he has never signed an official proclamation.

He will meet with Republican lawmakers at the Capitol on Wednesday.

Before the speech, Trump dispatched Vice President Mike Pence to Capitol Hill, where he urged House Republicans to “stand strong” in support and said the White House wants to negotiate, according to people familiar with the conversation.

Pence told the group that Trump won’t retreat. “That pickup ain’t got reverse in it,” he said.

With his use of a formal White House speech instead of his favored Twitter blasts, Trump is embracing the ceremonial trappings of his office as he tries to exit a political quagmire of his own making. For weeks he has dug in on a signature campaign promise to his base voters, the pledge to build an impregnable “beautiful” wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. But now his self-proclaimed deal-making skills are being put to the test.

The partial government shutdown reached its 18th day, making the closure the second-longest in history. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are going without pay, and government disruptions are hitting home with everyday Americans. But Trump has not budged on his demands for $5.7 billion in wall funding, and Democrats have not moved from their opposition, while many Republicans watch anxiously from the sidelines.

Sen John Thune of South Dakota, the GOP whip, said he doesn’t think the emergency declaration is the right move and “I prefer that we get this resolved the old-fashioned way.”

In recent days, Trump, who has long railed against illegal immigration at the border, has also seized on humanitarian concerns to argue there is a broader crisis that can only be solved with a wall. Critics say the security risks are overblown and the administration is at least partly to blame for the humanitarian situation.

The number of illegal border crossings is down from 1.6 million in 2000 to less than 400,000 last year. But the number of families coming over the border has risen sharply, putting a strain on health care and immigration services that came into sharp focus with the deaths of two migrant children. Some say Trump’s hardline policies are slowing processing for migrants, creating an overwhelming bottleneck at the border.

After meeting with Democrats over the weekend, the White House issued a series of budget demands, including a new request for $800,000 for humanitarian needs. But mostly Trump still wants his wall, which Democrats describe as immoral as well as no solution to illegal immigration.

Emphasizing that he’s not abandoning his security argument, Trump said in a fundraising email Tuesday: “I want to make one thing clear to Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi: Your safety is not a political game or a negotiation tactic!”

The White House requested eight minutes to make Trump’s case on television. It invited representatives from cable news outlets to a White House lunch with Trump ahead of the address, a gesture that is typically reserved for the lead-up to State of the Union speeches. Over Caesar salad and iced tea, Trump projected confidence that his strategy was working, Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier reported.

Leaning on Senate Republicans, some of whom are growing anxious about the impact of the shutdown, Pelosi said the House would begin passing individual bills this week to reopen shuttered federal agencies, starting with the Treasury Department to ensure Americans receive their tax refunds.

In a pre-emptive move, the White House said Monday that tax refunds would be paid despite the shutdown. That shutdown exemption would break from past practice and could be challenged.

With Trump heading to the border on Thursday, few saw a speedy path to resolution for the partial shutdown, which has furloughed 380,000 federal workers and forced an additional 420,000 to work without pay. Federal workers still on the job apparently will miss this week’s paychecks.

Trump has said he can relate to the plight of the federal workers who aren’t getting paid, though he acknowledged they will have to “make adjustments.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the partial government shutdown (all times local):

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the president has “chosen fear” in making the case to the American people for the border wall and Democrats “want to start with the facts.”

Pelosi said Tuesday night in a rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s Oval Office address that “we all agree that we need to secure our borders.”

She noted that the House passed legislation to reopen government on the first day of the new Congress. But Trump rejects that legislation because it doesn’t have funding for his border wall.

She says: “The fact is: President Trump must stop holding the American people hostage, must stop manufacturing a crisis, and must reopen the government.”

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Seventeen Kansas City police officers who formerly worked in a unit that failed to properly investigate crimes against children have been disciplined, with seven of the officers no longer working in the department, Police Chief Rick Smith announced Tuesday.

Smith’s announcement came after a nearly three-year internal investigation into the department’s former Crimes Against Children unit . The investigation began in 2015 when police officials learned detectives weren’t correctly investigating rapes, child molestations and other crimes against children, in cases generally between 2011 and 2016.

The discipline ranged from letters of reprimand to termination.

The conclusion of the investigation “marks the end of a regrettable time period” where Kansas City, Missouri, police failed to serve these victims, Smith said.

“I want to apologize to the children and families who did not receive the service they should expect from us,” Smith said.

Smith attributed the unit’s failures largely to its organizational structure and also “personal failures among commanders, supervisors and detectives,” such as failing to address large individual caseloads.

Investigators identified 149 cases that had been “severely mishandled,” in some cases showing “gross negligence” by detectives and possible efforts to cover up failures. Detectives sometimes left evidence in drawers for months, even years, sometimes without any note to indicate what case the evidence accompanied, the investigators found.

“Most, if not all” of the families involved in those cases have been notified of their case’s status, Smith said.

The division now has a new staff of 10 detectives and two sergeants and further staffing remains a top priority, Smith said.

James Anderst, a child abuse pediatrician and director of the child abuse and neglect division at Children’s Mercy Hospital, said in an interview before the findings were announced that before the internal investigation, detectives seldom showed up for forensic interviews where specialists recorded child victims describing crimes against them. He said advocates were frustrated but had no way to force a law enforcement agency to do anything.

“Everyone kind of knew it was a black hole but there wasn’t a lot that we could do about it,” he said.

Platte County Eric Zahnd said the new staff of the Crimes Against Children Unit has shown marked improvement in responsiveness and investigations.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State Treasurer Jake LaTurner is running for the U.S. Senate in 2020.

LaTurner declared his candidacy Tuesday for the Republican nomination, less than a week after four-term GOP Sen. Pat Roberts announced that he will not run for re-election.

The 31-year-old LaTurner said Kansas needs both a conservative and generational change in the Senate. He issued a “Contract with Kansas” that includes support for congressional term limits and work requirements for welfare recipients.

He is the first candidate to announce, but several other prominent Republicans have said they are considering the race. They include departing Gov. Jeff Colyer, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Rep. Roger Marshall and American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp.

LaTurner has been state treasurer since April 2017 after serving four years in the state Senate.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt argues in a brief filed with the Missouri Supreme Court courts should change the way the cost of incarceration —commonly called board bills — is collected from indigent inmates.

In a brief filed Monday, Schmidt argued that collecting board bills as court costs creates modern day debtors prisons. Indigent inmates who can’t pay their board bills as court costs can be returned to prison, adding to their debts.

Schmidt argued board bills should be paid a civil collection process, which wouldn’t threaten more jail time for failure to pay. He argues no Missouri law provides authority to consider jail debts as court costs.

Schmidt’s brief comes in one of several ongoing cases filed by Public Defender Matthew Mueller challenging how board bills are collected.

JEFFERSON COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man on child sex crimes in Jefferson County.

Just before 8a.m. Sunday, deputies were called to a residence in Oskaloosa after report of an adult having sexual contact with a minor, according to Captian Kirk Vernon.

Deputies contacted Jerry Johnson, 29, Oskaloosa, who voluntarily went to the Jefferson Co. Sheriff’s Office for questioning and was arrested.

Johnson is being held on a $10,000 Bond on requested charges including Indecent Liberties with a Child, Aggravated Indecent Solicitation of a Child under 14 years of age and Lewd and Lascivious Behavior for exposing himself to someone 16 years old or older, according to the sheriff’s department.

Jackson has a previous drug conviction, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections and spend almost five years in prison. He was discharged in June of 2016.