Today on inside politics, republican candidates get busy bruising each other in a debate marked by insults, prepared oneliners and plenty of pettiness. Plus the speck call starts. Today is day one of the Impeachment Inquiry into joe biden. Republicans promise a show and tell. The democrats retort, wheres the evidence. And danger knocks, President Biden is in arizona to warn the country and rerevive a 2020 and 2022 Campaign Theme that democrats believe worked. That maga extremists are a singular threat to american democracy. Im dana bash. Lets go behind the headlines and ininside politics. Up first, A Chaotic Cross Talk filled debate that gave us more questions and more insults, but little clarity about who, if any, of these candidates can truly challenge donald trump. The front runner was not there again, but you could sense the desperation among those on stage to find a breakthrough moment. You could see and hear that more and more Donald Trumps republican rivals realize they wont win by playing nice with the former the president and time is running out. You know who else is missing in action . Donald trump is missing in action. He should be on this stage tonight. This is where President Trump went wrong. He focused on ftrade with china. He didnt focus on the fact they were buying up our farmland or killing americans. My former running mate donald trump actually has a olympian to start to consolidate more power in washington, d. C. Youre duck ing these things. Let me tell you whats going to happen. No one is going to call you donald trump anymore. Were going to the call you donald duck. We got insights into Policy Dimpss On Ukraine and abortion, but the tone, sharp and personal was more prominent. I ien hoppestly every time i hear you, i feel a little dumber for what you say. And what we you have gone and will make medicines in china and not america. You want kids to get on social media thats dangerous for all of us. You were in business with the chinese that gave hunter biden 5 million. We cant trust you. Joining me now to share their reporting and their insights is jeff zeleny, David Chalian and cnns Phil Mattingly. I hit the panel jackpot today. Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you so much for being here. I should say that jeff and david, you and i were up late last night. I know were not going to complain about lack of sleep, but it was very interesting to be there and to kind of get a sense of what it was like here in california. I want to start with you, David Chalian. Can you just give an overall analysis of what we saw and why it matters . We saw several people on the debate stage thirsty for attention. That was really clear in how they presented themselves last night. And what we didnt see, again, for the second time in a row now, was a front runner on that stage. So these debates are becoming this exercise where we are now just over 100 days from the Iowa Caucuses for one of these candidates to start being able to consolidate enough support in the nontrump supportive wing of the party to actually emerge as an alternative to donald trump. And so this is a process. You dont expect that to happen overnight with one debate. But you can see how they were all behaving. And with different strategic um pertives in mind, how much they wanted to opt muse their talk time for that kind of direct conversation with voters. I would just note, i thought there was little that occurred on that stage that actually is going to alter the trajectory of this race. Donald trump clearly is still a dominant front runner in the race. And theres very little last nugt that occurred with all that cross talk you noted that was chaotic at times thats going to up end that position for the front runner. Yes, it seems that that was very likely the case, but jeff zeleny, at this point, you know this better than most of us because you have been most recently out talking to voters in these key the Battleground States in early voting states, and at this point, it is to be heard to breakthrough. Its also to keep the money flowing. And to look like somebody who can potentially stay in there for a bit, particularly for the antitrump sector of the republican party. On that note, nikki haley was really trying to kind of stand out just like the first debate, she did. Lets listen to some of those moments. Okay. I dont i think we have that sound byte. I will just tell our viewers about the gist of what she did. She went after ron desantis on fracking. She went after tim scott in a very big way. We have known each other a long time, but he hasnt done any thoof. They have only given four budgets on time in 40 years. A win for russia is a win for china. I forgot you like china. Jeff zeleny . Those were certainly memorable lines. Particular ly when she was directly picking up where she left off at the first debate going after Vivek Ramaswamy. Saying famously well remember this for a long time. Everything you say makes me feel dumber. Going after tiktok on policy. But every single i critique and attack haul hale did was rooted in her strategy. It was not simply to throw darts, it was because shes trying to sort of have the lane in South Carolina to herself. What she didnt say last night to her fellow south carolinian is i put you in that seat. When she was governor of South Carolina, she appointed congressman tim scott to fill the senate seat of retiring senator demint. But that certainly was showing that she is trying to have that lane to herself. But i think overall, you hit the nail on the head about donors and money. Were at the very final days and even hours of the month of september. And the Third Quarter fundraising period. It wasnt just voters in iowa watching this debate, it was also the donors who were sitting on the sidelines waiting to jump in to help fund and support a trump alternative. So thats was a key audience as well. Thats certainly one she was playing to. Tim scott was as well. He came out with a new sense of energy and a bounce in his step, if you will, going after Vivek Ramaswamy and back at nikki haley and on abortion. He was the most improved, perhaps of the night, but overall, Florida Governor ron Desantis Center stage, he also had a very strong night. He is the leading alternative in some peoples minds. A lot of voters minds and he solidified that to some degree. Lets talk more about tim scott. You and i covered him for many years on capitol hill. And jeff just talked about the moments that he had had. Lets listen to one of them on the debate stage. America has suffered because of slavery. But we have overcome that. Black families survived slavery. We survived poll taxes and literacy tests. We survived discrimination. What was hard to survive was johnsons great society. You want to restore hope, you have to restore the family and put americans back at Work Together as one american family. Our nation continues to go in the right direction. Its why i can say i have been discriminated against, but america is not. Phil, before i bring you in here, we were talking about the back and forth between the south carolinians, nikki haley and tim scott. I talked to senator scott right after the debate. Listen to what he said about that. I was surprised by the vitriol. This is like a football game. You put the uniform on and play to win. People if youre happy and youre a warrior, sometimes there are issues that you must defend. What do you think . What i think is most interesting is if you frame what the senator told you afterwards, which best capture he would know, of what actually happened last night with tim scott in its entirety. A lot of the moments we have seen play out throughout this morning or in the wake of the debate, tim scott came out of the last debate with a lot of criticism about standing on the sidelines and not willing to engage and not doing enough in terms of Throwing Elbows around. He did that last night, but i thus the sound you played at the, that was his biggest moment of the debate. When i was talking with republicans this morning, they will all acknowledge to a person that moment when he went straight to camera talking about his personal experience. Thats a moment that you see on the campaign trail. Jeff shas seen it. It resinates. Its the moment where voters or people watching about hum or learning about him say, wow, okay, this is a different kind of candidate. This is a candidate that has a real story that im interested in. And i think that was what when i was talking to republicans throughout the course of the morning, they were saying that was the moment. Yet everyone was talking about whether or not he could throw elbows and the back and forth with ambassador haley. And thats kind of the difficulty to some degree he has in this moment. Donors will give him a ton of money. People who know him think highly of him within the party. But to get attention in this moment, when youre 30 or 40 points behind the front runner and theres that many people on stage, you have to try other things. Whether or not he can be both the happy and the warrior, he tried to demonstrate it last night, but its a challenge. He was clearly try lien more into the warrior part of the happy warrior label he so proudly wears. David, meanwhile, donald trump, its pretty clear from cnns reporting that he is not going to go to the next debate. Not a surprise. He was doing his counterprogramming thing in michigan. And he said effectively that he doesnt seen seethe anybody on the debate stage as his Vice President. Thats the way hes framing the debate that happened without him last night. They are all job candidates. They will do anything. Secretary of something. Does anybody see a vp in the group . I dont think so. Better to hear from him than to hear me talk about it. Go ahead, david. I dont think so. A little warning to the rest of the field. Nobody is in his eye as a potential vp. Donald trump is trying to do two things here. Hes trying to elevate himself to be perceived as an all but presumptivive nominee and starting to frame a general election contest with joe biden, as he was trying to do in michigan. And yet what you just heard in that sound byte that you played, hes well aware that there is still a Nomination Race to. Happen here. Voters have not weighed in. He cant just take it for granted. So he will return to iowa this weekend. His campaign has said they will be back in iowa several times throughout the month of october. Because they cant lift their foot off the gas pedal on trying to put the Nomination Race to bed, even as he wants to portray himself as the all but certain nominee. He has to do those two things simultaneously. And youre right, i dont think anybody could begrudge him on the politics of it for not showing up on the debate stage. Its been two debates, and i dont think we see any evidence hurts him not to be there. You know where he did just show up . He showed up on a list. Theres one that came out with donald trump aes name on it. We just learned that the former president maybe compelled to take the stand in his new york civil fraud trial. Its slated to start next week lets get more on that from kara scannell. The Witness Lists have come out from both the new York Attorney general and trumps defense team. Both of them have put donald trump, his adult sons, on the list as potential witnesses that both sides might call in this case. They are defies in the case. They are at the center of the case. The issue of the inflated financial statements, which the judge earlier this week ruled were fraudulent and said that the company and these individuals had engaged in persistent fraud. Now the question is, will they actually be called as witnesses. These Witness Lists are put up there because if they dont put someone on the list, they cant call them. There certainly was a lot of eagerness for trump to testify that he wanted to. But this can change always as a case is playing out. And given that the judge has found against the trump organization, theres a question of whether he would want to testify in his own defense. The a. G. Could compel had him to testify. He also sat for a video tape deposition. He said he had little, if any, role in compiling these financial statements. Thank you so much for that report. In washington, a shutdown is 72 hours away. But what are Kevin Mccarthy and matt gaetz talking about . They are talking about influencers and pay you haves and were going to explain all of that from a testy exchange, after a quick break. This morning new tensions exploiding into the open between House Republicans with just three days left until a Government Shutdown. House speaker Kevin Mccarthy went toe to toe with had matt gaetz. That happened inside a gop meeting. Manu raju was outside and got all the scoop about what happened inside. What happened . Yeah, thats right. This has been percolating for some time. Matt gaetz has been making clear that he may push a vote seeking the ouster of this speaker, if the speaker does not heed some of his demands, including over the fight over to keep the government open past saturday. Gaetz has been concerned because he believes the speakers allies have been promoting negative posts on him on social media. Paying conservative influencers, bash him on social media. Gaetz con ffronted the speaker about that this morning Behind Closed Doors and asked him about this. The speaker said he has other things to worry about than this issue. I asked gaetz about it afterwards, and he confirmed a all this happened. I asked if are you ready to move ahead with the speaker to be ousted, he indicated thats not going to happen, but thats something that continues to remain on the able to taubl. This comes as the fight over keeping the government open continue ss to play out among republicans. Particularly on the house side. The speaker is making clear he plans to have a vote tomorrow to keep the government open for a short period of time, but he does not have support among his own republicans. They have hardliners are opposed to it as Well Incollude account matt gaetz saying they dont want to keep the government open for a short period of time. I talked to one congressman this morning, eli crane of arizona, someone who is aligning himself now with that matt gaetz strategy saying he will not support a spending bill. He also made clear to vote to oust the speaker. The shutdown is the speakers fault for the way he handled the bill . In my opinion, it is. Youre the leader. You take credit for the wins. You take ownership and accountability of the losses. And quite frankly, i dont believe blased on what i have seen there was any real effort to do the appropriations process. Thats what i believe. Would he be out of a job . I think members should be looking for stronger leadership. Quite frankly i know people in my district that i represent want to see stronger leadership. Im all about it. And dana, therein lies the problem for spooker mccarthy. If he cuts a deal, hes going to face a vote pushing for an ouster. They have the votes. So the speakers calculation now, trying to get republicans to keep the government open. Republicans arent there. Even the senate is moving on a different course. Something that the speaker opposed. Thank you so much for that. Phil mattingly is back with me, along with leann ald well from the washington post. Phil, we have seen this movie so many times before. And we know how it ends. We know that there has to be a bipartisan vote in the House Of Representatives in order to overcome this. The question is, not how much pain, but what flavor of pain will be extracted. Most important lly by the amerin people, but politically inside the congress in order to get there. Yeah, just to underscore the point, its not a pa jortive. Thats a compliment. I think the former is the most important, the latter is what everybody is trying to figure out right now. The former being this has a real impact on real people. While i dont think this has a sense of matching the shutdown that we all went through in 2018 and 2019, the scale of both the macroeconomic effect, but also on individuals and contractors that didnt get back pay paed back, its significant and shouldnt be ignored. On the latter point, the difference between now and every other time we have seen this movie is i dont know how the process to get to the end. We always know theres a lot of pain in a back and forth. Lets pass some things to get in the room and still end up in the same place. They cant even do that in the House Republican conference. We have such great robeporting about a situation that doesnt have any precedent. They are trying to move your Spending Bills that have no impact on the actual stopgap bill they need to do, but they are trying to do those in order to build trust so you can vote on a stopgap bill. They dont have the votes for the full year bills. The bills would be dead on arrival and never be signed by the president. If that sounds confusing to people watching this, it is. Its completely nonsensical. Its tethered to nothing thats going to move this process forward. Were now at two and a half days until the shutdown. I mean, i just remember john boehner, merlot in one hand, cigarette in the other saying you have to work the process out. The process worked him out. I think hes probably very happy about it at this point. Lets just kind of look at the math here and the numbers that make it so clear that Kevin Mccarthy veeventually is not gog to be able to do anything that funds the government without help from the democrats. He has a fourseat majority. Theres a list of hard noes, that is longer than four. Then likely noes, longer than five. Thats absolutely right. Hes trying to negotiate with people who are never going to come to the table. And so it makes absolutely no sense in a real world situation, but for mccarthy, this is selfpreservation. Thats all this is about. He is afraid to turn to democrats and find 10, 20, maybe 30 democratic moderate the votes to pass a shortterm Government Funding Bill to keep the lights on past saturday because hes worried that there will be protests from the right and efforts from the right to remove him from his speakership. And so selfpreservation over governance, but i will say that there is a growing amount of frustration among republicans about the strategy that is very transparent. I interviewed Representative Ken Buck of colorado this morning. And he said its absolute malpractice that Kevin Mccarthy is waiting until the day before a Government Shutdown to put forward a bill to potentially shortterm fund the government for a few weeks knowing that its probably going to fail and that not trying this weeks ago, sost theres a lot of frustration among republicans. We have to go to break. But the whole back and forth between Kevin Mccarthy and matt gaetz, yes, mccarthy is worried about his job, but hes also like so done with what they are trying to do. Its pretty clear. I also dont think it should not be ignored hes not the only republican thats so done. And however you feel about matt gaetz, i think the frustration is far more widespread amongst the rank and file, the 220 plus members than people understand. But the fact that its become kind of a mono thing thats happened repeatedly, frustration is probably a massive understatement here. For sure. Standby. Coming up, House Republicans are actually taking the time to hold their first impeachment hearing. Thats happening as we speak. Two of the gops handpicked witnesses gave some tempt. They probably didnt actually want to hear. Stay with us. Soon President Biden will make a Speech Warning about ongoing threats to democracy. He is in arizona, a key Battleground State and still a stronghold for election deniers. President biden is expected to highlight Donald Trumps role in those conspiracies and the threats that they pose to america. A pr view from the white house, theres something dangerous happening in america. Theres an Extremist Movement that does not share the basic believes of our democracy, the Maga Movement. Join ing me to talk about this s historian douglas brinkley. Thank you for joining me. Talk about this speech. Its going to be the setting, not only in arizona, but at the john mccain institute, which has a lot of meaning. The president is going to go about as far as he ever has, accusing his former rival, the former president , the Maga Movement of just basically not believing in democracy can you put this in Historical Context . Absolutely. I think we saw really the beginning of biden 2024 campaign with the uaw in detroit. Now hes in Arizona Staking claim not just for the electoral votes, but to wrap himself in the legacy of john mccain, who was his dear and close friend, just a short time ago when he was in vietnam, President Biden went to the site where 1967 mccains plane crashed. Hes going to remember an Old Washington when you can have differences, but you believed in the constitution and our institutions. Hes going to contrast mccain to the Maga Movement, who donald trump represents. Which is the neofascism of destruction of our democratic ideals. I have a feeling the speech in arizona is going to be one that we hear repeated throughout the country in the coming months by biden. The president is not wrong that this is not john mccains republican party. He passed away five years ago, before he even got sick that his party changed dramatically. So the question is, obviously just on the raw politics of this, the question of democracy is more fundamental than just raw politics, but on the raw politics, whether or not President Biden gives a speech about democracy, he will have the same political punch that it did in 2020. Frankly, in the 2022 midterms when you have the maga wing of the party so fired. The question is that squishy middle, whether this will be an enthusiasm kind of speech and will get them out to vote and get them excited about the biden candidate us is. Im afraid any kind of p politician keeps repeating the same thing over and over, it causes problems. Biden is going to be doing i represent the soul of america again. I work ed with him before. He has a record and we are worried about the economy. We have a Government Shutdown going on. And much more with climate change. So is biden going back to a golden oldie and repeating it, or is he putting freshed toer and really gin up inside about the future. Right now, its a backstop speech. Beyond me, youre going to have a choice. So i think biden has to. Its sort of a commentary on america in 2023 that an argument about a threat to democracy might not be as potent because its been made before. But i take your point about that. Given what you have seen throughout history, i know youre not a president ial adviser, youre a president ial historian. What has in the past sold and been something thats penetrated in the body politic. I think representing of the ideals of fdr and truman if youre a democrat is always good. John f. Kennedy did that, Lyndon Johnson did it. But biden has to deal with the fact that people are afraid in the country that they dont feel better days are coming and get down to those Kitchen Table issues, talk the economy. Hes going to have to sell bidenomics in addition to saying im a stall worth of democracy. Were in a real threat, in my mind, with trumpism. And biden is the Warrior Standing in front of it. He wants to say i have john mccain on our side. That may not be a lot of republicans. But in arizona, they exist. Hes going to need that coalition because arizona is an all important state in 2024. It is one of the most important states. Its good to it talk to you. Thank you for coming on today. Always a joy. Thank you. Jake tapper will have special live coverage of President Bidens address on democracy. That will start today at 2 45 eastern. Happening now, the First Official hearing in the impeachment Inkwur Ri Into President Biden. It opened with a debate over whether the hearing was even legal at all. Stay with us. Youre looking at live pictures of the House Republicans first impeachment inkquiry. Its happening right now. The first Impeachment Inquiry into President Biden, there we go. Even though they have no evidence tying joe biden to his son hundrters business dealing. Its not like they rbt trying. They have been at this for months. Sara murray has been at this for months coffering the back and forth. You have been following this hearing. What has happened so far, if anything, that is notable when it comes to the bottom line that republicans are trying to show . Theres a lot of republicans that are on this committee who came into this hearing sort of trying to make the case that its asked and answered. They are saying joe biden lied to the American People, his son hunter biden was clearly profiting off the family name, joe biden clearly was aware of all this. They are making all these allegations without the evidence to back it up. And they dont get that evidence from the panel of witnesses they have before them today. They have these three witnesses that the republicans have called. And they are not fact witnesses. Alexandria ocasiocortez, the congresswoman, just established this with each of the three of them. A forensic accountant, a former doj official in the tax division and jonathan turly, a favorite of republicans in these kinds of hearings, she went through with each of them and established that none of them have facts or firsthand accounts to share about joe bidens involvement in high crimes or misdemeanors. And in fact, even a couple of these witnesses said right now, what republicans have are aelss. Take a listen. I do not believe that the Current Evidence would support articles of impeachment. That is something that an inquiry has to establish. Im not here to suggest there was corruption or wrok doing. In my opinion, more information needs to be gathered and assessed before id make such an assessment. The witnesses arent saying that republicans are wrong to launch an Impeachment Inquiry and ask more questions about Hunter Bidens Business Dealings and about whether joe biden was aware of that. Something they havent established, but its pretty clear that the witnesses are telling republicans, look, what you have are allegations, not evidence. You still have a very high bar to meet to be able to match the claims youre making in this hearing. So interesting. Thank you so much for that reporting. Joining me now is a member of that oversight committee, congressman of illinois, thank you so much for join ing me. Whats your take so far in the hearing . I think i conquer generally whith what was said is that non of these are fact witnesses. They cant testify about anything regarding joe biden. And then secondly, there is no evidence of that type of wrong doing. That came up over and over again. The irony is that instead of talking about this, we should be talking about funding the government, which is about shut down in two and a half days. That was looming over the whole proceeding. The ab absurdity of focusing on impeachment, theres so many other issues we should be dealing with. You say theres no evidence. That was really remarkable to hear jonathan, who is definite ly not somebody who would be shy about saying that impeachment of joe biden should happen, if he thought that was the case saying theres no evidence. While you were making your way over to the camera, congresswoman alexandria ocasiocortez tried to ask these witnesses if they have seen any evidence, if they had any firsthand account, and they didnt. Thats not their job, but still. Given all of that, that we just established, my question to you is why is it that the American People, according to a cnn poll, 60 of americans say that he acted either illegally or unethically. Should the white house and democrats be doing more to push back on republican claims because they seem to be seeping in to the electorate. I think that youre absolutely correct. I think more needs to be done to shine a light on kind of joe biden, the fact that he has nothing to do with any of the Business Dealings. He didnt receive even a dime, despite the fact that the majority has subpoenaed and collected over 12,000 documents and bank records, not even a single one shows that joe biden receive d a penny off of any transaction. Today, though, an interesting poll came out showing that a vast majority of American People feel that there should not be impeachment proceedings with regard to this particular situation. Even if they have concerns about hunter biden, we have to remember that joe biden himself is the only one that can be ul peached. Its not hunter biden who is a private citizen, who is being prosecuted by the u. S. Attorney in delaware. Lets talk for a moment about something you brought up at the beginning of our conversation, which is the looming Government Shutdown. Youre a democrat who tends to work across the aisle as much as you can. Given that, do you see a scenario where before the impeachment deadline, democrats and republicans can find a way to pass a bill over the objections of the hardliners on the right, pass a resolution to keep the government open . I sure hope so. A lot of innocent will be hurt if we dont pass such a continuing resolution or something to fund the government. Your viewers already aware of this, but were talking about 2 million active duty members of the military and other members of the federal workforce, who have to work without pay. Many cases are they are guarding our national security, not to mention all the people at home who would not receive the services they are entitled to, including seniors, who wont be able to get all the services they need from the Social Security administration with regard to fixing and the like. Im hopeful that Kevin Mccarthy is going to do the right thing and work with democrats over the objections of these extreme right wingers, but well see in the text couple days what happens. Congressman, thank you so much for coming on. I know you have a hearing to get back to. Appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up, Donald Trumps rivals battle each other for a breakout moment in last nights chaotic Republican Debate here in california. Well talk about that, next. File this under did this really happen . Mike pence made what sounded an awful lot like a sex joke. You mentioned the president s situation. My wife isnt a member of the teachers union, but ive got to admit, ive been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years. Full disclosure. Jeff zeleny and Phil Mattingly are still here. Phil is so excited to talk about this. By the way, im not judging you, but you did interview mike pence this morning and didnt ask about it. Its up to us to talk about it. I dont blame you. If i were you, i wouldnt have, either. Ill start with jeff. You and i were actually there last night. He talk about sleeping with his wife for 30plus years after chris christie, i think it was, talked about joe biden sleeping with a member of the teachers union, referring to the fact that jill biden is an educator. Having said all that, weve all covered mike pence for years, when he first started in the house, and we know, this is like the last thing i ever thought we would hear from mike pence. Without a doubt. I think perhaps why is, he retreated a bit off the stage at the first debate, he was really front and center. He was engaged in most of the conversations, interrupting, really Holding Command of that debate stage. Last night, he didnt. He was on the edge of the phage. I think he was probably trying to get into the consideversatio. He wasnt as present in the back and forth. I think its clearly not anything he prepared. Hes very close to his wife, obvi obviously. I think it was his moments. Oftentimes people will say mike pence and then as Vice President , he is so polished is the points he wants to make. Far be it for any of us to maybe just not in that subject matter. Do your thing, man. Well be right back
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.