Former federal prosecutor and analyst andrew wise man and in washington president ial historian. Lets begin with jeff bennett on capitol hill. Theres a number of steps before we get to the vote. Walk us through it. Hey, lester, good morning. Before the house can take this historic vote, they have to dispense with procedural business. They have to vote on the rule that establishes how the floor debate around these articles of impeachment will be conducted. Right now well listen in as this proceeding gets under way. Please join me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Message. Madam speaker, a message from the president of the United States. Madam speaker, madam secretary. Im directed by the president of the United States to deliver to the house of representatives a message in writing. Pursuant to class 4 of rule 1 the following enrolled bill was signed by the speaker on tuesday, december 17th, 2019. Hr 5363. A bill to reauthorize mandatory funding programs for historically black colleges and universities and other minorities institutions and for other purposes. Were going to go back to geoff now after the pledge of allegiance who can explain what were seeing. This will carry us through to around 10 00 a. M. Eastern when we expect the floor debate to begin. Democrats and republicans will have six hours to divide evenly. Youll see the top democrat and republican from the house Judiciary Committee, lester, oversee that debate. So we expect that democrats will offer a recitation of the facts and evidence to explain why they see impeachment as the proper remedy for President Trumps ukraine dealings. Republicans largely will relitigate the process that brought us to this point and echo President Trump that says that impeachment is a partisan sham. After that six hours is over, the debate will end and then youll see this full body take the vote. Thats likely to happen in the 6 00 to 7 30 p. M. Eastern time. As you mentioned, democrats have the votes they need to prevail. Theyre anticipating a handful of defections. There are three members, most from districts that they were able to flip in 2018. That President Trump won in 2016. All three of them say they will vote either against both or one of the articles of impeachment. But republicans are lining up fully behind President Trump on this, lester, all of them expected to vote against impeachment. Geoff, well be relying on you a lot as we walk through the procedures. One of the votes taking place now. Lets go to Hallie Jackson. The president tweeting a message delivered to congress. Hes not happy about it, lester. Hes out with several tweets. Can you believe i will be impeached today as he will describe as the radical do nothing democrats. I did nothing wrong calling it a terrible thing. He goes on to say what he said. Read the transcripts. This should never happen to another president again. Say a prayer. Nancy pelosi often praise he is angry, lester. Based on the conversations ive had. He does not want to be impeached. This is a president who understands that this is going to be a forever tarnish on his administration and on his legacy. That said, im told by people close to the president that he is ready for a fight. He relishes it. He knows this is coming. He knows it is inevitable. But there is a sense inside the west wing here from officials around the president as well that theyre just mad, that this is now happening, some 70plus days, 80 days after the initial proceedings were opened. You can sense the president s anger. Its very clear from that sixpage extraordinary letter as he directed to House Speaker nancy pelosi just in the last 24 hours. Complaining that he had no due process saying that more was afforded to those accused in the salem witch trials and then said this to the speaker. By proceeding with your invalid impeachment, youre violating your oaths of office, breaking your allegiance to the constitution and declaring open war on american democracy. It is a truly remarkable message from the president of the United States to the sitting House Speaker and it is one that shows just how defiant President Trump is in this moment. Were watching for several key moments today, lester as this floor debate continues on the house and the vote is ultimately taken. We expect the president to leave for a rally. Hes going to be in front of lots of supporters in michigan later tonight. That will happen midafternoon at the white house. He may stop and take questions from reporters on the way and then watch for this moment as the vote is happening. It is quite possible based on the timing that we think could occur over on capitol hill that the president could take the stage at his rally within minutes of the vote to impeach him. Bottom line, when you step back and put this all in context, this is a moment that will go down in history. It is not the history that donald trump wants to make. But it is the history that at this point seems all but inevitable. Hallie jackson at the white house. Thank you. Andrei mitchell, think for a minute what hallie said. We can see a split screen of congress impeaching the president and hes at a rally. Does this define what happens Going Forward in the 2020 race . Absolutely. This is the division of the country, nearly evenly divided. Hell be voicing what he said in this extraordinary letter. How unusual it is, partly profane, angry, letter filled with exclamation points. It is virtually dictated by the president. Youre going to hear that in his rally in the key state of michigan where you have, of course, one of the three states that helped elect him. They were not really combative by the democrats. Thats where you also have a number of freshman democrats, alyssa slotkin, a former cia analyst who faced an angry town hall meeting and feels it in her gut, she studied the articles of impeachment, she studied the transcript and did what she was trained to do as a cia officer, read the constitution on her farm over the weekend and had to face the voters before the vote. She was not taking them by surprise. Knowing and acknowledging there could be a political cost. Acknowledging that it could not only cost her, her seat but the house could flip. Nancy pelosi knew this going in. Thats why, among other reasons, knowing the heaviness of this and the political cost. Impeachment is not going to help the democrats. And the president says and believes that it will help him politically. Already monetizing, raising a ton of money for the reelection campaign. I want to bring in chuck todd. Chuck, weve focused on the fact that so much of this is a foregone conclusion. We think we know whats going to happen this morning, we think we know whats going to happen in the senate. Pause for this moment in time if you will. Impeachment. It is a stain. Its a mark of shame and something that will be noted by history. It will be. I was struck both last night and this morning how unremarkable today has suddenly felt, suddenly feels. I say that because it is historic whats happening. Yet, it feels like lets be honest, lester, it feels like were dealing with a Government Shutdown threat. Not impeachment. The reason i say it that way is because that is how numb i think our politics is to whats to what were facing. This should be a moment where the whole country is basically having their own gut check, where we are we are having a National Conversation trying to figure this out. The fact that were not having it, that this feels like just another battle in what has been a we tracked this this morning. I encourage people to take a look at it. Basically, this has probably been the worst decade in american politics, maybe in our lifetimes. Maybe the 50s and 60s. Had decades like this. If youre under the age of 30 and a working adult right now, you would be shocked if i told you that barack obama held an inaugural ball in honor of john mccain in 2008. Our politics has so declined starting in 2010 to where we are today, in some ways this is the end to what has been this toxic decade for american politics, but the fact that it feels like were just sort of stumbling to this, that this isnt a larger conversation for the country to grapple with, what this president is putting the constitution through, it just tells you how numb we are to the politics that we participate in. It is a sad commentary, chuck. Thanks very much. Let me bring in michael, president ial historian. Weigh in to what chuck just said from a historical perspective. Its almost the opposite of what was once called the era of good feeling. The founders, they wanted there to be this kind of anger and conflict and fighting because that was different from the society that they were trying to create the United States in, in contra vengs in. They didnt want it to be likening land. There wasnt political fighting in england. If they they would love to see the kind of conflict you see in washington. But what they would be missing is the conciliation and the compromise and the negotiation and the healing. Thats what youve seen in America Society at its best. How difficult is it that we are at this moment, but the president himself has not acknowledged the reality of the moment. He talks about hopes, he talks about illegals, he talks about the constitutional right of the house of representatives. Talk about the fact that he will not allow himself to reflect on this moment in history. Well, thats exactly thats classic donald trump which is never complain, never explain. That has a lot to do with the fact that there has been so little cooperation with the house of representatives at the time that its been considering these articles of impeachment rather than saying this is a legitimate part of the constitution. Want to keep the folks apprised of whats happening. Youve been seeing numbers tallied on the right half of screen. Thats a procedural vote. There was a motion to adjourn that will likely not happen. But the vote is taking place. We may see procedural votes. Well try to keep you on this leading up to the vote on the articles of impeachment. Let me bring in andrew wiseman. No doubt you had a look at the sixpage letter to Speaker Pelosi yesterday. He talks about no due process. Can you remind us of what are the rules of impeachment and what Congress Duty is. Sure. One thing that is useful to note, there arent a lot of rules. The constitution is largely silent. If you are a member of congress right now, you dont have a lot of precedent to go on in terms of president s that have been impeached, this would be the third time in history. There are judges that have been impeached. But theres not a lot to go on. The first clear step is the house has to make a decision whether there would be a vote. People analogize that to a grand jury. Where prosecutors seek an indictment in a grand jury. Then theres a standard of proof that needs to be applied. There is nothing in the constitution about what the house should do in terms of what the standard of proof is or what the senate should do. Thats a big open issue. What does a trial look like without witnesses . Weve all been or seen or watched tv coverage of trials. Prosecution puts on witness, the defense usually does. What does it look like when there are no witnesses . There are examples of that in again, if youre analogizing to the criminal law and what happens in court, you can have a written record and the parties can argue based on that written record. So here, what the senate would have is the written record of what happened before the house. But clearly, if youre in the senate and you think that there are additional witnesses who should be called on either side, you would want that. Thats usually what a trial is. If there are open issues, you want witnesses and documents. It makes sense, senatoau saying where are the additional witnesses. Andrea, selfreflecting saying did this go as this should we have done things differently . I dont think they felt they could have done things differently. Not giving them witnesses and texts and all kinds of documents from the agencies, the state department, any of the proof from omd, from the Budget Office as to why the violation of congressionally mandated aid, why was the aid suspended during a hot war with russia. What was the justification for that. Now that we found other instances where they have been summarily bipartisan congressionally mandated aid. None of this, all of this is in violation of the budget act and the separation of powers. How are thee things happening . Brought before them . I think they did the best they could and to prolong it, they have to wait eight months to get the initial Lower Court Ruling on the formal white House Counsel testifying. Thats going to the supreme court, that will be another eight months or six months. They couldnt afford to wait. It would be well beyond the 2020 election if they waited to get everything. Chuck todd, Chuck Schumer yesterday coming out and saying wed like witnesses making the case for that, it was a gambit, but is it one that may pay off . You know, it could. This is where outside events matter here. Look, the most uncomfortable part of this impeachment, i think, for the democrats and i agree with andreas analysis there that they felt as if they had no choice on waiting, is the fact that there is stones that are unturned in this investigation. Now, the Southern District of new york is actively investigating some of those stones. And the fact of the matter is, lester, between now and the start of the senate trial which we presume to be the first full week of january at this point, you know, you have an unbound Rudy Giuliani doing things that i almost stick the finger in the eye of the republicans that have somehow uncomfortably gotten to a place where theyve decided to back this president up at least on the process, not necessarily on the facts. But you have rudy going around the world trying to continue to admit to all the things that the president is accused of, including smearing the ambassador to get her fired and then you have this lev parnas character, is he cooperating, is he not . Why did he suddenly have a Million Dollars from a russian bank account connected to an oligarch doing with this other Rudy Giuliani client . The point is, i do think outside events in between or up to the trial, particularly having to do with rudy and Chuck Schumer introduces an app for a vote on a witness, could he get three or four republicans to cross over . He might. Well see but that is something that if youre schumer, you might as well lay your marker down now because outside events may benefit you. Want to go back to Geoff Bennett as we look at this vote wind down the last 20 some odd seconds. This is a procedure vote. Are we going to see more of these . I think we will. Republicans arent able to change the articles of impeachment as written. That was one of the things established in the rules yesterday. The rules committee had hours long debate on that issue. So the one way that republicans will be able to delay this proceeding that they object to is to offer a procedural objection where they try to adjourn, basically end this proceeding. Because democrats control this body, democrats have the vote to kill it. As ive been standing here watching this unfold, weve learned that House Speaker nancy pelosi herself will preside over the votes on the arlticles of impeachment. Shes expected to speak when the floor debate in the next hour, lester. Talk about the mood there, if you will. Youve been watching this unfold since september when we found about the whistleblower. Theres been anger and all the range of emotions. This is the day. Whats it like . This is, by far the most important vote that these members will take over the course of their political careers. To echo something andrea said about why democrats are moving forward. When they know that impeachment likely when it reaches the senate will not result in President Trump being removed from office, this is something where you have to take the House Speaker at her word. Shes moving forward on principle. There was a time when the speaker wouldnt use the phrase impeachment inquiry because she was opposed to it. Impeachment is a long process, a divisive process and president , she said, wasnt worth it. Those are her words. But she said the whistleblower complaint that made clear the ukraine dealings was different. She said that was an abuse of power, it was the kind of conduct that realized the founders worst nightmares. Whereas, the russia investigation had to do with what candidate trump did allegedly. The ukraine had to do with what he was trying to do, trying to cheat in the next election. So goes the theory of the democratic case. That was the game changer for her. Democrats really have expended a ton of political capital. Each as we talk about the three defections, the three members from the trump leaning districts, the real story is the 30 or so trump frontliners, majority makers who are still going to vote for impeachment even though it might be against their political interests, lester. Ats certainly somethinge watching for as the focus under way later into the evening. Lets swing back to the white house where Hallie Jackson is standing by. On some weird level, this may be good for him. Whats the good part they see . Reporter some of them are explicit with it, too, lester. They believe it could benefit the president. Why . Because this is a president who his base of support seems to be not as large for president s in the past. His Approval Rating is fairly low. He also has a very enthusiastic, very loyal base of supporters. There is some thinking in the minds of the president s strategists, aides and advisers that this is going to motivate the supporters and help him in the 2020 year. There are people that you talk about as geoff is talking about Democratic Unity for the most part. I hear a lot about republican unity and people pointing to the fact that there are no cracks in the republican wall of support for President Trump and the house. He has vocal defenders like doug collins in the Judiciary Committee who weve watched a lot on the special reports. President trump liked what hes seen on capitol hill from his defenders. You have no senators so far who have come out and said they would vote to convict the president. No one is willing to cross that line. Mitch mcconnell explicitly said hes not an impartial juror in this case and talked about his communications with the white house as the impeachment process is expected after tonight to move over to the senate side. So far, there is no reason for the president to believe that the republican support is crumbling for him right now. That is a little bit different than what youve seen in the past with other president s who have been impeached. Impeachment inquiry of former p president bill clinton. Thats what they will point to. Grain of salt, the usual caveat. Some of that, of course, is probably a little bit of spin. No aide want to say this could be politically damaging for the president. The way the president sees it, an opportunity to have an opponent to rail against the do nothing democrats as he is unfairly impeached him based on very little evidence. This is the thinking of the president and the argument that they are making. That said, you go from the political to the personal, one official tells our team about a specific line in that letter in which President Trump references how difficult this has been for his family, an indication how the president sees this as a personal attack on him. Less so as a judgment action as president. He feels he did nothing wrong. The facts of the matter are not in dispute. You have Rudy Giuliani, the president s personal attorney. You have the president s personal attorney acknowledging, even boasting about what he had done as far as travel to ukraine, work on these investigations that could help the president politically in 2020, into the bidens, into the 2016 election. The facts largely are out there for people to see. It is a question how you come at the judgment politically. Thats what youre seeing unfold on capitol hill. Bottom line, lester, President Trump will go to that rally tonight. He is probably going to be quoting lines from the letter that he sent to House Speaker nancy pelosi. I understand and our team understands based on our reporting and sources, wrote that with the help of steven miller, one of his close confidants. It was vetted after the letter was written and in the days before it was september. This is something that, that letter, very personal from the president and likely something he will bring up tonight in front of a supportive crowd. Thank you, hallie. Is this for democrats, is this a case of use it or lose it . Meaning they couldnt get the numbers to impeach based on obstruction of justice in the mueller, then the issue with the whistleblower and what appeared to be a clearcut case. Was this a sense that, if we dont impeach on this, well never get the opportunity again . Im not so sure, lester. I think there was a reluctance as Geoff Bennett was describing. Nancy pelosi wouldnt use the iword and she was telling people dont use it. She was pushing back against those in her caucus who wanted this to happen. The Mueller Report ended we saw it wasnt as persuasive. Y i dont think it would have happened without the whistleblower. We would have fought it out state by state to get the no, maam fee nor the democrats and made the decisions and the general election. I think it all had to do with ukraine. It was a clearcut case in their mind. Whistleblower matching the socalled transcript, which isnt the transcript but the notes from that call. The president misstates that. Theres plenty of Fact Checking available that weve written and others have written online about this letter that hallie is describing which youll hear again in this rally and other rallies to come. Hes misstating what happened in that call. According to all of the testimony, credible testimony from state department, nonpartisan witnesses subpoenaed to appear. His proclamations tend to stick . How this is fought out in 2020. How it proceeds in the debate today and the trial to come. But i dont think the democrats, this caucus, led by nancy pelosi, would have gone this route with adam schiff if not for the ukraine, giuliani and whistleblower revelations. Lets get more insight on that. Geoff bennett is standing by with a Democratic House of the Judiciary Committee. Im standing by with a representative of miami and the florida keys. Congressman good to see you. Thanks for your time. Good morning. How are you feeling about to take this historic vote. Whats the mood among you and your colleagues . I think were feeling a huge sense of responsibility when we took that oath, we took an oath to protect the constitution, to protect our democracy. I think were feeling that. Also understanding that there are many people that dont approve of this vote. Its a heavy day. Its definitely a heavy day. Most of my colleagues and i, when we were elected in 2018, we came to reduce health care costs, reduce gun violence. Weve been working on, but the president left us with no other choice. It impeachment something resonating among the people you represent . Weve been getting a lot of calls that they want me to vote for impeachment. Actually, i heard from a republican constituent this morning who lives in the florida keys asking me to take that vote. Asking the senators to consider taking that vote in the senate. Does the fact that impeachment will likely be a part of an exercise, does that undercut the legitimacy that the democrats have been embarking on. I think history will tell who was on the right side. Many of my colleagues and i representing districts who have a large portion of republicans, independents, democrats, were looking at our oath of office and our responsibility as Congress Members to make sure that we protect our democratic institutions, our elections from foreign interference. Thats why were here today. How has Speaker Pelosi messaged this to you over the last few months . We saw publicly. Privately, how has she encouraged you and your colleagues to move forward . She has not encouraged anyone personally to move forward. She says she need to vote our conscience. She made sure that the chairman, adam schiff, our chair in the Judiciary Committee, jerry nadler, present the facts to the caucus. But i have not seen or heard directly from her or seen any colleagues getting that call saying you should take a vote on impeachment or not. All of us have to make that decision ourselves. Thank you so much. Lester, you heard the congresswoman say that the speaker has not thats something she said before. This is a vote on which members have to vote their conscience. Certainly, the House Speaker and house leadership know and theyve known for weeks now that they have the votes they need to prevail. They can afford to lose 17 democrats and still move forward. Theres nothing to suggest that there will be a number a number that large of democrats peeling away. Geoff, mank thank you. High crimes, misdemeanors, andrew weissman, a lot of us looking through the lens of crime as we see criminal statutes today. Is that the lens we should be looking through . No. It is not required that the president have committed a federal crime or a state crime. It is also possible for him even if he committed a federal state crime to not be impeached. In other words, high crimes and misdemeanors does not correlate exactly with being a federal or state crime. That being said, if there is a serious federal kime that the president has committed, that clearly would be relevant to members of the house and the members of the senate and the electric court. Their president has committed a crime. I would suspect what youre going to hear today from the democrat is a lot of discussion about the facts. Because facts should matter. In a court of law, you have a chance who is presiding and impose that. Who can make sure that fax govern the discussion. Here in a political process thats less likely to occur. A lot of focus on abuse of power. But the second one, obstruct being congress, that one seems to have long lasting impacts beyond this. The president is very openly told his people not to cooperate. Whats the next step beyond that if that goes unchecked . I think that is a complicated count or tab. Part of what the president can legitimately vote on, there are actual i mmunityinies that i wo like to litigate in the court. I think it would be hard for the democrats to say that that is obstructing the case or abusing his powers. The problem is that the president did not act with that scalpel. He acted with a huge sled sledgehammer and said i dont care about i am munts, im just not doing it. Im not sending witnesses or documents at all because i dont think its a legitimate process. You can understand the congress saying we have a constitutional right here thats in the constitution that we have the power of impeachment, were entitled to witnesses and entitled to documents. As an institutional matter, the members of the house really should be upset. Let me open that up to chuck todd and andreas well. Do you think the democrats acted too early. There are things in the courts they should have and could have chuck wade that issue as well. This could undercut their argument of congress. That said, when you hook at all of the state department documents that were not provided, as andrew said, broadbrush, nothing was provided. Thats where they have legitimate oversight of a third branch of government. I think the obstruction charge is much stronger than the abuse of power charge. The obstruction of congress, frankly, they could have expand approximated that. The obstruction charge its just not on this investigation. Its on the little things, like just seeing cabinet secretaries and acting cabinet secretaries just show up for budgetary meetings, for hearings. The obstruction charge for me, for instance, a congressman from maine, the one district that went for trump. Hes a democrat. Hes splitting his votes. Voting yes on abuse power and no on obstruction. I remember talking about this with another colleague yesterday. If youre going to split, i would assume the other way. The obstruction of congress the fact that theyre in court makes a very strong charge. On paper, it should be the most bipartisan of the two articles. Its just a fact that this Administration Made a decision and thought they could get away with it. Were not going to participate in any congressional oversight on any issue. Ask Homeland Security what its like to get the acting Homeland Security secretary to show up. The obstruction stuff is at a level that im sorry that the public doesnt understand how how unnormal that is and what it is, i think, led us to the situation. Does the president s sixpage letter, is that an exclamation mark. Him thumbing his nose at the entire process. I think this is the real challenge with sort of dealing with this president. I dont think he really even appreciates the constitution. All right . I dont know if he has this reverence for it that most elected officials in washington eventually do have a reverence for it. He doesnt seem to sort of understand the founding. I mean, i think one of the fairest criticisms of him by historians is he doesnt seem to understand the story of america, if you will. The story of america begins in those pages in the constitution. I dont think he really appreciates it. I dont think he reveres it. I think hes dismissive. Rules. No different than a zoning hearing in his mind. Lets take you back into the chambers. House will be in order. For what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Madam speaker, i rise to a question of the privilege of the house sent to the desk of privilege resolution. The clerk will report the resolution. Chairman schiff and nadler willfully and intentionally vie lighted the rules of the house of representatives by using and exceeding their powers of chairmen of committees. Without consultation of the ranking minority member in violation of rule 9 of the rules of the department of select committee on intelligence, chairman schiff in coordination with the committees on oversight and reform announced a wide ranging investigation into the trump giuliani ukraine scheme. In an unprecedented action, chairman schiff unilaterally released a redacted version of the august 2019 whistleblower complaint. Whereas, september 26, 2019, in his Opening Statement at a public hearing, chairman schiff engaged in a false retelling of the july 25, 2019, telephone conversation between President Trump and president za lynn ski. Transmitted from the ranking minority member to chairman schiff requesting, pursuant to House Resolution the concurrence of the chair to issue certain subpoenas. On november 20, 2019, after excusing the witnesses at an open hearing and without prior notice to the republicans on the committee, chairman schiff announced that the committee had a business matter to take up and convened a business meeting to consider the ranking minority members. November 20th request concerning certain subpoenas. November 20, 2019 chairman schiff violated rule 11 of the rules of the house of representatives which states the chair of a Committee Shall subject matter of a Committee Meeting which may not commence earlier than the third calendar day of which members have notice of. The clerk shall suspend. House will comeorder. 20, schiff proposed action member, the ran to call minority to by minority sce hearings. Themember, transmitted docume offering public. And comported s nadler the half debate tunding washington and congress. Weve heard the republicans make this argument several times. They deserve a minority hearing. What are the rules on that, do we know . Chairman nadler has said the precedents does not call for it. The republicans take issue with that. They say in fairness, because republicans only had remember, they only had that one constitutional scholar. They heard about the Legal Framework and legal justification. The republicans wanted more than that. Because democrats control congress, they control the committees, they control all of the technical tools that have allowed them to get through this impeachment process, some would say, very quickly, within 80 or so days, and so this is something that even though republicans have say they wanted, certainly democrats have not empowered them to do that. Andrea, this idea of unfairness. Does it swing back the other way as this likely heads it the senate . Absolutely. Mitch mcconnell will be completely in charge. The chief judge prepresides. Its unclear how much whether witnesses will be called or not called. Mitch mcconnell is really in charge. He doesnt have a great margin of error. If two senators go over, they could demand that other witnesses be called and actually vote that way. Certainly, Susan Collins today signaled independence and shes a swing vote. Questions on the motion to table. All in favor say aye. No. The opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Gentleman from california. Madam speaker, i request a recorded vote. Those favoring a recorded vote will rise. Sufficient number having risen, the recorded vote is ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This will be a 15minute vote. All right. This is the motion to kill the vote essentially on impeachment. You heard it appeared to be defeated in the ayes had it. Theyre going to do a roll call vote. This will go on another 15 minutes. Susan collins announced shes going to run for reelection. That was in dispute. Shes a key player. Shes struggled with tough votes before, especially in the kavanaugh confirmation. She could be one of the few, Lisa Murkowski who force Mitch Mcconnells hand and permit Chuck Schumer to get the witnesses, at least to call for the witnesses. This is actually i got that wrong. This is the vote to this is to kill the mccarthy resolution. Geoff, get me out of trouble here. It doesnt take far for me to get there. For all of us, lester. This is arcane stuff. This is a motion to table the privilege question that Kevin Mccarthy, Congress Kevin Mccarthy offered up. You saw steny hoyer there. He offered this motion to table. It looks like they have less than 14 minutes left. Looks like democrats will have the vote to kill this motion and keep things moving before we get to the issue of impeachment, we have to approve the rules. Thats still to come . Right. They have to approve the rule and then that sets in motion, the six hours of debate eachly divided between democrats and republicans. At that point, two folks easily recognizable. Jerry nadler and the then the Top Republican on that committee doug collins. The two of them will preside over that floor debate. Youll see speeches from adam schiff, he will tick through the evidence, the president s chief defenders, jim jordan and others who will speak for the length of that six hours. Once thats cut off, they get after it and vote on the articles of impeachment. Andrea, nancy pelosi, well be seeing her a couple of times later today. Talk about the weight of history on ones shoulders. Shell open the general debate and give a closing speech as will her counterparts, the minority leader, republican leader, Kevin Mccarthy from california. Nancy pelosi has been completely maligned and dismissed and attacked in this extraordinary letter, the sixpage letter that the president had a great hand in writing, was aided with steve miller, one of his writers it sounded very much like the steve bannon, american carnage rhetoric from the inaugural address. It was that aspect of Donald Trumps political personality coming out. He was angry, the mood in the white house angry. Youre going to hear some of that among the partisans in this debate. Nancy pelosi has been dignified and really straightforward. You saw that one flash of anger at a reporter who asked if she was doing this because she hates donald trump. That was about two weeks ago. She turned back on her heels, went back to the microphone and said i am a catholic, i was raised a catholic, we dont hathat hate anyone. I was raised not to hate anyone. And stomped out. She said she did not want to go to impeachment. Did so reluctantly and finally went along with it because of what happened with ukraine. As you see with the articles of impeachment, they do not except in passing refer back to all of the Mueller Investigation when they talked about the pattern of abuse, that in the first article what refers implicitly and subtly but not legally to everything that preceded it. That informs what theyre doing but not what led to impeachment. She understands the politics. They could lose control of the house. Depending on how they handle this and whether they do it in as dignified a way that they can. Let me go to chuck todd as we watch this procedural vote take place. Oh, by the way, theres a 2020 race for president. Is the pause button being pushed on that . Well, i guess it has been for us. I say this this is a classic case of the tree falls in a forest and nobody is there to report on it. Did it make a sound . I think had the fact that the washington and the National Political press corps has been largely focused on this, has been on pause. Its been anything but because. Theres been lots of antagonism if you will. In some ways, its been on another planet. I mean there have been speeches. Elizabeth warren had a major speech last week, leveled attacks almost by name on Pete Buttigieg and joe biden. It would have been on nightly news. It was sort of an active campaign. Its not as if its been on pause, its just we perhaps havent it hasnt been at the center let me tell you Something Else about the politics. Theres two ways to look at the politics of this for the president. Hallie has been reporting that they basically made lemonade out this. Created a fundraising juggernaut. All of that is true. If you look at since the inquiry started, we began with the country split, slightly, maybe in favor saying he did something on impeachment. Thats been certainly a larger majority believing he did something wrong. Those numbers havent changed. You look at it and say but look at all the money, time and effort and his allies had to fight to a political draw. Two ways to look at it, yes, theyre here and probably saved the president from getting ousted from office. What have they done . Theyve survived this battle. But in the longterm rkt how is any of this helping the president s case for reelection. How has it helped a swing voters. When we start to assess the articles of impeachment. You look at, wow, his numbers havent gone down. The fact that theyre still where theyre at is because the republicans had to 10 to 20 million to keep the atmosphere up there. Democrats didnt engage on this issue. Some will say maybe she thuf. They were hoping to have people say no, no, no this is above politics. But here we are. All i would caution is those that look at this, trump is winning. Trump is not winning. Trump had to do all of this work to fight to a draw and hes still underwater politically. Impeachment has not been good for him for his reelection. Were going to go back to Geoff Bennett. He is standing by with a member of congress. Congressman Eric Swalwell of california. Let me ask you this question. I hear this fatalistic view from democrats. Because President Trump will likely be acquitted by the senate, what was the point of all of this politically . How do you respond to this . Weve learned standing up to the president stops his corruption. Only once dr. Fiona hill and Lieutenant Colonel vindman went to the lawyers did it put into motion this whistleblower complaint. We found out what happened and ukraine got the aid. The president got caught and got the aid. If they had not stood up to him, the ukraine would probably still not have the aid and russia would advance on ukraine. The message i take from that, when you stand up to the president and show courage, you can extinguish his corruption. A process question. You heard republicans and they still say they deserve their day to be in the drivers seat to call their own witnesses and direct their own line of questioning. Why shouldnt they have that . It seems in the interest of fairness, seems like a reasonable thing to do. Theyve had equal time during deppations and hearings. What they depositions and hearings. What they should do is send us the 71 documents hes refusing to provide and send the witnesses that hes blocked from testifying. In a poll, they said the president should provide the witnesses hes blocking. If you dont provide the witnesses, most people assume you have something to hide. Chairman schiff has said the investigation will continue even as impeachment on the house side ends for now. What happens if an evidentiary bombshell falls into your lap in february . By then impeachment on the house is done, the trial wraps up. What happens then . Well continue to legislate. By the way, were passing a trade deal tomorrow, pull back the salt tax break that was taken away. But were also going to continue to investigate and litigate in the courts. Were going to hold this president accountable. When you check him, the right thing can happen. Were going to continue to check him. Any concern that impeachment might have a blowback effect and the democratic majority such that it exists right now wont exist into the next cycle . No. Our concern is that we do nothing we do lose everything. Congressman Eric Swalwell. Thank you. Geoff, thanks. Were going to go to the white house now. Hallie jackson is standing by. Hallie. We know that President Trump is likely to be engaged in the proceedings as they pick up and develop, geoff. This is a rather arcane process, youre right. Not one we often see airing live on television. But it is fitting on a day like this. The president and his team are engaged. Inside the white house, the tvs are tuned to the cable. Raises the point in your conversation about how the president politically is going to be able to fight this in 2020 essentially and how this will end up litigated on the campaign trail, youre seeing glimpses of that. This isnt part of the strategy from the ive been hearing it from the day the impeachment inquiry began from my sources at the white house, and that is to try to not necessarily divert the focus away from impeachment but try to everything that President Trump is talking about wanting to do. Ledge lgislative legislatively, that is not obviously impeachment. A that includes things like the u. S. mexico canada trade agreement. Set to be ratified by the house of representatives and the china trade deal that youre hearing about with the announcement that theres been an agreement reached on phase 1. These are key priorities of the president. Why does this matter . It let them go to a rally like the one tonight and talk about concrete things that he is doing. He twins that with railing against the washington elite as he so often did much this is a page out of the 2016 playbook. Its a different book these days as we head into 2020 given that he has been in office for three years about so far. Given that he will be an impeached president. By the way, the first one ever in history seeking reelection. Yet, it is an echo to what we saw from him as he was coming up as a relative political neophyte as far as the coming up in 2016 railing against the washington establishment and talking about the promises he wanted to make to the american people. This does present political challenges for him. Make no bones about it. That is going to be something that his team will have to grapple with. Our reporting on the campaign side indicates that aides are glee full almost about the prospect to say, look, republicans are standing with President Trump. All of these lawmakers that youre seeing, the ones that geoff mentioned, youll be hearing from today. These are staunch allies of the president. I see them here often at the white house coming for meetings with President Trump. Thats something that will be highlighted as well as the ability the president s supporters to stay behind him als. In a moment like this. And this is something ive talked to sources in and around the Biden Campaign about. They say its simply not accurate. He did ask and there is an acknowledgment that he wanted ukraine to investigate. That is not a set of facts in dispute. Thats something thats acknowledged in the transcript in that critical july call now. It puts it in the political sphere, in the sphere of discussion here. I want to make one thing very clear here. Early on in this impeachment proceeding, the wh it looked like it was going to be happening, maybe the president actually wants to be impeached. Perhaps he would enjoy this and it would help him politically. Thats simply not true. He does not want this. Right . When we talk about is he getting what he wants . He will forever have an asterisk next to his name, the same one that Andrew Johnson and bill clinton have next to their names. Only the second one in modern u. S. History to do so. That is not something that this president desires. Thats made extremely career to me. Its money that president was theyre making lemonade out of it. They kind of have to. Theres not a great option at this point. The lemons are on the table here. Well see that in six hours or so. For the president , its a difficult moment. Hes by all accounts this moment, angry, not happy. But ready to go to have this political battle. Hallie, thanks. Chuck todd, is there a possibility that the supporters of the president seem to get weary of all of this . Is it possible . I think they are. Theres proof of that. We spent time with voters. One of my Favorite Places to check in is in grand rapids, michigan. One of the states he pulled an upset in, in 2016. The home of the gerald ford republicans. This is justin a mosh, the one republican lets not rewrite history. Today there will be no republicans supporting impeachment. Thats because there was a republican in support of impeachment and he had to leave his party to feel he could express his views. Thats the one from grand rapid. One was a repulsed republican. I think the president s biggest problem in reelection is going to be exhaustion. Is going to be where you have this the voter he desperately needs is going to be the suburban former republican, a romney voter perhaps that maybe they held some of them held their nose and voted for him in 16. They dont support impeachment. Doesnt mean they want another four years. I think its something tharepub comprehended how, at least the ones on capitol hill, at how the public is perceiving this. Dont assume that someone against impeachment is for the republicans. There is plenty of people around here. Scott walker was being recalled, he survived his recall. There was a group of voters who voted for obama who said were not going through the recall process. I do think that exhaustion. Ult may will. Ultimately this whole process made his chances for reelection harder. 7 00 on the west coast. 10 00 a. M. Here in the east. Were watching the beginnif
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.