Says i can do whatever i want. And this week the president has admitted to asking the president of ukraine to take actions which would benefit him politically. The action of the the actions of the Trump Presidency revealed dishonorable fact of the president s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our National Security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today im announcing the house of representatives moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. The house of representatives is now committed to an up or down decision whether to pass articles of impeachment on donald trump. The house will vote to impeach him sooner or later or decide to drop all charges. Speaker pelosis decision to form a formal impeachment proceeding marks a decision it was triggered by last weeks revelation that the president had attempted to trade the power of his office to get dirt from the president of ukraine from a political opponent, former Vice President joe biden. That revelation changed everything for pelosi and seems to have led the way for many democrats. As of right now 188 House Democrats back impeachment. Thats more than three quarters of the democratic caucus. Im joined now by congressman denny heck of washington state, u. S. Congressman david sill leany of rhode island, heidi with nbc news correspondent, and john meacham of course a president ial historian and coauthor of impeachment, an american history. Let me start with you congressman heck, i remember from writing about niktsen all those years he said i knew i was in trouble when i saw who was running the show up there, in that case my old boss. In this case pelosi seems shes out in front. Yes, he knows hes in trouble because of the speakers change of position. But he also ought to know hes in deep trouble because the senate took action today to unanimously require and demand that the odni cough up the whistleblower complaint. That ought to tell him were inching up in impeachment territory on his refusal to follow the law. It says oats not any longer just a question of democrats versus republicans or even liberals and conservatives. This is matter of upholding the law and following our constitutional possibility to provide oversight on an unchecked administration. If you could tell your people back home in rhode island what to expect in the next couple of months. What would it be regarding the impeachment proceedings . I think therell be quick action by the Intelligence Committee. On thursday theyll hear from the acting dni. They expect that the dni will produce the whistleblower report. If he doesnt, theyll have to take additional action. I think in very short order well get to the bottom of this. But we should recognize the president of the United States has admitted this. He admitted he reached out to a foreign leader and asked him to gin up a fake story against a capped dtd f candidate for president. It seems to me for three years the people trying to find out when the president and russia, trying to connect the dots. The meeting at Donald Trumps hotel in june of 2016, they tried to connect with the president s son and here putin. Ites a meeting between two president s. Do you be a sense this story requires a lot of reporting at this point or even a lot of investigation at this point . I think the congressman is right that thursday will be another Inflection Point because either we will see that whistleblower complaint or we will see how this congress is going to use new tools to come down on this administration or whether the obstruction itself becomes an article of impeachment. The members that i talked to said that this is a pretty clearcut case and that Speaker Pelosi really did draw a distinction in that meeting, chris, between the russia situation where you had the president accepting dirt on a political opponent and this situation where he was actually asking a Foreign Government to manufacture dirt on a political opponent. Because as weve reported on this network and other networks the ukrainians have already disputed these charges. These are bogus charges. The case had been dormant for at least a year, and so in this case hes admitting to it. And asking this government to essentially manufacture something that doesnt exist and withholding u. S. Taxpayer dollars, which are meant to guess what . Fight corruption. So leveraging taxpayer dollars then to benefit himself politically. And so both in her mind and in the mind of these nationally security minded democrats who frankly broke the dam last night, this did cross a new threshold. John meacham, history here being made. We came to the hill tonight because of it. You can feel it around here. Your thoughts. You know, i was think about president fords inaugural address there in the east room in august 74, not to run too far ahead here when he said were a government of laws not of men. The constitution work, the system works. And i think for so many people who have lost faith in the system of checks and balances, to our own day, this is a day to say the system is showing signs of life. And its far, far, far from over. But ultimately the checks and balances that have served us for 243 years have a chance now again of perhaps saving us from our worst instincts. As congressman heck just mentioned tonight the u. S. Senate unanimously passed a democratic resolution calling for the whistleblower complaint to be turned over to congress. Worst yet for trump hes actually admit today the conduct that could bring his impeachment. Now for the first time in trumps presidency hes on the defensive offering a concession that few president s will willingly make. Trumps announced hes authorized the release of the fully declassified and unredacted transcript of his phone conversation with president zelinsky of ukraine and adam schiff said the whistleblower who sent these events in motion now wants to break his or her silence. That person could testify as early as this week. Ditional additionally the director of National Intelligence and Inspector General are set to testify on thursday. Here we are and i guess the question is if you have to tell your constituents which you have to do as a representative, what do you say if the president goes down on this conduct, mr. Heck . I would remind them about what the entire 2016 controversy was about where frankly he inkurmged, welcomed and benefitted from russian interference, which is wrong. Its just plain wrong. And then as section 2 of the Mueller Report so amply demonstrated he obstructed justice in that pursuit of the investigation. And now hes doubling down. Now he is encouraging foreign infoi inference in our election and obstructing justice in the form of denying the whistleblower complaint. Hes learned nothing. And chris, understand we dont come to this out of anger. We come to this with great sorrow. The fact is if i may, ive got a marijuana banking bill that we think is going to pass after 6 1 2 years of effort the day after tomorrow or tomorrow. I want to be celebrating this week. I dont want to be doing this. He is compelling this. Let me ask you about that because you raised the point, congressman, the day after mueller gave his testimony up here, and he wasnt at his best that day, we all know that. It wasnt that Great Television drama, but the message was pretty clear. Dont collude with russians. The next day he colluded with the ukrainian president. He was like saying screw you. The conduct of the president is endangering the National Security of the United States. He is trying to trade our support for an ally, support approved by congress in order to elicit from the president of ukraine a political benefit for himself. And hes violating the law. He told the dni not to release the whistleblower report even though thats required by statute. So we have in plain view in realtime the president of the United States seeking assistance from a foreign leader and breaking the law and trying to keep it secret. As danny said, we dont do this with delight but you have a right to stand up and defend the constitution and rule of law. Thats the moral question, the historic question, heidi, because i grew up with the captive nations of eastern europe, and countries like ukraine and the idea that a president would stake their freedom from russia based upon whether we get dirt from a president would be unimaginable. Its unimaginable historically. Your thoughts. Well, wouldnt it be ironic, chris, if the russians tried to help get this president into office and a scandal over ukraine helped to bring him down . Were not there yet. But, yes, weve seen many unimaginable moments here. But i think that the congressmen really put their finger on it when they said he has been emboldened every step of the way here because there has not been a single incidence really of the oversight. And with all due respect to members of congress and the house where theyve succeeded in getting a major document or witness other than mueller to come up there and give them information. And even that woupd up being in the eyes of many, kind of a disappointment because he wouldnt go much beyond what was in his report. And even theit was kind of a stilted delivery. So, you know, next week i think by this time next week we will have a very good answer assuming that the dni does come through with this whistleblower complaint. The extent to which the president and now the reporting is eight times pressured the ukrainians to collect dirt, well have a good sense of whether or not that all is true. That was the wall street germ reporting eight times President Trump brought up his demand on joe biden with the demand of ukraine. Now preparing to release the whistleblowers complaint itself and the Inspector General by the end of the week. These guys, for the first time in his presidency it looks like hes reacting rather than acting. I think he feels the heat as he should. Im looking forward tohering from the dni and seeing the whistleblower complaint. And let us remember the independent Inspector General has deemed the complaint from the whistleblower to be urgent and definition of the laws is a flagrupt abuse or violation of the law. Somebodys, man or woman obviously a Civil Servant in the National Security appointed by President Trump. Well, we the whistleblower. Im talking about the the person who triggered this watched the pattern of the president s behavior and something in him said this is urge want and cant be done. And i think the action by the senate today has really helped. This is the first time were seeing our Senate Colleagues join us in this effort to hold this president accountable and demonstrate nobody is above the law, the president is required to follow the law. And that action today i think has done a lot to help enhance this forward. John meacham youre going to get the last word i think in this segment and im glad youre on tonight. Weve had Andrew Johnson impeached in the senate. Weve had bill clinton impeached. That didnt go anywhere in the senate. That was a partisan issue in many ways. Nixon was forced to resign after the House Judiciary Committee acted. Here we are back again somewhere in that vicinity. Your thoughts how this fits in history. Well, all three of those impeachments unfolded at a time there was a deep fracturing of the country and a fundamental almost existential question confronting us. Whether the verdict of the war would actually be implemented. Johnson stood in the way of that. He tried to undo the work of linking in many ways. President nixon was impeached at a time of cold war and cultural up heebl. The clinton impeachment unfolds at a moment of generational shift and a continuation of the shifting nature of the parties after segregation and integration. And now we have this question of are we in fact going to have a coherent answer to globalization and the questions that confront us. Ip2016 we had a populous spazzism and what were going to see right now is whether the people that have supported this president for other reasons will in fact follow the facts to their logical conclusion. This is great test for the relevance and role of fact and truth in our politics in the 21st century. And of course the strengthen of our constitution in this 21st century. Does it still matter what the limits of power are . Thank you congressman denny heck of washington state, david cicilliny of rhode island, and john meacham with history. Coming up, much more on tonights breaking news. Speaker nancy pelosi as i said announced a formal impeachment inquiry, a proceeding heading towards an up or down vote at some point on President Trumps impeachment. As the flood gates open today with three dozen house announcing just today their support for beginning the impeachment process. The very basic idea of getting foreign help to influence the american political process, that is beyond the pail. We need to step up and talk about a president becoming more and more chaotic and reckless and this really crossed a line for us. Plus seven freshman democrats write in a the Washington Post oped column that the president s alleged actions are a threat to our National Security. If the allegations are true they say he should be impeached. Two of those Democrats Join me here, right here on this balcony next. Weve got a lot to get to on this very historic night. Stay with us. O on this very historic night stay with us plants capture co2. What if other kinds of plants captured it too . If these industrial plants had technology that captured carbon like trees we could help lower emissions. Carbon capture is Important Technology and experts agree. Thats why were working on ways to improve it. So plants. Can be a little more. Like plants. The way you triumph over adversity. And live your lives. Thats why we redesigned humira. We wanted to make the experience better for you. Now theres less pain immediately following injection. Weve reduced the size of the needle and removed the citrate buffers. And it has the same effectiveness you know and trust. Humira citratefree is here. A little change can make a big difference. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Ask your doctor about humira citratefree. Heres to you. The actions of the Trump Presidency revealed dishonorable fact of the president s betrayal of his oath of office, betrayal of our National Security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. Therefore, today im announcing the house of representatives moving forward with an official impeachment impeachment inquiry. Im directing our six committees to proceed with their investigations under that umbrella of impeachment inquiry. The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law. Welcome back to hardball. After repeatedly urging caution on impeachment the speaker there has now become the leader of the impeachment drive in the house of representatives. Politico reports that in a closed door meeting pelosi told Committee Leaders to compile their arguments for impeachment and send them to the House Judiciary Committee which will then review and package it all together before deciding whether to send impeachment to the house floor. The speakers decision came amid a ground swell of support. As of right now 187 of 235 House Democrats support impeachment. I think i changed that its not vulnerable. People in swing districts published an oped in the Washington Post in support of an impeachment inquiry. They wrote to uphold and defend our Constitution Congress must determine whether the president was indeed willing to use his power to with hold security funds to win an election. John lewis gave an impassioned speech saying now is the time to act. The future of our democracy is at stake. There comes a time when you have to be moved by the spirit of history to take action to protect the very integrity of our nation. I believe i truly believe the time to begin impeachment proceedings against this president has come. To delay or to do otherwise would betray the foundation of our democracy. Im joined now by two of the authors of that the Washington Post oped column. Thank you both for joining me. What did you make that was a rather soulful sermon almost from john lewis there. Whats the moral issue here if you see a moral issue of this president s behavior . I think the reason why the seven of us came together is that we have historically in our pasts served in the military, served in the cia, taken the oath of office in the past, we took it again as freshman members of congress. And the moral obligation in taking that oath is to protect and defend. And we are worried in what weve seen in the behavior and possible behavior of our president that he has abandoned that oath of office and we need to find out whether or not thats true. This week were going to get apparently the complaint from the whistleblower very concerned about this president s behavior and not just apparently in that telephone conversation with president zelinsky of ukraine. And the question is youre also going to get apparently that conversation, the transcript of that. So youre going to knowitall basically this week. What will that tell you yes or no on articles of impeachment for abuse of power . First of all, its important we do get because by law it has to be turned over to the Intelligence Committee at this point. And i think what were going to see is what the whistleblower was so concerned about. We know the icig thought it was concerning and met the threshold for turning it over to congress. And we its been withheld to this point by the director of National Intelligence. That must be turned over and im glad the president realizes it at this point. And well see the details of it. What we know now the president did with hold support from one of our Security Partners fighting a war to preserve integrity of ukraine and we know the president with hold that, and we also know because he told us that the president talked about corruption with ukraine and the bidens. What do you make of that you first, congresswoman, what do you make of a trade like that . The president trading basically our umbrella support weve been supporting aenticommunist countries. And i served when i was in active dutyiest at the tail end of the cold war so this is a perm conversation for me. We have information this particular president may have exercised corruption, and may have actually in some ways compromised the 2020 elections. And so on all three of those levels we should be concerned, concerned enough we need to get more information and get to the bottom. Corruption, it always comes down to something very simple. Someone has official pow, and they use it for personal gain. That works whether its zimbabwe or anywhere, china or its here. Heres a president who took his official power to kid whether to release those military aid funds to a very scared country, ukraine 250 million in arms and he said you can get it apparently if you give me some political help with defeating biden. You know i think some of us have been marveling because were we still in uniform this is something we would be investigated about, possibly serve some time for to really work with a foreign power to undermine our election system especially when youre the president of the United States of america, i think thats why we had to stand up. Hold on there. President trump was asked this morning about the growing calls for impeachment shortly before his address to the United Nations general assembly. Lets listen. I think its ridiculous. Its a witch hunt. Im leading in the polls. They have no idea how they stop me. The only way they can try is through impeachment. Later during a meeting with the iraqi president President Trump even suggested a formal impeachment inquiry could benefit him politically. Look, its just a continuation of a witch hunt. Its the worst witch hunt in history, and theyre going to lose the election and they figure this is good thing to do. This never happened. If she does that, they all say thats a positive for me for the election. You could also say who needs it, its bad for the country. I think its just my view watching it a closer view telling the people and your constituents this whole thing has got a little diffuse, Something Like the o. J. Trial, too many factors involved and people kpt get a clear bearing on the whole thing. Now its got this clear focus. I know your district a little well because i lived in the burbs there in philly, do you think they get this one . Do you think they get what were talking about here . I think theres a couple of things here. One is that this is not political. This should not be political. This is very painful. And the decision we came to as a group was one of the most difficult certainly in my career. So we dont take this with any glee or joy. My community, though, does deserve the truth and my community i think this is one of those seminal moments where we do have something crystal clear. This is something the president has done while hes in office purportedly. It has to do with the 2020 elections, not the 2016 elections. This is an opportunity for us to dig down and get to the truth. Do you think your people at home, if it comes down to a vote, will they understand the gravity of this . Well, thats our job. And thats why we ran for congress and thats why were stepping up now to continue our service. We have to explain to the American People what we see, why we see such a threat to National Security, how we have connected the dots on this behavior and why we think its important. And so hopefully i can convey that to my community. This has been a somewhat chaotic and reckless presidency. Theres a lot of noise coming out of this presidency, so we are hoping to cut through that noise to just stand for basic american values. You were both in the service, right . Yes. When you were in the service how important was it to you you were defending the constitution of our government . I not only was in the service but im Third Generation military and have cousins who are active duty right now in harms way. This is essentially not just for the country but also for my family. Its really important you take that oath of office very gravely and seriously. When you were in the military itself defending this not just in the military. We just took another oath in january. Weve taken numerous oaths. I took an oath when i was a federal prosecutor. I time and again have sworn to protect this country. And so we have seen this National Security threat, and we felt, you know, that we had to stand up. Now, do we want to continue working on the things that are really important in our districts . Yes. Im not going to stop working on the gateway tunnel or taxes or health care. But this was important enough wewe had to take it. I thank you seriously and i think everyone up here does. Thank you. Anyway, coming up now breaking news tonight. Of course politico is reporting the white house will release the whistleblower complaint itself. And the Inspector General report this week. Theres a lot more to come. Were going to see a lot of information the next couple of days. 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Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. On a scale of one to five . Wait. One to five . When it comes to feelings, its more like five million. Theres everything from happy to extremely happy. Theres also angry. Im really angry, clive actually, really angry. Thank you. And seat 36b angry. Youre clive owen. And youre barefoot. Yeah. Theres also apprehension. Regret. Relief. Oh and theres empathy. Ah, i got this in zurich actually, whats the opposite of empathy . But what if your business could understand what your customers are feeling. And then do something about it. You can turn disappointment into gratitude. Clive, you got to try this. I cant im working. Turn problems into opportunities. Thanks drone. Change the future of your business. Change the whole experience. Alright who wants to go again . I do i do i have a really good feeling about this. Welcome back to hardball. Tonight President Trump confirmed he personally ordered his administration to freeze u. S. Military aid to ukraine. Multiple reports said that aid was frozen just a few days before he reportedly pressured the president of ukraine to dig up dirt on joe biden. The New York Times reports that other government officials were left in the dark as well and that Staff Members at the state and defense departments were puzzled and alarmed by this freezing of the funds of the military aid to ukraine just days before the president basically talk today the president of ukraine about what he needed to do to get the money. Today trump attempted to explain why he ordered that aid to ukraine frozen. Lets watch. As far as withholding funds, those funds were paid. They were fully paid, but my complaint has always been and i with hold again and ill continue to with hold until such time as europe and other nations contribute to ukraine because theyre not doing it. Its the United States. However, the Washington Post reports that u. S. Allies are providing aid to ukraine, lots of it. Since russia intervened in ukraine the European Union has provided 16. 5 billion in grants and loans to ukraine. Big news from politico tonight. The white house is now preparing to release the whistleblowers complaint. And the Inspector Generals report by the end of the week. Im joined by shane harris, National Security correspondent for the Washington Post, and frank figliuzzi. The president of the United States is apparently going to release everything. Hes now releasing the conversation he had with the president of ukraine, hes releasing the complaint that lays out this guy or woman he thinks is really awful and urmg want that we know about. The pressure is building on him. Its incredible how this is has happened in just a weeks time. It was just a week ago we found out what this complaint was about. Obviously the impeachment pressure is building on him. Were hearing he may release this information to congress by tomorrow if not the end of the week. Of course shes announced impeachment proceedings have begun. So it seems like the white house wants to get this to congress, maybe kind of rip the bandaid off here clearly believing that the information itself is not sufficient to inflict any major damage on the president. They think its actually going to turn out to be nothing. How do you know theyre going to find out were hearing the president has been pleased to see the way this is playing out in the press and this is going to be something that blows up in the medias face, that its an exaggeration, a Russian Media hoax all over again. Some of his aids its important to say do not see it that way and think even the substance of the transcript of that call with the ukrainian president is not going to look good. It goes back to the moral issue, political issue and really constitutional here. Does the president of the United States have it within his power to basically condition u. S. Military aid defense money to protect a country have that country kicking over dirty material on a political opponent of the president . In other words trading Political Office and power and office really for political gain . Chris, were already seeing the defense starting to play out. And ive seen this before with corrupt Public Officials throughout my fbi career. I call it the i did it so what defense. I was the mayor, i was the county commissioner, i was the governor, i am the president and you dont understand my authority and how i uperate, but heres the problem with that. He can release all of the things he wants to release, but the law says the moment you a public official solicit a thing of value for personal benefit ipreturn for an official act like releasing a quarter billion dollars in aid, you have violated the law. And you can do it directly with a stated quid pro quo or you could do it indirectly. The problem here is that if we get all bogged down in the law we miss whats staring us in the face which is that this president decided to solicit the aid of a Foreign Government to intervene against his adverysary for a reelection. If the American People think thats acceptable, then weve back stepped a long way in this country. And quite frankly our president has lost any sense of shame if he ever had one. The concept of soliciting a foreign power to aid your reelection is a disgrace to the office. And hes going to flaupt it by saying its okay that i did it. Theres more breaking news tonight, guys. Nbc news reporting that Speaker Pelosi told members of the caucus meeting this afternoon about calls she had with the president this morning. The president told pelosi according to her he wanted to figure this out. He wanted to figure this out. Pelosi said tell your people to follow the law, three sources tell nbc news. You know, what i think is interesting is that the president thought that ron did nothing wrong. Hes talking about pardoning him because all he did was sell the former president S Senate Seat for a political game he was playing. Heres the president tonight downplaying his unfreezing military aid to ukraine to get what he wanted. It seems to be pretty parallel. And remember this happened a day after mueller testified and said im exonerated, no culugds and then he gets on the phone and officially is inviting foreign interference in the election. Its not clear the president understands why this is a problem, and that seems to be his posture here that i with hold aid for all kinds of reasons weve withheld aid and it seems hes not making that connection and i think some of his aids worry about this that what were doing here is potentially a corruption of the office and abuse of authority as president. Just because you can with hold aid in some circumstances doesnt mean you can do it when youre trying to investigate your political rival. One thing that frustrates me about this congress its been getting into the weeds. And you ought to be able to see like pornography, if you can see it, you can see it. If you dont see it as corruption, this misuse of power by a president , if you dont have more hearings on it, make more document demands but all it time im hoping were hearing theyre going to move quickly on this, act quickly based on the information this week and but my worry is theyll hire a bunch of lawyers again, hire a bunch of staff, do a lot more whatever, whatever and put it off. And by the time this thing cools down, nothing happens, not even a vote up or down moch your thoughts. And while that time runs lets understand the National Security risk here. The president has conceded that he reaches out to foreign leaders for help for personal benefit. This goes right back to the russia allegation. We can now easily see how he could have compromised himself with russia. We dont know what transpired there, but hes very willing to do this for personal benefit. How much longer will we allow this to go on where he can compromise himself and someone else holds the key to his compromise . Dont forget its not just ukraine that was a party to that conversation . You know who else is listening to that conversation . Russia. Russia is intercepting the ukrainian president s conversations. They know exactly what transpired. Theres another adversary who now comes in and says i own this president. And you wonder if its the same one which is Vladimir Putin and whether thats the same thing were watching here, just another chapter in this story. Helping out russia by screwing ukraine. Up next, stand by your man no matter the cost. Republicans remaining mostly silent yet again on the latest abuse of power. I love this guy pat toomey, he couldnt say over the weekend what was going on. He said im not paying attention to it. Whats that about . And why arent more republicans in congress willing to put their allegiance to country ahead of their allegiance to trump . Youre watching hardball. Their allegiance to trump . Youre watching hardball. Managing lipids like very high triglycerides, can be tough. You diet. Exercise. But if youre also taking fish oil supplements, you should know, they are not fdaapproved, they may have saturated fat and may even raise bad cholesterol. To treat very high triglycerides, discover the science of prescription vascepa. Proven in multiple clinical trials, vascepa, along with diet, is the only prescription epa treatment, approved by the fda to lower very high triglycerides by 33 , without raising bad cholesterol. Look. Its clear. Theres only one prescription epa vascepa. Vascepa is not right for everyone. Do not take vascepa if you are allergic to icosapent ethyl or any inactive ingredient in vascepa. Tell your doctor if you are allergic to fish or shellfish, have liver problems or other medical conditions and about any medications you take, especially those that may affect blood clotting. 2. 3 of patients reported joint pain. Ask your doctor about vascepa. Prescription power. Proven to work. Welcome back to hardball. As news of the impeachment inquiry broke President Trump fired off a number of angry tweets today accusing democrats of engaging in another witch hunt and claiming more president ial harassment. With the tide turning against him, however, with impeachment the open question now is whether members of the Republican Party will do anything. And republicans seem to be burying their heads in it. Kevin mccarthy claimed the speaker of the house had no authority to call for an impeachment inquiry. This election is over. I realize 2016 did not turn out the way Speaker Pelosi wanted it to happen. But she cannot change the laws the of this congress. She cannot unilaterally decide for an impeachment inquiry. What she said today made no difference in whats been going on. His Senate ColleagueMajority Leader Mitch Mcconnell called the impeachment inquiry a rush to judgment. And earlier he declined to say if he thought it was okay to solicit dirt on an opponent from a foreign leader. Is it appropriate, though, for any candidate to reach out to a foreign leader asking for help digging up dirt on a political rival . Well, were going to find out what happened in the senate through a process preestablished by the Intelligence Committee behind closed doors initially with the acting director of dni. Well, devoid of a clear message from their leaders Congressional Republicans have had to come up with a range of explanations or deflections for the president s actions. Lets watch. Im not prepared to go as far or anywhere near where some of the people around here are going in terms of the things theyre saying. I think there are people in the intelligence commit community and other parts of our government who just have it out for the president. I dont know the context, i dont know what was said. I dont know what was said. Well, todays Republican Party is singing a much different tune than they did say 20 years ago the last time a president was impeached. And thats next. Youre watching hardball. D. D anthats next. Youre watching hardball. Pla paneras new warm grain bowls are full of good. Pla full of flavor, color, full of woo full of good. So you can be too. Try our new warm grain bowls today. Panera. Food as it should be. Liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, hmm. Exactly. So you only pay for what you need. Nice. But, uh. Whats up with your. Partner . Not again. Limu thats your reflection. Only pay for what you need. 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Congressman Lindsey Graham back in 1999 during president bill clintons impeachment hearing. Arguing in that case impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office, not exactly a legal issue. 20 years later of course senator Lindsey Graham has changed his tune defending President Trumps behavior in similar calls. What happened to the Republican Party is a question and where are they now is another question. Im joined by michael steele, john boehner, and anisha, White House Reporter for npr. I was watching pat toomey about that feeble comment about i dont know whats going on here. I notice john cornyn says well is it a whistleblower or leaker . They know what they see. Im reminded by former speaker ryans comment he would wake up every morning and prete pretend not to see tweets from the president. I think youre so seeing reserved judgment, hold back. The president was apparently willing to release a transcript of the call or notes from the call. There are suggestion we may see the whistleblower report. At least senate intel obviously will because Senate Republicans did not object. So its sort of an odd moment for House Democrats to have moved into this new sort of fake impeachment phase when they were getting cooperation i think theyre doing exactly what they were already doing, theyre combining the reports all their committees and jurisdictions are doing, sending them to the judiciary. Thats not impeachment. Thats collating. But it does put them in a position but it does seem to be getting the president to act, right, which is what he wasnt doing. He was stonewalling and not cooperating at all. And now hes moving very fast. Before this was a transcript he was saying hed release it, maybe, he didnt know, it might be a slippery slope, we dont want to do it Howard Fineman called me a little bit before 2 00 today saying guess what, pelosi has moved, theyre going to act. And then we start hearing from the president , the white house and you saw a shift over the weekend the president for the first time in his life reacting to the democrats. Remember theres a split in the white house on this. There are people who believe impeachment is unpopular. Almost 2 to 1 against in polling. House democrats are doing a pathetic job building a case against this president in hearing. The president has a lot of advisers who believe he will guarantee his reelection if the House Democrats impeach him. The fast developments today prompted joe biden to join the chorus of voices Holding Trump accountable. Using his full Constitutional Authority congress in my view should demand the information it has a legal right to receive. If congress does not if a president does not comply with such a request of the congress, he continues to obstruct congress and flaunt the law, donald trump will leave congress in my view no choice but to initiate impeachment. Weve always been a beacon to other countries around the world. We know who donald trump is. Its time to let the world know who we are. Michael, lets go to the elements of this thing that have to be connected. This is not going to be a longterm thing. The president of the United States froze military aid funds to ukraine. A couple days later he calls up the president of ukraine and says give me some dirt. It look like a quid pro quo, whatever you call it. Is that impeachable in your lights if that happened . I dont know whether or not it makes sense to impeach him for it. There are things that a president could be impeached for that are not necessarily to impeach. How do you stop him from doing it if you dont impeach . Thats the problem. The only acceptable check is impeachment or threat of impeachment. Having moved in this direction if they dont go all the way hes just emboldened to do something worse next time. Youre a journalist. Are we getting here . That is an interesting when you talk about does this rise to the level of impeachment . I think thats what makes it a difficult argument for republicans. If it does turn out that he was making pressure in ukraine, if youre making the argument politically, well it was really bad but do you want to impeach him like your trying to thread this needing like we dont approve of it, but this is something that doesnt rise to the level of impeachment what happens when this president think hes in the room and he thinks calling leaders dirty. Well be right back. Youre watching hardball. Well be right back. Youre watching hardball. Luckily for all your hardtowash fabrics. Theres febreze fabric refresher. Febreze doesnt just mask, it eliminates odors youve. Gone noseblind to. And try Febreze Unstopables for fabric. With up to twice the fresh scent power, youll want to try it. Again and again and maybe just one more time. Indulge in irresistible freshness. Febreze unstopables. Breathe happy. 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Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. Tell your doctor about your medicines and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. Youve i like working. Areer. What if my Retirement Plan is i dont want to retire . Then lets not create a Retirement Plan. Lets create a plan for whats next. I like that. Get a plan thats right for you. Td ameritrade. This is jamie. Youre going to be seeing a lot more of him now. Im not calling him dad. Oh, nno. Look, [sighs] i get it. Some new guy comes in helping your mom bundle and save with progressive, but hey, were all in this together. Right, champ . Im getting more nuggets. How about some carrots . You dont want to ruin your dinner. Youre not my dad thats fair. Overstepped. Thats fair. Here, hello starts with hi mple. How can i help . A data plan for everyone. Everyone . Everyone. Lets send to everyone [ camera clicking ] wifi up there . Ahhh. Sure, why not . Howd he get out . a camera might figure it out. That was easy glad i could help. At xfinity, were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. So come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. The Tech Industry is supposed in invention and progress. But only 11 of its executives are women, and the quit rate is twice as high for them. Heres a hack make sure theres bandwidth for everyone. The more you know. Stay with msnbc throughout the night and in the coming days for the latest developments on the impeachment inquiry. Tomorrow President Trump says hell release the transcript of his call with the ukrainian president. Thursday well hear testimony from the acting dni Joseph Maguire the Inspector General in this case. And at some point this week we might hear the testimony itself from the whistleblower from the Intelligence Community who started all this. Thats hardball for now. All in with chris hayes starts right now. Tonight on all in. The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law. The speaker of the house makes it official. Im announcing the house of representatives moving forward aen official impeachment inquiry. Democrats open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Trump. I just heard that shed like to impeach. Tonight what happened today. The time to begin impeachment proceedings against this president has come. What happens now. This is fullblown impeachment inquiry. And what happens next. Hes got to go. When all in starts right now. Good evening from