Trump, abuse of power and obstruction of congress. They walked the articles as you see across the capitol to the senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signed the House Resolution transmitting the two articles and naming the impeachment managers, shifting the next phase to the senate. As the articles reached the Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell officially set the trial in motion. I further ask consent that the secretary of the senate be directed to notify the house of representatives at the time and place fixed for the senate to proceed upon the impeachment of donald trump in the senate chamber. Todays vote on the House Resolution sending the articles to the senate fell along party lines. 228 to 193, with only one democrat joining with the republicans in voting no. It came nearly one month after the house voted to pass the articles initially. Well this morning Speaker Pelosi defended her decision to wait these weeks. On december 18th the house of representatives impeached the president of the United States, an impeachment that will last forever. Time has revealed many things since then. Time has been our friend in all of this because this has yielded incriminating evidence, more truth into the public domain. This further evidence insists that and we wouldnt be in this situation had we not waited insists that there be witnesses and that we see documentation. That incriminating evidence the speaker referred to are documents that indicted Rudy Giuliani associate lev parnas provide to congress including notes, letters and Text Messages tying the president even closer to the Pressure Campaign against ukraine that led to his impeachment. It will ultimately follow the team of seven impeachment managers chosen by Speaker Pelosi to prosecute the case to the senate for President Trumps removal from office. Ill have legal or Law Enforcement backgrounds chosen for what Speaker Pelosi called an emphasis on litigators. Im joined by congressman denny hack of Washington State who serves on House Intelligence Committee, donna edwards, a contributor for the Washington Post, former director of the cia, john brennan, and jeff bennett, nbc news correspondent. Thank you all. Congressman, i want to talk to you and have you speak about the moment today of this impeachment articles, these two impeachment articles going over to the senate. Youve admitted or confessed to a real emotion to this whole process. Well, chris, if there was any wave of emotion today, it was one of frankly being quite somber about it. If i had to put words to it, i would tell you what i was thinking or feeling. It was, we have done our duty and now we pray to god that the United States senate does its duty. But there wasnt much drama. It was more ritual than trauma dra drama. There is the drama of high and expectation as to whether or not there will be four United States republican senators who are going to be willing to subpoena witnesses and reveal more documents because obviously the parnas revelation is the tip of the iceberg. We need to know what the iceberg looks like. Do you think that new evidence that came out in the last 48 hours or so well get to it later in the program tonight. It really shows the president s hand and the hand of his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and his associate, lev parnas. Theyre all involved in whats clearly an attempt to smear biden, joe biden, who was then leading in the polls. It shows, i think well you tell me. It makes it very clear this had nothing to do with reform or getting rid of corruption in ukraine. This had to do with leveling a political shot at the man they thought was his number one opponent. Game, set, match in that regard, chris, but i want to fast rewind to both the deposition which you didnt see but also the public hearing which you did see with ambassador yovanovitch in which it was revealed that she was recalled from ukraine and told that she needed to come home right away for her safety. It was never very clear what was meant by that. Well, its pretty clear now and its pretty frightening when you hear not just the president having said as he did, shes going to go through some things, but parnas indicating and others indicated that with money you can get things done in ukraine as they stalked her which is a crime. As a matter of fact, chris, i think what ought to come out of this is that a criminal investigation ought to be opened up. Yeah, i think it looks more like less like a regular Street Corner drug deal than a real mob hit perhaps involved here which is pretty frightening, as youre right, congressman. Donna, its interesting that as nancy pelosi, the speaker, held back the articles, and it was serendipitous, when she realized she had to send it over, all this information came out about everything this president was involved with like nixon with the plumbers, he was, windo wor around it. We saw in notes from Rudy Giuliani that it was really clear that hes saying im operating on behalf of and at the direction of the president of the United States. Look, i think whats really clear here is that there is a mountain of documentary evidence, some of which the house was able to get, and we know that there is more out there and its incumbent on the United States senate to hold a trial to get that evidence in a trial to bring witnesses forward and to validate the documents and to make sure that this president is really held accountable. I think if the senators do less than that, then the American People are going to see that theyve created a sham trial, and as nancy pelosi says, a coverup of this president s lawless behavior. Mr. Director, it seems to me theres only one way of ruling on this, with the facts in, the facts about the president s conspiracy here to basically work with giuliani and his partner, lev parnas, to basically scare or i should say it this way, perhaps mug them. Theyre saying were going to get rid of this ambassador so we can get the dirt on joe biden. You cant say it didnt happen now. It happened. One of the most significant documents that was released last night is that ritzcarlton stationary upon which donald trump said get zelensky to announce the biden investigation. He didnt say the burisma investigation or the investigation on ukrainian corruption. It was the biden investigation. I think its very clear this mounting evidence indicates that trump was going after this investigation purely for his own personal and political reasons. Thats why im aghast that the republican legislators both in the house and the senate refuse to acknowledge that this was a very serious dereliction of the president s authorities. I would argue that politicians of all people can see a political act when they see it. They said we just want an announcement coming out of kyiv. They dont care if anything happens. They want dirt that they can spread all over the american press. Anyway, only four republican senators need to vote as has been set here with the democrats to force the senate to subpoena witnesses in a senate trial. Alaska is very gutsy, lisa murkowski, maines Susan Collins, and mitt romney of utah who i like to say flirts with greatness, thats three. Two others have been seen as possible defections from the republican crowd. Colorados corey gardner, another guy facing a close reelection, and tennessees Lamar Alexander who is an institutionalist, who loves the place. According to the New York Times gardner can ill afford to break with trump because he needs the republican money. Alexander is a genuine concern of the white house. Jeff, were doing the study like everybody else and trying to figure this out. It looks like if you get three of these people, if you get collins, you get murkowski and you get lamar im sorry, if you get mitt romney whos obviously a much better bet, that might be enough if the chief justice weighs in and breaks the tie. Youre right. There could be four votes out there. I think thats one of the reasons why you see folks like ted cruz, the republican of texas, inject this notion of the reciprocal witness to in effect scare democrats to say, look, if you get your john bolton, well get our hunter biden. I think though for these republicans, especially the vulnerable republicans who are up for reelection, when there is a witness like a john bolton who says im willing to testify under certain conditions but he says hes willing to testify, to be a senator who will tomorrow swear an oath, to then say im unwilling to hear it, that senator has to provide a reasonable justification for that position so as not to be seen abdicating his or her responsibility. Thats one of the reasons why these seven house impeachment managers that the House Speaker has settled upon, why the selection of the seven is so key, because the case that they present, i think, will certainly direct the outcome of the trial but i think will be key in determining whether republicans get to the point where they say, you know what, they presented the case in such a way where we need to hear more. Let me throw this out at you. Suppose the republicans led by the very political man, Mitch Mcconnell, and they decide the games up, were going to have to bring witnesses in so were going to put together a slate of witnesses which include problematic people like maybe hunter biden or joe biden or the whistleblower and they put together they con fekt a list the democrats wont like but theyll throw it at them, they dont need the democrats to agree with that. 53 of them can say this is our slate of witnesses. Were going to bring them in and you have to eat them, deal with them. What happens then . It looks like democrats lose the fight. Or maybe they win it, maybe they get john bolton to turn the president in if you will like a star witness. There you go. That is sort of the blue sky scenario. If you dissect and distill all of the facts in evidence in all of the testimony, all of the relevant witnesses who have either direct knowledge about this ukrainian gambit, all of the evidence that they provided to house investigators, it all points in one direction. Its not a partisan statement, its a statement of fact. It points to culpability. Even if you bring in a hunter biden and joe biden, they have no direct knowledge of, those are not relevant witnesses to use the phrase Chuck Schumer would use. Democrats, using the scenario that you laid out, would potentially be okay with that. They would think that at the end of the day even if they had to make that tradeoff, you would still get that valuable testimony and documents that would point to their case, the reason why they say impeachment is the proper remedy for President Trumps wrongdoings. Thafrnks for your great reporting. Back to congressman denny hack. What do you make of that scenario . Just hearing about it through conversations around here, that might be what Mitch Mcconnell will do as his fallback, put together a slate of witnesses that the democrats wont like but they have to buy. Chris, i think the watch word here for senator mcconnell ought to be careful what you wish for. The fact is that Vice President biden is not on trial, nor is hunter biden. President donald trump is on trial. If we know anything with a virtual certainty, it is that john bolton has information that he could reveal and will reveal that is not exculpatory, that in fact is damning. He is the one, after all, who said im not going to have anything to do with giulianis drug deal. So careful what you wish for, senator mcconnell. John, this scenario could change overnight. We dont know because the pressure on those four republicans we may not even need four. We may just need three with chief Justice Roberts weighing in and saying, no, i want to hear from witnesses. I think the senators even though theyre going to go to their partisan corner, they have to be aware that there is the court of Public Opinion that is looking at these proceedings. I think its over 70 of the American Public believe there needs to be this fair trial in the senate to address the articles of impeachment. So i think youre going to have a number of the senators who on the republican side going to try to meet the democrats wishes for witnesses. The question is whether or not theres going to be this combined list of witnesses botha the democrats want and the republicans want. Look, i dont think democrats should balk at having either of the bidens thats a good price to pay. It really is and they are not fact witnesses. Theyre not relevant witnesses, and i think the democrats will deal with john bolton and with duffy and with mulvaney who are direct fact witnesses in the president s lawlessness. Because they know about the money that was being withheld for the they know about the money. They know about the timing. Theyre deeply implicated in the president s wrongdoing, and they are and john bolton, i mean, they are directly relevant to the issue at hand and i think democrats will swallow it. It might be embarrassing for the bidens but it is not the worst thing to happen to be able to bring forward the true fact witnesses. It all moves forward tomorrow with the managers tomorrow at noon. Its all moving forward. Chief justice is being sworn in tomorrow too. Its all moving forward with the impeachment of this president. Congressman denny hak, thank you for your service to the country and coming on tonight, congresswoman donna edwards, director brennan, hell be back with us later in the program. Coming up, Rachel Maddows exclusive, a big get today, with one of the men at the very center of the ukraine scandal, giuliani associate lev parnas. What do you think is the main inaccuracy or the main lie thats being told that you feel like you can correct . That the president didnt know what was going on. President trump knew exactly what was going on. He was aware of all of my movements. Wow. Thats a perry mason moment right there. More of that exclusive interview with rachel tonight at 9 00, her program. Well have a bit of it in our program. Plus breaking down the historic significance of todays events with president ial historian michael bech las. And donald trump didnt know where china was, get this. He didnt know details like theres a border between china and india. He had no idea what pearl harbor was. He didnt know what the uss arizona was when it sunk. He just wanted to meet with putin. He wanted to fall in love with this guy. He considered putin an expert on anything. Those are a few details of a book out next week by two Washington Post reporters. John brennan will be back with us to discuss the consequences of a president whose own aides say at times was dangerously uninformed. Much more to get to tonight. Stick around. To tonight. Stick around whistling whistling the good news . Our comfort lasts all day. The bad news . So does his energy. Depend® fitflex underwear offers your best comfort and protection guaranteed. Because, perfect or not, lifes better when youre in it. Be there with depend®. Motor . Nope. Its pronounced motaur. For those who were born to ride, theres progressive. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Wherever we want to go, we just have to start. Autosave your way there with chase. Chase. Make more of whats yours. And with the sXfinity Stream app, screen is your big screen. Which is free with your service, you can take a spin through on demand shows, or stream live tv. Download your dvrd shows and movies on the fly. Even record from right where you are. Whether youre travelling around the country or around the house, keep what you watch with you. Download the Xfinity Stream app and watch all the shows you love. Welcome back to hardball. The parnas papers released by the House Intelligence Committee provide explosive and disturbing new details about the president s scheme to extort ukraine for political gain. The trove of materials were seized in october from lev parnas, Rudy Giuliani point man, there he is with rudy, for ukraine. 500 more pages were released tonight. Among the documents is a letter giuliani wrote to request a meeting with ukrainian president zelensky, a request he said he made with trumps knowledge and consent. Its evidence that the president personally approved giulianis presence in the ukraine, something trump later tried to deny. Parnas is breaking his silence with our msnbc colleague Rachel Maddow that airs tonight. He says President Trump knew exactly what he was doing in this whole affair. What do you think is the main inaccuracy or the main lie thats being told that you feel like you can correct . That the president didnt know what was going on. President trump knew exactly what was going on. He was aware of all of my movements. I wouldnt do anything without the consent of Rudy Giuliani or the president. I have no intent, i have no reason to speak to any of these officials. I mean, they have no reason to speak to me. Why would president zelenskys inner circle or minister or all these people or president poroshenko meet with me . Who am i . They were told to meet with me, and thats the secret that theyre trying to keep. I was on the ground doing their work. In terms of the president and what he has said about you, he said about you and mr. Fruman, igor fruman, i dont know those gentlemen. I dont know about them. I dont know what they do. Youre saying that was not a true statement from the president . He lied. Boy, she got to the heart of this question. The materials from parnas also shed new light on the Smear Campaign that led to the ouster of u. S. Ambassador marie yovanovitch. Text suggest giuliani and parnas had a deal and they proved they were going to get rid of her in exchange for dirt on the bidens. That was the dirty drug deal that bolton managed, well get rid of the ambassador if you get us dirt on biden. As the prosecutor made explicit, if you dont make a decision about madam that would be yovanovitch, you are bringing into question all my allegations about b thats biden of course, a possible reference to him, or burisma where hunter biden worked. Candidate robert hyde appeared to be physically surveilling yovanovitch through contacts in ukraine. In a series of cryptic messages to parnas, hyde seemed to detail her whereabouts, saying they will let me know when shes on the move, like hes spying on her. Im joined by National Political reporter for axios and a former senior director at the National Security council. Thank you, gentlemen. Lets start with the reporting here. Lets start with yovanovitch. They didnt like yovanovitch because she didnt like corruption. She was really the one going after corruption, not our president. They wanted to get rid of her. They say if you get rid of her theyre saying to Rudy Giuliani and parnas then well get you dirt on biden. The yovanovitch, the Text Messages discussing her, are the most disturbing communications ive seen throughout this impeachment inquiry, just in terms of pure unnerving information. The implication very clearly from there is that they were surveilling her, watching her, and also possibly even had access to her computer and phone, whether her phone was turned off. It just reads as this thugish, mobish dialogue. Its really disturbing. This was a Senior State Department official who we heard during the testimony that there were concerns about her safety. Theres a lot more that needs to be unpacked here and investigated as to what went on there. Every time we go after mob corruption we try to start at the bottom. You know this, you work your way up. Here we have parnas nailing the president , fingering him. The president knew everything i did. What more can you want in a senate trial than to have parnas walk in that room and say the president set up this whole thing. This is just what Gordan Sondland told the house. Gordan sondland said everyone was in the loop, highest levels throughout the folks working for donald trump on this socalled drug deal. Everyone was in the loop. These parnas documents show that in exquisite detail. Everyone was in the loop. To your point, chris, there is new information coming out by the hour at this point even though we are on the eve of the impeachment trial actually starting. That means theres a need to figure out the full scope of the information. That calls for a real trial, not a sham trial, not a coverup, getting these people on the stand. John . In my view the most important document weve seen so far is that letter from giuliani to president zelensky of ukraine. Where he said im the president s man. He says in his personal capacity as a private citizen. Well, i mean, what possible personal business could private citizen donald trump have with the president of ukraine . Rudy giulianis explanation was it was to help exonerate his client but the Mueller Report was already finished by then. So the idea that this was a Public Corruption Campaign is directly called into question by those lines in the letter. Thats why i think that letter is the most important document that weve seen here. Well, not everything parallels with watergate but this sure does. The idea of setting up an extra governmental operation like the plumbers nixon set up that had no responsibility to the constitution to anybody. So you get around your role as president under the constitution which limits your power and you set up another government operation which is totally not even government, extra government, under Rudy Giuliani and this guy parnas to do the dirty work. Its like, okay, i dont have the power as president so let me get this other thing going, just like nixon. If you had to sum up this impeachment inquiry in a single sentence, it would be that donald trump abused Public Office for private gain. As jonathan says thats what corruption is. Thats what corruption is and thats what the letter is saying. Giuliani is saying im here to do the personal bidding of donald trump. Im not here to represent american interests. Im here to represent Donald Trumps partisan interests. What about the person out there theres probably, i dont know, 20 of the country thats openminded these days about trump, maybe, i dont know. I think thats pretty ambitious. Okay, 15. Really . Im talking to them as if they exist so lets talk to them. You now know in all probability the president lied, really lied here when he said he didnt know these people, when he dismissed any responsibility for this whole thing. What do you do . Do you say it doesnt matter . Okay, hes a crook. Okay, he breaks the law. Okay, he ignores the constitution. Okay, he goes to another government to help his reelection. You have to okay a lot of stuff at this point. Chris, we have photos, photographs. We dont need new documents to know that lev parnas and donald trump had more than there are photographs of the two of them next to each other. This is all out there. This is why, okay, weve got this new trove of 700 things. We basically know what happened. We have the documentary history of this. Its all out there. People are going to decide whether its peachabimpeachable. From i can tell, weve seen more signs of it and i saw comments from Susan Collins today, theyre not going to vote to convict this guy. Theyre just not going to. Well i dont care how many more pages lev parnas releases. Whatever the polling is about whether people support removal, theres been one consistently encouraging number which is a High Percentage of americans have been paying attention to this. Why is that encouraging . If your goal is to get rid of him, if theyre paying attention and none of these republicans are feeling the pressure to move and theyre feeling actually very emboldened to be defiant what do they say when they get home to their loved ones, what do they say when theyre not shower and thinking, what am i doing covering for a guy that did all this stuff . What do they say tomorrow when they take this oath to be an impartial juror and do their duty not as republicans, democrats, people running for reelection campaigns but as u. S. Senators to stand up for that body and its constitution. I dont care the truth, i dont want the left wing bastards to win this one, is that what they say to themselves . If yooure a republican senator, youre hearing from constituents who overwhelmingly love donald trump. Its true. They dont want them to convict him and they would probably vote them out in a primary if they did. Down in naples, florida, theres a lot of places in this country thats true. I just heard from a friend of mine. They love him down there. I think americans know what it means to exploit a role for your personal benefit. We all have jobs. We know what its like to abuse that position of trust. If they can see this now that theyre paying attention on display first question, you likee th . I like president s who cut my taxes, get the economy rolling. That may be the way they answer these questions. Thank you for your expertise. Up next for only the third time in history articles of impeachment have been consent. Theres the ritual. Over to the senate. How is donald trump taking it. Its real now. Its a ritual but its real. Youre watching hardball. T it. Youre watching hardball. Tis c. I put off treating mine. Epclusa treats all main types of chronic hep c. Whatever your type, epclusa could be your kind of cure. I just found out about mine. I knew for years epclusa has a 98 overall cure rate. I had no symptoms of hepatitis c mine caused liver damage. Epclusa is only one pill, once a day, taken with or without food for 12 weeks. Before starting epclusa, your doctor will test if you have had hepatitis b, which may flare up, and could cause serious liver problems during and after treatment. Tell your doctor if you have had hepatitis b, other liver or. 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Thats why i take osteo biflex, to keep me moving the way i was made to. It nourishes and strengthens my joints for the long term. Osteo biflex now in triple strength plus magnesium. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Well, mr. Secretary, by direction of the house of representatives and pursuant to House Resolution 614, i hereby deliver these articles of impeachment. Would you hold this . Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. As secretary on behalf of the senate i accept these into the official record of the senate for deliberation later on, and we thank you for your courtesy in coming over. Welcome back to hardball. That was the scene back in 1998 when the house delivered the articles of impeachment against president bill clinton. Well today that action was repeated for only the third time in our countrys history. This Morning White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement, quote, the only thing Speaker Pelosi has achieved with this sham impeachment process is to prove shes focused on politics instead of the American People. Im joined by White House Reporter for the Associated Press and michael beschloss, president ial historian. I dont know where to start with this administration and its press secretary. They dont even act like Government Officials. They act like theyre political operatives trashing the people that criticize them. This impeachment process has proved itself to be very well handled by the speaker. Theyve done it all right and then they just trash the whole thing. This person, i dont know her, Stephanie Grisham, press secretary, she doesnt hold press briefings or do her job of telling whats going on, doesnt do that or minute tear yal work. All she does is issue these attacks. Here she is attacking a legitimate constitutional process which is in the constitution before the bill of rights. Its essential to the way we do things. The congress has a right to remove a president. Yeah, and contrast it with the bill clinton time where he appointed people, as you remember, who were spokespeople for him on impeachment who were going to do that differently from his normal press secretary and he was able somehow to get through this and run the presidency and at the same time wage this battle against him. How about joe lockhart who said the other day his job is to try to help the press find out whats going on. How is that for an amazing idea. A little antique. Let me ask you, lets talk about this process because theres a grudging nature to this. Mitch mcconnell who i say is he elmer fudd or bugs bunny. Today he acted like a legitimate senate leader. He acted like well receive it, were going to do the job. Were going to take the oath of impartiality he even said. What do you make of it . You really felt the gravity of the situation. He had a striped suit on, got all dressed up for the occasion. And it really felt like this historic moment. On the flip side you had the president and his team really not set on a definitive strategy at this point. Held a Briefing Call for reporters today in which they were really all over the map. They seem to think that the articles are going to wind up being dismissed even though mcconnell and the senators made very clear there arent the votes for that to happen. Theyre hoping for a trial to conclude within two weeks. Seems unlikely thats possible. Do you think its more likely the senate will stonewall and say no witnesses, or theyll come up with a slate of witnesses thats not too appetizing for the democrats either. It may have bolton, mick mulvaney, duffy from the omb but it also has the bidens on it. Weve heard from senators like mitt romney and Susan Collins making clear they have interest in hearing from witnesses. Romney would like to see john bolton come in and the problem is as soon as you open the door to witnesses, that means both sides. The white house has not yet announced who will defend President Trump in the senate trial. Multiple sources tell msnbc Pat Cipollone will join the defense, joined by jay secondkulosekulow the president s attorneys. Theres also talk about dershowitz, giuliani. Do you think theyll muck it up with outside stars . Well, this is a president with a background in Reality Television and he knows that if you dont have stars, it has a little bit of a different texture than it does than if you have people that are unpredictable. The dream team. The dream team, dershowitz, giuliani. Thats the dream team. I guess the question is as we report this because im going to be covering it, were all going to msnbc is going to be all over this and the other networks as well. Were going to cover this gavel to gavel. I think theres so much social press right now, social media all over the place. Everybodys going to be talking about this. The country is paying attention. With all this attention, can the president deny a legitimate trial . Look, the president is also somebody because he can approve it. Hes going to watch this incredibly closely. Hes skproexpressed to associat that he doesnt like the idea that the nation is going to be riveted to this but the president also wants a show. As youre saying, hes a reality tv president. He wants this vindication. I remember when rehnquist was the chief justice and he had these chevrons, these amazing costumes. Chief john roberts will preside over the senate trial starting soon. His first act will be tomorrow when he swears in the senators who will act as jurors. However, beyond that his role is somewhat murky. This is where it gets interesting. The constitution only mentions the chief justice once in this context and thats the context of impeachment. In article one Section Three of the constitution it states when the president of the United States is tried, the chief justice shall preside. This is a question, will he go further and say, you know what, we got 50 people for example, three republicans pop up and say we want witnesses. Thats 473. 50, thats close enough. Im going to give it to them. Im going to throw in my vote and apparently thats an argument the chief justice can say you got 50 votes, thats good enough for me, were going to have witnesses. That would be more activist than chase was under Andrew Johnson or rehnquist was at the time of the clinton impeachment. Because the constitution does say preside, they really pretty much follow that idea that it was presiding. How will he look if he does that . If its 50 votes and he doesnt give it to the witnesses in a real trial and hes the last one that says no, do you think john roberts wants to be that person . Probably not and this is someone who, given the makeup of the Supreme Court right now, is probably very used to having to make decisions like that. I dont know him that well. I know him a very well bit like most people do. I dont think he wants to be the bad guy. If you look at his writings, especially most recently, hes focused on trying to maintain this idea that the judiciary is independent. Hes got that contending with also having to deal with the president whos going to be watching and judging him. The last thing he wants to be is a controversial chief justice in the wpr the truest nature of a conservative is to hold society together. If it takes National Health to do it, Social Security to do it, you do it. Thats the chief goal, its not the remember the old scriptures, its to hold the people together. Thank you both. Up next, a highly anticipated new book from two of the Washington Posts most respected journalists reveals alarming details about the deaths of Donald Trumps disconnect from things taken from past president s like a basic understand of geography, American History and the rule of law. Trump, i dont know nothing about that stuff. Youre watching hardball. Abt outhat stuff youre watching hardball. Mader members like martin. An air force veteran made of doing whats right, not whats easy. So when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. Thats how you do it right. Usaa insurance is made just the way martins family needs it with hasslefree claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. Because doing right by our members, thats whats right. Usaa. 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So you can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one. For small prices, you can build big dreams, spend less, get way more. Shop everything home at wayfair. Com welcome back to hardball. President trump has approached the presidency with a different level of detail and reverence than his predecessors. Acting president ial is so easy for me. Its much easier than what i do. Much easier. And sometimes i have to do it. Frederick douglass is an example of somebody whos done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more i noticed. I have an article two where i have the right to do whatever i want as president , but i dont even talk about that. I have president putin. He just said its not russia. I will say this, i dont see any reason why it would be. Believe it or not, i watch my words very carefully. There are those that think im a very stable genius, okay . I watch my words very, very closely. Theres shocking new reporting today about the President Trump presidency from an upcoming book by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and phil rucker. At one point according to excerpts released in the book in the Washington Post the president did not seem to grasp the fundamental history surrounding the attack on pearl harbor. After his then staff secretary rob porter was accused of domestically abusing two women, the president suggested one of the women might have faked her injuries to, quote, get money out of porter. Thats his quote. The president also complained that it was unfair this is something that Americans Companies arent allowed to pay bribes to help set up businesses overseas. He thinks they should. One Government Official complained that the disdain that trump shows for our countrys principles, the disregard he has for right and wrong, your fist clenches, your teeth grate. The book is based on hundreds of hours of interviews with more than 200 sources corroborated with calendars, diaries, memos and private video recordings. You just heard a tip of the iceberg. Much more after the break. Stick with us. Youre watching hardball. E br. Stick with us. Youre watching hardball. Ive heard a lot of excuses to avoid screening for colon cancer. Im not worried. It doesnt run in my family. I can do it next year. No rush. Cologuard is the noninvasive option that finds 92 of colon cancers. You just get the kit in the mail, go to the bathroom, collect your sample, then ship it to the lab. Theres no excuse for waiting. Get screened. Ask your Healthcare Provider if cologuard is right for you. Most insured patients pay 0. Ask your Healthcare Provider if cologuard is right for you. Apps except work. Rywhere. Why is that . Is it because people love filling out forms . Maybe they like checking with their supervisor to see how much Vacation Time they have. Or sending corporate their expense reports. Ill let you in on a little secret. They dont. By empowering employees to manage their own tasks, paycom frees you to focus on the business of business. To learn more, visit paycom. Com dont get mad. Get e trade, dawg. Welcome back. The new book, a very stable again use by Washington Post reporters also details the president with a fundamental understanding for basic geography. According to their reporting in this new book, President Trump told indias Prime Minister, quote, it is not like you have got china on your border. Well, india and china share more than 2,000 miles of border. There it is if you look at a book of geography. According to one aid, the president s mistake was so upsetting to the indian Prime Minister that his eyed bulged out in surprise. The aid explains after that the indians took a step back in their diplomatic relations with us. I dont know what to say. But trump is not stupid, but he is ignorant in many ways. I think he went to business school. He went to military school before that. He didnt take anything like history or literature or geography. There is things he doesnt know, like that there is a border several thousand mile border between india and china which they have been fighting over for decade. The book provides rich detail of what we have seen every day for the last three years that donald trump is the most ignorant, as you said, as well as incompetent individual that held the office of the presidency. I worked for six president s. I got to know some of them very well. Every one of them had an understanding of history and geography. Thats why they ran for president , because they grew up reading histories. Once they became president , they realized there is a lot more to know and to learn. But donald trump knows no intellectual on these issues. He looks through the prism of the dollar sign and business. And, so, its, again, unsurprising. But i think were all looking forward to reading the book. Maybe it should scare us about our kids getting too much specialized education. They go to business school, thats all they want to know, money. I couldnt agree with you more. Thats helpful, actually. That supporting stem education. Liberal arts exposes one to a lot of issues you need to deal with on your life. Early on the president was eager to meet putin, the strong man over there. Awe cording to authors, he interrupts an interview to ask, when can i meet putin . Can i meet with him before the inauguration ceremony . When is this . You know this better than anybody. This love affair with the idea of being a strong man. Well, there is a lot we dont know about that putintrump relationship and what trump is either interested in getting from putin or afraid that putin might reveal. It demonstrates this eagerness he had early on from day one to meet with him and then his subsequent meetings where he dismissed. Do you think hes smart about that or hes paranoid or does putin have his number . All of the above. There is something that drives donald trump in terms of the way he interacts with putin and gives putin a pass on so many issues, whether its for future consideration that putin will give him after he leaves the oval office or hes afraid of what putin might reveal. I used to think there was a grand deal coming because he was going to cut a deal over syria and get the government out of there or Something Like that. I dont think trump is either interested in those grand deals or understands what is required in order to forge them. I think there is something very personal, maybe very political that he has. Lets go back to something thats really important to me. When he became president , one of the first bills he wanted to pass was to get rid of the rule that you couldnt bribe other governments. Pepsi cola, coca cola, makes a deal with their president over whatever, crown lands or whatever you want to call them, sovereign lands, every dollar agreed to in that deal has to be made public so there is no bribes or kickbacks. Trump got rid of that. He wanted to be able to do kick backs and bribes. Well, he is somebody who looks for the ways to forge deals that are outside of ethics, principals, even the law. In terms of bullying, intimidation, corruption, whatever else. It is not surprising that in fact he would try to take that similar philosophy in dealings with overseas. He said its unfair not to be able to drive. Talk about victimization. Thank you, chuck. Up correct, why Bernie Sanders is the candidate to beat, i think. I think i know whats going on out there. It may not be what you want, but i think its whats going to happen. Bernie out there. Youre watching hardball. When you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. 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Its go time switch to comcast business and get fast internet on the nations largest gigspeed network. Plus, complete reliability with 4g lte backup. And, cloudbased security to help protect the devices on your network. Greenlight your business in 2020 with fast internet and voice for 64. 90 per month. Switch now and get a 100 prepaid card when you add comcast business securityedge. Call today. Comcast business. Beyond fast. Six candidates took the stage last night for the seventh democratic debate. Let me leave you with my assessment of why Bernie Sanders is the candidate to beat. His antiwar position. Hes antiwar in his bones. Again last night he let the world know it. Two, i checked the numbers. Twothirds of the democratic iowa caucus voters in 2016 call themselves liberal or very liberal. Bernie swept those very liberal caucus goers in 2016 and should do it again in 2020. And this explains why Elizabeth Warren is battling with bernie. Shes trying to get the very votes he has gotten before. Between the two of them, it is a zero sum battle. Joe biden who called themselves moderate or conservatives cant match bernies potential. The arithmetic is not there. Hes battling with buttigieg or klobuchar for that. All in with chris hayes starts now. Tonight what do you think is the main inaccuracy or the main lie thats being told that you feel like you can correct . A witness at the center of Donald Trumps impeachment speaks out. That the president didnt know what was going on. President trump knew exactly what was going on. He was aware of all my movements. Tonight, previewing Rachel Maddows exclusive interview with Rudy Giulianis indicted associate. Why it now looks like ukraines corrupt prosecutor was